With plenty of PG-13 rated Borscht Belt, burlesque-style “nudge nudge, wink wink” spinning humor, Arlington’s Signature Theatre is bringing a musical bauble, the premiere of Cloak and Dagger or the Case of the Golden Venus.

It is musical theater under the confident direction of Eric Schaeffer meant to bring a respite from the real world. And that is a very good thing, given the real world lately.

Cloak and Dagger has a full complement of hard-working purposeful groaners of jokes that Milton Berle may have written, some delightful hip-swinging ala Mae West by way of Harvey Feinstein, and mugs that Sheldon Leonard once played. If those names are fresh in your mind, along with Sunday nights with Ed Sullivan, or a trip to the Catskills, or perhaps the modern equivalent, a cruise ship meandering about. You can have a ball especially if you are in the mood for some anodyne bawdiness.

As the Signature marketing material notes, the storyline is this: “Third-rate detective Nick Cutter is down on his luck when a beautiful blonde bombshell tosses a very intriguing case (and herself) into his lap. For the next 90 minutes, Nick races through every New York neighborhood in this zany, mile-a-minute whodunit.” All in early 1950′s New York City. It isn’t Stacey Keach as Mike Hammer, but as a singing detective.

Four actors play the nearly 20 roles. Well make that two actors play nearly 18 roles. The cast includes Erin Driscoll as Jessica Rabbit, oops, I meant Helena Troy. Driscoll was most recently seen at Signature in The Three Penny Opera. Down-on-his-luck Detective Nick Cutter is played by Signature newcomer Doug Carpenter. The other 18 characters are under the amusing purview of Helen Hayes Awardees Christopher Bloch and Ed Dixon.

Oh, and one other small detail. Dixon also wrote the book, music and lyrics for this world premiere production of Cloak and Dagger. His score of about nineteen numbers, including several reprised songs, is a pastiche of lyrics and melody that mimics the spoofing nature of the production and its off-beat characters. There are plenty of percussion and sax-like notes that emanate from conductor Jenny Cartney and her jazzy four-piece band that includes keyboard, reeds and drums. Colorful orchestration by Jordon Ross Weinhold adds personality to each of the characters.

Some cute songs and their titles include “A Real Woman” with a vamping Mae West (Dixon) and an animated “Shake Your Maracas” (Bloch and Dixon). Driscoll gets to use her lovely, lovely voice in a torchy number entitled “Doors Close.” Carpenter’s beefy baritone opens the show with musical introductions of what the show is about: “The Worst of Times” and “The Best of Times.” Is the score memorable? Not really. But so what.

As for the dialogue; the quips can be witty shtick delivered with a knowing glance to make sure the audience is in on it. The broad pokes at the many different people who make up New York are not meant to harm.

The show is full of old-fashioned, New York City accented car-chase speed playful dialogue. The actors move about the minimally adorned stage (Daniel Conway) through three well-used doors, matching the dialogue delivery speed. There is also a large, sturdy-appearing marquee over the doors that provides a place for large black and white photos of New York City to be seen to set a New York state of mind.

The ever-changing costumes for Block and Dixon by way of Kathleen Geldard are a bright treat of flowing silks, or perhaps polyester, character defining hats, suits with wide lapels, and bemusing cross-dressing attire. And, there is also one very special neon yellow glowing image of the Lady in the New York harbor. Wig designer Anne Nesmith certainly enjoyed herself with her campy selections. As for Driscoll, she is wrapped in a form-hugging, cardinal red pencil dress.

Up for something with amusement, silliness, and banter propelled by a lively score and excellent voices? Then head off to Cloak and Dagger at Signature Theatre. It is a screwball musical to ice you down during this summer heat wave. Marvel at what tongue-in-cheek delivery whether straight dialogue or song can prove; a good time.

Photo Gallery

Helena Troy (Erin Driscoll) sings ‘Doors Close’	Helena Troy (Erin Driscoll) tosses an intriguing case to Nick Cutter (Doug Carpenter)
The Irish Landlady (Ed Dixon) sings ‘A Real Woman’	Manny (Christopher Bloch) sings ‘An Agent’
Helena Troy (Erin Driscoll) sings ‘Chinatown Blues’	Fat Tony (Ed Dixon), Nick Cutter (Doug Carpenter) and Gino (Christopher Bloch) sing ‘Who Put the Mob In’
Stanley (Christopher Bloch) and Helena Troy (Erin Driscoll)	Nick Cutter (Doug Carpenter, center) and Pinsky’s Chorus Girls sing ‘Shake Your Maracas’

Photos by Margot Schulman

Cast

• Nick Cutter: Doug Carpenter
• Helena Troy: Erin Driscoll
• Character Man Two: Christopher Bloch 
• Character Man One: Ed Dixon

Artistic and Design Team

• Book, Music & Lyrics by Ed Dixon
• Directed by Eric Schaeffer
• Orchestrations: Jordon Ross Weinhold
• Music Director: Jenny Cartney
• Scenic Design: Daniel Conway
• Costume Design: Kathleen Geldard
• Lighting Design: Collin K. Bills
• Sound Design: Lane Elms
• Wig Design: Anne Nesmith
• Stage Manager: Julie Meyer

Disclaimer: Signature Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Some reviews can be a struggle. What new can be written about Nobel Prize winning playwright Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) and his masterworks about the human condition? As for Beckett’s allusive, yet curiously poetic, Happy Days what might it say for contemporary audiences in these current times. Does the “old style” of existentialism still set the mind aflutter?

Let’s be clear, the 1961 Happy Days is theater with deeply drawn substance to chew on especially for those with an affinity for post-WW II “Theatre of the Absurd” chops. As Scena Literary Manager Anne Nottage wrote in program notes, the “Theater of the Absurd” was hell-bent “to shake audience from their conventional viewing habits.”

As Nottage wrote, playwrights like Beckett wanted to force audiences “to think about the absurdity and unresolved issues in their own lives.” For Beckett’s Happy Days Scena Theatre Artistic Director Robert McNamara wrote in his program notes that the play “presents us as audience with an astonishing central image…a veritable earth goddess.” She is living in “a kind of post-nuclear” world, hungering for with “mutual need and dependency.”

For your reviewer, recent new events brought images to mind of a genderless central protagonist as a POW or a prisoner of the state locked away in some hole of a maximum security prison, with sleep deprivation the main tool of control by an unseen force. The prisoner must find a way to survive until, well just until. So the ritual of talking, with words pouring forth gives a semblance of living.

Legendary DC actor and multi-Helen Hayes recipient, Nancy Robinette is a confident actor to behold in her role Winnie in Happy Days. She takes on her character who is entombed in the earth up to her chest in Act I and in Act II finds herself swallowed by sand up to her neck. Robinette spends her time before us as a sad eyed prophet with long bursts of optimism and a bright smile to carry her through her sun-lit, yet dreary day. No matter the nature of her miserable day, it is a happy day that she conjures in her mind even as tears are so close.

We are drawn to Robinette’s simple humanity as Winnie; the naturalness of her presentation. It is as if being stuck in a mound of sand is to be expected. Vocally her tone is a paint brush of words, with diction tight. Some words are drawn out in a hissing long breath as she often pronounces the phrase “the old style.” And yes there are little jokes, some about sexuality, that bring her and the laughter.

Visually the lines on Robinette’s face are the lines of a life lived. Her eyes, oh her eyes! They are matched and move to the words she speaks so smoothly. Her eyes are heavily covered with a thick cobalt blue eye shadow which can make her eyes small and sorrowful and then burst into being large moons of happiness. And she is just stuck in place at the center of the audience’s attention.

Between a piercing bell for waking and a bell to announce time for rest, the character Winnie struggles to pace her day. She tries to stay alert and even has a routine to brush her teeth and put on make-up. Well, at least while she can move her arms to reach her close-by leather hand bag.

Winnie’s only human contact is Willie (a loud, annoyed, very precise Stephen Lorne Williams), her husband or partner. He is largely unseen to the audience and not seen at all by Winnie until a few short critical moments as the play reaches its end. He lives in a small cave out of Winnie’s view from her high mound of earth. One trait that Winnie admires about her Willie is his ability to sleep which she cannot. She calls it a “marvelous gift.”

In Act I, actor Williams is seen a few times, but only from the rear. From what the audience sees, he is dressed in quite informal attire, with a straw hat covering his bald pate. In the final moments of the play the audience finally sees Williams as he crawls up the mound toward Robinette in full formal attire including spats. As he reaches up toward Robinette, he becomes frozen almost touching her hand. Or is he reaching for the gun that is also near-by? With his last word; “win” he brings a final outburst of words and humming of a waltz from Robinette. And darkness falls.

Scenic designer Michael C. Stepowany has given the audience a desolate, dun-colored waste land; a dry desert of a landscape barren of life. There is a mound in the center for Robinette and a backdrop of a blue sky with one fair weather puffy cloud, which a photographers would relish. Multiple Helen Hayes nominated lighting designer Marianne Meadows provides halogen white-hot lighting worthy of a New Mexico desert, with a hint of amber to highlight the set’s sand and pebbles surrounding Robinette.

The costume design by Alisa Mandel gives Robinette a matronly look. She is in a dark blue dress along with a strand of large pearls around her neck. Robinette is topped-off with a little pill of a hat with some eye-blinking ostrich feathers shooting up from the front. Filled to the brim is a black leather hand bag, just in Robinette’s reach during Act I. Inside is a bevy of items by way of props designer Joyce Milford.

Denise R. Rose’s sound design has a most piercing buzzer bell to wake character Winnie as well as to inform her when it is time for a moment of rest. It certainly startled the audience at the performance.

“So little to say, so little to do, and the fear so great,” says the character Winnie. Yet she finds a way to go on looking ever forward to other Happy Days. That is, should tomorrow come for her.

Your reviewer is brought back to Bob Dylan’s “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” with its final refrain, “who do they think could bury you?” For Robinette’s Winnie as created by Beckett, sorrow is always breaking in, just as she finds a reason to be optimistic even as she is buried ever so slowly.

Photo Gallery

Nancy Robinette in the lead role of Winnie	Stephen Lorne Williams as Willie and Nancy Robinette as Winnie

Photos by Don Summers, Jr.

Cast

• Winnie: Nancy Robinette
• Willie: Stephen Lorne Williams

Artistic and Design

• Director: Robert McNamara
• Scenic Designer: Michael C. Stepowany
• Costume Designer: Alisa Mandel
• Lighting Designer: Marianne Meadows
• Dramturg: Gabriele Jakobi
• Sound Designer: Denise R. Rose
• Stage Manager: Lena Salinas
• Production Manager: Michael Sperber
• Properties: Joyce Milford

Disclaimer: Scena Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

In the “chair force” world depicted in George Brandt’s Grounded we witness the slow grinding boredom of the new way to wage war, punctuated by moments when a pilot feels a God-like rush to take action against the bad guys. The warrior is, at first, a strutting “gung-ho lifer” who initially has no compunctions about wasting a bad guy’s life until more personal issues find their way into the warrior’s mind.

But then the warrior is no longer piloting a high-flying, fancy, F-16, doing unseen damage from high in the blue sky. This warrior is piloting a high technology drone which endlessly surveils and then can destroy someone in the time it takes a signal to transmit half way around the world into the air above Afghanistan…in this case, a bit over one second. Then a silent poof as a missile is launched, destruction happens seen from grey images on a screen.

To some this particular warrior may be an unlikely one. She is an unnamed, grounded pilot. She was grounded after she unexpectedly became pregnant and then became a mother and wife. No longer flying high into the wild blue yonder, she is a drone pilot in a barcolounger an hour’s drive from Las Vegas in the Nevada desert. A desert not unlike what is in Afghanistan.

Grounded is a fairly taut portrayal of this unnamed Air Force Major’s life as she unravels into a break-down into a lock-up awaiting a court-martial. Grounded is not so much a drama about the morality of new warfare methods, nor is it a flashy production full of visual pyrotechnics. In its own way, it is very old-fashioned; a one actor monologue with the pilot (Lucy Ellinson) trying to get inside the audience’s head and stir things up.

Grounded is to be appreciated for Ellinson’s acting prowess over its 60 intermission-free, claustrophobic minutes. The audience comes to know Ellinson’s character as her mind opens up even as she is “locked” away in the transparent box that is her mind. It is her mind-box we peer into as her crack-up slowly begins, taking away her pride, her sense of self and much more.

Now before I go too much further into this review, let me say this, I was once in the Air Force, as an intelligence officer in a war long ago. I was stationed in the Far East and worked in a large windowless box, with some of my unit in a trailer not unlike what is depicted in Grounded miles farther from my own main windowless box. It was a different war, Vietnam, and I was not a “gung-ho lifer.” I recall utter monotony, until events happened which set all into a highly stressed mode. I was often enough the only officer on duty in the world of around the clock shift work. Decisions had to be made. Actions had to be taken. So, Grounded is a show that brought my own memories flooding back.

Under Christopher Haydon’s straight forward direction of Grounded, we first come in contact with the Pilot as she is in a transparent box, by way of set designer Oliver Townsend. She is actively surveilling the audience. AC-DC like rock music (sound designer Tom Gibbons) is blaring. The Pilot is not passive as she stands in her at-ease position even moving into a more swagger laden pose with hands in front, always watching. And the words begin to flow. The grinding down of her pride, her personhood, and the unnerving juxtaposition of killing from a distance only to drive home and be with her husband and daughter.

We see her descent into her own private Hell as her words tumble out, her fists harden, her pilot’s cock-sure strut is no more. Lights flash in the mind box as things happen. In the last gripping five minutes or so of the production, the audience witnesses intimately the Pilot’s actions and inactions. Frozen. Traumatic. Then a black-out leaving the audience to contemplate the issues raised.

As directed by Haydon, who is the artistic director of Britain’s Gate Theatre and directed the show there, Grounded is a well-accomplished production with a rhythm of life working in the stressful conditions that war brings. Some of the technical and acting elements hit quite well. The blaring music to drown out boredom and help to alleviate stress. The pilot’s need for a blatant kind of lusty life to prove herself alive.

This is playwright Brandt’s introductory course into modern, distant warfare. It will not be the last such teaching production from a playwright or screen writer, I am certain. Grounded is not a drama about the larger morality issues of new warfare including the use of drones. It is more an intimate portrait of one particular woman warrior. A warrior who believes totally in “protect and destroy” as an adage. Who thinks being a pilot is being a “rock star.” Who at first wears a flight suit (Oliver Townsend again) as a powerful sexy attire that draws men to her.

In an interview, Grounded playwright Brant is noted to say: “I approached this play with a lot of questions and wasn’t sure where I stood with this new technology and the moral implications of it; I’m happy anytime American soldiers lives are not at risk, but am troubled by some of the moral implications of [drone warfare] and what it’s doing to our standing in the world.”

Grounded is an issue-raising script and performance that doesn’t shrivel away from tough matters. It has its share of tragedies depicting a world rarely shown on stage. It is another import from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival but will strike a different nerve than the vastly different Black Watch that Shakespeare Theatre brought to town a few years ago. Of possible interest for those who see Grounded is a new movie that will be opening soon in DC, that started as a play written by Matt Witten. It had a one performance screening last week at the E Street Cinema. It is called “Drones.”

Studio Theatre’s artistic director David Muse has brought to DC, what is surely to be a growing list of theater productions not unlike what some of us vividly recall from the Vietnam War era. Different wars with new artistic visions and distinct voices.

Note: I recall this from 1970 as my unit (called Able Flight back then) would sometimes sing from Elton Johns’ “Burn Down the Mission” with lyrics by Bernie Taupin:

If we’re gonna stay alive
Watch the black smoke fly to heaven
See the red flame light the sky.
Burn down the mission
Burn it down to stay alive
It’s our only chance of living
Take all you need to live inside.

Photo Gallery

Photos provided by Studio Theatre

Cast

• The Pilot: Lucy Ellinson

• Playwright: George Brant
• Director: Christopher Haydon
• Set and Costume Designer: Oliver Townsend
• Lighting Designer: Mark Howland
• Sound Designer: Tom Gibbons
• Technical Tour Manager: Katy Munroe Farlie
• Studio Technical Director: Robert Shearin

Disclaimer: Studio Theatre provided a complimentary media ticket to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Larry Alan Smith, festival artistic and executive director indicated that this year’s Wintergreen Summer Music Festival and Academy has the theme “Amazona, The Rhythms and Colors of South America.” Each of the many and varied arts activities and performances will be built around the theme.

One of the highlights of the growing summer Festival will be the theater production of Our Lady of the Clouds, written by South American playwright Aristides Vargas and directed by DC area director Stevie Zimmerman. Zimmerman, from Falls Church, Virginia, has past directorial credits including By Jeeves and The Pitman Painters at Tysons’ 1st Stage. She has also directed at the Capitol Fringe, the Theatre of the First Amendment, McLean Drama Company, and Woolly Mammoth Theater. Last summer Zimmerman directed Art at the 2013 Wintergreen Summer Music Festival and Academy.

Our Lady of the Clouds was written by Arístides Vargas, an award-winning Latin American actor, director and writer. Originally from Argentina, he currently lives in Ecuador. “Most of his plays are about memory, exile, and being uprooted” said Zimmerman. His world can be one of magical realism.

How does the show begin? Two travelers, Bruna and Oscar, meet unexpectedly in a nondescript little place and come to learn of their shared past; a past with many layers they never knew existed. Their shared past includes memories of events in their lives in a Latin American town called ‘Nuestra Señora de las Nubes’ (Our Lady of the Clouds).

According to Zimmerman, the production will include a series of vivid short scenes and arresting vignettes in which we learn about the two characters: their lives and the place they came from, the town called Our Lady of the Clouds. It is a “crisp, interesting translation” of a play originally written in Spanish, Zimmerman noted. It is about “what it means to be an exile, to be searching for meaning in a crazy world.” Perhaps an audience might recall “The Twilight Zone” with episodes of Rod Serling magic.

“Many of the scenes stand in for the various ways” people try to create a pure new world and find that new world “gradually corrupted to the point where people who speak truth about it must be exiled.” added Zimmerman. “I hope we can bring some interesting and provocative characters to life in intriguing and unusual ways.”

Both Smith and Zimmerman noted that the show will be in an uncommonly delightful setting; a “Big Red Barn” not far from the main Wintergreen Resort. “It’s a wonderful space that is like a blank canvas.” said Zimmerman. “It’s not a traditional performance space so you can sort of allow it to be anywhere and everywhere. It’s also very intimate – not too many people in the audience – and the actors are right there in front of you, no barriers, no curtains!”

Two local professional DC actors are featured in the production. They are Liz Dutton as Bruna and Edward Nagel as Oscar. In a recent email conversation, Dutton indicated that one of the reasons for wanting to be in the cast was “the challenge, definitely!”

“It’s a two person play, so you have to be present with your scene partner at every moment of the piece – I was very excited about the opportunity to delve into such an intellectual and thought-provoking piece that allows the actors to set up the world that they are living in and convey that story to the audience.”

As for the characters? “We play a wide variety of characters in the piece – the main story line centers around two wandering souls who happen upon each other and realize they are from the same fictional town.” said Dutton. “They then relive how the town was founded and how different characters in the town react to certain events – it provides a narrative on how people view their surroundings and circumstances, both political and personal, and how it shapes their lives. We play grandmothers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, fathers and daughters – lots of different characters!”

The full Festival begins July 7 and runs until August 3, 2014. “it is such a gorgeous place and setting to experience artistry.” said Smith. “All on the crest of the Blue Ridge.”

Where and When: Our Lady of the Clouds performed as Visual Arts and Theatre portion of the Wintergreen Performing Arts Festival at Big Red Barn at Rodes Farm, 826 Rodes Farm Drive, Nellysford, VA. Five evening performances: July 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27, 2014. Tickets $10-$20. For tickets call the Box office: (434) 325-8292. Note: A wine reception will follow first performance on Saturday evening, July 19. A talkback follows the performance of Sunday evening, July 20.

Shakespeare certainly knew how to make an audience squirm. “Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head” says Aaron, a key figure in Shakespeare’s rarely produced Titus Andronicus that just opened in DC.

But, this production is by the scrappy Faction of Fools theater company with a go-for-broke, unmuted “commedia dell’ arte” vision. For those not familiar with the Faction of Fools, it is the 2012 Helen Hayes Recipient of the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company in the DC area.

Titus Andronicus is one of Shakespeare’s most chilling, violent, quite unsubtle bloody tales full of honor killings, revenge killings, infanticide, and any number of chopped-off limbs and dismemberments. Nothing much comic in that.

What is the storyline? Titus Andronicus is a fictional Roman general who returns from a decade of war with most of his sons dead on the battlefield. In his victories for the Roman Empire, he has captured Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her three sons as well as Tamora’s lover, Aaron the Moor.

From this start, the blood-fest moves forward with the characters seeking vengeance, advantage and survival to the point of self-mutilation. “If there were reason for these miseries, then into limits could I bind my woes” says Titus after much carnage.

Titus is an operatic play that spins and twists into a bloody cyclone of madness not unlike epic movies with a Vietnam War era mentality such as the “Godfather I & II” or “Apocalypse Now.” Few are left standing as the tragic goings-on finally end. Ah, but his is a Faction of Fools production.

Adapted and staged by Matthew R. Wilson, the Faction of Fools has respected the play’s grisly bones but added a veneer of comic touches to coat the bones and make them a bit more palatable. Wilson and his troupe have not made Titus into a Mel Brooks farce, or a late night comedy act but used their special brand of masked antics, tongue-in-cheek mannerisms and speech along with plenty of double-entendre laden physical movements touches, sitting right along-side the eviscerations. It is as if there is the written text with theatrical components filtering and shifting the words into new meanings.

The Titus set design by Ethan Sinnott is a constructed imperial city that fills the stage at the Elstad Annex at Gallaudet University. There are multi-level play areas, doorways for entrances and exits along with several trap doors and well-positioned windows. It is painted a luminous pure white made even brighter by the white-hot lights from Michael Barnett. Over the course of the performance the pure white becomes a crimson red abstract expressionist canvas of blood splotches, splatters and swirls courtesy of designer Casey Kaleba.

Costume designer Denise Umland has the cast outfitted in white as well, which also takes on a crimson hue. Apropos of “commedia dell’arte,” the actors wear hand-crafted, half masks also in white fabricated by Aaron Cromie. Props are a perverse amusement done up to gratify the most fervent Grand Guignol fane. There is such creativity in the exaggerated manner of showing amputated limbs and other body parts and flowing blood that is sophisticated and cartoonish, and perhaps not for everyone. I will not look at a spigot or a dark quiet pool quite the same again.

Actors who make strong impressions include Miranda Medugno as Lavina, the ultimate victim, who loses hands and tongue after she is raped. Medugno, who is pursuing a Master’s degree in Sign Language Education, brings her “silenced” character into dramatic light and intensity. She draws us to her with her entire being. She is the moral, non-comic center of Titus.

As Tamara, Queen of the Goths, Christina Pineda-Fernandez vamps her way through the proceedings. She is physically impish and cunning. Her words, both straight and humorous, are darts that sting all in good fun, well as best fun as can be given her nasty character.

Aaron The Moor is played by Manu Kumasi with a vigorous strut and fire in his eyes. He even gives off a subtext as to why he is so villainous. Nello DeBlasio’s Titus is a madman who loudly whines for attention. DeBlasio plays his Titus as someone on speed with Munchausen by proxy syndrome. Other male characters also have a too-rushed approach to their deliveries. Demetrius (Charlie Ainsworth) and Chiron (Tyler Herman) deserve note for their manner of accomplishing dastardly deeds using both spoken words and ASL in a helter-skelter duet.

Faction of Fools marketing material notes, “Faction’s fifth season ends with a shriek, as we bring you the funniest version yet of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play. In the Fools’ darkly comic take, something wicked becomes something wickedly delightful.” Well, I would not go that far.

Your reviewer marvels at what Wilson and the Fools have accomplished with their audacious take of rushing rivers of blood and carnage. It is up to you and your own gimlet eye whether to buckle up and take this Titus in. It will challenge you to find your pathway past lines such as: “Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?… Ay, that I had not done a thousand more” to find and appreciate the comic touches. It is all a matter of one’s tastes.

I guess humor can be found even in Marlon Brando’s last line in “Apocalypse Now,” “The horror, the horror.”

NOTE: No late seating. Appropriate for ages 13 and up. Select performances ASL Interpreted. Open Captioning available upon request.

(Editor’s Note: Due to a scheduling mixup, ShowBizRadio sent two reviewers to cover this production. See Bob Ashby’s review for another view of the show.)

Director’s Notes

I have always been fascinated by the aesthetic of violence. Conflict, collision, and combat — although sources of pain — can also bring moments of beauty. Consider the virtuosity of the martial artist, the elegant sheen of a blood spatter, or even the breathtaking splendor of an exploding supernova.
 
For this bloody play, all the world’s a canvas, and we witness, not only acts of violence, but their aftermath as well. Our Rome is a pristine, gleaming empire that inflicts brutality on other cultures while maintaining a capital city that is sanitary, safe, and spotless. All that changes when Titus returns triumphant and the bloodstains start to accumulate.
 
The bloodshed in Titus is senseless; it is spectacular; and, yes, sometimes it is downright silly. But Shakespeare and his contemporaries already knew that.
 
During the Renaissance, Seneca’s grisly Roman tragedies came back into vogue, and Commedia dell’Arte players presented their own violent delights as part of their repertoire of traveling plays. These “tragic” Commedia pieces were known under the genre of opera reggia, the “royal works” featuring nobles behaving badly — very badly indeed…

Shakespeare knew of this genre both from Seneca’s classical writings and from the contemporary performances of itinerant Italian players. He clearly had these in mind when penning Titus Andronicus, his own contribution to the genre of Renaissance horror story. The play is not meant to be a joke, but it is too absurd to stomach as a straight drama. It is the sixteenth-century’s version of Saw or Hostel.
 
In our darkly comic adaptation, something wicked becomes something wickedly delightful. We see the senselessness of violence — whether in warfare, sibling rivalries, or revenge — and we see the egocentric callousness with which people ignore survivors because they are too consumed with their own grief. There is nothing funny about murder or rape, but there is something absurd about the culture of violence and patriarchy that produces these atrocities. If we laugh at perpetuators of violence, it is only because we know that they don’t deserve to be taken seriously. Or maybe it is because, as Titus says, we “have no tears left to shed.”

Photo Gallery

Nello DeBlasio (Titus), Matthew Pauli (Lucius), Miranda Medugno (Lavinia), Toby Mulford (Marcus)	Matthew Pauli (Lucius), Miranda Medugno (Lavinia), Toby Mulford (Marcus)
Nello DeBlasio (Titus), Miranda Medugno (Lavinia)	Toby Mulford (Marcus), Miranda Medugno (Lavinia), Nello DeBlasio (Titus)

Photos by Teresa Wood

Cast

• Titus Andronicus: Nello DeBlasio
• Demetrius: Charlie Ainsworth
• Bassianus/Publius/Goth Soldier/Quintus: Chema Pineda-Fernandez
• Young Lucius/Mutius/Nurse/Aemilius: Cori Dioquino
• Saturninus: Daniel Flint
• Tamora: Christina Marie Frank
• Chiron/Martius: Tyler Herman
• Aaron: Manu Kumasi
• Lavinia: Miranda Medugno
• Marcus Andronicus/Alarbus: Toby Mulford
• Lucius: Matthew Pauli

Artistic and Design Team

• Written by William Shakespeare
• Adapted and Directed and Co-Choreographer: Matthew R. Wilson
• Production Manager/Stage Manager: Sarah Conte
• Scenic Design: Ethan Sinnott
• Costume Design: Denise Umland
• Lighting Design: Michael Barnett
• Sound Design & Music Composition: Thomas Sowers
• Fight Direction: Casey Kaleba & Matthew R. Wilson
• Co-Choreographer and Blood Effects: Casey Kaleba
• Properties Design & Assistant Blood Effects: Kristen Pilgrim
• Mask Designer and Fabricator: Aaron Cromie
• Assistant Stage Manager: Kathryn Dooley
• Assistant Director: Rachel Spicknall Mulford
• Dramaturg: Natalie Tenner
• ASL Consultant/Interpreter: Dr. Lindsey D. Snyder

Disclaimer: Faction of Fools provided a complimentary media ticket to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Moving beyond its flame-thrower of a title, Mike Bartlett’s Cock is a striking, verbally pungent jolt of theater about a love-triangle for contemporary times and audiences. The production is part of Studio’s New British Invasion Festival.

In Cock we witness two men and a woman circling each other; trying to get the right angle and upper hand for a take-down of sorts. To the victor, goes the prize of a lovely young man, who keeps everyone hanging on, but one who has his share of commitment-phobias, to use a dated term of reference. The characters smash at one another with the spewed-forth, hurtful words of people who know well each other’s vulnerable places.

The play is a competitive schoolyard wrestling match, with verbal taunts, and accompanying thrusts and parries as the audience views the goings-on almost as school chums of one or another of the active participants. Will someone get hurt or just give-up and leave the circle forfeiting the match and the prize?

In the case of Cock it is a very angst-filled bout of constant movement with words spit out in an overlapping manner. Then a beat or two of silence to assess the damage. Under David Muse’s direction the production takes on an athletic air with attacks and counter-attacks, rather than cock-fighting event with blood, physical dismemberment and death the expectation. Muse gives the show a plenitude of game-playing offensive and defensive movements and maneuvers; grapples, holds and attempts at take-downs. Whatever sex and sexuality that might be expected with the play’s title is accomplished with words, rather than a shedding of clothes or hot public shows of affection.

Written by the Brit Mike Bartlett, who is in his early 30′s and has made a mark in only about seven years of playwriting. When first produced in Great Britain, Cock won an Olivier Award in 2010 for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. In the Studio program, Bartlett is quoted; “theatre has to appeal to people who do jobs and have lives…the only choice is where your focus is. Do you write your play thinking about other plays? Or do you look out the window and say, my play is about that –whatever the world is. That’s what I’m after.”

Permit your reviewer a digression, but when I read those words from Bartlett, I was drawn back to Al Kooper’s bluesy version of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch” with its lyrics of “When I look out my window, Many sights to see, And when I look in my window, So many different people to be, That it’s strange, So strange…must be the season of the witch.”

Cock forcefully tells the story of two men in a long-time relationship just as the younger one, named John (convincingly played in a passive-aggressive manner by Ben Cole in his Studio début), artfully pushes for a break. He is either bored or unhappy with the way his older, stock-broker partner, named M (Scott Parkinson ably showing both a powerful “bitchy” bitterness and a nuanced vulnerability based upon real hurt) treats him. And off John goes.

Soon enough John finds himself involved with not another man; but a divorced, childless woman in her late 20′s named W (a lovely sometimes gentle, sometimes forceful Liesel Allen Yeager in her Studio début as a risk-taking woman going after what she wants). W is a school teacher of sorts. But, for confused and convoluted reasons, John returns to M seeking a reconciliation. M at first seems willing to forgive John, but then is not so certain. He needs some proof of John’s permanence in the partnership. So a dinner is planned to settle the matter. And we learn that W does not want to give up on John who has become the man of her dreams with the possibility of a future to include marriage and children.

There is also a late-comer to the proceedings, M’s father who is called F. As played by Bruce Dow, he is a middle-aged widower with life experiences of his own. He is a wild card at the dinner giving weight to his son’s love for John. He wants the woman W to just go.

This is the set-up for Cock, a tale of sexual attractions and a plenitude of simultaneous conflicting feelings along with an abundance of heated exchanges that pose complex questions about identity, sexuality, and a need for certainty and loyalty in a relationship. As the perplexed John asks himself, “what do I wish to be” his response to himself and others often enough is, “you can’t force me.” He is just in a dumb-struck muddle. He is at a loss of what comes after physical desire and sexual attraction with another human being of any gender.

The technical design for the intimacy of the Milton Theatre is what director Muse described in his program notes as “unencumbered by furniture or scene shifts.” There are short pauses accompanied by a tone-perfect sports buzzer to begin each new interval of action, courtesy of James Bigbee Garver. With Debra Booth’s spare set; a circle of hard-packed (but so clean-looking!) grayish sand-dirt mixture in which the combatants do their work is lit by 10 long fluorescent tubes from lighting designer Colin K. Bills. The only other hard set design element is a circular, blondish plywood back drop It is sometimes used as sitting place for the characters to take a momentary break and a public sip of water, as an athlete might do during a period, quarter or half-time interlude from action.

Alex Jaeger’s tasteful costumes give off the aura of each character. Parkinson wears nicely fitted clothes including a vest and fine laced brown shoes, Yeager is attired in a stylish, well-fitted figure-hugging black dress over her small frame that gives off a chic femininity along with square 3+ inch heels. Cole is in more casual attire with Tiger-like athletic shoes and an open neck shirt.

In program notes, Studio Theatre Dramaturg Adrien-Alice Hansel called the show “an unflinching examination of the vertiginous and seemingly provisional nature of identity itself” with the “main character paralyzed by ambivalence, in love with two people, his long-term boyfriend and a woman he’s just met.” Phew, now that is an excited mouthful of a description, but not off the mark.

So we have character John, who is questioning his sexuality and frames of reference. Who does he love, what does he want? How will he decide between the two people who want him? Would John’s charm and prowess be sufficient for a long-run partnership with anyone? Bartlett’s Cock asks many questions, but leaves answers up to audience members to contemplate and perhaps decide.

Cock is an accomplished trek into a well-groomed performance and culturally loaded play that is worth an audience’s attention. As the play unfolds, it digs deeper and deeper, leaving no character unscathed. Your reviewer leaned ever forward throughout so as not to miss the striking, vivid dialogue and nuanced movements.

And now I am going downstairs to play my very worn vinyl copy of Al Kooper’s “Season of the Witch” and then to YouTube for Donovan’s original version.

(Note: This production contains strong language and sexual content.)

Photo Gallery

Liesel Allen Yeager (W) and Ben Cole (John)	Ben Cole (John), Scott Parkinson (M), and Liesel Allen Yeager (W)
Ben Cole (John) and Scott Parkinson (M)	Liesel Allen Yeager (W), Ben Cole (John), and Scott Parkinson (M)

Photos by Teddy Wolff

Cast

• John: Ben Cole
• M: Scott Parkinson
• W: Liesel Allen Yeager
• F: Bruce Dow

Artistic and Design Team

• Playwright: Mike Bartlett
• Director: David Muse
• Set Design: Debra Booth
• Lighting Design: Colin K. Bills
• Costume Design: Alex Jaeger
• Sound Design: James Bigbee Garver
• Dramaturg: Adrien-Alice Hansel
• Dialect Coach: Ashley Smith
• Casting Director: Jack Doulin
• Production Stage Manager: John Keith Hall
• Technical Director: Robert Shearin

Disclaimer: Studio Theatre provided a complimentary media ticket to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Happy times for those who will harken back to their youth when AM radio played the Top 40 hits of the 1960’s. The Creative Cauldron’s Shout! The Mod Musical will be comfort food for those who know each lyric and opening musical note from a time when the songs were fresh and new; song by female singers hoping to make their way onto American Bandstand.

All and all, Shout! The Mod Musical is an earnest production of a musical that will gladden the hearts of Baby Boomers who know the show’s playlist of about 20 hit songs selected by the show’s co-creators Phillip George and David Lowenstein. I use playlist as a term rather than score; this is jukebox theater of a specific moment in time and taste. It is from a non-FM radio-view.

Cast of Shout! The Mod Musical. From left: Yellow Girl (Aimee Barnes), Green Girl (Iyona Blake), Red Girl (Melissa Berkowitz), Blue Girl (Sarah Anne Sillers), and Orange Girl (Ashleigh King).

The Creative Cauldron’s production is the Washington area professional theater company premiere of the Shout! The Mod Musical. It was produced Off-Broadway in 2006.

Shout! The Mod Musical is set in London between 1962-1970. It follows the lives of five women in age from the early 20′s (The Red Girl), to the 30′s and perhaps a bit beyond (Green, Blue, Yellow and Orange girls). Yes, the female characters are identified as “girls” and by the color of what they wear. They are not given first names. No first names is rather fitting as the characters are one-dimensionally drawn, with little blood or soul.

The book is a shaky connection of dialogue and scenes that connect songs with the fictional characters. The book is a slim wisp of eye-rolling jokes, as well as some reminiscences about societal changes brought with the Pill and relationships with men. A clever touch is a regular focus on each of the character’s attachment to a self-help column written by “Gwendolyn Holmes ” for “Shout,” a slick and glossy London-based magazine. The matronly Holmes character provides antiquated guidance to those who seek out her guidance. The advice generally involves wearing a better shade of lipstick, trying a new hairdo or suggesting that while the fault for the boredom in a relationship may be with the man, it is the woman’s place to make things right.

The Yellow Girl (Aimee Barnes) is the American character. She has travelled to London to have a look at Paul McCartney. The Orange Girl (Ashleigh King) is married, but suspects her husband may be cheating. The Blue woman (Sarah Anne Sillers) is wealthy and vain, but has a deep secret about her sexuality. The Green Girl (Iyona Blake) gives off a looser vibe about her relationships with men. The Red Girl (Melissa Berkowitz) is the youngest; she is insecure with her appearance with hopes the man of her dreams will come along. The advice columnist, Gwendolyn Holmes, is played by a haughty, high-pitched, badly coiffed Robert Aubrey Davis. He has been taped and is seen on regular occasions on a video monitor in grainy black and white.

Singing is the high-point of the production. The songs include the likes of “Son of a Preacher Man,” “You Don’t have to Say You Love Me,” “These Boots are Made for Walkin’,” “Downtown” and “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” as well as “To Sir with Love” and others. A standout is an ensemble rendition of a very cute “Coldfinger” based on the famous James Bond movie song “Goldfinger.” Two songs caught the audience’s interest and lifted them up; they began to mouth the words and then sang with those on stage. The songs were “Those Were the Days” and the finale of the evening, “Shout!” The procession of musical numbers were written by pop icons like Tony Hatch, Carol King and Bernie Goffin, as well as Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

The strongest singers in the production are Blake and King. They have powerful voices and provide plenty of theatrical nuance to go along with their voice work and dancing skills. When all five actor-singers get together as a “girl” group or in pairs of back-up singers, the harmonies are simply top-notch.

The intermission free 75 minutes is directed by Matt Connor. Connor has directed a number of Creative Cauldron productions. He has also performed and composed at such DC area venues such as Signature Theater. The production was choreographed by Stephen Gregory Smith. He has the cast perform period dances such hip swaying, hands in the air numbers as the Swim, Pony, and others with enjoyable synchronized results.

The music director and keyboardist is Mark Deffenbaugh. The costumes by Margie Gervis are spot-on reminders of those changing times. Each of the five characters has three different outfits to represent various styles of the 1960′s. Visually the attire moves from left-over later 1950′s wear, to mid-60′s Mary Quant inspired mini-skirted dresses to a final late 60′s urban and hippie look. The hair styles and wigs are well-accomplished moving from flips, to long straight hair to Afros.

Shout! The Mod Musical will be most enjoyed by those who were living at the time. As Creative Cauldron Founder and Producing Director wrote in the program, “The performance you are witnessing is a celebration of music from the swinging 60′s and we suspect that many of you will find yourselves singing along to these classic pop tunes.”

At the performance your reviewer attended, one could feel audience members begin to catch the memory train. As the show began to wrap up, the infectious 1959 rhythm and blues hit “Shout” began. It quickly became a sing and clap-along finale. The crowd was standing on its collective feet, transported and transfixed with big smiles.

Cast

• Yellow Girl: Aimee Barnes
• Green Girl: Iyona Blake
• Red Girl: Melissa Berkowitz
• Blue Girl: Sarah Anne Sillers
• Orange Girl: Ashleigh King
• Gwendolyn Holmes: Robert Aubry Davis

Artistic and Design Team

• Director/Composer: Matt Connor
• Choreography: Stephen Gregory Smith
• Music Director/Keyboardist: Mark Deffenbaugh
• Scenic and Costume Designer: Margie Jervis
• Lighting Designer: Joey Wallen
• Sound Technician: Teddy Wiant

Disclaimer: Creative Cauldron provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Synetic Theatre continues to expand its artistic repertoire and unfold beyond the security of its tried-and-true “silent” Shakespeare works. It is a risky, but quite laudatory venture, to continually evolve by stepping out of a comfort zone from time-to-time. After all, a performing arts organization cannot just stand pat, even with successes, for the world can be such a fickle place always looking for the next new pretty thing.

So in an about face from its normal stance, Synetic has taken on the very verbal foolishness of upper-class, bored, supercilious Brits in the late 19th century. One way to describe Synetic’s current production of Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog) is this; it is composed of fuel from a 125-year-old book that turns into an evening of often timeless “pythonesque” sketches along with one deeply affecting scene that could happen right this moment. It is full-up with dialogue.

The comic novella source for the theatrical Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog) is a 1889 book written by Jerome K. Jerome ( 1859-1927). The book remains still in-print with qualities that make it a precursor to “Beyond the Fringe” and “Monty Python” madness.

Under the admirable hand of playwright and director Derek Goldman, the Synetic production is an affectionate, droll affair about a fortnight boating holiday on the Thames River by three, often smug but quite likeable, young male friends and a scrappy fox terrier. There are plenty of unforeseen comic troubles and disruptions along the way.

Three Men features actors new to Synetic including Tim Getman, Rob Jansen and Tom Story. They join Synetic stalwart Alex Mills. They play young men trying to escape from the hustle and bustle of their self-described overworked lives. Here is one character’s description of the stress they live: “goes to sleep at a bank from ten to four each day, except Saturdays, when they wake him up and put him outside at two.”

The production features fine work by Getman as the physically hearty George, Jansen as the reflective Harris who finds church grave yards places of interest, and Story as the instigator and narrator Jerome. Mills is outfitted as Montmorency, a fox terrier with a mind of his own. The story begins by introducing all the characters as they are spending an evening together; drinking, smoking and discussing their various illnesses as they read over the Merck manual of the day. Between their hypochondria and a sense of overwork, a holiday is in order. And so a boating trip up the River Thames and back over for a fortnight is in order. It is to be with physical labor of rowing and camping out-of-doors as a form of recreation. Right!

After packing their things with a mantra “We must not think of the things we could do with, but only of the things that we can’t do without,” they set off. Over the course of the intermission free 100 minutes, they find themselves with regular, less than satisfactory happenstances, usually caused by their own failings and too-proud behavior.

Wanting to open a tin of food they discover they forget to bring an opener. Wanting to freshen up some meat for a meal, they discover they forgot the mustard to make it palatable. The weather does not exactly cooperate as the forecasts are “always wrong.” And then there is an episode about making an Irish stew full of leftovers found in a wicker food hamper with an added dead river rat fetched by their faithful fox terrier. Each of these scenes involves verbal gymnastics with plenty of amusing running about choreographed by Synetic’s resident Helen Hayes awardee choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili.

It is a show with polite humor, “Everything has its drawbacks, as the man said when his mother-in-law died, and they came down upon him for the funeral expenses.” But it is far from just quick humor. One particular scene of sad affect leavens the comedy. Without warning, the men find something floating in the river. “Sometimes, our pain is very deep and real, and we stand…very silent, because there is no language for our pain.”

Ivania Stack’s costume design for the production are an amusing blend of colorful boating attire and natty smoking-room attire done up straw hats and other appropriate regalia including two-tone shoes. Her dog costume for Mills includes pieces such as paws, some here and there body parts and a hat with small pointed ears. Scenic design by Lisi Stoessel begins as a drawing-room and morphs into a small boat as a child would do, moving set pieces about to suggest the presence of a boat. The actors do the moving. The Thames River and shore landmarks are done thought nicely accomplished projections the handwork of Shane O’Laughlin. The projections give off the slow-moving up the Thames. The lighting design is a special joy when night scenes take the audience as far from Crystal City as is doable with delicious magical stars that are projected well beyond the stage area.

Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog) is a leisurely trip “far from the maddening crowds.” It is an easy-going night of entertainment. It is often enough a cheery, feathery production with plenty of chuckles and charm. It is also a tip of the hat to the importance of enduring, intimate friendships to share what life brings, whether good or bad. It is a seductive little piece.

Synetic Theater has successfully moved well beyond its usual formula of “silent” Shakespeare with a light-hearted Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog). This production is an amiable comedy that extends the reach of Synetic’s artistic territory. It may also have you go to YouTube to search for some of your favorite Monty Python routines as well. Nothing wrong with that.

Photo Gallery

Tom Story as Jerome, Tim Getman as George, Rob Jansen as Harris and Alex Mills as Montmorency.	Tom Story as Jerome.
Rob Jansen as Harris and Alex Mills as Montmorency.	Rob Jansen as Harris, Tom Story as Jerome.
Tom Story as Jerome, Alex Mills as Montmorency.	Alex Mills as Montmorency.
Tim Getman as George, Rob Jansen as Harris, Tom Story as Jerome, Alex Mills as Montmorency.	Projections by Shane O’Loughlin.
Alex Mills as Montmorency, Tom Story as Jerome, Rob Jansen as Harris.	Rob Jansen as Harris, Tom Story as Jerome, Alex Mills as Montmorency, Tim Getman as George.

Photos by Koko Lanham

Cast

• George: Tim Getman
• Harris: Rob Jansen
• Montmorency: Alex Mills
• Jerome : Tom Story

Artistic and Design Team

• Written and Directed by Derek Goldman
• Choreographer: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Scenic Design: Lisi Stoessel
• Costume Design: Ivania Stack
• Lighting Design: Brittany Diliberto
• Sound Design/Multimedia Engineer : Thomas Sowers
• Props Master Kasey Hendricks
• Music Director: Joshua Morgan
• Resident Stage Manager: Marley Giggey
• Projections Design: Shane O’Laughlin
• Production Manager: Ann Allan
• Technical Director: Phil Charlwood
• Vocal Coach: Robert Bowen Smith
• Assistant Directors: Alex Miletich & Elena Velasco
• Light Board Operator: Mary Grant
• Assistant Lighting Designer: Zach Dalton
• Wardrobe: Igor Dmitry
• Assistant Stage Managers: Nate Shelton & Sofia Shultz

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

In the polished, strongly sung production of The Threepenny Opera at Signature, there are still stings of social critique from Brecht and Weill that make their marks in the venom-laden book and score.

Signature’s marketing material describes The Threepenny Opera as ,” a satirical commentary on politics, poverty, injustice and corruption at all levels of society. The haves clash with the have-nots while Macheath, the ultimate sneering anti-hero, perches in the middle of the storm.”

With that as a preface, The Threepenny Opera directed by Gardiner (Tender Napalm, Dreamgirls, Really Really) is a work of musical theater artistry. The adaption Gardiner uses is the 1994 work of Robert David MacDonald (book) and Jeremy Sams (lyrics). They moved the originally conceived Brecht and Weill proceedings from its Queen Victoria moorings, to a “not-too-distant future” Great Britain. Queen Elizabeth II has passed away and her grandson, Prince William, is to be crowned King. MacDonald and Sams also added in contemporary cultural references in both book and lyrics.

Threepenny begins with a terrific, gritty brass and reed-centric eight-piece jazz band under the wonderful musical direction of Gabriel Mangiante. The overture brings us into the fray. A dark-haired woman slowly steps into view: dead center. Lights, little by little, come up on her. We are introduced to a seedy world by a street-walker named Jenny (a raw, hooded-eyes, hypnotic Natascia Diaz). She is clearly street-wise, but lost, almost dead in the eyes, as she ever so slowly, enunciates each word, each syllable of the lyrics “The Flick Knife Song” about the crook, rapist, sadist and quick with a knife, Macheath (Mack the Knife).

I simply cannot image being Diaz taking this iconic song on. Jeez, think about the many versions of this song, and the number of artists who have sung it. Diaz had to sweep them away to get the show up and running. She took the audience by its collective neck with one hand to bring them into the rough world of Threepenny Opera. Diaz did that and more. With each word and syllable, her diction pure, her darkly tinged voice drew the audience into her world. She effectively grounded Threepenny Opera.

Then, she dropped her grip and the show went on. Throughout the show, Diaz in her singing and appearances, projects pain and being battered with an “I will get by attitude.” She is not so emotionally broken that she can’t or won’t find ways to strike back at those who did her ill.

We next come to meet the smooth, slick charm of Bobby Smith in his role of Jonathan Peachum, the boss of London’s beggars. A man of self-interest, he takes a cut of each beggar’s take. He is one of Macheath’s adversaries.

A stronger, more vigorous antagonist of Macheath is Mrs. Peachum. Donna Migliaccio gives a delightfully spirited, fare-thee-well to the evils of Mrs. Peachum. With a raspy, well-lived life voice, Migliaccio gives off a special dislike for Macheath. After all he has taken her daughter Polly in marriage. But, even deeper, is Mrs. Peachum’s disdain for marriage in general as she claws through “The Ballad of Sexual Imperative” with its lyrics suggesting marriage as just another form of prostitution.

Soon enough, Macheath appears in the guise of a raffish, supposedly good with a blade, Mitchell Jarvis. Even with inked arms, he did give off shivers in his initial entrance and time with his good-old boy cronies. He came alive later when paired with the women characters such as Polly or Jenny. His brings some comic relief to the whole affair at the top of Act III with his solo “The Ballad of Easy Life.”

The bright-eyed, full-of-life Erin Driscoll is the Peachum’s daughter, Polly. She appears first as an innocent kitten. With a blond, curly bob and her fair-skin, she is set visually against the dark-haired, olive-skinned Diaz as feminine engines of the production. As the play progresses, she reveals her own greedy, tough-minded self, including desires for the right kind of rougher man to bring her fulfillment. When she sings “Pirate Jenny,” first as a tease than as an authentic being, she is a woman truly seeking revenge on those higher up in the economic food chain.

Rick Hammerly is cast as Lucy Brown, another of Macheath’s lovers; a cute touch; just this side of campy. It is an enjoyable moment to watch as Hammerly and Driscoll argue through song and body language over the love of Macheath in “Jealousy Duet” when both show up in the jail where he is locked up. John Leslie Wolfe as Jackie “Tiger” Brown a police inspector on the take gives off a believable corrupted characterization with an air of authority.

The graffiti-strewn scenic design by Misha Kachman at the MAX is a two level affair. The band is on the top level along with characters who sometimes look down upon the main floor with its mixing bowl of action. A moving electronic stock market ticker and neon signage festooned the set. The electronic ticker also crawls with phrases such as “the greatest human force is human selfishness” and “wolves devour sheep.” Rocco DiSanti is credited with the video design. One cunning, contemporary touch is the use of smartphones to take pictures.

Frank Labovitz’s costumes let us know who is who quite readily. There is a thuggish or hip-hop look for some, suits for the rich folk and an assortment of styles. Polly has a saucy outfit and the prostitutes the usual black lingerie.

As The Threepenny Opera ends, loose ends tied up and all is again right with the world, the show closes with a plea for generosity to the less fortunate and the homeless; “For life today is cold and grey and ghastly, And living it is punishment enough.” Strong sentiments indeed, but delivered and missed. Perhaps it is the zeitgeist or the constant 24/7 media cycle of the social media-centric world outside the MAX.

Three Penny is a work of artistic excellence; accessible to a wide-ranging audience. As for raising outrage at economic inequality or the trafficking of women into prostitution; those are much different questions. Are there too many decades since the 1928 Berlin world of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill and their particular type of sharp critique of Capitalism? I wonder what Thomas Piketty author of the current best-seller, “Capital in the Twenty-first Century” might ponder?

Reviewer’s Note: “Mack the Knife” has been recorded as a jazz and pop standard by oodles of performers such as Louis Armstrong, Bobby Darrin, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra to name a few. For your reviewer, I was imprinted with Lotta Lenya who came into my world through my parents, as well as Marianne Faithfull and one who made a very early impression, the late German comedian and actor Wolfgang Neuss used by Ernie Kovacs on his ground-breaking comedy television show from about 1960.

Cast

• Macheath (Mack the Knife): Mitchell Jarvis
• Jenny: Natascia Diaz
• Mr. Peachum: Bobby Smith
• Mrs. Peachum: Donna Migliaccio
• Polly Peachum: Erin Driscoll
• Tiger Brown: John Leslie Wolfe
• Lucy Brown: Rick Hammerly
• Matt of the Mint: Paul Scanlan
• Crook-Finger Jake: Sean Fri
• Chainsaw Bob: Ryan Sellers
• Fitch/Weeping Willow Walter: Aaron Bliden
• Smith/Reverend Kimball : Thomas Adrian Simpson
• Jimmy/Nelly: Jessica Thorne
• Betty: Jamie Eacker
• Vixen: Katherine Renee Turner
• Dance Captain: Jamie Eacker

Musicians

• Conductor/Keyboard: Gabriel Mangiante and Jacob Kidder
• Reed 1: Ben Bokor
• Reed 2: Ed Walters
• Trumpet 1: Chris Walker
• Trumpet 2: Brent Madsen
• Trombone: Adam McColley
• Guitar: Gerry Kunkel
• Percussion: Joe McCarthy

Artistic and Design Team

• Books & Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht
• Music by Kurt Weill
• English translation of dialog by Robert David MacDonald
• English translation of lyrics by Jeremy Sams
• Directed and choreographed by Matthew Gardiner
• Musical Direction by Gabriel Mangiante
• Dialect Direction by Lynn Watson
• Scenic Design by Misha Kachman
• Costume Design by Frank Labovitz
• Wig Design by Anne Nesmith
• Lighting Design by Colin K. Bills
• Sound Design by Lane Elms
• Video Design by Rocco DiSanti
• Production Stage Manager: Kerry Epstein
• Assistant Director and Dramaturg: Paige Kiliany
• Assistant Director: Walter Ware III
• Assistant Stage Manager: Erin C. Patrick

Disclaimer: Signature Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

With Living Out playwright Lisa Loomer found a way to use sharp-edged comedy to give cover to a politically tinged, ultimately tragic tale about child-rearing. As produced by GALA Hispanic Theater, Living Out is chock-full of Sophie’s choices for families deeply affected by their unequal economic and legal relationships.

In the play, written in 2003, Loomer directly asks these types of questions: what is the cost of sacrificing your own child’s well-being to take care of another family’s child? When a mother is overwhelmed who will pay the price? She presents her perspective in the collision of very asymmetrical power relationships between an undocumented Salvadoran mother hired to be the nanny by an up-and-coming Anglo entertainment lawyer and new mother. The two working mothers, both married with working husbands, make any number of uneasy choices to provide better lives for their children.

Playwright Loomer (b. 1956) has received awards for her many works, including the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, and the American Critics Association Award. She has been nominated twice for a Pulitzer Prize and has also received the Imagen Award for positive portrayals of Latinos in media. She was the screen writer for the 1999 movie “Girl, Interrupted.”

Living Out is directed by Abel López, GALA’s Associate Producing Director. “I was drawn to Living Out,” stated López, “because it addresses an issue that affects working women of all races, class, and economic status in our community – entrusting the primary care of their children to someone else.” As a note, the show is in English with Spanish surtitles projected.

For your reviewer, what is striking about Living Out is that it is not full of Washington-based talking points and clichés. It is a street-level view. There are few saints as the characters try to make life the best they can under the circumstances they are in. Loomer does not bludgeon with sharply defined Fox vs. MSNBC points of view, but gives the audience plenty of room to take in the presentation and think for themselves.

The play explores a myriad of issues about the differences of race, class and undocumented status in America. Through the play we witness struggles of mothers and families trying to make it in a pressurized world. With a great big delightful heart, the play also explores the misconceptions between Anglos and Latinos from each of their perspectives. This includes some outrageously diabolical, funny dialogue that leaves no group untouched. Everyone is properly roasted.

Megan Behm plays the Anglo, Nancy. Ana is played by Belen Oyola-Rebaza. The difference in power is made quite visual in the casting of these two actors. Behen towers over Oyola-Rehbaza. As the play progresses, there comes a time when Nancy must deal with an unexpected work situation. She pressures Ana into a decision that she will come to regret.

In her character, Behm projects a progressive sensibility and generosity in her interactions with Ana. Yet, when Ana lets her employer know that she had trained to be a dentist in her native El Salvador, there is a moment of silence as Nancy tries to process the information.

Oyola-Rebaza projects living under constant siege by outside forces; a life beholden to others. When Nancy seems to try to befriend and not just employ Ana, Oyola-Rebaza gives off a nuanced, leery reaction to the offer of friendship.

The two husbands in Living Out while not central, do matter. Each is given a back-story to flesh out the characters. Nancy’s husband is Kyle McGruther, a man who hates a Volvo and unsure of what is wife is going through but supports her. Ana’s husband is Peter Pereyra, a man who wants better for his family, but life has dealt him a bad hand as he struggles to find steady employment at a decent wage.

There is a top-flight ensemble of Anglo mothers and Latina child-care givers. They give effervescent life. They are like back-up singers who provide the rhythm and visual interest standing a few feet behind the lead. Each has a clearly drawn personality. There is Lisa Hodsoll as Wallace, the selfish woman of means who treats non-Anglo’s with disdain. There is Amal Sasde as Linda, the unsure of herself Anglo Mom with a hint of decency. Stefanie Garcia is Sandra, the Latina with a plan to become a citizen and kiss-off her past. Then there is Lorena Sabogal as Zoila. She brought the house down with her delivery and spot-on comic, cynical outlook. Louis CK should pay a visit to see her. She is one tough cookie. She is like a Shakespeare-drawn comic clown.

The set give off detailed visual clues to the various power relationships. There are two small open “houses” in plain sight. They look similar until one peers closer. One has a modern, dropped multi-bulb lighting fixture and a contemporary painting of an almost un-seen Star of David. The other house has a single, un-shaded incandescent bulb on the ceiling with a large cross on the wall. Between the two houses is a sitting area which becomes everything from a living room to benches at a park.

Living Out has plenty of laughter to cover the deep issues it explores with compassion. In this production, even with the best of hearts, the woman and family with the most economic and other power “wins;” leaving the other Salvadoran family left to deal with and mourn their losses.

And, the title? Living Out comes a question asked of Ana and the other nannies. Do you want to live-in and be in the home 24/7 or live at your home and travel each day to care for another’s child.

Living Out is what the GALA marketing material called it. “A comedy with serious relevance to our contemporary society.” It is well worth a visit.

Note: Off-street parking is available at the nearby Giant parking garage on Park Road, NW.

Photo Gallery

Kyle McGruther and Belen Oyola-Rebaza	Belen Oyola-Rebaza and Lorena Sabogal
Belen Oyola-Rebaza and Peter Pereyra	Belen Oyola-Rebaza, Stefanie Garcia, and Lorena Sabogal

Photos by Lonnie Tague

Cast

• Ana: Belén Oyola-Rebaza
• Nancy: Megan Behm
• Bobby: Peter Pereyra
• Sandra: Stefanie García
• Wallace: Lisa Hodsoll
• Richard: Kyle McGruther
• Linda: Amal Saad
• Zoila: Lorena Sabogal

Artistic and Design Team

• Director: Abel Lopez
• Set design : Girogos Tsappas
• Lighting design : Cory Frank Ryan
• Sound Design : Brendon Vierra
• Properties: Pam Weiner.
• Stage Manager: Lena Salins
• Production Manager : Anna Bate
• Producer: Hugo Medrano
• Spanish Translation : Gustavo Ott
• Assistant Technical Director: Linda Di Bernardo
• Master Electrician: Jenny Hall
• Light Board Operator: Lena Salins
• Sound Board Operator: Artemis Lopez
• Surtitles Programmer and Surtitles Operator: Laura Ettabbakh
• Surtitles Operator: Esther Gentile

Disclaimer: GALA Hispanic Theatre provided a complimentary media ticket to ShowBizRadio for this review.