CAST SHINES IN LAMB’S “THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST”.

From the lips of Lady Bracknell (David McBean): “I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately, in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever.”

Lamb’s Players Theatre, under the skillful direction of Kerry Meads has assembled a prize cast to bring out the best of Oscar Wilde’s comedy/satire of Victorian attitudes, morals, manners and mores. The above quote is but one of his witticisms. More fun than a barrel of monkeys, Wilde’s 1895 wordplay comedy “The Importance of Being Earnest”, hits directly at the absurdity of 19th century upper class ethics. It will be playing through November 10th at Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” is all about deception, pretending and hypocrisy. The fun begins with Ernest (Brian Mackay) who is in fact leading a double life; he’s Jack in the country and Ernest (his brother) in the city. He thinks nothing of hiding this little secret.  And… he’s not the only one. 

His best friend Algernon (Michael Louis Cusimano) has the same affliction. Some know him as Algernon and some as Bunbury. Neither Ernest nor Bunbury exist, but they allow Jack and Algernon to play the field as bad boys in a social climate that frowns on anything less than proper.

Brian Salmon, Deborah Gilmour Smyth, David McBean, Michael Louis Cusimano, Lauren King Thompson, Rachael Van Wormer, Brian Mackey, Geno Carr. 

This type of behavior plays havoc with Ernest’s (Jack) love interest Gwendolen (Rachael Van Wormer), who also happens to be Algernon’s cousin and Lady Bracknell’s daughter. They live in the city. Jack’s ward Cecily (Lauren King Thompson), who lives in the country, is completely in the dark. When we catch up with Ernest, he has returned to the city to see Gwendolen whom he knows will be visiting Algernon. Here he proposes marriage and she accepts.

Lauren King Thompson, Rachael Van Wormer, David McBean

Lady Bracknell has other ideas for Gwendolen, especially when Ernest/Jack tells her of his birthright: He doesn’t know of his true parents or his pedigree. As the story goes he was discovered by the late Mr. Thomas Cardew in the cloakroom in a handbag on a bench at Victoria Station. (“To lose one parent, Mr. Worthington, may be regarded a misfortune; to lose both is carelessness.”)

Lady Bracknell snubs her nose at Jack and dismisses his claim to her daughter until… well you have to follow the dots on this unfolding saga. It’s almost too good to be true, but it’s Wilde’s, Wild Toad Ride and fun to watch unfold. 

Lauren King Thompson and Michael Louis Cusimano

Under Kerri Meads deft direction, Wilde’s comedy of manners sails along at a clip so amusingly fast that it’s almost impossible to keep up with all the delectable little tidbits taking place on stage. Each and every player carries off their respective personalities with the bliss they exude when they speak, to the looks they give each other when making a point. 

The casting is also Oh So brilliant. At the center of this farce is Michael Louis Cusimano’s absolutely wonderful, and if I might add a handsome, Algernon who is amoral, selfish, and brilliant dressed to the nines in Jeanne Reith’s gorgeous period costumes. If anyone can stir up the dust he has a way to do it. Equally fitting is his counterpart Ernest (Brian Mackey) who started this whole saga when Algernon found his cigarette case with an engraving on it from a Cecily. 

Brian Salmon, Deborah Gilmour Smyth and Brian Mackey 

Not to be undone by anyone, David McBean’s Lady Bracknell is delicious. McBean is a natural for roles like this and he is never the shrinking violet. Every move is calculated, executed and delivered with commanding hypocrisy. 

Rachael Van Wormer’s Gwendolen, who is obsessed with the name Ernest, is sophisticated, worldly and pompous. She gives a commanding performance taking control of her surroundings. Lauren King Thompson’s Cecily is also fixated on the name Ernest. She has a vivid imagination  and is delightfully charming with those around herself.

Rachael Van Wormer and Lauren King Thompson

Deborah Gilmour Smyth is positively quirky as Miss Prism, Cecily’s teacher and governess. She has answers to the Victoria Station puzzle. She is  also smitten with, hasn’t  got a clue Rev. Chasuble, D.D. (Brian Salmon), Rector of Jack’s estate. Rounding out the cast, John Rosen is Lane, Algernon’s valet in the city. Gino Carr is  Merriman the butler at Jack’s estate in the country. 

As mentioned before Reith’s costumes are exquisite, tailored and fitting for each class. Sean Fanning’s set design is modest but well suited for both  in the city and in the country with a few little placements on the stage and a change of furniture dressing and two walls of roses on either side of the stage. Nathan Pierson’s lighting, Ben Read and Patrick Duffy’s sound design and Vanessa Dinning's dialect coaching round out the super design team.

Brian Mackey, Michael Louis Cusimano, Lauren King Thompson

If you are looking for a fun afternoon or evening, I give this a two thumbs up!

Enjoy.

See you at the theatre.

When:  Opens Sept. 21 and runs through Nov. 10. 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. on Sundays. 

Where: Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Ave., Coronado

Photo: Nate Pierson and Ken Jacques

Tickets: $38-$82

Phone: (619) 437-6000

Online: lambsplayers.org

NORTH COAST REP STAGES A POWERFUL “A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE” WITH RICHARD BAIRD AT ITS CENTER.

 

Run! Don’t walk to North Coast Repertory Theatre’s opening of its 43d season with Arthur Miller’s first-rate, seldom-produced drama “A View From The Bridge”. (It was produced one other time here in San Diego by the then George Flint’s Renaissance Theatre Company in 2003.) 

At its center is Richard Baird, who has been in 35 productions at NCR.

Deservedly so, his is a performance one will soon not forget.

Richard Baird

Set in the ‘50’s in the Italian, waterfront district of Brooklyn,  everything looks picture perfect in Eddie (Baird) and Beatrice’s (Margo White) flat. Their adopted nineteen year old niece, Catherine (Zolezzi) has found a job. Much to his chagrin, Eddie wants her to continue school and argues. They convince Eddie to let her work as a stenographer down by the docks, since she has been taking, and he’s been paying for, classes for her schooling.

Lowell Byers and Coby Rogers

They are awaiting the arrival of Beatrice’s relatives who are coming to the ‘new world’ (illegally) to make a better life and eventually send for Marco’s (Lowell Byers) wife and family.  

It’s funny though how fast things can go dreadfully wrong in just a nanosecond. Eddie, a loyal family member, hard -working man, generous to a fault and overall good guy in the neighborhood, is conflicted with his feelings for his niece.

Marie Zolezzi and Margot White

It’s somewhat obvious at first but builds to a crescendo after the young stowaways, Marco and Rodolpho, arrive at Eddie’s house and a romance starts to bud between Catherine and Rodolpho (Coby Rogers) and Eddie goes through the roof.   

As in all Greek tragedies, Alfieri (Frank Corrado) neighborhood lawyer and family friend, breaks through the fourth wall and fills in the blanks of the demise… the tragedy of the Carbone family. As much as he would like to change the outcome, he is powerless to do so.

Frank Corrado

With commanding performances by the entire cast, the play unravels while the audience watches in horror as the family disintegrates before its eyes. Such powerful performances cannot be ignored by San Diego audiences. This one take the prize. 

Alongside Baird is Margo White his long suffering wife Beatrice who also gives a commanding, yet agonizing performance as she watches her husband yearn for Catherine while ignoring her. (“You want somethin' else, Eddie, and you can never have her!”) 

Coby Rogers, Richard Baird, Marie Zolezzi

Marie Zolezzi is perfect as the girl/woman who doesn’t see the trees through the forest as she cuddles up to Eddie while secretly having sex  with Rodolpho. Coby Rogers is playful as Rodolpho. Lowell Byers is convincing as Marco, who sends money back to his family, and Frank Corrados straight talk is painful, but much needed. Matthew Salazar-Thompson and Steve Froelich round out the cast playing multiple roles. 

Marie Zolezzi, Margot White, Richard Baird, Lowell Byers, Coby Rogers

Deftly directed by Artistic  Director David Ellenstein, the audience is taken on a tragic journey as we watch Eddie lose control of his place in his own neighborhood and home and fall deeper into darkness as he conjures up reasons for Catherine not to be with Rodolpho including convincing himself that Rodolpho is a homosexual (“The guy ain't right ... He's a blond guy. Like ... platinum. You know what I mean?”) and trying to convince Alfieri of the same.

Cast 

Marty Burnett’s set is up to its usual high standards with an average looking apartment and some rough edges representing the docks and bridge. Matthew Novotny designed the lighting, Elsa Benzoni designed the period costumes and Ian Scott, sound. 

William’s play, first produced in 1955 as a one act, flopped. But a year later it was mounted as a two act and off it went.  It  looked like a page lifted out of todays newspapers where illegals are blamed for everything and arrested and sent back to their native countries; where everyone was paranoid and looking over their shoulders. 

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat.”  

George Santayana.

See you at the theatre.

When:  Runs through Oct. 13th. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. and Sundays

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

Solana Beach

Photo: Aaron Rumley

Tickets: $52-$74

Phone: (858) 481-1055

Online: northcoastrep.org

CYGNET’S “ROCKY HORROR SHOW”

 Cygnet Theatre Company in Old Town is staging Richard O’Brien’s “Rocky Horror Show” through  Nov. 2nd.  Sean Murray, once the lead as Frank ‘N’ Furter, is now directing. 

“The Rocky Horror Show” began as a rerun of an old sci-fi movie “It all started out as an affectionate homage to late night movies and ended up being an affectionately-embraced late-night movie”. Thus, Richard O’Brien’s 1970 rock ‘n roll musical began its journey into what it has become; ‘the saga of a successful stage musical turned late-night cult classic’. Folks of all generations that can remember the 70’s, embrace it like it happened yesterday. 

There is a story, somewhat, and therein lies the problem for yours truly. But more on that later.

Audrey Deubig and Drew Bradford

Once upon a time on a rain-drenched night almost newlyweds Brad (Drew Bradford) and Janet (Audrey Deubig) venture out to find help after they get a flat tire on their way to their honeymoon destination. All they want is the use of a phone. HUH? 

As luck would have it, they ‘happen’ to see lights (in this otherwise dark and deserted place) coming from a mansion on the side of the road. Carefully, they approach the house. (“Damn it, Janet).

Sucked into the mansion/castle before they have a chance to change their minds, Brad and Janet encounter an odd assortment of sex crazed transvestite aliens who cow tow to the directions of a handsome young head of the household Frank ‘N’ Furter (Nathan Madden) .

Drew Bradford, Audrey Deubig, Josh Bradford, Nathan Madden

Frank ‘N’ Furter is an alien from the planet Transsexual Transylvania. He vacillates between his feminine and masculine side. Both prove provocatively sexy especially to his groupies. He’s tall and lanky and much to my surprise, looks great in his fishnet stockings, corset and bustier and very high platform heels. And Oh! Those long legs! But I digress. 

He’s the seducer and mover of this motley group that includes Jasmine January as Columbia;  Shanyeyah White as Magenta, (“Science Fiction/ Double Feature”) her mad brother Riff Raff (Allen Lucky Weaver) and Patrick McBride is another mad scientist Dr., Dr. Scott.

Nathan Madden and Rocky

With their help, Frank ‘N’ Furter is on a mission to create a sex partner for himself. Oh yes, he has a lab with more flashing lights than you can count, and there …Rocky Horror (Josh Bradford), who turns out to be this muscle bound blond Adonis  not some female sex queen as Frank would have liked, is born if you will. 

Linda Libby is the criminologist-narrator, looking like a power broker, telling it like it is, gets prompted along by working up the audience and then chides them to settle down with much bravado. Magenta puts us back on track with “Science Fiction”/ “Double Feature”. 

I was reminded by a friend who knows ‘Rocky’ inside and out, that the show really stands on its own and doesn’t need audience participation especially for those seeing it for the first time who might find it more distracting in a theatre setting than say a late night movie. And even though I’ve seen the show several times, I found the audience participation distracting, disrupting, overbearing and leaving much to be desired even though it is all  encouraged. 

Josh Bradford (in background) Nathan Madden, Mad Scientist, 

                                and  Audrey Deubig

 Whatever story line there is, is held together by a thin thread and lost in mostly individual singing and dance numbers. Choreographer Luke H. Jacobs kept the dance numbers bouncing along nicely breaking in with “The Time Warp”, that kept the audience swaying, waving their arms and singing.  The entire cast is vocally talented adding to the enjoyment of the 15 + musical numbers. 

However, between the loud audience shout backs and some sound snafu’s on opening night, this reviewer had a difficult time hearing the dialogue and was left with watching a series of song and dance numbers sans  connecting dots to a story.

Andrew Hull’s busy, nondescript yet gothic flavored set is cluttered with lots of paraphernalia from discarded junk. It takes on the trappings of an old sci-fi movie consisting of gadgets from out of space. Chris Rynne’s blinking lights and a long staircase leading to the bedrooms where more naughty shenanigans take place highlight silhouettes of  activities between Janet and Frank and then Brad and Frank, Rocky and whoever can be seen. Jennifer Brawn Gittings costumes and Peter Herman’s wigs reflect the B movie look. Aaron Rhyne’s projections give a nostalgic look into the past.

Settling in upstairs as well is the five-piece band with conductor Patrick Marion on the Keyboards, Nikko Nobieza, Guitar, PJ Bovee, Tenor Sax, Danny Chavarin, Percussion.  

All in all, Cygnet’s mounting of Richard O’Brien’s “The Rocky Horror Show” might be puzzling to some, (it was to me) but those who have seen this cult classic and/or other facsimiles (I’m reminded of “Bat Boy the Musical”) over the years, just sit back and enjoy themselves. The opening night audience, did. 

As a side note: A generational cross mix of highly charged fans that are “Rocky Horror” cultists showed up for the opening night performance at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. Some were wearing boa wraps around their necks, some in fishnet stockings, corsets and bustier and, I don’t know how they do it, high platform heels.

If you are in the mood for a bit of an experience, and don’t mind the audience participation, check it out.

See you at the theatre. 

When:  Opened Oct. 2nd and runs through Nov. 2nd

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

Where: Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town San Diego

Photo: Karli Cadel

Tickets: $39 and up

Phone: (619) 337-1525

Online: cygnettheatre.com

“MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS”: A SPECTACULAR TREAT FOR SAN DIEGO AUDIENCES

 First Sherlock Holmes, now Agatha Christie. What or whose next? Blake Edwards and the bumbling French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau? James Bond? 

I do love me a good detective story. That’s why I was so tickled when The Globe announced Christie’s  “Murder On The Orient Express” with Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of the 1934 short story of the same name. 

No spoilers here. You will not get me to indulge the whodunit in the whodunit mostly because next to the stylish and flawless sets by Paul Tate de Poo III (‘In the details’) with some art deco influence, projection designs (Greg Emetaz) with sliding panels, separate compartments, individual bedrooms for the so called group of unrelated guests along with an engineer’s room, a rotating set, surround sound ( Matthew Parker), mood lighting trickling in (JAX Messenger), a long hallway, and exquisite period costumes (Tracy Dorman), the story almost gets lost with all the red herrings to throw us off course. But! You will never forget production values that make it look like we are watching the movie version. Yes, there were movies.

Cast

At the center of Christie’s most noted short story is Hercule Poirot played to perfection by Andrew Sellon.  He is a ‘funny little Belgian’ with a wonderful moustache and distinctive accent and a penchant for solving unsolvable mysteries. He happens to be one of the passengers on the Orient Express headed to Paris from Istanbul when it is suddenly stopped dead in its tracks because of a snow drift. Here is where the fun begins, and I say fun because Ludwick always manages to toss in some throw away lines, perhaps even farce, that will make you chuckle.

Andrew Sellon

Over the course of 2 ½ hours, staged on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, there is a murder, an attempted one, a multitude of alibi's and a variety of standout characters, all pointing fingers and then denying any wrongdoing. 

Cast

Mylinda Hull is a hoot as the American divorcee who breaks out into song “Lullaby of Broadway” stealing scenes from everyone; Karol Foreman is the aging Russian Princess Dragomiroff and Ariella Kvashny is the Hungarian Princess, Andrenyi. Everyone has a key role but some more (if you will) air time than others. There are 13 characters in all; some drop off the wayside or are murdered, but don’t let that bother you. In the end “All’s well that ends well” so to speak. You be the judge.

Andrew Sellon (center) Mylinda Hull (With red hair) and other cast members

In 2020 the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Fla. (“Cabaret”) with the same Peter Amster directing, same scenery and costumes with Ludwig’s (“Robin and the Seven Hoods”, “Lend Me A Tenor”) script ran to rave reviews. This reviewer had fun with it but, of course, it might have been a bit shorter. 

Have fun.

See you at the theatre.

Sept. Runs through Oct. 13. 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park

Photo: Jim Cox

Tickets: $47 and up

Phone: (619) 234-5623

Online: theoldglobe.org