Anyone Can Whistle Reviewed (3)!
Lakeland’s Anyone Can Whistle is a Beautiful Mistake
Bob Abelman, News-Herald
Director Martin Friedman offers fair warning in the playbill for “Anyone Can Whistle.”
He acknowledges that the show being staged at Lakeland Civic Theatre was a commercial flop, a critical disaster and, for composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and librettist Arthur Laurents, a devastating professional failure when produced on Broadway in 1964.
In its defense, “Anyone Can Whistle” opened with “Hello Dolly!” across the street and “Funny Girl” just a few blocks uptown. These musicals were more conventional and star-studded than what Sondheim and Laurents had to offer in this early collaboration. In fact, most Sondheim musicals have a difficult time finding an audience and a profit before the times catch up with his unorthodox vision and signature style.
The times never quite caught up with “Anyone Can Whistle.” It is one quirky and disconcerting bit of stage business.
At its core, “Anyone Can Whistle” is a wild musical satire about political corruption. As the play begins we are introduced to the delightfully despicable Mayor Cora Hoover Hooper, who has led her broken down town into bankruptcy with the help of a merry band of shady and incorrigible city workers. We find them in desperate need of a miracle, which they then manufacture in order to attract tourists to the town.
So far, so good. At this early juncture, Sondheim’s music and lyrics are pleasant and recognizable interludes that channel his inner Gershwin in support of Laurents’ witty storyline, social commentary, and off-kilter characters.
Then things get increasingly bizarre.
Amidst the rush of tourists, the inmates of a local insane asylum escape and merge with the paying customers. A psychiatrist named J. Bowden Hapgood surfaces out of nowhere to help distinguish between the sane and the insane which, we are repeatedly reminded and then reminded again, is an impossibility. Hapgood then falls in love with Fay Apple, who was the nurse who let the inmates escape, and the two foil the evil plans of the Mayor and her gang.
Meanwhile, Sondheim is off in his own world creating self-indulgent songs that give us a taste—but only a taste—of his burgeoning genius. It is also at this point that the play becomes an exercise in one-upmanship between its two creators, as if the author was daring the composer to come up with something musical to complement his convoluted storyline, and the composer was daring the author to write something that could accommodate his eclectic and complex compositions.
The end result is a very discombobulated musical, but one that Friedman and his creative team miraculously turn into a wonderful ride. They realize full well that this play is a beautiful mistake and run with it the way misguided children might run with scissors—full of carefree exhilaration and headlong into awaiting disaster.
Leading the charge is Aimiee Collier as the egomaniacal Mayor. Her acting and singing stretches the role to monumental proportions, for she milks every line and belts every high note to the balcony, and all of it is marvellous.
Trey Gilpin, Thomas Hill and Aaron Elersich, who play Hooper’s henchmen as if they were animated by Warner Bros., chew the scenery without hesitation or an ounce of pride. To varying degrees of success, members of a very game ensemble do likewise. They are all fearless and, consequently, a joy to behold in this context.
Dan Folino and Katherine DeBoer, as J. Bowden Hapgood and Nurse Apple, offer a Master Class in managing Sondheim’s complex harmonies and mouth-numbing lyrics with grace and charm. They create immediately accessible characters amidst a population of ne’re-do-wells, morons, and aimless inmates, which gives credibility to their relationship, realism to some of the inane things they are asked to say and do, and helps showcase their beautiful ballads.
To a large degree, the success of this production—and it is a success—lies with the 12-piece orchestra under Larry Goodpaster’s direction, which brings fluidity and balance to a difficult score. Trad A Burns’ lighting design, along with Friedman’s astute direction, gives much needed clarity and definition to what one can only imagine is a mess of a script.
Burns’ set design—particularly the centrepiece miracle in the town square—is intriguing but tends to win the battle for space with Jennifer Justice’s choreography.
By evening’s end, it is obvious that all that is entertaining on the page has made it onto this stage. The question theater-goers need to answer for themselves is if it is entertaining enough.
Anyone Can Whistle Reviewed (2)!
Subject is Sondheim in Delightful Production
Fran Heller, Cleveland Jewish News
There are two ways of looking at “Anyone Can Whistle” by Stephen Sondheim: As a critical and commercial flop, which it certainly was, closing after nine performances on Broadway in 1964 and never revived again except in concert form and on college campuses. Or: as a bold, daring musical way ahead of its time when more conventional musicals such as “Hello Dolly,” “Funny Girl,” “Oliver!” and “Fiddler” were the norm.
After seeing a delightful production of this early Sondheim work at Lakeland Civic Theatre, I can say both are correct. Arthur Laurents’s book about a bankrupt town in search of an economic miracle is convoluted and incomprehensible, a strange coupling of musical comedy and theater of the absurd that is diffuse and as dry as the drought that afflicts the town in question. But, the musical’s strength lies in its original and robust score, a lush combination of melody and sardonic lyrics that would become the trademark of a Sondheim work. In “Anyone Can Whistle,” Sondheim also introduces his idea of the “concept musical,” a more cerebral type of musical theater that addresses the mores of the times.
In director Martin Friedman’s innovative take, the show’s principal weakness, a muddled plot, takes a back seat to the wonderful music, exceptional leads, an energetic and hardworking ensemble, and a phenomenal set that plays a key role in keeping the show rolling. Friedman deftly proves that the sum of the production is greater than its individual components. The Lakeland production, playing through Sunday, Feb. 19, is so pleasurable that it isn’t long before the wacky storyline ceases to be as important.
The story centers on a small town on the skids. To avoid bankruptcy, the town’s corrupt politicos launch a scheme to create a phony miracle – water flowing from a rock – that will become a mecca for tourists and a gold mine for the crooked mayor and her cronies.
Matters complicate when the head nurse at the local sanitarium called The Cookie Jar, which houses the “socially pressured” (i.e. insane), leads a group of patients (called Cookies) to drink from the well. Fearing that the crazies will prove the miracle a fake, the mayor and her henchmen seek to foil the nurse’s intentions. The plot gets even
crazier from here on in.
The allure of this production begins with Trad A Burns’s awesome set, one of the best I’ve seen on the Lakeland stage. The proscenium is framed on three sides by row houses with large windows that give it a distinctly urban feel. Boarded up doors and loose planks of wood suggest a metropolis on the verge of decay. A reversible stairwell fronting the buildings allows for nonstop movement and flowing crowd scenes that are an indispensable part of the success of this production. The constant ebb and flow of ensemble members cleverly makes the crowd scenes seem more crowded.
A Rube Goldberg-like contraption dominates the center of the town square, where the miracle takes place. Water spouting from this loony contraption ramps up the intrigue and interest, even when the story sags.
“Anyone Can Whistle” satirizes corrupt politicians, the commercialization of religion in the guise of miracles and conformity, punching holes in conventional notions of sanity and insanity.
Even in this early work, there are ample examples of Sondheim’s genius in such rich and original vocal numbers as “There Won’t Be Trumpets” and the titular song. My favorite is “Everybody Says Don’t,” a terrific song about living life bravely and taking risks.
The cast is stellar. A voluptuous Amiee Collier, dressed in Harold Crawford’s fetching purple, shimmies and shakes as mayor Cora Hoover Hooper, who turns a blind eye to her lackeys’ unethical scheme to make the town – oops, themselves – rich again. The mayor’s henchmen are Comptroller Schub (the suitably smarmy Trey Gilpin), Treasurer Cooley (a fawning Thomas Hill) and the skirt-chasing Chief of Police Magruder (Aaron Elersich). Cora’s song with her boys, “I’ve Got You to Lean On,” choreographed by Jennifer Justice, is another eye-catching number.
Katherine DeBoer is dynamite as nurse Fay Apple, with a great voice to match. In the aforementioned “There Won’t Be Trumpets,” Fay fantasizes about a mythical hero she hopes will come and save the town from the scam. Help arrives in the form of J. Bowden Hapgood (the inimitable Dan Folino), a reluctant hero who falls in love with the heroine.
DeBoer and Folino beautifully convey the growing attraction between Fay and Hapgood. Their delightful duet “Come Play Wiz Me,” a song of seduction in which Fay appears dressed as a Gallic soubrette (she can only let her hair down in disguise), is, as the French would say, charmant.
This is a first-rate show in which director Friedman, a Sondheim aficionado, takes a weak script and magically makes it work. Worth seeing for the production values alone.
Anyone Can Whistle Reviewed!
Lakeland Civic Theatre Gives its Best Voice to Anyone Can Whistle
Donald Rosenberg, Plain Dealer
Musicals that fall on their faces often possess scores to cherish. Think about Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Allegro” or Strouse and Schwartz’s “Rags,” among many others.
High on this list is “Anyone Can Whistle,” the first show with both music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim after “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” Working with book writer Arthur Laurents, his colleague from “West Side Story” and “Gypsy,” Sondheim wrote a score of infectious pizazz and poetry.
But the 1964 musical lasted only a week, its blend of the absurd and the farcical confusing audiences and critics. The work, though full of hot air, is worth consideration, if mostly to hear a young Sondheim flexing brilliant muscles.
The enjoyable production of “Anyone Can Whistle” that Lakeland Civic Theatre is presenting this month reveals the show’s strengths and weaknesses, while giving three stellar leads the chance to soar.
Martin Friedman, staging his 10th Sondheim show, has restored several songs cut from the 1964 production and placed the show in two acts, rather than the original three-act format.
Little tinkering, alas, can rescue the scatterbrained narrative about a down-and-out town whose mayoress (“yes,” as Sondheim’s lyric insistently tells us) gives the green light for a phony miracle to lure tourists.
When the visitors get mixed up with the denizens of the town’s Cookie Jar — i.e., asylum — mayhem ensues. Joining the fray are an uptight nurse unable to commit (whistle) and the presumed psychiatrist with whom she has a fling. All the world’s a mad stage, the show appears to be saying, but without sufficient point.
The show has a crazy, quirky appeal whenever the Lakeland cast is merrily or tenderly immersed in Sondheim-land. There isn’t enough room onstage for the chase dance to register, but Friedman keeps the story in forward motion on Trad A Burns’ imposing town set.
However uneven the material may be, the production’s leads are impossible to resist. Amiee Collier savors the fine line between giddiness and hysteria that fuels the machinations of the buxom mayoress, Cora Hoover Hooper, and belts her numbers to the rafters.
Katherine DeBoer, the marvelous Charlotte in Fairmount Center for the Arts’ recent production of Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music,” does a mean impression of a French floozy, who’s actually rigid nurse Fay Apple under the red wig. DeBoer makes every moment count, whether she’s oozing Gallic sexiness or winning hearts in the wistful title song.
The visitor who falls for Fay is J. Bowden Hapgood, a sort of Harold Hill of mental illness. Dan Folino plays the role for all its dapper and enterprising worth, investing Hapgood with enough charm to fool all of the people some of the time.
The other cast members, including the mayoress’s cronies, do high-energy work in a show that is frustrating and preachy, if also exploding with hints of greater Sondheim things to come.
Anyone Can Whistle Opens at Lakeland Civic Theatre
Opening Friday, February 3, 2012
Lakeland Civic Theatre presents
Anyone Can Whistle
By Stephen Sondheim
Director: Martin Friedman
Music Director: Larry Goodpastor
Choreographer: Jennifer Justice
Twelve Performances:
Friday, February 3 – 7:30
Saturday, February 4 - 7:30
Sunday, February 5 – 2:00
Friday, February 10 - 7:30
Saturday, February 11 - 7:30
Sunday, February 12 – 2:00
Friday, February 17 - 7:30
Saturday, February 18 - 7:30
Sunday, February 19 – 2:00
at Lakeland Community College
7700 Clock Tower Drive
Kirtland, OH 44094
View Larger Map
For reservations, call the box office at 440-525-7134
For information on the theater, call 440-525-7526
Individual tickets are $13 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $7 for students
Anyone Can Whistle is a sometimes dark, always witty and engaging musical that has some of Sondheim’s most wonderful music and lyrics. Rarely performed but way ahead of its time.
The mayor-ess has led the town into bankruptcy. To save it, she and her corrupt cohorts hatch a plan to attract visitors. But their scheme is met with some challenges, as the tourist rush mixes with escapees from the local asylum called “The Cookie Jar.” Trying to separate the “cookies” from the rest of the crowd becomes a daunting task. Can anyone even tell them apart? Can the town truly be saved? Mayhem and hilarity ensues in this musical that claims a very fine distinction between sanity and conformity.
Cast:
Katherine DeBoer – Fay Apple
Dan Folino* – J. Bowden Hapgood
Amiee Collier – Cora Hoover Hooper
Trey Gilpin – Comptroller Schub
Aaron Elersich – Chief of Police Magruder
Thomas Hill – Treasurer Cooley
Cara Corrigan – Baby Joan
Bernadette Hisey – Mrs. Schroeder
Dominic Fedele – Dr. L. Sidney Detmold
Ensemble:
Jeremy Jenkins
Jenna Messina
Tasha Brandt
Troy Bruchwalski
*appears courtesy of Actors Equity Association
Additional Artistic Staff:
Trad A. Burns – Set and Lighting Design
Harold Crawford – Costume Design
Eric Simna – Sound Design
William Amato – Technical Design
Joel Rathbone – Production Stage Manager
2011 BroadwayWorld Cleveland Awards
I’ve been nominated on BroadwayWorld.com for Best Actor in a Musical!
But I need your help to win it place respectably! I was nominated for my portrayal of ‘Freddy Benson’ in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre. Click here if you need a refresher.
Please go to the VOTING PAGE and follow the instructions. You’ll need your email address and excellent taste.
I am also represented in three other categories:
Best Musical – ASSASSINS – Lakeland Civic Theatre
Best Ensemble – Grand Hotel – Mercury Summer Stock
Best Special Theatrical Event – Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure – Mercury Summer Stock
I appreciate your support!
My Next Show – Anyone Can Whistle
I’m slowly chipping away at Sondheim’s collection of works. I’ve been cast as ‘Comptroller Schub’ in Lakeland Civic Theatre‘s production of Anyone Can Whistle.
It’s a crazy show, and I’ll be joining an amazing group of people. It’s exciting, to say the least!
The show’s coming in February; check out “My Upcoming Show(s)” for details.
Spelling Bee Pictures!
Photos Courtesy of Brian Bowers
The Cast (From Left to Right)
Antoinette Kula, Kate Michalski, Kevin Conroy, Doug Bailey, Maggie Stahl, Neeley Gevaart, Dan Bush, Trey Gilpin, and Alex Arroyo
Rehearsing “Pandemonium”
Alex Arroyo and Spellers
Rehearsal
The Spellers
The Judges
Dan Bush and Maggie Stahl
“Magic Foot”
Doug Bailey and Cast
Antoinette Kula and Trey Gilpin
See the rest of our promo shots by Brian here!
Spelling Bee Opens at TrueNorth Cultural Arts
TrueNorth Cultural Arts Center presents The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
By Rachel Sheinkin
Music and lyrics by William Finn
Director: Kevin Joseph Kelly
Music Director: Jordan Cooper
Choreographer: Martin Cespedes
Nine Performances:
Friday, September 16 – 7:30pm
Saturday, September 17 – 7:30pm
Sunday, September 18 – 3:00pm
Friday, September 23 – 7:30pm
Saturday, September 24 – 7:30pm
Sunday, September 25 – 3:00pm
Friday, September 30 – 7:30pm
Saturday, October 1 – 7:30pm
Sunday, October 2 – 3:00pm
At True North Cultural Arts
in the French Creek Nature Center
4530 Colorado Avenue
Sheffield, OH 44054
View Larger Map
For reservations, call the Box Office at 440-949-5200 or Order Online
Individual tickets are $12.50 in advance or $15.00 the day of the show.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (PG-13)
Six kids in the throes of adolescence, overseen by grownups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn’t everything and losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser.
With the kids played by adults, Spelling Bee is a perfect combination of child-like fun and grown-up humor. If you’ve ever watched those documentaries following the eccentricities and neuroses of spelling bee contestants, you have an idea of the crazy characters brought to life in this show. A wonderful mix of comedy and depth, you are guaranteed to shed tears of laughter and sorrow.
Did I mention there’s audience interaction? Members of the audience are selected to participate competitively in the bee (don’t worry: you will not be selected if you don’t volunteer), and the progression of the show is actually based on their skills!
Cast:
Miss Rona Lisa Peretti – Maggie Stahl (also Olive’s Mom)
-Putnam County’s #1 Realtor and former champion (3rd Annual Bee), she takes unusual relish in many moments throughout the evening.
Vice Principal Douglas Panch – Dan Bush
-Returns to judge after five years’ absence. There was an “incident” at the 20th Annual Bee, but he claims he is “in a better place” now.
Mitch Mahoney – Kevin Conroy (also Dan Schwartz and Olive’s Dad)
-As the bee’s “Comfort Counselor,” Mitch is carrying out his court-ordered community service consoling disqualified contestants with a hug and a juice box.
The Spellers:
Leaf Coneybear – Alex Arroyo (also Carl Grubenierre)
-The youngest son of a hippie family, he has some inferiority issues and more than a little trouble staying focused.
William Barfee – Doug Bailey (also Mr. Coneybear)
-He’s got an abrasive personality, only one working nostril, and a severe peanut allergy. But he’s also got his “Magic Foot.”
Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre – Neely Gevaart (also Mrs. Coneybear)
-Don’t let her age (and lisp) fool you. The bee’s youngest contestant is sharp, openly political, and fiercely competitive.
Chip Tolentino – Trey Gilpin (also Pinecone Coneybear and Jesus Christ)
-An arrogant Boy Scout Junior Ranger who won the 24th Annual Bee and is back to defend his title. His formidable new obstacle this year: puberty.
Olive Ostrovsky – Kate Michalski (also Marigold Coneybear)
-With her father too busy and her mother abroad, she longs for family support as well as a friend (who’s not a dictionary).
Marcy Park – Antionette Kula (also Brooke Coneybear)
-A “career winner,” she speaks six languages and has mastered countless disciplines spanning most sports and musical instruments.
And possibly YOU! – Additional spellers from the audience
‘Important’ Casting News
Fantastic news!
I’ve been cast as Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of being Earnest at Actors’ Summit in Akron!
It’s one of my favorite roles in one of my absolute favorite shows. It’s also one of the very few shows I’m in that’s not a musical. It’ll be a great change of pace.
The show doesn’t go up until March. Keep an eye on “My Upcoming Show(s)” for details.
Grand Hotel Reviewed (3)
THE GRAND HOTEL at Mercury Summerstock
GRAND HOTEL, whose 1989 production had a healthy run on Broadway, is the kind of show that seems dated and tired, even with an enthusiastic production.
Based on the 1929 Vicki Baum novel and play, Menschen im Hotel (people in a hotel), and the 1932 MGM feature film, the musical focuses on events taking place over the course of a weekend in an elegant 1928 Berlin hotel.
The story line centers on an overlapping view of various hotel guests. Included are an ill Jewish bookkeeper who is originally the victim of anti-Semitism, but finally is given a room; a temperamental past-her-prime ballerina who becomes involved in a cougar-cub relationship with a destitute Baron who is in deep debt and is being threatened with death; a lying businessman; and a typist who dreams of a career in Hollywood.
The book/music and lyrics are by Luther David, Robert Wright and George Forrest, with additional music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. Never heard of them? Well, you probably haven’t heard of most of the music from the show either. Titles include: Fire and Ice, Villa on a Hill, I Want to Go to Hollywood, Love Can’t Happen, and You Bring New Light. Not exactly stuff that populates your I-pod.
The Mercury cast puts out full effort. Pierre-Jacques Brault’s direction is creative and much of the singing is on key. Brault’s choreography well fits the music and is nicely done, especially considering the tiny stage space he has to work with. Keeping the entire cast on stage so they flow in and out of scenes was a nice touch. The problem is a script and the score. They just don’t go any place, don’t light up the stage, lack being memorable.
Brian Marshall is a combination Groucho Marx and Charlie Chaplin as Otto Kringelein, the ill put-upon Jewish bookkeeper. (Michael Jeter won several awards for the role the original Broadway production.) Marshall has some fine moments, especially in At the Grand Hotel.
Nate Huntley does an acceptable job of acting the role of Baron Von Gaigern, but has difficulty with the higher register singing.
Amiee Collier (Raffaela), Holly Feiler (Elizaveta Grushinskaya) , Emily Grodzik (Flemmchen) all create consistent characterizations. Collier’s What She Needs and Grodzik’s I Want to Go to Hollywood were show highlights. Jonathan Ramos does a nice vocal singing You Bring New Light.
The show runs without intermission.
CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: Mercury’s production is an acceptable evening of theatre, but GRAND HOTEL is one of those musicals that makes you wonder
