OK, time is short, so I'm just going to post a draft. "Web first" I was reminded this week as we tried to find a spot in the Courier print edition to run last week's review of "Henry V" (which, by the way, will run on Sunday--I proofed the page myself).
Abstract of my review: Very interesting, very dramatic, grim but not without wit. There's a feeling that we've seen this story before--"The Crucible" comes to mind right away--but "Mrs. Packard" is an electric night of theater, with Kathryn Meisle turining in an award-winning performance. Emily Mann does it again.
My draft does not find room for praising the lighting and sound, but they are part of a very visual and atomospheric production. I'll try to work some of that in before I fie the final product.
But for those who can't wait, we offer the following:
Another memorable season at Princeton University’s McCarter Theatre Center ends with the noisy bang of Emily Mann’s “Mrs. Packard.”
The esteemed artistic director and playwright is directing the world premiere of her latest true-life testimony, a genre she has virtually defined through works such as “Having Our Say” and “Still Life.” The case in point is Elizabeth Packard (Kathryn Meisle), the educated Christian wife of a Calvinist minister in 1861 Illinois.
Most of the play is set in the horrific Jacksonville Insane Asylum, where her husband (John C. Vennema) has committed her as a danger to the souls of their six children. Illinois law, we learn later, did not allow a man to confine his wife at home without trial, but could have her tossed in the asylum at his leisure.
Elizabeth’s sin? She disagreed with her husband’s old-school Calvinist doctrine, which preaches that mankind is inherently evil and takes every word of the bible in its most literal form. Her formal education—a rarity in her social circle—led her from a vengeful god to a loving god, but when she crossed the street to worship with the Methodists, she crossed the line.
Without warning, she finds herself in the care of Dr. McFarland (Dennis Parlato), the respected director at Jacksonville, where he quickly becomes infatuated with her intelligence, spirit and beauty.
“It is rather unusual to find a woman of such stimulating intelligence and learning in such charming … form,” he tells her. Sensing an ally, Elizabeth allows his creepy “laying on of hands” therapy in the hopes she can reason with him, but soon learns that McFarland makes his living curing the problems of men like her husband, not curing “patients” such as herself.
And so it goes for three long years, as Elizabeth finally exhausts the doctor’s patience and finds herself confined to the fetid eighth ward for the violently insane. Scenes in the asylum “prison” are frighteningly real on a set that will chill you with its cold detail. Fright-wigged inmates, looking like “Macbeth’s” witches, twitch, wallow, scream and cackle, surrounded by wired walls that surround them like a slaughterhouse cage.
The second-act trip to the eighth ward is even worse—straw mattresses on the floor, no facilities of any kind, not even a bedpan.
“Once or twice a week, some men come in and shovel it out,” says the ward nurse, Mrs. Tenney (Julie Boyd). “Like a barn?” Elizabeth asks. “Yes, like a barn,” Tenney says, as though that never occurred to her.
The shock value of the story at times obscures the point. While it sometimes plays as historical expose, “Mrs. Packard” is more Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” than Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle.” The method of torture is merely a vehicle for presenting a test of will.
Elizabeth wavers on several occasions. She promises not to defy him in public as long as she can still think her own thoughts.
“You may think your own thoughts when you are thinking right,” her husband says. But she refuses to live a lie, even if it means her children will grow up without her.
The asylum scenes alternate with brief scenes from an ongoing trial to determine her legal sanity. Played on a balcony above the ward, witnesses testify as Elizabeth gradually exposes the evil doctor from the inside.
Her eventually victory (no spoiler here, as Mann’s script references Elizabeth’s subsequent books and essays) is tempered by a disturbing epilogue where the fate of many characters, major and minor, are revealed.
The cast is strong, but Meisle is on another level, deftly exploring Elizabeth’s many complexities. Smoothly segueing from logical arguments to ill-timed verbal attacks, we see her as wrongly confined, even as we wonder just how sane she is.
The trial scenes are somewhat superfluous, at times with testimony we’ve already heard from the husband. It’s as though Mann fears we may miss the obvious—Mr. Packard is a fundamentalist clod. Some trimming here could help tighten a long night, which exceeds three hours.
But there’s a powerful story here, with enough wit thrown in to keep the darkness from swallowing the audience whole. Thorns aside, “Mrs. Packard” is a rose, and her bittersweet victory is an experience easily remembered.
_______________---
And now, off to the Bickford. After "Mrs. Packard," a little Neil Simon should go down like cold beer on a hot day. Look for a Review Preview of "Chapter Two" late Sunday or early Monday. I got Mother's Day stuff to do tomorrow.
And a happy Mother's Day to all.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Weekend Wanderings-update
Heard from Kelly Ryman at George Street Playhouse. She reads the blog, she really reads it!
Tells me that tickets for the reading of "Early in the Mourning," featuring Jerry Stiller and Estelle Parsons, are $50 and include a post play discussion with the artists and a cocktail reception after.
Also tells me that tonight is sold out and Sunday is going fast. For info, visit www.gsponline.org.
Thanks, Kelly. And a double good-get with Stiller and Parsons. Amazing the people they get there sometimes. I still have a poster on my wall from "Collected Stories," featuring Ute Hagen, whose method I studied in acting class at Rutgers.
I saw Ellen Barkin there in the 1970s before she even had her Equity Card. "Tobacco Road." Her name was Ellen Barzykowski or something like that.
I guess I have been doing this a while.
Was at the press opening for "Mrs. Packard" last night at Princeton. Just the sight of Emily Mann and Joyce Carol Oates standing there, chatting in their Sunday best, well, that's intimidating. In a good way. Just that those are as good a two minds you'll ever see in one place.
Not that I can't be objective in reviewing Mann's latest world premiere, which I already have drafted (by 11 a.m., sometimes I impress myself). But you'll have to wait a bit before the Review Preview. I want to take a quick second read of the script (this really is work, people), then I'm going to think about what I wrote at Shop Rite, then think a little more while I mow the lawn.
There you go -- the creative process of one theater critic. Probably more than you needed to know. Like making sausage, it tastes better if you don't see it being made.
Tells me that tickets for the reading of "Early in the Mourning," featuring Jerry Stiller and Estelle Parsons, are $50 and include a post play discussion with the artists and a cocktail reception after.
Also tells me that tonight is sold out and Sunday is going fast. For info, visit www.gsponline.org.
Thanks, Kelly. And a double good-get with Stiller and Parsons. Amazing the people they get there sometimes. I still have a poster on my wall from "Collected Stories," featuring Ute Hagen, whose method I studied in acting class at Rutgers.
I saw Ellen Barkin there in the 1970s before she even had her Equity Card. "Tobacco Road." Her name was Ellen Barzykowski or something like that.
I guess I have been doing this a while.
Was at the press opening for "Mrs. Packard" last night at Princeton. Just the sight of Emily Mann and Joyce Carol Oates standing there, chatting in their Sunday best, well, that's intimidating. In a good way. Just that those are as good a two minds you'll ever see in one place.
Not that I can't be objective in reviewing Mann's latest world premiere, which I already have drafted (by 11 a.m., sometimes I impress myself). But you'll have to wait a bit before the Review Preview. I want to take a quick second read of the script (this really is work, people), then I'm going to think about what I wrote at Shop Rite, then think a little more while I mow the lawn.
There you go -- the creative process of one theater critic. Probably more than you needed to know. Like making sausage, it tastes better if you don't see it being made.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Weekend wanderings
A quick post before dinner after a hard day, part of which included my attendance at a meeting that went for 30 minutes before someone told me I was at the wrong meeting. I suspected as much at the start, but two other people said I should be there.
And I do what I'm told.
"We're in the communication business (?)" the publisher commented at one point, although he wasn't talking about me.
I think.
but it makes you wonder.
Friday I'm at Princeton for the premiere of Emily Mann's "Mrs. Packard." Saturday I'm closer to home at the Bickford for "Chapter Two." Both are season-enders for the respective theaters. I hate when they go dark.
Sunday I'm a pawn in my step-daughters' plot to make a nice Mother's Day for Lisa. Something about a flea market in Pennsylvania. Sounds like a clever way to buy her cheap gifts and get the Step-Thang (as they call me) to buy lunch.
It's just so crazy, it might work.
Another busy weekend all around. Still trying to find time to play golf, but doesn't look good.
My niece Erica graduates in two weeks from Rhode Island University.
My mother's memorial lilac bush has exploded with blooms after about 15 years dormant.
I love my DVR.
Man, I'm just all over the place here.
Jerry Stiller and Estelle Parsons are doing a reading at George Street Playhouse May 12-13. From the Web site: "Early in the Mourning," a poignant new comedy about love and loss. In our intimate Next Stage. May 12 at 8pm May 13 at 7pm. Both evenings will include a post-play discussion with David Saint, playwright Seth Bauer, director Darrel Larson and the cast. A cocktail reception will follow. No ticket prices. I'll pass it along as soon as I get a proper press release.
There, that's better. Back on point. Sorry, I wander sometimes ...
see, there it goes again.
And I do what I'm told.
"We're in the communication business (?)" the publisher commented at one point, although he wasn't talking about me.
I think.
but it makes you wonder.
Friday I'm at Princeton for the premiere of Emily Mann's "Mrs. Packard." Saturday I'm closer to home at the Bickford for "Chapter Two." Both are season-enders for the respective theaters. I hate when they go dark.
Sunday I'm a pawn in my step-daughters' plot to make a nice Mother's Day for Lisa. Something about a flea market in Pennsylvania. Sounds like a clever way to buy her cheap gifts and get the Step-Thang (as they call me) to buy lunch.
It's just so crazy, it might work.
Another busy weekend all around. Still trying to find time to play golf, but doesn't look good.
My niece Erica graduates in two weeks from Rhode Island University.
My mother's memorial lilac bush has exploded with blooms after about 15 years dormant.
I love my DVR.
Man, I'm just all over the place here.
Jerry Stiller and Estelle Parsons are doing a reading at George Street Playhouse May 12-13. From the Web site: "Early in the Mourning," a poignant new comedy about love and loss. In our intimate Next Stage. May 12 at 8pm May 13 at 7pm. Both evenings will include a post-play discussion with David Saint, playwright Seth Bauer, director Darrel Larson and the cast. A cocktail reception will follow. No ticket prices. I'll pass it along as soon as I get a proper press release.
There, that's better. Back on point. Sorry, I wander sometimes ...
see, there it goes again.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Wessbecher wins play contest-What did you win?
Grace Wessbecher of Morris Plains, who I know indirectly through our mutual association with the Daily Record, was named winner of the Heller Theatre's Original Play Contest 2006, Tulsa, Okla., from 217 entries. A full production of her play Risso's Dolphin took place in Tulsa, Okla. in March 2007.
Grace has won several awards for her plays and her correspondence reminds me to remind you readers that Jersey Stages is eager to share your news. I'd love to hear from other playwrights, on any level, who are progressing in their careers. Or local actors who might be proud of a coveted out of town role that their local fans won't see, but might want to know about.
Think of me as your bulletin board. Just be gentle when you push in the thumbtack. Wait, let's go with "refrigerator door" and "magnet." Metaphor without the pain. Take that, Tennessee Williams.
Grace has won several awards for her plays and her correspondence reminds me to remind you readers that Jersey Stages is eager to share your news. I'd love to hear from other playwrights, on any level, who are progressing in their careers. Or local actors who might be proud of a coveted out of town role that their local fans won't see, but might want to know about.
Think of me as your bulletin board. Just be gentle when you push in the thumbtack. Wait, let's go with "refrigerator door" and "magnet." Metaphor without the pain. Take that, Tennessee Williams.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Review Preview: "Henry V"
There's always a little magic in the air on opening night at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, particularly for the first show of the year.
Saturday night was no different as the company opened its expanded 45th season with "Henry V." There was, indeed, magic in the air. So was the loud, triple-guitar attack of Lynyrd Skynrd ripping through "Free Bird."
No, Bonnie Monte hasn't gone off her rocker and staged some sort of Rebel Yell version of what is perhaps my favorite of Shakespeare's plays. Across the Drew University campus square from STNJ's F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, loud music was blaring from some student event, and some from the company were worried about the potential acoustic fallout. Fortunately, once inside, what happened outside, stayed outside.
OK, OK, you want the Review Preview ... did I mention Camryn Manheim "Henry V" star David Conrad's co-star on TV's "The Ghost Whisperer" was in the audience? And the post-show buffet, for the first time, included sushi?
OK, OK ... I liked it, I really liked it.
In short, Conrad was terrific and the cast as a whole was even better, and a three-hour show went by faster than the encore version of "Free Bird." Set was old school Globe Theatre.
It may not rank with some of the mind-blowing productions this company puts up year after year, and I wouldn't quite call it a can't-miss, but it's comfortably beyond the level of "you won't be disappointed." And the promised thematic connections to the production of "Blood and Roses: Shakespeare's "Henry VI," I'm convinced, may be worth some extra effort to experience, especially for serious Shakespeare fans.
I'll quote from the first draft of my official review, which should show up in the Courier on Wednesday and the Daily Record on Friday:
"If the premiere of “Henry V” is evident quality of the long journey that awaits us [this season], then lead on, Bonnie J. Monte."
How pretentious is it to quote yourself? Oh well, now I have to go mow the lawn. That ought to humble me a little. Once more into the breach.
Saturday night was no different as the company opened its expanded 45th season with "Henry V." There was, indeed, magic in the air. So was the loud, triple-guitar attack of Lynyrd Skynrd ripping through "Free Bird."
No, Bonnie Monte hasn't gone off her rocker and staged some sort of Rebel Yell version of what is perhaps my favorite of Shakespeare's plays. Across the Drew University campus square from STNJ's F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, loud music was blaring from some student event, and some from the company were worried about the potential acoustic fallout. Fortunately, once inside, what happened outside, stayed outside.
OK, OK, you want the Review Preview ... did I mention Camryn Manheim "Henry V" star David Conrad's co-star on TV's "The Ghost Whisperer" was in the audience? And the post-show buffet, for the first time, included sushi?
OK, OK ... I liked it, I really liked it.
In short, Conrad was terrific and the cast as a whole was even better, and a three-hour show went by faster than the encore version of "Free Bird." Set was old school Globe Theatre.
It may not rank with some of the mind-blowing productions this company puts up year after year, and I wouldn't quite call it a can't-miss, but it's comfortably beyond the level of "you won't be disappointed." And the promised thematic connections to the production of "Blood and Roses: Shakespeare's "Henry VI," I'm convinced, may be worth some extra effort to experience, especially for serious Shakespeare fans.
I'll quote from the first draft of my official review, which should show up in the Courier on Wednesday and the Daily Record on Friday:
"If the premiere of “Henry V” is evident quality of the long journey that awaits us [this season], then lead on, Bonnie J. Monte."
How pretentious is it to quote yourself? Oh well, now I have to go mow the lawn. That ought to humble me a little. Once more into the breach.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Benefit musical in Bound Brook-etc.
Check out this story that reporter Chad Hemenway filed about a bunch of young theater artists trying to do a good thing for their flood-ravaged town.
http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/NEWS/705030315/-1/NEWS06
In a nutshell, the Bound Brook high School drama department is staging "Once Upon a Mattress" this weekend.
I know, I know, it's not Nathan Lane in "The Producers," but these kids, some of them flood victims themselves, kept rehearsing wherever they could, even while the school was closed for two weeks.
Like they say, the show must go on. Pretty cool.
I neglected to mention my friend Jose died last week less than a year after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. Here's to you Jose.
But my friend Marilyn is hanging in there. You go, girl. We're working on the blood drive. I got a pint of A positive with your name on it.
Tomorrow's gonna be a good day. Golf in the morning. "Henry V" in the evening (look for a Review Preview some time on Sunday). My famous ribs, hot off the grill, in between. God bless America.
http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/NEWS/705030315/-1/NEWS06
In a nutshell, the Bound Brook high School drama department is staging "Once Upon a Mattress" this weekend.
I know, I know, it's not Nathan Lane in "The Producers," but these kids, some of them flood victims themselves, kept rehearsing wherever they could, even while the school was closed for two weeks.
Like they say, the show must go on. Pretty cool.
I neglected to mention my friend Jose died last week less than a year after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. Here's to you Jose.
But my friend Marilyn is hanging in there. You go, girl. We're working on the blood drive. I got a pint of A positive with your name on it.
Tomorrow's gonna be a good day. Golf in the morning. "Henry V" in the evening (look for a Review Preview some time on Sunday). My famous ribs, hot off the grill, in between. God bless America.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
"Baby, Oh Baby"
Well, perhaps the post title got your attention--shame on you!
Beating the Mother’s Day rush, The Women’s Theater Company will present three performances of Kristen Ace’s “Baby, Oh Baby,” 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
Playwright-performer Ace, a Morristown resident, takes the audience on her journey to motherhood. The play deals with the many happy surprises that her children brought into her life, in contrast with her own unhappy childhood.
Take your mother, or daughter, and enjoy this show, performed in a comfy, intimate space.
All performances will take place at the Parsippany Community Center, 1130 Knollwood Road, Lake Hiawatha section. Tickets are $15, with discounts for groups of 10 or more. For information, call (973) 316-3033.
Cinema note:
Did you hear the movie casting for "Doubt" will include Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. How cool is that? One of my "before I die" goals is to see Streep onstage. But this ain't bad.
Beating the Mother’s Day rush, The Women’s Theater Company will present three performances of Kristen Ace’s “Baby, Oh Baby,” 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
Playwright-performer Ace, a Morristown resident, takes the audience on her journey to motherhood. The play deals with the many happy surprises that her children brought into her life, in contrast with her own unhappy childhood.
Take your mother, or daughter, and enjoy this show, performed in a comfy, intimate space.
All performances will take place at the Parsippany Community Center, 1130 Knollwood Road, Lake Hiawatha section. Tickets are $15, with discounts for groups of 10 or more. For information, call (973) 316-3033.
Cinema note:
Did you hear the movie casting for "Doubt" will include Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. How cool is that? One of my "before I die" goals is to see Streep onstage. But this ain't bad.
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