Backyard Renaissance Theatre is known for staging, oft times off beat shows. Not that “Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf ?” or “Streetcar Named Desire” are off beat by any stretch of the imagination. But case in point is their current production, “The Rise and Fall Of Little Voice” by Jim Cartwright.
Cartwright penned it in 1992. It opened in 2012 at the Yvonne Arneud Theatre to the fascination of London audiences.
Now Backyard Renaissance Theatre with a handful of brilliant talent to pull off this painfully sad but funny show in the hands of director Anthony Methvin, shows the strength of their commitment and the seriousness of their dedication to the above.
That Megan Carmitchel was a part of the two productions mentioned is a tribute to her versatility is seen in her role as LV (Little Voice); stunning , superb and outstanding would be understatements to describe her performance.
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| Megan Carmitchel (bottom) Jessica John (top |
Set in 1992 in a dilapidated working class terraced house located in the town of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, Northern England, LV (Carmitchel) spends almost all of her time upstairs in her tidy room polishing and listening to the records her late father left her along with the cherished phonograph he left as well.
Downstairs her very drunk and controlling mother, Mari (Jessica John) stumbles into the house, bottle in hand and staggering until she passes out. LV rushes down stairs, carries Mari on to the small sofa where they both land on their backs.
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| Megan Carmitchel |
After some wriggling, LV manages to slide out from under, and hustle back up to her precious records. Some might call her autistic since she has developed a talent for mimicking or impersonating torch singers a- la. Judy Garland, Billy Holiday, Doris Day, Julie Andrews , Marilyn Monroe, Édith Piaf and the like filling her world with music and song. On the other hand, she barely manages to speak in one syllable words when she does speak.
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| Jessica John and Teri Brown |
When Mari’s small time, grungy agent Ray Say ( Francis Gercke) hears LV sing one night, unbeknownst to her, he somehow convinces LV to perform in public. The more Ray is fixated on LV’s talent, the more Mari’s jealousy rages, and eventually her relationship with Ray surfaces for just what it is, greed for the buck, and disregard for their relationship. He has some very ugly words for her!
Ray has big plans for LV. His shady friend Mr. Boo, (Daren Scott) owns a sleazy nightclub LV is taken to, to ‘perform’ which turns out to be a disaster. But never one to give up, Ray tries other softer tactics which work. When LV comes to the mike to perform, the theatre is silent, a hush falls over the audience and Carmitchel, in her own pitch perfect voice, impersonates all of above personalities to a tee. Ray sees a way capitalize on her talents and only sees dollar signs.
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| Jessica John and Francis Gercke |
In Mari and LV’s little circle, Sadie (Teri Brown) their neighbor, is a sounding board for Mari’s rants. Silent through most of them, she too is taken in by LV’s talent. But when Billy (Layth Haddad) the telephone guy turns a soft and understanding ear to LV, a deep and possibly the only friendship she has, finds its way to LV’s heart.
Toggling back and forth between comedy and tragedy, director Methvin understands the polarities and plays them beautifully. When the play opens with a drunken’ scene as the lights go out due to a blown out fuse (which happens often) it is in contrast to LV quietly dusting off her precious records upstairs (Yi-Chien Lee). Yes! we can feel the tension that chaos is about to begin.
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| Layth Haddad, Jessica John, Megan Carmitchel Francis Gercke, Daren Scott and Teri Brown (Lto R) |
As mentioned earlier, the ensemble is without fault. Jessica John has no doubt gotten the inebriated act down to perfection. Both funny and tragic, her Mari is another contradiction in what she has and what she wants. As a mother and alcoholic; domineering to a fault, all she wants is attention and to be the center of her world.
Francis Gercke is a son of a bitch to Mari when he’s ready to dump her and a softie to LV when trying to convince her to sing; another contrast in polarization.
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| Megan Carmitchel |
Teri Brown’s Sadie does yeoman’s work as she listens carefully to Mari’s rants/monologue after monologue and sees the harm done to LV; another contrast in polarization. And Mr. Boo (Daren Scott) adds more sleaze to the overall atmosphere. I might add, he does it well.
Layth Haddad’s Billy adds a bit of comedy and reason to his role as the starry eyed -bushy tailed telephone engineer until he sheds ‘light’ on LV’s life in ways no one might have expected. Let's just say that Little Voice finally finds her voice.
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| Jessica John and Daren Scott |
And last but not least , Megan Carmitchel’s LV is above reproach. The staggering sound of her voice as she belts out song after song is worth the price of admission and then some.
Credit lighting designer Curtis Mueller for the array of blackouts, Evan Hart March for the musical arrangements, Taylor Peckham as music director, Jeffrey Neiitzel as props director, Brenna Maienschein for costumes (LV gown is beautiful), Layth Haddad as flight director, Xavier Garcia as stage manager and Nan Pace as house manager.
Enjoy.
See you at the theatre.
When: Runs through July 3. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays
Where: Backyard Renaissance Theatre at the 10th Avenue Arts Center, 930 Tenth Ave., downtown
Tickets: $15-$50
Photo: Michael Makie
Phone: 760-975-7189
Online: backyardrenaissance.com
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