ANYTHING GOES “Front and center in CCM's production are five graduating seniors, and all turn in praiseworthy performances. Beau Landry, Jr., is a solid singer, a smooth dancer, and is an endearing male lead as Billy. As Reno, Lexie Dorsett has a commanding presence and displays strong vocal pipes throughout. Lauren Sprague gives depth to the thinly written role of Hope, thanks to a nuanced portrayal, and sings and dances skillfully. Matt Densky (Moonface) demonstrates deft comic abilities and is deservedly an audience favorite. As Sir Evelyn, Christopher Timson shows off great timing and solid overall talent. These five are part of an outgoing senior class at CCM that is one of the strongest in recent years. Juniors Julie Kavanagh (a fine comedienne who expertly leads several dance numbers as Bonnie), James Gregory Tate (fun as the always annoyed Elijah Whitney) and Carlyn Connolly (a big-voiced Mrs. Harcourt) do well in supporting roles. The ensemble maintains a high energy level and turn in fine portrayals from top to bottom. “Director Ashton Byrum provides fluid staging and wisely ensures that the comedic moments work well. “Anything Goes is mindless fun, and it showcases a brilliant score by Cole Porter. CCM continues to produce students ready for professional careers in theater, which is evident in both their graduating seniors and their younger cast mates in this well performed and effectively staged production.” - Scott Cain, Talkin' Broadway 3/1/2010 "If you’re seeking a good investment for your entertainment dollar, when it comes to musicals, you can’t go wrong with the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). The convergence of talent that sets sail this week in Cole Porter’s Anything Goes makes an especially attractive production, a singing-and-dancing spectacle that was a megahit from the moment it debuted on Broadway in 1934. Today the tale of love affairs and intrigue aboard a cruise ship feels campy, but it’s still a popular musical that gets revived regularly. "Assembling this production are director Ashton Byrum and music director Roger Grodsky. Byrum, master’s degree candidate in directing, has masterminded several memorable shows during his CCM studies: an inventive Godspell, the CEA-nominated Urinetown (2009) and last fall’s powerful staging of Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending; I look forward to his take on a big, classic show.” - Rick Pender, CityBeat 2/23/2010 “Some contemporary theatergoers bemoan today’s lack of tuneful musicals. That’s because of shows like Cole Porter’s 1934 hit, Anything Goes, currently at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Roughly 30 performers (few Broadway musicals today could afford a cast that large) perform tunes that have been standards for decades: 'You’re the Top,' 'It’s De-Lovely,' 'I Get a Kick Out of You,' 'Let’s Misbehave' and 'Blow, Gabriel, Blow' will be stuck in your head for days if you go. "CCM is a rare university to pull off a production like this. The multi-level ocean-liner set, designed by Brian Ruggaber, and the period costumes by grad student Dominique Rhea Glaros perfectly conjure the era of trans-Atlantic crossings. Glaros has used a muted palette that’s just right for the posh folks (and wannabes) aboard the S.S. American. For those who love dancing, choreographer Patti James keeps the ensemble sashaying and tapping from start to finish and director Ashton Byrum assembles great stage pictures for the implausible tales of comic intrigue featuring clownish rich folks, officious crew, laughable crooks and secret loves. "The cast is led by Lexie Dorsett as nightclub singer Reno Sweeney; her earthy, expressive voice is perfect for the role. Beau Landry Jr. brings a fresh-faced cleverness as Billy Crocker, an opportunistic fellow trying to win the heart of young socialite Hope Harcourt, played with a blend of innocence and morality by Lauren Sprague. Matt Densky is a comic sparkplug as Public Enemy No. 13, Moonface Martin, and Julie Kavanaugh is Bonnie, his saucy accomplice. Carlyn Connolly is Hope’s starchy mother, and Chris Timson plays the prissy British fiancé, Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. Most roles are stereotypes, but that’s part of the fun.” - Rick Pender, CityBeat 3/1/2010 “Director Ashton Byrum gives the musical some nice flourishes - he uses the overture to introduce the audience to the characters as they board the liner, all of them letting us know where they fit in the action.” - Jackie Demaline, Cincinnati Enquirer 2/27/2010 ORPHEUS DESCENDING There’s some very interesting theater onstage this weekend, from Cincinnati Shakespeare to the Cincinnati Playhouse, but I’m going to point you at productions on two local university stages, in part because they have short runs and will be over in the next few days. Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros is an absurdist work from 1959. It’s a script that epitomizes “theater of the absurd,” works that advance bizarre premises to make their point. In this case, people in a small town are turning into rhinoceroses. The metamorphosis is a metaphor for giving in to conformity. At Northern Kentucky University, professor Daryl Harris has put together a visually arresting staging of this work that I found entertaining although perhaps a bit busy. Very stylized sets and costumes (especially cartoonish wigs in primary colors on every character) make it intriguing to watch, as well as six actors called “mechanicals” who function as a kind of chorus, although then never speak. Rather, they mirror and mimic action onstage. Performances continue through Sunday afternoon in NKU’s Robert and Rosemary Stauss black box theater. Call 895-572-5464 for tickets ($8-$12). If you prefer more realistic theater, I can warmly recommend the production of Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music. Set in a small Southern town, it’s a story of temptation and repression, a woman in a loveless marriage who is tempted into an affair with a drifting musician. But there’s much more going in, symbolically and literally, as the play is populated with intriguing characters who are wonderfully brought to life by student actors in CCM’s drama program, directed with clear purpose by Ashton Byrum, a graduate student in directing. I was especially taken by the script’s poetic language which enhances the characters’ humanity and emotion in the most affecting way. Performances run through Saturday evening in the Cohen Family Studio Theater. Call 513-556-4183 for free tickets. Both plays are a half-century old, but I had never seen either one. Don’t miss a chance to catch one of these rarities. GODSPELL AT UC'S COLLEGE-CONSERATORY OF MUSIC A personal story, part of which you already know, I suspect: GODSPELL was conceived by John-Michael Tebelak, a Cleveland native who wrote the script as his master’s thesis at Carnegie-Mellon University around 1970. After a two-week, 10-performance run at Café La Mama in NYC in February 1971, it opened Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre in May of that year as a musical with new melodies by a young composer, Stephen Schwartz. (It was just a year after Jesus Christ Superstar had more or less defined the concept of “rock musical,” although that work was as pretentious as GODSPELL was good-hearted and down-to-earth.) The Off-Broadway production moved to the Promenade Theatre on August 10, 1971, where it became one of the longest-running Off-Broadway shows of all time. (It moved to Broadway in June 1976 and ran for another 15 months, until September 1977 – more than 2,600 total performances in New York.) Here’s where I come in: I graduated from college in 1971. For several years I had subscribed to the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, presented in the Lakewood Civic Auditorium, on Cleveland’s West Side. John Michael Tebelak’s CMU adviser, Lawrence Carra, was GLSF’s artistic director. On August 11, 1971, the day after GODSPELL moved to its Off-Broadway theater, I went to see the opening night of the first non-Shakespearean work ever presented by the 10-year-old Shakespeare Festival. It was GODSPELL. So I actually had the opportunity to see it almost simultaneously to its Off-Broadway opening! Here’s part of a review from a Cleveland newspaper.
As you might imagine, I bring some personal baggage and interest to seeing the same show again, almost 37 years later at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. I’ve probably witnessed a half-dozen productions of GODSPELL over the years, including a staging of it at CCM’s Hot Summer Nights program in 1988. The original production — and the one I saw in Cleveland — had the 10-member cast made up as “God’s fools,” wearing clown makeup and attire. After three decades, that approach seems a little shopworn, although it’s certainly consistent with Tebelak’s inventive story-telling approach to the Gospel of Matthew and its many parables. For its recent CCM production, director Ashton Byrum took a different approach — they were young people arriving in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, finding themselves in a ruined public library, now functioning as a volunteer center for Habitat for Humanity. The space had a few random library tables and chairs, in addition to boxes of stuff that become handy props — and, conveniently, a still functional grand piano draped in plastic. (Well, we have to suspend our disbelief a little, right?) I should quickly note that Byrum’s staging of GODSPELL is what CCM calls an “unsupported” production. What that really means is that director and cast are pretty much on their own — minimal lighting and tech support, no scenic designer, costumes and props scavenged from wherever. The truth of the matter is that New Orleans is similarly “unsupported,” so the parallels between what CCM could provide and what would be found in Louisiana were useful — and the sense of a city being resurrected offered a context for the Biblical tales that felt more resonant with contemporary events. More contemporary threads were added to this production with improvised remarks by the cast members and occasional interpolations of current musical references. Rather than intrusive, such elements seemed quite natural. The only place where the analogy breaks down — as it does in every production of GODSPELL, I believe — is the latter half of the second act with the recreation of Christ’s betrayal and crucifixion, story elements that take us back more literally and specifically to Matthew’s Gospel. The conceptual overlay gets wobbly at this point, unless you construe Jesus and New Orleans as both suffering and anticipating resurrection. Nonetheless, for most of this production, the parallels worked just fine. That’s thanks to a particularly coherent ensemble of performers, led by Erik Altemus as a heartfelt and vulnerable Jesus who is also a firm teacher and leader. Andrew Chappelle was especially ebullient as John the Baptist (and his evil twin, Judas). Following the “Tower of Babble” prologue — which worked especially well in a ruined library full of books — Altemus’ resonant voice singing “Prepare Ye” assembled the players. He baptized them with a rag and a large container of fresh water, something likely to be in short supply in New Orleans. That song set an energetic tone for the entire production, especially with Byrum’s inventive choreography and the cast’s vibrant dancing.. I especially appreciated the fact that this production — “unsupported” through and through — was presented without a sound system. The singers voices were completely audible in the Cohen Family Studio Theater, and they were never over-powered by David Gardos’ piano accompaniment. It made for one of the best, most natural sounding performances I’ve heard at CCM, and offered a further demonstration of the young singers’ voices. One of the best things about GODSPELL for training program like CCM is that it provides many opportunities for ensemble members to step forward and be showcased. Ashley Patricia Burns rendered the show’s best known song, “Day By Day,” with feeling; her devilish comic presence and contagious laugh was an added enhancement throughout the production. Petite Halle Morse is a fine dancer, and her singing skills were came to the fore during her rendition of “Learn Your Lessons Well.” Mia Gentile, a freshman, showed tons of acting and singing presence, both in her featured number, “O, Bless the Lord, My Soul,” and in numerous comic vignettes. Liberty Cogan did a great job of vamping up “Turn Back, O Man,” making a foray into the audience to entice a few of the men with aisle seats; she also had the audience laughing with her timely finger-cymbal punctuation of salient points in Jesus’ parables. Garret Hawe’s cherubic presence was especially appropriate for the heartfelt, hymn-like “All Good Gifts.” Beau Landry Jr.’s “We Beseech Thee” was both heartfelt and humorous (perhaps his New Orleans roots made this number and production all the more personal for him). Blakely Slaybaugh showed off his dancing skills on numerous occasions, but his singing and acting earned laughs and poignant reactions at various moments, too, from “Light of the World” to “On the Willows.” Alaina Mills contributed lovely vocals to “Light of the World,” and she and Gentile provided a rendition of “By My Side” that was as lovely as any I can recall. Having made all these observations about individuals, however, I want to close with comments about the ensemble. GODSPELL is about working together, especially in the parable re-creations. The cast handled Byrum’s imaginative staging confidently, responding to each challenge with vocal variety and physical cleverness. (I presume some of these came through improvisation in the rehearsal process.) Using the props at hand, they kept the stories moving — I’ve seen productions where these elements become tedious, but not at CCM — and engaging. To a performer, the cast executed the energetic choreography with vigor, precision and good-natured enjoyment. In fact, that’s an essential quality of making GODSPELL a success, it seems to me: The audience needs to feel the performers’ joy and commitment to the material. That happened with this production. To wrap up, I want to observe that this “unsupported” production of GODSPELL demonstrated the essence of good theater: It used invention and committed performers, with no reliance on anything but talent, to present a performance that connected totally with its audience. Good work!
URINETOWN: THE REVIEW Nine years after the smart-ass, post-modern musical Urinetown turned heads at the New York Fringe Festival, seven years following its successful voyage to Broadway and three Tony Awards, it finally arrived at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. It’s a fascinating piece of musical theater that makes fun of the foundations of musical theater. Actor Daniel Marcus, who played Officer Barrel on Broadway, once said in an interview, “I call it a love letter to the American musical — in the form of a grenade.” How could a show about a water shortage that made possible an unholy marriage between rampant capitalism and corrupt government become an entertaining piece of theater? Much of the show’s success is due to its willingness to satirize its own theatrical conventions and not take itself seriously: The official slogan of the original production, after all, was “An appalling idea, fully realized.” CCM’s production was an apt reminder that this show is not only a fine opportunity for creative theatrical energy, it’s an encyclopedic reminder of what’s made for great musical theater over the past half-century — with built-in safety valves in the form of ironically detached remarks from the narrator Officer Lockstock and his naïve but knowing foil, Little Sally. So let me begin simply by saying, “Hello there. And welcome to Urinetown — the Review.” Director Ashton Byrum faced the daunting task of taking a highly conceived and stylized show and trying to create a production that would be more than simply imitative of the successful original. With Chelsea Barker’s energetic choreography and a free-wheeling approach that accommodated the interpolation of contemporary humor — wholly in keeping, I should add, with Urinetown’s original spirit — I believe he succeeded. While the show does not need a realistic set, it does require an ambience that’s in keeping with the bare-bones nature of the story: Clifton Chadick’s industrial strength scenic design and Benjamin Spencer’s dramatically exaggerated lighting provided exactly the right backdrop for a show that’s fueled by the way it targets the icons and traditions of drama and musical theater. From the get-go, we know that this is a tongue-in-cheek piece — an absurd topic that’s sung seriously. The actors move from being strewn about the stage during the opening number to a coherent ensemble that challenges the audience with their faces garishly lit by footlights as they come as close as possible to the front row of attendees. Targeting theatrical monuments begins early and continues fast and furious throughout Urinetown. As Pa Strong is hauled off to his demise by Officers Lockstock and Barrel, he cries out to his son Bobby, “Remember me!” — the very words that Hamlet’s father uses to urge him to acts of vengeance in Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. But Pa is no king — he’s a man who’s just peed on the wall, violating an ordinance prohibiting public urination. That’s a quick example of how Urinetown both pokes fun at and rides on the crest of theatrical rules. We’re constantly reminded that we’re watching “the musical” — not the real place. The straight-faced explication of obvious rules musicals (focus on one big thing, rather than a lot of little things) reminds us of the show’s wicked sense of humor. The patronizing conversations between Officer Lockstock and Little Sally distill these moments to a comic art form. Patrick Martin’s know-it-all Lockstock, with a witty spit curl just beneath his policeman’s cap, and the precocious Sally, played by Halle Morse, with a cynical sense of the obvious but yearning for the traditional — their back-and-forth lays a foundation for the ironic humor that is Urinetown’s lifeblood. The biggest theatrical convention that is poked fun at, of course, is the convention of true love and emotional openness that pervades most traditional musicals. In Urinetown — the musical — each song takes a big swing at some sacred cow. Love songs are especially vulnerable: Lisa Weiner’s Hope Cladwell, the ultimate distillation of the ingénue, is performed with marvelous, wide-eyed wonder. The rebellious, idealistic (dare I say traditional?) musical theater hero, Bobby Strong, is interpreted with verve and a sense of arch self-knowledge by Alex Aguilar. When he and Hope sing “Follow Your Heart”, the number quickly dissolves into graphic, clinical biology. (I loved the roll-around ladder when Hope snapped the brake to punctuate her interest in Bobby. It’s another moment when the stage conventions are used in an overt way to satirize and build on the conventions. Hope is not, in fact, quite as modest as she seems.) When dead Bobby’s last words, “Tell Her I Love Her,” are reported to Hope — he stands on a platform above with soap bubbles wafting around him — the vapid sentimentality of such numbers in more traditional works is obvious. Similarly, the convention of upbeat inspirational numbers like “Run, Freedom, Run!” are turned on their ear — in the “actual hotness of battle.” The song’s manic energy elevates to a tightly performed but completely hokey choral section. And as the tale draws to a close, “I See A River” offers blatantly obvious imagery of flowing water and freedom, extended to a ridiculous extreme. The CCM cast jumped into this river with both feet and bathed in the comic results. Urinetown also offers great opportunities for performers to show their diversity, since many of them need to play multiple roles. I especially appreciated Blakely Slaybaugh as the hapless Old Man Strong and the crazed Hot Blades Harry; with Megan Campanile as Little Becky Two Shoes and Chelsea Barker’s energetic choreography (more exciting than I recall in any Urinetown I’ve seen: the clipboards extolling C-A-L-D-W-E-L-L were a clever touch, for instance), they made the opening scenes of the second act especially fun to watch. Ryan Ruge’s Caldwell B. Cladwell at first troubled me because he looked too young — grey temples aren’t enough, although the cutaway coat and silk vest were nice costume touches. But by the time he sang “Don’t Be the Bunny,” I was totally in his avaricious grasp. The UGC scenes provided good showcases for the cast’s versatility, especially with Barker as a Sarah Palin look-alike (the “maverick” line was priceless!). Marisa Douenias took the one-note Ma Strong role and gave it some dimension, and Chris Timson did the same with Senator Fipp. The evening’s most thrilling vocal moments came from Mia Gentile as Penelope Pennywise. From her powerful rendition of the mock anthem, “It’s a Privilege to Pee,” to her contribution to “Why Did I Listen To That Man?” (a number that reminds me of the “Tonight” quintet from West Side Story), she was completely in charge of her character, her music and her scenes. She had a full sense of her caricatured role and played it consistently and grandly from start to finish. Urinetown is one of my favorite pieces of musical theater, even if the title is awful. “But the music is so happy!” CCM’s production reminded me why I enjoy it so much!
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