The days of light-hearted versions of Camelotmay have gone the way of 50¢ bus rides. The whole frothy, castle keep shtick flies out the window in director Alan Paul’s modern interpretation of Lerner & Loewe’s Broadway hit musical of the early 60’s. And I must admit, I wasn’t ready for such a sea change. For those of you who remember the 60’s (you’re excused if you don’t), the original cast starred the magnificent-voiced Robert Goulet, Julie Andrews (‘nuff said) and sex symbol at the time, Richard Burton, before he was actually knighted. Paul delves deeper into the sociological and psychological implications of the 12th century Knights of the Round Table and comes up with a view edgier, darker, and a lot more Shakespearean. We should have expected it.
Ken Clark as King Arthur ~ Photo credit Scott Suchman
Paul has assembled a fine cast to see his vision through. DC-based actor Ted van Griethuysen plays Merlyn the Magician. Van Griethuysen, an eight-time Helen Hayes Award winner was awarded the Robert Prosky Award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play” at the Helen Hayes Awards this May. Merlyn is the defining influence on the young King’s life, at least until wise King Pellinore (skillfully played by Floyd King) steps up to the plate as his confidante after Merlyn loses his powers. Pelli has been around the block. The sympatico King Arthur (Ken Clark) wants peace and justice to flourish in Camelot in a new social order rejecting violence and bloodshed and stripping the powers of the landed gentry. Proposition: The feisty knights would be dumped into the dustbin.
Queen Guenevere (Alexandra Silber) and Ken Clark as King Arthur ~ Photo credit Scott Suchman
Meanwhile, the beautiful and spirited Queen Guenevere (Alexandra Silber), and his closest comrade, Lancelot du Lac, the handsomest and most vaunted knight in the land (played by the dashing Nick Fitzer), become lovers and their treasonous romance becomes the talk of the court. Enter Mordred (Patrick Vaill), the King’s illegitimate son. Plotting to seize the throne through blood and terror, he threatens to reveal the Queen’s secret love affair. Nevertheless, the lovers cannot bear to part. “If Ever I Would Leave You”, sung by Lancelot, is one of the songs everyone remembers. I could have sworn I heard humming from the audience.
Nick Fitzer as Lancelot Du Lac and Alexandra Silber as Quenn Guenevere ~ Photo by Scott Suchman
Vaill, a Bard College alum, uses his Mick Jagger looks and indelible charm to give us a gutsy-cool, bad boy Mordred – a character who declares “Fie on goodness!” and whose wicked, leather-clad street-thugs prove to be King Arthur’s undoing. “The table is not round,” Mordred insinuates. “It is a triangle.” And as we all know, three’s a crowd.
Nick Fitzer as Lancelot Du Lac and Alexandra Silber as Quenn Guenevere ~ Photo by Scott Suchman
The cast is wonderful most especially Clark, Vaill and Fitzer whose musical numbers and fiery soliloquies bring the house down. Led by designer Ana Kuzmanic, STC’s masterful costume department has outdone themselves with yards of heavily embroidered silk, chiffon and velvet for the women, and leather outfits, voluminous capes and gleaming suits of armor for the knights.
Patrick Vail as Mordred, Alexandra Silber as Guenevere and Michael Bingham as Ensemble ~ Photo by Scott Suchman
Alas and alack, I found the unimaginative, wood-paneled backdrops by Walt Spengler to be lackluster, but his use of disappearing platforms for set changes and descending-from-the-rafters bevy of shiny knights to be eye-popping. Fight choreographer David Leong handles the flashy sword fights and choreographer Michele Lynch delights with the lovers’ waltz among rose petals and the lusty courtiers a-Maying.
Cast of Lerner & Loewe's Camelot ~ Photo by Scott Suchman
With Music Direction by James Cunningham, Lighting Design by Robert Wierzel, and Sound Design by Ken Travis.
With Melissa Wimbish as Nimbue, Mark Banik as Sir Dinadan, Brandon Bieber as Sir Sagamore, Paul Victor as Sir Lionel, Ben Gunderson as Squire Dap and the adorable Trinity Sky Deabreu as Child. Knights and Ladies of the Court include Michael Bingham, Veronica Burt, Julio Catano-Yee, Chadaé, Jennifer Cordiner, Bridget Riley, Frankie Shin, and Casey Wenger-Schulman.
Through July 8st at Sidney Harman Hall 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
When Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s existentialist masterpiece, Waiting for Godot, was first produced in Paris in 1953, it was a time of high intellectualism and experimentation in the Arts. Modern art was blossoming and writers like James Joyce, Jean Genet and Eugene Ionesco were exploring new ways to communicate with audiences. They and many others began to reinvent the dynamic and break the mold of what the theatre arts had known. The ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ they created challenged the status quo to examine the human condition as a comic tragedy on the futility of life and the frailties of mankind. Beckett saw it as a fool’s game and chose two penniless drifters to advance his notions.
Marty Rea as Vladimir and Aaron Monaghan as Estragon. Photo Matthew Thompson.
As a highly stylized foray into the surreal – delivered in compact, visceral dialogue – Beckett’s fools, the supercilious Vladimir (the incomparable Marty Rea) and the dismissive Estragon (Aaron Monaghan in a master class performance), slowly go mad waiting for Godot to arrive. They wait in the misguided hope that Godot will save them from their misfortunes. As the two men struggle to define their reasons for living, the dialogue toggles back and forth between anger at their circumstances and hilarious attempts to make light of their gloom. Frequent references to nature – the tree, the stone and the bog – serve to anchor them to earthbound realism as they themselves continue to go madly off the rails. “There’s nothing to be done,” asserts Estragon while considering hanging himself. “I resumed the struggle,” responds Vladimir in a clear but Tigger-like non sequitur. (You may succumb, as I did, to seeking out the symbolism in every line.)
Garrett Lombard as Lucky, Marty Rea as Vladimir and Aaron Monaghan as Estragon. Photo Matthew Thompson.
To comprehend, and this is the intellectual exercise of Beckett, much of their vacillating emotional state is topsy-turvy – a clear definition of the avant garde movement. One minute they embrace the secular – a moment later the spiritual. Other times the two jolly each other up with a sort of Abbot and Costello routine of “Who’s on first?” – a running banter that defines the absurdity and futility of their predicament. There are times when you can imagine you are overhearing a couple of old sots at four o’clock in the morning in an Irish pub.
As counterbalance to their predicament, Pozzo (Rory Nolan in a larger than life portrayal of the inbred landed gentry), appears with his forlorn servant, Lucky, a sort of idiot savant played masterfully by Garrett Lombard. Altogether the men cling to the hope that they can save one another from the vicissitudes of life.
C. Conneely as Boy, Marty Rea as Vladimir and Aaron Monaghan as Estragon. Photo Matthew Thompson.
This outstanding production is directed by Tony Award-winning Garry Hynes and presented by Druid, the illustrious Irish theater company.
Francis O’Connor gives us a modernistic set design that brings to mind the surrealism of Rene Magritte and Salvatore Dali.
With lighting by James F. Ingalls, scenic and costume design by Francis O’Connor and sound design by Greg Clarke.
Highly recommended. Bring your thinking cap and your sense of humor.
Through May 20th at The Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 2004. For tickets and information visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org or call the box office at 202 547-1122.
Nabil Elouahabi as Tareq and Heather Raffo as Noura ~ Photo credit by Scott Suchman
Can any of us really know what it’s like to be a refugee in America from a war-torn country? Can we understand the heartbreak of leaving family and loved ones to starve or perish? Playwright and actor Heather Raffo delves into the terrifying world of refugees with her tragedy Noura, a story of an Iraqi father, wife, and son Yazen (Gabriel Brumberg) struggling to assimilate into American life after fleeing the only country they have ever known.
Matthew David as Rafa’a, Gabriel Brumberg as Yazen and Nabil Elouahabi as Tareq ~ Photo credit by Scott Suchman.
Noura (Heather Raffo in an unforgettable performance) has forsaken her work as an architect in Mosul to keep a traditional household in New York City where husband Tareq (Nabil Elouahabi) works as a doctor alongside his longtime friend and fellow doctor Rafa’a (Matthew David). Scenic Designer Andrew Lieberman lets us know they are fairly well off with his stylish mid-century modern set dominated by a large Christmas tree. And although it’s clear they are Christians, they suffer many of the same prejudices in America as their Muslim friends.
Noura is excited because Maryam (Dahlia Azama), an orphan she has supported and sponsored to become an American citizen, is coming to visit them for the holidays for a Christmas Eve feast. But when she arrives from her studies at Stanford, six months pregnant and without a husband, or use for one, Noura slut-shames her, only to regret it when Maryam runs off in disgust.
Dahlia Azama as Maryam and Heather Raffo as Noura ~ Photo credit by Scott Suchman.
We see a couple in constant turmoil, striving to stay together while battling their own inner demons. This emotional roller coaster of dueling cultural identities becomes more intense as the walls seem to close in on their personal problems. Should they sacrifice their deeply held traditional roots or let love prevail? Tareq, too, is confused about his role as a man in modern American society. Is Noura too independent? Was she too bold and outspoken during their courtship so many years ago in Iraq? Were they complicit in ignoring the pleas for help from their Muslim friends’ during the war? “I am not a victim,” Noura cries out. I am a coward.” And, though they feel “safe” from ISIS in America, will guilt and fear destroy their ability feel compassion as surely as any war could?
Heather Raffo as Noura and Matthew David by Rafa’a ~ Photo credit by Scott Suchman.
Directed by Joanna Settle, Raffo’s intelligent and brilliantly crafted drama brings us into this fraught scenario cautiously, tenderly, and without judgment, making absolutely certain we recognize the universality of our foibles and frailties. It is a deep dive into the human conscience and an examination of the degree to which empathy and forgiveness can bring us to a greater understanding of all of humankind.
Destined to be a classic, this play is highly recommended.
At the Lansburgh Theatre through March 14th 2018, 450 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information contact the Box Office at 202.547.1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org for additional info on post-show playwright discussions.
Avery Glymph as Marcellus, Michael Urie as Hamlet and Federico Rodriguez as Horatio in Hamlet ~ Photo by Scott Suchman.
Michael Kahn’s swan song in his final season as Artistic Director at the Shakespeare Theatre Company will prove to be a lasting memory of his herculean efforts to bring Shakespeare to modern audiences. In a breath-of-fresh-air he has cast Michael Urie, a former student of his, to portray Hamlet. Urie gives a pin-drop performance that enraptured the opening night audience. His is a matter-of-fact Hamlet who is hip to the machinations of his enemies and tormented by his limited options – suicide or murder. Perhaps both. His delivery of the classic lines, is conversational, visceral and physical. Even in this longest of Shakespeare’s plays, the three-hour production zipped by thanks to Urie’s electrifying performance and sense of comic timing.
Kahn switches up the sequence of Hamlet’s melancholy soliloquy from Act One Scene Two, “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt.” to serve as Hamlet’s prologue and introduce us to his wretched state of mind. This unique artistic decision explains Hamlet’s suicidal state of mind and sets the scene for his descent into madness. Remember, Shakespeare wrote three versions of this play and thus none are etched in stone.
Ryan Spahn as Rosencrantz and Kelsey Rainwater as Guildenstern in Hamlet ~ Photo by Scott Suchman.
Kahn imagines the Kingdom of Denmark as the headquarters of a major corporation and the domain of King Claudius (Alan Cox from Translations on Broadway) who is CEO of all Machiavellian PSYOPs. Right from the start Scenic Designer John Coyne puts us at the metal desks of modern day uniformed security guards. On a large bank of CCTV screens broadcasting ordinary images of the building’s access, Horatio (Federico Rodriguez), Bernardo (Chris Genebach) and Francisco (Brayden Simpson) are stunned to see an apparition.
Keith Baxter as Player King in Hamlet ~ Photo by Scott Suchman.
It is the ghost of Hamlet’s father (Keith Baxter) revealed to them as a fuzzy image. In Kahn’s version, suits, security guards and cell phones place us firmly in the world of high tech. Even Hamlet and Ophelia (Oyin Oladejo from Star Trek: Discovery) profess their love and seal their break up through texts. And Coyne reflects this cold, grey, desolate sense of place with steel beams, contemporary furnishings and spiral stairways leading to a vast catwalk.
Alan Cox as Claudius, Oyin Oladejo as Ophelia and Madeleine Potter as Gertrude in Hamlet ~ Photo by Scott Suchman.
Corporate spies abound – Rosenkrantz (Ryan Spahn) and Guildenstern (Kelsey Rainwater) report to Queen Gertrude (Madeleine Potter from An Ideal Husband on Broadway) on Hamlet’s mental state, as does Polonius (the enjoyably duplicitous Robert Joy) who, as you know, has his own agenda, and his son Laertes (Paul Cooper) too – and Hamlet doesn’t get banished to England until the end of Act One. Yet all the pieces fall into place seamlessly.
I can’t say enough about the relevance and riveting modern dynamic of this production – the power and destruction of authoritarianism, its secrets, lies and power struggles – and why, given the current state of our government, we would be wise to listen and take heed.
Highly recommended.
At the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall through March 4th at 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call 202 547-1122 or visit online.
Lisa Dawn as Sarah and Patrick Kennedy as Richard ~Photo credit Carol Rosegg
The Lover opens a door onto a middle class couple conversing in their mid-century modern living room. Richard (Patrick Kennedy) and Sarah (Lisa Dwan) have been married ten years. Over martinis they discuss how they spent their afternoon with their respective lovers. They appear emotionally, and inexplicably, detached – aloof about their spouse’s peccadilloes, and eager to overshare. They quaintly thrust and parry, delivering jealousy-inducing blows with accuracy. But neither flinches. With the unflappable reserve of the English stiff upper lip, they regard each other with all the enthusiasm of a scientific experiment while challenging one another with wild tales of their extramarital exploits. Perhaps, that was Pinter’s intent – to examine the differences between the sexes with a calculatingly eye towards achieving parity. “Frankness at all costs,” demands Richard. Or perhaps, it’s just an exercise in existentialism with the audience as voyeuristic dupes?
Ultimately, it is merely vexing. Why, you wonder, are they so blasé about infidelity? Why should we care about them and their outcome when they are so cruel to each other? When Pinter wrote these set pieces we were coming out of the Beatnik era and into the sexual revolution. It was a time when “being cool” was crucial, and being closed-minded was decidedly “uncool”. But who was being served?
In this one-acter, Richard and Sarah vie for power in a sexually-charged marriage. As their erotic role-playing becomes fiercer, they switch off roles of dominance and submission. It’s a no-win game that plays out in dispassionate insults and fantasy vignettes, with a milkman as red herring thrown in to divert.
Photo of Patrick Ball as Bill and Jack Koenig as Harry ~Photo credit Carol Rosegg
The Collection is a more diverting tale with a somewhat meatier storyline. Two gay men, one a well-to-do elderly man, Harry (Jack Koenig), the other his fancy boy, Bill, the fashion designer (Patrick Ball), live together in a bespoke home in London amid a collection of antiques and Oriental vases. Bill appears to be caught in a tangle. Did he sleep with a woman on a business trip, or did she fabricate the story to make her husband jealous? “Did you have a good time in Leeds last week,” James asks accusingly.
Photo of Lisa Dwan as Stella ~Photo credit Carol Rosegg
As a mystery, it’s no Agatha Christie – far too many holes in it. As in, why would Harry welcome the low-class, middle-aged stranger, James (Patrick Kennedy), into his home for a chat? Who does that? And why would he and Bill ultimately befriend James with promises of a posh life when he accuses James of blackmail? James’ own wife Stella (Lisa Dwan) would have had her reputation destroyed in a divorce case if that had been his intent, which it appears it isn’t. But let’s not allow details to get in the way.
Lisa Dawn as Sarah and Patrick Kennedy as Richard ~Photo credit Carol Rosegg
The action picks up when young Bill is alone with the canny and violent James. Together they play a macabre dance with Bill trying to determine James’ intent and James playing cat-and-mouse with the vulnerable Bill. Their conversation, as in the couple in The Lover is as dry as the proverbial bone, until Harry appears, toys with James’ affections, and Bill is treated like a disposable house guest.
Under the direction of Michael Kahn, these four actors do an exceptional job of tackling this anachronistic fluff, but to what end? In both of these productions cruelty and degradation win out in the end – a Pyrrhic victory all around.
Though October 29th at the Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information contact the Box Office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org.
