“Oliver” at Trinity Rep

By Richard Pacheco

Trinity Reps current production of “Oliver” is sheer delight, robust, sensitive, filled with strong singing and  snappy dance numbers. is a British musical, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens.
            It premièred in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, a successful Broadway production in 1963 and further tours and revivals. It was made into a musical film in 1968. Major London revivals played from 1977–80, 1994–98 and again from 2008–11. It was nominate for multiple Tony awards in both its original Broadway debut and with a revival in 1963 and again in 1984. It was also nominated for Olivier Awards in London in revivals in 1994 and 2008.
            The production is sheer fun from beginning to end. It opens in the workhouse where the orphaned Oliver Twist lives since his dying mother left him there. At one point, Oliver musters the courage to ask for more food.  The request son incenses Mr. Bumble who runs the workhouse that he decides to sell Oliver to an undertaker. When someone insults Oliver’s dead mother, he begins to pummel him. Mr. Bumble is sent for Oliver is forced to run away and ends up in London where he meets the Artful Dodger who introduces him to the clandestine clan of young criminals under the tutelage of Fagin. Oliver is completely unaware of any criminality, and believes that the boys make handkerchiefs rather than steal them.
            The next day, Oliver meets Nancy, the girlfriend of the infamous Bill Sykes, a burglar who abuses her. When Oliver goes out with the Artful Dodger to pick pocket and unsuspecting wealthily man, Mr. Brownlow, Oliver is caught and blamed for picking the pocket. When it is straightened out Oliver ends up going home with Mr. Brownlow. Nancy and Bill bring him back to Fagin’s den. In remorse, Nancy visits Mr. Brownlow and vows to bring Oliver to him later. That is when all goes awry.
         

   Phineas Peters, who’s played Tiny Tim a couple of times in recent years, is a plucky Oliver, the orphan boy who falls in with Fagin and the Artful Dodger.  He has a winning stage presence and sings with confidence and dances with ease.
            14-year-old Noah Parets was terrific as the Artful Dodger the young pickpocket. He sings with finesse and energy and dances with style and flair.
            Rachael Warren, who plays Nancy, Bill Sykes’ long-suffering girlfriend, sings marvelously and with great feeling, particularly in the mournful “As Long As He Needs Me.” Or she sings with gusto and vigor in “Oom-Pah, Pah.”
            Boston-area actor Timothy John Smith is the dark and dangerous Bill Sykes. He plays the role with a gritty nastiness that is ominous and chilling. He is brutal. When he sings “My Name” it is chilling and ominous. This is no man to be trifled with by anyone at any time.
            Stephen Berenson, who is a masterful Fagin, the crafty crook who teaches boys the art of picking pockets. Berenson is treat as Fagin.  He makes the character large and amusing throughout without fail. He sings skillfully. He is pure comic delight in singing “Reviewing the Situation.”
            Tom Gleadow’s Mr. Bumble and Anne Scurria’s coy Mrs. Corney, are sheer delight. The couple run the workhouse where Oliver grew up.  They have some very funny moments in the first act in a little dance of attraction between the two of them, back and forth until she ends up in his lap and they later end up married, very unhappily.
            There are tons of talented kids in the show who sing and dance up a storm with energetic abandon and yet discipline. They shine particular in “Food Glorious Food” and “Consider Yourself.”
            The return of husband and wife team Richard and Sharon Jenkins harkens back to the days of Adrian Hall. Richard Jenkins, the Oscar-nominated film actor, led Trinity in the early 1990s, which was the last time he directed a show. Her choreography is charming and entrancing, full of fun and packed with oomph.           
           Its gritty and grimy, the darker side of Dickens and London in the recycled Christmas Carol set. It is also very intimate. The singers and dancers here are top notch. It is full of rich theatrical moments and even though Jenkins has left behind for the most part stage work acing so much in film, he has not lost his touch in being able to deliver top notch stage direction as he does here.
            They got a well deserved standing ovation at the end. You won’t want to miss it for a wonderful musical treat.
            “Oliver!” runs through March 30 at Trinity Rep, 201 Washington St., Providence. Tickets are $28-$72. Call (401) 351-4242, or visit trinityrep.com.

“Intimate Apparel” at Trinity Rep

by Richard Pacheco

            The play had its world premiere at Center Stage on February 2, 2003. Directed by Kate Whoriskey, the cast featured Shane Williams (Esther), Brenda Pressley (Mrs. Dickson), Kevin Jackson (George Armstrong) and Sue Cremin (Mrs. VanBuren). It next ran at the South Coast Repertory from April 11, 2003 through May 18, 2003 directed by Whoriskey and with the same Center Stage cast.

The play made its New York debut off-Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre, running from March 17, 2004 to June 6, 2004. Directed by Daniel J. Sullivan, it featured Viola Davis (Esther), Lynda Gravatt (Mrs. Dickson), and Corey Stoll (Mr. Marks).

The play won the 2004 Steinberg New Play Award, presented by The American Theatre Critics Association to "outstanding new plays produced around the United States, outside of New York City”. Nottage, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, based the exquisitely written  “Intimate Apparel” on her own family's history – in particular her great-grandmother's experiences as a seamstress in New York at the end of the 19^th century- It is her brilliant attention to characterization and narrative that makes this pal shine and gives its wonderful actors so much to work with.
            The story centers on Esther Mills (Mia Ellis), an African-American woman living in New York City at the turn of the 19^th century where she works as a highly skilled seamstress of the kinds of garments of the title for a wide range of clients, the wealthy to saloon singers. Esther might have dreams of marriage, but she is down to earth and a practical woman and does not believe in fairy tales.
            She is thirty five and knows that avenue in her life is limited at best so she strives to save her money for her dream to own an elegant beauty parlor for black women. She has a single mindedness that is impressive, but gets distracted with a warm and friendly correspondence, long distance with a laborer in Panama working on the Panama Canal, George Armstrong. As the warmth and attraction grows so do the possible side effects of it.
            Ellis is wonderful in the role, full of sensitivity and nuance, delivering a vivid and vivacious performance. This is her first year as a resident actress at Trinity and this performance establishes her talent and abilities beyond doubt. She deftly captures the mixture of insecurities in that Esther cannot read and write, giving it a richness and sincerity that is compelling. It is a rich and stunning performance on many levels.
            Joe Wilson Jr. is equally stunning as her “Panama Man” delivering a varied and sensitive performance, full of nuance. Throughout the first act, he shows up through the letters they write to each other and comes into the scene in the second act, becoming more that a voice at the end of the letters. When the long awaited George steps into her life for real, some things are different than she expected. All that is revealed in their body language when they first meet revealing, a difference between the gentleman of the letters and the flesh and blood man at her side.
            The other characters in this brilliant ensemble shine as well. Nottage described Intimate Apparel as "a meditation on loneliness," and each of the play’s characters underscores that vividly and distinctly. It ends up a rich and varied interplay between their interactions with Esther, depending on their race, social status and their expectations built on those criteria.
            Angela Brazil plays Mrs. Van Buren, Esther's wealthy, high-profile client. She considers Esther more than mere seamstress, but more confidant and friend, something unique for a Fifth Avenue socialite and upper crust of New York Society. Brazil is sheer delight in the role, garnering many laughs along the way with her antics and actions as well as her words.
            Another character who develops a deepening attachment to Esther is  Mr. Marks (Mauro Hantman) a Romanian-born Jewish man. Marks is a soft spoken, eminently polite and well mannered fabrics seller. He is sweet, humble and respectful in all his dealings with Esther. They have an easy rapport and warm companionship within a business context and it is obvious their rapport is not merely professional. They are vey attached to each other even though it is unspoken. Hantman delivers a skillful performance as Marks, full of bittersweet poignancy and sincerity.
            Barbara Meek, always wonderful and delightful, opens the show as Mrs. Dickson, Esther's motherly-if-meddling landlady. She has some of the funniest lines in the show and always is on the mark with flair and finesse.
            Shelley Fort, a second-year student in the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA acting program and keeps up with the fine company she keeps in this play as the brassy and brazen fallen woman, Mayme. Mayme  has tons of unfulfilled and never will be fulfilled dreams and hopes. She has deep hurt and quick witted humor and fast tongue. There is a scene in the second act between her and Ellis that is emotionally powerful and intense where they both shine with extraordinary proficiency and emotional depth.
            “Intimate Apparel” is directed by TRC's own Janice Duclos who handles her superb cast with depth and fine distinction throughout.
            Patrick Lynch designed an elegant multiple set piece for the play which creates several small, intimate spaces with distinct touches. From the rich array of fabrics for Mark’s shop to the boudoir of Mrs. Van Buren and the period piece furniture, all come vividly to life and create and handsome and effective atmosphere.
            Photo projections on the high walls also offer the audience the sights and sounds of New York City, 1905. John Ambrosone's lighting design establishes a dreamy, romantic tone for Esther and George's first innocent flirtations through the mail correspondence.
            It plays Trinity Repertory Company's downstairs Dowling Theater through March 2, 2014. Tickets are available online at www.trinityrep.com, by phone (401) 351-4242, or by visiting the box office at 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI. Ticket prices range from $28-$68

“Laughter on the 23rd Floor” at Ocean State Theatre

by Richard Pacheco

            “Laughter on the 23^rd Floor” currently at Ocean State Theatre is a wildly funny and merry romp into the world of television in the 1950’s into a hit comedy show. A terrific ensemble cast sparks this vividly to life with loads of  laughter and some great comic timing. It is hilarious, a real treat. Inspired by Simon's early career experience as a junior writer (along with his brother Danny) for “Your Show of Shows,” the play focuses on Sid Caesar-like Max Prince, the star of a weekly comedy-variety show circa 1953, and his staff, including Simon's alter-ego Lucas Brickman, who maintains a running commentary on the writing, fighting, and wacky antics which take place in the writers' room. Max has an ongoing battle with NBC executives, who fear his humor is too sophisticated for Middle America.

            The work is a roman à clef, with the characters in the play based on Neil Simon's co-writers on “Your Show Of Shows” The real-life inspirations: the Sid Caesar-inspired Max Prince", hypochondriac Ira, inspired by Mel Brooks, dryly witty, sane Kenny, inspired by Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner, and "fussy Russian émigré” inspired by Mel Tolkin and Carol, inspired by Lucille Kalle.

The show is mart and funny—and I trouble with the network. First, the network wants to cut it to an hour from 90 minutes. Then the bosses insist that they trim the budget by firing one of the writers. By the time of the 1953 Christmas party, the situation has deteriorated. (And although Sid Caesar and many of his writers went on to other series, “Your Show of Shows” ran only from 1950 to 1954.)  As Kenny says, “Maybe we’ll never have this much fun again in our entire lives.”

Max, the Sid Caesar character is more than a little bit nuts. At times he is stark raving, but very funny when he is. The fabulous Fred Sullivan Jr., a longtime member of  the Trinity Rep acting company delivers yet another tour de force performance as the wacky Max. he has a volatile energy and remarkable stage presence. He is a real treat in the role. Max is a tortured genius, very funny but truly nutty and eccentric in so many ways. This is Sullivan’s debut on the Ocean State Theatre stage and a wining one it is.

Matt DaSilva is Lucas, the Simon alter ego in the play. Lucas is uncertain, a novice with desire and talent but not yet full of self confidence yet. DaSilva handle it all with likeable flair and finesse.

Jean-Pierre Ferragamo as Milt also stands out in this wonderful cast. He has a keen sense of coming timing and a great sense of physical comedy, both of which he delivers with skill and expertise.

Tommy Labanaris as Ira.a writer who is extreme hypochondriac and perpetually late for work for a variety of heath reasons. Lananaris also shines in the role. He is adept at physical comedy and quick with the one liners as well.  He is a delight and delvers the laughs

Aimee  Turner, the producing artistic director of Ocean State makes her stage debut with the theatre here and shines as the sole female writer on the show, Carol.

The rest of the strong cast consists of Mark S. Cartier as Val, Tyler Fish as Kenny and Tom Andrew as Brian. While they are not as distinct as characters as the other writers, these actors shine in their roles, adding to the hectic , frenetic and very funny atmosphere.

Director Brad Van Grack keeps this merry romp always on track, full of witty interchange and physical comedy. It is his directorial debut with the company and an auspicious one it it.

The set by Kimberly V. Powers is excellent and really captures the 1950’s New York office flavor. The costumes by Brian Horton are also period perfect and effective.

The terrific cast has a great time throughout it all and it is contagious to the audience was well. They got a well deserved standing ovation at the end.

“Laughter on the 23^rd Floor”  Jan. 29 – Feb. 16

OCEAN STATE THEATRE COMPANY

@ 1245 Jefferson Boulevard, WARWICK RI

1(401)921-6800