Stage Reviews
Dracula Dracula sucks—blood that is. And the production of Dracula at City Theatre is an enjoyable, if not understated, production. The campy melodrama that audiences around the world have come to know and love seems at first to have been sacrificed in an attempt at realism. But as Count Dracula steps on to the stage, surrounded by sound effects of screaming women, howling dogs and the ghost of a female victim who walks the stage throughout the production, classic Dracula is brought back to life—so to speak. Elly winner Bob DeLucia as Dr. Van Helsing and Tony Marchetti in the title role of Dracula lead the cast in this two-hour presentation. If an evening of light entertainment and a classic play is what you are looking for, Dracula is the ticket. But those expecting blood, gore and goth will be greatly disappointed. The only real danger Dracula presents is death by coughing from the cheesy smoke effects.
City Theatre , 8pm F, Sa. $10. Sacramento City College Art Court Theatre, Freeport and 12th Avenue. 558-2228 Through Oct. 21. M.B.C.
Master Harold . . . and the Boys Under the sure hand of co-directors Bob Devin Jones and Myrtle Stephens, South African playwright Athol Fugard’s semi-autobiographical Master Harold opens simply. The year is 1950; the place is a small tea shop (a miracle of a thing in Celebration Arts’ tiny stage) in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on a wet and dismal afternoon. Young Harold, or Hally (the mercurial Matthew Huffman) is tired of doing his schoolwork, so he engages the two workers, Willie (J.G. Gonsalves) and Sam (the stunning James Wheatley)—who have apparently been with the family forever—in conversation. Initially, Hally falls into reverie, recalling a cherished childhood memory about the time that Sam taught him to fly a kite. But when the dark moments come (be warned: they are very, very dark), the boy lets a few family secrets slip, relating how he and his father mock the black servants secretly, Sam lets loose the other half of the kite memory, with volcanic results. Everything about this production works; I can’t praise it highly enough except to call it required viewing material.
Celebration Arts , 8pm Th-Sa; 2pm Su. $10-$12. 4469 D St. 455-2787. Plays until further notice. D.M.
Marvin’s Room Mark this one on your Day Timers, folks. Vista Players has done it again, this time collecting a grade-A Sacramento cast and bringing Scott McPherson’s best known comedy-drama to life. So just forget about the Meryl Streep/Leo di Caprio film version and get thee to the Actor’s Theatre. The cupid-faced Jan Ahders stars as the nurturing center of a very dysfunctional family that includes the local treasure Boots Martin, George Schau and Claire Lipschultz. As various forms of illness manifest themselves—the audience tours through cancer, mental health issues and a variety of personal difficulties—McPherson sets a model for a drawing back into orbit of the family circle, also known as the circle of life. The show gets a slight ding in that Ahders fails to veer from spunky mode (Is this a new form of movie illness?), and the show occasionally drags, buckling under its own weight. But these are minor faults, ones that the players more than make up for,
Vista Players , 8pm F, Sa; occasional Sunday matinees, $10-$12. Actor’s Theatre, 1616 Del Paso Blvd. 498-0477. Through Oct. 28. D.M.
Oscar and Bosie Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of the eternal Oscar Wilde, local playwright Gregg Peterson has crafted a behind-the-scenes drama in his new work, Oscar and Bosie, which opens the Lambda Players’ 200-01 season. Rand Martin turns in a heartfelt performance as the famed writer and bon vivant, while Michael Hedges as Wilde’s much-younger lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, or Bosie—the man with whom Wilde had a 10-year affair that led to the writer’s two-year prison stint for gross indecency—comes off as a whiny homme fatale. Director Chad Cornwell has rounded up an enthusiastic cast who succeed some and fail some in the task at hand, but the show fascinates nonetheless.
Lambda Players , 8pm F, Sa. $10-$12. 2130 L St. 484-4742. Through Oct. 28. D.M.
Shirley Valentine This one-woman show stars Aviva Jane Carlin, who endeared herself to Sacramento Theatre Company audiences last season with her solo performance of Jodie’s Body. Carlin has the wonderful ability to sink into her characters, filling them with a kaleidoscope of emotions that make us really care for them. She certainly has everyone pulling for Shirley Valentine—she who talks to the wall about her various disappointments—from the moment she starts to speak until we witness a dream fulfilled.
STC , various times and days, $10-$35. 1419 H St. 443-6722. Through Dec. 10. P.R.
Six Women with Brain Death the longest-running theatrical production in Sacramento has seen more than 25 cast members, been through two divorces, a marriage and assorted high school and college graduations. Boasting more than 700 performances, the show is continuously updated and rewritten to keep its biting edge on current events and pop-culture punch lines. Reminiscent of Mad-TV and early Saturday Night Live, the 10 skits that make up the production don’t always seem to have any rhyme or reason, but people don’t seem to notice because they are rolling with laughter. Written predominantly from the female perspective, without attempting to make the expected in-your-face social statement or feminist standpoint, Six Women with Brain Death is a great show for men as well.
The Studio Theatre , 8pm Th-Sa; 7pm Su. $15-$18. 1028 R St. 446-2668. Runs indefinitely. M.B.C.
A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams’ 1947 gift to the world tells the story of faded Southern belle Blanche DuBois’ search for a safe harbor and her inevitable snuffing out a the hands of her bestial brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. For this production, Main Street Theatre Works has imported a number of players that Sacramento theatergoers will recognize: Scott Devine generates some real heat as Stanley, and Janice Jones makes a convincingly lamblike Stella. As Blanche, Cynthia Burdick is lost and dreamy, but while she’s got the delusion down, she fails to convey her character’s blend of sensuality and mania. The cast is uniformly sound, but I was disheartened that they rushed through the poetry of their lines as though it was first-come, first-served dinnertime. Main Street
Theatre Works , 8pm F, Sa. $5-$14. 44 Main St., Sutter Creek. (209) 267-1590. Through Oct. 21. D.M.
The Sound of Music Despite stiff staging, a few awkward performances and the most painful rendition of “Climb Every Mountain” I’ve yet heard, American River College’s production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music is great, glorious fun, thanks to the winsome skill of its young problem-solving Fraulein Maria (Jenny Rand). That and a simply stunning cast of children, especially the wonderfully hammy Sarah Telford as Gretl, who was so enthusiastic about her song and dance numbers that two tiny audience members seated next to me insisted on singing along during opening night—to the mixed amusement and horror of the audience. One of my favorite local performers, Remo Gilbert, seems miscast as the mucho-macho Georg, despite his glorious voice. And Daniel Slauson gets in lots of zingers as Max, the man who brings the Von Trapp Family Singers to the stage. Perhaps the brightest star of the show is Kathryn Burleson, whose imaginative set and lighting work a mystical magic.
American River College , 8pm F, Sa, $5-$14. 4700 College Oak Dr. 484-8234. Through Oct. 22. D.M.
This is our Youth In this production of playwright Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth—a tale of early ‘80s Manhattan and privileged discontent—the sidekick is theprincipal character, and it’s a role that Andrew Benator does a remarkable job at bringing to life. With a cast that includes Peter Humer and Dana Brooke, and directed by Amy Resnick (The Affections of May), this disturbing, foul-mouthed, drug-filled presentation is another guaranteed hit for B Street.
B Street Theatre , various times and days, $15.50-$19.50. 2711 B St. 443-5300. Through Nov. 12. M.B.C
Vivien You have to give the vibrant Janis Stevens, one-woman star of Vivien, credit for undertaking this project, a vacuum-packed, 85-minute portrait of the life of film star Vivien Leigh. From the moment we see her, only slightly decrepit at 54 in 1967, but choked up with TB and mental illness, musing over her very interesting life, we are swept along by the power of the narrative. From the star-struck young woman who was stage-bound from the moment she set eyes on Laurence Olivier, to the audacious gate-crasher for the much-coveted role of Scarlett O’Hara, to the mature woman of the theater and electric shock-therapy patient, we are fascinated with Leigh’s wit and complexity.
California Stage , 8pm Th-Sa, W; 6pm Su. $12-$18. 25th and R streets. 451-5822. Through Nov. 5. D.M.
Voice of the Prairie Set in the distant past between 1895 and the 1930s, the sweetly nostalgic Voice of the Prairie jumps all over the place telling the story of Davey (as a boy, Ben Hanowell; as a man, David Harris), a lost and lonely lad who falls for the blind girl Frankie (the winsome Camlyn McCracken). Together, the two run away and travel across the country, jumping freights and having adventures, with the law always on their heels. But that was long ago; it’s now the dawning of the radio age, when a slick radio man (a sputtering and squealing Peter Mohrmann) finds the adult Davey and convinces him to go on the air with the tales of his youthful adventures. Davey’s stories cause a sensation across the heartland, with everyone wondering whatever happened to the mysterious and plucky Frankie, including Davey himself.
Synergy Stage , 8pm F, Sa; 2pm Su. Dinner and luncheon theater packages available. $12-$16 show only, $32-$41 with meal. 1000 Front St. 444-5464. Through Oct. 21. D.M.
