Reviews
By Trish Ostroski
(Tolucan Times)
Peter Kjenaas, a veteran director from the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, brings
some elegant Shakespeare to the
forefront with both “Romeo & Juliet” and
“The Taming of the Shrew” (see other
review below) currently rotating
performances at the El Portal Forum
Theatre in North Hollywood. This is a great
opportunity to see two of Shakespeare
classics.
“Romeo & Juliet” takes on a more
contemporary feel with primarily current
day costuming and even a tattooed
Romeo that brought the production to what
I felt was a more real level. Good choice. I
felt this even added more to its beauty and
appeal to a wider audience – especially a
young one.
Kjenaas’ experience and philosophy of
Shakespeare shines through as he takes
the primarily youthful cast to a strong level
of communication utilizing a rich
vocabulary but so effectively
communicated physically and verbally that
it diminishes the possibility of “loosing”
people who are not familiar with the Bard’s
writing and that period of time.
I am reminded from the program notes
that spoken language has taken a back
seat in our culture. Shakespeare used
40,000 words of vocabulary with ease
while today an average high school
student knows 10,000 and uses 1,200.
The flow and the timing are very good and
as this was the second performance I
saw, having seen “Taming of the Shrew”
the night before, I was impressed with the
versatility and energy of the cast some of
which were in both productions. Handling
a double dip of Bard might be a challenge,
but not to this talented crew. You should
take a double dip and see both
productions.
“Romeo & Juliet” stages on Friday, Sept.
16 and 30 and Sundays at 7:30 p.m., plus
a Saturday 2 p.m. matinee through Oct. 2.
Here is a rare opportunity for Saturday
matinee in the NoHo area. The El Portal
Forum Theatre is located at 5269
Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood.
Admission is $15. Call (818) 508-4200 or
visit www.elportaltheatre.com for more
information. Or for tickets, call (866) 811-
4111 or go to www.TheaterMania.com.
.
(Tolucan Times)
Peter Kjenaas, a veteran director from the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, brings
some elegant Shakespeare to the
forefront with both “Romeo & Juliet” and
“The Taming of the Shrew” (see other
review below) currently rotating
performances at the El Portal Forum
Theatre in North Hollywood. This is a great
opportunity to see two of Shakespeare
classics.
“Romeo & Juliet” takes on a more
contemporary feel with primarily current
day costuming and even a tattooed
Romeo that brought the production to what
I felt was a more real level. Good choice. I
felt this even added more to its beauty and
appeal to a wider audience – especially a
young one.
Kjenaas’ experience and philosophy of
Shakespeare shines through as he takes
the primarily youthful cast to a strong level
of communication utilizing a rich
vocabulary but so effectively
communicated physically and verbally that
it diminishes the possibility of “loosing”
people who are not familiar with the Bard’s
writing and that period of time.
I am reminded from the program notes
that spoken language has taken a back
seat in our culture. Shakespeare used
40,000 words of vocabulary with ease
while today an average high school
student knows 10,000 and uses 1,200.
The flow and the timing are very good and
as this was the second performance I
saw, having seen “Taming of the Shrew”
the night before, I was impressed with the
versatility and energy of the cast some of
which were in both productions. Handling
a double dip of Bard might be a challenge,
but not to this talented crew. You should
take a double dip and see both
productions.
“Romeo & Juliet” stages on Friday, Sept.
16 and 30 and Sundays at 7:30 p.m., plus
a Saturday 2 p.m. matinee through Oct. 2.
Here is a rare opportunity for Saturday
matinee in the NoHo area. The El Portal
Forum Theatre is located at 5269
Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood.
Admission is $15. Call (818) 508-4200 or
visit www.elportaltheatre.com for more
information. Or for tickets, call (866) 811-
4111 or go to www.TheaterMania.com.
.
PRAIRIE OSCAR
Photo by Dave Lepori
Touch the Sky: Randall King (left) holds
up "Wilde" sheriff (Joe Cole).
'Wilde West' tracks the famous
playwright to the American frontier
By Anne Gelhaus
Since it significantly rewrites history, the
premise of Wilde West requires a huge
suspension of disbelief on the part of
the audience. Charles Marowitz's script
warps time, circumstance and Jesse
James' sexuality with such broad
strokes that it strains credulity even for a
farce, but the San Jose Stage Company
never lets its production cross the line
into the ridiculous.
Director Peter Kjenaas keeps his
16-member cast tight and focused,
even though at least half the ensemble
is on stage at all times. The action is so
fast-paced and the laughs so
well-timed that the audience doesn't
really have the opportunity or the desire
to question the implausibility of the plot.
It's a character-driven play, anyway, with
Oscar Wilde (Howard Swain) at its
center. In 1882, Wilde toured America to
lecture on the Aesthetic Movement; the
tour also provided publicity for Gilbert
and Sullivan's Patience, a satire of the
movement featuring a character based
on Wilde.
The play places Wilde in a saloon in
Leadville, Colo., where one of his
lectures is interrupted by the rather
speedy trial of a member of the James
gang (Darren Bridgett). Wilde is smitten
by the young man's good looks and
immediately leaps to his defense,
getting him off by playing to the
townfolks' sense of divine justice.
Swain's dialogue is full of bon mots and
innuendoes, both of which he delivers
with a smirking civility that would have
surely made Wilde proud.
Marowitz's script never directly
addresses Wilde's homosexuality,
although even someone with no
background information about the writer
would be able to pick up on it through
his leering glances at Bridgett's Jody
May and the snide comments from the
peanut gallery. Bridgett, meanwhile,
nicely conveys his characters
uncertainty about the intentions of the
man who has saved him from the
noose.
Just when it looks like the pair might live
happily ever after, Jesse James
(Randall King) and Belle Starr (Lisa
Recker) ride into town to reclaim Jody
May. Starr has a rivalry going not only
with James (who "outguns" her in a
hilarious dual in which they face off over
who's gotten the most publicity) but with
Jody for James' affections, which the
outlaw expresses in a scene that
throws a major curve into the already
impossible plot.
Somehow, though, the Stage Company
makes this love quadrangle work and
keeps the audience believing in it
enough to laugh at it. This is no easy
task, especially remembering that Wilde
was jailed in Great Britain for the "crime"
of having a homosexual love affair.
Photo by Dave Lepori
Touch the Sky: Randall King (left) holds
up "Wilde" sheriff (Joe Cole).
'Wilde West' tracks the famous
playwright to the American frontier
By Anne Gelhaus
Since it significantly rewrites history, the
premise of Wilde West requires a huge
suspension of disbelief on the part of
the audience. Charles Marowitz's script
warps time, circumstance and Jesse
James' sexuality with such broad
strokes that it strains credulity even for a
farce, but the San Jose Stage Company
never lets its production cross the line
into the ridiculous.
Director Peter Kjenaas keeps his
16-member cast tight and focused,
even though at least half the ensemble
is on stage at all times. The action is so
fast-paced and the laughs so
well-timed that the audience doesn't
really have the opportunity or the desire
to question the implausibility of the plot.
It's a character-driven play, anyway, with
Oscar Wilde (Howard Swain) at its
center. In 1882, Wilde toured America to
lecture on the Aesthetic Movement; the
tour also provided publicity for Gilbert
and Sullivan's Patience, a satire of the
movement featuring a character based
on Wilde.
The play places Wilde in a saloon in
Leadville, Colo., where one of his
lectures is interrupted by the rather
speedy trial of a member of the James
gang (Darren Bridgett). Wilde is smitten
by the young man's good looks and
immediately leaps to his defense,
getting him off by playing to the
townfolks' sense of divine justice.
Swain's dialogue is full of bon mots and
innuendoes, both of which he delivers
with a smirking civility that would have
surely made Wilde proud.
Marowitz's script never directly
addresses Wilde's homosexuality,
although even someone with no
background information about the writer
would be able to pick up on it through
his leering glances at Bridgett's Jody
May and the snide comments from the
peanut gallery. Bridgett, meanwhile,
nicely conveys his characters
uncertainty about the intentions of the
man who has saved him from the
noose.
Just when it looks like the pair might live
happily ever after, Jesse James
(Randall King) and Belle Starr (Lisa
Recker) ride into town to reclaim Jody
May. Starr has a rivalry going not only
with James (who "outguns" her in a
hilarious dual in which they face off over
who's gotten the most publicity) but with
Jody for James' affections, which the
outlaw expresses in a scene that
throws a major curve into the already
impossible plot.
Somehow, though, the Stage Company
makes this love quadrangle work and
keeps the audience believing in it
enough to laugh at it. This is no easy
task, especially remembering that Wilde
was jailed in Great Britain for the "crime"
of having a homosexual love affair.
By Trish Ostroski
(Tolucan Times)
Peter Kjenaas strong direction shines
through in “The Taming of the Shrew” and
“Romeo and Juliet” (see other review above)
currently rotating performances at the El
Portal Forum Theatre in North Hollywood.
This marks the first ever Focus Central
Repertory Theater in what they plan to be an
annual event.
There is passion, heart and soul and lust
when appropriate and playfulness when
needed in this Shakespeare classic of
“Taming of the Shrew.”
The costuming is wonderfully elegant in the
“Shrew,” so much so that you would just like
to take an outfit home with you. The cast
does an effective job in play and in fighting
and other elements of physicality pulling it all
off reasonably smoothly. Here is a large cast
that truly is enjoying what they are doing and
part of what they accomplish is bringing
Shakespeare alive with clear tones and
precise enunciation that really inspires.
This is a great show to bring high school
students to as an introduction to live
Shakespeare as it comes across with the
richness of Shakespeare but a little more
down to earth.
The fact that this theatre is in the round
added to my enjoyment as it made it feel
more intimate for the audience and Kjenaas
has the actors using the stage very
effectively. The large troupe is versatile and
well cast.
“The Taming of the Shrew” plays on Friday,
Sept. 23 and every Saturday at 7:30 p.m. plus
a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. The El Portal
Forum theatre is located at 5269 Lankershim
Blvd. in North Hollywood. Admission is $15.
Call (818) 508-4200 or visit www.
elportaltheatre.com for more information. Or
for tickets, call (866) 811-4111 or go to www.
TheaterMania.com
(Tolucan Times)
Peter Kjenaas strong direction shines
through in “The Taming of the Shrew” and
“Romeo and Juliet” (see other review above)
currently rotating performances at the El
Portal Forum Theatre in North Hollywood.
This marks the first ever Focus Central
Repertory Theater in what they plan to be an
annual event.
There is passion, heart and soul and lust
when appropriate and playfulness when
needed in this Shakespeare classic of
“Taming of the Shrew.”
The costuming is wonderfully elegant in the
“Shrew,” so much so that you would just like
to take an outfit home with you. The cast
does an effective job in play and in fighting
and other elements of physicality pulling it all
off reasonably smoothly. Here is a large cast
that truly is enjoying what they are doing and
part of what they accomplish is bringing
Shakespeare alive with clear tones and
precise enunciation that really inspires.
This is a great show to bring high school
students to as an introduction to live
Shakespeare as it comes across with the
richness of Shakespeare but a little more
down to earth.
The fact that this theatre is in the round
added to my enjoyment as it made it feel
more intimate for the audience and Kjenaas
has the actors using the stage very
effectively. The large troupe is versatile and
well cast.
“The Taming of the Shrew” plays on Friday,
Sept. 23 and every Saturday at 7:30 p.m. plus
a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. The El Portal
Forum theatre is located at 5269 Lankershim
Blvd. in North Hollywood. Admission is $15.
Call (818) 508-4200 or visit www.
elportaltheatre.com for more information. Or
for tickets, call (866) 811-4111 or go to www.
TheaterMania.com
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