“A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER” IS TO DIE FOR …FOR SOME

North Coast Repertory Theatre is currently mounting “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”, with book by Robert L. Freedman, music by Steven Lutvak and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak. It’s  killer fun,  not to be missed. 

Based on the 1907 novel “Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal” by Roy Horniman that was later a movie, “Kind Heart and Coronets” starring Alec Guinness in 1949, it warns you that the show you are about to see is a tale of revenge and retribution and that blood may spill and spines may chill. 

You may think this is an updated version of “Sweeney Todd”, but you would be dead wrong. (“A Warning to the Audience”) 

Shinah Hey, Michael Cavinder, Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper, Jean Kauffman, and Andrew Hey

In fact, as deadly and bloody as is ‘Sweeney Todd’, “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” is just the opposite. “Guide” is as delicious as is a savory chocolate. But don’t be misled; this musical is not about our taste buds, it’s ‘murder by the numbers’ sans the blood and gore.

Katy Tang and Lauren Weinberg

The story is told in the beginning, in the first person from a prison cell, Monty( Andrew Polec) is writing his ‘true memoirs’ (“A Gentleman’s Guide…To Murder”). You guessed it, it was finally learned that he done it. He asks the prison barber whether or not the jury will find him guilty. The prison barber assures him that the ladies will definitely agree that he is innocent. It is the night before he is to be sentenced.  

Then with a blast of thunder and lightning, the tale begins to unfold as Monty steps back to relive his tale.

Andrew Polec and Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper

When Monty Navarro, our doe in the headlights murderer, learns that his beloved and now deceased mother was born a D’Ysquith but was disowned from the family fortune because of her marriage to Monty’s father, a Castilian, he sets a plan in motion to work himself right up there in line to the family castle (Highhurst) and his rightful fortune, er place, among them. (“You’re a D’Ysquith”. “You’re the son of the daughter of the grandson of the nephew of the 2nd Earl of Highhurst!”). 

You might ask, “What is a D’Ysquith?”(Pronounced DIE-skwith; nice play on words) Well... The D’Ysquith’s are a wealthy and influential English family who turn their collective noses down on anyone less than.  In this particular branch of the D’Ysquith’s there are eight in line waiting to be Earl and that would be the Eighth Earl of Highhurst, played by the  cunning Mongiardo-Cooper) with precision accuracy. 

Monty plans to break that streak by getting back at his long lost family for all their years of neglect.  Elimination is his sport and a well thought out process to that end is the game for Monty as he begins his quest for the Earldom and the D’Ysquith fortune.

Spurning him on with a vengeance is his knowledgeable paramour, Sibella Hallward (stunning Lauren Weinberg). “I Don’t Know What I’d Do Without You”. She  is more interested in marrying a man of means than a man she loves. He is also smitten with miss Phoebe D’Ysquith (Katy Tang) who innocently has eyes for Monty. Both Ms. Weinberg and Tang can knock a tune out of the theatre.

                           Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper and Andrew Polec

And so, begins the fun and carefully crafted practice of purging first one D’Ysquith and then another in a series of casual and rather innocent looking accidents:  one through an ice skating accident, one through a heart attack while lifting weights, one by bee stings, one by poison and the beat goes on. “Why Are All The D’Ysquith’s Dying?” 

Credit the talented set designer Marty Burnett for creating all the scene changes in the set within the set, and different locations and especially the three door slamming contest  between Monty and Phoebe and Monty and Sibella. 

Lauren Weinberg, Andrew Polec and Katy Tang

Freedman and Lutvak’s lyrics are so clever and witty that one can’t help secretly cheer Monty on waiting to see how his ingenious plotting puts him right up there in line for number one Earl. Polec’s Monty is naturally smooth, stylish and personally engaging especially for one with a mind intent on murder and a conscience devoid of any malpractice. (“Poison In My Pocket”) He fits the bill perfectly.

Right up there in the outstanding department is Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper as the entire D’Ysquith Family. And how does that happen, you might ask? He is a master of the dazzling quick costume change all designed and in perfect London upper class period pieces by Elsa Benzoni. And… as coached by dialect coach Vanessa Dinning, speaks well for both the men and the women in the family.

 Director Noelle Marion leaves no stone unturned with a talented ensemble including Michael Cavinder, Andrew Hay, Shinah Hey and Jean Kauffman.  And that’s not to say that only eight actors played all the major roles. 

Katy Tang, Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper, Andrew Polec, Lauren Weinberg

(Back row) Shinah Hay, Michael Cavinder,  Andrew Hay, Jean Kauffman

Musical director Daniel Lincoln and his musicians, Jennifer Williams, Amy Kalat  and Katrina Earl played a critical role in bringing this musical comedy to the audience’s collective feet at the conclusion of the show.

Luke Harvey Jacobs choreographed, Chris Leussman is responsible for the sound, Matthew Novotny, the lighting both coming from off stage make complete this lively tongue in cheek comedy.  Peter Hermann designed the wigs and props are designed by Audrey Casteris. 

From an audience point of view, one almost forgets that we are dealing in murder, but it’s oh so delectable. 

North Coast Rep. deserves a five star review for an undertaking as large as this and doing it so flawlessly. 

And in case you were wondering, this show went to Broadway, after it premiered at the Old Globe, in 2013 and ran for three years, then starring our own UCSD graduate Jeffrey Mays as all the D'Ysquith's 

Now back in San Diego, it’s a must see. 

See you at the theatre.

Enjoy. 

When:  Runs through Aug. 17th. 

7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Where: North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach

Photo: Aaron Rumley

Tickets: $62-$84

Phone: 858-481-1055

Online: northcoastrep.org

 

“NOISES OFF” HAS SEEN ITS DAY

 Michael Frayn’s 1982 “Noises Off’, currently at the Old Globe on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage  through Aug. 10th is billed ‘as the funniest show ever’. 

It’s a farce; it’s loud and can be  side splitting funny at times. To love farce, patience and perseverance are needed to endure the door slamming, which is essential, as is the hysterical, over the top behavior beyond any logical reasoning. 

Farce isn’t about logical reason. It’s about repetition, which makes farce, farcical because by definition farce is about “absurdity, slapstick and exaggeration” of which this show has more than enough.

“Noises Off” is a play within a play that captures a touring theatre troupe’s production of “Nothing On”  in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance, and the performance toward the end of a disastrous run.

The Cast of Noises Off

When we first meet the cast, which is excellent, they are in their final dress rehearsal. If you know anything about the theatre you can tell at a glance that they are clearly not ready for prime time. In fact, they are not quite ready for anything, not even entrances and exits, of which there are OH! so many. 

To be brief if I may: Mrs. Clackett/Dotty (Linda Mugleston) is in charge of Belinda (Bryonha Marie) and Frederick’s (Jefferson Mays) house while they are on holiday; young Brooke (Michelle Veintimilla) is Garry’s (Nehal Joshi) sex toy  girlfriend. Gary is a real estate salesperson who can’t remember his lines. Both find  themselves in Fred and Belinda’s house for a little romp in one of the (ahem) empty bedrooms. 

Abby Leigh Huffstetler (top of Stairs) Orville Mendoza, Jefferson Mays, Linda Mugleston and Beyonha Marie

They think no one is home and will have the house to themselves.  SURPRISE! Belinda and Fred sneak home hoping for some much needed R&R only to find Brooke and Garry running about like banshees. Chaos ensues; the two couples who think they are alone go on a door slamming junket trying to find each other that’s ear splitting.

Poppy (Abby Leigh Huffstetler) is the assistant stage manager who is blamed for just about everything and blurts out that she’s pregnant with Lloyd’s baby. Selsdon (Orville Mendoza), likes to have a nip or two or three between his time on stage and waiting in the wings. Lloyd Dallas (James Waterston) is the director who is trying to hold his motley group together and is carrying on extra affairs with Poppy, Dotty and Brooke while planning for his next directorial job, the staging of “Richard III”. 

Jefferson Mays

Along with  flubbed lines, missed cues, falling trousers, tax evasion, sardines (yes sardines) real and imagined affairs and a director, ready to tear his hair out, a disappearing, deaf as a coot alcoholic and would be thief, lost contact lenses, and an out of control stage manager who thinks the director is in love with her,  hilarious behind the scene peek that is pee in pants funny, it is more slapstick and buffoonery than farce. 

In Act II Todd Rosenthal’s huge set is turned around while we see the mishigas and craziness from a backstage perspective. We can see and hear the actors on stage somewhat but the fun is in watching the antics of the actors backstage as they wait to go on stage. 

Michelle Veintimilla, Nehal Joshi, Linda Mugleston, Bryonha Marie, Jefferson Mays and James Waterston 

Some pretty raunchy and very funny stuff happens while the actors are waiting their turns to go on. Between all the hysterical running to and fro up and down stairs, (just watching Jefferson Mays hopping two flights of stair with his trousers down by his ankles is worth the price of a ticket) in and out of rooms and misunderstood conversations, the play within the play now on stage is headed for disaster. The actors are also on the verge of hating one another. 

Act III takes place a month later and the tour has about run its course. We are now looking at the front of house and watching a performance of “Nothing On”, the same performance we saw during the tech’s, only this time the scene deconstructs and all hell breaks loose while the actors lose it.

They can’t remember their lines. Brooke can’t find her contact (it seems to be just in one eye), Selsdon is drinking more than ever, the actors are at each other’s throats, Lloyd is after assistant stage manager Tim (Matthew Patrick Davis) to get some flowers for Brooke, the scenery starts to fall apart, costumes (Izumi Inaba) are manhandled and the unruly becomes the norm. It’s quite funny and clever to see the deterioration and roll back of the act unfold. Sound design by Connor Wang and stunts by Jacob Grigolia Rosenbaum are to be commended. 

Jefferson Mays, Linda Mugleston and Nehal Joshi

As Stephen Sondheim asks in one of his most popular of tunes (“Send In The Clowns”), “Don’t You Love Farce?” My answer is “Well, sometimes”. In this case, not so much. 

This production under director Gordon Greenberg is certainly  funny. In fact, so funny that at times I was unable to hear all the lines since  the audience was just eating it up. I don’t have a problem with the direction or the acting. My problem is with the play itself. The gags are old, the play is old and has seen its day. At one time it might have been the funniest show ever… but not so much now. 

Enjoy. 

See you at the theatre.

When:  Runs through Aug. 3. 7 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Where: Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego

Tickets: $54-$143

Photo: Rich Soublet II

Phone: 619-234-5623

Online: theoldglobe.org

“A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE” SIMMERS WITH PASSION UNDER THE SURFACE.

 Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company is staging a sizzling production of Tennessee Williams “A Streetcar Named Desire” through July 12th. 

Starring Megan Carmitchel as Stella Kowalsky, Jessica John as her sister Blanche DuBois and Francis Gercke as Stanley Kowalski, Stella's husband, this dynamic trio shouts excellence.

Megan Carmitchel and Jessica john

Under Rob Lutfy’s self -assured direction, Williams’ ‘Desire’, which has not been produced in San Diego since 2008, sheds a different, more sexy, physical and sensual undercurrent on its characters.

Jessica John and Francis Gercke

This is not your 1947 movie that made Marlon Brando a star. No! This is an in your face production, where in the end, you are exhausted; spent and heartbroken to see this wounded image of a woman, hoping to find a place for herself among a dysfunctional family far from the illusionary life and grand plantation, Belle Reve, she once called home. She is also broke and out of work as an English schoolteacher.  

With no place else to go Blanche  is forced to live with her sister and her husband in a rundown section of New Orleans in a two bedroom downstairs apartment (Yi Chien Lee) with little or no privacy.

Francis Gercke and Megan Carmitchel

Blanche is constantly criticizing Stanley’s brawny behavior, calling him bestial and animal like.  She  aggravates him with every move she makes, cascading around like the Southern bell she used to be. Would that she could know the consequences of the nit picking! And little did she understand the deep feelings Stella has for Stanley. 

Markuz Rodriguez, Megan Carmitchel, Layth Haddad, Jessica John

Francis Gercke and MJ Sieber

In her own self -absorption, she missed the clues around her and fell into a trap of her own making. Stanley was not done with her yet.

With a  solid gold cast, BYR has stretched the limits of what a perfect production can be when the entire cast is in harmony with each other and under  Lutfy’s direction one doesn’t just watch the characters in ‘Streetcar’ develop, one feels it from the knot in your stomach to the hair raising follicles in your arms.  

When Gercke’s Stanley tells Blanche to stop calling him a Polack, every vein in his forearms to his neck strains with rage. Blanch looks horrified and  in her own inimitable southern belle way,  excuses herself to the bathroom to take a relaxing bath. 

As talented and gifted as John is, she has sunk her teeth into this roll and never looked back. Her heartbreaking recollection of how her first husband killed himself, to her softness in almost desperation, having her own ‘gentleman caller’, one of Stanley’s poker buddies, Mitch (MJ Sieber), to her falling deeper into the abyss when Stanley rapes her to her submitting peacefully the doctor at the end of the play, it’s difficult to top her performance. 

Jessica John and MJ Sieber

Megan Carmitchel’s Stella is also at the top of her game as she struggles with  Blanche’s love and Stanley’s possessiveness, trying to balance the two, like being on a seesaw. Unlike Blanche, Stella takes Stanley’s abuse only to come back for some heated sex. The passion between them sizzles. 

Gercke never tries to imitate Brando. That would be his undoing. No, Gercke’s Stanley goes deeper than the S T E L L A A call of the wild. Gercke’s Stanley is a planner, always thinking of what harm he can do to Blanche’s psyche. 

Rounding out the cast, the ensemble includes: Markuz Rodriguez, Dianne Yvette, actor/singer Faith Carrion, Layth Haddad, William Huffaker. They play multiple roles 

Megan Carmitchel, Francis Gercke and Jessica John

    

Lighting designer Curtis Mueller brings both light and darkness as needed, costume designed by Hannah Meade and Jessica John Gercke, and dialect instructor Susanne Sulby gets an A+ for John’s southern accent and co sound designers Evan Easton and composer Steven Leffue create an impressive soundscape including that never ending ‘Streetcar Named Desire’.

Just as an FYI. The production runs a bit over three hours with two fifteen minute intermissions. It’s worth it ‘because I can’t imagine anyone else taking on this great of a project. 

Jessica John

Hat’s off to Backyard Renaissance Theatre. 

Enjoy

See you at the theatre.

When: Thursdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays. (Also 7:30 p.m. Wednesday July 2 and 7 p.m. Monday July 7; no performances July 4-5). Through July 12.

Where: Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 Tenth Ave., San Diego

Photo: Daren Scott

Tickets: $20-$50

Phone: 760-975-7189

Online: backyardrenaissance.com

“BIRTHDAY CANDLES” AT NORTH COAST REP. TOUCHES HOME.

 North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach is presenting Noah Haidle’s “Birthday Candles”, a tender little memory play about traditions and growing older gracefully. 

In Director David Ellenstein’s deft hands six actors portray twelve characters as they age before our eyes with not so much as a costume change (Danita Lee). 

The first time we meet Ernestine Ashworth (Margot White) she is celebrating her 17th birthday and her mother, following family tradition, is baking her a birthday cake. 

Over the course of 90 minutes Ernestine will celebrate almost 100 birthday’s, each scene exploring her roles as daughter, wife, (she marries her childhood sweetheart) mother, grandmother, neighbor, great-grandmother, and stranger.

Martin Kildare and Kate Karel

All the characters come and go in a flash as time passes: the children grow older, move away, get married, and have their own children. 

Each year they come with their families, to Ernestine’s house for the celebratory making of the birthday cake all the while, White is baking a golden vanilla birthday cake right in front  of our eyes. 

The children bicker and play. Lackadaisical Billy, (Matthew Grondin) the oldest practices the piano until one day is proficient. They all get older, move on, go to college. Daughter Madeline (Katie Karel) suffers from depression, Ernestine’s husband Matt (Martin Kildare) has an affair right under her nose but neighbor Kenneth (James Newcomb) has always loved her from afar. He gives her the first of many(103) Goldfish for a present.

Margot White and James Newcomb

Time passes, and through it all Ernestine wages forward as many of her loved ones pass away and before we know it she is over 100 and just at the end of her own life. While it is sad that she is ready, she is smart enough know when to make her exit. 

The cleverness of “Birthday Candles” is that no one changes costume, but do change demeanor or slip on a pair of glasses,  or look a little shrunken, perhaps walk a bit slower. The only character who looked dapper to the end was Kenneth, always with a flashy bow tie (Danita Lee).

James Newcomb and Margot White with one of the many goldfish

Thinking about “Birthday Candles” made my heart flutter when Ernestine turned 88; my magic number. Getting older is no easy fete. Every day is a challenge and Ernestine was up to it.

Mary Burnett, as always does wonders on the long stage at NCR. There is an all -white working kitchen, with cupboards filled with spices and all the accouterments needed for baking, a stove that works  and a mix master that blends the ingrediencies throughout as the play gives us snapshots of each passing year. 

Did I mention that at the end of the play the theatre was selling birthday cakes and cupcakes that were all baked by Margot White?

Matthew Novotny designed the lighting and Ian Scot, the sound.  

“Birthday Candles” carries a serious message of looking at the bright side of life, but it’s done in a light hearted way. 

Enjoy!

See you at the theatre.

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7 p.m. and Sunday through July 6th. 

Photo: Aaron Rumley

Where: North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach

Tickets: $57-$79

Phone: 858-481-1055

Online: northcoastrep.org

THE GLOBE’S “THE JANEIAD”: A STUDY IN COMPASSION, GRIEF AND RENEWAL.

 I can remember exactly where I was on Sept. 11th 2021. It’s etched in my brain as it is for almost everyone old enough to remember or has seen the repeats on TV. 

In Anna Ziegler’s new play “The Janeiad”, premiering at the Old Globe through July 13th, Jane is a married woman with two children living in Brooklyn. She sends her husband Gabe off to work on this particular morning, and never sees him again. He never comes home, and nothing of his or him is ever recovered. Gabe worked in The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, when two planes flew into them and obliterated everything and everyone who worked there including 343 members of the New York Fire Dept. and New York Fire Patrol. 

Nadine Malouf and Michaela Watkins

That’s when Jane gets the phone call from Gabe who tells her that he is stuck in his building in the South Tower and sees smoke, but worse, looking out the window….and then the phone goes dead. 

Ten years later, Jane (Michaela Watkins)  is still in a daze; in limbo, living in the same Brownstone she and Gabe had occupied, keeping busy mostly by waiting for Gabe (Ryan Vasquez) to return home. She's living between waiting and sleeping. She sends her children off to school and she puts hr cluttered house in order.  She has fallen asleep in her favorite blue chair (Tim Mackabee) while reading the Odyssey, her book club’s choice. 

Michaela Watkins and Nadine Malouf

Juxtaposed into this picture, Penelope (Nadine Malouf), wife of Odysseus appears and shares with Jane that she too had waited for her husband, who went off to war. She waited for twenty years when he finally showed up; no explanations. She encourages Jane to have patience, and ‘wait’. “I don’t want to wait.” “But you will, and it will need 20 years of patience and trust.” 

Throughout the years of waiting, and wading through life, Jane gets an assortment of visitors and phone calls, from her rabbi, her sister, a family friend,  her distant but bossy mother, her cleaning woman who comes once a week, her Yoga instructor and her inquisitive realtor, among others.

Nadine Malouf Michaela Watkins and Ryan Vasquez

Director Maggie Burrows, who deftly directs “The Janeiad”, has her hands on the pulse of both Jane and Penelope as Penelope circles the Sheryl And Harvey White Theatre (in the round) seamlessly changing characters ( Including those mentioned above) with  a different accent, or slight costume change. Malouf is simply outstanding as she toggles back and forth between being Jane’s best friend to her enabler to lending an understanding ear to be, as she claims, ‘her north star’. For twenty years, Jane has been living between two worlds. 

One day, twenty years later, Jane has a visit from a young man wearing a mask claiming to be from Greenpeace. Could it be? Once again Jane is thrown into a conundrum. On the one hand she knows that Gabe is dead, on the other hand , this young man finally claims to be Gabe. He looks like Gabe once the mask is removed; he remembers some things about his family; he looks at photos and pictures and asks questions; just enough to question his reality.

Michaela Watkins,  Ryan Vasquez and Nadine Malouf (in background)

Does he come back to bring closure? Is he real or is it an apparition of him that she sees? As an audience member, I was almost convinced that he was real. Or maybe I wanted to believe he was real?  In some ways a myth or another’s story of survival can help us move on.

Time moves forward. Dates are announced through NPR news bulletins on a portable radio: September 11 until, September 12., until it’s September 11th again. (Melanie Chen Cole) as Jane relives the moment. Once in a while children’s voices can be heard from off stage but are never seen.

All three actors are nothing less than excellent. If an actor can convince  this reviewer to almost believe that this ‘dead’ character is alive after all, I say more power to them and not just in the mythological sense, but in their own reality. 

David Reynoso designed the costumes, although they were all contemporary and like time, never changed. The only thing that does change especially for Malouf is the sound of her voice; the intonations. 

La Chi Chu designed the lighting oft time throwing us in the dark depicting a quick scene change or character change. 

Grief can come in many colors. After the sudden death of my husband I saw sightings of him wherever I went. Once I thought I saw him on our living room sofa. Once I dreamed that he called me on the phone to give me a phone number of where he could be reached. He told me not to worry, that he would be OK. I asked my “Dream Guru” to interpret my dream and she told me that the phone number had a New York prefix, and that he was OK and not to worry. After that, the dreams and sightings began to fade and I realized, finally, that I would never see him again and had to move forward with my life. 

And so it was with Jane. After a series of conversations with Gabe, the realization that he was dead finally occurred to her and she knew she had to get on with her life and stop living in two worlds or maybe not. She exits the room ready for what’s next:  “and then” she exclaims. 

 

How does one leave the theatre without thinking about a play like this? Ms. Ziegler and I had a brief chat outside the theatre, after the show and I couldn’t help but tell her how much I admired her thinking and how she made me think about the power of compassion, grief (mostly my own) and the healing process. It was haunting! It was healing! It was excellent! 

Enjoy. 

See you at the theatre.

 When:  Runs through July 13. 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Where: Old Globe Theatre’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, Balboa Park

Photo: Rich Soublet II.

Tickets: $38 and up

Phone: 619-234-5623

Online: theoldglobe.org