Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold - Page 25

For actor Scott Moreau, playing Johnny Cash in the opening production of Maine State Music Theatre's 60th anniversary season is a very special homecoming. The Maine native who grew up in Litchfield says this is the fifth time he will have done the Million Dollar Quartet in Maine (previously in Portland and Bangor on the national tour and twice in Ogunquit), but that "Brunswick is much different!"

For actor Scott Moreau, playing Johnny Cash in the opening production of Maine State Music Theatre's 60th anniversary season is a very special homecoming. The Maine native who grew up in Litchfield says this is the fifth time he will have done the Million Dollar Quartet in Maine (previously in Portland and Bangor on the national tour and twice in Ogunquit), but that "Brunswick is much different!"

When Rock n' Roll burst onto the scene in the late 1950s, it brought with it a veritable revolution in American popular music. Seen by some as 'the Devil's music,' by others as a passing fad, this vibrant, electric sound proved itself a lasting phenomenon. So perhaps it is fitting that more than sixty years later a musical celebrating four of the greatest legends of early rock should open Maine State Music Theatre's 60th anniversary season. And what an opening this is! Million Dollar Quartet explodes onto the Pickard stage with the energy of a mega concert and the intensity of a high-stakes drama. It is a tale that is at once about the music itself and the men who made it, about dreams and determination, about stumbling and success. In a dazzling production directed by Hunter Foster, MSMT scores the perfect kickoff to its own milestone season.

'When I was growing up, I wanted to be a writer, a novelist, and that's what eventually drew me into acting and then directing and writing for the stage. It was always about storytelling.' Hunter Foster is reminiscing about the aspirations that led him to seek a life in the theatre. The award-winning actor, director, writer is taking a short break from rehearsal at Maine State Music Theatre, where he is about to open his twelfth production of Million Dollar Quartet on June 7th.

John Willey's Bath, Maine -based Shakespeare on the Kennebec is presenting an ambitious, completely uncut production of the Bard's "Scottish play"- aka Macbeth at the Chocolate Church. The twenty-six person ensemble rendered the full text of Shakespeare's play - with many often cut scenes now heard - while at the same time Director John Willey takes a fresh conceptual look on the work.

To close its 2017-2018 season Portland Player's has mounted one of its most ambitious productions in recent memory. Titanic The Musical with book by Peter Stone and music and lyrics by Maury Yeston receives an affecting and effective performance by the forty-nine actors and thirteen musicians.

For most of us who love the theatre, attending a performance is an exciting, stimulating, anticipated event, but for some children with sensory issues, going to the theatre can be fraught with anxiety; a room full of strange people, new sounds and fantastical characters - all can make this experience overwhelming. And yet, once immersed in the magic of the play, the children can find delight and connection. To encourage this journey of discovery and to provide families with a safe viewing experience, Maine State Music Theatre last year initiated a program of sensory friendly rehearsal performances of the Theatre for Young Audiences shows. MSMT uses its large rehearsal hall as the performance venue - a space less daunting than the 600-seat Pickard main stage. The hour-long shows are presented with piano (not full orchestra), in full costume with relevant props, and include interaction among the cast, crew, and directors with the young audience. The families have access to a quiet room, are free to move about during the performance, enjoy a snack break, and receive a study/activity guide and some small gifts to take home.

To an audience used to the likes of today's television talent show formats -The Voice, American Idol with their fiercely competitive, instant celebrity emphasis and often abrasive judging - the annual Midcoast Maine's Got Talent seems to hark back to a gentler era and a more positive model to showcase aspiring performers. Each year the Brunswick Rotary Club puts together this gala as a fundraiser for its social and civic programs, but also as a community service to help nurture the arts in Maine and to create an audience for the creativity and expression that artists provide.

Portland Stage's current production of Eleanor Burgess's two-character drama, The Niceties, is a intense, searing, often exhausting theatrical experience. The play, written during the last Presidential campaign, probes a plethora of contemporary issues from race in America to the meaning of revolution, feminism, the impact and influence of history, the struggles for power between the elite and the voiceless. Set at an Ivy League Eastern college, The Niceties explores the intellectual and emotional journeys of a respected history professor and her rebellious African-American student.

The last offering in the Good Theater's current season is cause for celebration! Ken Ludwig's 2015 comedy, A Comedy of Tenors, serves up a frothy concoction of revolving door farce, sophisticated irony and broad parody, witty double entendres, and a breathlessly wacky plot line that makes the evening speed by joyously.

The Maine State Ballet unveiled its charming, colorful production of Alice in Wonderland this weekend in Falmouth to the delight of its multi-generational audience. The lavish and lovely production with choreography by Linda MacArthur Miele is faithful to Lewis Carroll's tale and brings to life the author's principal characters.

Stephen Sondheim's musical Company made a sensation when it premiered on Broadway in 1970, winning six Tony awards and being nominated for a record-breaking fourteen. Savvy, urbane, with a brilliant score and dazzling lyrics, Sondheim's exploration of the joys and travails of marriage remains a masterwork of the musical stage. The current revival, directed by Linda Sturdivant, at Biddeford's City Theater gives a classy account of this complex work.

Portland Stage's current production of Michael Hollinger's 2000 noir comedy set in the Cold War era skillfully weaves a tapestry of three love stories and one murder against the backdrop of McCarthyism, nuclear bombs, 50s pop culture, and zany shenanigans - all of which makes for a delightful, fast-paced evening of nostalgic wit.

Anniversaries are customarily times to reflect on the past, but for Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark, the 2018 gala celebration of the company's sixty years is not only a time to celebrate history, but also to use the significant milestone as an opportunity to look to the future. 'We are thinking forward and not resting on our laurels. We are accentuating what works, trying to fix what doesn't, and trying to find new ways to engage the community and make them happy,' Clark explains his philosophy about the Brunswick-based theatre's upcoming historic season.

Portland's Cast Aside Productions has mounted a staging that re-imagines the 1971 Stephen Schwartz musical, based on the Gospel of Matthew, Godspell, setting the entire piece as a rock concert. The production is exuberant, animated, peopled with excellent musicians and a fine cast, but also beset by concept and technical difficulties.

The sixth video in my ongoing series of mini-portraits of Maine theatre artists profiles Mad Horse Theatre's Artistic Director, Christine Louise Marshall. A native Mainer, raised in Cape Elizabeth and trained as a dancer with Maine State Ballet, Marshall went on to study theatre at Skidmore College. Her twenty-five-year career as an actress, dancer, director, and designer has taken her across the country and back to her home state. Here in Maine she has taught at Maine State Ballet for the past twenty-two years, acted on stage and in films, and now serves as the third Artistic Director of South Portland's Mad Horse Theatre Company, where she devotes her talents not only to creating thought-provoking seasons, but also to acting, directing, and designing costumes for the company's repertoire. In addition, she now has become involved with Cape Elizabeth High School's theatre program where she hopes to be able to put into practice her passion for working with and inspiring young artists.

The professional ensemble of Brunswick's Theater Project once again demonstrates its affinity for drama with classic literary origins. Its 2018 production of The Picture of Dorian Gray, adapted by Merlin Holland and John O'Connor, offers a convincing, often compelling account of Oscar Wilde's famous novel.

Portland Stage has mounted an adaptation of Isak Dinesen's short story Babette's Feast, conceived by Abigail Killeen and written by Rose Courtney, that retains the message of grace and humanity at the core of the tale, while casting the narrative in an entirely different, highly contemporaneous light. Intriguing and sometimes perplexing in its Brechtian staging, this production adheres closely to the Dinesen text and bears little resemblance to the iconic movie of 1987.

It is eighty years since Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Our Town first tread the boards of the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ. The work was groundbreaking in its day for the way in which Wilder eschewed theatrical conventions and sought to create a new kind of play within a play. Eight decades later, the play retains its innovative feeling - not because of its metatheatre style, but rather because, in a modern digital age where audiences are consistently bombarded with noise, sensation, and spectacular fast-paced effects, Our Town continues to speak in a quiet voice that is all the more meaningful if one stops to listen.

Mad Horse Theatre continues its provocative and haunting programming this season with a gripping, poetic, and troubling production of Naomi Wallace's award-winning 1996 drama, One Flea Spare. The play, set in London in 1665 at the height of the Black Death, explores the social, sexual, and psychological interaction of four people quarantined together in a pair of rooms while the plague rages around them. Their battle for survival pits the wealthy merchant and his wife against the sailor and a young servant girl who break into their house in search of shelter. Class warfare, devastating past memories, repressed sexuality, gender politics, and intricate personal power struggles make the time of confinement a descent into hell.