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REVIEWS & PREVIEWS
The most recent show's
reviews are below. See our previous show reviews here.
Pat Launer’s Center Stage
KSDS Jazz 88.3
July 25, 2008
Diversionary Theatre - Yank!
Listen to the radio broadcast here
http://www.jazz88.org/centerStage.php
Atten-hut! Listen up, you guys! There’s a new musical in town, and this is an order. See it. On the double.
Okay, here’s your briefing…
”Yank!” tells a story that’s been kept in the closet for years -- the untold tale of gays in the military during the second world war. The show takes its title from the most popular publication in U.S. Army history, a morale-boosting weekly magazine that was written by soldiers, for soldiers.
The musical was created by a couple of Jersey Boys, the brothers Zellnik: Joseph composed the score, which is very much in the style of ‘40s pop songs and movie musicals, and David wrote the funny, poignant book and clever lyrics. Consider it an old-fashioned romance with a contemporary spin. The love interest develops between a wimpy Yank magazine photographer and a handsome, macho guy who can’t quite adjust to who and what he really is. I guarantee you’ll get caught up in this heart-rending show that’s Off Broadway-bound after this West coast premiere.
The framing device is a 60 year-old journal kept by that Yank photographer, found in a bookstore remainder bin by a modern-day San Franciscan. Though the diary isn’t real, all the characters and situations are based on memoirs and oral histories of actual service members, both gay and straight. Making it all the more real, the Diversionary Theatre lobby is adorned with photos and memories from gay San Diego veterans of several conflagrations, from World War II to Iraq, Vietnam to Afghanistan. One soldier is sketched by her partner in silhouette, since she’s still active military and can’t risk exposure.
So, it’s an old story, and a current one, and it’s excellently told. The music is lively and evocative. I didn’t go out singing any one song, but I left feeling touched and moved. Also sad and angry that, after all these years, the closet is still pretty tightly closed, and some folks still believe gays in the military undermine the effectiveness of our armed forces.
But meanwhile, back at Diversionary, there’s plenty of laughter and fun to be had. The 12-member ensemble is talented and energetic, though several are stronger dramatically than vocally. At the center, Tom Zohar is irresistible as Stu, the pansy who can barely wield a weapon, but puts himself on the frontlines, just to be near his beloved. His indecisive darling is appealingly played by Tom Doyle. Amy Biedel is a knockout in a bevy of roles, from torch singer to butch officer. Her costumes and wigs look great. The set and musical accompaniment are simple but effective. Director Igor Goldin, who’s been with the show since its inception, keeps the action sharp and comical.
All right, you guys. If you’re not at Diversionary Theatre by 1900 hours, it’s latrine duty for a month. Got it? Get going. Company dismissed.
CRITIC'S CHOICE
San Diego Union-Tribune
THEATER REVIEW
Big cast and a big sound underscore 'Yank!'
By James Hebert
THEATER CRITIC
July 14, 2008
You have to be a little mad to stage a musical: all those moving parts, all those dancing feet, all those actors breaking into sudden song and trying to sell such antics as rational human behavior.
By that clinical measure, here's the word on “Yank!”: It's just about crazy good. Diversionary Theatre's season opener might not be the most adventurous or spectacle-heavy or pop-hit-laden musical to hit the boards, but its understated feel serves to underline a show that's funny, moving and true.
This is the West Coast premiere for “Yank!” which debuted at the New York Music Theatre Festival in 2005 and then ran at Gallery Players in Brooklyn last year (with talk of a possible off-Broadway staging down the road).
Diversionary doesn't do a lot of musicals, but this was a smart pick, and a coup for the theater: a polished piece that fits the gay-and lesbian-centered company's big-hearted, socially conscious approach as well as its retro jones (the last two productions there were both set in the '50s). The title makes the work sound like some abbreviated ode to George M. – a Cohan koan? – but “Yank!” actually is named for a magazine that circulated among U.S. service members during World War II.
That military campaign forms the backdrop for the story of a tumultuous romance between two young servicemen, Stu (Tom Zohar) and Mitch (Tom Doyle), who are sent to the Pacific to fight the enemy but are as much at war with themselves over matters of sexual identity.
The moral dictates of the time lend added tension to their tortured relationship, since being found out means a long stint in the brig (or worse). But while “Yank!” offers some cause for “How far we've come” sorts of sentiments, the show also makes it hard to conclude that the modern military's “Don't ask, don't tell” gospel is, by comparison, a model of enlightened thinking.
Except in the broadest terms of tolerance and acceptance, though, this is not a message show. With its snappy humor, period dialogue and perfectly diverse assemblage of characters, it takes after those old war movies that reveled in throwing together ragtag bands of guys to bond in battle.
For Zohar, “Yank!” represents a major step forward. He's been a frequent (and frequently memorable) presence at Diversionary, New Village Arts and other stages over the past couple of years, but here he's carrying a show for the first time – and doing his first musical to boot.
It turns out he can sing, and even seem natural in the process. His voice has a classic, screen-idol feel to it that's an ideal fit for this show, which overall showcases a good, consistent blend of voices, without any becoming overpowering.
Doyle makes a good vocal match for Stu as Mitch; he doesn't have quite the rakish, devastating air that his nickname, “Hollywood,” might suggest, but as the relationship between the pair deepens, his character's pain and confusion feel raw and genuine.
Zachary Bryant as the hick nicknamed “Tennessee” shines in a meaty role as Stu and Mitch's chief antagonist. Their buddies in Charlie Company – played by Juston Harlin, Sven Salumaa and Rocky DeHaro – are also good (although DeHaro's Sicilian soldier, Rotelli, might be a bit too pungent a caricature even for this type-minded play). Eric Dowdy has some standout comic scenes as Artie, the Yank magazine reporter who senses a kindred spirit in Stu and hires him as a photographer.
At 12 members, it's a big cast for Diversionary, but New York-based director Igor Goldin, who stages the show with a deft sense of flow, has the actors working in close harmony.
Speaking of which: Joseph Zellnik's score is dotted with winning ensemble numbers that showcase a knockout blend of voices. Some of the songs seem to take their cues from a decade or two before World War II, though there's a clear influence of big band and swing. Amy Biedel, the only female cast member, also steps up with a couple of moody torch songs (along with a funny turn as a tough emissary from Army brass). Pianist and musical director Amy Dalton and percussionist Nathan Hubbard, unseen behind Goldin's exceedingly simple set of rolling, olive-drab flats, breathe warmth into the evocative score.
Writer David Zellnik, who also penned the lyrics, opens and closes with a framing device that elegantly captures the poignance of the story. He introduces a modern-day San Franciscan (also played by Zohar) who has discovered Stu's tattered wartime journal in a junk store and has become fascinated with its contents and long-lost author. It's an effective way to connect our time with that long-ago wartime.
There's one other era invoked in “Yank!” if only for laughs. Tony Houck, Trevor Peringer and John Whitley, soldiers who work in the steno pool, have a taste for drag that runs particularly to the Old South of “Gone With the Wind.” (They even call themselves Melanie, Scarlett and India.) These three sweetly comic misfits, who can only dream of a time when they might find a bit of societal acceptance, would be the first to remember the words spoken by a certain Southern belle: Tomorrow is another day.
James Hebert: (619) 293-2040; jim.hebert@uniontrib.com
CRITIC'S PICK
San Diego Reader
Yank! review - July 13, 2008
By Jeff Smith
Gays in the military - in World War II. David and Joseph Zellnik's musical begins today, in San Francisco. A young man finds a battered diary kept by a soldier named Stu. Amid torn and missing pages, the diary's heartfelt and sketchy. The young man wonders who Stu was and why he wrote some sections in code. In a flashback, the young man becomes Stu, and the musical moves from basic training, in WWII, to the Pacific front. Stu discovers his sexuality, falls for a solider named Mitch, and faces extreme consequences. Unlike Stars and Stripes, which was mostly propaganda and puff pieces, Yank! was a magazine written "by the servicemen, for the servicemen" and boasted a more realistic account of the war. The musical unfolds from Stars and Stripes optimism in Act one to unvarnished, Yank! themes in Act two. The book, especially the longish first act, could use a trim (it tries to cover so much ground that lulls result). But the tight, flashy, and moving Diversionary Theatre production is outstanding. Director Igor Goldin has staged the musical before, and it shows in the precision of scenes, in his choreography, and in the confidence of his ensemble cast. Accompanied by pianist Amy Dalton and percussionist Nathan Hubbard, they break into rousing, WWII buddy numbers in Act one, and more plaintive, torch-like songs in Act two. The design's so simple - screens, like upright trampolines, move and change locales - it's eloquent. There are no weak links in the ensemble, but two performances stand way out. Tom Zohar shines as Stu, he sings and dances with pizzaz and combines vulnerability with a quietly fierce courage. Decked out in Jennifer Brawn Gitting's stunning costumes and Missy Bradstreet's voluminous wigs, Amy Biedel plays a dozen women, sings wondrously (especially the haunting "Blue Twilight"), and alone is worth twice the price of admission.
BEST BET
San Diego CityBeat
Balancing acts
Diversionary’s fun Yank! is as good a show as it is an idea
By Martin Jones Westlin
Wednesday, July 15, 2008
If you’ve already seen Yank!, Diversionary Theatre’s current musical and season opener, there’s a chance that the first scene of Act II—a hilarious send-up of every wartime drama film ever made—is your most vivid memory. A squeaky-clean young nurse listens to a litany of hopes from a doe-eyed, terminally wounded enlistee; but here, she’s all sweetness and light as her patient meets his end, warbling the war effort’s praises amid her mind-numbing banter and Pollyanna smile. Lights flicker at the scene, as if an ancient projector’s in play. That touch of low camp, and actor Amy Biedel’s sensational singing voice, make this the single best part of the show.
Some might say the bit suffers from overkill (what, pray tell, is a combat movie doing in a play set in World War II?). Then again, Yank!, like Broadway’s The Producers, is outstanding at exploiting its own excesses—if war is humanity at its worst, both shows say, then overkill will eventually give way to the truths behind its unseen stories. In Yank!’s case, that trait is the vehicle for a piece about gay wartime relationships and the men who forged them, a piece also eager to flash its serious side on a dime. A critical anticlimactic scene seriously overplays its hand; get past that, and you’re looking at a West Coast premiere that balances concept and execution pretty damn well.
David Zellnik’s script was inspired by real-life histories from World War II servicemembers, with war correspondent Stu (Tom Zohar) at the show’s fictional center. He and a private named Mitch (Tom Doyle) fall in love as duty calls; their fellow soldiers catch wise to the relationship over the course of a year, with the brass taking the matter in hand prior to the assault on Iwo Jima. Zellnik keeps things light amid his portrayals of all things masculine and feminine; he makes sure that lots of sexual tendencies dot his script, from those of the down-home, prickly Tennessee (a great Zachary Bryant) to the prissy India (played by Trevor Peringer, who always seems to have a ball with his female-charged roles). The choreography, which director Igor Goldin patterned after that of Broadway song-and-dance man Jeffry Denman, carefully takes typecasting into account, and that’s one reason innocuous numbers like “Polishing Shoes” and “Your Squad is Your Squad” are such fun.
It’s too bad Zellnik and Goldin couldn’t have found a way around Stu’s treatment behind closed doors. Near the end, the character is stripped to his civvies and beaten by the MPs at his side; and while that scene may reflect wartime reality, its literal nature does nothing for our imaginations. This is where Corpus Christi, which closed Diversionary’s prior season, broke down—the Crucifixion was spoon-fed to us in an anticlimax that took the better part of two acts to set up, and Yank! stumbles in almost identical fashion. And to boot, Zohar’s baby face is often at odds with his character.
But whereas Corpus Christi couldn’t get over itself, Yank! is highly generous in its attention to detail. Monikers like “Light Loafers” and rueful barbs like “Smell her!” are relatively minor items on paper, but they add up to big-time character traits, and Goldin makes sure his cast behaves accordingly. Music director Amy Dalton lets Joseph Zellnik’s 18 tunes evoke the genres of the ’40s rather than copy them; her approach is as original as just about everything else in this show. Yank! wins on virtually all counts, putting a fun and human face on gender identity at a time this culture couldn’t begin to fathom its import.
This review is based on the opening-night performance of July 12. Yank! runs through Aug. 17 at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights.
Curtain Calls
By Pat Launer
Sdtheatrescene.com
May 9, 2008
Drop-Kick Me, Jesus….
THE SHOW: Corpus Christi, the 1998 passion play by Terrence McNally that has been a source of controversy for the past ten years. This cast includes women, thanks to a special dispensation from the playwright.
THE BACKSTORY: When the Manhattan Theatre Club announced the opening a decade ago, there was hysteria from the religious right, since the play tells the story of Jesus as a gay man from Texas. They stormed the theater and made death-threats on the playwright. In the maelstrom of an inflammatory freedom fight (freedom of speech, freedom of religion), MTC backed down and postponed the opening, but it took a lot of heat for that decision. The play finally opened, to very mixed reviews. But it went on to garner Best Play honors from the York Drama Critics Circle, the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle… And the beat goes on. On January 19, 2008, the Anglican bishop of South Sydney, Australia, condemned Corpus Christi,, which was being produced as part of February’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, as “deliberately, not innocently, offensive.” And last week, the night before the play was to open at Diversionary Theatre, the marquee was defaced. Needless to say, most of those protesting the production have never seen the play.
THE STORY: It’s the story of Jesus, from birth to crucifixion, starting out in Corpus Christi, Texas, the playwright’s home town (he also grew up as an alienated gay man). Joshua (which is, oddly enough, how many orthodox Jews refer to Jesus) is a little ‘different’ from the get-go: he hears hammering in his head (a premonition of the nailing of the cross), and he’s gentler and more forgiving than his peers, which of course makes him fertile fodder for the rednecks around him. In high school, he’s something of a pariah, until he meets the dangerously seductive badboy, Judas. They begin a relationship that is destroyed by Judas’ jealousy. Then Joshua disappears for awhile (as he does in the New Testament; there are a number of years in his life unaccounted for) and when he resurfaces, he’s able to perform miracles. He gathers a bunch of ardent followers, many of them gay (one is HIV positive; Joshua performs a marriage for another two).
The issues raised remain relevant; obviously, religious zealotry, intolerance and homophobia haven’t dissipated in the slightest. And the piece really does preach the same message as Jesus did: acceptance and brotherly love. Forgiving your greatest enemy. And maintaining your faith. The play is surprisingly respectful of its source material, despite the rough language, sexual innuendo and base humor.
THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: What’s most exciting about the production is its sheer theatricality. We are watching the entire effort unfold. At first, we see the actors come onstage and set up the minimal props and scenery (designed by director Nic Arnzen). Then, they are ‘baptized’ with a new name, the character they’ll be playing for the evening. They introduce themselves to the audience, with a contemporary twist (“Andrew, a masseur. Andrew loved Joshua – a lot.” “Simon, a singer, a follower of Joshua. All my life, I wanted to belong... Before, I had to sing to be happy; now I sing because I’m happy.”). At the end of the play, they pack up their gear and depart (no curtain calls; very effective), leaving the theater ghost-light center-stage behind them. Following close on the heels of the crucifixion, it’s a very moving conclusion.
L.A.-based director Arnzen, who’s helmed a number of productions of Corpus Christi, has chosen a flexible, malleable cast and directed them well. Some of the words and actions are silly. But much of it gives a fascinating and provocative spin to the narrative, the principals and the topicality.
Spunky Jessica Parsell is notable for her several roles, including a knuckle-slamming nun and Joshua’s frustrated prom date. Rachael van Wormer is strong as John and others. Anna Rebek’s lovely voice courses through the evening, punctuating the action with appropriate tunes (“Oh Little Town of Bethlehem,” “We Three Kings,” etc.). Everyone has a moment to shine. But it’s the central duo that glues the piece together, and they do so with flair. Eighteen year-old high school senior Trevor Bowles, who did such impressive work as Gaston in the J*Company’s Beauty and the Beast last year, and this year in Hawaii for the Playwrights Project, is aptly angelic but aggrieved as Joshua. He has a grace, charm and fragility that work wonders (so to speak). As his foil, Rich Carillo, fresh from playing another seducer, Marcus Antonius, in Tony and Cleo at 6th @ Penn, has the perfect mix of sensuality and danger. The costumes (uncredited) are khaki clean-cut, but all the little details pale beside the earnestness of the play and its delivery. Excellent job all around, though admittedly, this one’s not for everyone.
BOTTOM LINE: Best Bet
San Diego Union-Tribune
Diversionary's 'Corpus Christi' more parallel than parable
By James Hebert
THEATER CRITIC
May 5, 2008
It's easy to see why protesters raged over “Corpus Christi” when the play premiered 10 years ago. Who dares make James Dean the devil?
Actually, the furor had more to do with a different young martyr entirely – a character whom Lucifer, doing his best Dean impression in Terrence McNally's play, tries to corrupt in the Texas desert.
His name is Joshua, and he's young and fervent and pure and, as it happens, the son of God. Also, gay.
McNally knew what he was doing when he recast Jesus as a conflicted soul growing up homosexual in 1950s Texas. In 1988, Martin Scorsese's film “The Last Temptation of Christ” drew picketers for suggesting that Jesus had desires of any kind. Protests over “Corpus Christi” were a given, and the cranks accommodated before its 1998 premiere with death threats that temporarily scuttled the New York production.
As usual in these cases, the offended parties might've waited to see the work first. “Corpus Christi,” which just opened in a spirited, funny but sometimes puzzling production at Diversionary Theatre, turns out to be about as reverent as irreverence gets.
Though it has its moments of raw language and what some might consider blasts of blasphemy, the play ultimately pushes a gentle message of tolerance and respect, often invoking Scripture in support.
Honestly, how bomb-throwing can a play be whose 13-member cast is clad in matching khakis and occasionally breaks into joyous song like some Up With Apostles youth troupe?
McNally doesn't turn Jesus into Joshua so much as overlay the two stories, crafting a sometimes wacky passion play of anachronisms. So as Josh and pals party at the Pontius Pilate High prom, Roman centurions loom somewhere outside the school's gates. (Just to further confuse eras, Joshua also appears to keep a Hello Kitty diary.)
As Joshua, Trevor Bowles may be the first actor whose actual prom will take place during the run of the show. A senior at Madison High, Bowles has a presence beyond his years – a little understated in his delivery on occasion, but otherwise gracefully conveying his character's mix of pain and strength.
Rich Carrillo stands out as a strutting, chest-thumping Judas whose bitterness smolders like a lit fuse.
“Y'ever listen to the other side of 'Heartbreak Hotel?'” he asks Joshua when they first meet, his clipped, staccato syllables making it sound as much a threat as an invitation. The two quickly become more than friends, adding a new dimension to the sentiments behind Judas' ultimate betrayal.
Their posse steps up with some tough and funny performances. Jessica Parsell is almost a show all her own as a “South Pacific”-loving nun, a ditzy prom date and a very ticked-off centurion.
Director Nic Arnzen's staging has a loose-limbed, almost improv-y feel that nicely serves the play's wry humor and sense of surprise, but also sets up some jarring clashes in tone. The actors, who mill around chatting and laughing onstage as the audience filters in, are introduced in a casual baptism presided over by the versatile Rachael VanWormer, who plays John (McNally gave Diversionary the go-ahead to use both male and female actors).
Soon they're tossing a fake baby Jesus like a football, while the sound of a cross being hammered together – the one Christ eventually will hang from – can be heard offstage. Not that the gags aren't amusing in their goofy way, but when you're dealing seriously with crucifixion, farce is a tough thing to muster.
And yes, Joshua is persecuted for his sexuality, but he's ultimately crucified for the same reasons the Scriptures tell us Jesus was – telling people he was the son of God, and having the gall to convince them of their divinity, too. McNally leaves us with the sense that if you're facing hatred for the very act of trying to salvage souls, being gay – while a complication when you're surrounded by bullies and bigots – can't raise the stakes that much.
Maybe that's his intention. “Corpus Christi” retells “an old and familiar story,” as the first line of the play goes. And there'll always be a new excuse for people to inflict the old, familiar miseries.
Writer: Terrence McNally. Director, sets, sound: Nic Arnzen. Lighting: Stephen Siercks. Cast: Trevor Bowles, Rich Carrillo, Rachael VanWormer, Brian Mackey, Jesse Allen Moore, Zachary Bryant, Anna Rebek, Kate Hewitt, Jessica Parsell, Scott Andrew Amiotte, Keifla, Tom Doyle, John Whitley.
SanDiego.com
"Corpus Christi" at Diversionary Theatre
Jesus and Judas go way back
By WeltonJones
Posted on May 04 2008
When a steely polemicist like Terrence McNally decides to fashion a vernacular version of the Jesus Christ story, choosing Corpus Christi, Texas, as a setting must be irresistable. Not only is there the built-in irony of the Latin name but also the ample negative stereotypes of regional barbaric menace. (“Jesus? Sounds like he’s a Mexican!”)
And, just to be sure, the playwright specified the 1950s, currently an evocative period for unenlightened cruelty, readily adaptable, in the popular consciousness, for crucifixions both real and symbolic.
But McNally has more on his mind than “Godspell” without music. His pulpit is the theatre, his text the old familiar gospels but his theology is homosexuality.
Like most great stories, the biography of Jesus Christ can accommodate endless interpretations. (“In my Father’s house are many mansions,” as Christ told John.) A homosexual slant, with Jesus an outcast branded as “different” and Judas as boyhood friend and lover, works better than some concepts. And McNally is a master dramatist, so he usually senses the exact moment to move away from matters of the flesh and into the broader cope of the spirit.
Actually, as Nic Arnzen has staged the play for Diversionary Theatre, the homosex becomes little more than an occasional distraction. Since four women and nine men play all the roles in a merry mix of gender, the whole gay agenda often gets lost in the swelling sweetness of the story and disappears entirely, except for a couple of nudges, in the somber horrors of the conclusion.
(If McNally were an ardent pet-lover, there would be more dogs and cats involved. If he lived for model airplanes or skin-diving, well who knows?)
The story, as a couple of the actors point out in the informal prologue, is always the same. And everybody knows it.
The stage is resolutely bare and the costumes are doggedly bland in Arnzen’s staging for Diversionary. The actors are milling about in something like a frenzy of casuality as the audience enters. There is much hugging, excited fake conversations, coy waves to friends in the audience and general bustle, followed by an organizing ritual in which each actor is assigned an identity.
The story then weaves in giddy abandon through a burlesque of the Nativity, book ended by scraps of overheard cruelties, and into a confusion of childhood tribulations and failures, accompanied by two major countermelodies: God’s voice dispensing distant and distracted encouragement and the carpenter sounds of a cross being built. The sexual innuendos are never far away and the senior prom is a landmark horror.
After a sojourn in the wilderness (and an intermission) the show clicks into the spiral toward the conclusion, which is Christ’s death, period. No time left for the subsequent mysticism, just a quick rumination on the likely impact of all this.
The fiction of such productions is that all actors are created equal, which just isn’t true. Author and director contrive to give each performer a bit in which to shine but the result is depressingly like TV guest shots. There are a few performers – Rich Carrillo, Scott Andrew Amiotte, Brian Mackey – always worth watching. And Rachael Van Wormer is in a class by herself. But even these are caught up in their duties to be part of the whole. And rightly so. The staging, like the story, is more important than its parts. Even the banal, canned music doesn’t really matter.
Probably McNally is satisfied with his success in making the points important to him. I hope Arnzen and his cast are content that they did what was required. And Diversionary Theatre, now in its 22nd season, deserves a salute for continuing to serve its audience.
But personally, I prefer metaphors less encrusted with dogma and ritual.
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