Theater Review: Hand to God

 

Puppets have never been a thing for me, especially not extremely vulgar ones that seem to go out of their way to be obnoxious. 

But if that’s your thing, have I got a play for you. It’s Robert Askins’ “Hand to God,” about a supposedly Christian community run by Pastor Greg (Dave Rivas), where nasty and vulgar puppets seem to rule the day, or at any rate talk a lot and appear to have sex on the mind most of the time.

The Roustabouts Theatre Company, headed by Phil Johnson, presents “Hand to God” through March 31 at Hillcrest’s Diversionary Theatre.

Is Askins telling us that religion is bunk, or that people are, or that maybe neither is true but treating both with disdain is the only way to survive in a place like this?

I’m not sure, but it’s clear that Johnson had a wonderful time directing the show and many audience members seemed to think it funny as well.

Me? Not so much, but I will give credit where it’s due: the actors (Rebecca Crigler, Adam Daniel, Samantha Ginn and Devin Wade, in addition to the aforemtioned Rivas) obviously put a lot of effort into making those puppets cavort, often amusingly and always vulgarly for the audience.

Look, humans are fallible and often do, say and think the “wrong” things, or at least things that don’t improve either their lives or anyone else’s who has heard/watched/helped them blow off puppet steam.

There’s history in puppets. I’ve been told on good authority that puppets were used as teachers in the Middle Ages in Europe and Asia.

And let’s face it, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are not foreign to Europeans, nor is the choice between ego and id, and we all know that people have both sides and can choose one over the other.

That’s the real point of this show, and if it has to do it with vulgar puppets, well, so be it.

The details

“Hand to God” plays through March 31,  2024 at Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Boulevard #101 in San Diego.

Ticket price: $45. Call (619) 569-5800  or www.theroustabouts.org.

Shows Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Theater Review: How I Learned to Drive

The program for this show tells us that Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company prides itself on its “art to the gut sensibility” and “believes that exceptional storytelling is rooted in a sense of joyful play, human connection and gutsy intensity.”

In its latest production, Paula Vogel’s “How I Learned to Drive,” which plays through March 16 at downtown’s Tenth Avenue Arts Center, it’s the gutsy intensity that will both enthrall (and perhaps even exhaust) you.

Directed by Anthony Methvin, this two-hour nonstop play (winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama) illustrates a strained relationship between a young teenage girl and an adult man who finds her sexually interesting. The girl, named Li’l Bit and played magnificently by Megan Carmitchel, thinks her admirer Robert (Francis Gercke) is just weird  and a possible child abuser until he offers to teach her something she wants to know: how to drive. But driving isn’t even half of what this show is about. 

Also in the show are three other fine actors – William Huffaker, Karson St. John and Emilee Zuniga, (called Male Greek Chorus, Female Greek Chorus and Teenage Greek Chorus in the program) who each play a multitude of other characters who swirl around Li’l Bit and Robert.

Three of the other women also play Li’l Bit’s mother, aunt and grandmother at different times, and also many other characters (that’s why all except Li’l

Bit and Robert are called “Greek Chorus” (one each: male, female, teenage). The women continue the general plot about man’s relation to woman in general, often amusingly.

Kudos to director Methvin for keeping things both moving and intriguing, and to the other designers. Yi-Chien Lee does a fine job with the set and props designs. 

Jessica John Gercke’s costume designs also deserve kudos. 

Curtis Mueller’s lighting and George Ye’s sound designs call attention to the right people and places at the right times, as does Chad Ryan’s technical direction.

I advise that you enter this show with no expectations about what you might see, because they will likely be smashed very quickly anyway. If you’re an adventurous theatergoer, this is for you. 

Thanks to Methvin and his sterling cast, the show will at least intrigue you, if not send you away smiling about how much fun it was.

Recommend it to likeminded people you know.

“How I Learned To Drive” plays through March 16, 2024 at downtown’s  Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 Tenth Avenue (where 163 hits Tenth Avenue).

Shows Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 3 p.m. Industry night is Monday, March 11 at 7 p.m. 

Prices: General admission, $40; Seniors and military, $35; Dogtag members $30 (must have access code) and Students, $18 (with student ID)

Theater Review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

                      Daniel Patrick Russell as Christopher

Teenager Christopher Boone (Daniel Patrick Russell), looking around one day, finds a (prop) dog that seems to have been killed and decides to play Sherlock Holmes to find out what happened.

This is the setup for the most intriguing, utterly engaging, occasionally shocking “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” a musical play based on the novel by Mark Haddon and adapted by Simon Stephens. The show plays through March 3 at CCAE Theatricals in Escondido.

Fifteen-year-old Christopher isn’t like most other teens. Though very bright, he seems to have neuropsychological issues that lead him to perceive the world differently from most people, and therefore to act differently. He also has, as they say, “some behavioral difficulties,” which occasionally annoy his loving father Ed (Nathan Madden), with whom he lives. His mother Judy (played by Regina A. Fernandez) is dead (though she will show up later, in flashback).

There is a kindly teacher named Siobhan in his life (played wonderfully by Allison Spratt Pearce), who both acts as narrator and helps Christopher to translate the world.

Several other characters play multiple roles and several cast members also serve as set movers and scene changers. The whole presentation, directed by J. Scott Lapp, is a visual wonder in nonstop motion that will keep you as involved as young Christopher, and wanting to know what will happen next.

It’s a presentation of multiple realities in pretty much constant motion, sometimes movement in the usual sense, other times through the lens of a camera.

To emphasize the constant motion, there’s a section in which Christopher goes to the train station and has an amusing (and so familiar) time trying to find the right place to get on the train.

But it’s not just personalities we see and experience. There is also much choreography (by Natalie Iscovich), made better by the sound design itself (by Jon Fredette). And there’s lots of music (songs by Maxwell Transue). Oh, and a live puppy.

It’s the presentation itself that will keep you fascinated, but the characters and their relationships to each other that will send you home delighted to have visited Christopher’s world.

The details

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” plays through March 3, 2024 at the Center Theater at California Center for the Arts in Escondido (1276 Auto Park Way, Suite D #402).

Remaining performances are on Feb. 26 at 7:30 (Industry Night), Feb. 29 at 7:30 p.m. (American Sign Language performance), March 1 at 7:30 p.m.; March 2 at 2 p.m. (Sensory Friendly Performance), March 2 at 7:30 p.m. and March 3 at 2 p.m.

For tickets contact the box office: (442-304-0500) or boxoffice@theatricals.org

 

Theater Review: Redwood

                                     Redwood

There’s something about trees – especially California redwoods – that is calming and even healing.

At least that’s the contention of playwright Tina Landau’s musical “Redwood,” which just opened at La Jolla Playhouse.

The plot is wild and busy and is mostly about a very unhappy Jewish woman named Jesse (Idina Menzel), a successful businesswoman who is trying to escape an unnamed tragedy by getting in her car and fleeing to California’s redwood forest. 

There we meet several other characters, who presumably have their own problems. There’s photojournalist Mel (De’Adre Aziza), a woman of color and photo-journalist from New York. And Becca, (Nkeki Obi-Melekwe), half Jewish and an expert tree climber, described as “made of steel.” There’s the woodsman Finn (Michael Parks), in his sixties, a redwood canopy botanist, who can really climb a tree. And there’s a fourth actor (Zachary Noah Pisar) who plays four characters: the fun-loving 23-year-old Spencer – Jesse’s son from a long-ago dissolved marriage – and three other briefly seen characters.

These characters move around, meet or don’t meet, sing or don’t sing (this is a musical, after all), but all is done within sight of the real star: the magnificent background of these fabulous trees, wonderfully filmed, surrounding us all with their beauty.

As Jesse begins to relax in the woods, she also begin to make make connections with the other characters, and they talk about the Jewish concept of Tikkum Olam, referring to actions intended to repair and improve the world.

This fits right in with Jesse’s intention to make things better. One thing she does is climb up to a spot on the redwood where she stakes her claim, sits down and makes herself at home. There she can actually stroke the redwood.

“Redwood” is a most unusual play, executed brilliantly in a visual feast that literally surrounds the audience. You couldn’t escape if you wanted to (at least, not without seriously inconveniencing other audience members), but you won’t because this is such a wondrous treat with humans and trees getting along and making life better for each other.

All the actors are excellent, though I sometimes had trouble understanding Menzel’s Jesse. Many of the musical numbers (music by Kate Diaz; lyrics by Diaz and Tina Landau) are unusual and sometimes difficult to understand, but they have interesting titles like “Climb” and “No Repair.”

The five-person backstage orchestra (conducted by Haley Bennett) supports the singers well. Congratulations also to music supervisor Kimberly Grigsby.

“Redwood” is a play like no other I’ve seen. If you’re up for the unusual, “Redwood” is for you.

The details

“Redwood” plays through March 31, 2024 at La Jolla Playhouse’s Sheila dnd Hughes Potiker Theatre, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive in La Jolla.

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

Most tickets have been sold, but you might try calling (858) 550-1010.

Theater Review: Chicago

Note to self: Boy, gotta write this fast. This crazy show with a bunch of fabulous singers and dancers and a plot about murder as a form of entertainment is only at San Diego Civic Theatre for a few more days.

You know the plot of “Chicago.” It’s about girls who make a living doing things that are thought of as indecent and often downright illegal, and what they do when they get caught.

From a 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, “Chicago” takes place in the late Roaring Twenties. With lyrics by Fred Ebb and music by John Kander, “Chicago is onstage through Feb. 18 at San Diego Civic Theatre.

It’s a touring show and a fabulous piece of entertainment, even if what they’re doing is something your mama would frown at. Its central characters are two women who can sing and dance like crazy, and will stop at nothing (including murder) to get what they want. Their names are Roxie Hart, played with great panache by Katie Frieden, and Velma Kelly, played brilliantly by Kailin Brown.

The cast of 22 is stuffed with terrific singers and dancers, aided by a fine onstage band of ten led by Cameron Blake Kinnear.

Given what these ladies do, it’s no surprise to find lawyer Billy Flynn (Connor Sullivan) hanging around, because he gets lots of work from them. When he sings that “All I Care About” (is love), you’ll have to decide for yourself whether he means it. But he does a great job on “Razzle Dazzle,” which is what this show has in spades. It’s won six Tony Awards, two Olivier awards and a Grammy. There’s a reason for that.

Don’t miss it. Get your shimmy-shake at “Chicago.”

“Chicago” plays through Feb. 18. Shows Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. For tickets go to broadwaysd.com

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