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The Color Purple – Emotional and Brave with a Story and Music That Will Grab Your Heartstrings
Signature Theatre
Jordan Wright
August 26, 2022
Special to The Zebra
 Nova Y. Payton (Celie) and the cast of The Color Purple at Signature Theatre. (Photo by
Christopher Mueller) The power of The Color Purple is its deeply poignant story of a woman who suffers both abuse and triumph hidden deep inside a culture rife with racism, sexism and poverty. Based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name this searing musical drama etched its spot in the pantheon of great Broadway musicals by earning a Tony Award in 2016 and again in 2017 when it garnered a Grammy for “Best Musical Album”. Its soaring gospel sounds and sweet, emotionally laden ballads grasp at our heartstrings. The story of a child bride fighting for survival in an abusive marriage in the Deep South, speak to us about where we can find love and how we seek truth in the face of adversity. Although set in 1909 we can still recognize these -isms through the rise of #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter.
 Kaiyla Gross (Nettie) and Nova Y. Payton (Celie). Photo by Margot Schulman. The story of 14-year-old Celie, whose only close relationship is with her sister Nettie, unveils a tortured child without agency who has been given in marriage to a cruel man who belittles and abuses her, a repeat of her relationship with her father. Played beautifully by noted actress and singer Nova Y. Payton who clones a girl locked in a world without love or self-worth until Shug Avery a jive club singer comes to stay. Shug, an independent woman whose steamy sexuality reflects her independence has a hold on Celie’s husband Mister and right smack dab under Celie’s nose Shug moves in and renews her relationship with him. What Mister doesn’t bargain for is Shug’s amorous feelings for Celie.
Directed by Timothy Douglas this crack cast includes two Nigerian actors, three actors hot off the recent smash hit Grace and a strong supporting cast who inhabit their roles like buds on a tree. (A simile that will have relevance in the final act.) The strength of their performances – wonderfully in synch – reflect mightily on Douglas’s direction and his passion for the story.
 Nova Y. Payton (Celie). Photo by Christopher Mueller. Tony Cisek’s stark set design resembles a weathered wooden cabin replete with barn boards that operate like the slats of a window blind to reveal when opened the characters in silhouette or in bright light situated on two levels. Peter Maradudin’s lighting enhances the dramatic moments in cool blues and fiery reds as when Celie’s sister, son and daughter return from Africa and there is a magical African drumming and dancing scene that adds to Dane Figueroa Eddi’s fabulous choreography. Solomon Parker III, as Mister’s son Harpo, does double duty as the Dance Captain and you can’t help but thrill to his cool style of laidback crossed with hopped up, jumpin’ and jivin’ moves.
 The cast of The Color Purple at Signature Theatre. Photo by Christopher Mueller The show’s memorable songs by Allee Willis, Stephen Bray and Brenda Russell are sung by an excellent ensemble who present this complex crystallization of life-on-the-edge-of-nothing with Blues, Gospel and ballads intricately woven into this tender tapestry. “I’m Here” Celie’s redemptive ballad is the moment where Payton shows the power of her singular voice, Shug’s notable red hot mama number “Push Da Button”, Mister’s “Mister’s Song” (Torrey Linder kills it!) and “Hell No!” by Sofia and the Women are guaranteed to thrill audiences.
With Danielle J. Summons as Shug Avery; Temídayo Amay as Squeak; Kaiyla Gross as Nettie; Jalisa Williams as Jarene; Gabrielle Rice as Doris; Nia Savoy-Dock as Darlene; Keenan McCarter as Pa; Stephawn P. Stephens as Preacher/Ol’ Mister; Torrey Linder as Mister; Frenchie Davis as Sofia; Tobias A. Young as Buster; Sean-Maurice Lynch as Adam; Raquel Jennings as Olivia; Ian Anthony Coleman as Guard/Bobby and Fight Captain.
Book by Marsha Norman; Costume Design by Kara Harman; Sound Design by Ryan Hickey; Musical Direction by Mark G. Meadows; Conducted by Angie Benson.
Highly recommended!
Through October 9th at 4200 Campbell Avenue in Shirlington Village, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 820-9771 or visit www.SigTheatre.org.
Kurios
Cabinet of Curiosities
Cirque du Soleil
Jordan Wright
August 6, 2022
Special to The Zebra
 (Photo/Mathew Tsang) The tale of Kurios takes us on an odyssey into a deeper realm neatly hidden inside the curio cabinet of the Seeker. Like Dr. Caligari he discovers a hidden world where bizarre curiosities come to life at a time when electricity was bringing the world together.
Steam Punk – as in Victoriana science fiction meets techno wizardry – is the style of Cirque de Soleil’s show, Kurios – Cabinet of Curiosities. The story, set in an alternate universe, features a voyage Jules Verne would have envied. Think leather goggles, top hats, bathing costumes, a giant bathysphere, a steam locomotive, a spectacular array of mechanical contrivances and astounding acrobats. With a wink and a nod to Toulouse Lautrec and early French film director and illusionist Georges Méliès, this decidedly French-inspired circus holds you in its thrall in an inventor’s fantasy zone that lies somewhere between outright silliness and gravity-defying feats of physical strength and beauty. One of my favorites of all the Cirque productions, I am beyond excited to see it return to our area.
 (Photo/Mathew Tsang) Unlocking this Pandora’s box unleashes a collection of extraordinary characters who step into the Seeker’s fantasy world. The outlandish creatures turn his world upside down with a touch of poetry and buckets of hilarity in an attempt to ignite his imagination and achieve a parallel universe. Heart-stopping and brilliantly imagined, it’s a magical, mystery tour for the dreamer at heart. It was hard to puzzle out if the adults or the children in the audience were more wowed by the jaw-dropping feats of acrobatics, the special effects, the over 400 props in the show or the 49 performance artists.
 (Photo/Mathew Tsang) There are new bits and bobs that you’ve never seen before in previous productions of Kurios. At least I don’t remember them. Notable skits feature a pantomimist woos a young lady brought to the stage from the audience. He appeals to her by behaving like a cat. It’s totally endearing. An elaborately choreographed group of hand-dancers project shadow puppets on a hot air balloon and clowns in fishtails race around like lunatics.
Written and directed by Michel Laprise, Kurios leads us into the birth of technology during the late 19th century and on a journey into the fantastical minds of the inventors of the great Industrial Age. Laprise, a former actor, director and artistic director, who started his own theatre company in Montreal and trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, has been with Cirque for two decades.
Highly recommended. An amazing show for young and old alike!
Through September 25th. Under the Big Top at Lerner Town Square at Tysons II – 8025 Galleria Drive, Tysons, VA 22102. For tickets call 877 924-7783 or visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/kuriosshow.
Hamilton – A Founding Father in Revolutionary Rap and Rhyme
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
August 9, 2020
Special to The Zebra
 Company of HAMILTON National Tour – (Photo/Joan Marcus 2021) WASHINGTON, DC – “Hamilton” is beyond everything you’ve heard it is. A radical departure from traditional musicals it is based on the life of one of America’s most accomplished and influential American Revolutionary heroes. Told in the poetry of hip-hop and rap and made emotional through stylized ballads, this freestyling oeuvre heralds Hamilton’s arrival to America as a bastard, mixed race, immigrant orphan whose groundbreaking achievements in establishing the United States government and our American financial system from under the oppressive bootheel of King George – helped form the foundation of our country. Unless you’ve recently reviewed your sixth-grade history, I would suggest you Google the libretto and listen to the show’s CD so you can be well prepared to (mentally, please!) hum along. I tell you this because the rhyming patter comes at you in warp speed, which is what makes it palpable in the quickened hearts of the audience who are anxiously leaning in from the first verse.
Book, Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda whose previous hit musical “In the Heights” catapulted him to fame, sourced bits of classic rap and show tunes slipped into the libretto. See if you can catch a few. You can sense Miranda’s mind at work here – his sensitivity to class struggle, his compassion for the immigrant and his all-around, too-cool-for-school hipness in full view with every turn of phrase. The man is a genius and an original. In the same way that Shakespeare mixed stories of love and despair between commoners and landed gentry, Miranda has his pulse on the grand scheme of life.
 Pierre Jean Gonzalez, Marcus Choi (Photo/Joan Marcus 2021) One of the most striking features is David Korin’s set design. The background never changes, but center stage employs a rotating inner circle allowing for the constant motion of the performers. Whether dancing, fighting, singing or rapping, it rotates in a wide circle, affording the actors constant interplay and showing us just how interconnected our Founding Fathers were – Jefferson, Madison, Washington, Burr and the Marquis de Lafayette (Because, what would we have done without the French? Oh, right. We’d have lost the Revolutionary War.) They all were so young when they birthed our nation. Hamilton was only 19 years old when he began his meteoric rise in New York City. “Hamilton” is American history brought to life and, as the song goes, we are in the room where it happened.
Pierre Jean Gonzalez as Alexander Hamilton is fierce. We’re into him from the get go. His confidence and stride mark the character’s brash youthfulness, exactly as we would wish him to be. Neil Haskell in the role of King George provides the comic relief as the prissy king who believes the Americans will beg him to return to British rule. Marcus Choi now plays Hamilton’s mentor, George Washington, and Jared Dixon plays the duplicitous Aaron Burr. Gracing the female side Stephanie Jae Park (Nikisha Williams beginning August 23rd) plays Hamilton’s long-suffering wife, Eliza.
 Company of HAMILTON National Tour (Photo/Joan Marcus 2021) The program lists 34 songs, but as a sing through, it’s predominantly vocals with The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra masterfully conducted by Jay Crowder.
Facts: “Hamilton” is the winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and garnered a record breaking 16 Tony Award® nominations, including “Best Musical” and winning 11 Tonys with book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and musical direction and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. “Hamilton” is based on Ron Chernow’s biography titled “Alexander Hamilton.”
 Stephanie Jae Park, Ta_Rea Campbell, Paige Smallwood (Photo/Joan Marcus 2021) Period Costume Design by Paul Tazewell; Lighting Design by Howell Binkley; Sound Design by Nevin Steinberg; Arrangements Alex Lacamoire and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Additional cast: Ta’Rea Campbell as Angelica Schuyler; Warren Egypt Franklin as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson; Desmond Sean Ellington as Hercules/Mulligan/James Madison; Paige Smallwood as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds; Nick Sanchez as Philip Schuyler/James Reynolds/Doctor; Aaron Albano as Samuel Seabury; Gabriel Hyman as Charles Lee; and Trevor Miles as George Eaker; plus a dozen more actors in the ensemble.
It’s historic. Literally and figuratively. Go as if your life depended on it!
Through October 9th at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F St., NW, Washington, DC. For tickets and information for future shows call 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
Michael’s Little Italy Restaurant Hosts LA TI DO Cabarets in Old Town
Jordan Wright
August 2, 2022
Special to The Zebra
LA TI DO is celebrating its ten years in show biz with the inauguration of their sizzling cabarets on the first Wednesday of every month at Michael’s Little Italy. August 3rd is the next one and is billed as “Duets with Don Mike”. The cabarets feature an eclectic range of local singers, spoken word artists and musicians many of whom perform in theaters around the DC Metro area. The company currently runs shows in Pittsburgh, New York City, Los Angeles and Dallas, Texas. Alexandria is indeed fortunate to be in such prestigious company with these major entertainment venues. Several years ago, at one of their DC cabarets, I saw the cast of The Sound of Music, who were at the Kennedy Center at the time, perform a selection of Broadway standards. It was a memorable evening, indeed.
 Larry Gray
This unique company was founded by American University alum Don Mike Mendoza, an independent marketer currently serving on the American University Alumni Board. Tapping into his Filipino roots, Mendoza also serves as the first Director of Marketing & Media for the Filipino American Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles. As Executive Artistic Director of LA TI DO Productions, Mendoza has produced more than 400 cabarets, concerts, theatrical shows, and events throughout Washington, DC at Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company and The Kennedy Center; in New York City at the Dramatists Guild Foundation, Feinstein’s/54 Below and the Bowery Poetry Club. He includes Los Angeles and his hometown of Pittsburgh as other venues. Mendoza has also starred in many of these cabarets.
Local actor, singer and Stage Manager, Larry Grey, is the Associate Artistic Director for these special nights. Grey has been performing in the area for 17 years. Locals have seen him in Hairspray, Funny Money, Witness for the Prosecution, and Christmas Carol at The Little Theatre of Alexandria and at Dominion Stage, The Arlington Players, St. Marks Players and Aldersgate Community Church. Grey has been performing with LA TI DO Productions since 2015 and became an Associate Artistic Director in 2020.
Grey works alongside Music Director, Josh Cleveland. Josh is a teacher at Oneness-Family Montessori School and is active in the DC-area theater world as a music director, actor, singer, and accompanist. Add songwriter and lyricist to that impressive list of credentials. Josh’s recent credits include Music Director and Pianist for the Reston Community Players’ production of Bright Star, Creative Cauldron’s Daddy Long Legs and The Arlington Players’ Beauty and the Beast where he was Assistant Music Director and Pianist.
Perfect for date night or anytime you’re craving an intimate musical experience with some fine Italian cuisine. To get a taste of the caliber of talent, you can catch some of their earlier shows on the LA TI DO YouTube channel. And if you’re inclined to shine your own star, local artists who wish to audition can contact Larry Grey at [email protected].
Monthly cabarets are held in the upstairs lounge at Michael’s Little Italy’s, 305 South Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For tickets visit Eventbrite.com.
American Prophet – Frederick Douglass in His Own Words
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater
Jordan Wright
August 1, 2022
Special to The Zebra
Cornelius Smith Jr. as Frederick Douglass (Photo by Margot Schulman)
Who could have imagined Frederick Douglass’s words set to music? Two men did. Director Charles Randolph-Wright (recipient of Arena’s 2022 American Artist Award) who co-wrote the book with lyricist and composer Marcus Hummon believed it could be done and to that end the two men have put forth a sweeping historical musical that will henceforth be a must-see tribute to the great orator’s legacy.
American Prophet – Frederick Douglass in His Own Words draws from Douglass’s powerful speeches and writings the very words that inspired men and women to rise up against slavery and fight for their freedom against the cruel yoke of racism. A former slave who was later manumitted, Frederick became lauded and revered in England and America. Along with the critical support of his beloved wife, Anna, he brought pressure upon the U. S. government to liberate the slaves. Douglass achieved so much notoriety and influence that he was ultimately granted an audience with President Lincoln to whom he presented his non-negotiable demands. Fact: Before freeing the slaves, Lincoln’s original plan was to “send the slaves back to Liberia – to their own native land.”
 Cornelius Smith Jr. (Frederick Douglass) and the cast of American Prophet (Photo by Margot Schulman) Capturing Douglass’s power in song would seem insurmountable, but Hummon gifts us with sweeping orchestration, impassioned ballads filled with the sweet-sounding harmonies of a gospel choir and a few well-known spirituals. The story guides us sequentially through the horrific realities of the American slavery system and up to the Emancipation Proclamation.
Beautifully cast with 23 musical numbers, its message is delivered both emotionally and at times tenderly. Cornelius Smith, Jr. as Douglass gives a commanding performance with his riveting delivery and smooth baritone voice. Kristolyn Lloyd as Douglass’s wife, Anna Murray Douglass, is the perfect complement to Smith with her pitch-perfect voice as melodic and soothing as a lullaby.
 Thomas Adrian Simpson (Abraham Lincoln / Garrison) and Cornelius Smith Jr. (Frederick Douglass) (Photo by Margot Schulman) Other characters who appear throughout his life are Lincoln (Thomas Adrian Simpson) and his wife Mary Todd (Erica Aubrey), John Brown (Chris Roberts), the noted firebrand of the failed Harper’s Ferry raid, and William Lloyd Garrison (also Thomas Adrian Simpson), Douglass’s first publisher and head of the Anti-Slavery Movement. It is entirely possible to envision a wide audience for this important era in our American history.
Randolph-Wright and Hummon worked with the Douglass family who were adamant about recognizing Anna’s not inconsequential contribution to the cause. In Anna’s early solo “Your Star” we are reminded in both words and song how she helped him escape the bonds of slavery. “Frederick’s ability to move to freedom was all her doing. I feel passionate about everything,” Hummon said, “but I feel intensely passionate about the Anna part of the experience.” Both men have expressed the relevancy of Douglass’s words in the face of the country’s recent events.
 Kristolyn Lloyd (Anna Murray Douglass), Cornelius Smith Jr. (Frederick Douglass), and the cast of American Prophet(Photo by Margot Schulman) With Kurt Boehm as Reverend Gore/Edward Covey/Sec. Seward/Ensemble; Cicily Daniels as Betsey Bailey/Elizabeth Keckley/Ensemble; Christopher B. Portley as Demby/Ensemble; Correy West as Bill/Garnett/Dance Captain; Curtis Wiley as Gabe/Ensemble; Kanysha Williams as Sally/Ensemble.
Assistant Director Allyson Tucker; Musical Director/Orchestrations/Conductor Joseph Joubert; beautifully choreographed by Lorna Ventura; Set Design by Dan Moses Schreier; Dramaturgs Jocelyn Clarke and Otis Ramsey-Zoë.
Exclusively in the Ensemble – Carolyn Agan, Zoë Bryant, Christopher Michael Richardson and Brendon Schaefer.
Powerful and inspiring. Highly recommended.
Through August 28th at Arena Stage, 1101 6th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information visit www.ArenaStage.org or call the box office at 202 488-3300.
Something Rotten! is a delightfully delicious, farcical musical
The Little Theatre of Alexandria
Jordan Wright
July 26, 2022
Special to The Zebra
 (Photo/Matthew Randall) Rarely does a non-union, Off-Off-Broadway, local community theater have the guts, the heart and the talent to pull off such a delightfully delicious, farcical musical as Something Rotten!. Welcome to the Renaissance at The Little Theatre of Alexandria. This show is on fire!
Set in 1595 in London down-on-their-luck brothers Nick (Matt Liptak) and Nigel (Jack Dalrymple) Bottom are eager to one-up Shakespeare with a showstopper of their own creation. Noah Mutterperi plays The Bard in leather chaps as a mashup of Elvis and Adam Lambert. Nigel is a playwright and poet falling for poetry-loving Portia (Katie Conn) whose father Brother Jeremiah (Paul Caffrey) is a bible-toting Puritan. Heaven forfend! Nick and his feminist wife Bea (Anna Phillips-Brown) support Nigel’s aspirations.
 (Photo/Matthew Randall) Pilfering from his wife’s savings, Nick pays Nostradamus (Chuck Dluhy) to divine a fresh idea for a play. The seer predicts it will be musicals. “Song and dance and sweet romance. No talking. All of the dialogue is sung,” he assures.
Convinced the idea will trump anything the Sultan of Sonnet could pen, Nick imagines a troupe of sexy Rockettes in giant ostrich feathers and gentlemen in codpieces. And, oh what swollen codpieces they sport! The show’s patron Shylock (Peter Fannon) has his doubts that “Ham Omelette: The Musical” will sell to the masses. Notwithstanding Shylock’s cautionary advice, critics agreed when this hilarious musical opened on Broadway nominating it no less than 34 times to garner two Tony Award wins. Here the fine cast is supported by an equally top-notch 12-piece orchestra and crew who handle over 200 light and sound cues. You know because I asked.
 (Photo/Matthew Randall) Groan-worthy wordplay, over-the-top pastiches and silly costumes abound along with plague doctors carrying scythes who afford a stunning entrance as do eggs who appear as both freshly hatched and prepared as Western omelettes. Egg-cellent, of course. It’s a mash-up of some of Shakespeare’s greatest lines cobbled together with the best of Broadway musical numbers and a tapping chorus line in a wild and crazy plot that fills the stage with ye olde rock and roll and vaudeville razzmatazz.
 (Photo/Matthew Randall) Broadway babies will recognize snippets from thirty-one of the top musicals of their day like Cats, The Sound of Music, Music Man, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, even Mary Poppins makes the cut. Twenty-three numbers sung and danced by a stellar cast under the brilliant direction of Frank D. Shutts II. You couldn’t do better if you were seeing it on Broadway.
If I handed out stars, which I don’t, I’d give it five stars. This will be sold out in a hurry. (N.B. Shakespeare invented the word “hurry” and I guess he meant get your tickets now!
With Book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, Music and Lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick, and Produced by Rachel Alberts, Bobbie Herbst and Russell M. Wyland with Musical Direction by Christopher A. Tomasino, and Choreography by Stefan Sittig.
Additional Cast – Paul Caffrey as Brother Jeremiah, Brian Ash as Lord Clapham/Master of Justice, Luke Martin as Tom Snout, Evan Zimmerman as Robin, Daniel Boos as Quince, Andrew Sanchez as Snug, J. P. McElyea, Josh Mutterperl as Horatio/Bard Boy.
Bard Boys – Marcus Barbret, Luke Martin, Josh Mutterperl, Eddie Perez, Andrew Sanchez.
Additional ensemble – Amanda Mason, Mary Rodrigues, Lourdes Tumblom, Julia Hornok (Dance Captain), Brittany Bollick, and Odette Gutierrez del Arroyo.
Set Design by Robert S. Barr Jr., Lighting Design by Ken and Patti Crowley, Costume Design by Jean Schlichting and Kit Sibley.
Through August 13th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For tickets and information visit www.TheLittleTheatre.com or call the box office at 703 683-0496.
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