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PRESSCLICK BELOW TO SEE THE FULL REVIEWS FOR2010 SeasonThe PavilionThe Boston Globe
Fallen AngelsManchester Journal
Acclaim for DTF's 2009 Season! "A delightful time. Wonderful music, artfully rendered. Go. Enjoy." "Director Carl Forsman has done a beautiful job with "This 1920s classic tale continues to amuse as well as teach us something about the ups, downs and in betweens of every life."
Fallen AngelsManchester Journal
2009 SeasonReview of Marry Me A Little'Marry Me' is musical escape By BOB ROSE Directed by Jonathan Silverstein, "Marry Me a Little" is a dialogue-free musical revue featuring songs cut from well-known Stephen Sondheim works like "Follies" and "A Little Night Music." These songs were rescued from the cutting room floor and incorporated in this enjoyable musical by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene. The Dorset production’s musical director is John Bell. We sit in increasing awe as the two lonely characters, identified only as Man and Woman, enter their identical apartments to spend a Saturday evening longing for companionship as they recall past romantic experiences that led nowhere and fantasizing about what might lie ahead. The lyrics range from witty to bittersweet, all accompanied by pianist Dan Feyer. Highlights include Horowitz’s "Can That Boy Foxtrot," Stewart’s "Uptown, Downtown" and several duets, including "All Things Bright and Beautiful," "So Many People" and "Who Could be Blue." There are occasional moments of some fancy dancing, much appreciated by the audience. Even then the two, who we must remember are in their own apartments and not together, amaze us with their ability to totally ignore each other and yet dance smoothly together. A sense of reality is created by the stage business, like unloading grocery bags, changing a light bulb, setting a table, trying to hang a window curtain and pouring and, of course, consuming liquid refreshments as well as locking doors for the night. Throughout the evening, we experience a variety of emotions created by the pair, ranging from the woman’s longing for companionship to the man’s cynical outlook on marriage, which he describes in song as a journey to Hell. The key to enjoying this well-staged production is, as director Silverstein points out, to suspend our belief and fantasize about two people in separate apartments seen at the same time. They are together on the stage but apart in reality. And that seems to be the story of their lives. Will they eventually meet? Not if we listen carefully to the final number, "It Wasn’t Meant to Happen." But we can’t feel sad after such a delightful time listening to such wonderful music so artfully rendered. Go. Enjoy.
Reviews of The Hollow(back to top)Reviewed by J. PETER BERGMAN "It’s a question of the right values." Painting pictures, portraits in words, was Agatha Christie’s finest accomplishment. Her mysteries are good ones, sound and sturdy, interestingly odd and loaded with twists, mis-direction, and often the excitement engendered by more than one death. But it is her people we remember, long after the book is laid aside, or the play has closed. We cannot forget Jane Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Hercule Poirot or, indeed, any of her detectives. Some of her villains and victims are equally memorable and her plays have given us constant delights. "The Hollow," which was originally published as "Murder After Hours," an Hercule Poirot mystery novel in 1946, was recreated by the author as a play in 1951 without her most famous detective. In his place she offered Inspector Colquhoon and his able, maid-enticing associate Detective Sergeant Penny. It is that play which is now on the stage at the Dorset Theatre Festival in Dorset, Vermont. In this work Christie presents us with cousins among the uppercrust, the Angkatell family: Sir Henry, his wife and cousin, Lady Lucy, their cousin Henrietta - a sculptor, another cousin who has inherited the family Manse, Edward and a half-cousin Midge Harvey who works in a dress shop. Though not made entirely clear it would seem a distant relative John Cristow is also among the guests for the weekend at the "Hollow" the home of Henry and Lucy. With him is his wife Gerda and, in short order, his former lover Veronica Craye, now a successful Hollywood actress. As is inevitable in these situations there are the servants, Doris and the butler Gudgeon. Enough characters, with enough relationships, to keep the audience guessing right up to the last scene as to just who is the murderer being sought by Scotland Yard for the death of one of the above. I am not one to give away too much information in reviewing a mystery play, so don’t expect spoilers in the copy to follow. I will say, however, that in this production the mystery crackles, the relationships tickle and the evening, three acts with two intermissions, comes in at about two and a half hours of bright and brittle conversation. Director Carl Forsman has just the right touch for this material. He keeps things well paced and understandable and as tensions mount and suspicions are tossed from one set of hands to another he lets us see without pointing a finger how it is both easy and possible to misunderstand motives, to make decisions without facts, to come to conclusions that do not end at the stopping point. He has done a beautiful job with Christie’s play, and in doing so, has created a few new bright stars among his current resident company. The actors, for the most part, are people who appeared earlier this season in "Merton of the Movies." With the true of a repertory company people who were featured in lead roles in the earlier play move into the support arena and those who had smaller roles in the first now take over the stage in this piece. Chief among them was a scene-stealing actress from the "Merton.." Ann McDonough who plays the quick-witted, though daft, Lady Lucy Angkatell. McDonough takes the delicious monologues and movements of her character to subtle extremes, as she did in her landlady role last time. She can enter carrying a basket of eggs, leave them hither and yon, forget them, find them, see them without comprehension, ask about them and finally relinquish them with the softness of the confused mind while still remaining focused on the issues under discussion... All in all, if there was no one else in this play it would be recommended for her work alone. Gardner Reed is a wonderful Henrietta, dynamic, filled with secrets, romantic and yet resolutely honest. Her classic features are just right for Henrietta; her voice is sharp enough to cut a thick-crusted baguette. In the third act she manages to pull of the nearly impossible - she becomes transparent. Her equal in the subtleties of interpretation is Mark Alhadeff as the Inspector. Clearly an individual from the upper set himself, his poise and his profile are almost classic British while his presentation of his character is quietly aggressive and controlling. Kirk Jackson is a wonderful, almost stuffy, Sir Henry. It’s wonderful to watch him, pole-up-spine, reserved and proper, melt when his young half-cousin comes into the room. She is played beautifully by Kim Hausler. Her rage at being considered too young is thrilling in one so young. The Cristow’s are excellently portrayed by Clark Carmichael and Crystal Finn. Her mixed heritage is perfectly played out in Finn’s use of a different accent from the others. His superiority is a visible one; attitude is everything with him. Ted Caine is just fine as Gudgeon and Larissa Goldberg is a marvelous Doris. Curran Connor is almost too lascivious as Penny, but it works for him, especially when Doris makes a confession. ... Mark Emerson’s Edward Angkatell [is exquisite]. There was not one moment over-played, under-played or out-of-keeping in his interpretation of this complex, yet simple, man. If Ann McDonough should be out of the show when you see it, the play will still have this opposite pole to support the fragile tenting of mystery that makes this play work so well. Emerson was "Merton" in the last piece and in combination with that character, it would seem that this actor has a major career in his future. The gorgeous set by Bill Clarke is effectively lit by Josh Bradford and the costumes designed by Theresa Squire are one hundred percent correct for the characters. Physically and from the directorial point of view the production is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. You may not be a fan of mysteries, but if you are a fan of live theater that keeps you awake and on your toes, this is the play to see.
'Hollow' offers Christie mysteryBy BOB ROSE DORSET, Vt. - Agatha Christie returns to the Dorset Playhouse, and her "The Hollow" assures an entertaining time of murder, mystery and mayhem, including enough romantic intrigue to keep you in awe and amusement for more than two hours. Cleverly directed by Dorset Theatre Festival’s Carl Forsman, "The Hollow" features a sterling cast, several of whom already have delighted us in "Merton of the Movies." With a beautifully designed set by Bill Clarke, the cast takes us through a manor house murder mystery that challenges us to figure out who has killed Clark Carmichael’s John Cristow, an obnoxious, self-impressed doctor and a fellow who seems attracted to nearly every woman he meets, with the possible exception of his shy but adoring wife, Gerda, played by Crystal Finn. Just about every character on the stage has a motive to do this fellow in. And, yes, that includes Ted Caine’s stiff and proper butler, Gudgeon, and even the new household maid, Doris, played by Larissa Goldberg. An actress, Helen Farmer’s Veronica Craye, appears unexpectedly during a weekend family retreat at the Angkatell mansion, and we soon learn that John was once engaged to her. Right now, though, he is making advances toward Garner Reed’s Henrietta Angkatell when his wife’s back is turned. But he still has eyes for Veronica, of course. John’s wife, Gerda Cristow, is played by Crystal Finn. Gerda is a patient, long-suffering soul who still loves John despite his romantic encounters. The unique combination of characters also includes another weekend guest, Kim Hausler’s working girl Midge Harvey, Mark Emerson’s Edward Angkatell, who played the title role in "Merton of the Movies," Kirk Jackson’s Sir Henry Angkatell, and his wife, Ann McDonough’s odd ball Lady Angkatell. This lady is worth the price of admission all by herself. Absentminded to a hilarious degree, she keeps the audience laughing throughout the show. Finally, of course, we have Mark Alhadeff’s Inspector Colquhoun trying to solve the mystery with the aid of his assistant, Detective Sergeant Penny played by Curran Connor. As events transpire, you will find yourself centering on one suspect after another, and in typical Christie style, the solution comes only at the last moment in this beautifully acted production that features excitement, mental challenge and well-delivered amusement.
Review of Merton of the Movies(back to top) By BOB ROSE
Preview of Merton of the MoviesDorset Theatre Festival revisits celebrated comic playwright By CLARA ROSE, Thornton Herald Correspondent American theater in the 1920s underwent massive changes in self-conception. Prior to World War I, theater in the U.S. was primarily a safe form of distraction from the outside world. The sudden onslaught of a Western civilization plunged into chaos and the resultant tremors, which did not stop once the smoke cleared, caused theater to become a bit more participatory. Broadway theaters began to throw charity shows for soldiers and new works with a political agenda experienced a rise. African-American actors were introduced to the big stage: Previous to Charles Gilpin in Eugene O'Neill's "The Emperor Jones" in 1920, black actors were usually only to be found in "second-rate" vaudeville revues, while white actors in blackface took on Broadway's "colored" roles. Repertory theater appeared such that theater productions could be sponsored, resulting in nonprofit productions with a low ticket price. Enthusiasts from a greater swath of the population could now afford to enjoy the art. And on top of it all, vaudeville, a previously lowbrow guilty pleasure, began to seep its influence into traditional theater — with all of its jazzy, sensory deluge in tow. Essentially, theater got politicized, diversified, democratized and vaudevillian-ized. From this atmosphere came a new crop of playwrights with a sharper ear for wit, a more broadly social take on subjects and a cooler attitude. George S. Kaufman was one of these playwrights, and his legacy has resulted in the acclaimed Dorset Theatre Festival's Kaufman Collection, a dedication to a series of productions rediscovering Kaufman's works for a modern American audience. One of the Pulitzer Prize-winner's lesser-known plays, "Merton of the Movies," will form the second and final leg of this year's Dorset Theatre Festival. A preview was performed recently, with principal production now open to the public through July 18. "Mr. Kaufman has an innate sense of comedy," said director Jonathan Silverstein via telephone from New York City, where he's based. "He has an innate sense of storytelling, sincerity and hopefulness. Kaufman wrote a lot of plays — he was just churning them out — and they all have this sharp comedy and heart to them. That is why they should still be seen today. ("Merton of the Movies") came out of a very fruitful period of American theater. You will see roots of sitcom comedy now from these plays in the 1920s. It's classic comedy." "Merton of the Movies" focuses on an earnest man who makes it to California from his rural Kansas town in hopes of beginning a successful film-acting career during Hollywood's golden age. "It was the material that hooked me — the lead character, Merton, is a character that I identify with," Silverstein said. "He's a very hard-working, earnest, hopeful man who comes from a small town and arrives in Hollywood with big dreams, who has to learn many lessons along the way until anything close to his dream can be realized — and yet realized in a different way from what he originally thought it'd be. It's about the silent-film era, of course, but I can draw many parallels with my life and the theater. So I really connected to it emotionally. That's always my key to a play; that's what makes me want to do a production." Kaufman was a prolific writer and is a fixture in American theatrical lore. Known as "The Great Collaborator" because he passionately enjoyed working with other playwrights, he was a member of the Algonquin Table, a circle of witty writers and show business types. Alongside being a known playwright, he was an editor of the drama section of the New York Times. His dozens of comedies written in a uniquely sardonic and emotionally observant style that has not been matched were awarded with several Hollywood adaptations. It was his most famous work written with Moss Hart, "You Can't Take it With You," that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. As for "Merton of the Movies," in a period as tumultuous and uncertain as the present, it is worth revisiting how clever minds of another, parallel time trumped up and smoothed out its own fears.
Review of St. Nicholas(back to top)By BOB ROSE DORSET, Vt.--Story telling is an art and nothing can illustrate this better than Conor McPherson's one man show, "St. Nicholas", now playing at the Dorset Theatre Festival.
DTF's 2010 season is possible because of the generous sponsorship from the Dorset Inn, Homestead Landscaping, and The Vermont Country Store.
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DORSET THEATRE FESTIVAL Box Office Opens June 15th. The Dorset Theatre Festival is grateful its sponsors and supporters, without whom this season would not be possible. The Dorset Theatre Festival is a registered 501(c)(3) Not-For-Profit Organization. Photo credit Kelsey Bennett |
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