Jordan Wright
June 9, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
“Epic Bromance Upends Noted Family” might be the modern-day header for the tale of Tartuffe and Orgon, the paterfamilias of a 17th century, bourgeois family. Or it might read, “Priest and His Slimy Sidekicks Fake Poverty to Con Pernelle Clan – Maid Claims Teen Daughter Was Used as Barter”. I can’t resist one more. “Phony Preacher Tricks Prominent Businessman Who Nearly Loses His Entire Estate”.
 Suzanne Warmanen (Dorine), Lenne Klingaman (Mariane), Sofia Jean Gomez (Elmire), Gregory Linington (Cleante,) and ensemble members Stephanie Schmalzle, and Maria Leigh. Photo by Scott Suchman. In Molière’s timeless story of piety and politics the con artist, Tartuffe (aka “The Hypocrite”), brings down one of the town’s most prominent families with his fire and brimstone brand of religious fervor. As slick as a whistle, the devious flimflammer insinuates himself into the home and gullible heart of Orgon (Luverne Seifert), despite protestations from his household who see right through the hustle. “He has made me a new man without friendships or emotion,” Orgon boasts to his family, dismissing their pleadings and offering up his betrothed daughter, Mariane (Lenne Klingaman) as sacrificial lamb.
In the second year of the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Comedie Française repertory series, Director Dominique Serrand has brought us a supremely elegant production of the play, one that is guaranteed to make your hair curl and your funny bone twitch. Serrano is also the Co-Scenic Designer with Tom Buderwitz, and the two have created a divinely muted set for the comic drama using as inspiration the symmetrical Palladian architecture of Paris’s Hôtel des Invalides, and the exterior design of the Église Saint-Gervais to evoke an aura of piety.
Lighting Director Marcus Dilliard uses the one-day timeline of the play by moving the lighting across the stage from east to west, coloring the set with the pale, cool light of day with rays of light pouring in through tall windows, and culminating in the honeyed amber tones of sunset. It is very effective and lends a compelling air of urgency to the family’s dire circumstances.
 Sofia Jean Gomez (Elmire) and Steven Epp (Tartuffe). Photo by Scott Suchman. Steven Epp plays the convincingly, deceitful Tartuffe. With his tight-as-a-drum body and spare priestly garments, he looks like an Anderson Cooper version of a Calvin Klein model recently sprung from a torture chamber. Epp’s riveting portrayal of the holier-than-thou, priest-without-a-conscience is enhanced by his ability to quickly morph from insinuating charmer, who proves his devotion through self-flagellations and submissive prostrations, to backstabbing villain. Seifert, as the duped husband and father Orgon, in thrall to the machinations of Tartuffe, gives a commanding performance infused with bluster and swagger.
 Luverne Seifert (Orgon) and Sofia Jean Gomez (Elmire). Photo by Scott Suchman. But amidst all the guile and terror inflicted on the family by Tartuffe, let us not forget what a card and social commentator Molière is. The circumstances he devises are as dark as the comedy is light – – and Suzanne Warmanen as Dorine, the wise and sassy servant, renders it brilliantly. When accused of defaming God by using a handkerchief as a bookmark between the pages of Elmire’s bible, Dorine replies, “If a handkerchief can insult God, God needs more confidence!” Oh yes! She has his sanctimonious number straight out of heaven’s gate.
Elmire (Sofia Jean Gomez), the clever wife of Orgon, has her own way of handling the impostor. In one sexually charged scene designed to prove to her husband that Tartuffe is nothing more than a fraud, she calculates an elaborate seduction to which Orgon is witness. Gomez is electrifying bringing both fire and ice to the character of Elmire.
Not to be ignored are Tartuffe’s henchmen led by Laurent (Nathan Keepers). The duo lends a deliciously evil air to the entire proceedings, lurking around corners and perching above the action, all the better to eavesdrop or threaten.
Sonya Berlovitz informs the costuming with a freshly, spare modernity by eliminating the distractions of heavily ornate brocades and embellishments and creating clothing that takes on meaning and symbolism, at the same time reflecting hilarity (as in Valere’s floral pajamas), solemnity (Orgon’s newly adopted priestly raiments and the plain, grey garments of Tartuffe) and social import (Elmire’s lavish blue gown and billowy red silk robe). The result lends more power to the story and drama to the players.
Highly recommended.
Through July 5th at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall at 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information contact the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
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.
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