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Regional Reviews: San Francisco Phèdre, Andrea Marcovicci and
Roman poet Seneca wrote about Phaedra the wife of the King of Athens Theseus during the reign of Nero. This is the ancient story of how, in the absence of her royal husband, Phaedra ends by declaring her incestuous love to Hippolytus, Thesee's son from a previous marriage. French playwright Jean Racine wrote a dramatic tragedy in five acts in Alexandrine verse; it was first performed in 1677 in Paris. Since then there have been many translations of the tragic life of Phaedra. I saw two productions with Dianna Riggs as the wife of King Theseus, the first was the Royal National Theatre production "Phaedra Britannica" in 1975 which she co-starred with Michael Gough and David Yelland. Later I saw her perform a highly free verse translation of Racine's Phèdre in Guildford in 1998. The current translation which runs one hour and half is by Timberlake Wertenbaker. Phèdre is an awesome potboiler, full of cavalier gods and lusty human passions. Much of that passion is filtered through the older heart of Phèdre, granddaughter of Zeus and wife of the heroic Theseus who makes her Queen of Athens. All of the action takes place in Trezene, and Theseus is away in Athens. Phèdre has been in close contact with her stepson Hippolytus and, despite her intentions, she can't seem to stop herself from wanting that contact to be closer. She keeps this passion to herself, even as she abuses him at every step. As a result Hippolytus hates his stepmother. The only person who knows of this secret lust is Phèdre's nurse Oenone who becomes a female Iago. Rumor abounds that Theseus has been killed in an adventure and so Hippolytus now becomes fair game for Phèdre. However, Hippolytus is in love with fair Aricie, the last survivor of the rival line of Athenian royalty and now a prisoner of the King. The King has not been killed and he arrives full of zest to the court. Phèdre is now afraid that her husband will learn of her incestuous desires for the stepson spurred on by Oenone. The plot is to deflect the King's rage to his own son rather then Phèdre. This production is dazzling on a spare stage that resembles a looming temple of steel and stone. The lavish costumes of 17th century France allude to the stylishness and enhancement of the 1600s. Language is all, and there are no histrionics in Perloff's direction. The translation is lovely, full of fire and immensely playable. It is easy to follow the political exploits of the all of the characters on stage. The cast of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival is superb. The elocution of these actors is breathtaking. This is classical theatre at its best. Seana McKenna gives a mesmerizing performance as Phèdre. She morphs the arc of the character's descent into madness with fantastic skill. Her tragic last scene is amazing. Roberta Maxwell is riveting as the servant Oenone. Sean Arbuckle as the tutor Theramenes is brilliant in describing the death of Hippolytus. Claire Lautier as Aricie is able to strike a perfect balance between fear and love as Aricie sees her lover Hippolytus for the last time. Jonathan Goad is magnificent as Hippolytus. He gives a strong and virile performance. The tension between Hippolytus and Phèdre is absolutely dynamic. Tom McCamus is outstanding as the flawed Theseus. He has one of the greatest theatrical voices I have heard these past years. It's a brilliant performance. Carey Perloff's direction is splendid. She compels an elegant sense of underestimation on the high drama of this tragedy. It does not decent into melodrama. Christina Poddubiuk's staging of the iron and stone works is excellent and the lighting by James F. Ingalls is very dramatic. David Lang has composed a haunting cello score to heighten the drama. Christina Poddubiuk also designed the costumes to show the audience what the drama would look like in 1677 Paris. Phèdre runs through February 7th at American Conservatory Theatre, 415 Geary Ave, San Francisco. For tickets call 415-749-2228 or visit www.act-sf.org. Their next production will John Doyle's take on Bertolt Brecht's masterpiece The Caucasian Chalk Circle opening on February 18 and running through March 14. Photo: Erik Tomasson
The incomparable Queen of Cabaret Andrea Marcovicci recently returned to San Francisco with her brand new show Skylark: A Tribute to Johnny Mercer. She reigned supreme at the Rrrazz Room through January 31st. There is no one who can approach her mesmerizing personal presence. She understands each lyric that she sings and does this with a marvelous dramatic effect. The cabaret queen gave a wonderful 70-minute tour of the life of lyricist Johnny Mercer. This genius had the pick of composers, including Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, Richard Whiting and Jimmy Van Heusen, over his career. He has 1400 songs to his credit. By the time of Mercer's death he had won four Oscars, plus Grammys and other accolades. Andrea Marcovicci opened the show with the sublime "Skylark" and segued into "Something's Gotta Give" and "Spring, Spring, Spring!." In the latter song she sang three stanzas of the song, something you never hear. The chanteuse sang the very first song Mercer ever wrote, for the The Garrick Gaities in 1930. It was called "Out of Breath (and Scared to Death of You)" with an upbeat '20s type melody by Everett Miller. This showed that Johnny Mercer was an up and coming lyricist. The cabaret queen was transcendent singing "Autumn Leaves," first with the original lyrics in French by Jacques Prevert and then the Mercer English lyrics. She performed a smooth arrangement, by her pianist Shelly Markham, of "P.S. I Love You." There are songs for "spooning lovers," such as "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" and "Too Marvelous for Words,." a great swing version of "My Sugar Is So Refined" and the sublime "Moon River" and "Charade." The songs were accompanied by delicious nuggets of Johnny Mercer's life (that he had a big love affair with Judy Garland and he once told Irving Berlin, "you couldn't write you way out of a paper bag"—he called Mr. Berlin the following day to apologize). The artist glided through the songs with every word in place, with a wonderful twinkle in her eye. She had great back up by Shelly Markham and Daniel Fabricant on bass. Andrea Marcovicci played the Rrrazz Room. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason Street, San Francisco through January 31st. For schedule and tickets call 866-468-3399 or visit www.TheRrazzRoom.com.
Sidecar Theatre in conjunction with Boxcar Theatre presented the world premiere of Maria Breaux's The Mark Ten's Fantastic Parade at their intimate theatre through January 29th. This two-hour energetic farce is an homage to the creation of a "concept" album in Los Angeles in 1966 and 1967. This is after The Beatles and before Garage Band, before Guitar Hero and even before girls with beehive hairdos screaming their lungs out to bands in the '70s. Four young musicians are having trouble getting their touring rock band noticed during those late rockin' 1960s. The manager decided that the group should do a "concept" album. The big question for the group is a theme. The group uses off-the-wall musical technology such as plungers, basketballs, teakettles and tap shoes to make a different sound. A lot of things happen to the group during the 64 days it takes to make this album, including one band member leaving to go to Europe to play in a zither band. There is even a mysterious sound room where weird things happen to the group. Maria Breaux's parody of the Monkees seems more like a work in progress. There are scenes that are hilarious while some seem completely out of place. Just too many things happen in the two hour comedy. There is a gem of a comedy there but it needs serious pruning. There are original songs throughout the show that the kids mouth to a music track. Angela Hudson of MBreauxsia Films has designed some great projections showing shots of the late '60s that are interesting. Vincent Palo, Sam Leichter, Robert Campbell and Nick Dickson give energy driving performances as the young rock band. Vincent Palo sounds a lot like Davy Jones of the Monkees, giving a bouncy performance, while Robert Campbell looks strikingly like a young Jon Voigt in Midnight Cowboy. Sam Leichter and Nick Dickson give enthusiastic performances as the rest of the combo. Rachel Raiput is excellent playing a no-nonsense bass player named Cindy while Sarah Korda is very perky as a groupie named Petal. Rounding out the small cast is Paul Stout playing the worrisome producer. He is effective in the role. Katja Rivera's direction is good. The Mark Ten's Fantastic Parade played through January 29 at the Boxcar Theatre, 505 Natoma Street at 6 th, San Francisco. For more information, visit www.boxcartheatre.org.
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