The Tap Dance Forecast in CT: RIDICULOUSLY SUNNY (both in the short- and long-term)!

Okay, Tap Fans, before Sunday evening, you gotta get to Playhouse on Park in West Hartford where the stop/time dance theatre is performing their latest show "Swing Set," a fast-paced joyous celebration of swing dancing and the music that inspired it.  Conceived, directed, and choreographed by Darlene Zoller (also one of the artistic directors of Playhouse on Park), the show uses every inch of space in the Playhouse...and

there's something especially invigorating in feeling the tapping in your seats as the dancers go up the aisles (Think "Sensurround" but without the silly disaster movie!) The performers, as always with Zoller-choreographed shows, dance hard and often, with the necessary breaks filled with singing. 

My favorite numbers were "Tuxedo Junction", "Sing Sing Sing,"  and "Sing You Sinners," although there wasn't a dance number that I didn't like.  The entire company earns their just applause with their committed and enthusiastic energy and remarkable skill.  A particular shout out to Ms. Zoller, who indeed practices what she teaches, i.e., tapping is all about the sound, and, when she was out on the floor, I could hear her tapping as clear as a bell -- no matter how many others were on the floor!  Never showing off, just showing how it's done.  

If I had two nits to pick, they'd be 1) bag the microphones for the singers since the space seems intimate enough for voices unplugged and a quieter pause may even be more refreshing, and 2) don't change the chorus of "I Got Rhythm" by replacing "my girl/guy" with "rhythm."  Maybe it was just "old fogey" me (which wouldn't be surprising), but I got distracted for a couple verses in trying to figure out why the song wasn't sounding right.

The show only runs through the matinee on Sunday, 1 May, so "It Won't Mean a Thing" if you don't "Pick up the Phone."   When you do, then, and only then, are you "Beginning to See the Light!"

 ***

As far as the longer-range Tap forecast here in Connecticut, it's just as bright because you have until June 25th to catch My One and Only at the Goodspeed Opera House.  Billed a "Tap Dance Extravaganza," the show doesn't disappoint.  The clever script and the kind of inventive staging for which the Goodspeed is known, not to mention a s'wonderful Gershwin score, make this a great springtime show!

 ***

And since the tap stars were out on opening night of Swing Set, I'd be remiss not to mention Josh Hilberman's upcoming show,  “Lois’ Tap Lane” All-Star Tap and Jazz Salute, on Friday, May 13, at 8pm at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA.

My title may be obvious, but "HOW TO" Succeeds!

The last production of the 2010 season at the Goodspeed Opera House, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, does exactly what the Goodspeed does better than almost anybody: take a wonderfully smart (the book won the 1962 Pulitzer) and eminently singable musical, and with a great cast, sharp choreography, and clever staging, bring its audience to a different place (albeit not too distant from our own).

Ambition, envy, greed, lust, vanity, stupidity, and (although it's not a "mortal sin") mediocrity run rampant through World Wide Wickets, Inc., and the audience is more than pleased to be along for the ride as J. Pierrepont Finch starts at the bottom and "works" his way to the executive suite. 

The 1961 musical may be dated in some ways (although what's still that earning gap between men and women?), the songs by Frank Loesser are as witty and tuneful as ever: the title song, "Brotherhood of Man," "Happy to Keep to His Dinner Warm," "Paris Original," "A Secretary is Not a Toy," "Been a Long Day," "Grand Old Ivy" (perhaps the best fight song of a  non-existent university ever), and, of course, "I Believe in You" (undeniably the best love song ever sung by a character to himself!).

The cast, led by Brian Sears (Finch), Natalie Bradshaw (Pilkington), Ronn Carroll (Biggley), Nicolette Hart (LaRue), and Tom Deckman (Frump), is top notch -- especially Mr. Deckman's Frump whose performance should be studied by every serious acting student.  If ever a performer took the concept that "all acting is reacting," it is Mr. Deckman, who, even in the midst of the rousing choreography and ensemble singing of the climactic "Brotherhood," continued to convey all the envy and bewilderment that the boss's nephew must have been feeling as his plans come crashing down upon him.  (The Goodspeed always has many wonderful performances in each of its shows, including this one, but this season-ticket-holder  is hard-pressed to think of a single one better than Mr. Deckman's here.)

Greg Ganakas's direction, Michael O'Flaherty's musical direction (including kazoos at one point), and Kelli Barclay's choreography all sparkle, and to this reviewer there were no missteps.  (Well, okay, one small one...did Mr. Sears's speaking voice have to sound so much like Matthew Broderick's?)

The show runs through November 28th.  Get there before it closes.    

Playhouse on Park: "I swear on my horse's withers..."

...that I'm not waiting to go to any more shows at POP during their final weekend.

Why, you ask? Because then I can spread the word on how good they are to anybody who can take advantage of the information and go!

This afternoon at POP, I saw Trapezium, a very funny one-act take on the Tristan and Iseult story. Written by crossword-maker Henry Rathvon in iambic pentameter and masterfully directed by Russell Treyz, the play offers Rashomonic perspectives on the famous medieval love triangle...with plenty of laughs, wordplay, ribaldry, and swordplay interruptus along the way. The performances were uniformly hilarious among the five-character cast, although I myself was quite taken by the slacker-ish Tristan (Craig Hanson, above, with Kaytie Morris as Iseult)-- but more likely to actually be the foppishly squealing coward Mullet (Brendan Norton)! Sigh.

The performance was followed by a "talk back" with the actors, director, and playwright, which allowed us in the audience to hear the actors wax rhapsodic about the verse and its technical beauties! If only my literature students could have heard... Sigh again.

So, in short, I'm going to the next POP show early in the run. See you there!

********

Today's Trapezium at POP marked stop number three on my 10-day theatrical odyssey that began on Friday with the closing weekend of Newington Children's Theatre Company's The Secret Garden (including Saturday's traditional spoof show), and continues on Wednesday with South Pacific at the Bushnell, our daughters' dance recital on Saturday, and conclude with Annie Get Your Gun at the Goodspeed Opera House. So far the trip's been fantastic!

We shouldn't wonder why Americans are so awful at financial planning (and, not unrelatedly, marriage)...

...when in one of the greatest American musicals, Oklahoma, audiences are treated to such brilliant financial minds as Curly, Will, Jud, and Ali, all of whom handle money with the brains of one of the ears of corn growin' as high as an elephant's eye in "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning."

Curly and Jud engage in a bidding war, each willing to dispose of his entire life's savings or tools-of-his-trade (i.e., future earnings potential) for a lunch.

Will meanwhile can't hold on to $50 to save his l(w)ife, and Ali, well, considering he actually runs a business, is quite the poor entrepreneur.

We'll overlook the fact that all these financial transactions are thinly veiled attempts to buy and sell women because that would lead us to a discussion of the Goodspeed Opera House's production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the educational packet for which includes worksheets for middle- and high-schoolers in language arts, history, and culture.

I can hear the post-performance class now:


"Teacher, what's a 'procurer'?"


"What I want to be when I grow up: a 'courtesan'!"


"Our band's finally got a name -- 'The House of Lycus'!"


Now, those are solid and measurable educational outcomes.

REAL Quick Reviews of Shows I've Seen in the Last 10 Days

1. Lear's Daughters at Welte Auditorium, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT (A week ago last Friday)

Well done, and, man, my daughters left thinkin' I'm the best dad EVER.

2. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at The Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, CT (Last Sunday)

If you like attractive women and grapes, you'll LOVE this show...even if it's not as strong as the other two shows from this season, Camelot and 42nd Street.

3. Lost in Yonkers at The Playhouse on Park, West Hartford, CT (Last Wednesday)

I must admit I thought I was going to see Brighton Beach Memoirs...well, not really, but I had conflated the two shows in my mind. This wasn't BBM, needless to say, and how on earth can any actress make that grandmother even remotely approachable (much less likable).

4. In the Heights, Richard Rodgers Theatre, New York City, NY (Yesterday)

A handsome production, and, admittedly, I was transported to a different place while watching, but now I can't remember a single song much less hum one.

***
Film Review: Up from Pixar/Disney, Cinestudio, Trinity College, Hartford, CT (A week ago last Saturday)
2/3rds of a great movie. I'm on board until the old man becomes James Bond scaling the outside of a dirigible. Call me age-ist, but I like my smart and clever, cane-wielding octogenarians not to all of a sudden be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. I BELIEVED that he could fly a building to South America, isn't that enough to ask of an audience?

CAMELOT at the Goodspeed

Attended Camelot at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT, last night with the family and thoroughly enjoyed a marvelously staged production.

The cast was excellent from the King to the maidens and squires although Erin Davie's Guenevere was particularly charming and, at times, seemed lit like she were in some pre-Raphaelite painting. The chemistry between her and the King (Bradley Dean) resonated more with us than between her and Lance, although I fear that has everything to do with the script itself and nothing with the fine performance of Maxime de Toledo. I've never been able to figure out exactly how any actor can turn this comic, obnoxious, holier-than-thou character into Jenny's lover when his two most affecting songs, "Toujours" and "If Ever I Would Leave You," are left until Act II. His opening number, "C'est Moi," is such a great comic song that it just takes too much for the character to shake that image successfully -- yes, even more than resurrecting the dead.

The songs are, as you'd expect from a Lerner and Loewe score, remarkable and (well, at least I hope this is still true!) familiar: the title song, "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood," "What do the Simple Folk Do?," "C'est Moi," "I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight..." All are done simply, wittily, and truly "loverly" (if I may be allowed to mix my L and L shows).

I am an old-fashioned song-and-dance musical kind of guy, so I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did the first production of this season, 42nd Street.

I was right. I didn't. I enjoyed it more.