REVIEW: Williamstown Theatre Festival, “Vanessa”

Heartbeat Opera Annex, North Adams, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through August 3, 2025

by Michael J. Moran

Since making a triumphant debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1958 and winning a Pulitzer Prize, American composer Samuel Barber’s opera “Vanessa,” with libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, has had few revivals. Now comes the riveting world premiere of a minimalist adaptation by the inventive New York-based Heartbeat Opera which breathes new life into this psychological thriller by focusing on the inner lives of its five main characters.

Photo by Maria Baranova

Set in “a northern country” around 1905, the opera opens as Vanessa, “a lady of great beauty,” Erika, her 20-year-old niece, and the Baroness, Vanessa’s mother and Erika’s grandmother, wait in the drawing room of Vanessa’s country house for a guest to arrive. He turns out to be the twentyish son, Anatol, of Vanessa’s deceased lover, also named Anatol, whom she is expecting after a separation of 20-years. The coup de theatre at his entrance signals Anatol's transformative effects on the three women and their family doctor as the rest of the opera unfolds.

Bare set design (the only props are four chairs) against a blank white background by director R. B. Schlather, eerie lighting design by Yuki Nakase Link, and stark black/white costume design by Terese Wadden create a haunting sense of claustrophobia in the intimate setting of WTF’s new 164-seat Annex theater. Heartbeat Artistic Director Jacob Ashworth has compressed the four-act original into 100-minutes without intermission. Co-music director Dan Schlosberg has reduced the full orchestration to seven instruments which produce surprisingly vivid sonorities.  

 

Cast members, all with impressive professional resumes, meet the dramatic challenges of Barber’s neo-Romantic score and Menotti’s poetic text with consummate vocal and acting skills. Soprano Inna Dukach’s volatile Vanessa contrasts sharply with mezzo-soprano Ori Marcu’s subtly repressed Erika in their frequent exchanges. Tenor Roy Hage’s makes for a seductively appealing Anatol. Joshua Jeremiah’s warm, clear baritone gives his doctor a comforting presence. Mary Phillips’ rich, dark mezzo-soprano invests her stern Baroness with a commanding air.

Musical highlights include: Marcu’s poignant rendition of “Must the Winter Come So Soon;” Dukach’s tense, frenetic “Do Not Utter a Word;” and a mesmerizing quintet, “To Leave, To Break,” by the full ensemble. Schlosberg leads his virtuosic band with a mix of tight control and sensitivity.      

This “Vanessa” for the 21st century, the first opera ever presented by WTF, is a milestone production for Heartbeat Opera and Williamstown.

REVIEW: Williamstown Theater Festival, "Pamela Palmer"

Williamstown Theater Festival, Williamstown, MA.

www.wtfestival.org

through August 10, 2024

by Jarice Hanson

 

Photo by Arden Dickson

The name of David Ives’ newest play at the Williamstown Theater Festival is an enigma. “Pamela Palmer” is the title, and while the name tells the audience nothing about the play, the title is perfect. 

 

The character named Pamela Palmer is seemingly perfect. She’s blonde, beautiful, happily married to a man “in the money industry,” and has a strong spiritual life. Her problem is that something seems wrong with this perfect life, and that makes her anxious. To help her figure out why she feels impending doom, she hires a private eye. She doesn’t expect to be attracted to him, but as the story unfolds in this 85-minute one-act, the perfect life is upended with surprise turns for Pamela, her husband, the private eye, and Pamela’s lower middle-class mother from Akron.

 

David Ives’ writing is heavy on dialogue and often peppered with genuinely funny lines, but the mood of the piece is a spoof on the noir detective theme. Billed as an “existential romance,” the overarching message is that perfection is an illusion and conspicuous consumption can destroy lives.  

 

What makes the piece work well is the extraordinary collaboration of Ives and Director Walter Bobbie. The two have a long history of collaborating on projects and the harmony they’ve developed shows in this work. Bobbie’s direction in the intimate Centerstage Theater is elegant.

 

Added to their exploration of such broadly conceived ideas about God, happiness, and anxiety, is a very talented cast that walks the fine line between reality and fiction.

 

Tina Benko plays Pamela, drawing on traditions of noir and the “beautiful blond” essential to a good detective story. Clark Gregg as the private investigator is seething, sexy, and earthy as gumshoes are. In the role of the erudite husband is Max Gordon Moore who plays the part with a British accent and mannerisms reminiscent of David Niven. Becky Ann Baker portrays Pamela’s cancer-surviving, lower middle-class mother. The actress fills the stage with her presence and provides a key to unlocking Pamela’s past. These actors handle the playwright's dialog masterfully. In one rapid, talky scene between Benko and Moore, the two actually seem to produce electricity. It’s an amazing scene and aptly shows the genius lurking behind the dialog, direction, and actors’ abilities.

 

This is a play that leaves audience members scratching their heads at the end. There's lots to ponder. It is not neatly wrapped up, but rather, continues the enigmatic metaphor. For those who enjoy this type of ambiguity, "Pamela Palmer" will please. However, as Williamstown’s big production of the summer, it may leave viewers wanting more.

REVIEW: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ghosts

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org
through August 18, 2019
by Stuart W. Gamble

Photo by Jeremy Daniel

For those expecting a spooky, window-rattling, bump in the night type thriller, you best re-assess your expectations. Henrik Ibsen’s “Ghosts” was penned in 1881, at a time when, as translator Paul Walsh states: “...in the 1880s in Norway, they were on the brink of modernity.” In Walsh’s new translation, collaboratively developed with WTF Artistic Director Aileen Lambert states in the program, “I aim to translate the language for the actors first ...in a way that is contemporary without being modernized.”

Ibsen’s drama (which verges close, but not too close, on melodrama), is set on the estate of Mrs. Helene Alving, near a fjord in Western Norway. The inciting action is the arrival of Oswald, Mrs. Alving’s son, an artist, who has come from his Bohemian life in Paris when the unveiling of an orphanage dedicated to his late father. Pastor Manders is also in attendance, to (mostly) lecture to Mrs. Alving on the morality of 19th century Norway. Rounding out the story are Jakob Engstrand, a rather shady character, and his daughter Regina, the Alving’s housemaid. Many plot twists and revelations ensue including the titular ghosts, which Mrs. Alving says are “opinions, beliefs, and lies are specters we see again as ghosts.”

Indeed the solemn, dread-filled world of “Ghosts” is effectively underscored by David Coulter’s onstage eerie zither music. The wisps of steam rising from the fjord are subtly created by scenic designer Dane Laffrey. The slanted roof covered with scrub pine and the restrictive, Victorian era suits and dresses are also the creation of Laffrey.

The expert performances by the small cast are what give “Ghosts” its nuances and humanity. The biggest draw to this play is, undoubtedly, the appearance of Oscar-nominated actress Uma Thurman. Thurman’s performance as Mrs. Alving is at once witty and intense. Hers is a difficult role that requires a balance of her internal rage and compassion. The actress’ stills present the subtlest stage performances that this writer has seen. On par with Thurman is Tom Pecinka as Oswald. His transformation from Devil-may-care artist to suffering son is truly a grand piece of acting. While Catherine Combs seems a little bit young in the role of Regina, she holds her own. Bernard White as the hypocritical Pastor Manders manages to convey sincerity without making him a caricature. Thom Sesma’s opportunistic Jakob Engstrand is both comical and reproachable.

Think of “Ghosts” as a stage-bound version of an Ingmar Bergman film, deeply psychological and verbose, with a bit of the storyline of Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown,” along with the sardonic social commentary of contemporary news programs. The result is the brilliance of the father of dramatic modernism, Henrik Ibsen.

REVIEW: Williamstown Theatre Festival, “Tell Me I’m Not Crazy”

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through August 3, 2019

by K. Rogowski

“Tell Me I’m Not Crazy” by Sharyn Rothstein, is a fast paced and funny show that takes on a myriad of serious social and family issues that are straining the fabric of families everywhere; but nowhere like they strain the Koening family. The trouble starts when grandpa Sol (Mark Blum) buys a gun to protect the family, upsetting his now retired wife, Diana (Jane Kaczmarek), his son, Nate (Mark Feuerstein), a stay at home dad and sometime photographer, and his jet setting wife, Alisa (Nicole Villamil). And it’s all downhill from there.

Rifts begin to form as Nate and Alisa stop bringing the grand kids over for fear of what might happen with a gun in the house. Diana wants to bike through Italy, but Sol has lost his job, and is now obsessed with being at the shooting range in an effort to be ready for anything and everything. Nate and Alisa fight over her never being home for the kids. Sol belittles Nate for being a failure as a photographer. When this whole mess gets to be too much, Sol moves out. The question then becomes, “how do we fix all this?”

The pace and the intensity of this show is carried with precision by the cast, delivering pointed punch lines that cool boiling arguments one moment, and scenes of genuine caring and vulnerability in others. That combination makes for characters you care about.

To have the set changes match the intensity of the action, director Moritz von Stuelpnagel has the actors noticing, and reacting to, the walls moving and lights changing, as their world literally spins out of control. Briskly playing for one hour and forty minutes with no intermission is the best way for this show to run, because you’re caught up in the action, wondering what will happen next.

REVIEW: Williamstown Theatre Festival, “Selling Kabul”

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through July 20, 2019

by Barbara Stroup

Photo by Joseph O'Malley

In a comfortable Kabul apartment, a young man battles technology (and who has not had that struggle lately?) But his need is not to send the latest selfie or hook up a DVD player; his future, and that of his family, depend on receiving a visa, his lifeline to freedom. Taroon (played by Babak Tafti) was a translator for the U.S. military and is no longer needed by the departing Americans. Now, the Taliban is hunting for him, as well as any associates. Hiding out in his sister’s flat, he waits for her return from the hospital with news of his wife’s safety after delivering their first child.

So begins the world premiere of Sylvia Khoury’s “Selling Kabul” on the Nikos stage at Williamstown Theatre Festival, a stage used frequently for new works and “new play” award-winners. Directed by Tyne Rafaeli, this eighty-minute, no-intermission drama deals with the pain of choice, the terror and fear of anarchic politics, the literal and metaphoric roar of military machinery, and the longing of four young people for normal family life. Taroon’s sister Afiya (played by Marjan Neshat) longs for a baby, her husband Jawid (Omid Abtahi) wants his country back, and their lively neighbor Leyla, played by May Calamawy, craves an evening alone with her husband. Taroon’s hideout puts everyone in more and more danger as the visa fails to materialize. The drama unfolds over the course of a single evening with ever-increasing tension. The conflicts that arise—between sister and brother, neighbor and friend, longing and patient waiting, national loyalty and pragmatic safety, freedom and boundaries—are all played out within the apartment’s walls.

The myriad moments of personal battles, tense and argumentative interaction, and high emotionality propel the drama to a relentless close: only the coldest heart would not be moved by the peril involved in the difficult life choices each character makes. But the stage seems too small to contain it authentically; one longs for scenes outside the apartment, maybe even the scenic opportunities that a movie version would offer the playwright. There’s a powerful story here with characters deserving our respect and empathy, but it demands more time and a wider canvas for context and depth. These four young actors have little opportunity to infuse their characters with anything other than stress and tension. The script provides only a few lighter moments as relief from the turmoil. One wishes that Ms. Rafaeli’s direction would highlight them more—as well as Afiyah’s sewing, which is pivotal to understanding the play’s title. Lighting and sound are very effective. The frequent and frightening knocks on the door remind the audience all too well of the events in our own country and how little has changed for those with little power, even those outside war zones. This is a serious play with an expansive mission; kudos to Williamstown for supporting new work.

REVIEW: Williamstown Theatre Festival, A Raisin in the Sun

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through July 13, 2019

by Stuart W. Gamble

As playgoers exited the roundabout hallway at Williamstown’s production of A Raisin in the Sun, exclamations such as “Very powerful”, “Excellent”, and “Emotional” were heard after Sunday’s matinee performance. Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark play about an African-American family’s struggles, celebrates its 60th anniversary, since first premiering on Broadway in 1959. Many people (including this writer) fondly recall the 1961 film version featuring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and most of the original cast from its New York debut. WTF current production offers top-notch production values and sublime performances.

Set in the cramped Younger Family apartment in South Chicago, weary but steadfast Ruth Younger does her best to care for her 10-year-old son Travis and her husband Walter Lee. Beneatha, Walter’s sister, is a college student aspiring to be a doctor. Lena Younger, the family matriarch, rules the family with an iron-fisted yet tender firmness. The family of 5 is steeped in conflict both with each other and with the outside world. The catalyst to this already potentially explosive situation is the arrival of a life-insurance check for $10,000.00 from Lena’s late husband. Lena hopes to buy a home for the family. Walter hopes to buy a liquor store with his ne’er do well buddy Willie Harris, against the wishes of his wife, mother, and sister. What ensues is a drama filled with welcome humor, lasting nearly three hours, every minute of which is totally engrossing.

Hansberry’s characters are wonderfully complex and played beautifully by a fine cast. Francois Battiste as Walter, as written, is downright cruel to both his wife and sister, but his frustration is understandable as he toils away at being a chauffer and drinks excessively to shield his pain. He delivers, however, two of the play’s finest monologues about his dreams, to near perfection. S. Epatha Merkerson (fondly recalled as Det. Van Buren on Law & Order) wisely underplays her part as Mama, finally breaking down in a memorable scene with Walter. Her calmness is like a simmering volcano, waiting to erupt. Mandi Masden as Ruth is extremely touching in her efforts to hold her family together. Nikiya Mathis’ Beneatha is utterly phenomenal as the idealistic dreamer whose intellectualism eventually is shattered by the play’s close. Joshua Echebiri, as Beneatha’s Nigerian classmate/boyfriend Asagai, delivers a monologue about life that earned him an ovation.

As star Battiste is quoted in the play’s program: “There is not one issue in this play that isn’t still relevant today.” This point is without argument. Sexism, Racism, Generational Differences, are still with us. It is worth noting Director Robert O’Hara’s theatrical choices to an otherwise realistic play: the “ghost” character of Walter Sr. and a stunning epilogue that left the audience unsettled.

REVIEW: Williamstown Theatre Festival, “A Human Being, of a Sort”

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through July 7, 2019

By Barbara Stroup

Williamstown Theatre Festival presents a thoughtful play about captivity and racial injustice by spotlighting an intimate, one-to-one relationship. Thoughtful, yes. Stage-worthy drama? More on that below…..

Background: In 1906 an “explorer” (Vermer) brought an African “pygmy” (Ota Benga) to America as a specimen of racial “oddity,” an example to be studied and exploited with no thought to what would follow. After providing entertaining diversion for the zoo-going crowds, Mr. Benga, an adult with children left behind in Africa, died in an orphanage, probably at his own hand.

The playwright, Jonathan Payne, layers onto these heart-wrenching facts an intimate story that addresses power between individuals thrown together by a society that is trying its best to diminish them both. Assigned to Mr. Benga’s cage on an almost 24-hour basis, Smokey (played by André Braugher) is working off the last of his “debt to society” (he stole apples for his hungry family) through his employment at the zoo. He desperately wants to succeed at this job, and not to be returned by his employer, Mr. Hornaday, to the prison work farm.

In real life, Ota had no English-speaking ability, but for the sake of his drama, the playwright gives him fluent English. And for the sake of the drama, the audience can accept this misrepresentation so that the relationship between Ota and Smokey can develop.

As Smokey, Braugher makes a full commitment to expressing the inner conflicts the situation places on him. This job merely extends his own captivity, and his future freedom depends on his success. The audience feels his torment of being inches away from freedom and at the same time, being a jailer himself. The intensity of his expression helps the audience cope with the pain of watching the injustice of both imprisonments. He models both “good prisoner” to his superior and “good guard” to Ota.

Other members of this cast include Antonio Michael Woodard, who plays Ota. His physicality is perfect, and the strange demands of the role are well-represented. Woodard evokes startles, chuckles, and empathy. As they struggle with the zoo owner over the imprisonment of a human being, the three members of the clergy are convincing. Frank Wood, as the zoo owner Hornaday, has power over Smokey and over Ota. Wood speaks far too quickly, and his speeches disappear into the ether. And that is one of this play’s problems – it is packed full of speeches. Structurally, the soliloquy seems awkward and the closing scene misplaced: far more empathy and understanding would be evoked by placing the African encounter between Vermer and Benga at the start.

The set fails the script badly and seems to represent an Adirondack hunting lodge rather than a zoo owner’s office. Why is Ota’s cage three-sided? Accomplished with lighting, perhaps an abstraction of bars rather than a display of trophy heads would have gone much further to remind viewers of how far-reaching injustice, confinement and imprisonment can go. This play’s two principals do their best to rescue the script from its ponderous content and they are well-supported by the rest of the cast, but “A Human Being, of a Sort” is a play trying hard to be true to historical fact, and perhaps that reach is just too obvious for the theatre.

REVIEW: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Lempicka

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through August 21, 2018

by Mary Fernandez-Sierra

A sumptuous world premiere musical performs at Williamstown Theatre in Lempicka, based on the life of Polish art deco artist Tamara de Lempicka.

Spanning the Russian Revolution, Parisian high life between the World Wars, and the decadent underworld of bar rooms and brothel folk, this musical tells the tale of one woman’s journey from destitute refugee to rising star of the art world.

From ensemble to leads, each performer in this production is outstanding, and the voices and musical numbers, even if one is not a fan of contemporary musicals, are stunning.

In the demanding central role of Lempicka, Eden Espinosa is superb. Her stage presence, singing and acting carry the show; she is a phenomenon onstage. Andrew Samonsky playing Tadeusz, Lempicka’s first husband, is equally brilliant. He strikes just the right blend of displaced aristocrat and outshone lover, giving as strong a performance as Espinosa. Onstage together, these two rock the house.

The sultry voice and presence of Carmen Cusack as Rafaela, Lempicka’s lover, provide a compliment to the main leads. The audience falls under her sensuous spell as much as Lempicka herself; their number “Stillness” is magical.

Nathaniel Stampley and Rachel Tucker as the Baron and Baroness, and Natalie Joy Johnson as Suzi Solidor add strong character performances and impressive vocals to an already amazing array of onstage talent.

Photo by Carolyn Brown

Vivid and creative choreography by Raja Feather Kelly ranges from beautiful stills of the ensemble in painting frames to speakeasy jazz moves –  dance seems to be everywhere, seamlessly interwoven throughout this show. Extravagant costumes by Montana Levi Blanco reflect Russian royalty as well as  impoverishment, swank Parisian style and California cool, all in a few hours onstage – truly a visual tour de force. Scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez reveals artistic genius: one leg of the Eiffel Tower, and we are in Paris, while doors, divans, platforms and even a bar room with a huge mirror spin the audience and the performers to many other settings.

Director Rachel Chavkin has done an amazing and imaginative job uniting a powerful cast, wieldy musical numbers and dizzying plot into a coherent and enjoyable if lengthy production (Act I runs one and a half hours.) Lempicka is a musical on the grand scale; bravo to everyone involved!

REVIEW: Williamstown Theater Festival, The Member of the Wedding

Williamstown Theater Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through Aug. 19, 2018

by Stuart W. Gamble

Carson McCullers’ timeless, poignant drama, “The Member of the Wedding” (based on the 1946 novel) is given a fresh revival at WTF this summer. This newly mounted production deserves much praise for its sensitive performances.

Photo by Daniel Rader

Set in the American South in August, 1945 in a small town, the play unfolds leisurely like a torrid afternoon, whose blazing heat is tempered by splashes of refreshing humor as cool as a glass of ice cold lemonade. Berenice Sadie Brown (Roslyn Ruff), the African- American housekeeper of the Adams family (no, not That Adams family), spends nearly the entire play cooking in the tiny kitchen trying to quell the pressing anxiety of her charge, 12-year old Frankie (Tavi Gevinson). The youngster is an outsider constantly questioning Berenice about the inequities and injustices that surround them, in their small town and in the world. The third member of this existentially-challenged club is Frankie’s younger cousin and neighbor John Henry (Logan Schuyler Smith), whose impressionable nature contrasts beautifully with Frankie’s intellectualism.

This triad of characters provide the heart and soul of McCullers’ play in balanced and assured performances. Ruff’s portrays a strong-willed and loving maternal figure; neither too soft or too hard. Her honesty and warmth are lovingly conveyed to both Frankie and John Henry. Gevinson’s Frankie at first comes across as abrasive and almost obnoxious, but later she evolves into a gentle and thoughtful young woman, displaying both her skill as an actor and McCullers’ perceptive characterization. Finally, Smith’s John Henry is a joy to behold. A truly natural performer; this young actor demonstrates great daring and risk, especially in the scenes where he dons Frankie’s pink fairy costume. Indeed, the story touches on the contemporary issue of sexual identity, both in Frankie’s boyish behavior (and her navy crewcut hair) and John Henry’s aforementioned playfulness.

The cast is rounded out by three other central characters: Berenice’s beau T.T. Williams (Leon Addison Brown), her foster brother Honey Camden Brown (Will Cobbs), and Frankie’s alcoholic father (James Waterston). The actors depicting the men offer three faces of Pre-Civil Rights American South -- the obliging, but no less strong black man (Brown); the fed-up with racial inequality black man (Cobbs); and the inherently racist white man (Waterston). All express integrity and honesty in their portrayals of rather one-dimensional characters. Much praise must be given to Director Gaye Taylor Upchurch’s skill in eliciting fine performances from all the, which in lesser hands, could come across as pretentious and overly poetic.

Laura Jellinek’s set design is simple and historically accurate. The small downstage left kitchen is literally dwarfed by the towering clapboard backdrop. Metaphorically, this seems to be saying that the outside world constantly and threateningly looms over the three principal characters’ claustrophobic existence.

REVIEW/PREVIEW: A Week of Berkshires’ Theatre/ July-August, 2018

by Shera Cohen

Seared

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

Photo by Daniel Rader

Unfortunately, this mini-review of “Seared” must be written in the past tense, as the run of this amazingly delicious play ended on August 4th. Written by the prolific Theresa Rebeck, the comedy was intended for anyone who eats – in other words, everyone.

“Seared” literally and figuratively sizzled with luscious dialogue in rapid pace. The lead actors portraying co-owners of a restaurant (Hoon Lee and Michael Esper), oftentimes standing at opposite sides of a long food preparation table, seemed to play a ping-pong of words on speed. Their fights were peppered with salty language, as one would expect in the tightly choreographed work in a restaurant kitchen. WTF staff selected well, serving “Seared” as one of its main dishes for its 2018 season.

A relatively new play, written in 2016, here’s hoping that “Seared” soon finds many more audiences.

Creditors

Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA

www.shakespeare.org

through Aug. 12, 2018

Photo by Nile Scott Studio

Based on a play in the late 1800’s by August Strindberg, the only problem is its title. Perhaps a direct translation of the original, it doesn’t quite work in this dark comedy about revenge, relationships, and retribution.

Three of Shakespeare & Company’s top actors – Jonathan Epstein, Kristen Wold, and Ryan Winkles – take the stage at the Bernstein Theatre on the set of an 1889 artist studio. Epstein’s older gentleman portrays an erstwhile mentor to Winkles naïve sculptor. Enter Wold as a globe-trotting sophisticated woman of means, whose relationship with her young husband (sculptor) is atypically convenient for her alone.

The mystery of the play lasts approximately four minutes in. However, the execution of the secret, with twists and turns, is the crux of the story. Epstein portrays a master manipulator with Winkles as putty in his hands. In a role that’s quite new to the latter (Winkles usually stars in comedies), the actor proves his versatility. As for Wold – she can do anything onstage, and always to perfection.

The Chinese Lady

Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield, MA

www.barringtonstage.org

through Aug. 11, 2018

In 1834, the first female Chinese immigrant, Afong Moy, was sold…American traders in order to “perform” on Broadway. She is purely an exotic object to be gawked at in the same manner [as other circus acts]. Lloyd Suh’s play tells Afong Moy’s true story. “The Chinese Lady” is performed at the BSC’s smaller St. Germain Stage, a perfect venue for this intimate, two-person production. [Review by Rebecca Phelps continues HERE)

The Petrified Forest

Berkshire Theatre Group, Stockbridge, MA

www.berkshiretheatregroup.org

through Aug. 25, 2018

David Auburn knows his way around words, a good story, and onstage action to build an exciting, heart-pounding theatrical experience. In “The Petrified Forest” at BTG, he masterfully maneuvers a strong 13-member cast through Robert Sherwood’s rich dialog and seething emotions for a contemporary reflection on timeless themes that combine humor, intelligence, desire, and violence. [Review by Jarice Hanson continues HERE) 

UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS

Dangerous House, Williamstown Theatre Festival

This new play by Jen Silverman asks what one woman can do for her people, for her nation, and for the love of her life.

Mothers & Sons, Shakespeare & Company

In this funny and moving piece, Tony Award-winning playwright Terence McNallys sharp dialogue illustrates how reconciling loss and transgression can reveal the enduring nature of love.

West Side Story, Barrington Stage Company

While Leonard Bernstein’s hit musical and Academy Award-winning movie of modern-day “Romeo and Juliet,” audiences never grow tired of this poignant story.

Sister Mary Ignatius…, Berkshire Theatre Group

Harriet Harris stars in this farcical, raucous comedy production which is directed by Matthew Penn and written by prolific playwright by Christopher Durang.

REVIEW: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Artney Jackson

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through July 22, 2018

by Shera Cohen

Bravo to Williamstown Theatre Festival for a season full of world premieres, one of which is “Artney Jackson” by James Anthony Tyler.

The story represents a contemporary slice of life, in an oft-seen location, with people who you encounter every day, and conversation about mundane tales, and gossip. Sound familiar? Picture the boring break room at a cable television, six employees, a refrigerator, vending machine, and not much more. Except for a table and chairs in the center, the focus is the characters – four men and two women, various ages, none of whom are high on the ladder to success, all African-American.

“Artney” is a pleasant little play, reflecting the period of one workweek, and 90-minutes in length. It’s not a story that audience members will ponder after exiting the theatre. But, that’s okay. There’s always joy in watching fine acting, especially by young actors; i.e. Joshua Boone, Christopher Livingston, and Alfie Fuller.

Ray Anthony Thomas

Ray Anthony Thomas, in the role of Artney, portrays head of the break room, father figure, and regular guy. In the lead role, Thomas, along with Director Laura Savia, is giving to his fellow actors, permitting each to prove his/her gift of talent. Thomas, a Broadway actor, quickly becomes the conduit who the other characters respect.

“Artney” stands on the edge of cliché, but never falls. Much of the very humorous chit-chat dialog meanders into serious territory; i.e. the fragility of parenting an adult schizophrenic, “acceptance” of age vs. youth in the employment milieu, and the bravado of making it alone in the world.  The six actors cause their audience to root for their characters, knowing that there will be bumps along the way for each.

REVIEW: Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Closet

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through July 14, 2018

by Jarice Hanson

The story’s action takes place in Scranton, at the Good Shepard Catholic Supply Warehouse. Allen Moyer’s set establishes the desperate local economy with religious iconography. When flamboyant Ronnie arrives to rent a part of the recently divorced Martin’s house, he suggests to other employees he and Martin are really gay lovers. This way, if Martin is fired, the company could be in for some bad press. Political correctness, stereotypes, and expectation of identity are teased out through mistaken impressions, past desires, and ultimately, honestly owning up to who you are.

The story, adapted by Douglas Carter Beane from the play and movie “Le Placard” (The Closet) written and directed by Francis Veber is billed as a satire, but Director Mark Brokaw has chosen to interpret the story more like a French farce.  There are some brilliant lines and character interaction, but there is a structural weakness that causes the story to veer away from social commentary and result in dialog that is campy and trite. This unevenness is evident in the way the characters decide to go to a Bacharach-David karaoke event, only to come to work the next day in full 1970s garb. Somehow the office has miraculously become decorated with lights, glitter, and psychedelia, for no other reason than to see actress Jessica Hecht in a mini-skirt.

Despite the weaknesses in the script, which I think are largely due to translating a French property to an American setting, the cast gives the show an energy that is entertaining, if not completely fulfilling. Matthew Broderick plays Martin as a milquetoast. He and Brooks Ashmanskas, with over-the-top gay exaggeration, are a well-matched odd couple. Ann Harada plays the token Asian in the company and Ben Ahlers as Martin’s son effectively finds his dad a hero, once he is believed to be gay. Will Cobbs as the boss’ son convincingly plays a repressed gay man, and Raymond Bokhour’s stage presence as a Bishop from the Vatican is impressive even though he has to deliver some of the weakest dialogue.

Brokaw is wise to direct Jessica Hecht as the submissive office worker holding a torch for Martin. She is most often (literally) center stage, and every one of Hecht’s moves has purpose and meaning. When other parts of the story become muddled, all you need to do is look at her and intentional meaning becomes clearer.

Actually

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.WTFestival.org

through August 20, 2017

by Jarice Hanson

There’s a new trend in pre-show music I’m not crazy about. I’ve attended three shows recently that envelop you in a barrage of techno-sound amped up to an annoying decibel level as you search for your seat and wait for the action to begin. I don’t think this is being done to please the hard-of-hearing. I suspect it’s a weak appeal to a younger audience. When Amber, the female half of this two-hander launched into non-stop chatter my annoyance meter started to peak into the red zone. Certainly, the play, “Actually,” reflects the lives of young people facing their first adult situation, but surely there must be more to a play than whiny people and loud music.

Fortunately, the script has much more going for it, and the two actors, Alexandra Socha (Amber) and Joshua Boone (Tom) are engaging, believable, and fully committed. The location is “Mostly Princeton University” and the time “the present and the past.” Tom is a handsome African American man from a modest background. He is the more charismatic of the two. Amber is a little harder to like. She’s the stereotypical privileged white girl who is a mediocre squash player, because she knows that even a mediocre squash player is an important slot to fill in college. She chatters non-stop and can’t decide whether her favorite book is “Gone Girl” or “The Iliad.” They meet in their first year at Princeton and what evolves is a “did they” or “didn’t they” have consensual sex? True of contemporary college life, alcohol plays a role in distorting their true accounts of what happened.

The set is spare and the movement sparer. Lines are primarily directed to the audience, but when the characters interact, the explosions compel you to watch. Despite the grim theme of the play, there are some genuine funny lines, like “Jews and Blacks have a lot in common. Neither like camping.”

Anna Ziegler is a young playwright who has already had a number of major successes. This show and cast will be headed to the Manhattan Theatre Club this fall, and while the show is ready for New York, I do question whether this is the type of play that will appeal to a younger audience. It may be too real for them.

A Legendary Romance

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through August 20, 2017

by Michael J. Moran

Photo by Daniel Rader

This iconic summer festival is far more identified with straight plays than with musical theatre, but its winning world-premiere production of “A Legendary Romance,” with music and lyrics by British pop songwriter Geoff Morrow and a book by film and television writer Timothy Prager, suggests that it should venture into this genre more often.

Flashing between 1950, when film director Joseph Lindy was making hit movies with love-of-his-life starlet Billie Hathaway, and 1994, when he must approve a younger producer’s revision of Lindy’s unfinished masterpiece, this story of the Hollywood blacklist era, when Senator Joseph McCarthy was leading anti-Communist witch hunts, explores how, as the show’s director, Lonny Price, told the Boston Globe, “we all reinvent our history to some degree…in a way to make peace with what’s happened to us.”

James Noone’s imaginative scenic design is dominated by a large screen, where the opening scene plays the dramatic close of Lindy’s “A Legendary Romance” as re-imagined 44 years later by another’s vision and viewed with consternation by an older but not yet wiser Lindy. Price makes smart use of the two-level set to reinforce the cinematic scope of this scene and to keep the audience on edge as live stage action alternates with big screen footage throughout both acts.

Silver-haired Broadway actor Jeff McCarthy, familiar to Berkshire theatergoers from his frequent Barrington Stage appearances, brings the perfect balance of gravitas, comic timing, and powerful singing to Lindy. Lora Lee Gayer gives Billie an intriguing mix of innocence and jadedness, adding a welcome touch of noir to “You Didn’t Call, You Didn’t Write.” Maurice Jones is effectively brash as the revisionist producer, and in a dual role Roe Hartrampf nicely connects the swagger of Vincent Connor with the guile of Seth Maurer.

On first hearing, Morrow’s full-blooded score serves the grand scale of the story and its larger-than-life characters by underlining the fast-paced action but staying out of its way. Tracy Christensen’s resourceful costume design, Robert Wierzel’s sensitive lighting design, and Charlie Rosen’s crack eight-piece band further enhance a strong ensemble that should give this impressive production a wide future life.

Where Storms Are Born

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through July 23, 2017

By Barbara Stroup

Photo by Daniel Rader

The presentation of a brand new play takes some institutional courage, especially in a setting like the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where the season is short and the sixty-three season reputation is stellar. There is nothing shaky about “Where Storms Are Born” by Harrison David Rivers - a tight, true work from a voice that seems secure and authentic. The audience meets a mother and son just past a crisis, adjusting to a recent loss while discovering both individual strengths and the strength that comes from family bonds.

The creation of complex characters seems to flow from Mr. Rivers’ pen, drawing the viewer into both the family and the situation. In Bethea, his writing reveals layer after layer of a mother’s grief, humor, and inner resources.  Myra Lucretia Taylor is amazing in this key role – humorous, poignant, maternal and just plain believable. Her sons, Myles and Gideon, were ably acted by Christopher Livingston and LeRoy McClain.

Although the themes of wrongful incarceration, prison death, single parenting, and gay relationships have currency and newsworthiness, this is not a “campaign” play. The almost all-white audience seemed to have no difficulty identifying with the ups and downs of the on-stage family. There was just the right mix of humor to leaven the serious side, especially in Joniece Abbott-Pratt’s portrayal of a best friend aptly named Worthy. The dance sequence was a happy highlight.

Staging was minimal and effective use of a table at center stage allowed the frequent scene shifts to be seamless. The fire escape that dominated the set was where the brothers bonded, allowing the audience to see unusual and welcome expressions of tenderness between two men of color.

A play like this is why theater matters; we go sit in the dark to meet characters like this, and we leave thinking more fully about them, and even thirsting to know more of their journeys.