Ashland, Oregon
at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
opening performance, February 23, 2008

Fences by August Wilson

The opening of Fences revealed a shaky story shakily told.

I assume that it’s the script which has inconsistencies and false starts that Oregon Shakespeare merely brought forward.  Certainly this production didn’t weave together a clear or consistent or entertaining storyline from whatever August Wilson wrote.

To begin, various cast members stumbled over lines at least a half dozen times.  Blowing lines in an obvious way is my personal pet peeve;  it always jars me out of the moment. And, these Fences characters had tongue-tie-itis, especially the actors who appeared on stage early in the narrative.

It wasn’t just the lines that missed.  The direction, characters, sound, and lighting didn’t fit quite right. 

Director Leah Gardiner amped everyone’s energy up one or two notches above reasonable.  Words exploded at odd moments. 

In addition, Gardiner put me off with the playbill blurb:

“In 1957, when this play begins,  nine black students, protected by federal troops, desegregated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Throughout the country, Black Americans, although aware that change was inevitable, continued to live segregated lives.”

What?  Inevitable?  Really, the country should have just sat back and waited then, eh? How young is this director? How clueless?
(more…)

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Director and future Artistic Director Bill Rauch found ways to make this classic fresh and standout from the pack of “another Romeo and Juliet“.  Rauch’s creativity augers well for his upcoming run as the festival’s Visionary In Chief.

This is a fast-paced R&J, and it is viewed with a generation gap at the center of the drama.  The parents’ generation is decked out in old fogy Elizabethan grab while the young adults and town folk are with-it, modern, dressed as prep school students and in current-day suits.

The parents are stuck in older ways.  Their determination to perpetuate the long-running family feud is more important to them than their children. The story plays out. (more…)

Tracy’s Tiger 

Book and Lyrics by Linda Alper, Douglas Langworthy, and Penny Metropulos
Composer: Sterling Tinsley 

When I rail against musicals, I am denouncing the big stage, big production number shows that seem only incidentally interested in the erstwhile story.  I am frustrated beyond reason by those extravaganza’s whose spoken words serve only as bridges for a street urchin, young lover, or wandering king to burst forth in rah-rah upbeat song. 

Go to a concert or a piano bar if you want that type of entertainment.  But, don’t call it an evening of theater.

These Rogers and Sondheim blights are so common that I have adopted a “Just say ‘No’ to Musicals” stance.

My whining is brought up short when I run into a musical that has a light-hearted but trackable story, characters, movement that matches the plot, songs that match the plot, consistency, imagination run happily amok, and reasonable music.

Tracy’s Tiger is a commissioned musical written and performed by a company that doesn’t do musicals.  The result is a quality narrative (adapted from a William Saroyan novella and short story) which uses the songs, singing, and dance to help the spoken words tell the story.  Oh yeah.  It’s also a lot of fun. (more…)

Distracted  by Lisa Loomer

The cacophony of cell phones, bad hip hop, and telemarketing calls is familiar. The witty commentary on our overstimulated life is satisfying and relaxing.  The faux concerned neighbors, teachers, and doctors are so recognizable that they’re disarming.

The script is sufficiently pleasant and smugness-producing that it takes a while for the realization to develop that you’re watching a Neil Simon commentary on ADHD, teenage self-mutilation, and some true terrors of parenthood.

The dialog nails the thoughts and conversations of today’s educated middle-class.  The Ashland audience is watching itself on stage, and it’s mesmerizing to see yourself treated so sympathetically and so skillfully.

In a world-class case of bad marketing and inaccurate labeling, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) says that the play is about a 9-year-old boy with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Their synopsis makes the play sound like something only a school guidance counselor would enjoy… and then only if they got continuing education credits. No surprise that the crowds for this new play are sparse, and the in-going audiences look like hardened play goers gearing up for a nasty two hours.

So, if you’ve read OSF’s literature about Distracted, forget everything you’ve been told.  The play is about 2007 and its social mores. It’s lively. You’ll laugh. There’s a message.  People change.  Who would have thought? (more…)

The Tempest  by William Shakespeare

Note to self:  You do not like The Tempest.  You think it is pretty much a waste of time. In the first act one implausible thing happens after another, and the remainder of the play just doesn’t have enough pleasurable fantasies or moralistic outcomes to redeem the show.

You sucker yourself into seeing this show because the storm and spirits sound frightening and fun.  They’re not worth it.

Remember the 2007 Oregon Shakespeare Festival production?  It had Derrick Lee Weeden as Prospero and Dan Donohue as Caliban.  They did excellent jobs.  The rest of the cast (except for the sputtering Tony DeBruno understudying as Gonzaolo) were credible to wonderful.

Even  so, you thought the evening was flat. There just wasn’t enough magic to transport you into the silly story. 

The make up and costumes of Ariel and her spirits were off-putting and odd, not ethereal and enchanted.  You normally like what Costume Designer Deb Dryden does, but the clothes in this Tempest went “Thud!”  The spirits looked like refugees from Azkaban, dressed in pajamas which themselves had badges of sullenly symbolic blue sky sewn on. Caliban’s prison of ropes robe was intricate enough to stand on its own as Artwork — not a good thing.  Only the rich robes for the final kiss-and-make-up scenes made sense and were noticeable in a positive way.

The Tempest 2007 was the last show you saw Libby Apple direct when she was also Artistic Director.  As redozdachs said, the show just proved that Libby needs her own Artistic Director to reign in her impulse toward too much grandeur and pomposity on stage.

Remember how at one point the spirits in the background did Circ De Soleil rope climbing?  Except that they looked awkward and tortured instead of nimble and fanciful.  Distracting and spirit-less, wasn’t it?

So, self, don’t let yourself get tempted into seing this play again.  The storm scene doesn’t last long enough. There’s neither enough realism or magic to satisfy.  You’ll be disappointed. Again.

Ozdachs rating: