tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77363787638292135162024-03-23T17:35:35.435-05:00Life Upon the Sacred StageThis site features news, reviews and insights into the worlds of faith and the performing arts.Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.comBlogger1307125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-66839087220810549052024-03-23T17:33:00.004-05:002024-03-23T17:35:03.548-05:00Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli headline 'An Enemy of the People' revival<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCKR6a1lT3UczN2tpGn8xXuj0tayEqKaV8LpZAho7oMWebXEF-j0qQHGufzGubBeoLZCFfCjR3Bt-IUunwX6jpYU2mMoIef9U5nRNrxHLNidyDZMk3OsVnUfCMgPL2UwieXOpyECeZmsyTaDN2ZaTH8ey2bFPaK0E-o6JESMtshwTG7N20g3cBEAT74Y/s7580/Y__aGiqA.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="7580" data-original-width="5357" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCKR6a1lT3UczN2tpGn8xXuj0tayEqKaV8LpZAho7oMWebXEF-j0qQHGufzGubBeoLZCFfCjR3Bt-IUunwX6jpYU2mMoIef9U5nRNrxHLNidyDZMk3OsVnUfCMgPL2UwieXOpyECeZmsyTaDN2ZaTH8ey2bFPaK0E-o6JESMtshwTG7N20g3cBEAT74Y/s320/Y__aGiqA.jpeg" width="226" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Playwright Amy Herzog has once again taken a beloved Henrik Ibsen classic and made it more accessible — and shorter — without cheapening its worth. This time it’s <i>An Enemy of the People </i>at Circle in the Square, tautly directed by Sam Gold and wonderfully acted by Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I had high expectations having enjoyed Herzog’s adaptation of <i><a href="https://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com/2023/03/jessica-chastain-is-spectacular-in.html">A Doll’s House</a> </i>last year and I was not disappointed. I’ve liked both plays since I first read them in college. Ibsen was a revolutionary. Many people were outraged to see a wife and mother leave her family in <i>A Doll’s House. </i>I understood Nora’s need for independence and loved that a man from that time had created her. <i> </i>But Ibsen was writing for long 19th century Norwegian nights. <i>Enemy, </i>especially, can drag at times and come off as didactic. Herzog and Gold’s production is well paced throughout, reducing the five act play to two hours with no intermission. They are wife and husband collaborating on their first stage production together. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s a story of greed and political self-interest that, unfortunately, is as timely as 2020. Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Strong) is a small town doctor who discovers that the town’s water is toxic and warns of a pandemic if the situation isn’t addressed. He could be a fictional Dr. Anthony Fauci. All we have to do is think back four years to the fierce divide between red states and blue over COVID restrictions and we can understand Stockmann’s plight. Fortunately Fauci wasn’t stoned as Stockmann is but had he been in a small southern town he could have faced a violent attack. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When the play opens Stockmann has returned to his hometown on the coast with his grown daughter, Petra (Victoria Pedretti), after living in a remote region until his wife died. This is one of Herzog’s changes, cutting out the character of the wife who in the original play is a shrill opponent of her husband’s principled stand. I didn’t miss her.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The town had always attracted, on a small scale, people suffering from various ailments because of the healing power of its hot springs. In Stockmann’s absence, under the direction of his brother, Peter, who is mayor (Imperioli), big plans to turn the town into a major resort and spa are well under way, creating an abundance of jobs and the promise of wealth to all who invest.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At first the doctor is esteemed for discovering the contamination. But when he calls for all plans for the resort to be stopped while an expensive, years long rebuilding of the water system is undertaken, the townsfolk turn on him swiftly.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ibsen, considered the father of modern drama, was a moralist. Arthur Miller said he was greatly influenced by Ibsen’s plays. Herzog has said the same. In Miller’s case this is most obvious in his 1948 drama <i>All My Sons </i>in which Joe Keller, a self-made industrialist in World War II, discovers that a plane part at his manufacturing plant is defective but allows production to continue rather than face a costly work stoppage. When a plane crashes and kills all onboard Keller frames his business partner. Like Ibsen, Miller knew that when taking the moral road has a high price tag many people will leave their morals on the roadside and keep going. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The action in <i>Enemy </i>is well served by the scenic design company dots, as well as the theatre itself, which is in-the-round. In the first act simple furnishings, in keeping with Norwegian sensibilities, create a dining room, living room and newspaper office. I was thrown at first by what turned out to be the most unusual set change I’ve seen in a long time. Before I realized what was happening the furnished rooms gave way to a pub and the audience was invited onstage for a drink in what we were told would be a five minute break. It turned out to be more like 20 minutes to serve the lines of people waiting. Some audience members had been asked to take seats onstage to represent the people at what becomes a town meeting. I didn’t see how that contributed to the scene. They were incongruous in their sneakers and casual clothes against David Zinn’s evocative period costumes.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But the set allows Stockmann to climb onto the bar to try in vain to make his case. It highlights him as the solitary crusader he has become, who has now been deemed an enemy of the people. Luckily he survives their stoning and tells Petra they will go to America where things like that don’t happen. This draws laugher and applause. He’s probably right about not being stoned. We used bullets now instead.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This was the most satisfying production of <i>An Enemy of the People </i>I’ve ever experienced. I’m looking forward to seeing what Herzog has in store for us next. <i>Hedda Gabler, </i>please. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-89868100801023555562024-03-16T16:27:00.003-05:002024-03-16T16:30:31.964-05:00Watching Amy Ryan. Missing Tyne Daly<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNznH5Kn9P5fu5FRuwru2IggpyRV7_5SXNRxuN4l8o99dSpy47uyaeO_ULQx3eh4pdb-2HMqgC81OaALACR9F-Pyht1PK9GVK_BgDPO4RtN6NShq0yKXtHzHYv9x-rg28lBrHP0XkPt0zQif8hr0n7bRN8KP10FU72iiEwjk-904hXl7MOwt4roAFZhI/s8640/4SS-eWaf.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5760" data-original-width="8640" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNznH5Kn9P5fu5FRuwru2IggpyRV7_5SXNRxuN4l8o99dSpy47uyaeO_ULQx3eh4pdb-2HMqgC81OaALACR9F-Pyht1PK9GVK_BgDPO4RtN6NShq0yKXtHzHYv9x-rg28lBrHP0XkPt0zQif8hr0n7bRN8KP10FU72iiEwjk-904hXl7MOwt4roAFZhI/s320/4SS-eWaf.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The main question I came away with from the revival of <i>Doubt: A Parable </i>at the Todd Haimes Theatre wasn’t the one the plot is intended to raise, whether a popular parish priest molested a boy who is a student in the parish school. I questioned whether one cast member change could turn a play I found riveting in its original production into one that fell flat for me. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Veteran theatre and television actress Tyne Daly was to star as Sr. Aloysius Beauvier, the principal of St. Nicholas School in the Bronx who is convinced that Fr. Brendan Flynn is guilty. Daly had to bow out after being hospitalized on the day of the first preview performance. Amy Ryan, another veteran performer, was cast and had the unenviable task of having to get up to speed to take on the role of the lead character. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The question I will never know the answer to was would Daly have given the production the power it deserves as a fascinating exploration of the often elusiveness of truth. The 2004 play, by John Patrick Shanley, won a Pulitzer and Tony.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Under Scott Ellis’s direction Sr. Aloysius isn’t just the angry woman she was written to be. She is shrill and full of rage. Her rapid fire judgments and accusations deserve to be spoken but would be more effective with some nuance in tone and volume. She is loud and delivers like a machine gun. Anger can be just as well expressed, and more dramatically presented, when the sharp words are alternately spoken in lower, pointed tones, with pauses for them to sink in.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This affected how I reacted to her fiery exchanges with Fr. Flynn, played by Liev Schreiber. In the 2005 Broadway production, starring Cherry Jones and Brian F. O’Byrne, and the movie with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, I felt I was attending a verbal tennis match. When the ball was in Sister’s court, I believed her. When it bounced back to Fr. Flynn, I believed him.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This isn’t entirely Ryan’s fault. Schreiber seems too nice, and genuinely committed to the Church’s reforms being implement at that time, 1964, to bring the Catholic tradition out of the rigidity St. Aloysius clings to. The previous actors, especially Hoffman, had an aura of sleaziness about them. Only for a moment, after Sister tells him she has investigated his tenure at a past parish, did Schreiber’s Fr. Flynn make me think he could be guilty. He had a worried expression but only for a flicker.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The richest performance is given by Zoe Kazan as Sr. James, the young nun filled with joy and a love of teaching, especially history. Her Sr. James at first seems girlish and intimidated by her principal but she proves to be strong-minded and concerned about not rushing to judgment. I wish Sr. Aloysius and Fr. Flynn had been portrayed with the depth she brought to her role. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Shanley’s play makes for great theatre for at least two reasons. We watch it with the knowledge of the horrendous number of children who had been sexually abused by priests for years while being transferred by their superiors from parish to parish.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The play is also strengthened by the time in which it is set, especially for those like Shanley and me who were in Catholic elementary schools in the 1960s or anyone else who was observing the changes of the Second Vatican Council. The Mass went from Latin to English so we could finally understand the words of the service we were obligated to attend each Sunday. Sisters either gave up their habits entirely or shortened their skirts and simplified their veils. As a child I could feel the excitement even if I didn’t understand the significance of the changes.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not everyone was happy with the new ways. Sr. Aloysius rings true to me because she reminds me of my Uncle Mick who also was a stern, rigid individual. As the president of the seminary in Seattle he was the same type of authoritarian ruler and was opposed to the changes in the Church. He was the wrong person at that time, or any time for that matter, to be in charge of training future priests. The Sulpicians, the order to which he belonged, recognized this and retired him to Hawaii, which he hated and where he died of a heart attack at 57 in 1969.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I have a personal connection to this play in another way. The nuns are Sisters of Charity of New York. I have been an Associate member since 2001. Associates don’t take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience but we share in the Sisters’s lives through being welcomed in their congregational gathering and in spreading their charism of charity. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At the Sisters’s invitation, the cast, Ellis, the understudies and any member of the creative team were invited to meet with a group of Sisters at their headquarters at the University of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale to discuss their way of life. (I don’t know if Ryan had the time to get up there.) Schreiber also met with Fr. Christopher Keenan who is an Associate. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m assuming costume designer Linda Cho visited, or at least she found a way to be true to the Sisters’s habit, a black bonnet cap and floor-length black dress/robe first worn by their founder, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. The former Associates director, the late Sr. Mary Gallagher, told me to get back the skirt’s pleats after a long day she’d fold the pleats back into place and put the garment under her mattress. When she got up in the morning the pleats were restored. I bet Cho didn’t hear that story.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">These are the order of nuns who educated Shanley. Sr. Margaret McEntee taught him in the first grade at Sr. Anthony’s School in the Bronx. She was his muse for Sr. James and she maintains a friendship with him. He dedicated his play “to the many orders of Catholic nuns who devoted their lives to serving others in hospitals, schools and retirement homes. Though they have [been] much maligned and ridiculed, who among us has been so generous?”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sr. Aloysius doesn’t resemble any Sister of Charity I’ve ever met. We aren’t given any reason for why she has the disposition she has. We learn that she had been married but her husband died in World War II. She doesn’t seem to find joy in her vowed vocation or in education. She tells Sr. James she’s glad the children are terrified of her.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Her anger seems to come from her resentment of the male dominated Church. From the beginning she makes comments about not being permitted to enter the rectory or be in close quarters unattended with a priest, even the 79-year-old Monsignor. She knows well the male control of the Roman Church, as any Sister would. Men rule everything, she says to Sr. James. It festers in her and so she sets her anger toward the male authority figure closest to her. “I’ll bring him down. With or without your help.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But Fr. Flynn holds the power. When Sr. Aloysius, against the rules, meets with him in her office alone, he puts her in her place. “You have no right to act on your own,” he tells her. “You are a member of a religious order. You have taken vows, obedience being one. You answer to us. You have no right to step outside the Church.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She, by the power of her personality, and he, by the power of his authority, are not easily stopped. This tension should have been more convincing than it was. Perhaps Ryan needed more time to inhabit her role. Perhaps Schreiber had a stronger edge when he sparred with Daly. It must have been hard for the cast to spend so much time rehearsing and preparing and then have that chemistry disrupted right at the start of public performances. Those are two more things I won’t know. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Unfortunately all of this spoiled what is usually a climatic ending. This time it felt more like a conclusion than a revelation. </p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-46991801759625554952024-03-05T15:03:00.003-05:002024-03-05T15:03:24.578-05:00Jason Robert Brown's new musical fails to connect<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMLtkmbJIPug3JVFdv6wtp8jiNlIQ87wH8_C5aJGVyLhtSyfts1wQSCeI-FIjone4ZiuhMGe3VKEY_ZFf6n3HIR9HhIksbqPJtwz4l0_Gl6pZk8weeijI48IyyZTiffFmA_NVVRSmHySJu9iCKJSW9Zrr7p3AMJFrESy-D6NSA818Odu-xdhfuDuE1hDw/s5510/EcJc3Jog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3674" data-original-width="5510" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMLtkmbJIPug3JVFdv6wtp8jiNlIQ87wH8_C5aJGVyLhtSyfts1wQSCeI-FIjone4ZiuhMGe3VKEY_ZFf6n3HIR9HhIksbqPJtwz4l0_Gl6pZk8weeijI48IyyZTiffFmA_NVVRSmHySJu9iCKJSW9Zrr7p3AMJFrESy-D6NSA818Odu-xdhfuDuE1hDw/s320/EcJc3Jog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The plot of <i>The
Connector, </i>the new Jason Robert Brown musical at MCC Theater’s Newman Mills
Theater, is more promising than its execution.
The story of a gifted and ambitious young writer who shoots to stardom
at his magazine by fabricating much of the content of his feature stories was
inspired by real journalists. The
fictional reporter and the editor he deceives are both so unlikable, though,
that I was getting bored waiting for their inevitable downfall. The show is too
black and white.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Robin
Martinez (Hannah Cruz) serves as narrator and a young assistant copy editor focused
on getting published in the esteemed journal.
She introduces the story in the opening number, “A Young Man Dreams,”
about a 25-year-old man in 1944 who envisioned a monthly magazine that would
speak to his generation through deep investigative reporting. <i>Two years later, from a townhouse in
Hell’s Kitchen, The Connector was born, </i>she sings. “<i>And the whole world changed, and
everything stayed the same,</i>” the ensemble chimes in.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The magazine
becomes revered. In 1981 a new editor, Conrad
O’Brien (Scott Bakula), takes over after a stint reporting from Saigon. He is introduced with Robin singing the same song
but geared toward him: “<i>A young man dreamed, in his room up at Harvard, that
he’d someday write for his favorite publication.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All is well until
Robin has a third young man with a dream to introduce. This one dreamed from his bedroom in New
Jersey of his name on a byline in <i>The Connector</i>. Ethan Dobson (Ben Levi Ross) is hastily hired
based on his writing in the <i>Princetonian, </i>which O’Brien’s wife had read
and admired. O’Brien thinks he’s found a
genius and approves story after story despite the concerns of Muriel (Jessica
Molaskey), head of the magazine’s fact checking-department whose zeal for
accuracy is legendary.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Big mistake. Those two overbearing, egotistical men will
be brought down by those two smart women.
No surprise. As I said, black and
white.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The idea for
the show came to director Daisy Prince nearly two decades ago, inspired by the
rapid rise and fall of young journalists like Jayson Blair, a <i>New York Times</i>
reporter at that time who disgraced the paper and the editors who failed to
scrutinize his work, which played loose with facts. The idea seemed ripe now that charges of “fake
news” bring into question just what information can be trusted.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Prince conceived
and directs the show, with a book by Jonathan Marc Sherman and Brown’s music
and lyrics. Beowulf Boritt designed the
minimalistic set and Tom Murray directs the elevated onstage and unseen
orchestra. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The most
dramatic – and unexpected – action of the show happens at the end, in the minute
before the lights go out. It takes an
hour and 44 minutes to get there.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-47011994611889674652024-02-23T19:05:00.003-05:002024-02-23T19:10:58.326-05:00A welcome escape to the 1960s <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikO1h4SxHZjXg6oALYdD5f2FmgtRDMnycB48q_NL4T0hoxbKOCnOvCjilUnB-GJx2Ez9LV5ucL-ueKF_8zQZdonTPwiTKZybjUPzL7E21FHiwyuDm4Ya39ynPYdkOyx5MU2T9hApTaHud697f8qZ_K-slSYeZB5q8TMmSTpnP-fmqdG_j93vz2oYcRbPE/s1486/0868%20-%20Chilina%20Kennedy,%20center,%20and%20the%20ensemble%20of%20A%20Sign%20of%20the%20Times%20directed%20by%20Gabriel%20Barre%20%C2%A9%20Jeremy%20Daniel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1486" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikO1h4SxHZjXg6oALYdD5f2FmgtRDMnycB48q_NL4T0hoxbKOCnOvCjilUnB-GJx2Ez9LV5ucL-ueKF_8zQZdonTPwiTKZybjUPzL7E21FHiwyuDm4Ya39ynPYdkOyx5MU2T9hApTaHud697f8qZ_K-slSYeZB5q8TMmSTpnP-fmqdG_j93vz2oYcRbPE/s320/0868%20-%20Chilina%20Kennedy,%20center,%20and%20the%20ensemble%20of%20A%20Sign%20of%20the%20Times%20directed%20by%20Gabriel%20Barre%20%C2%A9%20Jeremy%20Daniel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Don’t look for much character or plot development in the York Theatre Company’s production of <i>A Sign of the Times, </i>which opened last night at New World Stages. They aren’t what this refreshing new musical, directed with gusto by Gabriel Barre, are about. This show is about fun, two and a half hours of it. At a time when we are witness to so much suffering around the world and a frightening presidential campaign here, it’s nice to take a break from shows about dysfunctional families or dangerous political situations. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The oft-told story — book by Lindsey Hope Pearlman and concept by Richard J. Robin — of a young woman with a dream coming to New York from a provincial town was my story too. The reason I like this one so much is that it is set in 1965, in the most exciting decade in which I’ve lived, even though I spent it in a suburban Catholic elementary school so I didn’t get to experience it the way I would have if I’d been in college or new to the big city and a career. I observed it, though, and the two things I loved most were the music and the clothes. This show serves them up in big measure, although not all of costume designer Johanna Pan’s creations suggest the 60s.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But the music does. That is the true heart of this show, 25 hits from the decade that had the best music of my lifetime, presented one after another with choreographer JoAnn M. Hunter’s lively dance numbers. The story is woven lightly in between.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m not going to list all 25 songs, although I could sing all of them because I listened to them on my little AM transistor radio that went everywhere with me. Here are a few: “A Sign of the Times,” naturally, “I Only Want to Be with You,” “Rescue Me,” “Call Me,” “Gimme Some Lovin’,” “The In Crowd,” “Five O’Clock World” and “Eve of Destruction.” They are performed, under Joseph Church’s direction, by an elevated onstage band that appears from time to time as the panels with Brad Peterson’s projects part. Evan Adamson is the scenic designer, with lighting by Ken Billington. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The story begins on New Year’s Eve 1964 in Centerville, Ohio, as Cindy (Chilina Kennedy), our delightful ingenue, announces to her friends that she is heading to New York to pursue a career as a photographer. After losing out on apartment after apartment she finds a roommate in Harlem who becomes her best friend, Tanya (Crystal Lucas-Perry). They are two young women high on the thrill of being on their own in New York City.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Cindy becomes awakened to two key elements of the 1960s. Tanya’s boyfriend, Cody (Akron Lanier Watson), is involved with the Civil Rights Movement and her Ohio boyfriend, Matt (Justin Matthew Sargent) is drafted into the Vietnam War. In keeping with the tone of the story, these are resolved, with Cody enthusiastically leading Black power demonstrations and Matt discovering an unexpected love that grew out of his war experience. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One of my favorite numbers features projections of the exterior of Cindy and Tanya’s apartment building on a rainy night as couples in bright yellow, red and blue slickers dance with black umbrellas held high as Tanya sings “Don’t Sleep in the Subway.” </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The second to the last number set the already enthusiastic audience cheering with just the first two notes. Cindy has just quite her job as a secretary in an advertising firm after the firm’s president, Brian (Ryan Silverman), whom she has been dating, takes credit for an ad campaign she created. No better song to accompany that than “You Don’t Own Me.” Here, and in every scene she’s in, Kennedy makes a winning Cindy. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The story ends on New Year’s Eve 1965 as a now triumphant Cindy and her New York friends celebrate in an apartment high over Times Square where they all perform a buoyant “Downtown.” </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was a quick road to success. Sounds like a faery tale, right? Yes, which is why it left me in high spirits. We need some old-fashion escapism now, and escapism with well-loved songs is the best kind.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-3594106571593124432024-01-21T16:29:00.005-05:002024-03-13T10:19:38.854-05:00Beverly Johnson: In Vogue<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMvtdcycd1kjwo4pOXxFoSBA1Lv3fADOW9n1vs3mf0oHUJabWldLwj5Rc3Mjt8cjKmzG1wPBcP7r0kjiek4FJqGQzmK3jxi6NGUTUQavIOUWYR03LiVTDuWSPzYludnKak9Zg60EpvusWINzhyF5XaW8ROoKmAYJv3eYNZ_QIxdr659uEzckVEXjWpYGw/s3600/Beverly%20Johnson%20in%2059E59's%202024%20production%20of%20BEVERLY%20JOHNSON_%20IN%20VOGUE%20-%20Photo%20by%20Richard%20Termine%20(5).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMvtdcycd1kjwo4pOXxFoSBA1Lv3fADOW9n1vs3mf0oHUJabWldLwj5Rc3Mjt8cjKmzG1wPBcP7r0kjiek4FJqGQzmK3jxi6NGUTUQavIOUWYR03LiVTDuWSPzYludnKak9Zg60EpvusWINzhyF5XaW8ROoKmAYJv3eYNZ_QIxdr659uEzckVEXjWpYGw/s320/Beverly%20Johnson%20in%2059E59's%202024%20production%20of%20BEVERLY%20JOHNSON_%20IN%20VOGUE%20-%20Photo%20by%20Richard%20Termine%20(5).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">Beverly Johnson: In Vogue </i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">is moving, fascinating, funny and empowering.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">That’s a lot of adjectives but it and </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">The Gardens of Anuncia </i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">are the two shows that have meant the most to me during the 2023-24 season that began in June, and are the only two that left me in tears.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I didn’t receive a press invitation for the show, at 59E59 Theaters, but I pursued one because I’m a contemporary of Johnson — she’s 71; I’m 68 — and, being a lifelong lover of fashion magazines, I remember well her appearances on cover after cover of <i>Glamour</i>, which led to her history-making achievement as the first Black model to grace the cover of American <i>Vogue </i>in August 1974. As 30 of her 500 magazine covers were projected on the screen behind her I felt I was seeing old friends.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was curious to see how she looked now and to hear her story. I’m sure that was the motivating factor that drew the largely older Black female audience. Probably anticipating this interest in her appearance, she and possibly her director and co-script writer, Josh Ravetch, downplayed it. She actually looked almost like a crone or a witch sitting in a black director’s chair on the right side of the minimally lit empty stage, with waist-length stringy black wavy hair and her face hidden behind enormous black glasses. The only concession to her glamorous past was her black cocktail dress slit high up the front and stilettos.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If this was intentional to put the focus on her story, it worked beautifully. I was engrossed for the entire 70 minutes. Enhancing her story is the way it’s presented, especially at the start and the conclusion. When we entered the theatre a large color photo of Johnson at her heyday of success was on the screen. Then the light went out and projections (also by Ravetch) began a montage of black and white photos of mostly famous Black women, from Harriet Tubman to Michelle Obama, as the song “It Goes As It Goes”played. This nicely placed Johnson in the company of strong, groundbreaking Black women.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And then she tells her story, which she related earlier in her 2015 memoir, <i>Beverly Johnson: The Face That Changed It All</i>. With all that familiarity and with her model’s poise and experience being interviewed on television I was surprised that she read the script for the entire show, looking intently at the music stand and rarely at the audience to whom she was telling the story. This didn’t distract me for long.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Johnson was raised in Buffalo, the middle child of five whose father was a steel worker and mother a nurse. As a student studying law at Northeastern University she was often told she should be a model so she headed to New York and presented herself to Eileen Ford, the owner of the most prestigious modeling agency at the time. Ford booked her and she began appearing on <i>Glamour </i>covers. Not content with that she told Ford she wanted to be the first Black model on American <i>Vogue. </i>Ford laughed and said, “You’ll never be on the cover of <i>Vogue. </i>Who do you think you are, Cleopatra?” to which she replied under her breath, “That’s exactly who I think I am.” She then did the unthinkable. She wrote a polite letter to Ford telling her she was leaving for the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When she first met Wilhelmina that formidable woman had a cigarette in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. Johnson told her she had her sights on American <i>Vogue</i>. Wilhelmina sized her up, took a drag on her cigarette and said, “We’ll get it.” Six months later, she did. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Johnson fell into the usual model traps, including constant anxiety that someone younger would replace her and dependency of cocaine to keep the railing thin body she needed to meet industry standards. Cocaine suppresses the appetite so it became the drug of choice for models who feared even water would make them gain weight. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“As a model, you had to be a hanger. You could be 90 pounds and chiseled to the bone, and they worshiped you for it. You could not get too thin.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Johnson became addicted but now, even though she is still railing thin, she says she has been sober for 40 years.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She shares her heartbreak when Arthur Ashe ended their relationship and details of her turbulent two-year marriage to Danny Sims, who brought reggae music to the United States in the 1960s and who she says was the first Black man to get “made” by the Mafia. He took her money and her home and, for many years, her beloved daughter, Anansa, who in photo projections is a dead ringer for her mother in her modeling years. Anansa hold an M.B.A. and has six children with whom Johnson is close. And Johnson found happiness more than a decade ago with Brian Maillian, an investment banker with whom she lives in Palm Springs. She said he was in the audience.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But the big thunder of her story involved Bill Cosby. She tells of the day in 2014 when she was at her daughter’s house with the TV on mute and saw her close friend of 35 years, model Janice Dickenson. Turning on the volume she heard Dickenson claim Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted her and was shocked for two reasons: Dickenson had never spoken of it to her and she could look at the TV and hear her story coming out of Dickenson’s mouth.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In Johnson’s case, she had been invited to a taping of “The Cosby Show” and two days later the star invited her to his brownstone. He handed her a cappuccino. Not a coffee drinker she tried to decline but he encouraged her to take a sip and then another.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Almost immediately the room starts spinning.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He told her to put her hand on his shoulder and read a scene and she realized she had been drugged. She started saying “mother-fucker” over and over, louder and louder until he dragged her down the stairs and put her in a taxi.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After witnessing Dickenson’s courage, she chose to speak out in <i>Vanity Fair</i>, resulting in death threats, rage from the Black community that saw Cosby as a leader and questions about why it took her 40 years to come forth. She said the time wouldn’t have been right. He was America’s father, she said, “NBC gold.” But as what came to be known as the #MeToo Movement strengthened she spoke out. Cosby sued her for defamation but withdrew his case as more accusations came out against him. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A projection behind her of a <i>New York Magazine </i>cover shows rows of women sitting in straight chairs with one left empty, representing, Johnson says, all the women who are not yet able to come forth. The headline reads, Cosby: The Women. I don’t know how I missed this jarring cover at the time.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Johnson said the first defining moment of her life was the <i>Vogue </i>cover. Speaking out was the second..</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“When I was 21 I was on the cover of <i>Vogue </i>and became a face. When I was 61 I found my voice.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She says she now tells her grandchildren the future is theirs to build on from the courageous women seen at the opening. She says they were once children too.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then another moving montage begins. We see pictures of those famous women as babies or children followed by their adult selves. And then precious photos of contemporary little Black girls, one after the other, with the header: THE FUTURE. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-56135411025299415252023-11-29T10:30:00.005-05:002023-11-29T10:40:27.512-05:00Alisha Keys and her songs form the latest jukebox musical <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdmj_0mgwCZoN276ZQUCgnJjwiOxF6MAHKDvgr4W-W2W06PtWPWaVVfUMukS2y0P1wk6fGgxmM9inGSnSTDkGUN862vK2d5EBVPRZKZi3K9-y7vpsL27SerAf7wsFuNrWu5rDjnIVncgz6NbslLc-uPXjhpkPkSDGwxH9LcUOHUeajTbzHbQBSMOuK5X0/s3379/787SZV-A.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2113" data-original-width="3379" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdmj_0mgwCZoN276ZQUCgnJjwiOxF6MAHKDvgr4W-W2W06PtWPWaVVfUMukS2y0P1wk6fGgxmM9inGSnSTDkGUN862vK2d5EBVPRZKZi3K9-y7vpsL27SerAf7wsFuNrWu5rDjnIVncgz6NbslLc-uPXjhpkPkSDGwxH9LcUOHUeajTbzHbQBSMOuK5X0/s320/787SZV-A.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">The songs
are good and the performances first rate, but as with so many biographical
jukebox musicals the book for <i>Hell’s Kitchen </i>(by Kristoffer Diaz)<i> </i>is
weak, making for another disappointing show in this genre, this one at The
Public Theater, which has given us great musicals such as <i>Hair, A Chorus
Line </i>and, most recently, <i>Hamilton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></i>The difference is that those three shows were <i>original </i>musicals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Jukebox
musicals by their nature are contrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead of starting with a fresh story and having composers and
lyricists write songs to further it, jukeboxes start with familiar songs and
build a story around them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latest, <i>Hell’s
Kitchen,</i> directed by Michael Greif, uses Alicia Keys’ songs to tell her
story of growing up in that Manhattan neighborhood on the western edge of the
Theatre District. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">This works
in the first act, which is the oft-told story of a teenage girl longing to
break away from home and be heard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
nothing great but it’s cute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its power
to entertain is in Maleah Joi Moon’s performance as Ali, portraying Keys
growing up with a single white mother (Jersey, played by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Working-Inside-Spiritual-Through-Actors/dp/0742533190/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18TB19QGV1XUT&keywords=retta+blaney&qid=1701271878&sprefix=retta+blaney%2Caps%2C57&sr=8-1">Shoshana Bean)</a> and an
absent Black father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her voice is strong
and clear, her dancing natural and rhythmic and her acting holds such presence
and timing that I was shocked to learn from the program that this is her first
professional performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is
completely at home onstage and in that role as a restless teenager rebelling
against her mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is a joy to
watch.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">A nice scene
has Ali heading out minutes after her mother has left for work after telling
her to eat dinner and finish her homework.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A typical boy-crazy 17-year-old, Ali wants to be partying on the street
with her friends and checking out the boys who play buckets as drums.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Riding down
in the elevator, she addresses the audience to explain that she and her mother
live in “a one-bedroom apartment on the 42<sup>nd</sup> floor of a 44-story
building on 43<sup>rd</sup> Street. . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Manhattan
Plaza is affordable housing for artists, which means almost everyone who lives
here is an artist, which means you never know what you’re going to hear when
these elevator doors open up.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">To prove
this, she announces what will be happening on each floor before the doors open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The onstage band plays out each scenario,
starting with a jazz trumpet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s fun.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">“That’s Mr.
Gordone playing his trumpet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thirty-second floor.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">The doors
close and she descends.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">“And, ooh, I
hope the Piniero sisters’ dance class is going on on 27.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">The doors
open to an up-tempo merengue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There
they go.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Doors
close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You’re gonna love 17.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seventeen’s always good.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">The doors
open on an operatic duet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I got no idea
who that is or what they’re saying but I think they’re in love.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Doors
close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And then 9 is the poets, 8 is
the painters, we got a whole string section on 7, 6, 5 and 4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then you hit that ground floor.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Act One pretty much plays out in this lighthearted way until the end when it turns unexpectedly
serious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Miss Liza Jane (Kecia Lewis)
who has been teaching Ali to play the piano in the building’s community room
discloses in the song “Perfect Way to Die” that her son was gunned down while walking
to the corner store and another dream was lost. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a somber ending that seems to be inserting
a contemporary Black Lives Matter moment into a play set in the 1990s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, young men were gunned down then too –
Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Guinean student shot 19 times by 41 rounds fired by
police officers, comes to mind – but the sensibility is different now that
there have been so many Amadous. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re
more aware so it would fit better in a play set in the present.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Then there’s
Act Two, which is more or less a mess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ali’s father, Davis (Brandon Victor Dixon), is suddenly in the plot, reminiscing
about the good times he had with Jersey and Ali.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and Jersey sing a duet of “Fallin’” that
is followed by a duet of Davis and Ali singing “If I Ain’t Got You” and I
thought, <i>Where did that come from?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>It’s
sweet but appears to have been a manufactured way to use the songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no indication in the first act that Jersey
and Davis had a relationship beyond the night they met and “couldn’t put the
brakes on,” resulting in Ali’s appearance nine months later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also had no inkling that Ali and her father
had had a relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I assumed that
she never knew him and that he might never even have known he had a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then suddenly warm memories of times
together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">This is why
these jukebox musicals are so lame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
creators are determined to use good songs so the credibility or
comprehensiveness of the story takes a back seat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">An Alisha
Keys musical wouldn’t be complete without her biggest hit, “Empire State of
Mind.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moon is the embodiment of Keys
and presents a powerhouse finish, which unfortunately is spoiled by
choreographer Camille A. Brown’s intrusive choice to send a troop of dancers to
jump manically around the stage, taking away the focus on the song as an
appropriate ending.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Keys has
been developing this show for 12 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wish she had had a better creative team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s a gifted singer/songwriter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She deserves a better reflection of her life
and talent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-87716963774898899712023-11-17T13:31:00.004-05:002023-11-17T13:34:51.183-05:00Barry Manilow's 'Harmony' arrives on Broadway <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAPA9ZeJMQZNBXjuyYNkMOsfmu1dcZyTwHHxzv98O0uduqIpzdCR7r2BkwMD3rDYNYU17SZbU4aHvVAHl9GXU-7HAQftRJuKcfYhLDljapCz3cdrXSWsMYiETTasWEIybbTGGG5BIKJEfOdqSLB9eiYnBAO5UKqHjiTBIAAyBNGB-IrwF9vGPCzXXBLbM/s2048/13HARMONY-1-khpw-superJumbo.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1383" data-original-width="2048" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAPA9ZeJMQZNBXjuyYNkMOsfmu1dcZyTwHHxzv98O0uduqIpzdCR7r2BkwMD3rDYNYU17SZbU4aHvVAHl9GXU-7HAQftRJuKcfYhLDljapCz3cdrXSWsMYiETTasWEIybbTGGG5BIKJEfOdqSLB9eiYnBAO5UKqHjiTBIAAyBNGB-IrwF9vGPCzXXBLbM/s320/13HARMONY-1-khpw-superJumbo.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; text-align: left;">When I left
the Ethel Barrymore Theatre I felt touched by the story that had been presented
and disappointed that it wasn’t better developed by book writer and lyricist
Bruce Sussman. </span><span style="font-size: 16pt; text-align: left;">Writing for Barry
Manilow’s music, Sussman tells the little-known story of the Comedian
Harmonists, an internationally successful singing group of six young men who
were professionally obliterated during the Nazi’s reign of terror because three
of them were Jewish.</span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Under the
direction of Warren Carlyle (who also choreographs), the first act drags along
until the final scenes as the threats of the new government become
apparent. You can always count on Nazi
atrocities to liven up the action, which they do in the uneven second act as
well. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">What remains
consistent are the lovely voices of the group – Bobby (Sean Bell), Rabbi (Danny
Kornfeld), Harry (Zal Owen), Erich (Eric Peters), Chopin, his nickname because
he’s the composer and pianist, (Blake Roman) and Lesh (Steven Telsey). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Originally
known as the Harmonists, they were a diverse collection of young men -- a med
student who can’t stand the sight of blood, a waiter, a rabbinical student
until he left Poland -- whose love of singing brought them together in 1927
Germany and whose talent catapulted them to wealth and fame by 1934 when the
Nazis seized all their recordings, movies and their passports, and froze their
bank accounts, erasing them from history.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Their story
is told by Rabbi, Chip Zien as the now elderly Rabbi who is the only remaining
member of the group, living in California in 1988. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Sharing the
journey are the lovely voiced Sierra Boggess as Mary, a gentile who marries Rabbi,
and Ruth (Julie Benko), a Jewish protestor against the new government, who
marries non-Jewish Chopin. I loved the
number where the two women, in adjacent shabby hotel rooms with their husbands
in 1935, sing “Where You Go,” drawing on the biblical Book of Ruth in which
that Ruth pledges to go where her husband goes and take his family for her
family. It’s a moving scene. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">I was
sitting back in the theatre, not in my usual house seats, so I had trouble
distinguishing the six young men, all dressed alike in tuxedos, from that
distance since I couldn’t see their faces. That made it difficult to follow at times. I recommend avoiding tickets in the back or
balcony. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">The musical
numbers are easy to follow, though.
Toward the beginning I liked “This Is Our Time,” in which the singers
display all the energy and hope of young people at the start of a new venture. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">As the group
catches on and starts getting bookings they add a lot of silliness to their act
– too much silliness for me at times – and are then rechristened as the
Comedian Harmonists. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">By the end
of the first act they are starring at Carnegie Hall in December 1933. Their fame and talent have brough two key
figures into their lives, Josephine Baker (Allison Semmes) and Albert Einstein
(Zien). What they find out in the second
act, when it is too late, is that they should have listened to both of these
people. Baker, who wanted them to remain
in New York to perform with her, and Einstein, who visited them in their
Carnegie Hall dressing room to congratulate them on their performance. He tells them he is becoming an
American. They say they are considering
returning to Germany, reassured by Ruth, who has called from Germany to tell
them the situation there will blow over soon.
Eisenhower doesn’t share their optimism.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">“After the
current <i>situation </i>changes, I wonder if there will be a Germany,” he says.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">They explain
that they haven’t been home for more than a year because of their touring.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">“Have you
been <i>reading</i>,” he asks them incredulously before more gently telling
them, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who
watch them and do nothing.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">They express
their conflicted feelings in “Home.” “<i>At home, where they know us . . . It’s
our home . . . At home we can change it . . .</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Their song
fades as they are overpowered by the elderly Rabbi, in a voice filled with
anger and guilt, who addresses that ambiguity and decision to return.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">“What were
you thinking? Wasn’t it clear? Didn’t you know? No!
Yes! No! . . . It’s not home,
fellas. Home is not there.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">But then Act
2 opens with a lively samba number, “We’re Goin’ Loco!”, featuring some
fabulous dancing by Semmes. It’s the New
Ziegfeld Follies in 1934 New York and you could think for a minute that the
group changed its mind but the happy dream fades into the harsh reality of what
home has become.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">The second
act is the now familiar accounting of life under the Nazis. In <i>Harmony </i>it is lived by these people
we have come to care about.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Two members
of the creative team should be commended.
Beowulf Boritt’s minimalist sets allow the singers ample space to be the
full focus of the production. Linda Cho
and Ricky Lurie have created costumes that nicely reflect the ups and downs of
the performers’ fortunes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Interestingly,
<i>Harmony, </i>which<i> </i>has been in development for more than a decade, is
the fulfillment of Manilow’s desire to write a Broadway musical. Now 80, the creator of pop song after pop
song in the 1970s and 80s has loved show music since he was a child growing up
in Brooklyn.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">It was
Sussman who discovered the seed that would become that Broadway musical Manilow
longed to create. After seeing a
documentary about the Harmonists in the early 1990s he left the theatre and
called his friend and writing partner.
Manilow shared the enthusiasm and they got to work. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">Several
productions were staged outside of New York over the last decade but the show
never transferred to Broadway. Then,
during the pandemic with time to reconsider, the duo came up with the idea of including
a narrator, one of the singers as an old man who could offer reflection and
lead the audience through the various eras of the play. That gave <i>Harmony </i>the focus it was
lacking and proved to be their ticket to the Great White Way.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;">I hope it
lasts for them. I’m sure Manilow’s name
will bring in tourists. And,
unfortunately, with the escalating anti-Semitism around the world the show is
far more timely than it would have been 10 years ago. </span></p><p>
<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-29303503652376891912023-10-30T13:37:00.002-05:002023-10-30T13:47:55.085-05:00'Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtzK2UlyuWzfv7VOhW5zmeDH4wMgueo5pPHDqjIlg4FNzWqh1ViTrMDsah7qwSD_7sdIPBwuYCgPOZkSV1_RfO5DnjeYLlE1x-aZ7U2DZZdwU-9LGsowyY28PGc_8C7Q5zwGCFhqOI3v6itY894XvxZrBTanYbsT-p8M_elgcIpZViRsHSgVkiRuzX_AY/s5476/f86493_d0b1bf25609b4575b7bbba2081d36e07~mv2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3652" data-original-width="5476" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtzK2UlyuWzfv7VOhW5zmeDH4wMgueo5pPHDqjIlg4FNzWqh1ViTrMDsah7qwSD_7sdIPBwuYCgPOZkSV1_RfO5DnjeYLlE1x-aZ7U2DZZdwU-9LGsowyY28PGc_8C7Q5zwGCFhqOI3v6itY894XvxZrBTanYbsT-p8M_elgcIpZViRsHSgVkiRuzX_AY/s320/f86493_d0b1bf25609b4575b7bbba2081d36e07~mv2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As
Richard Hellesen'</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s engaging one-man
play,</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground,</span></i><i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">opens, the 34<sup>th</sup> President is grumbling
about his placement in a ranking by 75 historians of American Presidents just
published in the </span><i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">New
York Times </span></i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">magazine<i>. </i>He</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s placed at 22nd out of
31 (some Presidents had two terms.)</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Eisenhower,
beautifully portrayed by Tony-winner John Rubinstein as witty, intelligent and
a man of integrity, turns his rant into a reflection on his personal life, his
career as a general and his presidency.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I don</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">t know whether it</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s a history lesson
clothed as a wonderful evening of theatre or vice versa but it worked for me on
both counts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a successful run last
summer <i>Eisenhower </i>was brought back for a second term this fall.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Rubinstein, under the direction of Peter Ellenstein,
is a skillful storyteller as he holds the stage at the Theatre at St. Clement</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s for nearly two hours,
with an intermission.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s 1962 and Eisenhower
is enjoying his post-presidency at his farm in Gettysburg. </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The idea is that he</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s recording his thoughts and experiences for a memoir.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But first he stews over those rankings, the only
element of which he seems to agree is that Warren G. Harding is below him.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: AR-SA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>“</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">President of the United States ought to at least have
some dignity.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If you don</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">t respect the office,
you </span><i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="PT" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: PT; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">deserve </span></i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">to be at the bottom.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But the rest of us </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">– </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Rutherford B. Hayes, number </span><i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">14. </span></i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What for?</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Hellesen drew from memoirs, speeches and letters.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s fascinating to hear
Eisenhower</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s thoughts on war,
politics and the law, especially in how they contrast with the words and
conduct of our most recent Republican President.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="NL" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: NL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Michael Deegan</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s set features a cozy
room with some comfortable chairs, the former president</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s desk off to the side and shelves with books and
memorabilia</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A picture window the
size of the room looks out on Eisenhower</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">s golf course, with hills in the distance.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At times the sky darkens and rain falls.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It’s a great setting for the story to unfold.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Eisenhower explains his philosophy, saying he</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">d like to get rid of
the terms liberal and conservative and identify as what some people call middle
of the road.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DE" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> “</span><i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">You</span></i><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">,” </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">he says, addressing the <i>Times </i>article on the
table, </span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: AR-SA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>“</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">prob</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ly think that means you don</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">t stand for anything, which is nonsense because you</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">re going to get hit
from both sides so you</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="AR-SA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">d better stand twice as
strong.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Besides, the middle of
the road is the <i>useable </i>part of the road.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Steer too far to the right or left, you end up in a
ditch.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He’s also got an opinion on government spending.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Worst of all is the military, and I bet you’re
surprised to hear me say that, aren’t you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Believe me, I understand defense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I worked most of my life to be General, and that title means more to me
than anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But our military is
defending a way of life, not just territory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And we can’t undermine that way of life out of debt and waste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hell’s fire, the cost of a single fighter jet
is half a million bushels of wheat!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
pay for our destroyer with homes that could house 8,000 people!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“But take on the fools who think war should be the
first resort, not the last, and then add the fellas for whom bombs and guns are
their paycheck, that military industrial complex will come down on you like a
sledgehammer. . . and when every country in the world starts trying to keep up,
well, that is just humanity hanging on a cross of iron.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s got to stop.”</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Many times I thought he could be talking about our
present day, such as in his comments about Sen. Joseph McCarthy.</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Don’t think you’re going to hide our faults by hiding
the evidence they ever existed!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t
join the book burners!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re going
to fight Communism, you need to know what it is, so you can fight it with
something better. Always remember that the truth is the bulwark of freedom, and
suppression of that is the weapon of dictators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So don’t be afraid to go into your library and read every book!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if some writers have ideas that are
contrary to yours, well, they still have the right to say ‘em, or it isn’t
America!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we start believing that
every individual or party that disagrees with us is somehow wicked, or
treasonous, then we are near the end of freedom’s road.”</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">His reflections are also personal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hardest to hear about involved his first
born, whose name was Doud but he was called Icky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eisenhower was a major and he, his wife,
Mamie, and Icky had settled into a house in Fort Meade, MD. </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Icky, who was nearly 3, loved the camp atmosphere, the
parades and the soldiers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The soldiers
loved him, too, and bought him a little uniform and took him on drills, sitting
him up in the tank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A black and white
photo of him in his uniform is precious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It was the first sense of settled family life they had
known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eisenhower was making good money
and decided to hire a maid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scarlet fever
had hit the area and a local girl he interviewed had had it but said she was
cured. </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“But I didn’t bother to make sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I hired her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hired her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She brought it into our house. And, ah, Icky contracted it from her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We weren’t even allowed into his hospital
room at first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there was a porch,
and I’d sit out there, look in, wave to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, they finally let us in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was gone in a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Died in my arms.”</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Eisenhower lived a rich life and I was glad to get to
know him in this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all this
wonderful dramatic narration Hellesen chose a delightful way to end the
play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The golf course backdrop fades,
replaced by a projection displaying the title Presidential Rankings by Historians:
Dwight D. Eisenhower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The title remains
while beneath it the following dissolves through:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1962:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>#22<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1982:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>#11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2002:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2012:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>#8<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2022: #5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 16pt;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The audience loved it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And so did I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 0in;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="DA" style="font-size: 16pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="DA" style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: DA; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-19599747166274556422023-10-23T10:15:00.002-05:002023-10-23T10:15:48.930-05:00A Lighthouse for the Arts<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZSbjwIZp09hU1pGkXSqvt36DR10if9uNERKFBLuyLqnxPTNefiPScnkbsXMdXFXHbSz252xnK5ii08MAZxenVr_8S5-o-YpJm33CchGGF3gArniI-uTGDYbSi4yubgarNUI4biPK7V4S_jkkDJZ__mAr9H-jyoreYkP85Nkwb23VgU-Xpd1v_e9PLDdU/s2000/Performing%20Arts%20Center.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZSbjwIZp09hU1pGkXSqvt36DR10if9uNERKFBLuyLqnxPTNefiPScnkbsXMdXFXHbSz252xnK5ii08MAZxenVr_8S5-o-YpJm33CchGGF3gArniI-uTGDYbSi4yubgarNUI4biPK7V4S_jkkDJZ__mAr9H-jyoreYkP85Nkwb23VgU-Xpd1v_e9PLDdU/s320/Performing%20Arts%20Center.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p>I want to share this exciting news. </p><p></p><p>With all the chaos around us, a new <a href="https://performingartscentercapecod.org/">Performing Arts Center</a> has just opened on Cape Cod, MA - a beacon of hope for a bright future. Inspired by the four elements: earth, wind,
fire, and water, the building is designed to foster creativity, inspiration, and exploration for
artists both young and old. Built during the 2020 pandemic, this new innovative, green, multipurpose Performing Arts Center now stands complete, fulfilling a vision to provide a place to forge new paths and pursue excellence in the Arts for
generations to come.</p><p>New community programs have begun for ALL lovers of the Arts including the Outer Cape Winds community wind ensemble for all ages and abilities, and an <i><a href="https://performingartscentercapecod.org/programs/arts-entertainment-series/">Arts & Entertainment Lecture Series</a>,</i> which delves into a diverse array of subjects presented by esteemed experts and enthusiasts. Each lecture is a gateway to expand your knowledge, ignite your imagination, and deepen your appreciation for the arts (<a href="https://performingartscentercapecod.org/medical-musician-a-storyteller-in-sound/">You can also watch via livestream</a>!).</p><p><br /> Arts Empowering Life Ensembles will continue to perform at the new Center, as well as offer the annual Summer Performing Arts Camp for students Grades K-12, with workshops in theatre, percussion, strings, woodwinds, and brass.</p><p><a href="https://artsempoweringlife.org/">Arts Empowering Life </a>(AEL) is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to the pursuit of beauty, truth, and faith, in the Arts — sharing inspiration and education with people across many nationalities, cultures, and traditions. AEL incorporates both performing ensembles and visual artists who have toured to twenty-six countries and throughout the United States performing at the highest levels, leading workshops, and fostering cultural exchanges. AEL has a rich history of reaching out to America’s youth through the arts in the form of workshops, camps, and the Youth Performers Outreach Program. Performing ensembles of Arts Empowering Life include Gloriæ Dei Cantores, the founding ensemble, Elements Theatre Company, Organists of the St. Cecilia Organ at the Church of the Transfiguration, Gabriel V Brass Ensemble, the Wind Ensemble, Gaudete Baroque Ensemble, and Chara Percussion Ensemble.</p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i>“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment
before starting to improve the world.”</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>—Anne Frank</i></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-26439445194110239552023-10-22T15:28:00.003-05:002023-10-22T15:36:59.943-05:00'Doris Day: My Secret Love'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVTWI0T4murpm7SMmX6xtyupNESyURWDKda-2vooCxNydoNyfvmU5be8DgRQ4wcf1b7yzKGkp6Q9l6XJHbAfb-wY8lKsSUM3cL1hASnYE5Q8PiEgAfcktfeUvGUwuhP4kjoqSvFsTvvDbMwbjNH7XcnzZYFpWhnjgct9vza62G7zDa7nJU0d2QYVMVI0/s1080/thumbnail.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1080" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVTWI0T4murpm7SMmX6xtyupNESyURWDKda-2vooCxNydoNyfvmU5be8DgRQ4wcf1b7yzKGkp6Q9l6XJHbAfb-wY8lKsSUM3cL1hASnYE5Q8PiEgAfcktfeUvGUwuhP4kjoqSvFsTvvDbMwbjNH7XcnzZYFpWhnjgct9vza62G7zDa7nJU0d2QYVMVI0/s320/thumbnail.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I learned a great deal of the star’s biography in <i>Doris Day, My Secret Love </i>but Tiffan Borelli’s performance of her was lacking in the spirit and likability that were Day’s trademarks. The show, under the direction of Melissa Attebery, had been running at the Emerging Artists Theatre’s 28th Street space for more than six weeks when I saw it, yet it had the feel of an early preview. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I felt this right from the start. Playwright Paul Adams uses the device of a long out of the spotlight Doris appearing in a 1985 retrospective of her life to raise money for the Doris Day Animal Foundation. She’s being reunited with her long-time accompanist and friend Les Brown (David Beck, who plays all the male characters as well as the piano.) This is supposed to be a joyful reunion but their wooden embrace is more like a cautious COVID encounter than the warm hug of two people who have shared years performing together and haven’t seen each other for years.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">From there the pay unfolds in a series of flashbacks prompted by black and white photos projected on a screen beside her. Day’s life was a series of traumas, starting at 15 after she had won a contest and it seemed her dream of becoming a dancer was coming true. As she and her mother prepared to move from Cincinnati to Hollywood Doris and her friends went for a drive following her farewell party. They never saw the railroad crossing or the train headed their way. The crash shattered Doris’ leg, leaving her with a double compound fracture and a steel pin, plus eight months of hospitalization. Shortly after she was released from her “plaster prison,” she was “clowning around” her room pretending to dance and fell, re-fracturing the broken leg, leading to another eight-month recovery. This is the first story in the play, and the first example of the poor judgment that guided the rest of her life. She admits to deserving the nickname her brother gave her — Dodo. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“You could say that train put on a new track,” she says sunnily. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Borelli shows little emotion relating most of Day’s tragedies, portraying a Doris whose attitude seems to reflect the philosophy of the song she’s most known for, “Que Sera Sera,” what will be will be. She comes off as dim-witted, with little dimension. Interestingly, it’s when Borelli gets to the point in the show where she actually sings this song that I got a glimpse of Doris Day. And when she encouraged the mostly elderly audience in the sold-out house to sing along, they happily did. It was one of the few times in the 85-minute show that she had Day’s kind of spirit. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The new track Doris landed on was first as a singer traveling with a band and then as a Hollywood movie star. Her first two marriages, at 19 and 23, were over in a heartbeat. The third was to her controlling and manipulating manager, Marty Melcher, who “always had his hand firmly around my career.” She signed away her rights as a performer to be exclusively under his employ. He pushed her about her weight, hair, pitch, age and what movies she would do, sending into panic attacks that caused delays in filming. The anxiety also kept her from singing “Secret Love” from a film she loved, “Calamity Jane,” at the Academy Awards. She watched it become the first of her songs to win an Oscar, sung on the show by someone else. (“Que Sera Sera was her second song to win an Oscar.) </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Her marriage to Marty lasted 17 miserable years and left her angry and nearly broke after he died. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Her relationship with her son and only child, Terry, from her first marriage, was also problematic. He was raised by Doris’ mother, Alma, while she was consumed with her career. When she visits him in the hospital after he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident he’s hostile, and rightly so. He’s been hospitalized for several days before she finds the time to visit.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Borrelli’s voice is pleasant even if her acting is weak. She did have her moments in singing the show’s 14 songs. I liked her imagining Doris’ enthusiasm for her role in the movie of “Pajama Game.” In singing “I’m Not At All in Love” she came close to Day’s star quality. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She’s also convincing in portraying Doris as having two close relationships. Doris says of her “Julie” costar Louis Jordan, with whom she had an affair while making the film under Marty domineering direction, that Jordan gave her “some tenderness I would never again find in my own husband.” </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Her relationship with Rock Hudson, with whom she made three movies, seems to have been her most loving. She jokes that she spent more time in bed with him than her husband. The two shared a deep friendship, really enjoying each other’s company as they worked together. They used made-up names for each other, Clara and Ernie. Her grief as she sits at his beside as he is in a coma dying of AIDS is moving. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But then the play abruptly ends, which took me back to the feeling I had at the beginning, that I was seeing a preview performance. The show doesn’t just need more from the actor and director. It also needs some rewriting. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-26400010926444375542023-10-01T13:51:00.002-05:002023-10-01T13:56:13.137-05:00Leslie Odom Jr. heads 'Purlie Victorious' on Broadway<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-Pc9AOI4ohgRD0ynyqP1WIGBm9F2oJEDD0AZtygD8jlcAEtWq_jGsQZP2Q7cCp2RoOLusdjkNBDLkV2QvYZuUIJ-dbHnDDTWNZgz0ukowAv9QUgdHlqg0lFMer6O-HKoBspXgmdlxcaHLnyLc6xdHx53nSTUYUfJHloUM1UtDWm9OEwxruZ4PiBtzVc/s1000/8-Leslie-Odom-Jr.-and-Kara-Young-in-PURLIE-VICTORIOUS-Photo-by-Marc-J.-Franklin-1-1.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-Pc9AOI4ohgRD0ynyqP1WIGBm9F2oJEDD0AZtygD8jlcAEtWq_jGsQZP2Q7cCp2RoOLusdjkNBDLkV2QvYZuUIJ-dbHnDDTWNZgz0ukowAv9QUgdHlqg0lFMer6O-HKoBspXgmdlxcaHLnyLc6xdHx53nSTUYUfJHloUM1UtDWm9OEwxruZ4PiBtzVc/s320/8-Leslie-Odom-Jr.-and-Kara-Young-in-PURLIE-VICTORIOUS-Photo-by-Marc-J.-Franklin-1-1.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Just before the start of <i>Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch</i>, the revival of Ossie Davis’ 1961 play now at the Music Box Theatre, director Kenny Leon addresses the audience in a recorded message. He says it’s taken 62 years for another commercial production and that “somewhere between rage and hope” it transformed from a satirical drama to a comedy.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I wish I had seen the original as a basis of comparison because as a broad comedy this production has way too much silliness for my liking. Set in 1961 on a Georgia cotton plantation, the play presents an engaging Leslie Odom Jr. as the Rev. Purlie Victorious Judson who grew up on the plantation and has returned to lift his family out of their role as sharecroppers and get his recently deceased relative’s $500 inheritance out of the hands of the cruel white plantation owner, Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee (Jay O. Sanders). His intention is to buy and restore the church where his grandfather used to preach and open it as an integrated church in the segregated town.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He brings along Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins (Kara Young) who he has coached to portray the relative. (In the original she was played by Ruby Dee, Davis’ wife.) </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Some of the best pretending in the world is done in front of white folks,” Purlie says.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not that this always goes smoothly. I laughed at the scene when Lutiebelle messes up every description of the deceased about whom she’s making the claim. The more subtle humor is that white men in the South couldn’t distinguish one Black woman from another.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Odom, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in <i>Hamilton</i>, has said that this is the first time he is speaking the words of an African American writer on Broadway. Davis, who originated the role of Purlie, would undoubted be pleased. Others in standout roles are Billy Eugene Jones as his brother, Gitlow; Heather Alicia Simms as Gitlow’s wife, Missy; Vanessa Bell Calloway as Cotchipee’s cook, Idella Landy; and Noah Robbins as Cotchipee’s son, Charlie, who was played by Alan Alda in the original. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Derek McLane has created simple, easily movable sets. Designer Emilio Sosa shines, especially with the women’s costumes. I loved Lutiebelle’s colorful dresses on Young’s model-thin body and the churchgoing ladies’ costumes at the end.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I wonder how Davis would react now to seeing the play he wrote to spotlight racism. The early 60s were the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement and much progress was made as the decade progressed, including overturning laws supporting the kind of segregation Purlie wanted to overcome. Davis couldn’t have envisioned how strongly racism would surface and be fueled by the Internet. We don’t usually wish a play would seem dated or just a part of history. That’s not a problem here. With the undisguised hatred thriving in our day it’s unlikely this play will be dated any time soon.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-31433520924597237462023-09-13T10:07:00.003-05:002023-09-13T10:13:52.791-05:00My Fair Lady<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFG5EECGWqnZrZWJHq_Z3QiHoVisvW3n6PKNqZKqF_-7vN51RnswpYJhYQ2wufnk5qWw-NW7djQGXR2lz3EHkJXmBKoprtGkrhbMZy59r0PC5eD5nhyg2zOARjYQt0dr1ICUlOif-zVenYbrwr_f-vXf6SEgXqUtefTpYleDJDnAZSwDdK9SHlMZhV4I/s320/IMG_0952.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFG5EECGWqnZrZWJHq_Z3QiHoVisvW3n6PKNqZKqF_-7vN51RnswpYJhYQ2wufnk5qWw-NW7djQGXR2lz3EHkJXmBKoprtGkrhbMZy59r0PC5eD5nhyg2zOARjYQt0dr1ICUlOif-zVenYbrwr_f-vXf6SEgXqUtefTpYleDJDnAZSwDdK9SHlMZhV4I/s1600/IMG_0952.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">A small Sutton Place park on the East River was
transformed Tuesday as 16 dynamic singers and a 28-piece orchestra, conducted
by Jarrett Winters Morley, brought a concert version of <i>My Fair Lady </i>to
this genteel neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://suttonplaceparks.org/">Sutton Place Parks Conservancy </a>presented the two
performances, produced in conjunction with <a href="https://www.jarrettwintersmorley.com/jwmtheatricalcompany">JWM: A Theatrical Company</a>. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">The al fresco concerts of the entire musical were
performed by three principal singers, 13 ensemble vocalists and the magnificent
orchestra.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">I knew the concert would be outstanding because
I experienced Jarrett’s giftedness and dedication in June at the benefit
cabaret, “Being Present,” he produced and directed for the <a href="https://alzfdn.org/">Alzheimer’sFoundation of America </a>(AFA). He really knows how to cast and rehearse
singers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He once again made excellent
choices in Evan Bertram as Eliza Doolittle, Maxwell Swangel as Henry Higgins
and Kurt Perry as Colonel Pickering.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">The concept for yesterday’s concerts was
initiated last year as an opportunity for seniors and those with ambulatory
issues to continue to enjoy the essence of Broadway musicals near their
residences. AFA also brings Broadway to those no longer able to attend the
theatre through its <a href="https://alzfdn.org/communityclasses/">free afternoons of live music and activities </a>in its
Manhattan headquarters in Chelsea. <o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-5471449247313200752023-08-30T10:23:00.011-05:002023-08-30T14:08:38.898-05:00Remembering Tina Howe<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDEzp1VlsVvfnx6tS2Ga9QRtUXtj8Bp-nc_7Sw7DsvlHHdnLQ2_3_ejFZ2rxliBw7xKpgGN1pvO3rmze-V08RCSbqOjxkt0__xhPfKCtIu9AE02aKr02uSmPYSyKquErwvxipNaw-1z557HTdnekPEBA-xZgAo6CpP83qJNmKBLm-zYoqrwUwJxkuBjK8/s127/79780sm.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="127" data-original-width="102" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDEzp1VlsVvfnx6tS2Ga9QRtUXtj8Bp-nc_7Sw7DsvlHHdnLQ2_3_ejFZ2rxliBw7xKpgGN1pvO3rmze-V08RCSbqOjxkt0__xhPfKCtIu9AE02aKr02uSmPYSyKquErwvxipNaw-1z557HTdnekPEBA-xZgAo6CpP83qJNmKBLm-zYoqrwUwJxkuBjK8/s1600/79780sm.webp" width="102" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was so sad
to learn this morning of the death of Tina Howe. I loved Tina and her plays. She was by far my favorite contemporary
playwright, and possibly my favorite ever. I interviewed her many times, including for my
second master's thesis, which was a study of her life and work. I have wonderful memories of sitting in her
West End Avenue apartment talking to her. She was always generous with her time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I first
encountered her in the mid-1980s when I saw <i>Painting Churches </i>at
Baltimore’s Center Stage. That was the beginning
of my love for Tina Howe plays.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A decade
later I taught her plays one summer at Brooklyn College and my students, some
of whom had never seen or read a play, fell in love with her too. Although there wasn't a WASP among us -- and
Tina was a WASP who wrote about that world -- they understood her plays because
she frequently has characters talking at cross purposes in their frustration to
be listened to. My students, many of
whom were immigrants, knew about that. They
even volunteered to take parts and read her plays out loud, which students are
usually reluctant to do. I can still
hear their thick accents and laughter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The course
had been the dreaded but required English 2, the term paper. The department chair had told me to mold it
around something I liked so I chose four of Tina’s plays – <i>Museum, The Art
of Dining, Painting Churches </i>and <i>Coastal Disturbances. </i>I taught the students how to look for
themes and make comparisons. I sent them
to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts for research, this being
in the days before the Internet. They
had never been there and didn’t know where it was until I told them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I also
required them to read the theatre stories each week in the Arts & Leisure
section. I had talked to them about how
Tina loved to use absurdist humor, explaining what that was and getting them to
identify it in her work. One Sunday A&L
featured a story on Samuel Beckett and one of the students excitedly said: “He’s
like Tina.” Tina laughed when I told her that.
Beckett had been one of her idols since she discovered his work during
her year living in Paris, with her best friend Jane Alexander, after college. I told her she was the students’ point of
reference as far as all theatre went.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Our
classroom was on the fourth floor of Boylan Hall, right under the roof, making
our hot, unairconditioned classroom even hotter. On our final day as we were summing up I told
the students they were now Tina Howe scholars.
They laughed as if I was kidding but I told them many people love Tina’s
plays but they hadn’t studied them in depth and made comparisons. I insisted they were, indeed, Tina Howe
scholars. I could see them sitting up straighter
and smiling. They probably hadn’t thought
of themselves as scholars of much of anything, and certainly hadn’t expected to
become one from a term paper course.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the
students said she had been dreading the class but ended up loving it. The others chimed in with their
agreement. I told them I felt the same
way. When I called Tina to tell her
their reaction and how much they loved her plays, she humbly said, “I think
it’s because they had a good teacher.”
No, the real reason was Tina and her plays. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When I
interviewed her for my thesis and told her how I adored her endings, she said
she always went for an epiphany. That
was Tina, a shimmering light. I have
tears as I write this. How blessed I was
to have known her. How blessed we all
are with what she has left us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p style="font-size: 21.3333px;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/29/theater/tina-howe-dead.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/29/theater/tina-howe-dead.html</a></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-88997212095242558892023-08-28T11:03:00.000-05:002023-08-28T11:03:08.040-05:00Dramatizing a Dramatic Diagnosis: A Conversation with Sam Simon<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7qOCealA6W_aSNVoVGydra-pQLHGaTI0zGbttl1tfMg80iea682RtFbTIz2xRxCcY8g-JnqTHwqA0dIUv__Y5WxDcKMGktWJLyHfHHzFc4vdjprpnIcwcVGb1we3Lz7MBd2KagXGJnmrGxKF8lva9pmvouSdX8ZIsRRQwZ4NeSIAYShEefW5UbfwHQBk/s1350/dementia-man-homepage_orig.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7qOCealA6W_aSNVoVGydra-pQLHGaTI0zGbttl1tfMg80iea682RtFbTIz2xRxCcY8g-JnqTHwqA0dIUv__Y5WxDcKMGktWJLyHfHHzFc4vdjprpnIcwcVGb1we3Lz7MBd2KagXGJnmrGxKF8lva9pmvouSdX8ZIsRRQwZ4NeSIAYShEefW5UbfwHQBk/s320/dementia-man-homepage_orig.png" width="256" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">Dramatizing a dramatic diagnosis <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">A Conversation with Sam Simon<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #ffc000; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #ffc000; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Trained
as a lawyer, Samuel A. (Sam) Simon started his career as a member of Ralph
Nader’s first legal advocacy group in Washington, D.C. He went on to start his
own consulting firm and became a regular commentator on national news programs.
In 2018 he was diagnosed with MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment). In 2021 he was
diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s disease. He is writing a play, <i>Dementia
Man: An Existential Journey</i>, about his experience with the disease. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Your
background is in the law and public affairs. How did you come to write your
first play, <i>The Actual Dance, </i>about being the spouse of someone living
with cancer? You became a playwright and performer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was taking
improv classes with a theatre group in New York in 2000 when my wife was
diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. We had been married for 34 years. I had
to come to terms with it. She was not supposed to survive. One improv exercise
was to stand up and talk for 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes I began talking
about something I had not realized was in me. It’s what I call spiritual
trauma. I had an experience that I needed to talk about. Theatre enabled me to
find an outlet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Susan
did come through her cancer but now you have a different diagnosis to deal with
and have again turned to dramatic expression.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">Yes, my diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. It never occurred to me
that I could write and perform a play with Alzheimer’s. A theatrical friend and
colleague, Gail Schickele, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who markets
solo artists and who was a fan of my work, encouraged me. She had seen <i>The
Actual Dance. </i>I can’t tell you how energizing it is. I have a huge need to
change the narrative around and reimagine the use of that dirty word dementia
and the stereotypes. This feels like the most important work of my life. My
mission is to make it available to everybody who needs it. I believe in the
power of the arts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">Theatre discovered me through the role of being a
caregiver of the wife I was expected to lose. It’s a privilege to be there for
that person. Now the shoes are on the other foot. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
preview portion of<i> Dementia Man </i>that you have finished was showcased in
January at the highly selective Association of Performing Arts Professional
Conference in New York. What was the reaction?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">It had an extraordinary reception. I held the script
because I didn’t have it memorized. The playwright Jeffrey Sweet said, “Keep
the script. It becomes part of the show. When you got on the stage and talked
we heard you. We didn’t notice the script.” It makes sense in the context of
the play. I was humbled by the feedback and encouraged to get this out there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Your
character describes your shockingly insensitive treatment by your first
neurologist. When you asked, “What’s next?” he replied, “There’s only one
future for you, down. Things will get worse.” What do you have to say about
that now?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">The neurological world is profoundly broken. I
experienced Susan going through breast cancer. People were there to help. There
were support groups. There was literature. With my diagnosis of dementia <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I prefer neuropsychological disease) it was,
“Get your affairs in order.” I wasn’t told about any support groups. It was
about as stark a contrast as you can get. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What’s
next for you and the play?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">I’m delighted to report that <i>Dementia Man, An
Existential Journey</i>, was selected for premiere in the Washington, DC.
Capitol Fringe Festival in July. I’ve already had one reading at community
center, and ANDTheater Company hosted a work-in-progress performance in New
York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We received terrific feedback we
will use to keep getting better.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">My goal is to show that even with a cognitive disorder it
is possible to live with dignity and have a meaningful life. I am so animated.
I’m in the early stages and everyday I learn something new. There’s no doubt
I’m impaired but only mildly impaired now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">I’m not going to walk away from my disease and feel sorry
for myself. I will embrace the life I’m given. Choose life. That’s a bit of my
faith. The cardinal rule of Judaism is to choose life. I’ve been made to use my
disease to be useful to myself and others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Excerpt from
<i>Dementia Man</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am now at
the five-year mark from the initial MCI diagnosis. We have since learned a lot
more about Alzheimer’s. And I can sense things getting worse. It raises the
stakes on what to do next. What are my choices? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>maybe, I should stick around, and figure out
how to live a meaningful life as a deeply forgetful and confused person. Maybe
I can cause trouble, and advocate for the world to accommodate me as I will be.
I have been a troublemaker most of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I wrote this feature for <i>Alzheimer’s TODAY </i>magazine,
published by the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. <i><o:p></o:p></i></p><br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-14530183216489263062023-05-02T17:21:00.008-05:002023-05-02T17:25:32.707-05:00Josh Groban slits throats with ease in 'Sweeney Todd'<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKcvXemIwFsQAaf08h6zi-WrKBLlgWGaefHu_HAwuFrW0ZEqYcgxof0lS9kI5bZhh_WyQMxldL7HX3mYm5hGnOb2gRfljM0aJr39L-nLJz5lHAlpgmV9iB4J6elnZ2JR5HizRR3S_15RQgCzi5uER2V_WqUdys5SvHOcoEwwwN50iwzLO8lX-tJbB/s2048/26sweeney-2-vmcg-superJumbo.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1561" data-original-width="2048" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKcvXemIwFsQAaf08h6zi-WrKBLlgWGaefHu_HAwuFrW0ZEqYcgxof0lS9kI5bZhh_WyQMxldL7HX3mYm5hGnOb2gRfljM0aJr39L-nLJz5lHAlpgmV9iB4J6elnZ2JR5HizRR3S_15RQgCzi5uER2V_WqUdys5SvHOcoEwwwN50iwzLO8lX-tJbB/s320/26sweeney-2-vmcg-superJumbo.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">For fans of </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Sweeney Todd</i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">, and they are legion, the latest revival at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre will not disappoint, and not just because it stars Josh Groban as “the demon barber of Fleet Street,” although for the more than 1,500, full-house audience members at Saturday’s matinee he was definitely a big draw.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> The attraction of this 1979 Tony-winning Stephen Sondheim musical, with a book by Hugh Wheeler, escapes me. I saw the original with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury, the Broadway revival in 2005 with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone and now I’ve sat through this nearly three-hour production. I still don’t see why a show about a vengeful, depraved murderer in Victorian England who slits people’s throats, drops them from a rigged barber chair into a hole in the floor and the oven below, where their flesh becomes filler for his partner-in-crime’s meat pies is so beloved. As the chorus sings “raise your razor high, Sweeney,” the audience cheers him on, delighting in each bloody body. It’s beyond creepy to me.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Yes, the Tony Award-winning music is mesmerizing, here with a 26-member orchestra, and it has some nice songs, like “Johanna,” beautifully sung by Jordan Fisher, and “Pretty Women” and “Not While I’m Around,” but people see Sweeney as a sort of justified anti-hero avenging the wrong done to him 15 years before when an evil judge had him transported to Australian because he coveted Sweeney’s wife. It’s operatic, and is often performed by opera companies, but it’s not for me.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> And then there’s Sweeney’s partner, the inhuman Mrs. Lovett whose idea it is to bake the murder victims into meat pies, which then turn her failed bake shop into a booming business. She’s played in this revival by Annaleigh Ashford with exaggerated physical comedy that the audience loved but I had trouble understanding her cockney accent.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Under Thomas Kail’s (<i>Hamilton</i>) direction this revival is full scale, a sharp contrast to the paired down version in the 2005 revival from John Doyle. Mimi Lien’s sets, Emilio Sosa’s costumes and Steven Hoggett’s choreography are top notch, as is Natasha Katz’s lighting that evocatively creates the dark, brooding London underworld. Theatrically it meets the highest standards but I didn’t leave the theatre uplifted as I should have after seeing quality work. I can’t separate myself from the grotesque subject matter, and I don’t remember the other production being as bloody as this one. </p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> One of the friends who saw the original with me has no memory of it at all. I can understand forgetting some of the intricacies of the plot but I don’t know how anyone could forget the gore and the horror of the crimes, enthusiastically approved of by audiences that find them funny. She thinks she must have been too traumatized to remember. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-2011454933489052102023-04-30T15:10:00.005-05:002023-04-30T15:30:15.600-05:00New York, New York. So nice they had to name it twice<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQ2y3_5bafLPf3UHwIrAIowFIZeW21Rk9WFGI_oicuL_2-x740wQNnNlEyQnL7S9ux4Ys268D_OlnV6ELGY4ZQVOCb7ZqJmWbMD_IX76fadGEju-RX79v8YQTYrI96VUNkbgoIUanh-fvJ6uEx9vpKJUg46MCZqkAa2HekRrTmdfCbMOHxn3nvcFf/s7513/New%20York,%20New%20York%20-%20Anna%20Uzele%20(Center)%20and%20cast%20-%20Photo%20by%20Emilio%20Madrid.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5351" data-original-width="7513" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQ2y3_5bafLPf3UHwIrAIowFIZeW21Rk9WFGI_oicuL_2-x740wQNnNlEyQnL7S9ux4Ys268D_OlnV6ELGY4ZQVOCb7ZqJmWbMD_IX76fadGEju-RX79v8YQTYrI96VUNkbgoIUanh-fvJ6uEx9vpKJUg46MCZqkAa2HekRrTmdfCbMOHxn3nvcFf/s320/New%20York,%20New%20York%20-%20Anna%20Uzele%20(Center)%20and%20cast%20-%20Photo%20by%20Emilio%20Madrid.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px;">I was fairly confident that any show called </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px;">New York, New York </i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px;">would be right up my alley and I was right.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px;">The new Kander and Ebb musical (with additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda) at the St. James Theatre is a buoyant celebration of the place that became my city of destination at 11 and my home since 1985.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px;">I have been called the personification of the old I Love New York poster and I accept that characterization proudly.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> This musical, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman and inspired by the MGM movie of the same name, doesn’t break any new ground. Written by David Thompson and Sharon Washington, it is set in 1947 and delightfully retells the story that’s as old as the city —young people, fueled by ambition and dreams, knowing there is nowhere else on earth they want to be. In this case the seekers are a hot-headed Irish musician, Jimmy Doyle (Colton Ryan), who drinks too much (stereotype?), a Black singer from Philadelphia, Francine Evans (Anna Uzele), a Black trumpet-playing soldier, Jesse Webb (John Clay III), and Mateo Diaz (Angel Sigala), a drummer just arrived from Cuba with his mother (Janet Dacal). Are they going to achieve their dreams? Of course. The fun is watching them get there. As Jesse says, “Everybody in New York wants to do something you can’t do anywhere else.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Which is not to say the show couldn’t be better. The first act, at 90 minutes, is too long. It’s patchy and uneven, and doesn’t seem to fit with the second act, in which the plots are developed. Act One feels repetitive as we hear in numerous ways how nothing is going to stop these young people from making it in New York. The show runs nearly three hours. I would cut it to two hours with no intermission.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Donna Zakowska’s colorful period costumes are delightful and downright gorgeous for the gowns Francine wears once she becomes a hit radio singer. Scenic designer Beowulf Boritt’s sets and projections, along with Christopher Ash, convey the romance of the city in those hopeful, post-war years, and the energy, with all those neon signs glowing bright. The scene in Central Park at night with the ground covered in snow and more falling softly is New York at its loveliest. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> The dance numbers are energetic. I particularly liked the construction workers tapping on a beam high above the city. It recalls that famous photo of workers eating their lunch with their feet dangling in the air. That photo appears as a projection as the first act ends. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> All of the principals are strong but Uzele stands out. She uses her voice beautifully rather than to be yet another one of those tedious Broadway belters. Her bio lists two Broadway credits, <i>Six </i>and <i>Once on This Island</i>. She will have many more. She is the star of every scene in which she appears and her story interested me the most — her climb up the ladder of success, intertwined with her romance with and then marriage to Jimmy, her stardom and eventual realization of the price she needs to pay to keep it, which includes her marriage, and how she resolves all for the show’s dazzling final number. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Wearing a luscious form-fitting gown for a night club appearance, she starts to sing as the show’s orchestra unexpectedly rises from the unseen pit to extend the stage in front of her. My spirits soared as I heard those first notes of that title song we all know so well. As she began to sing the audience also rose and Uzele beckoned us to join in. She needn’t have bothered. Nothing could have stopped us. For that time we were all — natives, transplants and tourists — one big personification of the I Love New York poster, singing our hearts out about the greatest city on the face of the earth. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"> </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-25552999038663573722023-04-28T11:01:00.014-05:002023-04-28T11:31:06.082-05:00Why did Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht return to Broadway for this play?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6o9vEBeYUUxW0knnl64mujpeeEaU0BgM0EM8jvTq70y9kty2aNccnd3pmXsYtajwLaeY7ht_VsTQ7FTYNdVQ598OJZ1vAYfTt0_9d8FpqinOX1PidHg3mGJRceFq4vCLGa_bWiPJR-Xv8-Yz6VhnRKr3T9Kk3-PRioUzZInrAUaMdF2xr8qSwv0gh/s7724/r_Summer1976_0675.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5152" data-original-width="7724" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6o9vEBeYUUxW0knnl64mujpeeEaU0BgM0EM8jvTq70y9kty2aNccnd3pmXsYtajwLaeY7ht_VsTQ7FTYNdVQ598OJZ1vAYfTt0_9d8FpqinOX1PidHg3mGJRceFq4vCLGa_bWiPJR-Xv8-Yz6VhnRKr3T9Kk3-PRioUzZInrAUaMdF2xr8qSwv0gh/s320/r_Summer1976_0675.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> It’s always good to see <a href="https://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com/2008/05/les-liaisons-dangereuses.html">Laura Linney</a> and <a href="https://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com/2018/03/jessica-hecht-stars-in-admissions.html">Jessica Hecht</a> onstage. I wish, though, that they had chosen an interesting play rather than David Auburn’s <i>Summer, 1976. </i>I can’t imagine what attracted them to these two boring, self-involved characters who talk, and talk, and talk about themselves but show little emotion, even when they are describing an unexpected pregnancy in college or the infidelity of a husband. If they can’t be more involved in their lives why should we?</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Another mystery is why veteran Daniel Sullivan would want to direct this play, except that he directed Auburn’s 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, <i>Proof </i>(which I also didn’t like), so maybe it was out of loyalty. Which might have been Linney's motivation, having worked with Sullivan in <a href="https://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com/2010/02/time-stands-still.html">Time Stands Still</a> in 2010.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Linney plays the haughty Diana, a failed artist now teaching at Ohio State University, and Hecht is Alice, a slightly flaky stay-at-home mom. They don’t like each other at first after having been brought together by their young daughters who are friends. They enter the stage at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre from opposite sides and sit on chairs at either end of a table. The only other furniture is a bench at the back of the table. What is it with bare stages this season? Set designer John Lee Beatty puts <i>Summer </i>in the club with A Doll’s House and <i>Camelot</i>.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> We learn about Diana and Alice initially as they sit and address the audience. In time they interact but never really breach the distance between them for long. I’m assuming the play is supposed to be a comedy. The audience certainly laughed enough. Here’s an example of what passes for humor throughout the 90-minute show. Diana tells us Alice thinks of herself as a hippie but she isn’t really, she just has a messy house. The audience roared. My theory about shows like this is that people who have watched sitcoms all their lives are programmed to laugh after every line because the studio audiences — and in years past, the laugh track — laugh after every line. People have been conditioned by stupid TV shows to laugh. I’d like to be able to push a pause button and turn to a couple of people and ask them why they found that funny. I bet they couldn’t answer.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> But even if that comment had been funny, the hippie reference is odd for a play set in 1976. Hippies were so 1960s. I remember that summer well. I was between my sophomore and junior year in college. The country was full of joyful celebrations marking its Bicentennial. Why set a play in such a specific year and ignore that? The Tall Ships came to us in Baltimore but surely something must have been going on in Columbus, Ohio, where the play is set. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Diana and Alice seem oblivious to something else that was happening at the time that was even more important to me — the women’s movement. Did these two midwestern women not know what was going on? I don’t understand setting a play in such a specific year and then ignoring these two events that came to my mind as soon as I heard the play’s title.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Their clothes (costumes by Linda Cho) don’t reflect the period either, but I suppose we are to associate them with the older characters reflecting on their past. Diana wears black slacks and a black T-shirt and Alice is in a long, flowy, drab blue and red peasant dress. Both women would look right at home today in the East Village. The 70s was the decade of disco. Fashion reflected the “Saturday Night Fever” look. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Auburn was born in November of 1969 so he was probably ready to enter or had just finished first grade in the summer of 1976. He should have bounced this play off of his mother. She could have helped him be more year specific. Maybe she could have even helped him give his two female characters depth. </p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-27880703876315696692023-04-28T06:39:00.008-05:002023-04-28T06:51:32.388-05:00Sean Hayes, classical pianist? Yep<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKvWbMOlPsdc2oCW3vaVVskWncH-MLfjzaKkF0g0-UARJKsMwmVoOElgQC7yruyWFKhUpfPn1JxwhN_fpgYbiYSb15ugj3g1YfT-RiAYyQBcYcNlHkpFuOU_-eJ-InFLJmoY_52rfIgizQ2cksUQuDLLAerNNxMviFyHzYA8Sm85AbYEpsIe2i6_Pf/s8640/Good_Night_Oscar_0104r.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5760" data-original-width="8640" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKvWbMOlPsdc2oCW3vaVVskWncH-MLfjzaKkF0g0-UARJKsMwmVoOElgQC7yruyWFKhUpfPn1JxwhN_fpgYbiYSb15ugj3g1YfT-RiAYyQBcYcNlHkpFuOU_-eJ-InFLJmoY_52rfIgizQ2cksUQuDLLAerNNxMviFyHzYA8Sm85AbYEpsIe2i6_Pf/s320/Good_Night_Oscar_0104r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Fans of Sean Hayes associate him with comedy. This is natural considering his 11 years playing Jack McFarland on the TV sitcom “Will and Grace.” They won’t be surprised to hear his comic timing and delivery now on Broadway in <i>Good Night, Oscar. </i></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> They might be surprised to see his dramatic chops as he plays pianist and intellectual wit Oscar Levant, a man who suffered from serious mental illness and drug addiction. When he falls to the floor writhing in a breakdown several times during the 100-minute show Hayes brings us the tortured man behind the humor.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> But what is likely to be the bigger surprise for Hayes fans is that he is a classically trained pianist. Portraying Levant performing on “The Tonight Show,” he sits down at the piano and plays a seven-minute excerpt from George Gershwin’s challenging “Rhapsody in Blue.” The audience at the Belasco Theatre went wild.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> I was right with them because I love that piece and because it’s a joy to see these unexpected gifts from an actor I had only seen in “Promises, Promises” and “An Act of God” on Broadway.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Under the direction of Lisa Peterson, Doug Wright’s play is an encapsulated story of the man whose gifts and demons fought each other for control of his life. Levant was widely regarded for his interpretation of Gershwin’s music. He also appeared in the film “An American in Paris” and frequented TV talk shows where he joked about his mental health struggles and drug addiction.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Set in spring 1958 in an NBC studio in Burbank, CA, the play centers around the first night of host Jack Paar’s (Ben Rappaport) “Tonight Show” in Los Angeles. He reluctantly agreed to relocate from New York after NBC president Bob Sarnoff (Peter Grosz) offered him wide freedom to select his guests. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> This sets the scene for some delightful commentary about New York vs. Los Angeles. When Paar reminds his boss that he’s had to leave behind “those late-night sophisticates back in New York,” Sarnoff tells him Los Angeles audiences “can be very discriminating.” To which Paar replied, “Sure they discriminate. Against talent. Against intelligence.” He calls L.A. “the one city in the world where a good tan beats a college education.” </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> All of this takes place backstage in Paar’s office, with Rachel Hauck’s sets offering the appropriately bland, low-key look of the late 1950s. Paar and Sarnoff are sparing over the host’s insistence that Levant be his lead guest for this first West Coast show. Sarnoff worries about Levant’s dependability in terms of showing up and then keeping his sharp commentary in line with censor and sponsor expectations. He wants to replace him with Xavier Cugat, “the King of the Rhumba,” who is in town appearing at the Coconut Grove. No way will Paar agree to that switch for his L.A. premiere. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> What neither man knows until Levant’s wife June (Emily Bergl) shows up is that she has had him committed to a psychiatric unit and had only now learned he had been scheduled for Paar’s big night. That’s all Sarnoff needs to hear for him to head for the phone to call Cugat. But Paar, concerned about his ratings and unconcerned about his friend’s mental health, convinces June to get her husband released on a four-hour pass. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Levant’s appearance on the live show, high on pills he had gotten with the help of a studio flunky (Alex Wyse), proves both men right. Prompted by Paar Levant goes full dagger on the three topics he promised to avoid – political, sex and religion. The religious joke, involving Marilyn Monroe’s conversion to Judaism following her marriage to Arthur Miller, would probably shock some people today but in the Eisenhower era it brings immediate calls of protest from the Legion of Decency, Cardinal Spellman, and the National Office of the Parent/Teacher Association. The Methodist church members in the audience and others have left plenty of empty seats in the studio by the time the commercial break ends.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Sarnoff is now ready to send Levant packing but Paar remains determined to have him perform anything, even “Chopsticks,” just to get him at the piano. Throughout his time at the studio, and even more at the thought of playing, Levant has been having imaginary conversations with Gershwin (John Zdrojeski), his former friend and idol, and the man whose genius he thinks he has failed to achieve. These lead to his breakdowns on the floor. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Paar wins, though, and the drug-addled Levant staggers to the piano only to brilliantly perform “Rhapsody.” </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> <i>Good Night, Oscar </i>is one of the best shows of the season. The play is strong and Hayes is dynamic. It gets my highest recommendation. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-8929588046672262362023-04-23T16:51:00.002-05:002023-04-23T16:53:35.498-05:00'Camelot' has returned to Broadway after 63 years <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkVpjOC7tlnn8tAEPkpxOuuYU8rVhWjDW95ZnfaF2A1JB4ruV8NngFIoMvXQiqt2DeETWsBVYDzmjDTXFYBO9sT989EJskCQUS-lcUIZFGDI7h9WKzisyQCo8TReu5mRv84Y4NLrCKslv91sp4pcic74lSllblYY9VQFeEn3XGYq5IdeVRcoKjjAL/s5909/LCT%20Camelot%20%23328r%20-%20Phillipa%20Soo%20(center)%20and%20company%20in%20Lincoln%20Center%20Theater's%20production%20of%20CAMELOT.%20Credit%20to%20Joan%20Marcus.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3896" data-original-width="5909" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkVpjOC7tlnn8tAEPkpxOuuYU8rVhWjDW95ZnfaF2A1JB4ruV8NngFIoMvXQiqt2DeETWsBVYDzmjDTXFYBO9sT989EJskCQUS-lcUIZFGDI7h9WKzisyQCo8TReu5mRv84Y4NLrCKslv91sp4pcic74lSllblYY9VQFeEn3XGYq5IdeVRcoKjjAL/s320/LCT%20Camelot%20%23328r%20-%20Phillipa%20Soo%20(center)%20and%20company%20in%20Lincoln%20Center%20Theater's%20production%20of%20CAMELOT.%20Credit%20to%20Joan%20Marcus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> I had been looking forward to <i>Camelot </i>since I learned it was coming to Lincoln Center this spring. I’ve loved the original cast recording most of my life but I’ve never seen the show, just the movie version when I was in elementary school.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Director Bartlett Sher brought lavish revivals of two other Golden Age musicals, <i>South Pacific </i>and <i>The King and I, </i>to Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre and I expected another in the first Broadway revival of this Lerner and Loewe classic retelling of the Arthurian legend, which opened on Broadway 63 years ago. Unfortunately I was disappointed, largely because of set designer Michael Yeargan’s decision to present the entire almost three-hour musical on a nearly bare stage. Even though the show has a 27-person cast and 30-piece orchestra I felt I was watching a concert version. The actors came on to sing those lovely songs but I felt distanced from the story.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> I was also distracted by the humor throughout. Having never seen the stage show I don’t know if that was a part of the original or if that is particular to Aaron Sorkin’s book adaptation. I didn’t like it. I wasn’t prepared for a musical comedy, much as I might like them in other cases. It had the feel of television, which makes sense because Sorkin is the creator of the hit TV show “The West Wing.” </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> But he is also a man of the theatre, having made his Broadway debut with his play “A Few Good Men.” More recently he adapted the book for another classic,<a href="https://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com/2019/03/to-kill-mockingbird.html"> To Kill a Mockingbird</a><i>.</i> His interpretation greatly strengthened that story. He did improve <i>Camelot</i>’s book in some ways, such as by taking out the supernatural elements. I wish he had taken away more. The show is too long. I was thrilled to hear the final lines, “Each evening from December to December,” movingly delivered by Andrew Burnap as King Arthur. Thrilled because they are so touching but also because it meant the show was ending. Cut more Mr. Sorkin. I heard other audience members complaining about the length as well.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> The songs, however, do not disappoint. My heart soared right from the first notes of the overture (music director, Kimberly Grigsby). “Camelot,” “The Lusty Month of May,” “How to Handle a Woman,” “Before I Gaze at You Again” and “If Ever I Would Leave You” are brought to us with perfection by Burnap, Phillipa Soo as Guenevere and Jordan Donica as Lancelot. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Soo is one of my favorite musical theatre performers. I saw her in her first show right out of school, when she starred as Natasha in <i>Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 </i>off-off-Broadway<i>. </i>I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She played young and vulnerable beautifully and I loved her expressive face. I listen now to her exquisite voice on the cast recording of <i>Hamilton, </i>in which she played Eliza. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> She was the perfect Guenevere, whether frolicking around the Maypole (choreography by Byron Easley) in a pink dress (costumes by Jennifer Moeller) or in my favorite scene, the one when she’s leaving Arthur. She tells him she loves him and by the way she hugs him deeply it is clear that she does. It’s heartbreaking because they do love each other, except for her it’s not enough to keep her from running off with Lancelot. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> I wish I could have been that moved by the rest of the show. The bare stage technique doesn’t have to be distancing. It works effectively in the current revival of <a href="https://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com/2023/03/jessica-chastain-is-spectacular-in.html">A Doll’s House</a><i><a href="https://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com/2023/03/jessica-chastain-is-spectacular-in.html">.</a> </i>For me it put all the attention on the play and I was involved throughout. In <i>Camelot </i>it distanced me from the story. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-24139231877961865642023-03-26T08:59:00.008-05:002023-03-26T10:02:14.790-05:00The 'Parade' revival is all too timely<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9NzAEN-AQOI1nxKWzmkbUDsfiWE5iHhMZWgVxNVaMZc3Y4R8Iz2o3WYhyl7bJOSUGSNej23aLKuhAfCpD_4Niz3uzXTNBDSYa4qz6IzKWm6fgudsy_uzowmJ7CvpAvkCfCx-yB7rOOs9s9TlNJ2__xMVD_4b56eHIA7JsMtH4mjnbV-n_uy_Aq_4j/s2560/Micaela-Diamond-and-Ben-Platt.-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-4-scaled.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1847" data-original-width="2560" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9NzAEN-AQOI1nxKWzmkbUDsfiWE5iHhMZWgVxNVaMZc3Y4R8Iz2o3WYhyl7bJOSUGSNej23aLKuhAfCpD_4Niz3uzXTNBDSYa4qz6IzKWm6fgudsy_uzowmJ7CvpAvkCfCx-yB7rOOs9s9TlNJ2__xMVD_4b56eHIA7JsMtH4mjnbV-n_uy_Aq_4j/s320/Micaela-Diamond-and-Ben-Platt.-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-4-scaled.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> On the first night of previews for the Broadway revival of Jason Robert Brown’s musical <i>Parade, </i>members of one of the country’s largest antisemitic groups protested this show about one of the country’s most hideous examples of antisemitism, the trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank. 2023 and 1913. New York and Atlanta. Will this hatred ever stop?</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Frank was a Brooklyn-born Jew who moved to the South after marrying an Atlanta woman whose uncle, the owner of the National Pencil Company, gave him a job as superintendent. On the day the city was holding its Memorial Day parade – Leo in the musical (Ben Platt) finds it astonishing that they celebrate the day they lost the war – the body of 13-year-old factory worker Mary Phagan was found raped and murdered in the basement. With no evidence of Leo’s guilt but plenty pointing toward the Black handyman, the unscrupulously ambitious district attorney fabricated a case against Frank that assured a guilty verdict. He had political ambitions and knew how to play to voters who want “to sing Dixie once again,” as the memorable opening song, “The Old Red Hills of Home,” says. They would rather blame a northern Jew than a Black southerner. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> The modern-day protestors outside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre told ticket holders they were seeing a show about a pedophile. Even now they won’t acknowledge the injustice done to Frank. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Although it seems an unlikely plot for a Broadway musical, this 1998 show has what good drama needs, the power to shock and move its audience. I saw the original and was blown away. I had known the story since I was in my 20s. Brown’s songs (music and lyrics, for which he won a Tony in 1999) and Alfred Uhry’s Tony Award-winning book bring it to life in a way I couldn’t have imagined.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Micaela Diamond, who made her Broadway debut as Babe, the youngest Cher in <a href="https://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-cher-show.html">The Cher Show</a>, movingly portrays Lucille, Leo’s wife, in this revival directed by Michael Arden. They have strong voices and play well together but they didn’t engage me the way the original players, Brent Carver and Carolee Carmello, did, but maybe that’s because nothing can replace seeing this powerful show for the first time.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Dane Laffrey’s set was a bit off-putting, a giant dais on which most of the scenes take place. It made the action seem distant to me. I liked Susan Hilferty’s period costumes and Heather Gilbert’s brooding lighting. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Erin Rose Doyle is a sweet Mary and Paul Alexander Nolan embodies the ruthless district attorney, Hugh Dorsey, who uses his guilty verdict to propel him into the governorship. The election is two years after Leo’s conviction. Leo has remained in jail, filing appeal after appeal, which were all unsuccessful. During that time pressure has been put on Governor Slaton (Sean Allan Krill) by elected officials around the country, as well as influential individuals like Henry Ford, to reconsider the case. Lucille is the strongest fighter for this cause, working with Slaton to reveal Dorsey’s manipulation of the case, which included coaching Mary’s young co-workers to say Frank had sexually harassed them. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Slaton assures his opponent’s victory when he becomes the one honorable player in the Frank tragedy. With Leo’s execution five weeks away, Slaton commutes his sentence to life in prison, delivering what to me are the play’s most memorable lines: “Two thousand years ago another governor washed his hands and turned a Jew over to a mob. Ever since then that governor’s name has been a curse. If today another Jew went to his grave because I failed to do my duty, I would all my life find his blood on my hands.”</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> This gives Leo and Lucille hope and they share the beautiful duet “This Is Not Over Yet.” I don’t think, since this is such a historic case, that it’s a spoiler alert to say their joy is short-lived. A mob invaded the prison, took Leo to a remote location and hung him.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"> Cast members all appear to be giving 100 percent to tell this story, which, sadly, is far too timely. As for poor Leo Frank, a projection on the dais says his case was reopened by the Fulton County district attorney’s office in 2019. It is still ongoing. And so is the tragedy.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-90795497127542398492023-03-22T11:46:00.005-05:002023-03-22T11:46:45.776-05:00Maureen McGovern: Creating hope in life with dementia <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj157mwgtWP8R40eQdWfre8kcvuOeTCllwifDXtVFQUyo-fBT4hRCm4-9s6A2n_EiGw3qtqVuei-W0Yq2FcDEz9dwPsExzzfvYS7iN3lvZ6vNNZ0aD1Kc33r8pTBpaRC3uLnkEoJZ7yEXnBIwirF5NMkK2N1IBte8NDjT6oCG5bM186a8Fz3ynZju9o/s3000/Maureen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2933" data-original-width="3000" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj157mwgtWP8R40eQdWfre8kcvuOeTCllwifDXtVFQUyo-fBT4hRCm4-9s6A2n_EiGw3qtqVuei-W0Yq2FcDEz9dwPsExzzfvYS7iN3lvZ6vNNZ0aD1Kc33r8pTBpaRC3uLnkEoJZ7yEXnBIwirF5NMkK2N1IBte8NDjT6oCG5bM186a8Fz3ynZju9o/s320/Maureen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #ffc000; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">Maureen
McGovern was a 23-year-old folk singer in 1972 when she was chosen to record
“The Morning After” for <i>The Poseidon Adventure.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The song and movie became megahits and
launched her four-decade career as a concert performer, recording artist and
Broadway musical theatre actress. All of that changed several years ago when
she was diagnosed with posterior cortical atrophy and symptoms of Alzheimer’s
and/or dementia. It hasn’t stopped her from singing, though, and she continues
her efforts to bring joy to others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
spoke by Zoom with a writer for <i>Alzheimer’s TODAY </i>about her life back
home in Ohio and the projects she has planned. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">How
did your diagnosis come about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were you
experiencing symptoms and decided to check them out?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">For five or six or more years before it was little
things. “I know this song. Why did I forget the words?” I made a joke out of it
in shows. It kept building.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">Have
you/how have you adjusted to the diagnosis?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">I moved to an independent senior residence. I had to get
rid of so much. I didn’t want to let go. It was hard and frustrating to leave
the place where I had been. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">Now I am grateful for where I am. I live on the fifth
floor with a great view. There’s a 90-year-old man here who plays the piano. A
couple of times a year he’ll play, and I’ll sing. It’s been hard to adjust but
I’m more comfortable now. At least knowing where I am as far as the sickness. I
know many people are going through this, too. I want to write a book.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">I
read that you can no longer travel or perform in concerts. Can you sing and do
you?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">I sing a lot in my apartment to keep the pipes in order.
The neighbors are very happy. I have large cards with all the words on them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">I’ve actually sung in many, many hospices. That’s always
been a part of my heart. There was a grandmother in her last moments. I
thought, “Oh, my God, what can I do to help her?” You could feel the sadness in
everybody’s heart. The kids said she liked country music, so I did a little
ditty for her. I got to a certain point and we heard a soft “whoo, whoo, whoo”
sound. The beauty of that. The children and family were crying tears of joy. A
simple thing like that is wonderful. I understand people even more now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">I sang in a women’s prison. A woman sent me a letter to
say I changed her life. For that moment – they are stuck in coops over there –
they light up like candles. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">What
is your biggest challenge?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">Not knowing exactly what is in the future. I try to see
every day as a gift and keep moving on and trying to help other people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">Are
you still writing children’s music?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">I’m writing some. I had done that years ago and there’s
stuff I haven’t dealt with in a while. I want to do that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">What
else are you working on now?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">Through the years I performed for charities. That kept me
going. I miss doing that. I’d like to do more. I worked for the Muscular
Dystrophy Association for three decades and HIV-AIDS and the American Music
Therapy Association.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">I’m talking to my music conductor, Jeff Harris. I want to
record inspirational songs. I can’t wait to make a recording in the studio.
I’ve been in the house so long. Maybe it will do some good.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">You
said you will be working to bring more attention to music therapy. How are you
doing this?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">When children are in a funk you just start music and they
just lift up their souls. That’s what I’d like to bring them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">In 1972, on Christmas Eve – I’d done a concert the day
before – I was asked to stay and go to a hospital. I thought, “That will be
fun.” Kids were in cribs. The babies didn’t know anything about me but the
parents needed that so badly. They came and hugged me. Something as innocent as
that can change somebody for even a moment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">I want to become helpful any way I can. That’s what I’m
looking forward to, that kind of thing. I may not be able to do this or that,
but I know how to deal with this the best I can, when I can make someone else
happy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%;">You
said you slowly realized that your inner life has not changed, that
Alzheimer’s/dementia is not going to stop you from living your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does this mean for you now? What do you
mean by “inner life”?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">What we keep inside, above the chest. Your soul. I keep
things with me. I try to remember things that were very important to me and I’m
always trying to fix somebody else in their dilemma. I know all that’s still
inside me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 106%; mso-themecolor: text1;">My interview with Maureen McGovern appears in the March
cover story for <i>Alzheimer’s TODAY </i>magazine.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-66157159371224440272023-03-19T12:51:00.003-05:002023-03-19T12:51:41.502-05:00Jessica Chastain is spectacular in 'A Doll's House'<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnWoiaSg1Ql9P7VXvjhKFrJ-rJuYbgYYQad5NOXE5_u4J8zszDg_ED5WjQSKsLbeowU_YiEA5VPVlsDDCWtJG17N2z2SF_EDz5Fwss6TseNzeyx2SoJOJN_s4ztovCb_sHg7zoX2O02A1fO2k3-SNDX_ixYeAOllGRBzZc2j8IEabjUlfJbTjuusW/s2560/better%20Jessica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnWoiaSg1Ql9P7VXvjhKFrJ-rJuYbgYYQad5NOXE5_u4J8zszDg_ED5WjQSKsLbeowU_YiEA5VPVlsDDCWtJG17N2z2SF_EDz5Fwss6TseNzeyx2SoJOJN_s4ztovCb_sHg7zoX2O02A1fO2k3-SNDX_ixYeAOllGRBzZc2j8IEabjUlfJbTjuusW/s320/better%20Jessica.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <span style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">If you want to test the power of a well-written play, strip away practically </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">everything </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">except the words. That's what director Jamie Lloyd has done with </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">A Doll's House </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;">at the Hudson Theatre. The result: the play was as compelling for me as when I first read it in college. That's because Lloyd has focused on the most important theatrical element, the players. Jessica Chastain as Nora heads the exceptional cast for this Broadway revival of Ibsen's 1879 classic story of a woman's journey to self-realization. </span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> From the moment you enter the theatre, the austerity is apparent. Scenic designer Sutra Gilmour’s stage is bare except for a few light wood straight chairs. Moody, pulsing music by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto creates an air of anticipation. About 15 minutes before the start of the show Chastain walks out to sit as a turntable slowly revolves her around the stage. Her expression is pondering, looking off into the distance. Her long copper-colored hair is pulled back and her clothes are contemporary, a long black dress with three-quarter length sleeves (costume design by Gilmour and Enver Chakartash). She will rarely leave that chair for the entire nearly two-hour intermission-less show, except most dramatically when her fevered dance for her husband, which she has been doing seated, pitches her to the floor. </p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> The next indication that this production will be different is the opening conversation between the two main characters, Nora, the sheltered Norwegian wife, and her doting and controlling husband, Torvald (Arian Moayed). Unlike in traditional interpretations in which Torvald is condescending and Nora childish, these two converse more like equal partners, parents of three small children who are sharing the joy of Torvald’s promotion at the bank and their relief from financial strain. Chastain’s Nora is happy and confident, and more mature than how she is usually portrayed. They could be a couple from today rather than the late 19th century. Playwright Amy Herzog wrote this modernized adaptation. As the evening progresses, though, the two will revert to the characters with whom we are more familiar, </p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Convention is turned on its head even more in further interactions, most notably when Nora is threatened with exposure by Krogstad (Okieriete Onaodowan, in photo), an underhanded bank employee Torvald is on the verge of firing. He makes it clear he will expose the crime Nora committed to get money to pay for medical treatment for Torvald if she does not persuade Torvald to keep him on. </p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Rather than confront each other face to face, Lloyd has them seated with their backs to each other. Emotional expression is kept low-key with little variation, as it is throughout the show. The actors’ words are crystal clear, spoken out to open space rather than each other. With no sets, costumes, props or physical encounters, the dialogue rules. It was like a radio play in which we are forced to listen carefully because that’s all we have. I was involved the entire time.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> The unconventionality is in place right up to the final scene. With no door to close firmly behind her, Nora exits through a panel that opens in the back wall, heading into the world beyond, leaving her family behind.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #161a1e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> When classics are drastically reinterpreted like this I often feel that someone encountering them for the first time won’t be getting a true sense of the play but I didn’t feel that way this time. We don’t need the simple Norwegian living room and Victorian costumes. We’ve got the story, powerfully intact.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-85251360688893324912023-01-28T17:07:00.002-05:002023-01-28T17:35:52.211-05:00Neil Diamond is the subject of Broadway's latest jukebox musical <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXn5FJFYYv3TfmnvbXXVI198w1rRf6M6AjnMr5pV1VvWyAWACicM5ctKIpCnFMCh2xcu7ViHkhVpB6UKdm3NY1E02dJZE5V--VGsjEjfqkxmW7NUq048g66iRlAamS1ggz4PFNpR1QFlrK2OFEmO-dUuw4M3VvWpEaVfwIEfxkUY3EGd7KL8ugufs/s2300/221117_ABeautifulNoise_SetUps-1519.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1533" data-original-width="2300" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXn5FJFYYv3TfmnvbXXVI198w1rRf6M6AjnMr5pV1VvWyAWACicM5ctKIpCnFMCh2xcu7ViHkhVpB6UKdm3NY1E02dJZE5V--VGsjEjfqkxmW7NUq048g66iRlAamS1ggz4PFNpR1QFlrK2OFEmO-dUuw4M3VvWpEaVfwIEfxkUY3EGd7KL8ugufs/s320/221117_ABeautifulNoise_SetUps-1519.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Usually the weakest element in a jukebox musical is the book. While not great, Anthony McCarten’s book for <i>A Beautiful Noise </i>is serviceable, especially in the first act. The weakest element is Steven Hoggett’s choreography (more about that later). Unfortunately for this latest offering in the genre, which features the music of Neil Diamond, the one part of any show that absolutely must be strong, the lead character, misses the mark. Will Swenson, Broadway veteran that he is, never fully embodies the superstar he is portraying at the Broadhurst Theatre. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> This is most obvious in the second act when the songwriter from Flatbush, Brooklyn, has become a megastar, filling stadiums and arenas as the biggest box office draw in the world, knocking Elvis out of that distinction. Swenson’s voice has the intonation and strength of Diamond’s but he lacks the magnetism of performance that filled those venues for decades. I was always aware he was an actor playing a part rather than becoming the star the way <a href="https://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com/2022/04/michael-jackson-is-resurrected-in-mj-at.html">Myles Frost </a>transforms into Michael Jackson in MJ.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Maybe this is because Frost grew up emulating Jackson and spent years perfecting Jackson’s moves and voice. Swenson also grew up with an awareness of the pop star he is portraying, but it was his father who love Diamond. “My dad liked Neil so much that there was a picture of him hanging up in our garage,” he said in an interview with <i>Playbill</i>. “He was always playing Neil on a loop; he never took that tape out of his car.”</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> But while Diamond’s infectious tunes were the soundtrack of Swenson’s childhood, the singer was his father’s idol, not his. It was dad music. He knows the songs but doesn’t have the presence.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> The show opens with an aged and reluctant Diamond (Mark Jacoby) sitting stubbornly quiet in the office of the psychologist (Linda Powell) his third wife, Katie (unseen), and children nudged him to meet with for his depression, which we learn as the story unfolds was something he lived with throughout his life. The nameless therapist knows he’s famous but seems to have never heard of him, which is hard to believe. If she was expecting a new patient who was famous don't you think she would have Googled him to get to know a bit about him? In an effort to draw him out she buys a book of his lyrics and is excited that she knows one of the songs —he wrote nearly 100. Maybe that was supposed to be funny but I thought it was silly. But her approach works as Diamond opens up about what those songs meant to him.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> “When I hit that first cord, the clouds lift.”</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> I like the device McCarten uses to launch the heart of the story, which is certainly an interesting one. He has the therapist pick one song each session to talk about. It’s a good way to bring the songs into the show and unpack Diamond’s past. Unfortunately director Michael Mayer brings on a herd of young dancers to accompany each song. Clad in colorful play clothes that give a suggestion of the 1960s (costumes by Emilio Sosa), they bop around the stage like a bunch of hyperactive amebas, with every dance number looking the same. They are annoying. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> We learn that Diamond, this man who could sell out stadiums, set out to be a songwriter rather than a performer. He sold his first song at 15 and his first hit, “I’m a Believer,” was a chart topper for the Monkees. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> It is Ellie Greenwich (Bri Sudia), a powerful producer in the Brill Building, who discovers what would be Diamond’s ultimate path. She had been assigning his songs — “The Boat That I Row,” “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow), “Red, Red, Wine” —to singers until one day Diamond interrupts one young man, played by Max Sangerman, as he sings “Kentucky Woman.” Diamond suggests a different interpretation. Greenwich realizes that he is the one who should be singing his songs and coaxes him into an appearance at the Village’s Bitter End cafe. He’s frightened at first but warms up as he sings “Solitary Man,” magnetizing the audience. The elder Diamond tells his therapist, “It was the first time I ever really felt alive.” He returns until the inevitable record contracts and large engagements follow.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> In these Act One scenes Swenson as the insecure Diamond is believable. It’s in Act Two with Diamond clad in sequined suits singing to thousands that he loses the character. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> All of this is to say that while the show could have been better I still enjoyed it. I never owned any of Diamond’s records but I’ve listened to his songs on the radio since I was in elementary school. It’s been years now, if not decades, since I heard them because I listen almost exclusively to jazz and country/folk/Americana on WAER from Syracuse University. I enjoyed reconnecting with “America,””Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show,” “Cherry, Cherry,” “Cracklin’ Rosie” “Forever in Blue Jeans,” “Holly Holy,” “I Am. . .I Said” and “Shilo,” among others. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Not to be forgotten, of course, is “Sweet Caroline,” which lit up the audience as the Act One closer and had us on our feet clapping and singing along at the curtain call. That was fun. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> So it goes for another jukebox musical on Broadway. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-20112799139383788342023-01-08T16:51:00.005-05:002023-01-08T18:19:13.863-05:00All-Black cast energizes 'Death of a Salesman'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDiK1yurw8pGW3gygzTz3loSZI9MnT0_zQU041memawMJZ7hfOp53NIy8mCuXThbugoIkPrKEd90POsqPzpkEeJK8NS9krCgXyn1lMWP-YBPPP8iiSLyzT0jN1tHrAUxPxGTCnrkgMcA6LmxOJdACS9V8KNbI9hAyBns5X4tCMN_h3aHEaf7mb3rMC/s4795/IGuEmetg.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3597" data-original-width="4795" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDiK1yurw8pGW3gygzTz3loSZI9MnT0_zQU041memawMJZ7hfOp53NIy8mCuXThbugoIkPrKEd90POsqPzpkEeJK8NS9krCgXyn1lMWP-YBPPP8iiSLyzT0jN1tHrAUxPxGTCnrkgMcA6LmxOJdACS9V8KNbI9hAyBns5X4tCMN_h3aHEaf7mb3rMC/s320/IGuEmetg.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> I was unprepared for the emotional impact director Miranda Cromwell’s revival of <i>Death of a Salesman </i>would have on me. I haven't felt so moved since the first time I saw this Arthur Miller classic when I was 17 and went into it cold.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Willy's death shook me deeply then and it did again yesterday thanks to Wendell Pierce’s powerful, fully human performance. But I grieved for another character as well this time, Linda, Willy's devoted wife. As portrayed by Sharon D. Clarke this Linda is a woman of our time, a feminist Linda who isn’t diminished by Willy's temper and insults. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Linda has always come off to me as a servile, 1950s TV wife with a “Yes, dear” attitude who cowered under Willy's verbal abuse. When Willy yells at Clarke’s Linda to be quiet she stops talking but her gestures and expressions say plenty. She’s no doormat. She’s Willy’s equal and when she tells her sons she loves him I had no doubt. In the past I’ve thought she was just kidding herself.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> This revival, at the Hudson Theatre, is the first time the 1949 play has been done on Broadway with an all-Black cast. Broadway lags way behind Baltimore’s Center Stage in that regard. The 1972 production I saw was the first time <i>Salesman </i>had been done by an all-Black professional cast in this country. Miller came to the opening. In<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/09/archives/stage-black-salesman-baltimore-production-of-play-by-miller-shows.html"> a program note</a> he wrote: “I have felt for many years that particularly with this play, which has been so well received in so many countries and cultures, that the black actor would have an opportunity, if that is needed anymore, to demonstrate all his common humanity and his talent.” Obviously it was still needed because it took 50 years for it to happen on Broadway. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> I’ve seen the play at least three other times — in 1983 at Syracuse Stage and the Broadway revivals in 1999 and 2012, with all white casts, of course, and I’ve read it I don’t know how many times through my three degrees in English. Because of that I was reluctant to see it again. I thought its power to move me was long gone and I went only as a dutiful Drama Desk voter. I’m glad I did. By the end, the graveside scene was so painful I was in tears. Linda said she couldn’t cry but couldn’t not. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Adding to the emotion of the scene was a gospel recording that began to play quietly and was picked up by Linda singing “When We Meet Again When the Trumpets Sound.” What a gut punch. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> This gave a familiar classic a new take. Clarke’s performance and Cromwell’s direction made the play a story of a husband and wife, a marriage, instead of the father/son story I had always been left with.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Which leads me to the sons, Biff (Khris Davis) and Happy (McKinley Belcher III). I’ve never had much sympathy for either of them except when I saw Kevin Anderson’s portrayal in the 1999 Broadway revival. I did care about his Biff. With these two I wanted to bash their heads together. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Andre De Shields portrays Ben, Willy’s older brother, who proudly tells Willy, “William, when I walked into the jungle, I was 17. When I walked out I was 21. And, by God, I was rich!” He is authoritative, almost kingly, pumped up with his own self-importance, making it easy to understand how he makes Willy feel he can’t measure up. He’s also a bit scary when he’s the ghost of himself who plays out in Willy’s troubled mind.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Scenic designer Anna Fleischle leaves the stage largely bare, which is effective in focusing on the drama of the play. Furniture and window frames that are suspended from the ceiling go up and down as needed. Jen Schriever’s lighting design is dark and shadowy, in keeping with the mood. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> This production was originally directed by Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell at the Young Vic Theatre in London, and subsequently at the Piccadilly Theatre in London in 2019. This Broadway production proves that attention must still be paid to Willy Loman and Miller’s enduring play. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7736378763829213516.post-76731837869873901452022-12-03T16:02:00.006-05:002022-12-03T17:57:28.708-05:00Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust Road is sublime <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir-hKowmdbHbJS1NJs2BnC3d19euWk6IEfIbsKq7dmzUjcRiNqAmTnYVRo2kviFhDWpRylg2_sfWwjla_hMitCSDFUEArS0o-zfu1jZNe8lHfYi7pDmo1wSTmWtOokG2z6B9TjvuHJH9hicvIU7Z7KZ2lqyVHeOPtaXnrRb4znE4ukWLS_8p4RAVMj/s620/155015.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="620" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir-hKowmdbHbJS1NJs2BnC3d19euWk6IEfIbsKq7dmzUjcRiNqAmTnYVRo2kviFhDWpRylg2_sfWwjla_hMitCSDFUEArS0o-zfu1jZNe8lHfYi7pDmo1wSTmWtOokG2z6B9TjvuHJH9hicvIU7Z7KZ2lqyVHeOPtaXnrRb4znE4ukWLS_8p4RAVMj/s320/155015.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> By the time I walked out of <i>Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust Road </i>at the Theatre at St. Jeans my spirits had soared to the moon. This new revue, directed by Susan H. Schulman, is told entirely through Carmichael’s enchanting songs, with hardly a word of dialogue. Spoken words aren’t needed. The story is evocatively told through the songs and dances. Every note and every step is perfection.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> The 90-minute show, produced by The York Theatre Company, was conceived by Schulman, Michael Lichtefeld and Lawrence Yurman and developed with the songwriter’s son, Hoagy Bix Carmichael, who was sitting in front of me the night I went. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> The seven-member cast is the most talented you could find anywhere. Together and individually they take us on a journey through four decades in America — the early years of ragtime, jazz and the blues, the romance of New York in the 30s, the years of uncertainty during World War II and the post-war Golden Age of Hollywood. Lichtefeld’s choreography reflects each period and those actors really own that stage when they dance, just as they do when they sing.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Alex Allison’s costumes are on the mark, and downright exquisite for the women’s gowns. Nothing on Broadway could beat them, or anything else about this show. The York Theatre has outdone itself with this one.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Yurman provides music supervision and arrangements for the wonderful six-man onstage orchestra. You will be transported back to a time when the music was revered and not amplified to the point of distortion. James Morgan and Vincent Gunn have created a set consisting of small round tables, chairs and a bar that transform easily from a neighborhood hangout, to a military canteen and finally a lavish Hollywood nightclub thanks to Jason Kantrowitz’s lighting and a few simple touches. The scenes change without your even noticing but then, there you are, in a whole new atmosphere and setting. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> I was wowed by the Fred and Ginger-style ballroom dancing and the full cast numbers, but also touched by simpler scenes, such as the one in the USO Canteen where three lonely servicemen sing of home. Markcus Blair longs for “Memphis in June.” For Cory Lingner, it’s “Can’t Get Indiana Off My Mind” and Dion Simmons Grier gives us a soulful “Georgia on My Mind.” </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> A nice contrast is a scene in the Club Heart and Soul in Hollywood. Danielle Herbert is the height of sophistication in a red gown and glittery jewels as she sings “How Little We Know.” It could have been a scene in a big studio movie of the era. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> In that same setting Mike Schwitter gives us a moving “I Get Along Without Very Well” and Sara Esty brings to life the ever-popular “Skylark,” as does Kayla Jenerson for “Stardust.” </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> All together close to 50 songs are sung and danced. And if you love tap, which I do, Lingner (in photo) is a marvel. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> The show runs through the matinee on Dec. 31. It might be the best way to spend New Year’s Eve in all of New York. It gets my vote.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">To read other blog postings, visit http://uponthesacredstage.blogspot.com
Copyright 2009 Retta Blaney</div>Retta Blaney, M.A., M.F.A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03443702961423764438noreply@blogger.com0