by Don Church & Tony Schillaci, Critics On The Aisle™
Cast from" Lincoln in Love" by David Friedman at Festival of New Artists Goodspeed 2010. PHOTO BY DIANE SOBOLEWSKI
The Sixth Annual Festival of New Artists, produced byGoodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, Connecticut, launches its three-day event of original new musical works, new artists in cabarets, and other entertainment programs Friday, January 14 through Sunday, January 16.
Goodspeed’s popular Festival Package ($79) covers the full weekend of special events and includes admission to all three staged readings; the New Musical Preview, a short preview of a new musical headed to The Norma Terris Theatre in 2011; the Friday Night and Saturday Night cabarets, the Symposium panel discussion with musical theatre luminaries; “Pick-Three” festival seminar sessions, a Saturday evening pre-show dinner at the Gelston House with an engaging post-dinner discussion hosted by a special guest speaker; and a Meet the Writers Reception.
For both Festival Package and single ticket holders (details below), Goodspeed Opera House tours will be offered throughout the weekend along with the following events.
Friday, January 14
7:30 p. m. A reading of the musical “Room 16,” on the Goodspeed stage. A fast-paced and darkly comedic look inside American political history.
10:00 p. m. Festival Cabaret showcasing new songs by new artists in the main dining room of the Gelston House, next door to the Goodspeed Opera House.
Marcy Heisler performing at the Cabaret/Festival of New Artists Goodspeed 2010. PHOTO BY DIANE SOBOLEWSKI
Saturday, January 15
10:00 a. m., 11:00 a. m., and 12:15 p. m. “Break-out Sessions” in the Gelston House have been expanded this year. Choose from two breakout sessions in each of the above time slots:
Famous Flops, Part II. A continuation of last year’s most popular session – with musical historian JohnPike.
Back on Broadway: Why “Annie?” Why Now? Broadway general manager/producer Wendy Orshan discusses the upcoming revival from the producer’s perspective.
“Dreamgirls:” From Stage to Screen and Back Again. Composer Henry Krieger discusses his experience with the show from its inception to the present day, among other things!
How Do You? Create a New Character. Broadway vets John Bolton (“Curtains”) and Kate Wetherhead (“Legally Blonde”) discuss the challenges of originating roles in new musicals.
How Do You Invest In a New Musical? Broadway general manager/producer Alan Williams gives the inside story about the financial side of new musicals.
How Do You Create the Look? An accomplished Broadway set designer discusses creating the physical world of a new musical.
Broadway and Hollywood Composer/Lyricist/Conductor David Friedman, Festival of New Artists Goodspeed 2010. PHOTO BY DIANE SOBOLEWSKI
4:00 p.m. Musical Theatre Symposium in the GoodspeedOpera House is sponsored by the Noel Coward Foundation.This event is free and open to the public.
5:30 p.m. Festival Dinner at the Gelston House.Enjoy a three course meal with fellow festival goers.
7:30p.m. is the debut of a new-fashioned musical “Hello! My Baby” From debutante balls to Delancey Street, it puts a new-fashioned spin on the great American songbook musical.
10:00 p. m. A Festival Cabaret at the Gelston House featuring Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda,composers of Striking 12, the first GrooveLily concert-musical that was nominated for the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical will perform songs from their hit shows.
Sunday January 16
1:00 p.m. “NobodyLoves You” in the Goodspeed Opera HouseA romantic comedy about the search for meaningful relationships in a culture dominated by the quest for popularity.
3:30 p. m. Meet the Writers Reception. Gelston House. Gain insight into the inspirations and processes of the writers. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and cash bar.
The Festival of New Artist also includes seniors from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford for real-world experience in new musical development and performing new musicals along with students from the Boston Conservatory.
For the Festival Weekend Package, $79, and single tickets, $15 a show, $10 for students, contact Goodspeed Musicals at 860.873.8668 or online, which also list lodging and dining on- your-own information, at www.goodspeed.org.
by Don Church and Tony Schillaci, Critics On The Aisle ™
Mary Testa
The recent holiday season gave us a rare chance to re-connect with some of our favorite Broadway Babies On December 17. Three of the theater’s most talented performers, Jason Graae, Liz Callaway and Mary Testa sparkled and shined in “Broadway Divas – Give My Regards To…”
We first met Jason back in 1993 when he was co-starring in “A Grand Night For Singing” on Broadway, and since then we’ve eagerly attended his performances in Connecticut –from “The Music Man” at the Bushnell to the annual summer Yale Cabaret Conference.
The last time we saw Liz Callaway (“Cats” and “Miss Saigon”) it was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! She and her sister, Ann Hampton Callaway (who wrote TV’s “The Nanny” theme song) performed on a transatlantic crossing aboard the QM2 back in May of 2007.
Joining this divo and diva at Edgerton was Broadway’s Mary Testa, whose bold rich voice and warm and witty stage personality gave us the motivation to interview her after the show.
Liz Callaway
The trio began the 90-minute show, on a stage covered in a forest of evergreen trees twinkling with fairy lights, harmonizing through the friendship tune “Together.” Each singer then had a solo turn, beginning with Mary Testa and her homage to the season with “The Little Drummer Boy” and then knocking the Christmas stockings off the audience with a showstopper, “Got a little motto/Always sees me through/ When you’re good to Mama/ Mama’s good to you” from her Matron Morton role in “Chicago.” Wow, can that girl sell a song!
When Mary did “Make Someone Happy” she seamlessly included everyone’s relationship by singing “once you’ve found him – or her- build your world around him- or her…” cleverly updating the lyric with a 21st century sensibility without losing the original rhythm of the song.
Jason Graae, as always, instantly ingratiated himself by saying, “you probably came to see Liz and Mary and are wondering…..who the heck is HE?’” ‘He’ then launched into his energetic and zany renderings of “Applause” from the musical of the same name, “Popular” from “Wicked,” and his own holiday song celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. The story of his stint as the voice of the leprechaun for Lucky Charms cereal commercials was just as funny as the first time saw him do it with brilliant comedic timing. Jason also sings with gusto as heard on his Broadway CD “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile.”
As his act came to an end, he was joined by Liz Callaway in the man-vs.-woman duet, “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better,” from “Annie Get Your Gun.”
With more than 500 performances as Grizabella in “CATS” on Broadway Liz once again sang “Memory” so beautifully that it was as if we were hearing the song for the first time. And Liz is not afraid to take chances – she had the courage and talent to tackle one of Barbra Streisand’s signature songs “People, which is no mean feat for a Streisand classic. The Callaway sound can be best described as crystal clear, true, and show-biz perfection.
Jason Graae
Accompanying Liz, Mary and Jason was one of the must sought-after piano accompanists and arrangers in the business, the talented and delightful Alex Rybeck. He was introduced by Liz as “one musician sounding on the piano like a 60-piece orchestra.” We caught up with Alex to find out more about his music career, He modestly replied, “I had a wonderful piano teacher who taught me that a piano is both a percussion and a string instrument. The balance of the two elements, incorporating lightness of touch required by strings with the heaviness of percussion is what creates an exceptional sound.”
The Edgerton Center also features two more Broadway Babies, Rebecca Luker and Howard McGillin, on Feb. 12, and the indomitable Broadway and Hollywood star Debbie Reynolds on April 10. Also in April the university’s new Theater Arts Department is doing the Broadway hit “Little Shop Of Horrors” followed by “Sweeney Todd” in July.
This is a comfortable and professionally designed theater with excellent sight lines from each of the 776-plush seats, so get onto your Blackberry, Cranberry, Apple iPad, iPhone or PC and buy those $20.-$30. tickets at www.edentergertoncenter.org or call 203-371-7908. the first-rate shows here costs less than parking space in Manhattan!
by Don Church & Tony Schillaci, Critics On the Aisle™
(l-r) Ronn Carroll and Brian Sears sing "GRAND OLD IVY" from Goodspeed's "HOW TO SUCCEED....."
Humming and dancing our way out of the Goodspeed Opera House after “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying,” we overheard enthusiastic theatergoers saying “it’s the best thing we have ever seen at Goodspeed!”
We would agree this Goodspeed Musical comedy is one of its most exuberant and well-produced shows that we’ve seen over the years.
With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser (“Guys and Dolls”), a well-structured and witty book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert this satire of American business is as relevant today as when we saw the original 48 years ago!
Opening the show is an impish character, J.Pierpont Finch, a manipulative and ambitious window-washer who uses his considerable charm and unconscionable guile to climb the ladder of success from the mail room to the top rung in no time at all.
He silently absorbs the advice in the pages of a little self-help book “How To Succeed….” The text is delivered by an exceptionally fine voice-over narration – the playbill credited a major Connecticut politician! (Maybe a new career is in bloom.) The narrator describes the various ways to deviously undermine colleagues to get ahead – highlighting the similarities between corporate and government political machinations.
"PARIS ORIGINAL" NUMBER - Cast of Goodspeed's "HOW TO SUCCEED......"
Brian Sears plays Finch, and he’s perfectly described by those lyrics from the song “I Believe in You” as having, “an upturned chin, and the grin of impetuous youth,” The cunning character’s reprehensible behavior in the corporate world is nonetheless devilishly winsome in Brian’s charismatic portrayal on stage.
Finch’s love interest, Rosemary, who is somewhat affectionately ignored by him in the first act, is beautifully sung by Natalie Bradshaw, whose character dreams of marrying the rising executive so that she can move to New Rochelle and be “Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm.” A not uncommon hope and dream of moms and daughters in those pre-lib days, and we occasionally still hear it today.
As head of ‘World Wide Wickets,’ talented Ronn Carroll bombastically bellows and blusters through his role as J.B. Bigley, and his “Grand Old Ivy” duet with Finch is an encore-inspiring showstopper – a given with this magnificent performer. (Pellinore in last season’s “Camelot.”)
Va-va-voom, red-headed bimbo, secretarial hopeful Hedy La Rue, is performed superbly, in the great tradition of broad comedy, by sexy Nicolette Hart. She’s at her very best when she belts out “Love From A Heart Of Gold.” Hedy causes the inevitable downfall of many executives who lust to secretly ‘meet her around the corner,’ another highlight, among many, in this satirical romp.
Erin McGuire’s ‘Smitty’ sings “Been A Long Day” and “Paris Original” with a clear and true Mermanesque voice. Miss Jones, as portrayed by Jennifer Smith, breaks out of her middle-age staid demeanor when flirting with Finch, and in her contribution to the rousing hand-clapping-gospel-style number “Brotherhood of Man.”
Fourteen fine singer-dancer-actors accompany the featured male executives led by Tom Deckman as Bigley’s nephew Bud Frump, a mamas-boy who at first attempts to quietly undermine Finch’s secret ambitions but steadily builds his venomous jealousy into a hilarious crescendo of whiny, hysterical frustration.
The dual roles of Mr. Twimble and Mr. Romper are played with gusto by Richard Vida. It’s another memorable performance in this skilled actor’s long Broadway-based career.
Aaron Serotsky, James Beaman, and Jerry Christakos, as Bratt, Gatch and Ovington, round out this great production with their glorious voices and solid characterizations of 60’s-style corporate yes-men.
Director Greg Ganakas, a Connecticut Critics Circle Award winner, is most likely too young to have seen the original Broadway production. Yet he infuses this revival with all the elements that made it a huge hit in the early 60s. It moves along as briskly as Finch’s climb to the top.
PHOTO I: Brian Sears as J. Pierpont Finch reads from the book "HOW TO SUCCEED........."
Perhaps the only downside in this incarnation is that a couple obvious laugh lines in the libretto were surprisingly missed by the director and his actors. For instance the timing in a line about a haddock sandwich being delicious early in the week was thrown away during the singing of “The Company Way.”
The towering office set, by Adrian W. Jones, is mid-20th-century moderne and modular, enabling the scenic changes to be quick and flawless. Paul Miller’s lighting adds to this quickness each time he cleverly spotlights only Finch who knowingly shares with the audience each manipulative office coup. It makes these split-second moments a complete scene.
Gregory Gale’s costumes perfectly capture the Madison-Avenue style of the times, and his gowns in the celebratory party scene are flowing, elegant fabrics and colors. There’s a wonderful sight gag in the design of a pink frock.
Choreographer Kelli Barclay moves the cast around the tiny stage with fluidity and gusto. Her considerable talent is at its best with “Brotherhood Of Man.”
Every lyric and spoken word is heard clearly via Jay Hilton’s sound design, and Dan DeLange’s orchestrations and Michael O’Flaherty conducting add their renowned talents to the overall success of the production, especially by not drowning out the voices in the musical scenes.
This is bubbly, bouncy Broadway at its best. See it before it leaves Goodspeed on November 28th. For tickets call 860.873.8668 or go to www.goodspeed.org.
by Don Church & Tony Schillaci, Critics On the Aisle™
Saint Monica (Elizabeth McKnight) comforts Judas Iscariot (Aaron Lloyd) in Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot playing in the Studio Theatre Oct. 28 – Nov. 7. Tickets are available by calling 860-486-4226 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu. Photo by Gerry Goodstein.
This is the stuff of powerful court-room dramas, but it’s definitely not formulaic Law & Order writing. It’s the kind of from-the-gut-and-brain creativity, by one of today’s most promising playwrights, Stephen Adly Guirgis, who is attracting the all-important-younger audience to keep the theater alive into the immediate future.
The play takes place at an imaginary trial, in a corner of Purgatory called Hope. Cunningham, a defense counselor (Brittany Green), is attempting to prove that Judas (Arron Lloyd), who is currently residing in a near coma in Hell, should be exonerated because he recanted his betrayal of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.
Brittany is an actor to watch; her performance is as electrifying as her stage presence. Prosecuting the case is shifty lawyer El-Fayoumy, brought to life with a dazzling, comedic performance by Jack Fellows that too many ‘star’ performers of today couldn’t do if they were on trial for own lives. Zane Roberts is powerfully strong as the judge, and Desmond Thorne cringes and cowers appropriately as the bailiff.
These are two more superb performances by actors who, as do the others, convincingly play many parts in this no-holds-barred play.
Elizabeth McKnight as Saint Monica bitches and snaps like she ain’t no lady, and an irreverently wild caricature of Mother Theresa, Laura Zabbo sends-up another saint.
Lucifer Satan, a smarmy fast-talking club kid who rules the underworld, is given a human form by the deliciously devilish acting of James Turner – destined to be a major performer. In a luscious white-winged gown, Gloria (Tiffany Vinters) struts her stuff lovingly as she tells us about visiting her ‘baby girl’ back on Earth.
Although, to extremely devout religious folk and those who don’t keep up with (read as ‘approve’) how young people think and communicate, the language, comedy, and street slang might be considered rude, but these elements are actually the best and most honest scenes in the play – they ring of truth – like it or not.
Judas Iscariot’s defense attorney El Fayoumy (Jack Fellows) interrogates Sigmund Freud (Harrison Greene) before the Judge (Zane Roberts) in Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot playing in the Studio Theatre Oct. 28 – Nov. 7. Tickets are available by calling 860-486-4226 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu. Photo by Gerry Goodstein.
By the middle of the second act the expertly placed humor that brings the necessary and relevant pauses to the compelling dramatic scenes abruptly ends – and the writing deteriorates into preachy sermons. These tirades and admonishments seem to have been written by an another playwright. The promise of the first act and the first part of the second act quickly disappears in the last scenes of the play leaving the audience unfulfilled by the play’s climax.
This Connecticut Repertory Theater production has a company of undergraduate BFA students and MFA candidates – designers and actors – whose work not only demonstrates the successful selection of people with a decided aptitude for the theater arts, but have now shown the polish of high-quality, personalized training. It’s present in every CRT show we’ve seen at University of Connecticut at Storrs.
As the audience waits for the play in the Studio Theater to begin, it sees the simple but powerful stage design by Allison McGrath, and equally bold lighting by Greg Purnell, and soon discovers, as the play unfolds, these two essential crafts fully support the themes in the play and provides the actors with a workable setting for their respective characters and their movements. These elements were well utilized by director Kristin Wold in the fine blocking of the show.
Hearing every sound effect and what the actors are saying in this electronic age is something that doesn’t always work as well as it should, but in this case Courtney Smith’s sound design deserved applause, too.
What an actor wears, including shoes, as trained and experienced performers will tell you, makes an invaluable contribution to help define character for the performer and the audience. In this production, Elicia Lord, demonstrated her considerable skill and unmistakable talent for creating and selecting the many items that go into effective, professional costuming. She helped to clearly and theatrically define the personalities of twenty-seven characters in this play: especially dazzling were the costumes of Caiaphas, Saint Monica, and Gloria.
The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot plays through Nov.7 in the Studio Theatre on the Storrs campus. For tickets, information, including directions, call 860-486-4226 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu
Evening performances start at 7:30 p. m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and matinees at 2:00 p. m.
The CRT seasons continues on the UCONN campus at Storrs with A Flea In Her Ear, Dec. 2 – 11, 2010,
Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre.Pride & Prejudice, Feb. 24 – Mar. 6, 2011,Nafe Katter Theatre,and Urinetown April 14 – 17 and the 27 – 30, 2011,Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre. Season tickets are still available for these productions at popular prices.
(l-r) Maria Tavarozzi, John Alfiero, Audrey Kaiser and Carol Lyon
by Don Church and Tony Schillaci,
Critics On The Aisle™
Five wildly talented singers, musicians and comedians – who call their group DOWNTOWN”- will be wowing audiences at the Newport Grand Casino through November 26.
South County (RI) residents John Alfiero, Audrey Kaiser, Carol Lyon, and Maria Tavarozzi sing, dance and rock the audience with perfectly timed one-liners, sight gags in an evening of Broadway and pop songs by the great American musical composers.
They are backed-up by talented and personable CCRI graduate Mike Gingras on guitar. In fact, in addition to Mike, every member of the ensemble plays: Audrey on piano, keyboard, arranger and conductor; Carol on drums, Maria on drums and flute and John on percussion- and he snaps his fingers as effectively as Frank Sinatra, too.
This all-singing, all dancing- all bawdy, 18+ comedy;features musical tributes to the 30’s, 40’s and all the decades leading up to the current hit shows “Rent” and “Wicked. They are fully staged production numbers that rival Hollywood and Broadway musicals.
When THE RESIDENT caught the show at a recent Sunday matinee, we were bowled over by the versatility of “Downtown.” Not only are they adept at brilliant four-part harmony as highlighted in “All The Things You Are” and “Fascinating Rhythm,” but their medleys from musical classics like “42nd Street,” “The Wizard of OZ,” “South Pacific,” and “Stop The World, I Want To Get Off” are flawlessly performed. And there are sing-along opportunities with oldies like Carol’s “I’m Just Wild About Harry” in which the audience is drawn into the fun…you gotta love audience participation! Even if you don’t, you’ll surely love what sounds like a cast of thousands.
In fact, this show is all about interaction and playing with the people sitting and sipping at the tables in the Newport Grand’s showroom. The “Downtown” performers get hands clapping and feet tapping with their instrumental version of “12th Street Rag” and are over-the-top in Maria and Carol’s hilarious slap-stick burlesque number “Take It All Off.”
Each singer shines onstage in both ensemble and solo performances: John’s dreamy mellow tribute to the Mills Brothers; Carol, Audrey and Maria as the Andrews Sisters; and the entire company doing “Brand New Day” and “Seasons Of Love.” John and Carol sing beautifully during their “What Kind Of Fool Am I?” “Who Can I Turn To?” duet, and Maria’s lovely voice blends beautifully with Carols’ in “Bali Hai.” Throughout, Audrey sings and plays with gusto, and Mike never misses a musical cue.
Each performance is innovative and a bit different, so it can be appreciated again and again. On the afternoon that THE RESIDENT took in the show there was a table of Westerly residents who had seen the show three times since its opening on September 30th!
Much of the fun comes from Carol Lyon’s bawdy but-nice humor- it never really ‘crosses the line,’ but the sly innuendo and delivery as in her “Italian Sex Manual” definitely has the 240 capacity-room in stitches!
Although a portion of ticket sales benefit the Child and Family Services of Newport County, this is not a show for children or family….unless the family is all grown up and ready for a wonderfully musical and wacky time delivered with professional panache and style. This is a wild ride not to be missed by lovers of Broadway and nostalgia!
For schedule, tickets and directions go to www.newportgrand.com or call 401.608.6777.
