Sunday, March 12, 2017

“Shirley Valentine” at 2nd Story Theatre


By Richard Pacheco
            Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad. Russell turned the acclaimed play into a film staring the actress who did the show on stage in London’s West End, Pauline Collins.
The current production at 2nd Story offers a bravura performance by Joanne Fayan that bristles, sparkles and delights without hesitation and without stop.    
            Shirley is stuck in her life, caught and trapped in the dull day to day in Liverpool. There seems to be no escape from her doldrums which daily encroach on her and only leave her with faded dreams and lost hopes, in short leave her in a dismal state longing for more. Shirley finds herself regularly alone and talking to the wall while preparing an evening meal of egg and chips for her emotionally distant husband. Her friend whose husband left her for the milkman, offers to take her along on a trip to Greece, all expenses paid and Shirley can’t resist. Her two children often annoy and distress her with their attitudes and antics. Her husband is often distant and self-absorbed leaving her feeling trapped with no way out of her dilemma, which only seems to get worse everyday.
            So when she heads off to Greece she does with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. Here is a chance to revive herself and her life to reconnect with the Shirley Valentine who was bold and daring and tamed down when she became a wife, misplacing her sense of daring and love of life. In Greece, she is ignites in her love of life and herself once again, reviving her sense of daring and adventure, stirring her courage once again.
            Joanne Fayan is raw delight in the role. She is poised and astute in her depiction of Shirley’s conflicting fees and dreams. She has personality that she exudes without fail. When she rants about her husband and her disappointments, it is comic gems, delivered with the right mixture os sassy and smart. The only thing missing from the performance is a Liverpool accent and frankly with this kind of gem of a performance, that is minimal and better no accent that a horrid one. Fayan’s performance makes up for this with a zest and convincing passion that illuminates the stage.
            Mark Peckham directs with a sureness of touch and real energy, which takes full advantage of the theater in the round set up at 2nd Story’s upstairs theatre. He moves her with grace and supple confidence throughout the space, a sheer delight.
            The setting and light design by Max Ponticelli is right on the mark evoking both the Liverpool flat and the Greek ruins with discrete and slight touches that work perfectly.
            This is a bold and superb performance that shimmers with verve and personality, leaving an indelible mark in the memory and the heart. Ms.Fayan got a well deserved standing ovation at the end for her memorable performance. You don’t want to miss it.
            It will be presented again until April 2in the Upstage theater with tickets: Regular – $35, Preview (online) – $20, Preview (phone/in-person) – $25. Under 25 – $25* matiness are Thusday through Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday matinees at 2:30.


Saturday, March 11, 2017

“Thriller of the Year” at Theatre One



By Richard Pacheco
            Theatre One finishes its season with a production of Glyn Jones’ “Thriller of the Year,” a play about a thriller writer who suddenly finds her life in jeopardy after wining a major award find a copy of her latest award winning book has been delivered with no note and no indication as to who it is from.
As the evening unfolds, when a series of unfortunate accidents occur, she soon finds out why: someone is trying to kill her using methods from her own book. Will she be able to discover the identity of the murderer before it is too late, using her novel to stay one step ahead; she finally comes face to face with the murderer. In the last chapter of her book how did her heroine die? And will Gillian suffer the same fate!
Jones, was a South African writer who also wrote for Dr. Who which he not only wrote for but acted in several times.
The Cast is strong and energetic. The have a solid chemistry between them and real verve. The award-winning writer, Gillian Howard, is played by Susan Salveston. Howard is smug, self-satisfied with her own importance and more than a bit of a bully. She likes to get her way at any and all costs, from anyone around her from her publisher to her assistant, her doctor to her soon to be former mother-in-law. None of them really matter in her universe unless they contribute to her goals and succumb to her wishes. Salveston handles it all with verve and aplomb, making the nastiness delicious and entertaining as she goes about verbally abusing people at her whim.
Holly Christian Cipriani is her publisher, Irene Knight, the woman who put Howard on the map in the writing world and now must endure Howard’s relentless attacks and threats to find another publisher for her next book. She likes her alcohol, and indulges in it liberally at the apartment, particularly when Howard is on the attack, knowing full well Howard is not supposed to drink for health reasons. Cipriani is energetic and bold in the role, a solid presence fully able to confront the rampaging Howard.
Vanessa Lima is Madge Robinson, Howard’s assistant and for all practical purposes indentured servant. Madge has a growing discontent with her job and her boss an wonders about leaving to find greener pastures in the job market. Madge is very efficient and has contributed a lot behind the scenes to Howard’s success, perhaps even adding something to her acclaimed novel, more than just typing it. She has an underlying resentment against her boss that is well justified. Lima is excellent in the role, a mixture of submission and self confidence in her abilities and contributions to her boss that is appealing and effective.
Elizabeth Goulart is the dedicated and determined Beryl Spence, Howard’s doctor at her beckon call. She is smart, dedicated and determined to be the most supportive doctor, even making house calls in the wee hours of the morning. She often battles Howard over health choices like drinking brandy. Goulart has a smart presence as the doctor. She is poised and in control at all times even faced with Howard’s often bombastic and relentless assaults on her and her advice. Goulart handles it all with confidence and conviction.
Finally there is Howard’s soon to be ex mother-in-law, Edith Howard who longs for Gillian to get back with her son and often hints very obviously in that direction. Edith is genuinely concerned and a bit of a meddler to achieve her goal of getting her son and Gillian back together again. She is not obnoxious it her quest, just very obvious. Linda Merritt is Edith. She is meek yet determined in her quest and she handles the role with sincerity and warmth. She is convincing.
Together this ensemble evokes a sense of impending doom, which mounts as the play progresses. All this under the sure and firm direction of Peg Holzemer, which keeps it all directly on track to build suspense and concern as the tension mounts.
The set by John Marzelli offers a fine sense of upper class presence with paintings on the wall and furniture.
All these elements offer a fun quest for a murder and mayhem as it all closes in and you wonder who is out to kill Gillian and why. It comes as a surprise which I will not spoil.   
It will be presented again March 10 & 17, and Saturday evenings March 11 & 18 at 7:30pm. Sunday afternoons March 12 & March 19, at 2pm. Tickets are $20 for general admission, and $18 for seniors and students cash only at the door. We collect food donations at all our performances for the Middleboro COA Senior Pantry. Come join the fun with Theatre One, bringing a little bit of Broadway to your backyard. Info 1-774-213-5193.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

“The Nether” at the Gamm Theatre



By Richard Pacheco
            The Jennifer Haley play, “The Nether” currently at the Gamm is an excursion into the dark side of the virtual worlds of the Internet. It is not lasting literature but more like a lurid side trip that leaves you disgusted by the virtual haven for pedophiles and its seamier aspects of murder in an interpretation and invention of polices procedurals. It is a sci-fi serpentine crime thriller that lingers in the darker side of private dreams. While the author claims to despise police procedurals, the play turns out to be a weak example of one in many ways. "The Nether," which had its debut in 2012 in Los Angeles and has seen multiple productions, including off-Broadway and on London's West End.
           However the acting here is excellent with many deft and probing performances. The place where all this atrocities take place is called The Hideaway. The plot revolves around the efforts of a detective, Morris, to delve into the seamy underside of this place and if any violations of law are found, bring the perpetrators to justice. Nothing is clear and obvious because in the virtual world all kinds of things can happen from pedophilia to murder with few if any real world consequences unless you follow the detective’s logic. The actions shift between a dire space with a lighted cube in the middle and black curtains, the investigation room to the Victorian mansion where The virtual Hideaway exists.
            The man behind The Hideaway is Simms, who in the virtual world is called Papa and behind the virtual pedophilia there. He is aloof and self confident, a man who feels his actions in the virtual world are harmless and beyond the scope and jurisdiction of law enforcement. Simms is slickly confident and his abilities to skirt beyond the law in the virtual world. Richard Donelly plays Simms/Papa with finesse, inside the virtual world giving him a disconcerting, creepiness and is sure to disturb. Outside the virtual environment, interacting with Detective Morris, he is less assured, more concerned and nervous about the forces closing in on him.
            His nemesis in this is Detective Morris, who is relentless in her quest to find him guilty of something she can persecute in the real world, something that derives from the virtual world Simms in habits. Morris is clever and at times devious, doing whatever she has to in order to snare Simms. Casey Seymour Kim is the astute detective, who is like a rabid pit bull determined to not let go. Kim is full of finesse in the role balancing determination with a shrewd deviousness.
            Doyle is the man who the detective hopes to use to snare Simms. He is a rather ordinary man with darker desires, and a predilection for children as a sexual being. But only in the nether, not in real life. He is uncomfortable with his dark desires and Morris hopes to use that to enlist his aid to entice Simms to crimes in the real world. Jim O’Brien is Doyle, the man on the edge. He is nervous, and fearful, cautious and defensive, ready to protect himself no matter what it takes to escape responsibility in the real world for acts in the virtual. O’Brien is wonderful in the role, a mixture of guilt and defensiveness, a passionate desire to escape responsibility in the real world ro acts committed in the virtual.        
            Then there is Iris, the young girl in the Hideaway. She is innocent in some ways, and a temptress in others. She is the epitome of that mixture of appealing in a dark way and repulsive in others. Ally Gower is winning in the role, always managing to maintain the balance between innocence and darker implications with skill and grace.
Finally there is Woodnut, who is the counterpart for Doyle in the nether. HE is younger in the avatar than is Doyle, more dapper and fun filled. HE is really attracted to Iris and wants to love her not merely have sex with her, something forbidden in the nether. Jaime Default is Woodnut, a man with darker motives but still clinging on to his more moral side, even when confronted by the darker desires of the nether in The Hideaway. He is a combination of the skittery and the determined, lost amid a darker world and battling his better instincts.
Judith Swift directs with a keen eye to evoking the best from her cast and they deliver despite some of the issues with the play itself.
The Sarah Osana set design is the right mixture of stark interrogation room to elaborate Victorian manor.
Together this makes for a journey into the dark of private desires no matter how horrific into a virtual world where there are seemingly no consequences for those actions and the moral issues that invokes. The acting is superb, but the play seems a bit lacking like an inferior police procedural that the author so despises.
“The Nether” at Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, 172 Exchange St., Pawtucket, March 2-26, $33 previews (through Sunday); $44 and $52 (401) 723-4266, gammtheatre.org

Saturday, March 4, 2017

“Little Women” at Ocean State Theatre




By Richard Pacheco
            “Little Women” the musical currently takes on the novel by the same name by Louisa May Alcott is a pleasant enough look at the novel which seems to lack full, deeper characters, instead content to dwell more on the surface of traits and events while lacking the nuance and details that makes that vivid onstage. If it has a saving grace it lies in the talented cast who manage to bring some of the lacking qualities to the fore.
            The musical adheres to the book in that The novel follows the lives of four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood, and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. The novel has been read as a romance or as a quest, or both and so does the musical. Alcott created a new form of literature, one that took elements from Romantic children's fiction and combined it with others from sentimental novels, resulting in a totally new format.
            Jo is the sister who longs to be a writer and this charts her journey from a wannabe to a paid writer and her artistic odyssey from melodramatic tragedies to a more realistic grounded tale about her and her sisters. Tess Jonas is Jo, the young woman with passion for writing and desire to avoid the traps of what is appropriate for a woman of those times as she does her best to avoid romance to replace writing. That does not mean she manages to avoid interest from the males around, just that she wants to deflect it away from her and her artistic goals. Jonas has a strong voice and vivid presence. She deftly delivers on Jo’s feisty personality, her dedication to her ideals and her unflinching rebel desire to not compromise. It is a winning performance and her voice shines with poise and elegance.
            Sister Beth is sheer sweetness and kindness. She is the epitome of caring for her sisters, her relentless love of them. She is the peacemaker, determined and dedicated to keep the family loving each other no matter what comes up. Bryn Martin plays Beth with sincerity and conviction.
            Sister Amy in the youngest and the one who wants desperately to be part of high society no matter what it takes. It makes her pompous and at times condescending, not appreciating others values and ambitions and often at odds with Jo. Abigail McMahon si Amy and she handles the role with verve and is vividly convincing handling the demands of this superficial and society obsessed young woman.
            Meg is the oldest sister, who earns for a great and conventional life complete with marriage and children. She is the epitome of those desires. Alison Novelli is on target with the role, skillfully portraying the honesty and conviction of Meg.
            Marmee is there mother, a strong determined woman who takes care of the family while her husband is off in the Civil War as a chaplain for the Union Army. She is dedicated to her daughters and keeping the family together and united despite any difficulties which might ensue. Artistic Director Aimee Tuner handles with role with grace and earnestness. She is poised and determined in the role.
            Laurie is the grandson of the somewhat cranky neighbor, Mister Laurence. Michael Luongo is Laurie. He handles his puppy dog attraction for Jo with dexterity and facility.
            Professor Bhaer is a teacher whom Jo meets in New York who becomes her friend and supporter. Tommy Labinaris plays him with the right amount of stiffness and proper gentleman of the era style.
Mr. Lawrence is usually pristine and proper, very stiff in his dealings with people but does have a softer side. Curt Danham handles the role with zest and elegance.
            John Brooke is Laurie’s tutor who is enchanted by Meg. Kevin Patrick Martin is effective in the role.
            Also on hand are Aunt March and Mrs. Kirk who runs the boardinghouse in New York, both played by Staci Morin with zest and style giving each character a distinction and definite personality.
            Director and choreographer Ethan Paulini keeps the pacing for the most part deft and on target.
            Scenic designer  Cliftin Chadick creates an intriguing space that is a mixture of real and dream with the back wall full of flowing white fabric and the structure, more hinted than real in the middle that offers a suggestion, a hint of building.
            Any issues here are with the show itself, not the performances which are excellent. The Jason Howland music is engaging enough and the book by Allen Knee is faithful enough to the novel, but the Mindi Diskstein lyrics are uneven, at times on the mark at others, sorely lacking.
            “Little Women” runs through March 19 at Ocean State Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick. Evening performances stat at 7:30 and matinees at 2 pm. Tickets are $39-$59. Call (401) 921-6800, or visit oceanstatetheatre.org..