Cloverdale Playhouse: "The Farnsworth Invention"

Opening night at the Cloverdale Playhouse's provocative production of The Farnsworth Invention [2007, Broadway] played to an appreciative full house as it told the fact-based story of a young boy-genius in his quest to get funding and then credit and patents for designing the first working all-electric television system.

Challenged and bullied for years by merciless radio mogul David Sarnoff [Chris Roquemore], Philo T. Farnsworth [Jason Grinstead] is the flawed but sympathetic underdog of the piece; but audience allegiances shift between the two combatants over the two-hour playing time due to convincing arguments for both sides.

Director and Scenic Designer J. Scott Grinstead leads them and a 13-member acting ensemble, all of whom play multiple roles, through Aaron Sorkin's signature fast-paced dialogue inherent in such titles as The West Wing and The Social Network, on his brilliantly conceived multi-leveled and surprise-filled flexibly changing set that is enhanced by Sarah Kay Grinstead's atmospheric lighting.

A major challenge of Sorkin's script is making narrative structure and extended monologues dramatically interesting. Despite occasionally hesitant delivery, both Mr. Roquemore and Mr. Grinstead speak them with such significant conviction and commitment beyond just informational details, that we rarely hear only factual exposition.

And the dramatized episodes including an assortment of characters [family and friends, business associates, film stars, scientists, and hangers-on] complete the journey of Farnsworth's experiments, setbacks, and successes supplemented by Sarnoff's manipulation of money and influence to thwart his opponent at every turn.

The conflict between  a powerful moneyed media Goliath and a brilliant well-intentioned David resonates so pointedly today as we watch with frustration at the world we live in.

The Farnsworth Invention is thoughtful and challenging and has audiences talking long after the curtain comes down. Just what good theatre ought to do.

Pike Road Theatre Company: "Fiddler on the Roof"

With so much attention currently on the Ukraine/Russia conflict, it seems prescient that the Pike Road Theatre Company is presenting the award-winning musical Fiddler on the Roof set in a 1905 Ashkenazi  Jewish shtetl [small market town] named Anatevka during Tsar Alexander III's series of pogroms that either massacred or expelled the Jewish communities from an area that then included Ukraine. 

Director Mike Winkelman keeps his actors on a steady pace in the just-under two-and-a-half-hour running time. Choreographer Kim Isbell creates inventive and disciplined dances for the 30+ member company. -- And the score has so many memorable songs that enhance the drama and challenge the talented acting ensemble's vocal abilities -- among them, "Matchmaker, Matchmaker", "If I Were a Rich Man", "Sunrise, Sunset", and "Do You Love Me?"

Based on stories by Sholem Aleichem, the plot is focused on Tevye [a commanding Jon Darby], a dairyman whose sense of Jewish tradition is articulated in the show's opening number "Tradition" that outlines the accepted authority of parents over children as based on strict Torah law. -- Arranged marriages are the norm while love rarely comes into the picture, finding husbands who can provide a comfortable life for their daughters is expected, and marriage within the Jewish faith is required.

So there are two major conflicts in the play: the constant threat of a pogrom in Anatevka shtetl, and Tevye's predictably strong-willed daughters who dare to break with tradition in order to champion a more modern sense of marriage. -- Both conflicts are difficult for Tevye and his long-suffering wife Golde [Stephanie Coppock], as they try to find acceptable mates for three of their five daughters with the assistance of the matchmaker Yente [Angie Mitchell].

The eldest, Tzeitel [Kristen Vanderwal], is in love with a poor timid tailor Motel [Travis Clark] who is saving money to buy a sewing machine in order to build a business that will give him appropriate funds to provide for a wife and the courage to ask for Tzeitel's hand. But the parents arrange a marriage with an older richer man Lazar Wolf [Sam Wallace], and complications arise. -- To get out of the arrangement with Lazar Wolf, Tevye invents a "nightmare/dream" in which Grandma Tzeitel [Abby Wallace] and Frumah-Sarah [Grayson Hathaway] play the broadest comic roles.

Middle daughter Hodel [Ash Shanks] fancies Perchik [Kevin Mohajerin] a firebrand socialist who breaks tradition by dancing with Hodel at Tzeidel and Motel's wedding when the Constable [Nick Swartz] arrives with soldiers who trash the celebration with a warning that a pogrom is imminent.

And youngest daughter Chava [Bella Posey] falls in love with a gentile named Fyedka [Ever Moates]. And though Tevye capitulated in accepting husbands for the two other daughters, marriage outside the Jewish faith is intolerable for him and he disowns her...almost. This is the most heartbreaking sequence that cries out for more scripted stage time.

Throughout the proceedings, Tevye has several "conversations" with God trying to assess each situation from all sides; his refrain "on the other hand" affords him opportunities to weigh the opposing views, and we feel his dilemma acutely and feel confident that he will do what is best.

When the Constable gives the townspeople three days to evacuate their homes, they grieve while they anticipate the next stage in their lives in foreign places. -- And audiences are left with a sense that they will survive [and perhaps we feel the plight of our contemporaries in Ukraine].

ASF: "The Watsons Go to Birmingham"

As its Black History Month offering, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival opened The Watsons Go to Birmingham on Friday night for performances that run only until February 23rd. Adapted by Cheryl L. West from Christopher Paul Curtis's prize-winning children's book, the story is compressed into less than 90 minutes running time by director Keith Arthur Bolden on the intimate Octagon stage.

Reminiscent of ASF's 2021 production of Shoebox Picnic Roadside that showed an extended Black family's road trip to the Jim Crow South, The Watsons... is a deceptively feel-good story of an ordinary Black family's journey from Detroit to Birmingham in the 1960s that is also a cautionary tale about racism both then and now.

Narrated by a recently traumatized middle child Kenny [Micah Hayles, who had appeared in Shoebox...], the family is headed by protectively well intentioned parents [Trisha Jeffrey and Christopher Brian Portley], and includes Kenny's siblings: Joey [a pert Caitlin Wright], and a rebellious eldest child Byron [Kal Winbourne], whose questionable behavior urged on by his pal Buphead [Cameron Williams] is the reason Mama and Daddy plan the trip for Byron to spend the Summer with Grandma Sands [Debra Walton], a no-nonsense disciplinarian who they hope will turn Byron around.

At heart, they're all good people whose love and trust in one another are the fabric of family; they do what is right, with the adults setting the tone of compassionate authority, and the children responding in kind. Especially telling are the heart-to-heart/man-to-man conversations between Kenny and Daddy.

While the children at first don't understand their parents' precautions along the drive to the South -- Mama plans everything from packing food to deciding which locations are safe by consulting the Greenbook guide for African Americans that lists safe and unsafe places for them en route, and Daddy avoids confrontations by driving though the night, and they are distracted from the dangers around them by listening to records -- they hear radio reports along the way and do learn that the color of their skin can be a trigger to rednecks and even the police.

Though Buphead may have been a bad influence on Byron, once the family arrives at Grandma's we quickly learn that Byron has "been listening" to his parents all along, and when he rescues Kenny from a whirlpool, the family bond is solid. -- On "church day" when Kenny accompanies Joey to the 16th Street Baptist Church, the trauma of the bombing and rescuing his sister brings the story full circle.

Black History Month is an ideal time to see The Watsons Go to Birmingham for important themes that impact us today.

Theatre AUM: "ART IRL [In Real Life]"

After a Winter storm delay, and for one weekend only, Theatre AUM presented a "showcase of student created written. visual, and performing arts" entitled ART IRL [In Real Life]. -- Its two dozen set of scenes, monologues, dances, poems, and visual projections lasted about an hour, and true to its title "showcased" the assorted talents of ten undergraduate students, each of whom was featured in several of the pieces.

Ranging from Classical to Standard theatre repertoire, interspersed with a few original selections, it was a mixed bag, indeed...if only there had been a few lighter or comic moments to relieve the ardent gravitas that dominated the selections.

Directed by Neil David Seibel [with student Assistant Directors Faith Roberts and Tiara Staples] on a bare stage except for two moveable scaffolds and a table and chairs, and a backdrop projecting titles and the featured performers/artists, each scene flowed smoothly from one to another, the neutral space accommodating the location of each scene.

Unlike a complete play in which actors have time to develop plot, conflict, and character, monologues and brief scenes presented out-of-context require full vocal and physical energy and commitment from the start. Unfortunately, far too many of ART IRL's selections were spoken too softly to be comprehended by the audience, and lacked animation and power from beginning to end.

AUM veteran actors Michael James Pritchard and Jay Russell served as models for the less experienced actors to follow; and special attention and appreciation to Meadow Lokey and Atticus O'Banner for following their lead by demonstrating vocal richness and interpretaions using clear textually dependent acting choices.

Cloverdale Playhouse: "Shadowlands"

In addition to The Chronicles of Narnia and other literary masterpieces, C. S. Lewis is highly regarded as one of the 20th Century's most renowned Christian apologists. In the early-to-mid century he was one of a small coterie of Oxford intellectuals who met regularly to discuss a range of philosophical, theological, social, human subjects. He was a bachelor who shared accommodations with his brother "Warnie", living a comfortable and relatively uneventful life. -- Then Joy Davidman came into his life and changed him forever, as he moved from skepticism to being in touch with his own emotions.  Joy was an American Jewish divorcee who struck up an acquaintance in a series of letters that demonstrated intellectual abilities equal to his as well as a straightforward demeanor. -- An unlikely match, but one sensitively recounted in William Nicholson's Shadowlands which is currently on offer at the Cloverdale Playhouse

Director Sarah Kay Grinstead's adroit manipulation of Nicholson's script relies on the talents of her excellent ensemble cast to engage audiences as they convincingly deliver the philosophical themes [the "shadowlands" of the title emerge in several ways as they also develop plot and character] along with some gently humorous romantic comedy dialogue.

At the center, Lewis -- referred to here as "Jack" [J. Scott Grinstead] and Davidman [Rachel Pickering] allow themselves time to develop their relationship from pen-pals to an awkward social afternoon tea gathering to a marriage of convenience to a stronger love, through cancer and death and ultimately to an understanding of what it takes to face life with all its complications and pains, and to emerge stronger. -- It's a controlled and fully convincing story.

They are joined by Joy's young son Douglas [a soft-spoken Carson Campbell], Lewis's brother "Warnie" [John McWilliams makes him a slightly stuffy but sweet man who allows others to dominate the scenes he is in], and the aforementioned Oxford intellectuals played by Todd Taseff, Scott Rouse, Scott Denton, and Evan Price: each with his own distinct personality and philosophical bent that contribute to and comment on the Lewis/Davidman plot. -- Sarah Worley as the Nurse while Joy suffers from painful bone cancer, and Ethan Montgomery as the Registrar round out the cast.

Mr. Grinstead also serves as Scenic Designer, creating yet another deceptively simple multi-leveled set, placing Lewis's famous "wardrobe" at its focal point that makes a subtle commentary on the text.

There's a lot to think about both during and after for audiences experiencing Shadowlands. You'll probably be a lot better off.

Pike Road: "Meredith Wilson's Miracle on 34th Street"

Originally titled Here's Love on its debut in 1963, Meredith Wilson later changed it to Miracle on 34th Street, as it was based on the 1947 film of that name that featured Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, and a young Natalie Wood. -- An updated 1994 film with a marvelous Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle is another popular variation.

Wilson's musical rendition of Miracle on 34th Street contains orchestrations of his oeuvre familiar to those aficionados of The Music Man, leaving audiences tapping their collective toes or relishing the romantic moments. -- And though Wilson wrote music, lyrics, and book, Pike Road's director James Keith Posey and company occasionally use references to later dates than in the 1963 text.

Posey has as usual collected a multi-talented ensemble of actors young and old[er] to give energy to Wilson's rather lackluster story that leaves a few issues unresolved. -- Divorcee Doris Walker [Mara Woddal, in fine voice] organizes the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that culminates with Santa Claus arriving to start the Christmas Season and the shopping frenzy that follows. Her daughter Susan [Ruby Mallory] has been brought up to not believe in Santa, but when Kris Kringle [a thoroughly believable Sam Wallace] saves the day as a last minute substitute for the drunk Santa who Doris had hired, it doesn't take long for Susan, in the company of neighbor/lawyer Fred Gailey [Jason Isbell] to realize that Kris is the real Santa, whose lessons about faith and humanity and compassion and treating everyone with love are the backbone of the plot.

It's good to see Lee Bridges back on-stage as department store tycoon R. H.Macy, Kristen Vanderwal as a bewildered Miss Crookshank, and Assistant Director Jason Morgan providing yet another excellent comic portrayal as Marvin Shellhammer. -- And when Kris is sent to court to test his sanity, Eric Arvidson gives a solid performance as Judge Martin Group who is faced with the dilemma of determining that Santa Claus does exist and in the person of Kris Kringle.

All this is told in two acts over two-and-a-half hours [a bit overlong], with numerous pitch-perfect songs by the cast and Ensemble -- "Arm in Arm", "You Don't Know", "Here's Love", "Pine Cones and Holly Berries/It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", "That Man Over There" and "Love Come Take Me" -- and production numbers delightfully choreographed by Kim Isbell.

There was a festive atmosphere in the theatre last night, even though the audience was small. Yet, Meredith Wilson's Miracle on 34th Street remains one of the Christmas Season's engaging stories to share with the River Region.

ASF: "A Christmas Carol"

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is kicking off the holiday season with a return of former Artistic Director Rick Dildine's version of A Christmas Carol. Dildine and assistant director Matt Lytle treat River Region audiences to their fast-paced and significantly abbreviated entertainment.

This high-level entertainment [ensemble acting, inventive and flexible set, stunning visual projections, lush period costumes, catchy Appalachian music performed by an accomplished on-stage band] pleased the small opening night audience who cheered at the curtain call after a mere 90-minutes, including an unnecessary 15-minute intermission.

Despite its brevity, the major plot elements of Charles Dickens's classic 1843 tale of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge's [Paul Slide Smith] Christmas Eve reclamation journey are retained.  -- As the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley [Tarah Flanagan] intervenes on his behalf by sending the Ghosts of Christmases Past [Adrian Denise Kiser], Present [Chauncy Thomas], and Future [Garrett Van Allen] to show him the way to a new life of honoring Christmas throughout the year, the story unravels quickly, and we watch Scrooge's gradual awakening to his misdeeds and how to correct them.

Scrooge's nephew Fred [Harry Thornton] will not be deterred by his uncle's "Bah, humbug!" from celebrating Christmas with a spirit of compassionate good will towards everyone. -- Scrooge's clerk Bob Cratchit [Matt Lytle] knows how to celebrate Christmas despite his economic woes and the declining health of his youngest child Tiny Tim [Samuel Joseph Mason on opening night].

As an idealistic and romantic Young Scrooge [Zack Powell] woos and loses Belle [Oriana Lada] because of his focus on material wealth, and former employer Mr. Fezziwig [Chris Mixon] sets a fine example of the best uses of money to give pleasure to others, we are shown several examples of the unsatisfying impact of greed, until the ultimate moment of facing death without leaving a meaningful legacy.

There are a couple of enhancements since last year's production: (1) a bit more attention to Fezziwig's influence in the Christmas Eve dance at he party he throws for his employees, and (2) more pointed staging where an invisible Scrooge is placed between other characters who are talking about him, thereby making their critical words about him have a direct impact on his eventual change. -- And, like last year, there are two "Young Company" cast members drawn from the local community who alternate for each performance.

In the end, Mr. Smith's gleeful Scrooge is infectious; and who can argue with ringing in this festive season with Tiny Tim's resounding "God bless us, every one!"