Cricket's Notebook by Larry Stark - "It's IRNE Time
Again!!!"
Monday, 27 December, 1999: "It's I.R.N.E. Time Again!!!"
I may not get this done tonight, but I want to get all my nominees for
this Century's-End INDEPENDENT REVIEWERS OF NEW ENGLAND Awards Ceremony
out where some of them just might jog some Other reviewers' memories
about some show they'd otherwise overlook. It was a hectic year, and
though I didn't best top year's total, I did spend some 138 nights (or
days) at theatrical events of some kind, and reviewed most of what I
saw. So about a week ago I set to work on this exercize in sublime
nostalgia by flipping down through my list of plays seen searching for:
WORTHY NOMINEES FOR SOMETHING
and came up with these lovely plums:
6 jan RAGTIME Colonial
15 jan TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Insight WORKS THEATRE Davis Sq.
20 jan TRIUMPH OF LOVE SpeakEasy BCA
25 feb SIDE SHOW Boston Conservatory
11 mar THE SWAN Nora BOSTON PLAYWRIGHTS' THEATRE
27 feb MOON OVER DARK STREET bwot BCA
28 feb GOD SMELLS LIKE A PIG ON A SUMMER'S DAY bwot BCA
13 mar THE GLASS MENAGERIE Hovey Players ADDAMS MEMORIAL THEATRE
17 mar BUFFALO GALS The OTHER Theatre BEAU JEST
26 mar MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Theatre Cooperative PEABODY HOUSE
1 apr AT THE BLACK PIG'S DYKE Sugan BCA
9 apr EQUUS The Footlight Club
17 apr ..AND TRUTH Brimmer Loft EMERSON PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
21 apr THREE DAYS OF RAIN SpeakEasy BCA
22 apr FOR COLORED GIRLS... MIT Dramashop KRESGE LITTLE
28 apr WHEN PIGS FLY Lyric Stage of Boston Inc.
6 may LA VITA CLAIRE CentaStage BCA
7 may SCOTLAND ROAD New Rep
8 may A CHORUS LINE Turtle Lane
5 jun THE SKRIKER Quick Change Theater Company BCA
10 jun KRAPP'S LAST TAPE/THE AMERICAN DREAM Koinonia OCBC
10 jul SNAPSHOTS ReveScape ACTORS' WORKSHOP
22 jul PRIVATE EYES Baobab PEABODY HOUSE
23 jul EVITA Colonial
6 aug PROPOSALS Second Stage NEW REP
5 sep OLD TIMES Threshold & M.Dowd, BEAU JEST
18 sep ST. NICHOLAS Sugan BCA
28 sep THE TEMPEST Theatre Collective PEABODY
7 oct THE WATER CHILDREN Equity Code BEAU JEST
8 oct APOCALYPSO! Industrial Theatre LEVERETT HOUSE
9 oct A NEW BRAIN SpeakEasy BCA
23 oct THE KING AND I Turtle Lane
30 oct SEDUCTIONS Poets' Theatre WORKS THEATRE
1 nov ROMEO AND JULIET Boston Theatre Works
5 nov SurREAL LIFE TheatreZone ACTORS' WORKSHOP
11 nov BOYS AT PLAY Hovey Players ABBOT MEMORIAL WALTHAM
12 nov JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR Footlight Club
18 nov ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD New Rep
8 dec SHE LOVES ME Lyric Stage of Boston
9 dec ANYONE CAN WHISTLE Boston Conservatory
11 dec DUTCHMAN The Theatre Cooperative
15 dec HOME FRONT Delvena BCA
Whew!!!
You thought it was easy being a reviewer, huh? Try boiling down that
spread of excellences into proper categories, and then ranking them in
order of excellence! Often I had to leave the name of the performer
blank until I could go back through a stack of 138 programs to find out
how a name was spelled. And I'm still tinkering and tweaking here and
there. This year I thought I'd link each show to a my review --- if I
managed to write one --- so merely typing out this list may be a chore.
But well worth the effort. I said at last year's IRNE-Bash that
"Everyone in this room did something memorable last year"! Remembering
all of them is a joy indeed!
I'll start with the techies:
COSTUME DESIGN
HOWARD CRABTREE
for WHEN PIGS FLY
Lyric Stage of Boston Inc.
The costumes WERE the show!
LIGHTING DESIGN
DANIEL MEEKER
for ROSENCRANTZ &
GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD New Rep
The lighting and scenic designs of this show were outstanding, and
meshed beautifully with the directing and the ensemble acting.
SET DESIGN
2)Richard Chambers
for ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD New Rep
1)Ronald L. Dion
forTHE KING AND I
Turtle Lane
This was an amazing, colorful, intricately detailed set that managed to
use the Turtle Lane playspace efficiently and imaginatively, folding in
and out of itself to add surprises.
Okay, now for the individual actors. The first one is easy:
SOLO PERFORMANCE
Richard McElvain
in ST. NICHOLAS
Sugan BCA
I must confess I have a blurry idea of what "Supporting" really means.
I have more than once used the line "Starring Blank in a minor role!"
But, sometimes even in a closely knit ensemble, someone in a small part
will take a moment and make it unforgettable:
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
2)Suzanne Nitter
as Nurse in ROMEO AND
JULIET Boston Theatre Works
1)Maryanne Zschau
as Miss Ritter in SHE
LOVES ME Lyric Stage of Boston
She really did, for a moment, turn Miss Ritter into a star vehicle!
SUPPORTING ACTOR
3) Bill Gardiner
as Prologue/Friar in ROMEO AND JULIET
Boston Theatre Works
Gardiner's knowing, clear-eyed, unsentimental figure held this show
together.
2) John Kuntz
as Hamlet in ROSENCRANTZ &
GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD New Rep
1) Jeremiah Kissel
as The Player King in ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD New Rep
This is really a big role, and without breaking the ensemble feeling,
Kissel nailed it!
ACTRESS
5) Amy Soroko
as Amalia Balash in SHE LOVES ME Lyric
Stage of Boston
There's a lot of weight behind singing songs that have been in Barbara
Cook's club repertoire for decades! Amy Soroko made this character come
freshly alive, and her acting was as good as her singing.
4)Danielle Fauteux Jacques
in SurREAL LIFE
TheatreZone ACTORS' WORKSHOP
Danielle has done a lot more directing than acting for TheatreZone;
however, when she threw herself into a sexual affair with a sofa on the
Actors' Workshop stage it was a truly memorable experience!
3) Caroline Lawton
as Lula in DUTCHMAN The Theatre Cooperative
I saw Caroline Lawton in an unmemorable role with another company, but
she certainly blossomed here. No holding back, in a big, passionate
role.
2) Rebecca Honig as Juliet
in ROMEO AND JULIET
Boston Theatre Works
Unfortunately, Rebecca Honig was almost the only interesting thing for
me in this production. Her swift, spontaneous reactions to everything
really re-created the character as a wilful teenage victim of her own
emotions. She and Friar Lawrence were the only ones who seemed to me to
have understood the play.
1) Dorothy Brodesser
in SEDUCTIONS
Poets' Theatre WORKS THEATRE
This portrayal stood out in an excellent cast, because Dorothy Brodesser
gave the role everything required. It's a powerful role, too, and
demanded a brave, fearless commitment to bring it to life.
ACTOR
2) Diego Arciniegas
in
THREE DAYS OF RAIN
SpeakEasy BCA
The three actors in this play had to play two parts, and Diego
Arciniegas did a night-and-day change. It was while watching this play
that I realized that the acting-pool in Boston is wider and deeper than
I had ever noticed.
1) Barlow Adamson
in
SEDUCTIONS Poets'
Theatre WORKS THEATRE
and as The Swan in
THE SWAN Nora BOSTON
PLAYWRIGHTS' THEATRE
In "The Swan" and "The Marriage Proposal" Barlow Adamson displayed a
flair for physical action that was always appropriate, but surprising.
His work as "The Lover" was also a dual-character tour de force.
ENSEMBLE
Colonial
14 ) HOME FRONT
Delvena BCA
Hovey Players
The OTHER Theatre BEAU JEST
Quick
Change Theater Company BCA
Turtle Lane
9) ANYONE CAN WHISTLE
Boston Conservatory
Theatre Collective PEABODY
Threshold & M.Dowd, BEAU JEST
New Rep
Lyric Stage of Boston
Industrial Theatre LEVERETT HOUSE
Equity Code BEAU JEST
Insight WORKS THEATRE Davis Sq.
Poets' Theatre WORKS THEATRE
This is my favorite category, and except for the top two the sequence is
largely arbitrary.
DIRECTOR
10) Michael Murray
for SCOTLAND ROAD
at New Rep
9) Rick Lombardo
for ROSENCRANTZ &
GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD New Rep, etc...
8)Scott Gagnon
for JESUS CHRIST
SUPERSTAR Footlight Club.
7) Nancy Curran Willis
for EQUUS The
Footlight Club
6) Spiro Veloudos
for SHE LOVES ME
Lyric Stage of Boston
5) Beth Manspeizer
for THE SKRIKER
Quick Change Theater Company BCA
4) Lesley Chapman
for THE TEMPEST
Theatre Collective PEABODY
3) Aiden Parkinson
for "The Marriage Proposal" in SEDUCTIONS Poets'
Theatre WORKS THEATRE
2) Fran Weinberg
for "27 Wagons Full of Cotton" in SEDUCTIONS Poets'
Theatre WORKS THEATRE
and for ..AND TRUTH Brimmer
Loft EMERSON PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
PENNY SCHRICKER
for TO KILL A
MOCKINGBIRD Insight WORKS THEATRE Davis Sq
"Mockingbird" is a big machine with lots of moving parts, and it was
obvious that so many parts meshed so well into a whole because of Penny
Shrecker's directing. Everything else in this category is really the
second-place winner!
MUSICALS
Boston Women on Top BCA
This is much more than a cabaret selection, and deserves its wider
audience.
Boston
Conservatory
An excellent revival of a "flop"!!
Turtle Lane
This was a stretch for what is really a community-theater cast., but
that very fact made the 'I Hope I Get It!" fever all the more real.
SpeakEasy BCA
When I saw this in the cramped and quirky BCA, I thought "Wow. This is
good enough to play The Colonial!" Well, it had already had a New York
run, but apparently that production didn't have the voices, the vigor
nor the direction that SpeakEasy gave it here!
Colonial
Easily the best new musical of the decade. Garth Drubinsky made it, and
Jon Platt got it to Boston, and anyone who saw it will be forever in
their debt. With Broadway suffering from elephantiasis of the budget, it
was a pleasure to see that a musical could be big without being Just
big, but also satisfying on every level. Pound-for-pound, this was the
best show of the year.
NEW PLAYS
Colonial
at New
Rep
CentaStage BCA
The OTHER Theatre BEAU JEST
Hovey Players ABBOT MEMORIAL
Jerry Bisantz is Optometrist In Residence with the Hovey Players, a
theatrical workaholic whose play may indeed outgrow this tiny theater.
Break a leg all!
Brimmer Loft EMERSON PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
This is a surprising play by Mary Stanford, an Emerson student. It
tackled such ideas as the Incarnation, the Second Coming, Sainthood, and
the ambivalent roles of Satan --- and all of them with refreshing humor
and a feeling for theatricality unexpected in one so young.
Industrial Theatre LEVERETT HOUSE
This is the ultimate in playmaking: a playwright-in-residence (William
Donnelly) working with a continuing company, and tailoring roles for the
specific strengths of the actors. The characters had a
lower-middle-class oddity after a shot-&-a-beer or three that sounded
new, as well.
BEST PRODUCTION
Sugan BCA
There is a blend here of history, myth, and current news that only
theater can bring tom life so forcefully.
TheatreZone ACTORS' WORKSHOP
This miscellany of short plays seemed to be an anthology of the best
things TheareZone has been doing for the last several years, and things
got better and better as the night progressed.
Poets' Theatre WORKS THEATRE
This three-play anthology served as a showcase for all that's best about
theater here in Boston.
Industrial Theatre LEVERETT HOUSE
Fine work by everyone, including the resident playwright!
Colonial
This was a big-cast big production with all the money of Broadway behind
it. The last Big musical? Maybe. The best musical? Yeah!!!
Insight Theatre Company WORKS THEATRE Davis Sq.
This too was a big-cast big production, with not a dime behind it. All
things considered, the best of the year.
Those are my nominees. What were yours?
Love,
===Anon.
