PA Players stages delightful 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'

The Oompa Loompas dance in the chocolate factory. (Scott Lasky)

 

Palo Alto Players is staging a deliciously imaginative “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

Although it’s different from the 1971 film with Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, this version is still based on the Roald Dahl novel. It has a book by David Greig with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

It features an energetic, likable cast of some 30 people of all ages. Among the youngest is fifth-grader Falcon Franco (alternating with Russell Nakagawa) as the title character, Charlie Bucket, who lives in a town next to Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory. No one has been inside to see what happens there.

Charlie also is a regular visitor to the candy store that sells Wonka’s chocolate products and is run by the candy man, who’s really Willy Wonka (Brandon Savage).

The candy man announces that he will close the store, but five chocolate bars have a golden ticket that entitles the lucky winner to visit the factory.

Charlie would love to strike gold, but he doesn’t have any money. His single mother, Mrs. Bucket (Sarah Jebian), barely makes a living at a laundry and must support both herself and Charlie as well as his four bedridden grandparents.

As luck would have it, though, Charlie finds a dollar and buys the very last bar, which has the fifth ticket. He and his Grandpa Joe (Steven Guire Knight), along with the other four winning kids and their parents, enter the factory.

There they see fantastical sights and creatures like the Oompa Loompas and learn that much of what happens requires imagination.

Although everyone in the cast sings, acts and dances well, the standouts are Franco as Charlie, Savage as Willy, Jebian as Mrs. Bucket and Knight as Grandpa Joe.

This production is well directed by artistic director Patrick Klein, who also designed the set, projections and additional video content. The energetic choreography is by Stacy Reed with musical direction by Richard Hall and vocal direction by D. Asa Stern.

Greet Jaspaert deserves credit for the costumes, while the hair, wigs and makeup were designed by Karen Althoff. Lighting is by Pamila Gray with sound by Chris Beer.

Suitable for all ages and running just over two and a half hours with an intermission, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” will continue through Sept. 22 at the Lucie Stern Theater (which has comfy new seats), 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.

For tickets and information, call (650) 329-0891 or visit www.paplayers.org.

 

 

 

Hillbarn stages 'Always ... Patsy Cline'

 

Patsy Cline (Melissa WolfKlain, left) visits Louise Seger (Kimberly Donovan). (Tracy Martin photo)

Country-western singer Patsy Cline was only 30 years old when she died in a plane crash in 1963, but many of the songs she sang remain popular today.

“Always … Patsy Cline,” presented by Hillbarn Theatre and Conservatory, tells the true story of a friendship between her and an ardent fan, Louise Seger, in Houston.

A divorced mom, Seger (Kimberly Donovan) first heard Cline (Melissa WolfKlain) singing when her two kids were watching Arthur Godfrey’s show in the late ’50s. She was immediately enchanted and hounded the local DJ to play her records.

When she learned that Cline was slated to sing in Houston, she arrived long before the show was to start. By chance, they briefly chatted as Cline was checking out the space.

Afterward, Cline came to her table, where they talked for a long time. When she told Seger she had taken a cab from her hotel, Seger offered to give her a ride because it was too late to catch a cab.

They first went to Seger’s house, where they talked so long that Cline accepted Seger’s invitation to spend the night there before returning to her hotel to pack and go to the airport.

Afterward, they corresponded regularly. Cline signed her letters, “Love always, Patsy Cline.”

Created and originally directed by Ted Swindley, this show is basically a juke box musical with some two dozen songs by various composers. Some of those songs include “Crazy,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” WolfKlain sings well and easily adapts to the various styles.

She changes costumes between each scene, appearing in about 10 different outfits, all attractive. Kudos to costume designer Stephanie Dittbern, who also fashioned the wigs and hair styles.

Other design elements are noteworthy with lighting by Pamila Gray, sound by Jeff Mockus and set by Paulino Deleal.

As part of the excellent six-person upstage band, musical director Rick Reynolds conducts from the piano.

The show is directed and well-choreographed by Dyan McBride. However, she allows Donovan to overact. At first Donovan’s Seger seem energetic, but there’s not a lot of variation in her performance.

Otherwise, though, this production is highly entertaining, especially WolfKlain’s singing.

Running about two hours with a 15-minute intermission, “Always … Patsy Cline” continues through Sept. 15 at Hillbarn Theatre. 1285 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City.

For tickets and information, call (650) 349-6411 or visit www.hillbarntheatre.org.

 

 

Suspense reigns in 'Murder on the Orient Express'

 

 

Countess Andrenyi (April Culver) meets Detective Hercule Poirot (Michael Champlin) on the platform of the Orient Express. (Photo by Christian Pizzirani)

 

When a passenger is found stabbed to death in his bed on the legendary Orient Express train from Istanbul to Western Europe in 1934, Hercule Poirot must use his keen detective skills to find the guilty person.

Because no one had entered or exited the train since it left Istanbul, the list of suspects is confined to its passengers and staff in Ken Ludwig’s stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express.”

And because the train is stuck in the snow with no connection to the outside world, it’s up to Poirot to find the murderer.

In Palo Alto Players’ production, astutely directed by Katie O’Bryon Champlin, her husband, Michael Champlin, plays Poirot with sharp timing.

The rest of the cast also is noteworthy, especially Zachary Vaughn-Munck as Monsieur Bouc, the train company’s owner. Bay Area favorite Linda Piccone as Princess Dragomiroff brings her understated comedic skills to the character.

As Poirot finds one clue after another, each seeming to implicate another suspect, the suspense grows.

Multi-tasking Kevin Davies, who designed movable sets to facilitate quick scene changes, also served as prop designer, technical director and master carpenter. Effective lighting is by Edward Hunter.

Because Palo Alto Players’ usual home, the Lucie Stern Theater in Palo Alto, is being outfitted with new seats and other improvements, this show is being presented in Woodside High’s Performing Arts Center.

Its acoustics are less than ideal, distorting the dialogue, making it hard to understand even though it can be heard in Jeff Grafton’s sound design.

The characters’ accents also interfere with catching all of the dialogue. Nevertheless, the staging and acting clarify most of the plot so that the surprise ending comes through.

Running about two hours and 15 minutes with an intermission, “Murder on the Orient Express” will continue through June 30 at the Woodside High venue, 199 Churchill Ave., Woodside, where there’s ample parking just west of the Woodside Road-Alameda de las Pulgas intersection.

For tickets and information, call (650) 329-0891 or visit www.paplayers.org.

 

 

 

TheatreWorks premieres Sondheim revue, "Being Alive"

 

The actors (from left) Anne Tolpegin, Sleiman Alahmadieh, Solona Husband, Noel Anthony, Nick Nakashima, and Melissa WolfKlain) embrace new possibilities. (Kevin Berne photo)

The late composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim was an incomparable genius of the American musical theatrer.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley honors him with the world premiere of a homegrown revue, “Being Alive: A Sondheim Celebration.”

Conceived and directed by the company’s retired founder-artistic director Robert Kelley, in collaboration with musical director William Liberatore, it focuses on love and romantic relationships in all their ups, downs and permutations in Sondheim’s complex music, rhythms and lyrics.

In this revue, three women and three men portray actors rehearsing a musical.

“Being Alive” delves into some of the songs from Sondheim’s treasure chest of great musicals. Some are well known, others not so much. TheatreWorks has staged 20 of his works, some more than once. Kelley directed most of them.

As Kelley wrote in his director’s notes, the licensing agent for Sondheim’s works had strict rules:

The songs could come from only 15 of his works with no more than three from any one show and only three more songs from the five previous Sondheim revues, and they had to have been cut from other works. That left a choice of a mere 334 songs, Kelley wrote.

Hence some viewers might be disappointed that a favorite isn’t included, but the show still has some memorable tunes such as “Children Will Listen” from “Into the Woods,” “Send in the Clowns” from “A Little Night Music” and more.

The six performers all sing and act well as they portray relationships in various stages. They’re loosely paired by ages with Sleiman Alahmadieh and Solana Husband as 20-somethings, Nick Nakashima and Melissa WolfKlain as 30-somethings, and Noel Anthony and Anne Tolpegin as the 40-somethings.

Fumiko Bielefeldt’s costume design puts them in street clothes for the first act’s run-through and their performance costumes for the dress rehearsal of the second act.

Although associate director Alex Perez’s choreography is perhaps secondary, it nevertheless suits the mood and adds interest to each song.

With appropriate lighting by Pamila Z. Gray, Wilson Chin’s scenic design features a few set pieces and a background of the backs of flats stamped with the names of the Sondheim shows for which they supposedly were used. The sound design is by Cliff Caruthers.

Running about two hours with an intermission, “Being Alive” is both interesting and entertaining. It will continue through June 30 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View.

For tickets and information, call (877) 662-8978 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

 

 

'Tiger Style' explores parent-adult child encounters

 

Francis Jue (left), Will Dao and Jeremy Kahn have an office encounter. (Kevin Berne photo)

After their lives seem stymied, two high-achieving Chinese American siblings blame their parents in Mike Lew’s “Tiger Style!” presented by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.

Jennifer (Jenny Nguyen Nelson) is an oncologist whose loser live-in boyfriend (Jeremy Kahn) has just moved out.

Her brother, Albert (Will Dao), is a software engineer who has been passed over for a promotion that goes to an incompetent white man (Kahn). When he complains to his Chinese American boss (Francis Jue), he’s fired.

Jennifer and Albert blame their first-generation parents (Jue and Emily Kuroda) for tiger parenting, pushing them too hard to do well in school and other activities but leaving them unprepared for adult life.

When their parents refuse to accept that responsibility, saying they only wanted what was best for their children, Jennifer and Albert decide to go to China on what they call an Asian freedom tour. Things don’t turn out as they had hoped.

Although the play is billed as a satire, it makes some cogent points about racial stereotyping.

In this production’s talented, versatile ensemble cast, Jue stands out in his varied roles, especially as the boss and father, when his centeredness comes to the fore.

However, director Jeffrey Lo allows some over-acting, especially when Dao’s Albert is angry or overwrought.

Above Arnel Sancianco’s set is a sign for Ranch 99 Market for no readily apparent reason if one doesn’t know that this grocery store chain caters to Asian Americans. Scene changes involve set pieces that slide in and out with labels like home, work, family and others.

Costumes are by Becky Bodurtha with lighting by Kurt Landisman and sound by Howard Ho, who serves as language consultant.

Running about 2 ½ hours with an intermission, “Tiger Style!” will continue through April 28 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View.

For tickets and information, call (877) 662-8978 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

 

They love each other for naught

 

Kaylee Miltersen is Girl and Jake Gale is Guy. (Tracy Martin photo)

“Once” is the story of love between a man and woman that probably cannot be.

In the case of this musical presented by Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory, the man, called Guy (Jake Gale), is busker-vacuum cleaner repair man in Ireland in 2011. The woman, called Girl (Kaylee Miltersen), is Czech. Both have musical aspiration.

Both also have lost their loves. His girlfriend has moved to New York City. Her husband, unknown to Guy, has moved on without her and their young daughter. Guy wants to abandon music, but Girl, recognizing his talent, encourages him to continue.

As their story unfolds, they and the other adults in the cast play instruments, sing and dance onstage. Characters who aren’t part of a scene sit on the sidelines and often join in the music.

Even before the show begins, the high-energy cast entertains the audience with lively songs and dances. At intermission, audience members can buy a drink at a bar set up on the left side of the stage.

Because the characters speak with either an Irish or Czech accent, they’re sometimes hard to understand, but the underlying message comes through.

Artistic director Stephen Muterspaugh directs the multi-talented actors as they create very human characters. However, his blocking sometimes has a piano or actor’s back blocking the view from far-left seats.

Francesca Cipponeri is credited with the energetic choreography. The musical director is Amie Jan with vocal direction by Joseph Murphy. The scenic design is by Christopher Fitzer with lighting by Pamila Gray, costumes by Lisa Claybaugh and sound by Jeff Mockus.

“Once” is a somewhat unusual musical, but on the whole it’s quite entertaining. It has a book by Enda Walsh with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová.

Running about two hours and 20 minutes with an intermission, it will continue through April 7 at Hillbarn Theatre, 1285 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City.

For tickets and information, call (650) 349-6411 or visit www.hillbarntheatre.org.

 

 

 

 

More than bees are threatened in 'Queen'

 

Mike Ryan (left), Uma Paranjpe and Kjerstine Rose Anderson are featured in 'Queen.' (Kevin Berne photo)

Friendship and ethics are both challenged in Madhuri Shekar’s “Queen,” presented by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.

Ariel (Kjerstine Rose Anderson), an ecology researcher and single mother, and Sanam (Uma Paranjpe), an applied mathematician from India, are UC Santa Cruz Ph.D. students who have been studying bee colony collapse for several years.

In bee colony collapse, the worker bees abandon the queen and disappear. Therefore, they no longer pollinate the food crops that the world needs. Continued unabated, it could lead to mass starvation.

The two women, who have developed a close working relationship and friendship, believe that agricultural pesticides have caused the problem.

They’re close to publishing their findings in the prestigious journal Nature when Sanam finds additional data that don’t agree with their previous numbers.

Their supervising professor, Philip (Mike Ryan), wants them to publish anyway, as does Ariel, but Sanam doesn’t. It’s an ethical dilemma that threatens the women’s friendship.

In the meantime, Sanam has had a dinner date with Arvind (Deven Kolluri), an Indian American financier, as a prelude to an arranged marriage.

At first, he bores her by bragging about a poker game in which he uses his skill with numbers. However, that skill interests her, so she asks him to help her find any flaw in her new numbers for the bee research.

This intriguing play, with its cast of skilled actors, is directed by Miriam A. Laube, known to many Bay Area theatergoers for her years as an actor and director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

In keeping with the bee theme, the set by Nina Ball features honeycomb panels, while the sound design by James Ard often buzzes. The costumes are by Lisa Claybaugh, the lighting by Kent Dorsey.

“Queen” runs about an hour and 45 minutes with no intermission at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, through March 31.

For tickets and information, call (877)-662-8978 or visit www.theatreworks.org.