TREYA'S LAST DANCE EXPLORES A YOUNG WOMAN'S SINGLE LIFE IN LONDON

Writer/Actor Shyam Bhatt stars in her one woman show "Treya's Last Dance"
at the Hudson Guild Theatre in Hollywood. Photos by Rodnesha Green. 

It was shortly after the British Raj released its grip on the people of India in 1947, after nearly 100 years of rule, that working class Indian families began emigrating to London. The subsequent blending of the two radically different cultures  - the Brits and those fleeing the poor economy in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - was filled with battles and bruised feelings; the uncomfortable relationship continues to this day despite the growing diversity of a country stretched to its limits, both economically and socially. This is the world portrayed in the entertaining one woman show "Treya's Last Dance" now playing at Hollywood's Hudson Guild Theatre.

It is in a middle class, working neighborhood of London that we meet Treya, a twenty-something who appears on stage draped in traditional Indian dance garb; the music starts but she falls behind in her routine, fleeing the stage in frustration and shame. When she returns, dressed like a typically trendy East End girl, she addresses the audience in a confessional style monologue. We learn about her family, particularly her demanding mother and annoying brother, her dead end job, and her lonely social life that pushes her to attend an excruciating speed dating event at a local club.

Shyam Bhatt stars in "Treya's Last Dance"
at the Hudson Guild Theatre in  Hollywood.

Shyam Bhatt, who also wrote the play, portrays the hapless Treya, a bundle of nerves, tics and tumbling words. Her energy carries the audience with her on an emotional journey from confusion to grief to hopefully a happy ending. While the show runs a little over an hour, it flies by thanks to Bhatt and the sensitive direction of Poonam Basu, herself an actor and writer who has appeared on stages in LA, Boston, Phoenix and Madrid. Basu has also produced six short films, one which just won an award at the recent Vegas Movie Awards.

While much of Treya's observations on life initially seem simplistic and crowd-sourced, the more we learn about her, we see that there is a deeply felt sorrow that becomes clearer as the show goes on. Her efforts to find a "life partner" make more sense in light of her loss. She faces her past and her future with indefatigable humor and a pugnacious, "Bolshy" attitude. One has no doubt that Treya will find her center and move forward in life as only she can.

One small note: Bhatt uses the unusual and sometimes unintelligible argot of East Indian working class youth, so some of the jokes and her comments might sail over the heads of certain audience members. As I grew up in the UK, I was familiar with some of the terms she used and found them endearingly perfect for her character.

According to program notes, Bhatt has written a second play, which she developed at the prestigious Kali Theatre Writers program in London. "Wisdom Teeth" will be staged next year, and I will be interested to see the next phase of this talented woman's artistic journey.

The creative team for "Treya's Last Dance" includes music composed by Archita Kumar, lighting and sound by Steve Pope, voiceovers/vocals by Arun Kamath, and production assistant Jana Dimitrievska.

If you want to spend an hour or so with a complex, whip-smart, sexually aware young woman with attitude, Treya is your Dream Girl!

Treya's Last Dance runs Wednesdays at 8 pm, through October 23 at the Hudson Guild Theatre at 6539 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood. Tickets are available in advance through On Stage 411 at www.onstage411.com or by calling 323-965-9996.

-- Lisa Lyons

BROADWAY’S IDINA MENZEL DEBUTS AT LA’S GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE IN "SKINTIGHT”

Will Brittain, Harry Groener, Eli Gelb and Idina Menzel
in "Skintight" at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
All photos by Chris Whitaker.

For the last decade or so playwrights and artistic directors have been leading the charge toward change in what is being produced in America’s theatrical venues.  Culturally, America is evolving, as well.  We are seeing more and more people of color in positions of power in almost every aspect of life in America.

In addition to the graying of American life, we’re also embracing more acceptance that the new vanguard of our society, along with the entire arts community say diversity has finally arrived for “people who look like us.”   To that, I say Amen; it’s been long overdue; however, there is much in this arena that still needs to be done.  The torches, theatrically speaking, have been passed. It’s now time for the rubber to hit the road.

Playwright Joshua Harmon’s newest and talky comedy play “Skintight,” directed by Daniel Aukin, in their attempts to humanize a highly dysfunctional, sophisticated, and wealthy family via the route of over-the-top comedy with dialogue and situations your grandfather would hardly recognize.

He probably wouldn’t consider taking grandma either.  There are a boatload of F-bombs being hurled from the stage, as a way of informing the audience that old school theatre is now passe. Make way for the new wave on sex, love, and lust. A word to the wise.  Sometimes less is better. The audience needs to remain ‘engaged throughout’ in order to keep filling those seats.

The only surprise concerning “Skintight”, now onstage at LA’s Westwood/Geffen Playhouse, is how  talented playwright Harmon, author of the wonderful comedy gem “Bad Jews”, (presented at the Geffen in 2015; directed by Matt Shakman), who is now the Geffen’s artistic director, may have missed the mark by selecting “Skintight” for the Geffen’s 2019/2020 season opener.

Harry Groener, Idina Menzel,
Eli Gelb and Kimberly Jurgen
in "Skintight"

According to Shakman’s notes in the program, “Skintight” is “a laugh-out-loud soul-searing look at the human condition. The piece delves deeply into generational and familial conflict and is ultimately a meditation on beauty: why we so desperately seek it and what happens when we think it’ gone”.

In short, it is indeed, a story that is made for audiences of this “industry town” where when “beauty” leaves the female body at age 35, acting careers are over, unless one is lucky and/or able to perform in the English theatre, where talent and aging are still welcomed, becoming old friends to visit, enjoy, and appreciate.

The promise of high energy singer/actor Idina Menzel’s debut on the Geffen’s stage is sure to lure her fans and the curious to see how she fares as Jodi Isaac, the 45-year-old, angst-filled, needy lawyer daughter of 70-year-old gay billionaire Elliot Isaac (Harry Groener). Elliot’s 20-year-old boy toy Trey, played by Will Brittain as the ex-porn star replete with boorish behavior, and lack of civility and manners as the live-in interloper in her father’s multimillion-dollar townhouse is what drives Jodi nuts.

Her annoying and irritating, non-stop “poor pitiful Pearl” vocal delivery and style ala a James Joycean series of stream of consciousness tirades, also tries the patience of Elliot.  I had some difficulty as well in hearing Ms. Menzel’s comedy set-up punchlines, due to her dropping her voice at the end of her dialogues’ sentences.

Eli Gelb and Idina Menzel play mother
and son in "Skintight"

Jodi’s 20-year-old, gay son Benjamin Cullen (Eli Gelb), is visiting his mother and grandfather while on school break from his University in Budapest, Hungary, where he is studying Queer Theory Studies.  Mr. Gelb’s portrayal is a tad too burlesque-like for my tastes, as he milks the audience for laughs with his physical comedy schtick.

However, it did produce some laughs down front, right side of the audience the night I attended.  Most of the older audience sat slightly stone-faced, delivering an occasional chuckle or two. Supporting actors Jeff Skowron as Jeff, a stoic former lover of Elliot’s and Kimberly Jurgen as Orsolya the maid, complete the cast.

Playwright Harmon’s somewhat banal play, however, strives for redemption in Act Two.  The scenes between Elliot and Jodi get more authentic in the otherwise implausible premise situation.  I found how this family interacts with one another just reinforces the feeling that uber-rich people are too entitled, too motivated in making money, and too steeped in their lifestyles that they forget to raise their kids in a healthy, stable family environment.

Will Brittain and Harry Groener in "Skintight"

Near the end of the play, in the denouement, Elliot says to Jodi in defense of his rationale of life with Trey as a couple “… I want to wake up in the morning and smell sex.  I want to taste it.  I want to see it.  I want to touch it.  I want to feel it.  Sex is life.” That rings true with me.  As we near our leap off this mortal coil, our mortality becomes palpable and frightening.  It was sobering moment, so I quickly squelched the urge to call out… Then buy a dog instead!

The technical credits are usually first-rate at the Geffen.  This production is no exception.  Scenic Designer Lauren Helpern delivers an eye-popping, two-story modern two-story acting space. Lighting Designer Pat Collins nicely compliments set designer Helpern; Costumes are designed by China Lee and Sound Designer Vincent Olivieri complete the creative team.

“Skintight,” performs at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood, Los Angeles, and runs through October 12, 2019.

-- Jack Lyons

PLAYWRIGHT PETER SHAFFER’S POWERFUL TONY AWARD-WINNING DRAMA “AMADEUS” WOWS AUDIENCES AT NORTH COAST REPERTORY THEATRE

The outstanding cast of "Amadeus", directed by David Ellenstein for North Coast Repertory Theatre
in Solano Beach, California. All photos by Aaron Rumley.

English playwright Sir Peter Schaffer’s stunning 1979 Tony-winning play “Amadeus; went on to win the 1985 Motion Picture Academy Award Oscar along with seven additional Oscar nominees who also won in the film version production categories.

The motion picture is the director’s medium. It best captures the technical broad sweep required and the epic nature of stories being told:  “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Gandhi”, “Out of Africa”, “Patton”, “Gone With the Wind” – with the burning of Atlanta scenes – come quickly to mind.  It’s hard to measure the full impact of “Ben Hur” without the incredibly thrilling chariot race.  On a silver 30 x 40 foot screen, motion picture stories become larger than life.

Television became the love child of the cinema, per force, by employing the cinema convention of the close-up; that was best suited for viewing in the home.  Its strength lies in episodic comedy, sit-com formats, and a plethora of police procedurals, courtroom dramas, and detective driven action stories.  The ancient Greek theatre’s rule of the “Unities”, doesn’t necessarily have to be observed in today’s TV entertainment platforms.

The world of the stage, however, is the medium that belongs to the actor and the playwright along with the vision of the director.  The stage is a living, breathing visual experience. It’s visceral, intellectual, and it’s immediate.  It’s also a live tribal experience where audience involvement in the story and presentation in a darkened theatre, ups the ante of the creative artists performing on the stage.  It’s the grand-daddy of the “spoken word” art form.

Rafael Goldstein as Mozart and
Tony Amendola as Salieri in"Amadeus"

NCRT Artistic Director David Ellenstein, understands and values the artistry of professional performers.  Technical challenges can occur when a decision is made to produce a large scale production on the intimate North Coast Rep stage.  The issue quickly becomes how to solve these “pesky technical issues” in the staging of “Amadeus”? Award-winning Director Richard Baird quickly solves that dilemma along with his technical creative team of Resident Set Design wizard Marty Burnett, along with NCRT Lighting Designer Matt Novotny, both of whom over the years have created some of the most inventive set and lighting designs at NCRT.

Director Baird’s bold vision required him to strip-down the script to 10 performing characters without sacrificing any of the drama and/or light comedy moments that run throughout Shaffer’s illuminating, potent, tragic story concerning the early death, at 35 years of age, of musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (an astonishing Rafael Goldstein).

Rafael Goldstein as Mozart and
Kathryn Tkel as Constanze in
"Amadeus

The cause of Mozart’s death became the buzz on the street as we say now.  Shaffer’s play, however, is a highly fictionalized account of composers Salieri and Mozart’s interactions during their time spent together in Vienna. Gossip, however, fuels the theory that Mozart was a victim of envy and jealousy at the hand of rival composer Antonio Salieri, the Kapellmeister of Vienna (a mesmerizing Tony Amendola) to the court of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, of Austria (Louis Totorto, in a finely nuanced comedy gem of a performance). Playwright Shaffer wisely leaves the decision of what really happened to Mozart to posterity and speculation.  Such is the power of film and words from actors that can change fiction into reality.

Truth as they say is stranger than fiction.  However, truth doesn’t deliver the dramatic punch that an experienced, gifted, playwright and a talented ensemble cast can bring to an intriguing plotline.  Regardless, this production directed by one of California’s finest director’s is ‘great theatre’ to see, enjoy, and ruminate afterward about its veracity.

The beauty of this splendid production lies in the performances of its two leading men: Salieri, brilliantly portrayed by Tony Amendola, (who bears an uncanny physical resemblance to actor F. Murray Abraham) and Mozart, played by Rafael Goldstein, in a highly-nuanced, amazing portrayal.  Both men run the full gamut of emotions in sublime performances.  I’ve seen three previous professional productions of the play.  I wouldn’t exchange these two actors for any who have previously performed the roles.

Tony Amendola as Salieri in "Amadeus"

Also, enough cannot be said about the outstanding ensemble and their individual performances.  Right from the opening scene, the audience realizes it’s in for a special evening of theatre. Christopher M. Williams and Alice Sherman, as characters Venticelli 1 and 2, respectfully, set the tone for the evening with crisp physical movements and in-the-moment-dialogue and vocal deliveries as they perform as a sort of delicious Greek Chorus that keeps us abreast of what will take place over the course of the evening.

Strong support also comes from: a vivacious Kathryn Tkel as Constanze Weber, Mozart’s fiancée and then wife; Andrew Barnicle as Baron Gottfreid Van Swieten; Andrew Oswald as Count Orsini-Rosenberg; Leigh Ellen Akin as Katherina Cavalieri, a music student of Salieri and Nick Kennedy as Count Johann Kilian Von Strack.

This impressive production is a feast for the eyes and ears thanks to the colorful costume designs of Elisa Benzoni, and Sound Design by Aaron Rumley, who arranged the absolutely glorious music of Mozart that is heard throughout the production. The Hair & Wig designs by Peter Herman are spot-on and add to the authenticity of the period.  The Prop Design is provided by Phillip Korth.  Aaron Rumley stage manages the production.

“Amadeus” now on stage at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach runs through October 6, 2019.  It’s a Must See Production!

--Jack Lyons