BEIRUT

An issue with most theatre in this town is that it doesn’t dare to try anything new, it doesn’t offend, and certainly doesn’t stretch the minds of its audience or performers. Most plays and musicals and plays are fluff, which is respectable in its own right. It is pure entertainment and doesn’t mean anything. Directors often try to solve this problem by simply choosing tougher scripts, scripts that are edgy. But more often than not they are not directed correctly. This is not one of those cases.

Beirut is an intense script masterfully handled by director Bill Voorhees. It is performing at the Three Penny Theater at the California Stage Complex, one of the smallest in town, but it suits this piece so well. This show is raw and emotional and shows people at their worst.

David Campfield carefully plays main protagonist Torch. Campfield has been in many productions in the region, most notably Fool For Love at Capitol Stage. Jessica Neufeld who was previously brilliant in Keely & Du at ARC and also done a lot in the community. The combination of the two is explosive and correct. Their chemistry is intriguing and sexual. You have never seen live sexual tension like you will in this play. And while watching two beautiful people mostly naked (and sometimes fully) in the throes of passion is reason enough to see this play, it is just the cherry on top.

The setting is set in the “future”, in a world where we quarantine those who have tested positive from sexual disease, the problem has become so bad, sex has been outlawed. Okay, so the premise is a little out there, but they play it absolutely correctly and real. And in doing that, they say more about the topics of sex, HIV, AIDS, government, relationships, and love that has been seen in years in this city. The end of the play is painful, troubling, and leaves with a bad taste in your mouth that begs you not to applaud these horrible acts.

Now this wouldn’t be Pan A Play if I didn’t have some sour notes. If you can ding the actors on anything, it is dialects. Both accents from New York fade in and out as emotions do. The comedy of the piece doesn’t ring as loud as might be expected, and even if something is funny you feel a bit odd laughing in such an intense small space.

Overall the performances are excellent, the chemistry and tension is perfect, and you will never be bored. This is the type of theatre we need to support. This is definitely an 18 and older show though. Don’t bring the kiddies.

Oh right, panaplay… mashup review!

Again. Apologies for the silence here on panaplay. Here we will recount a number of shows that have been seen in the past few months in Sacramento.

Some have more details, and some don’t need or deserve them

Metamorphoses at Sac State

Richard Bay is an amazing puppeteer and builder and he created a beautiful show. By far, the best aspects of the play were the stunning puppets. Visually, this is one of the best things in the area recently. The vision was fully realized down to the stilts, the fabrics, lights and of course the live bassist Ben McClara. But on a separate note, acting was occasionally an issue in this play. The problem players were as follows. Melissa Melancon; miscast, no energy, and looked uncomfortable on stage. Colby Salmon, “acty”, trying too hard, and there was very little to like about any of his characters.

The highlights though include John Gregory Young in the Hunger sequence. The ents on stilts, the puppets, getting sucked into the bed, and his hunger were all perfectly done. Also, Kyle Stampfli and Laura Lothian in Orpheus and Eurydice. Solid committed job done by everyone on stage. The dance portions were done brilliantly. The standout portion of the show is the boat scene. It was beautiful.

The main problem of the show is why they used Colby Salmon and Shane Edward Turner (who was previously terrible in Batboy) in nearly all lead man parts. Shane, who was much better in Meta than in Batboy, was fine, but there was a stage full of competent men, so why did they double up so much?

All in all, Sac State has been doing a great job with their theatre program as of late. A bit of awkward acting, yes. But the past few shows have been solid. With Richard Bay and Michelle Felton, and a handful of fine actors, Tygar Hicks, Brian Rife, Amanda Morish, and David Chernovsky.  Keep it up! References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot was a hot mess though. Rumor has it they are doing The Wiz next year? o_O

Magic Circle Civic Theater West?

Smokey Joe’s Cafe

Not a bad choice for Magic Circle. Pepper Von should stick to choreography. His voice is… bad. Ryan Allen (Big River at Magic Circle) was Amazing. Jammy Bulaya (Footloose at ARC) is a solid talent and he will be big in the community.The costumes are perhaps the very worst in the community. THE SILVER JACKETS. Elise Reese is always fabulous. Nick Adorno seemed awkward and out of place. They have come a long way since Cabaret and Oklahoma!

Swing

Perfect show for the audience, maybe the best thing since ragtime. Dancing and Choreo was spot on. Ensemble is better than the leads by far.

Big Idea Theatre

Almost, Maine

REAL GOOD. Big Idea has been working real hard lately. This show was adorable and makes you smile. Shannon Mahoney is an obvious standout, who was stunning in Streetcar. The set is very effective and made for the best scene transitions. Accents were on and off, they are supposed to be in Maine. Not Canada, not California, and certainly not the south. The over actor who played Randy was the low light of a pretty good show. The Nothern lights looked awful still.

I’d hate to disagree with Louella, I wouldn’t say BIT chooses “edgy material”. Almost, Maine? Streetcar? Dancing at Lughnasa? Deathtrap? Shakespeare without ridiculous concepts? not too edgy. Big Idea is coming along very nicely, now only if the seats were more comfortable…

American River College

Terrible written murder mysteries?. WHY are you choosing awful shows ARC??? Philadelphia Story is a better choice, Lead Brittaleigha Baskerville is a phenomenal actor though, not quite a comedic one, she was perfection in both Footloose and Children of Light last year. These had THE MOST beautiful set and costumes I have seen in this community. Pick better shows that are more interesting and I’ll give a damn about them. Both shows were fine if not boring. I wasn’t overtly offended by most any of the acting. Jacob Vukcinich previously of Sac City played a ridiculously old man with a voice that is liken to the sound of a vuvuzela , which was funny, but not appropriate for the style. Anna Russel-Madonia seemed to be playing a caricature of a bratty 10 year old.

Sac City

Berlin to Broadway

Stop doing musicals. That’s all. Moreover, Christine Nicholson and Luther Hanson need to stop casting themselves and each other in their shows. It is a school with students auditioning right?? Yet teachers get good roles? No other School does that.

Cant wait to take my bottle of wine over to land park and drunkenly watch the train wreck that is Sacramento Shakespeare Festival. We will surely have some good fodder from Midsummer and Othello.

Sorry to be brief, we have a long summer of a lot of theatre to see.

Shakespeare festival, Othello and Midsummer

Curtains at Runaway

Pirates of Penzance at CTW

Minnies Boys at Fair Oaks

As You Like it at California Stage

What else do we need to see???

Magic Circle

Magic Circle is now Civic Theatre West… What the hell?? West of what?

Panning Pan

Peter Pan: A British Panto directed by Luther Hanson

I have to start out by saying that this show is not the “black hole” I heard it described as. In fact, it was mostly what a Panto ought to be: frivolous, ridiculous antics with topical humor for both adults and kids. But here’s my beef, well, the first bit at least: Is this a beneficial type of production for an educational theatre? What skills are students gaining from this experience? Besides being exposed to a form of theatre rarely produced (especially in the U.S.), I don’t see a lot of educational value. But I don’t suppose most audiences care about the educational value of the production. Here’s the real review.

The biggest problem with this show is simple: the script. I can’t help but wonder when Christine Nicholson actually did her adaptation. Is this script ten years old? Because all the jokes are. Characters are based on The Spice Girls, The Backstreet Boys, and The X-Files’ Mulder and Scully. At one point kids (all under 10 years old) were called up on stage and asked to do the Macarena. Did they really expect those kids to know dance moves that died a horribly embarrassing death back in 1996?! There were a few newer jokes thrown in, such as “Pantoland’s Got Talent” and when Tankerbell interrupted the winner’s speech a la Kanye West. But in general, most of the jokes fell flat. Also, the story moved at a snail’s pace. Did they really need to spend so much time throwing candy to the audience? A show that was said to be approximately two hours (according to the curtain speech) was almost three. Shakespeare’s the only one allowed to do that… Now, I know Peter Pan. It is one of my favorite stories and I’ve seen everything from the Mary Martin production to Finding Neverland. I actually got lost and couldn’t figure out the story. Shouldn’t I at least be able to figure out what is going on? Also, there were a few too many musical numbers. “Pantoland’s Got Talent” went on way too long and unnecessarily repeated material from earlier in the show.

Moving on, there were some nice tech elements that were really working for this production. First off, the set, designed by Shawn Weinsheink, was one of the best I’ve ever seen at City Theatre. It was creative, functional and beautiful without being distracting. The costumes, designed by Nicole Sivell, were, as ever, pretty darn bad. But due to the style of the show, I didn’t mind as much this time. My biggest costume issue was the inconsistency of design. The Spice Girls looked like The Spice Girls. Smee-cial Agents Skuller and Moldy wore trench coats. But John/Paul and George/Ringo wore pajamas a la John and Michael Darling and looked nothing like the Beatles. It was just one more reason why that particular joke fell flat. The most creative tech element that was working for this production was the flying. Can’t run fly wires? Not a problem! Techies just enter in blacks and actors climb onto their shoulders. Problem solved in a wonderfully creative and funny way!

Now for what you’ve all been waiting for: the Performances! Surprisingly lacking stage time were the two characters most expected in a show entitled Peter Pan:  Peter Pan (Amelia Van Brunt) and Captain Hook (Nick Gailbreath), but as I found them both fantastically boring, they’re lack of presence wasn’t that disappointing.  They both lacked energy, and the moment they ceased to speak they practically disappeared. In fact, the only thing that stood out about Van Brunt’s performance was a rather impressive belch.  The lack of energy shown by these two actors was only topped by the completely lackluster performance of Robert Born as George/Ringo (aka Michael Darling). I’ve never seen someone perform as if they were sleepwalking before!

But it’s all ok, because Megan O’Laughlin (Wendy) had enough energy to cover her own performance and everyone else’s too! I’ve started a secret Megan O’Laughlin Fan Club. (Let me know if you want to join!) This girl is fantastic, if not a little green, but she gets better every time I see her. City Theatre is treating her well and she’s been getting some good roles recently, but she really needs to get out of City and face a greater challenge. Her performance as Wendy could have used some more character work, but I’ve seen some killer character work from her in the past, so I’m passing this one off as a director failing.

And I can’t fail to mention Doug Lawson (Tankerbell) and Trina Palmer (Buttons).  Both delivered wonderful characters in true Panto style. However, most of the sluggish points of the show happened when these two were on stage with just each other, so riffing isn’t their strong suit.

There were also some nice moments provided by Victoria Alvarez-Chacon (Pirate Lil P), Anthony Person (Lost Boy Trip) and Mar-y-sol Pasquiers (SpiceGirl Tweety-Spice). These actors are the quintessential ensemble members. They took stage when they needed to and provided great background when others were in focus, but never lacked energy or dropped character. Kudos!

Overall, this was a bit of fun frivolity. Not necessarily my favorite style of theatre, but I believe it fulfilled its intentions.



Review: Footloose (ARC)

Since we just cant seem to get enough FOOTLOOSE in this community… which I am not going to try and understand, the show is not that great, the main conflict isn’t even addressed until the end of act 1. But regardless, ARC did a pretty good job with it.

Director Sam Williams is a better choreographer than a director, so doing a dance show seemed fitting. The show opens with a hot Chicago dance number to Footloose and transitions into the church of Beaumont, Texas seamlessly. Jammy Bulaya stars as Ren, he fits the role perfectly, he is convincing, he can sing, and he can dance. No problems here. Oh, and he is beautiful. I just wish he had more dancing to do in the show. You may have previously seen him in Children of Light at California Stage as Orestes.

I know what you all want to hear, so lets just start off with the bad. Chuck Kranston played by Brady Hollis. He was just awful in most every way; from his awkward lurching walk onto the stage to his strained thin voice trying his damedest to hit the wrong notes. “The Girl Gets Around” was painful for everyone involved. I felt bad for Ariel having to kiss him, the awkwardness was tangible. Moreover, the casting for Chuck’s posse was odd, it was a group of the least intimidating men who were apparently the bad boys.

Another sour note to the production was Reverend Shaw played by Micheal Jones, whom I was surprised to see in the ARC version opposed to Runaway’s seeing as though he has mostly been some who works with RSP. His acting was mostly fine, but his voice was simply not up to par for the role.

The best number is of the show “I Need a Hero”, partly due to the fact that Ariel(Christine D. Alvarez) sang the hell out of it, but mostly due to the trio of three girls. Rebecca Scolnick (Previously of FOTF’s Fantastics), Sammie Carson, and Monica Wright(who was previously the best thing about Oklahoma! in Magic Circle’s abysmal production). This Greek chorus brought a lot of energy and humor to the show.

Another problem with this production was the enormous ensemble, you could have easily cut 6 people out and I wouldn’t have noticed and the production would have been tighter. A few people from the ensemble did really shine through though, The taller guy in a cutoff shirt who did most all the partner lifts and such, the boyish girl dressed in a sweatshirt who wears a tux at the end, and a darker skinned girl with curly hair who wears red in the cowboy scene. All good chorus members, who subtly added something to the show. Not to mention Brittaleigha Baskerville(also from Children of Light) who plays Betty Blast is the exact definition of a good cameo, she had the audience rolling due to her falling all over the stage on her rolling skates. And her part was capped nicely by the tap number in the finale.

Highlights of the show are also Willard (Kris Reyes) in “Mama Says”, Ren’s rap appeal to the town council, and the fact that they redefined what “finale” means. the last 25 minutes of the show is just a ridiculous “megamix” and a dance routine that has nothing to do with the show, but I am not complaining. This was one of the most entertaining parts of the show.

And this was also the best I have ever Heard ARC’s band, which was absolutely TERRIBLE in Jekyll & Hyde last year, whatever changed keep it up.

review: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (and Mr. Hyde and Mr. Hyde and Mr. Hyde)

When I first heard that City Theatre was producing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this fall a few things crossed my mind: “Oh, yes. Sacramento theatre hasn’t seen THAT story lately…at RSP, ARC, and Music Circus.”, “LoriAnne DeLappe-Grondin really needs to direct another adaptation of a Victorian horror novel after last year’s abysmal Dracula.”, and “Four Hydes?! And Jekyll is played by another actor all together?!”…well my inner monologue is quite sarcastic.

So, I admit I walked into the theatre with less than high expectations, and as a result was pleasantly surprised: This was not the worst show I’ve ever seen at City Theatre.

That being said, it wasn’t very good either.  The number one problem was a lack of energy. The sustained driving force needed to tell this story simply wasn’t there. But there are exceptions to everything; in this case, Megan O’Laughlin (Mr. Hyde 1/Poole/Ensemble) gave a very energetic performance. She was fully engaged in every moment and made bold physical choices for her varying characters. Her portrayal of Poole was especially good.

However, O’Laughlin does fall into a trap I see often with City Theatre actors, especially Sac City trained actors: that of the flat character. (One demonic expression does not a character make.) No one is guiltier of this than Nick Gailbreath (Sir Danvers Carew). Now, I’m not a fan of Gailbreath’s, so I did throw up a little in my mouth when I read his name in the program, but this performance only cemented my previous evaluations of him as someone who believes acting is stalking around the stage in a huff and being an arrogant prick. Now, I’m aware that Carew isn’t a very likeable character, but he is a human none the less, and therefore multi-faceted. People are like onions, Nick, they have layers…or parfait! Everybody likes parfait!

And then there is Wade Lucas (Gabriel Utterson, Esq.). Well, I’ve got to give you kudos for trying. And trying and trying. And just working altogether too hard for something you should just BE. Oh, and learn your lines!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the three actors actually pictured on the poster, right? Well, the performances of George Sanford (Dr. Henry Jekyll), Amelia Van Brunt (Elizabeth Jelkes), Ben Moroski (Mr. Hyde 3/Ensemble) were all…fine. Nothing terrible (except maybe the accents, but I’ll get to that later), and nothing noteworthy. They were just…fine.

Why were there so many people on stage, just sitting along the cyclorama doing nothing? It was very distracting. This show could have easily been produced with 3 or 4 fewer actors. But here’s a mention of some it did need: John-Reilly Saunders (Mr. Sanderson/Inspector/Drunkard/Ensemble) was very funny as both the Inspector and the Drunkard, especially the juxtaposition of the two characters, but please, clean up your diction! It sucks. Jacob Vuksinich (Mr. Hyde 4/Student/Ensemble) creeps me out a little bit, I’ve got to say. But, this time it worked for him. And Dennis Beck (Dr. H. K. Lanyon) was very Scottish, and didn’t let anyone forget it.

Accents in general were bad. No one really nailed it. People slipped from region to region, sometimes dropping the accent all together. No one owned their dialect, period.

Costumes. Oh costumes, costumes, costumes. Once again, I find myself wondering if Nicole Sivell EVER took a design class, ever learned about character and script analysis, or ever even bothered to read the play she was designing. Van Brunt was dressed very beautifully, but in a dress totally inappropriate for her character and in a very different (jarringly so) color palate from the rest of the show. Perhaps it was a conscious choice, but I found it ineffective.

And on the note of technical elements, the lighting was very strange. Far too often people who needed to be in focus were in the dark and the cyc lighting was so bright all the focus went to the wrong area of the stage. Plus, there were shadows on faces in distracting (NOT dramatic) ways.  And what’s with lighting the escape of your “dead body”?  Way to break the illusion!

I think I just about covered everything…LoriAnn, we’ll all be looking forward to another poorly adapted Victorian horror novel next season. What do you have in store for us? Frankenstein?

Just saying…

How many productions of Footloose the musical do we need in Sacramento at pretty much the same time? Even one is probably too many. Why are RSP and ARC both doing it??

Shows to be reviewed soon:

Jekyll & Hyde- Sac City

Streetcar Named Desire- Big Idea

Footloose- ARC

Bat Boy- Sac State

thanks for reading everybody

Review: Big River

Magic Circle has a history of being rather craptastic, Oklahoma was not good and Cabaret was rather unbearable. But damned if Big River isn’t the exception to the rule. I was pretty pleasantly surprised by it. This is the type of show MCircle needs to be doing.

Even with the show being pretty OK, it of course still had its flaws. The show starts out with the long winded curtain speech by Brent Null, in which he boasts about Magic Circle’s record breaking 33 Elly nominations. Oh, How prestigious. This must be the very pinnacle of excellence in theatre. I had to stifle my chuckling. But on to the show at hand…

The show opens with a band on stage complete with fiddle, a nice tableau of the whole ensemble, and a simple but effective dance routine that leads back into it. Cute. Huck Finn is played by a newcomer to the MC main stage Kirk Lawson, he leads the cast surprisingly well for someone his age. His voice doesn’t blow you away but it is pleasant. Soon the audience is introduced to Tom Sawyer (Nick Adorno) and a group of guys who sing the number “the boys”. The issue with this scene is this is a group of some of the most effeminate men. the most masculine person on that stage was literally a girl. I understand that this is musical theatre and I cant expect every guy to act straight, but try a little bit please? There’s a time for pointed toes and pique turns and this was probably not that time.

Huck’s Pap played by Richard Spierto (in possibly the worst wig I have ever seen on a stage in my life) was slightly off putting, I know he is supposed to be a creep, but this was slightly uncomfortable. Similar to the feeling I got watching his absolutely weird performance as Oberon in Big Idea Theatre’s A Midsummer Nights Dream a while back. I still have nightmares about his green hair, eyebrows, and lips from that show.

Jim is played by Ryan Allen who has a terrific voice. Muddy Water is the best number of the show. His presence really aided the show, I found myself wanting a lot more of Jim.

Elise Reese is brilliant, she over does it a bit and is very well trained in DBA (dramatic black acting), but it works. She is an asset to the production.

This show has some strong performances but lets get to the bad; the tech. The costumes are lazy, the set is easy, and the lighting is just down right offensive. The lighting was a huge problem in this show, it makes the staging a problem too. Everything is staged at one of three spots down stage where there are overhead lights. The scrim is often back lit, which makes it utterly pointless. The tech is that of a poor high school production. Come on Magic Circle, you know better.

Several of the slower songs were translated in sign language by an ensemble member awkwardly placed on the side of the stage. It’s an alright idea, but executed wrong. Why only some songs? Why this person? Wait…Why at all? it ends up just confusing the audience. At one point there are two translators doing the same movements at slightly different speeds, this was completely jarring to watch with someone actually singing and acting between them. Don’t split my focus! It was like watching the play with subtitles on in another language. Distracting.

This is the first production since the ousting of the Geroulds from Magic Circle. The people who built the theatre group and have been in charge of it for the past 15+ years. This move was hasty and rude, but perhaps the right choice if they want to create better shows. If this is the direction MC is heading, it seems like a step in the right direction, but they have a long way to go.

Review: The Fantastics

Fair Oaks Theatre Festival is always good for campy fun, perhaps too campy, but I digress. The Fantastics is all around okay show with a few good moments. Being a generally calm musical the performers would usually have to really work to make it exciting and this is the overall downfall of the production. There was very little energy amongst the actors and the audience. The pace was that of an English tea time and after about an hour I checked my watch to see when intermission might be, and was shocked that only 35 minutes had passed.

The Fair Oaks Theatre Festival is missing something, and its missing the one thing the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival really has going for it. Alcohol! Having a picnic and drinking more than your share of wine should be a staple of outdoor theatre in the summer. The benches seemed to be crafted out of some form of evil intended to inflict pain on your bottom, and I refused to sink down to the level of renting a seat cushion. But back to the show…

The director Bob Irvin knows what he’s doing and he knows his audience. The blue hairs who like to see campy musicals with jokes that are easy to get. He appeases them with a lot of takes to the audience, confetti, and yes just once … bubbles. It’s the simple things.

As Luisa and Matt, Rebecca Scolnick and Robert Philips both phone in mediocre performances. They can both sing, dance, and are charming enough. But Robert Phillips has this air about his character that is pretentious (staging him to be up on a ladder literally looking down on everyone didn’t help the matter). Rebecca is sweet enough but couldn’t quite hit all the top notes, she is someone who will get better with age.

Sandra Hill was perfect as the mime, and this show desperately needed her to do more, she was one of the most interesting parts of the show. But then again this could be because she was the one throwing the confetti…

Starring in this production were some Fair Oaks regulars; the always charismatic Raymond Keller as El Gallo (who has been in every single show I have ever seen at FOTF), but sadly this role was a bit more vocally demanding than he can really deliver. Deane Calvin as the boys mother, she is a great talent and the gender switching actually worked for this show. Daniel Slauson is perfectly cast as “the old actor” and his sidekick Kevin Meinz brought some much needed physical humor to the show.

The Fantastics showcases most of Fair Oaks usual suspects; Raymond, Sandra, Deane, Daniel, and Joseph Hart. What? was Analise Langford busy? My point is, why do I see the same exact people in every show I see there? Regardless of the fact whether they can play the role or not. There must have been someone who sang better than the gravelly thin wheeze out of Joseph Hart.

The set and technical aspects of the show were… perplexing. It was simply the exact same set from She Stoops To Conquer, I understand the likely money constraints but it simply didn’t make sense. I’m not sure why their first show of the summer had such excellent sets and gorgeous costumes, but The Fantastics gets the shaft by having to perform on the same set. And the costumes look like there were purchased at a Swedish craft store. Yes, even with vegetable shaped patches affixed to overalls. Oh, and who let Luisa where a black slip under a white flowy skirt? Problems all around.

Even though show moves slower than molasses and some of the roles perhaps could have been cast better, The Fantastics did manage to put a smile on my face. Fair Oaks is a niche market of theatre, and they do seem to keep their patrons happy, so am I expecting too much from them? All I’m asking is for everyone to try a little harder.

Thank you for reading my maiden review, it’s the first of many. Disagree with it, love it, or don’t care. We’re all here for theatre.