ReVision takes strip musical from Buffalo to boardwalk
By TOM CHESEK, APP CORRESPONDENT
August 15, 2009
For the better part of a week, the old place was positively humming with industry. Carpenters, electricians and painters jostled for room to do their thing, while a once-neglected site creaked back to new and purposeful life under the midsummer sun.
So where was this? Certainly not in the Buffalo neighborhoods of "The Full Monty," the musical adapted and Americanized (by Tony winning playwright Terrence McNally) from the Oscar-nominated British comedy film of the same name. In the script's rustbelt world of silenced steel mills and emasculated husbands, a group of unemployed blue-collar joes, depressed over their lack of prospects and the loss of their status as the family breadwinners, regain their self-worth and cement their bonds of friendship when they go into business as a take-it-all-off male stripper act.
All that activity has actually been going on inside the historic Carousel building, just off the south end of the Asbury Park boardwalk. For the second time in as many summers, the ornate roundhouse structure with the spectacular whorls, arches and screaming siren faces has been refitted — re-visioned, if you will — as a performance space for live theater, with the opening weekend of a new and possibly unique revival of "Monty" that's being presented by the city's resident professional stage troupe, ReVision Theatre Company.
As they did with last year's successful production of "Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical," the ReVision crew has been working with boardwalk developers Madison Marquette to install a state-of-the-art lighting grid, sound system, and an array of seating risers. New in 2009 are waterproofing (and pigeonproofing) improvements to the domed ceiling, and a T-shaped "mini proscenium with thrust" that replaces the in-the-round design employed by "Hair."
All the same, the act of taking in a performance at this truly unique landmark remains an engagingly "frontier" theatrical experience — and, as ReVision's David Leidholdt tells it, the 2000 musical is a "deceptively complicated, conceptual show" that adapts itself well to different staging ideas ("not a lot of costume changes," for one thing).
"As the show's director, I get to brainstorm all sorts of ways to address the challenges and problems," says Leidholdt, one of the three Producing Artistic Directors at ReVision (Thomas Morrissey and Stephen Bishop Seely are the others). "As a producer, I get to tell the director no, we can't afford that!"
Lacking a big budget for special effects, Leidholdt worked with musical director Andy Hertz and choreographer Connor Gallagher to "heighten the musical numbers as much as we can; bump that aspect up a bit."
Although at first glance the selection of "Monty" as the company's summer musical shares with its predecessor a willingness to "Let It Go" in the clothing-optional sense, the ReVision producers would appear to have lucked into (if luck is really the proper word here) the fortuitous downward spiral of the national economy; a backstory that
puts a hypercurrent edge on the plight of the characters.
"The show is timely and fresh that way," observes Leidholdt, whose own working-class family roots in hard-hit Michigan have lent a personal angle to his approach. "It really deals with these issues of unemployment and depression."
Starring here as the sextet of local guys who vow to beat the Chippendales at their own game are Scott Gutherie (Jerry), Adam Kern (Dave), Mark Weekes (Horse), Andy R. Jobe (Malcolm), Jonathan Gregg (Ethan) and Mark Gerard (Harold). Also in the cast are Broadway vet Jane Strauss as the boys' accompanist, plus returning ReVisionists Katherine Pecovich, Deidra Grace, Judah Gavra and Spiro Galiatsatos — with the company's board president Bob Angelini being persuaded to resume his own acting career in a supporting role. Two young actors from Rumson, Andrew Newsome and Jake Cameron (who appeared in the Two River production of "Macbeth") platoon in the role of Jerry's son Nathan.
Opening tonight and continuing through Sept. 6, "The Full Monty" presents performances at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 7 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets ($35 and $50) can be reserved by calling 732-455-3059 or visiting www.ReVisionTheatre.org.
Additional Facts THE FULL MONTY By Terrence McNally and David Yazbek Carousel building, 700 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park 8 p.m. today; 7 p.m. Sunday; then Wednesdays through Sundays through September $35-$50 732-455-3059 or www.ReVisionTheatre.org
Showing posts with label tom chesek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tom chesek. Show all posts
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
'Kingdom' is a first-rate effort
ReVision marks its "Kingdom" in Asbury
By TOM CHESEK
Asbury Park Press
April 24, 2009
You may not completely catch what's being said onstage in "Kingdom," the hip-hop-flavored, bilingual musical drama now in its East Coast premiere engagement in Asbury Park. You might not be on the same page as its non-moralizing, largely sympathetic view of urban gang life. And you're probably not going to exit the auditorium humming the score.
But if you're interested in seeing a piece of modern musical theater that compels the attention, not through gimmicky stagecraft but through purely people-powered energy, then you've knocked on the right door.
When they set up shop in Asbury Park last year, the founders of the professional ReVision Theatre Company quickly distinguished themselves with their passion for musicals, their stated mission to bring some fresh and challenging fare to the local stage and their remarkable ability to transform the most oddball of spaces into a functional site for live performance.
"Kingdom" carries irrefutable evidence of the first two points, and the troupe's host venue — the generously scaled bingo hall inside the city's historic VFW building — shows that this young, essentially "homeless" company continues to earn its name daily. This is the same place where ReVision presented a silly holiday show last December. But this time, the room is configured so that the action takes place basketball-court style, with the actors inhabiting a long central area, a four-piece band on the raised stage and the audience set up on either side of the performance.
In the story by book author and lyricist Aaron Jafferis, a pair of Latino kids in an unspecified city — naive Juan (Christian Amaraut) and the ever-so-slightly more streetwise Andres (Miguel Jarquin-Moreland) — are on the lookout for more out of life, having quit their Dunkin Donuts jobs (and shared quarters when Juan's mom skips out on him). A dust-up at a neighborhood dance introduces them to tart-tongued Marisa (Desiree Rodriguez), sister of Cano (Dell Howlett), the charismatic head of the local chapter of the Latin Kings.
Hot music
Taking Juan and Andres into the fold — and dedicating himself to maintaining a fragile peace in his Portingale Park neighborhood — Cano finds it necessary to intervene when his hotheaded young charges get in a confrontation with drug dealers Hector and Danny (Keith Antone, Jose Candelaria). It's all done to a rocked-up score by Ian Williams.Jafferis makes some points about the ways in which wars begin and spiral out of control, using the litter-strewn park in the 'hood as his flashpoint. It's all done as realistically as possible for a show in which characters break out into song or scripted freestyle (the actors under the direction of Carlos Armesto and supervision of choreographer Tiffany Rachelle Stewart prove adept at both).
The two young leads remain strong and credible throughout, inhabiting the invisible cityscape of the show like they've lived there all their lives. There is such a thing as theater magic, after all, and in the end this first-rate company works to break down all barriers — cultural, generational, logistical — in bringing this highly charged show to life.
Additional Facts
KINGDOM
VFW Theatre, 701 Lake Ave., Asbury Park — 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 7 p.m. Sundays through May 3 — $25-$35
(732) 455-3059
www.ReVisionTheatre.org
By TOM CHESEK
Asbury Park Press
April 24, 2009
You may not completely catch what's being said onstage in "Kingdom," the hip-hop-flavored, bilingual musical drama now in its East Coast premiere engagement in Asbury Park. You might not be on the same page as its non-moralizing, largely sympathetic view of urban gang life. And you're probably not going to exit the auditorium humming the score.
But if you're interested in seeing a piece of modern musical theater that compels the attention, not through gimmicky stagecraft but through purely people-powered energy, then you've knocked on the right door.
When they set up shop in Asbury Park last year, the founders of the professional ReVision Theatre Company quickly distinguished themselves with their passion for musicals, their stated mission to bring some fresh and challenging fare to the local stage and their remarkable ability to transform the most oddball of spaces into a functional site for live performance.
"Kingdom" carries irrefutable evidence of the first two points, and the troupe's host venue — the generously scaled bingo hall inside the city's historic VFW building — shows that this young, essentially "homeless" company continues to earn its name daily. This is the same place where ReVision presented a silly holiday show last December. But this time, the room is configured so that the action takes place basketball-court style, with the actors inhabiting a long central area, a four-piece band on the raised stage and the audience set up on either side of the performance.
In the story by book author and lyricist Aaron Jafferis, a pair of Latino kids in an unspecified city — naive Juan (Christian Amaraut) and the ever-so-slightly more streetwise Andres (Miguel Jarquin-Moreland) — are on the lookout for more out of life, having quit their Dunkin Donuts jobs (and shared quarters when Juan's mom skips out on him). A dust-up at a neighborhood dance introduces them to tart-tongued Marisa (Desiree Rodriguez), sister of Cano (Dell Howlett), the charismatic head of the local chapter of the Latin Kings.
Hot music
Taking Juan and Andres into the fold — and dedicating himself to maintaining a fragile peace in his Portingale Park neighborhood — Cano finds it necessary to intervene when his hotheaded young charges get in a confrontation with drug dealers Hector and Danny (Keith Antone, Jose Candelaria). It's all done to a rocked-up score by Ian Williams.Jafferis makes some points about the ways in which wars begin and spiral out of control, using the litter-strewn park in the 'hood as his flashpoint. It's all done as realistically as possible for a show in which characters break out into song or scripted freestyle (the actors under the direction of Carlos Armesto and supervision of choreographer Tiffany Rachelle Stewart prove adept at both).
The two young leads remain strong and credible throughout, inhabiting the invisible cityscape of the show like they've lived there all their lives. There is such a thing as theater magic, after all, and in the end this first-rate company works to break down all barriers — cultural, generational, logistical — in bringing this highly charged show to life.
Additional Facts
KINGDOM
VFW Theatre, 701 Lake Ave., Asbury Park — 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 7 p.m. Sundays through May 3 — $25-$35
(732) 455-3059
www.ReVisionTheatre.org
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Kingdom and the Power
By Tom Chesek
It’s Theater Week here in Red Bank oRBit! Actually, it just sort of worked out that way, as the coming days see the openings of no less than five new productions in the area — some professional and some proudly community; some serious and some silly; some popular revivals and some premieres — and all of them worth checking out for their own reasons.
When we first met up with the ReVision Theatre Company last year in oRBit, the newly established professional stage company in Asbury Park was in the process of transforming the seaside albatross Carousel building into a viable venue for live performance (for last summer’s successful run of Hair), while setting up offices, workshop and rehearsal space inside the city’s venerable VFW Post 1333 on 701 Lake Avenue at Bond Street.
When we looked in on them back in December, ReVision’s triad of Producing Artistic Directors (Thomas Morrissey, David Leidholdt and Stephen Bishop Seely) had turned the VFW’s amply scaled Bingo hall into a working playhouse for Scrooge in Rouge, a colorfully daffy parody of a vintage English music-hall barnstormer.
ReVision returns for anther go-round at the Carousel this August with The Full Monty, and in July they’ll spotlight Steven Brinberg’s uncanny Streisand portrayal in a benefit performance of Funny Girl, the show that catapulted Babs to stardom. But one production here in ReVision’s first full season sticks out against the otherwise light and lively slate of offerings — and that’s Kingdom.
Described as a “Latin Hip Hop musical” study of two friends from the barrio whose need to belong — in this case, to the Nation of the Latin Kings — tears them apart, the show by Aaron Jafferis and Ian Williams previews this Thursday at 8pm, opens this Friday, April 17 and runs through May 3 at the VFW Theatre.
This is an East Coast premiere of a work that’s only recently been fully staged in San Diego — and the cast is headed up by two veterans of the California production, Christian Amaraut and Miguel Jarquin-Moreland, whose respective roles as Juan and Andres saw their origins in true stories of current and former Latin Kings. Carlos Armesto directs an all-Latino cast that further features Dell Howlett (Cano), Desiree Rodriguez (Marisa), Keith Antone (Hector), Jose Candleria (Danny), Erikamarie Rumore (Queen 1), Judah Gavra (King 2), and Chelsea Zeno (Queen 2). Andre Da Silva replaced David Del Rio as King 1 when Del Rio was cast in a Nickelodeon TV series.
It’s a bold move for the ReVisionaries, with both an unknown quantity of a show and a subject matter that most communities would rather sweep under the sidewalk if they could. ReVision, however, took the opposite tack; hosting a Kingdom Kick-Off Party on March 6 that introduced and explained the show to the public, as well as a Kingdom Exploration Symposium on March 19, in which the show’s cast and crew joined a panel of gang experts in discussing the presence of gangs in Monmouth County, and the ways in which parents, teachers and community leaders can take action to prevent gang violence. Audiences are also being invited to take part in after-show forums that follow each performance.
After the jump, Red Bank oRBit speaks with director Armesto on the hows and whys of this much-anticipated show.
The cast of Kingdom includes (Back Row, L-R) Dell Howlett, David Del Rio (replaced by Andre Da Silva), Miguel Jarquin-Moreland, Desiree Rodriguez, Keith Antone, and Jose Candleria; (Front Row, L-R) Erikamarie Rumore, Christian Amaraut, and Chelsea Zeno. Absent on picture day: Judah Gavra. (Photo by Dennis Carroll)
RED BANK ORBIT: It seems that ReVision is working this show hard and they have a lot invested with it, but most of us know next to nothing about KINGDOM. What’s your take on it?
CARLOS ARMESTO: It’s a daring play, a play for people who don’t usually come to the theater — and it’s got a hip hop bounce to it, which we’re taking a little further. Mostly the score is either rapped or sung — in Spanish and in English.
The poster and advertising image makes it clear that this isn’t HELLO DOLLY we’re dealing with here.
It’s an intense image, appropriate to what we’re doing, since the subject matter is so intense. I wouldn’t call it a children’s play — the parental advisory is there for a reason.
But at the same time it is a musical; people break into song and dance, so how much of a challenge is it to put forth these dramatic themes in a genre that’s always been better suited to light comedy?
There is a harshness, a naturalistic energy in the show — but it’s also very stylized. A fight is not a fight; there’s no blood, and the movement is very choreographed. The set is pretty bare — mostly just a floor and door frames. The lighting, which is by Sean Lindsay Manuel, and how the actors move, are how we convey the ideas in the show.
What are you doing differently from the San Diego production?
It’s much more choreographed; we have a choreographer, Tiffany Rachelle Stewart, whereas in the past only one of the numbers had any choreography. There’s a formal element of movement to it now. And our two lead actors, Christian and Miguel, were both in the San Diego production. Not as Juan and Andres, but in supporting roles.
The show turns out to have a much larger cast than I expected it would.
It is a big cast, and we double up, triple up on some of the parts. But the gangs are about belonging to a crowd, having safety in numbers, and we have to get creative in creating crowds. There are times when the audience kind of plays the part of the crowd!
So how would you describe the dynamic between those two lead characters?
They’re two young guys in the barrio — and the city is not named; there’s a sense that this could happen anywhere. Juan’s mother has walked out on him, and Andres, who lives in the projects, basically says I’ll take care of you. They embark upon a journey to have a real brotherhood, and they meet up with the Latin Kings and get involved in this thing, which in real life is very organized.
They’re trying to be peaceful; trying to survive, dealing drugs for income. They’re surrounded with a lot of guns, a lot of levels of protection.
What kind of response did you guys get with the community outreach events that you scheduled?
Very encouraging. The kickoff event was attended by people from all sides of the tracks. The writer of the show said that success for us is community engagement; using that in creating solutions — and I think we have the beginnings of a dialogue going on. If the audience listens, if the community hears about this, then it can happen.
Sounds like the show strikes a hopeful note.
It is tragic in many ways; it’s about survival, and some Shakespearean sort of father-son themes. But there’s solace, and there is hope.
Tickets for Kingdom are $25 and $35 (with a special $15 rate for students and teachers) and can be reserved right here or by calling (732)455-3059. Further information is available on a special open captioning performance, as well as a Ticket Fund Campaign for teens who are unable to afford admission.
April 13, 2009
RedBankOrbit.com
It’s Theater Week here in Red Bank oRBit! Actually, it just sort of worked out that way, as the coming days see the openings of no less than five new productions in the area — some professional and some proudly community; some serious and some silly; some popular revivals and some premieres — and all of them worth checking out for their own reasons.
When we first met up with the ReVision Theatre Company last year in oRBit, the newly established professional stage company in Asbury Park was in the process of transforming the seaside albatross Carousel building into a viable venue for live performance (for last summer’s successful run of Hair), while setting up offices, workshop and rehearsal space inside the city’s venerable VFW Post 1333 on 701 Lake Avenue at Bond Street.
When we looked in on them back in December, ReVision’s triad of Producing Artistic Directors (Thomas Morrissey, David Leidholdt and Stephen Bishop Seely) had turned the VFW’s amply scaled Bingo hall into a working playhouse for Scrooge in Rouge, a colorfully daffy parody of a vintage English music-hall barnstormer.
ReVision returns for anther go-round at the Carousel this August with The Full Monty, and in July they’ll spotlight Steven Brinberg’s uncanny Streisand portrayal in a benefit performance of Funny Girl, the show that catapulted Babs to stardom. But one production here in ReVision’s first full season sticks out against the otherwise light and lively slate of offerings — and that’s Kingdom.
Described as a “Latin Hip Hop musical” study of two friends from the barrio whose need to belong — in this case, to the Nation of the Latin Kings — tears them apart, the show by Aaron Jafferis and Ian Williams previews this Thursday at 8pm, opens this Friday, April 17 and runs through May 3 at the VFW Theatre.
This is an East Coast premiere of a work that’s only recently been fully staged in San Diego — and the cast is headed up by two veterans of the California production, Christian Amaraut and Miguel Jarquin-Moreland, whose respective roles as Juan and Andres saw their origins in true stories of current and former Latin Kings. Carlos Armesto directs an all-Latino cast that further features Dell Howlett (Cano), Desiree Rodriguez (Marisa), Keith Antone (Hector), Jose Candleria (Danny), Erikamarie Rumore (Queen 1), Judah Gavra (King 2), and Chelsea Zeno (Queen 2). Andre Da Silva replaced David Del Rio as King 1 when Del Rio was cast in a Nickelodeon TV series.
It’s a bold move for the ReVisionaries, with both an unknown quantity of a show and a subject matter that most communities would rather sweep under the sidewalk if they could. ReVision, however, took the opposite tack; hosting a Kingdom Kick-Off Party on March 6 that introduced and explained the show to the public, as well as a Kingdom Exploration Symposium on March 19, in which the show’s cast and crew joined a panel of gang experts in discussing the presence of gangs in Monmouth County, and the ways in which parents, teachers and community leaders can take action to prevent gang violence. Audiences are also being invited to take part in after-show forums that follow each performance.
After the jump, Red Bank oRBit speaks with director Armesto on the hows and whys of this much-anticipated show.
The cast of Kingdom includes (Back Row, L-R) Dell Howlett, David Del Rio (replaced by Andre Da Silva), Miguel Jarquin-Moreland, Desiree Rodriguez, Keith Antone, and Jose Candleria; (Front Row, L-R) Erikamarie Rumore, Christian Amaraut, and Chelsea Zeno. Absent on picture day: Judah Gavra. (Photo by Dennis Carroll)
RED BANK ORBIT: It seems that ReVision is working this show hard and they have a lot invested with it, but most of us know next to nothing about KINGDOM. What’s your take on it?
CARLOS ARMESTO: It’s a daring play, a play for people who don’t usually come to the theater — and it’s got a hip hop bounce to it, which we’re taking a little further. Mostly the score is either rapped or sung — in Spanish and in English.
The poster and advertising image makes it clear that this isn’t HELLO DOLLY we’re dealing with here.
It’s an intense image, appropriate to what we’re doing, since the subject matter is so intense. I wouldn’t call it a children’s play — the parental advisory is there for a reason.
But at the same time it is a musical; people break into song and dance, so how much of a challenge is it to put forth these dramatic themes in a genre that’s always been better suited to light comedy?
There is a harshness, a naturalistic energy in the show — but it’s also very stylized. A fight is not a fight; there’s no blood, and the movement is very choreographed. The set is pretty bare — mostly just a floor and door frames. The lighting, which is by Sean Lindsay Manuel, and how the actors move, are how we convey the ideas in the show.
What are you doing differently from the San Diego production?
It’s much more choreographed; we have a choreographer, Tiffany Rachelle Stewart, whereas in the past only one of the numbers had any choreography. There’s a formal element of movement to it now. And our two lead actors, Christian and Miguel, were both in the San Diego production. Not as Juan and Andres, but in supporting roles.
The show turns out to have a much larger cast than I expected it would.
It is a big cast, and we double up, triple up on some of the parts. But the gangs are about belonging to a crowd, having safety in numbers, and we have to get creative in creating crowds. There are times when the audience kind of plays the part of the crowd!
So how would you describe the dynamic between those two lead characters?
They’re two young guys in the barrio — and the city is not named; there’s a sense that this could happen anywhere. Juan’s mother has walked out on him, and Andres, who lives in the projects, basically says I’ll take care of you. They embark upon a journey to have a real brotherhood, and they meet up with the Latin Kings and get involved in this thing, which in real life is very organized.
They’re trying to be peaceful; trying to survive, dealing drugs for income. They’re surrounded with a lot of guns, a lot of levels of protection.
What kind of response did you guys get with the community outreach events that you scheduled?
Very encouraging. The kickoff event was attended by people from all sides of the tracks. The writer of the show said that success for us is community engagement; using that in creating solutions — and I think we have the beginnings of a dialogue going on. If the audience listens, if the community hears about this, then it can happen.
Sounds like the show strikes a hopeful note.
It is tragic in many ways; it’s about survival, and some Shakespearean sort of father-son themes. But there’s solace, and there is hope.
Tickets for Kingdom are $25 and $35 (with a special $15 rate for students and teachers) and can be reserved right here or by calling (732)455-3059. Further information is available on a special open captioning performance, as well as a Ticket Fund Campaign for teens who are unable to afford admission.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
"Hair' grabs gold ring
Scoop Slone, Casey Gensler and Ephie Aardema are co-stars in ReVision Theatre Company's production of "Hair," being staged at the carousel house in Asbury Park.
(Dennis Carroll)
August 19, 2008
by TOM CHESEK, Asbury Park Press
What a piece of work is "Hair: the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical" that caught Broadway with its pants down more than 40 years ago.
Welded to its Summer of Love origins, devoid of all but the barest-bones plot points, populated by the sketchiest of characters, the 1967 show created by James Rado and Gerome Ragni might have been little more than a vanity project for its writer-stars if it weren't for one crucial distinction — those songs.
Working with composer Galt MacDermot, the authors crafted a set of generational anthems, emotional ballads and satiric sing-alongs that stand very well on their own, even as they shoulder the entire weight of moving the show along. All this, without owing a thing to the conventions of Tin Pan Alley's Golden Age.
Along the way to revolutionizing the whole musical template as practiced in postwar America, "Hair" managed to shed a number of Broadway bugaboos — against sex and drug references, interracial romancing and liberal dropping of the f-bomb, to name but a few. Most of all, it's famous for the shedding of clothing, which the cast does during the "Be-In" sequence that forms the climax to the first act.
ReVision Theatre Company, the new professional troupe based in Asbury Park, has selected this unorthodox show as its first extended-engagement production — and they've opted to do it in an unorthodox venue, the Carousel building that adjoins the old Casino at the south end of the boardwalk.
Unless you're a recovering 1990s skate punk, you probably haven't been inside that historic roundhouse for many years; not since the hand-painted ponies of the old wooden ride stampeded out of state. Boardwalk developer Madison Marquette has done a tremendous job getting the unique structure up to speed as a live performance venue, a purpose it was never designed for.
Director Andy Goldberg (whose 1970s-retro tribute to the Aussie pop group Boney M was a smash on European stages) and the ReVision team have also worked hard in orienting this show to its unusual space, keeping the cast of 17 actors mostly above the audience on a central riser, side platforms and scaffolds.
As Claude, the conflicted "Tribe" member whose drafting into the Vietnam-era army forms the crux of the drama here, Casey Gensler shares the spotlight with Scoop Slone, who displays some solid rock-star cred as the Puckish, self-centered Tribesman Berger. If anything, however, "Hair" is an unusually democratic show in which pretty much everyone gets their turn to shine — with stand-out moments delivered by Kyle Taylor Parker ("Colored Spade"), Julia Arazi ("Air"), Mike Russo ("Don't Put It Down") and Ephie Aardema ("Easy To Be Hard").
Special kudos should go out to lighting designer George Hansel, who's met the considerable challenges of rigging and illuminating this oddball space with an effort that pays off in full during the extended "trip" and hallucination sequences of the second act.
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