TheatreDate.com Reviews

Shakespeare’s plays, though well written, are full of deception, trickery, and fornication. In other words, they were made for Hollywood.

Back in 1934, Warner Brothers put that thinking to the test. The play “Shakespeare in Hollywood,” now showing at the Chico Cabaret, explores what might have happened on Director Max Rinehart’s set during the filming of the major motion picture, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The movie features performers like Joe E. Brown, James Cagney and Dick Powell. In the play these actors and many more become involved in a tangled love affair when The Bard’s most infamous fairy’s, Oberon and his right hand “man” Puck, descend magically on the set.

Oberon (played by Cabaret newcomer Gabriel Moss) falls in love with one of Hollywood’s up coming actresses, a young woman named Olivia (played by Kate Ruttenburg).

Director Max Reinhardt (played by Jeff Dickenson) finds himself in need of actors to play the fairies in his film. He stumbles upon Oberon and Puck (played by Keilana Decker) entangled in an argument and casts them on the spot.

Oberon instructs Puck to use a magic flower to draw other suitors away from his beloved Olivia. But Puck, who is wrapped in a vale of newfound stardom, bungles the job. And of course hilarity ensues.

The cast is a comic mix of characters, amusingly arranged by director Sue Ruttenburg. She enjoys plays by writer Ken Ludwig because they often incorporate lager casts and lack a single starring role, she said. When she’s looking for plays to feature at the Cabaret, that’s what she’s looking for.

“It’s a real ensemble cast,” she said.

The actors in the show have a healthy understanding of comic timing and put on a high-energy show. Studio mogul Jack Warner (played by Tony Varicelli) and his male secretary Daryl (played by Conan Duch) keep the laughs coming along with help from Warner’s love interest Lydia (played by Jennifer McAfee) and many others.

Even the extras, which were not written into the play’s script but are an invention of director Ruttenburg’s imagination, create a sense of action on the set and provide a healthy heap of laughs.

But the creative culprit who steals all the show’s comic currency is undoubtedly Decker. Playing Puck, she steals every scene with a mix of physical comedy, funny voices and a healthy blend of theatric “magic.”

Director Ruttenburg, has put together a must see comedy show, but she admits she had a lot of help from the cast.

“I was just really lucky,” she said.

And so is everyone who catches this show.

Honey, put the kids in the minivan, we’re going out to the CTC.

The Chico Theater Company is putting on a show for the whole family. Disney’s “High School Musical” is a high energy, fast-paced look at high school life, Disney style.

The show, directed by CTC owner Marc C. Edson, follows the lives of two high school kids. Not necessarily star crossed lovers, but something along those lines.

High school basketball star Troy Bolton (played by Bryant Jarrard) is drawn into trying out for the school musical, a secret he wants to keep from his macho jock friends.

At the same time the new girl in school Gabreilla Montz (played by Emily Peitz) tries to find her place in her new environment. Before long she exposes herself as a math wiz and falls in with the brainiac crowed.

But the two have a past that none of their friends know about. Over winter break they met at a ski lodge and melted the nights away with hot karaoke. A shame Bolton doesn’t think he can live with if his teammates find out.

The story is as old as time, but the young actors give it new life. The two try to keep their affection for each other a secret from friends, family, and rival lovers. Bad luck, bad timing and bad people spoil all their plans, and just when things look hopeless, everything works out just right.

It’s just the kind of family show Edson likes to put on at the CTC, he said. His daughter turned him on to the project about two years ago, and when the licensing was made available, he put in a bid the same day. Friday night he watched the kids he directed take the stage.

“I was really happy with them,” he said. “They just really came alive tonight. They really wanted to work hard and put on a good show.”

The show itself was robust with multiple full-cast dance numbers and songs that showed the exuberance of the young cast. Their energy kept the show entertaining and interesting. Quick set changes and good pacing kept the audience engaged from the time the curtain went up, until it dropped again.

Anytime you get young actors on a stage there are going to be some rough edges, and this show is no exception. There were some missed notes and some dropped choreography, but nothing that couldn’t happen at any show and certainly nothing that took away from the over all enjoyability of the performance.

The choreographic accomplishments were especially impressive when you consider the limited experience of the majority of the cast.

Choreographer Joe Garrow was more then pleased with the way the performance went.

“These kids just worked really hard to accomplish what they did,” he said. “Believe it or not, none of these kids are dancers.”

All and all I was impressed by the maturity and over all professionalism of the cast. But above them all, Petiz showed like a bright light. To say that she stole the show with her performance would be an understatement. Her voice was crisp, clear, strong, soft, evocative and engaging. It’s hard to believe that at the age of 18, she wasn’t nervous before taking the stage for her first big lead, but she maintains she was the essence of cool.

“I’ve been more nervous before other shows,” she said. And with the kind of talent she has, I think we can believe that she had nothing to worry about. She’s got a lifetime of experience to draw from. “I’ve sung ever since I was young,” she said. If we’re lucky, she’ll still be singing even when she’s old.

The Blue Room is playing host to “Nixon’s Nixon” a powerful political performance that speculates what might have happened August 7, 1974 in the Lincoln sitting room of the White House. That night President Nixon summoned Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to the presidential home; the next day he announced to the world his intention to resign.

The two-man show staring local Joe Hilsee and play write David Davalos is intriguing, entertaining and well performed.

The show follows the two men through the late summer evening. They chat and bicker like old friends over countless glasses of brandy while recounting in vivid detail some of their memorable presidential moments. They take turns doing impressions of soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev, they act out their interview with Mao Zedong, and they even do imitations of each other.

The audience gets an inside look at some of the presidents dirty little secrets, and although Russell Lees’ scripts is not necessarily sympathetic to the two statesmen, it does humanize them and show a certain uncharacteristic complexity.

Hilsee and Davalos — who first read through the script in Hilsee’s living room sometime last summer — recruited Director Jerry Miller into the project, Hilsee said. Miller was all too happy to work with the accomplished performers.

“We were all pretty much on the same page on this,” Miller said. “I’d show up at rehearsals and it would just be fun all the way.”

That amusing, playful energy seeps into the audience, who gets to laugh along with the tasteless frat house humor of the president and the self-serving seriousness of the secretary.

Davalos, an actor, director and playwright who splits his time between living in Denver and New York, portrays the President with such realism that at first you think Nixon must be rolling over in his grave, and then you swear he got out of the grave to play himself on stage. Davalos not only nails the Nixon manner of speech, he also masterfully manipulates his body, performing the quintessential Nixon mannerisms right down to the President’s stooping posture.

Hilsee also did a wonderful job with his role as the straight man in the slapstick duo. Although he put less focus on trying to impersonate Dr. Kissinger, he did capture something of the uptight Jewish immigrant.

“It comes down to how far do you want to go with an impression,” Hilsee said.

Although the character portrayals were good, what really makes the show impressive is the casual banter between the only two actors on stage. Like a well-choreographed dance, the conversation is so realistic that at times it’s hard to remember that the show is scripted.

It’s an even more impressive accomplishment when you take into consideration the fact that the two have only been rehearsing for a week. Because of Davalos’ obligations back East, he only came into town a few days before the show opened, Hilsee said.

All and all this show is a real winner. Its got it all: laughs, tears, and incriminating tapes. The show is fun for all ages, not just those who can remember the events portrayed in the play first hand.

The helpful and informative program has a list of world leaders, first family members and presidential henchmen to help younger audience members understand what’s going on. It even has a time line of events that starts in 1948 and walks readers through the official resignation on August 9, 1974.

Catch this show before it leaves office forever.