Leopoldstadt is Compelling and Complicated with a Perfect Cast to Showcase Tom Stoppard’s Award-Winning Drama
Leopoldstadt
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
December 8, 2024
 Samuel Adams and Brenda Meaney in Leopoldstadt. (Photo/Teresa Castracane, courtesy of Shakespeare Theatre Company) To know where playwright Tom Stoppard’s drama is going, you’ll need to start with the meaning of Leopoldstadt. It was a shtetl where Jews from all walks of life were forced to live – a walled off ghetto with no escape and a life of unimaginable deprivation.
Set in the European cultural center of Vienna in 1899 where Mahler, Freud, Wittgenstein and other great Jewish minds were highly revered, we are introduced to members of a large haute bourgeois Austrian family. They are cultured and fashionable leading a charmed life – highly educated, completely assimilated into the greater society of the Viennese, and intermarried within the Jewish and Christian religions. Not unusual at the time, these interfaith families enjoyed meaningful positions in high society and academia where they were esteemed for their scholarly contributions.
 The cast of Leopoldstadt. (Photo/Teresa Castracane, courtesy of Shakespeare Theatre Company) Their life appears to be a series of dinners and family rituals where they celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah and a hilarious scene that complicates decisions of an upcoming bris. It is a close-knit family filled with children, young singles and married couples where Grandma Emilia presides over these light-hearted gatherings. Ken MacDonald’s set design reflects the family’s well-established social achievements with a grand interior space reflective of the Art Nouveau period. The trouble comes, as expected, with the Nazis’ rise to power and, with that, any Jewish birth or Jewish marital connection, becomes a death sentence.
We follow this extended family’s hopes and dreams through three generations, touching on the carefree days of 1924 and later the family’s removal to the concentration camps before ending with pre-millennial Britain in the last act, only to witness how swiftly their life of culture and prosperity prove insupportable as power and privilege are ripped away and their inevitable removal to the death camps is a foregone conclusion.
 (L to R) Mishka Yarovoy, Nael Nacer, and Brenda Meaney (Photo/Liza Voll, courtesy of The Huntington) Providing all manner of twists and turns, Stoppard has designed a series of intricate interactions within these relationships – an affair, a proposed duel, a mathematical improbability and a surprise conclusion as one family member discovers he is actually fully Christian and must grapple with his past. To find out how that came to be, you’ll have to wait till the last act. Stoppard, whose successes with plays like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Travesties and most especially Arcadia, which follows the same theme, wants us to see how quickly unbridled political power combined with a dangerous brew of prejudice, fear and religious frenzy can destroy entire societies. In Leopoldstadt we witness the astonishing pace with which these dramatic shifts in public opinion can occur and thrive.
An extraordinary and compelling exploration into one family (Twenty-one cast members play multiple roles!) who become victims in the massive dragnet of the Nazi regime and how swiftly that unthinkable evil can decimate tens of millions of lives.
A powerful and compelling drama infused with the added warmth and camaraderie of a fascinatingly complicated and deeply connected Jewish family. Highly recommended for a supremely perfect cast and Carey Perloff’s brilliant direction.
 Phyllis Kay, Firdous Bamji, Teddy Schechter, and Joshua Chessin-Yudin (Photo/Teresa Castracane, courtesy of Shakespeare Theatre Company) With Samuel Adams as Fritz, Percy; Firdous Bamji as Kurt, Ludwig; Joshua Chessin-Yudin as Zac, Nathan; Sarah Corey as Wilma; Anna Theoni DiGiovanni as Hanna, Hermione; Samuel Douglas as Otto, Civilian; Maboud Ebrahimzadeh as Ernst; Rachel Felstein as Eva, Nellie: Rebecca Gibel as Hilde, Rosa; Adrianne Krstansky as Poldi, Hanna; Brenda Meaney as Gretl; Harrison Morford as Young Jacob, Heini; William Morford as Pauli, Young Leo; Nael Nacer as Hermann; Teddy Schechter as Young Jacob, Heini/Pauli, Young Leo; Anna Slate as Jana, Sally; Adrianna Weir as Young Sally, Mimi/Young Rosa, Bella; Mila Weir as Young Sally, Mimi; Audrey Ella Wolff as Young Rosa, Bella; and Mishka Yarovoy as Jacob, Leo.
Beautiful period costumes designed by Alex Jaeger; Lighting Design by Robert Wierzel; Sound Design & Original Music by Jane Shaw; Projection Design by Yuki Izumihara; Wig & Makeup Design by Tom Watson; Associate Director Dori A. Robinson.
Through December 29th at Shakespeare Theatre Company at Harman Hall, 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202.547.1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
STC’s Modern Production of Macbeth Stars the Great British Actor Ralph Fiennes in a Triumphant Performance
Macbeth
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
April 16, 2024
Special to The Zebra
 Indira Varma and Ralph Fiennes (Photo/ Marc Brenner) From the opening roar of a fighter jet overhead to the ultimate rhythmic uttering of one of the Three Witches, “by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes”, this production will be the one Macbeth you will remember above all others. I honestly felt as though I had neither heard, studied, nor seen it before – certainly never performed so brilliantly nor staged so creatively. We not only see Lady Macbeth (Indira Varma) as a woman who longs to equal a man’s powers, “…unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direct cruelty. Make thick my blood,” she entreats the spirits, but we see Macbeth (Ralph Fiennes) drenched in blood, going mad with the fear of divine retribution for his evil deeds as predicted by the Three Witches (Lucy Mangan, Danielle Flamanya and Lola Shalam).
Enough cannot be said about the two leads and the raw passion in these tour de force performances by Fiennes and Varma. Fiennes delivery, slowing down the pace when the lines and the mood need emphasis and heft, and drawing the audience deep into his sphere, are fiercely captivating. This slowing down of the pace allows the audience time to process and that is what separates this staging from many others. The actors’ well-honed delivery and Director Simon Godwin’s keen respect for the prose reflected here.
 Lola Shalam, Lucy Mangan, and Danielle Fiamanya (Photo/ Marc Brenner) Singers are told, “Don’t throw away a line. Give it meaning.” No line should be incidental and no action superfluous. Here everything is carefully drawn and purposeful. This is not the revved-up Shakespeare we have come to expect with lines delivered staccato. In this interpretation deeper meaning is imparted to each interaction and to every word. It is a glorious thing to behold. This is the same experience we have when watching a great movie where the viewer is afforded pauses in the action to better process the scene allowing for a more intimate and visceral experience.
Fiennes’ extraordinary ability to inhabit Macbeth is as complex and gripping as it is nuanced. The same can be said for Varma as the diabolical Lady Macbeth. The two are in total sync and it is absolutely delicious. Though we well know the plot, it’s still edge-of-your-seat action – from the sword fights to the grisly murders to the diabolical treachery, the grief and the ultimate revenge.
 Ben Allen, Indira Varma, Rose Riley, Richard Pepper, Steffan Rhodri, and Levi Brown (Photo/ Marc Brenner) Surprisingly, the production is not held in either of STC’s downtown theatres. It’s in a former BET-TV production facility in Northeast DC that lends itself to the magnitude and enormity of this unique event. Upon entry into the massive facility, you will pass through what appears to be a bombed-out street scene. A burned-out sedan rests on a pile of rubble, reflecting the emotional disasters to come. Fiennes insisted this Macbeth be in an industrial space on the outskirts of the city. The same requirement applied to its previous iterations in Liverpool, Edinburgh and London where it was mounted before coming to DC.
A triumph for Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Simon Godwin and this outstanding and predominantly British cast!
With Ben Allen as Ross; Ewan Black as Malcolm; Levi Brown as Angus; Jonathan Case as Seyton; Keith Fleming as King Duncan/Siward; Michael Hodgson as Second Murderer/Captain; Kiyoko Merolli as Macduff’s Daughter; Jake Neads as First Murderer/Donalbain; Richard Pepper as Lennox; Steffan Rhodri as Banquo; Rose Riley as Menteith; Rebecca Scruggs as Lady Macduff/Doctor; Maxwell Kwadjo Talbert as Macduff’s Son; Ethan Thomas as Fleance; Ben Turner as Macduff; Adrianna Weir as Macduff’s Daughter; and Mila Weir as Macduff’s Daughter.
Adapted by Emily Burns; Set and Costume Design by Frankie Bradshaw; Sound Design by Christopher Shutt; Lighting by Jai Morjaria; Composer Asaf Zohar; Fight Director Kate Waters.
 Ben Turner (Photo/ Marc Brenner) Through May 5th presented by the Shakespeare Theatre Company in association with Wessex Grove, Underbelly. At 1301 W Street, NE, Washington, DC. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
If you are unable to secure tickets to this once-in-a-lifetime production, it will be in local movie theatres beginning May 2nd.
A Modernized Evita Comes to Harman Hall
Evita
Shakespeare Theatre Company and American Repertory Theater
Jordan Wright
September 21, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 Shereen Pimentel in EVITA (DJ Corey Photography) When we mention the names Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber we have reached the stratospheric pantheon of theatre’s most beloved musical composer/writer teams. Their blockbuster Evita is known as the pinnacle of their collaborations with a score so beautiful and so deeply affecting.
In a co-production with Massachusett’s American Repertory Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Simon Godwin presents the work of the show’s Director Sammi Cannold and includes the cast from the Boston production.
 Omar Lopez-Cepero (center) and the cast of EVITA (DJ Corey Photography) Eva Perón was Argentina’s most storied heroines – despised, revered and adored. We are fascinated by her rise to power and are moved to wonder what is the allure of this woman who pulled herself up by her bootstraps from abject poverty – from a life as a tango dancer deserted by a trail of lotharios? For many it is how she obtained the extraordinary power she wielded and how she used her husband’s position to get to the top. How did she fool an entire nation? In truth, it was by hook and by crook.
The show opens in 1952 at the funeral of Evita Perón. Considered the spiritual leader of the people of Argentina, she was a highly controversial figure – a First Lady who had risen from a life on the streets by her wits and beauty and a series of ever-more influential lovers. But her greatest success was marrying an ambitious soldier, Juan Perón (Caesar Samayoa). We hear this in the lyrics of Evita (Shereen Pimentel) and Juan’s duet, “I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You”. She wins him over and by the next number “Another Suitcase in Another Hall”, she and Juan have formed their indelible alliance – for better or for worse.
 Caesar Samayoa (center) and the cast of EVITA (DJ Corey Photography) As her protector, reality check and the story’s narrator, Che Guevara (Omar Lopez-Cepero), who later became one of the world’s most impactful revolutionaries, seeks to anchor Eva’s wild and self-absorbed lifestyle. Their duet “High Flying, Adored” is one of the most memorable numbers in the show and reflects the time when she is at the height of her popularity and public sanctification. In it he warns her, “Don’t look down. It’s a long way.” But Eva ignores his advice, and her megalomania gets the best of her. When she appears in all her scintillating glory on the balcony of Casa Rosada, the grandiose presidential palace, he sarcastically remarks, “One has to admire the stage management.” And in one of the show’s most heartrending songs “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, we witness her narcissism as she cannily humbles herself to the adoring crowds.
There are no program notes from Director Cannold so we don’t really know her intention in this very modernized version taken broadly from the original Broadway production. Just know that it is very different.
 Omar Lopez-Cepero (front), Shereen Pimentel (center) and the cast of EVITA (DJ Corey Photography) Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh conducts the magnificent 16-piece orchestra. How can you not swoon for the music? Costumes by designer Alejo Vietti are grey – soldiers, officers, street people and dancers. Only Evita wears white throughout. Lighting Designer Bradley King frames the entire stage with red neon lights adding five white neon arches and a ceiling covered with lines of bright red neon rods. The significance of all that neon escapes me. Another unusual twist is the set by Scenic Designer Jason Sherwood that is devised of long neon-lined risers reaching across from stage left to stage right. These slender risers are topped with what appears to be old-fashioned fluffy attic insulation and lit with battery operated candles. Again, I am puzzled. Is it meant to represent the dirty streets she came from? Who knows? Perhaps, it will have greater meaning to you.
Lastly, there was a distinct buzz throughout the audience as to the poor sound quality – bass notes seemed to disappear; high notes were screechy. Others around me were having the same reaction to the poor audio and they were talking about it. It was so confounding and in sharp contrast to the usual excellent acoustics at Harman Hall that, upon leaving the theater, I asked the sound board engineer if he could explain it. He told me ART had brought their own sound system for this production. One can only hope it will be corrected by the time you read this review.
 Caesar Samayoa (DJ Corey Photography) Magaldi, Gabriel Burrafato; Young Cadet/Ensemble, Eddie Gutiérrez; Child/Ensemble, Melissa Parra or Ariadne Rose; Mistress/Ensemble, Naomi Serrano.
Choreography by Emily Maltby & Valeria Solomonoff; Sound Design by Connor Wang.
Through October 15th at Harman Hall, 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
Jane Anger is Comedic Gold Starring Michael Urie and Amelia Workman
Jane Anger
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
December 29, 2022
Special to The Zebra
 Amelia Workman in Jane Anger (Photo/DJ Corey Photography) Jane Anger (Amelia Workman) steps out onto center stage to address the audience. She is fierce and determined to prove herself. And though she makes excuses for her past – lack of education, undesirable gender for a Jacobean Period playwright, oh, right, and a former prostitute – she has a lot to say about what she wants and in no uncertain terms. She’s a woman on a mission and we love her already. Did I mention she’s a bit of a sorceress?
*Program notes tell us Jane Anger was a real person who wrote Defense of Women in 1589. She was a pioneer of the earliest of the women’s movements and an outspoken advocate of women’s rights.
Jane wants her due as a writer and she’s figured out how she’s going to get it. Buckle up, friends. In this zany, campy, off-the-wall hilarious sendup of Shakespeare (Michael Urie) stuck in a near fatal (okay, fatalistic) case of writer’s block, it’s Jane who has the final word. When she sneaks into his quarters by dressing up as a man, she presents him with a deal. Publish her play in exchange for a sex act. This upsets Shakespeare’s plan to write King Leir, despite the fact that she tells him it has already been written ten years before by Thomas Kidd. He is nonplussed, desperate for sex and agrees to her proposal.
 Ryan Spahn, Michael Urie, and Talene Monahon (Photo/DJ Corey Photography) But The Plague has put a crimp in his style. He is quarantined with a newly hired, (by default) magnificently incompetent assistant, Francis (Ryan Spahn). As the delivery boy he was the only one available. They are confined to quarters and the Bard is going stir crazy. “They say it’s a new variant,” Shakespeare quips. And away we go with Shakespeare in full vaudevillian style and Francis his hapless sidekick. Think Laurel and Hardy.
Enter Anne Hathaway (Talene Monahon) who sneaks into the studio and befriends Jane. “Sometimes I wonder if my husband is dead, but then I read a review of one of his plays,” she deadpans. When Anne finds out the Dark Lady sonnets are not about her but about Jane, the two ladies conspire to get Jane’s play published.
By now everyone is rolling in the aisles with the wit and wisdom of playwright Talene Monahon who also plays Anne. Very well I might add. There are puns and pratfalls and how do I say it, but anything Michael Urie is cast in is one for the books. We last saw him in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 2018 then the same year in the role of Hamlet – both at STC. Buckets of blood in Hamlet and a fair share here, but now a bloody scene is played for laughs. Urie is brilliant. His acting chops, ranging widely from tragedy to comedy, are magnificent.
Highly recommended. Comedic gold!
 Amelia Workman and Talene Monahon (Photo/DJ Corey Photography) With Geoffrey Besser as Plague Screecher/Peasant Woman.
Directed by Jessica Chayes; Scenic Design by Kristen Robinson; Costume Design by Andrea Hood; Lighting Design by Stacey Derosier.
Through January 8, 2023 at Shakespeare Theatre Company Klein 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.
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci is a Highly Creative, Extraordinarily Elegant and Utterly Enchanting Exploration into the Genius of the Master
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Klein Theatre
Jordan Wright
October 7, 2022
Special to The Zebra
 Christopher Donahue and Kasey Foster (Photo/Scott Suchman) In an homage to the genius of da Vinci, Writer/Director Mary Zimmerman brings us into the mind of the master through his observations. Presented in magical realism, she interweaves his observations on the science of the universe in extraordinarily elegant fashion, casting actors accomplished in the art of kinetic motion and physical expression through mime, gesture, and speech. The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci is an elegant exploration into da Vinci’s thought-provoking revelations. “Instants are the boundaries of time,” Leonardo explains.
Da Vinci’s musings and experiments were far from pedestrian. He studied and analyzed everything from vanishing perspective to the dynamics of motion in order to achieve mathematical perfection through his painting. With his concept of the “18 positions of man” he devised modes of thinking to explain how the physical body should be portrayed on canvas through the “harmony of proportion”. “The body is a machine,” he concluded.
 Andrea San Miguel and Wai Yim (Photo/Scott Suchman) Acrobatic Consultant Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi along with Movement Consultant Tracy Walsh present these complicated intellectual concepts in lyrically and quite often humorously choreographed vignettes designed to express da Vinci’s logic and conclusions as he strived to explain all earthly life.
As beautifully depicted as these complex ideations are, the spirit of the writer’s musings is the always the focus as expressed by an exceptional cast practiced in balletic movement and speech. It is sensuous, stunning and intellectually stimulating. There is nothing superfluous in its examination of the mind of the artist/inventor as he ponders the flight of a bird. “A bird is an instrument working according to mathematical law.” He examined the dynamics of the folds of curtains with his theory on drapery as much as he did that of the complexities of nature.
The cast is credited with being all “Leonardos”. They are Adeoye, Christopher Donahue, Kasey Foster, John Gregorio, Anthony Irons, Louise Lamson, Andrea San Miguel, and Wai Yim. The harmony and grace of their physical interactions are utterly mesmerizing.
 Wai Yim, Adeoye, Louise Lamson, and Andrea San Miguel (Photo/Scott Suchman) Scenic Design by Scott Bradley who imagines Leonardo’s life as walls of wooden file drawers from which are pulled the many props used in the production; Costume Designer Mara Blumenfeld whose clever interpretation gifts us with both athletic wear and Italian Renaissance period apparel; Lighting Designer T. G. Gerckens; Sound Design and Original Music by Michael Bodeen; Original Music by Miriam Sturm.
 Wai Yim, Kasey Foster, and John Gregorio (Photo/Scott Suchman) Highly creative, extraordinarily elegant and utterly enchanting, I would give it five stars (if I gave out stars, which as you know I do not).
Highly recommended.
Through October 29th at the Klein Theatre 450 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
Our Town
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
May 28, 2022
Special to The Zebra
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a production of Thornton Wilder’s American classic, Our Town. Chances are it was a high school production. Maybe you could say the same. I’ll even venture to guess either you’ve been in this play or seen someone you know perform it. Written in 1938 and set at the turn of the 20th C in a small town in New Hampshire, Wilder draws on his New England roots to embrace the ordinariness of diurnal family life in Grover’s Corners. The zeitgeist captures the essence of the American family unit reminiscent of the homogenized 1950’s – think Norman Rockwell. Kids go to school, the milkman delivers, newspapers arrive by a boy on his bike and the whole family eats dinner together every night. To present this drama, Director Alan Paul employs a local and very diverse cast, a departure from casting big name, out-of-town actors. Lately, there’s been a demand for theaters to use locals in the cast and crew, and some directors have risen to the challenge. As Paul said on opening night, “Making theater now is kind of like a radical act.” And, I’d suggest, a gamble.
Local actors Holly Twyford, Natascia Diaz, Felicia Curry, Jake Loewenthal, Lawrence Redmund, Craig Wallace, Sarah C. Marshall and Erin Posner are a known commodity to those of us who have seen them in a variety of roles at many local theaters. Collectively, they can boast numerous Helen Hayes Awards and their performances and characters are as finely tuned here as in any of their previous work. That said, I’m not at all sure audiences are ready to embrace an old chestnut like Our Town which leans heavily toward White nostalgia for suburban life in the early Edwardian era. Is this what post-COVID audiences are looking for from dramatic productions? It seems to me audiences are looking to explore more complex themes, chuckle over satire and/or tap into the struggles of different cultures with eyes wide open. We expect to be immersed in something deeper in a play. What is universal in Our Town is the message of hopes denied and dreams deferred, but it’s quite a stretch to take it from small-town, White America and expect it to apply to all other cultures.
Scenic Designer Wilson Chin presents us with a Quaker-simple, pared down set in the round and dots it with wooden chairs and tables to laser-focus on the text and the families and townsfolk interactions. As stripped down as it is, I still yearned to see the moon to drop down from the rafters during Emily and George’s teen love scene. It’s appeared in every production I’ve ever seen, and I missed its dramatic metaphor for the wider world we live in and the tender emotions of young love in bloom.
Only in the third act of this lengthy drama, when ghosts of her past haunt Emily during her voyage between death and the afterlife, do we glimpse the crux of the play. They advise her not to review her life nor attempt to make contact with any of the others – living or dead. They advise Emily to just give up – to cede to the inevitable. It is at this point that Paul dispenses with the miming of props and surprises us with a rising glass box featuring Mrs. Webb preparing pancakes and surrounded by props to wow us.
If you love these actors, as I do, you will want to see this production. But, then again, you’ve probably seen it a hundred times.
With Holly Twyford as Stage Manager; Eric Hissom as Dr. Gibbs; Hudson Koonce as Joe Crowell/Si Crowell; Christopher Michael Richardson as Howie Newsome; Chinna Palmer as Emily Webb; Natascia Diaz as Mrs. Gibbs; Felicia Curry as Mrs. Webb; Jake Loewenthal as George Gibbs; Maisie Ann Posner as Rebecca Gibbs; Josh Decker as Sam Craig; Tommy Nelson as Wally Webb; Kimberly Schraf as Professor Willard; Craig Wallace as Mr. Webb; Lawrence Redmond as Simon Stimson; Sarah C. Marshall as Mrs. Soames; Elliot Dash as Constable Warren; Suzanne Richard as Joe Stoddard; Quinn M. Johnson, Ensemble; Summer Wei, Ensemble.
Costume Designer, Sarafina Bush; Sound Designer, Lighting Designer, Phillip Rosenberg; John Gromada; Composer, Michael John LaChiusa; Music Director, Jay Crowder.
Through June 11th at Shakespeare Theatre Company at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
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