Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: San Francisco

2010 Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Ruined, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, She Loves Me, Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is celebrating their 75th year of presenting both Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean plays. The company retains the best actors in the country to perform these excellent plays in repertory, and the sets are some of the best I have ever seen. There are some terrific productions, from Shakespeare's Hamlet to a sensual production of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to the delightful musical She Loves Me, plus a very powerful production of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Ruined and an elegant production of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice.


Ruined

Lynn Nottage's raw drama is the best of the five very excellent productions covered. It takes place in a Congolese brothel during the civil war in the Congo and is about resilience and survival in the face of unspeakable acts perpetrated upon women during the conflict. In this war, rape is simply another military tactic and the heavy drama brings this out brilliantly.

Mama Nadi's relaxed whorehouse in the middle of the war zone is a place where soldiers from both sides of the conflict can enjoy the pleasures of women. The girls work for nothing since they are protected from being mutilated by the warring factions. The production skillfully uses music to propel the story.

Kimberly Scott plays Mama Nadi as a no-nonsense woman with no illusions or schmaltz. It is a brilliant portrayal by this talented actress. Kenajuan Bentley is excellent as the egotistical and power-mad government leader of the troops. His has a great theatrical voice that reminds me of James Earl Jones. The whole cast is astonishing, including Chinasa Ogbuagu as Salima who was abducted from her farm, raped and kept in the jungle for five months with soldiers. She plays the part with a wonderful blend of fragility and inventiveness. Peter Macon gives a rich performance as Fortune, looking for his wife who has been abducted by rebel forces. The rest of the cast give exciting performances.

Clint Ramos' staging in the intimate New Theatre is superb. He has made a realistic bar and dance floor, with a jungle just outside. Liesl Tommy's direction provides great in-your-face drama. This is a powerful play that will jolt your conscience about a forgotten conflict. I emerged from the theatre both stunned and stirred. Ruined plays through October 31st at the New Theatre.


Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Maggie the cat is alive and well and still a first class bitch in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof playing through July 4th at the Angus Bowmer Theatre. Director Christopher Liam Moore is using the 1974 script with the fixes director Elia Kazan persuaded Williams to put in for the 1955 New York production.

In Christopher Liam Moore's production of the glorious, scathing and poetic language, there are no heroes or villains. They are only deeply flawed people trying desperately to make connections. It is a brilliant production with some of the best acting you are likely to see anywhere in today's theatre. This production is worthy of a New York presentation.

The first act is dominated by the commanding acting of Stephanie Beatiz's Maggie with a weak Brick played wonderfully by Danforth Comins. This tour de force of bitchy acting is awesome. You want to wring her neck as she hammers away at poor, drunken Brick in his sexy blue PJs. She sounds oh so much like Elizabeth Taylor in the film version.

The second act is a powerful war of words between Big Daddy, played to the hilt by Michael Winters, and Brick. Winters strips away layer after layer of the blustery character while Comins comes into his own with strong acting chops. He is dynamic as Brick.

The third act is a brilliant piece of theatre that involves Catherine E. Coulson as Big Mama, Julia Hogan Laurenson as Dixie, Kate Mulligan as "Sister Woman," Brad Whitmore as Reverend Tooker and Rex Young as "Brother Man." All give compelling performances.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is sensual and certainly one of the best plays that Tennessee Williams ever wrote. This is one riveting production with a wonderful detailed set by Christopher Acebo. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof will close on July 4th.


She Loves Me

The OSF is not known for presenting musicals, but this season they are presenting the delightful She Loves Me by Joe Masteroff (book), Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics). This charming musical has always been a favorite of mine and this marks the fifth time I have seen it, beginning with the original production at the Eugene O'Neill theatre during the summer of 1963 with the wonderful Barbara Cook supported by Daniel Massey and Jack Cassidy. Since that time I have seen the revival at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in 1993 and two London productions, one in 1964 with Rita Moreno, Anne Rogers and Gary Raymond and more recently at the Savoy Theatre with Ruthie Henshall and John Gordon Sinclair. The score is captivating.

OSF is presenting a first class Broadway-worthy production with Mark Bedard playing Georg and Lisa McCormick playing the bright and lovely Amalia. Both have great vocal chops. Michael Elich as Kodaly knocks the audience out with "Grand Knowing You" and Lisa McCormick is mellifluous on "Ice Cream" and "Will He Like Me?". Mark Bedard has a crowd-pleasing voice on "She Love Me" and "Tonight at Eight." Miriam A. Laube as Miss Ritter has terrific vocal cords singing "A Trip to the Library," while Michael J. Hume is outstanding as Mr. Maraczek, and Robert Vincent Frank and Eymard Meneses Cabling are excellent as Mr. Sipos and Arpad. Eymard Meneses Cabling is very appealing singing "Try Me."

In the midst of this nice low-key and charming musical is a bubbly scene of song and dance slapstick by Eddie Lopez, and starring Dan Donohue in a side-splitting cameo as a scowling headwaiter. The production has a very large cast of OSF actors as shoppers.

She Loves Me, directed wonderfully by Rebecca Taichman, has a Broadway look thanks to the striking set by Scott Bradley. Maraczek's shop is a detailed worked of art and it swiftly disappears, part sinking into the floor, part rising toward the rafters. There are fine exteriors in this fantastic stagecraft. Costumes by Miranda Hoffman are opulent and beautiful. She Love Me plays at the Angus Bowmer Theatre through October 30th.


Hamlet

I have seen Hamlet in all conceivable forms over the years, and Bill Rauch's version is really different. The director has made this a production for a younger audience just getting into Shakespeare. It is hip, and Denmark is a full-blown security state with security cameras and guards with modern assault weapons, wearing security uniforms. Hamlet's ghost (Howie Seago) is a Desert Storm officer and Hamlet talks to him via sign language.

Rosencrantz (Vilma Silva) and Guildenstern (Jeany Park) are women and supposedly lesbians. They have little to do in this production but just stand around looking pretty. Ophelia (Susannah Flood) is a strong-minded girl who speaks like she came from the San Fernando Valley. She wears a wire when talking to Hamlet (Dan Donahue), and with Claudius (Jeffrey King) and Polonius (Richard Elmore) in the famous eavesdropping scene. The play within the play, The Murder of Gonzales, is done in rap by the players. Yes, it is a different Hamlet, but it is well done.

Dan Donahue is a rebel Hamlet and he successfully plays a fool with great humor in many of the scenes. His soliloquies are filled with famous maxims and the quotes seem very natural, especially the "To be or not to be ..." speech. He moves about the stage in a graceful and skillfully acrobatic manner. Richard Elmore gives a great performance sputtering his lines, and it fits the character Polonius. The "Neither a borrower nor a lender be ..." speech is done in almost a David Mamet style.

Susannah Flood plays Ophelia as a character less influenced by her father. She is one spunky character and her mad scene is a wonderful piece of anger, disenchanted sexuality and desolation. Jeffrey King plays Claudius more as an oily businessman than a King, while Grace Oglesby gives a good performance as Hamlet's mother.

The troupe of players, Ramiz Monsef, Khatt Taylor and Orion Bradshaw, are effective, but the hip-hop version of the play within the play does not work. Bill Geisslinger's gravedigger scene is beautifully performed to Josiah Phillips as the second gravedigger, making a perfect foil to the droll speech of Geisslinger. Armando Duran is excellent as Horatio while David DeSantos gives a good performance as Laertes.

Scenic designer Christopher Acebo has created a wonderful, modern, spacious, many-doored set. Deborah M. Dryden' costumes are excellent and lighting designer Christopher Akerlind, composer Paul James Prendergast, and fight director U. Jonathan Toppo should be commended for making the production successful.

Hamlet plays through October 30th at the Angus Bowmer Theatre.


Pride and Prejudice

Libby Appel's production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is certainly opulent with some lovely musical scenes. This is a huge production that covers most of Austen's classic novel in two hours and forty-five minutes. There have been many versions of the novel for both film and television and even a Broadway musical starring Farley Granger.

Director Libby Appel attempts to cram every character in the book onto the stage. This is a streamlined production and it does help if you know something of the plot of the novel. Libby says she was less interested in the liberal plot chronology, and that certainly is evident as the time just keeps whizzing by. Beautiful actors and actresses come and go at a rapid pace. It is like you are at a beautiful 19th century ball that is teeming with music and dancing.

Pride and Prejudice still centers around Elizabeth (Kate Hurster) and Darcy's (Elijah Alexander) story, and both actors are excellent in the roles. There is a light comedy between them that brings this production to life. Many actors in beautiful period costume dance and flirt on William Bloodgood's sumptuous set.

Pride and Prejudice has some wonderful actors; especially outstanding are Demetra Pittman as the haughty Lady Catherine de Bourgh and John Tufts as the rakish George Wickham. Judith-Marie Bergan nearly steals the show as the air-headed and bossy Mrs. Bennet. James Newcomb's portrayal of the priggish clergyman Mr. Collins is flawless. Mark Murphy shines as Mr. Bennet. Michael J. Hume gets into the charming character of Sir William Lucas.

Pride and Prejudice plays through October 31st at the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

For tickets to these productions please call 800-219-8161 or 541-482-4331 . You can also purchase on line at www.osfashland.org. Coming up next will be Throne of Blood at the Angus Bowmer opening on July 21, American Night at the New Theatre on June 29th, and the Elizabethan outdoor stage season begins on June 1 with Twelfth Night, Henry IV, Part 1 and The Merchant of Venice.


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

- Richard Connema