Showing posts with label Aidan McDonald. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aidan McDonald. Show all posts

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Theater Review: Assassins | City Theater Company

By Mike Logothetis
Theater reviewer Mike Logothetis grew up in North Wilmington, performing in school and local theater productions. He lives in Newark, but you can find him wherever the arts are good.

Photo by Joe del Tufo/Moonloop Photography.
City Theater Company (CTC) closes its season with a bang by staging the Tony Award-winning Assassins — a show described as “one of the most controversial musicals ever written.”  The script openly examines our nation’s culture of celebrity and the violent means some will use to obtain it.  The story studies America’s four successful and five would-be presidential assassins through music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman.  The show is based on an original concept by Charles Gilbert, Jr.

CTC first presented Assassins in 1998 when current Artistic Director Kerry Kristine McElrone played Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme.  McElrone is excited to revisit the show 25 years later: “When deciding on our 29th season, I knew I wanted us to do a Sondheim piece. Assassins has always been an important show to me [and] the time felt right to restage this one for a new CTC audience.”

The dark and slyly comic show shadows a group of successful and wannabe Presidential assassins throughout U.S. history, framing their experiences in a broader exploration of American ideals.  The show opens in a carnival shooting gallery and moves through various venues including the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository.  Guns are central to the fates of the characters and the overall theme of the show.  In fact, one of the musical numbers is entitled “Gun Song.”

The score reflects the popular music of each era as the characters tell their stories through scenes and songs.  While Sondheim’s music is often quite syncopated, many of these songs were rhythmic and jaunty like “The Ballad of Booth.”  A small live orchestra situated next to the stage deftly accompanied the stage action.  Other noteworthy songs include “The Ballad of Guiteau,” “Unworthy of Your Love,” and the closing number “Everybody’s Got the Right.”  The latter is a rallying cry which can be taken a few disparate ways — forcing the audience to fully consider what they’ve just experienced on stage in front of (and next to) them.

Photo by Joe del Tufo/Moonloop Photography.
Director Joe Trainor has placed his actors where you cannot avoid them — on a stage almost touching the front row of patrons, in the middle aisle, and on strategically-placed risers.  Kudos to Rick Neidig on his set design and “patriotic” backdrop.  The pacing of the show is excellent with entrances, exits, and dialog moving effortlessly.

Trainor is thrilled to be tackling his first Sondheim show: “For a play that first premiered in 1990, Assassins is shockingly accessible in 2023.  It’s an incredibly challenging work, both in its subject matter and in its technical aspects.  The music and its pastiche style are incredible.  [It] entertains us even as it forces us to go uncomfortably deep within our own minds, and our collective histories.”

The musical opened in 1990 to many negative reviews — mostly concerning the subject matter and character focus.  Even Sondheim admitted he expected backlash due to the show’s content: “There are always people who think that certain subjects are not right for musicals...[w]e're not going to apologize for dealing with such a volatile subject.  Nowadays, virtually everything goes.”

McElrone says, “Assassins is about a disparate group of loners who…find themselves in the same room at the same time, reliving their crimes with relish almost for each other’s benefit, like a support group from hell.”

That hellish support group is played brilliantly by Chris Banker, Daryan Borys, Jim Burns, Adam Cooper, Kristin Finger, Dylan Geringer, Joshua Gold, Aidan McDonald, Paul McElwee, Emma Romeo Moyer, Kevin Regan, Kit Regan, and Brian Turner.  While all are excellent, Finger captured the manic Sara Jane Moore to chilling perfection while toting a gun and KFC bucket with equal diffidence.  McDonald was a compelling John Wilkes Booth whose belief that “the country is not what it was” line resonates in the modern politic now.

There are several powerful and unhinged diatribes in this play, but those by Kevin Regan — portraying Nixon-threatening Samuel Byck — were remarkable.  Juxtaposing a deranged wanna-be hijacker and assassin with a Bud-guzzling man in a Santa suit kept the audience rapt.  Could this unrealistic loner really pull off what he says he can?  When Booth gets into Lee Harvey Oswald’s head to convince him to squeeze his trigger and Hinkley refers to Oswald as an inspiration for his shooting of Reagan, you know you’ve entered serious satire.  It is not for the faint of heart, but it is compelling.

All the cast members bring real intensity to their roles and the subject matter.  Even the excellent Brian Turner (The Balladeer) kept his darkly comic narration focused on mental failings and perceived societal ills.  His powerful voice both set the tone and analyzed the action.

Simply put, all the parts of this show work together in beautiful harmony not often found in regional theater.  Kudos to “the underlings” who have risen to the occasion with aplomb!

Assassins will be performed April 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, and 22.  Curtain for all shows is 8:00pm except for the lone Sunday matinee at 2:00pm (April 16).  Run time is approximately 105 minutes without an intermission.  City Theater Company’s home is in the Wings Black Box at The Delaware Contemporary located at 200 South Madison, Wilmington, DE19801.  

Tickets ($30-45) can be purchased at the box office or online.  Special ticket pricing is available for military personnel and students. CTC does not currently require proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Mask-wearing is optional per guest preference. Please be respectful of fellow patrons’ choices.  Call the box office at 302.220.8285 or email citytheatercompany@gmail.com for details about the show.

CTC’s mission is to create a body of work that takes risks and breaks barriers — just as The Delaware Contemporary’s is to take risks and push boundaries.  Both institutions are invested in promoting the work of local and emerging artists, advancing opportunity and growth by and for the community, and welcoming all those looking to experience art.

City Theater Company is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Divisions promotes Delaware arts events on DelawareScene.com.

Advisory: Assassins deals with mature content, including R-rated and racially charged language.  This production uses non-firing, replica, prop guns.  No live ammunition or working weapons are used in this production.  This production features gunshot sounds throughout.  All such sounds are pre-recorded. CTC can provide disposable earplugs for your comfort.

To quote John Wilkes Booth: “There is no quiet desperation here.”

Saturday, December 11, 2021

City Theater Company Jumps Into New Season and a New Home — All at "ONCE"!

By Mike Logothetis
Mike Logothetis grew up in North Wilmington, performing in school and local theater productions. He lives in Newark, but you can find him wherever the arts are good.

City Theater Company launches season with ONCE. Photo by Joe del Tufo. 
To open its 2021-2022 season, City Theater Company (CTC) begins a new residency at The Delaware Contemporary (TDC) on the Wilmington Riverfront. CTC Artistic Director Kerry Kristine McElrone is “excited to bring the communal, immediate, accessible experience of art in live action to The Delaware Contemporary’s patrons, and to introduce City Theater Company’s audiences to all that they have to offer.”

McElrone added: “Our approach to theater and improv considers the art form of live performance to be a creative collaboration between players, directors, designers, writers, and the audience.”

It should be noted that CTC has been entertaining audiences virtually during the pandemic with online content but is eager to get back to live performances (and audiences) starting with the musical Once. The 2012 Tony Award
winner for Best Musical is based on the Irish musical film and features actors playing their own instruments onstage. The musical features 12 performers/musicians and a child actor.

The space inside TDC is intimate and three rows on each side flank a central performance area with a larger stage at one end and a small musicians’ area at the other. In this way, the audience is sometimes being directed to follow back-and-forth dialog like an attendee at a tennis match. (It’s not that extreme, but noticeable during certain dialogs.) But the space also allows musicians to sit in all corners of the room,
 providing a true unamplified “surround sound.” A large bank of TV screens looms over the stage end and provides clever multimedia effects for the show.

However, the acoustics are tricky and only the full ensemble numbers properly fill the room. While pleasant, the solos and intimate duets could stand to be a bit louder to properly resonate with the audience. Some of the dialog got swallowed up by the room on Opening Night, but the performers portrayed the emotions and plot devices well enough to move the narrative forward.

If you’re not familiar with the story, an Irish busker/”Hoover repairman” meets a plucky Czech woman in Dublin and their passion for music 
 and each other  takes them to wonderfully sonic places. You don’t need to understand much of the accented dialog to enjoy the incredible music Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová composed for the original 2007 film written by John Carney — no, not our current Delaware Governor. ;)

And it’s the music that shines in this production. Righteous Jolly is listed as “Guy” in the program but is “The Man” whenever he’s featured. Jolly has the musical chops to deliver glorious melodies and guitar accompaniments plus the charisma to have the audience root for him. His wounded and vulnerable Guy has an inner drive to better himself by spending as much time as possible with new acquaintance “Girl.” Girl is portrayed in a lovingly restrained way by Julia Natoli, whose talented vocals and piano-playing act as the perfect complement to Jolly’s Guy. He’s sociable but shy, while she’s quiet but direct. Together, they are a power couple of sorts in their world. The two enjoy a whirlwind relationship that never quite gets to where both think it could. They drag their family and friends along for the ride while the audience gets to gleefully watch it all unfold.

Guy and Girl soar to new heights in duets like “When Your Mind’s Made Up” and “If You Want Me” which included an inventive dream-quality choreography. But the show highlight is the Oscar-winning song “Falling Slowly.” Simply put, this is one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of music to come out of Hollywood or Broadway (or Ireland/Czech Republic) in the past 25-40 years. Jolly and Natoli nail it. (Song co-writer Irglová once said: “This song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are.”)

But this is not a morbid or depressing show. At its heart, Once shows the joy of making music together here and now, regardless of its potentially fleeting nature. The cast includes fantastic local musicians who turn out to be pretty solid actors. Aidan McDonald (“Billy”) and Emma Romeo Moyer (“Bank Manager”) were lively whenever in the spotlight. Moyer’s off-key “Abandoned in Bandon” was a hoot! The ensemble numbers “Gold” and “Ej Pada Pada” were delightful. And not all of the Guy/Girl songs are about unrequited love as “Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy” happily refutes.

Director/Music Director Joe Trainor put together wonderful musical arrangements for his cast. Some of the stage blocking was clunky, but as the company better grows into its new space I think cooperated movement will improve. Credit should be given to McElrone for taking on such an ambitious project to restart CTC live productions in a new performance space after the pandemic. While there are some minor issues to iron out, Once is a worthwhile return of CTC to a Wilmington community looking for earnest live theater.

Once will run for seven performances through next Saturday (December 10-18). Curtain is at 8:00pm, save for the lone Sunday matinee (2:00pm, December 12). The show lasts just under 2.5 hours, which includes one 15-minute intermission. City Theater Company’s new home is at The Delaware Contemporary located at 200 South Madison, Wilmington, DE 19801. Tickets ($30-40) can be purchased at the CTC box office or online. Special ticket pricing is available for military personnel, and students. Please call the box office at 302.220.8285 or visit city-theater.org for details.

City Theater plans, on average, two big shows each season 
 which runs from December to late spring. These shows typically run two or three weekends. Up next spring is Blues in My Soul by Delaware playwright David Robson.