Posts Tagged ‘matthew lopez’

Thoughtfully Reinvented “Some Like It Hot” Entertains in Style at the Fox

Posted in St Louis Theatre, USA Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , on February 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Some Like It Hot
Book by Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin
Music by Marc Shaiman, Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman
Based on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Motion Picture “Some Like It Hot”
Directed and Choreographed by Casey Nicholaw
The Fox Theatre
February 26, 2025

Tavis Kordell, Matt Loehr
Photo by Matt Murphy
Some Like It Hot North American Tour

Some Like It Hot is a classic American film that has the unusual distinction of having been adapted into two different Broadway musicals. While 1972’s Sugar  was a more straightforward adaptation (which I have seen because my high school performed it in the 1980s), the newer, Tony-winning Some Like It Hot is more of a thoughtful reinvention and recontextualization of the source material, with some clever homages to the original film and a catchy, jazz-influenced score. With a great cast and fantastic production design, this production is a lively, entertaining show with energy, style and a whole lot of heart. 

Taking place at the tail-end of Prohibition in 1933, the action starts in Chicago, as does the film. This time, however, Sweet Sue (Tarra Connor Jones) starts her “all-girl” band after having been arrested in a police raid at a speakeasy, and their tour leads them to California rather than Miami, in an entirely logical change (explained in the show) that also pays tribute to the real filming location of the movie, the Hotel Del Coronado near San Diego. The main characters, Joe (Matt Loehr) and Jerry (Tavis Kordell), are musicians but also song-and-dance performers who grew up together and are looking for a new job. When they accidentally witness a mob hit by new boss, nightclub owner and gangster Spats (Devon Goffman), they go on the run, taking Joe’s idea to disguise themselves as women in order to join Sweet Sue’s band and flee to California and, eventually, Mexico. While on tour, however, “Josephine” and “Daphne” get to know their fellow band members, with Joe becoming attracted to singer Sugar Kane (Leandra Ellis-Gaston), and Jerry/Daphne starting to feel more accepted and at home as Daphne than as Jerry. The situation gets more complicated when they arrive in California and prepare for their performance at the Hotel Del Coronado, where Joe assumes an “alter ego” in order to woo Sugar and the band meets hotel owner Osgood (Edward Juvier), who is instantly smitten with Daphne. Meanwhile, Spats has also arrived in California hoping to silence the witnesses to his crime, and various characters face moments of truth about who they are and what they want to do with their lives. 

The adaptation, while making some clear changes to the original film, is impressively well thought-through, with every change making sense and adding much in the way of character development and advancing the theme of self-discovery and expression. It also recontextualizes the source material to allow for a diverse cast, adding layers of complexity to the story. Also, making the central characters singers and dancers as well as musicians makes sense in the context of a stage musical and lends a level of pizzazz to production numbers featuring some excellent tap-heavy choreography by director Casey Nicholaw. The show also explores issues of racism and prejudice, gender roles, individual identity and expression, and more while maintaining a lively, musical comedy atmosphere and featuring overall upbeat atmosphere and glitzy, glamorous Broadway and 1930s Hollywood style. 

The cast is excellent, led by strong, charismatic and athletically dancing performances by Loehr as Joe/”Josephine”/”Kip” and Kordell as Jerry/Daphne. These two form the emotional core of the show, supported well by fantastic work from Ellis-Gaston as the talented, Hollywood-aspiring Sugar, Jones as the tough-talking Sweet Sue, and Juvier as the kindly, enthusiastic Osgood, who has a secret of his own. There are also strong turns from Goffman as the shady Spats and Jame LaVerdiere as the persistent FBI Agent Mulligan. There’s also a top-notch ensemble who lend much energy and comic timing to the story as well as terrific singing and dancing.

In a technical sense, the show featuring eye-catching scenic design by Scott Pask and colorful, detailed costumes by Gregg Barnes that are in keeping with the era and tone of the production. There’s also dazzling lighting by Natasha Katz and stylish hair design by Josh Marquette. The sound by Brian Ronan is fine for the most part, although there are some issues with volume and clarity on some of the songs. 

Ultimately, this show does what it sets out to do–entertain in style. It’s more of a reimagining of the film than a straightforward adaptation, but that had already been done. Here, Some Like It Hot dazzles with songs, dances, and laughs, but also thoughtfully recontextualizes the source material in a way that makes sense without  changing the overall tone of the story. It’s a lively tribute to the film while also managing to be its own unique thing. It’s a lot of fun, and well worth checking out.

Leandra Ellis-Gaston (Center) and Cast
Photo by Matthew Murphy
Some Like It Hot North American Tour

The North American Tour of Some Like It Hot is running at the Fox Theatre until March 9, 2025

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Tesseract’s “Inheritance” is a Memorable Drama of Epic Proportions

Posted in St Louis Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The Inheritance Part One and Part Two
by Matthew Lopez
Inspired by the Novel Howards End by E.M. Forster
Directed by Stephen Peirick
Tesseract Theatre Company
April 26 and May 2, 2024

Gabriel Paul, Chris Kernan
Photo by Florence Flick
Tesseract Theatre Company

I can’t think of a better word than “epic” to describe Tesseract Theatre Company’s latest production, the two-part, seven hour drama The Inheritance, which was performed over two weekends at the Marcelle Theatre. A somewhat loose adaptation and updating of an E.M. Forster classic, this story follows a group of gay men in New York City and explores generational differences, relationships, and legacies in a highly personal manner. At Tesseract, as directed by Stephen Peirick, this marathon theatrical experience boasts a first-rate cast and fascinating staging that held the audience’s attention through two full-length plays worth of gripping drama. 

Even though the program says this play was “inspired by” Forsters’ Howards End, and playwright Matthew Lopez certainly adapts that story to fit his own storytelling purpose, it follows the basic plot structure of its source novel surprisingly closely, especially in the thread that follows the earnest activist Eric Glass (Chris Kernan) and wealthy businessman Henry Wilcox (Jonathan Hey). As the story begins, Eric and his long-term boyfriend, aspiring writer Toby Darling (Gabriel Paul) are living in New York City and frequently hosting their various friends–all gay men of varying professions and personal aspirations. They soon become acquainted with Adam (Tyson Cole) who gets his shopping bag mixed up with Toby’s. The ambitious but secretive and hedonistic Toby soon becomes somewhat obsessed with Adam, who becomes the star of Toby’s new play. Eric, meanwhile, forms a friendship with his neighbor Walter (Alex C. Moore), an older, man who tells Eric stories and memories of his house in upstate New York that he bought with his partner Henry to be a retreat from the city, but eventually became a place for Walter to take care of his many friends who were dying as a result of the AIDS epidemic, while also becoming a point of contention between him and Henry. If you’ve read Howards’ End, or seen any of the filmed versions of the story, you probably know where this is going. 

Although this story is told in two parts that are both three act, full-length plays, it’s essentially one very long play that has to be broken up for time. It’s essentially a mini-series onstage, and Part Two continues the story, focusing more on Eric’s relationship with Henry as well as the important role that Walter’s house plays in the story. It also follows Toby’s story as he plunges into indulgence and excess, eventually reckoning with the past he’s tried to hide. We also get to know Leo (also Cole), who showed up in part one as a young man Toby pays for a sexual encounter, but later returns and becomes a major focus of the story. We also get to meet Margaret (Margery Handy), the caretaker of Walter’s house, who has a poignant story of her own. 

There’s a lot of story here, and a lot of focus on the differences in the lives of gay men of different generations and cultural backgrounds. E.M. Forster himself (also Moore) also appears as an influence on the story, but the characters have some challenges for him in terms of how he lived his life in a time when gay men couldn’t be as open about their lives as they can now. Many other issues are raised in dialogue, and there are some moments where characters seem to be reciting issues more than acting them out, but for the most part, this is an effecting, powerful piece of theatre that challenges perspectives, educates about important history, and expounds on the importance of connection, compassion, and legacy, especially among gay men. 

The cast is excellent, led by Kernan in a compelling, engaging turn as the idealistic but self-doubting Eric, Cole in a dual role as the rising star actor Adam and the struggling, intellectually curious Leo. Paul, in the difficult role of the self-destructive writer Toby, is also fantastic, making a character who is hard to like fascinating and sympathetic. There is also a strong turn from Moore in the dual role of E.M. Forster (who goes by “Morgan”) and Walter, making both characters compelling and memorable. He also shines as the somewhat prickly Henry, and Handy makes the most of her fairly short stage time with some terrific work as Margaret. The rest of the cast is also excellent, with Stephen Henley, Donald Kidd, Kevin O’Brien, Jacob Schmidt, Sean Seifert, Nic Tayborn, and  Kelvin Urday all turning in strong performances in a variety of roles and contributing to the overall ensemble chemistry in a convincing way.

The production design works well in maintaining the overall tone of the story, with a simple but effective set by director Peirick that adapts well to the various changes of time, place, and situation. Tony Anselmo’s lighting is especially impressive in conveying the various shifting moods of the story. There’s also excellent work from sound designer Jacob Baxley and dialect coach Mark Kelley.

This has been an especially ambitious undertaking by Tesseract, which has become more bold as of late, with their successful venture into musicals, as well as bigger productions in general. The Inheritance is a riveting, intelligent, emotional theatrical experience, with a strong sense of structure as well as an inventive use of its source material. Although it doesn’t always follow the plot of Howards End exactly, I found it especially helpful to know that story while watching this one. This was a marathon of a play, and a remarkable success for Tesseract Theatre Company.

Cast of The Inheritance ( in Part 2)
Photo by Florence Flick
Tesseract Theatre Company

 

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More Than a History Lesson

Posted in St Louis Theatre, tagged , , , , , on February 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The Whipping Man
by Matthew Lopez
Directed by Doug Finlayson
New Jewish Theatre
January 30, 2014

Gregory Fenner, J. Samuel Davis, Austin Pierce Photo by John Lamb New Jewish Theatre

Gregory Fenner, J. Samuel Davis, Austin Pierce
Photo by John Lamb
New Jewish Theatre

Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man, which was first performed in 2006, has quickly become very popular among regional theatre companies, with many productions being staged around the country.  In fact, The Black Rep presented a critically acclaimed production here in St. Louis just last year, which I didn’t get to see.  My introduction to the play is this current production at the New Jewish Theatre, and it’s easy to see why this play gets produced so often.  It’s a fascinating, extremely well-written play that manages to shed new light on an oft-covered subject–the Civil War and its aftermath, and the New Jewish Theatre has brought the era to life vividly and with great depth and clarity with this first-rate production.

The story begins in April, 1865, in the days immediately following General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, which brought an official end to the war. The place is the former Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, as the severely injured young Confederate officer Caleb DeLeon (Austin Pierce) returns to his family’s home–a once-stately mansion that has been reduced to a shattered, dilapidated shell, along with many of the neighboring homes. Food is scarce and many in the area have been reduced to looting and scavenging for food. Caleb’s family is away and all that remains are two of the family’s former slaves, Simon (J. Samuel Davis) and John (Gregory Fenner), who have been brought up in the family’s Jewish faith. As the  gravity of Caleb’s injury becomes more apparent, the three men–the mature, resourceful Simon and the younger, more impulsive and opportunistic John, along with the the battle-scarred Caleb–are forced to deal with not only the immediacy of the wound, but with many other pressing issues concerning their relationships to each other and the upended society around them.  This all coincides with the Jewish holiday of Passover, as Simon is preparing to conduct the traditional meal–the Seder–to remember the occasion.

This is a very densely plotted story, and a whole lot happens during the course of the play, as Simon, John and Caleb grapple with their changed situations and relationships, as well as some startling revelations concerning the family and Simon’s wife and daughter.  All the while, the Seder preparations are made and Simon, who is unable to read but has committed the ritual to memory, emphasizes the parallels between the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and the emancipation of the African-American slaves in the American South. There are also questions of identity, as Simon and John question their roles in the family and their Jewish identity (are they family, or are they outsiders?) Caleb questions his very belief in God after having witnessed the sheer horror of battle, and both Caleb and John deal with their own secrets from their recent past that threaten to be exposed.  There is also the shock of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination to deal with, and this news adds gravity and urgency to the Passover observance.

Such an intense and involved show requires a top-notch director and cast to bring out all the poignancy and drama, and this production delivers.  The action is tightly staged, with the tension and drama perfectly pitched in scenes like a makeshift surgical procedure early in the play, to the powerfully realized Seder scene, to the intense conclusion.  There are moments of humor and music in the midst of the gripping drama as well, and all of these moments ring true, with Davis’ strong voice lending vibrancy to the traditional spiritual “Go Down Moses” in the Seder scene.  Davis makes a strong impression as Simon, with a palpable sense of strength, energy, compassion, and dignity as well as genuine grief over President Lincoln (“Father Abraham”, who Simon also likens to Moses) and righteous indignation when the situation calls for it.  Simon is the moral center of this play, and Davis more than lives up to that task.  Fenner is also impressive as the younger, more cynical and directionless but  thoughtful John, displaying a mixture of cynicism, suspicion, grief and sensitivity, and Pierce delivers a strong performance as Caleb as well, balancing anger, fear and nostalgia along with the sense of privilege he is unable to deny and that brings even more conflict into an already tense atmosphere.  All three actors bring a strong sense of chemistry to the stage, making their scenes together all the more riveting.

In addition to the excellent acting and strong staging, the technical aspects of this production also shine.  John C. Stark’s meticulously appointed set brings the crumbling post-war mansion to life, and the  richly detailed costumes (designed by Michele Friedman Siler) were all well-crafted and evocative of the era, and little details like the era-specific tools, dishes, and whiskey bottles, as well as the genuine 1859 Passover Haggadah used in the Seder scene added to the authenticity of the post-Civil War atmosphere. The lighting (designed by Michael Sullivan),  sound (designed by Robin Weatherall) and special effects (such as a surprisingly realistic thunderstorm) were also impressive. Kudos to Technical Director Jerry Russo and the entire design team and technical crew for this fully realized re-creation of time and place. 

The Whipping Man is a historical play, but it’s no dry lecture or two-dimensional documentary.  It’s a living, breathing piece of theatre that introduces fascinating and complex characters and takes the audience along on their journey of self-discovery.  It deals with difficult and important questions, of hope, grief, equality, war, peace and freedom, and how those issues effect and change relationships among people and in society at large.  It’s a brilliant play, and this production at the New Jewish Theatre lives up to that brilliance.  This is the first production I’ve seen by this company, and I look forward to seeing more of  their work in the future.

J. Samuel Davis, Austin Pierce and Gregory Fenner Photo by John Lamb New Jewish Theatre

Gregory Fenner, J. Samuel Davis, Austin Pierce
Photo by John Lamb
New Jewish Theatre

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