Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Dinsmore - a guest blog, or two

Extract from the Journal of Dr. Henry Jekyll...  As 1882 draws to a close, I find myself returned to my home in London.  The two years I spent abroad studying alternative medicines in the Amazon Basin have proven quite fruitful.  Some of the tinctures and extracts that were introduced to me by the natives are rather potent.  They provide me with a previously unimagined freedom of thought and conscience.  I can’t help but believe that I am on the cusp of something monumental.  After numerous successes, I felt it was time to move my tests from the field, as it were, to the real world where I may see more accurate results of my work in real-life environs.

No longer shall I be tortured by the darkness that hides in the deepest recesses of my mind, hinting and prodding and begging for release. I am a civilized man of the modern era, who need not be burdened by such desires.  Today marks the first substantive step of my journey toward peace of mind.  I have successfully separated my more base ambitions from my intellectual designs, thus allowing me a sense of serenity that heretofore was simply not possible.  For now, while I am able to detach these two… “streams of consciousness,” for lack of better terminology, I still seek a method to strip away the unwanted “stream” and discard it.

Naturally, my labors must be kept confidential until they can be more fully evaluated, especially from Sir Danvers Carew.  As Chief Surgeon, he holds considerable sway with the Board of Governors, and he already seeks to undermine me at every turn.  But I am hesitant to share this work even with my closest friends and colleagues.  While Dr. Lanyon is a lifelong friend, he has a tendency to strictly adhere to accepted methodologies, and my experiments are outside those standard channels.

Aside from all of my achievements to date, one thing gives me pause.  I feel as if my work is being observed by someone else; as if I am being watched.  Almost as if there was someone in the room with me, but I have shared my research with no one.  Perhaps this is simply a side effect of the treatment, yet it gnaws at me....

Today I rid myself of my inner beast!

 Extract from the Journal of George Dinsmore...

When I learned that Chapin Theater Company was performing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I admit I was not initially excited. Drink a potion, become a monster. It seems like everyone has taken a stab at the idea, including Sylvester and Tweety’s Hyde and Go Tweet.  Only Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is more overdone. But I read the script, which is a new adaption by Jeffrey Hatcher.  And I’m glad I did.  This isn’t the story of a good man and the evil monster inside of him.  It is a story about people in general, and the journey of self-discovery we all go through, although most people’s deep dark secrets are expressed with fewer physical manifestations

Before I even started learning lines, I started taking my own emotional inventory, looking back on my own experiences for specific emotions that Jekyll goes through: terror, self-loathing, hubris, etc.  Some were easy to draw on. Some were harder. And some I thought I didn’t possess -- at first.  But they were all there. It’s surprising what you can find inside if you’re honest with yourself.

As everyone knows, Jekyll and the Hydes’ personalities overlap as the show progresses. So, preparing for that wasn’t a case of two actors deciding something arbitrary like, “Hey, let’s both have a limp.” There are four Hydes (played by Jeff Sigley, David Reed, Nathan Dawson, and Kathy Sykes) who have their own distinct traits.  Jekyll starts as an individual, and gradually takes on some part of each Hyde. And if we don’t see each Hyde somewhere in Jekyll’s demeanor, then we have no reason to believe they are the same person.

It has been an incredible challenge for me because let’s face it, most -- not all, but most -- of my stage work has been comedy.  I had to remind myself not to “find the funny” as director Glenn Farr puts it whether intentionally or not. But harder, was to show Jekyll’s human journey, not as a candlestick, rock star, or New Jersey con man, but as a real person with whom audiences could sympathize and relate.

So did I succeed?  Well, I admit I’ve always been a little nervous before every performance, but this one is different.  Dr. Jekyll is way outside my comfort zone, and there is more of “me” in this character than I’m accustomed to sharing.  But I am surrounded by fantastic talent onstage and off, and I feel like I have grown leaps and bounds as an actor, so from a personal standpoint it is already a success.  I guess I’ll find out if other people agree when we open this Friday and audiences get their first look at the finished product.

Sunday in the Park with Jane (& other Quirky Manners of the Landed Gentry) - Arik Bjorn reviews "Pride & Prejudice"

Though American society seems to have disposed itself entirely of formal introductions, carefully-constructed speech, and scripted courtships, we remain obsessed with British mannerisms.  As if popular shows like Downton Abbey and all of the other series tossed to us across the pond via Masterpiece Theatre were not evidence enough, there seems to be a revival of 19th-century British literature, as theatre.  Every week one sees a new Hollywood film, miniseries, television show, and even detective series inspired by the works of the Bronte Sisters, Jane Austen, George Eliot and the like. South Carolina Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Linda Khoury agrees:  “We are Anglophiles at heart.  And there’s this Jane Austen fever at the moment.  When we asked Company members about whether or not to do Pride & Prejudice this season, they said, ‘Oh my God, Mr. Darcy!  Yes!’”

The works of Jane Austen seem to be everyone’s current favorite landed-gentry flavor; the stage adaptation of Pride & Prejudice by playwright and former Actors Theatre of Louisville Artistic Director Jon Jory has been staged by a number of classical theatre companies across the country in recent years.  At first, this fact might seem incongruous:  why would classical theatres be attracted to a story seemingly imprisoned within a 19th-century manor and its well-groomed grounds?  Yet when one rolls an Austen novel onto the stage, what one finds is something closely resembling Shakespeare’s romantic comedies—only refreshingly absent multiple pairs of separated twins wandering about Asia Minor looking for one another.

In fact, halfway through the SC Shakespeare Company’s production of Pride & Prejudice, the thought occurred to me that the pompous clergyman Mr. Collins—played with impeccable comedic timing by veteran Columbia actor George Spelvin—was just one pair of yellow stockings and crossed garters short of a Malvolio.  This is the kind of character determination one gets from “seeing” an Austen novel rather than reading it.  The same is true with a number of other characters; for instance, Elizabeth Bennet, the axis upon which the tale’s many love stories turn, and with whom theatre patrons are likely to fall for thanks to a wonderful performance by the lovely Katie Mixon, is really just a slightly less histrionic, though equally stubborn, version of Shakespeare’s Beatrice.

Of course, one gets a bit more black box production value with a show in the park.  There are no panorama shots of the Hertfordshire countryside, nor horse-drawn carriages—although I will admit that watching local thespian hoot Clark Wallace as Mr. Gardiner pretend to guide an imaginary carriage horse is, at times, far more entertaining than anything BBC could deliver.  And one never knows what surprises lay in store for a live show at Finlay Park—from remote-control airplanes making cameo appearances to gospel choirs suddenly breaking into jubilant song across the way, to a pair of hobo wayfarers wandering across the stage.  Then again, one might also behold the serendipitous timing of a local church bell ringing just as Mr. Bingley steals a kiss from Elizabeth’s sister, Jane.

Sometimes in set design, simplicity says everything, and one must applaud set designer Lee Shepherd for presenting the Britain of two centuries ago with two principal pieces:  a pair of monumental lattice windows through which we metaphorically peak into the lives of the Bennet family, and a pair of matching staircases to represent their leisurely, gentlemanly and gentlewomanly lives.  Yet nothing is simple about the period costume work of Alexis Doctor (profiled in the Jasper 006 cover story) ; she provides sumptuous costumes which help the actors and patrons alike fall backward naturally in time.

The story of Pride & Prejudice is well-known; however, if there is a gap in your knowledge of world literature, simply know that Mr. & Mrs. Bennet of Meryton, Hertfordshire, near London, have five daughters of marrying age, whom must wend their way through the labyrinth of British customs and breeding to find satisfactory mates—and do whatever it takes to avoid marrying Clergyman Collins.

There are many fine performances in the production in addition to the work of Spelvin and Mixon.  Every Austen story needs its somewhat feather-headed parents:  Alfred Kern delivers a delightful performance as Mr. Bennet, played perfectly like Jim Broadbent on Prozac; and Ruth Glowacki as Mrs. Bennet keeps the audience tittering with her “a’ plenty palpitations.”  All of the Bennet daughters are well cast to their respective personalities, but one especially delights in the ‘poo-poo’ naughtiness of the scandalous youngest daughter, Lydia, played by Sirena Dib.  Sting lookalike Tracy Steele provides a complex portrayal of the strong-yet-meek Mr. Bingley, and Sara Blanks plays his strident, gossiping sister, Caroline Bingley, with equal solidity.  And Mrs. Gardiner is played by local attorney Raia Hirsch, who returns to the stage after many years, having not skipped a theatrical beat.

Last but not least, one must present a standing ovation to Company Stage Manager, Paula Peterson, whose work and dedication to the Shakespeare Company, as well as to many other Columbia community and professional theatre productions over the years, deserves accolades and recognition.  One simply cannot understand the mind-bending machinations required to stage a live production out-of-doors—let alone a show where the backstage is actually an island with a watery moat.

The SC Shakespeare Company recently participated in Cheer from Chawton, a one-woman show about the life of Jane Austen that was performed at USC’s Drayton Hall in September.  In the show, one learns that Austen’s own childhood was spent entertaining her family with “little theatricals,” so perhaps the great author herself would delight in seeing her two-century-old popular tale brought to life on stage.

As director Khoury explains, it makes sense for the Shakespeare Company to do just so for a fellow British storyteller:  “Austen is a complement to the Bard.  They both distill everything through characterization.  And, of course, Austen has that certain sense and sensibility.”

~ Arik Bjorn

Pride & Prejudice runs throughout October in the Finlay Park Amphitheatre with performances on October 17-20 and October 24-27 at 7:30 p.m.  Performances are free!  If you would like to reserve group seating, plus call:  803.787.BARD.  Finlay Park is located in downtown Columbia, on the block bounded by Assembly Street, Laurel Street, Gadsden Street, and Taylor Street, behind the main post office.  (The amphitheater is on the Laurel Street side.)  To learn more about the South Carolina Shakespeare Company, visit www.shakespearesc.org or visit the Company’s Facebook page.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The “Musical” I Swore I’d Never Direct - a guest blog by Glenn Farr

When I began directing local live theatre five years ago, I intuitively knew where my strengths lay: helming casts of four to 12 players in boxed set productions, no matter whether they be comedies or dramas. After all, those were the types of shows I most enjoyed being in – plays that allowed even a supporting actor to actually have time to develop a character and present it without being interrupted by a sudden song or choreographed routine involving almost everyone else in the cast. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy musicals when they are well done, and in Columbia, now that we’ve reached a point when many who populate them have had the luxury of singing and dancing lessons, many such productions are actually quite good. For my part, in my 20s, when I lived in Newberry, SC, I so much wanted to be a part of musicals that I secretly studied with a retired voice professor who had been something of a legend during his days on the faculty of Newberry College. After a year, he had whipped me into good enough shape to score the lead in a production of Man of La Mancha. In the years since, I’ve had the opportunity to play and sing roles ranging from Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods and Scrooge to Professor Bhaer in Little Women: the Musical and perhaps the role for which I was best suited, Captain Hook in Peter Pan.

Nevertheless, that quarter century of performing in musicals taught me some things I knew I would not want to deal with as a director. First of all, you don’t really control the complete vision of the story you’re telling. You share it with a musical director and a choreographer. And the older I get, the more I find I want to tell the entire story myself, thank you very much. You also share casting decisions. I knew I’d never want to be in the position of casting an inadequate actress because she happened to be a superb singer, or not being able to cast a superior actress who happened to have two left feet.

Musicals are also logistically complex. No lights up and lights down on two acts with perhaps a maximum of two scenes per act. Instead, many lighting and set changes that must be coordinated with music and large numbers of bodies entering and exiting the stage. I feel a brain cramp coming on just thinking about it.

And finally, after having been in a fair number of musicals, I knew the kinds of egos they often attract, often some of the most “special” among those of us who enjoy stagecraft, many of whom have set up housekeeping at the very center of the Universe. Did I really want to deal with nursing egos to ensure the actors attached to them would give the performance they should? Could I ever develop the diplomacy such action might require?

I really didn’t know.

Nevertheless, my first directing job was Chapin Theatre Company’s A Murder Is Announced, an Agatha Christie mystery. They took a chance on me as a new director and I did everything I knew how to make sure my efforts – and the show itself – would succeed. I broke the script into French scenes, organized a rehearsal schedule that prevented actors from waiting in the wings for their scenes to begin, assembled a strong cast (with a few people playing against type), and staged a show that was well received by the theatre’s patron base. I did find myself massaging an ego or two, but nothing that compared to what I had experienced by being in musicals.

I directed a second show for Chapin, and in short order, one for Workshop, ultimately also being offered a directing opportunity at Village Square in Lexington. In a few short years, I had directed eight productions with varying degrees of success, but among all of them, there was nary a musical.

Until Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Let me be clear, the production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Chapin Theatre Company is staging at the Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College is not a musical. When it was announced as part of the current season, many in the community confused it with Jekyll & Hyde, the actual musical by Frank Wildhorn, Leslie Bricusse and Steve Cudin. It’s not that show.

This Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a non-musical play adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was commissioned by the Arizona State Theatre in 2008 and has since become fairly popular among local theatres throughout the country.

It’s easy to see why. The show retains the essential elements of the Stevenson story, but introduces a modern sensibility in that there are four incarnations of Mr. Hyde (one of whom is a very sexy woman) and treats Dr. Jekyll’s metamorphosis into the various Hydes as something of a personality disorder triggered by experimentation with drugs. It is also economical to produce, in that there is no fixed set and uses one rolling door and a few pieces of furniture to define spaces. And, it employs only eight actors, some of whom play up to five or six distinct characters, each, with no significant costume changes.

On paper, the show looks simple. It’s just a black box staging and reinterpretation of a classic horror tale, right?

Ah, but just as Dr. Jekyll morphs into Mr. Hyde, this production began showing signs of trying to transform itself into a sort of musical in its own right.

First, it is structured so that the rolling door moves from scene to scene to define space as the characters move from London streets to Jekyll’s home to a London medical college to a slum room where Hyde lives to a police morgue to a local park and back again. Quick scene changes that must be executed flawlessly so that music and lighting match and actors don’t stumble over themselves getting to where they need to be, with the correct props in hand at the right moments – that sounds an awfully lot like a musical to me. I found as I pre-blocked the show (it is my habit to work out blocking in my head, writing it down in the script, before the first rehearsal with actors) that I had to view this show as if it were a musical. The play has a shifting foundation and its own fuzzy logic as one scene melts into another and an actor who was one character in the first scene becomes someone entirely different in the next. I know I’ve seen musicals that operated on a similar premise.

Enthusiasm about this project began to build as soon as it was announced and I subsequently learned that J.S. Lee, who was already on board as the sound designer, is also a composer. He expressed interest in creating an original ambient score for the production. He let me hear a sample of his work and I immediately saw an opportunity to make this production even more special by enhancing its scenes with original music.

In addition, the lighting designer was eager to develop an atmospheric lighting plot that would give the story the dark moods it requires while still enhancing the actors’ work on stage. Lighting is one area of stagecraft in which my knowledge is limited, and during discussions with lighting designer Matt Pound, I found my contributions to be limited to utterances such as, “Make the cyc glow red here,” or, “Make this look really dark and creepy.”

Finally, we decided to take advantage of some of the unique technical capabilities of the Harbison Theatre, which is only two years old. It can actually be used as a movie theatre due to its retractable screen mounted near the proscenium. We decided to create a video opening credits sequence that will be accompanied by an “overture” composed by J.S. Lee.

As I look at the elements we’ve added to what arguably could have been a very simple show, I see that about the only thing keeping it from being a true musical is song lyrics and choreography for the actors. Otherwise, compared to other shows I’ve directed, it’s evolved into a technical beast requiring a degree of conceptual thinking from me that, at times, has threatened to wrap my brain around a fence post.

Still, I would not trade the experience. As I write this, we are a few days from our first technical rehearsal and a few more days further from our opening night. We have yet to add the music and lighting, along with the video opening sequence, that we’ve spent the past six months developing and I have no idea how well the parts will assemble into a whole. Yet, I have faith it will be impressive.

What I do know is that the actors are ready. This project attracted some of the Midlands’ most talented, if sometimes underrated, performers. David Reed and Nathan Dawson are masters of accent and character shifts; George Dinsmore moves far beyond the physical comedy for which he is known as he offers a portrait of a good, but haunted man who fears he is losing his grip on reality. Kathy Sykes makes her female version of Mr. Hyde a true vamp and Emily Meadows brings a gentle, realistic energy to her role of the chambermaid who falls for the ultimate bad boy, Edward Hyde. Jeff Sigley has grown significantly as he brings to life the paternal attorney who tries to help Jekyll as his world falls apart and Teresa McWilliams and Dennis Kacsur support the main cast as they engender a number of small supporting roles. And nowhere among them is an out-of-control ego residing at the center of the universe.

No, Chapin Theatre Company’s production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not a musical, but in several key ways, it does feel like one. Nevertheless, it has shown me that I might have to “unswear” that I’ll never direct a genuine musical.

~ Glenn Farr

Glenn Farr has acted, sung and even danced on Midlands stages for nearly 40 years. In the past five years he has directed for Chapin Theatre Company, Workshop Theatre and Village Square Theatre in Lexington.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the Robert Louis Stevenson novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, runs Oct. 19-Nov. 3, 2012 at the Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College, 7300 College St., Irmo, SC 29063. Visit www.chapintheatre.org for information on specific performance dates and reservations.

"I Am My Own Wife" at the Trustus Side Door Theatre - a review

I Am My Own Wife, currently running in the Trustus Side Door Theatre, is simultaneously a candid, personal portrait of one unusual individual, and an almost epic overview, told in some 35 voices, of a half-century of societal changes in East Germany. Along the way, the play comments on the importance of preserving the artifacts of our shared cultural experiences,  and uses theatre as both a tool and a metaphor for the nature of history and memory as we perceive them.  Amazingly, one actor, Paul Kaufmann, accomplishes all of this by himself, alone on stage for nearly two hours, in an intimate 50-seat venue.

The title character calls herself Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, but Mahlsdorf is actually the suburb of East Berlin where she was born Lothar Berfelde, a man who lived and dressed as a woman through the Nazi and Communist regimes; for clarity, let's refer to Charlotte uniformly as "she."  Decades before gender-reassignment existed, Charlotte is no flamboyant cabaret performer, just a rather dowdy, soft-spoken, crazy-cat-lady sort of woman, working as an antiques dealer, then as curator and proprietor of her house-museum of vintage furniture and other domestic furnishings.  Post-reunification of Germany, playwright Doug Wright (inserting himself as a character into his own play) records Charlotte's oral history, seeing her tale of struggle and survival as inspirational and redemptive. But as Charlotte becomes a national cult celebrity, questions arise as to how much of her amazing story may have been exaggerated, how much may have been glossed over, and how much is self-serving.  Wright struggles both as character and author to reconcile his personal, emotional need to believe Charlotte, and his desire to reflect the actual truth.  Yet in a brilliant (and for me, entirely unexpected, although I should have seen it coming a mile away) resolution, Charlotte's own beliefs on the value of historic conservation transfer to the stage and provide an answer: history, written or spoken, is invariably told by someone, while an artifact speaks for itself, allowing each of us our own interpretation. As Wright realizes early on, Charlotte is her own most valuable cultural artifact.  Esoteric, philosophical questions like this alternate with vivid, first-person accounts of the war and its aftermath, and the extraordinary dangers faced by the gay community in a repressive society; not surprisingly, Wright's script won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Drama.

The play was not at all what I had expected. While kicking off the Side Door Theatre's "Sexploration" series (of shows exploring issues of sexuality) there really isn't much sex. In many ways it more closely resembles a live recreation of a detailed PBS documentary on Nazi-era Germany and its Cold War aftermath, incorporating narratives from survivors.  Charlotte's cross-dressing and gay lifestyle seem not all that different from experiences of Jews or devout Catholics, likewise determined to live life on their own terms, whatever the risk.  For me the most poignant moment was Charlotte's account of her own sort of rebel underground: risking her freedom and indeed life by providing a gathering spot for the gay community, once their club is closed down by the state.  In a truth-is-stranger-than fiction moment, Charlotte the obsessive collector and antiquarian salvages most of the original fixtures and furniture from the bar, recreating it in her basement.

Heather Abraham's set design is naturally limited by the tiny space, but the basics of what we need are there, i.e. the suggestion of a house/museum full of dusty, domestic relics. Lighting by Barry Sparks and sound by James A. Watts help establish particular moods and tones at just the right moment.   With a one-actor play, it's impossible to know where to give praise, to the performer or the director, so I'll credit both Kaufmann and director Ellen Douglas Schlaefer (who first collaborated on this show at Workshop five years ago) equally.  The majority of the dialogue is Charlotte telling her own story to the audience, but occasionally slipping into other characters from her life.  Most of these only have a few lines, but Kaufmann has a separate, unique voice for each.  The subtleties are impressive - Charlotte has the heaviest accent, so that we always remember where and when the action is taking place.  Occasionally this means Kaufmann is having a conversation with himself, but he does it almost all vocally, i.e. he retains the body language of Charlotte, simply altering his tone, pitch, and perhaps expression, rather than attempting to make a more definitive movement, or don some different costume or wig.  His voice as Charlotte is gentle and fairly high, although no different from many soft-spoken men. Only once does he convincingly affect the voice of a young woman, in a brief and amusing bit as the German equivalent of a valley girl. My favorite character, however, was Alfred Kirschner (the only character for which Kaufmann changes costume) who maintains a defiant, bitchy sort of battered dignity while incarcerated by the secret police.  I haven't seen Kaufmann play many sympathetic characters - even in the recent Next to Normal  (in which, astoundingly, he was performing nightly while presumably rehearsing this show!) I felt sorry for him, but didn't entirely like the character; here there are enough for anyone to find one to whom they can relate.

Admittedly, not everyone may want to see man in a dress playing different characters, or care about events that happened thousands of miles away and before many of us were born, or want to reflect on the conflicting natures of truth, memory and history.  I recently wrote that Columbia needed something like the late-night Last Call Series production of Plan 9 From Outer Space every weekend of the year. We also need dozens of one-performer plays like I Am My Own Wife, that showcase the talent of local theatre artists. Seeing a "serious" show like this in such an intimate space really makes you think you're in the middle of New York City, where plentiful audiences ensure lengthy runs for the edgiest or most controversial fare, in the tiniest of venues.  Sadly, there are only 5 chances left to see this one: tonight (Friday) Sat. the 13th, and then Thurs. 10/18 through Sat. 10/20.  All performances are at 8 PM; contact the box office at 254-9732 for more information, or visit www.trustus.org.

~ August Krickel

"Hansel & Gretel" at Columbia Marionette Theatre: A Sweet Artistic Triumph - a Review by Arik Bjorn

Dorothy Parker once reviewed a play that was so incompetent in all aspects, that she decided to leave most of her newspaper column space newspaper blank, stating that the production did not even deserve typeset words.  Nothing could be more opposite with respect to deserved accolades than Columbia Marionette Theatre’s latest production, Hansel & Gretel.  Artistic Director Lyon Hill has created something so phenomenal and unique that I was tempted to write the entire review in 100-point font.  However, recognizing that giant block letters might not be a preference for the average online reader, I will offer a single, megalithic, lexical frieze to frame my review:

 HANSEL & GRETEL IS A MONUMENTAL MARIONETTE CREATION!

TAKE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO GO SEE IT!

As I have written in previous reviews, what I appreciate most about the CMT mission — and executive direction John Scollon should be applauded for this — is that it eschews the glamourized, Walt Disney fairytale and clings to the tried-and-true philosophy of edge-of-your-seat, Grimm storytelling.  And what better tale to present (especially in the month of hobgoblins and pumpkins) than one which seems to have been universally ignored by the animated children’s fantasy industry:  Hansel & Gretel.

My four-year-old daughter Kat plied me with questions about the story on the way to the theatre; she had never even heard the title.  The only factoid I would let slip is that there was likely to be a house made out of candy.  As one can imagine, that was enough to set her imagination’s hook.  But not even I was prepared for the sumptuousness of what CMT had prepared for patrons of all ages.

Upon crossing the dragon’s head threshold, even theatregoers who have attended multiple CMT productions will immediately realize there is something unique about this production.  A large, curved film screen covers center stage, and there is something oddly cartoon-esque about the set.  This was intentional; director Hill drew expertly on the classic black-and-white animation of the Fleischer Brothers (Betty Boop, Popeye, Koko the Clown) as inspiration for his set and marionette characters.  This is especially telling in the rounded qualities of the puppet faces, and in their oblong eyes; in fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen marionettes which seemed so eerily alive.

Hansel and Gretel deep in the forest

The show begins with an immediate departure from the traditional Hansel & Gretel tale.  Both the poor woodcutter and his wife absolutely adore their children.  The reason for this welcome twist may be that Hill wrote the story as a special dedication to his young son, Oliver.  A dreaded wood filled with ghosts and boy-eating witches is one thing, but no child should have to endure the added torture of an abusive stepmother.  Yet despite being the candied apples of their parent’s eyes, there’s only so much roasted boot a la tongue any child can endure.  Following Hansel’s retelling of ‘The Tale of the Three Thieves’ — in which the stage is expanded with computer animation, and puppeteers Cooper Hill, Payton Frawley and Lyon Hill enthrall the audience with precisely-timed shadow puppetry — audience members soon find themselves in familiar territory:  at play in the field of the pastry-bread home with strawberry shortcake shutters.

A reviewer really could wax on and on about this spectacular production.  Like the professional marionette stages in Prague, this is a show that adults without children would thoroughly enjoy.  And I truly hope that other marionette professionals around the region and nation take the opportunity to travel to Columbia to witness what is without a doubt the crowning work to date by Lyon Hill and CMT’s very talented crew.  The production also boasts an incredible original score in the vein of a Woody Allen soundtrack by David Drazin, as well as the aforementioned original animation by Wade Sellers and Jeffrey Shroyer, and the vocal talents of local actors Kevin Bush and Jenny Mae Hill.

Hansel, Gretel and Witch

My personal favorite puppet moment was the skeleton whose bones magically dislocate and reassemble during a Fred Astaire song-and-dance number.  I also loved the owl puppet set high aloft the stage as introductory narrator; I hope the owl becomes a mainstay character for future CMT productions.  (Perhaps call him Owlistair Cooke.)  Another ingenious creative choice was making the witch a haggy vulture, whose appetite for human flesh is a bit easier for children to swallow, given her carrion nature; that, and it’s a tad easier to stomach watching a bird get its just desserts by being cooked in an oven than a humanoid figure.

At one point, Hansel describes the treasure of the three thieves — upon which the brother and sister pin their hopes to save their family from poverty — as so valuable that it cannot be named.  Without a doubt, our city is home to such a valuable treasure for children’s storytelling, yet it has a name:  Columbia Marionette Theatre.  And I can only conclude in the way in which I began:  Hansel & Gretel is unlike any show CMT has ever staged; whether child or adult, you are in for an extraordinary storytelling treat.

 TAKE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO GO SEE IT!

~ Arik Bjorn

Hansel & Gretel runs until December 29 with performances every Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.  Tickets are $5 per person.  Children under 2 are free!  The Columbia Marionette Theatre is located at 401 Laurel Street (corner of Huger and Laurel).  Call 252.7366 for more information or to reserve party space for your little ones.  To learn more about Columbia Marionette Theatre, visit www.cmtpuppet.org .

NOTE: Tuesday Oct. 9th, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, there will be a special event in the Hallway at 701 Whaley showcasing The Art of Hansel and Gretel by Lyon Forrest Hill. Get a glimpse inside Columbia Marionette Theatre's production of Hansel and Gretel. This exhibit features conceptual art including sketches, character designs and prototype marionettes by Lyon Forrest Hill. Deliciously evil treats provided by Jenny Mae Hill. Details can be found at http://www.facebook.com/events/188415467960730/

"The Importance of Being Earnest" at USC's Longstreet Theatre - a Review by Jillian Owens

Originally billed as “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” The Importance of Being Earnest gets a fun and funky 1960’s reboot in the new Theatre South Carolina production of Oscar Wilde’s last and best-known play. The plot of this rollicking farce is perhaps best expressed in the line, “The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.”  John and Algernon are close pals with double lives.  John (aka Jack) avoids his somber life of responsibilities in the country by inventing a brother by the name of Ernest, whom he constantly has to visit, to rescue him from some scrape or another.  Algernon (aka Algy), on the other hand, frequently escapes to the country to avoid unwelcome social obligations, claiming to visit his imaginary (and always sickly) buddy, "Bunbury."

This arrangement serves them both well, until John (who is living as "Ernest" in the city) falls in love with Algy’s cousin Gwendolen.  Gwendolen’s mother, Lady Bracknell, is appalled to discover Ernest/John is an orphan, found in a handbag at Victoria Station.  To escape her disapproval, Gwendolen and Ernest/John plan to elope in the country.  Little do they know, Algy overhears their plans, and decides to have a bit of his own fun.  After finding out John has a beautiful young ward by the name of Cecily at his country estate, he shows up posing as John’s rascally younger brother...."Ernest."

Traditional Wildean wit, hilarity and clever banter ensue.  Even those who have never seen this play performed live will remember many of Wilde’s signature one-liners.  Both Gwendolyn and Cecily are determined that they can only love a man by the name of Ernest, and certainly not John or Algy!  The play is a searing commentary on the frivolity and insincerity of Victorian culture.  Wilde believed “that we should take all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality.”

This production was cleverly re-set from 1895 to some time in the 1960’s with go-go dancers, a terrific retro score, a set that would be any Anglophile’s dream, and wildly flamboyant costumes.  And it works.  Director Robert Richmond is obviously aware that with a show so dialogue-heavy, a modern audience could easily get bored.  There is absolutely no opportunity for boredom in this intensely high-energy production.  The actors are constantly in movement (a benefit of this production being done in the round), and the dance numbers between scenes are expertly choreographed by Emily Gonzalez (more on her later).

I always look forward to seeing a production at USC, as their shows easily have the most consistently high production values in Columbia.  This show was no exception.  The fun and adaptive set by Kimi Maeda transforms perfectly from a swinging 60’s bachelor pad to a happy hippie garden.  The costumes are simply brilliant.  Elizabeth Coffin displays an amazing amount of talent here, especially for an undergrad.  They are wild, colorful, clever, and beautifully executed with an intense attention to detail.

Pictured: From left, Danielle Peterson (as Gwendolen), Liam MacDougall (as Algernon) and William Vaughan (as Jack)

I was surprised to discover that the cast for this show was all undergraduates.  Usually Theatre South Carolina relies much more heavily on its graduate students.  Emily Gonzalez makes a delightfully naive Cecily Cardew, and her choreography gives this show the jolt of energy it needs to maintain the interest of a modern audience.  Rocco Thompson delivers a particularly hilarious standout performance as Lady Bracknell.  Liam Macdougall’s Algernon is funny and fey, though difficult to understand at times.  Danielle Peterson seemed a bit stiff and uncomfortable in her role as Gwendolen, almost as if she were playing the role 15 years older than it was intended.  But her spot-on sense of comedic timing more than compensates for this.  William Vaughan plays off his fellow actors well as an exuberant though put-upon John/Ernest.  All of the actors do a fine job, especially for being such a young group with varying levels of experience.

The Importance of Being Earnest makes for a delightfully witty way to spend an evening.  So go ahead…take a walk on the Wilde side.

~ Jillian Owens

The show runs through Sat. Oct. 13th at USC's Longstreet Theatre.  Show times are 8 pm Wednesdays-Fridays, 7 pm Saturdays and 3 pm on the first Sunday.  There is an additional half-price late night performance on Saturday, October 13 at 11 pm.   Tickets for the production are $12 for students, $16 for USC faculty/staff, military personnel and seniors 60+, and $18 for the general public.  Tickets can be purchased by calling 803-777-2551 or by visiting the Longstreet Theatre box office, which is open Monday-Friday, 12:30 pm-5:30 pm.

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves – A Blonde Bombshell Falls on Workshop Theatre! A review by Stephen Ingle

Legally Blonde - The Musical opened at Workshop Theatre on Friday night, and it was a performance that Gloria Steinem, Helen Gurley Brown, and every other feminist would have proudly supported.  Even if you have not seen the movie which this musical is based on, or are not a fan, this production will have you seeing blonde on your way out the door.

The play tells the story of Elle (wonderfully portrayed by Giulia Marie Dalbec), a Malibu blonde whose obsession with pink, fashion, and everything trendy borders on the sickeningly stereotypical.  After graduating from UCLA, where she was a proud member of the Delta Nu sorority, she thinks her boyfriend, Warner (Daniel Gainey), is going to propose, sealing her fate as a rich lawyer’s wife.  However, he has different plans, and decides she’s not the right fit for his future as a prominent lawyer and senator. So, he goes off to Harvard Law, and Elle has to re-think her master plan.  Here is where the feminist mystique gets lost, due to the fact that Elle decides to study, study, and study to also get into Harvard, all for the sake of getting her man back.  When she arrives, Elle has to face up to the fact that law school isn’t the pink parade that she thought it would be, and she has to get to work. By sheer movie and musical magic, she runs into Warner, and discovers that he has a new girlfriend, Vivienne (Shelby Sessler) who is much more suited to the political power couple from Warner’s dreams.  Faced with the reality of losing her man, Elle decides to throw herself into her studies with the help of a law class teaching assistant, Emmett (Mark Ziegler).  Unlike Elle, Emmett comes from a humble background where his single mother worked and slaved to make sure he could attend law school.  Emmett even works three jobs while at school to make ends meet. Elle enrolls in a law class run by a ruthless law professor named Callahan, where Emmett is the assistant and both Warner and Vivienne are in class, too. Callahan announces that he will accept four students as interns at his very prestigious firm based on their performance.

Emmett decides to take Elle under his wing and make her work through holidays to get that internship. This pays off when she is asked to join Callahan’s legal team in a high profile case defending a gorgeous blonde workout guru accused of killing her much older husband.  Unfortunately, Elle comes face to face (literally) with Callahan’s true intentions when he tries to kiss her, and sexually harasses her. In the end, Elle saves the case and the day, she and Emmett get together, and she moves past Warner and Vivienne. Overall, it follows the rule of the well-written plot with all the stages in place – exposition, rising action, climax, denouement, and resolution. It’s a fun ride, especially with some of the musical numbers. The most notable numbers are “What You Want,” Blood in the Water,” “Bend and Snap,” and “Gay or European.” As I implied in the title, this show is carried by the female roles. The “chorus” comprised of Elle’s friends from UCLA help keep the story moving with their unyielding energy.  Besides Giulia Marie Dalbec, who truly does a phenomenal job, other standout performances are Kathy Milliron as Paulette and Sarah Farra as Brooke.

Unfortunately, the male actors in the show couldn’t quite hold up their end of the bargain. Although they had wonderful singing voices, for the most part there was simply no chemistry between them and Elle. In the role of Emmett, Mark Ziegler just didn’t have the edge as the blue-collar, working student struggling to get through school to provide the dichotomy to Elle’s more spoiled, rich girl persona. He came off more as the best friend or nice guy who finishes last, which was off-putting, since he wins Elle in the end. As Warner, Daniel Gainey played the part with a nice level of soft sincerity, but there was a certain schmarmy-ness missing from his opportunistic, ladder-climbing character. Finally, Hunter Boyle did bring a lot of life to the role of Callahan, which made the song “Blood in the Water” so enjoyable. However, the very important moment of sexual harassment when he makes a move on Elle seemed glossed over, just lying there on the stage. Also, one slight technical note – the sound designer should really look into putting microphones above or on the catwalk above the set for the chorus. They open the show, and I couldn’t hear or understand them at all.

Overall, I recommend Legally Blonde - The Musical to Columbia theatre-goers. It’s a high energy, fun, and appealing show that will have you humming the songs on the way home. Also, for all you animal lovers, there are two very cute and apparently well-trained dogs in the production.

Legally Blonde - The Musical runs through September 29th at Workshop Theatre,  1136 Bull St.  Showtimes are at 8:00 p.m. except a September 23rd matinee at 3:00 p.m. Call the box office at  (803) 799-6551 for reservations between noon and 5:30 p.m.  Tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for senior citizens and military, $16 for students, and $12 for children under 12.

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Jasper - The Word on Columbia Arts welcomes Stephen Ingle to our roster of theatre critics.  After living in Los Angeles for 15 years where he worked as an actor, writer, producer, and stand-up comic, Stephen returned to his roots in Columbia, SC. Having just received his Masters of Arts in Teaching in Theatre Education from USC, he is currently teaching Theatre in the Richland One School District.

"Next to Normal" at Trustus Theatre - a Review by Jillian Owens

When I was asked to review Trustus Theatre’s first show of the season, Next to Normal, I was hesitant.  I don’t usually like musicals.  It seems like the vast majority that are being launched on Broadway nowadays are pure fluff – adaptations of 80’s and 90’s movies hoping to bank on an easily entertained populace’s desire for nostalgia and escapism.  But then there was this little gem that won the Tony for Best Score, Best Orchestrations, and Best Book by Tom Kitt (Music) and Brian Yorkey (Book and Lyrics).  It also won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama - an uncommon honor for a musical.  “What am I in for?” I wondered. The story of a family being ripped apart by mental illness seems an unlikely subject for a musical, which is one of the reasons this one works so well.  The play opens on what appears to be a typical morning with Diana Goodman (played by Vicky Saye Henderson) preparing lunches for her husband, daughter, and son, and devolves into her throwing sandwiches on the floor.  Diana is not well.  She suffers from severe bipolar disorder, accompanied by hallucinations.   In the next few weeks, Diana visits her psychotherapist (played by Terrance Henderson) who adjusts and readjusts her meds until she is mentally numb, but deemed “stable”.   But she misses her highs and lows…making her something less than the most cooperative patient.

This show’s power comes from the twisted but strong ties between the characters.  Dan (Paul Kaufmann) loves Diana, but wonders who is crazier: her for her illness, or him for staying with her?   Natalie (Elisabeth Baker) is perhaps the most sympathetic character in the play.  She is struggling to be the perfect daughter, but gets lost in competition with her brother (the song “Super Boy and the Invisible Girl”), while living with the very real fear that her mother’s illness might be lurking somewhere in her DNA as well.  Fortunately, she has found a friend in her new love, Henry (played by Chase W. Nelson) whose struggle to keep her out of trouble is a haunting mirror image of the struggle between Dan and Diana.  I won’t give any spoilers here, but rest assured, the plot twists in surprising and heartbreaking ways that will leave you agog.

The entire cast is simply terrific.  Vicky Saye Henderson’s vocal chops are on perfect display here, and Paul Kaufmann’s numbers will make you tear up.  Terrance Henderson’s voice is powerful and lush, and he gives great dimension to what could easily have ended up being a throwaway role.  It’s exciting to see terrific young talent cropping up in Elisabeth Baker, Andy Bell, and Chase W. Nelson – all relative newcomers to the Trustus stage.  I look forward to seeing more from them.

Next to Normal, directed by Chad Henderson,  is the type of show Trustus does best.  They have taken an amazing script, combined it with a small but amazing cast, and put it on a simple but well-designed set.  Musical Director Tom Beard's orchestra is subtle and effective.  The music melds with the story seamlessly.  Spectacle and shows with huge casts have never been the ideal for such a small stage, and this one doesn’t need it.  This show is powerful…spine-tinglingly so.  This is a beautifully challenging piece of theatre that needed to be created, and demands to be seen.

You should see this show.  Yes…you.  Even if you don’t like musicals, and especially if you or anyone you love has been affected by mental illness.  You will leave the theatre profoundly affected.

This is the first show without Jim and Kay Thigpen at the helm (Happy Retirement!), and proof that you can still put your trust in Trustus.

~ Jillian Owens

Next to Normal runs at Trustus Theatre through Sat. Sept. 29^th; contact the box office at 803-254-9732 for ticket information.

Album Review: Can't Kids - Brushes Touches Tongues

Full disclosure: I’ve always sort of been a fan boy of Can’t Kids co-founder Adam Cullum. From his heart-on-sleeve solo recordings in Falling off a Building to his multi-instrumental prowess and role as the energetic center of the literary-folk/pop group Magnetic Flowers, I’ve always considered him one of the scene’s finest assets. Whether you love or hate what he is doing on stage, it’s hard to deny the passion and instrumental power of his performances. And now, we have Can’t Kids.

The band was born as a duo, with Cullum and Jessica Oliver bashing out poppy tunes at deafening levels in the house they shared. The two frequently shared vocals and seem to (at least initially) take turns playing drums or guitar. White Stripes comparisons quickly followed, which is something the two found puzzling when I talked to Cullum back in July. At first I shared their confusion, but the more I’ve listened to this debut, though, I think there might be some logic behind the linkage, and it gets to the heart of what makes both groups tick.

We tend to think of The White Stripes as this primal blues-based monster, with the high octane riffs of songs like “Seven Nation Army” or “Fell in Love with a Girl” being exemplars of their muscular ferociousness. But this is also a group who made the largely marimba-based Get Behind Me Satan and featured such twee pop ballads as “We’re Going to be Friends” and “I Want to be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart.” These odd contradictions—of Son House and Burt Bacharach, The Sex Pistols and Belle & Sebastian—are actually what seem to capture the group the best.

Similarly with Can’t Kids, the initial reaction always seems to come from their loudest, most heavy-edged moments. The group’s sound seems frequently inspired by the pounding and propulsive electric guitars of 90s indie rockers like Modest Mouse or Pavement, with pounding drums and meandering, electric guitar riffs that often seem nearly unhinged. Correspondingly, there are maniacal shouts and misanthropic observations that also mark the best of Modest Mouse: see Oliver’s inflamed howl of “I wanna see this city burn/I wanna be Sheeeer-man!” on “Stab/Grab”  or  Cullum’s snarling, irony-tinged pronouncement that “If I had a nickel for every person that I hate/I could buy a fancy rifle and blow us all away” on “Dimes,” a line that’s a pretty direct rip from MM’s “Cowboy Dan.” They also, albeit less frequently, employ the sardonic non-sequesters of Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus (“Stab/Grab” is probably the best example).

But the group is also pulling from another set of less fearsome indie rock traditions—the literary grandiose-ness of something like “Ghost Killah” seems more Neutral Milk Hotel or Decemberists than anything else, and the frequent borrowing of commercial hooks (“maybe it’s Maybelline,” “line in shambles?/Try Campbell’s!”) or pointedly high-octane pop song structures (“It’s Yrs” or “Happy Hippie Songs”) seem to create similar sorts of contradictions that allowed The White Stripes to thrive.

The two members that Oliver and Cullum chose to add to the group emphasizes this odd dichotomy. (Formerly?) hardcore bassist Henry Thomas was brought into the fold to add a pummeling low end which frequently adds to the menace and mania of the sound, while cellist Amy Cuthbertson brings an obvious beauty and chamber-pop vibe to the proceedings. Of course, in a fitting irony, often times Thomas’ bass line propels a poppy tune like “It’s Yrs” and Cuthbertson provides a strong sense of foreboding with her dark string parts. So, either way, a sense of difference and discontinuity seems to be emphasized.

Still, for all that comparison does in fleshing out the conceptual appeal of the band, what really sells it is the obvious chemistry between Oliver and Cullum. The sense of friendship and community apparent from much of the lyrics, from inside jokes and a shared past to a sense of honesty and love among true partners, is evident from even a cursory experience with these tunes. In addition, their shared vocals, equal parts hooky melodies and shouted glee, have an infectious power that is one of the best illustrations of a band enjoying making music so much that you have no choice but to like it too.

If you can’t tell, this record gets two pretty damn big thumbs up from Jasper!

Can't Kids - Brushes Touches Tongues is available at Fork & Spoon records, here.

Jon Tuttle's "The Palace of the Moorish Kings" - A Review by Jillian Owens

Jon Tuttle’s new play, The Palace of the Moorish Kings (based on the short story by Evan S. Connell) makes for a powerful and thought-provoking night of theatre.  Tuttle is no stranger to  Trustus Theatre – he’s their Playwright-in-Residence.  You may remember him from such works as The Sweet Abyss, Holy Ghost, and The White Problem. It’s Thanksgiving Day, 1970.  Dave and Millicent, played by Gene Aimone and Christina Whitehouse-Suggs, are a seemingly happy upper middle class couple full of smiles with a lovely home (newly renovated!) and dear friends whom they’ve invited over for their traditional holiday feast.  But there’s more than a hint of worry behind their cheerful expressions:  there’s one guest that hasn’t RSVP’d.  Their son has gone missing in Vietnam, but traditions must continue.

As the guests arrive, we learn theirs is not the only family in concealed crisis.  Aileen and Art (played by Becky Hunter and Christopher Cockrell), have a marriage whose foundation is beginning to show its cracks.  Leroy and his daughter Junie (played by James Harley and Erin Huiett) seem to be a content pair, but why has Junie dropped out of college?  Barbara and Al (played by Kim Harne and Shane Walters) are still deeply in love after many years of marriage, but Barbara’s sporadically shaky right hand indicates trouble on the horizon.  This coming-of-middle-age story explores what this group of friends, who have known each other since high school, has given up in their quest for the American Dream.  They’ve all achieved their own levels of success, but still have become wistful and jealous when they hear from their friend J.D., a draft dodger who chose a life of travel and adventure over college, a job, and marriage.  They all live vicariously through his letters from around the world, which curiously never ask about their own, considerably more predictable lives.

All of the actors do an excellent job with their roles.  Huiett makes a wonderfully subtle Junie, which is perhaps the most important character in the play.  We see her asking all the questions the rest of the group wishes they had asked themselves at her age.  She’s not quite so easily sold on the idea of a marriage and a split level being the ingredients for happiness and fulfillment.  Hunter’s Aileen is spot-on and sassy, with unwavering energy and passion.  Aimone, Suggs, and Cockrell deliver powerful and dynamic performances. Other characters, however, seem to exist merely as sounding boards for their more fleshed-out counterparts.  James Harley does what he can with the role of Leroy, who doesn’t say or do very much, except get a little sad about his divorce, and worried about his daughter.  Harne and Walters also fall victim to being good actors with weak characters.  They make a convincingly loving couple, and Harne’s portrayal of a woman who is in the beginning stages of a serious illness is truly touching -- but it seems like Al only exists to provide exposition about the adventures of the well-traveled J.D.  Once again, Walters does what he can, but this script doesn’t give him anywhere to go.  As  director, Dewey  Scott-Wiley has gotten the most out of her cast with this demanding script.

A great deal of dialog is dedicated to how beautiful and amazing Dave and Millicent’s home is, and the set really needed to show the 1970's ideal of beautiful and amazing.  I wasn’t feeling it.  It seemed almost unfinished and quickly thrown together.  An implied set would have worked better for this production if budget or time constraints were the issue. 

The Palace of The Moorish Kings leaves you in a state of thoughtful contemplation.  I would like to see this show 20 years from now, to see if I still identify with the youthful idealism of Junie, or if I find myself agreeing with the older, more conservative Dave.  It’s a show I’d like to take my parents to see with me and discuss over dinner afterwards. Perhaps you’ll go see it with yours?

~ Jillian Owens

The Palace of the Moorish Kings  continues its run on Wednesday, August 15th, and runs through this Saturday, August 18^th.   The Wednesday and Thursday night performances  start at 7:30 PM, while Friday and Saturday nights begin at 8:00 PM.  Note that half-price student tickets are available 15 minutes prior to every curtain.  Trustus Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street, behind the Gervais St. Publix. Parking is available on Lady St. and on Pulaski St.  The Main Stage entrance is located on the Publix side of the building.  For more information or reservations, call the box office at 803-254-9732, or visit http://www.trustus.org .

A Little Princess, Camp Rock, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat all running through this weekend

As I type this, the temperature has passed one hundred degrees yet again.  Wouldn't this be the perfect time to relax inside a nice, cool, dark theatre and see a live show?  If so, you have lots of chances through this weekend, as three local theatre companies present the final performances of their  summer productions. Chapin Theatre Company (aka Chapin Community Theatre) is currently  performing in the Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College, located at  7300 College St. in Irmo.  Currently running is A Little Princess., adapted from the classic novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, with shows tonight (Thursday, 7/26) Friday and Saturday, and a final Sunday afternoon matinee.   This production, directed by Debra Leopard,  features Molly Corbett in the title role, with Jeff Sigley, MonaLisa Botts, and Eliza C. Spence among the adults in the cast.    From their press release:

A Little Princess is the classic story of Sara Crews, a little girl born in India who is sent to a London private school after her mother dies. After word arrives that her father has lost his fortune and disappeared, she is banished to the garret where she must use her creative imagination and spirited optimism to overcome her circumstances. Ultimately, she becomes an inspiration for girls and boys everywhere. An uplifting tale for children of all ages, NewsDay said there is "a lot of magic in it."  Visit www.chapintheatre.org for ticket information.

Workshop Theatre meanwhile is presenting three more performances of  Disney's Camp Rock - The Musical, this Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 PM. Read What Jasper Said about the show at  http://jaspercolumbia.net/blog/?p=1841 .

Town Theatre has four more performances scheduled for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Thursday through Saturday evening st 7:30 PM, and a final Sunday matinee at 3 PM.  Scott Vaughan plays the lead role of Joseph, Shannon Willis Scruggs directs and choreographs, and Lou Warth is the music director.   From their press release:

Based on the book of Genesis, this exciting musical follows the story of a young man with a knack for having prophetic dreams. He incurs the jealousy of his eleven brothers who sell him into slavery in Egypt where his talents eventually save the country from famine and secure him a position as Pharaoh’s right-hand man. In due time, he is reunited with his now contrite and guilt-ridden brethren.  Its catchy music by Andrew Lloyd Webber utilizes a variety of musical styles and genres including rock ‘n’ roll, country-western, reggae, disco and even a French art song. Music is by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics are by Tim Rice. Joseph… is a winning show that is ideal family entertainment. Prepare to enter a world of dreams, for – as Joseph learns – “any dream will do.”     Visit http://towntheatre.com for ticket information.

Talented Young Cast Rocks the House at Workshop - A Review of Disney's Camp Rock - The Musical

Workshop Theatre's summer show, Disney's Camp Rock - The Musical, is enjoyable, family-friendly fun, set to an energetic rock beat, providing a nice chance for some talented teens and tweens to take center stage.  Based on two popular Disney tv movies that were vehicles for Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, the show isn't exactly Sondheim, but aiming for the 8-18 age bracket means it's by no means a children's show either. Instead, we re-visit comfortably familiar themes of puppy love, teen rivalries, and summer camp hijinks, accompanied by a lively, contemporary pop-rock score. Sure, like any Disney product there is a little sense of some pre-packaging for a target demographic.  The book, by Robert L. Freedman and Faye Greenberg, is based on scripts and characters from five authors, while the score, "adapted, arranged, and orchestrated" by David Lawrence (a veteran Disney composer, who worked on all three High School Musical films, and is the son of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme) incorporates numbers from 20 (!) songwriters, meaning that there was just a little assembly line work going on. Chief among those writers is Kara DioGuardi, the American Idol judge who has written hits for former Disney starlets like Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera and Hilary Duff, while others have worked with everyone from Kelly Clarkson to Katy Perry.  What impressed me most was how admirably and professionally the cast of 33 local youngsters (only a few are past their teen years) acquitted themselves on stage, demonstrating yet again that there is an entire generation of new local performers waiting in the wings.

The titular Camp Rock is a summer performance/music camp for kids, run by Brown Cesario (George Dinsmore), an aging rocker from the early MTV era, who capitalizes on the popularity of his three nephews, members of a popular boy band, Connect 3. When rival Camp Star (more luxurious, more regimented, and founded by the drummer Cesario fired 15 years before) threatens Camp Rock's future, it's no plot spoiler to reveal that the protagonists will have to overcome personal issues and teen drama, to pitch in together for a battle of the bands.

Katie Foshee has done nice work in any number of ensemble and supporting roles in recent years; here she graduates to romantic lead, the rocker chick Mitchie, and doesn't disappoint. Resembling a prettier Danica McKellar (Kevin's dream girl on The Wonder Years) Foshee displays a strong, appealing voice, and a talent for quick bantering dialogue. Nominal male lead Alex Cowsert, as Shane, likewise distinguishes himself vocally, especially in a couple of sweet love songs with Foshee. I say "nominal," since middle brother Nate (Avery Herndon) gets a romantic sub-plot too, and he very nearly steals the show with the song "Introducing Me," also featuring Alex Webster as the winsome Dana.  I recall Herndon from the ensemble in Spring Awakening this winter at Trustus, but, like Foshee, here he gets a chance to showcase some serious vocal talent.   When he and Webster sing together, they are just adorable; if they were any cuter, they'd be puppies.  Of course, there has to be a teen diva in the show like this, and Kathryn Reddic plays "mean girl"  Tess with gusto, plus gets some of the best dance numbers. Also of note is Marc Smith as Tess's rival Luke; his R&B-themed song "Fire" is done in an ultra-deep, resonant baritone, quite rare in a world of Ushers and Chris Browns.  Catherine Davenport, Tara Wallace and Mellie Boozer make the most of supporting roles as Mitchie's fellow campers, while the tiny Quincy Sykes gets some good laughs as a precocious and mischievous drummer-girl-in-training.  As above, the entire cast does fine in the group numbers, and even the youngest performers (some seem about age 8) keep up move for move, step for step, with their older peers.

Musical Director Daniel Gainey (also a gifted actor, as we saw in In the Next Room at Trustus just a few months ago) achieves a full, rich sound from his young and largely female cast.  At no time do we ever hear "Hard Knock Life"-style, sing-song children's voices; instead we hear the same catchy harmonies featured in any top 40 song on the radio today.  Choreographer Katie Hilliger also ensures that everyone's movements on stage are fluid and similar to the moves in any popular rock or hip-hop video.  The cast sings to a recorded score; that combined with 33 wireless mikes guarantees that there will be some issues with volume and feedback, but I have to say that any minor glitches were resolved almost instantly, and by and large, Baxter Engle's sound design is effective. Most of the cast have long hair and/or hats, and so for a pleasant change, head mikes were inconspicuous.

Director E.G. Heard makes everything flow and sound quite naturally; most of these kids could do a quite credible job playing these same roles in some professional touring version of this show.  Randy Strange's set incorporates a lush, realistic, painted drop (credit also goes to scenic artists Ed Sexauer, Beth Burnside and Pam Johnson) that depicts a lake and adjoining dock. Combined with the stage floor painted to suggest the shadows of foliage overhead (Barry Sparks' lighting design contributes to this effect too) and a couple of basic log cabin facades, the location is instantly and clearly defined, while leaving most of the stage free and uncluttered for the dance numbers.  Sparks also includes some nifty and inventive lighting effects in the pieces performed by the Star Campers, including "Tear It Down," featuring Reddic and Smith.  While most of the costumes are ostensibly "street clothes" and typical casual wear, Alexis Doktor plays with a lot of fine nuances; one camper wears a sequined shirt, another prefers tie-dye, and a third wears a plaid mini-skirt with dark leggings, each embodying a particular "type" of high school fashion and preference.  The Star Campers, on the other hand, all wear uniform-like, general issue t-shirts, making a subtle statement about the difference between the two groups.  When we notice one Star Camper wearing a slightly different and more attractive design, it's no surprise that she will turn out to be important to the plot. Even Dinsmore sports an authentic CBGB shirt, immediately defining Cesario's era before he has to say a word. I do wish that Cowsert and Herndon were clothed in a bit more glam fashion, to signify that they are actual rock stars, but youngest brother Jason (Ethan Cash) sports a funky hat and short pants, capturing the look of a pre-teen idol.

Don't get me wrong - like most Disney fare, much of Camp Rock is light-weight, derivative, and enjoyable for the moment, yet disposable. The plot is resolved via a deus-ex-machina slipped in so quickly you almost miss it.  Few of the many supporting characters are really developed, even though the entire play runs under an hour and 45 minutes.  A central conflict (stemming from Mitchie alienating her friends, by driving them so hard to succeed) was echoed in at least two reruns of The Big Bang Theory this past week alone, as well as in the final season of Buffy, at least one episode of Saved By the Bell, and probably many others previously.  Herndon's inability to communicate with the girl he's crushing on goes all the way back to She Stoops to Conquer in the 1700's.  The rousing Act 2 opener "Heart and Soul" is very reminiscent of the late 80's hit "Wild Wild West" by The Escape Club, while Mitchie and Shane's power ballad "Wouldn't Change a Thing" reminded me a bit of the Ann Wilson-Mike Reno duet "Almost Paradise."  And just about every musical number has a parallel scene in High School Musical.   Still, these are excellent sources to borrow from, and most audience members won't recognize how familiar it all seems.  The joy of Camp Rock is in the accessible, upbeat music, and how proficiently the local cast brings it all to life.  An earlier generation followed Jem and the Holograms; for me, it was the Monkees, Scooby Doo and the Partridge Family, and those older still may recall Dobie Gillis or even Andy Hardy;  Camp Rock is simply the latest incarnation of this same youthful, escapist entertainment.  I cannot imagine any teen or tween not enjoying it.  As for adults?  Well, I had an excuse to go: reviewing the show.  And my first thought when the lights went up?  "Those kids rocked the house!"  So I'd advise you to take your children or grandchildren, or find some younger siblings, cousins, or neighbors' kids, and treat them to an evening of theatre, one tailor-made for their musical tastes.  They’ll have a blast, and you might just too. Disney's Camp Rock - The Musical runs through July 28th at Workshop Theatre; contact the box office at 803-799-6551 for ticket information.

~ August Krickel

Book Review -- The Accidental Candidate: The Rise and Fall of Alvin Greene, by Corey Hutchins and David Axe, with art by Blue Delliquanti and cover by Dre Lopez

Before I begin, I should admit to no real expertise with graphic novels. I have read only a handful before tackling The Accidental Candidate, the new book from Free Times reporter Corey Hutchins and freelance war correspondent and graphic novelist David Axe, with art by Blue Delliquanti and cover art Dre Lopez. However, each time I return to the medium, I am amazed by its power to tell a story in a way fundamentally different, but equally as compelling, as a traditional novel. The interaction between word and image and the momentum and movement that a narrative gains from the frame structure has its own beauty, and one should read a graphic novel or two for that experience if nothing else.

But enough about the medium -- let’s talk about this particular book, which is not technically a “novel," but a graphic non-fiction work; an emerging genre in which co-writer David Axe is a leader.  The book chronicles, as the subtitle says, “The Rise and Fall of Alvin Greene,” South Carolina’s Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010.

If you’ve already forgotten this bizarre, and embarrassing, political spectacle -- the kind of thing that can only happen in South Carolina -- here's the quick and dirty summary. Knowing that unseating Tea Party kingmaker Jim DeMint from his Senate seat was likely going to a be a Sisyphean task, nobody really geared up to take on the charge other than one former State House rep -- who did only minimal campaigning before the primary --  and Alvin Greene, a 32-year-old unemployed Army vet of whom nobody had ever heard, and who didn’t bother to campaign at all. But something strange, improbable, and a little suspicious happened -- Greene won the primary in a landslide. Suddenly Greene became a huge story, as countless media outlets ran interviews of the socially awkward man, who lived with his father in Manning, SC, and who seemed to have painfully little political acumen, if indeed he had any at all.

The depiction of Greene by both the writers and Delliquanti seems to be deliberately unadorned, conveying not only the uncertain sense that Greene might not be “all there,” but also that he lives his life largely in his head as a misunderstood loner whose poor communication skills make him come across as less intelligent than he actually is. Hutchins and Axe don’t shy away from some of the more off-the-wall ideas that Greene came up with during the race -- his suggestion that action figures of himself be made and sold to jump-start the economy and his claim that DeMint single-handedly started the recession, for example -- but they avoid making those moments merely punch lines. Greene's opponent in the primary, Vic Rawl, also comes off pretty well as an embattled defender of election fairness and democratic responsibility. It is primarily party figures on both sides who come off badly, as the writers read the Tea Party riot act and come down on the bumbling ineffectiveness of leadership in South Carolina's Democratic Party.

As compelling as the basic story is here, though, it’s a little too straightforward and limited to carry the book by itself, so the writers use the story as a jumping off point to illustrate some troubling truths about our political discourse. Hutchins himself becomes one of the central characters in the book, as he recounts not only Greene’s story, but also his own role in the debacle. An astute reporter with a knack for long-form intensive journalism, Hutchins was the first and only reporter to cover Greene before the election, and also had the benefit of conducting some of the most in-depth interviews the candidate was willing to give. While his winning portrayal of himself might come off as self-serving to some, it also seems rightly earned, given his extensive coverage of the events in Columbia’s Free Times.

Hutchins and Axe's depiction of Hutchins' own efforts point to a glaring failure, in most traditional media outlets, when it comes to covering politics, as many of the biggest and most important stories go unreported while exhaustive attention is given to the horse race of polling and acquiring the cheap sound bite. Hutchins and Axe draw connections from Greene’s story to a variety of these issues, including the controversy over faulty voting machines (South Carolina bought their current batch from Mississippi, after the latter decided they weren’t reliable enough); the known shady practice by Republican operatives of  planting poor black candidates in races in the South; the rise of the Tea Party; and, DeMint’s connections with the cultish fundamentalist group in DC known as The Fellowship.

In doing this, the team's work fits into the emerging trend of non-traditional reporting techniques made both possible and necessary due to the rise of the Internet and 24-hour cable news. While most of the story comes directly from Hutchins' own reporting on Greene, there is also a deft use of quotes from other journalists and national political figures that lends the book a weighty sense of argument.

-- Kyle Petersen

(In addition to being the music editor for Jasper Magazine, Kyle Petersen holds a master's degree in English from USC and is currently pursuing a PhD in American Literature. He is also a former employee of the SC Democratic Party Headquarters.)

Avenue Q at Trustus Theatre - A Review

Avenue Q, the new summer show now running at Trustus Theatre, is a lively, witty, naughty musical romp through the challenges of young adulthood in the big city, told via catchy, silly, bouncy songs, performed by puppets. Well, by live actors, four of whom give voice and life to a number of Muppet-style hand puppets.  For sheer escapism and entertainment, you absolutely will not be disappointed by this triple Tony winner that ran for over six years in New York, and still thrives and prospers off-Broadway today.

With music and lyrics by creators Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, and book by Jeff Whitty, Avenue Q  follows the adventures of recent college grad Princeton, an archetypal naïf looking for his meaning in life... or perhaps just a job, and a cheap place to live, which he finds in the low-rent zone of Avenue Q.  Princeton is Everyman (or Everypuppet) at 22, and this theme has been explored countless times over the years, in films like How to Marry a Millionaire, musicals like How to Succeed in Business, and even the current HBO series Girls.  The show's brilliance lies in its reinvention of the coming-of-age genre, using multi-colored felt and cloth puppets, especially since the impression conveyed is that we are seeing the familiar Sesame Street characters all grown up, and having to confront the realities and responsibilities of maturity.  A disclaimer in the program makes it clear that there is no actual connection to any Jim Henson creations or properties; one imagines that at this stage, Elmo, Kermit and friends are such cultural icons that they classify as public figures, and therefore fair game for parody and satire.  Unlike the Muppets, however, the audience actually sees each performer skillfully manipulating his or her diminutive alter-ego, and so the relevant expressions and emotions are visible on the live actor's face as well.  All are attractive and talented, causing one to want to follow them on stage, but just as much attention needs to be paid to the puppets, who are the actual characters.

Performing Princeton, Kevin Bush finds just the right tone to seem sympathetic, yet still a bit of an immature tool.  A subplot revolving around an ambiguous pair of roommates (think Bert and Ernie) features Bush as Rod, an uptight and closeted yuppie banker whose nose and eye design are as phallic as his name.  Rod's denial of his sexuality and feelings for his best friend become increasingly ludicrous, culminating in a stream-of-consciousness musical fabrication about an imaginary girlfriend, from Canada, named Alberta, who lives in... ummm... Vancouver.  The ever-youthful Bush could really have played either of these roles quite believably in a "normal" play; I do wish there were a bit more distinction in their voices, especially since between the two characters, he has at least 50% of the dialogue in the show.  Still, he's a great singer and a delight to see.

Katie Leitner as Princeton's love interest, Kate Monster, is equally appealing.  Looking back over my notes, I see at least half a dozen times where she duets with Bush or joins in a group number, and I have jotted down "beautiful harmony" or "incredible voice."  Her solo "Fine Fine Line" (a melancholy reflection on the difference between lovers and friends) could easily have been part of a "serious" musical, whereas most of the other songs replicate the sing-song style of a children's show.  With no way to really change the facial expression of the hand puppets, emotions must be conveyed by adjusting their posture or position; somehow Leitner expertly manages to depict Kate Monster as a sloppy drunk, with her hair falling into her face, and the moment is one of many comic highlights.  She also gets to create Lucy the Slut, who oozes mint-julep sultriness and temptation, with a rich deep voice an octave or so lower than Kate's.  Brien Hollingsworth also displays amazing diversity in his voice characterizations as four different characters, including Trekkie Monster (addicted to porn in lieu of cookies) and Nicky, who accepts BFF Rod's sexuality long before Rod acknowledges it.  Hollingsworth and Elisabeth Smith Baker perform Nicky together, and also appear as the Bad Idea Bears, Care Bear-like apparitions who suggest things like chugging Long Island Teas the night before an important day at work, or using funds sent from the 'rents to buy some beer, and it might as well be a case, since those are better bargains.  Baker probably does the best at recreating the perky, cartoonish voices one expects, and also helps to manipulate most of the other puppet characters when their principal portrayers are busy, e.g. she performs Lucy's movements when Leitner is performing Kate. Through some skillful choreography and misdirection, rarely can one ever tell that the principal actor is doing both voices, and this also means that Baker has to know not only her own characters' lines, but most of the rest of the script too, in order to move the puppet's mouth at the right moment, in synch with the right dialogue. The other three performers accomplish this as well, but Baker is perhaps the best at turning invisible on stage, this being that rarest of times when that's a good thing.  And did I mention that Princeton and Kate engage in some graphic puppet sex?  Well, as graphic as hand puppets who only exist from the waist up can get, but that's incredibly, and hilariously, graphic.

Just like Sesame Street, there are human characters too, similarly disillusioned 20-somethings, played by G. Scott Wild, Annie Kim, and Devin Anderson.  While these characters are never fully developed, the performers are excellent, and their voices blend beautifully with the rest of the cast.  Director Chad Henderson brings the customary style that I have come to expect from his shows:  everyone is completely believable in their characters, everything moves at a lively pace, and there's never a dull moment on stage, even in transitional moments and bridging scenes.  Musical Director Randy Moore capably leads four other musicians and never once drowns out the singers.  Danny Harrington's set is ostensibly a simplistic, child-like facade of an apartment row, but utilizes striking colors and odd angles (much like his recent set for Grease at Town Theatre) to make an attractive visual statement.  Performers frequently have to make rapid exits in time to appear as another character in an upstairs window, and I'm guessing the true extent of Harrington's design can only be appreciated from backstage, as everything seems to flow quite smoothly.   There's also a multi-media component, incorporating a tv-like screen that projects video clips (created by Aaron Johnson) and little visual lessons, in that same Sesame Street style.  The excellent puppet creations are by Lyon Hill (profiled in the cover story of the current issue of Jasper - The Word on Columbia Arts) and Karri Scollon, the result of a collaboration between Trustus and the Columbia Marionette Theatre.

Trustus of course is at a crossroads, with new leadership coming in, and the ever-present challenge to stay true to their mission (edgy shows from NY that might not be done elsewhere locally) while giving the audiences what they want (which by and large is light, frothy, silly musical comedies.)  Through some happy harmonic convergence, Avenue Q  manages to do both simultaneously.  The only caveats might be:  a) however adorable the puppets may be, and however appealing the performers, the humor and language is decidedly R-rated, so consider yourself forewarned, or titillated in advance, as the case may be; and  b) the score is quite catchy and eminently hummable, but no moreso (and no less) than any good Muppet Show song.  As above, coming-of-age stories are nothing new, and have been depicted musically as recently as March's Passing Strange, which was wildly popular among most artists, musicians and theatre folks I know. For me, however, Avenue Q  is the most entertaining production I've seen at Trustus in years, and certainly the best show I've seen locally since Victor/Victoria  at Workshop some 15 months ago.  Retelling  fundamental and timeless themes using a new, unexpected, yet also familiar story-telling technique is simply a stroke of genius, and you owe it to yourself to take a trip down to Avenue Q.

Avenue Q runs through Sat. July 21st; contact the Trustus box office at 803-254-9732 for ticket information.

~ August Krickel

(Photo credit - Bonnie Boiter-Jolley)

Arik Bjorn Reviews Cinderella at Columbia Children’s Theatre: Bippity-Boppity Buffoonery with a Spaghetti Twist

Somewhere in Columbia this evening, the minds of sleeping children are processing the uproarious phenomenon that is Columbia Children’s Theatre’s current Commedia dell'Arte production of Cinderella.  Until tonight, these innocents had never heard Olivia Newton-John sing “Xanadu.”  Never once had it occurred to them that a princess could be bippity-boppity-beautiful in a hot pink and floral poodle skirt and piggy slippers.  And they have no idea why their parents’ bellies burst with laughter over references to some guy named Dick Cheney and tapeworms, and at the unbridled performance of a white trash, uni-browed wicked stepmother, who makes Norma Desmond look like Mother Teresa. These flowers of our future returned to the comfort of their domiciles on Cinderella’s opening night with a renewed, perhaps refined, appreciation of clowning and fairy tales.  And when their cerebellums finally finish stripping away all the layers of buffoonery and silliness sometime in August, what will remain is the essential truth that beauty on the inside matters most.  That, and never be the last one caught holding a rubber chicken at the end of a Keystone Cops-style chase scene.

If you have never attended Columbia Children’s Theatre, your family is in for a real treat, one which begins well before the house lights are dimmed.  First, you will be doing society a great service by patronizing the only retail mall space in the world that has managed to redeem the boxed blandness of space usually reserved for Aeropostale and Banana Republic outlets.

Artistic Director Jerry Stevenson and Managing Director Jim Litzinger have built a children’s thespian wonderland on the second level of Richland Fashion Mall.  Children enter a lobby space filled with suits of armor, masks, and costumes, then are swiftly separated from their parents like wheat from chaff, the adults condemned to “grown-up chairs” while the tots are invited to dance to “Y.M.C.A.” and “The Hokey Pokey” on a brightly-checkered, padded floor space in front of the stage area.  Children eat popcorn and Skittles, adults sip Coke, and everyone has a relaxed sense that this is the kind of theatre that was designed in Willy Wonka’s world of forms.

As to the show itself, the above tidbits have prepared you for the fact that this is not your average Cinderella production.  The curtain rises (or, rather, is tossed off stage left), and the (Jiminy) crickets begin.  Literal crickets, actually, prompting a series of knowing chuckles from adults, and bewildered looks by children.  Then a comedic troupe with mock-Italian accents, presenting itself as the Spaghetti & Meatball Players, demolish the fourth wall, and begin banging into each other with parasols and hat racks.  From there, it’s a jet-fueled, jolly joker jaunt into humor hyperspace.  Eighty minutes later, adults and children alike are ready for giggling triage.

One cannot applaud enough the work of director Sam LaFrage, who, thankfully, has also provided a functional explanation of Commedia dell'Arte in the show program, for parents who mayfeel compelled to explain to their children why this production did not resemble Walt Disney’s familiar version.  (Actually, as a parent of a four-year-old daughter, I do recommend that parents explain there will be some differences in advance to their children.  My daughter Katherine loved the show, and cherished her onstage dance with actor Edward Precht, who plays the Prince and Meatballer Pantalone, yet she wanted a little reassurance afterwards that Cinderella’s castle estate in Orlando hadn’t been sacked and overrun by Italian clowns.)

As to the other Meatballers, Elizabeth Stepp brings enough pure energy to the stage to keep the Olympic flame alive until 2020.  Paul Lindley II and LaFrage (who moonlights as director and Meatballer) play gender-bending stepsisters of such pure, perfidious evil that I expected Macbeth’s Hecate to rise from the depths in the guise of Snooki.  LaFrage also brings down the house at one point as a ding-a-ling Chip Potts, lampooning the classic song “Beauty and the Beast.”  And Beth DeHart’s dual roles as roller skating fairy godmother and wicked stepmother Viola Scruffanickle quite nearly put one adult sitting near me into comic cardiac arrest.

Don’t just go to this show.  Go in droves.  Bring your neighbors.  Bring your friends.  Bring your worst enemies, and let the goofiness settle your long-term differences.  (For all that, consider the excellent weekday group rate that Columbia Children’s Theatre offers.  See website below for more details.)  But most importantly, bring your children.  Bring everyone’s children!  Then immediately afterward, have them call their grandparents and enjoy the pure thrill of watching them try to explain every strange and wonderful hilarity they have just experienced.

 ~ Arik Bjorn

Cinderella runs June 15-24, with performances at the following dates and time:  Friday, June 15 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 16 at 10:30 a.m. & 2 p.m.; Sunday, June 17 at 3 p.m.; Wednesday, June 20 at 10:30 a.m.; Thursday, June 21 at 10:30 a.m.; Friday, June 22 at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. & 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 23 at 10:30 a.m. & 2 p.m.; Sunday, June 24 at 3 p.m.; and a special Thursday, July 19 performance at 10:30 a.m.  Tickets are $8 for adults and children ages 3 and up.  The Columbia Children’s Theatre is located at the Second Level of Richland Mall, 3400 Forest Drive (corner of Beltline and Forest Drive).  Enter the Second Level parking garage walkway and park in Level 2-L for easy access.  Call 691.4548 for more information or to reserve tickets for groups of 10 or more.  To learn more about Columbia Children’s Theatre, visit http://columbiachildrenstheatre.com/ .

No Lie! CMT's Pinocchio Is Anything But A Wooden Performance - A Guest Blog by Arik Bjorn

There is no entertainment venue in Columbia more likely to have fallen straight out of the pages of a Ray Bradbury story than the Columbia Marionette Theatre, which this past weekend revived its wonderful 1992 original production of Pinocchio.  Even for adults, there is something magically inviting about the castle theatre ensconced at the corner of Huger and Laurel Streets, its giant mural of Punch, puppet-turned-puppeteer, dangling a stringed unicorn and dragon, and inviting children of all ages to rediscover authentic, if not shadowy, storytelling.  The best part of any CMT production is a stiff refusal to cater to the “Mickey Mouse-ification” of fairy tales, and the insistence that a peppering of Brothers Grimm in every scene is a recipe for narrative pleasure. At the age of four, my daughter Katherine is already a CMT veteran, having attended numerous productions.  She accompanied me to this weekend’s premier of Pinocchio, and I have made every effort to review the show from her diminutive perspective.  Sometimes the best part of parenting is rediscovering familiar stories through the eyes of one’s children - and also through their arms and legs, as on numerous occasions throughout the production her hands were wrapped tightly around my arms or her own face, her feet bouncing up and down with uncontrollable delight and fear.

Every CMT show begins well before Artistic Director Lyon Hill (profiled in the cover story in the current issue - # 5 -  of Jasper - The Word on Columbia Arts) emerges from backstage to lead the crowd in a birthday “Huzzah!” for whatever little boy or girl is lucky enough to host a dinosaur-, fairy tale-, or Wizard the Oz-themed birthday party.  Just getting your youngster from the lobby to his or her general admission seat is worth the price of admission.  Children enter the theatre’s faux archway main entrance, and are immediately surrounded by marionettes hanging from the ceiling and puppeteer dioramas from previous CMT productions, as well as a large mounted dragon head that once was the centerpiece of a real Medieval-themed wedding at CMT.  (By the way, parents, CMT offers a number of affordable “starter” marionettes for the novice puppeteers in your home.)

Inevitably, one or two children begin whimpering or looking cautiously askance before the show even starts, as does my child occasionally still.  It’s no lie that there is something naturally eerie about marionettes.  For the past several generations, our puppet-viewing collective consciousness consists mostly of cuddly Muppets, and the lack of softness of form of the traditional marionette immediately bespeaks more funhouse than Sesame Street.  But this is precisely the world of lost storytelling that marionette theatres engender.  CMT makes all of its marionettes on site in its workshop from hand-carved molds.  As Hill explains, he is not interested in smoothing the pin-prickly scary parts of a story, or conforming to pop culture’s sense of how a genie, T-Rex or mermaid should be physically represented:  “Every marionette has is its own silhouette.”

While patrons will not find Jiminy Cricket in this production of Pinocchio, what they will find is something that would make the story’s original Italian teller, Carlo Collodi, proud—plus a few inventive 21st-century twists, including a break-dancing wooden boy and a jazz-duet cat and fox.  And, of course, like any good children’s story, there are a few jokes just for adults, including the “BELIEVE” UFO poster on the dilapidated backstage wall of Boyaradi’s Fabulous Marionette Theatre, and a sign outside the theater that reads “Come Inside for Fun, Excitement and Man-Eating Plants.”

The show is a panoply of theatrical creativity.  In one early scene, the Fairy’s wand, with a mind of its own, causes all the puppets in Geppetto’s studio to dance unexpectedly.  The set drops of 19th-century Italy and the Isle of Joy (replete with its own cherry-topped sundae mountain), as well as Geppetto’s studio, are museum-worthy pieces.  And in one of the final scenes, Pinocchio and his papa emerge from the belly of the whale and rise magically to the ocean surface.  (I am willing to bet that every child who sees this show afterward will dream mystically of water gobos.)

This 45-minute version of Pinocchio is jam-packed with wonderful storytelling and numerous artistic and design triumphs, including, of course, the one trick both children and adults eagerly await to see:  the title character’s famous fibbing proboscis.  Several times after the performance, my daughter asked me how Pinocchio’s nose grew.  Fortunately, when I replied “magic,” my own nose remained its normal length.  But for the life of me, I have no idea how Hill & Company make that nose extend and retract with only strings!  (By the way, someone should give CMT a medal for understanding that 45 minutes is the ideal duration for a weekend children’s event.)

Along with Hill, puppeteers Kimi Maeda, Cooper Hill and Payton Frawley bring this timeless classic to life; not quite to the point where a little wooden boy is turned into the real thing, but definitely enough for you to tell everyone you know with kids to get down to the Columbia Marionette Theatre next Saturday.  And when all the dusty wonder has settled, most important of all, children walk away having learned a real moral lesson.  Just ask my daughter, who told me, “The lesson is always tell the truth and stay close to your papa - or else you’ll be turned into a donkey or eaten by a whale.”  Close enough, dear one, close enough.

~ by Arik Bjorn

Pinocchio runs through Sat. Sept. 8th, with performances every Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.  Tickets are $5 per person.  Children under 2 are free!  The Columbia Marionette Theatre is located at 401 Laurel Street (corner of Huger and Laurel).  Call 803-252-7366 for more information, or to reserve party space for your little ones.  To learn more about Columbia Marionette Theatre, visit www.cmtpuppet.org .

Shakespeare in Finlay Park, Grease at Town, Wild Party at Workshop

April was the month for several hundred amazing cultural events all going on seemingly at once. The hubbub may have died down a bit, but there's still plenty to do in May, especially if you're an enthusiast of live theatre.  For example, did you know Columbia regularly has Shakespeare in the Park?  Who needs New York? This spring, the South Carolina Shakespeare Company is presenting a comic tribute to not one but all of Shakespeare's works, first in Finlay Park this week, then at Saluda Shoals next week.  The show opens with a preview performance tonight, Tues. May 15th, and then continues Wed. through Sat. (5/19) in the Finlay Park Amphitheatre, with all shows starting at 7:30 PM.  The cast then migrates to Saluda Shoals Park for three more performances, Thurs. May 25th through Sat. May 27th, with all shows again at 7:30 PM.

From their press release:

SC Shakespeare Company has a sense of humor about its patron saint!

For the past 19 years, SC Shakespeare has given Columbia a great many of the Bard’s most famous plays from The Taming of the Shrew to Henry V. This spring, they wanted to give Columbia audiences something a little different but very enjoyable for patrons and their families.

The company presents The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. It's been performed internationally, including hit productions all over the US and Europe.  The show pays homage to Shakespeare as much as it mocks him, and is actually a fair introduction to the Bard for a first-timer by watching the players dance, act, parody, and soliloquize through Shakespeare's works, raucously and without regard to political correctness. And, while the play pokes fun at the Bard’s works, it never looks down on the actual writings, showing a great deal of respect for both the material and the author.

Directed by Robert Bloom, the three players - Jeff Driggers, Marques Moore, and Elizabeth Stepp - are a young and vibrant trio, entertaining and involving the audience as much as possible in skewering all 37 of the Bard’s plays in one two hour show (with intermission)!   The comedy is edgy - demanding craft: even the simplest gags require taste, timing, discipline, and the willingness to push things to the limit but not beyond. The end result: both homage and honest fun!

Come out with family and friends for a raucous evening of laughter.

For more information, please visit www.ShakespeareSC.org or call 803-787-2273.

We must note that Bloom made a vigorous and assertive Benvolio in a Finlay Park Romeo and Juliet a few years ago, smacking down those Capulets like flies, and Stepp has caught our eye with some amusing performances at Columbia Children's Theatre, so we suspect this is a show not to be missed.

In other news, there are three other great shows also running in town currently, and it's not the worst of dilemmas, at least in the broader sense, to have to figure out which great performance you want to see first, since there's something for just about every taste.  By now you already know about the new show at Trustus, In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play, which runs through Sat. May 26th. (If not, my review is at http://jaspercolumbia.net/blog/?p=1478.)  Town Theatre meanwhile is presenting Grease, and there's a review at www.OnstageColumbia.com .  This show has been held over, and now also runs through Sat. May 26th. Most recently, Andrew Lippa's Wild Party just opened this weekend at Workshop Theatre, and there's a review for it as well at the same site.  Sure enough, it too runs through Sat. 26th, meaning Sunday the 27th will be a sad day for local theatre-goers.  Not to worry - pick up a copy of the new Jasper - The Word of Columbia Arts (issue # 5, which is being released in about 3 hours) for details on what shows are being done this summer!    And look for a review of The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) from Jillian Owens in a few days at that same site, www.OnstageColumbia.com .

~ August Krickel

Columbia City Ballet presents The Sleeping Beauty: A Story Where Good Triumphs Over Evil with a Single Kiss

The Columbia City Ballet culminates its 2011-2012 season with the most famous kiss in fairytale history… a sparkling rendition of the full-length classic The Sleeping Beauty. Under the direction of Executive & Artistic Director William Starrett, this elaborate spectacle of magic and glamour takes the Koger Center stage on March 9 and 10 for three performances.

“The Sleeping Beauty is one of the purest classical ballets in existence. It has a long and important history with the Columbia City Ballet. It has been produced ten times in our 50 year history: first in 1966, and last eight years ago in 2004. I first danced the role of the Prince in Sleeping Beauty for the Minnesota Ballet when I was 17-years-old. It is thrilling that I can be instrumental in bringing this masterpiece to our community,” said Starrett.

Created in 1890 by choreographer Marius Petipa and legendary composer Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty is recognized as one of the supreme achievements of classical ballet. The ballet takes audiences on a journey through an enchanted forest based on the classic French fairytale by Charles Perrault: the beautiful princess Aurora, performed by Ballerina Regina Willoughby, is cursed by the evil fairy Carabosse, brought to life by Alexis Doktor and Cooper Rust who will be alternating the role, and doomed to sleep for one-hundred years -- only to be awakened by the kiss of her true love, the handsome Prince Charming, danced by Soloist Journy Wilkes-Davis. Also performing are Principal dancers Mark Krieger and Kathryn Smoak dancing the Blue Bird Pas De Deux and the Lilac Fairy will be portrayed by Soloist Claire Kallimanis, alternating with Claire Richards.

Tchaikovsky is also well-known for two other popular full length classical ballets, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. With a score that has stood the test of time, The Sleeping Beauty remains one of the most revered ballets in the world today. The sheer artistry of the technically demanding dancing, and the Columbia City Ballet’s fresh approach to this clearly-portrayed story make The Sleeping Beauty production the perfect family outing and a great ballet for first-timers.

Performances of The Sleeping Beauty are:

March 9 at 7:30 p.m.

March 10 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Before each evening performance, Director Starrett holds a pre-show lecture 30 minutes prior to the curtain where he gives you a unique introduction behind the scenes into the magical world of ballet. Following the March 10 matinee, audience members are invited to tour backstage and meet the Columbia City Ballet dancers.

The Sleeping Beauty is sponsored by Lexington Medical Center. Tickets are on sale at the Coliseum Box Office and all Capitol Ticket Outlets. Charge by phone by calling 251-2222 or on online at www.capitoltickets.com. For more information about the Columbia City Ballet, call (803)799-7605 or visit www.columbiacityballet.com.

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Review -- August Krickel on Workshop Theatre's The Dixie Swim Club

Jasper has a thing for feisty women of a certain age, especially when they periodically reunite to do some female bonding, and to recharge their collective vitality.  The reunion going on at Workshop Theatre isn’t just the one we see on stage in The Dixie Swim Club, which opened to a packed and appreciative house this past Friday, but also the reunion of veteran director Cynthia Gilliam and some of Columbia's favorite actresses.  Depicting four girls-only beach weekends stretching over several decades, Workshop's new production is strong on laughs and characterization, a little bit less so on depth and substance, but you enjoy the performances of the five leads so much, that's all that matters.  

The script (by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, i.e., the team responsible for numerous down-home community/regional theatre favorites like the Dearly Beloved/Futrelle Family trilogy) introduces us to five gal pals who have kept their friendship going long after the heyday of their championship college swim team.  Once a year, all spouses, children and telephones are banished, and the quintet meet at a beach house in the Outer Banks, with the expected results. The framework is part Same Time, Next Year, part Big Chill, with liberal doses of Designing Women and Steel Magnolias, but it works, thanks to excellent casting and direction.

Four of the five are recognizable types:  Barbara Lowrance plays the flirtatious and often-married Lexie, Leigh Stephenson plays the former team captain Sheree, Andi Cooper plays the career woman Dinah, and Drucilla Brookshire plays the Southern-fried Vernadette. Tracy Rice has the biggest challenge as Jeri Neal, who reinvents herself several times in the course of the play. In the hands of less seasoned actresses, these roles could be quite stereotypical and derivative: Lexie is a more vulnerable version of Sex and the City's Samantha, attorney Dinah is basically Miranda, preppy and optimistic Sheree is a variation on Charlotte, while long-suffering yet wisecracking Vernadette is more like Roseanne's sitcom character.  (That three fairly collegiate types would be this close to two fairly rural country girls is a bit of a stretch, but not overly distracting.)  Likewise, the plot doesn't forge any new territory; you can pretty much guess in advance what sort of challenges five friends will face as they age from 44 to 77.  There will be marriages and divorces, children and grandchildren, issues with careers and health, and ultimately, as with any group of friends, someone will be the first to pass on.  I doubt I'm giving away any plot spoilers when I reveal that through it all, their friendship is the one rewarding constant on which they can depend. Thankfully, Gilliam has cast the right performers to make the evening a showcase for their acting skills.

A few weeks ago, I noted that many of the Midlands' finest performers from the past few decades were gathered together for Jim Thigpen's swan song at Trustus; just about everyone who missed out on being in that cast turns up here.  (In fact, Gilliam directed a number of these actresses in a similar show, Ladies of the Alamo, several decades ago at Workshop, and the only Alamo alums not in this were onstage a mile away down at Trustus!)   Top honors have to go to Brookshire, who takes what could have been a stock, down-home comic relief character and makes her believable, while getting some of the biggest laughs of the evening.  While the storyline is fairly thin, the script is replete with classic, quotable one-liners, as when Vernadette declares that she "never knew true happiness until I got married, and then it was too late," or when Lexie reveals that she gave her ex "the thinnest years of my life." Actually, this is the sort of show where, believe it or not, references to divorce, infidelity, even early-stage dementia can become jokes. For me the tenderest moment was when Stephenson's eternally youthful ex-athlete breaks into tears not because of some tragedy, but upon realizing that she's going to be a grandmother.  Another highlight (and a perfect audition piece or monologue for someone looking) is Vernadette's defiant and hilarious defense of biscuits, deep fat fryers, and the Southern way of life - this actually got a huge round of applause in the middle of the scene on opening night.  All five play a tad younger than their actual age as the play begins, and define their progression through the years more with their voices and physicality than actual make-up (although Cherelle Guyton's wigs are extremely believable and help to define both age and personality.)

Randy Strange's ultra-realistic set is one of the best I can recall in recent years at Workshop. The show wisely avoids too many references to specific times or places (in fact, it could probably be done fairly well on a bare stage with a few chairs) but Strange has gone all-out, crafting a believable beach house setting.  Something that I really admired was the detail lavished on a screened-in porch at stage left, which doesn't really figure into any plot elements, but makes for a familiar and credible feel.  Chuck Sightler's sound design is subtle and effective, with passing noises (thunder, rain, a car horn) coming from the right direction, and often muted, not distracting from the dialogue.  A minor quibble would be a lot of wasted space above the set, which could have been used for projected images of sand dunes and sea oats, or perhaps to suggest changing climate (clouds, storms, the sun, etc.)

In the program, Gilliam notes that this production is not great dramatic literature, but I'd say that she and the cast nevertheless give it their all, as if it were.  The Dixie Swim Club, as above, is a showcase for the skills of its cast and director, and Columbians who have followed them over the years will enjoy seeing the team back together again.   The Dixie Swim Club runs through Sat, Dec. 3rd; contact the Workshop Box Office at 799-6551 for ticket information.

~ August Krickel

Release Your Freak Tonight at the Carpe Noctem FREAK SHOW

Give into your inner freak tonight at Unbound Dance’s third annual Carpe Noctem FREAK SHOW from 7 p.m. to midnight at 701 Whaley. This freaky fundraising gala includes performances by Unbound Dance, Columbia Alternacirque and Party Time Gurls featuring Carla Cox.

Attendees will be greeted at the door by a consortium of perilous women known as the Columbia QuadSquad. They will enter into a menacing carnival scene designed by local lighting designer Aaron Pelzek, scenic designer Kimi Maeda and puppeteer Lyon Hill.

Unbound Dance will perform three original pieces including an encore of the audience favorite “Thriller.” Emcee Alex Smith will guide the audience through their freakiest carnival experience while Charleston’s DJ Lola pumps music on the dance floor between sets.

In addition to live entertainment, FREAK SHOW will tempt the audience with a silent auction, carnival foods, caged freaks and cash bar. Attendees may want to disguise themselves so they are encouraged to wear their craziest carnival costume for a chance to win the FREAK SHOW Costume Contest.

Carpe Noctem FREAK SHOW is open to the public. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door. A portion of the proceeds will go to Unbound’s dear friend, Amy Hardy, who is battling stage four metastatic breast cancer at the age of 30. The remaining proceeds will go to Unbound Dance.

-- Margey Bolen