Baltimore Center Stage: Cinderella

 Okay, this is a little dicey, because, technically, the show is in previews.  Today's matinee was just the second performance in front of a live audience, and opening night is two additional performances away.  I have attended shows in previews before.  I have never attended a show in previews were the director came out and made a huge big deal about the fact that we were experiencing a preview.  Based on what happens today, tweaks will very likely occur.  And this is a good thing; however, I'm not sure that mere tweaks will be enough.

To set the stage, this engagement of the musical is produced by Artscentric which is an African American company run by one of the most talented all around actors, singers, performers I am familiar with in the DMV, Kevin S. McAllister.  The mission of Artscentric is to be a Color Conscious artistic force for reclaiming the musical theatre cannon for black performers.  As a result this version of Cinderella is set in a kingdom in Africa.  The costumes were gorgeous and colorful a feast for the eyes! the sets were the most beautiful I've ever seen at BCS.  The dancing was exuberant and exciting.  Members of the ensemble were clearly enjoying themselves. Standouts in the cast included Both Cinderella (Jaiden Nuako) and the Prince Christopher (Nick Moore).  Both were fresh and endearing and both had beautiful voices.  It's unfortunate that the pit orchestra made it difficult for them to hear one another during their duets.  The step sisters, Joy (Malshauna Hamm) and Grace (Nikki Owens) have all the potential in the world of being show stoppers, they just need to tighten the timing, it was a little off.  Lionel (Tyrell Stanley), the princes' valet, has a great stage presence, great timing and a charming voice.  The Queen (Asia-Lige Arnold) has an excellent voice, too.  

Now I'm going to do what I rarely ever do.  I'm gonna offer up some notes.

1) The King Maximillian (Curtis McNeil) could not find the pitch.  He was out gunned by the Queen vocally, and overwhelmed by the pit orchestra.  If opening night weren't Wednesday, it might behoove him to pull out a video of "My Fair Lady" and adopt a Rex Harrison Speak-singing approach.  There's no reason the King shouldn't be as posh as Rex Harrison! 

2)The pit orchestra was a problem for a lot of the soloists, and small group numbers.  I have seen rehearsal videos, where the actors were accompanies by a paired down percussionist and a little electronic piano.  The transition to the larger ensemble is a real issue.

3) Hesitating and stepping on one another's lines.  It's like Covid, once someone catches it, it seem to spread.  Perhaps the most annoying in this regard with the Stepmother (Kenyatta V. Hardison).  It's time to get into the zone.  Her misses effected both Malshauna and Nikki's timing, too.  

4) There are two actors playing the Fairy Godmother.  For this performance it was Jade Madden.  Here's the deal.  Even if you're playing the part as the grand diva, you still have to play the part.  Otherwise, you're just a diva, and it gets old.  And it's another case of nailing down your lines.  This should be a showcase of excellence, not amateur night at the Apollo...

I have no photos, they haven't produced any production stills, yet.

And a final thought.  For me this was an interesting weekend.  From the seeing the best production of this autumn, "Fat Ham" on Friday at Studio Theatre, to the worst..."Cinderella," a bit of a roller coaster drop!  And it's fair to say that within any collection of plays/musicals one will end up sitting on the top and one will end up on the bottom; however, and in spite of my feelings about this one, its intended audience was un-phased by the miss-steps.  The 6 to 14-year-old crowd just ate it all up!  Which is very nice.  And a joy to see.

Studio Theatre: Fat Ham

 It has been really a wonderful theatre season in the DMV.  

Today was everything I imagined and more!  Today I went to Studio Theatre to see the Pulitzer Prize winning play by James Ijames "Fat Ham."  Based on Shakespeare's "Hamlet."  And that's really all that I knew about it--I mean, I've seen Hamlet a couple of times.  Fat Ham is the most interesting and at times hilarious homage to a Shakespeare play I have every seen.  It both turned the tale on its head AND selectively quotes the original with campy fidelity.  The actors to a person where amazing.  

Studio Theater spent the pandemic undergoing some 20 million dollar renovation and you could have fooled me.  The Mead theater was just a intimate (read squished in) as I last remembered it on my first and only other visit to the theater back on Thanksgiving weekend in 2016 to see "Straight White Men".  The major difference "SWM" was heading to Broadway, and "Fat Ham" is coming off of Broadway.  With 20 million dollars to spend you'd have thought they could have bought seats with a width of more than 16"--I'm not kidding here. I wedged myself into the seat and shared lateral flesh with the women on either side of me.

The show is pared down to 8 characters with the actor who plays the ghost of the patriarch, Pap, also playing his living brother, Rev.  Rev sweeps in and marries Pap's widow, Tedra less than a week after the funeral and the entire action is set at a post wedding celebration in the backyard of Tedra and her gay son, Juicy.  The role of Polonius is switched up into Rabby, Tedra's church going, Jesus Praising bestie.  Her children are Opal and Larry.  Larry is in the military and Opal is a rebellious lesbian who's too out there for any closets.  Finally there is Tio (read Horatio), Juicy's oldest and best friend.  Tio likes to toke and Tio likes to trip--and when he's tripping he becomes quite the enlightened philosopher.  Hi-jinx and a little violence ensues and in the end only that which is rotten in Denmark dies while everyone else devolves into a gay rave!  The grand finally is Larry dropping his marine uniform for a silver number with a bare midriff and a rising tiara of flowers with vale that would have made Carmen Miranda blush.  It was just so damn much fun I forgot about feeling like a sardine in can!

All of the actors were simply perfect.  I can't see singling anyone out, and the audience was absolutely interactive.  At one point when Larry and Juicy kiss, an African American woman sitting inches away from them in the front row (two rows down directly in front of me) said, "Oh, Larry, you be careful now."  I burst out laughing.  It was just that kind of a show.  The actors had the audience in the palms of their hands and the audience, in turn, had the character's backs.  What joy!

To my DMV friends, if you could only see one show this season--this is the one.

Two longtime friends, Juicy (Marquis D. Gibson) and Tio (Thomas Walter Booker) kicking back while decorating the backyard for a wedding reception for Juicy's moms.  Not a care in the world, not a ghost in sight...(cue record scratch!) Shit's about to happen!

The happy newly weds arrive!  Tedra (Tanesha Gary) and Rev (Greg Alverez Reid)--just a week after burying Tedra's first husband and Rev's brother, Pap.  Mmmmm, mmmm, mmmm, something is rotten in Denmark.  Denmark, South Carolina.

Everyone is celebrating except Juicy.  The ghost of his father has asked him to kill his uncle Rev.  What's a boy to do?

What's more annoying than a tense post-wedding reception?  Karaoke, of course!

And this is some serious shit karaoke!  After Tedra has her moment, Juicy steps up and sings Radio Head's "I'm a Creep" while everyone falls into a trance and he preforms (amazingly) for the audience.

And what's more obnoxious that karaoke?  Charades!!  It is the elders against the young 'ns in a ploy that replaces the play from Shakespeare's Hamlet in an effort to get a confirmation from Rev that his deeds killed Pap.  And Rabby (Kelli Blackwell) LOVES charades!

In another trance moment, Juicy performs the soliloquy from Hamlet with a glowing snow globe for poor Yorick's skull; "...a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times...."

Tedra comforts Juicy at the reality of his having to accept his uncle as his step-father.  He about to tell her the truth of Rev's involvement in Pap's death.

As the adults have retreated to sort themselves out, the young 'ns sit and ponder together: [L-R] Opal (Gaelyn D. Smith) wants to open a restaurant/shooting range to wit Tio comments "It tracks."; Juicy still struggles with his father's afterlife request, a father he wasn't close to when he was alive.  He asks, "What powers do the dead have over the living?"; Tio tells of buying his tennis shoes from a garage sale.  They belonged to Yorick, but he OD'ed on "needles and meth"; and Larry (Matthew Elijah Webb) remains stoic, still trapped in a world of fear over his sexuality.

In the scene before the climax, Tio shares a vision in which an armless gingerbread man gives him the best fellatio of his life---I guess you had to be there!  Then he reveals the true meaning of life to the wonder of Opal, Rabby and Juicy.  No actual gingerbread men were drowned in jizz in the making of this fantasy.

Thanksgiving Feast 2023

Full Feast

Desserts

Next Day...Deviled Egg Sandwiches

Signature Theatre: Ragtime

I hardly know where to begin.  I thought I'd seen this show before a few years ago at Ford's Theater in DC.  Apparently, what I had seen was just Ford's Theater's attempt at producing this show, because what I saw today was on such a level beyond my memory of that other Ragtime, that it was as if I was watching it for the very first time.  And when you are fighting the urge to stand when applauding the opening number, well, it's just not something that happens.  Before going I read over the email--before you go what you should know--and realizing that was 3 hours long, felt a little pit in my tummy.   Then, three hours, schmee hours!--he time just flew by.  The most annoying part was the intermission, though you could hardly fault the actors for needing a pee break.

The other particular about this production were a couple of substitutions.  The actor who was cast as the Latvian immigrant, Tateh, Bobby Smith was being replaced in this performance by his understudy, Edward L. Simon.  Simon was cast in the role of Harry Houdini, so his understudy, Jordan Clark Halsey, would be preforming his regular role.  I normally, don't appreciate understudies.  I know Bobby Smith very well.  He is synonymous with Signature Theatre.  A very talented character actor who can swing with the best of them in the right lead.  I was enthralled by his performance of Albin/Zsa Zsa in 'La Cage Au Faux."--and he won best actor in a musical for it that year.  As the school master in "Spring Awakenings"--superb.  As Charles Guiteau in "Assassins"--outstanding.  As Tateh...maybe a little old for the role?  Tateh is supposed to be late 20's...kindly, I would guess, Bobby is late...40's..early 50"s.  So Edward L. Simon get's his shot at an up-graded role.

If you are familiar with either E. L. Doctorow's expansive novel or the musical, but know that it's a full house of fictional and historic characters woven into a sparkler of turn of the 20th century optimism and despotism.  Peppered in are a handful of the most interesting historical characters of the time.  The program came with a full-size, four page, "news" paper with period photos and advertisements and stories about all of the actual people written into the tale: Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J. P. Morgan, Booker T. Washington, Harry Houdini, Matthew Perry, and Evelyn Nesbit.  A lovely extra.


The cast was off the charts strong.  Every lead in a cast of supporting actors, really, had the chops.  Some stand-outs:  Edward L. Simon as Tateh--honestly, he was magnificent and so passionate in role that I found myself on the verge of tears in the tender moments with his young daughter.  I'm not sure I could have gone there with Bobby.  Nkrumah Gatling as Coalhouse Walker Jr.--his voice was so expressive and polished.  When he broke down over the casket holding Sarah's body at the end of the first act, I was breathless in solidarity with his grief.  Jake Loewenthal as Mother's Little Brother. Every time I see Jake preform, I am moved even more by his talent.  I hope he gets a best supporting actor nomination this season for this one.  He finds a hook that distinguishes that character, and rather than over play it, he grounds everything else the character does or is around it.  It's brilliant.  Matthew Lamb as the Little Boy.  The kid stole every scene he was given half a chance to without ever coming off as obnoxious.  Awa Sal Seka has long been known to me as an exceptional singer, with this performance I saw the power of her acting peak through, too.  I look forward to seeing more of her work in a way that I hadn't before.  Finally, 'cause you just gotta stop at some point, Teal Wicks as Mother.  She was Mother without a second thought.  Every word, every gesture, every step meaningful and in perfect harmony with the character.  Of course, 8 months as Elphaba in "Wicked" on Broadway, and another 9 months as Cher in "The Cher Show" also on Broadway would suggest a talented actor.  It might also portend a diva, but no sign of that in this ultimate ensemble production.  

The set was amazing, with the 16 member pit orchestra housed in the upper level promenade.  The costumes beautiful, that props perfect including the required Model-A sedan.  If I were to complain about one thing, it would be the sound.  The one soft spot in all Signature productions: finding the balance between the orchestra and the singers.  In this show, it was only noticeable at times and do so off that I couldn't compensate with a little effort on my end.  In that past, it's been more pronounced, like their production of "Titanic".  

In the end, I was on my feet before the lights came up for bows.  I loved the show and it's there through January 7th, though this performance was sold out.

Full Cast Opening Number

Teal Wicks as "The Mother," with Lawrence Redmond as "The Grandfather" in the background

Douglas Ullman Jr. as Henry Ford looking down on Nkrumah Gatling and Coalhouse Walker Jr.

Coalhouse with Sarah (Awa Sel Seka) and their son.

The Great baseball game scene.  Matthew Lamb as "The Little Boy" catching the ball while Bill English as "The Father" steadies him.  The ensemble clockwise from the man in the back directly above English: Theodore Sapp, Nurney, Lawrence Redmond, Edward L. Simon, Douglas Ullman Jr., Gregory Twomey, Todd Scofield, and Keenan McCarter

Second act ensemble number on the beach at Atlantic City

Maria Rizzo as Evelyn Nesbit

Breakfast Is Served

 The weekends I allow for this indulgence: Breakfast!  Proper and Creative.  Also enjoyed on my deck even with the temps are in the 40's!  The fresh air is good for me. 

SATURDAY

Hickory Smoked Bacon

"Dirty" Eggs Sunny-side Up

Toasted Sourdough Bread

Seedless Green Grapes

Hazelnut Coffee

SUNDAY

Two-Egg Omelet

Filling: Mexican Grape Tomatoes, Extra Sharp Vermont White Cheddar Cheese and Oregano

Topped with: Picante Taqueria Salsa

Mandarin Orange Slices

Vanilla Cinnamon Coffee

Kittens, be good to yourselves at least once a week.  The world is depending on you to be good to others the other six days!

Mosaic Theatre: Confederates

 "Confederates" by Dominique Morisseau is my second play of this season at Mosaic Theatre at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street NE in DC, and the second play I've seen written by Ms. Morisseau.  It's a win win.  Two stories are told side by side instigated by a prank involving a doctored photograph of an enslaved woman breast feeding a white baby.  Presented side by side, one tells the story of the African American English professor how is the recipient of the mockery.  The other is of an enslaved Black woman who's mother is the subject of the photograph.  Just 160 years separates them.  Three other actors play different versions of similar personas within the context of each story.  The structure is quite clever, and the writing fresh and lucid so as to not allow any of the twisting threads to break or get lost.  

The set was beautiful and the work of Nadir Bey who's talents I've seen multiple times since his arrival in the DMV.  Most recently in Monsters of the American Cinema, and The Chosen and The Rainmaker both at 1st Stage.  The Designer even got a two page spread in the program featuring his illustration of the final version.  Pretty cool.

Photo from my seat in the middle third row back from the stage.

The acting was very strong.  Each member of the cast brought their A-game which is particularly important when Caro Dubberly is in the ensemble.  Caro is scary intense.  If you haven't come to play, get off the stage, because they takes no prisoners.  To that end I have seen three other cast members (Deidre Staples, Joel Ashur, and Tamieka Chavis) in significant roles in other plays over the course of the past year.  The intensity of their performances was as if they had grown exponentially in their skills and talent.  I'm certain that the material and the camaraderie elevated the experience from that of a performance to something more akin to church.  

And I have a non-acting connection to the final cast member, Nikkole Salter directed the production of "Lady Day at the Emerson Bar & Grill" that I recently saw at Baltimore's Center Stage.  I have had the privilege of seeing plays that have been directed by people who's acting the region I am familiar with; this, however, is the first time I've seen their talents as a director first.

There was an after show discussion on the themes in the play.  I didn't stay mostly because the performance started 20 minutes late and I was concerned with catching a trolley back to Union Station before dark settled in.  The reason it was delayed is a testament to my earlier assertion that the play holds a special place in the hearts of the actors.  Joel Ashur had been in an auto accident on his way to the theatre.  They were prepared to cancel the performance when he showed up around 2:45--curtain was supposed to be 3:00.  On stage, he never skipped a beat.

Abner (Joel Ashur) getting a self-inflicted would sewn up by his sister, Sara (Deidre Staples)--it is a metaphor for what his character, Malik, does in the alternate timeline.

Sara longing to engage the enemy and obtain her freedom demands that Abner teacher her how to shoot his rifle.

Grad assistant, Candice (Caro Dubberly) with Professor Sandra (Nikkole Salter)

Sandra confronted by her colleague and the only "other" Black woman in the English Department, Dr. Jade Banks (Tamieka Chavis).

In the final scene, Sandra transforms herself, and Candice is flooded with the guilt of a conspiracy soon to be revealed.

At the very end, Sara and Sandra "meet".

Autumn Leaves and Impatiens Together

Everyman Theatre: The Chinese Lady

 Everyman Theatre's current production is Lloyd Suh's historic biography of Afong Moy, "The Chinese Lady."  She was purchased from her father and brought to the United States in 1834 at the age of 14 years-old, by a pair of entrepreneur brothers who hoped to exploit her exoticism to boost their sales of mid-range oriental trinkets to a burgeoning middle class.  She was only supposed to stay for two years.  After a decade she was sold off to P. T. Barnum and spend the next 30 years in his stable of exotic "freaks".  At no time was she paid more than room and board.  The entire time from her arrival in 1834 to her dismissal from the indenture to Barnum she was accompanied by an unrelated translator named Atung.  He remained her friend up until the age of 56 when she was cast off.  She lived to the age of 82.  The play tells her story and along with it Atung's, and good deal of the milestones of U.S.-Sino relations in the 19th century.

The costumes are lavish, the set breath-takingly beautiful.  As Atung, David Lee Huynh powerfully offered up a look at the character's inner life, all the while walking through his days as the "other," the non-person.  He's new to the DMV and I hope to see more of his talents here.  Tuyet Thi Pham is a familiar member of Everyman Theatre's repertory company.  In previous outings, she's conveyed a sense of inner-strength that was never fully mined--here she let's loose the mother load.  Her presentation followed the character's evolution as envisioned by Suh from innocent abroad to ultimate survivor.  It was an inspired performance.

I wish there was more light in this image to reveal the richness of the woodwork on the walls.

Afong Moy (Tuyet Thi Pham) as Atung (David Lee Huynh) grooms her hair.

Afong Moy explaining the use of chopsticks.

Atung struggling with his platonic relationship with Afong Moy.

Afong Moy on her last day as The Chinese Lady.