“Les Miserables” at Ocean State Theatre

by Richard Pacheco

            Ocean State Theatre’s first full season opener, “Les Miserables” is full of verve, passion and sheer talent in all the roles, well worth watching.  The musical, one of the world’s most popular, has won 8 Tony Awards and last year was made into a highly acclaimed movie nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning three. “Les Miserables", often known as “Les Miz” is a sung-through musical based on the novel of the same name by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer. Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a burly French peasant of abnormal strength and potentially violent nature, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his starving sister's child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him to, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.

            Originally released as a French-language concept album, the first musical-stage adaptation of “Les Misérables” was presented at a Paris sports arena, the Palais des Sports, in 1980. However, the first production closed after three months when the booking contract expired.

In 1983, about six months after producer Cameron Mackintosh had opened “Cats” on Broadway, he received a copy of the French concept album from director Peter Farago. Farago had been impressed by the work and asked Mackintosh to produce an English-language version of the show. Initially reluctant, Mackintosh eventually agreed. Mackintosh in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, assembled a production team to adapt the French musical for a British audience. After two years in development, the English-language version opened in London on 8 October 1985, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Centre, then the London home of the RSC. The success of the West End musical led to a Broadway production.

This production directed by Ocean State Artistic Director Amiee Turner is rich, vivid and memorable. At the end they received a well deserved standing ovation.

            Frederic S. Scheff is wonderful as Jean Valjean.  He is a solid presence, full of energy, passion and sincerity.  His dramatic tenor voice is superb, full of richness and subtlety. He delivers and deep performance full of nuance as he brings to life the character with the checkered past who must leave it all behind to achieve his salvation. Musically he shines in songs like “Soliloquy” and “Who am I?”

            Kevin B. McGlynn is his match as the relentless Javert, the police inspector who will not surrender his quarry no matter how many years or miles pass. His baritone bass voice is wonderful, rich and full of nuance, vivid and passionate. He shows it off to good  purpose in songs like “Stars” and Soliloquy”.

            Lindsie VanWinkle is Fantine, is the single mother of Cosette and fired from work in Valjean’s factory forced to become a prostitute to support her daughter who is left in the care of the conniving couple the Thenardiers. She is a delight with a lyric mezzo soprano voice that is superb. She evokes sympathy and compassion in her performance with skill and finesse.

            Meagan McNulty is the charming Cosette, grown and the ward of Valjean. She is a wonderful ingénue who plays the role with passion and style, full of grace. She has a wonderful soprano voice. Her duets with Marius are breathtaking and satisfying.

            Tommy Labanaris is Marius, the young student rebel who loves Cosette  He has a strong tenor voice, full of verve and energy. He shines in “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” and in his duet with Eponine,  “A Little Fall of Rain.” He is also excellent in his trio with Eponine and Cosette, “A Heart Full of Love.”

            Alyssa Gorgone, whom I last saw in “Legally Blonde” shines again in this role as the Thenardier’s daughter who grew up with Cosette for a while. She evokes an image of great strength and tenderness in the character, sweetly endearing but strong and passionate. Her mezzo-soprano voice is superb in songs like "On My Own" where she decides to stand by Marius even though he is in love with Cosette. Then there is the superb, “A Little Fall of Rain” when she is shot and dies.

Real life husband and wife JP Sarro and Nicole Paloma Sarro are delightful as the devious, conniving couple, Thenardier and Madame Thenardier. They show a real comic sensibility and assurance is their robust songs like “Master of the House” and later on in “Beggars at the Feast.” JP Sarro is deliciously nefarious in the scene where he robs the dead bodies and sings "Dog Eat Dog."

Laurel McMahon and Grace Truslow alternate as Young Cosette and Young Eponine. Laurel sings wonderfully in the haunting "Castle on a Cloud" where she dreams of escaping her miserable life.

Scott Guthrie as Enjolras, the leader of the students is winning in his performance. His tenor voice is wonderful in songs like “Red and Black” and “Do You Hear the People Sing,” is rich and sonorous sheer pleasure and robust singing. "Drink to Me of Days Gone By" is particularly telling and touching as he sings it just before the students die at the barricades.

Iain Yarbrough as Gavroche a young street urchin is pure delight, charming and full of energy. His solo "Little People" comes when he reveals Javert as a spy and it is excellent. He dies in a heart wrenching moment when he climbs beyond the barricades to retrieve ammunition for the rebels and is shot by an unseen sniper. Bobby Miller III plays Gavroche at alternating performances.

Director Amiee Tuner makes it all a wonderful experience with splashy direction particularly in the large musical numbers like the comic “Master of the House.” She handles the direction of the large scenes with finesse and skill.

Musical director John Jay Espino, who also conducts the fine six person orchestra, shines throughout with masterful musicians and getting strong vocal performances.

Costume Designer Brian Horton has delivered some superb costumes from elegant to raggedy and everything in between.

The set by Clifton Chadwick is clever and works well in its various transformations. The lighting design by Bob Siler works well and the sound design by Ryan P. McGinty is excellent.

The scope and breadth of the production are enchanting and richly emotional. Everything comes together in this production to make it thoroughly enjoyable on all levels.

"Les Miserables" (2 - 27 October)

OCEAN STATE THEATRE COMPANY

@ 1245 Jefferson Boulevard, WARWICK RI

1(401)921-6800

“Dancing at Lughnasa” at 2nd Story Theatre

by Richard Pacheco

“Dancing at Lughnasa”, currently at 2^nd Story Theatre upstairs, is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator, Chrissie Mundy's young, illegitimate son. He recounts the summer in his aunts' cottage when he was seven years old. The play depicts the late summer days when love briefly seems possible for three of the Mundy sisters (Chris, Rose, and Kate) and the family welcomes home the frail elder brother, who has returned from a life as a missionary in Africa. However, as the summer ends, the family foresees the sadness and economic privations under which they will suffer as all hopes fade. The play takes place in early August, around the festival of Lughnasadh, the Celtic harvest festival. The play describes a bitter harvest for the Mundy sisters, a time of reaping what has been sown. All the drama takes place within the sisters' cottage, with events outside being reported, either as they happen or as reminiscence.

The play was originally presented at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1990. It transferred to London's National Theatre in 1991, winning the Olivier Award for Best Play, and subsequently to Broadway where it won the Tony Award for Best Play as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Play.

Kate is the eldest of the Mundy sisters and behaves as a Mother figure as a result. As a schoolteacher, she is the only wage-earner in the house, but her reputation as 'The Gander' in the schoolroom is seen to extend into the household. She is a fiercely devout Catholic, indicated by her distaste for the pagan practices at Lughnasa and Jack's loss of faith.  Rachel Morris delivers a telling and impressive performance as Kate, full of nuance and depth.

Maggie acts as the chief family homemaker. Throughout the play she is revealed as serving a deeper purpose as the "joker" of the family, defusing tensions as they arise. She cheekily challenges Kate's authority by calling her "Kitty", whilst being her confidant at the same time. Christina Wolfskehl handles the role with sass and spunk, full of energy and skill.

At 26 years old, Chris is the youngest of the Mundy sisters, and, like Maggie, has no paid job. Gerry Evans fathered her son, Michael, seven years ago and is seen as walking in and out of their lives as he chooses. As a result, Chris fluctuates between falling into a deep depression when he leaves, yet being renewed with optimism that his next visit will be a permanent stay. Her lack of income can lead Chris to be defensive on the upbringing of her son, shown when Kate buys Michael a new spinning top at the beginning of the play. Betsy Rinaldi plays Christina with great compassion and proficiency.  She offers a sympathetic character with depth of emotion and confusing feelings.

Rose is 32, but behaves much younger than her years, due to a developmental disability. This condition makes her particularly vulnerable to an unseen character, Danny Bradley, who Rose believes is in love with her. However, her sisters believe that Danny Bradley is exploiting Rose's simple nature for his own gain. She is particularly close to her older sister, Agnes, with whom she knits gloves to sell in the town. Erin Olson is wonderful as Rose a role which she handles with dexterity and assurance.

Agnes is quiet and contemplative, knitting gloves with Rose whilst also helping to keep a house. She appears to be silently infatuated with Gerry and is quick to leap to his defense. However, Michael's narratives reveal Agnes' future to be bleak. Her knitting fails to support her when the knitware factory opens. Tanya Anderson as Agnes is wonderful as Agnes, full of quiet intensity and depth. She last played Nurse Ratchid in “one Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” here at 2^nd Story.

Michael does not appear onstage as a child, but his presence is alluded to by the other characters, while the adult Michael speaks his lines from the side of the stage. As a child, Michael is seen as being surrounded by love, since all five of the sisters dote on him. Michael also acts as a narrator, not only dictating the action as it goes on, but revealing the futures of the other characters in the play. David DeAlmo is superb as Michael, full of finesse and with an excellent Irish accent. He has a profound emotional impact at times with his lines, touching and heartrending.

Gerry Evans is initially portrayed as an intensely negative character, particularly by Kate, for having left Chris after fathering her illegitimate son, Michael. However, upon his first appearance in the play is shown to be charming and genuinely affectionate towards Chris. His current job as a gramophone salesman (and his former job as a ballroom dancing instructor) represent his freedom in sharp contrast to the stagnant lives of the Mundy sisters. This is made all the more obvious by the fact that he is leaving Ireland to join the International Brigade and fight in the Spanish Civil War, something that is further disapproved of by Kate. James Lucey plays Gerry with charm and energy. He makes his nefarious and sneaky behavior—the man is sleazy and a perpetual flirt—highly appealing.

Jack is in his late fifties. He had left home as a young man to work as a missionary in a leper colony in Uganda. Beyond this, he had been a Catholic chaplain in the British Army in East Africa during World War I. He is well respected in Donegal for his missionary work in a leper colony. However, his sudden return to Ballybeg for undisclosed reasons has paved the way for great changes. He has difficulty with his memory, often forgetting the names of his sisters or confusing them with his former house boy Okawa, with whom we are told he was very close. Jack professes a broad admiration for the pagan beliefs of the native people of Africa, and appears to have lost his Catholic faith, which may be the true reason his superiors have sent him back. Bill Oakes plays Father Jack, who starts the play with his memory deteriorating and his faith flagging and does a wonderful job, handling the role with adroitness and zest.

Director Mark Peckham evokes the most from his fine cast.

Set designer, Trevor Eliott transforms the stage into an Irish cottage stage right and the rest of the stage into an outside area, complete with grass and a tree. It is an excellent set.

It is a winning production, full of many touching and funny moments, robust and endearing.

"Dancing at Lughnasa" (27 September - 27 October)

2ND STORY THEATRE

@ 28 Market Street, WARREN RI

1(401)247-4200

           

“Love, Loss and What I Wore” at Your Theatre

by Richard Pacheco

            Your Theatre’s current production of “Love, Loss and What I wore” adapted for the stage by Delia and Nora Ephron is a series of monologues which includes women's relationships and wardrobes and at times the interaction of the two, using the female wardrobe as a time capsule of a woman's life and is based on the 1995 book by Ilene Beckerman. It is a fun time, full of funny and some touching moments, brought vividly to life by a series of five actresses.

            The show, which has a running time of about 1 hour and 30 minutes, is composed of 28 different stories that seek to illuminate the female identity. Generally composed of comic stories, the show often addresses sad, bitter or sentimental issues A character called Gingy acts as the narrator. The show opens with her sketching various parts of her wardrobe that stir the most poignant memories. She weaves her life story among the other tales, describing her three marriages, "motherhood and the death of a child, each turning point marked by a particular item of clothing”. Her life is represented beginning with experiences in a Brownies uniform and extending through her full life.

In addition to Gingy, one character serves as the vixen, another plays a vulnerable gang member from Chicago, a third portrays a brave cancer patient, and the last serves as a mature woman pierced by vivid memories. One of these characters, named Heather, chooses conservative "think" shoes over high heels in her youth, but at a later stage in life shows a preference for high heels. The gang member likes insignias that are prominent on sweaters and their creator. Among the 28 stories, other notable tales include one about the influence of Madonna (with discourse including "Any American woman under 40 who says she's never dressed as Madonna is either lying or Amish."); one about dressing room anxiety (a story revolving around the concept that "I’m an 8. I’ve always been an 8"); and one about your mother's tastes in clothes ("I don’t understand, you could look so good if you tried"). Other stories include recollections about the dress purchased for the date with a guy who subsequently married someone else; the foibles of spandex bras that result in a look known as the monoboob; issues involving toe cleavage; the Juicy Couture tracksuit that is a prominent staple of California wardrobes; wardrobe choice on the wrong day of the month; and the story about an incarcerated lover and the strategic hole in a certain pair of pants. Three of the characters sometimes work as a trio and all characters have monologues.

There are two separate casts for this play. I witnessed Cast 1.  This cast featured Pamela Morgan as Gingy, with Chris Bailey, Anne Hart Cool, Sheila Furtado and Caroline Paradis are the rest of the cast ensemble. They are splendid, full of verve, energy and sincerity in their performances. They work well together an created an atmosphere of old friends chatting, full of familiarity and warmth shared.

Director Robin Richards takes what could have been a somewhat dry staged reading and gives it life with the cast interactions.

The set design by Mark Fuller and Lawrence R. Houbre Jr. is simple and direct as the performances.

Your Theatre until Oct.23 All tickets $15
136 Rivet Street, New Bedford, MA
508-993-0772 http://yourtheatre.org/yti/index.php