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PUDDING IT TOGETHER

Jello again.

It’s Monday, May 21^st. I’m at the Black Box Theatre at Blake High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, eagerly awaiting the first read-through of a new musical called The Tapioca Miracle.

I’ve been invited by co-lyricist and co-book writers Eric Cole and Larry Kaye, (who is directing the critically acclaimed production of The Musical of Musicals-the Musical! now playing through June 3^rd at at Metro Stage), and composer Dan Kazemi, a 24 year old multi-talented actor/music director/composer who is currently tickling the ivories at Metro Stage in The Musicals of Musicals-The Musical, to let them know what I think.

I peer through the small window of the door, and I know I’m in the right place because those brown chairs you find in all these black box theatres are lined up in neat rows. There are 20 chairs and as they quickly fill up with eager tushies, there is excitement in the air.

Hey, this show has the backing of the William Morris Agency. Not a bad start, huh?

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By George Feydeau

Translation by Mawbrey Green and Ed Feilbert

Produced by Olney Theatre Center .
Directed by John Going
Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy

No need for Viagra™ in George Feydeau’s 13 Rue de L’Amour, just a mistress or two and a forgiving wife. But you have to put this master of the French farce in his historical place to bask fully in the foolery at the Olney Theatre Center.
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As read first in today’s Backstage from The Washington Post, Catalyst Theater, located not far from DC’s Eastern Market, is doing a special performance of The Flu Season this Saturday, May 26 at 2 pm with proceeds going to help the merchants displaced by the recent Eastern Market fire, and will contribute all of next season’s pay what you can performances to help in the 2 year rebuilding effort to bring the Market back. As always, tickets to Catalyst remain $10. No reservations for Saturday. Just pay at the door. Catalyst performs at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 545 7th St SE, Washington, DC

From PotomacStages.com

One more lesson from Baghdad. This time, on the will of Baghdad’s theatre community to keep performing. Suuni, Shiite and Christian performers risk all to continue the work of the National Theatre.  Ernesto Londono’s report to The Washington Post on the company’s satirical ‘Intensive Care Unit’ is well worth the read.

Interviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson with Lorraine Treanor Karen Kandel plays both the Narrator and gives voices to all the puppet characters in Peter and Wendy.   Peter Pan has been loved as a children’s story. In a rare conversation, Ms. Kandel takes us into the Mabou Mines  adaptation of the play as an adult’s journey, and into the heart of the actor who has been there since its beginning   

Peter and Wendy continues at Arena Stage until June 24^th.
 

To listen, click on the speaker icon.

Music from the production written by Johnny Cunningham  has been preserved on the CD Peter & Wendy, available at Arena Stage and retail music outlets. 

 

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By Owen McCafferty

Produced by Solas Nua and Tinderbox Theatre Company (Belfast)

Directed by Des Kennedy

Reviewed by Tim Treanor

In Mojo/Mickybo, Owen McCafferty’s two-man tragedy staged by Keegan last January, Belfast bled all over the stage, as the City’s ceaseless Catholic-Protestant conflict made mincemeat out of two young boys’ friendship, and out of everything else.  Rona Munro mined similar territory in last year’s Bold Girls, and many other writers have explored the same thing.  Indeed, a theatrical company could easily plan a full season around staged examinations of The Troubles, and how they have robbed life of value in that benighted land. (more…)

By Joe Penhall

Directed by Jeremy Skinner

Produced by Theater Alliance

Reviewed by Tim Treanor

You know that something is wrong the moment the lights come up.  A large, aggressive man is standing on a chair in a semi-crouch, loose-limbed and swaying.  Another man, wearing a lab coat, is trying to talk to him.  The swaying man, spouting gibberish and occasionally giving out an odd, flat, mirthless bark of a laugh, suddenly jumps down and lifts the white-coat up in an embrace which is more predatory than affectionate.  He whirls the other man around, twice, and sets him down.  The big man (Cedric Mays) is named Christopher.  He is a mental patient, and tomorrow he will be released from the London hospital to which he has been committed. (more…)

Belfast director Des Kennedy is in town to direct his first U. S. production, Solas Nua’s Scenes from the Big Picture by Owen McCafferty (Mojo/ Mickybo). Callie Kimball, popular DC playwright and actress, leads Des in a lively conversation about the day-in-Belfast play, his take on American actors, his unusual techniques for rehearsing Big Picture’s 21 member cast, and the role The Laramie Project has played on his career. Finally, the 24-year director shares his discoveries in theater and upcoming projects.

Listen here.

Or play by clicking on the speaker icon

Scenes from the Big Picture runs through June 24^th at the Callan Theatre, Catholic University. For more information, visit the Solas Nua website.

(Run time: 18:57)

 

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Studio Theatre announced that Nancy Robinette will be replacing Anna Bergman in the upcoming Studio production of Souvenir, which opens June 13th.  The acclaimed actress Ms. Robinette, whose singing voice is unknown to us, will be playing the famously off-key chanteuse Florence Foster Jenkins, with none other than J. Fred Schiffman as composer/accompanist Cosme McMoon.  When contacted about the casting, Artistic Director Joy Zinoman told us:  ”There is no better union between a role and an actress than Nancy Robinette and Florence Foster Jankins. It is the meeting of a cult figure for musical theatre fans and one of Washington DC’s National Treasures. I have worked with Nancy Robinette for 30 years. As we enter our 30th Anniversary Season, there is no better way to celebrate than to have Nancy Robinette as Florence Foster Jenkins.”