Tag: TheatreWorks

Posted on

PICK ASR Theater! ~~ TheatreWorks’ Sondheim Tribute a Delightful Production

By Joanne Engelhardt

Combine a half-dozen versatile actors, a maestro of the keyboard (Bill Liberatore) and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s long-time artistic director Robert Kelley (now retired), and the result is Being Alive: A Sondheim Celebration — a concoction that makes for a pleasurable two hours of theatre.

Both Kelley and Liberatore say they’ve been so influenced by Sondheim over the years that they felt he deserved his own production chockful of his incredibly long list of songs – some so familiar it’s hard not to start singing along.

The women (Melissa WolfKlain, Solona Husband, and Anne Tolpegin) butt heads with the men (Sleiman Alahmadieh, Nick Nakashima, and Noel Anthony Escobar) in TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s “Being Alive: A Sondheim Celebration,” performing June 5-30.
Photo Credit: Kevin Berne

Many, like “Putting it Together,” “Send in the Clowns,” “Pretty Women” and “Love is in the Air,” not to mention the sensitive, soulful “Children Will Listen,” are as familiar to theatregoers as old friends. Others such as “Loving You,” “Love’s a Bond” and “There is No Other Way” introduce audiences to lesser-known Sondheim songs. Yet, by the time the audience heads home, the actors have sung a whopping 35 songs — 36 in fact,because “Send in the Clowns” is sung twice.

” … a pleasurable two hours of theatre …”

During Kelley’s 50-year tenure at TheatreWorks, he actually mounted 18 Sondheim productions. Upon learning that it’s now “legal” to create a musical review of Sondheim’s works, Kelley said the first thing he did was ask Liberatore to collaborate with him as they have many times before.

The cast (l to r: Melissa WolfKlain, Nick Nakashima, Solona Husband, Noel Anthony Escobar, Anne Tolpegin, and Sleiman Alahmadieh) put a show together in TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s “Being Alive: A Sondheim Celebration. Photo Credit: Kevin Berne

And, while not every song or performance zings, it’s likely audiences will recognize once again Sondheim’s musical genius through most of the songs sung, danced and acted here. What’s so surprising is that all of the music – which sounds both fulsome and lyrical — comes from Liberatore’s melodious piano playing and Artie Storch’s occasional drumming accompaniment.

No small credit, of course, goes to the cadre of fine performers, most particularly the diminutive Solona Husband as Sally, who acts, dances, jumps and belts out her songs with joyfulness. Nick Nakashina as Gene and Melissa WolfKlain are solid additions who know how to charm an audience with a sassy wink or nod. Rounding out the cast with equally fine performances are Anne Tolpegin as Lena, Sleiman Alahmadieh as George, and Noel Anthony as Ben.

The cast (l to r: Anne Tolpegin, Sleiman Alahmadieh, Solona Husband, Noel Anthony Escobar, Nick Nakashima, and Melissa WolfKlain) embraces new possibilities in “Being Alive: A Sondheim Celebration.” Photo Credit: Kevin Berne

Sondheim, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 91, wrote an astonishing 334 songs in his lifetime. That’s why Kelley and Liberatore decided to concentrate on songs that are primarily focused on love – in all its iterations: first love, love lost, broken hearts, redemptive love and more. Audiences happily responded to the upbeat “Love is in the Air, ”Everybody Says Don’t,” “Can That Boy Foxtrot” and “You Could Drive a Person Crazy.” WolfKlain’s rendition of “The Wedding is Off” is another crowd pleaser.

Then comes the poignant “Send in the Clowns,” sung with heartfelt sincerity by Tolpegin, and the equally touching “We Do Not Belong Together” sung by Husband and Alahmadieh. Husband also stands out in “Our Time” with Nakashima and Alahmadieh as well. The same trio joins up in “Old Friends” and does a terrific switching hats routine.

Kelley sandwiches in touching songs like “Children Will Listen,” sung by WolfKlain and Tolpegin. with comedic ones like “Agony” sung by Nakashima and Anthony, as well as “Any Moment/Moments in the Woods,” sung by Anthony and WolfKlain, to balance out the program.

But it’s the song “Being Alive,” sung by all six performers, that ends the show on a high note. It’s a reminder of just how astounding Sondheim’s music really is.

-30-

Aisle Seat Executive Reviewer Joanne Engelhardt is a Peninsula theatre writer and critic. She is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC). Contact: [email protected]

 

ProductionBeing Alive: A Sondheim Celebration
Conceived by
Robert Kelley and William Liberatore
Directed byRobert Kelley
Producing CompanyTheatreWorks Silicon Valley and Entre Acts
Production DatesThru June 30th
Production Address1305 Middlefield Road
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Websitewww.theatreworks.org
Telephone(877) 662-8978
Tickets$37- $82
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5
Performance4.5/5
Script4.5/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
Posted on

ASR Theater ~~ TheatreWorks’ “A Distinct Society” a Vague Memory of Long Ago

By Joanne Engelhardt

A wonderfully inviting library located exactly on the border between a small town in northern Vermont and a Quebecoise town is the setting for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s production of A Distinct Society.

There’s a cozy children’s nook filled not only with children’s books but also pint-sized furniture, an abacas and a couple of stuffed animals. But the real attention-getter in Jo Winiarski’s impressive set design is the two-foot-wide bookcase full of (what else?) books that runs up one side over the top and down the other side of the proscenium in the Mountain View Center of the Performing Arts.

Yet there’s one uninviting thing about the library: the wide strip of tape that runs straight down the middle of the library. Why? Because the left half is in the United States and the right half is in Canada.

Daughter Shirin (Vaneh Assadourian) and father Peyman (James Rana) reunite in TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s World Premiere of “A Distinct Society”. Photo Credit: Kevin Berne

There are just five characters in Society, so each plays an important part in telling Kareem Fahmy’s fictionalized story of what happened at the Haskell Free Library & Opera House in 2017 when families separated by what was called the “Muslim ban” used the space to connect with each other. The ban didn’t allow citizens of seven Muslim countries to enter the U.S.

As the play opens, an Iranian father, Peyman (a serious, caring James Rana) enters the library with his passport and food he has prepared for his medical-student daughter, Shirin (Vaneh Assadourian), who lives in the U.S.

Because he arrived early, he just wants to sit in the library and wait to give Shirin food from home. But the big, burly U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer Bruce (Kenny Scott) says he can’t stay. Shirin tries to give the food to Manon, the librarian (Carrie Paff), but she’s not willing to accept it because she says no food is allowed in the library.

Enter young, tousle-haired Declan (an appealing Daniel Allitt), who practically considers the library his home because his parents are divorced and he has no friends to chum around with. Declan has found ways to sneak into the library any time of the day or night, and he sometimes sleeps there as well. He also keeps a stash of soda and snack food that he consumes when no one’s around.

Smiling mischievously, Declan says, “Technically I don’t eat meat. But I do.”

In a rather strange turn of events, Manon reveals that she’ll be performing in the upstairs opera house, playing the title character in Bizet’s Carmen. Bruce invites her to have dinner with him before the opera, and she accepts. Later they return to the library where he convinces her to dance on a library table just as Carmen does in the opera. Bruce and Manon kiss a few times when suddenly she hears a noise.

Bruce (Kenny Scott) flirts with Manon (Carrie Paff) in TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s World Premiere of “A Distinct Society,” performing April 5-30. Photo Credit: Kevin Berne

Guess who’s the unintended witness to all of this? Of course: It’s Declan who’s been spending hours in the library reading what he calls “graphic novels” (actually fantasy comic books) and chowing down on his never-ending supply of junk food.

Though the actors’ performances are nuanced and well done, it’s the play itself that lets down their abilities. One example: too many topics are mentioned in passing such as the 1995 referendum asking Quebec citizens if they want to secede from Canada to form a “distinct society.” It’s touched on so quickly that many in the audience won’t understand or, more likely won’t even remember that time.

The play runs approximately 95 minutes without an intermission.

-30-

Aisle Seat Executive Reviewer Joanne Engelhardt is a Peninsula theatre writer and critic. She is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC). Contact: [email protected]

 

ProductionA Distinct Society
Written by
Kareem Fahmy
Directed byGiovanna Sardelli
Producing CompanyTheatreWorks Silicon Valley in collaboration with Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah
Production DatesThru Apr 30th
Production AddressMountain View Center for the Performing Arts
Websitewww.theatreworks.org
Telephone(877) 662-8978
Tickets$29- $77
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3/5
Performance4/5
Script3/5
Stagecraft4.5/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?----
Posted on

PICK! ASR Theater ~~ Still Relevant: “Nan and the Lower Body” at TheatreWorks

By Sue Morgan

The two-hour drive from the Russian River to the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto proved to be more than worth the time to attend TheatreWorks’ world premier of Jessica Dickey’s remarkable “Nan and the Lower Body,” directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

Via a poignantly serendipitous series of circumstance, the production, which on the surface deals with women’s reproductive health, but at heart deals with every woman’s worth and right to be recognized as a human being, was originally scheduled to premier in 2020 but, due to the worldwide pandemic, was rescheduled for release a mere three weeks after what Dicky terms “this travesty; the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”

…a timely catalyst for deep reflection about the journey of women…

Dickey performs somewhat of a magic trick, successfully using both pathos and humor to express the urgency and maddening frustration of a midcentury medical system that ignored the number one cause of death in women (cervical cancer) due in large part to the discomfort of doctors and scientists in separating female anatomy from female sexuality.

Nan (Elissa Beth Stebbins) examines a slide as Dr. Papanicolaou (Christopher Daftsios), inventor of the Pap smear, watches in the World Premiere of “Nan and the Lower Body,” presented by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley July 13 – August 7.

Arriving in the US in 1913, Greek immigrant Dr. George Papanicolaou (skillfully played by Christopher Daftsios) toiled tirelessly for decades to develop and promulgate the use of the Pap Smear, allowing detection of cancers via analysis of cells found in women’s vaginal secretions.

Here, conceived as a jocular over-sharer and passionate champion of women’s rights, he exhorts all he meets to “call me Dr. Pap,” and enjoys frequent use of the word “vagina” to create discomfort in and shorten interactions with those who have interrupted his work. By contrast, in a deeply powerful scene, Pap’s face and gestures transform from angry frustration to compassionate tenderness as he gently places a series of unusable slides into the bottom of a garbage can, as if to honor the sacredness of the contents.

Nan’s character is based on Dickey’s maternal grandmother who became a cytologist. According to family lore, in 1952 she worked with Dr. Papanicolaou as a researcher, examining slides to ascertain the presence or absence of abnormal cells. Elissa Beth Stebbins’ Nan is a stolid woman determined to “do good” in the world both through the vehicle of her career and as a mother. Hired by Dr. Papanicolaou because of her insightful cover letter, outstanding academic performance and because she was “the only woman to apply,” Nan is secretly battling the baffling early stages of what will later prove to be multiple sclerosis.

Mache (Lisa Ramirez) meets Dr. Papanicolaou’s new assistant Nan (Elissa Beth Stebbins) in the World Premiere of “Nan and the Lower Body,” presented by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley July 13 – August 7.

In her first mainstage performance with TheatreWorks, Lisa Ramirez is compelling as Mache, Dr. Pap’s spouse, partner, former colleague, and test subject. Responding to her husband’s assertion that he knew she would be up to the task of being a doctor’s wife after seeing her bear an injury silently and without complaint, Mache momentarily cracks wide open as she admits that she remained silent because if she’d allowed herself to speak, she “would have sobbed.”

Jeffrey Brian Adams does a fine job as Nan’s husband, the minister Ted. In a riveting feminist discussion in which Dr. Pap asserts that women are superior to men because of the complexity and capabilities inherent in their anatomy, Ted insists that it is, paradoxically, essential for women to be seen simply as human beings if they are ever to be afforded the same rights and privileges as men. Ted points out that if women are seen to be “different,” they will continue to be subjected to separate rules.

Nan (Elissa Beth Stebbins) embraces her husband Ted (Jeffrey Brian Adams) after he visits her at work in the World Premiere of “Nan and the Lower Body,” presented by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley July 13 – August 7.

The various settings of the play—a university lecture hall, research lab, living room, night-time exterior—are depicted in keeping with the period with no outstanding features other than the lab’s examining table with stirrups. This adherence to the expected affords a lack of distraction so we can focus on dialogue and interactions between characters. Stagecraft by Nina Ball is superb, with one set literally splitting open in the center – half gliding off stage right and the other half stage left, after which the next set glides forward in a seamless motion that set off a chorus of appreciative gasps from the audience.

The Lucie Stern Theatre is itself a treasure. Set within a lovely neighborhood, it’s warm and inviting, spacious and well laid-out, with not a bad seat in the house. The outer courtyard with benches offered a lovely setting for the after-show reception.

“Nan and the Lower Body” acts as a timely catalyst for deep reflection about the journey of women (and the men who try to truly see them). When viewed through the lens of contemporary events, it also reminds us that progress is not always linear and must never be taken for granted.

-30-

Contributing Writer Sue Morgan is a literature-and-theater enthusiast in Sonoma County’s Russian River region. Contact: [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ProductionNan and the Lower Body
Written byJessica Dickey
Directed byGiovanna Sardelli
Producing CompanyTheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Production DatesThrough Aug 7th
Production AddressLucie Stern Theatre 1305 Middlefield Road Palo Alto CA 94301
Websitewww.theatreworks.org
Telephone(877) 662- 8778
Tickets$35 – $95
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script5/5
Stagecraft5/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK!Yes!