“MISERY”, AT BACKYARD RENAISSANCE THEATRE: A THRILL A MINUTE.

Before seeing the play “Misery” based on Stephen King’s best-selling 1987 novel with William Goldman’s 2012 stage adaptation, I thought “Psycho” was the scariest movie I had seen. 

I will admit, I have never read King’s books nor seen the movie version of the same name. After sitting through an entire production of Misery though, (sometimes covering my eyes) and  having the bejeasus scared out of me more than once at the opening night performance of Back Yard Renaissance Theatre’s production, “Psycho” was a piece of cake. 

Maggie Carney and Francis Gercke

Misery, a double entendre, or the misery Paul Sheldon, our hero, suffers under the care of ‘his number one fan’ Annie Wilkes (Maggie Carney) and the name of the leading character in a series of books he wrote, Misery Chastain, is set before us.   

Paul (Francis Gerche) is a famous novelist who gets stranded in a snow blizzard on some god forsaken country road in a rather unpopulated area of Colorado. Annie, who just happens to be following him, saves him from freezing to death, takes him home and nurses his injuries, and there are many, after his car crashes. ("Will I be able to walk?" "Of course you will. And your arm will be fine, too. Your shoulder was dislocated pretty badly, but I finally popped it back in there. But what I'm most proud of is the work I did on those legs. Considering what I had around the house, I don't think there's a doctor who could have done any better.") 

Oh! But there is a price to pay! 

Since she has read his entire series of books about Misery, she is unhappy with the ending of the last one. Killing off Misery and calling the book filthy,  she cajoles him to write the book she wants to read not the one she just finished. 

Frances Gercke and Maggie Carney

From there it is all a downhill battle of the survival of the best between the two.  Psychological? Yes. Eerie? Yes. Mind bending? Yes. Captivating? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. Horrifying? Yes.  And any other adjective you want to use to describe the atmosphere created in the theatre by director MJ Sieber, and of course Gercke and Carney. Alex Guzman plays the part of the congenial local law person, Buster who makes an appearance at Annie’s door every now and then giving hope that everything will be OK. Well, not so much, since Annie has a cure for him as well.

Frances Gercke and Maggie Carnie

Without the fantastic cast assembled by MJ Sieber, or in anyone else’s hands I can’t imagine what the outcome would look like. Carney, who works in L.A. and has come to SD just for this role, is the perfect fit as the split personality Annie... raging one moment and reading to him the next; praising him and praying for him. She’s like a chameleon. Gercke, in unbelievable physical shape, is a study in mind willing body to do the physically impossible.  It’s exhausting to watch him maneuver by just moving his upper body. You have to see for yourselves.

The entire backstage crew sets the tone for BYR to stretch its wings and come up with this lollapalooza of a production.

Set and properties designer by Yi-Chien Lee, designed a single set with several rooms to move about. Technical director Keegan Graham. Lighting designer Curtis Miller sets the mood with shades of lighting.  Sound designer Logan Kirkendall gives us many different sounds to set our minds to.  Special effects(lots of rain and thunder) by Jeffrey Neitzel. Costume design Jessica John Gercke. Stage manager Anna Younce.

 For Stephen King fans who have read his books and seen this movies you will notice that the stage play as written by Goldman is a bit different from both. For those like moi who has seen neither, it won’t make a difference. But to purists, ‘it is what it is’ so sit back, grab on to your partner's arm and scream out loud if you so desire. 

See you at the theatre. 

When: Opens 7:30 p.m. Saturday and runs through Dec. 7. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays

Where: Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 Tenth Ave., downtown

Tickets: $18-$40

Photo: Daren Scott

Phone: 760-975-7189

Online: backyardrenaissance.com

 

“LITTLE WOMEN” THE BROADWAY MUSICAL AT MOXIE THEATRE WINS HEARTS.

If the movie or book version of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” didn’t steal your heart, then hop over to Moxie Theatre in Rolando and catch the musical version based on the Broadway show of the same name with book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. This one will.

Moxie Theatre, dedicated to supporting women’s work (founded by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg) 20 years ago, is still going strong. Now under the leadership of Desireé Clark Miller, thinking BIG is no option. For the first time in the theatres’ history, Moxie will be mounting two different plays in Repertory: ‘Little Women” and  “Our Dear Departed Drug Lord”. Yours truly has only seen “Little Women”, the other may or may not follow.

Nio Russell, Mikaela Macis, Becca Myers, Lena Ceja. The four March girls.

To reminisce: In ‘my day’ the all -white cast of “Little Women” starred June Allyson as Jo, Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, Margaret O’Brien as Beth and Janet Leigh as Meg.

Fast forward to Moxie’s blind casting by director Leigh Scarrett (also musical director) and you won’t find a finer and more talented cast of characters on any stage. Nary a weak performance by the four March sisters or their mother, Marmee, (evenly played by Constance Jewell Lopez). Let’s just say everyone in their orbit, at that time, in Concord, Mass. where everything seemed simple and complicated at at once.

Back row Nio Russell, Becca Myers
Front: Lena Ceja, Constance Jewell and Mikaela Micas

Alcott's book is quite ahead of itself as it weaves through the growing up years of the four March girls; first to some extent younger women and then as maturing adults shown in short vignettes by testing the duties of women as treated by their male counterparts. And yet it took the courage of one Jo (Mikaela Micas) March, pardon the pun, to march to her own drum. At a time when women were expected to marry, she would have none of it. She was an aspiring writer and nothing was going to stand in her way. (“Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they've got ambition, and they've got talent, as well as just beauty. I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for”)

The second youngest, Beth (soft and convincing Nio Russell) was musically inclined and loved to  play the piano that belonged to their neighbor Mr. Lawrence (a charming Will Doyle), who lived with his grandson Laurie (Tanner Vydos). It was Beth who encouraged her sisters to do their best. She left an everlasting impression on those around her. 

Meg (Becca Myers) was the most traditional and the first of the four to marry and have children of her own. Myers was a steady as you go personality who ended up marrying Mr. John Brooke (Ryan Hadley), Laurie's tutor who used her dance card to get closer to her.

Makaela Micas and Tanner Vydos

Romantic Amy (Lena Ceja), the youngest  who was never satisfied with her standing in the family, loved to paint.  She was first to complain and then to have to apologize for her actions. Of the four, Ceja’s arc of becoming well rounded and sophisticated was amazing to watch especially after being tutored by Aunt March (a force to be considered with, Michelle Caravia) on how to be a refined lady. She has the money in the family and uses it to influence the girls’ choices. 

But it was Micas’ Jo, the second oldest, who carried most of weight. She was a force with which to be reckoned as the so called leader of the clan to whom everyone went when there was a problem and she was right there when there was a problem in the March household.  Her last days with Beth brought real tears to everyone’s eyes, so philosophical were they both. Again, her arc as she went from stubborn to smitten with Professor Bhaer, endearing and faithful to his profession,  DeAndre Simmons whose voice filled the theatre with bravado). He was ‘friend’ at the boarding house in New York where she went to write. 

Nio russell, Lena Ceja,Tanner Vydos, Mikaela Micas, Bessa Myers

As the Civil War raged on, the travails of the March girls coming of age is in good hands with  Scarrett, Ali Roustaei, co-scenic director, Colby Freel, co-lighting designer, Joshua Heming, co-lighting designer, Cynthia Bloodgood, sound designer, Michael Wogulis, prop designer and Xavier J. Bush, choreographer. 

My one criticism is that there were times that the musical track was too overpowering for the small space causing the actors, who all had beautiful voices, to over -compensate. Other than that, I would go back and see it again.

Hat’s off to Moxie for daring to go BIG!

See you at the theatre. 

Enjoy. 

“Little Women: The Broadway Musical’ & ‘Our Dear Dead Drug Lord’

When: Two plays will rotate in repertory Sunday through Dec. 8. 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. (Check website for play schedule)

Where: Moxie Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Blvd., Ste. N, Rolando

Tickets: $30-$63 (“Little Women”), $20-$50 (“Drug Lord”)

Phone: 858-598-7620

Photo: Desiree Clark Miller

Online: moxietheatre.co