Hollywood Who Done It

Vanessa Postil as Miss Tenor and Gabe Hacker as Eli James

The comical murder mystery Hollywood Who Done It is the brainchild of Dennis Rolly, producer, with script by Christian Doyle and direction by Tim Samland, with a large helping of the crème de la crème of Olympia theater folk who have come together to help Pellegrino’s Italian Restaurant in Tumwater celebrate its 10^th anniversary. It’s the first of what will hopefully be many dinner theater events there.

Rob Taylor as Hamilton

We arrived a little before 6 p.m. on opening night and were escorted to our table where before-dinner drinks were served (wine with dinner is included but before-dinner drinks are extra). Patrons had a choice of chicken, beef or vegetarian dinners. We had the eggplant parmesan with potatoes and asparagus, nicely prepared with good sized portions and a nice bottle of red wine. 

The Black Hills High School Jazz Combo entertained before the show and during dinner.

Robert McConkey as Kent Ryder, photos by Michael Christopher

The play begins at 8 p.m. It is not a great play, but it is a good play, a farcical mystery with a lot of slapstick comedy — I do wish the slapstick could be played up even more. Hollywood Who Done It is skillfully shepherded by  Samland, and performed by a troupe of pros. Somebody is killed of course, and there are a couple of private eyes on the case, and a couple of bumbling police detectives, and it takes place in a hotel where a lot of eccentric Hollywood types hang out. It’s presented as a bedtime story read to a pair of kids (played by Ingrid Goebel and Tim Goebel). The kids’ aunt (Pug Bujeaud) is the storyteller. Bujeaud also doubles as Professor Holiday, who helps solve the crime, or I should say helps muddy the water. Her quick costume and persona changes are so seamless as to be almost unnoticeable and even though it is neither a realistic nor a serious play, she is quite believable in both roles.

Most outstanding in their comic acting are Michael Christopher and Heather Christopher. Michael as the arrogant “best detective in the world” is hilarious in the campiest role I’ve ever seen him do. I love his walk and his mannerisms, which he has to tone down when he ends up duct-taped to a chair for long stretches of time. Heather does not have many speaking lines but her stage presence is wonderful. With her blonde pageboy, black leather jacket and hot pink tight pants, all she has to do is step on stage to make the audience break out in laughter. (If you saw her as Pink in Reservoir Dogs just imagine that role slightly tweaked for comic effect.)

Guy Taylor Simpson, III and George Dougherty are perfectly cast as the quintessential funny detective duo — think Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon or Laurel and Hardy as quarrelsome police inspectors. 

Wendy Hendrickson and Rae Simpson are great in supporting roles as a pair of dingbat bell hops. I love their costumes. 

Tom Sanders as Allen Hardcastle also spends a lot of time duct-taped to a chair as well as a lot of time lurking throughout the audience, and Robert McConkey, back in Olympia after a two-year absence, is delightful as Kent Ryder. And Rolly does a nice job as the worried hotel manager.

There is a lot of physical comedy, perhaps the most impressive of which is when Rob Taylor as Hamilton walks backwards from one end of the long room to another — a feat that can’t be adequately described but must be seen (and to tell you why he does that would constitute a spoiler).

There were minimal problems opening night. The emcee, Jeff Hirschberg, promised some kind of audience participation between dinner and show, which never happened — possibly to the relief of everyone in the audience, and there were a few sound problems because there were no microphones and in some scenes actors were a great distance from parts of the audience. During the whole opening scene, for instance, when the Goebels chased each other ’round and ’round with sponge bats, I could barely make out a word they were saying, but after that they were much easier to hear.

A tremendous amount of work went into staging the evening. The entire cast and crew deserves congratulations.

Remaining shows are Sept. 6, 7, 13 and 14 with dinner at 6 p.m. and show at 8 p.m. and
Sunday, Sept. 8 with dinner at noon and show at 2 p.m. at Pellegrino's Event Center 5757 Littlerock Rd. SW Tumwater. $75 ticket for dinner and the play. For more information contact jennifer@pelligrinoscatering.com.

The 7th Annual Lord Franzannian's Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show!

BigShowCity Performing Arts Organization presents the 7th annual Lord Franzannian Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show! Hosted by storyteller Elizabeth Lord. Working in the tradition of vaudeville shows from the early part of the 20th century, this fast-paced variety show promises a little something for everyone. Dance, music, comedy, storytelling, burlesque, juggling, even feats of amazement!

Proceeds benefit working performers, and BigShowCity, a non-profit Performing Arts Organization whose mission is to help burgeoning artists realize their ambitions by providing financial and emotional support.

Special performance added for an ALL AGES audience * on September 29 at 4 pm!
Two shows on Saturday night!

When: September 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29*, 2013

Time: Friday September 20 @ 8:00 pm
Saturday September 21 @ 8:00 pm & 10:00 pm
Sunday September 23 @ 8:00 pm
Friday September 27 @ 8:00 pm
Saturday September 28 @ 8:00 pm & 10:00 pm
Sunday September 29 @ 4:00 pm*
(Total of 8 performances)

Ticket Price: $15-$25 at the door (however, no one will be turned away at the door for lack of funds).
Special Youth Ticket Price: *Matinee on September 29: Under 15 yr old $7.00

Tickets available at door night of show,
or to reserve a seat buy a ticket online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/456351

Where: The Midnight Sun Performance Space 113 N. Columbia Street in downtown Olympia, WA.

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress

Devin Rodger as Mindy

The News Tribune, Aug. 30, 2013

 

Now playing at Harlequin Productions is the Alan Ball comedy Five Women Wearing the Same Dress.  Known for dark and sophisticated comedies such as the film American Beauty and the HBO series “Six Feet Under” and “True Blood,” Ball has given us lighter fare with Five Woman. But there are moments of darkness and high seriousness scattered throughout this light romantic comedy. There is talk of abortion and there are graphic discussions of sex; fundamentalist Christians are condemned, and the F-bomb frequently explodes.

 

Set during a wedding reception in the Southern city of Knoxville, Tenn., it could be any suburban setting, as these Southern belles are quite metropolitan, sophisticated and definitely unconventional. 

Five bridesmaids try to escape the tedium of a wedding reception by hiding out in the bedroom of Meredith (Maggie Lofquist), the bride's sarcastic, pot-smoking younger sister. As they come and go, get drunk, and talk to each other, their many loves, hurts and foibles are exposed.

Georgeanne (Lorrie Fargo) may be the most jaded of the five, and the drunkest. Being in a wedding is painful for her because her own marriage is on the rocks, and this doubly painful wedding reminds her that she once aborted a child fathered by the groom.

Trisha (Laura Hanson) admits, rather casually, to having slept with close to a hundred men. She’s funny, down-to-earth and compassionate.

Frances (Korja Giles) is the youngest of the bridesmaids. She is innocent, naive, and a fundamentalist Christian who is saving herself for marriage. The other women poke fun at her until the teasing erupts into a bitter squabble about religion. Mindy (Devin Rodger), is the groom’s wisecracking lesbian sister who may be the most feminine of the five women, having gone to charm school and been in beauty pageants — her take-off on a beauty pageant contestant is one of the funniest bits in the play.

Ball’s writing is witty, and all five of the women actors are outstanding. They inhabit their characters naturally. There is also one male actor, Bruce Haasl, who appears in only one brief scene near the end, but he is entertaining as the womanizer Tripp, who proves some hidden depth to his character.

Although written in 1993, Harlequin has updated the play to include references to contemporary news events such as the killing of Travon Martin. Meredith has a poster on her wall with Travon’s picture, and she is berated for being an armchair activist, spouting radical causes but not willing to get out on the streets in demonstrations.

Kudos to Aaron Lamb for a commendable job in his directing debut.

Coming up: reviews of Hollywood Who Done It at Pelligrino's Event Center and Last of the Red Hot Lovers at Olympia Little Theatre.

WHAT: Five Women Wearing the Same Dress

WHEN: Thursdays through Saturdays, 8p.m., Sundays 2 p.m. through Sept. 8

WHERE: State Theater, 202 E. 4^th Ave., Olympia

TICKETS: $32, $28 seniors and military, $20 students, discounted rush tickets a half-hour prior to curtain

INFORMATION: 360-786-0151; http://www.harlequinproductions.org/

Freedom Players

Christian Carvajal

Dennis Rolly

Heather Christopher

Jennie Jenks

Michael Christopher

Pug Bujeaud

Readers of this blog have surely already seen the announcements on the “Freedom Players” reading of The Freedom Trilogy at the Olympia Library on Sept. 12. But just in case you missed it, here it is again.

The trilogy comprises my novels The Backside of Nowhere and Return to Freedom, and the third book, a work in progress called Visual Liberties. I have adapted scenes from each of the three books for a stage reading that, combined, will be like a one act play that runs approximately half an hour.

The Backside of Nowhere is the story of movie star David Lawrence who comes back home to Freedom, Return to Freedom follows up with some of the same characters three years later and focuses on Malcolm Ashton and Sonny Staples, teenage hoodlums in the first book now all grown up. Sonny is a born-again preacher with an eye for teenage girls, especially Malcolm’s daughter Molly. The third book, Visual Liberties, follows Molly as she goes to college and gets involved with her art teacher, Darren Strong, and a fellow student, Francis Gossing.

Mississippi and ends up trapped in the old family home during a hurricane with his dying father, the county sheriff (who is a lifelong enemy) and his former high school sweetheart.
Reading various parts will be some of the best actors in Olympia. Here’s a scene-by-scene breakdown of who is doing which parts:

Dennis Rolly will be the narrator and will play Freight Train Taylor and Malcolm Ashton in the first scene only.

Scene 1 – from The Backside of Nowhere

Christian Carvajal – David

Michael Christopher – Pop and Sonny

Heather Christopher – Shelly

Jennie Jenks – Sue Ellen

Pug Bujeaud- Deputy.

Scene 2 – from Return to Freedom

Michael Christopher – Malcolm

Heather Christopher – Bitsey

Jennie Jenks – Beulah

Pug Bujeaud – Marcia

Christian Carvajal – James

Scene 3 – from Visual Liberties

Pug Bujeaud – Molly

Heather Christopher – Girl 1

Jennie Jenks – Girl 2

Christian Carvjal – Frances

Michael Christopher – Darren.

The reading starts promptly at 7:30 p.m. There will be a question-and-answer period after and book signing. It takes place at the downtown Olympia public library.

Spinning vinyl at B2 Gallery

The American Vinyl Exhibition at B2

The Weekly Volcano, Aug. 29,2013

"Face of the Blues - John Lee Hooker,2013" acrylic on illustration board by William Walts

Musical performances during openings at B2 Fine Art Gallery are nothing new, but the gallery is branching out into music in a big way with the first of a two-part series of art celebrating music. SPIN 1: American Vinyl Exhibition is the first of two shows with portraits of musicians in photography and paint augmented with vinyl records to buy, sell and trade; gallery talks and musical performances throughout the duration of the exhibition. This first show focuses on gospel, blues, country and folk, and includes art and photography celebrating giants of music from Woody Gutherie and Robert Johnson to Dylan. SPIN II will follow in the summer or 2014 covering, jazz, rock and contemporary musical genres.

The featured artworks consist mostly of portraits of musicians and include giclée prints from acrylic paintings by William Walts, watercolors and acrylics by David Lloyd Glover, photos by Robert Marovich and Jeff Jaisun, and paintings by Randy Leo Frechette.

From Walts are prints from paintings of Johnny winters, Bob Dylan, Janice Joplin, B.B. King and others. Particularly strong are his paintings of Warren Haynes and of John Lee Hooker.

Glover provides watercolors of Muddy Waters and Sam Lightning Hopkins and an acrylic of the legendary Robert Johnson.

The show is important more as a documentary or archive of musical history and memorabilia than as fine art. Most of the work has a commercial or illustrational quality. As interesting as the artworks are, the music is even more interesting, as gallery owners Gary and Deborah Boone play vintage vinyl recordings throughout the show. Plus there are videos featuring blues legends and museum-like displays of old record players, and stacks and stacks of album covers visitors can thumb through just as in a record store. In fact, they have in many ways turned the gallery into a music store. And guess what? There is vinyl inside the covers, and they will play them for you, and they’re for sale.

One of the most memorable pieces in the show is a photo of Dr. John that was in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and is marred by water damage from the hurricane.

Also shown are abstract paintings by Judy Hentz Cox. They are excellent paintings unrelated to the themes of the show.

Musical performances in the gallery in conjunction with this show include a gospel extravaganza Sept. 20 and a country and folk hoedown Oct. 4. Both shows begin at 8 p.m. There is a $10 cover.

[B2 Fine Art Gallery, SPIN 1: American Vinyl Exhibition, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, till 8 p.m. Third Thursdays, through Oct. 5, 711 St. Helens Avenue, Tacoma, 253.238.5065]