Weeks ago, I began to think about Natascia Diaz in the role of Fosca after I saw her perform one of the numbers from Passion at Signature’s Annual Open House. I wondered how this actress would inhabit a character not known to garner sympathy from female audiences. Having witnessed her in many different roles and seen how certain roles became her – others that would not allow her to shine as optimally as I know she can – I am thrilled to report that this is the role for both her superb acting as well as her beautifully controlled and emotionally riveting voice. It is a triumph for Diaz in a role she reportedly was not keen on taking.
Natascia Diaz (Fosca) and Claybourne Elder (Giorgio) Photo by Margot Schulman.
Stephen Sondheim’s Passion is certainly one of his finest efforts with a sing-through libretto more operetta than standard musical. Its story of a love triangle between Giorgio (Claybourne Elder in a peerless performance), Clara (Steffanie Leigh in a seemingly effortless portrayal) and the invalid Fosca. Set on a provincial military outpost near Milan, it is based on the 1869 novel Fosca by Ignio Ugo Tarchetti. In 1981 it was adapted into the film Passione d’Amore by Ettore Scola before opening on Broadway in 1994 with music & lyrics by Sondheim and book by James Lapine, the show’s original director.
Steffanie Leigh (Clara) and Claybourne Elder (Giorgio) Photo by Christopher Mueller
The opening scene between Giorgio and Clara affords us a scene of amorous coupling in Clara’s bed. There is nudity involved but it is sensuous and tasteful, and yes, passionate, as you would expect, as the rhapsodic lovers declare their undying adoration for each other. The story unfolds to reveal a complex and untenable power play between the three central characters.
Frail Fosca becomes the third wheel and supplicant to the handsome and dashing officer, Giorgio, who insists he is devoted to the beautiful (but married!) Clara. But Fosca is undaunted, “If you never have expectations, you never have disappointments,” Fosca insists as she calculatingly manipulates him with both threats to his career and callousness towards her frailties. This is where audiences audibly groan at her actions. Think Glenn Close’s character in the movie Fatal Attraction. But Giorgio challenges her affections, “Is this what you call love – your relentless pursuit?” On top of this corrosive behavior, he is further humiliated by his fellow officers who claim he is sucking up to Fosca’s cousin, Colonel Ricci, for a promotion. Imagine this as a modern-day romance. You want to stop the madness but cannot wait to see what unfolds.
Claybourne Elder (Giorgio) and Steffanie Leigh (Clara) Photo by Margot Schulman.
Visceral and uncompromising with compelling performances and flawless voices with music written around their exchange of letters. Highly recommended.
Skillfully directed by Matthew Gardiner with Music Direction by Jon Kalbfleisch with a 14-piece orchestra, Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, Scenic Design by Lee Savage, 19th century Costume Designs by Robert Perdziola, Lighting Design by Colin K. Bills and Sound Design by Ryan Hickey.
Claybourne Elder (Giorgio) and John Leslie Wolfe (Doctor Tambourri) Photo by Margot Schulman
With Will Gartshore as Colonel Ricci, Ian McEuen as Lieutenant Torasso, Bobby Smith as Major Rizzolli and Fosca’s Father, Lawrence Redmond as Lieutenant Barri, John Leslie Wolfe as Doctor Tambourri, Gregory Maheu as Sergeant Lombardi and Ludovic, Christopher Mueller as Private Augenti, Rayanne Gonzales as Fosca’s Mother and Katie Mariko Murray as Mistress.
Through September 23rd in the MAX at Signature Theatre (Shirlington Village), 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.
The Scottsboro Boys races down the tracks like a runaway train from Chattanooga through Alabama and bound for hell. On that train, on that fateful day in Alabama in 1931, a group of nine young, innocent, black teenagers – two brothers, the rest strangers – became horribly and inextricably tied to two white women. They had all been “hoboing”, riding the rails without tickets. Once caught, the women afraid of being jailed, accused the boys of rape. That this gripping tale is a true story, may strike some as unfathomable. But it is. And it was. Leave it to the brilliant composer + lyricist team of Kander & Ebb to turn a national crime story into a blockbuster musical in the form of a minstrel show. They had colossal success with Cabaret (Nazis and gay performers in wartime Germany) and Chicago (a murder set in a prison and played out in a courtroom). Nobody does it better.
Chaz Alexander Coffin (Mr. Tambo), Stephen Scott Wormley (Mr. Bones) and the cast of The Scottsboro Boys. Photo by Christopher Mueller
Minstrelsy shows were popular touring variety shows performed predominantly by whites in blackface from the early 19th century till the 1940’s. African-Americans also had troupes who painted on exaggerated white lips and portrayed watermelon-eating stereotypes in overalls or minstrels in colorful suits in plaid and stripes. They were led by a Master of Ceremonies who was white. Here he is called the Interlocutor (skillfully played by Christopher Bloch) and he could be a dead ringer for Colonel Sanders. In The Scottsboro Boys the boys are depicted as black minstrels playing out their lives on a stage under the control and direction of the Interlocutor.
How do you turn a Death Row, Depression era story into an entertaining one? First you address the country’s racist history and then you crack it wide open with a breathtaking amalgam of talent, eighteen unforgettable songs and a hard-driving story that just won’t quit. Under the fine direction of four-time Helen Hayes Award-winner, Joe Calarco, this production breathes fire and fury in your face – and in your heart – from start to powerful conclusion.
Lamont Walker II (Haywood) and the cast of The Scottsboro Boys at Signature Theatre. Photo by C Stanley Photography.
Led by Haywood Patterson (Lamont Walker II), the boys form deep friendships to gird themselves against the women’s baseless charges, their cruel prison guards, an all-white jury and the lynch mob mentality of the South. Walker will steal your heart with his deeply emotional portrayal of a teenager who pines for his mother and a life unfulfilled.
Backed by an 8-piece band enhanced by the sounds of tuba, banjo and tambourine, the travesty unfolds within the framework of a minstrel show depicting the boys’ trials and tribulations specifically their arrest and two of their eight trumped-up trials. This colorful musical is set to a variety of period musical styles and features spectacular tap dancing. Wowza!
Felicia Curry (The Lady) in The Scottsboro Boys at Signature Theatre. Photo by C Stanley Photography.
This staging is especially timely as it coincides with the recent opening of The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama in a city where a nine-foot statue of Jefferson Davis still stands in front of the Alabama State Capitol.
Absolutely takes your breath away! Highly recommended.
Aramie Payton (Eugene Williams), Joseph Monroe Webb (Olen Montgo mery), Darrell Purcell Jr (Clarence Norris), Lamont Walker II (Haywood Patterson), Malik Akil (Charles Weems), C.K. Edwards (Roy Wright), DeWitt leming, Jr. (Ozie Powell), and Jonathan Adriel (Andy Wright) in The Scottsboro Boys at Signature Theatre. Photo by C Stanley Photography.
With Jonathan Adriel as Andy Wright, Malik Akil as Charlie Weems and Victoria Price, Chaz Alexander Coffin as Mr. Tambo, Felicia Curry as The Lady, C. K. Edwards as Roy Wright, DeWitt Fleming, Jr. as Ozie Powell and Ruby Bates, Andre Hinds as Willie Roberson, Aramie Payton as Eugene Williams and Little George, Darrell Purcell, Jr. as Clarence Norris and Preacher, Joseph Monroe Webb as Olen Montgomery and Stephen Scott Wormley as Mr. Bones.
Book by David Thompson, choreography by Jared Grimes, music direction by Brian P. Whitted, lighting by Sherrice Mojani, costume design by Emilio Sosa, sound design by Ryan Hickey and scenic design by Daniel Conway.
Through July 1 in the MAX 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.
Girlfriend is writer Todd Almond’s warmhearted story about two teens searching for love while trying to find their footing amid the anxiety-fraught, coming-of-age high school years. Will is a footloose, no-plans, out-of-the-closet introvert. His new friend, Mike, is the high school’s prom king and quarterback. Mike has a structured life that includes leaving their small town in Nebraska for med school. Their connection seems doomed from the start when Mike calls out Will for being “obvious”, telling him “things could be perfect, if you weren’t you.” Who would stick around after that? But Mike keeps phoning Will after he gifts him with a mix tape, and together they bond over music and flicks. It’s an emotional story filled with the fraught exploration of young love coupled with the universal awkwardness that accompanies anyone’s first relationship.
Lukas James Miller (Mike) and Jimmy Mavrikes (Will) . Photo by Christopher Mueller.
Will acknowledges he’s gay – he gets bullied at school for it – but Mike is confused about his sexuality identity. Mike has a girlfriend and being gay doesn’t fit into his long-range plans. Notwithstanding their differences, the teens form an unlikely friendship that begins with a date at the drive-in to see a movie about Evangeline, a nun who’s secretly a superhero. Mike loves it. Will’s too shy to say he doesn’t. Their personalities are polar opposites.
But the appeal of this rock musical isn’t just their adorably awkward relationship, or the hilarious situations these two find themselves in, but the catchy Beatles’-styled tunes composed by Matthew Sweet and played by a four-piece, onstage, powerhouse girl band. Add in Jimmy Mavrikes’s (Will) and Lukas James Miller’s (Mike) wonderfully appealing in sync voices skillfully blending in ten original numbers from Sweet’s alternative-rock album “Girlfriend”.
Lukas James Miller (Mike) and Jimmy Mavrikes (Will) . Photo by Christopher Mueller.
Thanks to Misha Kachman’s masterful set design that places the musicians behind a wall of glass in a lipstick red, padded recording studio sound booth, stretching the length of the stage, we can see them rock out and tune into their energy. As backup singing musicians, they are an integral part of the story as they watch the teens along with the audience to see how their budding relationship will turn out.
Directed and choreographed by Matthew Gardiner, it debuted in Berkeley, CA ten years ago, yet has an enduring resonance that aims to please.
Lukas James Miller (Mike) and Jimmy Mavrikes (Will) . Photo by Christopher Mueller.
Recommended to anyone who has ever felt awkward in love and has the memories to prove it.
With musicians Britt Bonney conducting and playing keyboard, Beth Cannon on guitar, Nicole Saphos on bass and Erika Johnson on drums. Costume design by Frank Labovitz, lighting design by Colin K. Bills and sound design by Ryan Hickey.
Through June 10th in the ARK Theatre 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.
We are waiting. For an answer. Three and a half hours including two intermissions later with a slowly dwindling audience after the first two acts. Ah well, it is a weekday night. And though given the title of the play we have a fairly good guess John will be involved, we are still waiting for an explanation as to why we have slogged through the sucking sound of a surfeit of red herrings. All clues lead to nowhere. The only explanation I can deduce is that this is some sort of exercise in existentialism. There is no note in the program from the award-winning playwright Annie Baker and nothing from director Joe Calarco either, so we can only speculate.
Nancy Robinette, Anna Moon and Jonathan Feuer in John at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman.
One reason you may want to sit through this mystery, is the superb acting by Nancy Robinette and Ilona Dulaski. They are stellar! Two veteran actresses of note who, given the puzzling plot, still manage to keep us curious enough to await the denouement. Hint: It’s a single word at the close of the play.
Robinette as Mertis, aka Kitty, is the off-kilter proprietress of a Bed & Breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Her blind, mentally deranged friend, Genevieve (Dulaski), imagines noises in the house. The duo have latched onto mysticism for reasons not made clear. Perhaps to explain why the lights flicker and the electricity frequently fails or why Kitty’s husband never appears. “He’s not well.” But we discover he was working on the historic home’s electrical system. Is this a clue? To what? Credit lighting designer Andrew Cissna for the blackouts and the plethora of antique lamps. Are we spooked? It’s a stretch to be frightened when there’s no murder.
Anna Moon and Jonathan Feuer in John. Photo by Margot Schulman.
Certainly the creepiest part is Paige Hathaway’s set design chockfull of dozens of dolls, tchotchkes (a huge collection of china cats!!!), and an abundance of Christmas décor. One of the dolls, perched atop a player piano, is the target of attention from Jenny (Anna Moon) – one half of the couple that is staying at the B&B. Jenny had the same American Girl doll and is overwhelmed with guilt that as an adult she has relegated the doll to a box in her mother’s attic. She shares with Kitty an obsessive attachment to objects and the imparting of human emotions to them. Her passive-aggressive, jealous boyfriend Elias (Jonathan Feuer) is coming off anti-depressants and is in meltdown mode. There are ferocious fights that result in them sleeping in separate rooms.
But back to the red herrings. Kitty frequently changes the time on a grandfather clock and writes down her daily reflections in an unknown language. At one point the lights go out in the theater and we hear a chuckle. Who or what? Kitty tells Elias not to ask about a portrait of a woman. This is never resolved. Kitty tells the couple she doesn’t drink. She chugs a glass of wine. Elias visits the Gettysburg battlefields and claims he has taken a photo that has a ghostly image. Also, he hates B&Bs, “The tragedy of B&Bs is to be homey and cute and filled with tchotchkes.” Why are they staying at one? They insult the others’ cultural backgrounds – he’s Jewish, she’s Asian. There’s a reference to the house being a former Civil War hospital – arms and legs were tossed out the windows. No ghosts arrive. Genevieve is fixated on the husband she abandoned. This never comes up again, though a lot of dialogue is spent on how he invaded her thoughts for years. His name was John. Elias was kissed by a man when he was a child. We never learn if any of this is relevant.
Nancy Robinette, Jonathan Feuer and Ilona Dulaski in John. Photo by Margot Schulman.
I don’t think I’m giving anything away. There are plenty more contrivances that never add up. If this is meant to be like Get Out, this year’s Oscar-nominated horror film, they lost this reviewer amid the smokescreens in a B&B in Gettysburg.
With Costume Design by Debra Kim Sivigny and Sound Design by Kenny Neal.
Through April 29th at Signature Theatre (Shirlington Village), 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.
John Sygar, Natascia Diaz, Luke Smith and Robbie Schaeffer in LIGHT YEARS. Photo by Christopher Mueller.
Artistic Director, Eric Schaeffer, presents us with yet another world premiere musical. This time it’s a tender tale of a father and son who go in and out of each other’s lives over a period of decades. Light Years features the music, lyrics, and book by Robbie Schaefer (no relation to Eric). Robbie is a member of Eddie from Ohio (EFO), a Northern Virginia indie/folk/rock band known for their beautifully blended four-part harmonies.
It’s part concert, part sentimental journey. Three guitar playing performers play Robbie – John Sygar as Young Robbie, Luke Smith as Middle Robbie and Robbie Schaefer as the adult Robbie. Veteran actor Bobby Smith plays Robbie’s Jewish father, Konnie, a man reticent to share his past as a former White House economist. Natascia Diaz becomes Robbie’s wife, Annie, and Kara-Tameika Watkins, his friend, Amelia, but not before the two play backup singers Chantelle and Soma who lay down harmonies for the band during their tours in the 90’s.
John Sygar, Kara-Tameika Watkins, Robbie Schaefer, Natascia Diaz, and Luke Smith in LIGHT YEARS. Photo by Christopher Mueller
Framed by video projection screens and a simple concert-style stage, this no-intermission, 90-minute musical hints at Konnie’s peripatetic past – one that has him fleeing Nazi-occupied Romania for Israel, then later emigrating to the U. S. “Everything is temporary,” Konnie repeatedly warns Robbie. But it’s only towards the very end of the story that we, and Robbie, learn of his father’s tragic beginnings. Up till then there is only a child’s confusion, and ours as the audience, as to why his father seems unable to connect. Ultimately when Robbie has his own wife and family, can they express understanding and compassion towards one another. But is it too late?
Shaefer’s music is of the story-telling kind, a there are fifteen songs filled with joy and heartbreak, disappointment and redemption. Its sweet melodies and pitch-perfect harmonies will please those who enjoy a laid back concert-style experience.
Through February 18th at Signature Theatre (Shirlington Village), 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.
