If I have to endure any more talking vaginas or one more Shakespeare play any time soon I am simply going to cry out “enough already!”
Director Brian M. Booth is to be commended for a fine show still in production at Center for the Arts. His “Soprano’s” style twist on “King Lear” was a great piece of workmanship and ingenuity, and the cast is to be commended for a job well done.
It is very, very difficult for me to sit through a Shakespeare play, even more so for me to sit for three hours of anything. The play starts at 7:30 and ends at 10:40. With two 15 intermissions. But Tony Wakefield as Lear, in his first performance on the Center stage, did a wonderful job of holding your attention, and his ensemble cast of 21 was engaging in this dark, suspenseful and foreboding play. The lighting neared perfection, the selection of music was very good, and the sound effects went off without a hitch.
I was a little confused with the stage set. Between each scene, when the stage crew went about moving the set around, they would move them . . . and then move them again . . . and then move them a third and fourth time. I could not tell if they were just not getting them right the first time, or could not decide where to place them. The play could have cut 30 minutes if they would have just set them down. But then, the stage needed very little in set or props, as the players were engaging enough.
I was familiar with many of the actors in this play, and have come to expect only the best from them, I got it. Several were new to Center, and albeit a little uncomfortable, they were good in their performances. Stealing the show was Shaun Murphy, in the role of Edmund. In his Center debut, this young man was incredible, with his dark, shadowy, sinewy features gracing effortlessly about the stage and forming a love triangle with the two already married older daughters of King Lear. I hope to see more of this young actor in the future.
I cannot leave out Joel Meriwether, who played Gloucester. His talent was well received, and his endured pain of the gouging of his eyes, and blindness through the rest of the show was nothing short of great. The play continues Thursday, March 20, through Saturday, March 22, at 7:30pm, and Sunday, March 23 at 2 p.m.
More vagina talk
I went to The Theatre at Patterson Park on Friday, March 7, to see another “Vagina Monologues” production, as if the one I saw at Wall Street on Feb. 14 was not enough. Comparing the two was like comparing apples to oranges. Both edible fruits, but not in the same orchard.
Where the Wall Street production had three actors in a hazy, dark, beer smelling room, the March 7 version had about 20 actors, on a well-lit stage in a well-known city-owned theatre. Most of these actors were not actors at all, but simply women who decided to let the world know they had a vagina, what it’s characteristics and abilities were, and then move on to other motivational cracks in their lives.
Impressive were Ms. Trish Crist, Ms. Kai Neal and Ms. Jenifer Anastasi. Their monologues and their talents were good material. Ms. Tosha Webb did a good comedic act on her womanly part. The rest were . . . well, OK delivery, the audience understood that all of them were in one way or another proud of their goods, or angry at it, or angry that 90 percent (and dropping) of all men have reason to want it.
The lighting was good, the sound was better than usual for Patterson Park, I did expect more from the set design. I understand there was a set already being built behind the curtains for the next show, but come now, a large pink cardboard cutout with a split in the middle and writing all over it . . . could have been better. Raemona Taylor worked hard on directing this production and I give her and executive producer George W. Manus Jr. a thumbs up for bringing in several thousand dollars for the Domestic Violence Program.
Young dudes and dudettes
I flipped a coin on Saturday March, 15. Was it “The Sound of Music” at the Arts Center of Cannon County, or “They Went Thataway” at the Theatre at Patterson Park? Both sides of the coin was heads, and director Jeff Harr and his team of dude ranchers won out. I will always be loyal to Rutherford County actors and stages before going anywhere else.
This production starred 10 of the most fun and talented young actors at the Bar-B-Que Dude Ranch. The yippee-i-o-ki-ay was there, they did a great job, and I saw a bunch of proud relatives sitting in the audience. The set, very Loweryesque in design, was beautiful; Mr. Harr and his crew are to be commended. Erin Green, the stage manager, and Andy Brown on lights did a good job as well. I enjoyed this play very much. I only hope these youngsters and their parents read The Pulse.
Children a big part of local theater
For there not to be a children’s theater in Murfreesboro, and being told it would not be supported, there seems to be a lot of children’s theater in Murfreesboro. Center for the Arts, Murfreesboro Little Theatre, and Patterson Park have used literally hundreds of kids and teenagers in recent shows, and all have been exceedingly successful. The amount of children on our stages here tells me that theater in Murfreesboro will be growing and successful for years to come. Sports, ballet, and music will always take some, or most, but there is a love in a lot of young hearts for the stage.
Musical opens at MLT
Cole Porter’s “High Society” starts Friday, March 21, at Murfreesboro Little Theatre. Directed by Wayman Price, this jazzy musical, adapted from the 1955 hit movie with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra promises to bring in the crowds. Playing for two weekends, the Friday/Saturday night shows start at 7 p.m., the Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.
Tucker hosts student work
“Rhythm in You,” an original theatrical show by MTSU junior theatrical major Ian Hunt, directed by Debra Anderson, plays 7:30 p.m. nightly March 28-29 and April 2 – 5 at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre.
Give us a break for a while
One last note: I’ve been to five Shakespeare plays in Rutherford County in the past several months. All played to less than half-full houses each night they played. I know the Shakespeare thespians will howl and cry out, but Murfreesboro is not cultured enough for the 1600s writer, and if they want to fill their theaters and their coffers, directors will begin showing more productions that their patrons want to see.
Kudos to Center for the Arts for not having any more Shakespeare in 2008! Enough for a while.
See ya at the theatre!
