Swan Lake Swings

At The Greater Boston Stage Company

Swan Lake In Blue: A Jazz Ballet

Greater Boston Stage Company 

Stoneham, MA

Through March 1

Reviewed by Bobby Franklin

In 1960 Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn recomposed selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker for jazz big band. After discovering this work, composer Steve Bass was inspired to recompose his own jazz ballet and chose Tchaikovsky’s other masterpiece Swan Lake. The result is Swan Lake: A Jazz Ballet now playing at the Greater Boston Stage Company in Stoneham.

The music is original with three themes taken from Swan Lake. The story has been moved to 1940’s New York where producer Florenz Siegfried (Andy McLeavey) is auditioning dancers for a musical. Odette (Sara Coombs), the swan here portrayed as a burlesque dancer, walks into the auditions and Siegfried is immediately taken with her. However, she quickly retreats to the Swan Club where she works for the possessive Von Rothbart, a shady gangster.

The adaptation works wonderfully. The score is solid and if you have ever caught yourself saying “Why don’t they write music like that anymore?”, you will be pleasantly surprised by what you will hear in this work. 

The stage is set with a full big band/jazz orchestra directed by Steve Bass that transports the audience back to that golden musical age. The overture sets things in motion and the stage is then energized with non stop dancing. Ilyse Robbins has choreographed stunning and powerful numbers. With 21 pieces of choreography this had to be a daunting task, but Ms Robbins has scored a knockout. There isn’t a dull spot in the entire production.

Being a ballet there is no dialog, at least no spoken dialog, but the expressive dance speaks clearly and the story is told beautifully. Bringing Swan Lake into the 20th Century works and works very well. The stage full of talented dancers never leave the audience wondering what is happening. Sara Coombs and Andy McLeavey as the leads Odette and Siegfried are a joy to watch. Briana Fallon and Gillian Mariner Gordon as Little Swans join Ms Coombs for a burlesque number that uses swan feather fans to create a Sally Rand type piece that is sultry and sexy. 

David Visini is dark and menacing as Von Rothbart. He is downright scary and his presence further conveys the ability for words and mood to be expressed through dance. 

Jackson Jirard, Mike Herring, H.C. Lee, Erica Lundin, and Michael Skrzek make up the ensemble, giving a master class in tap. All are superb with Mr. Jirard adding an exclamation mark to the numbers they do together. If you can sit still during these performances you would have to be heavily sedated. 

There is also a teen ensemble that is made up of Lily Lawrence, Claire Lawrence, and Maya McClain. These young people are real pros and all have great futures in theatre. Maya McClain moved like a veteran professional in her numbers with Jackson Jirard. It’s nice to know there will be no dearth of talent in the years to come.

Costume Designer Kevin Hutchins does a beautiful job with the outfits the cast wears. The flavor of backstage musical theatre of the 1940s is captured in the clothing that is reminiscent of Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor. The soft hat worn by Von Rothbart is put to great use in expressing his gangster persona, while the dance numbers in the Swan Club capture the Age of Burlesque. Combined with the lighting designed by Chris Fournier, the atmospherics are sublime.

Steve Bass and Ilyse Robbins have created an original work that is being seen for the first time on the stage in Stoneham, but I believe this is something that will move on to other venues. This is no commodity musical. It is a marvelous piece that is destined to become part of musical theatre history. From top to bottom this is a first rate production, and you don’t want to miss it. Someday you’ll get to say you saw it when it premiered. You’ll also be saying “They really do write music and choreograph dancing the way they used to”.

What: Swan Lake In Blue: A Jazz Ballet

Where: The Greater Boston Stage Company, Stoneham, MA

When: Through March 1

Tickets: Phone: 781.279.2200, Box Office: 395 Main Street, Stoneham

Website: www.greaterbostonstage.org Review

The Cake

Nobody Has The Corner On Self Righteousness 

Reviewed By Bobby Franklin

I almost declined the invitation to review The Cake, now playing at the Lyric stage in Boston. Many works today are taking on societal issues, and getting people to think about what is going on around them while being more open to listening to the views of others is a good thing. It is healthy when we challenge ourselves and our, very often, deeply held views. It doesn’t mean we will necessarily change them, but understanding where others are coming from and why they feel the way they do helps to prevent us from putting up walls between one another and feeling anger. As hard as it is to believe, we can actually get along with people with whom we disagree. 

The problem with much theatre that I attend today is that it is self righteous. Instead of posing questions that will make us consider other views, many of the works I see tend to preach, and worse, demand that the audience members fall in line with a particular view point. I have received press packages that are filled with materials that all but tell me what I am supposed to feel about the play and about myself. Frankly, I find this insulting and disrespectful. It is also counterproductive. 

This used to be rare, but it is becoming too common today probably due to the polarizing times we live in. One exception to this is Ayad Akhtar’s The Who & The What that played at The Huntington Theatre in 2017 and dealt with the issues facing a Muslim family living in America. It was thought provoking but not preachy. Mr. Akhtar has said “Advocacy is not art, it’s advertising”. I couldn’t agree more.

In The Cake, author Bekah Brunstetter takes a similar approach. The play is about a gay couple living in New York, Jen (Chelsea Diehl) and Macy (Kris Sidberry), who have traveled to Jen’s original home in North Carolina where they plan to get married. Jen wants the ceremony to take place in the same venue where her parents were wed. Her mother has passed on but it is apparent she is looking for acceptance as she can not know, but does suspect, how her mother would feel about this. 

The play opens at Della’s Sweets, a bakery run by Della (Karen MacDonald) who was close to Jen’s mother and has known Jen since she was little. Della is very excited about having become a contestant on The Great American Bake Off, and is describing what it takes to make a good cake. Jen wants Della to bake the wedding cake for her and Macy. Macy arrives at the shop ahead of her and engages Della in conversation. 

At this point it all seems to be very predictable; the dumb and bigoted hick will respond with hate and disgust at the request while the enlightened couple will be both victim and moral superiors to the backward folks living down south. That is not at all how this plays.

Ms Brunstetter shows empathy for all of the characters and allows that many issues are not that cut and dried. In a twist, Macy turns out to be the self righteous one who has no room for differing views, while Della is willing to face the conflicts she faces with her beliefs. It is refreshing to see a Southern Evangelical treated with respect. And while Della is willing to question herself, Macy is very judgmental and believes “If you don’t want to be a bigot you have to think like me”. 

Jen is the most conflicted as she had been close to Della and was brought up in the same cultural environment. It is clear that Della is a mother figure to her. Having Della bake the cake for the wedding is important to her, but Jen is also understanding, while hurt, when Della makes excuses for not doing so. Della is also feeling pain as she loves Jen. There is a lot of emotional conflict here that spills over into the relationship between Macy, who grew up in New York, and Jen.

Karen MacDonald is perfect as Della, a woman without an inch of hate in her heart but views that are considered backwards, and even hateful, by big city liberals. Tim (Fred Sullivan, Jr)., Della’s husband, is a plumber. This is where I felt things could fall apart as the stereotype so often portrayed of white working class men is not usually flattering. While Tim is set in his ways, he is also a decent man who deeply loves Della. He also enjoys mashed potatoes which makes for a very funny scene, but you will have to see the play to find out what that is all about.

The interactions between Macy and Jen as well as between Della and Tim are both insightful into why they believe the things they do and what they believe about others. It is this hard facts back and forth that occurs between Della and Jen that really digs into the conflicted feelings they both are dealing with as well as a way to start understanding each other. 

Chelsea Diehl digs deep down into Jen emotions, those of a woman with a foot in two cultures. Jen does not agree with Della, but she understands her, while Della’s moral code precludes her from baking the cake, her heart tells her it is good that the little girl she has always loved has found someone she is in love with. They truly care for each other.

The one fault I found with the play is in the character of Macy. Kris Sidberry gives us a character that is so certain of her beliefs that she has an almost religious fervor about them, and many of us will recognize that person; the take no prisoner true believer. However, by the time the play moves to where the characters are beginning to find common ground it is too little too late for Macy. She has done something particularly cruel that gets brushed off and shouldn’t. And though she finds some common ground toward the play’s end, her journey there is not fully developed.

The Cake may involve a baker and the choice not to bake a cake for the wedding of a gay couple, but it is not about the right or wrong of making that choice. This is a play about how listening, and more importantly, treating one another with respect is the way to finding a way to understand one another. A way not to react with hate at that with which we do not agree. That goes for all people. 

This is a sweet play baked with warmth and humor about people being, for the most part, kind and understanding of one another without having to compromise their beliefs. This is not a dig in your heels political diatribe, but rather a thoughtful look at how we are all human, and of how we really can get along. The Cake is refreshing and delicious and is certainly worthy of being tasted.

The Cake

Directed By Courtney O’Connor

Through February 9

The Lyric Stage, Copley Square, Boston

617.585.5678

lyricstage.comR

Walking In One Another’s Shoes

Kinky Boots At The Ogunquit Playhouse

Kinky Boots

Through October 27

The Ogunquit Playhouse

ogunquitplayhouse.org

207.646.5511

Reviewed by Bobby Franklin

Kinky Boots, the smash Broadway hit musical by Harvey Fierstein and with music by Cyndi Lauper, is closing out the Ogunquit Playhouse’s 87th season, and what a way to end the summer. This powerful production is led by Graham Scott Fleming and Kyle Taylor Parker as Charlie and Lola with direction and choreography by Nathan Peck. The sets and costumes from the Broadway production have been brought in and are incredible.

The story about Charlie who has reluctantly taken over his father’s shoe manufacturing factory which has fallen on hard times is one about looking beyond the differences in people’s lifestyles and working toward finding what makes us alike.

Graham Scott Fleming brings complexity to the character of Charlie who has been struggling to establish his own identity against the wishes of his father who wants him to take over the factory. This is laid out in the opening number Price & Son. Charlie does not share his father’s love of designing and manufacturing shoes (The Most Beautiful Thing).

Kyle Taylor Parker’s Lola is outrageous and explosive as he takes the stage (The Land of Lola) surrounded by six angels, all men dressed in drag. The costumes and Angels are stunning and very high energy. When Mr. Parker makes the transition from Lola, the flamboyant and exciting drag queen to Simon, his real name, dressed in men’s clothing it is amazing to see the difference in personality. It is also quite touching.

Lola and Charlie have teamed up to start producing women’s shoes for men, a move that has saved the factory but caused tension between some of the workers who are not comfortable working with a drag queen. Charlie also begins to have some issues with this even though he and Lola/Simon have learned they share very similar issues with their fathers (I’m Not My Father’s Son). 

Don (Joe Coots), one of the factory workers, is unable to accept Lola and the tension between the two leads to Lola challenging Don to a contest where each must do one thing requested by the other. This leads to a boxing match, Don’s request, between them (In This Corner). The scene is choreographed beautifully and leads to the pair finding respect for one another. Lola’s request is an interesting one and not what you may think. I’ll leave it at that, but it is moving.

Lauren, played by Maggie McDowell, is also a factory worker who has a crush on Charlie but believes he is out of her reach (The History of Wrong Guys).  Ms McDowell brings a subtle humor to the role that is perfect for the part.

George (John Scherer) the factory manager is staid yet able to adapt to the changes that are happening. He is loyal to the Price legacy and is the man behind the man who keeps things together. Mr. Scherer underplays the part just enough while conveying humor and tradition.

Other outstanding numbers include Everybody Say Yeah where boots and dancers cross the stage on conveyor belts. It is original, lively, and exciting. Charlie’s reflection on his struggling with accepting his friendship with Lola and his new business venture is captured beautifully in The Soul of a Man.

The finale which is staged as a Milan fashion show with the Angels strutting down the runway in elaborate and colorful costumes while showcasing the new line of boots from Price and Son is incredible. Even Don puts on a pair and struts his stuff.

This is a feel good musical with a very touching story. Everything about this production is tops. It is so strong that I left the theatre feeling a bit drained as energy is flying is all directions. It’s a good way to feel.

I have talked with friends who are planning on going to see Kinky Boots at the Ogunquit Playhouse and they tell me tickets are selling fast. It is playing through October 27, so I would suggest ordering your tickets soon. Ogunquit is lovely this time of the year, and adding Kinky Boots to your visit will guarantee you will have a great time. I have no reservations about recommending this one.