January, 2014
Manon, Sandra and the Virgin Mary
At Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto, Ont.
By Michel Tremblay
Directed by John Van Burek
Richard McMillan played Sandra as a sashaying, coy, seductive, bitter transvestite. As the audience filled in, McMillan, as Sandra, strolled on stage wearing a floor-length satin dressing gown. He sat down at a table facing us and stared. His middle finger made small circles on the surface of the table. He pouted at the audience. He was toying with us. The performance revealed a deep-rooted vindictiveness and sadness.
Irene Poole played Manon, a repressed, religious woman, stuck in her own disappointment. She wore a severe black suit with a long skirt. When she sat her knees were tight together and were covered by the skirt. Poole still pulled the skirt tighter down her already covered legs.
Slowly, almost without us noticing, the huge backdrop of the Virgin Mary ever so slowly came into view. Kudos to the lighting of Itai Erdal.
Light Princess
National Theatre, London, England.
Music and Lyrics by Tori Amos
Book and Lyrics by Samuel Adamson
Suggested by a story by George MacDonald.
Directed by Marianne Elliott
Designed by Rae Smith
Lighting by Paule Constable
Choreography by Steven Hoggett
Starring Rosalie Craig
Not exactly a shining moment for Tori Amos in her musical theatre debut, or for Samuel Adamson who keeps just missing in his playwriting. About a princess who is cursed to defy gravity and never really alight on the ground.
The always imaginative Steven Hoggett devised choreography-movement that had the princess floating in air, and ‘bounced’ and flipped by a group of black-clad men who were therefore to be considered invisible. A technicolor set and striking lighting from director Marianne Elliott’s stalwart team: Rae Smith on sets and Paule (pronounced Paulee) Constable on lighting.
Henry V
At the Noël Coward Theatre, London, England
Written by William Shakespeare (of course!)
Directed by Michael Grandage (part of his season of plays with British star actors)
Designed by Christopher Oram
Lighting by Neil Austin
Composed and sound by Adam Cork
Starring Jude Law
An unevenly acted production with Jude Law playing Henry V— the draw for this production. Mr. Law is determined to be taken seriously as an all-round commanding actor (both in film and on the stage). He didn’t blow me away but I admire his tenacity and his not being afraid to disappear into his characters and be unrecognizable.
As the all-important Chorus (who calls “O for a muse of fire….” and sets the stage and tells us what is going to be ‘crammed within this wooden O’), Ashley Zhangazha left a lot to be desired, starting with contained passion and comprehension of the text. He needed a director to help him and Michael Grandage was not that person. Zhangazha was so busy flinging his arms around and seemed so delighted to be onstage that comprehension of what he was saying was flung away.
The back wall was curved like Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, which is where the play was first done. But when Zhangazha came to the line “Crammed within this wooden O,” instead of flinging his arms wide to indicate the curved walls, he flung his hands down in front of him, indicating the floor. Mystifying.
Stephen Ward
At the Aldwych Theatre, London, England
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Book and Lyrics by Christopher Hampton and Don Black
Designed by Rob Howell
Lighting by Peter Mumford
Sound by Paul Groothuis
Choreography by Stephen Mear
Directed by Richard Eyre
Starring Alexander Hanson
Dr. Stephen Ward, osteopath, arranged women for his male friends in high places. He introduced John Profumo — in the British cabinet — to Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies. There was a scandal. Political crisis. Stephen Ward was sacrificed. Andrew Lloyd Webber thought this would make a swell musical.
Alexander Hanson was a suave, smooth Stephen Ward. He smoked with style. He put the slow moves on women. He sang beautifully. You wanted to take a shower after spending time with the character.
Lloyd Webber repeated and repeated melody lines and songs he wanted to be the hit tunes. With all that repetition naturally the melodies stuck. The first scene took place in The Chamber of Horrors in Blackpool. A semi-circle of wax figures — a who’s who of the monsters of the 20th century were there — Hitler, Stalin, the Acid-bath murderer and Stephen Ward. Ward came out of the line of wax figures and sang that he was there on display between Hitler and the Acid-bath murderer. Only he wasn’t. He was between Hitler and Stalin. The Acid-bath murderer was waaaaay over there at the other end of the line. I knew we were in trouble then. The show closed in four months.
Mojo
At the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, England.
Written by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Ian Rickson
Designed by Ultz
Lighting by Charles Balfour
Music by Stephen Warbeck
Sound by Simon Baker
Starring: Brendan Coyle
Rupert Grint
Tom Rhys Harries
Daniel Mays
Colin Morgan Ben Wishaw
Silver Johnny was a rock star on the club circuit in London. People went wild when he appeared. Everybody wanted to represent him. A kind of bidding war happened. Things got ugly. A guy who managed him was found in two barrels.
In setting up the scene when Johnny goes on stage, Tom Rhys Harris swiveled his hips to get in the groove; put his hands down his pants to ‘fluff’ himself up; then flung himself over a railing to jump on the stage below. Talk about a dramatic entrance. No stairs for this guy.
Brendan Coyle (a long way away from Mr. Bates on “Downton Abbey”) played the brains of one of the groups. Ben Wishaw, who usually plays slight, sensitive men, was unrecognizable as one of the toughs. A fabulous production.
Ghosts
At the Trafalgar Studios, London England
Written by Henrik Ibsen
Directed and adapted by Richard Eyre
Designed by Tim Hatley
Lighting by Peter Mumford
Sound by John Leonard.
Starring: Adam Kotz
Jack Lowden
Brian McCardie
Charlene McKenna
Lesley Manville
As Mrs. Alving, Lesley Manville was glorious. She can assume a look of sadness, despair, joy with a tinge of ‘something’ and yet never give it away. You didn’t see the last scene in her first entrance.
The design/set/lighting etc. were the other stars. Dark, forbidding walls then became slowly transparent with light as a glass wall appeared where we thought there was wood. I love the ache of the play; the trapped, gasping characters. The sins of the father heaped down on his innocent son. That Ibsen knew his way around a woman’s heart and mind.
Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense
At the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, England
Written by The Goodale Brothers
From the works of P.G. Wodehouse.
Directed by Sean Foley
Designed by Alice Power
Lighting by James Farncombe
Music and sound by Ben and Max Ringham
Starring Matthew Macfadyen
Stephen Mangan
The story is impenetrable, complicated, and hilarious. Bertie Wooster, that upper-class twit, was played by the lively, toothsome Stephen Mangan. The always calm, efficient, wily Jeeves was played by a totally contained Matthew Macfadyen. With a purse of his lips, a raise of his eyebrows, and a slow pan to the audience, Macfadyen spoke volumes but said nothing. These two actors played all the characters, both men and women, sometimes at the same time. At one point the set was changed when a hook attached to a wall of the set was then attached to a stationary bicycle and one of them peddled like mad, and the set then revolved to reveal another location. Great silliness.
Emil and the Detectives
At the National Theatre, London, England
Written by Erich Kästner
Adapted by Carl Miller
Directed by Bijan Sheibani
Designed by Bunny Christie
Lighting by Lucy Carter
Movement by Aline David
Music by Paul Englishby
Sound by Ian Dickinson
Starring a cast of thousands it seems, and one of three Emils (I think I had Daniel Patten)
Emil was going to his relatives by train. His mother gave him some food for the journey and money for his relatives. A scumbag thug on the train stole the kid’s money. When Emil arrived at his destination the word went out to all the kids in the town about the theft an the need to get it back. The kids rallied. The scumbag was caught. The whole thing looked like a film noir setting. Loved it.
This is the show I was seeing when, at intermission, Andrew told his girlfriend Emily (sitting next to me) that they would honeymoon in Venice but would live in Pasadena. Emily seemed agreeable. Then Andrew announced he wanted to get married when he was 24. That gave them 15 years to plan it all, Andrew pointed out, because he is currently nine.
Happy Days
At the Young Vic
Written by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Natalie Abrahami
Designed by Vicki Mortimer
Lighting by Paule Constable
Sound by Tom Gibbons
Movement by Joseph Alfond
Starring: David Beames
Juliet Stevenson
I saw the second or third preview. Not fair to comment. Never mind. This was one of the best productions of this hard play I have ever seen. Vickie Mortimer designed a mound of earth at the bottom of a craggy cliff. Every time the bell rang with its teeth-gritting sound, pebbles would trickle down the cliff. This takes away any mystery as to how Winnie got buried up to her waist. Even in repose, bent down over the mound, Juliet Stevenson as Winnie, looked like it was an unrestful sleep. The jollity was forced. The tenacity of Winnie was heartbreaking and impressive.
In Act II Winnie should be up to her neck in dirt. Here she wasn’t. She was up to her chin—much worse. When Winnie screamed twice in Act II, to release tension, get rid of angst, the stones trickled more and faster. That made me heartsick. To be stuck, trapped, desperate to release a desperation by screaming, and the scream loosens pebbles that are slowly burying you. God! As Willie, Winnie’s consort, David Beames is masterful — present but absent, trying to help and failing. The director is Natalie Abrahami. Brilliant.