Jordan Wright
February 7, 2012
Special to The Alexandria Times
 James Alexander, James T. Lane, Zurin Villanueva, Aisha de Haas, Debra Walton Photo credit: C. Stanley Photography Josephine Tonight hurtles the down the track at lightning speed with a fast-paced, musical bonanza about the legendary Josephine Baker’s early life and meteoric show biz career, beginning with her days as a street performer and on to Harlem’s Cotton Club and the Folies Bergere. Broadway veterans Sherman Yellen, who wrote the book and lyrics; the late Wally Harper, who composed the show; and the megawatt choreographer, Maurice Hines, who took on the additional role of director in this world premiere production. Working with a cast of five seasoned actors, whose bios read like a New York playbill and who play over a dozen roles between them, Hines and co-director Mel Johnson, Jr. bring this dazzling show to Alexandria’s MetroStage.
DC area theatre buffs will remember Hines won a Helen Hayes award in 2009 for his choreography of Cool Papa’s Party at MetroStage and the following year starred in the blockbuster Sophisticated Ladies at the Lincoln Theatre.
 Aisha de Haas as Big Bertha Smith - Photo credit: C. Stanley Photography The story of Josephine Baker’s life is complex and riveting. A bleak childhood on the mean streets of East St. Louis at the turn of the 20th century didn’t provide many avenues to success for a lanky black girl whose mother was a laundress and whose grandmother a slave in South Carolina.
When we meet Josie, “my little blackbird” as her mama calls her, the tough and willful teenager is dancing the chicken strut in front of the local Piggly Wiggly, busking for nickels and dimes and, “Shakin’ her bottom and tossin’ her top,” as the scandalized Reverend Loomis tells Josephine’s mother. Enter The Jolly Jones Family, a minstrel troupe who teach her the ropes and whisk her off with her mama’s approval to play black vaudeville houses on ‘The Sharecropper’s Circuit’.
As Josephine Baker, Zurin Villanueva (who last tread the local boards in Crowns at Arena Stage) has all the right sass as she taps, struts and slinks into your heart with the ferocity of a lioness, capturing Baker’s persona from gangly teen to the toast of Paris. Her sinuous interpretation of Baker’s notorious banana dance in a skirt of the waxy fruit and a top of marshmallow-sized coconuts, is mesmerizing.
Aisha De Haas, another veteran of Ain’t Misbehavin’, (are you feelin’ the Fats Waller vibe yet?) plays two characters that are polar opposites, Baker’s mother, Carrie, and Big Bertha Smith, her confidante and mentor, yet she segues seamlessly between them. Her voice is a rich blend of powerhouse gospel, blues and red-hot sizzle, and when she delivers the number “Pretty Is” in the second act, it’s guaranteed she’ll rip your heart out.
With smooth Astaire-like steps, precise and lightening quick, and a tender soulful voice in his rendering of the song “Never Thought I’d Find You Tonight”, James T. Lane displays elegant restraint playing both Eddie, Baker’s first love, and Paul, her Parisian Pygmalion, who introduces Josephine to a life of luxury and sophistication.
 Zurin Villanueva and James T. Lane as Josephine Baker and husband Eddie Baker - Photo credit: C. Stanley Photography The small adaptive cast is rounded out by the high-energy super-adorable Debra Walton (Broadway veteran of Ain’t Misbehavin’) and the old-school cool James Alexander.
Settle in for more than two dozen terrific toe-tapping numbers backed by arranger, conductor and pianist David Alan Bunn and a five-piece band whose members have played for the greatest names in the music business from Aretha Franklin and Jennifer Holiday to Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.
Josephine Tonight is sheer entertainment from start to finish with all the delicious ingredients to fast track it to Broadway – joke-cracking, high-stepping, hard times and love songs featuring a strong cast that delivers its emotional heat with heart and soul.
Through March 18th at MetroStage 1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria, 22314. For tickets and information visit www.metrostage.org.
Jordan Wright
January 17th, 2012
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Amy Conley (Rona Lisa Perretti) and Jeff Davis (Vice Principal Douglas Panch) - Photos by Shane Canfield For those of us whose middle school memories harken to a time of anxieties, crushing insecurities and the dread of not fitting in, have I got a musical for you! The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will remind you that you have plenty of avatars in the challenging world of teenage angst. Dorks, dweebs, do-gooders and overachievers will be your new BFFs in this uproarious production featuring the oddball world of spelling bee competitions. (Note to parents of aspiring qualifiers: The annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is held right here in Washington, DC.)
That the characters in this musical are decidedly unique doesn’t get in the way of composer William Finn and conceptualizer Rebecca Feldman tapping into universal neuroses. We really do feel their pain, squirming and agonizing over obscure words like capybara or hasenpfeffer. Can you use that in a sentence?
The twist is that four actual audience members are brought on stage to join the “bee”. Opening night had the beautiful blonde theatre reviewer, Jeanne Theismann, who when introduced by Vice Principal Panch, was skewered with an intro as, “the cheerleader who hopes to marry the quarterback,” a reference to her ex-husband former Washington Redskin, Joe Theismann. She played along good-heartedly till her elimination when Panch declared, “All the 7th Grade boys are in love with this brunette!” Gales of laughter from the in-on-the-joke audience.
 Carl Williams (Mitch Mahoney), Josh Goldman (Leaf Coneybear), Eric Hughes (Chip Tolentino), Matt Williams (William Barfee), Claire O’Brien (Marcy Park), Maureen Rohn (Olive Ostrovsky), Emily “EJ” Jonas (Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere), and Amy Conley (Rona Lisa Perretti) Photos by Shane Canfield Along with the six quirky students and their super-cool, jive-talking professional “Comfort Counselor”, Mitch Mahoney (Carl Williams), they share the stage with Vice Principal Douglas Paunch (Jeff Davis) and Secretary Rona Lisa Peretti (Amy Conley).
You’ll meet Chip (Eric Hughes) whose budding adolescent crush will dredge up all the awkwardness of early testosterone unpredictability and Logianne Schwartzandgrubenniere (Emily “E. J.” Jonas), a goofy pig-tailed Catholic School conformist who boasts a pair of bossy dads. Her fail-safe technique: To pre-spell words on her arm.
And then there’s the pretty and terminally insecure, Olive Ostrovsky (Maureen Rohn), whose abandonment by her ashram-trotting mother and distant father, bonds her with a dictionary. Olive talks into her hand to puzzle out the words, while the user-friendly, Leaf Coneybear (Josh Goldman) has successful eleventh-hour visions for memory aids. Leaf is home-schooled and makes his own capes. Are you reading a Charles Shultzian presence yet?
For the sestalingual Marcy Park (Claire O’Brien), rocking her cheerleader outfit, it’s all tediously beneath her. The hyper-accomplished, classical piano playing, baton-twirler informs us, “I’m sick and tired of being the best!”
And you’ll want to meet the adorably gawky William Barfee (Matt Williams), “It’s pronounced Bar-fey, ”he corrects, employing the Gallic accent aigu. He’s the personification of teenage bluff and bluster and a shoo-in representative for the Lollipop Guild. But his peanut allergies seem to get the best of him until he’s given the word “antihistamine”. “Luck of the draw,” he stammers before acing it.
 Maureen Rohn (Olive Ostrovsky) and Amy Conley (Rona Lisa Perretti) - Photos by Shane Canfield Crack cast members nail their character’s kooky persona to the letter, and the entire hyper-talented bunch sing their faces off through thirteen riotous numbers. Watch for ingénue Maureen Rohn who tears the roof off with the heart-breaking “The I Love You Song”.
Producer Mary Beth Smith-Toomey, Director Frank D. Shutts II, and Music Director Christopher Tomasino can add another notch to Little Theatre’s long-standing mega-repertoire of successes!
At The Little Theatre of Alexandria 600 Wolfe Street through February 4th. For tickets and information call 703 683-0496 or visit www.thelittletheatre.com.
Jordan Wright
December 11, 2011
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Brandon DeGroat (Ghost of Christmas Present) and Marcus Fisk (Scrooge) The Little Theatre of Alexandria celebrates the holiday season with a return of Charles Dickens’ heartwarming classic A Christmas Carol. An endearing portrait of mid-nineteenth century England, the age-old tale features Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly Victorian humbug, who travels with ghostly guides through Christmas past, present, and future to find the true meaning of the holidays. Replete with special effects, lavish Victorian costumes and the ever-precious Tiny Tim, this family-friendly seasonal reprise is drawn from the original text and perfectly adapted for the stage by Donna Ferragut. Under Robin Parker’s smooth direction this holiday special sparkles like freshly fallen snow.
A Christmas Carol runs through December 18th. For tickets and information call 703 683-0496 or visit www.TheLittleTheatre.com.
 Brandon DeGroat (Ghost of Christmas Present) and Marcus Fisk (Scrooge) |
 Full Cast |
Jordan Wright
November 28, 2011
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Dan (Brian Sutherland) and Jenna (Diane Sutherland) both admiring a Rothko painting at the Museum of Modern Art in "A Second Chance". At Virginia’s Signature Theatre through December 11, 2011. www.signature-theatre.org. Photo: Christopher Mueller. Not only is this delicious show a world premiere, but it also marks the auspicious debut of a new talent, Ted Shen, a businessman and arts patron that might better qualify for full retirement. That he is celebrating the opening of his first show as writer, composer and lyricist, is rather astounding, unless you notice that his bio reveals he is a Taiwanese financier educated at the posh
Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University and foundation president and board member for both Yale University and the Art Commission of the City of New York. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Shen’s foundation has also provided funding support for major productions by Stephen Sondheim, who happens to be Mr. Shen’s musical theatre hero. But whatever his curriculum vitae or his tony connections his breakthrough musical, A Second Chance, can more than stand on its own two legs.
Billed as a lyrical duet the musical is a modern love affair as much for its characters as its audience. Two top-drawer Broadway stars, Brian and Diane Sutherland, sing rather than speak their parts. Both have the most exquisitely controlled, pitch perfect voices that gently express the emotional dynamics of a budding relationship. Jenna, coming off a divorce, gives voice to her demons in “Damaged Goods”. She is broken and unsure of their new love, especially since Dan is a recent widower and photos of his late wife fill his apartment. Dan is still communicating telepathically with his dearly departed, seeking approval to pursue his new life and love of Jenna. In an effort to break with the past he sings, “Tell Me When.”
A simple stage set with clear plexiglass chairs and tables allow the audience to mesh with each scene change while following the
progression of the mid-life couple’s personal evolution. Projected black and white photos of New York’s Central Park, his brownstone and her therapist’s office, afford a simple sense of place. And that’s enough because it’s all about the music here – lush atmospheric songs by an astonishing songwriter whose elegant stylings borrow from the Sondheim tradition with shades of Judy
Collins and The Fantasticks. Top notch musicians capture the mood for a New York evening as familiar as a martini served straight up while basking at The Oak Room at The Plaza or listening to Bobby Short at the Café Carlyle.
Enchantingly sophisticated and emotionally aware.
Through December 11th at Signature Theatre – 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA in the Shirlington neighborhood. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.signature-theatre.org.
Jordan Wright
November 28, 2011
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Natalie Berk as Juliet and Alex Mills as Romeo - Photo Credit: Graeme B. Shaw Deck the halls with lots of show tunes for MetroStage’s A Broadway Christmas Carol. This delicious dose of Christmas spoof playing through December 18th highlights holiday irreverence with a hilarious and campy send up of Charles Dicken’s classic tale featuring 31 well-known Broadway show tunes, 23 wig changes, 20 separate costume changes and 4 sprightly cast members.
At MetroStage – 1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria, VA. For tickets and information call 1 800 494-8497 or visit www.metrostage.org.
Jordan Wright
November 28, 2011
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Natalie Berk as Juliet and Alex Mills as Romeo - Photo Credit: Graeme B. Shaw When Artistic Director Paata Tsikurishvili asked in his intro, “How many of you have been to a Synetic production before?” and half the audience’s hands shot up, even he was as surprised as the rest of us converts to this exciting brand of physical theatre. My seat neighbors, a mother and daughter who were Paraguayan, asked me if the play was silent. I could hardly wait to see their reactions after the show. (In a small world moment they were just as amazed to see a fellow countryman in the production.)
A giant swaying pendulum is the symbol Synetic Theater presents to describe the inconvenient passage of time in its recent remount of their celebrated and multiple Helen Hayes-awarded production of Romeo and Juliet. Time, as shown by the inner workings of a clock with its individual gears heaving forth and trapping the players in its relentless grip, becomes a metaphor for life. It is a powerful and intriguing image – a ‘time monster’ that gobbles up both the innocent and the guilty – and it is repeated throughout as the characters spin in and out among the moving parts.
As the last in Synetic’s “Speak No More” trilogy of silent Shakespeare plays, it is a clear departure from the more grisly Othello and Macbeth that preceded it. So it is refreshing when in place of the clash of swords the only sound the audience hears echoing off the back seats are kisses. There are kisses of endearment from the Nanny to Juliet, Juliet’s father Lord Capulet to her, and Friar Laurence who plants a paternal kiss on Romeo’s pate. And yes, you can hear each one. But the kisses and lovemaking between Romeo and Juliet are the most unforgettably electrifying exchanges.
In a radical interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic tale, Synetic explores the physicality and raw emotionality of Romeo and Juliet’s love. At their first meeting they mirror each other’s emotions, swaying together as they fluidly synch their movements.
With flashing spotlights alternating from all sides of the stage, we witness the lovers arriving in their bedchamber after their wedding vows. The scene progresses to a single-beamed and scrim-silhouetted vignette of a languorous and erotic danse d’amour. Director Paata Tsikurishvili opts to play up the lovers’ passions, drawing the audience in with the use of sensuality and playfulness. Yet ever present are the insinuating gears, twisting and turning, screeching and clacking, marking time for the fated lovers.
When Ryan Sellers makes his entrance as the villainous Tybalt, using arrogance and swagger, he transforms the masked ball scene in the second act from one of merriment and celebration to one of impending danger and we see the tension between the families arise as Lord Capulet steps in to put an end to his fight with Romeo.
The street scene in which the Nurse (played by the enchantingly feisty Irina Tsikurishvili) goes to deliver a message to Romeo and meets up with Mercutio is also fraught with raw sexuality. Phillip Fletcher (Mercutio) comes off as a delicious scoundrel in a lengthy battle between the sexes. But she gives as good as she gets and his abuse is trumped in a complex fight scene between the two with the Nurse coming out on top with a wink and a nod to women power.
The gorgeous Fredericksburg, VA actor Alex Mills brings a sexy vitality to the role of Romeo in perfect counterbalance to the exquisite Natalie Berk as Juliet, who embodies the quintessence of innocence with her delicate lithesome grace. To support the dancers with powerful background music Sound Designer Irakli Kavsadze interweaves mesmerizing electronica and waltzes along with Gregorian chants to transition scenes from violence to passion.
If you’ve never seen Synetic Theater’s productions, and apparently there are a few who haven’t, don’t miss this one.
Through December 23rd at Synetic Theater, 1800 South Bell Street, Arlington, VA in Crystal City – For tickets and information call 1 800 494-8497 or visit www.synetictheater.org.
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