Reviews
of Currently Running Shows
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Please, if you have an addition or comment, send it to theatre@eBHM.org |
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The Crucible Theatre
Downtown October 16, 2009 performance reviewed by James Lee Griner.
In 1953, Arthur Miller's The Crucible wowed Broadway for almost 200 performances. Since then, millions have read it or seen it performed on stage and screen. Today, Theatre Downtown expertly reanimates Miller's masterpiece. The script is an excruciating portrayal of how dogma warps belief, how life tests faith, and how individual's faults threaten society's promise. For minds that crave justice and equity, reading it is painful. It is more painful to see actors live it. But this play needs to be seen, and this production is an excellent opportunity to do that. With 20 characters in a script peppered with antiquated language, the show might seem quite an undertaking for a young blackbox theatre group, as director Billy Ray Brewton admits in his program note. However, they've pulled it off by using modern media and assembling a very talented cast. In a small, cleared-out performance space on the second floor of a charming antique shop on 5th Avenue South, you might not expect computer-projected backdrops, but you get them and they work. Further, by suggesting the various settings, the backdrop method eliminates the need for elaborate sets and frees up valuable space for the actors' magic. John Proctor is the heart of the show, and Kenny Morris's performance pumps life through every word. He is loud, then tender. He is respectful, then indignant. He is hope, then heartbreak and, finally, triumph. Proctor's wife, Elizabeth, is played by Flannery Miles with understated, truth-filled emotion that reminds us how people really can love each other. In a cast of 20 actors, some are bound to impress more than others, and this cast is no exception. But alongside Morris and Miles, any weaknesses are overshadowed by several major players, including Susan Cook as the spiteful Abigail Williams, Ron Dauphinee as the imperious Deputy Governor Danforth, John Wright Jr. as the lovable Giles Corey, and Howard Green as the despicable Judge Hathorne. The play is heavy in subject, tone, and language, and for all its strengths there are a few times when the production disappoints. Actors nearly stumble over the few pieces of furniture, the smallest movements of the overzealous upstage the main action, and sometimes (probably in an effort to keep it all moving) even the most satisfying performers rush through lines that are almost incomprehensible at any speed. In the past, Theatre Downtown has been negatively criticized for poor production values. This show answers those critics, proving that an ironclad script with timeless relevance and outstanding characters played with devotion need only carefully chosen and aimed lights, evocative costume pieces, and realistic properties to take an audience out of time and place, and into artistic reality. It is a show you will not forget, a haunting reminder that America, our great experiment, is a country that exists in the fragile balance between tolerance and intolerance. The Crucible runs through October 31, 2009, at 2410 5th Ave S. For tickets, call 205-306-1470 or visit www.theatredowntown.com. |
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Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill Aldridge Repertory
Theatre at The Carver Theatre October 10, 2009 performance reviewed by James Lee Griner. The second production of Aldridge Repertory Theatre's inaugural season at The Carver Theatre, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill showcases the talents of an endearing singer, Billie Holliday, and her quick-fingered pianist, Jimmy. A third actor plays Emerson himself, an old friend of Holliday's who owns and serves drinks in a "cozy" bar and grill on Philadelphia's south side. He and Jimmy have scheduled her there, to sing in front of an audience that is likely to remember the brighter days of her youthful career. She is having none of that. Oh, she sings—classic Holliday fare in a classic Holliday style includes God Bless the Child, Strange Fruit, What a Little Moonlight Can Do, and more. But she cannot resist telling stories from her life—not many of them very bright. There was the beloved mother who ultimately disappointed her, the boyfriend who set her on the road to ruin with drugs, and the ever-present historically white people who applauded the spirit in her singing and tried to shackle the spirit that was her life. Together, the actors who portray Billie Holliday and her fourth (or is he her fifth?) accompanist, Jimmy, find humor, irony, regret, hope and its rival despair in the 17 songs and interwoven dialog that are the script. Her mannerisms, voice, and singing style are spot-on Holliday as she reveals how self-destruction and self-pity allowed the singer to see the possibility of actually achieving her dream of success, but never to enjoy it. To watch her performance is to see how she felt the bushel forced over her light that, conveniently for some and tragically for others, went out when it could have grown stronger. Her piano player clearly respects her talent, but he also hopes to profit through it, so he also clearly wishes she would get out of the past. At the piano, with his back to the audience most of the time, he has only to shake or turn his head, or smack the keys with uncommon force, and the audience feels his disdain. In the background, the sparse set was a fitting pallet for lights that effectively suggested the performance corner of a northeastern neighborhood bar. The show was a very good one, and this lifelong Holliday fan found several more reasons to love her and her music. Two things disappointed me, neither of them in the show itself. First, the online ticket sales process left me thinking I had purchased specific seats, but when we arrived we found general admission seating. No seat at the Carver is bad, but in a more full house, I might have resented being misled. Second, there was no printed program to tell me the names of the actors, designers, technicians, and others who labored to bring this show to life. This absence bothered me more than the seating, for reasons made obvious in this review. The Aldridge Rep, as it's called, has another powerful and relevant show to follow its season opener, No Child. Lady Day also highlights the theatre's alliance with the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, housed at the historic Carver Theatre. The crowd was appreciative, but not large. (We all know what autumn Saturdays mean in Alabama.) Hopefully, perhaps later this season, the new theatre group will work out those kinks in its front-of-house operations, and more people will experience the talent that is growing in downtown Birmingham. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill runs through October 18, 2009 at the Carver Theatre, 1631 Fourth Ave. N, Birmingham. For tickets, call 205-264-9910 or visit www.aldridgerep.org. |
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Smokey Joe’s Cafe Virginia
Samford Theatre October 8, 2009 performance reviewed by James Lee Griner. Facebook link: Smokey Joe's Café Sizzles with Energy, Fun Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller may not be household names, but you've heard their songs. What you probably haven't heard are the energetic and entertaining renditions of them that make up the Virginia Samford Theatre production of Smokey Joe's Café, playing October 8-18, 2009. The cast of 8 singer-dancers, 4 women and 4 men, hurtle through 40 numbers in 2 hours, including intermission: Kansas City, Jailhouse Rock, Poison Ivy, I Keep Forgettin', Yakety Yak, Charlie Brown, Hound Dog, Love Potion #9, Spanish Harlem, and plenty more that you may recognize simply from the opening chords. Especially remarkable are performances from (in alphabetical order, as in the program) Jan D. Hunter (Some Cats Know, Teach Me How to Shimmy), Kendall Johnson (D W Washburn; I, Who Have Nothing), Belinda George Peoples (Hound Dog, Fools Fall in Love), and Ernest Sykes (the bass voice in everything). The musical accompaniment is outstanding. The choreography is simple where it needs to be, more complex where it can be. The set appears simple at first, but it is extremely conducive to the varying tableaux and stories that are staged to support the songs. And the projections that make up the backdrops are enchanting in their own right. All in all, it's one toe-tappin', hand-clappin', sing-a-longin', smokin' good time. |
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Here is a link to a neat site that has reviews of the film versions of musicals: http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Studio/8849/moviemusicals.htm |
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