Faran Tahir as Othello and Jonno Roberts as Iago in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Othello, directed by Ron Daniels. Photo by Scott Suchman
Director Ron Daniels presents Othello on the cavernous stage of the Sidney Harman Hall against an industrial-looking backdrop giving heft to the drama that is about to unfold. Daniels has chosen a curious, and fascinating, interpretation in casting an actor as Othello, a Moor, who is not black. Played by Faran Tahir, an actor of Pakistani descent, Daniels gives his Othello a fresh look, broadly hinting that the “Moor of Venice” was a Muslim converted to Christianity. It dovetails neatly with the line, “Your son-in-law is far more fair than black,” delivered by the Duke of Venice (Ted van Griethuysen).
It’s a bit stunning at first – certainly an intriguing political perspective for our times. Yet after adjusting to that unusual twist, we have Shakespeare’s brilliantly dark tale – of love and war, blatant racism and the destructive power of jealousy, coupled with the duplicity of man.
Othello Press Photo captions OTHELLO_007Faran Tahir as Othello, Patrick Vaill as Cassio, Jonno Roberts as Iago, and Jackson Knight Pierce as Soldier in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Othello, directed by Ron Daniels. Photo by Scott Suchman
Set Designer Riccardo Hernandez gives us an austere set – five massive factory fans spread out across the second level, churning and whirring in rhythm, and a collection of rusted oil drums pressed into service as chairs, tables and occasionally weapons. It’s that simple. Ditto for Costume Designer Emily Rebholz who dresses the men as modern day soldiers in World War II Army uniforms and the Venetian senators in Edwardian cutaways. The women, Desdemona wife of Othello (Ryman Sneed) and Emilia (Merritt Janson) her handmaiden, get simple dresses reminiscent of Isadora Duncan and her Grecian muses. All the better to cut to the action and drama.
Ryman Sneed as Desdemona and Faran Tahir as Othello in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Othello, directed by Ron Daniels. Photo by Scott Suchman.
Though there is a great deal of fuss and feathers in Act One in setting up the conflicts, trickery and ultimate betrayals, the drama really gets underway in Act Two, when Iago’s (Jonno Roberts) cruel machinations begin to come to fruition. As Othello’s aide-de-camp, Iago has already primed the pump by convincing the lovelorn scion Rodrigo to give up his fortune in jewels to buy Desdemona’s affections – a ruse to bankrupt the besotted fool and hoard the jewels for himself. Next he has duped Cassio that she will fall helplessly into his arms as soon as Othello turns his back on his adoring wife in a fit of jealous rage. And thirdly, and most horridly, he has ingratiated himself with Othello by convincing the General his innocent wife is a lowly cheat. All so he can have the chaste lady for himself. It’s an absolute wonder he can keep all his stories straight.
As the plot’s pendulum swings back and forth from Venice to Cyprus, Lighting Designer Christopher Akerlind suitably alters the mood, veering from soft spots for the ladies and fiery red hues for Othello’s increasing jealousy. Be prepared for the loud fusillade of retorts from the soldiers’ rifles as they celebrate Othello’s win against the Turks. Here Composer and Sound Designer Fitz Patton adds bawdy bar songs to the drunken celebrations. It’s the same point at which the tide begins to turn against Cassio who, snockered, delivers the line, “Reputation, reputation, reputation. Oh, I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.” Yet another weakness for Iago to capitalize on.
Patrick Vaill as Cassio and Natascia Diaz as Bianca in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Othello, directed by Ron Daniels. Photo by Scott Suchman.
By the time Cassio’s jealous lover Bianca (Natascia Diaz) appears to obfuscate matters, Othello has gone quite mad and we see him on his knees in Muslim prayer and vengeful rage, “She must die!”.
STC has assembled a mighty cast, diverse in performance levels, yet able to capture the pithy parts and animate them cohesively.
Highly recommended.
At the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall through March 27th 2016 at 610 F St., NW Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
Josh Lamon (Addison Mizner) and Noah Racey (Wilson Mizner) in Road Show at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman.
The many reincarnations of Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show that began with a workshop in 1999 called Wise Guys, then opened in Chicago in 2003 as Bounce, and later in New York in 2008 as Road Show, might reveal a story of the vagaries of business in and of itself. But it wouldn’t be half as juicy, nor nearly as fun as the tale of Addison (played by the rivetingly hilarious Josh Lamon) and Wilson Mizner (played by the captivatingly suave Noah Racey), the musical’s main characters. Determined to see his show get the attention it deserved after four scripts, three titles and two out of town tryouts, Sondheim thought he’d finally gotten it right. Now it’s up to us.
But what’s not to like? Those who adore Sondheim will find his familiar chord changes and emotionally sophisticated lyrics in these eighteen numbers that take us from the brothers’ ordinary upbringing in California to a glamorous world of fame and fortune with all the trappings and pitfalls. Taking to heart their father’s dying words in the tune “It’s in Your Hands Now”, they set out to make their fortune – – at first in Alaska during the gold rush of the early 20th century – – where the brothers have the first of their many fallings out in a hilarious sleeping bag dust up and an emotional, and financial, parting of the ways.
Noah Racey (Wilson Mizner), Josh Lamon (Addison Mizner) and Sherri Edelen (Mama Mizner) in Road Show at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman.
It’s a tale as old as Cain and Abel, here sprinkled with the glitz of Palm Beach and the high stakes world of real estate, driven by two ambitious brothers who co-opted Barnum’s hucksterism and Ziegfeld’s showmanship to craft an empire along Florida’s Gold Coast.
Noah Racey (Wilson Mizner) in Road Show at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman.
Director Gary Griffin sticks to a bland stage set of wooden planks, a ramp, and an underutilized second story flanked by winding staircases, its plainness redeemed by an excellent cast, hilariously quirky souvenirs from Addison’s risky ventures in far-flung outposts – – from Hawaii where he buys a share in a pineapple plantation that promptly burns down to India where his gem emporium succumbs to a hurricane, and Hong Kong where his fireworks factory blows up to a Guatemalan coffee plantation upended by a revolution – – and a story with a rib-sticking plot.
When, after all his failed businesses, Addison returns home to his mother, played beautifully by Sherri L. Edelen, he is greeted by her immortalizing his ne’er-do-well brother in the song “Isn’t He Something”, which she sings to Addison from her death bed. Here’s a mother who clearly knows how to play two ends against the middle.
Stefan Alexander Kempski (Ensemble), Angela Miller (Ensemble), Noah Racey (Wilson Mizner), Jacob Kidder (Pianist), Bobby Smith (Ensemble), Matthew Schleigh (Ensemble) and Erin Driscoll (Ensemble) in Road Show at Signature Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman.
Eight other actors handily play a slew of roles – – Erin Driscoll, Dan Manning, Bobby Smith, Stefan Alexander Kempski, Jason J. Labrador, Jake Mahler, Matthew Schleigh, and Angela Miller with Jacob Kidder on upright piano onstage for the duration of the show.
See it for Sondheim’s music, tons of laughs and a rollicking good tale of fame and fortune won and lost in the quest for the American dream.
Through March 13th 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.
(L-R) Caroline Hewitt as Anna Fitzgerald, Margaret Colin as Hester Ferris and Michael Simpson as Colin Ferris. Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
Anthony Giardina’s The City of Conversation opens with a prophetic quote from then President Jimmy Carter – “the erosion of our conscience in the future is threatening to destroy the Social and Political fabric of America”. And in this tale, its families too.
It’s 1979, eight years before journalist and Washington power hostess Sally Quinn declared the death of the political insider dinner party. It was a time when the city’s power elite regularly negotiated over congenial cocktails and swank dinner parties in historic Georgetown homes – a time when the socially talented wives of certain influential men held considerable political sway. The title comes courtesy of author and social reformer, Henry James, a Victorian liberal who would have known that a social gathering of Supreme Court justices, politicians of both stripes, DC socialites and media power brokers would create a highly charged atmosphere.
(L-R) Tyler Smallwood as Young Ethan and Caroline Hewitt as Anna Fitzgerald. Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
In admirable fashion Margaret Colin portrays Hester Ferris, a modern-day Helen of Troy, who is based on a composite of several well known Washington hostesses of their day – Pamela Harriman, Kitty Kelley, Evangeline Bruce, Perle Mesta and Sally Quinn, wife of the late Washington Post editor, Ben Bradlee. (We know this from the revolving slide show of their photos in the theatre’s lobby and from Giardina’s acknowledgement that Quinn gave script advice.)
Tom Wiggin as Chandler Harris. Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
Hester is a staunch liberal whose inner circle includes her lover, Virginia Senator Chandler Harris (Tom Wiggin) and her spinster sister and secretary Jean, played outstandingly by Ann McDonough. On this night she is preparing to entertain the racist Republican Senator from Kentucky, George Mallonee (Todd Scofield), in order to sway his vote. But her dinner is upended when her son Colin (Michael Simpson), returns home early from Britain with his future fiancée and conservative firebrand, Anna (Caroline Hewitt). Colin wryly explains his upbringing to Anna, “Dinner is always about something. Other kids got “Pat the Bunny”, I got Tocqueville.” When the politically ambitious Anna challenges Hester’s liberalism, and proves to be a worthy opponent, the drama kicks into high gear and Colin is forced to take sides in a house divided by power, politics and ultimately a mother’s betrayal of her only child.
(L-R) Todd Scofield as George Mallonee and Caroline Hewitt as Anna Fitzgerald. Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
Less than a decade later we find Hester fighting Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, Anna triumphing the cause of Oliver North and Chandler asking for sexual reassurance. When Anna threatens Hester that her actions will result in her never seeing her adored grandson Ethan (Tyler Smallwood) again, there is a collective gasp from the audience that could rattle the 12-paned windows of Georgetown’s historic homes.
Director Doug Hughes places the action in the round, which sometimes results in 90˚ of the theatre laughing uproariously while the other 270° are straining to catch the punch lines. Though some were missed, enough landed to sustain the humor, especially this zinger from Hester, “A president used to be able to get out of the White House, come to Georgetown and get advice!” That went out with bell-bottom trousers.
If you’ve ever wanted a sneak peek into the glamor, gossip and Machiavellian intrigues of the Georgetown salon, this play lays it all at your feet – the polite arm-twisting, the post-prandial cigars and the deal-making all taking place over bourbon and branch. It’s parlor politics at its best, served up effortlessly by a cast who does witty and wisecracking to perfection.
Highly recommended.
Through March 6th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
These recipes from Nielsen-Massey are too delicious not to share. For the Decadent Chocolate Pudding be sure to use only the best semi-sweet chocolate you can find. May love find you and light your path.
May love find you and light your path?
Decadent Chocolate Pudding (Serves 5) – Yields about 2 ½ cups
Ingredients
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
½ cup of powdered sugar
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1 ½ teaspoons Nielsen-Massey Mexican Pure Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Pure Chocolate Extract
½ teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Pure Coffee Extract
In a heavy saucepan, combine the cornstarch and milk. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool.
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks with powdered sugar until they are pale yellow and have thickened. Gradually pour into the cooled milk mixture. Place saucepan back onto low heat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Do not let it simmer or boil. Remove from heat and then add melted chocolate, vanilla, chocolate and coffee extracts. Pour into individual serving bowls or ramekins. Chill 3-4 hours until set. Serve with Espresso Whipped Cream.
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Espresso Whipped Cream (Yield about 1 cup)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Pure Coffee Extract
In a chilled bowl, combine all ingredients and whip with an electric mixer until fluffy. Serve with Decadent Chocolate Pudding.
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Rose Water Scented Sugar Cookie Hearts (Makes about 3 Dozen)
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar (purchase or process granulated sugar for 20 seconds in a food processor)
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
3¼ teaspoons Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract
½ teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Rose Water
2 eggs
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar (for dusting work surface)
¼ cup all-purpose flour (for dusting work surface)
Position oven rack in the center of oven and preheat to 350⁰F. Line two large, heavy light-colored baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt until blended; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add butter, sugar, cream, vanilla extract and rose water; beat with a handheld mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to medium-low; add eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients one half at a time.
Divide dough into two even pieces, press each piece into a disk shape, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour. Dough should be cool and firm but easy to work with.
In a small bowl, whisk confectioners’ sugar and flour until blended; set aside. Working with one piece of dough at a time, place on a clean, dusted surface. Roll dough to about ⅛-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut heart shapes and transfer with a thin offset metal spatula to prepared cookie sheets. For even baking, do not overcrowd cookies. Gather remaining dough, cover with plastic and chill. Continue with second chilled dough.
For best results, bake one sheet pan at a time until done, about 10 minutes; remove and place cookies on wire racks to cool. Decorate and store in an airtight container.
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Rose Glaze and Rose Piping Icing
Ingredients:
1¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon meringue powder
2 tablespoons water
¼ teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Rose Water (may substitute with Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract)
variety gel food colors
In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and meringue powder. Add water and rose water, stir until smooth.
Glaze cookies in desired colors and set aside to dry before piping. For the piping icing, remake the glaze recipe and add additional confectioners’ sugar, one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Divide icing into small bowls; add desired gel colors.
l to r: Desmond Bing, Kim Wong, Betsy Mugavero, Adam Wesley Brown, Eric Hissom, Caroline Stefanie Clay -Photo by Teresa Wood
Aaron Posner’s brilliantly funny take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream now at the Folger is a delightfully frothy romp into Shakespeare’s dreamscape of sprites and lovers. His imaginative interpretation is filled with hilarious surprises. Beginning with the indelibly adorable Erin Weaver as Puck, who sets the tone for the high jinks to follow, this telling of the dream excursion Puck and her devious cohorts take us down a garden path speckled with modern technology, the occasional rap lyric, music looping by Puck’s forest calls and a vintage microphone for announcing the action.
But all is not shape-shifted into the modern age. There is still the play-within-a-play of Pyramus and Thisbe put on by Peter Quince (Richard Ruiz), a bumbling impresario and his eclectic band of school girls in uniforms and headphones to entertain the royal couple. And still Hippolyta as African queen, played by Caroline Stephanie Clay who doubles as Titania. Her husband Theseus joins her in a slick tan suit as the Duke of Athens played by Eric Hissom doing double duty in the role of the fairy king, Oberon. Reality as fantasy in a switcheroo that delivers all the hilarity The Bard intended.
Puck (Erin Weaver, left) looks upon the newly transformed Bottom (Holly Twyford) with impish delight – Photo by Teresa Wood
As you’ll recall Hermia (Betsy Mugavero) and Lysander (Adam Wesley Brown) are madly in love while Helena (Kim Wong) pines for Demetrius (Desmond Bing) who spurns her amorous attentions. When Oberon and Puck get up to magic and mischief by drugging the lovers with a love potion concocted of flower juice, here delivered by an eyedropper, all hell ensues as the four confuse their intendeds with the others’ lovers and the lusty Titania snuggles up with Bottom.
Holly Twyford plays Bottom who Puck turns into an ass adored by the love drug-smitten Titania. Costume Designer Devon Painter interprets the beast with furry platform hooves and a feathery confection of donkey ears and Twyford plays it to the hilt with comedic timing and buck-toothed braying.
Scenic Designer Paige Hathaway puts the performers on a simple stage of treehouse and platforms lit by fairy lights and a cut-out crescent moon, while Choreographer Erika ChongShuch softens the falls and fight scenes with a cluster of large blue pillows throwing in a pas de deux by tango between Hermia and Lysander and a conga line for the lovers. Original Music by Andre Pluess has Lysander serenading Hermia on ukulele.
l to r: Megan Graves, Desmond Bing, Erin Weaver (front), Eric Hissom, Dani Stoller, and Justina Adorno – Photo by Teresa Wood
There is some nifty scene stealing by the Jamaican-accented and ‘voguing’ skills of Monique Robinson as Snout and the hilarious whispery delivery of the ingénue schoolgirl Megan Graves as both Snug and Philostrate, but look for Weaver and Twyford to dominate this brilliant all-star cast.
Highly recommended.
Through March 6th at the Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information call 202 544-7077 or visit www.Folger.edu/theatre.
(L-R) Anthony Manough, Lori Williams,Rayshun LaMarr, Roz White – Photo credit: Chris Banks
If you’ve been seeing clouds of steam heat billowing over the rooftop of MetroStage lately, blame it on the four-member cast and six-piece band of Shake Loose. Fire and ice and everything nice best describes the cool daddies and hot ladies in this sizzling revue of music by William Knowles and William Hubbard and the lyrics of Thomas W. Jones II who doubles as the show’s choreographer. If you’ve followed the musical careers of the composers there are songs and snippets from their other hit shows – Ladies Swing the Blues, Cool Papa’s Party, Three Sistahs, Bessie’s Blues, and Pearl Bailey…by request – shows that have been at the core of MetroStage’s musical productions over the years.
Geared to each decade the show taps into the zeitgeist of 20th century African-American music to include vaudeville, big band, jazz, R&B, swing, rural gospel and soul, with a smattering of Broadway-style show tunes. Supporting the pitch-perfect soulful voices of Lori Williams, Roz White, Rayshun LaMarr and Anthony Manough, are the sweet sounds of a trio of horns and the slow thump of a bass with Knowles himself on a grand piano.
(L-R) Roz White, Rayshun LaMarr, Anthony Manough, Lori Williams – Photo credit: Chris Banks
But this is not a concert, it’s a series of seven movements that divide and define the 39 memorable numbers. It opens with the section “Migration Blues” when the rhythms of 1920’s Harlem beckoned blacks to leave the South in droves for the bright lights and vaudeville stages of uptown New York. There are jumpin’ and jivin’ numbers dotted with the staccato sounds of the quartet’s mad tapping skills in “Sho’ Feet Can Dance” and mournful ballads like, “Rivers Swollen With My Tears” delivered heartachingly by Williams who warns of “rivers that bury the bones”. Here Robbie Hayes’ projections follow the early days of Black musical history with clips of New York’s famed Cotton Club and its glamorous chorus girls, and as one lyric claims, “Every boy’s an Almond Joy.”
The demise of the big stages and the rise of vinyl is chronicled in the second movement, “Riot & Rebellion”. In “SSOS” (alternately expressed as sweet sound of soul and sweet sound of surrender) the foursome shift dance styles to The Watusi and Hully Gully while projections of Malcolm X, sit-ins and the march to Selma take us down to the nitty-gritty and Williams again solos in “Lay Your Body Down” as the images recall the assassinations of the great leaders of our time. And in no time flat we’re swaying to the gyrations of Manough and White in “A Basement Kind of Love” and recalling the days of impromptu parties and hookups in the basement of 1960’s homes everywhere.
(L-R) Lori Williams, Rayshun LaMarr – Photo credit: Chris Banks
Rolling through the decades of jazz and swing White takes the spotlight in “Barely Breathing”, a song from Three Sistahs that evokes the hot soul sounds of the era and describes a hook up as, “I was his cocoa Cinderella throwin’ myself a ball.”
The cast utilizes every piece of available real estate from the tiered stage and between the aisles to bring the joyful and occasional heartbreaking songs to the audience. It’s like being in a nightclub where the band jams out on stage behind the singers.
Each singer takes a sexy, sultry star turn in this hold-your-breath production. The music is as mesmerizingly haunting as anything from Tin Pan Alley or 60’s Detroit, and where Michael Jackson, Nat King Cole, Boyz to Men and other musical icons are remembered and re-interpreted. Utterly riveting for the beautifully blended harmonies, hilarious antics, and the music and lyrics from these iconic composers. I can hardly wait to see this show again.
Highly recommended.
At MetroStage through March 6th – 1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria, 22314. For tickets and information visit www.metrostage.org.
