Colorado Shakes' "Shrew" soars on slapstick
By Bob Bows
Special to the Denver Post

In the battle of the sexes, some things never change, even if our social mores do.

As a result, modern directors are challenged by "The Taming of the Shrew," where on the surface it looks like the character of Petruchio, who deprives Kate of sleep and food, has the upper hand and male chauvinism has carried the day.

But the pantheon of strong women in the Shakespearean canon forces us to look for a theatrical solution more aligned with the playwright's sensitivities.

And that clever alchemy is what we call farce.

There's a good dose of slapstick, as well, in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's entertaining staging, led by the hilariously zany Grumio (Geoffrey Kent), a servant to Petruchio (Augustus Truhn). Kent outdoes himself with clownish abandon and gleeful sarcasm; his smart repartee with the audience is a delight.

But director Stephanie Shine seems to be content with the other players performing mostly in a comedic, not farcical, fashion — less outlandish than the leads — missing opportunities to undermine the chauvinistic overtones of the text.

Nevertheless, these characterizations are often amusing in their own way, particularly Josh Robinson's scheming Hortensio, Philip Sneed's affected Gremio, Biko Eisen-Martin's clever Biondello and Karen Slack's sassy Widow.

Kevin Dunayer's sound design adds contemporary commentary to the action. Anne Murphy's finely detailed costumes are a feast for the eyes.

In all, the production succeeds where most fail, with the playing field for Kate (Karyn Casl) and Petruchio leveled in a way that leads us to consider the nature of their relationship and why, in the end, this feisty couple trumps the two more conventional pairings.

Bob Bows, bbows@colorado drama.com, also reviews theater for KUVO/89.3 FM and on coloradodrama.com.

Colorado Shakespeare Festival's simple take on 'Our Town' as timely as ever

By Mark Collins Camera Theater Critic

Posted: 07/22/2010 12:32:53 AM MDT

It starts with the obvious: We're in Boulder, seeing a play by Thornton Wilder at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Here are the actors and their names are...

That's how the Stage Manager in Wilder's groundbreaking play "Our Town" begins the show.

By the time some of the townsfolk take the stage dressed in white in the third act, CSF's version has cast a spell. This is a lovely, stirring production of a remarkable play.

Wilder penned the play in 1938, and set it famously in Grover's Corners, a sleepy burg in New Hampshire. It's three acts are titled "Daily Life," "Love and Marriage" and "Death and Eternity." We follow several indelible characters through the years, including Emily Webb (Jamie Ann Romero) and George Gibbs (Benjamin Bonefant), who start a young romance that leads to marriage.

The play was radical 70 years ago in that it breaks the fourth wall and refers to itself, conceits now commonplace in contemporary drama. It's also deceptively subtle and doesn't rely on obvious conflict to draw us in or push its plot along.

CSF's "Our Town" cooks slowly, stirs gently, talks plainly until we find we're swirling in something profound. Masterfully, the play touches on the eternal by focusing on the simple daily life and relationships. Never pressing too hard, yet filling the ordinary with color and flavor, CSF's production, directed by CSF first-timer Victoria Evans Erville, captures the play's inherent power.

Erville accents the play's already universal themes with casting, costume and musical choices. Several characters are portrayed by African-American actors, including Beethoven Oden's excellent performance as the Stage Manager. The music played pre-show and during intermissions draws on a range of popular genres from several decades of the 20th century. Costume designer Kevin Brainerd outfits the actors in threads from various decades, too. It's all done with a subtle, unassuming touch. The casting, costumes and music don't come off as a statement, but as a broadening.

Much of the on-stage business is mimed -- cooking, eating -- by the actors, and the sounds are provided by other actors using simple props. At first the practice threatens to overtake the play, but we get used to it.

Led by Oden, the acting ensemble's work is good all around. He boasts a big and pleasing voice, and he's an altogether engaging Stage Manager -- a wise friend, a trustworthy and amiable companion on the journey.

The journey seems like a simple one. After all, "Our Town" is full of daily business -- a milkman makes his rounds, mothers prepare meals, children attend to their schoolwork, friends and family interact.

But this "Our Town" allows us to drift back and forth between Grover's Corners and our own lives in our own town. And it provides us with powerful reminders about what makes our lives worth living.

Contact Camera Theater Critic Mark Collins at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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SINNERS AND SAINTS
MEASURE FOR MEASURE MEASURES UP
BY GARY ZEIDNER

You may not consider yourself a “theater person.” You may be one of the many who feel a twinge of actual fear when contemplating reading — or even just seeing — a work by William Shakespeare. Regardless of your preconceptions or past experiences, I can’t encourage you enough to attend at least one of the performances at this year’s Colorado Shakespeare Festival. While the CSF has been doing great work for over 50 years, this season is really quite spectacular.

The third Shakespeare play of the festival, after the justly famous King Lear and The Taming of the Shrew, is the lesser-known Measure for Measure. Though classified as one of Billy’s comedies, Measure for Measure defies easy categorization. Humor, often of a determinedly bawdy sort, pervades the play, but among the copious laughs, one finds a great deal of commentary on the hypocritical nature of man, the value of mercy and the price of honor. It is also not every comedy in which a beheading plays a crucial role in the outcome of the story.

Set as originally intended in Vienna, Measure for Measure opens with the Duke Vicentio (Robert Sicular) embarking on a journey away from the city. In his absence, the Duke declares that his deputy, Angelo (Chip Persons), shall rule in his stead. Unbeknownst to Angelo or anyone else, the Duke never leaves the city but instead disguises himself as a priest so that he can observe how Angelo rules and learn how the citizens of Vienna truly feel about the Duke himself.

Angelo’s first act as ruler is to begin enforcing the laws against immoral behavior, laws that have been for the most part ignored up until that time. After learning that Claudio (Nick Henderson) has engaged in premarital sex with his fiancée, Juliet (Emily Van Fleet), a fact evidenced by Juliet’s obviously pregnant belly, Angelo orders Claudio put to death, per the statutes. In a last-ditch attempt to save himself, Claudio asks his sister and soon-to-be nun, Isabella (Lenne Klingaman), to beg Angelo for mercy.

When Isabella approaches Angelo she quickly learns that, like modern-day politicians who decry homosexuality but later turn out to be gay themselves, Angelo’s firm stance against immorality does not apply to himself. Angelo demands that the virgin Isabella have sex with him as the price to save Claudio’s life. Despite Claudio’s less-than-brotherly entreaties that Isabella should give in to Angelo’s extortion, she remains firm in her faith and refuses.

Still incognito as the priest, Duke Vicentio learns of Angelo’s treachery and puts a plan in motion that will not only expose Angelo for the scumbag that he is but also save Claudio’s life and Isabella’s virginity. As an added bonus, Duke Vicentio also gets revenge on Lucio (Timothy Orr), a man who repeatedly slanders the Duke to the priest (who, of course, is actually the Duke), and the priest to the Duke (who is, once again, the same person).

In a first in my years of experience with the CSF, Director Scott Williams elects to seat a portion of the audience on stage with the actors. I had my reservations about this approach and feared that it would leave too little space for the actors and prove a distraction to the “main” audience. Thankfully, Williams knew better, and the on-stage seating causes no ill effects.

Robert Sicular, whom I praised in his supporting role in King Lear, is a joy to behold as the Duke. As both the Duke and the priest, Sicular is hilarious to the extreme without ever becoming a caricature. He is ably aided by tremendous performances from Klingaman, whose Isabella is the only character who really has to express a full emotional range, and Orr, whose Lucio provokes wave after wave of laughter from the audience. Stephen Weitz, the Fool in Lear, plays a similar role here as Pompey, a man of questionable morals but infinite good cheer. He, too, deserves special note for the commendable work he does with a relatively small role.

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On the Bill

Measure for Measure plays through Aug. 6 at the indoor University Theatre on the University of Colorado campus.

Tickets are $10-$54.

For tickets or information, please call 303-492-0554 or visit www.coloradoshakes.org.

http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-3032-sinners-and-saints.html

Taming 'Shrew' no simple task

By Mark Collins Camera Theater Critic
Posted: 07/17/2010 12:35:01 AM MDT

You can try and justify it in program notes. You can lighten it in quirky songs and anachronistic costumes.

But in 2010, if you're going to stage the one where the guy tames the girl by torturing her, most of all you'd better make it funny. Shakespeare's un-PC play had better be Potently Comic.

While stretches in the second portion of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's "The Taming of the Shrew" are still hard to stomach -- or rationalize -- this is a funny show.

Director Stephanie Shine and her cast land a light, playful, sometimes even joyous tone throughout much of the production.

One fight scene turns into a Keystone Cops bait and chase. Another finds a character singing Shakespeare's lines to the Italian-American anthem "That's Amore." Later, two characters break into a wonderfully silly dance before their exits, and another accents his monologue with hip-hop moves.

And then, umm, there's the bit about the strong-willed woman being broken like a horse. But we'll get to that later.

For a production that appears to give license to play to its cast, many of the actors, led by Geoffrey Kent, were in mid-run form on opening night. Kent sets the show's twinkle-eyed tone as Grumio, Petruchio's servant.

I'm not fond of actors going way off script in a Shakespeare play. It too often seems a cheap way to produce a laugh. But Kent's shenanigans hit too close to the funny bone to resist.

Augustus Truhn's Petruchio is the picture of roguish charm. He's not the smartest guy in the room; he's not the funniest guy in the room. But he's the most comfortable and confident. If you were starting a football team, this Petruchio would be your quarterback.

Karen Casl brings the typical stomping and shrieking to therole of Kate. But she distinguishes herself in two important scenes -- when she and Petruchio first set eyes on each other, and in the play's all-too-tricky final scene. There Casl infuses her character with passion and poise and respect.

Several other performances in lesser characters stand out and help elevate the show. Alexandra Lewis is delicious as Kate's spoiled younger sister Bianca. Bob Buckley's Baptista is a lovable patriarch, hopelessly overrun by his two daughters.

Karen Slack (as the Widow) and Jamie Ann Romero (Curtis, a servant) are walking examples of that old adage: There are no small parts, only small actors. Both fill their nearly wordless roles with such spark that an enterprising writer could build a play around them.

And God bless costumer Anne Murphy for putting Philip Sneed in white vinyl pants that are about a millimeter from being too tight. Sneed, CSF's producing artistic director, brought his dramatic chops to the Mary Rippon stage as the lead in "Macbeth" two years ago. As a twittering Gremio, Sneed brings the funny. It's a delightful turn.

For her playful costume design Murphy reaches back to the Italian Renaissance and into a contemporary wardrobe. Converse tennis shoes match up with floppy velvet hats or leather pants fit under 17th-century shirts.

The anachronisms make their way most notably into Kevin Dunayer's sound design, too, as baroque trills quickly give way to 20th-century Italian-American classic tunes in several scenes.

All the playfulness, though, can't resolve what for contemporary audiences is the play's most glaring issue. In order to tame his shrew and earn a handsome dowry, and even add to that with various wagers, Petruchio starves Kate, keeps her from sleep, and plays cruel head games. Literally.

Shine tries to move away from the play's notion about men and women and their roles and make this a story about one particular stretch in one particular couple's journey. Every relationship has its settlings and sacrifices, right? The effort almost works. But it's got so much of the play's original language going against it, that it's too tall a task.

Good thing it's a funny show.

Contact Camera Theater Critic Mark Collins at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Colorado Shakespeare Festival's 'Fantasticks' review: Well-loved musical charms

By Mark Collins Camera Theater Critic
Posted: 07/09/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

If not pitch perfect, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's second foray into musical theater is a charming journey.

Following 2008's successful "Woody Guthrie's American Song," this summer CSF is producing "The Fantasticks," the longest running musical in New York history -- Broadway or off.

CSF, under Sands Hall's direction, captures the musical's playfulness, sentiment and surprising depth, and offers a nod to the original along the way. The play, created by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, ran for 42 years, and more than 17,000 performances off-Broadway, beginning in 1960.

Its story draws from "Romeo and Juliet" and the Pyramus and Thisbe tale Shakespeare used in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Luisa (Emily Van Fleet) and Matt (Nick Henderson) are kids who live next door to each other. Unbeknownst to the teens, their parents, Bellomy (Timothy Orr) and Hucklebee (Tammy Meneghini), hatch a plan sure to cause the youngsters to fall in love -- they forbid each other's attention, hire an secret interloper and even build a wall.

Luisa and Matt go against their parents' orders, young love blossoms, they marry, and all live happily ever after. Except there's a second act.

Among the aspects that make "The Fantasticks" work, and surely why it endures, is that its authors blended a romantic notion of love with something more realistic. After falling in love under moonlight, the newlyweds, in Act II, discover each other's faults under the light of day.

Their love is tested and tempered before something deeper and more formidable bond is formed.

The production features two onstage musicians -- J. Arturo Gonzalez (piano, and music director) and Morgan Black (harp). The minimal orchestration puts the cast's vocal prowess front and center. Some actors are more up to the challenge of filling the relatively intimate University Mainstage Theatre in a pleasing manner than others. And so, musically, this is an uneven performance.

Though he was having pitch issues during last week's opening performance, Henderson is an adorable Matt, filling the stage with unbridled boyish enthusiasm in the early parts of the story, and revealing an adult's simmering rage later. Van Fleet is a giddy, playful and undeniable Luisa.

Seth Panitch is a suitable El Gallo, the trickster character who acts as a catalyst for the young lovers' journey. But his delivery of the show's signature melody -- the indelible "Try to Remember" -- misses the song's wistful promise.

Sam Sandoe (as the aging, comically forgetful actor Henry) and Ian Andersen (his beleaguered sidekick Mortimer) nearly steal the show.

Meneghini and Orr make a terrific pair, and provide one of the show's musical highlights with a lively "Plant a Radish." With Van Fleet keeping Henderson on track, the duo's tender "They Were You" is another high point.

Hall cast Meneghini in the role written for a man. Playing Hucklebee as a mother, not a father, works fine. Then again, Meneghini has the kind of acting gifts that could make most any role come alive, and she doesn't disappoint here.

The CSF show captures the musical's theater-troupe-pulling-a-show-out-of-a-box feel, too. (The set for the original off-Broadway production reportedly cost $900.) Bruce A. Bergner's whimsical and evocative scenic design includes a series of attic odds and ends strung overhead.

The original production was staged in the Sullivan Street Theater, which held 150 seats. Hall has placed 36 seats onstage at the University Mainstage Theatre, giving it a theater-in-the-round staging, and tipping a hat to the original version with an intimate setting.

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