By Shari Barrett
A perfect way to welcome ROCKtober and celebrate the re-opening the Mark Taper Forum is now happening thanks to multi-awarding winning Center Theatre Group joining Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre to present a new production of Green Day’s legendary Tony and Grammy Award winning punk rock opera, American Idiot, featuring music by Green Day; lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong; and book by Billie Joe Armstrong & Michael Mayer. CTG Artistic Director Snehal Desai brilliantly makes his CTG directorial debut with the production, with choreography by Jennifer Weber and Colin Analco as the ASL choreographer, featuring an extraordinary ensemble of both Deaf and hearing actors performing simultaneously in American Sign Language and Spoken English.
The three leading roles are each played by two energetic performers – one who signs and one who speaks – with each duo giving tour-de-force performances shadowing each other in the roles. The three main characters include Johnny (ASL actor Daniel Durant with actor/singer Milo Manheim) who heads to New York to find fame and fortune, Will (ASL actor Otis Jones IV with actor/singer James Olivas) who marries his pregnant girlfriend and struggles to provide for them, and Tunny (ASL actor Landen Gonzales with actor/singer Brandy Fritz), who joins the military.
American Idiot, Green Day’s Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum album released in 2004, follows the exhilarating journey of a new generation of young Americans setting out to find their way in a world filled with fear and confusion. The subsequent Broadway musical featured the iconic album hits “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “21 Guns,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” “Holiday,” and the blockbuster title track, “American Idiot” from Green Day’s critically acclaimed 7th studio album. The show includes every song from the renowned record plus several songs from Green Day’s 2009 album, “21st Century Breakdown,” and a previously unreleased love song entitled, “When It’s Time” performed in AAL by Daniel Durant as Johnny with tall rocker Milo Manheim singing and playing guitar in the role.
The high-energy cast includes Steven-Adam Agdeppa, Will Branner, Jerusha Cavazos, Kaia T. Fitzgerald, Lark Detweiler (Dance Captain), Josué Martinez, Giovanni Maucere, Patrick Ortiz, Mason Alexander Park (who shines as St. Jimmy), Monika Peña, Mars Storm Rucker (fantastic belter as Whatsername in “Letterbomb”), Mia Sempertegui, Angel Theory, and Ali Fumiko Whitney as Will’s girlfriend Heather.
And for those, like me, who are not familiar with the songs, projections designed by David Murakami flash the lyrics on various parts of the dual level scenic design by Takeshi Kata. Music arrangements and orchestrations by Tom Kitt, are played continuously by a rocking on-stage band, under music supervisor and conductor David O. And I learned after seeing the extravagant production that it would have been better to read up on the story before seeing it as the new telling of the story can be a bit confusing due to the constant focus on singing and dancing rather than character development.
Other outstanding technical credits include costumes by Lena Sands, lighting by Karyn Lawrence, sound by Cricket S. Myers, with Wig, Hair, and Make-up Design by Shelia Dorn. This production of American Idiot is made possible in part by the David Lee Foundation.
Fans of other rock musicals Tommy, Hair, Rent, and Spring Awakening will certainly flock to see American Idiot during its run through November 16 at CTG’s Mark Taper Forum at the Music Center. Tickets are available through CenterTheatreGroup.org, Audience Services at (213) 628-2772 or in person at the Center Theatre Group Box Offices at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown LA 90012.
The world premiere of Jane Austen in 89 Minutes written and directed by Syrie James is a comedy in which a cast of madcap ladies and gents bring all six of Jane Austen’s beloved novels to comedic life, hosted by the author herself (portrayed to the hilt of cuteness by Katyana Rocker-Cook), who, along with the other actors, shares modern day zingers about Jane Austen’s fame, fandom, movies, and adapted TV series. The play takes place in a wrinkle in time, the present day intermingled with England’s Regency Era, 1811-1816, during which, at several points, Jane Austen reins in her characters when they run amok and try to take over the show. The cast includes talented actors Katyana Rocker-Cook, Holly Sidell, Michael Mullen, Shayna Gabrielle, Steven G. Frankenfield, Alison Blanchard, and Todd Andrew Ball. Megan Deford is the understudy.
I really enjoyed this production, laughing from start to finish as each of the actors changed characters more often than I could count by switching costume pieces (all from Syrie James personal collection), with a few coming onstage totally confused as to which character they were playing until reminded by Jane Austen to keep the action moving along. Just imagine following the plot of her six novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion) in such a short time, with story nightlights noted by the ringing of a bell, and you get the idea of the pace required.
And each of the talented ensemble were totally enjoying all the madness and fun, beginning with Katyana Rocker-Cook perfectly cast as Jane Austen, the only one in the cast to play only one role. She opens the play by introducing the concept, then the characters and basic storyline being portrayed in each of her six novels. She takes her role as circus ringmaster very seriously, keeping the actors in place, answering their questions about why the story was written that way, and sharing facts for reference. And all this is done with a huge amount of hilarity!
Holly Sidell takes on many of the lead “searching for love” Austen women with a perfect combination of over-the-top emotional depth and humor. In fact, the actors play all their parts in grand melodramatic fashion, waving their arms for dramatic effect, carrying on with costumes and props for laughs, while often speaking directly to the audience to remind us not to take anything too seriously. An example is when red-coated Todd Andrew Ball takes on roles of a pirate or ship’s captain, making sure to snarl in as many “arghs” as possible with a tip of his three-pointed hat to the audience.
Alison Blanchard takes on the role of every maiden aunt or mother in an Austen gothic novel, with her role as “the voice of reason” played to the comic hilt, often with a wink to the audience. Michael Mullen, who seems to be popping up on stages all over the city, as well as costuming more productions than it seems possible, expertly leads the cast with his outrageously funny physicality as many of Austen’s leading men, proposing to even more women than Steven G. Frankenfield, who portrays many more of the colorful Austen “man of your dreams” rioles. Shayna Gabrille, an Austenite in real life, takes on several of the fluff-headed, younger Austen women to a tee. She and Sidell really enjoy their banter to the comedic hilt.
A member of Writers Guild of America, Syrie James has written thirteen novels, including Jane Austen Made Me Do it, The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, and Jane Austen’s First Love. In her new compilation play, one thing each novel seems to have in common are a ball and a marriage proposal, no doubt a part of every gothic romance ever written. But Jane Austen allowed her women to be powerful and in charge of their own lives, a romantic dream, no doubt, given the timeframe in which the stories were written.
I hope all local fans of Jane Austen were able to make it to this cleverly written and superbly performed comedic production which ended on October 13 at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. For information and tickets to their future productions, including Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Mark Shanahan, visit http://theatre40.org
