Category: Critique

What began as a fringe piece in the attic of a London theater somehow evolved over time to be an enduring musical sex comedy mocking puritanism, hypocrisy and the dreary world of bourgeois morality. Written by Richard O’Brien (in the 1970’s) The Rocky Horror Show somehow struck a nerve with counter-culture, challenging the heterocentrist paradigm, including a wedding between the rapacious, transgendered Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter and his dishy creation, “Rocky”. Currently playing at The Stellar Academy of Fine Arts (closing this weekend!) and directed by Ryan Mattheiu Smith, The Rocky Horror Show is an uproarious, giddy tribute to B-Movie Sci-Fi, a genre where bland, archetypical nuclear family values intersect with fantasy and camp.

Brad Majors and Janet Weiss are still glowing after attending a friend’s wedding and Janet’s acceptance of Brad’s proposal. Stuck with a flat tire, the two must wade through a deluge to seek help at a strange castle. There they are stunned and appalled to discover Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter and his perverse party guests on the occasion of unveiling his triumph over ignorance and mortality. Needless to say, Janet and Brad couldn’t feel worse if they’d been dropped into a live volcano. Or a jello wrestling match. Before the evening is over they will be tainted by the doctor’s raging, polyamorous appetites, and subsequent interpersonal dramas. How could they possibly have imagined their odyssey would take them to a place of interplanetary insanity and honey-thick hedonism?

Ryan Mattheiu Smith seems to ascribe to the Mae West School of Excess i.e. : “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.” If there was ever a show that feels perfect for this approach, it’s certainly Rocky Horror, and while it works better sometimes than others, overall it’s an immensely pleasurable and juicy tumble with transgression and degeneracy. Smith certainly capitalizes on gender meltdown, using contradictory casting hither and yon. The entire cast seems energized by a playful mix of anger

and Dionysian abandon. The production is chock full of dishy, boy eyecandy and itchy, bitchy, hilarious “ladies.” Key players Steven Rob Pounds (Brad) Cherish Robinson (Janet) and Dustin Simington (Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter) have gobs of chutspah and moxie. Not only do they have intuitive stage presence but undeniable pipes. They sing with charisma and depth of emotion. The players know how to cut loose and invite us to the party. They break open the windows and welcome us to this opium den masquerading as a candy store.

Stellar Academy of Fine Arts presents The Rocky Horror Show, closing this weekend, October 30th, 2016. 3321 Premier Drive, Plano, TX 75023 (214) 531-4833. www.stellar.mu

Never seen anything quite like Kitchen Dog’s Stain Upon the Silence: Beckett’s Bequest, a montage of introspective monologues reflecting on mortality, weariness, disappointment, upheaval and living on the verge of death. Two pieces by Samuel Beckett and four by other playwrights, each characterized by fragmented perception, mesmerizing repetition, despair, irony, intensity and the pain of a life we can’t control and yet refusing to let go. All six pieces dovetail so smoothly (there’s a masterful mix of ache and laughter) we wonder how this project was conceived and so adeptly executed. If three symbiotic panels are a triptych, what then do we call six? Each monologue enhances what comes after and/or before, yet stands alone.

Rockaby and A Piece of Monologue, both by Samuel Beckett, are chilling and unsettling. In Rockaby, an elderly lady sways to and fro in her rocking chair, sharing broken thoughts, repeating certain words and phrases. In Piece of Monologue we see an elderly gentleman, in a nightshirt, describing a light in the window. A gathering of black umbrellas around a grave. Again, fragmented, repeated pieces of perception, frantic, panicky, subdued yet yearning and resigned. Both the woman and man are bathed in a kind of half-light that puts them on a cusp between the present and encroaching demise. Beckett loves to dwell on our attachment to the disappointing world, and hunger for divine redemption. Instead of looking for God within our own capacity for abundance, we mark time waiting for a lifeboat that never comes.

Tongues (Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin) punctuated by rough, ironic drumming is the story of man coming to terms with aging, the blows we must endure by simply leaving our homes and getting out into the world. Behold the Coach, In a Blazer, Uninsured (Will Eno) explores frustration and hopelessness with satire when the coach concedes a catastrophic year for the high school football team. Pickling (Suzan-Lori Parks) finds an old woman in bed, evidently in the last cycle before death, delivering stream of consciousness recollections, grasping at memories of desire, destitution and regret. Lisa, My Friend (Abe Koogler) is a great way to end the evening. A ditzy, insipid, superficial teenage girl feels betrayed by Lisa, but isn’t sure exactly why this episode torments her. She converses incessantly with an offstage voice: “Are you there? Yeah. Are you there? Yeah. Are you there? (Pause) Yeah.”

Gertrude Stein demonstrated the power of anaphora (strategic, intuitive repeating of words and phrases for hypnotic effect) and made it look easy. The playwrights represented in A Stain make use of that technique with acumen and flexibility. It’s difficult to build an entire show on this without subjecting the audience to temporary lobotomy. Kitchen Dog avoids this, with wit and incision. They drag us into freezing, bleak, deep water without drowning us or completely snuffing our candles. Though it takes us much closer than we might have wished. It’s subversive, cunning theatre. Director Tim Johnson invites the grim reaper to plant a kiss before he grudgingly departs. No mints strong enough (not even Altoids) to prepare us for that. But it works, it’s not sloppy or ghoulish. It’s not a blood baptism. It’s precise and often drifts into the fetching and ridiculous and sometimes the reverie of absurd persistence. It’s beautiful and tragic and basks in the fiasco of life.

Kitchen Dog Theater presents A Stain Upon the Silence: Beckett’s Bequest, playing October 7th-29th, 2016. 2600 North Stemmons Freeway, Suite 180, Dallas, Texas 75207 214-953-1055. admin@kitchendogtheater.org

Alida (Stephanie Dunnam) is a writer and something of a hermit. Beth (Catherine D. DuBord) is a therapeutic assistant working for a psychiatric clinic. When Alida comes in for evaluation, Beth is struck by her poignant skills as a storyteller, and discovers she is actually a famous author, who is forging a new manuscript. She eventually goes from helping her part-time, to being her full time assistant, overcome by a sense of genuine care and desire to see this last book published. Alida, unfortunately, is high-maintenance. She is sharp, but also elderly, so her memory is failing her, which makes her suspicious and thoroughly unpleasant. The memories which Alida must excavate to write her text are painful, and she’s having troubles enough just functioning day to day. Beth, however, is remarkably patient. Though Alida often crosses the line when poking about in Beth’s poor boyfriend choices, she seems determined to help Alida heal emotional wounds.

Playwright Jennifer Haley explores the pervasive, often subtle wisdom of fairytales in Breadcrumbs. So many of us grew up with Little Red Riding Hood, The Frog Prince, Cinderella, that we’re not necessarily inclined to look much further than the plot. As you might imagine, Haley uses the archetypes found in Hansel and Gretel to deepen and illuminate the connection between Beth and Alida. As a child, Alida suffered some excruciating episodes, not because her mother didn’t love her, but because they both were exploited by her mother’s lousy taste in men. Haley makes it clear that Alida’s mother was conscientious and demonstrative, only sadly misguided. As the narrative of Breadcrumbs unwinds, it becomes very clear that you needn’t be a crone to be lonely or absent-minded, and that bad judgment or inappropriate methods needn’t be a stain on one’s character.

Haley skillfully overlaps the roles that Alida and Beth fulfill in each others’ lives. Life has taught Alida you don’t require men to live happily and Beth understands that being reliable for Alida nurtures her, too. Hansel and Gretel make escape one witch only to encounter another, but Gretel finds the strength to save both her brother and herself, even if it means burning down the candy cottage. Under the direction of Susan Sargeant: Dunnam and DuBord exquisitely manifest this raw, human, achingly melancholy drama of the lyricism of need, brokenness and compassion. Haley certainly doesn’t knock us over the head with her echoes of the dynamic between the cunning, isolated sorceress and the terrified, yet resourceful little girl. It comes closer to a kind of diptych. Breadcrumbs is a marvelously intelligent and vastly moving journey.

WingSpan Theatre Company presents Breadcrumbs, playing October 6th-22nd, 2016. Bath House Cultural Center, 521 East Lawther Drive, Dallas, Texas 75218. 214-675-6573. www.wingspantheatre.com

The Wedding Singer a stage musical (based on the movie) by Matt Sklar, Tim Herlihy and Chad Beguelin is a goofy, satirical romp celebrating cheesy American pop culture of the 1980’s. Tim Herlihy, as a matter of fact, wrote the screenplay for the film. Robbie Hart is a congenial, good-hearted singer/songwriter and musician who leads a three man band that plays many small events, including bar mitzvahs, birthdays, anniversaries and (you guessed it) weddings. Robbie is still waiting for his ship to come in, but his delayed success has not made him bitter. The beginning of The Wedding Singer finds him serenading the happy couple, the night before his own wedding to Linda. Julia Sullivan is a waitress at the club that books so many of Robbie’s gigs. Julia is sweet, genuinely caring, and perhaps has a little more on the ball than Robbie. As you might expect, Robbie and Julia are both promised to the wrong people, but don’t worry. It will all come out in the wash.

Inspired by the music of the 80’s, but with an original score, The Wedding Singer is filled with happy surprises. I’m not a huge fan of Adam Sandler (Robbie of the film) but there’s a kind of unvarnished, unapologetic cynicism behind much of the humor, that curiously enough, seems to energize the show. It walks the razors edge of schmaltz, then smacks you off your pins with a nice big dose of misanthropy. Not that Wedding Singer is especially more jaundiced than any other musical satire, say like Avenue Q or A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Sklar, Herlihy, and Beguelin (and/or Bruce Coleman) have taken great pains to cultivate that classy 1980’s milieu, from hair-don’ts and Rubik’s Cubes to Mr. T and the snarling Billy Idol. We’re invited to laugh in the same way we’d view our high school graduation pictures and cringe. Most rewarding I think, is the insistence that there’s more to life than being the coolest guy in the room.

Special props must go to Costume Design by Bruce Coleman and Scenic Design by David Walsh, who have created vivid, jazzy, evocative threads and sets, all the better to set the party throbbing. This cast must be living on a diet of V8 and Red Bull. Poised, resourceful director Bruce Coleman has them hoppin and bobbin and jumping through hoops that should qualify the lot for Cirque D’ Soleil. Numerous and nimble costume and scenery changes are demanded by actors and crew and we never once see any of them miss their marks. Throw taste and caution to the wings and enjoy a daffy, giggly night with The Wedding Singer.

Theatre 3 presents The Wedding Singer, playing September 22nd -October 16th, 2016. 2800 Routh Street, Suite 168, Dallas, Texas 75201. 214-871-3300. www.theatre3dallas.com

One of the hazards of dramatizing the life of Joseph Merrick (in The Elephant Man) is doing justice to his predicament without stumbling into bathos. In 1977, Bernard Pomerance achieved just that. Though intelligent, spiritually avid and articulate, Merrick was burdened with a profoundly disfiguring (and disabling) disease that brought out the worst in others. Far worse than the symptoms of Merrick’s pathology was the abuse heaped upon him; whether he was being put on display as a freak of nature, or beaten by strangers overcome with revulsion. Fortunately for Merrick, he is discovered by Dr. Frederick Treves, who temporarily rescues him for the sake of medical exploration. While Treves is certainly not indifferent to Merrick’s suffering, it is only after Carr Gomm’s (his superior) intervention that he offers Merrick permanent refuge from a life filled with pain and degradation.

Pomerance is positively ingenious in his strategy to avoid pity or exploiting a premise already loaded with excruciation. Merrick has a positively dry, wry wit, that permits him to challenge the best intentions of his benefactors, without seeming ungrateful or petulant. None of the characters seem beatific or lofty, which somehow makes Merrick’s groping for answers and unvarnished humanity all the more touching. Sometimes he seems more like a precocious boy or visitor from Neptune. Treves never comes off as saint or savior, which makes his friendship with Merrick palpable and completely believable. His love for Merrick is utterly convincing because he never once uses the word. Pomerance has composed dialogue that amounts to understated lyricism, a kind of plain, sly poetry that cuts right into you.

L.I.P. Service’s production of The Elephant Man features outstanding performances by Jason Leyva (Joseph Merrick) Pat Watson (Frederick Treves) and Sara Lovett (Mrs. Kendall). One can only imagine the stress of taking on such an emotional drama, though Pomerance provides casual levity to alleviate the dark and sorrowful shadows lurking in the content. It must be very difficult to navigate this narrative with authenticity and clarity while striking the perfect tone. Merrick’s tumultuous struggles were often positively wrenching, so tone here is crucial. Clearly director Shawn Gann was striving to capture this elusive, delicate sparrow, and the results are quite effective and memorable.

L.I.P. Service Productions presents The Elephant Man, playing September 29th -October 15th, 2016. The Firehouse Theatre, 2535 Valley View Lane, Farmer’s Branch, Texas 75234. 817-689-6461. www.lipserviceproductions.info

Inspiring. Enraging. Heartbreaking. Exhilarating. Cara Mia’s current show: Crystal City 1969 will catch you off-guard. I confess that I was unfamiliar with this incident in Crystal City, Texas (unlike Stonewall, Ferguson, Little Rock) where high school students protested blatant, brazen, unconscionable discrimination from teachers and administrators alike. Not that Texas has ever led the way when it came to issues like civil rights, but even for a school operating in the Bible Belt, in 1969, the transgressions of those in authority were particularly egregious. Students were paddled for speaking Spanish, refused equal participation in school activities (though they outnumbered Anglos) shamed, humiliated and verbally abused in the classroom by teachers, punished for protesting or even signing petitions. Some young men were even sent to the front lines of the Vietnam War, made cannon fodder for the sheer audacity of objecting to unfair treatment.

Somewhat similar to The Laramie Project, Crystal City 1969, shows a myriad of characters and situations. The toxic effect of diminishing and degrading ethnicities and races perceived as “the other,” by those in power. We are privy to the home lives of the students, parents, Latinos, Anglos, no one is demonized or canonized. If anything the commonplace occurrence of unchallenged racism and imperialism is made palpable. None of the white people are made to look like The Grand Dragon or Simon Legree, but the gratuitous hostility, the remarks like, “I thought you were one of the good ones,” illustrate the disgusting way a culture indoctrinates its members to seek comfort and validation by subjugating others. Again and again we see individuals ignored, knocked down or eliminated lest they begin to act on their self-esteem. Even the most reasonable requests for decent humanity is met with arrogance and abuse.

Whenever a play seeks to examine the nature of prejudice, civil rights, the countless ways human beings find to justify beating and lynching and exterminating one another (In White America, Bent, The Diary of Anne Frank) the risk is stacking the deck, on one side or the other. Jason might have treated Medea like drek, but he still gets to tell his side of the story. Playwrights David Lozano and Raul Trevino have avoided this entirely. Crystal City 1969 is not distorted or amplified. It tells the story of Latinos in a small, provincial Texas town, where bigotry is so ingrained in Anglo behavior, that it must be fought, without stooping to their level. Cara Mia Theatre and this wonderful cast (and adroit director David Lozano) have crafted a deeply moving, powerful, stirring narrative of the triumph of humanity and spiritual abundance when we genuinely care for and look out for one another. I think Jesus said something like that, didn’t He?

Cara Mia Theatre presents Crystal City 1969, playing September 24th – October 16th, 2016. Latino Cultural Center. 2600 Live Oak Street, Dallas, Texas 75204. 214-516-0706. CaraMiaTheatre.org.

Undermain Theatre has an uncanny knack for producing plays that combine the surreal with the actual, the fantastic with the everyday. Strangeness freely mingles with the ordinary. In the first part of the trilogy, So Go the Ghosts of Mexico, by Matthew Paul Olmos, the heroine takes on the job of Police Chief, when the previous one is murdered, and no one else interested. Young, pretty, married and pregnant, she is done with the terror, corruption and violence that poisons the life of she, her husband and community. Her husband, is, of course, aghast. He wastes no opportunities to make her feel guilty, despite her exceptional heroism and valor. He just wants a wife content with raising their children and keeping out of harm’s way.

Based on a true story, A Brave Woman in Mexico, uses the components of theatre to explain how one woman is able to turn a situation that is beyond hopeless. And she does so without firearms, killing, or strong-arm tactics. The drug dealers and thugs are gobsmacked and utterly incredulous. They think she’s insane. And so do we. Yes, this woman is, in her own way, extraordinary. But it’s not as if she’s impervious to violence or mayhem. Maybe she’s far more extraordinary than she seems. It’s as if she’s somehow tapped into a transcendent power facilitated by utter faith in what’s right. Almost a secular saint. Coming from her worldview, she’s really just being practical. She doesn’t believe the answer to taking lives is to take more. Her female gender (or so Olmos would suggest) removes her from the folly of the endless pissing contest.

Then there’s the aspect of the supernatural. Perhaps more probable in a culture that believes the dead move freely (if invisibly) among the living. Where two days each November they are celebrated with altars and feasts. Olmos takes deliberate steps to make the miraculous (if not celestial) palpable and comprehensible within the realms of verisimilitude. The brave woman (as she is identified in the program) doesn’t understand how her radio channels with no apparent source of energy, but she utilizes it. When the grisly ghost of the former police chief helps with her struggle, she’s not exactly disaffected, but she goes with it. Er, him. Without revealing more details, Olmos embraces the possibility that phenomenal strength of character and refusal to back down, can transform a world drowning in drek. He does so without blinking or taking refuge in irony. The Undermain is like a temple for the weary and cynical, and this is a splendid, sophisticated, subtly persuasive show.

Undermain Theatre presents: So Go the Ghosts of Mexico : Part One : A Brave Woman in Mexico, playing September 14^th-October 8^th, 2016. 3200 Main Street, Dallas, Texas 75226. 214-747-1424. www.undermain.org

Myron Siegel is a lovable nebbish with a lot of heart. Despite his best efforts to produce a successful Broadway hit, lapses in judgment and cruel fate seem to conspire against him. His new show is about to open, a lot of money is on the line, and his arch-nemesis, Carl Dennam, is about to unveil a “Mystery Attraction,” guaranteed to fill the seats every night, and rob Myron of his desperately needed audience. His mother Sally is constantly deprecating him, comparing him to his father, who also lacked business acumen, and his niece, Daisy, is in town. Daisy is a small-town teenager, and the glamorous temptations of New York City in 1933, have caught her with their powerful spell. His wife Bertrille is actually….well, let’s just say she’s up to no good, and leave it at that.

Jack Neary’s Kong’s Night Out, a kind of homage to the screwball comedies of the 30’s and 40’s (such as Bringing Up Baby and My Man Godfrey) is chock full of wisecracks, shtick, banter and a healthy appreciation for the ridiculous. Warmth is mixed with cynicism, pratfalls with absurd conversations. One of the advantages of a 30’s comedy written in the 21^st century, is Neary’s opportunities to sneak in suggestive gags: Bertrille: When are you going to untie me? Carl: Why? I thought you liked to be tied up. Kong’s Night Out is a supremely pleasurable experience, well-balanced between narrative and mirth. Neary doesn’t need to barrage us with an endless stream of jokes. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, the frantic, “let’s throw in everything” approach doesn’t help with enjoyment, it’s like being stuck in the twilight zone with a comic who is constantly “on”.

Kong’s Night Out has a giddy, goofy appeal to it, with a cracker-jack cast. Cindy Kahn (as Sally, the Grandma) has a fabulous, raspy voice that could wither a garden of artificial flowers. Danielle Shirar (Daisy)with her marvelous, sunshiny grin, could be the next Zasu Pitts. Her optimism could clear off a merciless thunderstorm. John Hogwood’s Carl Dennam has a line of patter straight out of Phillip Barry or Dashiell Hammett, and keep you smiling all the way home from the theater. There’s a special technique to the back and forth of sharp-witted, rapid dialogue, and while some lines definitely had more of that distinctive pop, all-in-all, Kong’s Night Out was a sublime experience.

Rover Dramawerks presents: Kong’s Night Out, playing September 8^th– October 1^st, 2016. 221 West Parker Road, Suite 580, Plano Texas 75023. 972-849-0358. www.roverdramawerks.com

I’ve never cared for terms like “bittersweet” or “dramedy” as they obsess with labels, when literature resists such facile categories. Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa is a quietly electrifying, intensely moving memory piece (in some ways like The Glass Menagerie) in which Michael, illegitimate son of Christie Mundy, remembers when his family was in the usual upheaval, just before everything went completely sideways. Michael is the narrator, and in retrospect realizes that for all the brouhaha, the five Mundy sisters had each other, Michael, and the daft Uncle Jack, a missionary priest back from Africa.

Dancing at Lughnasa begins when Michael sets the story in motion, sometimes speaking as the seven-year-old boy, more or less oblivious to the deeper issues affecting the adults. His kites are decorated (perhaps unwittingly) with pagan gods. Indeed, eldest sister Kate, a devout Catholic in a Catholic household fights a persistent battle against (what she perceives as) the encroaching influence of paganism and idolatry. While she is vigilant and impassioned, she is not exactly a tyrant. She barely notices the kites, but forbids her sisters from attending the Lughnasa Festival, most likely because of its pantheistic underpinnings. When Uncle Jack returns from his mission in Africa, and begins to reveal his fascination and appreciation for those vivid, elemental religious practices, Kate’s worst nightmare takes shape. It’s hilarious, but we still understand her concern.

So much genius in Friel’s play. Dancing at Lughnasa mocks easy answers to the quandaries that plague the Mundy Sisters, while making us ache for them. Because we hate to see these vigorous, vibrant women hurting. Friel never leads us by the nose, he’s too subtle for that. But the celebratory nature beneath the travails and mischief, that we see so gloriously expressed in the title event (if only in the Mundy kitchen) leaks and brims and gets beneath our skin. The friction between sober devotion and pagan life-affirmation fuels this exquisitely realized, truly miraculous story of familial grace. Please understand. After years of seeing theatre, I know how difficult it is to capture authentic, overwhelming emotion in a way that actually reaches the audience. And stays with them. Directors Miki Bone and Frank Latson, and this inspired, precise, utterly involved cast have managed to do just that. Tears and mirth and implacable humanity. Do not miss this marvelous opportunity.

Contemporary Theatre of Dallas presents Dancing at Lughnasa, playing September 9^{th –} October 2^nd, 2016. 5601 Sears Street, Dallas, TX 75206. (214) 828-0094. www.contemporarytheatreofdallas.com

Sir Henry and Lady Angkatell are hosting guests for the weekend. Relatives and friends will be staying over to schmooze, dine and gossip. Not surprisingly, most (if not all) of them have overlapping pasts. While he perpetually snarls and barks at his wife Gerda, Dr. Cristow is having an affair with Henrietta and still carries a torch for screen actress, Verona Craye, his ex-fiancee. When Cristow is shot dead, Detective Penny and Inspector Colquhoun have their pick of viable suspects.

More often than not, playwright and novelist Agatha Christie rises above the obvious choice of killing the least popular character. But then, she practically invented the dinner party/murder genre, so she’s probably entitled. Not surprisingly, there are numerous red herrings, stolen kisses, tawdry trysts…to keep the intrigue level high and the audience absorbed. While Christie’s dialogue in The Hollow may sometimes feel less genuine than rhetorical, her undeniable gift for creating vivid, fully realized characters is what sets her writing so high above the endlessly pedestrian copycats that have been pilfering her successful archetype for years. They may create a variety of types, but rarely move beyond cursory gestures or demeanor.

Lady Angkatell (played by Cindy Beall) is undoubtedly the most entertaining character in this narrative. She casually makes the most outrageous observations, but somehow her charisma redeems the frank remarks no one else could get away with. If she said your new blazer was perfectly ghastly, you’d laugh right along with her. And she’s so absent-minded, when she tells the Inspector she can’t remember where she was at the time of the murder, he can’t believe she’s dodgy. Then there’s Midge, who refuses to coast on the family fortune, even though it means the degrading lot of working in retail. Henrietta is a sculptor who uses her talent to disclose unspoken truths about those closest to her. Christie paints an elaborate mural. Every detail doesn’t advance the murder plot. Her characters are not mere pegs on a game board or caricatures to be ticked off a list.

Theatre Britain always offers the audience a multitude of pleasures, from the precise British dialects, accurate sets and lavish gowns, to the splendid revelations of English culture and class protocol. [Wouldn’t I love to see them do Pinter?] The Hollow is certainly up to their usually impressive standards and a delightful excursion into shadow and mayhem.

Theatre Britain presents The Hollow, playing September 2^nd-25th, 2016. Cox Playhouse: 1517 H Avenue, Plano, Texas 75074. 972-490-4202. www.theatre-britain.com