#westport #westportcountryplayhouse

From The Mississippi Delta: a powerful drama now at the Westport Country Playhouse

/ I On The Valley / Leave a comment

The Westport Country Playhouse is now presenting on stage the drama “From the Mississippi Delta”.  This tale is based on the true life story of the author, Endesha Ida Mae Holland, Ph.D.  It follows her incredible struggles from a poor black girl living  in segregated  Mississippi in the 1950s to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, to her relocation to Minnesota where she attends college and graduate school.  It is a tale of the human spirit and the ability to finally overcome the seemingly impossible  challenges of poverty and a  cruel racist society.  The play was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and has been produced in theaters across the country including Off-Broadway.

There are three actors in the play, all who play multiple roles. The main characters are the mother and daughter, with the third actor also taking on the role as narrator.   They weave the true story of the author and her family.  The main character, Phelia  is inspired by her mother Ida (also called Aint Baby), to work hard and strive for a better life.  Her mother has left the long days of the cotton fields behind as has become a midwife in her rural community.  Her talents and dedication earn her the name,  “Second Doctor Lady”.   She owns her own modest home and rents out rooms to support her children.   The play turns dark when her daughter, Phelia at age 11 is raped by a local white man.  Soon Phelia is caught up the seediness of a local carnival and becomes a prostitute at age 12.  She eventually will drop out of school. 

Fate will change the life of young Phelia when she meets with a civil rights group that comes to town, the  Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.   They convince her to join their movement .   Her mother is against her involvement, and in time their house is firebombed.  Her mother, Aint Baby perishes is the fire which is blamed on Klansmen.    Despite this tragedy, Phelia struggles onward and we follow her remarkable journey as she  moves north to Minnesota and attends college.   It is an incredible story of the human spirit that will remind you of the struggles so many have endured on the road to equality.  The play has all the elements of a compelling drama:  struggle, tragedy, hope, inspiration and finally redemption. 

Westport Country Playhouse will stage from October 18 – 30th. So make plans to see this fascinating drama.

The three-member cast includes Claudia Logan as Woman 1. She is from Detroit, a graduate of SUNY Purchase, and now lives in Brooklyn. Credits include Westport Country Playhouse’s “Don Juan” (2019), Dallas Theater Center’s “Penny Candy,” HBO’s “Random Acts of Flyness” and “The Deuce,” and Netflix’s “Tales of the City.” Tameishia Peterson portrays Woman 2. Born in Dayton and raised in Memphis, she is a graduate of The Ohio State University, Michael Howard Studios, and Fiasco Conservatory. She now lives in New York. Credits include Starz’s ““Power Book II: Ghost,” Hulu’s “WuTang: An American Saga,” and Netflix’s “The Perfect Find.” Erin Margaret Pettigrew plays Woman 3. She is a first generation Los Angeles native after having roots in Belize and the American South. Her artist-journey has been shaped with many communities and creators such as Manhattan Theatre Club, Page 73 Productions, JAG Productions, and more, while facilitating and learning alongside institutions such as UCSB, NYU, and CUNY.

Playwright Endesha Ida Mae Holland, Ph.D. was born in Green­wood, Mississippi. During the 1940s and 1950s, Greenwood was an impoverished Delta community where Black people lived in fear of their lives. It is her life story that is the basis for this play.

Goldie E. Patrick. is the director of this production. The Detroit native is an proud alumna of Howard University where she is currently a professor of hip-hop theater. Based in New York City, for over 20 years she has passionately worked in and built artistic collaborations in Black theater as a playwright, director, and producer.

The creative team includes Jason Ardizzone-West, scenic design; Heidi Hanson, costume design; John Alexander, lighting design; Michael Keck, sound design; Ann James, intimacy coach; Dawn-Elin Fraser, voice and speech coach; Sean Sanford, props supervisor; Melissa Sparks, production stage manager; and Tré Wheeler, assistant stage manager.

The play is recommended for age 15 and up. Running time is approximately 90 minutes with one intermission. For the Playhouse’s 2022 season only, plays are consolidated to a two-week performance schedule instead of the usual three-week run.  Please support great local theater, and come see professional performance at the Westport Country Playhouse.

Westport Country Playhouse

25 Powers Court Westport Ct

http://www.westportportpayhouse.org

Like I On the Valley on facebook http://www.facebook.com/ionthevalley

instagram join our over 25,000 followers @i_on_the_valley

4000 Miles, a dramatic journey of self discovery now at the Westport Country Playhouse

/ I On The Valley / Leave a comment

4000 Miles a brilliant drama written by Amy Herzog and first produced at Lincoln Center is now on stage at the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport.

The audience is greeted by a stage that has been designed to look like a well lived in Greenwich Village apartment.  The apartment is occupied by Vera Joseph (played by Mia Dillon) a widow and ex-communist who has lived there for decades.  The intricate design of the set immediately draws the audience into the play.  At 3 am we meet Vera as she stumbles from her bedroom to answer the door.  Her 20 something year old grandson Leo (played by Clay Singer) enters the scene pushing his road bike which is weighed down with heavy bike luggage. The exhausted Leo explains he has just cycled from Seattle to New York.  He wanted to visit his girlfriend Bec but when she turns him away in the middle of the night, he heads to his stay with his octogenarian grandmother.

The next morning a conversation begins between these two unlikely roommates.  The back story of these characters slowly introduces the audience to Vera and Leo.  The revelation of who these characters are is protracted as the playwright wants to draw the audience into the apartment and into the conversation itself. Amy Herzog has crafted characters that are at once likable yet are complex.

Leo and Vera

Leo along with his friend Micah has left his home in St. Paul, Minnesota and ridden clear across the country.  At the start he dips his back tire of his bike into the Pacific with the plan to dip the front tire into the Atlantic at his journey’s end.  He and Micah photograph their odyssey but tragedy strikes when a truck overturns and Micah is buried under the heavy load of its cargo of chickens.

Not only is his friend killed but the camera which captured the memories of their trip is destroyed as well.  Not even attending the funeral of his good friend, Leo pedals on alone trying to escape his past and his present.  The playwright uses metaphors throughout the play and they are quite effective without being obvious.  Finally, weighed down by his bike bags and his grief, he arrives in Greenwich Village though his trip is not complete.  His overnight stay turns into a three week long voyage of self discovery with his grandmother, Vera.

As the other main character, Vera Joseph is a widow living in the same apartment for many decades.  Her late husband Joe still has his name on the buzzer, and his library of books on communism and Marxism still line the shelves. Though he has been gone for 10 years, Vera stills sleeps in the same room with two twin beds where she nursed her husband in his last days.  She has never returned to her own room. Her husband’s clothes still hang in the closet.  She has no friends and her only contact is by phone with the woman across the hall that she never met and does not like. Vera is trapped by her past and very much alone.

The brilliance of the play is in the complex yet revealing dialogue between Leo and Vera.  Sad and dramatic discourse is occasionally broken by a well timed humorous line which effectively breaks the tension. We learn Leo is intelligent though did not attend college.  He is without a compass, a man-child  who is always on the move.  It is Vera who tries to put him back on course.  Vera with the urging of Leo takes back her old persona by changing the name on the door buzzer to her own, and severing her ties with her cranky neighbor.   The transformation of both characters is subtle and carefully revealed.

Bec  (played by Lea Dimarchi) is Leo’s girlfriend and enters the play to inform Leo that she is breaking up with him.  She delayed college for him and now she needs to move on. 

Later in the play in a touching scene, Bec returns with her own bike.  She is heading off to class, but gives Leo several maps for him to follow and to finally reach the end of his journey by dipping the front tire of his bike in the Atlantic. She knows he is lost and wants him to find his way. Yet another of the metaphors woven throughout the clever dialogue.

Leo and Bec

The other character in the play is Amanda (played by Phoebe Holden).  Amanda is a 20 something Asian woman who Leo meets and brings back to the apartment.  She is intrigued by his free spirit, hippie persona and calls him the Mountain Man.  When she confronts him about the wall of books on communism, he makes light of the subject.  She tells him it was communism that forced her family to flee China.  Her comments and her departure help shock him into looking at the world in a more serious manner.

The play moves along to its conclusion as the audience witnesses the slow and subtle transformation of Leo and Vera as they step out of the shadows and to the light of a better persona.   A serious thought provoking drama with well placed comedic lines that keep the audience engaged. It is quite the journey and the audience is along for the ride.

 The play is in one act and runs 100 minutes.  4000 Miles is a story of relationships, self discovery, and the road we all can travel to becoming a better person.   The play is layered with brilliant, thoughtful dialogue, fine acting, and first rate direction that draws the audience into the scene.

If you see only one drama this fall season, you must attend a performance of 4000 Miles at the Westport Country Playhouse.

Playwright Amy Herzog’s other plays include “After the Revolution” (Lilly Award), “The Great God Pan,”and“Belleville”(Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist; Drama Desk Nomination). Herzog is a recipient of the Whiting Writers Award, Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Helen Merrill Award, Joan and Joseph Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity, and The New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award. She has taught playwriting at Bryn Mawr and Yale, and has an MFA from Yale School of Drama.

Directing “4000 Miles” is David Kennedy who is in his fourteenth season as Playhouse associate artistic director. He has directed Playhouse productions each season, including “The Invisible Hand,” which received the 2016 Connecticut Critics Circle (CCC) Award for Outstanding Production of a Play, and for which Kennedy won the CCC honor for Outstanding Director of a Play.

All audience members must wear a mask while inside Westport Country Playhouse. For updates on Covid-19 health and safety protocols at the Playhouse, visit https://www.westportplayhouse.org/visit/covid19safety/

For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.westportplayhouse.org, or call the box office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit

Westport Country Playhouse,

25 Powers Court, Route 1, Westport Ct

Like I On the Valley on facebook http://www.facebook.com/ionthevalley

instagram join our over 24,000 real followers @i_on_the_valley

Next to Normal: Westport Country Playhouse stages a remarkable version of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning musical

/ I On The Valley / Leave a comment

Behind the perfect lawn, landscaping and the painted red door of the ideal suburban house lives a normal family.  Or does the façade instead mask something else entirely?

This is the question behind the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical “Next to Normal” which is now on stage at the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Ct.  This historic theater which is known for its high quality productions, astounded the audience with their interpretation of this Broadway hit. 

This contemporary musical with its rock/pop score takes on the delicate subject of mental health.  This is certainly a different topic for musical theater.  The six member cast tells the story of what seems to be a “normal”, successful suburban family.  But we soon find out the household has deep issues.  The family is composed of the father (architect), the wife (suburban housewife), the teenage daughter (who is driven to be perfect and to attract her parents love), and the son who we discover passed away as a baby 16 years ago.   The wife, Diana has been struggling for years since the death of her son.  Her struggle with bipolar disorder is a terrible strain on the family.  Traditional therapies of medicine do not seem to work and the family makes the difficult decision to have Diana try electric therapy.  And while the treatment seems to work at first, Diana loses part of her memory.  Her husband Dan wants her to put away the memory of their son and move on.  The family wants to be normal, and will even accept being “next to normal”.  But the son (Gabe) keeps appearing on stage, not as a baby, but as a teenager which complicates Diana’s struggle to heal.    The story takes the audience on a journey of discovery of these very real characters and their struggles.  In the end there is a glimpse of hope that a person and their loved ones can heal, and lead a better life.  

The musical opened on Broadway in April 2009. It was nominated for eleven Tony Awards that year and won three. It also won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama becoming the eighth musical in history to receive the honor. The original cast was white and this production has a diverse multi racial cast which makes the show more relevant to a wider audience.  The cast is lead by Dar.Lee.See.Ah as Diana. Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Dan, Ashley LaLonde as Natalie, Daniel Maldonado as Gabe,  Gian Perez as Henry, and Katie Thompson in the dual roles as Dr. Madden and Dr. Fine.

The two hour plus musical is filled with over 40 songs that tell the story of this family and their struggles.  It is part serious drama, part rock show, part musical theater and 100 percent stunning.  The set design and lighting design is an essential part of telling the story and Westport Country Playhouse lives up to its usual high standards. While the entire gives outstanding performances, and they harmonize well, the highlight of the evening is the vocal performance of Dar.Lee.See.Ah.  Her singing and acting brought the capacity crowd to its feet.  She is a vocal tour de force.

The play is directed beautifully by Marcos Santana who also directed and choreographed the brilliant version of  “In The Heights” which we attended at the Playhouse in  2019.  He has also choreographed two shows on Broadway as well.   

While and interesting topic for musical theater, Next to Normal is the kind of show that pauses you to think about the lives that go on behind seemingly normal doors.  It also gives hope when life is darkest and lifts you up with a musical score full of  energy.  A show not to be missed.  True Broadway quality right in our own area.

Next to Normal is onstage through April 24th.

For tickets and information:

http://www.westportcountryplayhouse.org

Like I on the Valley on facebook http://www.facebook.com/ionthevalley

Instagram @i_on_the_valley

Homepage

Man of La Mancha: the classic Broadway musical now at Westport Country Playhouse

/ I On The Valley / Leave a comment

5_WCP_ManofLaMancha_PHernandez_byCRosegg_277

Philip Hernandez as Don Quixote

The dramatic and stirring Broadway classic Man of La Mancha has returned to the stage at the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport Ct.   This beautifully staged production at the Playhouse is true Broadway quality in every way.  This is a brilliant show that cannot be missed.

Man of La Mancha is a musical inspired by the story of Miguel de Cervantes imprisonment during the Spanish Inquisition and is also inspired by his book Don Quixote written in 1615.  The musical adaptation places Cervantes in a dungeon prison awaiting his hearing for charges brought against him by the inquisition.   Cervantes is a self described poet and play write, as well as a tax collector.  His latter position and his act of taxing  a church has placed him in prison.  His fellow prisoners upon meeting Cervantes and his loyal sidekick decide to have their own “mock trial” and seize his manuscript.  The show is staged in the prison “commons” as the prisoners await trial.  The curtains open to steel bars separating the actors from the sold out audience.  The set is dramatic in both design and lighting and sets the mood for the evening.

1_WCP_ManofLaMancha_PHernandez_byCRosegg_026

Cervantes demands the opportunity to defend himself before his fellow prisoners and using his skills as an actor and a trunk full of costumes and props, he launches into a virtual “play within the play”.  Along with his sidekick Sancho, the other prisoners become part of this story woven by Cervantes.  Cervantes spins the tale of a noble knight  on a noble quest, and he becomes Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha.   Despite living in an era of fear and despair, Quixote is a dreamer.  He dreams of a world where knights still roam spreading virtue and morals, performing noble quests and coming to the aid of their Lady.  He exclaims he has seen and experienced the misery and tragedy in life, but he rather instead find the beauty and the goodness in life.

wedding

Gisela Adisa as Aldonza/Dulcinea

Quixote is a idealist and a dreamer and the audience (as it has been since its Broadway debut in the 1960s) becomes a fan of Quixote. His idealism for a simpler  and kinder world is in stark contrast to the reality of 16th Century Spain.  Indeed his spirit and  ideals are what attract so many current audience members .

His idealism is manifested brilliantly in the song “The Impossible Dream” which is the hallmark of the evening.  The song is instantly familiar to many, and yet it is so fresh and relevant today.

Philip Hernandez  is masterful in the role Cervantes/Don Quixote (only actor in Broadway history to play both Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert in “Les Misérables”; original Broadway casts of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and Paul Simon’s “The Capeman”)  He has a wonderful  deep voice that filled the playhouse on opening night.  A brilliant and memorable performance.

Gisela Adisa as Aldonza/Dulcinea (Broadway’s “Beautiful,” First National Tour of “Sister Act,” regional theater’s “Lights Out:  Nat King Cole” – 2018 Barrymore Award nomination) is wonderful  in her dual role.    Tony Manna play Sancho Panza  the side kick and faithful companion to Don Quixote(Off-Broadway’s “These Paper Bullets,” “Timon of Athens,” “The Hasty Heart”; Netflix’ “Maniac”).   He brings to the role a sort of humor and warmth to which the audience enjoyed.

This production of Man of La Mancha  is directed by Mark Lamos who has directed  many plays at Westport Country Playhouse since 2008.  His extensive New York credits include “Our Country’s Good,” for which he received a Tony Award nomination. A former artistic director at Hartford Stage, he earned the 1989 Tony Award for the theater’s body of work.   His direction of this production is mostly faithful to the original, but injects  a modern vibe with the costumes of some of the cast as well as a reference in the dialogue to our current political climate that was recognized by the audience.

This is one of  the great Broadway musicals of all time.  Its story is timeless and quite relevant in the world we now live.  Make sure you see this wonderful show.

For tickets and information:  http://www.westportplayhouse.org

Westport Country Playhouse

25 Powers Ct Westport Ct.

Box office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529,

 

 

 

Camelot: a fresh adaptation of the classic musical at Westport Country Playhouse

/ I On The Valley / Leave a comment

2_wcp_camelot_bcoleman_rsleonard_bycrosegg_094

The legendary musical “Camelot” featuring Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard is currently being staged at the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport Ct.  The musical is based on the novel “The Once and Future King”by  T.H. White, which retells the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  The musical Camelot which opened on Broadway in 1960 and written by Lerner and Lowe starred Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet.   It was the recipient of four Tony Awards.

7_wcp_camelot_bcoleman_ssarr_rsleonard_smlukas_pandrews_mdesouza_bycrosegg_290

The story involves King Arthur of England and his ascent to the throne.  There he wants to create a new society of men, where differences are not settled by battle and war, but by courts of law.  He wants to bring peace to the land and creates a brotherhood of Knights whose mission it is not to bring war but to spread out and do good and noble deeds. Camelot is born and with it is the idealism of a better world.  It is in this setting that King Arthur meets and weds Guinevere,  and later is joined by Sir Lancelot.  It is this relationship that becomes a love triangle and threatens the very foundation of Camelot.

4_wcp_camelot_smlukas_rsleonard_bycrosegg_164

The current production is a fresh and innovative look at the classic musical.  The entire production has been streamlined from the original and the story moves along easily during the 2 hour performance.  I have seen other productions of Camelot which are heavier and slower paced.  This production seems lighter, fresh and breathes new life into this classic.  Almost all the Lerner and Lowe songs are present in the production.  As part of the thinning of  the story, some of the better known characters such as Merlin are absent.

The performances by the actors are superb!  Robert Sean Leonard as King Arthur is magnificent and it is no wonder he is the recipient of several Tony nominations  and a Tony Award.  He brings a bounty of emotion to the role which was felt by the audience especially at the end of Act 2.    Britney Coleman is delightful as Guinevere, as her acting and amazing vocal talents light up the stage.    Excellent performances were also given by the rest of the cast including Stephen Mark Lukas as Lancelot and Patrick Andrews as Mordred.   A wonderful job by David Lee who adapted the book, and Mark Lamos for his direction.  The cast was greeted by an enthusiastic standing ovation at the conclusion of the performance.

5_wcp_camelot_pandrews_mdesouza_bcoleman_mevariste_jmreese_bycrosegg_268

Performances run through November 5th 2016.

for tickets and more information including videos:

http://www.westportplayhouse.org/

Westport Playhouse

25 Powers Court Westport Ct

 

Like I On the Valley on facebook for events, theatre and dining 

http://www.facebook.com/ionthevalley

instagram:   I_ON_THE_VALLEY

 

 

 

“What The Butler Saw”, a hysterical British comedy at Westport Playhouse

/ I On The Valley / Leave a comment

Butler HP

“What the Butler Saw” is now playing at the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport Ct.  This historic theater which opened over 80 years ago has  hosted to a long list of amazing theatrical talent. Among the actors to grace the stage here over the years are Jane Fonda, Gene Wilder, Richard Dreyfuss, Jane Powell, Jerry Stiller and Paul Newman just to name a few.

The current production is a comedy written by Joe Orton back in the 1960s.  It is a classic British farce and the laughs are plentiful as the play(under 2 hours) really moves along.   It addresses such topics as marriage, infidelity, mental health, gender roles and gender definition, and of course the changing opinion of who in the cast is sane or insane.

The story is set in Britain in the office of a Doctor at a psychiatric clinic.  Dr. Prentice (Robert Stanton) interviews a young woman, Geraldine Barclay (Sarah Manton) who is seeking a job as his secretary.  His motives are quite clear wants to seduce the young woman and nearly does so when his nymphomaniac wife, Mrs. Prentice (Patricia Kalember) enters his office and the entire story goes quite mad from here. The audience has to hold on as we learn Mrs. Prentice is being blackmailed by a hotel bell hop (Chris Ghaffari) .The arrival of Dr Rance (brilliantly played by Paxton Whitehead) really shakes things up.  He is a psychiatrist sent by the British Government to inspect the clinic.  His arrival further turns the story on his head with his crazy misdiagnoses of everyone including Dr. Prentice.

westport 2

There is mistaken identity, false accusations and the local police (Julian Gamble) are involved try to resolve the whole mess.  The comedic timing of the actors is flawless. Direction by John Tillinger is fantastic and the cast really works together well.  Set design of the clinic office and its numerous doors (which are put to comedic use as the actors us them to great effect) is well done.

westport

The actors have a long list of impressive credentials.  Paxton Whitehead has made numerous appearances on Broadway  including, “My Fair Lady” , and many television and movie appearances including “Back to School” with Rodney Dangerfield.   Patricia Kalember has numerous Broadway and stage credits.  She has appeared in films and in television shows such as “Sisters” “Orange is the New Black” , “Law and Order” and many more. The whole cast is wonderful and the audience really enjoyed the performance.

“What the Butler Saw” has adult theme as is not suitable for children.

Don’t miss this hysterical comedy!

For tickets, show times and more information:

http://www.westportplayhouse.org/

Westport Country Playhouse

25 Powers Court  Westport Ct.

 

Like I on the Valley on Facebook for events, dining, theater and more !!!!

http://www.facebook.com/ionthevalley

We are on Instagram too!    I_ON_THE_VALLEY