THE COUNTRY HOUSE (The Players, Barker Playhouse)

January 1, 2020February 1, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The Players third show of their 111th season is “The Country House” by Donald Margulies. There is a family gathering at the Patterson home in the Berkshires during the Williamstown summer theatre season. Matriarch Anna, who is a star of stage and screen, invites her protege, Michael, a younger man who is now a famous TV star, to stay at her home. She also has family members visit, including Walter, her son in law who is a famous teen picture movie director and his new girlfriend Nell whom had a flirtation with Anna’s son, Elliot 11 years earlier. And they are still mourning Anna’s daughter, Kathy, who was married to Walter and passed away a year ago from cancer at the age of 41. Their daughter, Susie, a senior at Yale, clad in black for the first act, is still mourning her mother. This group of people wrestle with fame, their art and each other. However, all good intentions go awry during their weekend sojourn when arguments break out and secrets are spilled. These happenings threaten the very fabric of the family with memories of the past mingling with new love as well as discarded dreams. Director Alan Hawkridge elicits strong performances from his six talented cast members. They move the audience to laughter and tears with familiar struggles all families face. “Did mother spend more time doting on you or your sibling?” and “ Were you talented enough to make it in show business?” are a couple of the questions asked in this well written play. The show starts off like a comedy about eccentric family members but turns into a dramatic, gut wrenching finale where even the hardest heart in the audience dissolves into tears.

THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (The Players, Barker Playhouse, Providence, RI)

May 12, 2017May 12, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The Players last show of their 109th season is “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, the musical mystery by Rupert Holmes based on Charles Dickens unfinished novel. It gives the audience a chance to solve the mystery because author Charles Dickens passed away before he could finish the novel. He suffered a fatal stroke on June 8, 1870 and died the next day after finishing Chapter 22 of the novel. The show opened on Broadway on December 2, 1985 and ran for 603 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards for Rupert Holmes. This musical will remind you of “My Fair Lady”, “Sweeney Todd” and “Phantom of the Opera” with its score. In Holmes version the audience decides the ending to the show, who killed Drood or is Drood really dead? “Drood” is a play within a play about an acting troupe from the Music Hall Royale. The darker side of the plot involves the “disappearance” of a young architect, Edwin Drood after a Christmas Eve night of festivities. He has been promised to Rosa Bud, a voice student of his obsessed uncle, John Jasper. The audience meets several unsavory characters during the proceedings. The energetic and talented cast under the direction of Joan Dillenback and musical direction of Joe Carvalho as well as the incredible and dynamic choreography of Michael Maio win appreciative and thunderous applause at the close of the show. You must also try to solve the whodunnit aspect of this musical with a clever twist.

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (The Players, Barker Playhouse)

January 27, 2017January 27, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The third show of The Players’ 109th season is the comedy “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” by Christopher Durang. Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia live a quiet life in the Pennsylvania farmhouse where they grew up. However their peace is disturbed when their movie star sister Masha returns unannounced with her twenty something boy toy, Spike. They discuss their lives and loves and argue then Masha who supports her siblings, threatens to sell the house. The only other resident of their home, is the cleaning lady, Cassandra who like her namesake is always making dire predictions that nobody believes. Some of the elements of the show are derived from Anton Chekov, including some of the characters names, the play’s setting in the cherry orchard and the possible loss of their ancestral home. The play is about accepting life the way it is. It’s also about change and accepting it as well as that there is no place like home no matter what happens along the way. Director Steven Vessella infuses his cast with high energy in these comic roles and obtains hilarious performances from all of them. However there is a dramatic punch from the two sisters in the second act and a brilliant powerful monologue from Vanya on the way things used to be when people took time to enjoy themselves and each other without rushing around on Twitter, cell phones and facebook.

12 ANGRY JURORS – The Players, Barker Playhouse, Providence, RI

March 10, 2016March 10, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

The fourth show of The Players 109th season is “Twelve Angry Jurors” by Reginald Rose, adapted by Sherman L. Sergel and directed by Patricia Hawkridge. This popular play was adapted from a live 1954 teleplay that debuted on CBS Studios’ series “Studio One in Hollywood.” In 1957, the famous Henry Fonda movie was produced and the stage show came about in 1964. The show is about a 19 year old man who has just stood trial for the fatal stabbing of his father. He doesn’t stand a chance as the jury takes their first tally. It looks like an open and shut case until one of the jurors starts opening the other jurors’ eyes to the facts. “This is a remarkable thing about democracy” says the foreign born juror, “that we are notified by mail to come down to this place and decide on the guilt or innocence of a man; a man we have not known before. We have nothing to gain or lose by our verdict. We should not make it a personal thing.” But personal it does become, with each juror revealing their own character as the various testimonies are re-examined, the murder re-enacted and a new murder threat is born before their eyes. Tempers get short, arguments grow heated, and suddenly they become twelve angry jurors. Patricia gives each of her performers a chance to shine in their individual scenes, while keeping the interest of her audience from start to finish. The audience becomes enthralled with the dramatic acting of her talented cast. She also infuses some humorous moments along the way to temper the dramatic ones.