Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold - Page 17

'We do art because of what it does for us - how it transforms us,' actor Gregg Goodbrod states with quiet conviction. 'Being an actor helps me to understand other people and see their lives and my own from a different perspective. That's why doing a play like Ghost becomes a journey that really resonates for me.' Goodbrod is speaking about his emotionally and physically demanding role as Sam Wheat in the new chamber version of the original 1990 movie and 2011 stage musical, which is currently playing at Maine State Music Theatre. He uses an example of the scene in which Sam, now a ghost, watches his beloved Molly sort through his belongs. 'I am really very Method as an actor, so I try to get into it completely and feel the actual feelings. And as I am watching Liz [Shivener] play this scene, it suddenly hits me that all these things are not what are important. If I were go, I know it is the love that I would miss. That's why I am an actor - so I can take these journeys and learn new lessons.'

Maine State Music Theatre's 2016 opening brought the East Coast premiere of the stunning and soul-stirring new chamber version of Ghost The Musical, and the evening proved to be an extraordinary artistic event! Not only did this production represent an unique collaboration between director/choreographer Marc Robin and the musical's original creators, Bruce Joel Rubin, Glen Ballard, and Dave Stewart, but it offered Maine audiences the opportunity to savor the depth and range of this remarkable company's artistry. For the Ghost which was unveiled at Brunswick's Pickard Theater June 9 (a co-production of MSMT and Lancaster's Fulton Theatre) dazzles with the complexity of its score, the tenderness of its story, its symphonically perfect direction, splendid visual values, and by the deep identification of the cast with the material.

'What they did is nothing short of miraculous! I know because I was there as a friend, a colleague, an artist. I was there in that room as the magic was happening!' Award-winning actress E. Faye Butler is speaking of the Fulton Theatre and Maine State Music Theatre, of her old friends from their Rockford, Illinois days, Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark, and of the entire creative team and cast of the new chamber music version of the musical Ghost in which she now stars. The Bruce Joel Rubin-Glen Ballard-Dave Stewart show which opens at Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick on Thursday, June 9, is a reprise (and New England premiere) of the newly minted chamber adaptation presented at Lancaster's Fulton Theatre on April 21, 2016, after a year-long development process. One can feel the excitement and electricity in Butler's presence and her comments about this play with music which, she believes has given new life to both the original 1990 Jerry Zucker movie starring Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze, and Whoopi Goldberg and the 2011 stage version. 'E. Faye is a force of nature!' MSMT Managing Director Stephanie Dupal proclaimed when she saw her in the premiere.

South Portland's Mad Horse Theatre closed out its season with a prickly and provocative production of Aaron Posner's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull - Stupid F**king Bird - a contemporary "deconstruction" which brilliantly mines the inherent humor as well as the aching ennui of the Russian playwright. Tautly paced by director Christopher Price, the excellent cast gives an immediacy to the play, which Chekhov, himself, actually called a "comedy in four acts."

'We are all Irish. Everyone loves the free, spirited, easy come-easy go air of the Irish, and this show makes everyone want to be Irish all the time - not just on St. Patrick's Day.' There is a twinkle in his eye, as Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark, utters those words. Immediately his sentiments are seconded by the show's director/choreographer, Marc Robin, and Portland Stage's Artistic Director, Anita Stewart, all three of whom will be joining forces to create Frank McCourt's play with music, The Irish and How They Got That Way, from August 16- September 4, 2016, at Portland Stage.

An air of curiosity and expectation was in the air at the opening of Andrew Lippa's THE WILD PARTY at South Portland's Portland Players. The 1997 musical with book, music and lyrics by Lippa is not a familiar piece for many musical theatre audiences. What they experienced in a little over two hours, created in the searing vision of director/choreographer Raymond Marc Dumont, was a theatre piece that is difficult, disturbing, and absolutely brilliant!

Music Director Rohan Smith has certainly taken this fine community orchestra to a new level of excellence. This past weekend, joining forces with the Oratorio Chorale, directed by Emily Isaacson, the Vox Nova Chamber Orchestra, directed by Shannon M. Chase, and four guest soloists, the huge ensemble took on the challenge of Giuseppe Verdi's dramatic Requiem and delivered a stirring performance. Grand in scale and presenting many symphonic and vocal challenges, Verdi's quasi-operatic work is more secular theatre than religious observance, but as such, it is laden with passion, emotion, and intensity. All these qualities were on display in the Midcoast Symphony's performance.

With miles of pristine coastline, picturesque villages, excellent dining and shopping, Maine is a summer mecca for tourists. But beyond sightseeing and outdoor recreation, Maine's summer theatre landscape is a rich and colorful one, making it a major cultural destination as well. Here are my editorial picks among the wealth of this summer's theatrical offerings.

Lewiston's Public Theatre's closing play of the 2015-2016 season, Susan Sandler's Crossing Delancey is the perfect Mother's Day offering, projecting cozy warmth and fond memories of an unforgettable Jewish grandmother. The 1985 play, which takes a bemused look at the clash between traditional Jewish- American immigrant culture and the more modern aspirations of the next generations, serves up a quintet of characters one cannot fail to embrace

Portland Stage closes its season with Dario Fo's 1974 play, They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay!, in the playwright's signature style of provocative socialist politics and broad Commedia dell'Arte farce. Translated from the Italian by Jon Laskin and Michael Aquilante, the Portland production adds an Americanized layer of iconic comedy characters and references to shows such as the Honeymooners. The overall effect alternates between moments of hilarity and wearisome intervals, though one can only admire the virtuoso performances of the entire cast and director Ron Botting's crisp, energetic production.

Portland's Good Theater is closing, what has been a highly adventurous and challenging fourteenth season, with a triumphant production of Act One, James Lapine's play based on the autobiography of Moss Hart. This nostalgic, subtly comic, and warmly touching work tells the story of a young Hart, learning to navigate the complex currents of writing a Broadway show in the 1930s. Told by two narrators, Lapine's play brings to life not only the Hart-George S. Kaufmann partnership, but a host of other colorful historical characters who helped to shape this golden age of the stage.

A full house of children and adults greeted the Disney musical Mary Poppins with exuberant delight at the historic Waterville Opera House this weekend. And, indeed, the elaborate production of the familiar classic had many pleasures to offer. Directed by Debra Susi with choreography by Adam P. Blais, the staging was lively and the dancing serviceable, sometimes sparkling, while the moments of flight (facilitated by Foy) elicited the appropriate gasps and applause. The atmospheric production, despite slowing the action in the scene changes on several occasions, boasted a painted drop set with moveable furniture units and a colorful, magical lighting design by Chad Lefebvre, who created the storybook palette in pastel pinks, greens, blues, and lavenders. Travis M. Grant supplied the lavish, elegantly designed and detailed costumes, and Jayson Murray insured a well-balanced acoustic with his sound design.

“We came up with this pitch that alliterates,” says Maine State Music Theatre's Managing Director Stephanie Dupal of the theatre's description of their upcoming 2016 summer season. “Relive the romance of Ghost; feel the fire of Evita; welcome the warmth of Fiddler; and experience the excitement of Mama Mia,” she recites. Joined by Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark, the pair is talking about their plans for their main stage productions and the various new initiatives this dynamic team has launched since taking the helm of the company's leadership in 2013. By all accounts it is to be a season to surpass even the excellence of the prior ones!

Portland Stage's latest production of Aaron Posner's 2014 adaptation of Chaim Potok's novel, My Name Is Asher Lev, is a touching account of a young Jewish man's quest to become an artist and to reconcile his vocation with the traditions and expectations of his Orthodox family and community. Portland Stage has produced the three-character work in a stylish ninety-minute production that moves with subtlety and restraint toward Asher Lev's coming of age as an artist and a son.

Choosing to mount Arthur Miller's enduring classic, The Crucible, can be tricky business. The timeless masterpiece is a well-known, beloved staple of the stage and literature, though its very familiarity often makes it difficult to bring any new insights to the piece. Nonetheless, Portland Players takes on that challenge and manages to mount a stirring, fresh account of Miller's tragedy.

Mad Horse Theatre company has mounted a full production of Brent Askari's savvy, subtle, sometimes serious comedy, Digby's Home as its third main stage production of the 2015-2016 season, having first been introduced the work to Portland audience's at the company's BY LOCAL series. The play, which chronicles the return to a small New England town of Digby Preston, a maladroit middle-aged man who has pursued his dreams of being a comedian in Los Angeles, and now comes back for a family visit hoping to repair family relationships and rediscover his place in his hometown. Digby's odyssey proves to be one subtle disappointment after another, and he soon finds the journey may actually be more meaningful than the homecoming, but his stay is not without some resolution.

Portland's Lyric Music Theater has mounted a sweetly sad production of the Marsha Norman-Lucy Simon musical version of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel, The Secret Garden, that is sure to touch the hearts of young and old alike. Directed by Joshua Chard, the production showcases the versatility of the company and offers a gentle lyrical contrast to previous endeavors such as Sweeney Todd and The Addams Family.

Attempting a production of the complex and heart-wrenching Pulitzer Prize winning musical, Next To Normal, in a small theatre in Maine is in itself a bold bit of programming, but to pull it off with such dazzling aplomb is absolutely extraordinary! This is precisely what Biddeford City Theater's Artistic Director, Linda Sturdivant and her excellent ensemble has achieved in a compelling, moving account of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's 2009 Tony award-winning masterpiece. The deceptively 'small' rock opera - only six characters and five musicians - was blessed on Broadway with an incomparable original cast, who seared the songs and story into theatre memory. Stepping into those iconic shoes requires the kind of talent in evidence on the City Theater's stage this March.

Portland Stage's latest production of Tammy Ryan's 2009 play, Lost Boy in Whole Foods, offers a thought-provoking encounter with several extremely topical issues, among them the impact of immigration, the obligation to refugees, the clash of cultures, and the meaning and motives for good deeds. Mounted with the company's customary excellent production values and cast from strength, Ryan's play delivers a number of stirring theatrical moments.

From August 16 - September 4 this summer, two of greater Portland's leading theatre companies will combine forces in an exciting and news-making endeavor that is sure to enrich Maine's arts landscape. Both prestigious Equity companies, Maine State Music Theatre and Portland Stage Company, have announced a co-production of Frank McCourt's runaway hit, The Irish and How They Got That Way, at Portland Stage in the weeks following MSMT's regular summer season in Brunswick and before the opening of Portland Stage's 2016-2017 season in late September. The 1997 play with music chronicles the emotional and spiritual journey of the Irish on both sides of the Atlantic and features melodies, originally arranged by Rusty Magee, that range from traditional Celtic folk tunes to Thomas Moore ballads, George M. Cohen favorites, and the more contemporary sounds of U-2.