All posts by Scott G

5th Ave’s Damn Yankees is Darned Good

May 7, 2012 Scott G

Mr. Applegate (Hans Altwies) and Lola (Chryssie Whitehead) in Damn Yankees at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo: Chris Bennion

While anarchists were proving they had nothing better to do on a Tuesday in May, the 5th Avenue Theatre production of Damn Yankees (through May 20; tickets) took us back to sweeter, simpler time when a guy could sell his soul to the devil and still have a chance to get it back (Hint: keep your receipt).

Anchored by strong dancing and the conviction to play it sincerely, this production is just the antidote you need to any anarchists spray painting Porsche Cayennes outside.

The Adler and Ross musical comedy, set in the ’50s, is essentially an update of the Faust legend. Middle-aged real estate agent Joe Boyd loves his Washington Senators baseball team so much, he doesn’t have to think too hard when the devil, in the personage of “Mr. Applegate” offers to turn him into the “long ball hitter” in his 20s that the Senators need to win the pennant from the all-powerful Yankees.

Abandoning his wife, he trots off to “come out of nowhere” to get a spot on the Senators’ roster. In a weak moment, Mr. Applegate gives Joe an escape clause on his “baseball stud for soul” contract, and it ends right when the Senators need Joe to close the pennant.

Dancing is the star here, led by the excellent corps of male dancers who make up the members of the Washington Senators. Their acrobatic dancing, flipping, and tapping gives the whole show a sincere, nostalgic, irony-free sweetness that works. As Gloria, the reporter who is out to prove that Joe isn’t what he seems, Nancy Anderson holds her own and she cartwheels across the stage like a gymnast in “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO.”

As the new Joe, Christopher Charles Wood has a beautiful, warm voice that fits the era of the story. He is most compelling as an actor in the scenes in which he visits (as the young baseball god) his wife Meg, played by the always wonderful Patti Cohenour. Their scenes and songs (“A Man Doesn’t Know” and “Near to You”) are really touching, as Joe admits to missing his old life (despite his awesome new one) and Meg to missing the husband who left without explanation.

This musical is owned by the bad guys, though. As Mr. Applegate, local favorite Hans Altwies is all confident swagger and delicious evilness. His Applegate lures Joe away from his middle-class, middle-aged life effortlessly. It’s easy to see how a less-confident actor might be tempted to amp up the evil here, but Altwies is an actor who knows that sometimes less is more.

And sometimes more is more. As Lola, the vamp brought up by Applegate from the home office to seduce Joe away from his nostalgia for his old life, and past his escape-clause expiration date, Chryssie Whitehead is magnetic. She’s an accomplished dancer and a decent singer, but she also has that charismatic spark that calls her out as a star. When she’s on stage, you have a hard time taking your eyes off of her. You have no problem believing that what Lola wants, Lola gets.

Arts & Entertainment, Off-Task

All About the Cosplay at Sakura-Con 2012

April 14, 2012 Scott G 5 Comments

SakuraCon 2012 Sylvanas Windrunner (480x640)

SakuraCon 2012 Tom Servo and Crow (480x640)

Gina DeBenedictis (21) is from Bellevue, and this is her ninth Sakura-Con. She’s cosplaying as 00 Gundam Girl. She said it took about 10 months to do the costume, “It was pretty much waking up, working on it, taking a break for eating, working on it, then going to sleep.” Her mecha costume is made of craft foam, foam core, paper-maché. This is her first time wearing it to Sakura-Con.

My “Best in Show” pick is Steven (27) from Everett, cosplaying as Ryuk from Death Note. This is his second Sakura-Con. He loves the Death Note series and thought no one was pulling off the character well, in his opinion, at the last Con. Costume took about a week. He purchased the iconic black spiky hair. Everything else, the feathers, the rest of the costume, he put together himself. The apple makes it.

Abby (17), Lauren (17) and Jennifer (18) from Portland were cosplaying as Ulquiorra Cifer, Orihime Inoue, and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez (respectively) from the Bleach series. They are here cosplaying as these characters because, as Lauren puts it, “These are really fun costumes to do.” She’s the seamstress of the group and sewed all the costumes herself, and even made the shoes. Lauren says that the hardest part of sewing these costumes is that there isn’t a pattern available; it’s more trial and error. This is something I heard quite a bit from others who make their own costumes.

Abi (27) from Lynnwood was cosplaying as Sylvanas Windrunner from the World of Warcraft game. This is her fourth Sakura-Con. When I asked why she chose this costume, she said she used to play WoW and “wanted a challenge.” Asked how she got into anime, she said her brothers were all anime fans, and she got pulled in. She leans more towards games than anime, and she thinks that the increase in cosplaying girls and women at Sakura-Con is related to the fact that game companies are starting to cater games more to girls. “Now,” she says, “there are games where the girls are leads instead of just pretty.” This was a common theme when I asked how women and girls found their passion for cosplay: many of them discover it through gaming.

Abby pulls anime, cosplay, and gaming together in her involvement with a group called the D20 Girls (where she is the editor of the group’s magazine). It’s a business that combines social networking, talent management, event services, and independent publications to promote the positive image of female gamers in the gaming industry.

Robert (25) and Kim (24) from Seattle had two of the most elaborate costumes at the Con, cosplaying as Dark Paladin and Magician’s Valkyria from the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Why did they choose these characters? Robert sums it up with: “I thought they looked awesome.” It took about four months to make these costumes, with ¼-in. foam and craft foam. Robert works as a software engineer, and spent his time after work crafting this remarkably detailed costume. He even cast the green jewels on his gloves out of epoxy resin, finishing them off with nail polish.

Denzel (19) is Sazh Katzroy from Final Fantasy 13. He is one of the few African American cosplayers I saw at the Con. “Sometimes it’s hard with people of…darker skin…to cosplay,” he said. Then he saw FF13, with “this guy who had these two guns and this big afro and this bird in his hair, and it’s just like ‘I’m gonna do that.’” What is notable about cosplay, though, is how the race--or even gender--of the cosplayers relative to the character just really isn’t an issue. There were more girl Luffys than boy Luffys running around, girl Grimmjows, it doesn’t seem to matter.

Sometimes you also get random non-anime or game-based characters that show up. Like Jesus. Or bacon. Or even Tom Servo and Crow from MST3K. Totally worth spending a sunny Saturday indoors.

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Weather-wise, it was the nicest Saturday in a while, and while the rest of you were walking Green Lake or mowing your yards, I was hanging with the Otaku in the caverns of the Convention Center at Sakura-Con 2012. The annual anime and manga gathering brought fans together from all over the Northwest, North America, Japan, and even Norway to cosplay, watch anime, attend panels, and buy lots and lots of anime- and manga-related stuff.

There is no way I can compete with the comprehensiveness and sheer awesomeness of Andrew Boscardin’s review of Emerald City Comicon. That was a hard act to follow. So instead, let’s peek into the lives of cosplayers we met along the way to find out why they chose the character they play…and what went into making their costumes.

Arts & Entertainment, Dance

O Fortuna! PNB’s Pits Apollo vs. Carmina Burana at McCaw Hall

April 14, 2012 Scott G

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Batkhurel Bold in Apollo, choreographed by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Angela Sterling

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Maria Chapman as Calliope in Apollo, choreographed by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Angela Sterling

Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist Sarah Ricard Orza and principal dancer Batkhurel Bold in Apollo, choreographed by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Angela Sterling

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Batkhurel Bold with (l-r) principal dancer Maria Chapman, soloist Sarah Ricard Orza, and principal dancer Lesley Rausch in Apollo, choreographed by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Angela Sterling

Set designer Ming Cho Lee's colossal twenty-six-foot golden wheel shares the stage with the Seattle Choral Company and Pacific Northwest Ballet company dancers in Kent Stowell’s Carmina Burana. Photo © Angela Sterling

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers Lesley Rausch and Lucien Postlewaite in Kent Stowell’s Carmina Burana. Photo © Angela Sterling

Tenor Marcus Shelton and Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist Benjamin Griffiths with company dancers in Kent Stowell’s Carmina Burana. Photo © Angela Sterling

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Carrie Imler with company dancers and the Seattle Choral Company in Kent Stowell’s Carmina Burana. Photo © Angela Sterling

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The opening night of Apollo and Carmina Burana at Pacific Northwest Ballet was an evening of contrasts (at McCaw Hall through April 22; tickets). Stripped-down classicism against big and bawdy. Slow and stylized against frenetic. In both cases, it was PNB playing to its strengths.

Apollo is my favorite ballet, and PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal’s staging of the Balanchine masterpiece was spot-on. It helps that Boal is known for owning the role while a dancer at New York City Ballet. Boal estimates that he has performed the role well over 100 times over 20 years, and that experience shows in the depth of his staging. He even danced it in Brazil with a 14-year-old ballet student (and now PNB Principal) named Carla Körbes dancing Terpsichore.

The piece is set to Igor Stravinsky’s Apollon Musagète, which begins with an almost movie-western feel. The curtain opens to the young god posed with his lyre and a small stool on stage. Principal Batkhurel Bold danced the lead role in this performance. As Apollo, Bold hits all the technical notes with a restrained strength. What was missing for me was a sense that this was a young god aware of his power. Though he danced the role beautifully, Bold lacked the cockiness of other Apollos I have seen (including Boal)–it was almost like you could see him thinking about his next move.

Apollo’s three muses, Terpsichore (Sarah Ricard Orza), Calliope (Maria Chapman), and Polyhymnia (Lesley Rausch), enter with high kicks, melting into a bow before their master who created them. Their dancing together is a beautiful blend of symmetry and asymmetry, with moments of tangled controlled chaos as they move across the stage with arms entwined and moments of angular clarity.

All three muses are wonderful, but the real standout is Orza. Ballet is, of course, about the feet, but it’s also about the arms and hands. The grace and detail that Orza creates with her arms and hands is remarkable. They are lyricism defined. Even small movements add to the moment, such as when her fingers close subtly along with the decay of the last note in a phrase. It’s the level of musicality that I wish was matched by her Apollo. When that happens, it’s magic.

The final pose in the piece is one of the most sculptural. Apollo stands with one leg at a 45-degree angle behind him, with his left arm stretched out to continue the line, right arm pushed forward, while his muses lean against him, Terpsichore at front and the others behind her, their legs fanning out behind him. Always breathtaking.

Where Apollo is restrained asceticism, Carmina Burana, by contrast, is on the other end of the spectrum. As the curtain opens, audience members gasped at the sight of the Seattle Choral Company suspended upstage above the stage, as set designer Ming Cho Lee’s ginormous “wheel of fortune” looms above the rest of the stage. Contrasts abound in this production, with unitard-clad, naked-looking dancers playing against peasant-looking people in skirts and puffy shirts. It is innocence versus knowledge. Piety versus carnality. Fortunately for us, carnality wins!

In the Primo Vere movement, Kaori Nakamura and ~~Jonathan Porretta~~ [UPDATE: last minute casting change: it was James Moore], dressed in peasant clothes, are young love. Nakamura is not only able to express this through dance, but her face just radiates that first blush of love that will never come again. Their piece is contrasted by Lesley Rausch and Lucien Postlewaite, in flesh-colored unitards, balancing this innocence in the Cour D’Amour movement. Theirs is a familiar, mature love. It’s a depth of love that comes with knowledge and time. Together, they were glorious, languid and touching.

The vocal soloists were outstanding. Tenor Marcus Shelton nailed the brutally high demands of his role, and soprano Christina Siemens was good as well. Baritone Michael Anthony McGee was the stand-out here. His performance had more dynamics, more emotion, than you typically hear in Carmina performances.

With the entire company, plus advanced students, plus choir and soloists on stage, Carmina Burana was thrilling. In terms of sheer beauty though, I’m sticking with the god and his muses–and Balanchine’s genius.

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

The Village Theatre’s It Shoulda Been You Coulda Been More

March 28, 2012 Scott G

Cast of *It Shoulda Been You* (photo: Jay Koh)

The Village Theatre’s new musical, It Shoulda Been You, tells the story of the wedding of a nice Jewish girl to a nice, sweater-tied-around-the neck Catholic boy, and their families who don’t want them to get married. (Tickets available now through April 22 at the Gaudette Theatre in Issaquah and April 27–May 20 at the Everett Performing Arts Center.) While the production is enjoyable and has good musical moments and performances, it can’t quite escape the stereotype gravity that surrounds it. Oy.

In the program’s authors’ notes, Brian Hargrove (book and lyrics) and Barbara Anselmi (composer) state that this is a story that only seems at first glance seems to be about clichéd characters in a clichéd situation. But though there is developing complexity in the story (and somewhat in the character development), it never loses its cliché veneer. Then again, maybe the Seattle liberal in me can’t turn down my PC radar far enough just to relax and enjoy it for what it is.

At the heart of the production is Leslie Law, who plays the bride’s mother, Judy Steinberg, with gusto. In the Broadway version, she’d be played by Linda Lavin, Patti LuPone, Tyne Daly, or anyone else who has played Mama Rose in Gypsy. Law’s Judy is loud, demanding, praising of her skinny daughter, and critical of her not-so-skinny one. While Law manages to have the audience on Judy’s side even while she’s berating her daughter, the groom’s mother, her husband, or her daughter’s maid of honor, it’s hard to see Judy, as written, as anything other than someone’s idea of the “typical Jewish mother” stereotype. And yes, I know there is a longstanding relationship between stereotype and comedy, it just seems like this was a missed opportunity to add more depth to the character.

Equally derivative is the groom’s mother, Georgette, played by Jayne Muirhead. Drunk from the first moment we see her, she’s all St. John and Bellevue hair. In the Broadway version, she would be played by the amazingly talented Christine Baranski from The Good Wife. Her best moment is a funny and somewhat poignant song about her blatant attempt to ensure that she is always the center of her son’s attention and affection. In “Where Did I Go Wrong?” she sings about all she did to keep him, going so far as to try to turn her son gay by taking him to musicals as a boy. Anecdotal evidence might support that methodology, but still, that’s a bit much.

The appearance of the bride’s ex-boyfriend Marty on the wedding day gives us the title song and the best number in the show, “It Shoulda Been You.” Beloved by the bride’s family, Marty comes in to stop the wedding. They tell him it should be him their daughter is marrying, not the Gentile who “speaks Yiddish like he learned it from a nun.” Those of us who have been the family favorite but didn’t get the girl (or boy) can all relate.

The audience sees the show through the eyes of the bride’s sister Jenny, played by Kat Ramsburg. Ramsburg has a big, clear, expressive voice that takes her from a Disney princess-like “I Never Wanted This” to the bluesy, ballsy “Jenny’s Blues,” that is her “When You’re Good to Mama” moment. She is perfectly cast for the sister who plans the wedding but is doubtful of her chance to have her own.

It Shoulda Been You is a still a new work in development, so there is still opportunity to turn down the “oy”s to a more respectable level before it moves on to other theatres, as it will likely do. This show does tackle some tricky, contemporary themes that would, in my view, be more impactful if the characters were a bit more real.

Arts & Entertainment, Dance, Music, Theatre

Oklahoma!‘s Kicks are as High as, Well, You Know (Review)

February 14, 2012 Scott G

The Cast of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! at the 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo: Chris Bennion

Oklahoma! at the 5th Avenue Theatre (tickets available now through March 4) is as good a production as you’ll likely ever see of this classic R&H musical. What makes it that much better is the choreography by Donald Byrd–giving this already solid production a depth that you don’t often see in the show.

Byrd, the artistic director of Spectrum Dance Theater, is a world-class choreographer who has created pieces for major dance companies all over the globe. Having him choreograph a show and embed his dancers in it is sort of like bringing a gun to a knife fight. Not to take anything away from the fine choreographers that the 5th and its colleagues typically use, it’s just that this isn’t your typical musical theatre dancing.

It starts with the song “Kansas City,” in which the actors blend ballet-infused moves into western and ragtime styles. It is, however, in the “dream ballet” sequence at end of Act II, that we see Byrd’s signature most clearly. Overtly balletic, the dancing in the scene embodies Byrd’s telltale mixture of humor and darkness, sexuality and violence (especially when Laurey is dragged by Jud across the stage as his conquest). It’s classic Byrd: beautiful with a pulse of malevolence that reminds us that not all is pretty on the prairie.

It’s not just the dancing that makes this production special. There are some standout performances, big and small, that raise the level of the game. Eric Ankrim as Curley would give anyone else who has played that role (with the possible exception of Hugh Jackman, sans claws) a run for their money. Ankrim brings an easy confidence to Curley, with no false notes. The always-good Anne Allgood plays Aunt Eller as both wise and wise-ass in a way that grounds the entire production. Someone always has to be the adult, and she plays it beautifully. David Pichette as Ike Skidmore–a role that shows up first in Act II and doesn’t really have a whole lot to say–shows us yet again how an amazing actor in a relatively small part can give the production so much more headroom.

Even smaller moments, such as when dancer Amber Nicole Mayberry regally, lovingly reaches down to turn over Jud after he is stabbed, add a dimension to this production that you wouldn’t expect. Her small act, and the focus and dignity she brings to it, changes everything in that moment, humanizing Jud in an instant.

Standing literally over all of them was Kyle Scatliffe as Jud. A big man, Scatliffe has an even bigger voice–warm, booming and powerful. When he’s on stage, there is a buzz and tension that owes something to the character he plays but more to the actor portraying him. In his Act I aria “Lonely Room,” Scatliffe unleashes fury and power as he convinces himself that his options for a meaningful life with Laurey are dwindling and that he must take action. As he does so, red light seeps through the slats of his smokehouse, growing in intensity with the billowing intensity of his emotion. Like a hot wind whipping down the plain.

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

An Oscar-Worthy Odd Couple at The Village Theatre (Review)

January 31, 2012 Scott G 2 Comments

After Snowpocalypse postponed opening night, I went to see Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple at Issaquah’s Village Theatre (tickets now through February 26 at the Gaudette Theatre in Issaquah and March 2–25 at the Everett Performing Arts Center). Until now, my exposure to the Odd Couple franchise was limited to the TV show from the early ’70s, and, as someone who is sort of, um, tidy, I always identified with Felix. But at this production, I found myself surprisingly identifying with Oscar. Or at the very least I was Oscar-curious.

Directed by Seattle theatre vet Jeff Steitzer, this play is all about timing. As sportswriter Oscar Madison, Charles Leggett is masterful about delivering his lines with a dry, perfectly-timed style that showed he could be the character and at the same time get out of the character’s way. Part of the enduring nature of this play–which premiered in 1965 and has been in production ever since–is the brilliance of the writing. The cast as a whole trusted this and resisted the temptation to make bits bigger or jokier. They played it straight and didn’t try to overdeliver the comedy. With a play this tested, it was a wise choice.

So why did I find myself in Oscar this time? I think because of Leggett’s decision to make Oscar more than a mere caricature. It’s also a testament to his skill as an actor. For example, when Felix complains that he strained his throat while humming to clear his ears, Oscar’s cutting “Why don’t you leave yourself alone?” is both mocking, and delivered by Leggett, oddly caring. Leggett’s Oscar centered around the idea that the people we love can drive us crazy, but we still love them. That conflict came through in his performance and resonated. With me anyway.

Chris Ensweiler’s Felix Ungar was less about nuance and more about comedy. Where Leggett was about subtlety–even when screaming, if that makes sense–Ensweiler went for the laughs. It’s not a criticism; the play probably works best when someone goes big. And when you consider the many well-known actors who have played the role (Martin Short, Art Carney, Billy Crystal, Matthew Broderick, and, oh yes, Pat Sajak), it’s easy to see that you need that kind of foil if you are going to get the humanity out of Oscar. Ensweiler is a skilled physical comedian, and this is evident in big ways and small. When sitting alone with the British Pigeon sisters, his body language makes you feel how desperately uncomfortable he is.

The realistic apartment set by scenic designer Martin Christoffel looked great. The rest of the cast is uniformly strong. Again, the Village gives us a top-notch production.

The SunBreak