Shakespeare Santa Cruz
Bach at Leipzig
To the names Congreve, Goldsmith, Sheridan, and Molière, 17th and 18th century masters of comedy, we must add the 21st century playwright Itamar Moses. His Bach at Leipzig is a linguistic tour de force, a demanding actors’ play that requires split second timing, total command of rapid fire speaking with the clearest enunciation and stylized physical action. Set in 1722, outside the great doors leading into the sanctuary of Leipzig’s Thomaskirche, six well-known organists ruthlessly scheme to succeed the newly deceased kantor Johann Kuhnau. Each of the musicians, named either Johann or Georg, is a desperately motivated, flamboyant egotist. The situation is rife with comedic possibilities and Moses has a field day with them.
Shakespeare Santa Cruz realizes the full potential of the script with a satisfyingly high style romp wrapped in a superbly crafted production. A fine ensemble cast skillfully directed by Art Manke and dressed in B. Modern’s gorgeous period costumes pose, bow, cajole, squabble and fight on John Iacovelli’s effectively lean set, Shakespearean or perhaps Lutheran in its spare simplicity.
Stephen Caffrey as Johann Friedrich Fasch kicks things off with a masterful, lengthy opening monologue, a letter to his wife revealing the situation and his angst. At the end, he cups his hands and flings them in the air releasing an imaginary pigeon producing a burst of light (David Lee Cuthbert, designer) and the sound of the bird circling to find direction and off (Tom Cavnar, designer). Larry Paulsen seethes in resentment of frustrated ambition as the puritan Lutheran Georg Balthasar Schott. Allen Gilmore gives the chameleon grifter Georg Lenck a fluid ingratiating likeability. Handsome, fresh faced and randy, Drew Foster as Johann Martin Steindorff is hilarious in the second act where he proves his character really would rather be a dancer than a musician. Foppish, gullible Georg Friedrich Kaufman (Paul Vincent O’Connor) seems mostly confused and a supremely confident , snotty Johann Christoph Graupner (Mike Ryan) refuses to play second fiddle. As the man to beat, The Greatest Organist in Germany, Sean Gorski says not a word, but exudes considerable presence as he strides regally through the scenes.
And what of Bach? Well, what of him? See the play!

Romeo & Juliet
It always impresses me, the bottomless invention of theatrical folk. To take a play that many us know, much of it by heart, and infuse it with the freshness of now and make it live once more in the present moment is a wonder. This is what director Kim Rubinstein and a confident cast of performers have accomplished in the new Shakespeare Santa Cruz production of Romeo and Juliet.
The Festival Glen, on the campus of UC Santa Cruz, is a nook in the woods, a hug of an amphitheatre with redwoods circling the bowl and towering above; a comfortable space provided one brings sufficient layers to ward off the chill coastal evening. The happy, lively opening night audience picnicking and toasting with beer and wine could see a stark set on an open stage. Roman arches and a single column call renaissance Italy to mind, but an incongruous spidery steel superstructure with stairs leading to a bridging platform sparks interest and a small platform with a colorful curtain wedged into the crook of a tree down right leads to speculation. That old tire leaning against the tree – it can’t have been left by accident. So… we won’t get a Zeffirelli-like recreation of 14th Century Verona, but something different.
We are not disappointed. To the sound of a mournful violin, a band of Gypsies bursts onstage hawking goods and creating chaos. Armed youths enter and the sexual groping of a gypsy girl sparks a mêlée. Gone are the archaic jokes and the biting of thumbs. It‘s action fast and immediate. Since all the male combatants are dressed like 1980s punksters à la Billy Idol, one can’t tell Capulet from Montague until the youths coalesce around their patriarchs. After the Prince commands the streets cleared, the Nurse (the fascinating Saundra McClain) and Friar Lawrence (Richard Farrell) sing the prologue sonnet. Ms. Rubinstein, like Branagh and Olivier, makes free with the text cutting lines and shifting scenes to speed the action and give new insight. Later, the director deftly intercuts the parallel scenes of Act III, when the lovers each learn of the Romeo’s banishment. The stage becomes like a cinematic split screen with Romeo and Friar Lawrence stage right and Juliet and the Nurse left.
A Romeo and Juliet lives or dies on the strength of its title characters. Our first glimpse of Juliet (Caitlin FitzGerald) presents a gangly, coltish soon to be 14-year old dancing though the woods with a pink boom box pressed to her ear. Bursting with adolescent exuberance, Ms. FitzGerald is one of the most delightful Juliets I have ever seen. She is fresh and natural and makes the transition from carefree teen to tragic wife with understated ease. As Romeo, Charles Pasternak hits all the right notes – lovesick, love struck, passionate, violent and desperate – on his journey to the Capulet crypt.
Unlooked for in a tragedy, this production has uncovered lots of madcap humor – genuine, organic comedy. Romeo’s crew (Ross Crain, Grayson DeJesus, and Adam Schroeder), lead by the free spirited, unrestrained Stephen Bel Davies as Mercutio, are often flat out hilarious.
Joining them as the voice of reason, Erik Hellman as Benvolio gives a fine thoughtful performance. He makes this pivotal character come wondrously to life. And Mick Mize as the servant Peter is a delight.
But, of course, the play is tragedy and much of the blame rests on Juliet’s tyrannical parents. John Pribyl makes a mercurial Lord Capulet in a powerful performance, doting and fond when at peace, snarling and vicious when crossed. Yvonne Woods as Lady Capulet is a chilling manipulator. In one scene she come on dressed in a tight black suit with her hair piled high on her head looking like Audrey Hepburn in a Breakfast at Tiffany’s. And Richard Ferrell as Friar Lawrence is convincingly wise and foolish, well meaning and, ultimately, cowardly.
Romeo and Juliet, Bach at Leipzig, All’s Well That Ends Well and Burn This continue in rotating rep through August 31.

Opening or Continuing in August
Back in 1975, a fascinating film came out called Grey Gardens. It was a documentary by the Maysles Brothers and showed the lives of Edith Bouvier Beale and he daughter Edie. If you recognize the name Bouvier, you would be correct in thinking they were related to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, wife of JFK. It seems the elder Mrs. Beale and her fiftyish daughter Edie were living in poverty and squalor in large summer mansion called Grey Gardens on the north shore of Long Island. All America wanted to know how such patrician family could fall so far.
In 2006, Grey Gardens opened as a Broadway musical with book by Doug Wright; lyrics by Michael Korie and music by Scott Frankel. The two-act musical opens at Grey Gardens in 1941 at the height of the Beale family fortunes. The house is in an uproar of preparations for a party announcing Edie’s engagement to young Joe Kennedy eldest of the Kennedy brothers. Those who read their history know that Joe was fated to go down with his bomber in World War II. The second act takes place in 1975 with the house under siege by the local health department and the media.
The action centers on Edith and Edie, with the same actress playing Edith Bouvier Beale in 1941 and Edie in 1975. It is a tour de force role, which won Christine Ebersole a Tony. In fact the show garnered ten Tony nominations and three winners, Ms. Ebersole for Best Actress in a Musical, Mary Louise Wilson for Best Featured actress in a Musical for her role as the elderly 1975 Edith and Peter Kaczorowski for Best Lighting.
Now TheatreWorks, one of the most respected and innovative theatres in the Bay Area or the country for that matter, presents the first post-Broadway production of Grey Gardens and the West Coast premiere of the work. Directed by Kent Nicholson, the show opens in previews on August 20 and runs through September 14 at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.
I am happy to tell you that I will be appearing in Grey Gardens in the dual roles of J. V. “Major” Bouvier (Patriarch of the Bouvier family) and, in the second act as Norman Vincent Peale (clergyman and author of The Power of Positive Thinking). I’ve studied the play and have been learning the music. It was quite a story in 1975 and it is a terrific show now.

And Don’t Forget…
La Carpa de Los Rasquachis at El Teatro Campesino through Sep 21… The Sound of Music August 1 – 23 and Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure August 15 – September 14 at The Western Stage …Pumpboys & The Dinettes August 21 – September 13 at Pintello Comedy Theater… and The Jungle Book at South Valley Civic Theatre August 29 – September 20.
For more information on these shows and more as well as auditions turn to OnStage.

	~An actor, director and writer, Paul has performed on and off Broadway, in regional theatres and as a guest artist in colleges and universities from coast to coast. He was seen this past March as Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha for the Diablo Light Opera in Walnut Creek. E-mail him at outabout@garlic.com