Horse Extravaganza Show Extends Near Boston

The Travelers V / Les voyageurs V | Credits: JF Leblanc

Cavalia’s Odysseo, a $30-million horse show imagined by Normand Latourelle, one of the co-founders of Cirque du Soleil, has extended its run under the White Big Top at  201 Assembly Square Drive in Somerville, MA at the intersection of Interstate 93 and Route 28.

Tickets, priced from $34.50-$139.50 are on sale through Aug. 25:  www.cavalia.net or by calling 1-866-999-8111.  VIP tickets (Rendez-Vous package) offer the best seats in the house, buffet-dinning before the show, open bar, deserts during intermission and an exclusive visit of the stable after the show. The Rendez-Vous package prices range from $154.50 to $219.50.

To give life to this extraordinary equestrian adventure, Cavalia created a 17,500-square-foot stage, in the middle of which rise two hills each three storeys tall. Some 10,000 tons of rock, earth and sand are trucked in and then sculpted to create the vast space of freedom where human and horse come to play in complicity.

Above the stage hangs an imposing technical grid capable of supporting 80 tons of equipment including, a full-sized merry-go-round. Odysseo presents a “live 3-D” voyage with extremely high-definition computer graphic images that transport the audience across the world’s most beautiful landscapes. To project these
breathtaking graphic backdrops on an immense cyclorama the size of three IMAX screens, Odysseo uses 18 projectors simultaneously.

The dream begins in a misty, enchanted forest where horses graze and frolic under a sky of rolling clouds and a setting sun. Horses, riders, acrobats and musicians embark on a soulful journey that leads them from the Mongolian steppes to Monument Valley, from the African savannah to Nordic glaciers, from the Sahara to Easter Island.

Among the sites on this grand voyage are urban stilters,  a troupe of African acrobats, horses powering angelic aerialists in a four-person silks act that takes them into the skies, an African harp called a Kora and purebred Arabian horses directed by inaudible vocal commands from their kneeling trainer.

The scenes follow the seasons; at times, the horses and people become too numerous to count. The Odysseo epic wraps up with a fantastic crescendo as the stage is inundated with 80,000 gallons of water in just a few minutes. A virtual waterfall overhangs the resulting lake, in which horses, riders and artists join to frolic, leaving behind them the traces of their splashes and an astonished audience.

Fun Facts:

• Odysseo features 63 horses of 11 different breeds including the Appaloosa, Arabian, Canadian, Holsteiner, Lusitano, Oldenburg, Paint Horse, Quarter Horse, Spanish Purebred (P.R.E.) and armblood.Headquartered in Montreal.
• The horses are from Spain, Portugal, France, The Netherlands, Germany, The United States and Canada.
• There are 47 artists - riders, acrobats, aerialists, dancers and musicians.
• The artists are from around the world including the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, Belgium, Guinea, Russia, Spain and Ukraine.
•  There are 350 costumes and 100 pairs of shoes and boots in the show. Artists may have up to seven different costumes.

Cavalia Inc. is an entertainment company that specializes in the creation, production and touring of innovative shows for audiences of all ages. Founded by Latourelle, the company has an expertise in equestrian and performing arts, and is known for cutting-edge technology, multimedia and special effects. Cavalia, seen by some 4million people across North America and Europe since its 2003 debut, celebrates the relationship between humans and horses by loosely recounting the evolution of this bond.

The website for Odysseo says information about tour stops in Washington, DC and Seattle is coming.

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A Midsummer Night's Dream -- CT Free Shakespeare

A Lively “Midsummer” Presented Under the Stars

By Tom Holehan
There was life last week on the grounds of the woebegone American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford where Director Ellen Lieberman continued her annual presentation of “accessible Shakespeare” this time with a fast and lively production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Shakespeare’s popular tale of mismatched lovers lost in a forest of fairies, sprites and changelings looks right at home on the theatre grounds with majestic tall trees framing the stage. The trees helped considerably as Doug Frawley’s bland scenic design doesn’t begin to suggest the enchanted forest required for the classic.

This is in-your-face, endlessly enthusiastic Shakespeare with enough good actors and high spirits in the large company to win over even those who still don’t quite “get” the Bard. Handsome Mark Friedlander makes for an appealingly love-struck Lysander matched well with the adorable Caitlin Chuckta as Hermia. Jonathan Holtzman’s Oberon and Saluda Camp’s Titania are both well-spoken who suggest the otherworldly without a lot of fuss and CFS regular Eric Nyquist is a ball of energy as the exuberant Puck. The clear crowd-pleaser of the evening, however, was Ian Eaton’s delightfully hammy Bottom. He probably gets away with more than the law should allow here, but the audience I sat with was not complaining.

Pyramus and Thisbe, the hilarious play-within-a-play that caps the production, goes on far too long but, again, the crowd would have probably enjoyed even more. There are also extended dance and song sequences that could have been trimmed and pity this poor company that doesn’t even get a rest at intermission as they lead group sing-alongs while passing buckets for donations. Frankly, I could have used a break from this fun but aggressive production, but there is no denying that Ms. Lieberman knows her audience very well.

 A Midsummer Night’s Dream will continue at McLevy Green in Downtown Bridgeport through Aug. 11. For further information call 203-916-8066 or visit:www.ctfreeshakespeare.org. 

 
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at: tholehan@yahoo.com. His reviews and other theatre information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website:www.ctcritics.org.

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Theater Review: Grease -- New Canaan

Courtesy of New Canaan

Grease Rocks Under the Stars in New Canaan

By Tom Holehan
Grease, the much-produced 1950s rock and roll musical and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Shakespeare perennial (especially at this time of year), are both being offered al fresco this summer by the Summer Theatre of New Canaan and Connecticut Free Shakespeare. Pack your picnic basket and enjoy the night breezes…if not the productions!

Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey struck musical theatre gold with Grease, which opened on Broadway in 1972, had a few revivals, countless National Tours and a certain blockbuster film version whose popularity continues to baffle me to this day. The simple story about some not-too-tough high school greasers and the women they love includes the main romance between virginal new girl Sandy Dombrowski (STONC’s perky Sharon Malane) and bad boy ladies man Danny Zuko (Christian Libonati, working awfully hard). Complications, as they say, ensue and the dubious moral of  Grease still seems to say: Embrace your inner slut and the boys will love you. Nice.

At STONC, the cast is knocking themselves out to entertain and the mugging and extreme “face acting” going on is broad enough to be comfortably observed from the parking lot. Director Melody Meitrott Libonati leaves little to the imagination and everyone seems to be trying just a little too hard. It would have been nice if the actors were encouraged to take a step back and find some truth in these cartoonish characters. You’d also like them to relax a tad and enjoy their characters instead of forcing them so on us with such gusto.

The nifty score, however, is still fun to hear and audience members sang along with the familiar, infectious music. The most successful performance of the evening was Cristina Farruggia as mean girl (with a heart of gold, ‘natch!) Betty Rizzo. Farruggia may look mature enough to join the cast of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey”, but her powerhouse singing of “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” late in act two may be the production’s highlight. Adam Hill’s Teen Angel does a decent job with “Beauty School Dropout” finding the wit within the lyrics and Elysia Jordan brings real feeling to “Freddy My Love”. David Hancock Turner’s compact but pistol-hot orchestra continues to impress and this Grease manages to entertain despite itself.

Grease continues at the Summer Theatre of New Canaan through August 11. For further information or ticket reservations, call the theatre box office at 203.966.4634 or visit: www.stonc.org. For further information call 203.916.8066 or visit: www.ctfreeshakespeare.org. 

 
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at: tholehan@yahoo.com. His reviews and other theater information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website:www.ctcritics.org.

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Free Ice Cream, Music and More Today at Mark Twain House -- Rain or Shine

 I scream! You scream! We all scream for The Mark Twain House and
Museum Ice Cream Scoail.

 

An olde-fashioned Ice Cream Social featuring locally-made confections from Tulmeadow Farms, UConn Dairy Bar (courtesy of UConn Dining Services), Main Street Creamery and Shady Glen is planned, rain or shine, today from 5 to 7 pm at the Mark Twain House Museum Center.

Rounding out the evening will be performances from Bandstand Barbershop Quartet and the original ballet, "A Love Chase," penned by Susy Clemens and performed by Ballet Theatre Company. Free discounted first-floor tours of The Mark Twain House also will be offered. Funded by First Niagara Bank Foundation.

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Theater Review: Hello Dolly! -- Goodspeed

Will Burton, Klea Blackhurst, and Steve Geary. Photo: Diane Sobolewski  

Well, Hello, Klea! Blackhurst is a Charming, Feisty Dolly

By Lauren Yarger

When Goodspeed Musical first announced a production of Hello Dolly!, I must admit my first reaction was “ho hum.”

Jerry Herman’s tunes, like “Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes a Moment,” and the title song are the best part of the show which otherwise doesn’t have a lot to offer. Michael Stewart’s book, based on Thorton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker, is weak, at best. The thing that really made this show a hit when it won 10 Tony Awards in 1964 including (amazingly enough – it beat Funny Girl) Best Musical, was star Carol Channing (who reprised the role of matchmaker Dolly Levi for two Broadway revivals in 1978 and 1995).

Channing’s portrayal is the iconic one against which all other Dollys are measured (including Funny Girl star Barbra Streisand who played Dolly in the 1969 movie version). They are big shoes to fill, but my interest in Goodspeed’s production piqued when directed Daniel Goldstein (Broadway’s Godspell) announced casting of Klea Blackhurst in the lead with Ashley Brown in a supporting role to boot.

Blackhurst won the CT Critics Circle Award for her performance in Music Theatre of Connecticut’s production of All the Traffic Will Allow, a one-woman tour de force through the songs and life of Ethel Merman. If anyone could take on Channing, Blackhurst, could, I thought, and Brown, who created the title role in Broadway’s Mary Poppins and played Belle in Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast, is a bonus as Irene Molloy, a hat maker whom matchmaker Dolly has introduced to “half” millionaire Horace Vandergelder (Tony Sheldon), though she has her eye on him herself. I was right. Both bring wonderful singing voices and pluck to their characters. Sheldon rounds out some fine casting and gives depth to the otherwise unbelievable, shallow, sexist Horace.

Blackhurst is a combination of talent, humor, sheer force and seriousness (otherwise we’d never believe those dumb business cards she keeps pulling out of her oversized bag). She’s a cross between Ethel Merman and Bette Midler as she makes her entrance up the aisle through the house to the stage, but she puts her own stamp on Dolly.

We sympathize with her when she talks with her departed husband about the need to get on with her life, and smile as she exasperates Horace and sabotages his meetings with Irene and the unsuitable Ernestina (Melodie Wolford) so she can position herself to be the next Mrs.Vandergelder. Dolly’s scheme gets a leg-up when Irene falls in love, instead, with Cornelius (Spencer Moses), chief clerk at Vandergelder Hay and Feed.  Cornelius and his associate, Barnaby (Jeremy Morse), take a night off and pretend to be well-to-do gents on the town as they entertain Irene and her assistant, Minnie (Catherine Blades) and try to avoid their boss.

While they are out, they visit a fancy restaurant and are served by a chorus line of waiters ridiculously balancing glasses and bottles, throwing plates and rolling by on carts as choreographed by Kelli Barclay. OK, she is limited by Adrian W Jones’ set designs which decrease the size on the already too-small stage to accommodate scenic elements like the famous grand stairway down which Dolly descends to the strains of “Hello Dolly!,” but the moves throughout the show appear either hokey or stilted.

The late 19^th-century costuming in muted colors that seem to blend with the set (Wade Laboissonniere, design) also proved somewhat problematic. In one larger dance number, Blackhurst suddenly was unable to perform the choreography when her underskirt tore and got tangled around her feet. A true pro, she hid the problem nicely and I am sure most of the audience was unaware of her difficulty, or of her subtle communication to the other dancers that she wasn’t able to execute the moves as choreographed.

Seconds later, she didn’t miss a beat as she ate the scenery – literally – in a scene which calls for her to consume a huge meal of dumplings and corn on the cob, totally oblivious to the entire ensemble and audience watching her. It was sheer comedic brilliance – and a testament to Blackhurst’s theater chops. A less experienced performer might have been tempted to use the knife to cut herself free from the offending underskirts, bringing attention to them in some way that would have shifted the focus of the scene.

Meanwhile, there is another matchmaking subplot involving Horace’s niece Ermangarde (Brooke Shapiro), who weeps and whines all the time (and has very little other dialogue) because her uncle doesn’t approve of her chosen, Ambrose Kemper (Charles MacEachern). After a while, we kind of wonder why the heck anyone would want to marry her, but matchmaker Dolly does her best to bring the two together.

It’s one of those old musicals with a few memorable tunes and a ridiculous plot that would find it difficult to stand on a modern stage otherwise, but solid performances anchored by Blackhurst make Goodspeed’s production an enjoyable romp through turn-of-the-century New York. Goodspeed announced a week’s extension to the run before it even had begun.

Hello Dolly! runs through Sept. 14 at Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St., East Haddam. Performances: Wednesday at 2 and 7:30 pm., Thursday at 7:30 pm (with select performances at 2 pm), Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 3 and 8 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm (with select performances at 6:30 pm). There will also be performances on Tuesdays, Aug. 13 and 27 at 2 pm. Tickets $27-$81.50: (860.873.8668) or online at goodspeed.org.

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Theater Review: Smokey Joe's Cafe -- Long Wharf Theatre

Smokey Joe’s Café Brings Cool Sounds to Hot Summer at Long Wharf

By Lauren Yarger

Looking for a way to beat the heat of squelching temperatures this summer? Try something else that’s hot: the cool songs of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller rolled into the revue Smokey Joe’s Café entertaining in the air conditioned Mainstage at Long Wharf Theatre.

A cast of nine singers and five musicians rock the place out with tunes by the popular 1950s songwriting team including standards like “Young Blood,” “Kansas City,” “Fools Fall in Love,” “Poison Ivy,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “I’m a Woman,” “On Broadway” and many others (there are more than 30 numbers).

This version of the 1995 Tony-Award-nominated musical is a tour stop by Irving Street Rep (New Jersey) and stars Vida Allworthy, Derrick Baker, Jonathan Celestin, Dawn Marie Driver, Jose Figueroa, Jr., Ron Lucas, Jay Rivera, Famecia Ward and Stevanie Anita Williams directed by producer A. Curtis Farrow. Music Director John Bronston plays piano and directs the band on stage (Darius Frowner also musical directs).

The revue contains no dialogue. Each song is presented as a little vignette, with the performers acting out the song with a few supplemental costume items and props. Choreography is minimal and unimaginative, but Farrow gets cast members out into the house for some fun interaction with audience members who find themselves doing the shimmy up on stage or becoming a character in one of the songs. A guy named Dave seated in the front row was in the spotlight a few times. Members not directly involved in the action find themselves clapping, bopping and singing along with the tunes.

The show offers a nice changeup between rock and roll and ballads giving each of the performers a chance to shine. Driver, in particular, wows the crowd with her blow-you-out-of-your-seat volume.

Diehard fans of the original soundtrack will want to know that a few of the songs, most notably “Shopping for Clothes” and “You’re the Boss,” are omitted here. The original show had a run of 2,036 performances, making it the longest-running musical revue in Broadway history and the soundtrack recording won the Grammy Award.

Irving Street Rep was founded in 1991. Farrow, producer and director of McDonald’s Gospelfest, has won two Emmys and was named one of the top 20 influences in gospel music (he orchestrated the service for Whitney Houston’s funeral). He produced Ain’t Misbehavin’ which has been touring for about 10 years. He also has produced Five Guys Named Mo in the current rotation of shows in rep at which Irving Street.

The show runs about two hours with an intermission. A perfect way to beat the heat.

Smokey Joe's runs through July 28 at Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven. : Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 8 pm; Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 3 pm. Tickets $59 (203) 787-4282; www.longwharf.org.

The cast of Smokey Joe's Cafe. Photo courtesy of Long Wharf.

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Quick Hit Theater Review: Loot -- Westport Country Playhouse

Liv Rooth, Zach Wegner, and Devin Norik. Photo: Carol Rosegg

Loot
By Joe Orton
Directed by David Kennedy
Westport Country Playhouse

What's It All About?
A 1960s-era British farce written by Joe Orton (What the Butler Saw), it tells the tale of two thieves trying to secret the cash they took in a bank heist amidst a death in the family and a visit from a detective. Hal (Delvin Norik) isn't really all that sad that his mother has passed on or that her nurse, Fay (Liv Rooth), herself a widow with a string of seven dead husbands, is trying to convince his father, McLeavy (John Horton) that she should be the next mistress of the house.

She catches on to Hal's relationship with the undertaker's assistant, Dennis (Zach Wegner). Besides apparently being lovers, the two think it is fun to impregnate as many girls as possible and Hal plans to use his share of the loot to open a brothel. When they realize they can't avoid Fay, they cut her in on the deal and attempt to hide the stolen cash in mum's casket. Trusty detective Truscott (David Manis) arrives on the scene and smells murder, however, even if he can't see the corpse right under his nose. William Peden rounds out the cast as Truscott's assistant, Meadows.

In the midst of the dialogue are a lot of double entendre and digs at the Catholic church and government. Some jazzy new music is composed by Sound Designer Fitz Patton to introduce the piece and wrap it up.

What are the Highlights?
Liv Rooth. She lights up the stage whenever she is on it. The actors all try their best with some pretty inane material. Some of the commentary about government interference in personal lives and the Catholic Church is surprisingly contemporary in the light of recent headlines.

What are the Lowlights?
Too numerous to list here. This work simply doesn't come together. It's not believable, which might be OK in comedy, but unfortunately it's also not very funny. Director David Kennedy's pace seems slow -- certainly not the madcap speed we expect from a comedy. Hal apparently is inflicted with an inability to lie, so when Fay asks him whether he robbed the bank he says yes, then clamps a hand over his mouth. Another character says, "Policemen, like red squirrels, must be protected." If you're rolling on the floor right now after reading that, I apologize, because I must have missed the funny part. I usually enjoy a good British farce, but this one just wasn't my cup of tea.

More information:
Loot runs through Aug. 3 at Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport.. Performances: Tickets start at $30: 203- 227-4177. www.westportplayhouse.org. Tuesday at 8 pm, Wednesday at 2 and 8pm., Thursday and Friday at 8pm., Saturday at 3 and 8pm. and Sunday at 3 pm. Special series feature Taste of Tuesday, Previews, LGBT Night OUT, Opening Night, Sunday Symposium, Open Captions, Literary Salon, Thursday TalkBack, Together at the Table Family Dinner, Playhouse Young Professionals, and Backstage Pass.

Note: On opening night, when I attended, a glitch in the lighting system caused a hold in the show while  the crew attempted to reboot the system which apparently was suck in one fairly dark lighting cue. When the glitch was fixed, the actors went back and started the show again from the top.

-- Lauren Yarger

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