Review of The Baker's Wife

ICCT - Let’s get this out of the way, right away: I have never liked The Baker’s Wife. That’s not so much an indictment of Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein’s musical as it is a disclosure of my personal affinities, but I was also never a fan of The Great Gatsby or Catcher in the Rye either, so feel free to take my cultural insusceptibilities with a grain of salt. In truth, I recognize how much charming material there is for an audience to enjoy in this show, and I can see why it continues to be remounted in playhouses all across our great globe; there’s just something about the plot in general (and the female protagonist specifically) that always invokes stifled screams from my oft-dormant, ball-gagged Protestant sensibilities. That being said, I knew walking into the theatre that my review was not going to be about the book and lyrics, it was going to be about the performance.

And what a performance it was.

I don’t say this often, but everyone — literally everyone — who appears onstage in this piece does themselves (and ICCT) proud. From Denise’s (Theresa Wagner) opening song and disaffected verbal pugilism with her husband Claude (Bryan Lawler) to the prurient escapades of the Marquis (Al Kittrell) and his three very young, very attractive “nieces” (Angelique VanDorpe, Claire Barnhart, and Britteny Swensen) to the overbearing ideologues of educator (Scott Riley) and priest (Chuck Dufano), every single player plays their part admirably.

Kenneth Van Egdon delivers a powerful performance as the show’s main character, baker Aimable Castagnet. Van Egdon skillfully evinces a full gamut of emotions and is believably manic, rueful, enraged, resentful, and forgiving—and that’s just in the second act! Local ruby-throated warbler Rachel Brown plays his titular wife, the jezebel Geneviève. Ms. Brown warrants triple credit for (1) a portrayal that remains tolerable even when her character’s actions do not, (2) a truly fantastic vocal projection, and (3) not cracking up whilst singing the deliriously campy lyrics of her solo, Meadowlark.

The show’s non-thespian support was also capably apposite. Jeff Shields deserves recognition for costuming decisions that help delicately define TBW’s cast of characters before any of their words are given voice. Rich Riggleman’s stage design is, as usual, efficient and remarkably easy on the eyes. The always energetic, creative, and incorrigible Mark McCusker does the expected good job with choreography, particularly in the cast-spanning numbers of Bread and The World’s Luckiest Man. Ed Kottick and Ben Bentler do an excellent job of conducting the live musical accompaniment, to which I give dual gratitude to for being both visually and aurally unobtrusive throughout the entirety of the show despite their continuous on stage presence.

The Baker’s Wife is the third Josh Sazon-directed show I’ve reviewed for this blog. I have gushed twice before, and I will do so again. Mr. Sazon often gives a timidly humble audience address before his shows, thanking a wide array of people and groups, and while he no doubt appreciates credit for his hard work, he always seems equally happy to deflect it to those less often recognized — an admirable quality. Still, my inner scientist can now officially state, placing faith in a small-but-representative sample size, the following hypothesis: Josh Sazon is Da Man. Hear me now, Blogosphere, if you are in the greater Iowa City/Coralville area and have a chance to try out for a Sazon-helmed anything, take it. If past results are at all indicative of future performance, you will be in a quality show, and you will not regret the experience.

As I stated at the top of this piece, I have never liked The Baker’s Wife as a show. This production? Yes. The musical on its own? Not so much. But to each his own.

To wit, on opening night, exactly two rows ahead and four seats to the right of me, sat a young boy of perhaps eight years. He could not withdraw his gaze from the stage, he impatiently waited for intermission to conclude, and he eagerly praised the receiving line with a gleefully puerile vocabulary consisting of ‘really good’ and ‘really awesome’. In my book, any production able to introduce a child to the wonderful world of musical theatre and keep him excited about all the way back to the car is a qualified success.

--Andrew R. Juhl

Andrew R. Juhl is an area author and director. He has previously worked with the City Circle Acting Company of Coralville and Rage Theatrics.

Dear Ann Landers...

ITAC - The Lady with All the Answers by David Rambo opened last weekend at the newest theatre in the area - the Iowa Theatre Artists Company in Amama. For decades, renowned advice columnist Ann Landers answered countless letters from lovelorn teens, confused couples and a multitude of others in need of advice. No topic was off-limits, including nude housekeeping, sex in a motorcycle helmet, the proper way to hang toilet paper, sibling rivalries, addiction, religion and wandering spouses. Late on a 1975 night in Landers' Chicago apartment, an ironic twist of events confronts her with a looming deadline for a column dealing with a new kind of heartbreak: her own. As she shares her struggles to complete the column with us, we learn as much about ourselves as we do about the wise, funny, no-nonsense woman whose daily dialogue with America helped shape the social and sexual landscapes of the last half-century. The L.A. Times called it "…folksy, funny, straightforward and validating…” Meg Merckens brings this …”wise, funny, no-nonsense woman” to life in this season opener. For more information, go here.

Bakers Wife opens tomorrow

ICCT - The bickering residents of a small Provencal town at last find peace and contentment in the heavenly bread of the newly arrived baker and his attractive young wife. But when she is lured away by the attentions of a handsome young gigolo, the middle-aged baker loses all zest for life and baking, throwing the community into chaos. An old world charm permeates every moment of this bittersweet, wise and gently offbeat fable of life, love and bread by Joseph Stein (Fiddler On The Roof) and Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin). Based on a film by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono, The Baker’s Wife stirs with the quiet sophistication of the European cinema. Schwartz is at his romantic best in this rich, melodic, French inflected score containing ballads of breathtaking beauty and spirited comic numbers.

ICCT's version stars Ken Van Egdon as the Baker. You may remember him The Foreigner, where he played Froggy. Other actors include: Claire Barnhart, TJ Besler, Rachel Brown, Kevin Burford, Alicia Cady, Anamaria dela Cruz, Kait Davids, Chuck Dufano, Al Kittrell, Bryan Lawler, Jeff Mead, Deone Pedersen, Scott Riley, Brittney Swensen, Angelique Van Dorpe, Jill Van Dorpe, Rex Van Dorpe, Teresa Wagner and Dylan Wheeler. The show is directed by Josh Sazon, who has directed many shows for ICCT, Dreamwell and City Circle.

For more information, go here.

Always…Patsy Cline

Old Creamery - One of the Old Creamery’s biggest hits, it has been five years since Always…Patsy Cline delighted Old Creamery patrons. Molly Hammer and Marquetta Senters will reprise their roles as Patsy and Louise once more with songs like “Crazy,” “Sweet Dreams,” and “Walkin’ After Midnight.” Always…Patsy Cline promises an afternoon or evening of great entertainment.

The show is rated Theatre PG. Single ticket prices runs $17.50 to $26.50. Show times are 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Tickets can be purchased by calling The Old Creamery box office at 1-800-35-AMANA, or by visiting the website. Always…Patsy Cline is sponsored by Marengo Memorial Hospital with 1450 KMRY as its media sponsor.

A Review of Rabbit Hole

City Circle - I have never had such a difficult time writing a review. I believe that theatre serves an important purpose that we don't talk about very much. Just as physical exercise strengthens our muscles and intellectual exercise strengthens our minds, emotional exercise strengthens our spirits. That's what theatre at its best is: emotional exercise. It's an opportunity for us to laugh, to cry, to anger, and through those feelings, regenerate our spirits. This is why people enjoy tearjerkers... or why a good cry really does make you feel better. Exercising our emotions is key to one's humanity. City Circle's production of Rabbit Hole is certainly exercise for the emotions. And for the first time in watching theatre, I was beginning to feel as if my emotions didn't need to be exercised quite that much. The plays tells the story of how two parents, Becca and Howie, deal with the accidental death of their four-year-old son. Yes, you will cry. If you're a parent, you may try to imagine how you would feel if your child were taken from you in horrible accident. And even imagining that hurts. I admit I left the theater wondering if this play is really... necessary. Questioning why we need to feel these particular painful emotions. Perhaps it was that the subject matter comes too close to home; I have three young daughters. Despite all of that, I realize that I have a responsibility as a reviewer to offer you a review of the show. So here goes.

One of the enjoyable parts of living in a smaller community is that we get to see the same performers taking on vastly different roles. Two months ago, I saw both Jeremy Ping and Jana Stedman playing very different characters in ICCT's production of Bus Stop. Stedman has amazingly shifted from the naive girl in Bus Stop to the emotionally crippled mother in Rabbit Hole. She deftly uses her ramrod straight posture and methodical actions as an attempt to hide the pain Becca feels from losing her son. The acting is so believable, it's painful for the audience. You will desperately want to reach out to her and comfort her. Or at least you want her to reach out to her sister, her husband, anyone... but she does not.

Ping is equally good as Howie. His reactions are more emotional, more desperate. The scene where Howie explodes over the loss of a videotape of his son is simply a tour de force of emotion by Ping. The differences in the way in which each character deals with the loss of their son pits Howie and Becca against each other at a time when they should be comforting each other. As anyone who has gone through the loss of a child knows, it is not at all uncommon for a married couple to splinter apart in the wake of such a tragedy. I won't spoil whether they find their way back together, but I will say that the ending is fitting and very true to life.

Supporting character include Becca's ne'er do well sister, Izzy, played by Kerry Kieler; Becca's overbearing mother, Nat, played by Connie Stannard; and a teenage boy, Jason, played by Nick Ostrem. Kieler's character is familiar to those who know David Lindsay-Abaire's other plays as he likes to throw in the crazy relative as a contrast to the seemingly normal main characters. Kieler embraces the role completely, using vocal tone and facial expressions to bring to life this black sheep of the family. Her slouching posture as well as the choice to sit on tables or other furniture provides a wonderful contrast to her sister's very put together demeanor. Kudos go to Josh Beadle for directing the actors to provide such perfect contrasts in their portrayals. Stannard is excellent considering she has to play a rather unlikable character. Ostrem is perfectly believable as the boy who accidentally killed Becca's son.

The set is very effective and realistic. The constant presence of the deceased son's empty bed reminds us of the pain the household is experiencing. Unfortunately, when I saw the show, they were having technical difficulties so the only lighting we had was house lights up and house lights down. Special kudos have to go to the actors who gave such true performances under such difficult circumstances.

So is Rabbit Hole worth seeing? The performances and the direction were excellent, so from that perspective, the answer is surely "Yes". I suppose one could argue that the fact that it had such a dramatic effect on me means it has done what theatre is supposed to do - exercise our emotions. I am truly torn over whether our emotions can have too much exercise. You'll have to decide that for yourself. I will tell you that when I got home that night, I kissed my sleeping girls' foreheads and thanked God that they were all okay.

If you are seeing the show this weekend, check out the change to performance venue.

--Matthew Falduto

Matthew has a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Iowa. He has directed, acted in, and produced theater in the Iowa City area for over ten years. He has worked with the Iowa City Community Theatre, City Circle and Dreamwell, of which he is a founder. Two of his plays have been produced in the Iowa City area. In another brief life, he also worked as a technical writer.

Change in Venue for City Circle's Rep Fest

City Circle - If you are planning to check out the Circle's Edge Repertory Festival this weekend, you need to know that the location has changed. Apparently, the Fire Marshall and Building Inspector for the City of Coralville informed the people that rented City Circle the space in the Iowa Realty and Wells Fargo Building that renting the space for a theatre peformance was a violation of code. Consequently, City Circle has had to find alternate venues for the the final weekend.

I am sure no one reading this will be surprised to learn that we are a theatre community that pulls together when faced with adversity. Thanks to individuals who wholeheartedly believe the shows must go on, we can announce that on Thursday, April 16 and Friday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m., Rabbit Hole will be performed in the former That's Rentertainment space at 411 2nd Street on the Coralville Strip, which most recently housed the Johnson County Republicans and is located directly across the street from Mondo's Sports Café.

On Saturday, April 18, Sarah Shattered (4:30 p.m.) and Picasso at the Lapine Agile (7:30 p.m.) and will be performed at Theatre B in The University of Iowa Theatre Building.

On Sunday, April 19, Picasso at the Lapin Agile (2 p.m.) will also be performed at Theatre B.

As a result of the move, the reading of Sarah Shattered on Sunday, April 19, 4:30 p.m. has been canceled. Otherwise, all show times will be presented as previously announced.

A review of Picasso is here. A review of Rabbit Hole is coming soon.

A Review of Tales of Two Cities

SPT Theatre - SPT's production of Tales of Two Cities is a very entertaining evening of all around duality.

It's an interesting premise: Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, two cities separated by some 20 miles of heartland and connected by back roads, highways, rivers, and train tracks, are vastly different creatures. I don't know if that rings true to an outsider or to a newcomer. But it rings true - it is true - for those of us born in the area and those of you who've lived here more than a couple of years. And while you could say the same thing about any two close but separated cities, it seems particularly pronounced to me with Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

The temptation when reviewing a production that consists of a series of mostly-unrelated vignettes is to want to review each piece separately. That's in large part because of a vast-difference in the quality of the individual pieces. That's not the case here.

The writing was mostly sharp and on the rare occasions it wasn't the performances lifted the material. All of the actors brought a wonderful energy to the works, not just when they were the focus of the action, but also when they were just in the background. I can almost see one wanting to see two performances, one to watch the actors in the focus of a scene and one to watch what the performers in the background were doing.

A couple of quibbles, however. The first act is much more cohesive than the second act. The second act mostly abandons the notion of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City as distinct but related entities in favor of comedy that becomes broader and broader, though no less entertaining, as the night goes on.

Further, the comedy itself got to be a little too much. The 'Corridors of Justice' superhero sketch, which was spread over four separate pieces, eventually became just four iterations of the same joke that had been stretched pretty thin by the time we had seen the second iteration. It was obvious by the time Dubuque and West Liberty had been miraculously annexed into the Corridor that the writers were looking more for a structure on which to hang jokes than a vehicle to actually say something. The pieces were still performed extremely well, but as the evening progressed, I found myself wanting something with a little bit more meat on its bones.

I got it with the last written piece of the production, Jason Alberty's "Cities in the Superlative', a first person monologue about what the area means to him. The work had an emotional heft and strength that the other pieces lacked, and I found myself wishing we would have been given four monologues spaced throughout the production instead of four versions of the same superhero sketch.

So much for the written pieces. What about the music? Well, I think SPT should have either skipped the musical numbers, greatly reduced the number of musical numbers, or given more thought to which musical numbers to include.

This is not to say the musical numbers were bad. With a couple of exceptions, the songs were very well done, both vocally and instrumentally, with strong singing and a great band. This may have been the first time I actually liked Istanbul (Not Constantinople). Rather, it's to say that the songs did not add anything to the theme of the evening. I gave up trying to figure out how the songs related either to the piece they followed or the piece they proceeded.

The songs in the first act were at least centered on songs where the idea of cities or at least the word city played a prominent role, presumably because of a lack of songs featuring the words 'cedar' or 'rapids'. The songs in the second act didn't even have that saving grace, which added to the feeling that the second act wasn't as cohesive. Because the songs aren't adding to or elaborating on the theme, they begin to end up detracting from it.

This is nowhere as evident as in the closing song, 'Long Way Home'. The vocalists didn't mesh and there were some ill-advised stretches for high notes. This alone might not have been so bad if the song hadn't just followed the best written piece of the night. Ultimately, the song lessened the emotional impact of the written piece.

But I don't want to give anyone the wrong idea here; though I would have liked to see SPT explore the theme a little more fully and a little more seriously, I thoroughly enjoyed this production. When I'm reviewing, I hardly ever find myself so caught up in a work that I quit thinking about what I'm seeing and start reacting to the performances in front of me. Yet I found myself in that position, as audience member and not as critic, repeatedly during the performance. I would strongly urge anyone to go see Tales of Two Cities; I may even catch it a second time when it comes to Iowa City on April 24th.

--David Pierce

David Pierce is a four-time past president of the Iowa City Community Theatre. He has acted, sung, directed, and worked backstage for far too many local productions to mention. He is a writer both by trade and inclination, with law and journalism as an educational background.

Rent Auditions in May

City Circle - This summer, City Circle Acting Company of Coralville, will be the first local theatre to produce the school edition of the ground-breaking musical, Rent. Auditions are Saturday May 16th and Sunday May 17 at 2:00 pm at Community of Christ Church, 121 S. Ridge in Coralville. Show Dates are July 24 - 26, 2009. Any currently enrolled Senior or Junior High student is invited to audition. Those graduating this year are also welcome. Please bring a short song to sing and be dressed to move. There will also be some reading of material which they will provide.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and seen across the country and around the world, RENT is truly a phenomenon. In this specially-constructed version for Secondary School Students, the themes of love, identity, compassion, and the consequences of choices come to thrilling, moving life on our stage.

Parents and students interested in reading this version of the script may contact Chris Okiishi to check out a copy.

Rabbit Hole premieres this weekend

City Circle - Circle’s Edge Repertory Festival features a hand-picked selection of bold, fresh, and engaging material. Last weekend, Picasso at the Lapine Agile opened to critical acclaim. This weekend, City Circle offers Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire and winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is a story of a family that endures a life-shattering accident that turns their world upside down. The play focuses on Becca and Howie, a couple who attempts to cope with the death of their four-year old child in an auto accident and the ensuing complications impacting the family.

This powerfully moving drama charts their bittersweet search for comfort in the darkest of places and for a path that will lead them back into the light of day. This play is an intensely emotional examination of grief, laced with wit, insightfulness, and compassion.

Rabbit Hole is directed by Joshua Beadle and will be presented Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, April 12 at 2 p.m., and Thursday and Friday, April 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m.

The third selection is Sarah Shattered, a new play by UI Department of Theatre Arts faculty member John Cameron, a factual and fantastical travel through the life of the author's mother, mixing humor and pathos as only he can.

A staged reading of Sarah Shattered will be presented on Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19 at 4:30 p.m.

Cast lists for each production will soon be available on the City Circle website.

A special discount ticket package for all three productions is $18 for adults and $15 for youth, students, and seniors.

Tickets for each of Rabbit Hole and Picasso at the Lapin Agile are $12 for adults and $10 for youth, students, and seniors. Any ticket to either show includes admission to the staged reading of Sarah Shattered. If purchased alone, Sarah Shattered tickets are $2 each.

Tickets are available at the Coralville Recreation Center, J. Frahm Music, or by calling 248-1750.
For more information, visit the City Circle website.

Check back next week for a review of the show.

Old Creamery Offers Theatre for Kids

Old Creamery - Just in time for spring, The Old Creamery Theatre Company’s Theatre for Young Audiences, will bring The Tale of Peter Rabbit to its Main Stage in Amana, Saturday, April 11 at 1 p.m. Join Peter as he tries to escape from Mr. McGregor in this classic tale, turned musical.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, book by Gene Mackey, is based on the story by Beatrix Potter, with music and lyrics by Rita Lovett. Directed by Sean McCall, the cast includes: Deborah Kennedy of East Amana as Mother Rabbit; Nancy Mayfield of Iowa City as Flopsy; Jackie McCall of Marengo as Mopsy; Cassi Schiano of Iowa City as Cottontail; Nicholas Hodge of Marion as Peter; and Sean McCall of Marengo as Mr. McGregor. Show dates are Saturday, April 11, 18, 25 and May 2 at 1 p.m. Cost is $7 per person.

Other upcoming children’s events on the Main Stage are: The Riddle of Rumpelstiltskin, Sept. 26, Oct. 3 and 10; Spooky Tales, Oct. 24 and 31; A Partridge in a Pear Tree, December 5, 12 and 19 at 11 a.m.

For more information go here or to reserve tickets, call the box office at 1-800-35AMANA.

Reviewing Medusa

Riverside - When I review a show, I’m always interested in what I overhear between the acts and around the margins. I’m not eavesdropping on who had what for dinner beforehand. I want to know: What does the audience think of the show? Perhaps this curiosity arises from a lack of self-confidence in my own opinions, but I prefer to attribute it to a sense of the larger duty of the reviewer. I like to ask: What was this experience like—not just for me, but for the community of people who formed the audience the night I saw the show? And what will you, dear reader, be likely to see, feel and think if you come see what I saw?

Watching Raising Medusa by Barbara Lau at Riverside Theatre was striking in terms of audience reaction. The play centers on a mother-daughter relationship fraught with all the tension that adolescence introduces into the parent-child bond: a young woman tearing towards independence, an adult clinging to the image of a child who no longer exists, emotional fights about everything from shampoo brands to taste in friends. It is impossible to watch the show and avoid comparisons with one’s own life. “Every scene! Every scene something has happened between me and you,” a young woman exclaimed to her mother at intermission, just as the older woman sitting next to me leaned over and smiled. “At least my four daughters were easy,” she said with certain satisfaction. At the same time, I found myself recalling the fights and deceptions and general unrest I went through with my own mother when I was a teenager testing the (then very unsatisfying) boundaries of my independence. In short, the show strikes a chord and does a complicated balancing act in constructing the emotional needs of both the mother and daughter. One of the beauties of this story is that both points of view (the clinging to what was on the part of the mother and the stabbing for what could be on the part of the daughter) are developed with care and compassion. We sympathize with the mother; we understand the daughter. We see ourselves in each of them.

Behind the brilliance of the story shines the unique form in which it is relayed; it is a blend of poetry, scene, and even features a three-person Greek chorus whose members alternately comment on the action, crack jokes, serve as muses for the mother’s character (who is a writer), burst into little songs, and inhabit other characters as driven by the narrative. The seeming pastiche also garnered comments from my fellow audience members, who wondered out loud “how they were gonna weave this play together.” It is woven seamlessly, passing between beautiful poem and scene with lyrical ease and grace. Since the mother’s character is a writer, her journal (a ubiquitous presence on the stage and a character in itself) serves as a narrative device to prompt many of the poems’ insertions into the narrative. The chorus members alternately prompt the mother to read old poems which reveal something about the history of her relationship with her daughter, and to write “into the void”—to craft new meaning out of the uncomfortable struggle that characterizes her current relationship—so that we see, also, poems being created before us. The mother tells a story about burying the neighbor girl’s hamster, and how she realized she also had experienced a loss, a death; her little girl was never returning. “Come back, come back, my songbird, my jester, my cartwheel cross the floor for whom no ceremony of grief exists,” the mother laments in her striking poet’s voice that is at once witty, richly imagistic, earthy and wise.

Embodying the spirit of the mother’s character with grace equal to the language of the script is Nancy Youngblut, whose performance anchors the show. Youngblut does a superb job of portraying the sometimes crippling intensity of a mother’s love with sincerity and conviction. There is a delicate balance between hysteria and emotionality to be found in many of the scenes. In other hands, I could envision this character grating a bit — because there are a lot of fights and a lot of storming off the stage by the mother and the daughter — but Youngblut finds the emotional textures and contours that Lau has created in her script and creates peaks and valleys that we want to traverse with her. When she’s yelling, we’d be yelling too, dammit. When she cries, it’s with good reason. Likewise, she is convincing as an author. The poems she recites seem at home tripping off her tongue, and her handling of the sometimes complicated but always beautiful language is natural.

The mother-daughter scenes in the show are absorbing in their honesty and intensity, and they wouldn’t be thus without the also-convincing performance of Laura Tatar as the daughter (Maddie), who undergoes a physical transformation as dramatic as the psychological dimensions of her coming-of-age, going from a sweet kid in a dishwater blonde pigtail and blue jeans to a punk with severe black-and-red hair and extraneous zippers and safety pins everywhere. Thanks in part to the complexly woven script, Tatar plays the “angry daughter” two-dimensionally and sympathetically. We see both the rebellion (when Maddie hurls the “f” word directly into her mother’s face) and the uncertainty and insecurity behind it (when Maddie hugs a teddy bear or faces rejection from an old friend she’s neglected). Tartar plays both of these turns with equal conviction.

The actors in the chorus (Jody Hovland, Kristy Hartsgrove and Jaclyn June Johnson) nimbly insert and extricate themselves from the action, letting the focus stay where it should remain: on the main characters and their conflict. The chorus steps into and out of that story to move it along, trying on characters as diverse as “Ven” the teenaged “new kid in town” who is Maddie’s latest best friend and the mother’s worst nightmare, to jaded parents in the waiting room of a family counselor, to Medusa herself, snake-hair and all. The chorus is in sync and spot on with their uniform recitations and sometimes silly stray song bursts. I swore at one point they were going to bust out with a little Supremes number - but I digress. They are also effective in their independent characters, sometimes making startling transformations themselves. I had to double-check the program and rub my eyes, for instance, when I realized that Chorus 3 and Ven were both played by Johnson.

If the measure of a play is the effect it has on its audience, count Raising Medusa a success. It is a well-written, skillfully-voiced carnival of language both poetic and dramatic that will leave you thinking about your own family drama — or lack thereof in the case of the woman who sat next to me. “I think I’m glad I had four girls,” she told me when the show was over. “They worked it all out together, between them.”

-Vicki Krajewski

Vicki Krajewski has acted and directed with theatre companies in Chicago and Iowa including the Prairie Center for the Arts, Sandcastle Productions, Dreamwell, Catalyst, Iowa City Community Theatre and City Circle. Several of her short plays and monologues have been produced in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. Along with her performance pieces, she does occasional newspaper reporting, freelance feature writing, technical writing, personal essays and even some poetry.

A Review of Picasso

City Circle - “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

That phrase was spoken by more than one audience member at the end of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Although it does follow the convention of having a beginning, middle, and end — all set nicely in the framework of “when the lights go down” to “when the lights go up” — somewhere in the middle it turns and veers and becomes somewhat absurd, although not in an inaccessible way. It is the fictional story of a chance meeting between Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, and an unnamed but immediately recognizable Visitor in the Lapin Agile bar in France in 1903. The play provides some food for thought along with many laughs, though it is a deeper piece than one might expect from a man who first became famous while wearing an arrow through his head.

There are no small parts in theatre, of course, and even those with fewer lines have important roles to play. Rachel Korach Howell plays no fewer than three characters. I don’t know if this is by design of the playwright or by economy of the director, but she manages to infuse each one with a different sensibility simply by changing her demeanor from the sultry Suzanne, to the brash Countess, and to the flibbertigibbet female admirer. Lorin Ditzler embodies Germaine, the only other woman in the show, who holds her own as the waitress at the bar. Her petite frame makes an excellent physical counterpoint to her boyfriend the bartender, Jaret Morlan’s Freddy. There’s a fun bit of business during a fight these two have, about whether her romanticism is neo- or post-, when they are pointing fingers at one another and he points a finger straight down at her head.

Nick Ostrem’s appearance Schmendiman is brief but memorable; I think these Ostrem kids are definitely ones to watch for in the future. Jay Stein’s Gaston is the anchor character of the play; the foil against which Einstein and Picasso riposte. He embodies the part of the exasperated old Gaston with overexaggerated movements and sighs, allowing the audience to feel his frustration with the way old age is treating him.

Eric Burchett’s Visitor is the perfect embodiment of his character; someone whom I’d rather not name as it would take away from the surprise of the play. When you see him, you’ll understand. Michael Stokes’ is the perfect art dealer; a combination of marketing schmooze and artistic ego-stroking familiar to agents even today.

The true stars of the show, of course, are Brad Quinn’s Einstein and Matthew James’ Picasso. Brad makes a wonderfully believable Einstein; his hair even does an admirable job of looking pretty much like a young Einstein’s. (Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for his mustache.) He speaks with the physicist’s German accent, and you wholeheartedly believe him when he spouts off figures and formulas.

Matthew James is on fire as Picasso, commanding the attention of not only everyone on stage but everyone in the room. He employs a Spanish accent to great effect, both to woo lovers and to put down fellow artists. I suspect nearly every woman in the audience wished he would turn his artist’s Lothario eye on her.

The costumes for the characters were spot on, from Germaine’s bosomy barmaid dress to Picasso’s slouchy artist look. The set is simple, a bar with a couple of tables and a few stools, and a very large picture of pastoral sheep — a painting that’s integral to the plot.

City Circle is producing this show as part of their first ever repertory season, alternating it with the play Rabbit Hole and including a reading of Sarah Shattered, written by a member of the University of Iowa theatre community. The show is on the third floor of the Iowa Realty Building on the Coralville strip—a delightfully empty warehouse of a room, comfortably appointed with padded folding chairs and temperature controlled. It is useful to have a large empty room like this as a theatre space, but as with any space without an elevated stage or raked seating, there are bound to be sightline troubles. Though I was able to procure a seat in the front row, I did occasionally miss some bit of action on the stage because the actors were cheated towards the other side of the audience, or because crowding of the actors prevented me from seeing every detail.

Theatre goers and theatre newbies will thoroughly enjoy Martin’s play and our own local actors in it. I encourage everyone to take it in.

--Sharon Falduto

Sharon Falduto has been involved with theatre for many years. Notable roles include Corrie in Barefoot in the Park with Dreamwell and Myra in Hay Fever with ICCT. She has directed God for the now defunct student group, West Side Players, and Of Mice and Men for Dreamwell. She is currently out of the theatre scene, as she is busy directing the lives of Rachel, Samantha, and Piper at her home in Coralville. She still enjoys the stage, however, and hopes to trod the boards again in the future.

Dreamwell's looking for actors and vaudevillians

Dreamwell - Dreamwell Theatre will hold auditions for The Drag by Mae West Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19 at the First Baptist Church, 500 North Clinton St. Iowa City (between Fairchild and Church).

The Drag is the story of Rolly Kingsbury’s failing marriage to Clair, his past secret affair with David Caldwall, his growing lust for Allen Grayson and his affiliation with the very "out" drag community. The show culminates in a drag ball where almost anything could happen — and just might (depending upon who auditions). The play is set in 1927 and opened to to an “avalanche of condemnation,” as one Mae West biographer put it. By giving gay characters a voice, West argued that homosexuality had no class identification and challenged social mores on the subject.

The production promises to be challenging and rewarding as the entertainment at the drag ball is unscripted. Chuck Dufano, the director, plans to incorporate dance, music and songs of the time as well as any other vaudevillian type of talent that presents itself at auditions.

Performances will be June 19, 20, 26, 27 at the Unitarian Universalist Society.

Auditions will consist of a cold script reading. A prepared song is preferable for those wanting to sing. A pianist will be available and some sheet music of the time period. You are also welcome to showcase any other talent you may have (juggling, comic routine, dance, trained animals, magic, etc.).

Notes:
• not all parts are drag roles or require singing
• women will be considered for male drag roles
• auditioning in drag is not required
• if you have other commitments in early June, we will consider some performers for only the drag ball provided you can make tech week and performances
• copy of script is available at the Iowa City Public Library

Roles:
Dr. James Richmond
Barbara Richmond
Clair
Judge Robert Kingsbury
Rolly Kingsbury
Parsons
Allen Grayson
Marion
David Caldwell
Taxi-driver
Various drag performers (Clem, The Duchess, Winnie, etc.)

For more information, email the director, call 319-541-0140 or go to www.dreamwell.com.

Old Creamery's Looking for a Dorothy

Old Creamery and Englert - The Old Creamery Theatre Company and the Englert Civic Theatre will be auditioning for their upcoming co-production of The Wizard of Oz, Sunday, April 5th from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Englert, 221 East Washington Street, Iowa City.

Auditions will be for Dorothy and adult chorus members, although nothing has been cast as yet and everyone is welcome to audition.

The Wizard of Oz, will run from July 16 ­19 at the Englert and will combine the best of the region¹s talent. A new Dorothy may become part of the Old Creamery's professional theater.

Those auditioning are asked to prepare a pair of contrasting monologues, and two short musical selections from contrasting songs. They should also bring a photo and resume, if they have one. An accompanist or CD player will be provided.

Call 319-622-6034 or e-mail with questions.

City Circle's Edge Rep opens this weekend

City Circle - City Circle Acting Company of Coralville presents the Circle’s Edge Repertory Festival April 3-5, 10-12, and 16-19 at the Iowa Realty and Wells Fargo Building at 327 2nd Street in Coralville.

Circle’s Edge Repertory Festival features a hand-picked selection of bold, fresh, and engaging material. Three very different, yet dynamic plays will be presented over three consecutive weekends in April.

Picasso at Lapin Agile, by Steve Martin, is a long running Off-Broadway comedy that places Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in a chance encounter at the Lapin Agile, a Parisian bar in 1904.

In his first comedy for the stage, Martin has constructed a play that captures his trademark wit with a clever mix of fact and fiction.

The two main characters are both on the verge of a breakthrough—Einstein is just about ready to submit his first paper on relativity for publication and Picasso will paint Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907. Here they have a lengthy and hilarious debate about the value of genius and talent while interacting with a host of other characters.

Picasso at Lapin Agile is directed by Kehry Lane and will be presented on Friday and Saturday, April 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, April 5 at 2 p.m., Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 19 at 2 p.m.

Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire and winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is a story of a family that endures a life-shattering accident that turns their world upside down. The play focuses on Becca and Howie, a couple who attempts to cope with the death of their four-year old child in an auto accident and the ensuing complications impacting the family.

This powerfully moving drama charts their bittersweet search for comfort in the darkest of places and for a path that will lead them back into the light of day. This play is an intensely emotional examination of grief, laced with wit, insightfulness, and compassion.

Rabbit Hole is directed by Joshua Beadle and will be presented Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, April 12 at 2 p.m., and Thursday and Friday, April 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m.

The third selection is Sarah Shattered, a new play by UI Department of Theatre Arts faculty member John Cameron, a factual and fantastical travel through the life of the author's mother, mixing humor and pathos as only he can.

A staged reading of Sarah Shattered will be presented on Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19 at 4:30 p.m.

A special discount ticket package for all three productions is $18 for adults and $15 for youth, students, and seniors.

Tickets for each of Rabbit Hole and Picasso at the Lapin Agile are $12 for adults and $10 for youth, students, and seniors. Any ticket to either show includes admission to the staged reading of Sarah Shattered. If purchased alone, Sarah Shattered tickets are $2 each.

Tickets are available at the Coralville Recreation Center, J. Frahm Music, or by calling 248-1750.

Cast for Picasso at the Lapine Agile:

Freddy - Jaret Morlan
Gaston - Jay Stein
Germaine - Lorin Ditzler
Einstein - Brad Quinn
Suzanne/Countess/Female Admirer - Rachel Howell
Sagot - Michael Stokes
Picasso - Matthew James
Schmendiman - Nick Ostrem
Singer - Eric Burchett

Cast for Rabbit Hole:

Becca - Jana Stedman
Howie - Jeremy Ping
Izzy - Kerry Kieler
Nat - Connie Stannard
Jason - Nick Ostrem

Sirius Rising Reading at Riverside

Riverside - Riverside Theatre will host a play reading for Sirius Rising, a play by Cedar Falls playwright Gwendolyn Schwinke on Tuesday, April 7 at 6:30 pm. The audience is invited to stay after the reading for a talkback with the playwright.

Sirius Rising is a play about the practical magic of long-term relationships woven together with the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris. As a flood of epic proportions descends on a rural farm community, four women discover that human connection is their only shelter against the storm.

According to Schwinke, audiences will get the chance to see familiar characters during the reading. “I wanted to bring to the stage the farm women that I know: smart, strong, full-blooded and funny,” said Schwinke. “Although the characters are dealing with more extreme situations than most of us face, they remind us that we can live through tragedy with courage, humor and love.”

Sirius Rising has been selected for inclusion in new-play festivals at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Judith Shakespeare Company in New York City, The Jungle Theatre and The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis.

The reading will feature four of the actors appearing in Riverside Theatre’s current production of Raising Medusa - Kristy Hartsgrove, Jody Hovland, Nancy Youngblut, and Jaclyn June Johnson; as well as Ron Clark.

Playwright Gwendolyn Schwinke grew up on a farm in Missouri, has lived in Minneapolis and New York City, and now teaches Theatre at the University of Northern Iowa. She feels that her play offers something for everyone. “It’s a little bit murder mystery, a little bit ancient myth, and a little bit love story. And there's a lot of humor in it.”

For more information about this free reading on April 7, please call the Riverside Theatre Box Office at 319-338-7672 or visit their website.