Currently in Ashland, seeing four OSF shows in three days. Two down, two to go.
GUYS AND DOLLS - OSF does a musical each year now, a relative new development. They don't really have a musical performance space, but they make do with what they can manage. This "Guys and Dolls" is notable mainly because Mary Zimmerman (The White Snake) directed. It is a very "straight ahead" production, made notbable only because there is a reduced (though, still large) cast. A lot of the audience at the performance I attended were high school students, and this production would give them an excellent exposure to why this show has been called a "perfect" musical. For those of us who have seen a lot of productions, this one had few revelations. The women (Robin Goodrin Nordli as Miss Adelaide and Kate Hurster as Sarah Brown) were the strongest, and Ms. Zimmerman's emphasis on the aspirations of Depression-era women made the throw-away late-show number, "Marry the Man Today" one of the audience favorites. Rodney Gardiner did some playing-around with the role of Natan Detroit, and I would have been more interested in this highly competent but not energizing production had he and others done more.
Despite the excellent presentation at today's noon lecture, I wish I had not gone to it ahead of seeing FINGERSMITH this afternoon. The less you know going into Alexa Jung's adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel the better, and while the speaker tried hard not to present spoilers as part of the lecture, inevitably a few crept in. Bill Rauch's production, including a clever set by Christoper Acebo, with indispensible video and projections by Shawn Sagady, is creative and uses the Bowmer space exceptionally well.
Ms. Waters is a lesbian author, and there is a lesbian relationship in this mystery set in Victorian England, which is perhaps a little stretch, especially for school audiences, as what's dominating this weekend. This world premiere production is three acts and 2 hours and 45 minutes long, but Ms. Jung's script is well structured (long first act, short second and third acts), and there are a number of plot surprises and character reversals that keep things interesting.
To me, the standout performers were veterans Peter Frechette and Kate Mulligna, both of whom had smaller but important-to-the-story roles. It's a fun ride, and I've told you too much already, but do go and enjoy.
So far, both productions were up to what I expect from OSF, but neither blew me away. There's two more to go, and I'll report on those once I've seen them.
Bill, in Ashland, but heading back to San Diego Monday
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