Review: Curio Theatre Company's "Romeo and Juliet"

Every theatre season brings with it new interpretations of Shakespeare’s timeless plays. Curio Theater Company got a head start on this year’s selections from the Bard with their season opener, Romeo and Juliet, casting two women as the star-crossed lovers. I caught the October 12^th performance, the cast’s second official performance of their month-long run.

Director Krista Apple-Hodge changes little of the original text in this particular adaptation. Pronouns are changed to reflect the fact that Romeo and Tybalt are now women and much of Lord Capulet’s dialogue is given to Aetna Gallagher’s Lady Capulet. Curio’s dedication to keeping the original text in tact doesn’t always work for this particular production. It’s set in this not-quite-modern world where women lead their family’s violent gangs and no one questions or criticizes Romeo and Juliet’s same-sex marriage. The premise of the production requires the audience to take a pretty big leap of faith, and left me with a great deal of questions. It seems as though the production sought out to deal with issues of gender and sexuality that the original text was not cut out to address.

Despite the production’s shaky foundation, the performances are fantastic. Rachel Gluck and Isa St. Clair have great chemistry as Romeo and Juliet respectively. Eric Scotolati is particularly exceptional as the witty and wild Mercutio. The entire cast brings a youthful energy to the show often missing in Philadelphia theatre. They all work so well together, achieving Curio’s goal of creating great ensemble theatre.

Curio is housed in a turn-of-the-century American Protestant church in West Philadelphia, with beautiful stained-glass windows and high ceilings. It’s the perfect setting for this play, making the scenes in the church and tomb even more powerful.   The building, however, wasn’t quite built for theatre, and the acoustics of the space are a little wonky. The choices of music are often questionable, particularly when they try to mix Eric Whitacre’s haunting choral piece “Lux Aurumque” with house beats. The lighting and costumes are pretty basic, just doing what they need to do to tell the story.

Despite it’s faults, Curio’s Romeo and Juliet makes for a fun night at the theatre. It’s an interesting take on the story we all know so well, which is refreshing in a culture obsessed with this particular play. These young theatre artists have a lot to offer the Philadelphia theatre scene. If this production is any indication of their talents, I’m looking forward to what the folks at Curio will come up with next.

Romeo and Juliet runs through November 2nd at Curio Theatre Company, 4740 Baltimore Ave. Tickets are $20 with a valid student ID. For more information, visit curiotheatre.org. 

Coming Soon...

Well, it seems to have been some time. I sincerely apologize for my absence from Standing Room Only. I won't bore you all with excuses and stories of where I've been for the past two (or however many) months, but just know that much of it is theater-related and it is all awesome. But right now, it's back to business. Sort of.

I have a bunch of great stuff planned for the next few weeks of Standing Room Only. I'll be here to help you make some sense of all the theater you're probably being bombarded with right now, or just to bombard you with some more. For example, I'm seeing a bunch of shows in the next two weeks, most of which I will be reviewing on here. Here's just a few of the shows I'm planning on seeing soon:

• Bad Jews, Roundabout Theatre Company 
• Pookie Goes Grenading, Azuka Theater
• The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Drexel Players
• The Republican Theater Festival 
• Satchmo at the Waldorf, The Wilma Theater

So yes, I'm sorry this post isn't more interesting, but I felt the need to get the "sorry I abandoned you for two months" stuff out of the way before I moved on to the good stuff. Watch this space, theater fans! 

Review: Mauckingbird Theatre Company's "Much Ado About Nothing"

Changing and adapting the Bard's works is always risky. For one thing, the Shakespeare purists won't be pleased (but they never are). The tone of the play may shift so much that the entire production is an unrecognizable mess.

Luckily, this is not the case at all with Mauckingbird Theatre Company's new gender-bending production of Much Ado About Nothing.

In this new production, the genders of the main female love interests (Beatrice, Hero, and Ursula) and the family patriarchs (Leonato and Antonio) are switched. Aside from some conveniently changed pronouns, the original text remains intact. The play takes on the themes of jealousy, wit, and honor as they pertain to romantic relationships with a dash of camp and a great deal of heart.

The members of this young cast, many of whom are still in college, are incredibly talented and are definitely the highlight of this production. Sean Thompson plays Beatrice with equal parts sass and warmth that would make the Bard himself proud. Griffin Back plays Claudio, a young count in love with Hero, and is one to look out for in the Philadelphia theatre scene in the coming years. Cheryl Williams has the audience question their idea of authority and gender in her strong portrayal of Leonato, the governor of Messina. Will Poost and Philip Anthony Wilson make great comic turns as the crime-fighting constable Dogberry and his loyal sidekick Verges respectively.

One of the best things about this production of Much Ado is that it doesn’t treat the story as some big political statement just because it features homosexual relationships. Director Peter Reynolds achieves his goal of creating the gay romantic comedy he always dreamed of. It is sweet and simple and paints a picture of a society where homosexual relationships are treated the same way as heterosexual relationships. And that is definitely something to strive for.

Much Ado About Nothing runs through August 26 at the Off-Broad Street Theatre at First Baptist Church, 1636 Sansom St. Tickets are $15 with a valid student ID. For more information, check out mauckingbird.org.

*Full disclosure: I am currently in a production for the Philly Fringe with Will Poost and have worked with Lindsay Mauck, co-founder of Mauckingbird Theatre Company.

Review: "Mr. Hart and Mr. Brown" by Bruce Graham

A ranch in Nebraska, a gun-slinging sheriff, an over-eager young journalist, and ... a Chicago Gangster? 

All four of these things come together in Bruce Graham's latest play Mr. Hart and Mr. Brown, now playing at Malvern, PA's People's Light and Theatre. But first, we pay a visit to the local historian of a small town in Nebraska, played with enthusiasm by Peter DeLaurier. He’ll take us back to the 1920s, where the ambitious young journalist Ambrose Healey (Michael Doherty) and a mysterious and obviously out of place city slicker from Chicago named Mr. Brown (Richard Ruiz) wait to speak with Richard “Two-Gun” Hart, the local sheriff played by Christopher Patrick Mullen.

Photo: NS Newsflash

There are some very interesting dynamics at play in Mr. Hart and Mr. Brown. Throughout the two hour play, Graham explores the concepts of nature vs. nurture, good vs. evil, and the ways that we may or may not choose to fight the way that people see us. Things get complicated, as the so often do in life, and we as an audience are asked to imagine both historical figures and ourselves complexly. This is what really sets this play apart from Graham’s body of work thus far.

Ruiz, Doherty, Mullen, and DeLaurier each give tremendous performances in this new play. Doherty, a younger actor, will definitely be one to look out for on the theatre scene in the coming years. He brilliantly portrays his character’s transition from a naïve young reporter working in a quiet town to a full-fledged adult forced to come to grips with the fact that real heroes are hard to find. This talented cast will be hard to beat in future productions of Mr. Hart and Mr. Brown.

Photo: Nebraska Helen

Graham likes to set his plays in one central space, and director Pete Pryor makes great use of the Hart’s yard on an Indian reservation, where much of the play takes place. The set is drenched in the sepia tone that the prairie takes on as the sun sets, and as the stage gets darker and night falls, we feel the sense of urgency that the situation brings. The tone and ideas of the play are very well executed by the entire production team, making it easy for the audience to lose themselves in the story.

Mr. Hart and Mr. Brown runs through August 19^th at People’s Light & Theatre’s Steinbright Stage (39 Conestoga Rd. Malvern, PA). To get there by public transportation, take SEPTA’s Paoli-Thorndale line to Paoli and then either take a taxi (5 min.) or walk (26 min.) to the theatre. Tickets are $25-$45. 

Sunday in the Park with William (Shakespeare)

Summer is a difficult time to be a theatre fan. Most of our favorite regional theatre companies have finished up their seasons, leaving us with only community theatre and the national tours of Broadway’s latest hits to choose from. However, there is a fun, inexpensive theatre option that is offered in most of the major cities in America: Shakespeare in the Park.

While the idea of open-air theatre is hardly new, the first Shakespeare festivals were produced in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, in the late 19^th century. These productions of the works of Shakespeare were generally performed in the spring and summer and occasionally in replicas of the Globe Theatre in London, the theatre built by Shakespeare’s performing company in 1599.

Today, productions have moved outside to public parks and festival grounds. One of the most well known Shakespeare festivals is the Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park series in New York City. At this festival, the Public Theatre offers free tickets on a "first come first seve" basis to their productions of Shakespeare’s plays as well as modern plays and musicals in Central Park. Their production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods featuring Amy Adams, Glen Close and Jack Broderick runs until August 25.

Shakespeare in Clark Park offers great productions of the works of Shakespeare to a West Philadelphia audience for free every summer. A younger company, Shakespeare in Clark Park was formed in the fall of 2005 and has been drawing crowds of nearly 1,000 people, young and old. This year they performed The Merry Wives of Windsor, one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known comedies. The company took this light-hearted and accessible piece and set it in the old west, creating a fun night of theatre for the whole family. Unfortunately, Merry Wives closed on July 29, but if you live in the Philadelphia area, next year’s production is not to be missed.

The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s Free Shakespeare in the Park program takes a different approach to the concept of Shakespeare in the Park. Instead of offering several different productions in one location throughout the summer, this company chooses one of Shakespeare’s plays and performs it in various locations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. FSP chose a modernized rendition of Henry V, Shakespeare’s tale of the rise of a young king and the glories of war, for their 30^th Season. The play runs at the Memorial Amphitheatre in Cupertino, CA through August 5 and then moves on to Sequoia High School in Redwood City, CA from August 11 to August 26 and The Presido’s Main Post Parade Ground Lawn in San Francisco from September 1 to September 23.

This is just a sampling of some of the great free productions of the works of Shakespeare offered in the U.S. this summer. Free outdoor theatre is just one of the many joys of the summer, so be sure to check for a production in a city near you!