|
Regional Reviews: San Francisco Table Manners, Show and Tell and Divalicious
I first saw the trilogy at Greenwich Theatre near London with a great British cast including Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon, the hilarious Penelope Keith, and Felicity Kendal. Over the years I have seen one or two of the Norman plays here in the United States but not with very good results. Table Manners is about frustrated Annie (Zehra Berkman) who is looking after her bedridden mum and destined to team up for life with dull veterinarian Tom (Josiah Polhemus). However, Annie has planned a lovely weekend in East Grinstead with passionately romantic Norman (Richard Reinholdt) who is married to her aggressive sister Ruth (Sarah Marshall). Annie's high strung sister Sarah (Kendra Lee Oberhauser) and her husband Reg (Mick Maze) have left their two children at home so Annie can take this much needed two-day vacation. Sarah is puzzled when informed that Annie's escort will be Norman, so she summons Norman's wife Ruth (Sarah Mitchell) to come down to the manor. However, Ruth is too obsessed with her career to notice or care about what Norman is up to. What happens in a deliciously controlled degree of gusto is a disastrously high-pitch meal and a hilarious confrontation between the family members. This is typical Ayckbourn and British farce at its finest. The Shotgun Players cast handles the Ayckbourn style very well. Joy Carlin appears to have refined a flair for transforming the sarcastic undercurrents and tensions of the dysfunctional family. Richard Reinholdt is charismatic as an unlikely Lothario who describes himself as "an assistant librarian in the wrong body." He has a field day playing all of the sides of the manipulative Norman. He is a master of extended monologue, carrying on a conversation with himself. Kendra Lee Oberhauser gives an engaging performance as Sarah, who is visibly hardened toward Norman's antics and eruptions. She further conveys the character's stiffness with clipped speech, and evokes sympathy for being a bossy woman with her own compulsiveness. Zehra Berkman is wonderful as the frustrated Annie. She shifts from aggravation to vexation at being browbeaten and having spent five years looking after her cantankerous bedridden mother upstairs. Josiah Polhemus is terrific as the dim-witted Tom. Tom attempts to keep up with all of the goings on and incorrectly interprets Annie's signals. He has a brilliant scene in the second act sitting at the dining room table alone where, with no dialogue, he builds a "Noah's ark" out of utensils from the table. Mike Mize is a hoot as Reg. He plays the role as an observer and delivers some of the playwright's zippy one-liners. His comic timing is perfect as Reg rolls his eyes and gives deeps sighs of exasperation when his wife orders him around. Sarah Mitchell gives a feisty performance as Ruth, Norman's disinterested wife. She is hilarious playing the antagonistic, myopic, provoking character who unleashes her belligerence. No one in this crazy family likes the others. Nina Ball has designed an excellent set that looks like an upscale dining room in a Sussex County home. Valera Coble's costumes and Masha Tsimring's lighting are great assets to the farce. Table Manners plays in repertory with the other two Norman Conquest plays, Living Together and Round and Round the Garden, through September 12th at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave, Berkeley. For tickets call 510-841-6500 or www.shotgunplayer.org. Photo: Robin Phillips
Symmetry Theatre Company, a new Bay Area theatre company, recently presented Anthony Clarvoe's provocative drama Show and Tell at the Thick House in San Francisco. Fans of the CBS television series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" will love this play about a disturbing tragedy that has happened to 24 fourth grade students who have been killed in an unexplained explosion. The play opens with a teacher from a small suburban grade school addressing the audience as her students. It is show and tell time and there is a knock on the door. She leaves us and the catastrophic event occurs. The scene changes quickly as a group from the government come to the school to investigate the explosion. The agency is led by sensitive Seth (Robert Parsons). Assisting is capable Sharon (Julia Brothers), unemotional Iris (Jessica Powell), and naïve Ann (Erika Salazar). What follows is an intriguing crime investigation by this professional forensics team who join the parents to track down the origin of the disaster. The surprise ending will leave you wondering if this tragedy could have been easily averted. Show and Tell is heavy drama and it shows the cold professionalism of the forensics team and the bewildered parents who must face a terrible emotional crisis. There is the angry parent Erinn (Julia Brothers) who questions God on why her innocent child was taken from her, a grief-stricken mother Gail (Erika Salazar) who must be sedated, and a beer-swelling father Farsted (Wylie Herman) who wants the remains of his son. The cast is excellent under the fine direction of Laura Hope. Julia Brothers successfully morphs from a sarcastic forensics expert to a tormented mother of faith betrayed as a devout Christian. Jessica Powell gives a smart performance as a coroner who is completely unemotional when identifying the body parts of the young children killed in the blast. Robert Parsons is very good as the leader of the government group. Chloe Bronzan gives a brilliant performance as the fourth-grade teacher who believes she might have had something to do with the explosion. Wylie Herman is very fervent as the beer drinking father. Rounding out this great cast is Erika Salazar giving an accomplished performance as the naïve forensics officer and the mother who must be sedated. Show and Tell was performed on a small stage with only chairs and great projections of children's drawings on a screen. Show and Tell closed on August 22 at The Thick House, 1695 18th Avenue, San Francisco. For more information, visit www.symmetrytheatre.com/.
Leanne Borghesi makes her solo debut in a delicious revue of great songs called Divalicious, which played through August 22nd at the New Conservatory Theatre Center before heading to New York's Metropolitan Room. This first-class talent takes on the music of legendary divas such as Bette Midler, July Garland, Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand and Patti LuPone in a very stylish revue aided by G. Scott Lacy at the piano and joining her in several songs and terrific moves choreographed by Stephanie Temple. Leanne has terrific vocal chops that blend marvelous strength, tremendous musicianship and gorgeous tonality. Leanne Borghesi has been in a series of good musicals in the Bay Area and last year won the Bay Area Critics Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her appearance as Mona Kent in Dames at Sea. During the 90-minute gig with intermission there is very little patter as she goes from one song to another. The talented artist starts the program with "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard. She begins slowly and belts the song to an amazing crescendo. On that high note she goes into "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy. Borghesi is Madame Rose when singing the song. The diva gives a smoky reading of Harold Arlen's "Blues in the Night" and moves into the upbeat "Gimmie Gimmie" from Thoroughly Modern Millie. With a powerful get-down Broadway-type of belting she is charismatic singing "You're the Top," "Friendship" and "I Get a Kick Out of You" by the legendary Cole Porter. Ms. Borghesi gives an arousing performance singing Bob Merrill's "Mambo Italiano," a song made famous by Rosemary Clooney. The vocalist turns very heartfelt in her rendition of "Unexpected Song" from Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance. This is followed by "Maybe This Time" from Kander and Ebb's Cabaret. She ends the first act with the little-known "Stuff Life That There" by Jay Livingston and Ray Evan. In the second act, the singer comes out in a sumptuous gown belting "Le Jazz Hot" from Victor/Victoria and then goes in the opposite direction with a lovely arrangement of Burton Lane and Yip Harburg's "Old Devil Moon." She has soulful vocal cords singing Harold Arlen's "Come Rain or Come Shine" and segues into the fascinating "Unusual Way" by Maury Yeston. The artist reprises her song from Dames at Sea by singing "That Mister Man of Mine." She does a unique take on Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane's "The Trolley Song," jumping up and down as Judy Garland did in the movie Meet Me In St. Louis. Leanne concludes her set with Stephen Sondheim's "No One is Alone" and Jule Styne's "Don't Rain On my Parade." As an encore she belts out "All That Jazz" from Cabaret. Leanne Borghesi, G. Scott Lacy and Stephanie Temple take the show to the Metropolitan Room in New York on August 27th.
|
