Special Post: Must-See Show

SPECIAL MUST-SEE SHOW 

I saw it yesterday. You must see it. Only 2 performances remain.

Bin Laden: The One Man Show has played at Fringe Festivals worldwide, most recently in Hollywood. Sam Redway, a young Englishman, presents the fully ripe show, produced by Knaïve Theatre. He begins by serving tea to audience members, with or without milk. Having established ease and likability, he asks us how satisfied we are with our country (not much) and if we would like to learn how to improve our own lives by taking a number of steps, which he lists and demonstrates, along with telling us about his youth, his youthful marriage, fatherhood, and the invasion of his country, Afghanistan, by Russia.

"My name is Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Aboud bin Laden al Qatani and tonight, ladies and gentleman, I am going to show you how to change the world."

Imagine Osama bin Laden as a young father eager to make his son proud of him, eager to take back his country from oppressors and make it great again, and you have some idea of the show, which is swept along in the impressive hands and exceptionally toned body of a mesmerizing, classically trained actor who specializes in physical theatre and looks more like Adonis than bin Laden. 

Sam Redway as Bin Laden
Courtesy SD Fringe

The performance – which is the strongest I’ve seen in the San Diego Fringe, underscores how susceptible and easily recruited even the slightly dissatisfied are, and helps us understand how persuasive the great terrorist leader and others like him must have been and still are. Bin Laden’s humanity is refracted as we see Middle East history from his perspective. The script is utterly provocative and frightening.

Two performances remain: tonight at 7:30 and tomorrow at 11:30am, Diversionary Black Box, 4545 Park Blvd.

Things Musical and Fringical

Charlene Baldridge
Photo by Ken Howard

Things Musical

Free Concert at Embarcadero

San Diego Symphony and guests present “Sounds of the City,” a FREE event from 4-9pm. Sunday, July 31, at Embarcadero Marina Park South, 206 Marina Park South Way (home of the orchestra’s Bayside Summer Nights). The guests are the region’s top bands, Todo Mundo and King Taylor Project, and 21-year old pop/soul singer Raelee Nikole. The event includes family oriented games and activities topped off at 7:30pm with the music of Academy Award-winning composer John Williams, including “Harry Potter,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and more played by San Diego Symphony. More info at 619-235-0804. 

Don't forget, Bayside Summer Nights start this weekend!

Summer 2016 Organ Concerts on the Docket

The Spreckels Organ Society announces commencement of its 29^th annual International Summer Organ Festival. FREE concerts in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion Balboa Park Monday nights at 6pm June 27 - August 29.

Beloved Maestro Dies

Italian Maestro Edoardo Müller, who conducted more than 40 operas for San Diego Opera over the course of 31 years, died June 24 in Milan. A man who truly understood the voice (he was a singer himself) and loved working with the voice, he was beloved of San Diego Opera staff, artists and young singers, whom he coached and mentored even beyond his official duties. He debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1984 and at San Diego Opera during the 1980 Verdi Festival with Giovanna d’Arco. He held the post of principal guest conductor at San Diego Opera from 2005 to 2011, the year in which he conducted his final opera here, Carmen. He is survived by his beloved wife, Giovanna, his children Michele and Laura, and four grandchildren.

Fringe continues

Fringing right along, Monday night at Diversionary I attended Compulsion Dance & Theatre’s Bedrooms and Boyfriends, a trio of short plays involving bedroom encounters (two involving a pay per service fee). They are written by Michael Mizerany (artistic director of Compulsion), Jonathan Hammond and Samantha Ginn. It’s a frisky, funny and profound evening.

Bedrooms and Boyfriends
Photo Courtesy San Diego Fringe Festival

 Mizerany’s play involves a poignant encounter between the aging and insecure Peter (Joey Landwehr) and his hired trick, Bart (adorable Scott Nickley). Hammond’s play, which appears to be an exceptionally mundane discussion between Jonah (Joshua Jones) and his lover Joel (J.D. Burke), who’s been away more than present in their shared home of late, suddenly takes a turn towards a much deeper meaning. Ginn’s play, the lightest and funniest of the trio, also has an undercurrent of dis-ease. It concerns the touch-averse Giovanni (Patrick Mayuyu) and his hug therapist for hire, Charlie (Katherine Harroff).

The playwriting is very good and so are the actors. I came away entertained and satisfied. Bedrooms & Boyfriends continues at Diversionary at 10:30pm Weds; 9pm Fri; and 6pm Sunday. Diversionary is located at 4545 Park. Blvd. in Hillcrest. SDFringe.org

Hateful Hands

Hateful Hands
Photo Courtesy San Diego Fringe Festival

Tuesday night (June 28) I saw Hateful Hands, a one-hour adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth with puppets, apparently the inspiration of a group called Ellipsoid Players. The puppets provide more distraction than insight; however, there were swords.

My friend told me that most of those involved, if not all, are still in high school.*

Remind me, next year, when I’m planning my attendance, to avoid Shakespeare adaptations, especially when they promise to be funny.

Hateful Hands continues at the Geoffrey Off-Broadway at 7:30 Saturday.

*I’ve learned these young actors are from Canyon Crest Academy. Jacob Surovsky, their founder, graduated this year, and last summer he received the Jonathan Dunn Rankin Scholarship from San Diego Actor’s Alliance for his SD Fringe production, Mother’s in the Audience.

Suffering Fringe Fatigue, I'm taking a night off. Hopefully back on deck Thursday.

Charlene Baldridge
Photo by Ken Howard

More of the Fringe

Dr. Svetlana

Moving right along, I went to see Thom Vegh’s Dr. Svetlana at the Fringe Rosewood Space Saturday at 1pm. I wouldn’t stake my life on it, but I think the entrance, on Seventh Ave. takes you to the same basement in which Jack Gambrel of Sixth Avenue Bistro once attempted to open a dinner theatre eons ago. I remember only one the two shows they did. It was I Do, I Do, performed by Leigh Scarritt and Duane Daniels.

The Rosewood is a single space that seats around 40-50 patrons, though the acoustics are not as good as the 4^th floor theatre at Tenth Avenue Arts Center, not being used this year. Prime of the small spaces so far is the Black Box at Diversionary.

Thom Vegh as Dr. Svetlana
Photo by Kaleb Scott

Though it is a challenge to write about Thom and his work (he is a close friend of more than 20 years duration), let me assure you that Thom’s Dr. Svetlana’s Public & Private Health Lecture Demonstration – created out of whole cloth – is a stunning example of theatrical detail, both in conception and execution. The character, informed by Thom’s middle European roots, continues to reveal herself to her creator. She is meticulously attired for the lecture she delivers, a kind of healing force somewhere between psychiatric truth and self-help mumbo jumbo. The piece and the performance – which incorporate a lot of audience interaction – are funny, entertaining and brave. Svetlana is measured and precise, graceful and elegantly coiffed (except for one stray lock), but she carries with her a secret that she has never divulged until now. This is evolved theatre from a master craftsman.

Belief No Repeat

Sunday afternoon I returned to the Rosewood Space to see a piece directed by James P. Darvas titled Belief No Repeat. Darvas has been artistic director of his own San Diego Play Co. for the past two years. They specialize in bringing unique community voices before the public.

In the case of Belief No Repeat, it is a rapid fire play written by Courtnee Lynn Stagner about three unrelated Muslim youths living independent lives in a big U.S. city. The male, an agnostic and a student, is Taseer (Aaron Lugo), who orbits between the two women, Salma (Ray-Anna Young) and Salma Kahn (Natalia Maggio), offering advice and counsel. and romance to each. Salma is an actor and Ph. D candidate, certain of what she wants, and Salma Kahn, a writer, is apparently the more devout, unhappy with her life and homesick for Pakistan. All have lost their families to war and conflict. According to the program description the play concerns one young woman living in parallel universes.

Belief No Repeat is well acted by these three young actors – apparently all one person – under Darvas’s direction. Because of the accents and the rapid exposition, I felt at a loss to understand fully, but I was affected by the unforced denouement. This is play worth seeing and these young people are worth watching. If I had time I’d see it again. Belief No Repeat repeats at 6pm Friday and 7:30pm Sunday at Rosewood Five Studios, 1150 Seventh Ave. Downtown

Fringe coverage continues in a few days.

The Fringe So Far

Charlene Baldridge
Photo by Ken Howard

The Fringe So Far

What I've Seen

Thursday, June 23, Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd.

And He Became Man, Carpa (Tijuana), Diversionary Black Box Theatre

The Hamlet Comedy Hour, Naked Shakespeare Company (San Diego), Diversionary Main Stage

Friday, June 24, Tenth Ave Arts Center, 930 10^th Ave Downtown

T.S. Eliot: A New Musical, American International Theatre and Jamil Akim O’Quinn

__________________________________________

Reviews:

And He Became Man

By Carpa

Let’s call him Manuel, this man who has cerebral palsy, and who communicates his story with the help of others. Because there was no program provided, I can’t tell you his full name, nor can I name his associates, who provide music, dance, masks and narrative. Let me assure you, though, that as the evening progresses we become accustomed to Manuel’s speech – and there is no vocabulary simplification – and it becomes more and more intelligible. Not only that, the character becomes more and more lovable, a vivid human being.

Subsequent to writing the above graph I found the And He Became Man postcard I was handed at the San Diego International Fringe Festival media preview. The playwright, who plays Manuel, is Samuel Valdez. His collaborators are, as near as I can determine by squinting, actors Rick Zazueta,  Tricia Hernandez, and singer Zyanya Rios.

Son of Mexican immigrants, playwright/actor Valdez was born in Riverside and received his B.A. in theatre with an emphasis on directing from San Diego State University in 1991. Since then, he’s been writing and directing and is now a resident of Tijuana.

And He Became a Man
Photo Courtesy of SD Fringe

Quite obviously autobiographical, And He Became Man takes us through “Manuel’s” life, from childhood (he had a devoted, loving mother), public school’s playground taunts and torture, through loss, alcoholism, longing, learning how to confront and communicate with his father, striving for independence, and on to his search for meaning, specifically what it means to be a man.

As the evening goes along one becomes more and more familiar with Valdez’s speech, which is rife with million-dollar words. And the man becomes so dear and admirable that one wants to leap over the non-existent footlights and give him hugs. Indeed many playgoers did so at the end of the play in which Manuel urges each of us to tell our own story, a step on the road to becoming our own man.

And He Became Man is a must-see. Additional performances at Diversionary Black Box 7:30pm Saturday, June 25; 10:30pm Monday, June 27; 2:30pm Saturday, July 2.

The Hamlet Comedy Hour

Presented by Naked Shakespeare Company

The less said about Naked Shakespeare’s The Hamlet Comedy Hour the better. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead it is not. The billing as a burlesque comedy drew me, and so did my extreme familiarity with and love of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The company of The Hamlet Comedy Hour
Jeffrey Gles as Hamlet, foreground
Photo Courtesy of SD Fringe

Let us just say that in order to spoof something so iconic one must first thoroughly understand and inhabit the material and have the ability to play it with absolute sincerity. Many actors in this production had not the slightest idea what they were about. Needless to say, in spite of the fact that some of the sight gags – (Ophelia is a Caitlyn Jenner look-alike) and the costumes are amusing – I mostly suffered. In case you’re inspired to go (I now discover that the director is Christopher R), additional performances at Diversionary Main Stage are 11:30am Saturday, June 25; 9pm Sunday, June 26; 4pm Wednesday, June 29; 4pm Saturday, June 2.

T.S. Eliot: A New Musical

Produced by American International Theater and Akim O’Quinn (what a splendid name! who plays Rev. Hammond).

J. Alfred Prufrock (Liz Marsden) and T.S. Eliot (Bradley Beamon) are the main characters as Prufrock, title character in Eliot's 1915 poem, endeavors to save Eliot (later a Nobel Prize winner) from himself, an American-born British poet and essayist with homosexual proclivities (the international jury is still out on this matter). We all know what happened to his first wife, Vivienne, but the musical doesn't take us that far, though she is a character in the play.

In William Roetzheim’s book (and lyrics), Eliot waxes long about his love for Jack (Leviticus Padilla) while Prufrock tries to convince him he can never be successful in Great Britain without a “normal” life – wife and children.

There are 11 songs, written by Vladimir Spasojevic and Andrew Fox, in the almost sung-through piece. Most sound alike. The clever title and perhaps the most memorable song is “Sin Just a Little Bit.” The 11 person company does a good job of articulating the lyrics, though few of them have vocal and musical chops, and few could be termed singers. A trio of dancers is included in the scene, which includes the potential bride with an unfortunate high note, the forbidden lover, a fortuneteller and the requisite Furies. Poor Eliot.

Though not original, the premise is clever. The piece needs to be reconsidered and stripped of redundancy. This group from Jamul can do it. 

For a schedule and tickets to all Fringe shows (only $10 each; plus Fringe tag,(one time, $5) go to sdfringe.org