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Regional Reviews: San Francisco Jerry Springer the Opera, Olive Kitteridge and Don't Ask
Jerry Springer the Opera played 609 performances in London and won four Olivier Awards, including one for Best Musical. It was televised by the BBC and became the subject of controversy due to the amount of profanity and the irreverent treatment of Judeo-Christian themes. Best of Broadway was going to give it a pre-Broadway run here but they backed out because of the hullabaloo. The musical finally made its United States debut in a concert-style charity event production for Golden Rainbow at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 2007. Under the direction of Graham Smith, this is a breathtaking, full production with 40 singers and a six-piece orchestra. It's bold. It's hilarious. It's shocking. The voices and choral work are stunning. It does have X-rated language and explicit material that your Aunt Bessie won't appreciate. Is Jerry Springer the Opera an opera or a musical? It is operatic in its mode. In Richard Thomas's score, there is a mixture of classical Baroque music and songs that sound like Verdi, Bach and Wagner. The composer also throws in some Broadway style songs, plus country, soul and R & B numbers. It's all there. Lyrics by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas are suitably raunchy in depicting a Jerry Springer show. This musical shows the joys of open-mindedness and human variety. Act one is the trashy television show, and it is sung by first-rate voices. The first guest is Dwight (Steve Hess), who is cheating on Peaches (Tracy Camp) with Zandra (Jordon Best), and a fight develops among them. We also learn that Dwight is cheating with a transsexual (Timitio Artusio). You get the drift. There is Montel (Chris Yorro) who tells his partner that he likes to dress like a baby and he is cheating on her with a girl who looks like Baby Jane (Rebecca Pingree). The final guests are Shawntel (Jessica Coker) and her husband Chucky (Manuel Caneri). She wants to be a stripper and demonstrates a pole dance before her mother. There is a Ku Klux Klan dance that is straight out of a Mel Brooks movie. Through this mayhem Jerry Springer (Patrick Michael Dukeman) has an inner conscience Valkyrie (J. Conrad Frank) telling him to "take the high moral ground" while Jerry replies, "I like the low moral background. I don't solve problems. I televise them." There are lyrics like "chick with a dick" and "pimps in bad suits" or "poop your fucking pants" (to the guy who wears a baby diaper) that had the crowd roaring. The act concludes with Jerry being fatally shot by warm-up man Jonathan (Jonathan Reisfeld) and going to Hell in a charred version of his earthly TV studio. He is presented with a procession of guests from the show whose lives have been ruined. The Devil (also Jonathan Reisfeld) asks Jerry to play the show in Hell. He is tired of living in Hell and wants a second chance to become the good angel before his downfall. The guests are Jesus (Chris Yorro), Adam (Manuel Caneri), Eve (Jessica Coker) and God (Steve Hess). Adam says it wasn't his fault about Eve tasting the apple while Satan tells Jesus to stop whining about his crucifixion by singing "get over it!" and Mary (Jordon Best), the mother of Jesus, complains abut her son leaving her to grow old alone. At the end we have Jerry's final thought on the matter. All of the cast members have outstanding voices that would make any Broadway producer take notice. Outstanding is Jonathan Reisfeld, who has a vibrant voice, especially in the role of Satan. Chris Yorro is a real hoot dressed in a diaper with wonderful expressions on his face that any parent would love. He has great vocal chops as Jesus. Timitio Artusio is great as a transsexual with a tremendous voice. Michael Patrick Dukeman's Jerry is perfect. He looks right and sounds exactly like Springer. His mannerisms and the blond wig are authentic. He delivers trite asides as if they are deeply philosophical ("Opera has stabbings. We have the throwing of chair. They just use different weaponry"). It's a brilliant piece of acting. Steve Hess is excellent as Dwight the slob and later playing God as a great TV preacher-like icon. He gives a powerful performance with his deep register voice. Jessica Coker, who plays Shawntel and Eve, has dynamic vocal cords. Rebecca Pingree has thematic resonance singing as Baby Jane. Tracy Camp blows the audience away with her voice, opening as High Nurse in the second act. The astonishing voices of Keith Haddock, Bill Tankovich, Tom Farris, Manuel Caneri and J. Conrad Frank make for a great evening of innovative theatre. Jerry Springer, the Opera plays through October 16 at the Victoria Theatre, 16th Street and Van Ness, San Francisco. For tickets call 1-800-838-3006 or online at www.brownpapertickets.com. Photo: Ben Krantz Studio
Word for Word, a program of Z Space, is presenting the world premiere production of stories from Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Olive Kitteridge at Theater Artaud in San Francisco through October 10th. This marvelous troupe focuses on staging stories exactly as written, translated through the skill of actors and directors. The stories of Elizabeth Strout are a perfect fit for the imaginative skills of the Word for Word actors and director Joel Mullennix. The cast, headed by the brilliant Patricia Silver as Olive, make for a great night of literary theatre. Olive Kitteridge is a retired pragmatic schoolteacher who lives in the little town of Crosby, Maine. She is feared by many, liked by some, and respected by all. We meet her husband Henry (Paul Finocchiaro) as well as her son Christopher (Patrick Alparone) who, along with other members of the community, feels tyrannized by Olive's irrational sensitivities. Director Joel Mullennix has selected two of the thirteen short stories based on Kitteridge's life. "Tulips" tells the story of the aging Olive and Henry, and the Larkins (Nancy Shelby and Warren David Keith) who are muddling through retirement. Olive and Henry's son Christopher hardly visits them any more, and he tells his parents that he is moving to California with his new wife Suzanne (Michelle Bellaver), much to his parents' consternation. There are lively characters encountered as Olive takes her three-mile walk each day, to the delight of the audience. Mullennix uses the book's final chapter, "River," to round up the two-hour and thirty-minute presentation. Henry has passed away and Olive now has many lonely hours as she watches the people of the town grapple with their own problems. She strikes up an unlikely friendship with Jack Kennison (Warren David Keith) whom she found collapsed on the walking trail. A romance of sorts develops between them. We also learn that Christopher has divorced his first wife and moved back East and married a second time. He is still remote from Olive. Patricia Silver (charter member of Word for Word) gives a superb performance as the hard-headed Olive. She exemplifies the droll, heartrending inflammation of character. The supporting cast is excellent, with a standout performance by Warren David Keith (The First Grade, The Devil's Disciple at the Aurora). Patrick Alparone (Mrs. Whitney, Octopus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) gives a fervent performance as Christopher. Paul Finocchiaro (has performed in several Word for Word productions) is perfect as the mild, mollifying Henry. Jeri Lynn Cohen (charter member of Word for Word), Michael Bellaver (The Heidi Chronicles, Situation Normal) and Nancy Shelby (founding member of Word for Word) give vividly etched cameos in various roles. David Szlasa has designed a very large, spare thrust stage; I believe it would have been more intimate if the stage design had been smaller by at least half. That said, it would have cut down on the seats, hence a lower box office return. Jim Cave's sculptural lighting is a great asset to the narrative, along with the choreographed moves by Andrea Weber. Costumes by Laura Hazlett are excellent. Bravo to Stephanie Hunt for giving the cast "down eastern" accents that are perfect. Olive Kitteridge plays through October 10th at Z Space, Theater Artaud, 450 Florida Street, San Francisco. For tickets call 800-838-3006 or at www.brownpapertickets.com.
New Conservatory Theatre Center recently presented the confrontational Don't Ask by Bill Quigley. The drama received good reviews at the New York International Fringe Festival. Don't Ask is a dodgy sexual affair about as a loose-cannon United States Army private named Bobby (Adrian Anchondo) and his superior sergeant Charles (Ryan Hough) in Iraq. The sergeant is allegedly straight with a wife and two children back in Deer Falls, Ohio, but is horny for sex. Bobby, obviously gay and under the "don't tell" policy of the army, services Charles' sexual needs. Charles is grumpier than usual because the apparent suicide of an Iraqi prisoner threatens to become an international scandal. It has been suspected that the prisoner was beaten and sexually assaulted. Bobby knows about the incident and just might have been a participant in the atrocity. Charles gets the full admission from the private and he is appalled at what Bobby has done. Bobby doesn't regret what he has done to the Iraqi prisoner since he believes all are "towel heads." He gets his kicks from Charles' reaction and welcomes a military court punishment and a dishonorable discharge. However, he will tell about the illicit sexual affair they have been having. The balance of power now shifts. Don't Ask is not a subtle play; at the opening of the drama, there is a simulated sex scene in an empty stockroom somewhere in Iraq. Charles believes this is purely relative and says, "This is just something strange that's happens because we're in a strange country." However, Bobby disagrees and says, "You've invaded me and now I'm yours." In fact, Bobby wants to join Charles' family once they are discharged from the army. At the end, the audience is left up in the air as to what will happen to the two men. Quigley has attempted to put just too much into this 70-minute drama, and some of the speeches are unconvincing. His description of the torture of the prisoner is just too graphic for general audiences. There is overheated dialogue between the two men and it downgrades some of the play's action from thought-provoking drama to a staged obsession. Adrian Anchondo's (The First Grade, Tiny Kushner) portrayal of the hard-bodied Bobby is competent in his instantaneous shifts. His presentation of the character's terrifying volatility keeps the play moving. He gives unlikely speeches, quoting Latin and using sentences like "Suffice it to say he came to regret his impetuousness" believably. One does wonder how this soldier who seems to be well educated could be so xenophobic. Ryan Hough (from Toronto, has appeared in several independent films) is effective as Charles, though he does not have the vocal power of Anchondo; occassionally on the night we saw him, he did not project into the small theatre. Also, he looks the same age as the young Bobby which does not make sense. However, both actors rise above the imperfect script (the play has been optioned for the big screen by an independent producer). Maya Linke's set is simple but helpful, giving the appearance of an army warehouse. Bill Randle's direction is crisp and to the point. Don't Ask played through September 19th at the New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave. San Francisco. Brian Christopher Williams' Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins is playing through October 24. For tickets call 415-861-8972 or visit www.nctcsf.org.
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