Quadracci Powerhouse Theater – Page 7 – an intuitive perspective

February 19, 2022February 28, 2022

The Bard, The Fab Four, The Rep or As You Like It

Roll up roll up for the Mystery Tour
Roll up roll up for the Mystery Tour
The Magical Mystery Tour
Is waiting to take you away
Waiting to take you away
Take you today
Magical Mystery Tour (Lennon/McCartney)

No, Magical Mystery Tour isn’t one of the twenty or so songs that powers this 21st Century mash up of Beatles music and a 400 year old comedy from William Shakespeare, but it should be an ear worm as you go to your seat because a Magical Mystery Tour is what the Milwaukee Repertory Theater is going to provide when you attend this version of As You Like It!

Courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, photo by Michael Brosilow

And about that go to your seat. You will want to go to your seat ten or fifteen minutes early for a bit of pre-show music and a bit of foreshadowing of the action to come later. Trust me on this!

Starting with the solid bones of a Shakespeare comedy with the requisite villains and banished royalty and the resulting mayhem and then of course the woman going afield pretending to be a man is surprisingly enhanced by any number of appropriately selected and appropriately inserted Beatles songs. Who would have thought. But the whirlwind events plus the fluid cast movement from band member to featured soloist/character can sometimes add to the character confusion that Shakespeare revels in. But oh, never mind, what fun!

Daryl Cloran, who adapted and directed this production, had an over the top amount of fun tweaking the nose of the Beatles, William Shakespeare, and the Summer of Love. Yes this is over the top in a good way and you will need to stay alert to catch the varied references to the Fab Four, Shakespeare’s common strategies, and every cliche from various cultural era of the late 1960s…and of course the odd merging of WWE style wrestling…you can in part blame that one on the Bard!

Savannah L. Jackson as the heroine Rosalind and Justin Gregory Lopez as her lovelorn love interest are incredible in establishing and toying with their relationship(s) as their situations and interactions change. From that first meeting through the hidden identity to the grande finale, they are the magic in the As You Like It part of this event.

But my goodness, Lizzy Brooks as Celia just exhibits an incredible voice and her renditions of Beatles songs, for me, stole the show! Another favorite vocal standout is Kurt Schwietz, who plays a number of roles throughout the evening.

And, I almost forgot…don’t miss our resident despondent beat poet Andy Warhol look a like, Jacque, most ably played by Trish Lindstrom!

And in a contemporary turn of events, with Savannah L. Jackson as Rosalind disguised as Ganymede, we have a woman playing woman playing a man…a bit of a twist on what Shakespeare would have written for his theater…a young man playing a young woman playing a young man. The Ganymede disguise would have been more believable in 1600 than in 2022 but now it is impossible not to see the woman beneath the male garb. But all the more fun because it twists and turns the jokes that Shakespeare built in making fun of the gender confusion…and it takes on some humorous new aspects in this presentation!

One small quibble…as a former cover band musician and long time Beatles fan, the drums were under mixed and the guitar could use a little more sass…particularly on Helter Skelter.

P.S. This is a British Columbia Invasion coming from the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival in Vancouver.

As You Like It just opened so there is plenty of time to see it between now and March 20, 2022 in the Rep’s Quadracci Powerhouse Theater! Here are the details and links for tickets. And please pay attention to the COVID safety protocols.

Extra credit reading?

The As You Like It program.

And the As You Like It Playguide.

Now, the only thing missing is Ed Sullivan’s “Ladies and Gentleman, THE BEATLES!”

January 13, 2022January 13, 2022

Toni Stone Plays Hardball at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater!

I am struggling a bit putting together my response to the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s production of Toni Stone written by Lydia R. Diamond. This is such an engaging play that I am afraid that I won’t do it justice.

courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater

Toni Stone the character introduces us to Toni Stone and her boys, the ball team she plays for in her opening soliloquy. Tony Stone the play fills in the details with life on a ball team and vignettes around her family and personal history. And all of our stories are told by the eight men who make up the rest of her ball team. So we have actors stretching out to play multiple characters, whether it is the white team owner, Toni’s mother, the family pastor, or her best friend and confidante, Millie!

Director Tinashe Kajese-Bolden brings out the best in the story and the best in the actors. Those playing multiple roles are able to switch characters and clearly tell the story. And the choreography gives us the feel of the agility of ballplayers and their love of them game…but there is more to that…continue reading.

The obvious story is that of a woman trying to prove she is able to compete at baseball with men. Toni Stone proves that she can do that and we see that her desire to play isn’t any less of a driving force for her than the other players on her team.

But there is a lot more going on here. This is baseball in the early 1950s, Negro League baseball, Jim Crow era baseball. So beyond the story around gender roles we have the even uglier reality of racism in America. This play is a reminder of how far we’ve come but also of how far we have to go. And on top of that the play openly displays misogyny, sexism, and sexual assault/harassment. And these are presented in direct ways that raise the blood a bit and a few scenes that are rather embarrassing. Particular the scene where the Clowns have to pantomime playing ball or perform juggling or other circus type acts as part of the ball game. sigh.

But…this isn’t all drama…there is plenty of humor to be had! There is certainly a full plate of theater here.

Kedren Spencer plays Toni Stone. And she clearly shows us the athleticism and desire that is Toni Stone. And she can also move into the complaining daughter when her mother discourages her interests in favor of somethings that are more appropriate for young women…to being a bit wary or ignorant of social mores and flirting…to being direct to pursue her baseball career…to being stubborn and unaware when she says what’s on her mind and not realizing she has hurt another’s feelings. Spencer has got to be tired by the time the play ends.

My favorite actor here is Enoch A. King who plays one of the ball players but whose main character is Millie, a prostitute who becomes a mentor and best friend to Toni Stone throughout the history covered in the play. You know exactly how Millie is feeling before she says a word. King has got her down pat…facial expressions…vocal tones and intonations…and the right sashay or stride to tell us who Millie is and how she feels about the world and how she relates to Toni.

The Rep recommends this for people 12 and older. The reason here is some adult language and adult situations. But there is a lot to learn here about American sports, culture, and society beyond the incredible story of Toni Stone.

The play continues through January 30. 2022 and runs 2 hours and 15 minutes with an intermission. Be aware of the COVID-19 protocols in effect…check here for current status.

And for extra credit reading here is the PlayGuide and Program!

November 13, 2021November 14, 2021

Milwaukee Repertory Theater Opens Their Main Stage with Steel Magnolias!

I have never seen this play before and I hadn’t seen either of the movies, so I only had a vague idea of what to expect. Of course there would be 1980s era Southern dialect and atmosphere and I expected the one liners and overall humor…but I wasn’t quite ready for the drama and heartbreak. And after doing a bit of background on this today, I also didn’t realize that this is actually based on a true story from playwright Robert Harling’s life and the death of his sister. Thankfully, he was able to make art and reach out to us in his sorrow.

While waiting for curtain, we get to peruse Collette Pollard’s incredible set of Truvy’s beauty salon. Thankfully the script lets us know where we are because I was wondering how someone could successfully run a salon out of doors in Louisiana…but we are looking into Truvy’s place uninhibited by the walls of the car port her husband enclosed so she could support them! And we can sit and wonder how the Rep found all of the correct hair dryers and stylist stations and such as well. But this set design makes perfect sense and utilizes the Rep’s thrust stage to perfection, giving the characters space to work and the audience the sense of time and place of the story.

Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater

One other thing that does not inhibit our enjoyment of the play is the male characters! They only live here through the stories and conversation of the six women who inhabit the salon. So the focus is more salient to our story…and even for those who know the movie and enjoyed it…the stage play will be a new experience to enjoy and savor.

We are quickly introduced to all of the characters and the initial focus is on Shelby, the bride to be, and the customer of the day. So there’s a lot of joy here and a lot of conversation that brings out the personalities of all six women pretty quickly and we get to know the salon’s dynamic! Little do we expect there are little clues here as to the drama that is about to unfold behind the humor and how the mood will change…but the relationships strengthen and hold the women together. But Shelby will come back into focus again…and given that focus, Phoebe Gonzalez plays our Shelby to perfection as she grows and becomes aware of her own wants and needs and the focus on her own life. A very poignant and skilled transition.

And don’t forget Rebecca Hirota as Truvy Jones, who runs the salon, takes a risk on a new stylist (Annelle played by Maeve Moynihan), and provides the common ground for the disparate characters who are her customers. Ms. Hirota has clearly taken to this role as if it were originally her own!

And M’Lynn is Shelby’s mother and in the early going you don’t really expect her to step out or step up from the initial impression we catch in the early going. But she does and as the situation takes its turns for the worse, she finds a new strength and resolve and oh my goodness, Janet Ulrich Brooks reaches for those peaks of emotion and helps us deal with our grief through her efforts to deal with hers!

And of course we have Ouiser played by Meg Thalken, who is the perfect curmudgeon and foil who has simply been in a bad mood for forty years! And Tami Workentin as Clairee, a recent widow who brings some ‘class’ and ‘refinement’ to the mix…and of course football! And the tentative Annelle, Maeve Moynihan, who develops into Truvy’s right hand and a forward and determined individual after being reborn in her religion. The perfect characters to round out our cast and crew in 1980s Louisiana.

So, even if you have seen the movie, seeing this play live in the Quadracci Theater will be a new and special treat that shouldn’t be missed! These women will tell you a funny and moving story live and in person!