BWW Reviews: Center Stage Presents CRIME & PUNISHMENT

Can a huge novel be transferred to a 90 minute play with three actors?

You really have to give adapters Curt Columbus and Marilyn Campbell chutzpah for attempting to bring to the stage Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic Crime and Punishment.

This is the second time this season that Center Stage presented a play taken from a novel. The first was the very successful Snow Falling on Cedars, adapted by Kevin McKeon. McKeon is a long-standing company member of Seattle's Book-It-Repertory Theatre which is known for taking novels and placing them into theaters.

While Snow featured a large cast and was a success. Crime and Punishment attempts this task with three actors.

It was disappointing.

It didn't help that I was sitting in the rear close to the bar and heard noise from the ice machine all evening long.

It also didn't help when the play begins with Inspector Porfiry descending a gigantic staircase with his back to the audience and I couldn't hear a thing he was saying. Remember...his back is to the audience and he's walking down a long staircase. Why didn't they think of having the staircase face the audience so one could hear him?

Even with the staircase facing the wrong way, I did appreciate Scenic Designer Walt Spangler's work. The trap door works well, and the incredible tableau of the murder scene that fills the rear of the stage with blood is mesmerizing when it is shown unexpectedly. You will gasp with surprise and wonderment.

The lighting by Colin Bills was also strange. Much of the evening, the actors are in shadows.

There is no credit in the program for the music which was unobtrusive when it could have been very beneficial.

There is simply little action and no suspense. The actors are not to blame, it's the script.

I really enjoyed watching Eric Feldman as the student Raskolnikov. Here is an actor of great promise.

John Leonard Thompson plays Detective Porfiry (strangely in modern dress) without the requisite passion necessary for the role.

Lauren Culpepper plays the prostitute. She isn't given much to work with.

What a strange way for Center Stage to end its season. I didn't see many happy faces after the performance

Crime and Punishments ends Sunday, May 15. For tickets, call 410-332-0033. Visit www.centerstage.org/crimeandpunishment for more information on the production.

CENTER STAGE UPDATES

Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? Is Cancelled

The Special Engagement Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? which was to run May 10-15 has been cancelled. It may return another time.

Ken Roberson Closes Cabaret Series

Ken Roberson, singer, dancer, choreographer, will be returning to Center Stage with his show, Middle Aged Passage Crisis May 19-22. It is an upbeat one-person review in which Roberson through music, dance and monologues looks back at his first half-century of life.

Jerome Hairston's Play Lab Knife on Bone May 26-29

Jerome Hairston's commissioned piece, Knife on Bone will be given a reading directed by Dwight R. B. cook from May 26-29.

The Play Lab readings will take place on Thursday, may 26 at 7 p.m.; Friday may 27 and Saturday, May 28 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets to the readings are $10. There will be a free rehearsal open to the public on Saturday, May 28.

Center Stage Announces Sixth Slot for 2011-12 Season

Next season looks one of the best line-ups in Center Stage history.

Previously announced are:

The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan and directed by David Schweizer Sept. 28- Oct. 30, 2011.

American Buffalo by David Mamet Nov. 2 to Dec. 11.

Toni Morrison's Jazz Adapted and Directed by Marion McClinton (a World Premiere) Jan. 4 to Feb. 5

A Skull in Connemara by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh Jan. 25 to March 4.

The Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods Directed by Mark Lamos March 7-April 15, 2012.

The final sixth production was just added, Matthew Lopez' The Whipping Man, directed by incoming Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah. I suggested this wonderful play to Center Stage after I saw the wonderful Off-B roadway Manhattan Theatre Club production which starred Andre Braugher.

There will also be a continuation of the Cabaret Series, two Play Lab Series, and a return of The Second City, Charmed and Dangerous running Sept. 15 to Oct. 16. This will be a brand new production.

For comments,write to cgshubow@broadwayworld.com.

Photo Credit: Richard Anderson

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