Spring Storm at Loyola’s Lower Depths Theatre through September 23
In 2010, Tennessee Williams’ early play Spring Storm received its European premiere in Northampton, England; virtually unknown in America, it had never been mounted in the playwright’s lifetime. The production then transferred to London’s National Theatre where it received universal acclaim.
I wonder how much louder might the hosannas have been had they seen The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company‘s (TWTC) new version of Storm which cuts an hour off the running time (with the permission of the Williams Estate) and condenses three acts to one to spell-binding effect.
A tale set in a small Mississippi Delta town in 1937, Spring Storm concerns itself with the interlocking passions of four young adults. Heavenly and Dick love each other but he wants to “do something worthwhile” and get away from the town while she wants to stay. Arthur loves Heavenly but she finds him too bookish, unlike the manly Dick. Mrs. Critchfield, Heavenly’s mother, however, is eager for a match between Heavenly and Arthur as his family has tons of money while the Critchfields have fallen on hard times during the Depression. And Herta, the bookish town librarian, loves Arthur who seems to be fond of her, but…
In lesser hands, this could have just become soap operatic (and, to some extent, it still is), but even at 26, Williams could spin beautiful lines of poetic lyricism. If we see how people hurt each other, intentionally and not, Williams’ humaneness shines through as no one seems completely wrong or right; misunderstood, yes, but always filled with decency as they apologize for slights and inconsiderations.
Watching Spring Storm, I thought how tragic for young women of that place and that era to be trapped in such rigid gender roles; how the dialog delivers exposition more obviously than in Williams’ later plays yet how solid his dramaturgy is as we breathlessly wait to see how the story unfolds; and how if only Mrs. Critchfield would’ve used a little reverse psychology on Heavenly, a la the fathers in The Fantastiks, things might’ve turned out much better.
To be clear, these thoughts were not borne of a mind wandering, but one fully engaged with and responding to the many issues and complexities that the script raises. If only all scripts could be like that. That said, if you know your Williams, you’ll certainly be on the lookout for hints of future names (Heavenly, Shannon, Esmeralda), themes, and even dialog (“You disgust me!”).
I cannot overstate how supremely accomplished this new, uncredited version of the script is. I’m not familiar with the original but, reading the reviews of the London production, positive as they were, it seems that the TWTCers cut away all the fat including whole scenes, some characters in the script, some references to other characters, and anything else that wasn’t essential to the narrative flow and/or the underlying atmospherics. I can only hope that this new’n’improved Storm will go on to other theaters and take its rightful place with Menagerie, Streetcar and Cat (or, at least, Iguana, Tattoo and Summer).
Of course, this Storm’s success is equally due to Salvatore Mannino’s pitch-perfect production. Beginning with a pre-curtain-speech overture, whose significance becomes fully comprehensible only later, Mannino brings out both the play’s passions and its humor (and there is some there as we watch these self-dramatizing young creatures), employing, at times, thankfully, a non-naturalistic approach in his staging.
Unlike his two quotidian offerings earlier this year at Le Petit (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), Mannino has paced Storm exquisitely, allowing the telling silences to exist between the words. If, at the very end, he jolts us out of the 1930s time frame he so assiduously constructed with a recording of I Can’t Stand the Rain, so be it; it serves to remind us that the issues Heavenly, Dick, Arthur and Herta grapple with have not gone away. In fact, with the soaring rates of young adult suicides, Spring Storm remains all too relevant today.
Mannino gets ample support from Eric Porter who’s draped the upper reaches of half of Loyola’s Lower Depths Theatre in Spanish moss & Japanese lanterns (Streetcar alert!) and whose set design allows for seamless transitions between the scenes; Grace Smith’s spot-on costumes; and Diane K. Baas’ lighting and both Nick Shackleford’s sound design & original music, all of which underscore and subtly add to the play’s atmosphere.
The entire cast is outstanding.
If Nicole Miller, as Heavenly, swans around the stage, her shoulders tend to be slightly stooped as though the weight of the decisions she must make is bearing down on her. With precise brilliance, she navigates the script’s emotional switchbacks as Heavenly teeters before the options–Dick? Arthur? None of the above?–she faces.
Nicole Miiller with Matthew Boese (in background) in Spring Storm (photo by Brittney Werner)
Affecting a toff-ish accent, as someone who’s spent time overseas (as Arthur has) might do, Matthew Boese wisely keeps us guessing as to whether Arthur, who was called “sissy” as a child, is gay or not. Achingly in love with Heavenly, Boese’s Arthur could just be an effeminate straight man (don’t laugh–I’ve known some). With his commanding performance of quiet desperation, Boese demonstrates money can’t buy you love…or happiness.
As Dick, Matthew Raetz never falls into brutish caricature. Raetz conjures up a man who truly loves the outdoors, working with his hands, and getting them dirty with mud if need be. Raetz passionately conveys, that for Dick to stay in this small town would be a death sentence for him.
And then there’s the Herta of Charlie Carr, a woman who values intellectual and cultural pursuits, the mirror image of Arthur only with no money and from the wrong side of the tracks, a prototypical Alma Winemiller or Hannah Jelkes. Carr touchingly expresses Herta’s hope that she might mean something to Arthur and, despite her innate good looks, makes it clear that no one has ever seen Herta in any sort of a romantic way; I could imagine Beanie Feldstein playing her. Carr makes her NOLA theater debut in Storm, and I look forward to seeing more of her.
Mrs. Critchfield could easily turn into a mere monster but Margeaux Fanning, while not papering over the woman’s flaws, wisely plays her as a survivor, more realpolitik than evil, who only wants what she thinks is best for her daughter. Likewise, Maile Zox, as Heavenly’s aunt, eschews presenting her as any sort of spinster, but rather as a modern woman, content to live on her own without a man. As portrayed by Fanning and Zox, I’d’ve been happy to see a play about just these two fascinating women.
In smaller roles, Tracey E. Collins, Delphine J., and Miles Hamauei all contribute incisive portrayals.
About my only quibble is that, when referring to the local library as a “Carnegie” one, the accent is put on the first syllable instead of the second. A small boo-boo, but one that these characters would not have made.
The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans has been around eight years now. Spring Storm is their best Williams production yet. More importantly, if there were any justice in the world, a topic Williams had some opinions on, this Storm would travel northward, like a hurricane, touching down in theaters along the way and drenching them with its magnificence.
[For tickets and more info, go to https://ci.ovationtix.com/35398/production/1146626]
The View UpStairs at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center through September 17
I admire the Jefferson Performing Arts Society for giving the New Orleans premiere of The View UpStairs, a musical about the patrons of the UpStairs Lounge, the French Quarter bar where a horrific fire took the lives of 32 people fifty years ago.
I admire playwright/composer Max Vernon for wanting to memorialize those people and bring them back from being essentially forgotten.
I admire the song Waltz, as sung by Ty Robbins, for giving insights into his character, Patrick, in a graceful way, atypical for a number about a hustler.
I admire that Vernon hasn’t gone all-out “Big Easy” with talk of “your mamma’n’em” and second lines and gumbo.
I admire Donyae Asante for giving a full-throttled performance as Wes, a young man who, in 2023, has just brought the building that housed the UpStairs Lounge with the intention of turning it into the flagship store for his fashion designs.
The cast of The View UpStairs
I wish there was more to admire.
Vernon’s book has Wes time-traveling back to 1973 where he gets to know the folks who had been regulars at the bar. It’s a weird conceit but, hey, Brigadoon employed a similarly wild concept (“Scottish village appears for only one day every 100 years”). The problem is that Vernon doesn’t fully exploit the situation. Wes doesn’t seem to care about or have any genuine interest in his whereabouts (even tho his family is from New Orleans) and the bar folks don’t pepper this visitor from the future with questions the way you would expect.
Also, Wes is the most whiny, self-centered, cynical protagonist in musical comedy history as he goes on and on about Instagram and his followers and what power means in 2023. I wouldn’t want to spend 5 minutes with him let alone two hours. And the rest of the characters get just one- or two-dimensional personalities, lacking any granular sense of individuality.
If Vernon has wisely steered away from New Orleans cliches, he also doesn’t particularize the characters. This bar could be almost anywhere. A little more Crystal Hot Sauce is needed. Or Tabasco. Or something.
Aside from Waltz, all the other numbers tend to sound alike and are instantly forgettable. Just like Vernon’s score (co-written with Helen Park) for last year’s Broadway show KPOP.
There’s too much “telling” and not enough “showing” in Vernon’s book and, hence, it’s virtually devoid of any dramatic tension. At least when a corrupt cop comes in to shake down the place, something finally interesting happens. Though that such a cop would make a reference to Chita Rivera in 1973 is the height of preposterousness. Rita Moreno? Maybe, just maybe. Chita? No way.
Jack Lampert directs lackadaisically with people just wandering about Marshall Harris’ hyperrealistic set.
Some of Monica Ordoñez’s choreography has the organic feel of 1973 dance moves, but too often it seems like the cast is performing to a workout video.
While the main members of the cast (in addition to Asante, Robbins & Harris (who also performs), Rayshaughn Armant, Lauren Sparacello, Eddie Lockwood, JeAnne G. Marcus, Tom Vaughn & Justice Hues) do what’s asked of them, my eyes kept being drawn to members of the ensemble who, theoretically, seemed to have more interesting stories to tell–Cade Garafola who looked like he might be representing a character inspired by a Corner Pocket dancer; Rusty Fox’s leatherman must’ve been pretty brave to go out in public like that; Apollo Yong–how did a young gay Asian man, a demographic not often seen in NOLA back then, wind up at the UpStairs Lounge?; and transman Ti Zampino, another part of the community that was rarely seen even when I arrived here in 1989.
I guess I’ll have to wait for someone else to tell their story.
[For more info and tickets, go to https://www.jpas.org/performance/the-view-upstairs/]
Curtain Up
The Big Easy Beat, a celebration of classic New Orleans R&B and a tribute to NOLA’s vibrant spirit and rich musical heritage, plays at The New Orleans Jazz Market (1436 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard) September 21-23. The show features The Big Easy Boys (Rich Arnold, Jonathan Drury, Deiveon Martinsen, Michael Taravella) and The Big Easy Babes (Idella Johnson, Jessica Mixon, Hannah Rachal), and honors dozens of iconic Louisiana artists, including Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, The Dixie Cups, Professor Longhair, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Frankie Ford, Allen Toussaint, Mahalia Jackson, Dr. John, Louis Prima and many more. For tickets go to https://www.bigeasyboys.com/beat.html
I Wrote A Song, a 2018 musical dramedy written and composed by Trey Ming, returns to the AllWays Lounge’s Twilight Room (2240 St. Claude Ave., Sept. 29-Oct. 9).
Based on countless true stories, I Wrote a Song is just your average boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-married, boy-looks-at-gay-porn-becomes-a-Baptist-preacher-sneaks-off-to-bathhouses-gets-outed-in-disgrace-tries-a-conversion-camp-comes-out-anyway story. And it’s set to music.
Trey Bien stars in this tale which is directed by Lola Van Ella. Gia Vaughna, Prince Octavian, La Reina, Reby Rae, Nicki Nicolai, Xena Zeit-Geist, Rebeckah Gordon-Kirk, Eros Sea and Danny Girl make up the rest of the cast. For tickets and more info, visit https://IWroteASongTheMusical.eventbrite.com
The spectacular Night of 1000 Stevies New Orleans — the largest Stevie Nicks fan event in the world — returns for its 4th NOLA edition on October 7 to Howlin’ Wolf (907 South Peters). Neither a contest nor a karaoke show, NOTS promises the ultimate Stevie Nicks celebration, a profusion of shawls, lace, baby’s breath, twirling, tambourines and a wide range of interpretations of the goddess Nicks by performers from all over the country. More info and tickets at https://1000stevies.com/nots-new-orleans/
The next night, October 8, at Café Istanbul (2372 St. Claude Ave.), Daniel Nardicio Productions presents Witch Perfect, a live-singing, comedy parody based on the cult-classic film, Hocus Pocus. This spooktacular features RuPaul’s Drag Race Emmy-winning veterans Tina Burner as Winifred, Scarlet Envy as Sara, and Alexis Michelle as Mary, and hits from such pop icons as Kylie Minogue, Madonna, and Cher, plus parodies of Disney classics and Broadway standards from Gypsy and Wicked, as well as the infamous showstopper “I Put a Spell on You.” (https://www.redeyetickets.com/witch-perfect-nola/)
Scarlet Envy, Tina Burner, and Alexis Michelle in Witch Perfect (photo by The GingerB3ardmen).
