Wilmington Drama League Brings Back Birdie!

The Wilmington Drama League’s The Chrysalis Players (the League’s youth program) has brought Birdie back! Most people know the story of Bye Bye Birdie (BBB). BBB has been a popular musical for both high schools and community theater companies to produce since the 60s. However, for the few who haven’t appeared in it or haven’t seen a stage production or a film adaptation, the BBB’s story is very basic and a little outdated. But, it’s a perfect show for young adults to explore and stage.

Set in the late 1950s, Conrad Birdie (Jeff Gorcyca) , an Elvis Presley-like signer, is being drafted to fight in the war. Birdie’s New York agent/songwriter Albert Peterson (Adam J. Wahlberg) is convinced by his secretary and sometime girlfriend, Rose Alvarez (Ashley Butler), to give up the music business, go to college and become an English teacher. Before he’s able to give up his family’s music business, Almaelou, he must make $50,000 to afford his tuition and his new life in academia. Rose comes up a genius idea; Albert will write a song for Birdie, “One Last Kiss,” to not only perform on television, but to also serenade one of his lucky female fans - 15 year-old Kim MacAfee (Erin Foltz) of Sweet Apple, Ohio - and give her his “last kiss” before the whole nation. Of course this plan will propel the song into the hit-making stratosphere; making enough money for Albert to enter the next chapter of his life – husband and English teacher. Albert, Rose, Birdie, and Mae (Laurene Eckbold), Albert’s overbearing mother who despises the thought of Albert dissolving the family business and marrying Rose, travel to Kim’s hometown where comic mayhem ensues.

BBB is as American as apple pie and baseball. The show features some of the most identifiable Broadway tunes including, “The Telephone Hour” and “A Lot of Livin’ to Do.” It’s hard not to get sucked into Charles Strouse and Lee Adams’ playful score, as well as the love story between Albert and Rose and Kim and her jealous steady, Hugo Peabody (Jameson May); even if it’s the standard fair – boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl at the end.

  

Tina Sheing’s boisterous production boasts enthusiastic performances by its young cast. Mr. Wahlberg (one of the few adults) is a standout as Albert. His sinuous body is perfect for the slapstick-physical humor required for the part (Dick Van Dyke originated the role in the Broadway production). He’s also a fantastic singer with great charisma. I particularly loved his scenes with Eckbold. They have perfectly captured the relationship between a mother who “can’t cut the apron strings” and a son who’s not sure if he’s ready to have them “clipped!”

Tommy Fisher’s inspired choreography keeps the large cast in step with the popular dances of the period. At times I thought some of the audience members were going to jump up and dance with the actors!

Bye Bye Birdie runs through June 24^th. For information and tickets, visit www.wilmingtondramaleague.org or call 302.764.3396.

The Rocky Horror Show ROCKS Newark!

The Chapel Street Players' (CSP) 49^th FUNdraiser production is the horror-comedy midnight musical, The Rocky Horror Show. Richard O'Brien's cult classic camp fest is about two conservative lovebirds (Brad Majors and Janet Weiss) who get entangled with a group of out-of-this-world freaks, led by the self-proclaimed sweet transvestite Dr. Frank N' Furter.

After leaving their friends' wedding, Brad decides to pop the question to Janet. After she accepts his marriage proposal, the two decide to visit Dr. Scott, the man (or in this production, woman) who introduced them in his science class. On their way, a flat tire cuts their journey short, and they walk to an ominous castle for assistance. Greeted by Riff Raff, the menacing butler, the two ultra-conservative lovers are then led through the spooky castle and its array of weirdo servants/inhabitants (Riff Raff's sister Magenta, the brokenhearted Colombia, and the Usher and Usherette) and through the classic audience-participation number - "The Time Warp" - before meeting the nefarious master of the house.

Afterward, Frank N' Furter appears and asks the couple to be his guests as he reveals his latest creation - a boy toy Adonis for his carnal pleasures. Unable to escape, Brad and Janet stay - and begin to question their traditional values regarding sex and love - and even take part in some of the evening's shenanigans.

Andrew John Mitchell directs this amazing production with a tight hand, something this show needs otherwise it could become total chaos. He has assembled a fantastic cast (Michael Parillo as Frank N' Furter, Justin Walsh as Brad, Caitlin E. Adams as Janet, Thomas Russell as Riff Raff; Lucy Marie Smith as Magenta; Laura Dunbar as Colombia; Dennis Conner as the creature (Rocky); Renee G. O'Leary, the only cast member to appear in every CSP FUNdraiser production, as Dr. Scott; Brett Pearson as Colombia's love interest and Frank N' Furter's foe, Eddie; A.J. LoPorto as the Usher; and Suzanne Stein as the Usherette.  Ms. Stein also finely choreographed the production. This cast ROCKS CSP! Even if the show was bad, which it's not, the price of admission would be well worth seeing Ms. O'Leary's costume at the end of the second-act. Everyone in the Delaware theater community knows that she is a great performer, but in this production she also proves she's a real "trouper."

The cast brings the musical to life on a spectacular multipurpose set by Christina Bartley. The set evokes a grand movie palace, with a mad scientist's laboratory.

The Rocky Horror Show ends June 23. Get your tickets now, because you don't want to miss this FUN! Also, take an extra $5.00 with you, so you can buy a goody-bag with all the items you need to participate in the show; besides throwing the goody-bag's items, don't be surprised if audience members are shouting comments during the show. All you ROCKY "non-virgins" know what I'm talking about! For information and tickets, visit www.chapelstreetplayers.org or call 302.368.2248.

Delaware Chamber Music Festival-Satisfying Cravings

Living in Delaware, I find myself craving classical music. The Delaware Chamber Music Festival (DCMF) has been satisfying the community's cravings for 27 years and is a staple of the local classical musical diet. Even on a beautiful Father's Day afternoon, the concert hall at The Music School of Delaware was nearly full. The quartet: Barbara Govatos, violin, Hirono Oka, violin, Burchard Tang, viola and Clancy Newman, cello.

Sylvia Glickman's Carved in Courage, arranged for string quartet by Tony Finno, is part of a trilogy Glickman dedicated to the holocaust.  Barbara Govatos, DCMF musical director, explained the significance of the work and its references to the Danish resistance movement during WWII.  The movements---Premonitions, Preparations-Frøde Jacobsen-Resistence Leader, Krystalgade Synagogue and Dr. Køster of Bispebjerg Hospital, Rescue by the Sea-Jens Møller, fisherman/rescuer and The Afterward---each conveyed an important emotional and musical message, with the Danish National Anthem triumphantly finding its way in at the very end.   Lyrical and full of passion, Glickman's work was beautifully played.  My grandfather, who had been part of the Danish resistance movement, was captured, imprisoned and tortured by the Nazis.  I know he would have been deeply moved by this tribute.

As guest artist, pianist Julie Nishimura performed in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Trio in B flat major, K. 502.  Nishimura's beautiful playing was balanced perfectly with the lovely sounds produced by violinist Barbara Govatos and cellist Clancy Newman.  Mozart always delights with his usually light, joyous themes and brief departures to more pensive territory. 

Ending the program was Claude Debussy's String Quartet in G minor.  Though Debussy was born 150 years ago, his quartet seems to structurally, harmonically and melodically belong to a later era.  The players exploited every dynamic and nuance of Debussy's often brooding music.

Be sure to catch The Delaware Chamber Music Festival's last concerts of the season on June 22, 2012 at 7:30 pm and June 24, 2012 at 3:00 pm, also at The Music School of Delaware.

http://www.dcmf.org/