Jordan Wright
December 22, 2016
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Florence Lacey (Ida Straus) and John Leslie Wolfe (Isidor Straus) in Titanic at Signature Theatre through January 29. Photo by Christopher Mueller Titanic is a story of man’s inability to predict the ramifications, and limitations, of state-of-the-art technology. It is a tale of an ocean liner made of 46,000 tons of steel, measuring eleven stories high and one thousand feet long, that went down in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912 carrying some of the wealthiest families in America who were aboard her maiden voyage. That there were young men and women of Irish and English descent seeking their fortunes in the New World, and others who believed they and the ship were invincible, is an equal part of this historic maritime tragedy.
Referred to as “a ship of dreams” and a “human metropolis” the Titanic is nowhere to be seen in Director Eric Shaeffer’s version of the musical by Writer Peter Stone and Composer/Lyricist Maury Yeston. But that doesn’t keep us from sensing its vast power and scale and immersing ourselves in the drama that played out on the high seas.
 Christopher Bloch (Captain E.J. Smith), Nick Lehan (Harold Bride), Lawrence Redmond (J. Bruce Ismay), and Bobby Smith (Thomas Andrews) in Titanic at Signature Theatre through January 29. Photo by Christopher Mueller Re-imagining the Tony Award-winning musical, Schaeffer and Set Designer, Paul Tate dePoo III, give us a theatre-in-the-round that utilizes five steel gangways that reflect the massive scale of the multi-level luxury liner. This creates a more intimate experience for the audience. It also allows many of the 38 performers to remain in clear sight and in equal hearing range producing a magnificent harmonic convergence of vocal heft. We have Choreographer Matthew Gardiner to thank for that too, as the players climb the ramps and position themselves at different heights to sing their numbers. It is the most effective use of a theatre-in-the-round stage I’ve ever seen.
Particularly haunting is the 17-piece band perched on a separate elevated catwalk in full view of the audience. Led brilliantly by Conductor James Moore, their constant presence is reminiscent of how they sacrificed their lives to play for the remaining passengers as the behemoth was devoured by the sea.
 Sam Ludwig (Frederick Barrett) and Stephen Gregory Smith (Stoker) in Titanic at Signature Theatre through January 29. Photo by Christopher Mueller. The story delves into not just one love story but many – the John Jacob Astors played by Matt Connor and Jamie Eaker and a touching story of romance below decks played by the exceptional Katie McManus (as Kate McGowan) and Hassani Allen (as Jim Farrell). Other couples are revealed to have secrets – Lady Caroline Neville’s (Iyona Blake) illicit love affair with Charles Clarke (Chris Sizemore) and Alice Beane’s (Tracy Lynn Olivera) disappointment in her husband’s inferior social standing.
Ryan Hickey’s sound design keeps us in mind of traveling on a ship through the atmospheric use of fog horns, bells, and the slamming of the coal stokers’ fiery oven doors. Another effective touch is Frank Labowitz’s turn of the century navy blue gowns, feathered picture hats and simple frocks, and Amanda Zieve’s suspended Edison lightbulbs and understage blue lights, keeping us in mind of a ship sailing over the sea.
 Stephen Gregory Smith, Katie McManus and the cast in Titanic at Signature Theatre through January 29. Photo by Colin Hovde But what keeps us in a state of high anxiety is the blame game and what-ifs between the Captain (Christopher Bloch), the ship’s owner J. Bruce Ismay (Lawrence Redmond), the ship’s master William Murdoch (Kevin McAllister) and the ship’s architect Thomas Andrews played spectacularly by Bobby Smith, as they wonder what they could have done differently and who’s at fault.
Ultimately as the ship goes down, and we knew it would, the drama is no less palpable, and we are drawn hook, line and sinker into the tragedy of despair and dashed dreams of the hundreds of lives lost. It’s a visceral experience and Yeston’s heart-stopping score rises up to meet it.
Highly recommended. A triumph!
Through January 29th at Signature Theatre (Shirlington Village), 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.signature-theatre.org.
 The cast of Titanic at Signature Theatre through January 29. Photo by Paul Tate DePoo III
Jordan Wright
December 19, 2016
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Amanda Jane Cooper as Glinda – photo by Joan Marcus The Stephen Schwartz (Composer)/Winnie Holzman (Book) collaboration on Wicked presents us with a fresh interpretation of the classic L. Frank Baum book “The Wizard of Oz”. In this version Glinda the Good Witch is arch-frenemies with Elphaba the wicked witch.
We learn how they met as young girls at sorcerer’s school and how Elphaba became a vengeful witch. “Are people born wicked? Or do they just have it thrust on them?” Simply stated, it delves into life lessons that the book never addressed.
I saw this production several years ago at Kennedy Center and it left me flat – so I was less than enthusiastic about a return viewing. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded. That afternoon I became as rabid a fan as many in the audience who have reveled in its music and redemptive story line many times over. Straight up, this is a fantastic production of Wicked. What’s different? Let’s check those boxes, shall we?
Amanda Jane Cooper as Glinda – A cross between Reese Witherspoon (think Elle in “Legally Blonde”) and Kristin Chenoweth who originated the role on Broadway. Bubbly appeal and killer comedic talent matched only by her soaring soprano voice. A smashingly good witch with excellent sorcery credentials.
Jessica Vosk as Elphaba – A fearless, verdigris witch-with-a-heart who manages to make sisterhood with your fiercest enemy look appealing. Her powerful, spot on vocal range will give you goose bumps. After all, she’s reprising Idina Menzel’s role in the original. She has to be THAT GOOD!
Isabel Keating as Madame Morrible – There’s nothing horrible about Madame Morrible, except her ability to cower children and perhaps her skill at malaprops. Keating brings posh poise to the role of headmistress and sorcery cohort of the Wizard.
 Jeremy Woodard as Fiyero & Jessica Vosk as Elphaba. Photo by Joan Marcus Jeremy Woodard as Fiyero (the Prince) – For his good looks, swagger and savoir faire. Another killer voice that brings it home in spades.
Fred Applegate as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – A spit-and-polish old school wizard whose endearing charm balances out all the evil he conjures up. “I told them the lies they wanted to hear.” Sound familiar?
Kristen Martin as Nessarose – For her ability to transition seamlessly from loving sister to vindictive enemy.
 Chad Jennings as Doctor Dillamond – photo by Joan Marcus Chad Jennings as Doctor Dillamond – The caprine professor with empathy. He’ll pave a path into your heart while teaching about the dangers of discrimination.
Since this is such a huge production with so many atmospheric elements – flying monkeys, inclement weather (cyclone and thunder!), giant pendulums, and silver dragons with glowing eyes notwithstanding – it’s crucial the gears mesh seamlessly. And they do.
Kenneth Posner on Lighting – Gives us hairy and scary in equal doses.
Susan Hilferty on Costumes – The best and most sparkly ever.
Tom Watson on Wigs – For towering pompadours and saucy curls.
Eugene Lee on Sets – Brighter, greener, more technically sophisticated and lavish than ever.
Highly recommended.
Through January 8th at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St., NW, Washington, DC. For tickets and information call 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
Jordan Wright
December 15, 2016
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Irina Tsikurishvili, the Witch – Photo Credit: Johnny Shryock A rather streamlined presentation of what we’ve come to expect from Synetic Theater’s no-dialogue series, is Sleeping Beauty. We half-mad aficionados of this famed Georgian troupe have been spoiled by a cast of thousands (well at least more than the ten cast members we have here), extraordinary water features, terrifying physical battles and surprisingly innovative visuals. But for this incarnation of the classic fairy tale written by Charles Perrault, later reinterpreted by the Brothers Grimm, we will have to be satisfied with a more balletic approach by a Prince played by veritable heartthrob and company member, Zana Gankhuyag, and his inamorata, Briar Rose, played by the delicate-as-a-feather Eliza Smith. Notwithstanding our immodest expectations, there is a sort of magic in the simplicity of Director Paata Tsikurishvili’s version and its brand of story-driven fantasy.
 Eliza Smith, Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) and Zana Gankhuyag, the Prince Photo Credit: Johnny Shryock Paata envisions the Witch, played wonderfully by real-life wife, Irina Tsikurishvili, as a sympathetic creature haunted by the destruction of the forest and its animal denizens by the king’s huntsmen. Leaning heavily on moral relativism to re-interpret her motives, Paata views her as a fierce protector of nature, a sort of anarchical environmentalist, if you will, who wreaks vengeful havoc on both the Prince (who in this version is the Witch’s son) and his intended, Briar Rose. The fairies (Kathy Gordon, Francesca Blume, Emily Whitworth) are imagined as a trio of ditzy butterflies who hover over the Prince and Briar Rose as protectorates against his mother’s fury.
 Eliza Smith, Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), Zana Gankhuyag, the Prince and Irina Tsikurishvili as the Witch – Photo Credit: Johnny Shryock As usual in these wordless renditions, the most popular of which have been the much lauded series of wordless Shakespeare productions, we must exercise our imaginations around the basic story as we are enveloped and transported by the classical sounds of Tchaikovsky’s ballet mixed with Phillip Glass-inspired electronica, the original musical compositions of Konstantine Lortkipanidze and Thomas Sowers’ oftimes frighteningly real sound effects.
 Francesca Blume, Kathy Gordon and Emily Whitworth as the Fairies with Eliza Smith as Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) Photo Credit: Johnny Shryock Dallas Tolentino, who also plays the King, designed the fight scenes to play up Gankhuyag’s strengths, which are indeed impressive. Taking vicious battle blows from both his mother and demons with thorn-covered swords, he weightlessly tosses his lithe body in a gravity-defying series of leaps, tumbles and somersaults. It is gorgeous to see. Credit too, goes to Irina who, doubling as choreographer, has lent elements of charm to the reindeer that frolic in the wood. Scenic designer, Phil Charlwood, informs the fast-moving action through the use of silken panels, creating separation, inclusion and high-flying dramatic elements. Special multimedia effects by Riki Kim heighten the nefarious activities of the dark spirits who act as sentinels and familiars to the witch.
Though this isn’t my favorite Synetic production, I took a friend who had never witnessed the company’s highly imaginative work and she was gobsmacked. I’d made a convert. So perhaps, you’ll do the same. Invite a friend. Start small and build to a crescendo – that’s how it’s done in the theater.
Through January 8th at Synetic Theater, 1800 South Bell Street, Arlington in Crystal City. For tickets and information call 1-866-811-4111 or visit www.synetictheater.org.
Jordan Wright
December 13, 2016
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Laurie Veldheer as Cinderella and Bonne Kramer as Cinderella’s Stepmother -Phone credit Joan Marcus Smack dab in the heart of the holiday season comes Into the Woods. For fans of the legendary collaboration of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, this is sheer heaven. This semi-autobiographical musical has brilliant lyrics, a stunning score and all around silliness wrapped up neatly in a big red bow. It’s part farce and part tragedy – played to the hilt by a formidable cast.
 Lesa Helmi Johanson as Little Red Ridinghood and Anthony Chatmon II as the Wolf – Photo credit Joan Marcus This gift of classic fairy tales reimagined is brought to us by New York’s Fiasco Theater ensemble. It’s a minimalist rustic version – like a tiny log cabin in the deep woods – and it’s a hoot. Remember the Disney film version with Meryl Streep that came out a few years back? Well, it’s nothing like that. This feels more like Monty Python and his Flying Circus did a mash up of Jack in the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Little Red Ridinghood and Rapunzel. Oh, and there’s a brief reference to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But unlike those zany knights, it has deeply intimate moments of love and loss – and of hope, sorrow and romance – as when one of the princes (Anthony Chatmon II) has a syvlan tryst with the baker’s wife and explains it away by asserting, “Foolishness can happen in the woods.”
There are heroes and villains and those we think are, but even they protest their typecasting. Why? Because, “people make mistakes” and others are complicit in carrying them out.
As for keeping a light-hearted dynamic in the face of gloom and doom, a feather duster subs for the goose that laid the golden egg, the wolf is a mounted head, campy wicked stepsisters move around in an oxen’s yoke and an enchantress, the Witch, becomes a slinky, sexy glamour girl well after she makes demands on the Baker (Evan Harrington) and his barren wife (Eleasha Gamble). In order to have a child, they must deliver to her Jack’s beloved milky white cow, Red Riding Hood’s blood red cape, Rapunzel’s yellow-as-corn hair and the golden slipper from Cinderella – quite the tall order. You would think it couldn’t get any sillier until a dressmaker’s form is imagined as a tree.
 Lisa Helmi Johanson as Rapunzei and Venessa Reseland as The Witch – Photo credit Joan Marcus Vanessa Reseland’s marvelously haunting voice produces more goosebumps than the wolf on “No More” and “Last Midnight”. And look for DC native, Eleasha Gamble, as the Baker’s Wife to steal your heart in “Moments in the Woods”.
Directors Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld keep the ten actors (who double and often triple their role responsibilities) on stage throughout, playing accompanying instruments when they’re not otherwise engaged in mayhem, which prevails most notably in Act Two. Solo pianist, Evan Rees, on stage at an upright piano, jumps in as Milky White just as things get dicey.
Lighting Designer, Christopher Akerlind, gives us dramatic atmosphere – cue the thunder and lightning – while Derek McLane’s unusual backdrop of thick-spun, rafters-to-stage floor ropes, imagined as piano strings and framed by silvery silhouettes of pianos, reminds us that ultimately it’s all about the music. And that’s why we pilgrimage to Sondheim – no matter where, no matter when.
Through January 8th 2017 at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St., NW, Washington, DC. For tickets and information call 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
 The Company in Into These Woods – Photo credit Joan Marcus
Jordan Wright
December 13, 2016
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Tom Story in Fully Committed Photo credit Chris Banks Fully Committed comes with so much stage cred, it’s hard to know where to start – so I’ll start with the underpinnings. Drum roll, please. It is directed by Alan Paul, whom we know and love as the Associate Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company and for his countless productions ranging from Shakespeare to musical theatre to concerts, including opera at the Kennedy Center.
Written by Becky Mode, an alumna of HBO, Disney, Nickelodeon, Columbia Pictures and ABC, this nifty one-man comedy is coming off a successful Broadway run, and MetroStage’s Artistic Director, Carolyn Griffin has scored a major coup in getting it here. The original has been newly revised for this production and features the immensely talented and highly endearing, Tom Story, who juggles 40 different characters at warp speed.
 Tom Story in Fully Committed Photo credit Chris Banks Story plays Sam, a struggling actor who has taken an in-between-auditions-and-gigs job as a reservations clerk at a Michelin-starred, Manhattan-based temple of cutting edge molecular gastronomy. Arriving at his basement office, he discovers that the other two reservations clerks, Sonya and Bob, have ditched him at the height of the holiday season and he is left to fend for himself against all the self-entitled crazies and their outrageous requests. Add to that a staff consisting of a haughty, bi-polar, French chef with a drug habit, a prissy hostess, a Latino sous chef and a kindly manager of Indian descent.
Presto chango! Story cycles through an astonishing array of accents from Brooklynese and Manhattan Old Guard, to Cockney, French, Indian, Italian (a mobster needs a table STAT), a helicopter pilot with a lateral lisp, a Southern drawl from an octogenarian who overshares her medical issues, the flat nasal voice of a Midwestern accent and a Transylvanian-sounding caller willing to pay a bribe – a table for a heaping wad of cash. Of particular hilarity is Story’s interpretation of Gwyneth Paltrow’s swishy assistant, Bryce, who phone-friends him with increasingly insistent updates of Ms. Paltrow’s demands for a special vegan tasting menu and the most flattering lighting. (Bryce will bring golden-hued Edison bulbs to replace the harsh sconce lights.) Famed British chef Heston Blumenthal is channeled when he shows up unannounced to find his reservation is missing and the restaurant is “fully committed”.
 Tom Story in Fully Committed Photo credit Chris Banks Throughout the mayhem Sam takes calls on his private cell from his supportive father and rival Jerry, another out-of-work actor who updates him on his shiny prospects just as Sam is at the end of his rope. To add insult to injury, just as Sam is hoping to join his family for Christmas, he gets a call from the chef telling him he must work through the holidays.
As we see, it’s not just the constant phone calls for rezzies, it’s the intercom micromanaging between the front of the house and the kitchen that challenge Sam’s sweet demeanor. As amenable as he seems he’s no dummy and when he discovers co-worker Bob has been faking a car accident to get out of his shift, he begins to see the light.
Story’s ability to convey these absent callers through accent, emotion, and gesture is a triumph to behold.
Highly recommended for anyone who has ever dined or eaten in a restaurant. And that means, you!
At MetroStage through January 8th – 1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria, 22314. For tickets and information visit www.metrostage.org.
Jordan Wright
December 5, 2016
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Tony Gilbert (Scrooge) – Photo credit Doug Olmstead It’s that jolly, spooky, heartwarming, Charles Dickens time of year again and, like The Nutcracker, many families hold dear the tradition of seeing A Christmas Carol together. The Little Theatre of Alexandria has been mounting this play for eons, but each year it’s a different version depending on who’s directing and what elements of the story they choose to emphasize. For Director Michael J. Baker, Jr. it was important to delve into the original book, plumb the depths of Dickens, and cherish some of the best lines. “Bad lobster in a dark cellar”, in which Scrooge describes the face of Marley during his first ghostly encounter, was taken from the original, but I’d never heard it before. There’s a certain ominous and indelibly charming alliterative ring to it that sets the tone for shades of things to come.
 Penelope Gallagher (Belle’s Daughter), Eva Jaber (Belle’s Child #1), Clare Baker (Ghost of Christmas Past) – Photo credit Doug Olmstead Clearly Baker has done his homework. As a veteran of the role of Scrooge (five times!), he brings an actor’s perspective and a director’s experience to the classic tale of the penurious, humbugger, Ebenezer Scrooge. In one particular instance young Scrooge is abandoned by his family at his boarding school, Baker draws on Dickens’ love of Ali Baba and plunks a parrot outside the window. It’s subtle but it’s there, as is a reference to “Robin” Crusoe, from Defoe, another of Dickens’ favorite authors.
 Eva Jaber (Want), Janette Moman (Ghost of Christmas Present), Morgan Jay (Ignorance) – Photo credit Doug Onlstead Baker and Music Director Linda Wells weave in lots of traditional Christmas carols and Sound Designer Lynn Lacey throws in plenty of spooky effects as the trio of spirits (they’re a new addition too) and the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Clare Baker), Future (Pat Jannell) and Present (Janette Moman, who does notable double duty as the hilariously crooked Mrs. Dilber) haunt the ‘dickens’ out of Scrooge.
 Tony Gilbert (Scrooge) and Josh Gordon (Tiny Tim) – Photo credit Doug Olmstead The sets, too, have changed. Set Designer Mary Hutzler treats us to a charming Victorian village with chapel and schoolhouse and scenes of the streets that include both the poor and the posh sides of London town.
But any production of A Christmas Carol must have its adorable children (and these are as sweet as candy canes and hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day), its grisly ghosts (note well Larry O. Grey, Jr. as he smoothly segues between the dual roles of Marley’s ghost-in-chains and the jolly Fezziwig, two of the most disparate characters in the play) and its courtly gentlemen. Ryan Phillips shines as both Young Scrooge and Topper and Matthew Fager is notable as the kindly Bob Cratchit. But the thread that holds the piece together is indeed Tony Gilbert as Scrooge whose ability to go from curmudgeonly to compassionate is absolute perfection.
Find the true meaning of the season here and in your hearts.
Through December 17th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 683-0496 or visit www.thelittletheatre.com
 Full cast of A Christmas Carol ` Photos by Doug Olmsted
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