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Regional Reviews: San Francisco The 39 Steps, Ovo and The Bald Soprano
The 39 Steps contains references to many of Hitchcock's greatest films, with witty sayings such as "I can't climb that high. I get vertigo" and "Quick! Out the window! Not the one in front, use the rear window." Keeping track of all those in-jokes and zingers you could go psycho. Oh yes, there is even a hilarious shadow scene of the shower incident from that film. There are nods peppered throughout, dropping such titles as The Lady Vanishes, Strangers on the Train and Spellbound. One of the funniest scenes is staged as shadow theater on a backlit sheet complete with mandatory Hitchcock cameo plus a great "airplane scene" from North by Northwest, thanks to lighting director Kevin Adams. The 39 Steps has many downright groaners, especially when our hero is in the Scottish Highlands. We get crazy riffs on guttural sounds such as our dapper leading man Richard Hannay fumbling with his fake name to a Scottish farmer (Oh-um-Hammond) and the farmer thereafter calls him "Mr. Oh-um Hammond"). Claire Brownell, Ted Deasy, Eric Hissom and Scott Parkinson are side splitting in this fast-paced, one-hour 55-minute piece. Ted Deasy (four seasons with Oregon Shakespeare Festival) is wonderful as Richard Hannay. His stiff upper lip British accent is straight out of the British films of the 1930s. He is unflappable in the role and perfect with his dry wit for the versatile characterizations of the other three actors. Claire Brownell (The 39 Steps in New York and Los Angeles, various A.C.T. productions) is marvelous in several roles, including a painfully shy Scottish crofter's wife ("Is it troo that all the leedies peent thar toonails in London"), a hilarious Scottish innkeeper's wife, and a ludicrous assassin with a faux Viennese accent (the Madeline Carroll role in the film). Eric Hissom (Actors Theatres of Louisville, The Folger Theatre and Milwaukee Rep) and Scott Parkinson (New York The Coast of Utopia, Orson's Shadow) play an endless assortment of comic characters with tireless energy. They are lightning quick with costume changes, sometimes just a hat or coat, and they get the choicest bits as pure harebrained characters, such as the opening scene with Hissom playing Mr. Memory while Parkinson plays the emcee. Kevin Adams' lighting is masterful, ranging from the shadow puppets re-creating Hannay's desperate trek across the moors to his being attacked by plane. Peter McKintosh's ingeniously economical designs are very clever, such as the fantastic train chase using only a series of traveling trucks and a smoke machine, and a parade of dummy bagpipe players. This is low tech at its finest. Maria Aitken's direction is precise and rapidly paced. The Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps national tour plays through January 3rd at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary Ave, San Francisco. For tickets visit www.shnsf.com or call 415-512-7770 or 800-982-2787. For more information on the tour, visit www.39stepsonbroadway.com/tour.html. Fiddler on the Roof starring Harvey Fierstein opens at the Golden Gate on January 27 and runs through February 21, 2010. Photo: David M. Allen
Cirque du Soleil's Ovo has been touring its home country Canada this year to good reviews. The acclaimed company is making its first United States stop in the city by the bay. Ovo is described as an immersion into the teeming and energetic world of insects. It certainly is an energetic evening of imaginative svelte and spineless contortionists, acrobats, trapeze artists and clowns all dressed as crickets, ants, fleas, scarabs and grasshoppers. Production values are first class with awesome lighting and a great set that looks like the interior of a giant beehive. The on-stage orchestra plays original rhythms of Brazil, combining traces of samba, forró, carimbó funk and samba-reggae. There are even sounds of real insects from speakers across the big tent. Ovo seems to have shorter acts than previous touring productions of Cirque shows—I believe the reason is that director Deborah Colker has the nimble artists coming onto the stage in rapid order. There is only one slow period, in the second act as clowns Joseph Collard as an obnoxious boss insect, Francois-Guillaume Leblanc as a visiting fly "foreigner" and Michelle Matlock as a lovelorn ladybug Cocinelle do an overly long comedy routine involving the audience in the front row. Ovo has some great acts, including an astonishing lithe female Asian sextet doing synchronized foot juggling of huge kiwi-fruit slice drums. Vladimir Hrynchenko's graceful hand balancing act and Nantel's body-defying contortions are top drawer. The finale of the two act spectacle is an outstanding display of trampoline wall climbing that reminded me of the Cirque's production of Ka in Las Vegas. Brazilian director Deborah Colker has also choreographed this production. It is an exciting blend of dance styles performed by all members of the company. Liz Vandal's bright candy-colored costumes include an amazing, giant, hairy caterpillar that forms four limbs and a torso, and expands, contracts and contorts (Lee Brearley is operating the creature from inside). Berna Ceppas' Brazilian score includes techno-punk and is very cheerful. Ovo runs though January 24th at the A.T.& T Park in San Francisco. On February 4 through the 21, it will play at the Taylor Street Bridge in San Jose. For tickets call 800-450-1480 or visit www.cirquedusoleil.com for more information.
Cutting Ball Theatre is presenting a marvelous celebration of theatre of the absurd with excellent acting in the 65-minute farce The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco. This was the first play this master of absurd comedy wrote. It premiered on May 11, 1950, at the Theatre des Noctambules in Paris and has had a permanent showing at Theatre de la Huchette in Paris since 1957. There have been a record number of interpretations of the plays and it is one of the most performed plays in France. Ionesco was inspired by his own attempts to learn English by using an English-French conversational manual. After copying the phases, he relearned obvious truths, that there are seven days in a week and the ceiling is above the floor below. He carried this premise to ridiculous, word-spinning heights. There is no bald soprano appearing on stage. The play suggests the futility of meaningful communication in modern society. It is loaded with non-sequiturs that give the audience the impression that the characters are not even listening to each other in their frantic efforts to make themselves heard. The opening scene has Mrs. Smith (Paige Roger) motor-mouthing non-sequiturs to her husband Mr. Smith (David Sinaiko) who is reading a paper and not listening. Guests Mr. Martin (Donnell Hill) and Mrs. Martin (Caitlyn Louchard) arrive. They have been married for 12 years and have a daughter, yet they don't seem to know each other. Their dialogue is sprinkled marvelously with comments like, "How curious! Indeed, how curious and what a bizarre coincidence." Midway through the play, a fire captain (Derek Fischer) arrives, saying he is just looking for fires. He says the fire extinguishing business is not good and profits are down. He and the Martins are superficially polite almost to point of madness. However, Mr. and Mrs. Smith had engaged in a nonsensical argument over whether or not a ringing doorbell indicated that there was someone at the door, and it is up to the fireman to be an adjudicator and confessor to the Smiths. He tells stories that are wholly without logic or unity. Most are typical shaggy dog stories with an intelligible point. The ending of the play is athletic, with the cast spouting preposterous phrases and throwing themselves against a padded wall until you think you are watching the kind of Marquis de Sade insane asylum production that was prevalent in 18th century Paris. Paige Rogers and David Sinaiko are ferociously funny as Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Paige Rogers is a scream in that first scene as she is constantly talking about nothing to her uncaring husband. He underplays the role magnificently. Donnell Hill (holds a B.A. in Drama from Stanford University) is a wonderful new actor to the Bay Area stage. His diction and presence as Mr. Martin are perfect; the way he says "How curious" so many times is perfection itself. Caitlyn Louchard gives a uniquely fetching performance as Mrs. Martin. Derek Fischer as a boyish, enthusiastic fire captain gives a resilient performance, especially when telling the stories. Anjali Vashi gives an outstanding performance as the upstart maid who comes up with some great zingers. Rob Melrose helms this rapid-paced production, and he brings out the bright and deranged quality of Ionesco's work. Michael Locher's simple set is a swank orange-toned living room with a large, blue padded wall in the background that sort of reminds you of a padded room in a state hospital for the mental disturbed. That wall comes in handy for the last wild and wooly madcap scene. The Bald Soprano has been extended through January 24, 2010, at the Exit on Taylor Theatre, Taylor Street, San Francisco. For performance and ticket information, visit cuttingball.com. Their next production will be ... and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi, a new play by Marcus Gardley, a co-production with Playwrights Foundation. It opens on March 12 and runs through April 11, 2010.
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