The Pitmen Painters, Humor Abuse,
Christine Ebersole and Jack Jones

Also see Richard's reviews of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Christmas Ballet and Celtic Yuletide

Outstanding Acting in Lee Hall's The Pitmen Painters

Paul Whitworth, Patrick Jones and Jackson Davis

Lee Hall's superb play The Pitmen Painters is a gratifying experience; it tells the real-life story of a group of Northern English miners who became celebrated as painters in the 1930s and 1940s in the human need for art and ambition rather than mindless easy profit. The comic drama by the author of Billy Elliot is playing at TheatreWorks in Mountain View through February 12th.

The Pitmen Painters started at the Live Theatre in Newcastle Upon Tyne and then went to the Royal National Theatre in London. The play had its American premiere at the Samuel J. Friedman theatre in New York in 2010. It is currently playing at the Duchess Theatre in the West End of London.

Coal miners George (James Carpenter), Jimmy (Jackson Davis), Harry (Dan Hiatt) and Oliver (Patrick Jones) decide to sign up for art appreciation classes in Newcastle upon Tyne. The group is disappointed when seemingly stuffy Professor Lyon (Paul Whitworth) shows up. After a few missteps, the teacher realizes that art history lessons won't help them. He inspires the men to put their thoughts on canvas, with astonishing results. The play considers the British class system of the '30s and '40s and how the end product can indicate different things depending on the creator.

Things do bog down a bit in the first act. However, there is humor that bursts out in many scenes, especially with Jimmy, who tries to explain his paintings to the group. (When Professor Lyon says "Titian" he says "Bless you.") There is a hilarious scene with the prudish miners discovering that a model (Kathryn Zdan) is about to remove her clothes for a life-drawing class, as the culture clashes between the painters and their highbrow tutor are delightfully caught.

Director Leslie Martinson's cast is superb in all roles. The actors smoothly evoke the time and social class settings, with Jim Gross's excellent projections of street and work scenes as well as a good selection of Pitmen paintings on Andrea Bechert's striking uncluttered union hall set.

Paul Whitworth is motivated as Professor Lyon, who is wonderfully steadfast in proving the miners' talents. James Carpenter is excellent as the meticulous George. Dan Hiatt gives a great performance as the enthusiastic Marxist World War I vet Harry. He tries to find elements of socialism in the men's paintings. Jackson Davis is perfect as the stumbling Jimmy and has the best comic lines of the play. Patrick Jones gets into the role of Oliver, an artist with a complex soul who undergoes a particular rather than a common transformation. Nicholas Pelczar gives a sterling performance as an inspired youth to the miner group.

Marcia Pizzo is splendid as a briskly seductive wealthy art collector, while Kathryn Zdan inoculates a note of working class radicalism in the underwritten role of the artist's model. B. Modern's period dresses for Marcia Pizzo boost an erotic style for her character.

The Pitmen Painters plays through February 12th at Theatre Works at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts Center, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View. For tickets call 650-463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org Coming up next will be Carly Mensch's Now Circa Then opening at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto on Mary 7th and running through April 1.

Photo: Tracy Martin

A Mesmerizing and Engrossing Production of Humor Abuse

Lorenzo Pisoni

Lorenzo Pisoni is a one man whirlwind as he dominates the stage of the American Conservatory Theatre for 85 minutes. You might wonder how a clown who performed at Pickle Family Circus can entertain solo on stage before a theatregoing audience. Can he sustain the attention of a theatre audience? Lorenzo Pisoni can and does on the A.C.T. stage. He is an undeniable charmer with stage magic galore. The New York Post described him perfectly: "Lorenzo Pisoni is a performer of charisma and charm with the split-second timing and aplomb of Buster Keaton."

Lorenzo Pisoni, who also created this intermission-less play along with Erica Schmidt, tells the audience that the art of being a clown is definitely not all fun and games. The play is based on his experience of growing up in the Pickle Family Circus. The star of the circus was Lorenzo's father Larry, who was described as "a silent clown who never laughed." He was a distant father and, instead of playing ball or catch with other children, Larry taught his son the art of clowning. The father was overly severe, more like a Marine Corp drill sergeant. Lorenzo tells the audience he both worshipped and feared his father who lived by the creed that tragedy inspires comedy.

As Lorenzo Pisoni comes onto the stage, he says, "This is a one-man show," as he tries to pin down a vexatious wandering spotlight, and then he says, "And I'm the straight man." With this modest joke, he captures the quintessence of the autobiographical show. The audience sees a mix of pantomime, clowning and storytelling. His performance is breathtaking. He juggles, performs pratfalls and flings himself in and out of a truck that is the main feature of the "circus" set. The artist dodges sandbags that drop from the ceiling and even falls down a flight of stairs that are located stage right.

Humor Abuse runs through February 5th at the American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary Street, San Francisco. For tickets call 415-749-2228 or visit www.act-sf.org. Coming up next will be a word premiere production of Carey Perloff's Higher at the The Theatre at Children's Creativity Museum, 221 Fourth Street and Howard St. (formerly the Zeum Theatre), and later the West Coast premiere of Wajdi Mouawad's Scorched starring David Strathairn.

Photo: Chris Bennion

Christine Ebersole at the Venetian Room and Jack Jones at the Rrazz Room

Two-time Tony Award winning actress Christine Ebersole returned to San Francisco on January 15th as part of the Bay Area Cabaret season. Before a sellout crowd at the Fairmont Venetian Room she wowed the audience with her skills as a singer and with the stories of her life. Her new show is called Bowl of Cherries and what a show it is. The audience response was overpowering.

Christine Ebersole is a gifted performer, the kind of person who would be the life of any party. She commanded the Venetian Room stage with her versatility, exhibiting a wide vocal range when singing songs from films and Broadway musicals. Between singing her great numbers, the songster talked about her zany childhood in Winnetka, Illinois; about her fame and failure in Hollywood (being young and beautiful in Hollywood is a bit expensive); and about moving to Maplewood, New Jersey, where she now lives with her husband and three children. She talked about her roles in 42nd Street and Grey Gardens. Her recollections were a great showcase for her skills as a singer.

She entered the showroom dressed in a smart cocktail dress and said, "Welcome, this is age before beauty cabaret." Opening with a quartet led by John Oddo in the background, she started to scat-sing a jazz piece and then segued into "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" from The Wizard of Oz. Songs ranged from a bouncy "Keep Young and Beautiful" to a soulful arrangement of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man of Mine."

Ebersole sang a down and dirty arrangement of "42nd Street" followed by a light and springy rendition of "If I Were a Bell" from Guys and Dolls. There was real emotional involvement when she sang "When the World Was Young" and Jerome Kern's lovely "The Folks Who Live on the Hill." The artist did a great imitation of Eartha Kitt's "Mink, Schmink" and was sublime singing "Another Winter in a Summer Town" from Grey Gardens. She showed great vocal chops singing the chirpy DeSylva/Brown/Henderson tune "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" at the end of the show.

Coming up next for Bay Area Cabaret will be Jessica Molaskey and John Pizzarelli at 2:30 pm on February 26. That evening the John Pizzarelli Trio will do a "Tribute to Duke Ellington." On May 6th there will be the Second Annual Bay Talent Idol contest, and on May 12th Laura Benanti with Robert Conte Thornton perform for one day only in the beautiful room.

Legendary singer Jack Jones recently entertained the audience for four nights at the Hotel Nikko's Rrrazz Rom in San Francisco. Jones has been entertaining audiences with his singing since he was 19, and the wealth of experience sure showed in his 90-minute concert. At 74, with hair snowy white, Jones is still one of the coolest song stylists in the business. The senior citizen audience on opening night treated him like an old friend and he reciprocated by breaking the fourth wall to connect with them.

Jack Jones' charisma, enthusiasm and ability to put over a popular song are openhandedly on display. On opening night he traveled through his repertoire, singing 23 songs. Backed by Lou Forestieri, his conductor and pianist, Martin Mann on second piano, Chris Colangelo on bass, and Kendall Kay on drums, he gave an appreciative audience a night to remember.

The show opened with a montage of home movie clips, TV appearances and concert footage on large screens on each side of the stage. The clips showed the singer hanging out with Sinatra, Garland, Marvin Hamlisch and Sammy Davis Jr. Mel Tormé once said that Jones was "the greatest 'pure' singer in the world." I am inclined to agree with that statement. Even at age 74, the flair, jazz time and modulation and decades of hip, adept experience are still there.

Jones' strength lies in how he delivers the big songs, and he showed he could swing through "Just One of Those Things," "You Made Me Love You," "Lollipops and Roses" and "Wives and Lovers." He came in smooth singing "Not While I'm Around," "The Folks Who Live on the Hill" and "Here's to Life." He offered bouncy versions of "For Once in My Life," "My Kind of Town" and "The Love Boat Theme." He put his all into the song "Angel Eyes" and sank his teeth into "L.A. Breakdown," a love story to his hometown.

The legend was part swinging technician and part aging troubadour, casting his spell on the fans who were in the room on opening night. For a complete schedule of upcoming artists at the room go to www.TheRrazzRoom.com.

Cheers - and be sure to Check the lineup of great shows this season in the San Francisco area

- Richard Connema