FOOTLIGHT REVIEWS
Tickets are $27.50 Gala General (8 PM)
$60 Gold Preferred Seats and Preshow Meet & Greet with Gaynor (6 PM)
Partial Proceeds Benefit PROJECT OPEN HAND http://www.openhand.org/
Tickets Available at - 415 863-0611 or at www.ticketweb,com http://www.tinyurl.com.au/x.php?rd9
or @ A DIFFERENT LIGHT BOOKS, 479 Castro St.
The basic premise of each plot goes like this: An ingenue who can't pay her rent, a villian who demands the rent, a hero who comes to her rescue and pays the rent for her, and a friend who keeps the ingenue's spirit high through rough times. Although the show opens with Corn!, in an Oklahoma!-like setting, subtle and often hilarious references to other R & H shows abound. Laurey is now June (as in bustin' out all over), Jud Fry is now Jitter (a reference to Carousel's villian, Jigger Craigen. "People Will Say We're in Love" and "If I Loved You" get spoofed in a love-denyin' song by the hero and heroine "I Coudn't Keer Less About You". Aunt Eller becomes Aunt Abby and helps June through her struggles with an outrageous hymn that combines references to "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Climb Every Mountain", "The Sound of Music" and "Bali Hai". There's even a spoof of Agnes DeMille's dream/nightmare ballet . Curly is now Will - which allows for a raunchy play on his name - and gets to sing a Billy Bigalow- like soliloquy {"Sowillyquy") about whether to stay with or leave June,
The 4 performers - Adorable Dani Marcus as June; young, staltwart Quinn Van Antewerp as Will, versatile Mark Farrell as Jitter and dazzling soprano MiIissa Carey as Abby - all have big, Broadway voices, great comic timing and powerful stage presence. They're particularly adept at spoofing Sondheim - in arguably the most inventive segment of the show. Called A LIttle Complex - the scene opens with a Company-like Manhattan skyline, with each actor inhabiting a different apartment in a housing complex called "The Woods". Each suffers from a severe neurosis or psychosis, most notably, Jigger, the landlord. He's a cross between Sweeney Todd and George Seurat, a deranged artist who wants to get revenge on his critics by killing people and turning them into paper-mache sculptures. Abby becomes a a cynical boozy broad whose song to June, "We're All Gonna Die", is now one of hopelessness and resignation. (This number gives Melissa the opportunity to do a great take on Elaine Stritch.) What's more, the Sondheim segment manages to spoof nearly every musical that revered composer/lyricist has penned.
In the Jerry Herman portion, called Dear Abby , the Abby character takes center-stage in a glamorous Mame - like setting. All the songs are ridiculously upbeat and cheerful. There are multiple costume changes and a little cross dressing a La Cage aux Folles. "Boy with a bugle" becomes "Boy with a bagel (don't ask!) The send-up of Andrew Lloyd Webber is staged on an Evita-like set, with Dani Marcu doing a great vocal impression of Patti Lupone. There is a wonderful send up of Lloyd Webber's tendency to repeat the same melody ad infinitim and to borrow from Puccini. And, of course there's an evil phantom, a candelabra, fog, actors on roller skates - and - a side splitting joke about Cats.
The show's last segment is a spoof of Kander and Ebb Called Speak Easy, it opens with a tinsel curtain in a gritty Cabaret. Mark Farrell does an amazing turn as the MC in an eerie Joel Grey look-and sound-alike sequence. One of the funniest numbers, peformed by all four actors, mocks "They Had It Coming" the women prisoners' song from Chicago. And if this weren't enough the finale gives us one more delightful surprise - a sendup of one of the most famous closing chorus numbers in the history of the musical. Musical of Musicals is so thick with subtle send-ups, that I think I'd have to go back and watch it 3 or 4 times to get them all.
Dates: Now through June 21st.
Place: Center REPertory Co., 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
Tickets/Info: 925/943-7469 or CenterREP.org or at ticket office at above address
May 15 - 25 - PEDDLING RAINBOWS: THE SONGS & POETRY OF E.Y. (YIP) HARBURG ("Wizard of Oz", "Finian's Rainbow")
June 5 - 29 - OUT OF THIS WORLD (Cole Porter)
Place: Eureka Theatre, San Francisco
Tickets: 415/255-8207
Info: www.42ndStMoon.org
In "The Life of Reilly" the consummate actor/director/comic recounts his struggle to emerge from a severely dysfunctional family, his finding support in unlikely places, his amazing training at the acclaimed Berghoff/Hagan acting studio in New York, his close friendships with fellow performers and his encounters with various unique personalities in and out of show business.
However, it's not the "what" of "The Life of Reilly" that makes this film such a gem, but the "how". Reilly is a master story teller. He makes us, the audience, feel like we're all trusted friends with whom he is sharing the most meaningful moments of his life. He does so with relish, heartbreaking vulnerability, and side-splitting wit.
It's a very satisfying 85 minutes. The only wish of this reviewer is that he'd made a sequel describing his experiences as a director of theatre and acting/musical theatre teacher and coach. But alas, this was not to be. Reilly passed away last May. Thank goodness this last performance of his one-man play was captured on film. Because, now, "The Life of Reilly" serves as a great tribute to a wonderful human being.
Dates: 11/16 to 11/22
Places: Landmark's Lulmiere Theatre, San Francisco and Landmark's Shattack Cinemas, Berkeley
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With her third film, "Across the Universe", she is less visually inventive, relying mostly on old tricks - giant Asian-style puppets, psychodelic imagery, kaliedoscopic scene changes, etc. And the story - of how the Vietnam war impacted the lives of the young - is one we've all seen before in worthier vehicles. Given these limitations, the film still works - thanks to the wonderful performances by the cast - and the terrific Beatles score. Taymor chooses songs that illuminate the story and allow the characters to express their joy, pain, fear and rage over their personal struggles and the effect of the war on their lives. And what great songs! From "All My Loving" to "Helter Skelter" to "Something in the Way She Moves" to "Strawberry Fields Forever" (with the film's most inventive and powerful vision of melting strawberries symbolizing the war's bloodshed.) - it's a Beatles devotee's dream.
Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess are terrific as the young lovers - and sing with great conviction and poignancy. Joe Anderson as a college drop out, party boy who ends up as an emotionally wrecked Viet-Nam vet, is haunting; and Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther are musical powerhouses - she as a Janis Joplin-like singer and he as her brilliant guitarist/lover.
When all is said and done, "Across the Universe" may be a pleasurable, if not thrilling, trip for the eye, but it is truly a heavenly trip for the ear.
Now playing at Bay Area theatres
French actress Julie Delphy is the star, writer and director of a refreshing new film "Two Days in Paris". In it she portrays a French photographer who brings her American boyfriend (Adam Goldberg) to Paris to re-ignite their relationship and to meet her parents. But what ensues is a delightfully mocking look at the disparity betwen French and American eating habits, sexual attitudes and views of the world. He's a grungy, neurotic, obsessive, intellectual hypochondriac (think of Woody Allen with a full head of hair, muscles and tatoos). She's an impulsive, verbose jeune femme with an open, casual attitude toward sex, which throws her beau into a frenzy.
Delphy is a competent writer/director, as well as a highly appealing actress. Her choice of Adam Goldburg (too buff and tatooted to fully pull of the nerd role) is a bit off-putting, but she evidently had a real-life relationship with him. So perhaps some of their real life conflict permeated her script. Delphy also cast her actor parents as her mom and dad in the film. And they are utterly delightful playing to the hilt the stereotype of French sophistication and candor around l'amour et le boudoir.
Now playing at Bay Area Theatres.
Ahrens and Flherty are best known for their Tony Award-winning musical "Ragtime", in which Mazzie starred on Broadway. They also created the scores for "Once on this Island" and "Dessa Rose" (both of which played the Bay Area in recent years) as well as "Seussical" and "My Favorite Year".
Mazzie ("Passion", "Kiss Me Kate" and "Man of LaMancha" revivals and Daniely ("Curtains", "The Full Monty", "Candide" revival) also appeared together recently in the S.F Symphony's revival of Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing".
In addition to selections from the Ahrens/Flaherty established songbook, two brand new songs will be unveiled at this performance, one from their work in progress "The Glorious Ones"
Dates: Nov. 8-11
Place: Broadway by the Bay: San Mateo Performing Arts Center
Tickets: 650/5795565 or www.BroadwayBytheBay.org
"The costumes, the scenery, the makeup the props
The audience that lifts you when you're down.
The headaches, the heartaches, the backaches, the flops
The sheriff who escort's you out of town.
The opening when your heart beats like a drum.
The closing when the customers won't come."
Except for the sheriff, everything in this verse to Irving Berlin's classic "There's No Business Like Show Business" is vividly portrayed in a terrific new documentary about the 2003-2004 Broadway musical season. Called, "SHOW BUSINESS: THE ROAD TO BROADWAY", the film focuses on the trials and tribulations - from original concept to the Tony Awards - of four musicals: Stephen Schwartz's "Wicked", the Boy George bio "Taboo", the 'Seseme Street for Adults' puppet musical "Avenue Q" and Tony Kushner's biographical "Caroline or Change".
Director Dori Berinstein keeps the momentum going, with expert editing and dazzling cinematography. What's more, she covers all the bases: Rehearsals, performances, revealing interviews with producers, directors, performers, songwriters, choreographers and critics. Interviewees include actors Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Raul Esparza; composers Jeanine Tesori, Jeff Marx; playwright Tony Kushner; producers Rosie O'Donnell and Rocco Landsman, director George Wolf, critics Ben Brantley and Linda Winer, and more. In short, 'SHOW BUSINESS: THE ROAD TO BROADWAY' gives us a rich inside view of a complex, thrilling, and often maddening world.
"Let's go on with the show!"
RARELY HEARD STAGE & FILM TUNES SUNG WITH STYLE, FLAIR AND HEART
If you've developed a case of the blahs hearing singer after singer, however talented, perform the same old standards or tired trendy tunes ad infinitum and want something fresh and inventive, then Bill Cooper's show at Michael's Octavia Lounge is your cup of tea. Not only does he sing obscure gems that would stump even the most knowledgeable affianados of The Great American Songbook, but he does so with a soothing, reedy baritone, and great panache. Cooper is a natural performer, with a wry comic persona a and a spontaneous and amusing repartee with his audience. Most important of all, he pays attention to the lyrics and makes you feel he believes every word he sings.
Whether it's the touching Rodgers & Hammerstein ballads "So Far", a rare forgotten gem from their flop musical "Allegro", or or "Boys and Girls Like You and Me" (cut from "Oklahoma" and again from the film "Take Me Out to the Ballgame") or upbeat, comic movie tunes like Kay Thompson's "You Hit the Spot" and Frank Loesser & Victor Schertzinger's "That's How I Got My Start", Cooper infuses each with his own personal style. His open-heartedness on the ballads (often preceded by wry tales of his own failed romantic encounters) is truly sweet and touching and his sardonic take and R-rated expressions and body language on the comic tunes are hilarious.
Cooper's show is not solely made up of obscure songs, he also does some wonderful standards, but thankfully they're not the worn out ones you've heard a hundred times in cabaret. His renditions of Cy Coleman's "The Best is Yet To Come" ("Little Me"), Cole Porter's "From This Moment On" ("Out of This World"), and Harold Arlen's "When the Sun Comes Out" are performed in big, brassy Broadway style and his gentle crooning on the ballads "The Shadow of Your Smile" and "That's All" are heart-warming. He also does a fresh version of Rodger's and Hart's "I Wish I Were in Love Again" ("Babes in Arms"). The twist is that he adds several verses of new lyrics by Michael Mscioli which so match the style of Lorenz Hart, that this reviewer was fooled into thinking Hart had written them himself!
If this weren't enough, there is the added delight of watching and listening to Cooper's superb accompanist, Barry Lloyd at the piano. His arrangements are a joy to the ear, and his enthusiasm as he plays is truly contageous!. And you can read below about the one man show Barry will be presenting on the previous evening.
“NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON” TO CATCH THE MUSICAL MAGIC OF BARRY LLOYD
Barry Lloyd is a rare breed. Unlike most accomplished musical director/accompanist/arrangers, who work best as supporting players, Lloyd has the vocal talent, energy and charisma to dazzle audiences in a solo act of his own. Case in point, his latest cabaret venture – “Not a Moment Too Soon: The Songs of Murray Grand” - a tribute to the songs of a relatively obscure composer/lyricist But even if most of the songs are unfamiliar, they are so clever, poignant and outrageous, and performed with such panache by Lloyd, that they make for a vastly entertaining evening.
From the opening title song, to the closing ironic “Too Old to Die Young”, Lloyd has the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. Why not? He has it all – easy on the eye with matinee idol looks; easy on the ear with a rich, reedy baritone; and sharp enough to milk every comic nuance out of such numbers as “”I Was Beautiful” (with a fabulously funny falsetto), the naughty “Up Yours”, and the New Faces of 1952 satire “April in Fairbanks”. If that weren’t enough, Lloyd can also touch the heart with his subtle and soulful interpretations of “Thursday’s Child”, “Boozers and Losers”, and Grand’s biggest hit, “Guess Who I Saw Today?”
Time is running out to catch the last performance of “Not a Moment Too Soon: The Songs of Murray Grand”. So, call the Octavia Lounge today. .
Date: Barry Lloyd, Fri. 10/26, 7:00 p.m.; Bill Cooper, Sat. 10/27, 8:00 p.m.
Place: Michael's Octavia Lounge, 1772 Market St., San Francisco
Tickets: 415/863-3516