Guitarist Richard Thompson

Mahaiwe, Great Barrington, MA
www.mahaiwe.org
by Eric Sutter

Cool and contented in the later warmth of a fall day, guitar legend Richard Thompson appeared on the Mahaiwe stage bringing his mix of love songs and dexterous acoustic guitar stylings to a loyal audience of followers on his and their journey of life.

Thompson's aura was pulsing in a knowing way, with a gracious but amusing passion that flowed. Known as a pioneer in folk-rock circles as a founding member of the British band Fairport Convention, he continually referenced early memories paired with more recent ones. He is particularlyl renowned for amazing fingerstyle guitaring. Gifted beyond belief, Thompson is noted on Rolling Stone magazine's Top 20 guitarists of all time.

"Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" harkened back to the 60's. Thompson's singing and sense of melody are as unique as his lyrics -- he is different than your average pop singer because of his background in the rich tradition of Celtic music. At one point, he picked an album title out of his trademark beret and sang three songs from it: from "1000 Years of Popular Music" he performed an Italian folk song, "So Ben Mi Ca Bon Tempo" by Corazio Vecchi; "Blackleg Miners" from folk songs of British folk singers; and the rock number "A Legal Matter" by Pete Townshend. He easily sang a sea shanty ("Johnny's Far Away on the Rollin' Sea") as his own work ("Persuasion").

Thompson's skill at intricate guitar playing was evident on his well loved "Vincent Black Lightning 1952," about star-crossed lovers James and Red Molly. The powerfully sung "Crawl Back (Under My Stone)" from 1999's "Mock Tudor" was a perfect example of late-20th century angst. Sometimes twisted, he performed "Stumble On" from his latest CD, "Dream Attic." He then launced into the 1991 MTV hit "I Feel So Good." His love of sound was like a rush from the past that pleased this audience.

Rock On! Broadway

Springfield Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall, Springfield, MA
www.SpringfieldSymphony.org
by Eric Sutter

With Kevin Rhodes conducting, the opening Springfield Symphony Pops concert of the 68th season was right on! Featuring music from the best Rock musicals of the 70's and 80's, the orchestra was challenged to perform. The "Chess" overture set the mood. The rest of the great evening followed.

Broadway musicals were changed forever in 1968 when "Hair" debuted. Soprano Sarah Uriarte Berry and tenor Ron Bohmer gave an empowered "Aquarius." A nicely done "Easy To Be Hard" featured a lovely Berry  as solo. Bohmer clowned as a long-haired hippie with his singing "Hair." Of course, they finished with a rousing "Let The Sun Shine In." Fantastic!

From "Tommy," the Symphony shined on "Overture" with that great opening electric guitar solo. Piano, horns and strings built tempo to a crescendo ending. The percussion was steamy. Berry sang "Smash The Mirror" in a Broadway shrill that wasn't quite effective with its too high pitch. Bohmer, as Tommy, was better with the thrilling "I'm Free" which resounded triumphantly.  The sound was excellent and lighting superb. A comical Rhodes joined both lead singers doing "The Time Warp" dance from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." By the end of the number, some of the audience engaged in dancing.

After intermission, the "Overture" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar" lead the second portion of the program. A solo by Berry, "I Don't Know How To Love Him," was pleasant, acknowledging why this number is a standout. Berry particularly showed her vocal skills in the slower numbers. The strings propelled "Gethsemane" with Bohmer in a heartfelt perfomance. The singers then paired up on the duet of "Seasons of Love" from "Rent." An offering from "Little Shop Of Horrors" was fun. "Godspell" provided a magnificent volley of music that the audience sang along to -- especially "Day By Day." Orchestra and vocalists reprised "Let The Sunshine In" with much singing and dancing. Rebuilding Springfield through the the arts never felt better. 

Wait Until Dark

Suffield Players, Suffield, CT
www.suffieldplayers.org
through October 29, 2011
by Shera Cohen

Suffield Players are particularly skilled at mounting murder mysteries. This play is the real thing, edge of your seat two hours of theatre. After the final applause, the audience leaves with the communal feeling of exhaustion. That is a powerful statement of cause and effect. The troupe accomplish exactly as planned for “Wait Until Dark.”

The play’s title succinctly describes the plot. Our heroine is a blind woman who is physically and figuratively in the dark. What happens to her in one day is a terrifying test of her metal. Susy unknowingly becomes entrenched in the middle of drug trafficking and murder as she is pitted against three strong sighted men.

Photo by Larry Bilanski

Karen Balaska’s phenomenal success in portraying Susy is her physicality. She plays blind with a capital “B.” Her stance, movement, and manipulation of props are perfect. At the start, Balaska’s character is plucky and naïve. We see gradual changes as her intelligence and inner sight dominate. Susy’s motivation to stay strong and fight is first and foremost for love of her husband. However, Danny Viets is miscast as a too-young and too strict mate, making Susy’s emotional commitment confusing. But Balaska makes us believe.

The first two villains on the scene are portrayed by Bill Mullen (Mike, faux friend of the husband) who effectively becomes the big lug bad guy with a conscience, and Zach Grey (Sergeant Carlino) who plays smugness well. Enter Konrad Rogowski (Harry Roat) as “the brains” of the operation. Rogowski’s acting is the epitome of super psycho intellect. Roat is a relentless crazed man. Young Emma Rucci (teen neighbor) does a fine job as Susy’s smart and smart-alecky ally.

Director Robert Lunde could have taken the easy road on many scenes, particularly those set in pitch dark. Lunde introduces the play, telling his audience that some sections will be completely black. So, it’s not a spoiler to write about the success of these unseen scenes. A  lesser production might have resorted to sound effects to cover up the action taking place in the dark.  Instead, the undoubtedly battered and bruised actors, running on a small stage in the dark (Balaska and Rogowski in particular), and the less battered director, treat the audience to a realistic, powerful ending.

Creole Choir of Cuba

UMass Fine Arts Center, Amherst, MA
www.fineartscenter.com
by Emily List

The Creole Choir of Cuba was a collaborative effort on the part of 10 singers and dancers to share their Haitian descent through the arts.The performers’ ancestors were brought to Cuba as slaves, and the choir sings their stories of survival, homesickness, hope and freedom in the Creole language. The troop returned to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, with the intention of healing through song and dance and with the belief that “music is like food. It feeds the spirit and is a major inspiration for every day life.” 

Though the performers’ themes touched on dark periods of their history, the choir members celebrated the present with rich harmonies, Caribbean rhythms and vibrant colored costumes. Bongo drums, cowbells and whistles were used as rhythmic backdrop, though the men provided most of that with their deep base voices, while the women layered on high pitched vibratos and harmonies.

The concert exuded a Latin vibe, and choir members reached out to the audience through call and response and salsa like movement. The music undulated through the bodies of both performers and spectators, some of whom made their way shimmying and hip grinding on to the stage. They joined the choir as they swept their arms through the air, waving beautifully died scarves.

The concert’s atmosphere was bright and informal. Members of the ensemble chatted nonchalantly between numbers, as if attending a weekend farmers’ market. Their playful dynamic spread through the concert hall, as women and men harmonized, flirted and moved together as one. Though they don’t speak English, the choir members offered the audience a special gift—their English rendition of “Unforgettable.”  

The performers told the audience that their music comes from the heart, but there was no need to say so: the audience could feel it.  

Rent

Exit 7 Players, Ludlow, MA
www.exit7players.org
through October 16, 2011
by Eric Sutter

Jonathan Larson's Tony Award winning and ground breaking musical "Rent," about a group of struggling Bohemian artists on NYC's Lower East Side, revvs up the stage and the emotions at  is Exit 7. This intensely entertaining production is a colossal undertaking by director Meghan Lynn Allen and musical director Bill Martin. It's a mixed-up, muddled up, shook-up world with themes of sexuality, AIDS, and the ravages of poverty. The intricate story is convoluted with many sub plots that turn delightfully, revealing various love connections. The set is simple with emphasis on  music and dance. It simmered and seared with high voltage edgy rock numbers and challenging choreography by Amy Meek.

Lead characters Mark (Josiah Durham) and Roger (Michael Lorenzo) must be carefully followed. Roger is a singer/songwriter looking for his big break. Love and friendships are unveiled through song dialogue. Big numbers -- "Rent" and "Seasons of Love" -- livened every cell in one's body. Relationship songs such as "You Okay Honey" with Angel (Michael Garcia) and Collins (Joshua Osborne), "Light My Candle" with Roger and Mimi (Kyle Boatright), and "Tango Maureen" with Mark and Joanne (Christine Greene) were loving fun and helped develop characters' personalities. "On the Street," a passionate full company number, featured a big voice stand-out by Blanket Lady (Susan Duncan). Maureen (Nikki Wadleigh) turned out the humorous "Over the Moon," which coaxed the audience to "Moo." Act I closed with the over the top "La Vie Boheme" in high fashion.

The plot thickens in Act II as the characters' emotional baggage becomes weighty. Steamy duets ensue with "Take Me Or Leave Me" between Maureen and Joanne, and "Without You" with Roger and Mimi. "Contact" features Angel, who hasproven to be a firm testament to the strength of the human spirit. After Angels' AIDS death, Collins sings "I'll Cover You" backed by a powerhouse group ensemble vocal. "Goodbye Love" finds Roger, Mimi and Benny(Silk Johnson) in a heated love triangle. "Your Eyes" is Roger's love song to Mimi -- watch for her strange twist of fate. There is no day but today!

This powerful musical is chock full of strong language; it is intended for mature audiences.

Opening Night Gala

Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Springfield, MA
www.springfieldsymphony.org
October 1, 2011
by Michael J. Moran

The Springfield Symphony Orchestra opened its 2011-2012 season with a program of three pieces by Russian composers, an “electrically charged…genre that has proven to be one of our strong suits” in the past, according to Music Director Kevin Rhodes in a program note.

After a rousing performance, with enthusiastic audience participation, of “The Star-Spangled Banner” to mark the start of a new season, the concert proper began with Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Russian Easter Overture.” A colorful blend of Russian Orthodox chants with the composer’s exotic harmonies and orchestration, the piece made special demands on the brass and percussion sections, all of whom rose to the occasion with gusto.

The Tchaikovsky “Violin Concerto” reunited Rhodes and the SSO with soloist Axel Strauss for the first time since he played the Mendelssohn “Concerto in E minor” with them 11 years ago. In 1998, Strauss became the first German artist to win the Naumburg Violin Award. Now in his mid-30’s, he has lived in the United States since 1996 and teaches violin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

While fully meeting its technical challenges, Strauss gave the Concerto a richly Romantic interpretation, drawing out the first movement cadenza to broad lyrical effect, along with the second movement Canzonett. The appreciative audience jumped to their feet after his thrilling rendition of the folk-inspired finale.

A brilliant performance of Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 5 in D minor” followed intermission. Rhodes reminded the audience that this 1937 piece was not an example of “art for art’s sake” but, in the composer’s words, “a Soviet artist’s reply to just criticism” of several of his earlier works by government authorities. With the entire orchestra playing marvelously in all four movements, the symphony’s links to the Russian historical tradition were also clear, especially in the intense Largo movement, which evoked the slow movements of Tchaikovsky’s fifth and Rachmaninoff’s second symphonies.

The Maestro’s famously kinetic style of conducting was on full display throughout the evening, and the positive energy of this opening night promised a great season ahead.

The Best of Enemies

Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield, MA
www.barringtonstageco.org
October 5 – 16, 2011
by Shera Cohen

Based on the fact that Mark St. Germain is the playwright is reason enough to make a point of attending “The Best of Enemies.” St. Germain’s “Freud’s Last Session” was such a phenomenal hit at Barrington that it has moved to off-Broadway. The same may soon be said about “Enemies.”

Photo by Kevin Sprauge

The play is a true story of life in Durham, NC in the early 1970’s when the divisions between races and classes were not simple lines in the sand, but high stone walls – unable to be climbed or torn down. Color and money dictated government and particularly the school system. The story’s focus is the relationship between Ann Atwater, a hard-core elderly black woman whose only fears are the future of children, and E.P. Ellis, a strong and purposeful man who is proud of his Klan membership. The two are complete opposites in every way possible: sex, race, age. But are they? Perhaps it is their economic status that very slowly chips at the wall.

Aisha Hinds and John Bedford Lloyd are superb in their roles. Clifton Duncan, as the young black mediator of the ongoing conflict, and Susan Wands, as Ellis’ down trodden intelligent wife, are the only other actors in this quartet. Both are strong in their roles.

So much is said with a small cast and sparse set. In fact, more would have been ineffective. Julianne Boyd directs “Enemies” in vignettes created by large slide backdrops floating in and out. At many points, particularly when the actors speak out to assemblies, the audience feels that it is part of a documentary, and not theatre attendees. The play runs 90-minutes. Thank goodness for no intermission, as it not only would have broken the chronological momentum, but more importantly, the visceral experience. How much more “real” can theatre feel?

Barrington Stage is one of the few theatres that dares to present some tough drama during each of its summer seasons. Music and comedy are the norm. Obviously, audiences accept the challenge of serious and actual events, which is why “Enemies” will be staged for an unexpected return in October.