Jane Strauss takes a shot at 'The Full Monty'

by Peter Filichia, Star-Leger
August 13, 2009 15:42PM

 

Jane Strauss rehearses for her role as Jeanette in the ReVision Theatre of Asbury Park production of "The Full Monty." (photo credit: Alecia Brooks)

Jane Strauss knows she has a tough act to follow.

Last month, audiences were treated to no less than Elaine Stritch as Jeanette, the tough-as-ivory piano player, in the Paper Mill Playhouse's production of "The Full Monty."

That production is dead and gone, but the new staging of the 2000 Broadway hit musical finds Strauss in the role of the pianist who accompanies some well-meaning amateur strippers. She opens for a three-week run on Friday at the ReVision Theatre in Asbury Park.

"I'm sure Ms. Stritch was very good, but I can't worry about her," Strauss says. "Besides, I'm much too fascinated with the character herself. Jeanette doesn't let anyone walk over her. She's seen it all, done it all and conked out in Buffalo. But she doesn't have regrets -- and I admire anyone who doesn't."

Strauss grew up in Abington, Pa., before coming to New York in the 1970s. "I thought I'd be famous in two years," she says dryly. Looking back, she realizes how naïve she was. "I was a snob about commercial theater. In school, I was fascinated with experimental theater and heavy European theory. I even wound up playing Brutus in 'Julius Caesar.' But how can you make a living doing that?"

So she started auditioning for musical theater. "I said to myself, 'I'm going to be on Broadway -- even though I'm average-looking, and I'm not a charming person. Please God! Just give me one Broadway show!"

She got it, playing "a Londoner" in the 1984 revival of "Oliver!" Recalling that, Strauss lets out a heavy sigh. "These days I tell young actresses, don't say, 'Please God, give me just one Broadway credit!' -- because God might grant that specific wish and never give you a second Broadway show."

Since her break 25 years ago, Strauss has been touring. "That means I've played at least six different maids in six different shows," she says. Other roles have included Carlotta in a non-Webber version of "Phantom of the Opera" and understudying Miss Hannigan in "Annie."

She is still angry with the actress who was playing that role. "My parents were going to be in a town when we were there, so I asked her if she'd let me do the role one night so they could see me," Strauss recalls. "Can you believe she said no? Was she afraid some big producer would be in the audience, and she'd lose her big chance? We were only in Lima, Ohio."

At least she and the actress didn't come to blows. When Strauss did a Neil Simon play with Shelley Berman, she claims, "He kicked me because I touched his props. I cried on that one."

In "The Full Monty," Strauss's character admits to having been married eight times. It's a stretch for Strauss.
"I'm an old maid," says the 59-year-old, without a dot of self-pity. "We have a long line of old maids in my family -- though I do have an aunt who got married for the first time at 74."

She stops and thinks. "There was one man I wanted to marry, and I even proposed to him," she says. "This was Larry David, back when he wasn't anyone yet, when we hung around clubs together. You know, I still wouldn't mind marrying him. But it'd be fine if I just spent the next few years drinking carrot juice, having massages and maybe even adopting a foster child. So in that way, I'm very much unlike Jeanette."

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The Full Monty
Where: ReVision Theatre, Carousel House, 700 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park
When: Through Sept. 6. Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m.
How much: $25-$50. Call (732) 455-3059 or visit revisiontheatre.org

'Kingdom' brings realistic gang life on stage

By Peter Filichia
April 24, 2009
The Star-Ledger


The current Broadway revival of "West Side Story" has garnered some criticism because its rival gang members don't seem tough, raw or real enough.

That won't be a charge leveled against the cast members of "Kingdom," the gritty and rather successful urban musical now at ReVision Theatre in Asbury Park. Director Carlos Armesto has found young performers, both male and female, who look as if they just came off New Jersey's most dangerous streets.

Thank the Lord, though, that they aren't out there, but onstage -- because they have channeled their energies in a far more rewarding and effective fashion. Every one of the 10 cast members has much more talent and training than the lost souls whose story they're telling in Aaron Jafferis' hard-hitting book and lyrics. Every one of them does an excellent job in singing Ian Williams' rock, hip-hop, and salsa music, as well as dancing Tiffany Rachelle Stewart's flashy choreography.

Juan, sensitively played by Christian Amaraut, wants to be a doctor, but he's going to have a hard time reaching that goal. At the moment, Juan has no place to live, because his mother has demanded he leave so her new boyfriend can move in. Has there ever been another musical as frank about the poor parenting that causes kids to go wrong?

Then Juan, because he was late for his donut shop shift, is fired. His good friend and co-worker Andres quits in a rash moment of solidarity. A theatergoer couldn't ask for a better Andres than Miguel Jarquin-Moreland, a hot-headed scene-stealer.

Where else is there for these boys to turn, but drugs? They hope that dealer Hector, played with convincing menace by Keith Antone, will give them some freebies (though they should know better). When Hector flashes his money, the lads steal it, and, in the show's least convincing moment, Hector doesn't chase them, but just watches them run.

Now that the two young men are flush, they look for romance. At a dance, both are smitten by Marisa. Says Andres, "I don't deserve to dance with you" -- to which Marisa snaps back, "You don't." Desiree Rodriguez has the perfect attitude of a lass that believes it her right and privilege to be haughty simply because she's attractive.

Marisa's brother Cano, enacted with steel-eyed cool by Dell Howlett, sneers at Andres, "You're so insecure you're not even sure you're there." The boys find that Cano is the self-appointed king of the neighborhood. Even in ad hoc street government, there's a hierarchy -- and good deal of bureaucracy to boot.

But here's where Jafferis' script takes a startling and welcome turn. Cano isn't just another street punk, but is someone in the Guardian Angels' mold. He wants to improve the neighborhood, and enlists Juan and Andreas to help. But such distressed streets aren't easy to clean up, and the rest of the show underlines the great obstacles in everyone's way.

Jafferis never neglects to show that these kids have a native intelligence that could bring them to greatness if they only got a break here or there. Whenever characters step to the bad side, they're not happy they're doing it. They simply can't see other options. A second act highlight has Rodriguez deliver a soliloquy message that all kids at society's crossroads should hear.

Williams' music delivers, especially in an anthem to Latino power. That fits the musical's conclusion that as much as people want money, they want and need respect just as much. En route, "Kingdom" becomes a show that itself deserves a good deal of respect.

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Kingdom
Where: ReVision Theatre, 701 Lake Ave., Asbury Park
When: Through May 3. Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m.
How much: $15-$35. Call (732) 455-3059 or visit revisiontheatre.org

Celebrating diversity with 'Hair'

Asbury Park troupe stages alternate production to one in Central Park

Monday, August 18, 2008
BY PETER FILICHIA

To paraphrase a famous Cole Porter lyric, is it Granada he sees, or only Asbury Park?

Both, in fact. Thomas Morrissey feels that ReVision Theatre, the new troupe he's co-founded, is in the right place and time to benefit from Asbury Park's continued renaissance.

"And because we're in such a diverse community," he says, "we decided to put on the most diverse show we could: 'Hair.'"

The famous 1968 rock musical had already been announced for a summer engagement in New York City's Central Park before Morrissey and his partners, David E. Leidholdt and Stephen Bishop Seely, chose it.

In Asbury Park, the musical is being staged in the Carousel on the Boardwalk by Andy Goldberg, who had an off-Broadway hit with "The Bomb-ity of Errors." Scoop Slone, the lead singer of the rock band Maslow, stars.

The 54-year-old Morrissey and his co-artistic directors are expecting a great many Baby Boomers.

"We'd like it if people from Deal and Spring Lake would drop by, too," he says. "They embraced 'Hair' when they were young, for this was the generation that broke the rules and helped change the perception of the Vietnam War.

"But," he says, "these kids believed they had the answers, and we now know they weren't always right. Sex and drugs don't cure things. So 'Hair' offers the good and bad of the era."

It was quite a different musical that got Morrissey interested in theater.

"'My Fair Lady,'" he says. "My parents and I came to New York from Davenport, Iowa, when I was about 5. Pretty soon into it, I whispered to my parents, 'I want to do that when I grow up."

"That," however, didn't necessarily mean performing, though Morrissey did plenty of that in community theaters and children's stages in Iowa.

"When I did summer stock," he says, "I became more aware of what it takes to put on a show. So I watched the people who did lights and sound. I went to the box office and learned the system of ticket-selling. I checked out how the press agents wrote their press releases. It wasn't just about performing for me."

In the '80s, Morrissey worked as a house manager for two Greenwich Village theaters and became a member of the illustrious Circle Repertory Company.

"It got too entrenched in doing one specific kind of play," Morrissey says, "and then it seemed to be repeating itself. And that's why they closed down."

Morrissey responded in 1995, a year before Circle folded, by starting a company called the Genesius Guild, named for the patron saint of actors. It centered on developing new work. ReVision, though, will do new and old works, hoping to mount three next year in a space that will become a 300-seat theater.

A redevelopment company named Madison Marquette has greatly helped. "They rehabilitated the Paramount Theatre in town, and they gave it to us for a recent benefit. That went so well, they gave us some money to do 'Hair,' too."

So sure is Morrissey that ReVision will succeed that he's bought a home in Asbury Park, though he's keeping his Manhattan digs as well.

Only one question left, and Morrissey knows it's coming before it's asked. "Yes, of course, we'll do the famous nude scene."

Peter Filichia may be reached at pfilichia@starledger.com or (973) 392-5995.

This 'Dolly' isn't a clone, he's an admirer

Friday, June 13, 2008
BY PETER FILICHIA Star-Ledger Staff
NEW JERSEY STAGE

In a manner of speaking, Carol Channing is doing "Hello, Dolly!" one more time.
Only Richard Skipper will be standing in -- and singing and performing -- for her. Skipper is by trade a Carol Channing impersonator.

"Not a female impersonator," he emphasizes. "Not a drag queen," he insists. "I'm an actor who's not just playing Carol Channing, but Carol Channing as that meddlesome matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi in Jerry Herman's famous musical."

This one-night concert of "Hello, Dolly!" is a benefit for the ReVision Theatre of Asbury Park, a new professional company "dedicated to producing invigorating theater with a fresh new perspective." Having a man perform as Channing certainly supports the mission statement.

Skipper says that on Saturday night, he'll be "off-book" -- meaning he'll have memorized his lines and songs -- and so will his co-star, Charles Karel, who plays Horace Vandergelder (the object of Dolly's affection). Those portraying the other characters will carry their scripts on stage, where an orchestra will sit as well. Lest it all sound too Spartan, Skipper says "a generous choir and chorus of 125 voices" will back up the proceedings.

Though he lives in Sparkill, N.Y., Skipper grew up on a tobacco farm in Conway, N.C., to a father who was one of 10 children, and a mother who was the oldest of 16.

"And nobody in the whole family had a bit of interest in show business. I learned it all from watching variety shows on TV in the era when those were on," says the 47-year-old.

While he was in middle school, a local acting teacher gave him voice lessons in exchange for lawn work. At 13, Skipper made a vow that he'd move to New York in five years, and indeed did, on the fifth anniversary of the oath. Some stock jobs followed, though his friends constantly told him he should do something with his ability to mimic stars' voices.

"Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball and Phyllis Diller, among others," he says. "The one everyone seemed to like best, though, was Carol Channing. They liked that I wasn't making fun of her, but really wanted to sound like her."

So, reluctantly, Skipper acquired a wardrobe worthy of Channing, did meticulous research on her life, and forged an act.

When Channing was announced to perform at Carnegie Hall in 1994, a pianist friend of Skipper's said he was playing the after-party, and that Skipper should come dressed as Channing and meet his inspiration.

"I agonized on whether or not I should chance it," he says. "Then I finally decided I would. I figured, if she doesn't like what I'm doing, I'll never do it again."

He went to the party, approached her, and she asked balefully, "How long have you been impersonating me?" Says Skipper, "And when I said, 'Well, who says you're not impersonating me?' she screamed with delight. I knew at that moment I had her."

When Channing asked him about himself, Skipper stayed in character, and instead gave Channing's own biographical details, down to the name of a classmate she had in fourth grade. "That's when she said, 'Let me see you do your act,' and my pianist friend and I were ready."
Channing gave her blessing. "She told me that others she'd seen impersonate her had been nasty, mean and vicious. 'This,' she said, 'is a valentine.' And that's kept me going ever since."

Peter Filichia may be reached at pfilichia@starledger.com or (973) 392-5995.