When a stranger, a fast-talking man, Starbuck (Matthew Keffer) arrives at the Curry ranch, his high-powered charismatic manner and slick talking charms H.C. and young Jim but turns off the pragmatic skeptical Noah and Lizzie. Starbuck promises to deliver rain within 24 hours for $100. Starbuck is “selling” hope–dreams- promising rain if the family has faith in him and if they do his rituals.
Stronger voices with a clearer focus which may have exuded more empathy and charm like the first Silk Road Cabaret show did would make this revue more stage worthy. As it plays now, there is enough quality tunes to give an honest portrait of Asian and Middle Eastern psyche as part of the unique melting pot know as the USA.
But my irritation to this work rests mainly with the repetitive circular structure of the play. Giles and Lucy go over the events and source of Giles’ PTSD so often that I was about to scream. Giles’ lifelong memories from the horrors and fears of his tunnel activity that led to his killing of a female Vietcong are never resolved nor fully developed by his visits to the mental health professional. Amazingly, Lucy has nothing to offer Giles as psychological help. Instead, she does what no professional therapist would do – she tells himof her personal demons and foibles that comes from her being an over-achieving Jew.
Remy Bumppo think theatre has mounted Chesapeake under the thoughtful direction of Shawn Douglass. This one-person comedy, staring Greg Matthew Anderson, is quirky yet funny cautionary tale about artistic expression and the ignorant governmental attempts to stifle art.
Nick Sandy plays The Man, an old women housekeeper and a young boy, among others while Melanie Keller plays the governess as the horror genre works to create the necessary tension to scare us. The psychological mystery is both vague and frightening.
Pippin, with Stephen Schwartz’s music and lyrics, is a musical fable about the son of Charlemagne set in 780 A.D. Pippin (Andrew Keltz) is the young prince in search of happiness and personal fulfillment. We meet a troupe of actors channeling the style of Bertolt Brecht led by the Leading Player (the charismatic Joey Stone)
At first, I was enchanted with the pulsating rhythms of Fela’s music but after several extremely long songs, the music sounded to me like the same song being played over and over again. They used super titles to show the lyrics of these songs – a good idea. But, when Sahr Ngaujah spoke with his fast-talking heavy Nigerian accent, I could not understand much of what he was saying. That is a major flaw for my appreciation of the show.
Freud called Lewis to his London apartment’s study (splendid set deigned by Brian Prather) on September 3, 1939. Lewis believes the meeting is to chastise him for satirizing Freud in a recent book but Freud has a much larger agenda. Freud wants to know how a scholar such as Lewis could embrace such myths as the existence of God. Lewis holds that God exists from reasoning and faith. The two debate throughout the 85 minute play.
Taking some of the themes from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, with dystopian themes presented with a series of disjointed scenes and muddled with six or seven atonal songs, Fucking A plays as a boring, slowly-paced depressing 2 hours.
This funny yet emotionally wrenching work vividly demonstrates the evil effects of isolation, alcohol, and denied passion on real people. First you’ll laugh at the foibles of the Hogan’s, then you’ll empathize with the pain for Joise and James. But ultimately, you’ll enjoy your journey with O’Neill’s real folks. Klein, Armacost and Pickering give the most electrifying performances you’ll see on stage. They were simply overpowering with truth