by Jan Davisson
The Mystery of Edwin Drood at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre where the audience decided who committed the dastardly deed.
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre opened the season with “a laugh a minute” comedy. It was like watching 90 minutes of Saturday Nite Live. Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors was the perfect way to start out the 2019/2020 season. Opening night, the entire staff wore costumes. Since it was Halloween, it added to the mood immediately. The play, a spoof by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, is based upon the original Dracula by Bram Stoker. The writing by Greenberg and Rosen is clever with a contemporary twist of dialog that had the audience doubled over in laughter. Set on a stark stage, the 90-minute farce featured five actors and eleven characters. The transformations were nothing but incredible. A couple of life size puppets were thrown into the mix to add to the amazing staging. The production, a world premier, adds a wonderful gift of laughter to American Theater. Hope that it continues to new heights.
December provided a cleverly written musical mystery by Rupert Holmes, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It was adapted by Holmes from Charles Dickens’ last unfinished script with Holmes adding the music. The stage setting transformed the Maltz Jupiter Theatre into a Victorian Dance Hall incorporating British pantomime and music hall traditions. It’s show within a show, with the audience making the final decision of “who done it!”
The excitement started the moment you entered the theater as the costumed characters were roaming around conversing with audience members. Each actor played a number of roles. Most notable was Autumn Hurlbert, making her Maltz Jupiter Theatre debut in the twin roles of Alice Nutting and Edwin Drood. She was a delight as both characters. All the “red herrings” pointed the finger at John Preator (Mr. John Jasper). Preator was perfect as the dastardly villain, but did he really kill Edwin Drood? Or was it Drood’s bride to be, Miss Deirdre Peregrine/Miss Rose Bud portrayed by Heather Botts, who Jasper is infatuated with? The melodrama was so loaded with clues, it could have been any of the actors. Each night the audience voted on the conclusion as to who killed Edwin Drood. The cast was prepared no matter who was selected. It was a fast-paced evening of skullduggery with clever lines and songs sung by extremely talented actors. Just a lot of fun! When the show opened on Broadway, it received a Tony for five of the eleven nominations.
The Jazz Age musical Chicago starts the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’ s 2020 productions off with a lot of razzle dazzle January 14-February 2.
Next Up, everyone’s favorite bad girls, Velma and Roxie bring the Roaring Twenties back to life in Chicago, a musical with music by John Kander and lyrics and play by Fred Ebb and Bob Fossie. Many of the songs continue to be popular since Chicago opened in 1977. From flapper costumes to great music, clever lyrics and the stylized choreography of Bob Fosse, Chicago is a treat.
This dazzling play is based on a book by real-live reporter Maurine Dallas Watkings about real-life murders and trials that she had covered. The Jazz Age story is about Velma, who entertains in a duo act with her sister and finds out that her husband and sister have a thing going on the side. Velma kills them both and ends up in jail. The press is consumed with the popular murderess as she awaits trial. That is, until Roxie, a struggling vaudevillian, kills her lover and tries to get her gullible husband, Amos, to take the blame. Along with Billy Flynn, the publicity-seeking lawyer for both women, Roxie soon becomes the darling of the press displacing Velma. With a supporting cast of “prisoners” who perform “Cell Block Tango,” Matron Mama Morton, who helps whom ever pays her best, Roxie’s abused innocent husband and Mary Sunshine who controls the airwaves with her reporting of the women’s outrageous, ever-changing stories, Chicago is an evening of excitement. The production opens at the Maltz Jupiter Theater on January 14 through February 2, 2020.
Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Rd, Jupiter. Tickets: 561.575.2223; www.jupitertheatre.org
Palm Beach Dramaworks world premier of Ordinary People featuring Elizabeth Dimon as Molly Goldberg the star of the radio classic, The Goldbergs and Rob Donohoe as Cardinal Spellman. Photo credit: Alicia Donelan
After the extraordinary opening production of Streetcar Named Desire, Palm Beach Dramaworks had to do something spectacular for its holiday presentation. And they did. It’s the world premiere of Joseph McDonough’s Ordinary Americans directed by PBD Producing Artistic Director William Hayes.
Being a former radio person, I’m intrigued by the story line. Back in the late forties, the House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee branded people without any proof of subversive activities. At this time, Gerturde Berg wrote and starred in The Goldbergs. The show had been a regular feature on the radio since 1929 and ran for 20 years before becoming one of television’s earliest sitcoms. Along with Amos and Andy and Duffy’s Tavern, The Goldbergs created an image of ethnic America. It presented a look of the life of ordinary Americans who happen to be a different ethnic background. It was a humorous look at the life of a New York family.
The Goldberg’s happened to be about Molly, the matriarch of a Jewish family living in the Bronx. It was a gentle comedy with lots of great Jewish humor and gently tweaked things happening throughout the USA.
Unfortunately, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), much like the McCarthy Hearings, branded people and then coerced testimony from people afraid to be put on the Blacklist.
“Gertrude Berg was responsible for a television show which fostered the idea that, regardless of who we are, where we come from or how we worship, people are basically the same and fundamentally good. But then, she and her wonderful, big-hearted ensemble are threatened by the Red Scare, and life is never the quite the same. Ordinary Americans serves as a warning and reminder of the damning effects of fear and paranoia on good people on society. I believe this is the the timeliest production in PBD’s History,” said Director Bill Hayes.
The starring role of Gertrude Berg (Molly Goldberg) is brilliantly played by award-winning actress, Elizabeth Dimon with David Kwiat as Philip Loeb. Kwiat is her television husband who is being branded by HUAC as a Communist sympathizer and is being placed on the Blacklist, which included folks like Arthur Miller, Charlie Chaplin and Judy Holiday.
Berg’s refusal to fire Philip Loeb leads to the demise of the television show, which was the most popular comedy on the air at the time. Tom Wahl as Roger Addington, then head of NBC, captures the feelings of a studio head who is being pressured by sponsors and HUAC to conform to their demands. Wahl starts out gently but soon gives in to the powers that be. Margery Lowe as Fanny Merrial, Berg’s administrative assistant, carries the difficult role of trying to keep Berg from making mistakes and handling the problems with diplomacy. South Florida actor Rob Donohoe plays Uncle David, complete with Yiddish accent, then switches to a diner owner, soap sponsor and even Cardinal Spellman portraying a complete change of characters. All of the actors except Dimon play several roles.
Dimon brought the idea to the attention of Hayes who loved the possibility of creating a wonderful drama. Playwright Joseph McDonough developed and wrote the play featuring a dark, disgraceful chapter in American history, using Gertrude Berg’s experience with trying to stick up for her rights to a corporate society that is afraid to buck the system. Dimon in the role of Gertrude Berg is phenomenal. A play truly written for her outstanding talents.
I cannot fathom the amount of energy, imagination and frustration that goes into directing an original play, but William Hayes made it look easy with this flawless new play.
Ordinary Americans opened on December 6 and has already been extended through January 5. Ordinary Americans was a featured new play in the Dramaworkshop Festival in 2019. The Festival for 2020 will be held from January 10-12 and features five play readings, as well as a chance to have lunch with the artist and a playwrights Forum with the Festival’s five dramatists. Who knows, maybe it will produce another world premiere for the 2020/21 season!
Opening on February 7 is Skylight by David Hare, the winner of the 1996 Olivier Award for Best New Play. Tickets are now on sale.
Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach FL 33401 Tickets: 561.514.4042 Ext. 2; www.palmbeachdramaworks.org
A Bronx Tale opens January 7-12 as part of the Kravis on Broadway Series at the Kravis Theatre for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. Photo credit: Joan Marcus
Can’t say enough about the stunning production of the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof. From the clever staging and costumes to the outstanding cast, it was over the top.
Two minutes into the production, the chorus started with Traditions and blew everyone away. It sounded like a chorus of 100!
The story remained the same; however, the choreography was recreated by Christopher Evans who strived to make it more like a real event. The original production was directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins with Hofesh Shechter. Beautiful music, wonderful story, great acting…what else can one want in a production?
Kravis on Broadways’ first show of 2020 is A Bronx Tale. It takes place during the sixties and revolves around a young Italian-American boy, Calogero Anello, living in a section of the Bronx run by Mafia boss Sonny. His admiration for Sonny does not go unnoticed, and soon he is taken under the wing of the crime boss and being taught how to live a gangsters way of life. This is in direct conflict to his hardworking father’s values. The mental conflict of admiring the lifestyle of Sonny and yet knowing that family love and values would not condone a gangster way of life creates the conflict throughout the play. Set in the sixties, the music features some great doo-wop renditions. A Bronx Tale was written by Chazz Palminteri as a one-man show. He also wrote the screenplay and co-starred in the adaptation along with Robert De Niro who played the young boy’s father as well as directing and producing the movie.
Get ready for the phenomenon called Hamilton as it arrives at the Kravis Theatre for the Performing Arts January 28 through February 16.
Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach Tickets 561.832.7469 or 800.572.8471; www.kravis.org