By Shari Barrett
Since 1997, I have been enthralled with the brilliantly staged modern ballets by Matthew Bourne, now firmly established as the UK’s most popular and successful choreographer and director. The nine-time Olivier Award winner is the only British director to have won the Tony Award for both Best Choreographer and Best Director of a Musical for his gender-bending Swan Lake. International acclaim for his groundbreaking, non-traditional theatrical dance productions with his company, New Adventures, continues in Los Angeles with Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet now onstage at the Ahmanson Theatre.
Filled with emotion-packed athletic performances by a rotating cast of 18 extraordinary dancers to Prokofiev’s pulsating score, this production pushes the boundaries of the world’s most tragic love story to new heights – set within Verona Institute, which appears to be a mental hospital for troubled youth in the vein of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. But here it’s the young patients who dress in flowing white costumes designed by Lez Brotherston (who also designed the very prison-like, dual level set), in stark contrast to the guard, Nurse, and parents in darker colors. It’s not a good vs. evil connotation as each character has both sides within them, especially the Nurse (Daisy Mae Kemp) who brings Romeo and Juliet together to enjoy their one romantic liaison before tragedy pulls them apart.
With each of the roles rotating between three dancers, be sure to note on the lobby board as to which cast members are performing when you attend. This review’s lead performers may not be the same dancers you see, but each will bring their own style to the roles, honoring Bourne’s directorial vision and choreography.
Bourne’s aim is not to simply re-tell a well-known story, but to put his own spin on the narrative that provokes the audience to think, feel, and consider the story in a new light. Opening with frenetic urgency as a new day begins for the cooped-up youth which includes a drug distribution line-up, we first meet Juliet (lithe and lovely Monique Jonas) as she attempts to fight off the lustful advances of a guard (ultra buff Alan Vincent). Her plight is seemingly ignored by the others until Romeo (lean and long-legged Paris Fitzpatrick) is dropped off by his parents. Soon others dance-torment him out of his Ivy League clothes into his new white uniform before he notices Juliet’s suffering across the room. Of course, that moment of recognition of a similar soul in need leads to their attraction blossoming into love amid the Institute’s harsh reality.
The two dancers taking on these roles are to be commended for not only their athletic ability to grab the audience’s attention with their beautifully flowing in-and-out of each other’s arms or strikingly robot-like angular moves, but also for their overwhelming acting ability to inhabit Romeo and Juliet to their emotionally-challenged cores as they struggle over all obstacles to be together. However, I did find it quite impossible to decipher which dancer was playing which character since no words were spoken identifying Tybalt (Adam Galbraith), Mercutio (Cameron Flynn), Balthasar (Jackson Fisch) or Benvolio (Euan Garrett) from each other as they danced as a team. But honesty, it did not matter since the brilliance of Bourne’s directing and choreography made it unnecessary to know who was who at first, and just be mesmerized by the overall artistic magnificence of the entire production.
Tickets range from $35-$155 for Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet, available through CenterTheatreGroup.org, Audience Services at (213) 972-4400 or in person at the Center Theatre Group Box Offices (at the Ahmanson Theatre) at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. 90012. Performances run Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. through February 25. And be prepared for a real eye and mind-opening experience!
While most of the world was interested in watching Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time or shocked by Marilyn Monroe marrying playwright Arthur Miller, on The Lower East Side of New York City in 1956, Marvin (Malcom Barrett), an art patron with a secret, meets Ted (James Urbaniak), an abstract painter with a secret. Soon you will find yourself entering their world of espionage, abstract expressionism, and egg creams in the world premiere of John Ross Bowie’s Cold War Thriller Brushstroke at the Odyssey Theatre, based on a story so crazy it must be (partially) true.
And who is that man in the park (Brendan Hines) waiting to meet with Marvin after he visits Ted in his art studio, and just what does he want to know? And who is Susan, the woman who drops by to keep Ted’s paint brushes clean? Is she a friend, lover, sister, painter, or spy? And for which side? And who is really working for whom?
Of course, I have been asked to “Keep It Classified” and not reveal what really is going on between these four characters. So, all I will tell you is that under the guidance of celebrated director Casey Stangl, you will be taken for a ride into a world filled with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing about who these four people really are as their worlds collide on Keith Mitchell’s evocative, paint-splattered set.
Produced by Jeremy Wein, Denise and Lon Bevers, and Futurehome, Brushstroke continues on Thursdays & Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m. through Sunday, March 3 at the Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. in Los Angeles. Tickets range from $25 – $55, available by calling the box office at (310) 477-2055 x2 or online at https://odysseytheatre.com/tickets/?eid=111850.
Rogue Machine Theatre kicks off their 2024 season with the West Coast Premiere of Middle of the World, a thought-provoking new play by Juan José Alfonso, centering on an unlikely encounter between two individuals sharing their life stories during an Uber ride, and their unexpected alliance that straddles two countries and two very different work cultures. Victoria (Cheryl Umaña) was an important person in Ecuador. Now broke, disgraced, and separated from her son, she is determined to get back home and regain what she has lost. But how is that even possible given the bridges she burned there? Glenn (Christian Telesmar) worked his way from low-income housing to the verge of closing the biggest deal of his impressive career in finance. But is it really business success that he’s chasing?
Just as Ecuador sits on the equator in the middle of the world, dividing it into two different hemispheres, sometimes we may find ourselves stuck in the middle while wanting to be in two places at once. But we cannot be and must choose a path to follow. But when the choice is made, it means giving something up – and just what are you willing to sacrifice for power, principles, or love? Such is the main question that comes into play on a night in New York City when Glenn steps into Victoria’s Uber, and the course of both their lives changes in an instant. Just think how little you know about the stranger into whose car you have stepped, and how that pay-to-ride could actually impact the rest of your life. As playwright Alfonso notes, “The genesis of this story struck as I was thinking about the intimacy that can often occur when people from radically different walks of life come together in a moving room while stuck in traffic.”
Directed by multi-award winner Guillermo Cienfuegos, Artistic Director at Rogue Machine, the cast also features Leandro Cano as Bob Gonzalez, an Ecuadorean politico trying to keep Victoria in her place; Jennifer Pollono as Victoria’s lawyer Barbara Blanchard who strives to get her back home; and Dan Lin as the stunningly driven financier Warren Lim, whose friendship with Glenn is put to the test when Glenn’s blossoming devotion to Victoria causes him to miss an important meeting with Warren, which in turn causes Warren to lose a $2 million dollar commission. Thus ends a long friendship over a choice made to be with a woman and forget a previous business commitment to someone else. Yes, choices may be easy at the time, but the ensuing negative ramifications may shock you – and then last a lifetime. Such is the case when Glenn and Victoria’s circular mating dance leads them into bed together, but in turn destroys many other parts of their lives.
Michelle Hanzelova-Bierbauer’s video projections morph the movable flats in Nico Hewitt’s set design to the many locations needed, from riding around the streets of New York City to a politician’s office in Ecuador. While some actors move set pieces into place, others in the next scene don a few new pieces of clothing designed by Christine Cover Ferro to denote their place in whichever time or locale we are being taken. Andrew Hungerford’s lighting design focuses attention exactly where it needs to be as emotional reactions intensify.
Middle of the World runs at 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3 p.m. Sundays through March 4, 2024 (dark February 12). Rogue Machine (in the Matrix Theatre) is located at 7657 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles 90046. Tickets are $45 for general seating (Seniors: $35; Students with ID; $25). Pay-What-You-Can: February 9, 16 ($15+), Feb. 23 ($20+). Run time is approximately 95 minutes (no intermission). Reservations and information at https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/ or by calling 855-585-5185.
