Joseph Baker News

THE PRODUCERS is a knockout.

It's hard to reconcile the name of the title character in MOUNTAIN VIEW with that of its author. 'Jocate' seems a variation on Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' (when will Appalachian characters have names like 'Sue' or 'Nancy'?), while author 'Teri Feigelson' suggests a world entirely alien to cabins and mountain ledges. Yet, everything seems to come together in Playhouse on the Square's production of the winner of the 2013 NewWorks Playwriting Competition, currently being staged at TheatreWorks. In fact, with its gentle, wistful tone and incorporation of original, tonally related songs, MOUNTAIN VIEW evokes a film from some years ago, the little-seen but much-lauded SONGCATCHER, with turn-of-the-century musicologist Janet McTeer finding substance and artistry in Appalachian music (along with a romantic interlude with a hirsute Aidan Quinn in one of his last leading man roles). It even reminded me of (now nearly forgotten) Bobbie Gentry's concept album DELTA SWEETE, with the artist's songs depicting the characters and area she knew as a girl.

While watching THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS, the African-American version of Sophocles' OEDIPUS AT COLONUS as created by Lee Breuer (with music by Bob Telson), I was reminded of the reimagining of the Old Testament by Marc Connelly in the 1930 Pulitzer Prize-winning THE GREEN PASTURES. Like GOSPEL, THE GREEN PASTURES serves up time-honored material by transposing it to a religious setting;. PASTURES relates the Old Testament as envisioned by a young Afro-American boy; thus, Heaven is one big fish fry. When I first saw the 1936 film version (which Connelly, a white man, scripted for Warners' director William Keighley), I found it a special experience -- a wonderful all-black cast was an anomaly for a young viewer in the late 1950's and early i60's; now, with the passage of time (and legislation), I can understand why modern audiences would find it politically incorrect (though that cast is still peopled with some amazing talent). Interestingly, Mr. Breuer eschews following Connelly's suit, and though he utilizes a Black minister and church service to tell his tale, he focuses instead on an ancient Greek tragedy rather than the Old -- or New -- Testament.

Somewhere in my prodigious vinyl collection there is at least one album by the self-proclaimed 'High Priestess of Soul,' Nina Simone; and having just seen SIMPLY SIMONE: The Music of Nina Simone, at the Hattiloo Theatre, I am taking a deep breath and planning to thumb through my myriad of records in order to seek it out. Nina Simone never quite 'caught on' with mainstream audiences; the legendary Aretha Franklin, who, like Simone, emerged from a gospel background and was a gifted pianist, was much more successful in that respect. Simone was too idiosyncratic a performer to be pigeonholed or labeled. She scoffed at being called a blues singer or a jazz singer; her early classical training, encouraged by a white pianist and patron (who collected money from the people in the town and helped to enroll at Juilliard), always informed her music. Moreover, the songs she chose to interpret, in addition to her own, were an eclectic repertoire: Everything from Gershwin to the Beatles. Underappreciated in her own country, and disillusioned by the stagnation of the Civil Rights Movement after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she found her audience abroad, particularly in France; she turned her back on disco (which she disdainfully dismissed) and was selective and intelligent in the music she chose to interpret, which left no room for her on the popularity bandwagon.

Fox Valley Repertory is ready to celebrate the good 'ole days as they continue their 2015 theater series with the beach party musical, The Bikinis. Directed and choreographed by Kyle Donahue, performances will place at the Pheasant Run Resort Mainstage from tonight, June 11 - August 16, 2015 (4051 E. Main St., St. Charles, IL.

It's early June in Memphis, but, with the recent success of Playhouse on the Square's KISS ME, KATE and, now, Theatre Memphis' sparkling production of ANYTHING GOES, we seem to be having, as my late grandmother might say, 'another 'cole' snap' - Cole Porter, that is. Who would not welcome the giddy book by the great P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, with a reworking by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse? And who has not delighted to such songs as 'You're the Top,' 'I Get a Kick Out of You,' 'Blow, Gabriel, Blow,' 'It's De-Lovely,' and, of course, the title tune?

There's something intrinsically dramatic about a formidable artist/instructor who, because of whatever circumstances, finds that he or she has to step down a rung on the ladder of fame in order not to slip from that ladder altogether. It isn't necessarily a new theme that Theresa Rebeck tackles in the acid-etched comedy SEMINAR, directed by Irene Crist and currently running at Circuit Playhouse. While watching it, I was reminded of other works dealing with artists who, out of necessity, must share their genius (and sharpen their verbal talons) on eager, ambitious upstarts. Not too long ago, there was a production of John Logan's RED, about the artist Mark Rothko and his fictional assistant. Nor should we forget Terrence McNally's MASTER CLASS, with diva Maria Callas holding a voice master class with students trembling under her aura. Other, similar (if fictional) titles leap to mind: Consider that holy terror from THE PAPER CHASE, 'Professor Kingsfield' (John Houseman), intimidating Timothy Bottoms' frustrated law student. To these master instructors we can now add the imperious 'Leonard' (deliciously played by Michael Detroit, who, as a real-life instructor, has an innate understanding of the interplay between teacher and student), a famous novelist who has been to the well of inspiration once too often and is now (for $5000 per student) reluctantly willing to train his weary eyes on material that more often than not elicits blistering barbs of criticism; and a varied and pretentious lot they are - the affluent 'Kate' (whose spacious and expensive apartment furnishes the setting for the seminar meetings, and whose six-year struggle with a story is rather like a plane that bumps along a runway and can't quite take flight); the name-dropping 'Douglas,' who has written something fit for THE NEW YORKER (ordinarily an impressive feat - except when Leonard derides its 'detached intelligence'); the opportunistic 'Izzy,' who isn't beyond parlaying her particular affinity for sex into a form of self-promotion; and, finally, the disproving 'Martin,' whose intellectual probity causes him to roll his eyes at the pretentiousness of people like Douglas.

Now that Memphis in May has finally bid adieu to the Sunset Symphony, crowned the winners of the barbecue contest,and trod well the welcome mat to the magnficent new Bass Pro Shop, Memphians can look to its theatres, old and new, for diversions of a histrionic nature.

Fox Valley Repertory is ready to celebrate the good 'ole days as they continue their 2015 theater series with the beach party musical, The Bikinis. Directed and choreographed by Kyle Donahue, performances will place at the Pheasant Run Resort Mainstage from June 11 - August 16, 2015.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Rhode Island, Milwaukee, Italy, and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include BIG FISH at First Stage in Milwaukee, KISS ME KATE in Memphis, and THE WHO'S TOMMY in LA, just to name a few.

For its spring musical, Playhouse on the Square has reached several decades back and produced -- not an 'old warhorse of a musical' (sorry, Rodgers and Hammerstein) -- but a true thoroughbred, Cole Porter's sparkling, innovative (at the time) KISS ME, KATE. Just as Shakespeare himself created enduring plays by utilizing the best plots and characters of other works, so did Porter and his collaborators, Bella and Samuel Spewack -- they went right to the Bard himself, and in building their own superb entertainment around the rollicking THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, they created such a witty, enjoyable romp that would cause even the immortal Shakespeare to set aside his pen, smile, and snap his garters.

George Cukor's 1940 film version of Philip Barry's THE PHILADELPHIA STORY was Katharine Hepburn's return to glory after the actress had been labeled 'box office poison' after the failure of several films. 021The savvy Hepburn was able to bend MGM to her will when it wanted to film Barry's play, and the end result rewarded everyone involved: Hepburn, her old RKO co-star Cary Grant, and the up and coming James Stewart. Not only were Oscar nominations and wins in store, but at the center of it all was Hepburn in all her patrician, high cheek-boned elegance. She may have given greater performances as the tragic, dope-addicted 'Mary Tyrone' in the film version of Eugene O'Neill's LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT or as the caustic, sparring 'Eleanor of Aquitaine' in James Goldman's THE LION IN WINTER, but for those who want to see Hepburn at the height of her unusual beauty and comedic gifts, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY is a must. Having seen the film numerous times, I was wary of Theatre Memphis' staging of Barry's work. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, once seen, leaves such an impression that it's rather like tackling a remake of THE WIZARD OF OZ or GONE WITH THE WIND or THE GODFATHER. Director Jason Spitzer has taken the dare, and he and his cast have mostly succeeded in the satiny, stylized production currently playing at Theatre Memphis.

Once again, it's Spring; and once again, Stage Door Productions has brought professionals and nonprofessionals together to share their love of musical theatre and their talents in what is, by now, an annual event: THE BEST OF BROADWAY 3, closing this weekend at the KROC Center, is Director Brandon Kelly's latest 'greatest hits' collection to entertain Memphis' audiences. This is the second year I have attended this event, and even though a review at this point probably won't make much difference in bolstering attendance, BEST doesn't really need it. The audience here is 'a given' (and a vocal 'given' at that) - a multigenerational aggregation of relatives and friends, lovers of musicals, and people who simply want to be entertained; and in that latter respect, THE BEST OF BROADWAY 3 does not disappoint.

David Morgan's detailed set design for Circuit Playhouse's production of Nina Raine's TRIBES 'speaks volumes' (no pun intended) for the noisy, ego-driven family the audience is about to meet: Piano, stage left; 'intellectual' clutter scattered about; books everywhere; and - oh, yes - a liquor bottle on the table. The members almost immediately begin to descend on stage, chattering away with the kind of overlapping, hyper-intense dialogue that would make the late Robert Altman smile and put fingers in both of his ears. Nothing seems in harmony hear -- everything is a cacophonous, confused kind of roar. At the center, as a kind of eye to this verbal hurricane, is 'Billy,' sweetly casting his gaze from one pair of lips to another, as that is the only way he can absorb the conversations that are colliding about him.

While watching the Next Stage production of Gina Gionfriddo's RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN at Theatre Memphis, I was reminded of John Van Druten's screenplay for the 1943 Warner Brothers film OLD ACQUAINTANCE. It was one of those 'women pictures' which provided thespic opportunities for the likes of actresses like Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins, who, in fact, were the lead players in this particular film. In their youth, the two women had been friends, but as their paths parted in life, the Davis character, brittle and alone, became a critically acclaimed (if financially challenged) author, while the Hopkins character, finally penning a bestseller (trash that it is, it rakes in the 'big bucks'), jealously desires what Davis has. I couldn't help thinking, if Gionfriddo's RAPTURE had fallen into the hands of a director like Vincent Sherman, I could see Davis as the 'Catherine Croll' character, who, despite national recognition and an evidently fulfilling career, begins to have doubts about her life choices. (If you've ever seen the famous car scene in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's ALL ABOUT EVE, also starring Davis, you'll hear the character of stage actress 'Margo Channing' lament what a woman gives up when she devotes herself entirely to a career: I wonder if this very scene influenced Ms. Gionfriddo in her characterizations.) The other character, 'Gwen,' would obviously have been given over to Hopkins, who would have shone as the once promising woman who jettisoned her own burgeoning promise to marry 'Don Harper,' who once had been Catherine's intended (George Brent, anyone?).

Poor 'Edna Pontellier' of Kate Chopin's THE AWAKENING - as 'corseted' by society as she is by the habiliments of the day. I'd like to imagine a tea party where she'd feel welcome. Let's see . . . whom to invite? One of Henrik Ibsen's stifled heroines - HEDDA GABLER or 'Nora' from A DOLL'S HOUSE; and there's 'Janie Crawford,' the African-American heroine of Zora Neale Hurston's THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD. What about Gustave Flaubert's MADAME BOVARY? Oh, yes, and let's not neglect the movies: Vivien Leigh's convention-daring 'Scarlett O'Hara,' her foot dancing away while she sports widow's weeds, or a black-wigged Bette Davis gyrating to get out of a small town in King Vidor's hothouse melodrama BEYOND THE FOREST. Now, that would be some group, but they'd all end up smashing the teacups.

I wonder if Jackie Nichols is providing on-site psychiatric help for those involved in the repertory presentations of Anton Chekhov's THE SEAGULL and Christopher Durang's VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE at Playhouse on the Square. Surely the veteran Irene Crist, performing double duty as Director of both the uber-heavy Chekhov piece and the giddy Durang parody, is on a schizoid seesaw as she veers from the serious to the silly - and the same might be said from the cast members who swap costumes and take their characterizations from one play to the next. Having just seen THE SEAGULL last week, I was eager to see how Durang's TONY-winning play would parlay all that Chekhovian talk about artists and pseudo-artists into something more laughter-inducing. However, rest assured that the talents involved in both plays rise (or fall, as it were) without any difficulty.