Theater

Bend's been a surprise hub for theater as of late. Currently, two shows are having successful runs and another favorite is on the books for October.
Having found success on Broadway, the Tony-award-winning play Art has stormed the Greenwood Playhouse for a run that goes through next week. Originally a French-language play by Parisian Yasmina Reza, The Play “Art” asks the age-old question, is art more important than friendship? The answer may surprise you, as a piece of modern art tears apart three men's seemingly tight bond. Originally written in 1994 as an allegory about the politics and aesthetics of France, the themes hold up on this side of the pond – especially if you've had your eye on some of the Sotheby's treasures that have recently been on the auction block.

Plays about reunions, be they family, alumni, or with old friends, are somewhat of a theater staple. You almost know what's coming without having read the scripted laughter, crying, anger and sentimentality.
Theater in places besides a traditional theater or an off-Broadway black box isn't that new of an idea but, it's always refreshing. And refreshing aptly fits TWB Productions of Lamppost Reunion by Louis LaRusso running two times a week until July in the Father Luke's Room at McMenamins Old St. Francis School.

Before taking a seat in the 2nd Street Theater last night to take in Couple Dating, the locally written and produced play by Cricket Daniel was already well on my radar. In fact, it had jammed my radar…like in that scene in Spaceballs.
Last week, we ran a letter to the editor from a reader who found the three-act comedy offensive, thus igniting an avalanche of web commentary and also creating some street chatter and Facebook posturing. Word was that The Source Weekly wasn’t running a review as to censor the play because it was so recklessly offensive. Obviously, that wasn’t the case.

“We have no hassles in here. Here, life is beautiful!” intones the Emcee of the Kit Kat Club in Cat Call Productions' inaugural showing of Cabaret.

“Who at least doesn't want to visit someplace beautiful?” questions the Stubby Motherlover, the song-singing, 30-fingered creature, one of many captivating characters to make an appearance in Guy J. Jackson's Tintar Isle.
Jackson, a consummate storyteller, recently moved back to Bend after performing original material for three years in England. In a riveting hour and a half, he creates a world that is nearly incomparable in its originality. I would say, think Garrison Keillor – if Keillor was cool – combined with Lewis Carroll at his Jabberwocky best, but even this analogy fails to capture the touching strangeness of Tintar Isle.

Full disclosure, this review is based on my experience sitting through a rehearsal performance of 2nd Street Theatre's Steel Magnolias, when there was still a whole week to go before the play was set to open, where a photographer buzzed around on stage for the first half an hour of the show, chasing the actors like persistent flies at a BBQ, and there was still ongoing discussion about how to hang the set curtains. Yet based on said performance I believe the audience at the play's opening night, and every night thereafter, are in for a treat to rival any of the desserts at Truvy's beauty parlor.

It was a night of gin martinis and evening gloves at the Tower Theatre, an homage to Ol'
Blue Eyes that all ages will fall for. My Way: A Musical Tribute to
Frank Sinatra, produced by Innovation Theatre Works under the artistic
direction of Chris Rennolds and Brad Hills, is a journey to a time
where elegance ruled, men loved dames, dames loved mink stoles, and the
world, at least for the duration of a song, believed in the fable of
perfect love.

An ensemble cast, led by Broadway veteran Daniel
Guzman, croons through a medley of fifty-eight standards intermixed
with Sinatra tidbits delivered with the affability of a vintage
nightclub act. Guzman, a haberdasher's dream endowed with an engaging
sense of "cool" and a lush voice that refuses to lose its masculine
edge, is the highlight of My Way from the time the curtain opens on his
iconic, tuxedoed silhouette to the magnetic way he commands such
classic songs as That's Life and New York, New York. Guzman's reverence
and dedication to the material never drops to the level of
impersonation. My Way is Guzman's heartfelt and charismatic tribute. He
acknowledges there can only ever be one Chairman of the Board¸ but
effortlessly manages to transfix the audience from his very first note.

Breast in the WestWith everything from whips cracking to hips popping, the circus has come to town and has jammed itself into the cozy confines of the CTC in the form of a striking production of La Cage Aux Folles.
As I watched the play, the laughter ringing in my ears behind me was the real show; the La Cage Aux Folles isn't shy on the audience participation. We  threw our heads back, clapping and shaking with the music, extreme fun and flamboyance unfolding on the stage.

The best thing about the ’50s had to be the hair…or the fallout shelters.

Arrival time of intermission is the true test of any stage production. Either it can’t come fast enough as in, “Please, no more” or, if its expediency catches you completely by surprise, it either means you (A) fell asleep; (B) the cast forgot what to do, say, or sing; or (C) the production is actually good and at the same time, entertaining.
The Taffetas, Rick Lewis’ hit Off-Broadway musical tribute to the girl groups of the 1950s, which opened last weekend at 2nd Street Theater here, garnered, you guessed it, choice (c). Good. And entertaining.
The time: 1950s. The place: sound stage at the Dumont Television Network in New York City. Four sisters, a.k.a. The Taffetas, who hail from Muncie, Indiana and like boys (really like boys), convertible Chevys, their mother, and who beam with a wholesomeness that has, in today’s culture, all been forgotten, offer the audience 90 minutes of well-delivered classic 1950s songs, and a little bit of “Taffeta chatter.” The purpose: give a great variety show performance because you-know-who, the man with the golden touch, that swell Ed Sullivan, will be watching. Pause. (Imagine four girls shrieking.)

Dee Torrey: Man on a mission.Executives at the Cascades Theatrical Co. (CTC) and the Tower Theater
are contemplating future big-budget musical productions in the wake of
the "success" of their first collaboration, Urinetown: The Musical
(UTM). UTM completed its two-weekend run May 11.

Rickey Minder, who played UTM's Little Sally, said she appreciated the opportunity for growth that production provided.
Her
response is noteworthy, and not because it's unexpected of an aspiring
actress who was previously cast in a non-speaking role in CTC’s recent
production of The Fantasticks, which ran on its NW Greenwood stage last
February. Rather, the response of this 21-year-old Idaho native and
competitive hip-hop dancer illustrates the sort that Torrey works to
foster in his "troupers." The CTC exists to accomplish three major
purposes, Torrey explained in another interview: "We want to do good
theater, and [that means some] heavy drama. We want to educate the
public, and give our actors a chance to grow."