by George Patterson
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
Tulane's 2001 Summer Theatre Season
Off to Exciting Start with Richard II & My Fair Lady
Right next door to one another, Tulane's Shakespeare Festival in the Lupin Theatre and Summer Lyric Theatre in Dixon Hall have begun the 2001 summer season with two impressively professional productions: Shakespeare's Richard II and Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady.
Richard II continues performances through July 8 (with A Winter's Tale opening July 6) while My Fair Lady's week's run ended June 24 to be followed by The Will Rogers Follies July 12 -15. The following are my humble opinions of these two very fine productions.
Richard II
Directed with care and intelligence by The Shakespeare Festival at Tulane's Artistic Director, Aimee K. Michel, seems to be given a full, unabridged production of the first of Shakespeare's history plays that chronicle the Wars of the Roses. (Now in its seventh year, Ms. Michel indicated that the Festival may continue with the series next year). It is a wordy verse play with so many gorgeous rhymed couplets one could almost confuse it with something by Moliere as translated by Richard Wilbur to say nothing of the humor the director and her seasoned almost all male cast are able to provoke from such a depressing subject as the hubris-filled King Richard II, played with consummate authority and declaimed with lyrical acumen by Gavin Mahlie, arguably the best actor now trodding New Orleans's theatrical boards. This king may seem and act fatuous, yet he really believes himself to be divine and divinely protected from the likes of his cousin Henry Bolingbroke who will ultimately unthrone him and have him assassinated.
Tony Molina's Bolingbroke is all business as he methodically amasses his army after being banished by Richard for dueling with yet another family member, Greg Stratton's Thomas Mowbray.
Danny Bowen gets to deliver the very famous John of Gaunt speech glorifying England ("This scepter'd isle/This earth of majesty...."). But then he gets to play so many other important characters (Bishop of Carlisle, Duke of Surrey, Sir Piers of Exton) that no matter how clever Jacqueline Firkins' costumes are at camouflage, his distinct bearing and more distinct voice keep one thinking John of Gaunt is still alive (even if his erect stature belies his name - and the clever speech which makes puns and fun of being gaunt with the name Gaunt doesn't really work).
A few other choices in staging also cause some lines to ring false.
Set on an unadorned thrust stage covered with white muslin (bare save for gold-distressed pipes running floor to ceiling at the four corners and a raised platform at one end connected to a catwalk by a spiral staircase), with the audience on three sides (designed and lit by Hugh Lester), the cast is clothed by Ms. Firkins in a polyglot of 20th century fashions so that only that century seems to be prevalent even though the action occurred in the fourteenth century. Regular leather gloves become the "gauges" hurled to the floor. Swords are used for duels, but guns are drawn at times. Horses are invoked even though the soldiers, in the form of young Billy Slaughter, and a furtive, slinking Jerry Lee Leighton as Henry Percy, appear looking like something out of WWII. The military garb constructed for Bolingbroke/Molina, on the other hand, although vaguely Germanic, also appears to be from another century, and thus helps underscore and delineate the character; as do the various duds for Richard II and his wife, Queen Isabel, played with poetic winsomeness by Andrea Frankle. Indeed, our first glimpse of Richard is in a maroon silk dressing gown, ascot and two-toned wingtips!
The other female members of the large cast are Shelley Poncy's Duchess of Gloucester who appears at the beginning of the play, and Clare Moncrief as the Duchess of York who appears at the end of the play in a scene in which she begs the King for a pardon for her son - a speech about pardons and their various uses that resonates (as does Mr. Mahlie's delivery in which he parodies Nixon's speech pattern, thus giving this fustian play about conspiracies and familial discord an exciting contemporaneity).
It is Mr. Mahlie's full-blown, rhapsodic character whose tragic flaw of his all consuming hubris is displayed in every move and facial expression and is exalted in his silken delivery of Shakespeare's glorious poetry that makes this Richard II such a memorable production.
Besides the original music composed and performed by Stephen Thomas (with Ben Schenck on percussion) which helps to underline the innate music of the verse and move the action, others in the cast who contribute to the play's rip-roaring success are Ron Gural, Robert Montgomery, Gary Rucker, Donald Lewis, Robert Richardson and Stephen Thomas.
My Fair Lady
Next door to the Lupin theatre is Newcomb College's Dixon Hall, a large, uncomfortable auditorium in which the 100th production of The Summer Lyric Theatre, Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady, was given a dynamic production recently under the direction of B. Michael Howard.
Even though nothing was done to alleviate the uncomfortably small, hard, very old seats, the auditorium has been repainted so one does not have to fear going mad from flaking lead paint. Could the fresh paint be the contributing factor in the brightness of the sound in the auditorium? Or was it merely where I was sitting? The large, 30-piece Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra under the very capable direction of Pamela Legendre was exceptionally loud but so was the wonderful cast Mr. Howard had collected to tell the story of the phonetician Henry Higgins, who turns the gutter snipe, Eliza Doolittle, into an elegant lady by teaching her how to say "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain."
Christopher E. Carey's Higgins possessed a strong, trained baritone and so the sing-song nature of his material, originally written for non-singer Rex Harrison, sounded fresh and exciting and every well-known word was crystal clear; as was the case with local musical comedy star Elizabeth Argus's Eliza Doolittle. The two of them, with Luis Q. Barroso's Colonel Pickering, made the old hall rock with giddy excitement on "The Rain In Spain." In point of fact, all the well-known score was performed brilliantly.
John Grimsley, cast against type, and age, as Eliza's daddy, Alfred P. Doolittle, gave it the old college try and earned an A+, with invaluable help from Elizabeth Parent's chimney sweep outfit and Don and Linda Guillot's makeup design; to say nothing of his hilariously unique Cockneyesque accent. His age and incandescent energy gave added oomph to Alton Geno's spiffy choreography.
Luis Q. Barroso, on the other hand, as Col. Pickering, was way too made up; he needed to be "youthed" instead of "aged." But no amount of makeup can make up for the fact that this actor is a force to be reckoned with and continues to entertain and amaze.
Others in the large ensemble with principal roles - all performed with aplomb - were Rita Lovett as Mrs. Pearce, the house keeper, Jo-Ann Testa as Henry's mother, Pat Grevemberg as the Queen of Transylvania and Joe Akin's callow Freddy Eynsford-Hill who sang most of "On The Street Where You Live" standing stock still in mid-air on a spiral staircase stage right. He nailed the song and won the audience's collective heart in the process.
Although Rick Paul's sets didn't really work with the playing area flanked by two spiral staircases right and left that never moved - they were on Wimpole St., in Covent Garden, at Ascot and at the ball and served to make entrances and exits vertical, Elizabeth S. Parent's costumes were more traditional - she kept her Ascot dresses black and white even if they were worn against a multi-colored drop that looked like it was inspired by Chagall, and Eliza's outfit was a direct copy of the Cecil Beaton movie creation - on Ms. Argus it looked stunning, but not as stunning as her ball gown coupled with the Guillots' hair and makeup.
It was Pygmalion, the George Bernard Shaw play upon which this musical comedy classic is based, that shown through all the rigmarole of this production. And that was the result of director B. Michael Howard's casting and inventiveness.
Written 35 years after My Fair Lady, The Will Rogers Follies, the next musical of Summer Lyric's 34th season, although it doesn't contain a score as familiar as Fair Lady's, reflects the shrunken attention span of today's audiences and will not have a 2 hour first act. Unfortunately, it also doesn't possess the Welkian score that Summer Lyric's audiences demand.
My Fair Lady had the blue hairs and grey beards swooning in the aisles.
Le Chat Noir Celebrates 2nd Anniversary
Barbara Motley, stunning in a black bustier, shared one of her many spotlights Tues., June 26, on the second anniversary of her elegant Le Chat Noir cabaret on St. Charles Ave. Ms. Motley was celebrating with a few of the many, many talented individuals who have thus far graced her stage in a 60 minute show that featured Harry Mayronne's alter ego, the marionette called Miss Viola, sharing the spotlight as a coy, wise-cracking co-emcee.
Among the highlights of the show was an electric rendition of "Summertime" by Charlotte Lang, a riveting "All That Jazz" by Ann Casey and Ann Marie Guidry, the Pfister Sisters doing the theme from Moulin Rouge ("Voulez Vous Couches Avec Moi"), Mr. Mayronne and Chris Wecklein spitting out bitterly Germanic "Mack The Knife," and the gender bending Dorian Rush and the Kiki Le Bonbon dancers karaoking to "Mein Herr."
The popular cabaret has become a theatre of late and is presently hosting the world premiere of a new play by Michael Cahill, starring Mr. Cahill and Janet Shea, called Dorothy and Alan about Dorothy Parker and hubby Alan Campbell.
Betty Buckley at Le Petit
The one and only photo that was used to promote a recent musical benefit for Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre by Broadway diva Betty Buckley was taken years ago and shows a very elegant young lady swathed in leopard skin. The person who walked on stage was not that photo.
Instead, the full house of theatre lovers who had forked over $100 for the opportunity to hear this actress/singer whose career is studded with musical successes, from introducing "Memory" to America in Cats to replacing Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard (which she played opposite New Orleanian Bryan Batt who introduced her to the New Orleans audience), was confronted with a rather dowdy, middle-aged woman in a lilac knit dress that exposed fat legs and feet crammed into black patent leather ankle straps topped with a severely tailored navy blue jacket and hair that was either platinum blonde or grey white screaming for a comb.
She might have needed some fashion attention, but the talent that was exhibited, including the superb accompaniment by pianist Kenny Werner, was captivating. She sang everything the audience was wanting to hear plus some great standards. The evening was a success due to the ministrations of Times Picayune Ad Reporter Martin Covert and wife Cecile, who pulled this benefit off with aplomb, and brought in beaucoup bucks for the theatre.
Rivertown Rep
Holds Auditions for Bells Are Ringing
The Rivertown Repertory Theatre will hold auditions for the Jule Styne, Betty Comden & Adolph Green musical comedy Bells Are Ringing - the opening production of the theatre's 2001/2002 season, on Sat., July 14 and Sun., July 15, from 1pm to 3pm at the theatre, 325 Minor St. in Kenner.
Director David Hoover is interested in seeing actors and actresses, 18 and older, who sing on Sat., July 14 and dancers on Sun., July 15.
The leading role of Ella, originally portrayed by Judy Holiday, is cast. All other parts are open. Singers should come prepared to sing 16 bars of a show tune. An accompanist will be provided. Dancers who audition Sun. should come dressed in comfortable clothes and be prepared to move.
Bells Are Ringing will open Fri., Sept. 7 and run for 4 weeks through Sept. 30, with performances Thurs. - Sat. at 8pm and Sun. at 2:30pm. Rehearsals begin on July 30. For more information, call 504.468.7221.
