Theatre Review: ‘Michael von Siebenberg Melts Through the Floorboards’ at the Humana Festival

Baron Michael von Siebenberg lines up his next meal

“Michael von Siebenberg Melts Through the Floorboards” by Greg Kotis
Directed by Kip Fagan
The Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville
Through April 15, 2012

View Chuck and Joan Lipkin’s video blog review.

Synopsis: “Meet Baron Michael von Siebenburg: a 500-year-old Austrian bachelor living in an American city, whose secret of eternal youth involves endless first dates and a special meat tenderizer. But when his landlady gets suspicious and the ghost of a medieval comrade commands him to take Constantinople back from the Turks, Michael finds himself haunted by past and present. A hilariously dark comedy about the rigors of vampiric immortality.”

Some vampire tales, to paraphrase Tom Lehrer, don’t go far enough. This one goes too far, at least for me. As the author of the hilariously satirical “Urinetown”, Mr. Kotis clearly knows how to find laughs in material which, on the face of it, looks pretty tasteless, so this send-up of immortal bloodsuckers ought to be funny. I just found it creepy, however—and not in a good way. No matter how well it’s handled, I find it hard to get much entertainment value from a play in which the protagonist and his cohort maintain themselves by killing, pulverizing, and eating women. This gets too close to serial killer/Dahmer territory for me.

Yes, the vampire von Siebenberg finally decides to melt through the floorboards and die rather than continue in his bloody ways, but I didn’t find his conversion from cannibalism to love all that convincing. Still, others in our party found the play highly entertaining. Your own mileage might vary.

As was the case with everything we saw at the festival this weekend, the cast for “Michael von Siebenberg” was first rate, headed by Rufus Collins in the title role, Michah Stock as his “Jaeger” (hunter) Sammy (who is responsible for victim recruitment), Caralyn Kozlowski as the sprit of Michael’s wife Maria, and John Ahlin as the ghost of Michael’s Crusader colleague Otto, who absurdly exhorts him to fly to Constantinople and re-take the city for Christendom. There’s great work as well by Ariana Venturi and Laura Heisler as both victims and incredibly clueless cops and Rita Gardner as the justifiably suspicious Mrs. Rosemary.

“Michael von Siebenburg” was staged in the 637-seat Pamela Brown Auditorium, so sets, lighting, and technical effects were pretty stunning. At well over two and one-half hours (including intermission), it’s a bit long, with a first act that goes over the same ground too many times (at least for me), but given the popularity of vampire lore these days the play may find eternal life with regional theatre companies looking for a potential commercial success. Personally, I’ll stick with Dracula.

Join in the discussion on Twitter with the #hf36 hash tag and follow me @clavazzi. Look for Joan Lipkin’s reviews at The Vital Voice.

Posted by | March 26, 2012 | Culture | 1 Comment 

Theatre Review: ‘The Veri**on Play’ at the Humana Festival

Jenni and her co-conspirators

“The Veri**on Play” by Lisa Kron
Directed by Nicholas Martin
Original music by Jeanine Tesori
The Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville
Through April 1, 2012

View Chuck and Joan Lipkin’s video blog review.

Synopsis: “When Jenni called customer service, all she wanted was to fix a minor problem with her cell phone bill. Instead she was sucked into a vortex of unimaginable horror. Now she wants revenge—or to get her cell phone service turned back on. Part thriller, part screwball comedy, part inspired by events that have undoubtedly happened to YOU.”

In a world dominated by omnipresent corporations (or, here in the USA, omnipresent “persons”), nearly everyone has a bad “customer service” experience. Actor/playwright Lisa Kron, however, has turned hers into a 70-minute piece of highly entertaining Brechtian agitprop that sharply satirizes the corrupting influence of corporate power and the ease with which corporate media distract us from that influence with a steady stream of celebrity trivia. Noted theatre composer Jeanine Tesori (“Thoroughly Modern Millie”, “Caroline, or Change”) provides the effective incidental music and a rousing anti-corporate anthem for an audience sing-along at the end.

Playwright Kron has the star turn as the beleaguered Jenni. Hannah Bos does a great quick-change routine as Ingrid and Cydney and Carolyn Baeumler is a wonderfully duplicitous Anissa. Others in the fine cast are: Joel Van Liew, Kimberly Hébert-Gregory, Ching Valdes-Aran, Clayton Dean Smith, Calvin Smith, Sabrina Contini, and Chris Reid.

There’s an international chase scene near the end that is, perhaps, a bit drawn out (although I appreciate its relevance as a commentary on the world-wide reach of the corporatocracy), but otherwise “The Veri**on Play” is a neat piece of satire that deserves additional productions.

Join in the discussion on Twitter with the #hf36 hash tag and follow me @clavazzi. Look for Joan Lipkin’s reviews at The Vital Voice.

Posted by | March 26, 2012 | Culture | Comment 

Theatre Review: ‘Death Tax’ at the Humana Festival

Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Nurse Tina and Danielle Skraastad as Maxine in "Death Tax"

“Death Tax” by Lucas Hnath
Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll
Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville
Through April 1, 2012

View Chuck Lavazzi and Joan Lipkin’s video blog

The synopsis: “Maxine is rich. Maxine is dying. Maxine thinks Nurse Tina is trying to kill her. When the patient confronts her caretaker, her accusations have unforeseen—and irrevocable—consequences, in this tightly-wound thriller about money, power and the value of a human life.”

Like many of the plays we saw at the Humana Festival, “Death Tax” could stand a bit of trimming, but even in its current form it has a dramatic power that can’t be denied, demonstrating forcibly the corrupting effects of money and power—and, for that matter, of want and powerlessness. It also raises disturbing questions: as medical science advances, will we become a race divided between those who can purchase virtual immortality and those who can’t? And what will that mean? “Death Tax” suggests the answers might not be pleasant.

“Death Tax” unfolds mostly as a series of monologues with a few duet scenes, and provides one of the great monstrous characters of the stage in the character of Maxine. She ruthlessly manipulates everyone around her: Nurse Tina (who is not, in fact, trying to kill her), Tina’s boss Todd, Maxine’s daughter, and even, in a chilling final scene, a social worker and Maxine’s grandson. She uses money and later guilt as weapons to prolong her life, destroying many others in the process. Like “Sunset Boulevard”, this is an American horror story without the supernatural.

The cast is tremendous. Judith Roberts is a nearly demonic figure as she rages, cajoles, wheedles and generally screws over everyone around her. Quincy Tyler Bernstine carries off the very different roles of Nurse Tina and the social worker with great skill, as does T. J. Kenneally as Todd and the grandson. Danielle Skraastad has only one major scene as the daughter, but she makes it her own.

As is the case with many Humana Festival shows, “Death Tax” has relatively modest technical demands, so it should be well within the reach of not only regional companies but smaller theatres as well. It has political and moral implications that deserve attention.

Join in the discussion on Twitter with the #hf36 hash tag and follow me @clavazzi. Look for Joan Lipkin’s reviews at The Vital Voice.

Posted by | March 25, 2012 | Culture, Video/Film | Comment 

Theatre Review: ‘Oh, Gastronomy’ at the Humana Festival

The cast of "Oh, Gastronomy" live it up

“Oh, Gastronomy” by Michael Golamco, Carson Kreitzer, Steve Moulds, Tanya Saracho and Matt Schatz
Directed by Amy Attaway
Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville
Through April 1, 2012

View Chuck Lavazzi and Joan Lipkin’s video blog

The synopsis: “Food, that most delicious human unifier, is rife with contradiction. It can signal both comfort and compulsion, imply both nourishment and deprivation, and make your mouth water—or your stomach turn. Get ready to dig in, as five hungry playwrights join forces with twenty-two ravenous Acting Apprentices to serve up the pleasures—and paradoxes—of food.”

“Oh, Gastronomy” is a snappy collection of 28 short plays (and more than a few songs) all dealing with food, family, and friends.  Most are comic, a few moving, and all completely entertaining.  The program stars the company’s young interns, and they certainly shine here as their characters find love, companionship, camaraderie, and a really killer fudge recipe (the results of which were available in the lobby after the show).

There are too many performers to list individually here and, of course, too many plays to make it possible for me to go into detail on each one.  Some of my favorites were: “Ordering: Memories” in which customers at a restaurant order slices of their past from the menu; “The Family Feast”, which called to mind the massive holiday dinners with my “logical family” (to quote Mrs. Madrigal); and “The Mix”, in which both that tasty fudge and a relationship is cooked up.  Others probably had their highlights, but the bottom line is that the show was tremendous fun to watch and, I think, to perform as well.

Join in the discussion on Twitter with the #hf36 hash tag and follow me @clavazzi. Look for Joan Lipkin’s reviews at The Vital Voice.

Posted by | March 25, 2012 | Culture, Video/Film | Comment 

Concert review: Henry Rollins speaks his mind and heart at the Pageant, Saturday, March 24

henryrollins.com / Maura Lanahan

Punk-rock icon turned wordsmith Henry Rollins summed up his set of spoken word material perfectly himself last night. Stating that he was, “Like a 33 1/3 RPM record playing at 78 RPM,” Rollins advised, “I try to squeeze eight hours of material into four and a half.”

Dressed in his traditional black t-shirt and pants and armed with only a microphone, Rollins, without much lead in or introduction, took the stage at the Pageant promptly at 8 p.m. and proceeded to jump head first into the proverbial mosh pit with his rapid-fire speech and held the seated crowd’s attention rapt for the next two hours and forty-five minutes. While the thought of watching someone on stage speak for that long without a break or music may make some cringe, the fact was Rollins’ machine-gun-like delivery made the evening fly by is impressive – especially for this reviewer who stood in the back for the entire show.

At 51, the former lead singer of seminal punk band Black Flag is funny, self-effacing and practically an open book. His constantly changing material only gets better with time and age as Rollins becomes more knowledgeable about the world. He advised that he spends much of the year on the road speaking to audiences: “Being at home is not interesting to me. I don’t like being off tour or going to the grocery store.” He stays busy with these spoken-word performances, film or television projects, a recent affiliation with the National Geographic channel and doing work for various non-profit organizations. He referred to himself not as a workaholic, but as a “work slut.”

Rollins started the evening with a discussion of his background of learning American history from disinterested athletic coaches at a naval prep high school in Washington, D.C. in the late ’70s. This set the tone for the evening as he related that this stunted his knowledge of the subject in his younger days, but as he grew older he took it upon himself to study and gained a large admiration for the subject — especially Abraham Lincoln.

To illustrate his point he referenced Lincoln’s “Speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois” given on January 27, 1838, just before the young politician turned 29 years old and over two full decades before he led the country during the Civil War. Recalling Lincoln’s words through part memorization and part paraphrase, he advised that Lincoln’s words “Speaks to America now.” Rollins continued by reiterating Lincoln’s sentiments, “America’s biggest danger does not come from abroad, but from America itself.”

The heavy preface allowed Rollins to give the audience his thoughts on the current state of American politics and the Republican race for a 2012 presidential nominee and continued as an undercurrent of his stories traveling around the world later in the set. With the state of current events, Rollins was able to rely on his thoughts about the candidates in a humorous tone while making the point that these are the type of leaders who are going to ruin America from within.

Read more

Posted by | March 25, 2012 | Concerts, Culture | Comment 

Theatre Review: ‘Eat Your Heart Out’ at the Humana Festival

Kate Eastwood Norris as Nance and Alex Moggridge as Tom in "Eat Your Heart Out"

“Eat Your Heart Out” by Courtney Baron
Directed by Adam Greenfield
Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville
Through April 1, 2012

View Chuck Lavazzi and Joan Lipkin’s video blog.

The synopsis: “Alice and Gabe are desperate to adopt a child. Nance, a single mom just starting to date, struggles to connect with her teenage daughter Evie. And Evie wishes her best friend Colin could fall for her rather than just trying to fix things. With both humor and aching insight, these lives are woven together in a tale of parental hopes and fears, and of hearts consumed by longing.”

Courtney Baron’s “Eat Your Heart Out” starts as a fast-paced and somewhat superficial comedy but eventually turns into something much more serious and even tragic. It’s a show that begins with a series of declarations but ends with a question. Adam Greenfield’s direction is crisp and brisk—perhaps a bit too much so, resulting an a rapid-fire exchange of dialog that might be more appropriate for video than live theatre. Still, it’s a play and a production that provided much fodder for discussion in the bar afterwards and ultimately deals with very real issues of pain, rejection, and the difficulty of real-world love, even if it does sometimes feel more like the unfinished first act of a more substantial work.

Any reservations about the script do not, however, extend to the performers, all of whom were fine.  Kate Eastwood Norris is all edgy energy as Nance and while Alex Moggridge’s Tom was a bit bland, that appears to be exactly what the script calls for.  Sarah Grodsky showed a heartbreaking vulnerability as Evie.  Jordan Brodess brought out all the pain and flip attitude of Colin.  Kate Arrington and Mike DiSalvo was a great team as the increasingly desperate Alice and Gabe, whom Nance treats with far less sympathy than they seem to deserve.

Upon reflection, I’m not sure that “Eat Your Heart Out” is quite ready for prime time yet.  As it stands, the characters aren’t as fully realized as they could be and something really needs to be done with that ending.  Still, it shows promise, and that’s part of what Humana is about.

Join in the discussion on Twitter with the #hf36 hash tag and follow me @clavazzi.  Look for Joan Lipkin’s reviews at The Vital Voice.

Posted by | March 23, 2012 | Culture, Video/Film | Comment 

Catch a fire

The Cast of "Stagger Lee"

Most of the cast of "Stagger Lee"

Over the next few days the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is offering theatregoers a rare opportunity to participate in the genesis of new works for the theatre. The Ignite! New Play Festival presents staged reading of plays commissioned by the Rep. The intent is to nurture the new plays until they get to the point where they’re ready for full productions. Talkback sessions after each reading offer audience members the chance to say what they did or didn’t like and possibly influence the shape of the final piece.

The one and only fully staged production of the Ignite! festival is Ayad Akhtar’s smart thriller “The Invisible Hand”, which can be seen in the Rep Studio through March 25th, but the first reading—the first act of the musical “Stagger Lee” on Thursday, March 15th—was almost as impressive.

Based on the graphic novel of the same name (which I’d strongly recommend), “Stagger Lee” combines a fictional love story with the largely true tale of how Lee “Stag Lee” Shelton shot Billy Lyons in a St. Louis saloon in 1895. The killing and subsequent trial became grist for songwriters’ mills almost immediately—and still is.

The show has music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald and book and lyrics by Derek McCulloch (who also wrote the original graphic novel). The cast assembled for the reading were  J. Samuel Davis, Rebecca Jones, Javier Munoz, Ken Page, Stacey Sargeant, and Paul Stovall. Amanda Dehnert directed, with musical direction by Jon Spurney.

Both “Stagger Lee” and the Ignite! festival show real promise. There are two more readings in the Ignite! New Play Festival on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 20 and 21; details at http://www.repstl.org/ignite

Posted by | March 16, 2012 | Culture, Music | Comment 

Springtime for playwrights

Humana Festival Poster“In the Spring,” wrote Tennyson, “a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” Were he still with us today, he might have added, “and, if he’s a theatre geek, to thoughts of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.”

All right, so it doesn’t scan. But the fact is, anyone who is interested in the state of theatre in the USA today can’t afford to pass up the Humana Festival. Now in its 36th year, the festival is a seven-week celebration of new plays produced by the Actors Theatre of Louisville. The company presents seven new works (winnowed down from an average of 2000 submissions each year) in the course of the festival, which takes place in their sumptuous downtown digs.

How sumptuous? Located in historic structures on Main Street, the Actors Theatre consists of the 637-seat Pamela Brown Auditorium, with a thrust stage; the 159-seat Victor Jory Theatre, a three-quarter arena performance space; and the 318-seat Bingham Theatre, a flexible arena space. Add in the palatial lobby, a restaurant, and a nine-story parking garage, and you have the kind of facility most theatre companies dream about. Better yet, it’s only part of a general revitalization of downtown Louisville that includes fine hotels, restaurants, and bars, all within an easy walk of the theatre.

I’ll be attending the festival this year in my professional capacity as the senior performing arts critic here at KDHX. I’ll be posing live video blogs from the festival, including capsule reviews of each show with my long-time friend and noted playwright Joan Lipkin (who’s covering the festival for The Vital Voice). Just look for “Lavazzi and Lipkin Live from Louisville” on YouTube or check out my posts here at the KDHX blog. I’ll also be posting daily updates to the theatre reviews area here at KDHX.

Want to know more? Check out the complete list of 2012 festival plays at the Humana Festival web site. And join in the discussion on Twitter with the #HF36 and #humanafest hash tags. You can also follow me on Twitter @clavazzi.

Posted by | March 14, 2012 | Culture | Comment 

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