Theater Review: Fiddler on the Roof

                        Cast of "Fiddler on the Roof"
 

What is it about this old musical that always makes me happy and sad and want to dance and want to help solve the problems raised – when I know how it will end, and especially when today’s political situation makes me wonder whether the world will ever be a happy place again?

“Fiddler on the Roof,” based on a series of stories by Sholem Aleichem written in Yiddish in the late 19th-early 20th centuries (and based on his own upbringing near modern-day Kiev), was first produced in Yiddish in 1919 and made into a film in the 1930s. It went through various versions until it was finally produced off-Broadway.

But enough history. The great news is that San Diego Musical Theatre has a wondrous fine version on its stage through March 10. This is a big cast of excellent singers, actors and dancers, directed brilliantly by Omri Schein.

The play, written in 1905, takes place in Anatevka, a little town (called the Pale of Settlement) in Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on tales by Sholem Aleichem and his upbringing near modern-day Kiev. First produced on Broadway in 1964, it has become a staple of the American theater.

Matthew Henerson tells the story as Tevye, and he is outstanding, managing to make the audience feel the responsibility Tevye feels. Fortunately, the music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick help him put the story across and make it difficult for people like me not to sing along. It’s one of those musicals.

“Fiddler” is really about tradition and change. The Jews of Anatevka have until now been left alone and allowed to keep to their own traditions. But now Russian politics are changing and Anatevka will have to adapt. Or perhaps worse things will happen.

But we start with things as they are. The (non-playing) fiddler is seen often, pretending to play his violin, perhaps to remind us that “without our traditions, we would be no better than a fiddler on the roof.”

Tevye tells us the story, and his wife Golde (Debra Wanger) tries to keep tabs on and find suitable husbands for their five delightful daughters. 

We’ll meet all those daughters and the other residents of Anatevka, such as the matchmaker and general busybody Yente (D. Candis Paule) and the rabbi (Elliott Goretsky), and a few of the men who are looking for wives.

But change is in the offing, as we find out with the arrival of handsome Russian student Perchik (Kenny Bordieri) from Kiev, who offers radical opinions that don’t comport with either current Russian political thought or the notions of these Jewish residents.

How will it end? You’ll have to see it to find out. And please do. Even the nonhuman elements, like Mike Buckley’s set design, Michelle Miles’ lighting and Jordan Gray’s sound designs are first-rate.

The details

“Fiddler on the Roof” plays through March 10, 2024 at San Diego Musical Theatre, 4653 Mercury Street, San Diego.

Shows Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. Matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Tickets: (858) 560-5740 or www.sdmt.org

Theater Review: English

                    Cast of "English" at the Old Globe

Leave it to The Old Globe to come up with a play you’d never expect. 

This time it’s playwright Sanaz Toossi’s  “English,” set in Karaj, Iran in 2008 and featuring a cast of four Iranians studying English with teacher Marjan (Pooya Mohseni). It’s a varied group in one or more of these characteristics: age, experience with the English language and natural ability to pick up a new language.

Elham (Țara Grammy) iș anglo-minded and at times combative. She needs high marks to get into medical school in Australia.

Goli (Ari Derambakhsh) is the youngest. She notes that “English does not want to be poetry like Farsi.”

The oldest student, Roya (Mary Apick), wants to move to “the Canada” to be with her granddaughter. She even has an iPhone.

There is also one male student, Omid (Joe Joseph). He is handsome and charming, but a question mark since he was born not in Iran but in Ohio. 

Teacher Marjan’s desk has the forbidding sign “English only.” Her English comes from several years spent in Manchester.

It’s difficult for us as observers to try to make sense out of the nearly instantaneous language changes. But what we non-Iranians do get is a feel for the difficulties these characters have, as well as the almost inevitable insults they feel from others as they attempt to communicate. But along with the difficulties, you will also be privy to the interconnections occasioned by them.

It’s difficult to describe this piece, because it’s just not like anything you’ve seen onstage. But know that the cast is excellent and that the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2023. It may be a challenge, but it’s an interesting one, and using the circular Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre makes the action more visible, though not more comprehensible.

The details

“English” plays Tuesday through Sunday at noon. The last show is Feb. 18.

Tickets: (619) 234-5623 or Tickets@TheOldGlobe.org 

Theater Review: Fun Home

Sounds like a rollicking good time, doesn’t it? But “Fun Home” is a nickname for the family-owned Pennsylvania funeral parlor owned by the Bechdel family in New Village Arts’ latest play.

It’s a complex show that takes place in three different years (1969, 1979 and 2003) and features a cast of seven (and three swings) who take us through difficult and sometimes amusing times as they grow up and older together.

Cartoonist Alison Bechdel (Rae Henderson-Gray) takes us through her difficult childhood with dad Bruce (played by Brent Roberts), emotionally volatile, demanding and and often cruel to his wife Helen (Sarah Alida LeClaire). Henderson-Gray is likable acting as the observer, who watches the others struggle as she did. 

Just as cruelty is part of the not-fun plot, so is the largely unadmitted desire for same-sex love which starts as hidden and gradually changes with the years.

And that’s not all. “Fun Home” is also a musical based on Bechdell’s illustrated memoir, offering 16 songs by Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron.

The cast is absolutely amazing, from the kids to adults, all perfectly capable of singing, dancing and acting. Rae Henderson-Gray takes on the job of observer, being amused by herself and them as time goes by.

Lena Palke, an extremely talented 10-year-old, is excellent as the ten-year-old Alison, who gets to sing “Ring of Keys” at the time when she sees a butch woman in a restaurant and begins to learn something about herself.

Priya Richard, playing Alison as a teenager, is excellent, finally beginning beginning to realize that she isn’t just young but also lesbian. And Lisette Velandia plays Joan, whom Alison meets at just the right time.

Grade-schoolers Zayden McHardy and Leo Jones are fun to watch as Alison’s younger brothers Christian and John.

Brent Roberts is difficult and sometimes annoying to watch as the pater familias Bruce Bechdel, but it’s fun to watch him when he doesn’t get things to go his way.

Sarah Alida LeClair suffers quietly as Bruce’s long-suffering wife Helen, until she too reaches the stage of explosion.

Director Kym Pappas, musical director Korrie Yamaoka, choreographer Patrick Mayuyu and the rest of the creative team are to be congratulated as well. 

“Fun Home” is like no other play I’ve ever seen. NVA gives us a fascinating, sometimes confusing but absolutely unequaled show. Don’t miss it. It plays through March 3.

Theater Review: Chapatti

                  Grace Delaney and Robert May in "Chapatti"

There are dog lovers and cat lovers. There are people who want to socialize and others who want to (or at least say they want to) be alone. 

In Christian O’Reilly’s short but sweet play “Chapatti,” we get them all – in 90 minutes, with two (or four, depending on how you count) human characters and numbers of imaginary cats and dogs, in a charming mixture of heartache, despair and gentle comedy.

“Chapatti” stars Robert May and Grace Delaney and plays through Feb. 25 at Scripps Ranch Theatre.

Robert May plays dog owner Dan, a widower and former construction worker described in the cast list as “a man who has a dog.” The dog, Chapatti, an unseen mutt apparently named for the Indian flatbread chapati, seems to be a friendly sort.

The other human character is Betty, a cat lady with 19 felines, played by Grace Delaney. Betty has more than a little trouble just keeping track of all those cats, but she tries by stuffing many of them into a large box.  She also has a friend named Peggy (whom Delaney also alternates in playing). But Betty also yearns for male human companionship.

May and Delaney offer excellent and even charming portrayals of two seniors who yearn for but are unsure how to find human connection. 

Dan is tired of waiting and has decided to leave Dublin, and puts up an ad for Chapatti in the local veterinarian’s office. But before he leaves, Dan and Betty do finally meet by chance, and we (by now totally involved in their doings) begin to root for them to get together. Will they? We, the audience, certainly hope so.

“Chapatti” is a play like no other. It really must be seen. Don’t miss it.

Bravi tutti at Scripps Ranch Theatre for a delightful, charming, even inspiring evening of theater.  

The details

“Chapatti” plays through February 25, 2024 at Scripps Ranch Theatre, 10455 Pomerado Road, on the campus of Alliant International University.

Performances Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Tickets: https://scrippsranchtheatre.org/tickets or (858) 395-0573

Theater review: Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill

                           Karole Foreman as Lady Day
                                                                         (Craig Schwartz Photography)

Holy Toledo. I just saw Karole Foreman as jazz singer Billie Holiday in Cygnet Theatre’s “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.”

Playwright Lanie Robertson’s script takes us with Billie as she performs her way through a typical show at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (or maybe it was several parts of several shows there).

“Typical” isn’t a term I’d use to describe anything she does other than sing, because Lady Day’s life was atypical, to say the least. But director Wren T. Brown packs a lot of life and many of her problems into Billie’s comments in between songs, so we get a little bio, some history and a lot of song into the whole.

She wanted to sing everywhere, anywhere, but found jobs difficult to find, largely (we assume) because of her race. She was from Philadelphia, and that’s where we see her working. She wanted to broaden her appeal in, say, New York but was never able to get work there.

She had plenty of fame based on her talent, but as time went on, she started using drugs, many of them illegal such as marijuana, opium, cocaine and heroin, making her a target for the federal government’s Bureau of Narcotics. She served almost a year in Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia on a possession of narcotics charge.

Some suspect that she may have been bisexual or omnisexual; she did speak of sleeping with women during her time(s) in prison.

This is the fifth time Foreman is portraying Lady Day in this 1986 musical, and she does it with grace, style and emotion. I’ve never seen anyone else do it, and after seeing Foreman I don’t want to.

This is a show seldom seen onstage. It’s not a cheery topic, nor a happy outcome, but it’s a fine portrayal.

The details

“Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” plays through Feb. 18, 2024 at Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs Street in the Old Town State Historic Park.

Shows at 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; matinees at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets ($39 and up) at cygnettheatre.com or (619) 337-1525

Theater Review: Intimate Apparel

It’s 1905 in lower Manhattan, where black seamstress Esther (Nedra Snipes) lives in a boarding house for women. We meet her at her sewing machine, where she makes her living creating intimate apparel for women who range from black prostitutes to wealthy white women. 

She buys the fabric from Jewish salesman Mr. Marks (Jonathan Fisher Jr.), which she takes home and fashions into the lovely creations she sells to local ladies.

Esther is an excellent seamstress, but she is undereducated (she can’t read) and lonely and doesn’t have much opportunity to socialize. So she is excited when she starts getting letters from an unknown Caribbean man named George Armstrong. She gets Mayne, a friend, to read and respond to them for her.

Will George turn out to be the man of her dreams? That’s the plot of Lynn Nottage’s play “Intimate Apparel,” now onstage in a lovely production through Feb. 4 at North Coast Repertory Theatre.

Jasmine Bracey directs Nottage’s vividly-written play (which is based on her own great-grandmother) with a sure hand and a good feel for dramatic conflict and human sentiment.

All the actors are fine, but my favorites are Snipes’ Esther and Fisher’s Mr. Marks, both trying to take care of the other and leaving us to wonder what would have happened if….

Kudos to the technical people as well. Marty Burnett’s set is almost magical in the changes made as set reflects drama. Elise Benzoni’s costumes are beautiful, as are the swatches of fabric (I want some of them myself!). 

Peter Herman’s wigs reflect the time beautifully, and Evan Eason’s sound design is excellent.

This is not a cheery play, but “Intimate Apparel” is a rich and vivid portrait of turn-of-the-century New York that will keep you fascinated the whole time.

The details

“Intimate Apparel” runs through Feb. 4, 2024 at North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive in Solana Beach.

Performances Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.

Tickets: (858) 481-1055 or boxoffice@northcoastrep.org

Theater Review: Outside Mullingar

            Robert Smyth, Deborah Gilmour Smyth, Brian Mackey, Rachael VanWormer

I’ve always thought the Irish a crazy lot. Now playwright John Patrick Shanley illustrates it dramatically in “Outside Mullingar.”

In a dizzying one-act, and with only four actors, Lamb’s Players Theatre shows us how silly– and how self-defeating – tribalism can be.

We’re in a small Irish farming town called Killucan (outside Mullingar), where two clans seem to spend their lives arguing rather than enjoying each other’s company.

The Reillys are represented by elder Tony (played by Robert Smyth) and his son Anthony (Brian Mackey). Tony is determined that Anthony will take over after he dies. Anthony seems a lot less interested in farming and a lot more interested in Rosemary Muldoon (Rachael VanWormer), daughter of Aoife (Deborah Gilmour Smyth).

Uh-oh, a different clan. Can this work?

Maybe, but I’ll never tell. But I am here to tell you the show is hilarious and an absolute joy to watch – and that a big part of that comes in the actions of not just the actors but the production team, as they run in and out helping to change scenery and furniture with the moving actions of the plot.

Robert Smythe’s autocratic Tony alternates between efficient, annoyed, determined and (when he’s being impossible) funny as he tries to keep things on an even keel. But the idea of giving the farm to his son? That’s a big ask.

Brian Mackey’s Anthony, more modern and moderate in outlook, realizes his dad isn’t going to change his mind, but is equally determined to at least try to modernize enough to give the younger generation (and himself) the chance to try a different way of being.

Deborah Gilmore Smyth’s matriarch Aoife Muldoon is just fun to watch (as is always the case with her). But what can she do about her daughter?

And Rachael VanWormer’s Rosemary Muldoon, still mad at Anthony for having pushed her to the ground all those years ago when she was a kid, has every right to cling to her original opinion of him (“I don’t hate you. I just don’t like you”). Will she change her mind? 

VanWormer is one of my favorite players at Lamb’s, though in this show I found her more difficult to understand than usual.

“Outside Mullingar” is a most unusual play, not like anything else I’ve ever seen. Kudos to all involved for this remarkable and delightful production.