#Mikiko Suzuki Macadams

[larryland]

REVIEW: "Hold These Truths" at Barrington Stage

REVIEW: “Hold These Truths” at Barrington Stage

[twoontheaisle]

“Monsoon Wedding” at Berkeley Rep

Planning a wedding is one of the most stressful – and joyous – projects one can take on. Where to hold it, how to decorate the space, who to invite, what to feed them, what music to play, what to wear…the decisions are nearly endless, and any wrong choice risks the entire affair being tainted by failures ranging from insignificant to catastrophic.

The same is true for the creative and production teams staging a musical – a million choices to be made and far more ways for the process to go south than to go smoothly. But unlike the poor folk who suffered through some of these disastrous weddings, theatrical producers get more than one shot at the big event. Even after years of planning and writing and composing, and months of rehearsals, you still have the option of an out of town tryout before taking the leap of booking a Broadway theater.

If that is the ambition of the producers of Monsoon Wedding, which opened last night in Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theater, they should be pleased by the reception from the Berkeley audience, but also ready to make the significant improvements required if Monsoon Wedding is to make the cross-country trip to the Great White Way.

Monsoon Wedding is based on the film of the same name (from 2002), and is helmed by the director of that film, Mira Nair. It tells the story of the Verma family, who have arranged for their daughter Aditi (Kuhoo Verma [no relation, one must assume]) to marry Hemant Rai (Michael Maliakel), a promising young American whose parents emigrated from India some three decades earlier. The multi-day festivities bring both extended families together, and with the stress of the wedding (and assorted affairs and long-buried secrets), emotions will run high and tempers will flare. Among the lower castes, who are doing all the work to ready the Verma house for the festivities, another love affair is simmering, this time between PK Dubey (Namit Das), the avaricious, put-upon wedding planner and the Verma’s maid, Alice (Anisha Nagarajan).

It seems perfect fare for a musical: two love stories, several lovable, quirky supporting characters, a colorful setting (Hindu weddings rival the Las Vegas Strip in vibrancy), and plenty of opportunities for songs. Yet despite the build-up, the gathering storm ultimately becomes not a monsoon, but scattered showers with periods of sun.

The main problem is with the music. Though there are several delightful songs, (including “Aunties Are Coming” and “Chuk Chuk”) too many of the numbers play like the songs one hears when Saturday Night Live sends up a musical: the ballads soar, but only to predictable heights. Though I can’t speak for the Hindi lyrics, the lyrics of the songs in English (which is most of them) are generally prosaic and pedestrian, lacking in wit or clever rhymes. The most beautiful song of the night is “Chunari, Chunari” which closes act one in gorgeous, emotionally-moving fashion, especially with the wonderful, haunting voice of Monsoon Bissell.

Fortunately, the other voices singing these rather mundane tunes are also strong, with lovely, clear tones, infused with the phrasing and inflections of Indian ragas.

Monsoon Wedding is, in fact, at its best when it is at its most Indian. For despite the traditional vocalizations, the Eastern rhythms seem to take a back seat to the very Western orchestrations and arrangements. More tabla, please.

Though the sets by Mikiko Suzuki Macadams are wonderful (especially the opening backdrop, a Maxfield Parrish-esque view of New Delhi which perfectly evokes the sense of a steaming tropical metropolis), and the costumes (by Arjun Bhasin) appropriately colorful, this Monsoon Wedding could benefit from even grander, gaudier art direction. And a lot more water. The rain effect at the show’s end is simply too thin to have a real impact. The performers should be soaked by the time the finale (which was wonderfully energetic and should serve as an inspiration for what the rest of the show should sound like!) sounds its last, powerful drumbeats.

There is much to appreciate about Mira Nair’s laudable efforts in translating writer Sabrina Dhawan’s story from screen to stage. (Dhawan also wrote the book.) The characters are dimensional and well-drawn (if occasionally somewhat clichéd for the sake of humor), and the political and social undercurrents (the caste system, indebtedness, a clash of cultures, life in the “real” world vs. life in a bubble) could be even further developed to bring richness and additional drama to the story.

But for now, the forecast for Monsoon Wedding is mostly cloudy.

Monsoon Wedding has already been extended and runs through July 2 in the Roda Theatre at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley.  Shows are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Wednesday and Sunday at 7:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday.  There is a Thursday 2:00 p.m. matinees on June 22. Tickets from $28-$110, with discounts available for students, seniors, and groups. Tickets are available online at www.berkeleyrep.org, or by calling the box office at (510) 647-2949.

[newyorktheater]

In her stage version of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved 19thcentury novel, Kate Hamill promises a “radical adaptation” and a “conscious explosion” of “the archetypes found in the novel.”  But there’s no pointless demolition in Primary Stages’ production of Hamill’s “Little Women,” which is playing through June 29that the Cherry Lane.  Portrayed by a first-rate, racially/ethnically diverse cast, Hamill’s four March sisters may be in one way 21stcentury women, facing issues like postpartum depression and sexual harassment, or waving a flag for gender fluidity. But they are also very much recognizable as the distinctive characters from the novel,  and not just because of Valérie Thérèse Bartand’s Civil War era costumes.

The play focuses on Jo (Kristolyn Lloyd), the headstrong tomboy who wants to be a writer.  In this retelling, Jo is manifestly genderqueer, which is the reason why she rejects the romantic advances of Laurie (Nate Mann),  the boy next door, who has grown up to become her best friend. This reason for her rejection makes more sense than the relatively weak reason in the novel – that she thinks her sister Beth may be interested in him. It is one of the several examples in which Hamill’s fiddling with Alcott’s incidents feels as much practical as radical.

In the novel, vain resentful Amy burns Jo’s manuscript for spite. But in the play it’s by accident.

Amy (Carmen Zilles) is afflicted with malapropism — aggregating instead of aggravating – and Jo dutifully writes each mangled word of Amy’s “vocabiblary” in a notebook she is keeping, threatening Amy with publishing the list. Amy thinks she’s burning that notebook, which looks the same as the one that contains Jo’s novel.

If Sarna Lapine’s direction doesn’t always put a priority on clarity or pacing, the cast provides enough humor and warmth to keep us engaged most of the time in the production. Hamill is wonderful as Meg, who falls in love with the stuffy Mr. Brooke, Laurie’s tutor (Michael Crane);   the scene where, as a new mother, she escapes her two toddlers and has a meltdown back in her family home, is heartbreaking   Paola Sanchez Abreu does what she can to make saintly, sickly Beth, always the mediator and the conscience of the family, feel as if she could exist in the real world, then and now. She’s certainly needed.

Little Women Primary Stages at Cherry Lane Written by Kate Hamill based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott. Directed by Sarna Lapine Scenic design by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, costume design by Valérie Thérèse Bart, lighting design by Paul Whitaker, and sound design by Leon Rothenberg. Music composed by Deborah Abramson. Cast: Paola Sanchez Abreu as Beth, Michael Crane as Brooks/Parrot/Dashwood, Kate Hamill as Meg, Ellen Harvey as Hannah/Mrs. Mingott,  John Lenartz as Mr. Laurence/Robert March, Kristolyn Lloyd as Jo, Nate Mann as Laurie, Maria Elena Ramirez  as Marmie/Aunt March, and Carmen Zilles as Amy. Running time: 2hrs 10mins. One intermission. Little Women is on stage through June 29, 2019

Little Women Review: Kate Hamill Takes On Louisa May Alcott In her stage version of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved 19thcentury novel, Kate Hamill promises a “radical adaptation” and a “conscious explosion” of “the archetypes found in the novel.”  But there’s no pointless demolition in Primary Stages’ production of Hamill’s “Little Women,” which is playing through June 29that the Cherry Lane. 

[npb-en]

Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams – Japanese Stage Designer

#npb #MacSuzuki [Seattle Post Intelligencer]I interviewed Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, a Japanese stage designer, who has been in charge of the stage design for the first two productions at Intiman Theatre this summer/fall. The first time I noticed her name was when I went to see The Year of Magical ...

[jculture-en]

Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams – Japanese Stage Designer

#npb #MacSuzuki [Seattle Post Intelligencer]I interviewed Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, a Japanese stage designer, who has been in charge of the stage design for the first two productions at Intiman Theatre this summer/fall. The first time I noticed her name was when I went to see The Year of Magical …

[larryland]

Nilaja Sun Brings Acclaimed Solo Show "Pike St." to Hartford Stage

Nilaja Sun Brings Acclaimed Solo Show “Pike St.” to Hartford Stage

Hartford, CT – December 12, 2019 – Obie Award-winning playwright and actor Nilaja Sun will perform her acclaimed solo show, Pike St., at Hartford Stage Thursday, January 9, to Sunday, February 2, 2020. Pike St. will be directed by Ron Russell, who also serves as Sound Designer.

In Pike St., Sun vividly brings to life three generations of a Puerto Rican family living on New York’s Lower East…

[larryland]

(Pittsfield, MA– August 2019) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in the Berkshires under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, presents by popular demand, an encore engagement of Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata.

Hold These Truths stars Joel de la Fuente (Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle) reprising his Drama Desk-nominated role in this solo play inspired by the life of Gordon Hirabayashi.

  Directed by Lisa Rothe (Irish Repertory Theatre’s Wild Abandon), Hold These Truths will have eight performances September 20-26 at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street).

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Unsung American hero Gordon Hirabayashi fights passionately for the Constitution against an unexpected adversary: his own country. During World War II, he defies the US government’s orders to forcibly remove and mass incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry, launching a 50-year journey from college to courtroom and eventually to a Presidential Medal of Freedom. A story filled with hope, this play will leave you cheering for a man who stood up for the true meaning of patriotism.

  Hold These Truths has scenic design by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, costume design by Margaret E. Weedon, lighting design by Cat Tate Starmer, sound design by Daniel Kluger. Production Stage Manager: Mary K. Botosan.

  Joel de la Fuente (Gordon Hirabayashi) makes his debut for Barrington Stage Company in Hold These Truths. Most recently, the play was awarded three Theatre Bay Area Awards for its run in San Francisco, including Outstanding Principal Performance, as well as garnering a Drama Desk Nomination in New York City for Outstanding Solo Performance when it debuted in 2012. On television, Joel plays Chief Inspector Kido on The Man in the High Castle, one of Amazon Studios’ most watched original series. He also portrays Dr. Johann Pryce on Netflix’s second original series, Hemlock Grove, and can be seen in perpetual reruns on Law & Order: SVU, where he played TARU Tech Ruben Morales for 10 seasons. Currently, he appears as President Datu Andrada on Madam Secretary for CBS. Joel has performed in theaters all over the world, as both an avid classical theater actor and as a developer of new work. He is an alumnus of Brown University and the Graduate Acting Program at NYU.

  Hold These Truths is sponsored in part by Carol and Alfred Maynard & Dick Ziter and Eric Reimer.

  Performances: Friday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, September 21 at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, September 22 at 3:00 p.m.; Tuesday, September 24  and Wednesday, September 25 at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, September 26 at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Tickets: $53 matinees and $58 evenings. Barrington Stage Box Office: 413-236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.

Actress and playwright Jeanne Sakata, whose talents span across TV, film, voiceover and stage, is currently delighting New York audiences as struggling but spunky “Mom” in the Off Broadway premiere of the brilliant new comedy Do You Feel Anger? at the Vineyard Theatre, as well as TV audiences in the recurring roles of genius scientist Lenore Shimamoto/Mayor Saito on the animated TV series Big Hero 6, based on the Disney smash hit movie, and three national commercials. Jeanne’s nationally acclaimed solo play Hold These Truths (2013 Drama Desk Nomination, Outstanding Solo Performance; 2019 Theatre Bay Awards, Outstanding Production, Principal Performance and Direction) has had over twenty productions across the country, and will be produced in the 2019-20 season at Barrington Stage, San Diego Rep, and People’s Light and Theatre, after sold-out and extended runs last year at Arena Stage and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. In April 2019, Hold These Truths will also be available internationally as a special audio recording, produced by L.A. Theatre Works. The play has also been produced in recent years at Pasadena Playhouse, ACT Seattle, Portland Center Stage, Guthrie Theater, PlayMakers’ Rep, Perseverance Theatre, Honolulu Theatre for Youth (Daniel Dae Kim, co-producer), Terra Nova Collective, Silk Road Rising, Coachella Valley Rep, Plays and Players, and New Century Theatre. Premiering with the East West Players in Los Angeles, and then Off Broadway with the Epic Theatre Ensemble, the play was workshopped by the Lark Play Development Center and the New York Theatre Workshop. Hold These Truths is now published by Ageloff Books and available on Amazon, and it is on display at the Library of Congress Playwrights Archive in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection in Washington DC, where the Jeanne Sakata Collection was established in July 2011.

  ABOUT BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY

  Barrington Stage Company (BSC) is an award-winning regional theatre located in Pittsfield, MA, in the heart of the Berkshires. Co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, BSC has a three-fold mission: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways of bringing new audiences into the theatre—especially young people.

Barrington Stage commissioned and produced the world premiere of Christopher Demos-Brown’s American Son, which also won the Laurents/Hatcher Award as Best New Play by an Emerging Playwright in 2016 and recently concluded a Broadway run, starring Kerry Washington. Barrington Stage first garnered national attention in 2004 when it premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which later transferred to Broadway where it won two Tony Awards. In 2009, BSC premiered Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session, which later moved Off Broadway and played for two years. St. Germain’s Becoming Dr. Ruth (which premiered at BSC as Dr. Ruth, All the Way) played Off Broadway at the Westside Theatre. BSC’s all-time record-breaking musical On the Town was originally produced at BSC in 2013 before transferring to Broadway, where it was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival. In 2016, Barrington Stage swept the first annual Berkshire Theatre Awards by winning 20 out of the 25 awards. In 2017, BSC produced the much-lauded revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company, starring Aaron Tveit. In 2018, BSC produced the critically-acclaimed production of West Side Story in honor of Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins’ 100th birthdays. BSC has won the Best of the Berkshires Readers’ Choice for Best Live Theatre for the past three years. 2019 marks BSC’s 25th Season Anniversary.

Barrington Stage Brings Back “Hold These Truths” By Popular Demand (Pittsfield, MA– August 2019) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in the Berkshires under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, presents by popular demand, an encore engagement of…

[larryland]

by Roseann Cane

History and artistry have merged on the St. Germain Stage of the Barrington Stage Company in a rare and wonderful way to bring us a one-man play that couldn’t be more timely. Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths, starring Joel de la Fuente as scholar and civil rights champion Gordon Hirabayashi (1918-2012), is a galvanizing portrayal of a courageous patriot, a man I never learned about in school, and I suspect you never did either.

Hirabayashi, who was to become a Quaker, was born in Washington state to Japanese immigrant parents. After finishing high school, Hirabayashi attended the University of Washington. In 1940, he won a fellowship to attend a summer leadership conference at Columbia University, where his awareness of the ever-growing conflicts in Europe and the Pacific grew. When he returned to Seattle, he registered with the Selective Service as a conscientious objector.

The principled and idealistic Hirabayashi fervently believed in the U.S. Constitution, and was shocked to find that, as a U.S. citizen, his rights were not protected. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, an executive order called for all people of Japanese history to be excluded from the West Coast. Hirabayashi, who saw that the imposed curfews and evacuations conflicted with the Constitution, felt he had no choice but to resist. Instead of submitting to the relocation of Japanese-Americans to internment camps, he turned himself in to the F.B.I., believing that he would create a test case that would ultimately prove the government’s treatment of Japanese-Americans was unconstitutional. While his plan didn’t work out as he’d imagined, he bore years of imprisonment not only with remarkable grace and courage, but with his core beliefs fully intact.

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On Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams’s elegantly designed minimalist set, beautifully supported by Cat Tate Starmer’s lighting design and Daniel Kluger’s sound design, Joel de la Fuente honors Hirabayashi’s life and Jeanne Sakata’s equisitely rendered script with an unforgettably dynamic performance. The actor embodies Hirabayashi through 50 years, and plays a variety of characters with equal skill and gusto. De la Fuente is riveting, seamlessly moving through the events and people in Hirabayashi’s life in portrayals that are nothing short of luminous. The 90-odd minutes fly by, yet deliver a gratifyingly full portrait of an American hero who, I hope this fine play brings Hirabayashi the wider recognition he has certainly earned.

Hold These Truths runs through June 8, 2019. I hope you are able to get a ticket. I think we can all use a reminder of what a real patriot looks like.

Barrington Stage Company presents Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, directed by Lisa Rothe, from May 22-June 8, 2019, on the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street in Pittsfield, MA. Scenic design by Mikiko Suzuki McAdams, costume design by Margaret E. Weedon, lighting design by Cat Tate Starmer, sound design by Daniel Kluger. Production Stage Manager: Mary K. Botosan. Starring Joel de la Fuente.

Performances: Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m.  Tickets: $15-$50. Barrington Stage Box Office: 413-236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.

REVIEW: “Hold These Truths” at Barrington Stage by Roseann Cane History and artistry have merged on the St. Germain Stage of the Barrington Stage Company…

[npb-en]

Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams – Japanese Stage Designer

#npb #MacSuzuki [Seattle Post Intelligencer]I interviewed Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, a Japanese stage designer, who has been in charge of the stage design for the first two productions at Intiman Theatre this summer/fall. The first time I noticed her name was when I went to see The Year of Magical ...

[npb-en]

Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams – Japanese Stage Designer

#npb #MacSuzuki [Seattle Post Intelligencer]I interviewed Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, a Japanese stage designer, who has been in charge of the stage design for the first two productions at Intiman Theatre this summer/fall. The first time I noticed her name was when I went to see The Year of Magical ...

[npb-en]

Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams – Japanese Stage Designer

#npb #MacSuzuki [Seattle Post Intelligencer]I interviewed Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, a Japanese stage designer, who has been in charge of the stage design for the first two productions at Intiman Theatre this summer/fall. The first time I noticed her name was when I went to see The Year of Magical ...

[jculture-en]

Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams – Japanese Stage Designer

#npb #MacSuzuki [Seattle Post Intelligencer]I interviewed Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, a Japanese stage designer, who has been in charge of the stage design for the first two productions at Intiman Theatre this summer/fall. The first time I noticed her name was when I went to see The Year of Magical …

[npb-en]

Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams – Japanese Stage Designer

#npb #MacSuzuki [Seattle Post Intelligencer]I interviewed Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, a Japanese stage designer, who has been in charge of the stage design for the first two productions at Intiman Theatre this summer/fall. The first time I noticed her name was when I went to see The Year of Magical ...

[jculture-en]

Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams – Japanese Stage Designer

#npb #MacSuzuki [Seattle Post Intelligencer]I interviewed Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, a Japanese stage designer, who has been in charge of the stage design for the first two productions at Intiman Theatre this summer/fall. The first time I noticed her name was when I went to see The Year of Magical …

[npb-en]

Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams – Japanese Stage Designer

#npb #MacSuzuki [Seattle Post Intelligencer]I interviewed Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, a Japanese stage designer, who has been in charge of the stage design for the first two productions at Intiman Theatre this summer/fall. The first time I noticed her name was when I went to see The Year of Magical ...