Born Yesterday

Last week I got to check out Born Yesterday at the CBT. I'm not the craziest about that type of straight play --is it a comedy? a dramady? a moral lesson with laughs? -- but I did enjoy myself very much. Heather Prete is amazing as Billie Dawn, and the rest of the cast is solid, but it is Jayne Morgan who will knock your socks off. Oh, and I was right, it is all very pretty.

Did you see the show? Review it here!


REVIEW: Born Yesterday (Clarence Brown Theatre)

Cross-blogging

My apologies for keeping this website so unrefreshingly boring. I'm using the excuse that I had a show open, a change of jobs, a friggin' awesome birthday (complete with three people too drunk to do anything but pass out), and a Labor Day devoted to watching snakes eat people.

But now I'm back! And redirecting you to knoxville520.com where you can read the article I wrote about Cal MacLean, the new Artistic Director of the Clarence Brown Theatre.

Calvin is a really nice guy, and took the time out of his day to sit down with me, a sometimes reporter. He is looking to up the ante at the Clarence Brown: making the professional shows more polished, the student shows more hands-on, and the overall educational experience what it should be: educational.

Tangent: I'm glad A Year With Frog and Toad is on the plate this year; maybe this is a sign that the yearly musical selection will be fresh and modern. Perhaps Urinetown or Bat Boy is on the horizon? Or Naked Boys Singing?

The Memory of Water

I'm so behind...

Did you see The Memory of Water at the Oak Ridge Playhouse? If so, rank it!

REVIEW The Memory of Water (Oak Ridge Playhouse)

Last Train to Morristown

This past Saturday evening I made what might be my last trip to see a Morristown Theatre Guild production. Urinetown: The Musical was all I hoped it would be: community theatre at its best. Community theatre at its worst, however, insured that this show was likely to be the Guild's last big hurrah. At curtain call, a very emotional cast gave Micah-Shane a deserved here's-to-you speech, and the audience concurred with a three-minute standing ovation.

And now for thank you, five's first guest review by guest reviewer Howard Y. Haffner:



Morristown Theatre Guild’s production of Urinetown: The Musical demonstrates the strengths of Micah-Shane Brewer’s directing abilities and was well worth my drive from Knoxville. Brewer’s Urinetown: The Musical is an example of how a well thought-out production can bring great music and a great script to audiences outside of major metropolitan areas and get them to enjoy the theatre experience. It was a good sign when I sat down in the theatre before the show and the person behind me was discussing with someone that he typically doesn’t like musicals but he was back for a second time to see this show.

Before the show started various members of the chorus were gradually taking the stage clearly needing to use “Amenity #9” and falling asleep on the stage. Officer Barrel played by Ryan Hubbard then brought the members of the band out through the audience and then up to the stage parading them in their striped convict attire. He locks them in the cage where they will be playing. This was a somewhat funny but mostly strange way to open the show and was not an indication of the great show to come. Fortunately, the opening number "Urinetown" was fantastic and did a great job getting the audience excited for the rest of the show. The energy of the cast was high and stayed that way through the first act.

Michael DeMar gave a wonderful performance as Officer Lockstock and moved the show along very well with his comedic timing. His voice was a bit weak at the beginning of the show but strengthened through the performance. His side kick, Barrel, played along beside him perfectly and Hubbard’s physical comedy kept the audience laughing throughout the show. The highlight of watching these two characters came during the number “Cop Song” which was hilarious. Allison Perfetti’s choreography added to the comedy of this song and the dancing came across as very well rehearsed, more so than other parts of the show. DeMar and Hubbard owned this song and had wonderful timing. This song could have gone horribly wrong in a community theatre with the challenging pacing, dancing and complicated lyrics, but these two actors delivered a flawless performance.

Penelope Pennywise, played by Susan Christophel, was terrific. Christophel brought to mind the screen performance of Queen Latifah as Mama in Chicago. Blend of sass, bitchiness and compassion made it easy for her to gain the audience’s sympathy when she needed it and she still was able to portray the tough shell of a woman who has seen the harsher side of life.

Ed Cunningham developed the character of Caldwell B. Cladwell perfectly. He created a CEO who doesn’t know that he should be self-conscious which is perfect for a man that is so powerful that he controls the city’s population as well as the politicians. Sound issues once again detracted from this otherwise great performance. Cunningham’s songs “Mr. Cladwell” and “Don’t Be the Bunny” were fantastic.

One of the strongest characters in the show was Little Sally played by Allison Perfetti. She gave a fantastic performance from her stage presence and character voice to line delivery. She embraced the Annie type character wholeheartedly.

The chemistry between Bobby Strong, played by Adam Malone, and Hope Cladwell, played by Emily Powers, was evident in the song “Follow Your Heart” and this created a bit of a sweet aspect for this show. While the script won’t allow for a great love story, these two actors brought us enough of one to fulfill that need in a musical. Malone seemed to have a nice voice from what I could hear but there were some sound issues and it was difficult to actually hear him. The same could be said for Powers who had no trouble hitting her notes, but did have some trouble supporting those notes giving her vocal performance a weak quality. Powers did, however, do a fine job portraying the character’s silly, spoiled school girl nature. The sound quality was an issue for the entire show and has been a problem with the other three musicals that I have seen in this theatre. I am not sure if the production crew is fearful of blowing the theatre’s speakers or if the problem comes from a lack of skill in running a soundboard, but it seriously detracts from the otherwise strong productions done by the Guild.

Gary Greenlee and Brewer’s lighting design complimented this show perfectly and even though some of the actors were unable to stay in their light, it was some of the best lighting I have seen recently. Frank Williams and Brewer’s set design is also worth noting and I applaud them for choosing a simpler set which did not overpower the performance of the actors. The set was not particularly fussing and the changes were done with relatively little delay.

Overall, I am extremely pleased to have seen this production of Urinetown: the Musical and the Guild should be very proud of the excellent work that they did on it. I am always impressed when a director can tame a production as large and complicated as this one and bring it to life with few flaws. It is reported that due to the Guild’s financial problems, this is Brewer’s final production in Morristown. Let’s hope that a Knoxville theatre is wise enough to snap up this great director so that his excellent talents are not lost from East Tennessee. Job well done.

Howard Y. Haffner
8/21/06

The State of Knoxville Theatre

As many of you likely saw, The Baron Von Wasteland posted this comment in thank you, five's recent KATC poll:

NO Awards
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The thought of the KATC awards staggering back to life is ridiculous.

The greatest impediment to theatre anywhere in the US is a distinct lack of respect for the purpose of theatre. The act of a performance must arouse the ineffable feeling of connection and moment that has remained unchanged since the greeks invented theatre as a way to connect to this heightened consciousness. A feeling so important they called it "the god"(Dionysus).

Most American actors are on stage for one thing: personal vanity. the proof of this vanity is easily seen by most actors actions. Actors do not cooperate or work together, they do not seek to bring truth or integrity to their performance, and they refuse to get far enough beyond their own fears to reach that point of connection when they seem witnesses to their performances rather than the authors of their performances.

Thus shows are dull, inept, and unispired. There is no semblence of art in what is on stage. It all, to paraphrase The Bard, "signifies nothing."

With all this in mind, the thought of an additional source of potential narcissism, the KATC awards, is the LAST thing this town needs to improve theatre. The reason all the infighting and pointless intrigues associated with the former KATCs occured was presisely because no one involved understood or respected what's truly important about theatre. Anyone who did understand what's important likely ignored the KATCs or just didn't participate.

So forget it. It you want accolades buy yourself a trophy and keep your self-adoration TO YOUR SELF. If you want to improve local theatre, and increase interest in same, get off your self-reverential ass, leave your ego at the door, and go create something worthy of the god.

(KATC, for those of you still wondering, stood for the Knoxville Area Theatre Coalition, a group whose main function was to deliver the KATC awards once a year in a drunken, Oscar-ly fashion.)

Okay, kids, let's discuss. The Baron does a LOT of generalizing here.

"Actors do not cooperate or work together." I find this ridiculous. If we don't work together, the play doesn't come together. I've rarely come across the actor who refuses to cooperate because his ego won't allow him to move from stage center. The directors in this town -- even the ones plying their trades in community theatre-land -- are smarter than to let egotistical buffoons trainwreck their shows.

"They do not seek to bring truth or integrity to their performance." Because we don't want the audience to believe us? And what about the director of the show? Did he not cast us because we showed some semblance of the truth that he and the audience are after?

"And they refuse to get far enough beyond their own fears to reach that point of connection." Is the Baron only watching high school theatre by night and Passions by day? I have seen many a fearless performance in this town. I have seen audiences weep openly at the connections they are experiencing. Is the Baron perhaps refusing to go beyond his own fears of connecting with the human beings he is watching? Or does the Baron only connect to ancient, translated Greek tragedy?

I would like to assert my belief that there are a lot of people doing theatre in this town for the sake of the art. Yes, some of them are doing it because they didn't get enough love in their childhoods. However, it is in my experience that, in the end, the love of the craft outweighs the love of the self. I've seen some amazing theatre in this town. Surely I'm not the only person who has been moved. Let me give a damn award to the people that moved me.

Let's do the drag thing agaaiaan..

A note from Ms. Schwabe:



In Knoxville: August 27th, 1-5pm, at The Fairbanks

In Harriman: August 31st, 6-10pm, at Roane State Community College

For more info, call 865-882-4589.

Blog it, and they will bitch.

It's amazing how burned up people can get about a blog that twenty people view per day.

I thought it would take a bit longer than this, but the thank you, five backlash has begun. I've been criticized for not being hard-hitting enough in my reviews, even though I've made it clear when I haven't actually seen a show. And I've been chided for daring to mention the possibility of bringing back some sort of award show. Here's what I personally think of theatre awards in this town:

1. If brought back, an awards show would be an event where we could all come together and do the thing we all love to do: talk about theatre.

2. Believe it or not, theatre is a business. And while some of us want to work full-time jobs and do theatre as a hobby, some of us actually want to get paid for it. Being a theatre professional requires building a resume, and building a resume includes quoting reviewers, but shows in this town often don't get any ink. It also includes listing awards. Right now, unless you're an undergraduate at UT or in high school, there aren't any awards to speak of.

3. Yes, awards can be self-serving. So are resumes. So are myspace pages. If there is a way for the Knoxville community of theatre-goers to fairly thank the artists in this town for their work, it does everyone good. Theatre is for the masses. Let the masses tell us how we've done our job. Maybe we could then do better.

On a different tangent, I'm an actor. As much fun as it would be to rip everyone in this town a new asshole on some meaningless blog, it is, in the end, not my pervading style. It shouldn't be any actor's style. Actors shouldn't be professional, semi-professional, or part-time reviewers. It doesn't work. All I really wanted to do here was to create a forum for things to be discussed.

If you want to review shows in depth, please, be my guest. Please send me your name, a summary of your background in theatre, and a sample review to thankyoufive@gmail.com. It would be great to have other people's thoughts and views on this blog. Furthermore, if you have your own blog about Knoxville theatre you would like linked from this site, please send me your information and I will be happy to swap links. The more people that are talking about theatre, the better.


Oh, how heated people can get about the state of theatre in this town. Surely that's a good sign.

Urine Morristown

Morristown Theatre Guild's Urinetown opened this past Friday at Walters State CC, and continues through this weekend and the next. Shows are Friday and Saturday nights at 8, and Sunday afternoons at 2. Rate it if you saw it!



REVIEW Urinetown: The Musical (Morristown Theatre Guild)



Undermining the general glee at the opening of a cool, fresh-from-Broadway musical in East Tennessee is the news that Micah-Shane Brewer is no longer the Artistic Director of the Theatre Guild. While no one expected such a talented guy to stay around these parts forever, no one anticipated a lazy accountant not realizing the Theatre Guild couldn't afford to cut its own AD a check halfway through the season. So, six months sooner that anyone wanted, Mr. Brewer now has his sights set on a bigger town.

Morristown's gonna miss ya, Micah-Shane. How is anyone going to fill his shoes?

Review what you've seen!

In the future, I will post these when the shows actually open, instead of belatedly all-at-once. With any luck, these easy-breezy review polls will be only a precursor to a hip, all-inclusive, awards-enabling review system.

I offer polls for the three shows I've mentioned at all in-depth so far, plus one for Taming of the Shrew, which I unfortunately did not get to see.

REVIEW Henry V (Tennessee Stage Company)
Did you see the show? If so, rank the production. 10 (Mind-blowingly Excellent) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Mind-numbingly Awful) Current Results

REVIEW Taming of the Shrew (Tennessee Stage Company)
Did you see the show? If so, rank the production. 10 (Mind-blowingly Excellent) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Mind-numbingly Awful) Current Results

REVIEW Hello, Dolly! (Oak Ridge Playhouse)
Did you see the show? If so, rank the production. 10 (Mind-blowingly Excellent) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Mind-numbingly Awful) Current Results

REVIEW Hedwig and the Angry Inch (The Actors Co-op)
Did you see the show? If so, rank the production. 10 (Mind-blowingly Excellent) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Mind-numbingly Awful) Current Results

August round-up

Here's what's going on in Theatre-land this month:




Aug 4: Urinetown: The Musical opens at Morristown Theatre Guild. Some of my favorite Morristown performers are in it: Susan Christophel (Bat Boy's redneck citizen), Kayla Ricker (Sweeney's Mrs. Lovett), Destry Cloud (West Side's cutey-pie). There are gonna be a lot of Knoxville kids making the trip up to Mo-town for this one.

Aug 11: The Memory of Water at the Oak Ridge Playhouse. All I know about this production is that I get e-mails from ORP telling me to get my tickets now!! Is there a mad Oak Ridge rush to see dark comedies I'm unaware of? Maybe there's a mad rush to see Steve Belding topless.




Aug 24: Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love opens at the Black Box Theatre. Tony Cedeno, who has graced the CBT stage many a time over the years, is newly at the helm of this nudey-slasher. (My favorite all-time Tony performances? As Max in Bent and as the dentist in Little Shop.) Why should you see this show? One hyphenated word: carpet-munching.




Aug 24: Born Yesterday opens at the Clarence Brown Theatre. I still don't know anything about this one, but I'm sure it will be real pretty. I wonder who is directing this one. Calvin perhaps?

Meanwhile, at the CCP, performances of Cuckoo's Nest, Smoke on the Mountain (kill me), and Singin' in the Rain continue this month. Furthermore, why have you not seen Hedwig yet?