Jordan Wright
June 8, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Alexandria Guyker (Jo) & Daniel Doeuk – Photos by Matt Liptak It took more than fluff and fizz to create an icon like Mae West. An iconoclast in the art of sex appeal (even the term was taboo when she started performing on the vaudeville circuit in 1911), West was the naughtiest of the naughty girls, a role she cherished and perfected throughout her lengthy career.
Jennifer Lyman directs Claudia Shear’s Tony-nominated story about an impressionable young fan, Charlie (Daniel J. Calderon), who becomes deeply affected by his meetings with the seductive actress. She teases and woos him and they develop an ongoing, though unconsummated, affinity for each other. As an adult he meets and is attracted to, Jo (Alexandra Guyker), another adoring Mae West fan, but his obsession with the movie star affects his ability to have more than a superficial relationship.
 Alexandria Guyker (Jo) – Photos by Matt Liptak Janette Moman plays the voluptuous siren, breathing new life into the legend that drove Hollywood’s glamour machine for decades. Moman’s voice and movements mimic the star’s singular appeal, and her ability to portray her vulnerability, as well as her sexuality, contributes to a convincing performance.
 Janette Moman (Mae West) & Chris Gillespie – Photos by Matt Liptak Two consummate actors, Chris Gillespie and Daniel Doeuk, play all the other males that weave in and out of Mae’s life – – her husband, Frank Wallace, co-stars, assorted agents, beaus, dance partners and a judge and court clerk. Set primarily in New York and Los Angeles from 1911 to 1984, the show features seven of West’s greatest musical numbers including “I’m No Angel”, “Oh My, How We Posé”, “A Guy What Takes His Time” from She Done Him Wrong, and “Dirty Blonde” from her Vegas act in the late 1990’s.
West broke every convention of the day with her racy behavior and scandalous stunts, and the show is as informative of her history as it is entertaining, often weaving her famous quotes into the dialogue. “Are you shakin’ my hand or takin’ my pulse,” she asks a potential backer. Later we learn she borrowed femininity advice from her fellow performers, a close-knit group of drag queens. She also appropriated the “Shimmy She Wobble” from Black acts of the day.
 Daniel J. Calderon (Charlie) – Photos by Matt Liptak Mae’s story runs alongside the tale of Charlie and Jo, their tender friendship and mutual admiration of Mae, and his inability to free himself of his fixation with Mae long enough to let real love into his life. “She never really let herself learn to love anyone but herself,” Charlie tells Jo. Calderon captures Charlie’s transformation from awkward youth to awkward adulthood, and Guyker proves to be the perfectly cast matchup. Complex emotional themes weave in and out of the jokes and the cast rises to the challenge. Plus the production has a lot to recommend.
Costumes by Beverley Benda, Wardrobe by Jean Coyle, and fabulous hair and wigs by Rebecca Harris capture the decades of glamorous gowns, platinum blonde bouffant styles, and mountains of feathered accessories. David Dender on piano and David Burrelli on bass bring the story and songs to life.
As far as the staging goes, I found it distracting to watch props handed off to the actors as they delivered their lines, and furnishings being shuffled on and off stage by clearly, visible stagehands. Something you might expect in a black box production, but here, unnecessary.
Through June 27th 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
Jordan Wright
June 7, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Dan & Jeff – Photos courtesy of Potted Potter Harry Potter fans went wild last night at Potted Potter – The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody by Dan and Jeff. Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, the two writers slash performers in the show, raced through seven Potter books in 75 minutes proving that sidelines and details hardly matter when action is what kids crave. All in all they roasted, toasted and pilloried dozens of characters out of the 300 in J. K. Rowling’s World of Harry Potter to the roars of kids and grownups captivated by the series and its subsequent films.
The production is all very bare bones with stuffed animals subbing for dragons including a plush snake, pressed into service to act as Professor Snape, Master of Potions. As Dan likes to remind the audience, “There is no CGI in this show.” And no animatronics either.
There is even less in the way of scenery. A fake coffin, a wardrobe and a tropical travel poster compose the set that frames this duo of comic madmen. A brief appearance by two stuffed animals on a skateboard and a wooden choo-choo train that takes the place of the Kings Cross Station underground train of the Hogwart’s Express, are a few of the makeshift props.
 Dumbledore – Photos courtesy of Potted Potte Wigs and sorcerers’ hats telegraph the rapid morphing of characters as Dan and Jeff attempt to cover all the critical action from Voldemort and Rubeus Hagrid to Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody. Potter pals, Ron Weasley, appears in an orange afro wig and is referred to as the “Ginger Ninja”; and Hermione, depicted by Dan in Teutonic-inspired blond braids, are mere bit players in this madcap spoof.
Jeff appears to be the more reasonable of the two, often asking the attention-challenged Dan to beef up the plot’s interpretations with more sophisticated dramatic effects – – to which Dan replies, “I think we can all agree. The victim is the theatre.” An inside joke that escapes the young audience, as do references to Putin, Miley Cyrus, Georgetown Cupcake and Washington politics, which the adults gleefully relish.
 Two fluffy Warthogs – Photos courtesy of Potted Potter As you can well imagine, props are central to ascertaining the various characters and Dan and Jeff switch them out with increasing mayhem while dashing behind the wardrobe and psyching up the crowd with hopes of playing quidditch. The broomstick game, well known to fans, eventually comes to pass, albeit without brooms, along with an audience participation game of catch the Golden Snitch, endearingly enacted by two child volunteers who are over the moon to have parts in the show.
More silly and outlandish portrayals and spoofs are cleverly employed as the players zip through all seven books, from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
British Director Richard Hurst keeps the action in high gear as does Composer Phil Innes, who lends a touch of impending doom to the dramatic bits.
Recommended for all ages that value absurdity and ridiculousness.
Through June 21st at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Lansburgh Theatre 450 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information contact the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
Jordan Wright
May 22, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Alex Mills as Jerry and Vato Tsikurishvili as Dorian. Photo by Koko Lanham. An eclectic jumble of flea market collectibles informs Luciana Stecconi’s clever set for Jerry’s one-room flat, in what reads as New York’s East Village. Vintage Ronald Coleman movie posters adorn the walls and point to the inspiration for playwright Everett Quinton’s steroidal version of A Tale of Two Cities. Jerry (Alex Mills), stage name Betty May, is an aspiring drag queen. But don’t let that throw you off, we’re just scratching the surface. He’s also a literate, thoughtful kid whose artistic proclivities fall a tad outside the realm of everyday culture.
As he prepares to premiere his long-awaited drag debut he discovers a baby abandoned on his doorstep, “What in the gay hell?” he shrieks. Jerry is ill prepared to deal with a child, and especially not the oddly precocious Baby Dorian (Vato Tsikurishvili) who has adult sensibilities and puerile needs.
Somehow the two communicate, Jerry speaks to him as a peer, while Dorian makes hilariously expressive baby responses also readable to the audience. This crazy buy-in is the magical moment when both Jerry (and the audience) travel down the rabbit hole together in an absurdist fantasy anchored by a tender story of hope and determination. After all, Dorian, who has the head of a grownup with the body of a toddler, is just the beginning of your compact with the playwright.
 Alex Mills as Jerry. Photo by Koko Lanham. To keep his date at the theatre, Jerry strikes a deal with Dorian to nap while he goes out. But Dorian, oddly advanced far beyond his binky-sucking years, demands a bedtime story. After some negotiation – – The Three Bears and Little Red Riding Hood are nixed by Dorian as being too scary – – Jerry settles on “A Tale of Two Cities”, the telling of which requires him to assume each character’s role from Dickens’s classic story. Be sure to brush up on the story ahead of time. The Playbill affords no descriptions of the book’s characters, and it can get somewhat complicated if you’re trying to keep track of who’s who.
Through countless back-and-forth costume changes (wigs, hats and costumes worthy of a diva’s wardrobe), dozens of props are imaginatively employed – – an old school bell serves to sound the Bastille’s call to arms.
 Alex Mills as his character Jerry’s Drag persona, Betty-May. Photo by Koko Lanham Mills, who in a herculean effort to keep Dorian (and us!) amused, never leaves the set, keeping the dialogue and quick changes at warp speed. N. B. Madame LaFarge didn’t knit as fast as this!
In this ultra demanding topsy-turvy role, Mills gives us the performance of a lifetime. His various characters are sharply executed and his brisk segues, physicality, and change of accents are astounding. The words ‘bravery’ and ‘fabulous’ come to mind. Do not leave your seat until the denouément. I promise it will blow your mind. Of course, that’s exactly why we love Synetic!
Highly recommended.
Through June 21st at Synetic Theater, 1800 South Bell Street, Arlington in Crystal City. For tickets and information call 866 811-4111 or visit www.synetictheater.org.
Jordan Wright
May 20, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Wesley Taylor (Emcee), Rachel Schur, Jamie Eacker, Colleen Hayes, Maria Rizzo, Jessica Thorne in Cabaret at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman. Willkommen into The MAX for Signature Theatre’s production of Cabaret and you’ll be transported to post World War I Berlin in Set Designer Misha Kachman’s replica of the Kit Kat Klub where half the audience is seated on bentwood chairs at café tables lit with silk shaded lamps and set with vintage telephones – – all the better to see the slinky chorus girls in their red and black lingerie and gender-bending men in leather and lederhosen. Close too, is a rotating stage rimmed in bare lightbulbs and backdropped by a Mylar curtain. Kachman adds reflective industrial metal panels along the theatre walls and a two-story catwalk with a winding staircase for the show-within-a-show. Off to one side two strapping bare-chested servers staff a wooden bar where patrons can belly up to German beer and Riesling at intermission.
As both Director and Choreographer, Matthew Gardiner doesn’t miss his cue when it comes to razzle-dazzle and flat-out sensationalism in this John Kander/Fred Ebb collaboration based on stories from Christopher Isherwood, that darling of Virginia Woolf’s Bloomsbury Group. There are high kicks and undulating spines, reminiscent of Bob Fosse, and plenty of titillating duets and risqué ménages. This may be the Kit Kat Klub, but there’s nothing kittenish about it.
 Wesley Taylor (Emcee) in Cabaret at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman Wesley Taylor plays the Emcee, a role that calls for major attitude. His character is meant to be both alluring and dominating, and Taylor pulls it off with aplomb managing to affect a character of sadistic amorality and razor-sharp charm in an atmosphere so sexually charged a single match could set the whole theatre ablaze.
 Barrett Wilbert Weed (Sally) in Cabaret at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman. Sally Bowles is played by the darling, doe-eyed Barrett Wilbert Weed – – a dizzyingly, captivating charmer with exquisite pipes that seems to have been recently sprung from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s imagination. Her Sally is softer than most, more vulnerable and madly in love with Cliff, a Midwestern English teacher who has chosen a rather inopportune place and time, during the rise of the Nazi regime, to write a novel. “I like this city,” he quips. “It’s both tacky and terrible.” Gregory Wooddell is masterful (and swoon-worthy) as Cliff – – managing to be both subtle and forceful in his interpretation of the lovesick innocent abroad.
 Rick Foucheux (Herr Schultz) and Naomi Jacobson (Fraulein Schneider) in Cabaret at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman. But it’s grim times for the couple and their new friends, landlady Fraulein Schneider (Naomi Jacobson), Ernst the smuggler and Nazi sympathizer (Bobby Smith), Fraulein Kost, the prostitute (Maria Rizzo), and Herr Schultz (Rick Foucheux), the fruit seller. Jackboots and turncoats keep encroaching on their merry life. For Sally, it’s her last chance for a life outside the cruel reality of a seedy nightclub in a rapidly changing world. But she is afraid to take it. “One must keep mobile,” she gaily tells Cliff before launching into a goosebump-worthy version of the ballad “Maybe This Time”.
 Wesley Taylor (Emcee) and the Kit Kat Boys and Girls in Cabaret at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman. Look for all your favorite numbers – – “The Money Song”, “Perfectly Marvelous”, “Cabaret” and “Willkommen” to thrill as expected, especially as backed by a fabulous 9-piece orchestra led by Conductor and Pianist, Jon Kalbfleisch. Costumes by award-winning designer, Frank Labovitz run the gamut from sexy lingerie, beaded flapper dresses and 1930’s hausfrau frocks, to the sinister uniforms of the Third Reich.
Through June 28th 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.
Jordan Wright
May 17, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Michael Russotto, Susan Lynskey
Photo credit Chris Banks In 1930’s Russia, privacy was a luxury afforded to no one. Suspicion and accusation were the business of the ‘The State’ and its bureaucracy was vast and unyielding. In The Letters, playwright John W. Lowell thrusts us headlong into the underbelly of the Soviet political machine in a two-person drama that focuses on the machinations of that pursuit.
Anna is an editor in a department investigating famed Soviet composer Tchaikovsky for his homosexual lifestyle, a crime against the State. His personal cache of letters to an unnamed man, have been confiscated, and her department of three has been tasked with investigating and censoring them for homophonous references. In this Orwellian world of interrogator-and-accused all perceived ‘illegal’ activities threaten the business of the State and those who breached these anti-intellectual statutes were tortured into confession or sentenced to a life in a remote gulag or death. It is a cautionary tale, one which calls to mind the evil regimes of the Spanish Inquisition and Nazi era.
The Director is the apparatchik on whose stringent edicts all investigations turn. When Anna is summoned into his office, a single room in which the play is set, it is to frighten her into implicating her fellow editors by accusing them of concealing copies of the letters. The explanation as to why she would defend their honor, is left to the audience’s imagination.
Anna Borisovna, a widow whose late husband, a cellist, was also in the Arts. Because of that she is seen to be sympathetic to Tchaikovsky’s fate, and in turn the fate of her two colleagues, the young Josef and the elder Pavel. Offering her an advancement, the Director alternately flatters, “No person likes their efforts to be ignored,” and threatens, “You are already a dupe,” he insinuates, suggesting she is covering for her fellow editors. “Are you also a traitor?”
As his seemingly innocent conversation of feigned familiarity unfolds we soon realize he is bent on entrapping her into revealing the location of the letters and admitting a conspiracy among her associates. But Anna catches on to the cat-and-mouse game and turns the tables on the Director. “In this office Truth is an annoyance, an embarrassment,” she asserts, hoping to dissuade his diabolical methods.
 Susan Lynskey –
Photo credit: Chris Banks Susan Lynsky, whom we adored most recently in MetroStage’s production of “Ghost-Writer” in a role that earned her a Helen Hayes Awards nomination, is the consummate actor. Her ability to inhabit the spirit and gravitas of Anna is a master class in character divination and the reason she is so highly regarded in her craft. To watch her is to appreciate her finely tuned technique of actualizing her character by slow turns. Here we see her ability to turn on a dime from shrinking violet to pouncing cat, and make it believable – – in spades.
 Michael Russotto
Photo credit: Chris Banks Michael Russotto plays the pugnacious and arrogant Ministry Director. He is the perfect counterpoint to Lynsky’s controlled unfolding of Anna. He struts and poses, gesticulates wildly, and terrifies convincingly, taking full use of the whole stage to inform and establish his character. A skill few actors ever do well.
Giorgos Tsappas present us with a spare set – – a desk and a smattering of chairs – – all the better to focus on the performers. Stage lighting, reminiscent of a 1930’s movie, is masterfully designed by Alexander Keen.
Taut, crisp and politically charged, it is highly recommended.
At MetroStage through June 14th – 1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria, 22314. For tickets and information visit www.metrostage.org.
Jordan Wright
May 11, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
 L to R) Meeya Davis as Amber, Nikiya Mathis as Cassan, Caroline Clay as Gio, Afi Bijou as Zambia and Tonye Patano as Clementine in Katori Hall’s The Blood Quilt – Photo by C. Stanley Photography. Earth, wind and fire blew into town for the world premiere of The Blood Quilt now at Arena Stage. Written by Katori Hall, who based the story on the Gullah Geechee culture of Sapelo Island, and directed by Kamilah Forbes, this soul-wrenching play, filled with the tears, anger and laughter of a family divided by distance and psychological baggage and held together by the power of sisterhood.
Four sisters, Clementine, Gio, Cassan and Amber, and Cassan’s daughter, Zambia, gather together on the windswept island of Kwemera, one of Georgia’s Sea Islands, and the African word for “endure”. The scene is the ancestral cottage of the Jerrnigans and home of their recently departed mother – – a woman they both revered and feared. Each summer the women craft a new quilt, stitched together from clothing and rags handed down from family members. Woven into these quilts are their deepest memories, gut-wrenching hardships and personal failures. It is within these stitches that they tell their truths in a story as old as time and as foreseeable as the circle of life.
 (Clockwise from left) Tonye Patano as Clementine, Meeya Davis as Amber, Caroline Clay as Gio, Nikiya Mathis as Cassan and Afi Bijou as Zambia in Katori Hall’s The Blood Quilt – Photo by C. Stanley Photography. To provide the foundation for this story, it is important to know that hundreds of years ago Geechee culture, as it is called, arrived by boat from West Africa onto these remote Georgian islands. Slave ships bore men and women who were sold off to work on the islands’ rice plantations. After the Civil War some of the freed slaves stayed behind, becoming landowners and raising many more generations. The dialect they spoke is still heard today and is echoed throughout the play.
Within this mysterious world spiritualism, mythology and shibboleths run deep, influenced by the stars and the sea. These traditions provide a singularly rich backdrop for this comic-drama, recalling the evocative film Daughters of the Dust that drew on the African-centric Gullah culture of North Carolina.
Much of the Geechee’s mysterious customs and rituals are threaded throughout this deeply affecting tale reflecting a legacy of memories embodied by the fabric scraps incorporated into the quilts. The play turns around the question of who will inherit the one hundred precious quilts. And therein lies the rub.
Set Designer, Michael Carnahan, has created a breathtaking stage set that features a simple cabin set beside a shoreline. An arc of waist-deep water frames the proscenium and patches of crazy quilts hang from the rafters. Delicate Spanish moss sways over the rooftop and the whole is bathed in a roseate hue, courtesy of Lighting Designer, Michael Gilliam. Snippets of old time gospel music are sung in harmony, and the classic “I’ll Fly Away” evokes the contrasting confluence of church combined with tribal culture.
 (L to R) Tonye Patano as Clementine and Meeya Davis as Amber in Katori Hall’s -. Photo by C. Stanley Photography. Clementine (Tonye Patano), who takes direction from the natural world, is the eldest. Assuming her new role as matriarch, she shushes and bosses her younger siblings, insisting they carry out what she believes their mother would have wanted. “Mama was my god,” she reminds them. But her interpretation is not borne out by their mother’s will. Meeya Davis plays Amber, “Perfection is my shield and my protection,” she reveals. A successful Hollywood attorney and Harvard grad, she has been given the responsibility of reading the will. Davis gives a razor-sharp performance with elegance and wit to match Patano’s commanding presence.
 (L to R) Caroline Clay as Gio and Afi Bijou as Amber, with Nikiya Mathis as Cassan, in Katori Hall’s The Blood Quilt – Photo by C. Stanley Photography. Caroline Clay soars in the role of Gio, a tough talking, beer-guzzling cop cursed with a chip on her shoulder as wide as the sea. Why, we wonder, is she so angry? Cassan (Nikiya Mathis) has brought her daughter Zambia (Afi Bijou) who is a hijab-wearing, political activist just beginning to spread her wings. Bijou proves she is well up to the challenge of playing against such seasoned actors in a role that calls for her to be the polar opposite of the others.
The cast is as tightly woven together as the quilts they covet in this haunting and hugely comical play filled with the ghosts of the past, the challenges of modern life, and the guidance of an ancient culture imported from an Africa they never knew.
Highly recommended.
Through June 7th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
 Dr. Joan Gaither in front of one of her quilts * * Be sure to wander through the theatre to view the seventeen spectacular contemporary quilts created by Dr. Joan Gaither of Baltimore. These exquisite quilts use appliqué and trapunto stitching on lush velvet and brocade to tell a modern story. They will be on display throughout the run of the show. I had an opportunity to meet Dr. Gaither during press night and query her about the meaning of her quilts and the importance of this show. “Quilting comes from the soul. I’m not a traditional quilter, although I believe each quilt can hold and tell an entire story. The images I use celebrate those stories. I try to do that in such a way that they become American stories, because I believe we all share a common history.”
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