Culture Fiend

Today’s SIFF Pick: The Importance of Being Earnest

A classic Broadway play shows up on screen.

Posted by: Annie Rose Favreau on Jun 06, 2011 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

I say, a small popcorn costs what?!
Photo courtesy Joan Marcus.

Anyone who’s seen the inside of a high school has probably read The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde’s razor sharp lines are so well-known that audiences can feel deja vu. (Remember this one? “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.”)

This familiarity means many an Earnest production has fallen into the dark hole of predictability. But Roundabout Theater’s Broadway version —filmed in HD and screened as part of the Seattle International Film Festival—keeps things lively. And not just because actor/director Brian Bedford is wearing a dress.

Yup, Lady Bracknell’s played by a man. And he steals the spotlight. Lemon-faced, stiff-backed, and swathed in brocade, Bedford’s fabulous pomposity elicits applause at each entrance, an end-of-show standing ovation, and belly-laughs with single words (“Exploded?”). He cites Margaret Thatcher as a major artistic inspiration.

The rest of the cast was strong, if not flawless. You might recognize the men—Santino Fontana (Algie) and David Furr (Jack)—from their Jersey Shore Gone Wilde YouTube parodies. They’re just as fun on stage, even if Fontana, bursting with the boyish delight of Ferris Bueller, was occasionally overpowered by Furr’s effortless delivery. He could make an insurance company’s rejection letter sound sincere.

The women were less balanced. Next to the wide-eyed charm of Charlotte Parry’s Cecily, Jessie Austrian’s Gwendolen is studied, every sweep of her skirt looking relentlessly practiced. And her voice! “Shrill” would be an understatement. She should take a cue from the better-endowed Bedford, whose best comic moments are the few times he lets his voice fall into it’s deeper natural register.

One more point of contention: the world’s dreariest set. While the cartoon-like design was engaging, the color was not. The words “dishwater grey” come to mind.

Initially, I was doubtful about filmed theater, but the multi-camera filming was surprisingly satisfying. The production, still running live in New York City while showing on screen, also took advantage of its new medium: Three mini-segments presented by David Hyde Pierce show snippets of life backstage, a time-lapse look at Bedford’s transformation from a “man about town to a scary old lady,” and a brief Wilde analysis with Alfred Molina and Michael Hackett. It all feels a bit staged, but it’s an interesting idea. There’s also a ten minute intermission to make you and your box of popcorn feel like you’re at a real, live theater.

SIFF’s The Importance of Being Earnest plays thru June 12.

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Tags: reviews, Broadway, Theater, SIFF 2011

Review: South Pacific

In Bart Sher’s adaptation, “Happy Talk” is racier than you ever imagined.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Feb 01, 2010 at 12:00PM 0 Comments

Bloody Mary gets real in this adaptation of South Pacific. Photo courtesy Peter Coombs.

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Bloody Mary gets real in this adaptation of South Pacific. Photo courtesy Peter Coombs.

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Lonely sailors show Bloody Mary a little love in South Pacific, now through February 21 at 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo courtesy Peter Coombs.

In the 1958 film version of South Pacific, what you see is what you get. Polynesian woman Bloody Mary is all smiles as she sings “Happy Talk,” gently urging a young Lieutenant Cable to bed and wed her daughter Liat. The lieutenant makes googly eyes at Liat while Liat does those chirpy “talky talk” hand gestures. They’re clearly in love, and the Mama Hen couldn’t be prouder.

But look closer, says stage director Bart Sher, whose adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical opened at 5th Avenue Theatre last night. In the original text based on James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize–winning short stories, you find a darker truth behind the glossy “guy loves girl” storyline. “First of all, [Bloody Mary’s] not even Polynesian—she’s from Vietnam, and an imported worker,” Sher told us in a recent interview. “And ‘Happy Talk’ was about a woman trying to sell her daughter to somebody to get her out of poverty. When you played it for what it was, it changed how you heard the song.”

Indeed it does. In the touring production of Sher’s hit Broadway revival, “Happy Talk” turns desperate as Bloody Mary (Keala Settle), a pitbull in black lipstick, tries to make a sale. It’s a subtle change—one of several that gives some much-needed depth to the 1949 script. Sher’s South Pacific isn’t just about dames; it’s also “about race, and a world of people going through enormous changes, and about the risk and anxiety of war,” he said. Through restored dialogue (cut from the original play), we learn more about Nellie Forbush—a wide-eyed nurse from Arkansas who claims she’s “born with” her prejudices—and Lieutenant Cable, a preppy Princeton grad who worries what the gang at home would think of his “native” girl.

But fear not, fans of enchanted evenings. This three-hour version still has the memorable score, the original orchestrations, sets and backdrops straight from Lincoln Center, and a Nellie (Carmen Cusack) with a Wicked pedigree, beautiful voice and plenty of cock-eyed optimism. Remember: Sher is, and always will be, an entertainer. This is the guy whose first play as artistic director of Intiman Theatre—Shakespeare’s Cymbeline —had singing cowboys. Ten years later, there are jiving GIs…but that’s only the beginning.

South Pacific runs through February 21 at 5th Avenue Theatre.

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Tags: reviews, Theater, South Pacific, 5th Avenue Theatre, Bart Sher

Review: Xanadu

What if all musicals ended with a roller disco scene?

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 20, 2010 at 11:30AM 1 Comments

Oh Xanadu. If only I was a 40-year-old gay man, I would have, could have loved you. I would delight in your sequins and disco balls, your glow sticks and roller skates. Giggled at the strutting “sisters” who offer plenty of finger wagging and “Uh uh, no she didn’t!”s. Because Xanadu—a Broadway musical about a boy and his muse making art and making out in 1980s Venice Beach—is camp of the highest order. The writers even admit to it in the best line of the show: “This is children’s theater for 40-year-old gay men.”

Xanadu bills itself as Broadway’s “surprise hit musical,” like even its creators are blown away by how well it’s been doing. Admittedly, when it opened in 2007, it benefited from the 1,000-watt charm of Cheyenne Jackson as Sonny, a bumbling Bill-and-Ted hybrid who wears scandalously short cutoff jeans and wants to build a place that celebrates art: a roller disco. Jackson has since gone on to star in hit Broadway revival Finian’s Rainbow and on NBC’s 30 Rock (he’s the robot), leaving the show wanting for star power.

In this national tour, under the direction of Christopher Ashley (La Jolla Playhouse), the cast is solid, but the jokes they deliver are practically vaudevillian. Some of the biggest laughs came when Kyra (Elizabeth Stanley), a rollerskating demigod who comes down from Mount Olympus to inspire Sonny, employs an outrageously exaggerated Australian accent (a nod to Olivia Newton-John, who starred as Kyra in the 1980 film version of Xanadu ). Other gags involved audience members—a select few sat onstage last night, including the Rat City Rollergirls. Cast members would nibble on their arms, give them massages, sit next to them and eat popcorn. It’s so silly, it makes Legally Blonde look like an Ibsen play. But the show got a standing ovation. Clearly, it wasn’t written for me—it was written for the girl next to me in leg warmers, a purple sweater, and a side-ponytail. And, of course, 40-year-old gay men.

Xanadu runs through January 24 at Paramount Theatre. For ideas on ‘80s attire to wear to the show, check out Style Editor Laura Cassidy’s blog Where What When.

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Tags: reviews, theater, Xanadu, Paramount Theatre, Broadway, musical, roller disco,

Sex, Love, and Meat

A dinner party devolves but the laughs keep coming in WET’s Hunter Gatherers.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 12, 2010 at 05:00PM 0 Comments

Two married couples, no rules in WET’s Hunter Gatherers.

Who knew that a play that simulates violent sex and animal sacrifice could be a pleasant surprise? In the Washington Ensemble Theatre’s tiny black box on 19th Avenue East is a big, booming production full of wit and carnal mayhem—the kind that may make you flinch, but you’ll laugh loudly as you do. In Hunter Gatherers, two dissatisfied thirtysomething couples reunite for their joint wedding anniversary in a small San Francisco apartment. As the smell of fresh lamb wafts out of the kitchen, civility is dismissed and primal urges take over.

In less capable hands, this concept could devolve into a queasy mess. Thankfully, director Desdemona Chiang does an outstanding job pacing the razor-sharp script by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, giving you enough time to process what just happened without letting it linger like week-old meat. There isn’t a weak link in the cast either. Of particular note is Hannah Franklin, a tall redhead with the comedic timing of Lucille Ball who plays Wendy, a self-satisfied “hunter” who lusts for her best friend’s husband.

Considering Nachtrieb’s fresh take on thirtysomething malaise, it makes sense that this play won the ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award in 2007. I might even go back for a second helping.

Washington Ensemble Theatre’s ‘Hunter Gatherers’ runs through February 8.

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Tags: reviews, theater

Nobody Puts Electra in a Corner

Seattle Shakespeare Co. goes Greek, enthralls and exhausts in the process.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 12, 2010 at 04:00PM 0 Comments

Don’t bother, Clytemnestra. Electra doesn’t want to hear it. Photo courtesy John Ulman.

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Don’t bother, Clytemnestra. Electra doesn’t want to hear it. Photo courtesy John Ulman.

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Marya Sea Kaminski as Electra. Photo courtesy John Ulman.

Seattle Shakespeare Company touts a production of Sophocles’s Electra that will leave you “shocked, dazed, and breathless for more”—though it only delivers on two out of three. It’s hard not to be shocked and dazed by Marya Sea Kaminski’s compelling performance as the title character. She so embodies the vengeful daughter—yanking at her shirt like a girl gone mad (not wild)—you half-believe she’ll finish off Ellen Boyle (playing adulterous mother Clytemnestra) in the dressing room if Darragh Kennan (brother Orestes) can’t do the job onstage.

But by the end of this 90-minute performance, I was wishing for less, not more. With emotions running as high as they do, any additional direction by Sheila Daniels seems superfluous. The chorus in particular distracts with its chanting and chest-pounding. Breaks from the hysteria come infrequently; it makes for enthralling drama, to be sure, but it’s exhausting—the kind of breathless I could do without.

Seattle Shakespeare Company’s ‘Electra’ runs through January 31.

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Tags: reviews, theater

Review: Nine

Star-studded cast fails to impress in Rob Marshall’s movie musical

Posted by: Matthew Halverson on Dec 25, 2009 at 08:00AM 3 Comments

Cruz, Day-Lewis, and Cotillard cozy up in Nine.

Let’s get this out of the way: Daniel Day-Lewis can’t sing. When he unleashes his brand of back-of-the-throat vibrato in Nine, he sounds a bit like he’s gargling a milkshake. (Gargling it up!) Thankfully, he only has two numbers in Rob Marshall’s big-screen adaptation of the Tony-winning musical—though it’s hard to shake the feeling that Marshall expects you to give his leading man a pass because, well, it’s Daniel Day-Lewis. In fact, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Marshall hopes you’ll give the entire cast a pass, based on the promise of their collective resume. Too bad so few of the starlets actually deliver.

Saggy singing aside, Day-Lewis is appropriately slick as Guido Contini, an Italian director based on Federico Fellini who’s as skilled at romancing his leading ladies as he is at coaxing powerful performances out of them. Ten days before the cameras roll on his latest picture, he has no script, no budget, and a chorus line of past and present female influences dancing through his head. Day-Lewis sells Contini’s existential angst—and irrepressible id—but in light of real-world sleaze stories like Tiger Woods’s, asking us to root for the fictional director to overcome his pre-production dalliances is a hard sell.

What makes Nine such a letdown, though, is the clunky integration of musical numbers that should have buoyed the whole movie. Each feels like a forced attempt to give the cast of supporting actresses—Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, and the Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie, among others—a chance to vamp, and with one exception, they’re flashy, hollow set pieces. It’s not until Marion Cotillard, who plays Guido’s wife, Luisa, mourns the impending death of her marriage in “My Husband Makes Movies,” that Nine stops to show a little heart.

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Tags: reviews, film

Review: Avatar

More shine than substance in James Cameron’s new $400m sci-fi epic.

Posted by: Matthew Halverson on Dec 17, 2009 at 09:00AM 7 Comments

Dances With Smurfs. That’s what the cynics labeled Avatar when its promotional assault launched last fall. Based on a two-minute trailer and a barrage of 30-second TV spots, fanboys concluded that James Cameron’s new two-and-a-half-hour sci-fi epic populated by 10-foot-tall blue aliens with tails was nothing but a 3D CGI remake of Kevin Costner’s 1990 flick.

But this is James Cameron, the guy behind Aliens and Terminator, the self-professed king of the world who captained Titanic to Oscar glory. Surely his first picture in 12 years, a $400 million magnum opus, would be anchored by a more compelling narrative than “guy realizes he was fighting for the wrong team all along,” right?

Yeah, not so much. Cameron’s predictable morality tale is only saved by eye-popping visuals, and really, that’s what everyone came to see anyway.

The story starts in the year 2154, when paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) enters the Avatar program on the distant moon Pandora. By downloading his brain to a cloned version of the native Na’vi species, he can walk among the primitive hunter-gatherers and explain that his people need to strip-mine the pristine planet. But after falling in love with warrior princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana)—you guessed it—he has a change of heart.

He might not have defected so easily if Cameron, who also wrote the script, hadn’t drawn such a clear line between the good, the bad, and the ugly; with the exception of tough-talking, big-hearted scientist Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) Sully’s human counterparts are greedy, violent eco-terrorists. The Na’vi, on the other hand, are a hard-to-hate, blue-hued update on the squirm-inducing “noble savage” archetype.

For the hardcore action-adventure crowd, the stunningly photorealistic landscape of Pandora will be reason enough to sit through lines like, “The wealth of this world isn’t in the ground; it’s all around us.” But for everyone else, ask yourself this: Can you suspend disbelief long enough to accept that the Na’vi commune with the animals of their world through their ponytails?

Avatar opens worldwide Friday, December 18.

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Tags: reviews, film