SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Los Angeles Review
Twelfth Night
|
As the arts director for the property, Jay Boileau is dedicated to making Hollywood Forever Cemetery a crossroads for the living and the dead by transforming it into a site central to the creative communities of Southern California and beyond. — from Boileau's program bio . . . and this production of a Shakespearean perennial would notbe the ideal first step in achieving that aim.
|
Charles Janasz as Malvolio
|
Chalk Rep is beginning its second season, and — in addition to venturing out to living rooms, backyards and the like &mdash the company is looking to become the resident company at Hollywood Forever's Masonic lodge. (Laura Hitchcock had praise for the company's 2008 inaugural production at the venue: Chekhov's Three Sisters).
Twelfth Night can be and often has been staged with a melancholy flavor. That's not really what's going on in Jerry Ruiz's production. In fact, apart from placing the performers in largely in modern dress, the use of a three piece indy rock band (Tahkus Ekedal, Ian Patrick and Justin Schiada) and saddling his actors with some distinctive and unfortunate eye makeup, Ruiz's production seems largely without vision. Nothing inept, just nothing much exciting.
We get that Owiso Odero's quite chipper Orsino likes the guy-guy banter (accompanied by the occasional rump slap) with his favored page Cesario (a male drag-ed up Viola, played by Hilary Ward), and that he finds threatening any growing sense of homoerotic attraction. This Orsino's hipsterism doesn't seem to be veiling any great loneliness; his wooing of Olivia via Cesario feels like it's done out of boredom. With Odero needing a few scenes to settle into the role of lovelorn Duke, his attraction to Ward's Viola doesn't make a lot of sense.
We also get that Olivia's Fool Feste (Guilford Adams) seems hugely pissed off at Illyria at large; that he takes particular umbrage at, of all people, Fabian for reading Malvolio's fifth act plea to Olivia. And maybe it's a sour mood thing or a deliberate choice by musical director Mike Shapiro, but there's not a single harmonious thing about Adams's singing here.
The revels/scheming of Feste, Sir Toby Belch (Matt Gaydos), Maria (Tess Lina) and Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Corey Brill) carry their customary comic sizzle. Lanky, badly dressed and with a really bad haircut, Brill's spindly Aguecheek is a sight for sore eyes (and as red as they are, his eyes do indeed look sore). Brill's Toby is clearly a man of drink not of great appetite, and Erica Rice has costumed him to suggest Miami Vice gone to seed. Feste hits on Maria in their first scene together which isn't so odd since, in this production, everyone hits on Maria.
Twelfth Night's other practically un-killable scene is the gulling of Malvolio who discovers a letter allegedly written by Olivia ("Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. . .") and proceeds to puff out his ego a few notches while charting his career rise. Janasz, a veteran Bard performer and a company member of San Diego's Old Globe, quivers with indignation, righteousness or delight as the occasion calls for. Malvolio may be a boob, but he's an over-punished boob, and Janasz lets us feel for the man. Janasz is a victim to one of Cane's peculiar costume choices. Would a somber puritan, pre transformation, elect to wear lilac stockings under his black?
Scenic designer Tom Ontiveros has set the action largely in three quarter round with a few pieces of furniture. The Masonic lodge, with its hardwood floors and open drawing room feel, is an attractive venue and should house plenty of interesting performances. This Twelfth Night, while not strictly for the dead, is nonetheless a misfire.
|
Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare Directed by Jerry Ruiz Music al DirectorMike Shapiro Cast: Guilford Adams (Feste), Chris Ban (Valentine/Second Officer), Corey Brill (Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Matt Gaydos (Sir Toby Belch), Jeremiah Minh Greenblatt (Curio/First Officer/Priest), Charles Janasz (Malvolio), Tess Lina (Maria), Luke Lopez (Fabian), Geno Monteiro (Sebastian), Owiso Odero (Orsino), Teri Reeves (Olivia), Hilary Ward (Viola), Peter Wylie (Antonio) Stage Manager: Jimmy Ng Set Design: Tom Ontiveros Lighting Design: Mike Durst Costume Designer: Erica Rice Running Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission Chalk Repertory Theatre at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. (800) 838-3006, www.BrownPaperTickets.com. From February 5 to February 28 Fri-Sat @8 pm, Sat. @ 2pm, Sun @ 7 pm Reviewed by Evan Henerson, based on Nov. 5 performance. |
|
>
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. You can also contact us at Curtainup at Facebook or Curtainup at Twitter and at Curtainup's /Blog Annex |
South Pacific
In the Heights
Playbill Broadway Yearbook
