Category: Theatre

REVIEW: Falsettos

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It’s not often that I see a show that leaves me as moved as Basement Art’s production of Falsettos did.

Basement Arts is an organization whose mission is to create “inclusive student-produced theatre by allowing students from across campus to execute all aspects of the theatrical production process”. They perform three shows a semester, as well as produce the annual Late Night events such as the Mx. Walgreen Pageant and 24-Hour Theater. This semester already featured some emotional heavy hitters —Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties by Jen Silverman and For Colored Girls/When The Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange.

Falsettos is a culmination of merging two one-act musicals, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, produced individually in 1981 and 1990. A fully sung-through musical— there are few moments without song. However, much of the show reads as a play, with heightened drama in every moment and not a single superfluous word. The show follows a Jewish Family in New York City in the 1970s— Marvin (Sam O’Neill), the frustrated ex-husband of the underappreciated Trina (Caroline Patterson), and partner to the stylish Whizzer (Caleb McArthur). Trina and Marvin’s son, Jason (James Parascandola), is growing up quickly, rapidly reaching the age of his bar mitzvah. Among all this, Trina and Marvin’s psychiatrist, (the charming yet awkward Mendel played by Sammy Guthartz), fall in love and get married. Thus, completes the web of this unusually interwoven family. That is, until you meet the quirky lesbians from next door in Act II, Dr. Charlotte (Abby Lyons) and Cordelia (Kate Cummings).

Falsettos was written by the incomparable William Finn and James Lapine, both Jewish writers (and Finn identifying as queer himself). It’s hard not to love this gem of a show. Its mechanical musical composition and emphasis on developing endearing and complex characters make the show feel complete and questionably familiar. The music is fun and catchy yet requires exceptional musical expertise to execute well (skillful music direction by Caleb Middleton).  The story blends humor and heartache while these characters are on their quests for happiness and acceptance.

The relevance that Falsettos retains from its 1992 premiere is remarkable. Difficult family dynamics, a rapidly changing social landscape, and a world that feels like it’s uncontrollably crumbling around them. Successful musicals stand the test of time, and after over three decades it’s clear that Falsettos made the cut.

The cast of “Falsettos” and director Naomi Parr.

Director Naomi Parr states in her director’s note: “Falsettos addresses devastating tragedy but lives instead in the celebration of life, including mishaps that surround these moments of grief.” With one of the most responsive and touched audiences I’ve ever encountered, it seems the only thing missing from Falsettos was another weekend of shows.

 

April 6th, 9pm. Newman Studio. Images thanks to Naomi Parr and Basement Arts.

REVIEW: Wall to Wall Theater Festival

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Wall to Wall Theater Festival was formerly an annual event in the Walgreen Drama Center before the pandemic. I am thrilled to see its return — back and better than ever. Producers Jeff Wagner, Kate Ivanov, and Tate Zeleznik have revitalized the festival at The School of Theater, featuring five unique works directed by SMTD students.

Wall to Wall is described as an “immersive performance experience [where] five different short-form interactive pieces play throughout the hallways, classrooms, and studios of the Walgreen Drama Center. Each performed several times through the night, giving audiences a chance to curate their own experience traversing through live music, theater, and performance art offered through the festival.” It juxtaposes a normal theatrical experience allowing the audience member full control over their space and consumption of the art.

Juliet Schlefer singing Rachmaninoff’s 6 Romances.

The first piece I wandered into seemed like a mini-haunted house. Instantly, I knew this sinister set-up was the work of senior directing student Mirit Skeen. Through a maze of dark fabric, There was a haunting voice looming inside—singing Rachmaninoff Op. 38 otherwise known as “6 Romances”. This set was performed by the glittering soprano, Juliet Schlefer and lyrical pianist Eric Head.  I loved this creative and eerie presentation of a rather mysterious operatic song cycle.

Drake Zhao and Sarah Hartmus performing a scene from “Hookman”.

 

Two performances featured scenes from straight plays. Shakespeare’s Corner (dir. Olivia Ray) featured a short scene from The Taming of the Shrew, which follows the marriage of headstrong Katharina to Petruchio, who employs various strategies in an attempt to dominate her. In the hallway upstairs, a part-comedic-part-horror scene from Lauren Yee’s Hookman was being performed (dir. Katy Dawson). The scene revolves around two college girls being followed by a (you guessed it) man with a hook.  It was a totally unassuming and endearing scene, with such a great use of the hallway space.

UMPH Jazz Band and Musical Theater student Sage Taylor.

UMPH is an up-and-coming Ann Arbor jazz band featuring Cole Oswalt, Luke Pisani, Shudane Hendrix, Max Rubin, Max McDermitt, and Alex Lahti-Thiam. This band brought a roster of musical theater students to sing R&B and funk tunes. I loved the concert-like vibe in the room, it was a nice juxtaposition to the theater.

The final piece I watched was downstairs in the basement. The group of eight performed two numbers from Dave Malloy’s chamber choir musical Octet, a musical about internet addiction. This show does not use any musical instruments, only the human voice. The team included Marcus Byers (Choreography) Alex Confino (Music Director), and Kate Ivanov (Director), who masterfully assembled this lesser-known gem with an all-star cast of vocalists.

I do hope Wall to Wall returns again! The creative use behind each space in the Walgreen and the simplistic brilliance of each nugget of theater came out to be a ton of fun. The creativity within the students of SMTD is truly remarkable.

 

 

April 7th, 7pm. Images thanks to Jeff Wagner. Title Image: Kate Ivanov’s Octet.

REVIEW: Jack and Jacob

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The art of clowning may be funny, but it’s no joke.

On Friday night, I had the pleasure of attending Jack and Jacob: The World Tour in the Walgreen Drama Center’s Newman Studio. This piece, part magic show, part clown show, was all entertaining. Conceived by Professor Malcolm Tulip and senior acting major Jack Weaver, this one-hour laugh fest follows the journey of professional performer Jack as he grapples with the abandonment of his partner, Jacob, on the last leg of their comedy-magic fusion world tour.

The performance itself was led by Weaver, who played a heightened, fictionalized version of himself. The show also featured the voice and stage talents of Priscilla Lindsay, Mark Colson, Malcolm Tulip, Hugh Finnigan, Caitlyn Bogart, Amilia Fontaine, Ella Lewis, and Tate Zeleznik. The ensemble was delightful, and Weaver’s performance was nothing short of wonderful. He possesses a unique sense of humor with exceptional improvisational and audience interaction skills, and it was clear that this performer was in his element, utilizing the training he has received both in and out of the classroom over the past four years.

I was immersed in this highly interactive, comical experience before even entering the performance space. Upon arrival at the Newman Studio, audience members were stopped by a bouncer who demanded they reveal personal information about Weaver before answering. After a sufficiently comical interaction, the bouncer ultimately allowed the audience members to enter the performance area. I looked behind me as I entered the darkened space and saw the same routine being repeated with the group entering behind me, giving me the sense that we were all in for the same experience. The highly interactive nature of the bouncer’s greeting continued throughout the performance itself, which begs the question of when the performance began in the first place – a truly engaging and exciting way to spend my Friday night that kept me locked into the performance from the moment I entered the building. Throughout the show itself, audience members were consulted, questioned, spoken to, and even pulled up onstage.

The fictional conflict of the show, the abandonment of Jacob, created a clear arc for the fictionalized Weaver, who subsequently attempted to run the show himself and take on the role of Jacob when needed. It provided the perfect level of storytelling that sparked a sense of empathy in the audience towards Weaver while still allowing us to enjoy the spectacle and physical comedy of the performance itself.

It’s performances like these that remind me of the power that live theatre can have. At Jack and Jacob, I truly felt in community with the audience and actors alike. This production was conceived as a part of an independent study housed in the Department of Theatre & Drama, which only excites me for future projects that have the potential to be created and produced as an academic escapade. In the future, I would love to see more performances that could strike audiences as a more untraditional theatre-going experience, such as Jack and Jacob. Weaver’s passion for clowning, magic, and comedy shone through during this production, and I sincerely hope that other arts students will feel inspired to bring their creative minds to life onstage in a similar way.

REVIEW: Michigan’s Got Talent

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Wolverine’s Prove “Michigan’s Got Talent”

On Tuesday February 20, I used my Passport to the Arts to attend Michigan’s Got Talent, a talent show for the University of Michigan student body. The event was hosted by MUSIC Matters, a student organization that organizes music events on campus. Performed for the Lydia Mendelson Theatre’s packed audience and a panel of three judges, the night was act after act of inspiring creative force.

The event was MCed by two members of student improv troupe ComCo and judged by former president of MUSIC Matters Anna Lair, as well as the University of Michigan’s Vice President for Student Life Martino Harmon, and Mark Clague, an SMTD musicology professor whose scholarly interests center on the role of music in community building.

Student Band “Mahogany”

The range and variety of talent in the Michigan student body was on full display, from the upbeat k-pop covers by Korean American band Seoul Juice to the rhythmic flair of the Michigan Ballroom Dance Team. Individual talents and student organizations alike shined their light on stage. The audience was moved by vocal performances by Jeheil Butt, who also performed with DJs Acapella, and singer-singwriter Jacqueline Dianis whose buttery smooth rendition of Tennessee Whiskey was powerful and sincere. Student jam band Toast gave a zippy and energetic performance, and nine man band Mahogany connected to the audience with upbeat grooves.

Apparently on a whim, the ComCo MCs asked if anyone in the audience had a talent they’d like to share, and a brave audience member climbed onto the stage to perform an impromptu tap dance. After that, several other audience members volunteered their talents at the piano during set changes. There was a magic in the air of rooting for someone to make the change from audience member to performer at a second’s notice.

Outrage Dance’s Final Pose

Outrage Dance gave an energetic and technically impressive performance that knocked the audience’s socks off, winning the Crowd Favorite Award. Trenton Michael (featured image) and his saxophone performed an upbeat, spunky, and honest original song that had the audience clapping along, winning him Most Original Performance.

My favorite act was probably Tola Kilian and Miguel Retto, who represented the Michigan Ballroom Dance Team with a performance of Pink Panther. The suave and sassy dance was truly a pleasure to watch, and reminded me of my days studying abroad and dancing the Tango in Argentina.

Tola Kilian and Miguel Retto of The Michigan Ballroom Dance Team

I left Michigan’s Got Talent moved by the talent of my peers, and glowing from the chance to catch and reflect the shine of my classmate’s creative expression. The opportunity to see students in the audience sit up from their velvet seats and show that they too had something to share, imparted a whispered awareness of the energetic creativity that hums in the people around you. Michigan’s Got Talent was a celebration of music, and of life. I think performers and audience members alike walked out of the theater feeling inspired, and a little more talented.

Music Matters hosts other events to promote the arts and music on campus. You can check out their instagram to learn about upcoming events like Spring Fest in April.

REVIEW: The Grown-Ups

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Directing student Leah Block (BFA 24′) presents her senior thesis: The Grown Ups  by Simon Henriques and Skylar Fox. This effortlessly quirky piece revolves around a group of young counselors from a summer camp who are earnestly cultivating the next generation of camp-goers. The counselors all love camp! And all their camp traditions! Except for the racist ones…like the previous Indigenous name of their predominantly white cohort or the exclusionary structure of camp games (lending preference to older kids and men). But besides that, it’s all fine…..right?

New counselor Cassie joins for her first summer at the newly renamed “Indigo Woods” and meets the easygoing Lukas, high-strung (but well-intentioned) Becca, overly excited Maeve, and the odd and hardworking Aidan. The group indoctrinates Cassie, welcoming her and really  wanting her to have a good experience at camp. Each evening the group comes together at the campfire, recalling scary stories of their previous camp years, debating the best tactics to support the campers all while a national online argument is breaking out, shifting the political sphere of the world. Summer camp can feel isolating for some, (especially as their world is crumbling underneath them) and these young adults are now the “Grown Ups” in the face of crisis.

This cast was thoroughly cohesive and enormously charming. Each character was undeniably unique yet eerily resembling someone you’ve met before (probably from summer camp). Becca (Sarah Hartmus) and Aidan (Hugh Finnigan) were house favorites, with electric chemistry and sidesplitting comedic moments. I enjoyed both their attention to comedic timing and thoughtful physical acting. While I was drawn to Becca and Aidan’s characters specifically, I felt deeply connected to each counselor as an audience member. The way Henriques & Fox crafted their intimate dialogues made it feel as though I instantly knew each of these characters. The seamless flow of the actors’ choices among one another further enhanced the sense of familiarity. This ensemble was tight, with a deep-cutting emotional payoff in the end.

When I walked in, I was apprehensive of an in-the-round setting—a notoriously difficult set-up to direct for. But Ms. Block had perfected it and some. Her direction was personable and genuine, I felt like I was involved in all of the camp discourse, and ultimately a part of the demise. The in-the-round choice was brilliant for the storytelling aspects of this show, leaving another theater full of young adults to look inward at our place in a world facing escalating disasters.  Her vision was clear and cohesive, as so many poignant themes made their way out of the writing onto the stage, cultivating a really powerful performance.

Camp Counselor Leah taught us many things throughout our time at Indigo Woods: “Just because it’s the way we have always done it does not mean that it is the best way”, “comfort is the death of progress”, and “We can’t let resentment of not getting the world we want to stop us from leaving it better than we found it (Directors Note)”. She brought us all inside an idyllic summer camp and from there we were abruptly shot back into reality—perhaps that was the point of camp all along.

 

[Photo above depicts Sam Smiley as Lukas.] Photo thanks to SMTD’s Theater & Drama Dept.

REVIEW: Arbor Falls

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Kicking off the 2024 season for the SMTD Theater & Drama department is Caridad Svich’s Arbor Falls. It is a more recent piece, premiering in 2022 at Illinois State University. Directed by Tiffany Trent, this reflective and quiet play invites the audience to reflect on themes of community, fear, and change. According to newplayexhange.org, this is the fourth time the play has been fully produced onstage.

Arbor Falls is one part of Svich’s seven-play cycle entitled American Psalm. The plot revolves around the members of the dwindling members of a church within a small unnamed town. The preacher of the church allows a passing traveler to stay in their church, and the town unforgivingly reacts with gossip and rejection. The traveler exposes the spiritual and moral values that lie within their society’s foundation, as a juxtaposition to their seemingly neutral spirituality. The town members pressure the preacher to send the traveler away, as the traveler does not immediately fit into the community. Each character is unnamed and un-gendered, named “Preacher”, “Traveler” or “Churchgoer”, so the presentation of characters in this show is quite flexible. The freedom of dialogue and character presentation within the script was apparent, and I can appreciate how each production of Arbor Falls would have its own nuances based on the performers and community.

Set of Arbor Falls, Lydia Mendelssohn Theater

The set of the play didn’t entirely establish the environment of the town of Arbor Falls. I understood the simplicity of the townspeople’s viewpoints, their closeness to each other, and the dedication and importance of faith in their community, but I didn’t know exactly where we were (physically, or in time) from the assorted colors and textures. One enchanting aspect of the set was the courteous lighting shining through the top window. It functioned, to me, as the ounce of faith and hope left in the town. Which, is dwindling dimmer and dimmer, until a grand event near the end swoops the piece away.

The dramaturg team describes the play as “..an exploration of love, life, and the mess of all things human.” In my own reflection, this is an accurate description of the overall play, with the humble and morally conflicted Preacher, as well as the judgemental and pious Churchgoers. But moments after the curtain call, I found myself parsing through my memory of what actually had happened the last two hours. Svich’s poeticisms often fell short in terms of plot—their stillness and reflection were often lost to the audience. The story depicts itself at a lull through Act I, until an abrupt scene near the end, where the Traveler turns into a ghost(?) or eagle (?) flying away, absorbing the top of the window fixture. This abrupt moment made me question everything that happened before. This moment felt abstract for the groundedness that was created in the hour and a half before. The scene is still simmering in my mind—possibly the only moment that stuck.

Although, Svich’s blatant messaging regarding how communities treat outsiders was clear. She often explores stories of wanderers and the disenfranchised in her plays, connecting to her roots as a child of an immigrant. This relevant messaging shined through the rather monotonous performance.

The Department of Theater & Drama will present Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard in the Arthur Miller Theater later this spring. Shows will run April 4-14. Tickets are available here.

 

 

Photo thanks to University of Michigan SMTD.