Theater Review: SIX

                                        SIX

Marrying a king sounds like a great career move, but historically there have been more than a few drawbacks for women who tried it.

Broadway San Diego presents the touring version of “Six, the Musical” through July 9 at downtown’s Civic Theatre.

England’s King Henry VIII ended up with six wives, their fates amusingly (to us) reported (in order) as “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.”

Was he really that unfeeling? Probably, if we are to believe the Six, who tell us their side of the story.

Dressed in spiffy, sparkly costumes (by Gabriella Slade), these ladies cavort, show off, tell jokes, weep and generally just have a great time as they talk about their, shall we say, encounters with Henry.

Each of them gets plenty of time to sing, requiring six really fine voices, and these ladies deliver. Khaila Wilcoxon plays Catherine of Aragon (divorced); Storm Lever is Anne Boleyn (beheaded); Natalie Paris is Jane Seymour, who died shortly after childbirth; Olivia Donalson is Anna of Cleves (divorced); Courtney Mack is Katherine Howard (beheaded); and Gabriela Carrillo is Catherine Parr, who outlived the King.

As I say, all are excellent, though because I’ve never seen the show, I frequently wished the diction were a bit better and the band (keyboard, bass, guitars, drums) a bit quieter.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to marry a king, here’s your chance to find out.

The details

“Six” plays through July 9, 2023 at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third and B Streets in downtown San Diego.

Shows Wednesday at 7 p.m.; Thursday at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 1 and 6 p.m.

Tickets start at $35 and can be bought here:

https/www.broadwaysd.com/upcoming-events/six/

Film Review: Scarlet

 

Juliette (Juliette Jouan) in "Scarlet"

                      

Life is to be lived, enjoyed, shared or maybe just endured, depending on your lot and how you choose to live it.

Director/co-writer Pietro Marcello’s “Scarlet” takes place between 1919 and 1939, described as “a time of great inventions and great dreams.” It was also a time of difficulty, between world wars, a time of recovery and starting over for many.

At the beginning, old former soldier Raphael (Raphaël Thiéry) comes to a small French town in search of his wife Marie and a daughter he’s heard is his. He runs into Mme. Adeline (Noémie Lvovsky), a sort of mayor figure who seems to keep track of who’s who and what’s what in town. 

Mme. Adeline holds a crying baby and says “She’s your daughter. Her name is Juliette. She has Marie’s eyes. I hear you work with wood. I can’t pay you, but I can put you up.”

There are two other major characters in this film: “La magicienne” (Yolande Moreau) and Fernand (François Négrier), described by Mme. Adeline as “a bastard.” You can guess why.

Raphael, it turns out, is a wizard with wood. He can build anything out of wood, and decides to make a toy for Juliette.

Raphael is such a wizard with wood that he can build almost anything….except dreams. But Juliette, who plays piano, is a dreamer and says things like “I’d like to go away in the softness of clouds.”

One day Juliette meets Jean (Louis Garrel), a young stranger who owns and likes to fly airplanes. “I make my money with my plane,” he tells Juliette. 

“I think it’s beautiful,” she says. “I never saw one up close.”

Could this be the beginning of something wonderful?

You’ll have to see the film yourself. I recommend it highly. Though it is at times emotionally wrenching, it’s a lovely fairy tale. The acting is top-notch and Marcello’s directing brilliant.

It was also named one of the 12 best films of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

“Scarlet” opens July 30 at San Diego’s Digital Gym Cinema, 1100 Market Street.

Theater Review: Lonely Planet

 

                    James Darvas and Salomon Maya

Leave it to OnStage Playhouse to come up with something strange, weird and fascinating.

OnStage Artistic Director James Darvas takes center stage as one of the two characters in Steven Dietz’s 1993 “Lonely Planet,” in which two men try to weather the frightening times of the AIDS crisis with food, friendship and … well, and chairs.

Darvas plays Jody, a map store owner whose shop is depicted in Duane McGregor’s set design. The walls are covered with maps. Close by (apparently near the opening of Jody’s store) lives Carl (Salomon Maya), a younger jack-of-all-trades who does whatever type of job he can find. Sometimes it seems to involve building; others rebuilding or retouching things that have become damaged, such as art works.

As both Carl and Jody are single and unattached, they get a certain amount of community with each other, though outwardly they seem to have little in common.

Carl strews Jody’s store with a seemingly endless number of chairs. One wonders where they come from, and why Carl seems to collect them is a bit of a mystery, as are several other things. 

They make an odd couple, especially when they occasionally decide to “play the game where they tell the truth,” leaving the observer to wonder if they’re both lying the rest of the time – and why. Or do humans always lie? It’s something to ponder.

It seems evident that Jody is fearful of AIDS. Carl’s problem seems more immediate – where will he make a few bucks?

In the second act, Jody goes to get an AIDS test, and Jody’s shop becomes quite crowded with the number of chairs Carl has been bringing. Chair after chair, and finally we find out why. It’s not Carl’s fondness for wooden chairs, but something much sadder.

“Lonely Planet” is well named, and the actors absolutely top-notch. I’d never seen Darvas on the stage before, but he plays with both conviction and style. 

Maya has been seen on this stage before, and is equally excellent as the somewhat mysterious Carl. 

Credit former OnStage Artistic Director Teri Brown with a brilliant directorial job on this difficult piece. She’s careful not to try to explain anything directorially, but to let the piece speak for itself. Welcome back, Teri.

Love, loss, hope, fear and acceptance of the unknown and perhaps unknowable. It’s a heavy night of theater, but one well done and worth seeing.

 

Theater Review: Twelfth Night

                       Twelfth Night at the Old Globe Theater

A drunk, several fools, a jester, a brother and a sister who have lost track of each other and people falling in love with the “wrong” person inhabit Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” a noisy, goofy, often funny and frequently confusing piece playing through July 9 at The Old Globe’s Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. 

It’s a goofy plot and a goofy production, but thanks to the actors (a combination of Actors’ Equity members and students in the USD/Old Globe Shiley Graduate Theatre Program), Kathleen Marshall’s fine direction and a great production staff, the show is a kick to watch.

Consider at the outset the prevalent belief at the time this was written that females were imperfect males. This often accounts for the casting and characters.

Viola (Naian González Norvind), shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria (now the western Balkans), has lost contact with her brother Sebastian (Jose Balistrieri). She thinks he’s been drowned. Disguising herself as a young man named Cesario, she enters the service of Duke Orsino (Biko Eisen-Martin), who is in love with the lovely Olivia (who wears black, mourning her brother’s death).

Olivia falls for Viola aka Cesario, Viola aka Cesario loves Duke Orsino and Duke Orsino loves Olivia. Got it?

Now consider Olivia’s uncle, the often-drunk Sir Toby Belch (Cornell Womack), who hangs out with the “silly squire” Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Jason O’Connell). Both drink too much but have a wonderful time, despite the complaints of Olivia’s steward Malvolio (Greg Germann), who thinks he’s better than anyone else.

The first act has everyone pining for the wrong person until the Belch/Aguecheek/Malvolio trio decide they should all get drunk.

In the second act, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria plan revenge on the spoilsport Malvolio, by planting a “love letter” allegedly from Olivia (but written by Maria) that asks Malvolio to wear stockings cross-gartered (and yellow, egad), to be rude to the rest of the servants and to smile constantly in Olivia’s presence.

Great merriment is seen among all (especially the audience) when they see how goofy Malvolio looks, and he gets locked up in a dark chamber. But he gets a visit from the priest. 

Meanwhile Sebastian, Viola’s twin, has been rescued by sea captain Antonio (Jude Tibeau), and eventually everybody marries the right person and all ends happily.

Credit Lawrence E. Moten III for the fine scenic design, Michael Krass for the costumes, Stephen Strawbridge for the lighting, Melanie Chen Cole for the sound design, music director Morgan Carberry and original music by Miriam Sturm and Michael Bodeen, and voice and text coach Ursula Meyer.

“Twelfth Night” isn’t my favorite Shakespeare play, but I’ve got to say this one is fun to watch.

Theater Review: Public Enemy

     

                    Nick Kennedy and Richard Baird in "Public Enemy"

Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, one of the most influential playwrights of the 19th century, wrote many masterpieces still performed today, including “Ghosts,” “A Doll’s House,” “Hedda Gabler” and “The Master Builder.”

Scottish playwright David Harrower has written many plays himself, including the Olivier Best Play of 2007 “Blackbird” and many adaptations of plays by Woyzeck, Pirandello, Chekhov and Brecht.

San Diego’s New Fortune Theater Company presents Harrower’s “Public Enemy” (an adaptation of Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People”) through July 2 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Ocean Beach. Richard Baird both directs and acts in this production.

Baird is an award-winning actor, director and producer who founded Poor Players Theatre Company in 2001, later rebranded as New Fortune Theatre Company. Baird has directed 23 of Shakespeare’s plays as well as numerous others.

The question at here is whether truth is always the greater good even when it threatens profitability.

“Public Enemy” Baird plays a scientist named Dr. Thomas Stockmann, who discovered some years ago that the town’s waters were medically beneficial, which made it a popular tourist spot. But lately, he has discovered that 

bacteria and other poisons from the tannery and other industries have poisoned the water, making it unsafe to drink.

Science and politics are often at odds, and Thomas’ brother Peter (Nick Kennedy), the town’s mayor, is on a different tack. He just wants to keep his job and convince the people that he is making them some version of happy. He forbids Thomas to say anything about the water, and threatens that his report will not go to committee.

Newspaper editor Hoystad (Trevor Cruse), anxious to get to print with the story, rushes to “The Reformer” office to write it. His printer Alaksen (Neil McDonald) is onboard, since he is the chair of the Small Business Federation.

Thomas schedules a public town hall, where everyone’s opinion will be heard, but he expects his to win. Will it? You really must see the play to find out.

Costumes here add to the atmosphere: Thomas is casual in a cardigan and blazer; brother Thomas more formal in a double-breasted red vest and suit. 

The small size of the theater adds to the involvement of spectators, especially if (like me) you are in the front row. 

Several other characters come and go as well: Thomas and Katrine’s children (Geoffrey Ulysses Geissinger, Anthony Graf, Kimberly Weinberger) and other townspeople (Danny Campbell and Nick Daugherty).

This is a political play, and we all need to think about what that means. Whom can we trust, and is voting even always valid? “Public Enemy” invites, nay demands thought and, fortunately, provides laughs along the way.

The details

“Public Enemy” plays through July 2 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3598 Talbot Street in Ocean Beach. 

Shows June 22, 23 and 24 at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $25 to $30 for adults, $10 for students and military and can be bought onsite, at www.newfortunetheatre.com, or at 1-619-246-1846.

Theater Review: Love All

 

La Jolla Playhouse's "Love All" 

Tennis star Billie Jean King came to tennis via basketball and softball, taking up tennis in 1954 at age 11 when her parents suggested it as a “more ladylike” sport.

A tireless competitor, she became a champion, retiring with a record 20 Wimbledon titles and a total of 39 Grand Slam titles. In between, she crusaded for women’s rights in tennis, her testimony before the U.S. Senate helping to pass the Title IX act guaranteeing girls equal access to sports education in public schools.

Now, La Jolla Playhouse gives us Anna Deveare Smith's “Love All,” with a fascinating first act showing King’s determination and rise in the field, followed by a less interesting second act that needs improvement.

As a 14-year-old novice Billie Jean Moffitt, she was already convinced that she’d be the best player in the world, and we see her competing with the other great players including Althea Gibson (played wonderfully by Rebecca S’Manga Frank, who even looks like Gibson) and Allison Spratt Pearce as Australian tennis star Margaret Court. Gibson quit professional tennis in the late 1950s because of the lack of tournament opportunities and prize money.

As a player, she was also a tireless campaigner for women’s rights in the field (for example, equal prize money). She was instrumental in persuading cigarette brand Virginia Slims to sponsor women’s tennis and went on to serve on their parent board Philip Morris in the 2000s. In 2020, the Federation Cup was named the Billie Jean King Cup in her honor.

Billie Jean’s story plays out against the backdrop of national events including the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, Jr, the Watts riots and Muhammad Ali’s refusal to fight in Vietnam.

Early on, attorney Larry King (played sympathetically by John Kroft) became her manager (and husband) but they later split due to marital infidelities. 

Chilina Kennedy’s King is a wonder of self-confidence and energy, a crusader who always told the truth to the press and anyone else who asked. It’s a joy to watch her dedication to the sport.

Bianca Amato is excellent as both Alice Marble, Billie Jean’s chain-smoking coach, and Ilana Kloss, who became King’s wife and partner.

Justin Withers plays Arthur Ashe, the black star who refused to support King’s campaign for equal pay for women players. 

This is a big production (two hours, 30 minutes), played out on Robert Brill’s fine set design of a tennis arena, and includes projections by S. Katy Tucker. The period costumes are by Ann Hould-Ward; the lighting by Jiyoun Chang, and sound by Darron L. West.

The first act is all about tennis, and quite a fascinating watch. But the second act is confusing and often flat, and its function unclear. The actors speak as themselves, reminding the audience of King’s accomplishments. It meanders a  lot and needs work.

The details

“Love All” plays through July 2 at La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Theatre,  2910 La Jolla Village Drive in La Jolla.

Shows Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.

Tickets: boxoffice@ljp.org or (858) 550-1010

Theater Review: Sharon

 

                     DeAnna Driscoll and Keiko Green in "Sharon"

“Who the F**k is Sharon?” screams the poster for Keiko Green’s new, weird play “Sharon,” now in its world premiere at Cygnet Theatre.

You may wonder yourself as you watch, and even as you leave the theater two and a half hours later.

“Sharon” starts with “Happy Together” on the sound system, and proceeds to show us a group that is anything but happy. The characters are not rich or even up-and-coming; they are at the other end of the spectrum, scratching for a living and repeatedly showing us how difficult that can be.

Green is an MFA graduate of UCSD’s MFA Playwriting program, for which she previously wrote “Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play,” which premiered at the Old Globe Theatre in April. And another play of hers is expected later this year.

The title character (played by Deanna Driscoll) is the mother of a most unhappy son named Jake (Rafael Goldstein), first seen painting great globs of green paint on a corner of a kitchen wall near the workspace where she often claims to be cooking dinner, such as meatballs.

They live in a dilapidated apartment building, where Sharon wears aprons, hums and cooks. Jake works in a store called Jackson’s, hates to talk about “his day,” and often loses his patience, if not his mind, especially when she asks him about his life, which seems to be the wrong word. 

Playwright Green plays Tina, who also works at Jackson’s but in the information booth. She finds herself strangely drawn to Jake. 

MJ Sieber plays banker Gregg with badly-behaved hair, and Kat Peña plays the mysterious Sabrina.

They drink a lot of vodka shots, eat chicken parmesan (courtesy of Sharon), lick the green paint on the kitchen wall and…..well, that’s enough. 

I told you this is a weird play.

Theater Review: Eleanor

                    Kandis Chappell as Eleanor Roosevelt

It’s a bitch being plain, even if you’re a member of the upper crust and the wife of a U.S. President.

But that didn’t stop Eleanor Roosevelt from becoming one of the most influential – and even most admired – women in U.S. history, as Mark St. Germain’s fine script “Eleanor” illustrates. 

Nor did it stop her from asking for a divorce (he said no) or wishing her husband were a bit different. “My body lies beside Franklin’s,” she tells us, “but not my spirit.”

North Coast Repertory Theatre presents extraordinary actress Kandis Chappell as “Eleanor” through July 9 at the theater, directed by Artistic Director David Ellenstein, along with the usual splendid company designers: Marty Burnett, set; Elisa Benzoni, costumes; Matt Novotny, lighting, Aaron Rumley, sound and projections, Anissa Ruiz, props and Peter Herman, hair and wigs.

Eleanor’s main complaint was, of course, the president’s affair with Eleanor’s secretary Lucy Mercer.

Kandis Chappell does a brilliant job as Eleanor, annoyed by his dalliances but not letting that keep her from her humanist instincts and determination to work for the betterment of all mankind.

She didn’t even let the local Daughters of the American Revolution keep Black singer Marian Anderson from singing in Washington. When they refused the use of the DAR hall, Eleanor offered the Lincoln Memorial as a fitting backdrop.

She finishes with a winner: “Happiness is not a goal. It is the gift of a life well-lived.” After all, as she puts it, “Who are any of us but the choices we make?”

And this version of “Eleanor” is a wonderful gift to local theater lovers. Don’t pass it up.

 

Theater Review: Head Over Heels

              Cast of Diversionary Theatre's "Head Over Heels"

What can one say about this crazy, noisy, insanely musical show that starts like a regular musical and quickly mutates into the kind of thing one can only watch and wonder at?

What am I talking about? It’s Diversionary’s latest effort, “Head Over Heels,” by Jeff Whitty (of “Avenue Q” fame), adapted from a plot written by Sir Philip Sidney in the 16th century. “Head Over Heels” opened on Broadway in 2018.

The first song tells you what you need to know: “We Got the Beat,” and just the title tells you what it is: a jukebox musical.

It seems that Basilius (Scott Ripley), king of Arcadia, has a wife named Gynecia (Amanda Naughton) and two daughters, the elder Pamela (Gerilyn Brault) and the younger Philoclea (Adelaida Martinez). The girls, of course, are waiting for Mr. Right to come along. As it happens, along comes a local shepherd named Musidorus (Joey Kirkpatrick), who immediately falls for Philoclea. But of course dad Basilius doesn’t think he’s rich enough for his younger daughter.

Meanwhile, the kingdom’s new Oracle Pythio (Faith Carrion), has made some interesting prophecies. Listen for them; they’re important.

Two other characters matter as well: Bacilius’ viceroy Dametas (Berto Fernández) and Pamela’s handmaid Mopsa (Lauren King Thompson), a cute blonde who is also looking for a likely husband.

These characters lend themselves to comedy and other hijinks, and that’s what the plot is all about. Characters change names, and both sometimes pretend to change genders, lovers and genders OF lovers. 

Bravo to the tech folks and designers, especially costume designer Elisa Benzoni scenic designer Justin Humphries and choreographer Katie Banville (assisted by Alyssa “Ajay” Junious), who make the show look great. And to the lighting by Joel Britt, sound by Harper Justus and Peter Herman’s predictably wonderful wigs.

Music director Patrick Marion marshals his four onstage musicians brilliantly as well.

And of course, a special bravo to Matt Morrow, who has picked a spectacular, goofy and hilarious way to say goodbye to San Diego theater lovers.(And if you want to try to keep up with it, read Wikipedia’s plot synopsis first.)

Don’t miss this show.

The details

"Head Over Heels" plays through June 18, 2023 at Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd. in University Heights.

Shows: Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m.

For tickets: (619) 220-0097 or boxoffice@diversionary.org