CurtainUp
CurtainUp

The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
www.curtainup.com



HOME PAGE

SITE GUIDE

SEARCH

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

REVIEWS

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
Writing for Us

A CurtainUp Los Angeles Review
The Letters

I don't revel in games of the mind; those are the decadent recreations of intellectuals.— The Director
The Letters
Julia Fletcher and Norman Snow
(Photo: John Demita)
This historical cat-and-mouse game was partially inspired by the Soviets' attempts to sanitize the papers of their famous men, particularly the composer Tchaikovsky. Playwright John W. Lowell sets his play in pre-glasnost Russia, 1931, but he confides another inspiration was the trial of President Bill Clinton. Infuriated by the government's incursion into private lives, he dipped his pen in vitriol and dashed off this 80-minute duel, having its world premiere at the Andak Stage Company, co-founded by actor/director Dakin Matthews and his wife, the director Anne McNaughton.

Anna (Julia Fletcher) opens the show with intense nervousness, waiting in The Director's office. She tries to smoke but has no matches. The lighter on The Director's desk is dysfunctional. The Director himself (Norman Snow) bursts through the doorand attempts to put Anna at ease.

At first, all seems to go well. The Director sympathizes with her widowhood and offers the astounded Anna a promotion, But beneath the bluff heartiness, we hear hints of hostility and sense a dark miasma of something else at play when The Director calls himself a simple soldier, not the intellectual equal of his employees in the ministry. He reveals that Anna's young colleague, Iosif, has been arrested for copying the homosexual love letters of a late composer and smuggling them out of the building. Iosif was accused by their third colleague, Pavel, but, even under torture insisted the letters are in his desk. A search has not turned them up in the office or in Iosif or Anna's apartments. Oh, yes, The Director has had them followed and has a dossier recording their love affair. Anna gradually realizes the nature of the game being played and, as she does, she grows in strength as we come to the end of this tour de force

Fletcher's beautiful voice has a soft quality that is all the more effective as Anna finally reveals her quick and steely intelligence. Snow brings a bravura charm to the lengthly monologues of the obtuse Director with an inferiority complex. We get to see his brutal side and the hidebound conformity of a party man.

The Andak's usual excellent production values include Dean Cameron's drab office set enlivened by a Persian rug that could have been looted from some hapless aristocrat. Peter Strauss's lighting design implies a world that is lit by the pre-glasnost equivalent of 40-watt bulbs.

Anne McNaughton helms the production with an astute flair for pacing and a realistic sense of the emotional shadings in Lowell's piece. Her blocking on the Andak's tiny set miraculously keeps the action fluid and exciting simply by moving the actors from chair to sofa or back and forth across that rug.

"Truth doesn't matter here," Anna tells The Director in the end."But success? Now that's the alpha and omega of our lives." It has a dolefully contemporary ring.

The Letters
Playwright: John W. Lowell
Director: Anne McNaughton
Cast: Julia Fletcher (Anna), Norman Snow (The Director)
Production and Costume Design: Dean Cameron
Lighting Design: Peter Strauss
Production Stage Manager: Blake Burcham
Running Time: 80 minutes, no intermission
Running Dates: March 14-April 19, 2009
Where: Andak Stage Company, 10950 Peach Grove Street, North Hollywood. Reservations: (866) 811-4111.
Reviewed by Laura Hitchcock on March 14, 2009.
South Pacific  Revival
South Pacific


In the Heights
In the Heights


Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide
Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide


amazon
Sweeney Todd DVD

broadwaynewyork.com


The Broadway Theatre Archive>


amazon



©Copyright 2009,

GUCCI

|

Aluminium Chronograph

|

PEAK new fashion ladies venting air spring heighten casual sport shoes P8004E

|

Tiffany & Co Hook and Eye Ring

|

mbt shoes

|

MBT Shoes

|

Tiffany&Co Daisy 925 sterling silver rings

|

Rolex

|

Louis Vuitton

|

Affliction Boots

|

Nike Shoes

|

Nike Dunk

|

MP5 Wholesale

|

Atlanta Falcons

|

Abercrombie Pants Wholesale 002

|

Louis Vuitton

|

UGG Boots Mulberry Genuine Australia classic Tall Ugg Boots

|

GUCCI Handbags

|

UGG Boots Classic Argyle Knit Chocolate 5879

|

Louis Vuitton Business Card Holder Ebony

|

MBT Men's Kisumu Tan Sandals

|

MBT Chapa

|

ugg boots

|

MBT Kisumu 2 White Men's Sandals

|

Nike Shoes

|

Louis Vuitton Monogram Denim Messenger Bag PM m95865

|

Bailey Button Uggs

|

Sexy Costume QS0169

|

Phone Wholesale

|

Bikinis Sets

|

Wholesale

|

Car DVD Player

|

LV

|

Tourbillon

|

Tiffany tiffany replica ring

|

Superleggera J12 White

|

Tiffany

|

rolex

|

Mouse Wholesale

|

Nike Air Max 2003

|

Monogram Groom

|

GUCCI

|

Wholesale

|

Nike Air Max LTD (dark blue/white) No.372340

Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com