1776 GeorgetownTheater Review--B-O-R-I-N-G

Fiorella had high expectations of the Georgetown Theater's production of the musical 1776 because it was a much-lauded Broadway show, and also because, in her second book, she had given her hero a role in Bosque Bend's civic theater production of it. But the Palace show dragged into boredom, and, when, despite the beautiful voice of Buddy Novak singing a heart-wrenching ballad, the last scene of the first act fell flat, she and Husband decided enough was enough and walked out at intermission.

There were other problems too. For some unisex reason, a good number of the male roles, including that of John Adams, were played by women who dressed as men but sang in decidedly female voices, and although Danielle Ruth played Adams manfully, it didn't help that "his" wife was a good foot taller than he was. Also, the portrayal of Benjamin Franklin as a buffoon affronted Fio, who always enjoyed reading--and teaching--his clever essays. And she got tired of characters making sniggering sexual references like dirty-minded schoolboys.

On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson (Justin Dam) was a heartthrob with an electrifying voice, and most of the women also had excellent singing voices. But their speaking voices got loud and painfully shrill during the political arguments, which made Fio realize why Hillary keeps her vocal tone under tight control.

The company was a motley crew.  The representative from Georgia, played by a chirpy little blonde, didn't even try for a southern accent while the representative from South Carolina (Rutledge, played to perfection by Emily Perzan) had it down pat.  In fact, Fio's eyes kept following Perzan, who stayed in character the entire time.

The setting (of the first act at least) was interesting, a reproduction of Independence Hall, tally board and all, but the costumes looked like leftovers from earlier productions, and the "men's" wigs looked like restyled women's wigs, Franklin's being the worst.

Two final notes.
1) Listening to the right/left song. Fio couldn't help but wonder if scheduling 1776 for the month before elections was deliberate, a subtle attempt to influence the electorate to, as the Continental Congress did, go left.
2) Studying the skeleton of this slow-motion bomb, Fio realized she too could write a boffo Broadway show. How about she flesh out the "Gift of the Magi" musical she outlined in her second book?  Producers, angels, are you listening?

1776 GeorgetownTheater Review--B-O-R-I-N-G

Fiorella had high expectations of the Georgetown Theater's production of the musical 1776 because it was a much-lauded Broadway show, and also because, in her second book, she had given her hero a role in Bosque Bend's civic theater production of it. But the Palace show dragged into boredom, and, when, despite the beautiful voice of Buddy Novak singing a heart-wrenching ballad, the last scene of the first act fell flat, she and Husband decided enough was enough and walked out at intermission.

There were other problems too. For some unisex reason, a good number of the male roles, including that of John Adams, were played by women who dressed as men but sang in decidedly female voices, and although Danielle Ruth played Adams manfully, it didn't help that "his" wife was a good foot taller than he was. Also, the portrayal of Benjamin Franklin as a buffoon offended Fio, who always enjoyed reading--and teaching--his clever essays. And she got tired of characters making sniggering sexual references like dirty-minded schoolboys.

On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson (Justin Dam) was a heartthrob with an electrifying voice, and most of the women also had excellent singing voices. But their speaking voices got loud and painfully shrill during the political arguments, which made Fio realize why Hillary keeps her vocal tone under tight control.

The company was a motley crew.  The representative from Georgia, played by a chirpy little blonde, didn't even try for a southern accent while the representative from South Carolina (Rutledge, played to perfection by Emily Perzan) had it down pat.  In fact, Fio's eyes kept following Perzan, who stayed in character the entire time.

The setting (of the first act at least) was interesting, a reproduction of Independence Hall, tally board and all, but the costumes looked like leftovers from earlier productions, and the "men's" wigs looked like restyled women's wigs, Franklin's being the worst.

Two final notes.
1) Listening to the right/left song. Fio couldn't help but wonder if scheduling 1776 for the month before elections was deliberate, a subtle attempt to influence the electorate to, as the Continental Congress did, go left.
2) Studying the skeleton of this slow-motion bomb, Fio realized she too could write a boffo Broadway show. How about she flesh out the "Gift of the Magi" musical she outlined in her second book?  Producers, angels, are you listening?

What a Show!

Fiorella LOVED Georgetown's Palace Theater production of 42nd Street!  It hit all the right spots and left the audience begging for more.  Georgetown's Palace Theater has come along way from when it had to paint mustaches on high school boys and so they could pass as adults on stage.

42nd Street is a period piece, and Fio doesn't remember ever seeing it as a movie,but she did know most of the songs--notably Dames, We're in the Money, Sunny Side, Lullaby of Broadway, About a Quarter to Nine, Shuffle Off to Buffalo, Forty-second Street. The story, based on a movie based on a book, is cliche: a young, pretty hoofer comes to NY, is thrust into spotlight, and, despite setbacks, makes it big. It's a silly show biz parody in which even the villain turns sweet, but it's also somehow quite touching.

What can Fio say? The casting was great, the costumes were perfect, the settings were right-on, and the dance numbers (choreographed by Jessee Smart) were unbelievably good. Fio's favorite routines were the French farce-like scene on the sleeper car and the Agnes de Mille hooker scene at the end of the show.

Getting down to nit-picking minutia, the heroine's blonde wig turned a surprising white under "nighttime" lights, the young boy in the cast never missed a beat but seemed out of place in the sometimes bawdy musical, and Fio and her guests couldn't figure out why a happy-looking man was dressed--and danced--as a woman in the final scene.

Anyway, the show was great.  Fio's been through a lot lately and 42nd Street allowed her to escape into another world for two glorious hours. Maybe that's what show business is all about.

Three Thumbs Up for SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE at Georgetown Palace Theater

The Georgetown Palace Theater's production of Smokey Joe's Cafe was the sort of show that makes Fio want to leap back onto the stage again.  Not that, even in her heyday, she could have kept up with the non-stop singing and dancing that the show, a compendium of Leiber and Stoller songs, requires. There was enough energy on the stage to power the Pedernales Electric Coop for the whole summer.

The band, which had occasional solos, was perfecto, the sets were fantastico, the costumes were right on, the choreography was out of this world, the singing was great, and the dancing absolutely fabulous.  The company, composed of just nine people, five men and four women, were usually all on the stage at the same time--which meant that the costume changes must have been hell--and everyone was super good.  The guys' numbers were the stars of the show, and a few individual players did stand out from the crowd, like Kelsey Wooldridge, Pablo Sanchez, Chris Barfield, and Kirk Kelso.



   


.

Big House

When Fiorella was a child, she dreamed of living in a Cinderella castle. As a young woman, she cast an ambitious eye on pictures of celebrities' palatial homes.  But in her maturity, she has realized that a large home is never quite one's own. If Fio, with her 3000 square feet, employs a bi-weekly maid and a once-a-month yardman, and is now looking for an as-needed handyman, how many people--full-time staff--would the upkeep of a 10,000 sq. ft. "home" require? Or a residence twice that size? There's no way Fio could slip into her Cinderella gown and waltz her way through that large a house without bumping into a squadron of maids dusting, cleaning, and mis-arranging her furniture.  Pity Queen Elizabeth.  Her castle is not her home.

Review of SPAMALOT--BOFFO!

For the sake of Husband and Son, Fiorella made reservations for the Georgetown Palace's presentation of SPAMALOT, but she was the one who ended up laughing her head off. The show was great, from the British-isms of the pre-curtain announcer to the extravagant full-cast finale.

 SPAMALOT is a crazy quilt of Monty Python scenes that starts with a fast-moving Finnish number (blond wigs and salmon) which has nothing to do with the plot, then moves on to the horseless King Arthur and a stunning Lady of the Lake, then develops a somewhat cliche theme of bring true to oneself. The puns, double talk, and distractive references come fast and furious.  WARNING: Monty Python is equal-opportunity irreverent.  The Arthur legend, Broadway, religion (both Christianity and Judaism)--they all take hits.

The sets were terrific, the costumes were great, the music right-on.  The accents--French, Irish, and various British dialects--were believable to an American ear, but understandable.  Fio salutes the twenty-one cast members who had to handle as many as four roles apiece as well as countless dance scenes--all of which called for lightning-quick costume changes.  Arthur (Rick Felkins), Lady of the Lake (Emily Niswonger), and Voice of God (Dale Schultz) filled the other three roles.   Felkins and Niswonger ruled the stage.  Other special stand-outs were Craig D. McKerley, David Sray, high school student Aaron Crowley, and, as always, Phil Rodriguez.

SPAMALOT is basically a male show and sexist as hell, but it's still funny.

second act too long

Theme--be true to yourself

ANYTHING GOES Is a Winner!

It's so embarrassing when you invite someone to join you for an afternoon at the theater and the production is less than stellar.  Thus it was with a certain degree of anxiety that Husband and Fio trekked into Georgetown to meet with Nephew Barrett and his wife, Rachel, for a Sunday afternoon performance of Anything Goes, the 1934 Cole Porter musical.

Fiorella started getting nervous when the overture blared forth, over-loud as usual, but her fingers in her ears saved her,  Then she noticed what looked like bad champagne-blonde wigs on a some of the cast.  Then she met Reno Sweeny and the show went uphill from there.

Except for the black outfit the ingenue was cursed with, the costumes were great--Fio loved those slinky 1930s slip-like dresses,  And the choreography was great too--so many people dancing at once and so well coordinated. And the scenery was really good--Fio kept staring at the brig scene, trying to figure out if the background was real or trompe d'oiel.

And the songs.  Fiorella never realized the songs that came from this show: "I Get a Kick Out of You;" "Easy to Love;" "It's De-Lovely"; "Blow, Gabriel; and, of course, "Anything Goes."

Anything Goes is a silly story requiring the audience's total suspension of disbelief, and the Georgetown Palace pulled it off. All in all, the show was worthy of its standing ovation, and more besides.

So-so Show

The Georgetown Palace's last presentation of the season was a musical version of The Full Monty. Fiorella loved the sweet, funny film version so she was really looking forward to the stage show.

Of course, it opened with the Palace's usual over-loud fanfare so Fiorella spent the first couple of scenes with her fingers in her ears.  Also, it seemed to her that the quick lyrics weren't always as clever as the writer obviously thought they were, and that the score was a bit show-offy.

The story itself was razzle-dazzle, completely lacking the poignancy of the movie except for lip service to the motivation of the leading man (paying child support).  Finicky Fio also didn't like the story being transferred from Manchester, England, to Buffalo, New York.  Okay, she understands that New Yorkers burst into laughter at the mere mention of Buffalo, but its humorous implications were lost on her. Which is all to say that Fiorella wasn't wild about "the book." It seemed like a caricature of the film.

What about the local performance?  The voices were great, but the dialogue seemed stilted at times, like--well--like someone was reciting a memorized speech,  (Also, why did some of the women have those NY accents, but the men didn't?)

The scenery, however, was A+, as were the costumes.  Oh, and the dancing was good--a shout-out to Jessee Smart.

All in all, Fiorella gives The Full Monty a B.  She's glad she saw the play, but wouldn't bother to see it again.  It was a one-gimmick show.

Great Show at the Palace!

Fiorella gives the Georgetown palace Theater's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie a rave review.  It was quick, smart, and disciplined, just like a good farce should be.

The settings were great, the lighting was great, the costumes were fantastic, the band was great (although often overloud), the pacing was great, the singers were great, and the acting, for the most part, was great.  And Fiorella is happy to tell you that  Jesee Smart, nee Jessica Klepsch, is doing the choreography again.  No more arms waving aimlessly in the air, no more repetitive circle dances, but neat, fast, inventive, energetic routines, with every dancer grinning and not a tap out of step.

Rumbles of laughter ran through the audience at the audacious, unexpected sequences.  The show is based on the 1967 movie starring Carol Burnett, but clever updates make it new and shiny, unlike  the Palace's Singing in the Rain and South Pacific.  As a romance writer, Fiorella got a kick out of the teasers at the ends of scenes.  She also liked the way there were usually two or three things happening at once, but that the play was directed so well that Fio knew exactly where her focus should be.

The girls carry the show so shout-outs to  Sara Burke as Millie, Tiffany Blackmon as Miss Dorothy,   Lariena Brown  as Mama Muzzy (the Carol Channing part), and  Melita McAttee in the Bea Lilly role--a far cry from the Mother Superior she played in the Palace's Nunsense series.  Male stand-outs were  Scott Shipman as Trevor Graydon and Stephen Jack as Jimmy Smith.  Shipman's operatic voice stole the show.  Jack's upper register has an especially sweet sound, but his characterization was just a bit wimpy, although perhaps more due to the script that the actor.   Fio was glad to see golden-toned tenor Ismael Soto in the cast again, although his role didn't call for much singing.  Husband's favorite character was Samantha Watson as Miss Flannery.


Spoiler alert: bowing to modern sensibilities, the villainess is just pretending to be Chinese, which, surprisingly, makes the story even funnier.

No Waves, Only Ripples

Fiorella was disappointed in the Georgetown Palace's production of South Pacific, and she thinks the rest of the SRO audience was too.  There was no show-stopping applause, no spontaneous guffaws of laughter, just perfunctory clapping after each number and polite chuckles for the jokes.

First of all, the children were darling, the French was interesting, the singing was great and Fiorella fell in love with the bell-like tones of Ismael Soto, who played Lt. Cable.  A tenor, and tall to boot, he's got it made.  However, the production as a whole was too loud.  Several cast members seemed to be unaware that they were wearing mikes and could be heard all the way to New Braunfels.  Second, there was no chemistry whatsoever between Emile de Becque and Nellie Forbush.  Their first scene should have been sizzling with simmer, but all Christine Jean-Jacque and Bob Beare did was recite lines, sing, and move around a lot, leaving Fio confused as to why Nellie suddenly announced her love for the Frenchman one scene later. Third, the characters crossed the fourth wall too often, singing not to each other or to themselves, but to the audience.  Fourth, there was too much untrammeled energy.  With every character bouncing with life like a star vying for attention, Fio couldn't focus on the leads.  Fifth, Fio entreats the Palace to bring back the the creative, disciplined dances of Jessica Kelpsch.  Having everyone do something different and flail their arms around a lot looks more like a free-for-all.  Sixth, why did the "male" cast include those two girls in boy wigs?  Fio spotted them in the first guy scene and, because their hair was identical, thought they were twelve-year-old twin boys.  Wondering about how underage boys got drafted distracted her for the rest of the production.  Seventh, some advice to the theater: just because your leading lady can turn a mean cartwheel doesn't mean she should do it in three different scenes, one-handed or not.

Fiorella and Husband invited Brother and his wife along for the show and Fio reserved her four season ticket seats with high hopes--perhaps too high, but the Palace has turned out stellar performances before--Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Technicolor DreamCoat, and The Producers come to mind.  What happened?  Was South Pacific too ambitious a project?  Is the play itself too old or too familiar?

Oh well, there's still Thoroughly Modern Millie to go.

Reviewing ALWAYS . . . PATSY CLINE

Fiorella slept late again this morning, not because she had insomnia earlier in the night like on Thursday, but because she saw a good production yesterday evening at Georgetown's Palace Theater and rested easy.

Fio says a good production because that's what it was--good, but not great.  Always . . . Patsy Cline featured twenty-six hits of the big-voiced country-pop star put into a pseudo-biographical order.  The singing and characterization of  Ysenia McNett was tremendous, especially for basically a one-woman show.  McNett, who usually sings lyric soprano roles, has great contralto pipes too.  She owned the role, portraying Cline from tender ingenue to swaggering star.   No one could totally  duplicate Cline's unique ability to switch registers with ease, but McNett came as close as you're gonna get.  And her styling was perfect.

The pseudo biography is where the play failed.  Unlike the similar Buddy Holley reprise,  Always . . . Patsy Cline intimates that the Cline's songs reflected her life, that she had experienced the let-down-by-a-man, honky-tonk life she sang about.  To that end, the playwright created a fake character to narrate the play--Louise Seger, a comic-relief fan whom Cline supposedly met along the way. 

But a little Googling tells a different story.  Cline was no shrinking violet tromped on by chauvinistic male arrogance.  Her songs were often the female counterpart to the country-western masculine wails about women who had done them wrong, but she was the one who divorced her first husband because he wanted her to dump her career and settle down to housewifery bliss.  Her second marriage was relatively happy, producing two children. And Cline has no need for a devoted fan to protect her interests.  In fact, she led the charge when it came to country performers being paid upfront rather than after the show, when producers often stiffed them.

But Fiorella quibbles. The minimalist stage setting worked well, and Fio was entranced by the way the band, often stuck off in a corner so as not to distract from the action, was rightfully front and center most of the time, actually part of story.  The costumes were spot on, and, for once, Fio has not a single complaint about the directing.  Needless to say, the theater was SRO and has been since opening night.  Extra shows have been added.

All in all, Aways . . . Patsy Cline was a treat.

CORRECTION:  Louise Seger was a real person and real fan.  But Fio still objects to her as a comic-relief character.

 

Annie Get Your Gun at the Palace

The musicals at Georgetown's Palace Theater have been sorta disappointing this season.  Singing in the Rain was downright dismal.  Thus it was with fear and trembling yesterday that Fio and Husband escorted Sister-in-law and her mother to Annie, Get Your Gun, a stalwart from the Dark Ages.  Yes, Fio remembers seeing the original movie with Howard Keel and Betty Hutton and enjoying is very much.

But yesterday Fiorella sat in the darkened theater with pen in hand, waiting to zing the singers, the dancers, the director, the choreographer, the costumers, the set designers, the scene changes, the lighting.  She sat and sat and sat,  Finally she tucked her pen away and just enjoyed the show.  Yes, Annie, Get Your Gun, the Palace's last show of the season, is a winner.

Although it ends on a cliche note and Fio was disappointed that the "I'm an Indian Too" song was dropped in deference to political correctness,  Annie has an amzingly tight plot and many, many great songs,

Patty Rowell, who played the title role, was absolutely terrific.  Fio was especially impressed by her vocal versatility: the way she changed timbre and tone for dramatic effect, the nuances of shading she evoked.  Pretty darn good actress too..

The supporting cast was also great, even the kids, especially the kids who played Annie's siblings, especially the energetic little girl who played her younger sister.  And the woman who played the role of Frank Butler's assistant was also top notch.

The only one who didn't quite cut the mustard was Phil Rodriguez, the male lead.  Phil, Phil, Phil--what happened?  You were tremendous in the other things I've seen you in, especially Grease and that wedding thing, but you didn't have the voice for Frank Butler.  Maybe it's because Howard Keel's glorious baritone still echoes in the chambers of Fio's memory, but you lack resonance.  Listen to that guy who plays Buffalo Bill--that's what you need to sound like--as if you're singing into a rain barrel.  A good voice teacher could shape you up in no time.  Lift that soft palate and sing into the mask.