Wetumpka Depot: "Ten Minutes on a Bench"

"Why do people use dating apps?" is investigated in Kenneth Jones's Ten Minutes on a Bench which ended its short run at the Wetumpka Depot last Friday. This disarmingly entertaining "developmental production" was previously workshopped in Florida and New York, so it is still a "Work in Progress", and with judicious editing and stronger focus is close to being a finished product.

In an attempt to tick all the boxes -- age, narcissism, hook-ups, LGBTQ+, disease, death, alcohol, job insecurity, gender stereotypes, technology, fanciful expectations, et al. -- the play's seventeen short scenes' common denominator is "loneliness", a subject that attentive audiences figure out early in its two-hour stage time. 

Jones [Alabama Story and Hollywood Nebraska]. allows for flexible casting to accommodate age and gender, and director Tony Davison wisely casts four men and four women to play multiple roles that highlight their skills in creating an array of distinct characters while emphasizing the ensemble nature of such a dramatic convention. -- Sydney Burdette, Isaac Garrison, Renee Lewis, Seth Maggard, Laura Smith, Todd Tasseff, James Ward, and Jean Webb comprise the multi-talented acting company whose rapid-fire naturalistic speech and commitment to each personality keep the action moving from scene to scene. [On closing night, one line of dialogue literally stopped the show.]

An experiment in launching a new Dating App conscripts a group of strangers who agree to meet on a public park bench for a ten-minute meeting with another member of the group, with no specific expectations, and several rules to follow: they must agree to share their personal details, be honest with one another, make no commitments or arrangements to meet again, no touching except for a handshake, and stay for no less and no more than the allotted ten minutes. Imagine the complications.

A lone park bench serves as the set for all the scenes that take place in a variety of towns and cities; and the characters and their situations and purposes show a lot of familiar tropes of people trying to connect with one another. -- Jones has an ear for truthful dialogue and quirks of character; each scene is entertaining in its own right, and could stand alone as a complete vignette; but it goes on for too long. It needs to be more compact; perhaps with fewer scenes and no intermission Ten Minutes on a Bench could make a stronger impact. 

ASF: "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"

Breezy -- dynamic -- witty -- stunning -- loud -- 

The Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is ending its Summer run at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival this weekend. -- Popular since the 1970s and its Broadway debut in 1982, the "sung-through musical" is based on the Book of Genesis story of Jacob and his twelve sons [the favorite one is Joseph], the gift of a coat of many colors that sets off a tale of jealousies and their consequences, ultimately resulting in a redemptive reunion of the family.

Rice and Lloyd Weber fill their two acts with a variety of entertaining song styles [calypso, country-Western, French ballad, Rock and Roll, among others] as they develop plot and character with an infectious humor, and challenge actors and choreographers to engage their audiences.

Director Melissa Rain Anderson and her design cohort [Scenic: Christopher & Justin Swader; Costume: Theresa Ham; Lighting: Nathan Scheuer] create a stunning landscape in which the cast maneuver smoothly; abetted by clever-disciplined-athletic choreography by Lindsay Renea Benton, accomplished throughout by the ensemble cast, the production's success is grounded by its multi-talented company, with support from a local Youth Ensemble.

Fresh faces abound in this production, as most of the cast make their ASF debuts here; so it is heartening to witness their individual and collective energy, dancing skills, and impressive vocal talents. Ms. Anderson directs them with assurance, keeps the action flexible from scene to scene, and gets the most out of her collaboration with Music Director F. Wade Russo and his ten piece orchestra.

Samantha Rios serves as the Narrator who sets the tone and links the episodes of Joseph's [Michael Burrell] journey as an interpreter of dreams; from his initial snobbery to punishment to reward to redemption, starting off with his version of "Any Dream Will Do". But when his father Jacob [Michael Fitzpatrick] gives him the colorful coat, the brothers' jealousies get him sold into slavery ["One More Angel in Heaven"] with Potiphar [also Michael Fitzpatrick] in Egypt where Potiphar's Wife [Madison Manning] attempts to seduce him ["Potiphar"], gets him thrown into jail where his interpretation of dreams captures the attention of Pharaoh [Jim Poulos] whose dreams Joseph interprets as representing seven years of plenty followed by seven years of drought, and enables Pharaoh["A Pharoah's Story"] to keep his people safe and prosperous; and sets the scene for Joseph to reunite with his family.

With its emphasis on sustained and entertaining energy, this Joseph... could benefit from toning down the volume that too often blurs many of the lyrics and renders singing voices to shrillness rather than clarity. This notwithstanding, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a pleasant way to end ASF's 52nd Season.

Pike Road: "Roald Dahl's 'Matilda, the Musical'"

Roald Dahl's 1988 novel, Matilda, tells the story of a precocious child who is unloved and mistreated by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, and sent to a boarding school where her intellectual achievements are unacceptable to the abusively tyrannical headmistress Miss Trunchbull. Though she manages to make a few friends among the students, and finds she has telekinetic powers that get her out of scrapes with the authorities, Matilda is encouraged to read and tell stories to Mrs. Phelps, and is ultimately rescued by a compassionate teacher, Miss Honey.

Several versions of Dahl's novel are available, the 2010 musical being one of the most popular, and which is currently part of the Pike Road Theatre Company's season.

There are several reasons to attend the award-winning Roald Dahl's "Matilda, the Musical" [book: Dennis Kelly; music and lyrics: Tim Minchin] in addition to the play itself:

• It is the first venture of the Pike Road Theatre Company in its new-found home at Faulkner University in a proper theatre facility that can showcase the play's production values;
• It has stunning multi-tasking sets with moving parts that quickly and seamlessly shift locations; and effectively creative lighting [neither designer is given credit in the program];
• It has beautifully rendered character driven costumes designed by Emily Blossom;
• It features Kim Isbell's masterful, athletic, challenging choreography delivered with precise and disciplined enthusiasm by the able ensemble cast;
• It is directed by James Keith Posey, whose attention to detail moves the action clearly forward with inventive staging and characterizations;
• It has an ensemble of veteran actors in principal roles, who inhabit their roles completely, warts-and-all [Jason Morgan and Kristen Vanderwal as the nasty Wormwood parents; Tara Troccia as the patient and concerned Mrs. Phelps; Jenifer Hollett as the voracious headmistress you love to hate, Miss Trunchbull; and Sarah Olguin as the faithful savior, Miss Honey];
• It is centered in a mature-beyond-her-years performance of 4th-grader Caroline Suggs in the title role, whose clear angelic singing voice, admirable stage presence, ability to connect with her stage partners, and confident interpretation of dialogue and lyrics carries this show on her very capable shoulders.

The 34-member ensemble cast do an admirable job in entertaining PRTC's largely sold-out audiences, and carry them along with effervescent enthusiasm. -- Accompanied by a recorded musical score, and with over-amplified voices, some dialogue and many of the lyrics are drowned out. We get the general meaning and intentions, but often have to struggle to hear the precise words.

Nonetheless, this production of Roald Dahl's "Matilda, the Musical" is a crowd-pleaser that deserves the enthusiastic applause at the final curtain.

Cloverdale Playhouse: "The Explorer's Club"

Smile, giggle, laugh, and snort your way through the outrageously comical The Explorer's Club that opened last night at The Cloverdale Playhouse. -- Nell Benjamin's witty script and over-the-top characters are pure fodder for director and scenic designer J. Scott Grinstead's nine ensemble actors: James-Louis Avery, Jon Carroll, Isaac Garrison, Jacob Holmberg, Sarah Housley, Chris Roquemore, Jan Roeton, Hunter Stewart, and Mike Winkelman. 

As the eccentric members of the men-only Explorer's Club gather in mid-Victorian London, each of whom has a specific scientific expertise, they bemoan the disappearance of their bartender. One member promotes admitting a woman to their membership -- controversial, of course, but she is, after all, both brilliant and good looking, and has just returned from an expedition to a fabled Lost City with one of the natives in tow.

Add a pompous bureaucrat, an Irish rebel, a poisonous snake, and the assorted in-fighting and romantic jealousies among the members, as well as confusions of the native as he navigates linguistic and cultural challenges, and the cumulative effect of the hijinks at hand is contagious laughter.

Mr. Grinstead's lush scenic design is period specific and detailed, creating an atmosphere that is supported by Sarah Kay's witty and character driven costumes, all enhanced by finely executed lighting [Jason Grinstead] and sound [Noah Henninger].

The action moves swiftly, its two acts lasting under two hours including intermission. -- The Explorer's Club is loud and funny, and the actors are a fine ensemble group who support one another throughout. Occasional comic lines are covered by audience laughter or stage business, but no matter...the madcap shenanigans keep the audience gleefully entertained.

Millbrook: "The Hallelujah Girls"

The program notes for Millbrook's production of The Hallelujah Girls lists several of their veteran comic actresses in the cast, so audience expectations were high for what was to become yet another delightful encounter with them.

The play -- one of a small cottage industry by playwrights Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten  -- relies on an improbably silly plot through which the assorted archetypical "girls" demonstrate their individual quirks while [in response to another friend's death] they transform a redundant church into the SPA--DEE--DAH salon...and with many economic, social, political, and romantic entanglements that need to be remedied, the two acts entertain as things get twisted out of proportion.

Director Cheryl Phillips trusts her fine ensemble cast [Jamie Brown, Karla McGhee, Pat McClellan, Vicki Moses, Steve Phillips, Terry Quotes, Tracey Quotes, Margaret White] to deliver the goods; and though the staging is relatively static and scene changes take too long, the acting company inhabit their characters and land their witty dialogue with confidence.

We know these people; they walk amongst us...and Millbrook's Hallelujah Girls are so truthful that we applaud the result...a good old-fashioned entertaining evening of theatre.

ASF: "Ken Ludwig's BASKERVILLE: a Sherlock Holmes Mystery"

At the curtain call of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's production of Ken Ludwig's BASKERVILLE: a Sherlock Holmes Mystery, the backstage crew and dressers are brought out for a well-deserved ovation. They had been working silently and out-of-sight for the past two hours, flawlessly manipulating scenic elements, props, and innumerable split-second costume changes for the five-member acting ensemble who portray more than 40 characters. 

Director Laura Kepley deftly manages this madcap farcical interpretation of one of Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous escapades of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. -- Though true to Doyle's original, audiences are challenged to keep up with the main plot, sub-plots, red herrings, witty dialogue, exaggerated dialects, and broadly comical delineations of characters that drive the action at a rapid pace.

Paige Hathaway's flexible, multi-leveled and evocative set, Rob Denton's sophisticated lighting, Jane Shaw's confident sound design, Kelly Colburn's stunningly effective projections, and Lex Liang's period character-driven and often humorous costumes offer a collaboration that supports the actors and the script.

The impressive acting ensemble -- Grant Chapman [Holmes], Todd Cerveris [Watson], with Michael Doherty, Justin Blanchard, and Madeleine Lambert as "everyone else" -- are so finely disciplined and specific in their choices of posture and dialect that make each character distinct, that we forget there are only five of them. 

And they have to tell the convoluted story of a family curse and deaths attributed to a "hellhound" on the moors near the Baskerville estate, the latest of which conscripts Holmes to solve and to prevent the death of the latest family member to inherit the title and the land.

It's all a great deal of fun for audiences to try to solve the mystery along with Holmes, but entertainment is the key to Ludwig's take on the tale. And we get it big-time here. Many twists and turns, many revelations, and even more laughs as we become complicit in the story and its outcome.

Come to ASF for the story, come for the costumes, and the set, and the projections, come for the laughs. Admire the talents of the acting ensemble. And have a good evening out.

WOBT: "A Streetcar Named Desire"

If not for community and university theatres, the River Region would be hard-pressed to find significant attention to the standard and classic repertoire, and Prattville's Way Off Broadway Theatre's challenging  season includes Shakespeare's Twelfth Night [coming in July] and its latest production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. 

First-time director Kaden Blackburn has curiously re-set the play some decades after its original 1947 time period, and his set is so bright and open that it works against Williams's gritty claustrophobic post-World War II New Orleans location.

That notwithstanding, and though uneven in pace and conflict, Mr. Blackburn has elicited strong performances from his able cast -- particularly his principal players -- who provide a number of powerfully sensitive moments during the two-and--half-hour running time.

When a confused and damaged Blanche Du Bois [Alex Rikerd] arrives at the dingy apartment of her pregnant sister Stella [Maggie Kervin] and working-class brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski [Douglas Dean Mitchell], she disrupts their lives by contrasting the gentility of her Southern-belle social status with the boozy grit of Stanley's "common" upbringing. -- Clearly all is not well with Blanche, and Stanley sets out to uncover the truth about her reduced circumstances. Ms. Rikerd's admission of Blanche's many failures comes at a cost. Even the potential of developing a relationship with Mitch [Josh Williams], one of Stanley's poker-playing friends, seems doomed from the start.

These four actors deliver multi-layered characterization with consistent vocal and physical commitment. Though Stanley is sometimes abusive towards Stella [perhaps from what is now known as wartime PTSD], both Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Kervin are convincing in their characters' love for one another. Ms. Kervin and Ms. Rikerd show a truthfulness of sibling rivalries and misunderstanding with a strength that is unusual in many productions. Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Williams enliven scenes of male bonding and friendships. Mr. Williams and Ms. Rikerd are heartbreaking in scenes that test and ultimately break up the romance between Mitch and Blanche. 

But the tension between Blanche and Stanley builds throughout the play to its violent conclusion that sends Blanche over the edge to pitiable compliance in agreeing to institutional help and "the kindness of strangers"; well done.