Riveting ‘JQA’ at GAMM Theatre

October 1, 2019December 27, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Candice Brown, Helena Tafuri in Gamm Theatre’s ‘JQA’)

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The second show of GAMM Theatre’s 35th season is the New England premiere of “JQA” by Aaron Posner. “JQA” tells the story about the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams. It unfolds in nine separate scenes and although it is the history of the man, Posner makes it applicable to current events. And it is a brilliant and excellently written play. Riveting and electrifying, the play shows great depth and emotion and isn’t dry as dust as one would expect from historical plays. It also has some famous people who knew JQA in each of the scenes including his father, John Adams, President George Washington, his British born wife, Louisa, his mother, Abigail Adams, his Secretary of State Henry Clay, his successor, Andrew Jackson, abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Director Tony Estrella casts this show with four strong performers to play multiple roles including each of them playing JQA himself. The adage “Do good and be good is required of every man in power” is told to JQA by his mother on her deathbed. And that is the lesson that needed to be learned back in the 1800’s as it needs to be learned now. Honor and dignity are what leaders of nations need back then and especially nowadays, too.

A DOLL’S HOUSE PART 2 – Gamm Theatre

September 4, 2019September 21, 2019 michaelhoban1 Comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

GAMM’S 35th season opener is “A Doll’s House, Part 2” and what a wonderful opening show this is. Written by Lucas Hnath, it takes place 15 years after Nora leaves her husband and her three children in Henrik Ibsen’s 19th century drama “A Doll’s House.” The Ibsen show was also directed by Fred Sullivan at GAMM back in 2011. Nora is now a writer and returns to ask Torvald to help her out because a judge is demanding something from her. She arrives and meets with the nanny, Anne Marie, Torvald and her grown daughter Emmy. Nora has long conversations with all three of them at different times. Questions brought up include what would bring Nora back after 15 years and how would these three people receive her? Has she truly won her emancipation, what has it done to her pysche or does she need her family again? This show is about what would happen to Nora after we leave the 1879 “A Doll’s House” by Ibsen. Hnath’s show opened on Broadway back in 2017 and was nominated for 8 Tony Awards. Fred once again directs with a deft hand, eliciting strong performances from his four talented cast members.

TRUE WEST (GAMM Theatre)

April 15, 2019April 17, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Steve Kidd, Anthony Goes, Rae Mancini in Gamm’s ‘True West’

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

GAMM Theatre’s closing show of their 34th season in their new theatre in Warwick is “True West” by Sam Shepard. It was a 1983 Finalist for Pulitzer Prize. “True West” is about a young ambitious writer and his brother who is a drifter and petty thief who has been living in the desert and takes place in 1980 about 40 miles east of Los Angeles. The screenwriter, Austin meets his producer to discuss his script but Austin’s unscrupulous brother, Lee usurps the meeting and hijacks the producer into accepting his “script” about the West which hasn’t even been written yet. Sibling rivalries abound and a certain Cain and Abel dynamic occurs. Complications ensue during a long exposition and talky first act. The meat of this show is seen in the dynamics of Act 2 which eventually explodes in the pent up violence between the two brothers. The awesome fighting is choreographed by Normand Beauregard and leaves the audience mesmerized by it. Director Tony Estrella brings out the best in his four performers. The incredible set is by Michael McGarty and the marvelous mood lighting is by Jeff Adelberg.

Gamm’s “The Night Watch” an Emotional Detective Story

January 23, 2019January 23, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Gillian Gordon and Michael Liebhauser in “The Night Watch”)

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Gamm’s newest show is the U.S. premiere of “The Night Watch”, Hattie Naylor’s adaptation of Sarah Water’s bestselling novel. It is the poignant story of liberation and loss set against the disorienting backdrop of the Second World War. It’s bursting with secrets and illicit affairs, “The Night Watch” moves backward in time through the 1940’s into the frenzy of the Blitz. Like an emotional detective story, the play follows the intertwined history of five young Londoners as they unfold in surprising ways. Director Tony Estrella says “Waters has created a stunning feat of reverse engineering. Starting in 1947 amid the rubble-strewn aftermath of the war, her story and Naylor’s adaptation unfold between the German blitzes of 1944 and 1941. This story is a love story, a tale of resistance, and a powerful, welcome reminder of the need for decency and compassion in hard times. As a result the tale’s heartbreaking end shines ironically like a beacon of hope.” The war with its never ending night watches serves as a reminder of the morbidity that surrounds life and love. The show is divided into three acts and is a series of vignettes. Director Tony Estrella casts powerful performers in these roles with some of them playing dual roles. He makes them delve into these complex characters and gives each of them their moment to shine in this show. The most exhilarating scenes are the ambulance rescue scene with Kay as well as the house collapsing onstage burying one of the performers.

GAMM’s ‘GLORIA’ a Darkly Comic Look at the News

November 28, 2018November 29, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

GAMM’s second show of their 34th season is Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Gloria”, an alarming and bitingly funny drama by one of the most celebrated young playwrights in American theater. Jacobs-Jenkins’ scathing satire of the media and the public’s hunger for sensational news stories was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize. He “has established himself as one of the country’s most original and unsettling dramatists, said the New York Times. The cast of six performers play multiple roles as over-caffeinated, hyper-ambitious, backstabbing interns and assistants, and self-interested editors in the hierarchy of a Manhattan magazine. This comic drama follows this ruthless group of assistants vying for their bosses jobs and a book deal before they turn 30. When a mundane day turns into anything but, the stakes for who will get to tell their story becomes higher than ever. Director Rachel Walshe casts these roles splendidly and obtains nuanced performances from her talented cast. What a way for Gamm Theatre to continue a successful season in their brand new home!

Cast Shines in Thought Provoking NIGHT OF THE IGUANA at GAMM

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Gamm Theatre’s first show of their 34th season in their new theatre in Warwick is “Night of the Iguana” by Tennessee Williams which is based on his 1946 short story. He later developed it into a three act play. It is the darkly tragicomic 1961 show about humanity’s difficulty in hanging onto love, faith and grace, set on the brink of World War II when these things were sorely lacking which sounds a lot like things these days, too. The show is set in 1940 at a run down Costa Verde Hotel on the west coast of Mexico where the recently widowed Maxine Faulks sees a chance to hang onto her life and trade when an old pal from Texas visits her.