Wednesday, October 15, 2003
MISALLIANCE
THE CAST (in order of speaking)
Trent Dawson
JOHNNY TARTLETON
Andrew Weems
BENTLEY SUMMERHAYS
Stacy Ross
HYPATIA TARTLETON
Patricia O’ Connell
MRS. TARTLETON
George Morfogen
LORD SUMMERHAYS
Peter Van Norden
MR. JOHN TARTLETON
Eric Sheffer Stevens
JOEY PERCIVAL
Natalija Nogugulich
LINA SZSZEPANOWSKA
Carson Elrod
GUNNER
I admit I wasn't in a mad rush to see this play. The last Shaw play I saw was Mrs. Warren’s Profession. In my opinion that play felt preachy. It wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be also the ending felt a little off. So it was with great trepidation that I approached seeing Misalliance.
I was nearly late for the start of the show. I had about 3 minutes to find my seat. This season it appears I will be sitting next to a tiny elderly jerri curled lady who carries an oxygen tank around with her. When looking around the audience I saw a familiar face in the rows, Barbara. Barb, used to work at Center Stage with me. I hear that she has long since left her job there. Also working as an usher was the guy who used to work at my office in the mail room. His name escapes me. He’s very tall wears glasses looks slightly like Stephen King and sounds like a telephone directory when he talks. I believe he is developmentally disabled....I don’t think it’s nice to call people retarded.
First off I was blown away by the set. I wanted to live there. I really loved the glass ceiling. The set reminded me of the one they had with Travels With My Aunt only more conventional. Set designer Tony Staiges did a bang up job. I loved the effect of the airplane suspended in the ceilingthat signaled the end of act one.
Overall, the play was better than I thought it was going to be. I laughed out loud quiet a bit from beginning to end. The ending to this play did not feel the slightest bit iffy. It only got preachy with the introduction of the character called Gunner played by Carson Elrod. Elrod did well in this small thankless role that seemed only to exist so that Shaw could spout his Socialist beliefs to the audience.
My favorite performer in the play was Natalija Nogulich who played Lina, the acrobat. I felt very empowered by the speech her character gave about being her own woman and not being bought. I wanted to go out and buy a circus outfit and train men all day.
The most famous performer on stage if you watch CBS soap operas was Trent Dawson. He plays shady yet adorable con man Henry Coleman on As The World Turns. I was surprised to see him there as he currently has a storyline running on the show. In hindsight I guess I shouldn't have been all that surprised as I hear soaps are filmed six weeks ahead of air time. Dawson did a fabulous job as Johnny Tarleton the rich boy bully. In my opinion the Johnny Tartleton character was the least developed in the play. It was hard to get a handle on his motivations or even the reason for his existence in the play.
Best stud muffin/male model goes to Eric Sheffer Stevens. He looked absolutely fetching in his aviator suit. His character, Joey Percival, was given a big build up before his appearance on stage. He was known as the boy with three fathers. Male model looks aside Stevens did a fantastic job with his role. He had great comedic timing. I loved the glib deliveries that he gave as Percival.
Best Crier in the play goes to Andrew Weems who played Bentley Summerhays. Weems was outstanding as an over aged cry baby. Whenever he cried I laughed.
Best out of sync costuming detail or error goes to Stacy Ross. I admit that when I first saw Ross take the stage I thought to myself my God! What is the director,Irene Lewis doing on stage? Is one of the actors sick? Then I noticed that she’s a good deal younger than Lewis but looks a little like her. Anyway throughout her entire performance I felt distracted by the fact that she was wearing what appeared to be an earring cuff on her ear. I know this is small but for heaven’s sake that did not style did not exist in the early 1900’s. Oh, well maybe she was running late that afternoon and didn’t have time enough to remove it. She was ok in her role, nothing to write home about. I guess if it wasn’t for that darn earring cuff I might have paid more attention to her.
Favorite Senior Citizen goes to Peter Van Norden. Van Norden did an excellent job as John Tarleton. Van Norden seemed to literally glow on stage. His Tarleton was bright, sprite, and fun.
Overall I loved this play and would recommend it to my friends.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
I thought I’d post the above picture after something funny I read on the Outpost Gallifrey message board. Someone suggested that Paul McGann should return to play the 8th Doctor because it would draw more females to Doctor Who conventions.
New news on my quest to own all of the 8th Doctor Big Finish audio’s. This weekend I won Sword of Orion, The Stones of Venice, Minuet in Hell, Seasons of Fear, and Neverland on eBay. Also this weekend I went out and bought my first DVD player. I got one of those region free ones so that I will be able to play PAL(Region 2 UK/Europe) and NTSC(Region 1-US/Canada) dvd’s. So now I can go out and buy the PAL region 1 dvd to the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie and maybe even the Sylvester McCoy era episode of The Curse of Fenric.
I had a very entertaining weekend. On Friday October 10th 2003, I saw Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. This concert kicked off my 2003-2004 season subscription at the symphony. This year instead of buying tickets for the Sunday matinee shows and switching them to Friday evening I thought I’d just go ahead and buy the Friday evening shows.
As I’ve said in previous posts I like going to the symphony because I like being the youngest person there. I like senior citizens because they’re not in too much of a rush and fights are not likely to break out.
The Steve and Eydie concert started off with a half hour montage of all their tv appearances. This was good for getting the audience warmed up. However, after a while it seemed like a cop out.
I guess I should say I was very eager to see the show because it was touted as being there last concert tour. The cynic in me says “Yeah right, tell it to The Eagles”.
When they finally appeared it was spectacular they are pros. I was thoroughly entertained. I laughed, I sang, tapped my foot and sang along to the familiar songs.
For the first half of the show Eydie wore a flowing white sequined gown. It was gorgeous! I wanted that gown!! The second half she wore this glittering black pants suit. It was ok but not as stunning as the white gown.
When the show let out I was not surprised to see a few young gay couples milling about among the senior citizens. I guess they came to see the old school glamour. Steve and Eydie are among the last link to old Hollywood. Seeing this show made me feel like I was a gay man trapped in the body of a straight woman.
The next day on I kicked off my Center Stage subscription. As I’ve written in a previous blog I usually get tickets for Tuesday or Wednesday evening but end up switching them for Saturday matinees. So this year my Center Stage subscription is for Saturday matinees.
The show I saw was George Bernard Shaw’s play called Misalliance. It was directed by Irene Lewis. I’ll post my review of the play tomorrow
I had a bit of trepidation about seeing the play. I thought it would be boorish and preachy. This was my experience with the last Shaw play I saw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession. I was delighted to find the play to be out and out hilarious. I’ll post my review of the play tomorrow.
