A Not-So "Wild Party"

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By Skip Sheffield

My mother used to say, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.”

And so I will choose my words very carefully. Outre Theatre Co. is the new kid in town, and a feisty one at that.

Outre’s inaugural production, “The Wild Party,” continues through Dec. 9 in the black box theater of Mizner Park Centre for the Arts (formerly Cartoon Museum).

“Wild Party” is a bold but curious choice for the Boca Raton audience. The work is a musical by Andrew Lippa based on a 1928 narrative poem by John Moncure March.

“Wild Party” was quite risqué in its day. It was duly “banned in Boston.”

Outre’s “Wild Party” has a huge and rather unwieldy 15-member cast, under the direction of Skye Whitcomb. It also has a large (9-piece) onstage band under the direction of Kristen Long to tackle Lippa’s challenging, not-very-hummable score.

As Whitcomb says in his director’s notes, “There are no heroes here. A cast of empty, hungry characters claw and bite for something, anything, to fill the void, while jazz, sex, betrayal and alcohol swirl around them.”

If this does not sound like much fun, then you get the picture.

If “Wild Party’ is supposed to be sexy and funny, the characters are so unlikable it is hard for it to be either. The main characters are Queenie (Sabrina Gore) and Burrs (Tom Anello), a vaudeville couple with an offstage relationship. It is a volatile relationship. You could say they are always at each other’s throats.

The hostilities escalate with the addition of two characters at the party of the title. Kate (Christina Groom) is a flapper who sets her sights on both Queenie and Burrs. Black (Mark Brown-Rodriguez) is a smooth-talking brown-eyed handsome man (with the best male voice) who picks up on Queenie’s revenge flirtations.

As the party wears on the characters sing about their messed up lives in rhyming couplets. One of the best things about “The Wild Party” is the dance numbers, choreographed by Michelle Petrucci and staged on Sean McClellend’s elegantly shabby set. A stand-out dancer is a little fireplug of a guy named Jackie (Ben Solomor), who gets his own solo number, “Jackie’s Last Dance.”

There is a grand finale of sorts, of which we will not detail. Suffice it to say the party is over. We are not likely to return.

We will return to see whatever else Outre Theatre has in the works. It is admirable the company is giving work to so many young and talented South Florida performers. We just wish the party could have been more fun.

For tickets, call 954-300-2149 or go to www.outretheatrecompany.com.

Human Conflict in "The Birds"

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By Skip Sheffield

Mosaic Theatre opens its 12th season with the Southeastern U.S. premiere of “The Birds,” running through Dec. 9 on the campus of Heritage School, 12200 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation.

This version of “The Birds” is adapted by Irish playwright Conor McPherson from the same original 1952 Daphne du Maurier short story that inspired Alfred Hitchcock to make his 1963 movie. The only real similarity between movie and play is that birds go berserk in both.

You will see no actual birds in the Mosaic production. Oh, you’ll hear them and see their shadowy silhouettes, but “The Birds” is about human beings, not birds.

The story unfolds with two strangers holed up in a cottage near the sea. Diane (Kim Cozort) is a successful writer whose conflicts with an estranged daughter have interfered with her creative process. Temperamental Nat (Kenneth Kay) is a divorced guy who has just endured a breakup with his latest girlfriend. She claimed he had mental problems and tried to have him committed. Nat has fallen ill with a fever and has just awakened from a two-day sleep.

Diane and Nat have made the observation that flocks of birds attack at high tide and retreat when the tide falls. That gives them a few safe hours to forage for supplies until they have to barricade themselves again.

A young woman knocks at the front door seeking refuge. Julia (Vera Varlamov) has been staying with a group of people who have become violent. One of them hit her on the head with a school bell, causing a wound that Diane treats. Julia offers to do chores in exchange for refuge. This is a bit of a joke, because Julia is kind of a slob.

The introduction of the younger woman creates a sexual tension among the three. Kim Cozort and Kenneth Kay are married in real life and their relationship compliments their characters. Diane is attracted to Nat and threatened by Julia.

Russian-born Vera Varlamov is a sensational addition to the South Florida theater scene. Though Diane rightly points out Julia is younger than Diane’s daughter, that doesn’t stop sexy Julia from openly flirting with Nat.

In the course of just 85 minutes with no intermission, secrets are divulged about all three characters. The most complex character of the lot is Diane. It is a treat to see Kim Cozort digging in to a personality with so many contradictions. An avowed atheist, Diane clashes with Julia, who wears a cross and quotes scripture.

I like it when I see a play that prompts me to go to the Bible and look up a quotation. Julia didn’t give the precise chapter and verse but I found she quoted Ecclesiastes 7:26, which states, “I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains.”

Whew! Yes, there are snares, traps and bitterness in “The Birds,” all played out on a fabulous set by Douglas Grinn, with spooky, portentous lighting by Suzanne M. Jones and chilling, evocative sound design by Matt Corey.

Mosaic Theatre is way out west on Broward Boulevard, nor far from Sawgrass Mills. Because of this I haven’t ventured out there before. I say for the record it is well worth the trip.

Tickets are $40 adults, $36 65 and up and $15 students under 25. Call 954-577-8243.

Guardians of Childhood Fantasy

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Do You Believe in the Easter Bunny?

By Skip Sheffield

Did you believe in the Easter Bunny? How about Santa Claus, the Sand Man and the Tooth Fairy?

All these childhood characters and a few more appear in Dreamworks’ CG-animated “Rise of the Guardians.”

I was a pretty skeptical kid. It didn’t help when I saw my dad putting presents under the Christmas tree late at night when I was 5.

I told my mother what I saw, and she said don’t tell your brothers or sister.

I did not. That is pretty much the premise of “Guardians.” Those childhood characters are symbols of hope, imagination and love. They should be preserved, not trashed.

The characters are inspired by William Joyce’s childhood “Guardians of Childhood” series, with a big-name cast voicing the roles.

Jack Frost, of “nipping at your front door” fame, is the main character in this fable. Chris Pine does his voice. Jack is a carefree dude but he would like some respect. Nobody believes in him- nobody this is except the other make-believe characters of Santa Claus, known as North here (Alec Baldwin); the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), and the dreamy Sand Man and Tinkerbelle, who are voiceless.

An evil celestial spirit called Pitch (Jude Law), who is known as the Boogie Man on Earth, is a spoilsport who wants to dash the dreams and hopes of children everywhere.

My expectations were quite low for “Guardians,” but it is more entertaining and action-packed than I expected, under the direction of Peter Ramsey. Perhaps Ramsey is atoning for the darkness of “Fight Club,” which he` also helmed, as well as the “Men in Black” movies.

As one who believes in the power of imagination I am sympathetic with the secular alternate universe this movie creates in glowing 3-D. Anything that promotes “Wonder, hope and dreams” can’t be all bad.

A Good-Looking but Uneccessary "Red Dawn"

On the other hand we have the paranoid fantasies of “Red Dawn,” a remake of the 1994 film that imagined a ground attack on America’s heartland by Soviet Russia.

Since the U.S.S.R. has been fragmented and Russia is now considered an ally by most, it would not do very well to cast them as villain in 2012. Instead we have the handy Red Menace of the North Koreans, who are considered crazy Black Hats by just about everyone.

Director Dan Bradley has cast for good looks in a far-fetched tale that has a group of feisty teenagers saving the entire USA with sheer pluck and improvised weaponry from their outpost in Spokane, Washington. Playing the adult role of U.S. Marine Jed Eckert is firm-jawed Chris Hemsworth. The combat kids include Josh Hutcherson, Josh Peck, Adrianne Palicki and Isabel Lucas. Playing the bad guys are Will Yun Lee as Capt. Lo and Kenneth Choi as Smith.

If you crave action, explosions, gunfire and all manner of cartoon violence, you may be amused by a fascist fantasy that is even less believable today than it was 18 years ago.

A Mentally Ill Comedy

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“Silver Linings Playbook” is about a handicap not of the body but of the mind.

Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) has just been released after eight months in a psychiatric facility. A high school English teacher, his melt down has cost him his job, his wife Nikki (Brea Bee) and his house. Pat is picked up by his ever-loving mother Dolores (Jackie Weaver), who takes him back to the Philadelphia home he grew up in.

His father Pat Sr. (Robert Di Niro) isn’t thrilled, but he tries to give his oddball son some space. Pat Jr. went through some kind of 12-step program called Excelsior and now he is a fitness addict, jogging around the neighborhood with his upper torso wrapped in a black plastic garbage bag.

On one of his jogs Pat encounters Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a girl with problems of her own. Tiffany is also recently single (her husband died) and down in the dumps. She is mutually acquainted with Pat’s ex-wife, and when Pat asks her to deliver a letter to Nikki (she has a restraining order against Pat), Tiffany agrees.

In return for that favor, Pat agrees to take a stab at Tiffany’s request for him to be her dance partner in a local competition.

Writer-director David O. Russell (“The Fighter”) has thrown a little of everything into this feel-good comedy. Pat’s family are rabid fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. If you are a partisan, you will love that.

Jennifer Lawrence made her spectacular screen debut at age 19 in “Winter’s Bone” with John Hawkes. Lawrence has an irresistible, vulnerable, yet scrappy appeal that serves her character well.

Bradley Cooper is enormously earnest and naïve as Pat, and therefore quite funny. Di Niro has relaxed a bit as the apoplectic pop, and Jacki Weaver makes the perfect mother lioness. Emotional illness is nothing to laugh at, but “Silver Linings” makes recovery most entertaining.

A Sensitive Look at Surrogate Sex

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“The Sessions” a Most Unusual Film

By Skip Sheffield

“The Sessions” is a most unusual film. Before I go any further let me add that I think it has Oscar-worthy performances by stars John Hawkes and Helen Hunt and co-star William H. Macy as well as writer-director Ben Lewin.

What makes “The Sessions” so unusual is that it is about surrogate sex, yet it is not really about the act of sex. It is about friendship, love and redemption. Oh, and it is based on the true story of poet Mark O’Brien, who was confined to an iron lung for most of his life due to the destructive effects of polio he contracted at age 6.

The amazing John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone”) plays Mark O’Brien. Though Mark is in an iron lung he can still write, using a pencil clenched between his teeth. Mark requires constant care, but he does get out of his iron lung and his house, thanks to his helpers. A devout Catholic, the Berkeley, California resident regularly goes to confessional with his parish priest, Father Brendan (William H. Macy).

Father Brendan is as an unusual a priest as Mark O’Brien is a polio survivor. There is nothing Mark can’t tell Father Brendan. When he tells him he longs to experience sexual union with a woman, and is thinking of hiring a sexual surrogate, Father Brendan understands and gives his blessing.

Cheryl Cohen Greene (Helen Hunt) is the woman Mark hires. She lays down strict rules. There will be no more than six sessions; no socializing other than the therapy, and perish the thought of becoming emotionally involved. Cheryl is married and her husband knows what she does, but there are limits.

Cheryl is infinitely patient with Mark, who though a paraplegic, can achieve erection and orgasm.

Director Lewin, a polio survivor himself, uses a light touch in the awkward, tentative sexual encounters. “The Sessions” is actually quite funny at times. Fumbling sex is after all, pretty funny.

John Hawkes went to great lengths to approximate the shriveled, twisted physique of his character. Helen Hunt is warm and completely selfless as Cheryl, and dignified even when she bares all. Helen Hunt is 49 and beautiful, both in face and body, but it is her love and understanding that moves the viewer. This is the best performance of her career.

“The Sessions” is sad too. Losing his virginity at age 38 gave Mark more self-confidence and desire to have a relationship with an ordinary woman. Perhaps because of this he defied odds by living until age 49. Granted it was a short life, but “The Sessions” dramatically proves life can be fulfilling even under the harshest of handicaps,

Catch "Catch Me If You Can" While You Can

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By Skip Sheffield

“Catch Me If You Can” ran for less than a year on Broadway in 2011. It runs only five days through Nov. 18 at Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, but it is certainly worth a look.

Librettist Terrence McNally and songwriters March Shaiman and Scott Wittman adopted the hit 2002 movie starring Leonardo Di Caprio as a charming, very young con man into a stage musical, much the same as Shaiman did with “Hairspray.”

Unlike “Hairspray,” which was based on a campy, spoofy John Waters movie, “Catch Me If You Can” is rooted in the real story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., who wrote of his exploits in a 1980 autobiography.

Frank Jr. is played by Stephen Anthony, a 22-year-old Miami native who looks even younger than his years. This is good, because his character is only 16 when the story begins in New Rochelle, New York in 1963.

This is a time when color television was new and a real big deal. “Live in Living Color” is the opening number, and it sets the rainbow-hued 1960s vibe of the songs and sets to follow.

Frank Jr. is an extraordinarily bright student who is told by his proud father, Frank Sr. (Dominic Fortuna) that he can do anything.

Frank Jr. takes this all too literally when he is mistaken for a substitute French teacher simply because he is wearing a formal jacket (“The Pin Stripes Are All They See”).

This is an easy stretch because his mother Paula (Caitlin Maloney) was born in France and met his father during the war.

 All is not good between mom and dad. He is always living beyond his means and his business is failing. When Paula leaves, Frank Jr. decides to strike out too.

Frank Jr. is a born con man who finds it surprisingly easy to forge checks, ID cards and entire histories. So begins an adventure where Frank Jr. impersonates a Pan Am co-pilot, a doctor who is head of ER at an Atlanta hospital, and a Louisiana lawyer.

During his impersonation of a doctor, Frank becomes smitten with nurse Brenda (Aubrey Mae Davis), a Louisiana girl who ran out of a wedding she did not want.

During all his shenanigans Frank Jr. is doggedly pursued by FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Merritt David Janes), a lonely man who is fooled so many times he develops a grudging admiration for his young quarry.

“Catch Me If You Can” is strikingly staged in LED neon bright colors with a full orchestra on a sloping rising with drummer concealed beneath. Director Jack O’Brien and choreographer Jerry Mitchell were both on the creative team of “Hairspray,” and the influence shows.

Stephen Anthony has the requisite soaring tenor to pull off his ingenious rascal, and he is quite convincing with the tiny, lovely Aubrey Mae Davis. Ms. Davis is given the score’s best power ballad, “Fly, Fly Away,” and she soars with it.

Leggy chorus girls, limber male dancers, colorful costumes and sparkling scenery, “Catch Me if You Can” has all the elements of a good spectacle. It’s a bit too much at nearly three hours, but you will be entertained.

Tickets start at $25. Call 800-572-8471 or go to www.kravis.org.

“Sabre Dance!,” Baroque Music at FAU

The Music Department of Florida Atlantic University presents “Sabre Dance!,” Armenian, Austrian and German Masterworks in concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17 in the University Theatre. Featured with the University Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Laura Joella is classical guitarist Ken Keaton. There is a suggested $10 donation at the door.

At 3 p.m. Sunday in the FAU Theatre is “Music of Sensitivity:” Music of the Baroque Period with FAU Chamber Soloists, directed by Leonid Treer. Works include Bach, Handel, Locatelli and more. A $10 donation is suggested.

Explore “The World of Downton Abbey” at Spanish River Library

Like “The World of Downton Abbey?” Leecy Barnett of the FAU Library will speak on the British aristocracy, social classes, World War I, the influenza epidemic and other aspects of the era dramatized in the Popular PBS series. The talk is at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18 at Spanish River Library. Admission is free.

An Uncanny Lincoln Portrait

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By Skip Sheffield

“Uncanny.”

That is my one-word description of “Lincoln,” Steven Spielberg’s tribute to America’s embattled 16^th President as portrayed by British actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book with screenplay by Tony Kusher, “Lincoln” centers on the last four months of Abraham Lincoln’s life, as he waged an emotional battle to pass the 13^th Amendment, banning slavery in the USA as the Civil War raged on.

Two-time Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis bears an uncanny resemblance to tall, thin, you could say gaunt and haunted, Abraham Lincoln.

“I am keenly aware of my aloneness” muses Lincoln after the Battle of Gettysburg.

It is hard for us to imagine how passionate and contentious the fight over slavery was. It did in fact divide the nation and lead to the War Between the States. Lincoln was the man at the helm through the whole murderous struggle. Through his performance, Day-Lewis shows us the courage, perseverance and political brilliance of one of America’s strongest Presidents in history.

Lincoln did not do it alone. At his side was his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, beautifully portrayed by Sally Field. Mary provided Abraham his conscience and compassion. Like her husband she was tough and sometimes stubborn, having endured the unbearable loss of a son.

One of Lincoln’s strongest allies and close friend was Secretary of State William Seward, played with strength and dignity by David Strathairn.

Tommy Lee Jones provides whimsical comic relief as fiery abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, wearing a ridiculous wig his character even comments upon.

“Lincoln’ has an epic scale to it, and it does not spare the violence and carnage of the Civil War. It does underline the moral courage required of Lincoln, even though he was forced to bend the rules and even resort to bribery to achieve his end.

It is highly ironic that in Lincoln’s time the Republican Party was the liberal, even radical party and the Democrats were the state’s rights, bible-thumping conservatives. How things have changed.