Theatre North Carolina

OPUS Is Magnificent

As I've said before, I don't do reviews. I'm not qualified to do reviews. However, I like what I like and part of the fun of social media is telling people about what excites you. I also work at PlayMakers, so I never feel comfortable praising one theatre's work over another.

All that said...You must, must see OPUS at PlayMakers Repertory Company. You've got a little over a week, so go to the Interwebs and get yourself a ticket!

OPUS is the story of a somewhat dysfunctional string quartet. I say somewhat only because most string quartets (in my opinion) are dysfunctional, but that's another story for another time! This play is so tightly written and so well acted that you will not be disappointed! The set is remarkable thanks to Jim Kronzer, the costumes are perfect due to Marion Williams efforts, the sound (and sound cues) are well rehearsed thanks to Sarah Pickett. But OPUS is really all about the acting. The five actors in this production are simply magnificent. Ray Dooley is, as usual, the true standout in this production, but Scott Ripley, Jeff Cornell, Jimmy Kieffer and the stunning Marianne Miller are all exceptional.

As wonderful as this team of actors and designers are the true accolades must go to Brendon Fox the director. He really pulled this production together and made each note sing.

OPUS reminds us that performances are effervescent. They live in the moment and then disappear into the ether. Take the opportunity to see this production before it disappears. You won't regret it!

Picnic at Triad Stage is a Triumph

I'm sorry to say that I was not familiar with William Inge's masterpiece PICNIC. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to attend the opening night performance of Triad Stage's production of this "summer romance".

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I don't do reviews. That's just not the business I'm in and I don't really have any interest in being a critic of anything. I do, however, like what I like and when I like something you better believe I'm going to talk about it! Therefore...

Go see Picnic. Run, do not walk, to the interwebs and get yourself a ticket or two! Here's a little info about Picnic:

The greatest risk is love.

It’s a peaceful time for a quiet Kansas town in the early 1950s and summer is drawing to a close with the excitement of the annual Labor Day picnic. But the sudden arrival of Hal Carter, a handsome young drifter, stirs the emotions of a group of neighbors as he develops an instant attraction with Madge, one of the most beautiful girls in town. As Hal hides deep insecurities with grand shows of bravado, Madge is torn between her heart and her head in this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama where passions turn one small community upside down.

Picnic

A Summer Romance

by William Inge

directed by Preston Lane

September 6 – 27, 2009

This production is, as is to be expected from Triad Stage, top notch. The set by Howard Jones is glorious - a stark Kansas landscape that is both overwhelmingly vast and suffocatingly small, much like the inner lives of each of Inge's characters. Using the laundry lines to extend the sky creates a beautiful and expansive backdrop. The costumes by Kelsey Hunt are perfectly period and very well done with a color palate that is both as brown and dirty as the Kansas landscape, and as gold and glorious as a mid-western sunset. The acting is profound. Each character is fully developed and emotionally engaged. It was a joy to watch this story unfold. I'm completely in love with Elizabeth Ritson who plays Flo Owens (the mother) and the gorgeous Meg Steedle who plays Madge Owens. I also have a crush on Joe Tippett who plays the smoldering, charming, damaged Hal Carter. Did I mention he spends most of the show with his shirt off? Well, he does and that in itself is worth the price of admission! Watch out William Holden!

Congrats to Preston Lane, the cast, crew, technicians and everyone else involved on a stellar production! If you haven't seen a show yet this season, this is a good place to start! This production reminded me why I work in the theatre!

Now read what a real reviewer thinks!

“Director Preston Lane dares to show the power of passion in raw scenes that seem to combust before our very eyes. This dirty, dusty, superb rendition of a theater classic will hang in your memory like clouds in a Kansas sky.”  – Lynn Jessup, Classical Voice of North Carolina
Click here to read the full review.

Also, check out this insider's look at Picnic!



Check out this clip of William Holden dancing(?) in the 1955 movie version. Apparently, he would only do the dancing if he was drunk. I don't think this dancing is very sexy (plus Bill Holden is almost 40 in 1955!), so go see Triad Stage's production instead!

A Brilliant Fool

Taylor Mac describes himself as " a theatre artist working in the genre of pastiche," but he is much more that that. I had the pleasure of seeing this actor, singer, musician, visual artist, playwright, drag artist perform his play Young Ladies Of... at PlayMakers Repertory Company last night. (Full disclosure: I work at PlayMakers.)

You must run, not walk, to see this show. It's almost sold out and there are only three performances left - tonight and two tomorrow.

Mac, dressed in conceptually distressed Baby Jane drag last night, is a master artist. The show is hysterical and touching, uncomfortable and heartwarming, sad and celebratory. He sees himself as The Fool willing to say what needs to be said and say it he does. Yet, the audience full of retirees was engaged and, more importantly, challanged by his performance. You should be terrified about seeing this performance. I dare you to go!

He gave a fantastic interview to American Theatre Magazine in November. Here's what hew says about playing the fool:

Primarily I'm a Fool, in the classical sense. A Fool is a person who speaks truths that others, who do not have such a phantasmagorical aesthetic, are unable to get away with speaking. The Fool is dismissed as insane or is confused with the clown (an entertainer), and so the listener lets his or her guard down. It is when this happens that the Fool can present a truth not usually spoken—and the listener, endeared to the Fool, will actually listen. The Fool is a perpetual outsider. A shaman. A queer. And a queer is not exclusively or merely a homosexual but, as [downtown performer] Penny Arcade says, a person who at an early age was ostracized by society to such a degree that she could never possibly ostracize another human being. The Fool brings an understanding of the social contract because she was born into it, but has the ability to release people from the social contract because she was rejected from it and can see what's on the outside. The shaman, unlike the priest, who is separate from God, has God within her.

At present we do not celebrate the Fool. At one point she was the King's companion, the path into the humanity of the court. She emboldened empathy and so had her place in society. Now she is left to hawk her truths in street fairs, basement bars and Off-Off-Off Broadway theatres. I am attempting to get the Fool back into the court, because society is in need of her Fools. If we are to break free of a compassionless policy that supports torture, oppression and greed, our leaders, our government officials and CEOs, our movers and shakers, and the average citizen, need to be reminded of the range of their humanity. They need to see that they have the potential to be more than just male or female, Republican or Democrat, black or white, right or wrong. With a culture intent on demolishing relativism and eradicating the outsider, the Fool, although she still exists, has been reduced to a blemish. And without the Fool as society's companion, people have turned to the clowns and satirists (Borat and Jon Stewart, to name two), to the priest or reverend, and to the financial broker. These roles show an aspect of humanity—but left on their own to define who we are, they affirm that we are but one thing: divided. A man, a woman, a Christian, a Muslim, an elitist, a commoner. The Fool is proof and a challenge to see that we are many.

But I should say, even though I consider myself more of a Fool than a drag queen, I love being associated with drag. It is a grand tradition. So in the present I'm trying to bring the world of theatre back to a heightened state and inspire audiences to take in the layers.

Read the rest...

Blue Door Continues to Garner Raves!

Hot review of Blue Door in the Indy. This really is a show you don't want to miss!

It's understandable enough if something seems more than vaguely familiar in the structure of Tanya Barfield's play Blue Door: Three spirits, all vying to change the soul of a hard-hearted man for the better in the course of one night? Charles Dickens, call your office.

African-American identity crisis in PlayMakers' Blue Door; a revival of Brecht's antiwar Mother Courage: Haunted history: Arts: Theater: Independent Weekly: Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill

Blue Door is Fantastic!

BlueDoor is fantastic! As you know, if you read this blog on a regular basis, Iwork at PlayMakers Repertory Company. That said, I am constantly amazed by the euality of the work. I may be a little biased, but I just love what we do! Blue Door is no exception. The script is great, but the direction and acting is just tremendous. It's especially moving when you look at this play through the prism
of the historic election this year.



You really must see this show.

Pericles at PlayMakers

A beautiful production! I try not to over post about PlayMakers, but I this is a show you'll want to see. Read a preview below. Check out this show! There is freaking water on stage. I love water on a stage...

'A man's place in the universe'


BY DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN : The Herald-Sun
dvaughan@heraldsun.com
Sep 26, 2008

The sea is integral to one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, "Pericles," being performed by PlayMakers Repertory Company, the resident professional company at UNC Chapel Hill. Saturday is opening night and the play runs through Oct. 12.

Scene designer Jan Chambers said the sea is a huge metaphor in the play. "The sea gives life and takes life and does what it wants," she said. "The sea is in the ears of all the characters." The sea is also a constant presence on the set, she said. About an inch deep of water is part of the stage. Clouds of steel mesh are on the theater's walls.

Read the rest...

heraldsun.com: 'A man's place in the universe'

A show much different than I expected

In the Continuum was more than I expected. Much more. I realized that today
when I saw the beautiful and joyful actor Flor De Liz Perez today in the hall.

Disclaimer: I try not to post much about the place I work because this is a
totally personal blog, but I also don't want to ignore PlayMakers. I'm not a
reviewer and I don't pretend to be a theatre scholar. I like what I like and I
try not to endorse or critique performances. That's just not what I do. I will
rave for a movie or a politician, a book or a diva, a trend or a website, but I
don't critique theatre. Though, because I only rave about what I like, I guess
I am at least endorsing productions that I like. You, dear blog buddy, don't
know what I've seen though, at least usually. Anyway, I rave about what I like.

So, I saw Flor in the hallway and I tried to tell her how wonderful the
production was and how fantastic she was. . . I would up babbling and tearing
up! I may have freaked her out. She is such a wonderful, beautiful, stylish,
caring, genuine person.

I didn't have the opportunity to read the play before I saw the play. (Should
I? I produced my first show, A Midsummer Night's Dream, in the summer of '92.
Yet, I like to go into a theatre knowing very little. I like to see a show, not
read a play. . .)

Anyway, I loved this show. I thought it was going to be another AIDS play.

As a gay man in Boston in the '90s I was hit by AIDS everything, yet I have
never known anyone who has died of AIDS. How strange is that? How is it
possible that I don't have AIDS? How is it possible that I have feared AIDS and
volunteered for AIDS and Fund-raised for AIDS, but I don't even know more that
two people with HIV.

I am lucky.

This play was not an AIDS play. This was a play about life and the world and
relationships. It is about young black women. It is about injustice and cruelty
and indifference.

In the Continuum is only running this weekend.

Go.

Mamma Mia!

Oh my,

What a wonderful movie! I honestly loved this movie. OK, so I love the Boradway show and I figured this would be OK. Not great, just OK. . .

GET OUT! This movie was such a great chick flick/love fest.

DEAR HETRO MALES - TAKE A DATE.

I, as a good homo, took my mom. There was one other man in the FULL theatre. He must have been 60 and he was also with his mom!

LOVE IT.


I'll see Dark Knight, tomorrow, but WOW this movie did it. The Broadway verison couldn't show the true beauty of the Greek Isles, and the acting in the movie is to die for. No one really blows it out of the water, but it all seemed so real. Meryl acted the HELL out of The Winner takes It All - Oscar Nod!!

SEE IT!!!