AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

Coming on the heels of the news from Chicago regarding About Face Theatre, where a "save the theater" appeal is posted on the company's homepage (see above link), this press release from Massacusetts is particularly depressing.

----------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Febraury 27, 2009 WORCESTER, MA- Foothills Theatre, which has been in operation for over 34 years, is facing a financial crisis. Ticket sales are lagging, Foundation support is not available because of the Stock Market decline, and corporate sponsorships have been reduced. We have now reached the point where we are at rock bottom and have exhausted all other appeals with the exception of approaching the public directly to keep our theatre alive. Unless we are able to raise a significant amount of money within the next few days, we have no other option but to cease our operation...a prospect that no one relishes.

Most theatres, like any arts organization, rely on an intricate balance between ticket sales, personal contributions, foundation and corporate support. Here at Foothills we have always struggled to get by primarily relying on ticket sales because the local foundation and corporate support, although very generous, have not been enough to off set the high costs of producing quality theatre.

The situation is dire. We need to raise approximately $100,000 between now and the beginning of next week in order to continue producing The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. In order to successfully finish out through Doubt and You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, we will need to raise another $100,000. To make next season a reality, we will need to raise an additional $200,000.

We believe that with public support we can save the theatre and continue our tradition of producing quality live theatre!

In order to donate please contact the box office at 508-754-4018 or mail checks to:
Foothills Theatre Company
100 Front Street Suite 137
Worcester, MA 01608

--------------------

We're probably going to be seeing a lot more of appeals like the ones above in the coming weeks and months, and I'm not advocating support of one above the other. It's simply that with this release and the news yesterday, I'm sensing a storm gathering that is much worse than any arts administrators or advocates might have imagined.

---- Andy Propst

Morning,

If you've experienced a gray screen when coming to the site that has announced the site's been suspended, let me explain. It would seem that there are a lot of searches going on these days. Folks looking for articles, clips and the like, and that's been bogging down the server. I'm looking into upgrading my server - a.k.a. spending more - to make sure the site's running 100% of the time.

Be patient and thanks!

Andy

Given some of the subjects Joseph Keckler covers in his one-man show Human Jukebox at La MaMa, his ability to remain coolly dispassionate impresses.

"Jukebox," an apt title if ever there was one, because the show contains not only monologue, but song, essentially is an examination and rumination on Keckler's relationship with his mother, whom he sometimes refers to as the "Cat Lady," because of the grand collection of felines she's tended in her Michigan home since he was a child. His mellifluous bass voice can become a wonderful alto and almost soprano when he channels this woman – with warmth and only the most gentle and loving sense of irony. The same can be said of the aunt who is a frequent visitor to the home. Late in the piece, when she discovers that she has an aneurism that will require extensive brain surgery, there are no hysterics, either on his part or hers. Instead, he uses beautiful imagery – his ear detaching and drifting away – to describe the way in which he disconnects from the moment in which he hears the news. It's language like this, and Keckler's ability to spin a story into something almost resembling a mystery, that gives "Jukebox" its incredible pull on theatergoers.

Keckler does not limit the piece – which gets its name from a game his mother played with his father, in which she could sing any song that her husband might randomly select – to his childhood and adult memories of mom. He also includes what could be considered standard fare for any artist in New York, a description of his day job, but even here, Keckler creates something that is not only fresh, but also slightly eerie, and wonderfully amusing. The same can be said for the sequence in which he brings to life an evening spent with his upper middle-aged voice teacher (another superb characterization).

Directed by Elizabeth Gimbel, Keckler's characterizations – particularly of the three women – retain an individuality, both in demeanor and vocalization, that impresses, but there is a lurching quality to both the script and the production as it segues between different sequences. It's a little like the jarring disconnects that one experiences when old jukeboxes are playing and records need to be mechanically swapped. With some minor revisions to both script and staging, it's a pretty certain bet that the piece would flow with an easy grace and that this gifted performer and his unique show that combines story and song, dispassion and true emotion could deliver a tremendous emotional punch. As it is, one watches "Jukebox" with an appreciative sense of how promising the work is all around.

---- Andy Propst

Human Jukebox continues through March 8 at The Club at La MaMa ETC (74A East 4th Street). Performances are Friday & Saturday at 10pm; Sunday at 5:30pm. For tickets and further information, visit: www.lamama.org.

Somehow, some way, almost every potential ticket buyer for the revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town will have encountered this classic. Perhaps it was during high school when it was assigned reading. Or perhaps they attended one of the two recent Broadway revivals. Theatergoers might even have seen it in a community theater, high school or college production. Regardless of how audiences might have experienced this chestnut about life, family, love and death at the turn of the last century in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, nothing could prepare them for director David Cromer's re-imagining of the work, which remains entirely true to the spirit of the script and delivers a stunning emotional blow.

The production unfolds in a rehearsal-like atmosphere. The performers wear contemporary street clothes and the house lights illuminate the space at the Barrow Street Theatre for nearly all of the production (lighting designer Heather Gilbert, like set designer Michael Spadaro, has some exceptional surprises in store). Cromer himself plays Wilder's Stage Manager, imbuing this narrator who comments on its action and its meaning, with a straightforwardness that instantly dispels any sense of sepia-tinted quaintness that may theatergoers many associate with the play.

The tone set by Cromer during the first few moments of the production sets the stage, pun fully intended, for the way in which the rest of the action unfolds. The Webb and Gibbs families rush through their morning breakfast rituals with a pandemonium that is instantly recognizable. When the matriarchs (Lori Myers, Kati Brazda) of these families get together for a morning tête-à-tête, it's not their activity – snapping beans in preparation for canning – on which audiences focus, it's the way in which the women plan how one will get her workaholic husband to take a vacation. Anyone who's ever been in a relationship will empathize fully with the exchange.

And so "Town" proceeds. Teenagers Emily (Jennifer Grace) and George (James McMenamin) work through algebra homework in their respective bedrooms – represented with two chairs put on top of two tables – and we know well before an achingly moving scene shared over ice cream sodas, that these two are meant for one another. George's father (a cunning and winning turn from Jeff Still), the town doctor, has to reprimand the young man for shirking chores around the house, and theatergoers simultaneously bristle, remembering similar confrontations from their pasts, and smile, seeing the way in which the doctor cleverly and effectively sets up his firm, yet loving, scolding.

Other events in the lives of the Gibbs and Webb clans are treated in a similar fashion. Both the big and the small are rendered with a straightforwardness that eschews sentimentality, and thus ensures that each has its maximum possible impact on contemporary theatergoers. The same can be said of events around the town – from the chronic alcoholism that plagues church organist Simon Stimson (a terrifically understated Jonathan Mastro) to the almost zealously tearful joy experienced by Mrs. Soames (Donna Jay Fulks) as George and Emily walk down the aisle. Some of the finest work comes from Grace and McMenamin in these two central roles as their characters age from mid-teens into their late 20s. Grace displays a kind of tomboyishness early on that gives way to the certainty of late-adolescence, a quality which is ultimately replaced by a strong sense of compassion and assuredness. McMenamin's portrayal of George also deepens artfully as the play progresses, and yet, there's a certain charm to the fact that this George remains something of an Ashton Kutchner type throughout.

Of course it's no secret that the final act of "Town" takes place in a cemetery where Emily is laid to rest, but it's in this act that Cromer has a terrific coup de théâtre in store for audiences that is simultaneously breathtaking and emotionally devastating. It's a cunning twist to all that has preceded – in both the production's tone and in the performances – that allows this play, so hallowed in some regards that it's become a cliché of itself, and Wilder's message to resound with clarion intensity.

---- Andy Propst

Our Town plays at the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street). Performances are Tuesday through Friday at7:30pm; Saturday & Sunday at 2:30 & 7:30pm. Tickets are $40 & $69 and can be purchased by calling 212-868-4444 or by visiting www.SmartTix.com. Further information is available online at www.OurTownOffBroadway.com.

For the first time in seven years, Robin Williams is set to return to the New York stage. Broadway will welcome Williams, who will perform his one man show, Weapons of Self-Destruction. After a successful, sold-out 80-city US tour, Williams will appear in a limited engagement at the Neil Simon Theater — on April 28th, 29th and May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 2009.

“I’m excited to be back on Broadway,” said Williams. “It's been a blast working on new material for this tour. The current state of the country’s political and economic climate, while so hard on so many people, has been like gold for a comedian. There’s just so much that’s ripe for the picking.”

Weapons of Self-Destruction highlights Williams’ trademark free associations and riffs on social and political absurdities.

Williams last toured in 2002 when he returned to the stand-up scene after a sixteen year hiatus. The sold-out tour earned the distinction of being one of the highest-grossing comedy tours in history, and culminated in a final performance filmed by HBO and broadcast lives from New York City. The resulting July 2002 HBO broadcast, Robin Williams: Live on Broadway, was nominated for five Emmy® awards.

With four Golden Globe® awards, four Grammy® awards, and an Oscar® to his credit, Williams has become one of the most successful and beloved figures in entertainment history. In addition to his upcoming tour, Williams will soon be seen starring in the Disney comedy Old Dogs opposite John Travolta, and will reprise his role as ‘Teddy Roosevelt’ in the sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, co-starring Ben Stiller.

Tickets for Weapons of Self-Destruction go on sale this Sunday, March 1st, at the Neil Simon Theater box office, or through Ticketmaster.com or www.robinwilliams.com.