Reviews of Little Shop of Horrors at Narrow Way Stage Company in Sonoma, CA
With Sonoma gardens in full spring bloom, “Little Shop of Horrors”, about a strange and unusual plant, is a fitting season opener for the 2014 season of live theater presented by the Sonoma Theatre Alliance. This Narrow Way Stage Company production, directed by Christopher Ginesi, features a mix of youthful and seasoned local actors in the well-known spoof on 1960s horror movies and musicals with a rock n roll twist. A nerdy floral assistant, Seymour, with not much going for him has been tinkering in the back room when he discovers a remarkable plant with a predilection for human blood. At first a few drops suffice, but then things get out of hand, like a Venus Fly Trap gone mad. Seymour discovers that fame and fortune comes with a price and he struggles to find his equilibrium amid conflicting pressures including pleasing his cantankerous boss and wooing his previously out-of-reach love interest.
The raucous 1960s musical, originally written by Howard Ashman with music by Alan Menken, encompasses rock and roll, doo-wop and Motown and is sure to be a crowd pleaser. The references to symbols of the 60s such as aspirations for plastic-covered furniture and a DisposAll in the kitchen sink, will be amusing to those who remember back that far. The show opens with three, young female doo-wop singers, Ronette, Crystal and Chiffon (played by Regie Padua, Alexis Long and Laura Levin), whose harmonies mostly work, on a set made to evoke a typical skid row with the failing Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists storefront. Seymour, played by Matlock Zumsteg, is so successful at looking nerdy that his powerful and sonorous voice is a complete surprise, and Nora Summers, as Audrey, is equally matched in vocal abilities, while effectively pulling off the look of a slightly tawdry young woman with poor self-esteem and worse taste in men. Dallas Munger, as the sadistic dentist, delivered one of the most compelling performances of the evening, with his nuanced and zany delivery—you’re horrified when he grabs the rusty, oversized drill but you can’t help giggling at the over-the-top absurdity of it all. The sneaker performer, who vies with Munger in threatening to steal the show, is Butch Engle, who lurks in the shadowy balcony above the stage with the Skid Row Band musicians (Justin Pyne, Sean Allen, Isaac Carter, Rod Verette and JB Duff), who, by the way, add tremendous depth to the play. Engle does the voice of the plant, known as Audrey II, and once you identify the man behind the voice and see how physical his performance is it’s hard not to be completely captivated. These two robust actors anchor the play with Munger present mostly in the first act while Engle comes into his own in the second act. Michael Hunter rounds out the cast, skillfully filling in for a number of supporting roles.
Speaking of supporting roles, a nice touch was the botanical display of a Venus Fly Trap, forerunner of the Audrey II, in the lobby. Gifted to Zumsteg by Sebastopol’s California Carnivores, the largest retail carnivorous plant nursery in the United States, it brought home the fact that plants can, indeed, be carnivorous, sometime insatiably.
The Sonoma Theatre Alliance, a consortium of North Bay-based theater companies, supports member companies by providing the administrative functions necessary to put on shows, freeing creative minds to do what they do best. The 2014 Festival of Theatre includes eight plays presented by six different companies, generally Thursday through Saturday evenings and a Sunday matinee. In addition, on Monday-Wednesday Sonoma Nights Showcase is presented, a series of intimate performances that includes music, cabaret, readings and more. Jaime Love, a Sonoma theater regular for years, is the Executive Director.
The Narrow Way Stage Company, founded in 2005 by Nick Christenson, Chris Ginesi and Tony Ginesi, is a Cotati-based, non-profit theater group committed to nurturing young actors in local theater productions. They will be presenting two plays during the Festival of Theatre, with the next one being “Alice, The Rebellion of Wonderland” in August.
“Little Shop of Horrors”, playing through May 4 at the Sonoma Community Center, is full of humor, rollicking music and entertainment for the whole family.
Information:
“Little Shop of Horrors”, presented by Narrow Way Stage Company in association with Sonoma Theatre Alliance, by special arrangement with Music Theatre International
Rotary Stage, Andrews Hall, Sonoma Community Center
276 East Napa Street
Sonoma, CA 95476
Sonoma Valley Box Office
707-938-4626 x1
SVBO.org
$20 (Thursdays); $30 (Weekends)
“Little Shop of Horrors” runs through May 4, 2014
-Inga Aksamit
"Sonoma Wine Travel Examiner"
The raucous 1960s musical, originally written by Howard Ashman with music by Alan Menken, encompasses rock and roll, doo-wop and Motown and is sure to be a crowd pleaser. The references to symbols of the 60s such as aspirations for plastic-covered furniture and a DisposAll in the kitchen sink, will be amusing to those who remember back that far. The show opens with three, young female doo-wop singers, Ronette, Crystal and Chiffon (played by Regie Padua, Alexis Long and Laura Levin), whose harmonies mostly work, on a set made to evoke a typical skid row with the failing Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists storefront. Seymour, played by Matlock Zumsteg, is so successful at looking nerdy that his powerful and sonorous voice is a complete surprise, and Nora Summers, as Audrey, is equally matched in vocal abilities, while effectively pulling off the look of a slightly tawdry young woman with poor self-esteem and worse taste in men. Dallas Munger, as the sadistic dentist, delivered one of the most compelling performances of the evening, with his nuanced and zany delivery—you’re horrified when he grabs the rusty, oversized drill but you can’t help giggling at the over-the-top absurdity of it all. The sneaker performer, who vies with Munger in threatening to steal the show, is Butch Engle, who lurks in the shadowy balcony above the stage with the Skid Row Band musicians (Justin Pyne, Sean Allen, Isaac Carter, Rod Verette and JB Duff), who, by the way, add tremendous depth to the play. Engle does the voice of the plant, known as Audrey II, and once you identify the man behind the voice and see how physical his performance is it’s hard not to be completely captivated. These two robust actors anchor the play with Munger present mostly in the first act while Engle comes into his own in the second act. Michael Hunter rounds out the cast, skillfully filling in for a number of supporting roles.
Speaking of supporting roles, a nice touch was the botanical display of a Venus Fly Trap, forerunner of the Audrey II, in the lobby. Gifted to Zumsteg by Sebastopol’s California Carnivores, the largest retail carnivorous plant nursery in the United States, it brought home the fact that plants can, indeed, be carnivorous, sometime insatiably.
The Sonoma Theatre Alliance, a consortium of North Bay-based theater companies, supports member companies by providing the administrative functions necessary to put on shows, freeing creative minds to do what they do best. The 2014 Festival of Theatre includes eight plays presented by six different companies, generally Thursday through Saturday evenings and a Sunday matinee. In addition, on Monday-Wednesday Sonoma Nights Showcase is presented, a series of intimate performances that includes music, cabaret, readings and more. Jaime Love, a Sonoma theater regular for years, is the Executive Director.
The Narrow Way Stage Company, founded in 2005 by Nick Christenson, Chris Ginesi and Tony Ginesi, is a Cotati-based, non-profit theater group committed to nurturing young actors in local theater productions. They will be presenting two plays during the Festival of Theatre, with the next one being “Alice, The Rebellion of Wonderland” in August.
“Little Shop of Horrors”, playing through May 4 at the Sonoma Community Center, is full of humor, rollicking music and entertainment for the whole family.
Information:
“Little Shop of Horrors”, presented by Narrow Way Stage Company in association with Sonoma Theatre Alliance, by special arrangement with Music Theatre International
Rotary Stage, Andrews Hall, Sonoma Community Center
276 East Napa Street
Sonoma, CA 95476
Sonoma Valley Box Office
707-938-4626 x1
SVBO.org
$20 (Thursdays); $30 (Weekends)
“Little Shop of Horrors” runs through May 4, 2014
-Inga Aksamit
"Sonoma Wine Travel Examiner"
Reviews of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest at 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa, CA
6th Street Playhouse has another success on its hands, this time an authentic revival of the Dale Wasserman/Ken Kesey classic “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” ably directed by Lennie Dean. Edward P. McCloud brings plenty of swagger to the role of iconoclastic troublemaker Randle P. McMurphy; his nemesis is the ice-cold manipulator Nurse Ratched, played by Critics Circle Best Actress winner Jill Zimmerman.
Dallas Munger and Alan Kaplan are standouts as psych-ward patients Harding and Scanlon, and Nick Christenson is an imposing and confident presence as Chief Bromden. A special treat is Stacey Kerr’s early-1960s slide show whose rapid-fire black-and-white images go a long way toward establishing an era that in terms of treating the mentally ill (or the merely uncooperative) was the equivalent of surgery when it was performed by barbers. Perhaps not much has changed—lobotomies are rarely done now, but only because we have drugs that are more effective than scalpels. Fifty years after its debut, “Cuckoo’s Nest” still provides plenty of food for thought.
—Barry Willis
President, SF Bay Area Theater Critics Circle
Dallas Munger and Alan Kaplan are standouts as psych-ward patients Harding and Scanlon, and Nick Christenson is an imposing and confident presence as Chief Bromden. A special treat is Stacey Kerr’s early-1960s slide show whose rapid-fire black-and-white images go a long way toward establishing an era that in terms of treating the mentally ill (or the merely uncooperative) was the equivalent of surgery when it was performed by barbers. Perhaps not much has changed—lobotomies are rarely done now, but only because we have drugs that are more effective than scalpels. Fifty years after its debut, “Cuckoo’s Nest” still provides plenty of food for thought.
—Barry Willis
President, SF Bay Area Theater Critics Circle
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is one of my favorite movies and Jack Nicholson is my favorite actor so I get excited when I get to see a stage version. For those of you who have never seen “Cuckoo’s Nest” on stage, you’re in for a treat. I believe the production at 6th Street Playhouse is the best I have ever seen.
The play is set in 1963 but the issues talked about could be talked about now. We might like to believe that things are black or white but they aren’t. There are many shades of grey. Who’s to say what is crazy and what isn’t? And who gets to decide what to do about people deemed to be at the wrong end of the spectrum? Few plays examine these issues with such depth and clarity as Dale Wasserman’s “Cuckoo’s Nest”, adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey. The play, originally performed in 1963, received Tony awards when it was revived in 2001.
Set in a state mental hospital, the play revolves around the arrival of new patient Randle P. McMurphy. Planning to serve a short sentence in the institution, rather than go to a prison work farm, McMurphy immediately shakes things up among the other patients, jarring them from their usual routines. He also butts heads with the tough and unyielding Nurse Ratched, who runs the ward with an iron fist.
Director Lennie Dean has helped her cast find the truth in their characters, taking them from stereotypical stock “mental patients” to real, flesh-and-blood human beings. The ensemble is excellent. Edward McCloud is very good as McMurphy. Amazing charisma and energy. A real standout among the actors is Lito Briano as Martini. You can tell how much fun he’s having on stage. Justin Keim as Billy, Alan Kaplan as Scanlon, Tice Allison as Cheswick, Dallas Munger as Dale Harding, and Nick Christenson as Chief Bromden round out an amazing group of actors who bring real believability to their roles. When the patients are all together on stage, rallying behind McMurphy and cheering on an imaginary baseball game, their joy and excitement are infectious.
Some of the patients are in the institution by choice, for one reason or another. They can’t or won’t deal with society. A society that might label people “crazy” a little too easily. A society that too often tries to cure instantly with shock treatments and lobotomies. It’s also a society that, even though Kesey wrote it in 1962, is still very familiar today. Now we just use pills and medications rather than shock treatments. Even today, it may be that the McMurphys and Chief Bromdens among us are the ones who are truly sane.
Performances run through Nov 10, 2013. Reserve your tickets by calling 707 523 4185. 6th Street Playhouse is located at 52 W. 6th Street Santa Rosa Ca 95401.
-By Don Gibble
The play is set in 1963 but the issues talked about could be talked about now. We might like to believe that things are black or white but they aren’t. There are many shades of grey. Who’s to say what is crazy and what isn’t? And who gets to decide what to do about people deemed to be at the wrong end of the spectrum? Few plays examine these issues with such depth and clarity as Dale Wasserman’s “Cuckoo’s Nest”, adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey. The play, originally performed in 1963, received Tony awards when it was revived in 2001.
Set in a state mental hospital, the play revolves around the arrival of new patient Randle P. McMurphy. Planning to serve a short sentence in the institution, rather than go to a prison work farm, McMurphy immediately shakes things up among the other patients, jarring them from their usual routines. He also butts heads with the tough and unyielding Nurse Ratched, who runs the ward with an iron fist.
Director Lennie Dean has helped her cast find the truth in their characters, taking them from stereotypical stock “mental patients” to real, flesh-and-blood human beings. The ensemble is excellent. Edward McCloud is very good as McMurphy. Amazing charisma and energy. A real standout among the actors is Lito Briano as Martini. You can tell how much fun he’s having on stage. Justin Keim as Billy, Alan Kaplan as Scanlon, Tice Allison as Cheswick, Dallas Munger as Dale Harding, and Nick Christenson as Chief Bromden round out an amazing group of actors who bring real believability to their roles. When the patients are all together on stage, rallying behind McMurphy and cheering on an imaginary baseball game, their joy and excitement are infectious.
Some of the patients are in the institution by choice, for one reason or another. They can’t or won’t deal with society. A society that might label people “crazy” a little too easily. A society that too often tries to cure instantly with shock treatments and lobotomies. It’s also a society that, even though Kesey wrote it in 1962, is still very familiar today. Now we just use pills and medications rather than shock treatments. Even today, it may be that the McMurphys and Chief Bromdens among us are the ones who are truly sane.
Performances run through Nov 10, 2013. Reserve your tickets by calling 707 523 4185. 6th Street Playhouse is located at 52 W. 6th Street Santa Rosa Ca 95401.
-By Don Gibble
Review of Annie Get Your Gun at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Colombia, MD
December 12, 2002
It's all true. A small-town girl who was a phenomenal shot with a rifle became one of the stars of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show under the name of Annie Oakley and toured the United States and Europe. Sitting Bull, leader of the Indians who had defeated Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn, joined the show, too. He became so fond of Annie that he adopted her as a daughter. Buffalo Bill ran into stiff competition from another showman, Pawnee Bill, and the two shows merged rather than go broke. Annie married another trick-shot artist named Frank Butler. Basically, that's the story of Annie Get Your Gun, the current production at Toby's Dinner Theatre. Of course, the show's writers, Herbert and Dorothy Fields, rearranged and elaborated on the facts. Annie (real name Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee) was a quiet, home-loving woman who could read and write. In the musical she becomes a naive, illiterate, loud-mouthed creature of the backwoods.
Annie and Frank are in love but can't get together because Frank resents the fact that a woman is a better shot and a bigger star than he is. In real life Annie and Frank were married and performing as a team even before they signed on with Cody, and when they did, Frank had enough show-business savvy to make Annie the star of the act. But the story is a lot more fun the way the Fields tell it. The music for Annie Get Your Gun was supposed to have been written by Jerome Kern, but Kern dropped dead on a New York street in November 1945. With an opening night in May 1946 staring them in the face, producers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II approached Irving Berlin. After some initial reluctance, Berlin agreed to take on the job.
He came up with a score in record time, and what a score! Before the show is 15 minutes old, Annie sings "Doin' What Comes Naturally." After that come "The Girl That I Marry," "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "They Say It's Wonderful," "I Got the Sun in the Morning," "Anything You Can Do" and six or seven more numbers. One of the songs, "I'm an Indian, Too" (sung by Annie when she is adopted by Sitting Bull), is omitted at Toby's, presumably for the sake of political correctness. But there is another example of political incorrectness they could not take out because it forms the climax of the plot: Annie deliberately loses a shooting match to Frank so he can retain his sense of masculine superiority and agree to marry her.
Meaghan Kyle is a splendid Annie, swaggering and stomping around the stage and belting out her numbers in big brassy tones. As the vain and handsome Frank Butler, Russell Sunday has plenty of opportunities to show off his fine baritone voice. David Bosley-Reynolds brings a strong stage presence to the dignified Sitting Bull. Terry Sweeney (as Charlie Davenport, the show's advance man), Dallas Munger (Buffalo Bill), Chan McQuay (Dolly Tate, Frank's assistant) and David James (Pawnee Bill) all turn in colorful performances.
In keeping with the Wild West, show biz background, director Toby Orenstein has the actors play broadly and keeps the action moving at a brisk pace. A bit of modulation would have been welcome, though - there are a lot of clever lines in the script that didn't get the laughs they deserved because the performers couldn't take the time to milk them. The choreography by Ilona Kessell and costumes by Larry Munsey are up to Toby's usual high standards. A nostalgic atmosphere is created by Peter Hengen's sets and especially by the wonderful circus-y posters painted by scenic artist Carrie Ballenger.
Annie Get Your Gun is great entertainment for the holidays, and should be even better for brightening up the dreary days of January and February.
Toby's Dinner Theatre, 5900 Symphony Woods Road, Columbia, presents "Annie Get Your Gun" through Feb. 16. Doors open at 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 5 p.m. Sundays. For matinees, doors open at 10:30 a.m. Sundays and Wednesdays. Reservations are required. Information or reservations: 410-730- 8311 or 800-888-6297
-By William Hyder
It's all true. A small-town girl who was a phenomenal shot with a rifle became one of the stars of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show under the name of Annie Oakley and toured the United States and Europe. Sitting Bull, leader of the Indians who had defeated Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn, joined the show, too. He became so fond of Annie that he adopted her as a daughter. Buffalo Bill ran into stiff competition from another showman, Pawnee Bill, and the two shows merged rather than go broke. Annie married another trick-shot artist named Frank Butler. Basically, that's the story of Annie Get Your Gun, the current production at Toby's Dinner Theatre. Of course, the show's writers, Herbert and Dorothy Fields, rearranged and elaborated on the facts. Annie (real name Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee) was a quiet, home-loving woman who could read and write. In the musical she becomes a naive, illiterate, loud-mouthed creature of the backwoods.
Annie and Frank are in love but can't get together because Frank resents the fact that a woman is a better shot and a bigger star than he is. In real life Annie and Frank were married and performing as a team even before they signed on with Cody, and when they did, Frank had enough show-business savvy to make Annie the star of the act. But the story is a lot more fun the way the Fields tell it. The music for Annie Get Your Gun was supposed to have been written by Jerome Kern, but Kern dropped dead on a New York street in November 1945. With an opening night in May 1946 staring them in the face, producers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II approached Irving Berlin. After some initial reluctance, Berlin agreed to take on the job.
He came up with a score in record time, and what a score! Before the show is 15 minutes old, Annie sings "Doin' What Comes Naturally." After that come "The Girl That I Marry," "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "They Say It's Wonderful," "I Got the Sun in the Morning," "Anything You Can Do" and six or seven more numbers. One of the songs, "I'm an Indian, Too" (sung by Annie when she is adopted by Sitting Bull), is omitted at Toby's, presumably for the sake of political correctness. But there is another example of political incorrectness they could not take out because it forms the climax of the plot: Annie deliberately loses a shooting match to Frank so he can retain his sense of masculine superiority and agree to marry her.
Meaghan Kyle is a splendid Annie, swaggering and stomping around the stage and belting out her numbers in big brassy tones. As the vain and handsome Frank Butler, Russell Sunday has plenty of opportunities to show off his fine baritone voice. David Bosley-Reynolds brings a strong stage presence to the dignified Sitting Bull. Terry Sweeney (as Charlie Davenport, the show's advance man), Dallas Munger (Buffalo Bill), Chan McQuay (Dolly Tate, Frank's assistant) and David James (Pawnee Bill) all turn in colorful performances.
In keeping with the Wild West, show biz background, director Toby Orenstein has the actors play broadly and keeps the action moving at a brisk pace. A bit of modulation would have been welcome, though - there are a lot of clever lines in the script that didn't get the laughs they deserved because the performers couldn't take the time to milk them. The choreography by Ilona Kessell and costumes by Larry Munsey are up to Toby's usual high standards. A nostalgic atmosphere is created by Peter Hengen's sets and especially by the wonderful circus-y posters painted by scenic artist Carrie Ballenger.
Annie Get Your Gun is great entertainment for the holidays, and should be even better for brightening up the dreary days of January and February.
Toby's Dinner Theatre, 5900 Symphony Woods Road, Columbia, presents "Annie Get Your Gun" through Feb. 16. Doors open at 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 5 p.m. Sundays. For matinees, doors open at 10:30 a.m. Sundays and Wednesdays. Reservations are required. Information or reservations: 410-730- 8311 or 800-888-6297
-By William Hyder