A stroll through Todd’s Farm in Rowley, MA, a Sunday morning tradition for bargain hunters and collectors, was the inspiration for this group of photos.

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The Last Days of Mickey and Jean by Richard Dresser
Through April 11, 2010

Going to the theatre is not unlike going to a restaurant. If the restaurant’s food is good, the service friendly and prompt, the ambiance relaxing and interesting, then it’s a positive experience. With theatre, the script is the food and if the acting is good (the delivery of the ‘food’), the ambiance is enticing (the set) and the ‘food’ is meaty or a sweet fluff of dessert, then the experience can be enlightening or delightful. Unfortunately my ‘meal’ of The Last Days of Mickey and Jean weren’t quite what the MRT usually serves up.

Although the ‘delivery’ was fine, especially the performances of several personalities by Christopher Mchale, who’s range in creating diverse characters who are warm and endearing is impressive. Rae Wright’s Jean was complex and expressive and Jack Wetherall’s Mickey had its moments although sometimes his rants were tiresome. The set was enhanced by a slideshow that provided a Parisian atmosphere, otherwise missing in the bland hotel room. Would it have hurt to hang a picture on the wall? Most European rooms have art and charm and I found this interpretation distracting by its inauthenticity, discordant with the lifestyle of Mickey and Jean.

All that could be forgiven if the ‘food’ was better. It’s Dresser’s script that was the problem. The premise of the story isn’t totally developed; a couple in exile facing tedium, unable to return to the States for some ambiguous crime of Mickey’s. Even when Mickey confesses his felonies previously unknown to Jean, it’s unclear if that’s what he is wanted for, and it seems like having been away for seven years, it might come up in the dialogue. The script couldn’t make up it’s mind if it was a drama or a farce and it didn’t quite make it either way, although it had a few insightful and authentically funny lines such as “I’d rather go somewhere I don’t want to go, than wait to go.”

Having seen his A View of the Harbor, an exceptionally well written script with complex characters, I was shocked at Dresser’s departure into a farce baked with stereotypes and cliches. Jean is a interesting character of intelligence who “wants to die smart,” but her lines lapsed into soap opera-speak. “You don’t love me any more,” and Mickey’s drunken Oh Danny Boy could by likened to an inebriated Afro-American crooning Ol Man River, which some might think of as racist. There are point of view problems as well. Bobby seems to know of Mickey’s incontinence problem, something of which he would have no knowledge. My impression was that this was a show written in haste, needing to be developed and edited – a little sauce and more baking time, and maybe then it might be a good meal.

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Wildhorse Sweet Potato, Russet. and Chipolte au Gratin

Serves 6-8

2 large sweet potatoes peeled and sliced into thin rounds about 1/4” thick

3 russet potatoes peeled and sliced into thin rounds about 1/8” thick

(if you’re not using the potatoes right away, store covered with water)

1 small yellow onion, peeled and slivered

2 chipolte peppers in adobo, minced

2T butter

2 ½ cups heavy cream

salt and pepper (continue reading…)

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Heroes, running November 19 – December 13 at Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell, MA

By Gerald Sibleyras, adapted by Tom Stoppard

Left:  Jonathan Hogan, Ron Holgate & Ken Tigar, Center: Jonathan Hogan, Ron Holgate and Ken Tigar, Right: Ken Tigar, Ron Holgate and Jonathan Hogan. Photos by Meghan Moore

Aging WWI Vets in a 1950’s French nursing home attempt to muster what they’ve got left for one last mission, hoping to escape the tedium of their lives on the terrace in one of the funniest comedies I’ve ever seen.  The characters will touch you with their frailties, just under the surface of their bravado, and the combination of the three personalities is a set-up for a terrific farce. The award-winning cast is perfect: Johnathan Hogan as Philippe, a sweet soul with a piece of shrapnel inching towards his brain, Ron Holgate, as Gustave, an ex-commando who is now terrified to go beyond the doors of the patio, Kenneth Tigar as Henri, the optimistic, rational one, who has made the best of living with a peg leg, and a two-hundred pound stone statue of a dog, played by himself. The brisk repartee goes from touching to hilarious.

The MRT, outstanding in its set design, doesn’t fail with a perfect replica of a patio, but I can imagine how the characters must have tired of it, because halfway into the hour and a half show, I wanted a little variety.  It finally came when the garden hose became a rope, in a delightful scene where the characters practice their intended escape.  Later, we get some fall leaves dropping which Henri sweeps away, but I was wanting the very green shrubs to have a tinge of autumn red in them as well.  That however, is a very small point in what was overall a very satisfying, delightful, and almost perfect production.

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The North Shore Jazz Project’s first fund-raiser at Chianti Tuscan Restaurant in Beverly, MA. Enjoy a sample with Rich Greenblatt on vibes, Mark Retallack, keyboard, Garth Retallack, trombone, Dave Saginaro, bass, Rikki and Alek Razden, sax and clarinet, Roger Brockelbank, drums, Chava Hudon and Mike Evers: film.

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Gordon Joseph Weiss, David Adkins, Allyn Burrows, Jim Frangione, and Mark Zeisler (L-R)

Photos by Meghan Moore.

The Seafarer, by Conor McPherson
Merrimack Repertory Theatre
Directed by Charles Towers

October 15 – November 8
132 Warrren St.
Lowell, MA 01852

The Seafarer, by Conor McPherson, opens in a dingy row-house basement, outside of Dublin, where we meet two brothers, Rich (Gordon Joseph Weiss) and Sharky (David Adkins), and their hung-over friend, Ivan (Jim Frangione). The darkly funny first act hardly seems like the fable that the play is supposed to be, where the characters snipe at each other in a pre-Christmas, alcoholic binge, but it is a set-up for the real story which comes to life in the second act. At first we don’t know the character’s motivations or their stories, and without reading the publicity first, I wouldn’t have known that Richard had recently become blind. He stumbles with what seems to be a gimp leg, or which could have been partly due to his drunkenness. Sharky, who is his younger brother and now his caretaker, takes a lot of verbal abuse that seems uncalled for.

The second act reveals all when two new guests arrive, one a reminder of Sharky’s dark side. Still, Sharky is trying to stop drinking and it’s not easy with liquor flowing freely, each character exhibiting his particular flavor of drunk. When Mr. Lockhart (Mark Zeisler) one of the guests threatens to take Sharky’s soul if he loses the poker game, it appears that all is lost. But it is Christmas after all, and Sharky , “the one with potential.” has the audience rooting for him. The story ends in redemption, a tale of inner strength and second chances.

Each character is totally believable and I am transported to Ireland, no question, but Rich, the blind brother lights the stage with his character’s effervescent yet mecurican personality. As usual at the MRT, great attention is given to detail in the set design, and the on-stage flat is perfect from the unfinished stucco and panelled walls to a real staircase, to the wood stove that glows when Sharky adds logs to the fire. A must see, but remember that the second act is where it’s at.

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Like the Bard himself, the Karamazov Brother’s world premiere of Flings and Eros, based on back stage rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet, is both bawdy and brilliant. It is quirky and wacky, but it takes a while to get there. Unfortunately, unlike Shakespeare, some of the opening jokes and slapstick antics fall flat, and the premise of staging the story in a rehearsal mode struck me as a thinly disguised motif for a penny pinching approach to set design. Except for the very funny balcony scene, there’s no set at all until the last scene when the story comes together in a lively musical number in front of a stunning backdrop of Verona. Not that the brothers aren’t entertaining.

The Karamazov Brothers, known for their juggling, don’t disappoint as they draw you into the story. Pins and sometimes colored balls artfully fly throughout the story, at one time or another cleverly symbolizing verbal communication and even sex when Romeo and Juliet consummate their marriage. The songs in the production are original and wonderful, sometimes soulful, sometimes hilarious. The voices are great, but the performers need either to be better miked or to project for a large theatre, since they lack the power to get them across and I had to strain to hear them. (continue reading…)

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Apple picking is just part of what you do in New England every fall and one of my favorite places is Russell Farm in Ipswich where the pickin’ is good and the 1.500 lb. sow is spectacular.

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Halibut Point, Rocky Neck, the beach near Niles Pond, and Brenda Malloy touching up her car make for some interesting scenery. Play the slideshow and you’ll get why I love Gloucester.

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In this new section entitled, My Favorite Places, I hope to share the beaches, parks, historical places, and new places for you to discover, or places you’ve been to revisit. If you have some special photos or video to share, please send them to me at submissions@zingology.com

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