Showing posts with label Ford's Theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ford's Theatre. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Ford's Theatre confirms 'The Widow Lincoln'

 
Mary Bacon as Mary Lincoln in the Ford’s Theatre world premiere of James Still’s The Widow Lincoln, directed by Stephen Rayne/Photo by Carol Rosegg

If you know anything about Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882), you know The Widow Lincoln now playing at Ford's Theatre will not be a happy presentation, especially since it takes place in the days after Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865.  

The dark script contains few surprises, but the best effects of the play are the conversations it will spark about Mrs. Lincoln. 

Everything is bleak, and there's no variation from the negative stereotype of Mary Todd Lincoln, a shrill, emotional, unbalanced woman, the mate of our most beloved president.  She was more.

I thought I read somewhere that the play was to be a sympathetic portrait of her, but I saw little evidence. She brought class to the White House.  Abraham Lincoln married her, and they had four children, two of whom died before reaching adulthood (Eddie, age 3, and Willie, age 11 when the Lincolns were in the White House). Her husband was shot at her side at Ford's Theatre.  She was supposed to be balanced? 

I did not know she stayed in the White House for five weeks after the president died April 15, 1865, nor that she did not accompany his funeral train which traveled 1,654 miles from Washington to 180 cities in seven states before it reached its destination of Springfield, Illinois where he was buried on May 4. Nor that she did not attend his funeral. 

James Still wrote The Widow Lincoln on commission from Ford's as part of Ford's 150, a series of events commemorating the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. 

Under the direction of Stephen Rayne, Mary Bacon, in her Ford debut, does a distinguished job (if her Southern accent is a trifle exaggerated) as Mary Todd Lincoln, who is mostly hysterical, besot by ghosts, hosting seances in the White House, and dreaming that  Queen Victoria of England comes to call.  The script has several disquieting pauses and too many Lincoln soliloquies.
Mary Bacon as Mary Lincoln with the cast of the Ford’s Theatre world premiere of James Still’s The Widow Lincoln, directed by Stephen Rayne/Photo by Carol Rosegg

Surrounding the first lady during most of the production are women positioned on top of her mountains of trunks which randomly move up and down stage. (Mary Todd Lincoln was charged with buying too many clothes.) Those associates become at different times, the naysayers, friends, and ghosts who speak in choruses, and individually steal quietly from their perches to frequently enter the stage in different apparel as new characters:  Sarah Marshall is Queen Victoria and assumes another role when she joins other cast members (Kimberly Schraf, Gracie Terzian, and Melissa Graves) in excerpts from Our American Cousin, the play the Lincolns went to see that night at Ford's. 

One of the most powerful performances is delivered by Caroline Clay as Elizabeth Keckly, Mrs. Lincoln's dressmaker and close friend.

The role of the young guard is played by Ms. Graves whose gender is never in question.  Some women did cut their hair, join the military, and went off to war in search of husbands, brothers, and other loved ones.

Other cast members are Lynda Gravatt and Brynn Tucker.
Neither man nor sufficient contrasting dialogue comes forward to lighten the script or stage design.

Mary Todd Lincoln's first gown in the show (by Wade Laboissonniere) is a big blossoming magnolia which appears to be designed after an original, with a pink floral pattern on the skirt's front, but after a few moments, becomes the president's blood stains, reminiscent of the suit worn by another first lady whose husband was assassinated while sitting beside her and who was attacked for her clothing expenditures. 

I don't believe Mary Bacon left the stage once during the entire performance, and, in the style of the day, changed garments on stage.

Lighting (by Pat Collins), shadow effects (projection by Clint Allen), and sounds of the Lincoln funeral train (by David Budreis and Nathan A. Roberts) are enduring and skillfully woven.   

Civil War era music composed by Mr. Budreis and Mr. Roberts fills the venue before and during parts of the the play, sounding as if an orchestra is in the pit, but none was found on-site or in the program. 

Other key crew members are Tony Cisek, scenic design; Anne Nesmith, wigs and make-up; Lynn Watson, dialects; Kristin Fox-Siegmund, director of programming; Brandon Prendergast and Hannah R. O'Neil, stage managers.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one woman in her time plays one part


What:  The Widow Lincoln

When: Through Feb. 22, 2015 on most Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Where: Ford's Theatre, 511 Tenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004

Tickets: From $15-$62 with discounts for groups, seniors, military, and those younger than 35

Duration: About two hours with one intermission

For more information: 202-347-4833

Metro stations: Metro Center or Gallery Place-Chinatown

To read other local reviews of shows still playing, go to Other Reviews on DCMetroTheaterArts.


The Mary Todd Lincoln House, Lexington, Kentucky/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The back of the Mary Todd Lincoln House, Lexington, Kentucky/Photo by Patricia Leslie

patricialesli@gmail.com

Monday, October 20, 2014

Ford's Theatre drives a marvelous 'Daisy'

Craig Wallace is Hoke Coleburn and Nancy Robinette is Daisy Werthan in Ford Theatre's Driving Miss Daisy/Photo by Scott Suchman

Driving Miss Daisy at Ford's Theatre is so good, I could see it again.  For theatre lovers and others, you have less than a week to see the show.

I cannot recall any theatre performances when the audience applauded after every scene change like it did for Miss Daisy, but applaud it did, and there are a few scene changes.

From beginning to end, Daisy is a charmer, full of humor and life and relationships and all that's important, and it will keep you laughing while simultaneously serving as a painful reminder of last century's civil rights turbulence in the South.

The story is based upon the family of the playwright, Alfred Uhry (b. 1936 in Atlanta):  A black man (Craig Wallace is Hoke) is hired to drive a white Jewish lady, age 72, (Nancy Robinette is Daisy) around town after her son (Ron Heneghan is Boolie) deems her too incapacitated to drive.  She's got a tongue, all right. It sizzles and strikes without mercy, sending the audience into frequent hysterics: "She sounds like she has a bowl stuck in her throat," and "If I had a nose like Maureen's, I wouldn't say 'Merry Christmas' to anybody."

The crew of three delivers knock-out performances, and the elders' (Daisy and Hoke) aging on stage occurs so subliminally, their increasingly right-angle postures and slower paces almost go unnoticed.  Boolie doesn't stay young forever, either.

At first glance the set (by Tony Cisek) appears almost too minimalist, but that initial misconception quickly dissolves as dialogue takes over, and the set becomes secondary.  That said, rapid small changes give way to totally new times and circumstances spanning the years 1948-1973 when Atlanta first elected a black mayor.  An elegant living room evolves into an office. The car is traded for a newer one. A cemetery with tombstones and chrysanthemums blossoms into a kitchen which is a later empty mansion, and on and on.  The quantity and substance of props are understated as they should be, but add immensely to the overall enjoyment and scene progressions.

Costuming (by Helen Huang) is realistic and timely, and Miss Daisy's little old lady dress with its later added accessories (hat, coat, sweater) join set changes nicely to convert moods and places. In his first scene, Hoke's big, hand-me-down suit tells his station-in-life and need for a job. 

Some of the memorable lighting Dan Covey creates include the backdrop of strings of Christmas lights, a starry sky, and a overhead light shining on Daisy in a scary nighttime stop somewhere in Alabama. Short background musical selections a la NPR, from gospel to cello, violin, and banjo, although taped, helped ease scene transitions in excellent fashion.

At the end, Robinette is a 90-year-old with shaking hands, thinning hair, and impaired speech.  She needs help eating but is still a tough old bird.  I watched and wished my own mother, long in the grave and a Southerner, could see Driving Miss Daisy. She would love it.

The play debuted off-Broadway in 1987 and won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. With The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Parade, it is part of Uhry's trilogy about life in the South.

The performances by Robinette and Wallace are well worth Helen Hayes' nominations. 

Jennifer L. Nelson directed Driving Miss Daisy, and other key crew members are Elisheba Ittoop, sound; Anne Nesmith, wig and makeup; Lynn Watson, dialects; Brandon Prendergast, production stage manager; and Hannah R. O'Neil, assistant stage manager.

What:  Driving Miss Daisy

When: Evenings at 7:30 p.m. with matinees on Thursday,  Saturday, and Sunday, through Oct. 26, 2014

Where: Ford's Theatre, 511 Tenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004

How much: Tickets start at $33.65 with discounts for groups, military personnel, senior citizens, and those younger than 35.

Duration:  About 90 minutes with no intermission

For more information: 202-347-4833

Metro stations: Metro Center, Gallery Place-Chinatown, or Archives-Navy Memorial

For more theatre in Washington, D.C. check out the DC Metro Theater Art's website here.

patricialesli@gmail.com
 

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Ford's Theatre's 'Bee' is a spellbinder

 
Cast members from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee now on stage at Ford's Theatre under the direction of Peter Flynn.  The seated fellow on the far left in a daze is one of four cast members from the audience/photo by Scott Suchman

Ford's Theatre latest production, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, is so much fun I asked the box office to let me know right away if it's extended through Memorial Day weekend when my family comes to town, and I can see it again.  Really. 

The energy and laughter are contagious, and the action is non-stop.  Increasing the entertainment are superb acting (under the direction of Peter Flynn), singing, choreography (by Michael Bobbitt) and plot.  Who would have guessed a musical comedy could come out of a spelling bee, but Rebecca Feldman's creation and Rachel Sheinkin's story made it happen on Broadway in 2005 where it ran for almost three years and won two Tonys.

For more frivolity, why not throw in four volunteers from the audience who have a one-night stand on stage with speaking (mostly spelling) parts?

Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Matthew A. Anderson) and moderator, Rona Lisa Perretti (Rachel Zampelli), both, hippopotomonstrosesquipedalians, grill the ten contestants (including the newly cast) who are asked to spell really hard words, most from South America, except for "vug" ("vug"?), "cow," and "lugubrious" which this most definitely is not. 

Mr. Panch and Ms. Perretti are quite skilful at improv and current events, and their exchanges with the new actors  (who must be good spellers) are hilarious. (What's a play in D.C. without mention of local politics?)  

Rather than long drawn out scenes, the action speeds up at the right times bypassing actual spelling as the students line up and whizz by.

The losers are escorted off stage with one of my favorites,  Mitch Mahoney (Kevin McAllister), who plays a convict doing community service at the school (makes sense, no?). His mannerisms, slouch, walk, and dress (hoodie, jeans, backwards ball cap) are street perfect, and he later finds Jesus.  Of course.


The contestants represent many different persuasions: There is Vincent Kempski as Boy Scout Chip Tolentino whose sudden rise to puberty becomes cause for alarm; Nicholas Vaughan as Leaf Coneybear who is home schooled; Logainne Schwartlonglastname is played by Kristen Garaffo, an energetic girl with two fathers; Felicia Curry is prissy Marcy Park whose achievements are bested by no one and she's got the voice to prove it, and not to be outdone in spectacular music or acting is Carolyn Agan's Olive Ostrovsky. Oh, and one more: William Barfee played by Vishal Vaidya who quite convincingly spells with his feet.  (You have to be there.) 

Who do you think wins?

A five-member band led by Christopher Youstra never dominates but adds to the night's gaiety with William Finn's music and lyrics.

(You may want to bring sunglasses for, except for audience members dressed in shabby greys, browns, and blacks, the costuming by Wade Laboissonniere and scenic design by Court Watson expand the sparkly.)

A few "damns" and some earthy talk and visuals lead Ford's to recommend the show for ages 12 and up, but two engrossed boys, ages about four and six, I saw practically hanging over the balcony railing near the end were oblivious to adult recommendations. 

The Spelling Bee has no intermission and lasts about 1.5 hours.  And you thought you were a good speller?  Come and try out your skills.  P.S. No exsibilations were heard the whole night.  Jay Reiss provided additional material.

What:  The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

When: Evenings at 7:30 p.m. through May 17, 2014 with matinees on Fridays and Saturdays. (Meet the cast after the show across the street at Bistro D'Oc May 3.  Play tickets, not necessary.)

Where: Ford's Theatre, 511 Tenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004

How much: Tickets start at $18.00 with discounts for groups, seniors, military, and anyone under age 35

For more information: 202-347-4833

Metro stations:  Metro Center, Gallery Place-Chinatown, or Archives-Navy Memorial

For more theatre in Washington, D.C. check out the DC Metro Theater Art's website here.

patricialesli@gmail.com



 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

A Lincoln-Douglass debate at Ford's Theatre

Craig Wallace is Frederick Douglass in Necessary Sacrifices at Ford's Theatre/Laura Keene

A serious "conversation" between two American heroes, President Abraham Lincoln (David Selby) and abolitionist Frederick Douglass (Craig Wallace), is occurring nightly through Saturday at Ford's Theatre in a play called Necessary Sacrifices.

It is a world's premiere, written by Richard Hellesen who was commissioned by Ford's to create a play for the celebration of this month's opening of the Center for Education and Leadership located across the street.

Hellesen based his drama on two documented sessions between Lincoln and Douglass.
 David Selby is Abraham Lincoln in Necessary Sacrifices/Laura Keene

Everyone knows who President Lincoln was, but how many are familiar with Mr. Douglass? Not only did he work to abolish slavery, but he was an early supporter of women's rights and in 1848, the only African-American present at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York.  (The Frederick Douglass home is at 1411 W Street SE in Washington.)
The specific Civil War period in focus for Sacrifices is chiefly August, 1863 and August, 1864. Mr. Douglass is disappointed by the president's policies and tries to convince him that not only is emancipation critical to national health, but the new role of blacks in the U.S. is vital, too.
In dialogue in two acts, the two converse, and the president explains to Douglass the political process and the evolution of public opinion.  Selby's and Wallace's looks, demeanor, and superb acting give undeniable credence to their characters who truly make American history come alive on stage.

Jennifer L. Nelson, the director, writes in program notes that the two Civil War leaders discovered a "common vision" in each other, sharing a "belief in the potential of human beings to be generous of spirit in spite of profound differences." Would that words of yesteryear rang on Capitol Hill today.


Adding to the play's aura is Civil War music and a sad melody composed by John Gromada which is sprinkled throughout the production and expertly played on violin by Thomas Booker or Tony Donaldson, Jr. (depending upon the night of the performance).
The lighting is dramatic (Dan Covey), and the backdrop is a tranquil floor-to-ceiling landscape painting of clouds and sky in heavenly peach, lavender and blue which creates a dichotomy in a time of radical upheaval, where gunfire is sporadically heard in the background to remind all present of war's death and destruction.
Once a portion of the stage with the president's desk and chair move forward, and large white rectangular windows drop, the stage is set (by James Kronzer) for conversation between the two in the president's office.

Makeup by Anne Nesmith is worthy of a Helen Hayes nomination.




It is eerie and remarkable at the same time to sit in Ford's Theatre, to look up at the box where the president and Mrs. Lincoln sat April 14, 1865 the night of his assassination, and realize you are there watching a play about him.
The play is recommended for ages 13 and up. Hurry! On a Monday night, the theatre was packed.  It is easy to see how this play will travel for hundreds of performances.

What: Necessary Sacrifices
When: Every night at 7:30 p.m. now through February 18, 2012
Where: Ford's Theatre, 511 Tenth St, NW, Washington, DC 20004
Admission: Prices begin at $32.20. Check here for possible discounts.
For more information: 202-347-4833
Metro station: Metro Center, Gallery Place, or Archives-Navy Memorial