"Getting There" at New Conservatory Theatre Center

 

NCTC production photo by Lois Tema

I don't often get to shows at NCTC, despite the fact that I used to work in the neighborhood. They seem to fly under my radar a lot, though I have quite enjoyed several shows we have seen there. One that didn't get mentioned on this blog (since I was on hiatus at the time) was their production of Head Over Heels in 2019. It was fun and very approachable. This play was also under my radar, but we got invited, so we went.

The Play

Getting There is a world premiere of a commissioned work by Dipika Guha. I have to admit it feels a bit rough at times, despite the fact that we were seeing the closing performance of the run. So I suspect those are actual holes in the script, not so much issues with the production.

Part of the issue is structural: the play eschews a linear timeline, opting to bounce among flashbacks and the present time. It's only covering a few days total, so it's unclear that there is really all that much to be gained by yanking the audience around, in ways that are indicated mostly by projections that aren't all that obvious to the viewer. I'm still not sure I caught all of the guideposts. Mostly these devices seem to be an effort to hide the (very quickly revealed, anyway) relationships among the characters. There are no big surprises there--I suspect the overall structure of the play would be enhanced by just writing the timeline straight.

There are only five characters in the play, although because of the structure of the play, it's unclear that's what we're dealing with, at least at first. The play initially seems more like a series of vignettes, though eventually we realize the actors are playing consistent characters throughout. Julie and Kai are American tourists in Paris. Julie meets a distraught Ira while Kai is off doing...something. Kai gets picked up by Radha, while Anissa is waiting for her at the train station. Radha and Anissa turn out to be married. Ira is Anissa's daughter. Julie has inexplicable feelings for Kai, who is supposed to be marrying someone else when she's not being picked up by older French women.

It's more coherent than my description makes it sound, but at the same time, the convolutions seem rather contrived and for limited reasons. Ultimately, most of the characters make a fair amount of sense, but Kai never does (to me, anyway).

The Production

It's a pretty sparse production, in NCTC's smaller theater space. Pretty much just a black box with a couple of benches and some curtains, with a few items on the walls. I kind of wished the cast had been allowed to just leave things in place, rather than rearranging the few pieces between scenes, but that seems to be director Nailah Harper-Malveaux's preference. Similarly, we have characters leave the stage by ducking behind a diaphanous curtain, so they're still quite visible to us, but apparently not to the other characters.

Most of the acting is quite good. The French characters in particular (Laura Domingo as Ira, Simone Bloch as Anissa, and Desiree M. Rogers as Radha) all feel well-rounded and coherent. Lauren Andrei Garcia as Julie is fine, if constantly exasperated (not sure that's entirely justified by the script--I'd like to have seen a little more range). Leigh M. Marshall as Kai is a kind of a nebulous cypher. She seems to wander aimlessly through life, evincing privilege and seeming utter lack of curiosity or engagement with others. There is absolutely no indication of why Julie is attracted to her at all--nothing we see in the play has Kai showing anything other than neglect or disregard for her. The script doesn't help here, but I would have hoped someone would have at least tried to add some relating to the relationship.

Anyway, the cast does pretty well with the thin script they're given. The relationship between Anissa and Radha has the core of something interesting to it, and their relationship to Ira has promise.

Bottom Line

This doesn't feel like a completed play: more like a draft that got put on stage before it was ready. That said, NCTC has done a pretty good job of staging it, but the difficulties with the script make it hard to take away much from the play overall.

I probably wouldn't recommend it very highly, but since it was the last show of the run, my recommendation wouldn't mean much anyway. There is the core of something in the play, and the production was good. I just wish they had fleshed out the story a bit more before putting it on stage.

"The Headlands" at ACT

 

ACT production photo by Kevin Berne

I always look forward to new work from Christopher Chen, a local playwright (and graduate of UC Berkeley--Go Bears!) who always writes complex works that misdirect and play with audience expectations. I was especially keen to see his new play, The Headlands, because it is set in San Francisco, which is always a treat.

The Play

The Headlands starts out breaking the fourth wall, with the central character, Henry, addressing the audience directly and telling us about his hobby, investigating unsolved crimes. His current obsession is the unsolved death (murder?) of his own father, George, an immigrant from China who married Leena, a third-generation Chinese American whose family is very successful and assimilated. He often involves his girlfriend, Jess, in the investigation.

As the investigation turns up new information, Henry constantly pivots his view of the mystery, and also of his family's story. The twists are less abrupt than those in some of Chen's earlier works, such as Caught or You Mean to Do Me Harm, but the overall effect of constantly-shifting directions is typical of Chen's work.

The story comes to a head with the introduction of the mysterious character Tom, remembered from Henry's youth as an unknown and strange presence, who turns out to play a key role in the mystery.

Ultimately the story is less successful as a noir whodunit than it is as an exploration of the vagaries of memory and the stories families tell about themselves, but it's an interesting and engrossing yarn.

The Production

First off, solid local cast. Phil Wong as Henry is excellent. I've enjoyed his work for several years, but mostly in supporting roles. It's nice to see him in a central role. Sam Jackson as Jess is outstanding as always. Erin Mei-Ling Stuart is strong as Leena (as is Keiko Shimosato Carreiro as the older Leena and also her best friend, Pat). And Johnny M. Wu as the stoic George is terrific throughout. Tom (normally played by Jomar Tagatac, but understudied in our performance by Alex Hsu) was the only kind of miss, as the actor seemed too old for the role and not terribly comfortable in it. Charles Shaw Robinson does a wonderful, humorous turn as an aging SF detective.

The set design by Alexander V. Nichols seems simple at times, but like the plot of the play it has some very intricate aspects. I'm not generally a huge fan of revolving set pieces, but I will admit that this set mostly uses it effectively. Director Pan MacKinnon keeps the action moving nicely; I think this is the best work I've seen from her since she joined ACT.

Bottom Line

I enjoyed the play. I wouldn't say it's Chen's best work, but it does represent an advance for him, in that the plot replies less on just changing circumstances and revelations for its interest, and more on the development of characters and investigation of their thoughts and feelings.

I'm pleased to see ACT producing and supporting local work with local actors. For too long they have relied on bringing in material and performers from out of the area, which has really hurt both the theater and the local theater scene. I hope this represents a return to a more local focus.

Overall, it's an encouraging part of this season. I look forward to seeing what comes next. The Headlands runs through tomorrow (March 5th) at ACT's Toni Rembe Theatre (formerly the Geary).

"Clyde's" at Berkeley Rep

 

Berkeley Rep production photo by Kevin Berne or Muriel Steinke

A new play by Lynn Nottage is always an exciting thing. She's won numerous awards (try two Pulitzers and a Macarthur Foundation "Genius" award), and I've really appreciated seeing her plays. In particular, Sweat, which we saw at Ashland in 2015 (before I started theater blogging, unfortunately), has stuck with me. This new show, Clyde's, is getting productions all over the country right now, and it revives one of the more interesting (and problematic) characters from Sweat.

The Play

Our story is set in the kitchen of a sandwich shop frequented by truckers called Clyde's. The eponymous Clyde is the owner, who is a formerly-incarcerated woman who hires other ex-cons to work in the kitchen. Clyde is pretty mercurial, and treats the staff poorly, but they have limited options with their backgrounds. So they work in the kitchen, dreaming about making something more out of it. The oldest of the staff, Montrellous, is kind of the sandwich guru, describing ingredients and techniques that would seem to have no place in a truck stop. The experienced staff include both Letitia, a divorced single mother of a child with severe health issues, and Rafael, the master of the fryer and young, aspiring chef.

All of these characters are people of color, so when Jason and his white-supremacist tattoos arrive, there is a certain amount of tension (to put it mildly). Jason is the carryover character from Sweat, and the assault that put him in prison was part of that play.

As the play progresses, the sandwich cooks bond in their resistance to Clyde's domination, and eventually each spills the story of how they ended up behind bars. It's an interesting if sometimes heavy-handed examination of the lives, choices, and options of formerly incarcerated individuals, along with some rather random investigations of the wonders of the sandwich.

The Production

The cast is strong, and many have local roots and connections. Harold Surratt as Montrellous makes the most of what is a somewhat baffling character at times. Cyndii Johnson as Letitia is a strong presence throughout--she's kind of the moral center of the show, and probably the character that is most fully and convincingly developed. Louis Reyes McWilliams is Jason, a truly difficult role, and he does it well. Nottage has said that crafting that character was the most difficult part of the play for her, and she has clearly given it much thought and nuance. McWilliams is up to the task. Wesley Guimarães is a charming and fun Rafael. I'm a bit befuddled by April Nixon as Clyde: she does it well, but I just don't understand the character. I think that's on the playwright, or maybe the director (Taylor Reynolds), but I have real difficulty figuring out what I'm supposed to make of Clyde.

And although the props onstage do look pretty much like a sandwich kitchen, the overall effect isn't very convincing. They seem neither very busy nor well-stocked. The kitchen is awfully clean, bright, and spacious for what it's meant to represent.

Bottom Line

There's a lot to like about this show, and that might be part of its problem. For a bunch of ex-cons, this is an awfully likeable group of people, and they get along pretty well. Other than the obvious conflict with newcomer Jason, I don't feel much tension within the group, other than what they direct at Clyde. And we never get an explanation of why Clyde treats everyone the way she does.

So, there's some good writing here, some good characters and scenes. But it doesn't really feel like a full, finished play. If you take out the lengthy riffs on aspirational sandwich ingredients and such, this is probably less than an hour of real material, and that could use some more clarity.

Overall, I guess I'm disappointed because my expectations were so high. I hoped for more. What we got was just OK. The play continues through the coming weekend, closing February 26th. There are better options available.

"Paradise Blue" at Aurora Theatre Company

 

Aurora Theatre Company production photo

I have been looking forward to this show for a while. Having seen Aurora's production of Dominique Morisseau's Detroit '67 a few years ago, I was looking forward to another installment from her trilogy (the third part of which, Skeleton Crew, I missed in a couple of venues not long ago). And we were blown away by Morisseau's Confederates last summer at Ashland. So there's a lot to look forward to.

The Play

Thematically, this seems very similar to August Wilson's Two Trains Running, which we saw recently at Marin Theatre Company. That play deals with urban renewal in Pittsburgh, but many of the issues feel familiar here in Detroit. Instead of a diner we have a jazz club, the Paradise Club, struggling to survive as its owner, Blue, considers selling the club to the city. Blue is struggling with memories of family conflicts past, haunted by memories of his father who owned the club before him. And he has either fired or caused to resign the bass player from his quartet, leaving pianist Corn and drummer P-Sam wondering about their future.

Meanwhile, Blue's girlfriend, Pumpkin, is learning to recite poetry while she cooks, cleans, and generally cares for everyone in the club. And then the femme fatale Silver arrives from out of town, bringing chaos in her wake.

Morisseau draws all five of the characters brilliantly: everyone's got issues, but they've all got strengths and interdependencies, too. No one is just there to advance the plot for someone else.

The Production

The designers have done some great work on this one, managing to maintain two spaces on Aurora's small thrust stage without causing unnecessary movements. The Paradise Club proper takes up the back of the stage, including a little bar in the corner with a few tables and chairs that mostly stay in place. The front of the stage holds Silver's rented room above the club, dominated by the bed. But with good lighting (designed by Stephanie Anne Johnson) and clever management of entrances and exits, neither room interferes with the other, and sometimes we can watch what's happening in both. Really nice work there.

Director Dawn Monique Williams gets a lot out of her cast. Titus VanHook (Blue) isn't totally convincing as he mimes playing his trumpet (while recordings of Geechi Taylor provide the sound), but he definitely embodies the emotional turmoil brewing below the surface. Michael J. Asberry (Corn) and Kenny Scott (P-Sam) do a terrific job trying to work together to preserve their band, while also defending their individual interests. They embody "coopetition". Having seen Scott in three or four different shows recently, I have to say this is definitely his best work overall.

I find it kind of ironic that I chose the photo of the three men above, which I thought captured a lot of the energy of their relationship in the play, because the play is really dominated by the two women From the opening words, where Pumpkin (Anna Marie Sharpe) is trying to learn a poem while sweeping up the club, through many scenes of her trying to manage the volatile Blue and the other men, it's clear where the real conflict in this show lies. And Rolanda D. Bell as Silver dominates every scene she's in, whether she opens her mouth or not. 

Bottom Line

Once again, I'm blown away by a Dominique Morisseau script. She is a terrific playwright, quickly becoming one of my favorites. And Aurora is really hitting its stride, I think, under the new management of Artistic Director Josh Costello and Asssociate A.D. Williams. I missed their last show, but the season opener (This Much I Know) was really terrific. I look forward to seeing the rest of the season.

Paradise Blue runs through February 26th, so you can still catch it!

"Bars and Measures" at Mosaic Theater Company

 

Mosaic Theater Company production photo by Chris Banks

Another day, another new theater! This one came recommended by a friend, so we felt pretty good about choosing this play, although the theater is well away from any part of D.C. that we'd been to before. [I should note that D.C. has changed immensely since I lived there more than 30 years ago. I'd never even heard of this area, called the Atlas District, where Mosaic is located.] Anyway, with the company recommended, and a play by Idris Goodwin, it seemed like a good bet!

The Play

The play centers around two brothers, both musicians. One, Eric, is a classical pianist, while his older brother Bilal plays jazz. Bilal has converted to Islam, and is currently in jail awaiting trial, accused of providing support to Islamic terrorist groups. Eric and others have rallied around Bilal to support him, including raising money for his defense with a big concert, where Eric will play jazz.

The show revolves around the relationship of the brothers, both musical and emotional, and the strains put on that relationship by Bilal's incarceration and trial. Bilal struggles as he's kept in solitary confinement for an extended period, with Eric as his only real contact outside. Eric is trying to keep afloat by working as an accompanist, particularly with Sylvia, as he tries to master enough jazz to play in support of his brother.

The Production

First off, the cast is amazing. Much of the play involves a fair amount of Eric (Joel Ashur) and Bilal  (Louis E. Davis) trading jazz riffs by scat singing, which is not easy to pull off, but they do it with apparent ease. And Sylvia (Lynette Rathnam) is a serious classical vocalist, and her voice is strong and sure. [Side note: we had seen Rathnam in Ashland last December in the ensemble for It's Christmas, Carol. Very different role, but she was terrific in both.] The show is a tight 80 minutes with no break, but it goes by very quickly, if intensely.

The set is clean and sparse, but evocative. Eric's small apartment on one side of the stage contrasts with the spartan room where Eric can visit Bilal in jail. And in the middle of the set, quietly dominating everything, stands Bilal's upright string bass. That's a particularly nice touch, since Mosaic has arranged with the DC Jazz Festival to have a live performer onstage before the curtain, playing the bass. Director Reginald L. Douglas has done a nice job of putting together a strong, coherent cast. We saw the opening performance of the show, and it was a smooth run.

Bottom Line

I'm really impressed with this show and with Mosaic. This is not an easy play, but they've done a terrific job with it. My only concern, really, is that they didn't have a very large turnout for the opening night. I trust the crowds will grow as word gets out about this production. Apparently it was their first live performance since COVID lockdown, so perhaps there is just unease at coming back. I trust more people will get to see this lovely show.

I should also give a quick plug to the neighborhood. The theater is in the Atlas Performing Arts Center, which is at 1333 H Street NE. That's in an area that I was completely unaware of when I lived in D.C., but it seems to be a thriving hub of art and culture, with numerous good-looking dining options nearby. I plan to check out the neighborhood more on subsequent visits.

I should also note that the next show Mosaic is undertaking is Mona Mansour's Unseen, which was the best show we saw last summer in Ashland. I wish we were going to be in town to see it! I will definitely have Mosaic on my radar for future viewing.

"Ride the Cyclone" at Arena Stage

Arena Stage production photo by Margot Schulman

Finding myself with no particular plans on a weekday afternoon in D.C., I decided to check out a matinee of a rather bizarre-sounding musical at the Arena Stage. Also, I'd never been to this theater, so it all sounded like fun. The website describes it a "a quirky cult musical". Let's hop on the roller coaster, then, shall we?

The Play

First off, the blurb on the website says this:

In Ride the Cyclone, the lives of six teen chamber choir singers are cut short in a freak roller coaster accident. Stuck in the afterlife, a mechanical fortuneteller gives them a chance to sing their way back to earth.

Not exactly the sort of set-up one expects for a musical. I'm kind of anticipating a weird cross between Big: The Musical and Forever Plaid. After seeing it, I'd say that's somewhat accurate, but add in a smattering of Zombie Prom, too.

The blurb is not wrong. This is exactly what we signed up for. Each of the six teens will get a solo number in which to make a case for why they should be the one to get to live again. The songs are actually pretty clever, and the rest of the cast gets to perform backup roles.

I should note that while waiting for the show to start, I read in the program that the show is set in "a dilapidated warehouse in Uranium City, Saskatchewan, Canada" and I had time to do a little quick Internet research. Uranium City is a pretty interesting story in itself, and having a little familiarity adds a bit to the enjoyment of the show.

Anyway, considering I came in with pretty mild expectations, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the script.

The Production

I thought Arena did a nice job with this. It's a co-production with the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ, so the show had already run for a while with many of the same artists there. But there are new/local artists involved. For the matinee I saw, one of the characters (Katie Mariko Murray as Jane Doe) was making her first appearance in the show, having just finished a run as Cinderella in Into the Woods at another local stage the preceding weekend. She was terrific, especially considering she'd had one full rehearsal (I learned at the post-show talkback).

All told, I was impressed with the production. The set is quite cool looking, definitely giving the vibe of a dilapidated warehouse full of carnival stuff. One has to wonder why the mechanical fortune teller booth is plugged in (it's a plot point, so just go with it), but Marc Geller (The Amazing Karnak) gets big points for spending the entire show crammed into that little booth space while acting like a mechanical man.

All of the actors do a good job bringing their characters to life (so to speak). And though I can't say I was surprised at the ending, I will say that it manages not to feel inevitable, which is a credit to both the script and the production.

Bottom Line

I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the show and the Kreeger Theater. And the post-show talkback was good, too. All of the cast members involved obviously enjoy being in this show, and seem eager to share it with the audience.

The show has been extended to March 5th, so if you're in the D.C. area and looking for a fun show, this could be your ticket!

"As You Like It" at SF Playhouse

 

SF Playhouse production photo by Jessica Palopoli

It's a musical adaptation of a Shakespeare play. Updated with some modern touches.

The Play

It's substantially Shakespeare's play As You Like It, with some extra gender-bending to give it a queer component as well as the gender-confusion that is built into Shakespeare's plot. And much of the script has been edited out, converted into songs in various popular genres to explain the parts of the plot that have been elided.

I found the juxtaposition of the modern songs and the Elizabethan text rather jarring, both from a stylistic standpoint and because the songs are pretty much all expository. As a wise character once noted, "nothing can kill a show like too much exposition."

The Production

The show is for the most part well done. The set design is pretty clean, so we have large spaces to represent the forest or Arden. I think my major criticism of the production itself would be that there is far too much standing around on the set. Someone starts singing, and they and everyone else sort of stand around, unless they happen to be dancing. Director Bill English needed to come up with some better blocking for a lot of the scenes.

And things are a bit heavy-handed when we're dealing with the usurping Duke Frederick. It seems unnecessary to play loud, martial music and have everyone goose-stepping. We get that he's an authoritarian. Of course, the script also undercuts that by having characters refer to him as "Your Duke-ness". WTF? Make up your minds whether we're supposed to take all of that seriously. Don't let the snark overwhelm the message of the show, folks!

Bottom Line

I didn't really care for the adaptation or the production. I thought most of the songs were pretty banal and the presentation heavy-handed. It's as if neither the adapters (Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery) nor the director thought the audience would understand the show. Yet they kept long passages of Shakespeare's text, and no one got lost. It's not as if the show survived for 400 years by confusing people.

On the other hand, I appeared to be in the vast minority on this one. Most of the audience seemed to enjoy the show immensely. And indeed, it was well done, with a lot of obvious joy on the part of the cast. So I'd give it a passing grade, but not a rave. Seems like it could have been much better, either in the adaptation or in the production (or preferably, both!).