Review: "The Pound, A Musical For The Dogs", Gahanna High School Theatre,

Gahanna High School’s Performance Studio 2017 students put together a sweet, delightful, simple musical  “The Pound, A Musical For The Dogs” as their annual dinner theatre fundraiser.  This is a cute story about, Laura, who begins a new job at a municipal dog shelter and quickly discovers she has a gift for being able to communicate with the dogs. As she gets to know them, Laura discovers that the dogs each have a sad story about how they ended up at the shelter. The show was a simple staging with the students singing, and dancing to piano accompaniment from music director and Gahanna High School alum Michael O’Dell simple, attractive choreography and effectively delivering the lines. “The Pound is a relatively new work from the Minnesota creative tea, of Phil Darg and Julie Ana Rayne.  I would highly recommend it for other high school or community theatre groups looking for a simple musical with wide audience appeal. Their Imagine Theater web site describes this as suitable for all ages.  I would suggest that some parental discretion might be advised as the piece contains stories of dogs and their owners dying.  Those scenes had me and my husband as well as several other audience members, blinking back tears. But the ending is hopeful and uplifting.   Well done, Cindi Macioce and students. Thank you for this pleasant evening of theater. 

    Imagine Theatre, Minnesota, link: http://www.imaginedtheatre.org/ThePound/about.htm.

       

Review: "Top Girls", Otterbein University Department of Theatre and Dance

Caryl Churchill’s 1982 “Top Girls” is described as an exploration of what it means to be a successful woman.  It was written and originally produced in London about the same time that Margaret Thatcher became the first female British prime minister.  The play’s focus is on the idea of women breaking glass ceilings.  The piece is best known for the opening scene where a modern-day Marlene (Daria Redus) is celebrating her recent promotion at the “Top Girls” employment agency by hosting a dinner party for strong women of history including 19^th Century Explorer, Writer, photographer, Isabella Bird (Kara Jobe); Dull Gret, (Isabel Billinghurst), a celebrated figure from Flemish folklore who was famous for leading an army of women to plunder and pillage Hell; Pope Joan (Kaylee Barrett) who, disguised as a man, was said to have been Pope between 854 and 856; Lady Nijo (Sally Clark), mistress of a Japanese emperor, and later a Budhist nun; and Griselda (Lauren Dimario) "The Patient Wife," a literary figure from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. 
    It is difficult to follow the dialog in this opening scene, because all of the women are talking over each other in their constant diva competition to be the center of attention.  Though I am certain that is how the author intended for the scene to be played, I found this extremely annoying. 

    We left at intermission, as did many others.  The subject matter didn’t offer a lot of encouragement for people like me to want to stay. Several people left after the first scene, though they had to crawl over folks in the dark in order to escape. I am sure the medical emergency with an audience member which caused a hold in the action just prior to the intermission, was also a contributing factor to the massive audience exit. (By the way, the house staff and the stage manager handled this emergency in an efficient, compassionate and professional manner.) 

    Director Lenny Leibowitz does a great job in helping his creative team fulfill the playwright’s intentions.  The actors are especially to be commended for their courage, skill and commitment to these difficult characters.  Rob Johnson’s set design provides a nice outline for the various scenes, while furniture and props fill in the details. Julia Ferreri’s costuming is good – especially in the first scene.  Assistant Director Emily Bubeck’s program notes help us understand the background of the dinner guests.  Leibowitz’s program notes help prepare us for the non-linear nature of the action and the sequence of scenes.

    I realize that Otterbein needs to do shows like this because of the many strong female acting students that are among its ranks.  This piece has the classical flavor that the students should be exposed to as part of their training.

   Though the show has outstanding production values, “you are only as good as your material,” as my dear friend, Otterbein Theatre Department Chair Chris Kirk, is often wont to say.  The script is difficult for the audience to follow even with all the helpful program notes.  During the drive home, my husband summed up my feelings nicely:  "After over 25 years, many of us are tired of being beaten over the head with this kind of defensive, angry, in-your-face, feminist activism."  
   I am equally certain that those who are dedicated to the continuing causes and concerns of the feminist "sisterhood" will find this production uplifting, affirming and inspirational.  

Review: "The Taming Of The Shrew", Columbus Civic Theater

  There are several scholarly conjectures concerning the inspiration for William Shakespeare’s comedy “The Taming Of The Shrew”.  None of them seem to agree.  In contemporary Western Cultural discussions, much ado is made about the misogynist themes. I have my own interpretation.

   The story centers on the relationship between Pretruchio (Amanda Phillips) and Katherine (Jordan Davis). Katherine or Kate, as Pretruchio nicknames her, is the strong-willed, temperamental oldest daughter or Baptista (Tony Ludovico).  Her nasty disposition is known throughout the land.  Thus, there are no suitors for her hand.  Baptista’s younger daughter, Bianca (Madison Garvin Lee), by contrast is mild-mannered and sweet natured.  She has many suitors including the elderly Gremio (Nick Samson), Hortensio (Scott Raymond Clay) and Lucentio (David Lawler). Baptista is adamant that he will not allow Bianca to wed until a suitable match can be made for Katherine. 

    The bold, brash Pretruchio barters with Baptista for a rich dowry, wagering that he can woo and win Katherine. Pretruchio employs a myriad of attitudes and techniques to “tame” Kate, including crooning flattery and solicitousnees, behaving like a mad man,  depriving her of the kind of clothes, food, entertainment and relationships she would prefer. I don’t see Petruchio’s attitude and behavior toward Katherine as misogynist.  Rather I think Shakespeare has provided a brilliant recipe for how to deal with bratty behavior in anybody. Petruchio croons and cajoles, employs humor and a bit of Machiavellian cunning, suggesting that the food and clothing that Kate craves are not good enough for her.  I note that Petruchio never does anything to Kate that would "harm" her.  Rather he wears down her pride and her brattiness with his “tricks”. Thus Petruchio succeeds where his colleagues fail.  In the end a kindly, good-natured Kate gives a long speech about the duty a wife owes to her husband, while Bianca and the widow, (Kris Wilson) who weds Hortensio, are disrespectful to their husbands and take them for granted.

    All the actors in the current Columbus Civic production deliver Shakespeare’s prose with accuracy and authority. Phillips and Davis are especially impressive in their stage antics.  However, I don’t find their relationship credible.  The gender-bending of Pretruchio doesn’t bother me.  Phillips delivers the role of Petruchio nicely.  But because Davis is so much taller than Phillips, I just didn’t believe that Phillips could exercise that kind of dominance. 

   The show is well-paced.  Director Richard Albert has made some excellent choices in cutting the script to make it better fit a two-hour time-frame and the small Columbus Civic stage   Though, there is no set or furnishing to speak of, the walls and doorways are attractive and well-placed. There are some blocking problems in placing that many characters on that tiny stage. In the end, all the characters are standing in static lines and unattractive clumps

    The costumes from Dayton Willison are a mish-mash of things.   

   The excellent line delivery, characterizations and commitments to character make the show worth seeing.

Review: The Lion In Winter, SRO

    SRO’s current production of “The Lion In Winter” features an extremely skilled and capable cast, which delivers Playwright James Goldman’s witty, often acerbic lines with marksmanship precision, excellent timing and commitment to characters. 

    The story focuses on a day in the life of Henry II of England and his troubled family as they squabble about the usual family things like sibling rivalry and whom mommy or daddy likes best.  In addition to the stereotypical family dysfunction these folks also deal with great national issues about who has, or can gain power and influence in controlling the great British Kingdom.  

    It is Christmas at Castle Chinon. Henry, II (Aaron Sinclair) has released his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Joyce Leahy) from her imprisonment and brought her to Chinon for the annual family Christmas gathering with eldest son, Richard the Lionhearted (Justin King), middle son, Geoffrey (Jordan Shear), youngest son John (Tom Murdock) and guests Princess Alais (Grace Rinehart) and King Phillip of France (Samuel Bowen Partridge). 

    Sinclair is bold, confident and strong in his portrayal of Henry, though at times, his fierce anger and anguish crescendo and he doesn’t leave enough room for his passion to grow.  Thus, he sometimes ends up screeching.

  King experiences similar challenges in his portrayal of Richard.

   Leahy, by contrast, is consistently measured and nuanced in her delivery.  She has flashes of fervor, but it quickly subsides as she moves back to cold and calculating, as befits Eleanor’s personality. 

   Murdock shouts and whines, but his tone and attitude never seem inconsistent with John’s personality.

   Shear’s performance is aptly subtle and calculating as is Partridge’s.  I especially liked Partridge’s gestures and body language.

   Rinehart seems tentative at times, but that’s partially who Alais, is – a great pawn in the midst of all this family scheming.

        Under the excellent direction of Kristofer Green, all cast members exhibit good stage presence and successfully capture most of the savory moments provided by Goldman’s gold mine of great quotes.

    The set consists of a platform placed in the middle of the Shedd Theatre stage with minimal furnishings and props.  Some of the boards in the platform are uneven, causing cast members to trip a bit as they move back and forth and circle each other in this elaborate chess match.

    Elegant costumes from Dayton Willison seem appropriate to the period and help fill the otherwise drab space with color.

   The music and sound effects that Green has chosen are appropriately dark and haunting.

    The audience is seated on two sides of the platform. In this kind of arrangement, some part of the audience bank is often going to be blocked from seeing actors' expressions and some of the action, though the actors and the director do their best to minimize these problems.  This kind of setting also puts the action up close and personal, which can be intimidating in a piece that is this intense, resulting in less responsiveness from the audience.   

     Rosemary Harris, who played Eleanor, in the original 1966 Broadway production, won a Tony award for her performance.  “The Lion In Winter” has since received many Broadway revivals and off Broadway performances.  It was adapted into a popular 1968 movie, featuring Peter O’Toole as Henry, Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor and Anthony Hopkins as Richard. 

    It is a difficult play for amateur and community groups, because of the challenging nature of the roles and the material.  Though the piece is well paced, it is still two and a half hours with the intermission.  The first act seems especially long.

   SRO’s current production is a worthy and successful rendering of this great classic work.

   Performances continue through February 5^th.

Women's Protest

   On my Facebook blog, I challenged the whole idea of the January 21st women's protest marches against Donald Trump's Presidency. 
     It makes no sense to me that all these people claim to dislike/ disapprove of Donald Trump because he disrespects and mistreats women,  yet they ignore Hillary Clinton's defense of her phony, philandering, sex-addicted, rapist husband and her attempts to destroy the lives and reputations of his victims. For that reason alone, the women's protest has no credibility as far as I am concerned.
   They were all cheering and chanting with Madonna when she said she wanted to blow up the White House and with Ashley Judd in her "nasty woman" recitation, which was crude, tasteless, and moronic.  
  I have no patience or tolerance for this kind of bratty behavior.
     I try to be sensitive and understanding toward people who are sad,  in mourning and still getting over the shock of Trump's Presidency and the absence of the much beloved Obama family from our national scene.  I do feel sorry for my liberal friends. Not only did their candidates and causes lose, but they were also betrayed by their favorite information sources that kept assuring them that Hillary would win. 
   But why should we believe or trust these women who try to tell us that they were protesting because they "choose love" when they were carrying signs with vulgar, mean-spirited messages, and  cheering for anger and hatred? 
   A couple people told me that they didn't like what Judd or Madonna were saying.  
   Then why take part or express approval and support in the first place?  Did you not check the list of organizers and speakers?  Anybody with half an ounce of common sense should realize these people and others like them would deliver foul-mouthed, hate-filled commentary. 
    When Judd, Madonna and others were saying mean-spirited, hate-filled, stupid things at the rally, did you or the people around you who were there to "spread love" at least have the good sense to "boo" and chant something to try and shut people up when they were spouting anger and hatred? Did you challenge any of the signs that bore hate-filled, nasty messages? Did it occur to you that you could leave the rally when speakers started saying hateful, vulgar things?  
   If you are such peace-loving, moral, upright people who dislike Trump because of his objectification of women, why participate in a rally led by somebody like Madonna who is a role model for immorality and has repeatedly put herself and her body out there to be "objectified"?  
   All you all who say you participated or supported this rally in the name of love and concern for women's rights are a bunch of  hypocrites!  And look at the mess you left!  
   I believe that the main reason people took part in or supported this protest was because they are angry that their causes and concerns did not triumph in the 2016 election.  This protest rally was an opportunity to exercise their anger and frustration in the company of other angry, frustrated liberals. It had little or nothing to do with righteousness or legitimate concerns for freedom, dignity and love. 
   As far as I am concerned this was a massive, childish temper tantrum, bordering on anarchy. That kind of attitude and behavior is part of what led to Donald Trump's election in the first place.
   If people want to continue their tantrums, protests and spreading of liberal propaganda, talking points, lies and half-truths, let them. That's their privilege.  Everybody is entitled to their opinion.  America is still a free country and probably will remain so, unless/until the liberals take control and turn everything over to political correctness and Islamists who want to impose Sharia Law on the whole world. (By the way, one of the primary organizers of this event is a Muslim woman who is said to champion Sharia Law.)  It would be interesting to watch what happened to all these angry, liberal women if they had to live under the dictates of Sharia Law, where displaying any part of the female skin other than the eyes, is a crime, and women can be censured or executed for any male whim.
   As these liberals continue to exercise their anger and mindless, brain-washed, militant adherence to liberal causes and concerns,  they help insure that Republicans and conservatives will easily claim more elections and more control at all levels.   
   Donald Trump may be ten different kinds of a sinner, but he seems to be sincere in his desire to restore America to its founding principles and values -- faith in God; smaller, less-intrusive government; patriotism; self-reliance; support of individual excellence and achievement; a better economy and an education system that actually teaches students how to think and reason for themselves, instead of brainwashing them with political correctness and liberal ideology.  So far, Trump is living up to the promises he made.  Few other Presidents that I have known in my lifetime -- Democrat or Republican -- have lived up to their campaign promises.
   Count me among the 30 million women who protested by voting for Trump and would probably vote for him again.