– Andrew Benator, Courtney Patterson, Toni Trucks and Daniel Triandiflou Photo: Greg Mooney
Screwball comedies can get pretty corny, but “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” isn’t corny. It’s a delightful funny show with some wonderful actors who portray historical black character actors in a truthful and humorous way. Not only is the script funny, but so are the actors.
The play harkens back to the days of “Gone With the Wind” with an over-the-top starlet named Gloria Mitchell (Courtney Patterson) not too unlike Norma Desmond from “Sunset Boulevard,” and black actors who were relegated to playing maids, servants and slaves. One of the funniest scens is when Lottie (Nikiya Mathis) and Vera (Toni Trucks) shuffle along as slaves in response to the style of characters movie producer Mr. Slasvick (Andrew Benator) and movie director Maximillian Von Oster (Daniel Triandiflou) are looking for to cast in their next movie. The other is when Leroy (Genesis Oliver), who has the soul of the soul of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, tries to charm Vera into going out with him.
If only the laughs were to continue. Alas, the second act drags during a TV Mike Douglas-type talk-show segment where there is way too much talk and not enough action. Still, it’s a show worth seeing with wonderful acting by Benator, Mathis, Oliver and Trucks.
John Coyne’s set design is as elaborate as a 1930s movie set, and costume designer Esosa does a splendid job in creating costumes. We loved the early 70s-style dress with feather-like trim at the hems that looked like it came right off Phyllis Diller, Ruth Buzzy or Flip Wilson.
“By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, directed by Leah C. Gardiner, runs on the main stage at the Alliance Theatre through Nov. 10.
Over one day or three, you can sample food from more than 90 metro Atlanta restaurants, watch cooking classes and imbibe in cocktails, wine and beer.
There will be Southern classic dishes from D.B.A. Barbecue, South of the border-inspired fare from Mi Cocina, fresh Japanese fusions of sushi and steak from Amura Sushi, and signature tastes from Atlanta’s neighborhood favorites, including Marietta’s Seed Kitchen & Bar, Virginia Highland’s Original El Taco, Edgewood’s Fox Bros. BBQ, Decatur’s Chai Pani and many more! Within six blocks you can explore different culinary experiences from Metro Atlanta.
Taste of Atlanta will kick off the food-filled weekend on Friday, October 25 with a block party themed Atlanta’s Taste Revival: Local Chefs, Smokin’ Jams. Guests can join local celebrity Chefs Ron Eyester, Ford Fry, Kevin Gillespie, Kevin Rathbun, Robert Phalen and more for an evening of live Southern rock music from Parker Smith and the Bandwith, bountiful booze and the best bites in the city. Select restaurants, including Gunshow, One Eared Stag, Rosebud, Bocca Luppo and Rathbun’s, will be onsite to serve up their signature dishes.
Taste coupons are used to purchase food from participating Atlanta restaurants. Menu items are valued at 1, 2 or 3 taste coupons.
General Admission and VIP tickets for the event October 25-27 include 10 taste coupons. Additional taste coupons can be purchased: 10 taste coupons for $10 or 20 coupons for $20.
Tickets are $30 in advance (available online or at various stores around town) or $40 at the event.
The event site is in Midtown at Tech Square and encompasses 5th Street from Techwood to West Peachtree Street, and Spring Street from Biltmore Place to Armstead Place.
The Hot Club of San Francisco Play Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli
Ferst Center Friday, Oct. 18
Gypsy jazz ensemble The Hot Club of San Francisco presents Cinema Vivant, an evening of vintage silent films accompanied by live gypsy swing.
The Hot Club of San Francisco is an ensemble of accomplished and versatile musicians celebrating the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli’s pioneering Hot Club de France. Think jazz, meets blue grass and boogie woogie. Be prepared to dance in your seats!
Comprised of lead guitarist Paul Mehling, violinist Evan Price, bass player Sam Rocha and rhythm guitarists Isabelle Fontaine and Jeff Magidson, the HCSF borrows the instrumentation from the original Hot Club while modernizing this historic music with innovative arrangements of classic tunes and original compositions. The ensemble’s live shows and 13 albums transport audiences back to the 1930s and the small, smoky jazz clubs of Paris and the refined lounges of the famous Hotel Ritz. The HCSF has frequently toured nationally and internationally with appearances at prestigious venues from Lincoln Center to the Monterey Jazz Festival. Often called gypsy jazz, the music of The Hot Club of San Francisco has entertained audiences around the globe for over 20 years.
Two Starewicz films are featured in Cinema Vivant: The Cameraman’s Revenge, a charming film about the marital troubles of beetles; and The Mascot, an adventure story about lost toys.
Ticket and Performance Information: Tickets: $30, Special Children’s Price $22. For information and directions (349 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30032-0468) contact the Ferst Center Box Office at 404-894-9600 or visit www.ferstcenter.org.
John Stewart and Jeremy Pope; Photo: Greg Mooney
“Choir Boy,” now playing on the Hertz Stage at the Alliance Theatre, is a knockout original story with an outstanding script and cast.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who sees genius in the playwright, Tarell Alvin McCraney. Just last month he was awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant (prize of $625,000) for exploring new roles in drama.
In “Choir Boy,” McCraney charts new territory in telling the story of an exceptionally gifted misfit, Pharus (Jeremy Pope), who struggles to make it on his scholarship in a prestigious prep school. What I love about this script, aside from the crafty, unique and amusing lines that Pharus spouts, is that the play is so lifelike, so real. The script is superb with full-of-life and believable characters. The acting from everyone in the cast is A+ quality, and their singing is beautiful and compelling.
The play is an unveiling of the human condition, the struggle we all go through to do our best and to be accepted. While the story revolves around a gay misfit and some underprivileged kids who attend an all-black boys prep school, the play is not about the plight of minorities. It’s about the struggle each of us has been through and goes through as we claw our way through life. There’s no proselytizing here. These characters break my heart, and I love them all. For they are you and me, and everyone we’ve known at some stage in their lives.
McCraney won the 2008 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, and premiered his play “In the Red and Brown Water” on the Hertz State that year. He later became the RSC/Warwick International Playwright in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the 43rd member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble, one of the most renowned theatre companies in the country (home to John Malkevich, Laurie Metcalf, John Mahoney and a slew of our country’s most talented performers).
Directed by Trip Cullman, “Choir Boy” runs on the Hertz Stage at the Alliance Theatre through Oct. 13.
* N icholas L. Ashe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Junior Davis
* Joshua Boone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bobby Marrow
* Caleb Eberhardt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Heard
* Jeremy Pope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pharus Jonathan Young
* Scott Robertson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. Pendleton
* John Stewart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anthony Justin “AJ” James
* C harles E. Wallace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Headmaster Marrow
*Denotes a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the U.S.
Grammy-Winner Arturo Sandoval
Performs at Ferst Center Friday, Oct. 4
A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, Arturo Sandoval and his band will perform Friday at the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech. Sandoval plays jazz trumpet and flugelhorn, and is a renowned classical pianist and composer. Sandoval’s compositions have been awarded nine Grammy Awards, six Billboard Awards and an Emmy Award. Widely considered one of the greatest living jazz artists, Sandoval was recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor presented to individuals who have made especially commendable contributions to the national and cultural interests of the U.S.
Sandoval has recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Woody Shaw, Michel Legrand, Bill Conti, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka, Rod Stewart and Alicia Keys, and has performed with John Williams and the Boston Pops, and in the Super Bowl Halftime show with Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle.
Featured on many film and television soundtracks, Sandoval composed the Emmy-winning score for HBO’s “For Love or Country,” a film based on his life starring Andy Garcia. Sandoval has been commissioned by the Kennedy Center to create original compositions for several ballets, including “Pepito’s Story,” “Oman O Men” and “The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker” choreographed by Debbie Allen. Sandoval also composed the original score of “Soul Possessed,” another Allen collaboration, which opened the 2000-2001 season at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre Company.
The band includes the following members:
Ed Calle – Saxophone
Kemuel Roig – Piano
Dennis Marks – Bass
Alexis Arce – Drums
Armando Arce – Percussion
Ticket and Performance Information: Tickets: $30, $40 and club seating section $55. Audience members are invited to “Jazz Connect,” a free pre-show jazz talk led by Jay Edwards, host of “Jazz Tones” on WCLK 91.9 FM at 7:00 p.m. For information and directions (349 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30032-0468) contact the Ferst Center Box Office at 404-894-9600 or visit www.ferstcenter.org.
Douglas Williams, Tony Yazbeck, Will Taylor, Chris Dwan, Will Blum, and Shayne Kennon photo: Greg Mooney
Barry Manilow may be one of the most successful songwriters in the past 40 years, but I don’t think his new musical, “Harmony,” now playing at the Alliance Theatre, is going to be one of his hits. The book, written by his writing partner Bruce Sussman, who has helped him create hits such as “Copacabana,” “I Made it Through the Rain,” and “Hey Mambo,” is lacking in depth, comedy and originality.
“Harmony” is based on the Comedian Harmonist, an all-male sextet in Germany that performed from 1927-1938 throughout Europe and in New York. The group included a couple of Jewish members, so you know where this story is headed.
But it’s not all tragedy as there’s a splatter of comedy. At a lunch concert when the group has not yet received its pants, the harmonists perform behind a serving table while tossing around weiner-like long loaves of bread and sausages. It’s quite cute, as is the scene in which the group performs as marionettes, in a mock of Hitler that is reminiscent of Mel Brooks’s “Springtime for Hitler.”
The first act of “Harmony” is slow to build as very little is at stake. When the stakes rise in the second act as Hitler rises in power, and more and more problems are thrown at the members, the story becomes lively and puts the fear of life in you. Still, the play doesn’t make this story about Nazi Germany much different than the others out there. We get to know the surface of the characters, but that special something that tugs at the heart is missing.
For those of us who aren’t familiar with the documentary the book was based on, this particular story is unique and interesting. But an interesting story alone is not enough to make good theater. The book just scratches the surface of these characters. It pricks at our heart when it needs to be pierced.
“Harmony” is likely bound for Broadway. If the book stays the same between now and then, I don’t think it will be bound there long.
Music by Barry Manilow, book by Bruce Sussman, directed by Tony Speciale, “Harmony” runs through Oct. 6 at the Alliance Theatre.
Will Blum . . . . . . . . . . Ari “Lesh” Leshnikoff
Liberty Cogen . . . Ensemble/Woman on a Train
Hannah Corneau . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Stern
Chris Dwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erich Collin
Bryan Thomas Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . Ensemble/
Club Cinderella Announcer
Greg Kamp . . . . . . . . . Ensemble/Sturmann
Shayne Kennon . “Rabbi” Josef Roman Cykowski
Leigh Ann Larkin . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Hegel
Chad Lindsey . . . Ensemble/Standartenfuhrer/
Carnegie Hall Announcer
Lindsay Moore . . . Ensemble/Woman on a Train
Brandon O’Dell . . . Ensemble/Richard Strauss/
Albert Einstein/Frankenhauser
Patrick O’Neill . . . . . . Ensemble/Border Guard
Charles Osborne . . Ensemble/Obersturmfuhrer
Kim Sava . . . . . . Ensemble/Woman on a Train
Dave Schoonover . . . . . Ensemble/Ezra Kaplan
Lauren Elaine Taylor . Ensemble/Marlene Dietrich
Will Taylor . . . . . . . . . Erwin “Chopin” Bootz
Douglas Williams . . . . . . . . . . Bobby Biberti
Tony Yazbeck . . . . . . . . . Harry Frommerman
Jasmine Guy and Brian Kurlander
“The Guys,” playing at Theatrical Outfit, peers into the lives of some ordinary firemen who lost their lives performing extraordinary deeds just after the Twin Towers were hit on 9/11 .
In the aftermath of the killings, New York fire department captain Nick (Brian Kurlander) calls upon a professional writer, Joan (Jasmine Guy), to write eulogies he’ll be able to present to the friends and families of eight men who died trying to save victims.
Playwright Anne Nelson brings some life to the people who died—one victim was the food critic of the firehouse, and one made his own firefighting tools that were better than any he could get from a hardware store—but there is nothing that jumps out and rips at your heart. Yes, it’s sad that people died, but we just get a glimmer of the victims’ lives and miss that poignant punch to the gut.
Guy and Kurlander do a fine job in their roles. Most touching is when Kurlander transforms from a defensive, guarded captain who has difficulty expressing himself to presenting the eulogies of his victims at a ceremony for their friends and families. The day the Twin Towers toppled the city was paralyzed with fear for weeks . In just under 1.5 hours, “The Guys” just touches the surface.
Directed by Elisa Carlson, “The Guys” runs at Theatrical Outfit through Oct. 6.
Essential Theatre is premiering three plays by Georgia playwrights through Aug. 11 at Actor’s Express. Playing in rep are “Mysterious Connections” by Peter Hardy, “Swimming With Jellyfish” by Katie Grant Shalin, and winner of the 2013 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, “Stray Dogs,” by Matthew Myers.
Saturday I saw the ethereal “Mysterious Connections,” a non-chronological story with mythological references that left me baffled through much of the play. Pamela (Celia Gunn-Zaboli) chases her dreams and her soul, while playing games with her admirer, Travis (Ben Silver) and courting Isobel (Daryl Lisa Fazio). The ghost and dream scenes were difficult to understand, but it makes sense at the end as the story is all pulled together.
The standout of this show is the refreshing and delightful character Jonesy (Nancy Powell), who blathers endlessly but is the life of the play. Believable and charming throughout the show, Powell is a consummate actor, whom I look forward to seeing on the stage again. The other actors weren’t believable, and Pamela often could not be heard.
The three new plays be Georgia writers run through Aug. 11 at Actor’s Express. Tickets are available at Essential Theatre.
“The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream,” the show that ran on Broadway featuring the original band members, plays at the Cobb Energy Centre this weekend. A hybrid of a Broadway show and a concert by the original band members, Felix Cavaliere (keyboard & vocals), Eddie Brigati (vocals), Dino Danelli (drums) and Gene Cornish (guitar), the show is mainly a concert featuring the band’s greatest hits, such as “Groovin’,” “Good Lovin’ ” and “People Got To Be Free.”
The production will also feature the history of the iconic group told through archival footage, narration, and dramatic film segments viewed on the latest LED screen technology. “The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream” made its debut at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Originally scheduled to play three performances in December 2012, an additional three shows had to be added to accommodate the demand
The show sold-out on Broadway, where it had a two-week run, and a snippet of it ran last week on the Tony Awards. Don’t go expecting to see a Broadway show in the vein of “Jersey Boys” because it’s mainly a concert. Go to see one of the greatest bands from the sixties.
Written by Steven Van Zandt and directed by him and Marc Brickman, “The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream” will be playing at Cobb Energy Centre June 21-22. Ticket prices start at $29.50 plus applicable fees and can be purchased by visiting Ticketmaster.com, at the Cobb Energy Centre Box Office, or by calling 800-745-300.
