THE DEVIL AND DAISY JANE

WOW!
THE DEVIL AND DAISY JANE
When Andy Warhol spoke about a future in which everyone would get his or her very own Fifteen Minutes Of Fame, he might well have been talking about today’s World Of Reality TV—a universe in which no-talents like the Kardashians, the Hiltons, and John & Kate can become overnight sensations just by being themselves.

Though admittedly it does take more than mere luck to become a finalist on American Idol, many a gifted vocalist has discovered that talent alone cannot guarantee enough Yes votes to reach even the semifinals, a fact that may have inspired Lisa Marinacci and Jeremy Lewit to write The Devil And Daisy Jane, their clever, biting, always entertaining pop/rock satire of A.I. and its many imitators—a musical that transposes the legend of Faust into the world of 21st Century pop.

Daisy Jane (Marinacci) and boyfriend Ben (Harley Jay) are contestants 9,000,006 and 9,000,007 to vie for a top spot on America’s Next Super Pop Star, a show that has already brought pop stardom to diva divine Zora (Katherine Malak) and The Pop Tartz (Gina D’Acciaro, Jayme Lake, and Cloie Wyatt Taylor). Unfortunately, the acoustic pop sound of Daisy and Ben’s self-penned “Enough” (“The guitar is my blanket, I live inside my song”) gets them cut off almost immediately by judges Zora (“Can we talk about what you’re wearing? Where’d you even get that?”) and Mo (“Take your tambourine back to your local karaoke bar, because that’s as far as you’ll ever get in this business.”) and host Bobby Shrub (“We’ll be back with more stars-in-the-making and pathetic wannabes right after these messages.”).

Daisy Jane’s failure is the only cue needed by Soul Blaze Records president Lucas Smith Jr. (Anthony Manough) to offer the singer-songwriter an exclusive deal—and certain stardom, and all she has to do is drop appendage Ben and become Luc’s exclusive property. Though at first Daisy isn’t all that sure she wants to leave her boyfriend/song partner in the lurch, a glimpse at the homeless subway rider Luc offered a deal to years ago (“but he wasn’t willing to do what it takes”) is enough to convince Daisy to sign on the proverbial dotted line.

Before long, Daisy Jane has become Pop Tart Number Four, taking lessons from Zora in “Altitude” (“You gotta own the stage, you gotta strut and flaunt”) and demonstrating so much starisma that Lucas offers her very own solo album deal, that is after he cancels Zora’s tour, the better to focus all eyes on Daisy.

As for Ben, his every effort to get past Luc’s gay assistant Byron (Patrick Hancock) proves in vain (“The doors are always locked, There’s no way in”), and he can only watch as Daisy begins dating “super-hunk” Chad Hammock, appearing on shows like the Performer’s Pick Awards, making music videos, and becoming America’s “biggest baddest star.”

Will Ben find a way to get even one of his love letters into Daisy Jane’s hands? Will Zora ever get out of rehab and back to the top of the charts? Will Daisy regret her decision to sign with Luc?

The answers to these (and other) questions may not be all that hard to divine, but in The Devil And Daisy Jane, the fun is in the getting there, and considerable fun that is, thanks to Marinacci’s rocking good songs, the clever book she’s written with Lewit, and the all-around sensational work being done on stage by the Daisy Jane cast (under the devilishly inspired direction of Robert Marra) and musicians (under Brent Crayon’s splendid musical direction).

You know you’re in for an evening of fun when even character names (Bobby Shrub, Chad Hammock, Juliette Della Pants) get laughs, but Marinacci’s and Lewit’s book is jam-packed with hilarious lines from start to finish. Here are some personal favorites:

Luc: See Zora, it only took you a month to turn bright and shiny into slick and skanky.

Bobby Shrub: Stay tuned for more updates from inside the litter box. We’re sniffing out the poop and giving you the scoop. I’m Bobby Shrub.

Luc: Remember Alanis Morissette, the queen of anger? She started saying things like “Thank You India” and poof, no one cared.

As the last quote suggests, the talent behind The Devil And Daisy Jane know well the music industry about which they write, and their musical is all the more entertaining for being incisive—as well as loads of fun. It may also be the most PG-13 show (with an emphasis on the 13 for adult language and themes) ever staged at Actors-Co-op , though it comes nowhere near an R, in case you’re worried about taking teens to see it.

The performers assembled on the Crossley Theatre stage by Actors Co-op simply couldn’t be better, or better cast, beginning with Marinacci, whose girl-next-door prettiness and powerful rocker’s voice make her the perfect Daisy Jane. Jay brings his boy-next-door-with-an edge charm and terrific pipes to the role of Ben, leaving one only to wish that the role offered the StageSceneLA Award winner a chance to show off his Footloose footwork. As for the titular Devil, no one in L.A. theater sings more dynamically or soulfully than the charismatic Manough, making Daisy’s decision to sign on the dotted line a no-brainer.

A trio of performers provide the scene-stealingest supporting turns in parts any comedic actor would make a deal with the Devil to book. Byron is easily the most flamboyantly gay character ever seen at the Co-op, and Hancock plays the role with such infectious joie-de-vivre that you want to bottle his performance, take it home, and savor it whenever you’re feeling “a little self-conscious anxiety resulting in non-specific sadness.” (Theater queens will get the reference.) Malak virtually redefines Pop Diva in the role of Zora, a part she plays with the ferocity of a tigress and the outrageousness of a Saturday Night Life comedienne at her most outrageous, along with one-of-a-kind dance moves that even a thousand words could not properly describe. Tauzin lucks out with a grand total of eight cameos, ranging from street-talking Mo to dazed-and-confused Homeless Musician, to fabuleux French Music Director to heavy metal guitarist G-String—each and every one a dazzler.

As the Pop Tartz, D’Acciaro (ghetto girl Shalisa), Taylor (dumb blonde Tanya), and Lake (sexy stoner Carmen) are fabulously funny and fiercely fabulous, with vocal chops to match. Kyle Nudo’s hilarious Bobby Shrub is the epitome of every slick-surfaced, vacant-eyed TV personality ever to host a reality show. Lovely Megan Yaleney is a hoot in half-a-dozen cameo roles, my personal favorite being the abovementioned Juliette Della Pants, the amalgam of every glamour-gowned showbiz reporter to red-carpet interview Hollywood celebs.

Orchestrator/music director extraordinaire plays live onstage keyboards alongside guitarist Chris Mello, bassist Oliver Steinberg, and drummer Jim Hardiman, giving cast members the best possible musical backup.

Mark Svastics has designed a dramatically effective set, with metal scaffolding which morphs quickly into a bunch of different locales, aided by Kris Fitzgerald’s visual media design and Svastic’s own Vegas-style lighting design. Ariel Boroff’s costumes are eye-catching treats. Opening night sound problems plagued several characters, making it hard to comment accurately on live audio technician Anna Gramlich’s sound design. Fritz Davis is audio/video technician, Kevin Cantens audio technician, Caitlin Barbieri stage manager, and Jacquie Adorni assistant stage manager. Audio/video systems have been provided by Digital Theatre Technologies. The Devil And Daisy Jane is produced by Marinacci and D’Acciaro.

A Daisy Jane reading last January prompted this reviewer to write, “Can't wait to see it in full production and give it a WOW!” Now a featured selection of the Los Angeles Festival of New American Musicals, The Devil And Daisy Jane does indeed get an enthusiastic WOW! in fully-staged form. As for its future life beyond its current all-too-short two-week run, no pact with Satan need be made to insure its future success. With its combination of pizzazz and bite, The Devil And Daisy Jane makes for one deliciously devilish (and devilishly delicious) show.

Actors Co-op, 1760 N. Gower St., Hollywood. Through August 14. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00. Sundays at 2:30. Saturday matinees are May 14 and 21 at 2:30. Reservations: 323 462-8460 x 300
www.actorsco-op.org
--Steven Stanley
August 4, 2011

THE TROUBLE WITH WORDS

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THE TROUBLE WITH WORDS

“If I could find the words… If I could speak my heart. If I could open up… If I could sing my love…”

Anyone wondering who the next Jason Robert Brown, William Finn, or Adam Guettel might be need look no further than Hollywood’s Actors Circle Theatre where Gregory Nabours’ The Trouble With Words has just opened to standing ovations.

Like Brown’s Songs For A New World, Finn’s Elegies, and Guettel’s Myths And Hymns, The Trouble With Words is a “song cycle,” a collection of solos, duets, and ensemble pieces with relatively little book but a through-theme, in this case (to quote press materials) “the relationships people have with words as well as with each other.” However you want to describe The Trouble With Words’ nineteen songs, they make for exquisite musical theater and a breathtaking introduction to a talent we’ll be hearing about (and from) for years to come.

Directed with consummate imagination and flair by Patrick Pearson, The Trouble With Words features a center-stage Nabours leading a six-piece orchestra on piano as a sextet of supremely talented young performers bring his music and lyrics to life.

Combining a quarterback’s physique and the voice of an angel, Josh Eddy solos “Never Let You Fall” to an unseen newborn child, following that later with the sexy double-entendred “The Kid With A Heart On” (“I’m just a kid with a big heart on…his sleeve”) which he croons in classic lounge singer mode.

Stunning soprano Julianne Donelle impresses with the bittersweet “I Remember Christmas” (which ends up sung in counterpoint with “Never Let You Fall”) and a deeply moving “Johnny,” whose melodic inspiration may be the patriotic “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” but whose antiwar message (“Blood is dripping from our hands as we raise them to salute”) rings as powerfully as ever in 2011.

Boy-next-door Ryan Wagner entertains with the amusingly seductive “Tongue Tied” in nerdy horn-rims (“You haunt my daydreams in the light, then grace my nightmares come the night”), then both dazzles and wrenches hearts with his vocal and dramatic tour-de-force performance of “The Silence And The Rain.”

Pert blonde Sarah Phillips opens with a quietly introspective “Here We Go Again,” backed by Brian Cannaday on vibes, then amuses with a comedic “The Ballerina’s Lament,” a blues-with-a-beat number that shows off her big belt of a voice to Nabours’ witty lyrics: “When the shit hits the fan, you pick up a pen and draw a new floorplan.”

Quirky Christopher Roque’s gorgeous tenor is showcased in the jazzy pop “Listen,” to which he accompanies himself on guitar, and in the transcendently beautiful “Raincloud.” (“If I’m not afraid of bleeding, then I won’t be afraid of blood… And maybe there’s a way to find the man that I once was, before I learned to lie… and let life pass me by.”)

Rich-piped stunner Aimee Karlin completes the sixsome, first as a picket-carrying social activist in “The Busiest Corner Of The Street,” set to a medieval-sounding waltz with lots of strings, and then with the seductive “Fool’s Gold,” a torch song (“Baby loves me like Fool’s Gold”) with a honky-tonk beat.

Wagner and Karlin duet “You’re The One,” a gorgeous romantic ballad with a pulsating beat. Eddy and Phillips blend voices to the tango rhythms of “Don’t Try To Go,” which sends two of the three onstage couples for a walk on the gay side. Roque and Donelle score laughs with “The Haircut,” which has the former informing the latter that her new haircut is “different” and “nice,” a war-between-the-sexes duet which takes a surprisingly serious turn.

The entire cast open the show in six-part harmony with its bluesy title song (“The trouble with words is when things get rough they carry you away”), close it with “No Words” (“No words to make you understand: The scent of the rain, the longing to dance...”), and blend voices mid-cycle to the Dixieland blues strains of “Gotta Get Laid” (“A little sex goes a real long way”) and the sensual Brazilian cha-cha/samba rhythms of “Sextet” (“I love the way you love me. I love the way you hate me”).

The Trouble With Words moves dazzlingly from the comedic to the sensual to the profoundly moving and back again, Nabours’ exquisitely varied songs combining the best of the three supremely talented gentlemen mentioned in the opening paragraph—the complexity of Guettel, the hummability of Brown, and the humor and sheer gorgeousness of Finn.

A savvy Pearson makes sure that there’s always a spotlight on the unassuming composer-pianist, allowing him to face his six performers (and the audience) from his upstage center keyboard. The Trouble With Words is about Nabours and his music, and this inspired bit of blocking keeps us ever aware of the creative force behind it.

In addition to Nabours and Cannaday, The Trouble With Words’ superb orchestra is made up of orchestrator Brian Morales on reeds, Benjamin Coyote on cello, Daryl Black on violin, and David Lee on guitar.

Tiffany Cole merits big thumbs up for her imaginative and varied choreography, as does stage manger Michelle Stann for her vivid lighting design. The cast’s eye-catching costumes are by Debbie Dufour and Erik McEwen, with quintuple threat McEwen scoring bonus points for his hair and makeup design. Kudos go also to Jeremy Lewis (assistant director), Ric Perez-Selsky (technical director/sound design), Gedaly Guberek (web design), Brian Ludmer (scenic design), and Wagner (graphic design). The Trouble With Words is produced by Jeremy Lelliott.

The Trouble With Words represents the greatest achievement to date of Coeurage Theatre Company, which bills itself as “Los Angeles’ only pay-what-you-want theatre.” (They’ve even trademarked the slogan.) No one will be turned away for lack of big bucks, however those with deep pockets will likely be more than happy to dig deep.

In this reviewer’s humble opinion, it’s not too soon to declare The Trouble With Words well on its way to a New York run. Nabours’ songs beg to be heard again and again (cast album please), and as brought to life by the brilliant Pearson and a couldn’t-be-better cast and orchestra, they represent the first of many great things to come from their creator.

Coeurage Theatre Company, Actors Circle Theatre, 7313 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Through August 27. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00. Reservations:
www.troublewithwords.com
www.coeurage.org

--Steven Stanley
June 11, 2011

THE LAST FIVE YEARS

Recommended
THE LAST FIVE YEARS

His story starts with their first meeting and ends with a farewell note left behind with his wedding ring. Her story begins when she finds the ring and reads the note. Only at the halfway point do the two 20something characters’ onstage lives coincide; only then do they sing to each other, look each other in the eyes, touch.

As any musical theater aficionado will tell you, the show in question is Jason Robert Brown’s semi-autobiographical chamber musical The Last Five Years, quite possibly the most exquisite two-character song cycle ever written, and my own favorite intimate musical of the past decade.

The Last Five Years returns to Los Angeles as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and if this latest production doesn’t reach the heights of previous incarnations, there is at least one very good reason not to miss it.

Writer-composer Brown tells the story of aspiring actress-singer Catherine Hiatt and up-and-coming novelist Jamie Wellerstein entirely in song, with the exception of some one-sided phone calls and a sequence which has Jamie reading from his novel.

From Cathy’s point of view, emotions range from the heartbreak of her opening number, “Still Hurting” to the joyous optimism of her last (i.e. chronologically first) song, “Goodbye Until Tomorrow.” “I’m Still Smiling” captures the mixed emotions of a woman hoping against hope for her marriage to survive and railing against a man who won’t even stay with his wife “on her fucking birthday.” “I’m A Part Of That” is Cathy’s attempt to find some satisfaction in being the wife of a celebrity author. “A Summer In Ohio” has Cathy singing about doing summer stock “with a gay midget named Karl, playing Tevia and Porgy,” and an audition sequence has her trying out for a musical with a lousy accompanist or a padded résumé. “I Can Do Better Than That” is Cathy’s vow that her budding relationship with Jamie will be better than any of the failed ones she’s had before.

Jamie, on the other hand, starts out with a series of upbeat, up-tempo songs. There’s “Shiksa Goddess,” which has him “waiting through Danica Schwartz and Erica Weiss and the Handelman twins and Heather Greenblatt, Annie Mincus, Karen Pincus and Lisa Katz and Stacy Rosen, Ellen Kaplan, Julie Silber and Janie Stein” on his way to the “cute goyishe maid” called Cathy Hiatt. “Moving Too Fast” is Jamie’s ode to the fast life of an up-and-coming writer who’s found “a woman I love” and (even better) “an agent who loves me.” “The Schmuel Song” is Jamie’s Christmas/Chanukah number, a tour-de-force moment which has the aspiring storyteller singing in the voice of a Russian-Jewish tailor named Schmuel. Later, as things between the couple begin to deteriorate, “If I Didn’t Believe In You” is Jamie’s last-ditch effort to convince Cathy he’s on her side and “Nobody Needs To Know” has him singing to the woman he’s cheating on Cathy with, feeling guilty as hell about, and unable to resist.

In the role of Jamie, L.A. newcomer Rory Alexander sings well and has a number of quite effective moments (an amusingly performed “Shiksa Goddess” and “The Schmuel Song” in particular) but his performance could benefit from a more layered interpretation of the character’s complex mix of big ego and goofy charm and a more authentic rendering of Jamie’s sense of anger and loss as his marriage crumbles. Bill Hemmer’s direction is solid and respectful of the material, but he might have found more imaginative onstage connections between Cathy and Jamie despite their being in different time zones. Also, a few scene changes seem deliberate pauses for applause rather than the swift, smooth transitions that Brown intended. Ashley Cuellar’s Cathy, on the other hand, is about as splendid as can be, making the rising musical theater star’s performance the very best reason to catch this imperfect but still powerful The Last Five Years.

Cuellar starts her character’s reverse journey with a bang, crying real tears as a dazed and destroyed Cathy discovers the note and ring Jamie has left behind. In “See I’m Smiling,” Cuellar captures Cathy’s full range of emotions, from hopefulness to confusion to rage. In a highly original touch, Cuellar’s Cathy sings “I’m A Part Of That” martini in hand, a wife who’s had one drink too many as her husband signs copy after copy at a book reading that has her feeling completely left out. As Cathy’s story moves from despair to anger to optimism to joy, Cuellar seems actually to turn younger in front of our eyes. Vocally, The Last Five Years gives the soprano a chance to show off a wow of a belt that recent roles in Children Of The Night and USS Pinafore haven’t explored, though we do get to hear Cuellar’s gorgeous “legit” voice in Cathy’s audition number, “Till You Come Home To Me,” conceived here as if being sung by the kind of perfect 1950s wife Cathy is unwilling to become. Comedically, vocally, and dramatically, Cuellar puts her own personal stamp on Cathy—and unforgettably so.

Several directorial touches work quite well, including having Jamie and Cathy flip-flop stage positions mid-show following their lone meeting halfway through. Since the two characters have rarely been onstage at once, and never in the same timeframe, this one sequence in which they touch, kiss, and share a wedding dance proves particularly powerful. On the other hand, having Jamie nearly fully dressed all the way down to his black leather shoes for “Nobody Needs To Know” doesn’t match lyrics which suggest that Jamie is in still lying in bed next to an unseen paramour and then getting back in bed with her at the end.

Director Hemmer has designed the set, and though it is simple in the extreme (just a pair of chairs on a bare black box stage), this is not necessarily a liability, The Last Five Years being more about the music than anything else. On the other hand, slide projections behind Cathy and Jamie work better in theory than in practice, proving a distraction more often than not. Matt Richter’s lighting is highly effective as are Garrison Burrell’s costume choices, particularly Cathy’s half dozen or so outfits, which mirror the timeframe she’s in as well as her emotions at the time. (Burrell is also responsible for set dressing and props.)

Musical director Ron Snyder plays keyboards alongside violinist Nancy Kuo, guitarist Yuichiro Kevin Asami and bassist Jay Rubttom, a larger than usual orchestra and a highly competent one. Though I’ve seen several productions with a lone pianist, and one with an interesting piano/guitar mix, the original six-piece orchestrations featured not one but two cellos, and here, perhaps because all four other instruments are present, the lack of even a single cello is felt, particularly by anyone familiar with the Original Cast recording.

Rebecca Schoenberg is assistant director and stage manager. David R. Carpenter is credited with set construction and Orlando de la Paz with graphic design.

Though this Bright Eyes Production of The Last Five Years may not reach the heights of previous incarnations, it is worth seeing as an introduction to its luminous leading lady as well as for the musical’s intrinsic pleasures, which are many indeed.

The Lounge 2 Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles.
www.plays411.com/lastfiveyears
--Steven Stanley
June 17, 2011

GYPSY

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GYPSY

Ask any true Broadway aficionado to name the greatest musicals ever written and it’s a sure bet that Gypsy: A Broadway Fable (best known simply as Gypsy) will top many if not most lists. Though overshadowed in its original Broadway run by The Sound Of Music and Fiorello, which tied for the 1960 Best Musical Tony, Gypsy has stood the test of time with four Broadway revivals (including two in the 2000s alone), even more cast recordings, and a list of hit songs that seems to go on forever.

Despite this phenomenal success, Gypsy has been largely absent from our L.A. theater scene for at least the last decade, making West Coast Ensemble’s 99-seat revival big news indeed, particularly since the “stripped-down” production continues the WCE tradition of taking big stage musicals and giving them intimacy and pizzazz in equal measure.

Based on the book Gypsy: A Memoir by legendary striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, Gypsy introduces us to the stage mother to end all stage mothers, the formidable Mama Rose, brought to life in the Broadway original by the one-and-only Ethel Merman in what most consider to be her greatest performance. (In what goes down as one of the biggest upsets [i.e. mistakes] in Tony Award History, Merman lost the Best Actress statuette to Mary Martin for The Sound Of Music.)

If ever there was a Broadway show blessed by the musical theater gods, Gypsy was (and is) that show, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Arthur Laurents. “Small World,” “Everything's Coming up Roses”, “You'll Never Get Away from Me,” and “Let Me Entertain You” are just four of the Styne-Sondheim creations to become song standards. As for the show’s original director-choreographer, they don’t come more legendary than Jerome Robbins.

Helming Gypsy: Stripped (as the West Coast Ensemble production has been nicknamed) is its Co-Artistic Director Richard Israel, and anyone who has seen the director’s previous work knows that the show could not be in better hands. (Israel’s direction of Big River, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, High Spirits, and Meet Me In St. Louis won him a Director Of The Year StageSceneLA Award last September for the second year in a row.) Israel understands that Gypsy is at heart a mother-daughter story, and one that translates perfectly to the intimate stage even without the Broadway razzmatazz.

Still, there can be no Gypsy without a leading lady able to hold her own against those who’ve followed La Merman on stage or screen, a list of superstars which includes Betty Buckley, Tyne Daly, Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, and Rosalind Russell. Fortunately, West Coast Ensemble has an ace up its sleeve in Jan Sheldrick, whose unforgettable work in WCE’s Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins won her a StageSceneLA Award for Best Performance By A Featured Actress. Sheldrick turns out to be not only a brilliant dramatic actress but a terrific musical theater performer as well, a fact attested to by a résumé which includes Company, Cabaret, Merrily We Roll Along, A New Brain, and Sunday In The Park With George. Though she may not have Ethel’s or Patti’s power pipes, Sheldrick more than holds her own vocally, even without the aid of amplification, and as a dramatic actress-comedienne she is out-and-out brilliant. Not only that but she’s also got something not every Mama Rose before her has had—likeability. No matter how manipulative and controlling her Mama Rose can be, Sheldrick makes it impossible to hate her, and if the most recent revival darkened the show’s original ending, here, with Sheldrick in the role, the more upbeat finale makes perfect, heartwarming sense. As for those who wonder how Sheldrick fares with “Rose’s Turn,” Mama Rose’s eleventh hour showstopper-to-end-all-showstoppers, suffice it to say that the actress deserves every decibel of the applause she receives.

Every Mama Rose must have her Gypsy, and Sheldrick’s is Stephanie Wall, making a memorable transition from mousy wallflower Rose Louise Hovick to stellar headliner Gypsy Rose Lee in a performance that matches her excellent work in The Light In The Piazza a few years back. Not only does Wall “sing out Louise” with the best of them, she has the same kind of quirky comedic gifts that made Gypsy Rose Lee truly in a class by herself.

Michael Matthys too provides splendid support to Sheldrick’s Rose as Herbie, her longtime, long-suffering boyfriend, whether joining in on the jaunty “Together Wherever We Go” or revealing Herbie’s hurt and betrayal in one of Gypsy’s most powerful dramatic scenes. That Matthys and Sheldrick have great chemistry together is an added bonus.

Four other roles go beyond cameo status, and each is marvelously played. Lithe-limbed and lanky, L.A. newcomer Eric Allen Smith is everything you want a Tulsa to be, i.e. a classic song and dance man in the Gene Kelly mode. Sara J. Stuckey, on a roll with her performances this year in Caught and The Odd Couple, makes it three winners in a row as stripper Tessie Tura (The Texas Twirler), and not only does Stuckey steal every scene she’s in, she proves herself a twirler extraordinaire in the show’s only PG-13 moment. Kelly Jean Clair is a hoot as brassy stripper Mazeppa as is Jessica Schatz as her electric co-ecdysiast Electra, and when Stuckey, Clair, and Schatz join forces in the Act Two showstopper “You Gotta Get A Gimmick,” there won’t be a straight face in the house.

Gypsy’s Broadway premiere featured a cast of forty-four, and even its most recent revival filled the stage with a grand total of thirty-nine. Gypsy: Stripped cuts that number down to twenty-three, still a big cast for a 99-seat-plan production, but one which requires (or allows as the case may be) many cast members to play double, triple, or even quadruple roles, among them esteemed character actors Larry Lederman and Tony Pandolfo, bringing decades of experience and stage presence to four roles each. Teen and 20something cast members L.J. Benet, Quintan Craig, Amy Lawrence, Dan Pacheco, Zach Salsa, Katie Scarlett, Kailey Swanson, and Ann Villella show off their triple-threat talents, with a special nod to Swanson for her delightful take on Dainty June. Some very talented children complete the ensemble, including Kaleigh Ryan and Caitlin Williams, standouts as Baby June and Baby Louise, as well as Glory Curda, Major Curda, Saylor Curda, and Petey Yarosh.

Aiding director Israel in insuring that stripped doesn’t mean diminished are choreographer John Todd, whose bouncy dance steps bring vaudeville and burlesque to 21st Century life; Stephen Gifford, whose versatile set design reminds us that Gypsy is the story of lives lived almost entirely inside one theater or another; Lisa D. Katz, who lights each scene to perfection, and who shares snaps with Israel and Todd for a terrific flash-forward strobe-and-dance sequence; Zale Morris, who has designed dozens upon dozens of great costumes; and Rebecca Kessin, whose sound design guarantees that instrumental accompaniment doesn’t overpower vocal performances. As for said instrumental accompaniment, audience members may be surprised to learn that it’s a one-woman show, with musical director Johanna Kent tickling the ivories to orchestral tracks recorded specifically for this production. Is a bigger sound missed? Truthfully yes, especially in the Gypsy Overture, considered by many the best in Broadway history. Still, a smaller sound allows for unmiked voices, and hearing Gypsy performed without vocal amplification is a rare treat.

Suzanne Doss is assistant director, Nicholas Acciani stage manager, and Brook Carlson producer for West Coast Ensemble.

Gypsy at West Coast Ensemble should prove manna from heaven for musical theater lovers in the mood for something other than yet another revival of Little Shop, Funny Forum, Pippin, or Cabaret (not that there’s anything wrong with any of them, but enough is enough … please). That Gypsy just happens to be one of the greatest Broadway musicals of all times (and that even “stripped,” it’s still one hell of a show) makes this a production that no true musical theater buff will want to miss.

West Coast Ensemble, The Theatre of Arts Arena Stage, 1625 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood. www.westcoastensemble.org
--Steven Stanley
May 21, 2011
Photo: Carla Barnett

BASH’d: A Gay Rap Opera

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BASH’d: A Gay Rap Opera

If the words Gay Rap Opera sound to you like a three-way oxymoron, then you haven’t heard Feminem and T-Bag rap to the sounds of DJ Jedi in BASH’d: A Gay Rap Opera, now playing at Hollywood’s Celebration Theatre. Take rhymes like “Get off my fuckin’ back okay, I like to suck dick / Now fuck me in the ass and I’ll write rhymes about it,” set them to a gangsta beat, find a pair of hip-hopping triple threats like Sean Bradford and Chris Ferro to bust those rhymes, give the whole shebang one of the most exciting stagings in town, and you’ve got another great big Celebration hit to shout out about.

The brainchild of Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow, a pair of white Canadians who’ve performed their gay rap opera off-Broadway and across their native land, Bash’d now makes its U.S. West Coast debut in a production likely to be the best of the bunch now that director/choreographer extraordinaire Ameenah Kaplan is at the helm, adding interracial love, a live DJ, and a dazzling projection design by Marc Rosenthal to an already potent mix.

BASH’d is first and foremost a love story, told hip-hop style by the aforementioned Feminem and T-Bag (Bradford and Ferro). The leather-jacketed duo rap the romance of Jack and Dillon (Bradford and Ferro again), who meet in the early 2000s, fall head over heels, and then tie the knot—legally, this being our rather more enlightened neighbor to the North. Things soon turn dark however (the show is titled BASH’d after all), with it only becoming clear in BASH’d’s final moments exactly who these two rappers are and why Jack and Dillon’s story means so much to them.

It’s hard to imagine a couple of gay men who come from more different homes than our hip-hop heroes. Jack has been raised by a pair of gay Dads who’ve encouraged him to be whoever he’s meant to be, gay, straight, or anywhere in between. Dillon’s opposite-sex parents are of a considerably more conservative bent, and though his Mom is the more willing of the two to accept her gay son, Dad is another matter entirely, and soon Dillon finds himself alone in the big city—alone, that, is until he meets Jack.

In one pulsating hip-hop number after another, Feminem and T-Bag chart Jack and Dillon’s story to the infectious melodies of composer Aaron Macri. Like most young gays discovering big city LGBT life, the couple meet in Boys’ Town, though not before discovering (and rapping about) the multitude of “types” that fill the city’s bars and dance clubs night after night. Flamboyant drag queens, big burly bears, crystal meth-addicted twinks, in-your-face lesbians, preening muscle boys, boyfriendless fag hags, and prowling chicken hawks—all of the above are brought to vivid, often hilarious life by Feminem and T-Bag.

Jack and Dillon’s first meeting soon turns from excitement to love to a proposal of marriage, and if BASH’d has been mostly good fun up till this point, it becomes uber-romantic as our two heroes rap their vows in hip-hopping rhymes. And then… Well, suffice it to say that Happily Ever After may not be in the two lovers’ cards.

I hope that BASH’d’s creators can make it down to L.A. to see the magic made here by the sensational Celebration team headed by a brilliant choreographer-turned-director, a pair of couldn’t-be-better leads, an expert DJ/musical director, and a gaggle of designers working at the peak of their creativity.

Ameenah Kaplan is, as L.A. theater aficionados will tell you, the StageSceneLA Award-winning choreographer of Altar Boyz, The Women Of Brewster Place, and one Troubies show after another. Taking directorial reins here in addition to designing dance steps, Kaplan’s imaginative, high-energy work insures that there’s never a dull moment, particularly with a duo as charismatic and talented as Bradford and Ferro, each of whom gives voice and movement to a dozen or so roles and does so at a level few others could come close to. Word has it that it was tougher than usual for the Celebration to cast this particular show, but luck was on their side when they found BASH’d’s dynamic duo. (Swing Jason De Puy gets the exciting challenge of covering both roles in addition to serving as dance captain.)

Having DJ Jedi spinning discs live on stage (and playing a character or two to boot) provides added excitement, as does an inspired mix of pre-recorded projections of Bradford and Ferro which accompany their live performances in a number of ingenious ways.

As for the show’s highly distinctive look, credit the crackerjack design team Kaplan has brought along for the journey, beginning with scenic designer Evan Bartolettti and associate scenic designer Lisa D. Lechuga, who have reconfigured the Celebration’s thrust stage on a diagonal, marking this possibly the first time in Celebration history that no one has had to sit behind “the infamous pole,” reason enough to celebrate. Mix Bartoletti’s and Lechuga’s edgy urban set with Christian Epps’ dazzling lighting, Robert Arturo Ramirez’s rocking sound design, Naila Aladdin Sanders’ standout array of costumes, and Michael O’Hara’s carefully picked properties, and you’ve got a design package that bigger budgeted productions would find hard to top.

Marking the final production of Michael A. Shepperd’s three-year Artistic Directorship of the Celebration, BASH’d: A Gay Rap Opera is produced by Ryan Bergmann with associate producers Cameron Faber, Michael C. Kricfalusi, III, and Nathaniel Matthis. Shepperd, Michael C. Kricfalusi, and JohnMichael Beck are executive producers. Sean Lambert is production stage manager and Brandon Newhouse assistant stage manager. John Wilson is music consultant and Jami Rudofsky casting director. Associate artistic director Beck takes over as AD with the Celebration’s next production.

Be advised that BASH’d runs only about sixty-five minutes, so plan your evening or afternoon of theater accordingly. Despite a shorter running time than most first acts, BASH’d: A Gay Rap Opera makes for an exciting, entertaining, gut-wrenching, and ultimately uplifting hour or so of theater at its most innovative and cutting edge.

Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood.
www.celebrationtheatre.com

--Steven Stanley
June 18, 2011
Photos: Daniel G. Lam

ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE

WOW!
ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE

When Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr. Sloane opened on London’s West End back in 1964, a certain Mrs. Edna Welthorpe was inspired to write the Editor of Plays And Players as follows:

“I myself was nauseated by this endless parade of mental and physical perversion. And to be told that such a disgusting piece of filth now passes for humour. Today's young playwrights take it upon themselves to flaunt their contempt for ordinary decent people. I hope that ordinary people will shortly strike back.”

Mrs. Welthorpe’s comments, while indeed reflective of some theatergoers’ reactions to Orton’s subversive farce, also happen to reflect the playwright’s particular brand of dark humor. You see, it was Orton himself who wrote the letter!

Though even today, “ordinary decent people” like Mr. and Mrs. Michelle Bachmann would likely echo Mrs. Welthorpe’s condemnation of this piece of Ortonian “filth,” anyone with a funny bone in his or her body is hereby advised to make haste to Los Angeles’ newest 99-seat-plan theater where a fabulous revival of this Joe Orton gem is now delighting—and perhaps still shocking—L.A. audiences.

The titular Mr. Sloane (Emrhys Cooper) is a bottle-blond studmuffin of a 20-year-old who shows up one day in the lives of a blowsy London widow, her crotchety, near-blind father, and her leering letch of a brother—and makes their rubbish dump-adjacent house dump his home.

Lonely, lustful Kath (Olivia D’Abo) can barely keep her eyes (and hands and lips) off Mr. Sloane’s tanned-and-toned body, though it’s not merely lust that attracts her to the well-built orphan. His parents’ tragic suicide pact fills the sympathetic widow with oceans of compassion for the orphaned youth. (“With a nice lad like you to take care of, you’d think they’d’ve postponed it.”)

Kath’s father Kemp (Robin Gammell) could swear he’s already met young Mr. Sloane sometime, somewhere. Perhaps it’s the youth’s smooth skin, so similar to that of the hitchhiker who murdered his photographer boss, that sparks a memory, though Mr. Sloane insists otherwise. (“You couldn’t identify a herring on a plate!”)

Kath’s brother Ed (Ian Buchanan) seems initially to share his father’s distrust of Mr. Sloane, that is until he comes face to face with the alluring young bloke, and soon enough he’s eagerly quizzing the stripling on his orphanage upbringing. (“Oh well, you had compensations then,” Ed remarks when learning that the all-male orphans slept eight to a room.) Mr. Sloane’s affinity for fresh-air sports piques Ed’s interest as well. (Ed: You’re fond of swimming? Mr. Sloane: I like a plunge now and then.) Mr. Sloane’s fitness regimen proves equally stimulating to the older man. (Ed: Exercise regular? Mr. Sloane: As clockwork. Ed: Good, good. Stripped? Mr. Sloane: Fully. Ed: Complete. How invigorating.)

Not surprisingly, Ed agrees to let Mr. Sloane lodge with Sis and Dad, though he does require assurances that there’ll be no hanky-panky. (Ed: Does she disgust you? Mr. Sloane: Should she? Ed: It would be better if she did. Women are like banks, boy. Breaking and entering is a serious business.) Ed also hires Mr. Sloane to be his chauffeur, the better to have him … clad in black leather from head to toe.

In typical Orton fashion, somebody dies mid-play, and the manner in which the three surviving characters deal with the deceased’s demise makes Entertaining Mr. Sloane one of the farceur’s most deliciously devilish works.

If Mr. Sloane is allowed a good deal more on-and-offstage intimacy with Kath, it’s to be recalled that the same “gross indecency” laws that sent Oscar Wilde to jail for homosexual acts remained on the books until three years after Mr. Sloane first entertained and disgusted Londoners. Though a contemporary playwright would likely divvy up the sexual shenanigans equally between opposite and same-sex couplings, the fact that Orton even suggested the possibility of Mr. Sloane dividing his favors between sister and brother not only made him way ahead of his time but makes Entertaining Mr. Sloane of particular interest as a time-capsule, one which has lost not an iota of its comedic oomph in the intervening decades.

Under Stan Zimmerman’s pitch-perfect direction, Dream It Production’s intimate stage revival features as renowned a cast of stage and screen vets as you’d see on any mid or large-sized L.A. theater.

D’Abo (of The Wonder Years and Law & Order: Criminal Intent fame) abandons vanity as the slatternly Kath, her crackerjack comic timing and way with an innuendo making her performance an appetizing acting gem, as when she declares, “Until I was fifteen I was more familiar with Africa than my own body” and “You can’t see though this dress can you? I’ve been worried for fear of embarrassing you” and “(You’ll) have me naked on the floor if I give you a chance.”

Emmy-winning Buchannan has a field day with Ed, clearly relishing the opportunity to be funny after so many years of dramatic soap suds on The Bold And The Beautiful, All My Children, and other daytime dramas. Simply watching Buchannan’s medley of facial reactions (just this side of over-the-top) is almost worth the price of admission. Add to that his silver-fox sexiness and you have precisely the kind of man that might make Mr. Sloane’s walks on the gay side of his primarily heterosexual leanings far from unbelievable.

Gammell brings decades of stage experience to the role of Kemp, attacking the feeble-bodied curmudgeon with sly comedic panache to match his dramatic flair in plays like the Rubicon’s A Delicate Balance and Trying a few years back.

Wreaking havoc on the above three is the sensational and utterly appealing Cooper, whose L.A. stage debut as Mr. Sloane provides the young Brit with a terrific showcase for his tiptop acting chops, crackerjack comic timing, and irresistible sex-appeal. Lighting up the stage from his first entrance, Cooper simply couldn’t be better at bringing Orton’s amoral psychopath to seductive, occasionally violent, always captivating life.

Entertaining Mr. Sloane will likely introduce most theatergoers to the splendid new Actors Company Theater, located only two or three blocks from the world famous Formosa Café and the shops and restaurants of Target Plaza.

Joel Daavid has designed the production’s terrifically tacky, beautifully detailed set, precisely where you’d expect Kath and Kemp to live, Daavid’s assorted 1960s paraphernalia completing the picture. Kevin King’s costumes tell you almost as much about the characters as Orton’s writing does. Top marks go also to Bosco Flanigan’s lighting design, Hector’s sound design, and Eusebio Aynaga’s hair design. Entertaining Mr. Sloane is produced by Richard Lutz, stage managed by Lara E. Nall, with casting by Geralyn Flood.

Even in a considerably more sexually liberated world than the one Joe Orton lived and died in in the 1960s, Entertaining Mr. Sloane may not be for everyone. (The Michelle Bachmanns would, I fear, not be amused.) Still, for those not afraid to laugh on the dark side, I can’t think of a more delectable way to do so. At the risk of repeating what others have likely said before, Entertaining Mr. Sloan is entertaining indeed.

The Actors Company, 916a. N. Formosa Ave, West Hollywood.
www.plays411.net/newsite/show/play_info.asp?show_id=2800
--Steven Stanley
July 8, 2011

DONNA/MADONNA

WOW!
DONNA/MADONNA

Growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania in the 1980s, John Paul Karliak always knew he was adopted. What he didn’t figure out until a good deal later was that there wouldn’t be a Mrs. Karliak in his future, if you get my drift. Still, despite young J.P.’s cluelessness to his budding sexual orientation, it must have been hard for his family to mistake the signs: An occasional dress. A running gait like Tinkerbell’s. The ability to quote Auntie Mame as if it were the Bible.

All things considered, John Paul’s life was a good one, a happy one, his adoptive parents the kind of hard-working, salt-of-the-earth folk any American boy would be proud to call Mom and Dad.

Then one day in his early twenties, seated behind the desk at a boring nine-to-five and not at all close to his childhood dream of a life on stage or in front of a camera, J.P. came to a sudden realization: “I need somebody who gets me, the me that I know, and there’s only one other person who could possibly know him: the person that made me.”

John Paul’s quest eventually led, not merely to the woman who gave him life, but to Donna/Madonna, a solo performance whose workshop last summer had this reviewer in stitches, in tears, and waiting for a chance to tell the world about this magical, memorable peek into the life of one marvelously talented young man.

Well, that chance has now come. Following its Best One Man Show Award victory at the 2010 United Solo Theatre Festival in New York, Donna/Madonna now gets its official Los Angeles premiere at the Lounge Theatre. Solo performances may be a dime a dozen these days, but this one is worth a million bucks.

It’s clear from the get-go that, just as young J.P. was no ordinary six-year-old, this is going to be no ordinary one-man show. After all, how many 1st graders stage a living-room extravaganza in Carol Channing drag and trademark raspy voice, asking assembled family members, “Do you like my gown? I just bought it today. Along with my hair, but seriously. I’m sure you must have questions for me, famous as I am, so go on, ask away!”

The Michelle Bachmanns of the world might well cringe at such incipient fabulousness, but if you don’t fall in love with this precocious primary schooler, then that’s your problem and not J.P’s.

As a child growing up with the perfect 1950s-style Italian-American adoptive mother, John Paul couldn’t help fantasizing that his birth mother might be her mirror opposite. Perhaps a peasant girl from Italy. (“The mayor of Sant’Elia a Pianisi… he make a me pregnant. I was a forced to flee my village in an olive cart and come to this country.”) Perhaps the one and only Elizabeth Taylor herself. (“That year, I was used to waking up drunk. Until the morning I woke up pregnant. God knows by who, coulda been a bellhop.”)

If the Donna in Donna/Madonna refers to John Paul’s Donna Reed-like adoptive mother, then the second half of the title will clue you in to the birth mom he ended up meeting for the first time at Starbucks over chai tea lattes. Think pop star, or at least the wife of one.

At the risk of giving too much away, I’ll stop here and simply say that John Paul Karliak’s Donna/Madonna is as thoroughly entertaining a solo show as you’re likely to see this year or any, and that Karliak is the very definition of Star On The Rise. (Memo to any and all network sitcom creators: Write John Paul a lead role in your next big hit.)

Under the snappy co-direction of Tiger Reel and Matt Craig, with musical direction by Billy Thompson and DJ ChocliXxX, a terrific sound design by Reel, and an excellent uncredited lighting design, Donna/Madonna gives the handsome, charismatic Karliak a chance to strut his acting stuff, playing himself, both his moms, and other folks as well. He also shows off one heck of a singing voice in musical takeoffs from Annie (“Betcha she’d cheer and throw me a rose/And wouldn’t mind when I wore sequined clothes”) and Cabaret (“Mama/Doesn't even have an inkling/ I’m auditioning for boyfriends/And there’s a casting call tonight”).

Though Donna/Madonna will doubtless resonate most strongly with audience members who are either gay, adopted, or adoptive, you don’t have to be even one of the above to fall under its spell. D/M offers straight and/or non-adopted/adoptive audience members an eye-opening glimpse into growing up gay or adopted. And when a broken-hearted John Paul reaches out to his real mother for tight hugs and buttered noodles, never has the true meaning of real felt realer or more right.

If you’re anything like this reviewer, you’ll find yourself laughing out loud and wiping away tears virtually non-stop from Donna/Madonna’s fabulous start to its fantabulous finish.

Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard. Hollywood. Through August 10. Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8:00. Also Monday August 1 at 8:00. Reservations: 323 960-4420
www.plays411.com/donnamadonna
www.donnamadonnashow.com
--Steven Stanley
July 6, 2011