'Prairie' uses distinct voices to tell stories

John Olive’s “The Voice of the Prairie,” the Lycoming College theater department’s second play of the spring semester, is a tale of intersecting lives that encompass David “Davey” Quinn’s adolescence and adulthood.

Time jumps back and forth through nearly 30 years through Quinn’s life, which, naturally, is a long enough time to encounter some interesting characters.

Confusing? It could be, especially given that the myriad characters are personified by just four actors, juniors Tom Robinson, Jesse Shade and Joshua Troxler and sophomore Molly Collier. However, their superb transitioning between characters never leaves you wondering who is who. It’s just as well, as the more engrossing stories are watching Quinn grow into an adult, coaxed by stories of his youth and how a small-time radio entrepreneur coaxed audiences into accepting the radio as prime entertainment.

“Prairie” begins in 1895 with young Quinn (Troxler) as he travels to various saloons across the nation with his grandfather, who shares boisterous stories of the heartland.

Flash forward to 1923. Quinn (Robinson) has grown up and now works as a farmhand. While visiting a radio station one day, Quinn encounters radio entrepreneur Leon Schwab (Troxler), who is looking for a more dynamic form of radio entertainment than simply playing music.

He invites Quinn to sit down and speak to the audience. Quinn is unsure at first, not knowing what to say or how to approach unseen listeners. However, he begins to tell stories of his youth when he was left on his own after his grandfather’s death and traveled the country on his own as a hobo and most notably, when he met Frankie (Collier), a blind girl who wanted to escape her abusive father.

Quinn’s “Davey and Frankie” stories, easily likeable because they are of two young people who have the world on their shoulders as a burden to overcome tough obstacles and at their fingertips to explore without constraint, win the hearts of listeners and he is invited back by Schwab for frequent installments.

It becomes a difficult request for Quinn to accept, because he and Frankie were separated after stealing a watermelon and they hadn’t seen each other in the 30 years that passed. However, he does acquiesce, because radio is beginning to boom, and it’s a good way to make money.

The ways in which the flashbacks (and flash-forwards) are presented are one of the production’s most interesting facets in that they follow radio style. Three of the actors step forward and recite various lines from the upcoming scene (and sometimes they are the most sensational, such as Schwab referring to President Hoover as a Bolshevik), as a sort of advertisement to “stay tuned” to what is about to come.
When Quinn steps up to the microphone, he is alone in a room with the instrument, yet his memories are vivid as he streams his stories across the airwaves. Listeners at home may gather around their radio, but their imaginations run wild as they visualize what Quinn is telling them. Both of these scenarios reflect the dichotomy of a calm, intimate setting with chaotic scene depictions. The duality of these feelings were well represented through the set and lighting design.

The late-1800s portrayals of Davey and Frankie traversing the country have the space of the entire stage, in contrast to the “present” (1923) scenes which are only confined to one room. Here we can imagine that they are in a place surrounded by fields, cliffs and train tracks. A wall of wooden slats represents the barn where Davey first encounters Frankie. Mild strobe lights signal a moving train that Davey and Frankie jump on and off.

No, grassy fields, cliffs and train tracks were not actually built by anyone on the scenery staff; the actors portraying young Davey and Frankie simply jump around onstage, but physical elements are not needed in this manifestation of someone’s memory. The lighting and scenery are not overly complex, but are on-point with the homespun atmosphere that the play has created.

Because four actors portrayed multiple characters, use of imagination is required here as well, as characters were both young and old grow younger or older in the middle of a scene. While some transitions between times or characters would take place as the theater lights are completely lowered; at other times, an adult character may shed some of their more “mature” clothing and step right into their “teenage garb,” whether a vest or a floral skirt (as the adult Frankie did for one of her reminiscences).

While all of the actors transitioned seamlessly between characters, perhaps the most impressive was Troxler, who was responsible for young, naïve Davey, business-minded and slightly hucksterish Schwab, and the desperately clingy asthmatic fiancé of the adult Frankie, James. Physically, Troxler may have only had to change a vest or a hat to represent the characters, but he adopted three of the play’s most distinct personalities without falter.

As referenced above, Frankie does return as an adult after Schwab managed to track her down. The reunion with Quinn is painful for both of them; they have both not stopped thinking about each other (even though Frankie had become engaged), but they are also angry that they were separated. Yet, they manage to forgive each other and try once again to rekindle their old adventurous spirit (they get caught trying to steal chickens from the mayor’s porch).

I received the plot point of Frankie’s return with a bit of conflict. Sentimentally, I wanted the two back together because they were so close as teenagers. From a ratings perspective, listeners wanted the two together as well. Because Quinn’s stories had grown so much in popularity, when Frankie came to town, everyone could identify her as being “Frankie the Blind Girl,” and it was almost inevitable that the two would once again cross paths.

On the other hand, Frankie’s presence as an adult almost ruins the air of mystery that Quinn’s stories had. Even Quinn himself had begun to have doubts as to whether their teenage saga had indeed been real. Frankie had been so fond of telling him “when we’re together, we’re invisible,” and having them together only as teenagers seemed to make memories all the more important.

Alas, Frankie does seem to be the connection between the two poles in the “radio biz” that Schwab and Quinn had represented. While Schwab and his entrepreneur ilk are more than willing to sell falsehoods (through fake medical remedies or fabricating an advice show from “Miss Emily”) to make a buck and keep people entertained, Quinn showed that some entertainers do come from a real place, making what they do all the more meaningful to their audiences.

“Prairie” was directed by Gretchen Lynne Wingerter.

Lyco theater gives memorable performance of 'Brighton Beach'

Lycoming College theatre director Grechen Lynne Wingerter said that her favorite part of putting a play together is when the actors first read through their lines; it is a time when she can “finally hear the characters in the actors’ voices.”

And, while watching “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” the second of Lycoming’s main stage theatre productions of the year, those voices come out loud and clear, especially from the play’s central character, 15-year-old Eugene Morris Jerome, played with fantastic energy by freshman Taylor Anspach, as he narrates the goings-on of his family in their cramped home in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Set in 1937, “Memoirs” is the first of playwright Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical play trilogy which features the many stages of Eugene’s coming-of-age (“Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound” follow).

Eugene keeps company with his headstrong mother, Kate (Alyssa Allen) who is always hot on his heels, reprimanding him for misbehaving; his older brother, Stanley (Chase Mack), age 18, whose story finds him trying to help out his family while discovering the adult perspective of right and wrong (and who, despite his difficult transition, receives fierce admiration from Eugene); his aunt Blanche (Molly Collier) who came to live with them upon the passing of her husband; Blanche’s two daughters, the youngest (and sometimes sickly) Laurie (Elle Ingarra) and the trying-desperately-to-be-independent teenager, Nora (Hannah Eyler); and finally the beleaguered father, Jack (Jesse Shade) who tries to keep the family together and be a father figure for both his sons and his nieces.

While comedy/dramas about families are about a dime a dozen in films and on television, there is something inherently heartfelt about the Jerome saga because they prove that a family’s love for one another is steadfast, no matter what curve balls life throws them.

The hardships that befall the Jeromes are many. Father Jack is unable to keep his second job selling noisemakers because the party supply store he works for went out of business. Stanley, whom the family depends on as a second source of income, is nearly fired as he tried to stand up to his boss (albeit immaturely—he swept dirt onto the boss’s shoes) who had been treating a co-worker badly following a workplace accident. Blanche, who all along had been trying to build herself as a strong, capable single mother following her husband’s death, is beginning to lose herself again after she fears Nora, who wishes to leave home (and high school) to pursue a career on Broadway, will be gone someday for good. Finally, Kate, who seems to have shouldered much of the family’s responsibilities to keep themselves together, is letting her bottled-up frustrations from trying to keep her rambunctious sons in line, being a good second mother to her nieces, and trying to support her sister’s re-emergence as an independent woman, get the best of her by frequently by bursting angrily at any little (or big) mishap her family seems to encounter.

Despite these many tribulations, there are moments of hilarity as well. Mostly, it is from Eugene, who acts like a teenage boy to a T. While it is obvious by his under-the-breath grumblings that he doesn’t like helping his mother with housework or eating the liver she prepares for dinner, it is equally clear that he has a strong admiration for baseball and girls. Whether he is turning a package of food into a makeshift baseball, catching and throwing it to himself while he receives cheers from an imaginary crowd, or not-so-discreetly dropping his dinner napkin under the table so he can look up Nora’s skirt, Eugene comically builds upon these interests throughout the story.

Eugene is perhaps the biggest reason why the audience automatically wants to root for the Jeromes to stay tightly knit. Their story is told through his eyes, and they are certainly those of a young teenager with the world at his fingertips; he holds many hopes and aspirations of being a writer or a professional baseball player. And he can only prosper by having his family, the ones who encourage him to dream, right by his side.

What is also great about the way Simon wrote “Memoirs” is that while Eugene connects with the audience in his narrative asides, the family’s inner-workings and dealings are made between themselves; the audience is merely privy to watching their highs and lows, their tears and laughter. But the fact that they are able to come out happily in the end shows that they grew not only individuals but as a group, which makes the conclusion to this story all the more sweet.

While researching a prior article on the theatre department, Wingerter and many of the student actors agreed that working on a Lycoming College theatre production was like being together with family; all become very close and supportive of one another. Seeing this demonstrated so well on stage makes “Brighton Beach Memoirs” an altogether perfect choice for the College to produce.

“Brighton Beach Memoirs” will continue to run Nov. 18-20, beginning at 8 p.m. in the Mary L. Welch Theatre. For more information contact the box office at 570-321-4048 or visit www.lycoming.edu/theatre/tickets.html.

This 'Spelling Bee' is full of w-i-n-n-e-r-s

The Lycoming College theatre department kicked off what will be another phenomenal season with its production of the musical-comedy “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” Performances continue this weekend, Oct. 7, 8, 9, beginning at 8 p.m. in the Mary L. Welch Theatre.

The play is about just what the title suggests, a spelling bee, which takes place in the fictional Putnam Valley Middle School. The contestants comprise of the kids you would find around any primary school: the overachievers who took part in Nationals and are coming to claim a local title: Chip Tolentino (Joshua Troxler) and Marcy Park (Taylor Lubsen); the resident word nerd, William Barfee (Chase Mack); the perfectionist, Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (Christina Moliterno); the new girl, Olive Ostrovsky (Andrea Fitzsimmons), and the third-place finisher who made it to the Bee on a lark (first- and second-place had to attend a bat mitzvah), Leaf Coneybear (Taylor Anspach).

Rounding out the participants are three adults who have as much staked in the competition as the children do: Rona Lisa Peretti (Alyssa Allen), the amiable announcer who, as a girl, won the Third Annual Bee with the word syzygy (which means “the alignment of three celestial objects”); Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Kevin Milliard), returning after a five-year absence as a judge and word-reader, and Mitch Mahoney (Billy Reilly), a former convict on community service who serves as “comfort counselor,” handing out hugs and juice boxes as each contestant falls to an improper spelling.

You may be wondering what element of a spelling bee can possibly be fodder for a comedy, but the creative team of William Finn, Rachel Sheinkin and Rebecca Feldman put light-hearted and feel-good humor into every round.

As each contestant goes up to the microphone to receive and spell their word, we learn a little about his or her personal history and what brought them to the bee. We see Olive’s hopefulness as a newcomer to the world of competitive spelling, but feel her lament that her parents, a workaholic father who has failed to pay the $25 entrance fee in advance and a mother who is in India on a spiritual mission, are not there to see her perform. We feel sorry for Leaf that his parents and siblings jab him for “being not that bright,” but our hearts flutter when, in a moment of trance-like brilliance, he nabs the correct spelling of words (which are, more often than not, the name of a South American rodent, such as the capybara).

The contestants and judges have their quirks, from visual spelling techniques using “arm-writing” (as Logainne does) or the dance of a magical foot (William’s specialty) to the deadpan, yet hilarious deliveries of definitions and usage sentences by Vice Principal Panch (example sentence for “palaestra”: “Euripides said, ‘what happens in the palaestra, stays in the palaestra’”).

Adding to the humor value is that four audience members are called up on stage to be contestants in the Bee. During the Oct. 1 show, Dr. Edward Gabriel of biology and Dr. Philip Sprunger of economics were two of the contestants vying for a chance at spelling bee gold. While these contestants survive a few rounds with easy words, such as “cow” and “Mexican” (drawing ire from the “real” contestants who have to spell words like “staphylococcus”), they are usually called up multiple times in a row until they are forced out by a difficult word.

As a former middle school spelling bee contestant (though never lasting long enough to place at the top), I long for the days that good spelling was an exceptional talent. Now, being in college, it’s not merely a talent, but a mandate that goes along with such thrilling statements as “good spelling is the key to a top-notch job résumé.”

However, the ability of this play’s performers, all college “kids” themselves, to go back about 10 years to portray a younger, more excitable side to themselves is truly impressive and heartwarming. There are so many good memories from that time.

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is certainly equal parts humorous and heartfelt, but it is relatable as well. Who hasn’t experienced the nervousness of neck-and-neck competition? Who hasn’t wanted glory so much that they could taste it? Though this play appeals to the inner competitor of all of us, it gently reminds us that winning isn’t everything, and that not living up to the pressure of everyone’s expectations can sometimes be a good thing. From the peer pressures of middle school to the business pressures of adulthood, these are words that will help us survive all of the rounds of the game of life.

I'm dreaming of a midsummer's night

Theatre: Mary L. Welch Theater, Lycoming College

Main Characters:

Theseus, Oberon,

Hippolyta, Titania,

Philostrate, Puck,

Egeus,

Hermia, Lysander
Helena, Demetrius

Director: Grechen Lynne Wingerter

Seeing "A Midsummer's Night Dream" at my college was the first time I can say that I have watched a Shakespeare play on stage. Sure, I had read the Bard's works in high school (one, for better or worse, every year), but had somehow missed out on the opportunity to see the plays in their natural place on stage. After seeing this production, though, I probably won't be back to the theater to see another Shakespeare. It's just as confusing to watch as it is to read.

Now, I am not saying that the performance I saw turned me off to Shakespearean theater; the fine student actors at my school were excellent as usual, and the production was also its usual quality work so I will leave my critique just to the play instead.

"Dream" is about four young lovers from Athens (Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius) and their interactions with a duke and duchess named Theseus and Hippolyta and the fairies who inhabit a moonlit, rolling fog-covered forest nearby. According to Wikipedia, this is one of Shakespeare's most-performed plays worldwide. I, however, knew nothing about it.

I was confused most by the three stories that intertwined in the play. The first was Egeus's daughter Hermia having to marry the man her father chose, Demetrius. According to an ancient Athenian law, a daughter must marry the man her father chooses for her. Hermia is in love with a man named Lysander, so the two run away and elope. The next story involves the fairy king Oberon and his wife Titania. Oberon is estranged from Titania because she will not hand over a changeling child for Oberon to use as one of his henchman, so at her refusal he asks the mischievous Puck to put a spell on Titania so she will fall in love with one of the forest's not so cute little animals. This turns out to be a man whose head is transformed by Puck into that of a donkey's. His name is Nick Bottom and he had wandered into the forest while rehearsing for a play with his fellow low-class laborers, called the Rude Mechanicals.

These stories intertwine, but they just seem so random. A duke and duchess, some fairies and some laborers. It turns out that the fairy part is only a dream, but still confusing nontheless. What thew me off the most was the part with the young lovers and the duke and duchess. The production had them wearing modernized American suits. At first I could not believe that these were the costumes that the actors had been chosen to wear. Surely my school had enough money to splurge for authentic-looking Greek clothing from around Shakespeare's era. However, after a little Internet research, I found that Shakespeare's plays can easily be set in any era, which would explain the suits, but as weird as it sounds, I was still expecting a little tights wearing from the men of the play.

Perhaps it's my total unfamilarity of the play that threw me off. If I had seen another Shakespeare that I had read in high school like "Romeo and Juliet" (bad example--R and J has been so overused that even someone who has never heard of Shakespeare could follow it--let's say "Macbeth") that I could have enjoyed it more. It's not to say that it was a terrible story, just a little unusual, especially for the little I have seen of Shakespeare's work. Like I said, the school put on a good production, but I think I'll stay away from Shakespearean theater until I have to take another literature class that inevitably will dig him up again.

Comedy at 'Full Gallop'

Theatre: Mary L. Welch Theatre, Lycoming College

Main Characters:

Diana Vreeland (Mary Ethel Schmidt)

Yvonne (Mary Broussard)

Director: N.J. Stanley

The play "Full Gallop" follows the life of a character that is prominent in films and now, apparently, theater--the chic fashion editor. The editor in question here is the former head of Vogue magazine, Diana Vreeland. Born in Paris in the early 1900s, Vreeland emigrated to the United States with her family around the start of World War I and went on to marry a banker named Thomas Reed Vreeland. Mrs. Vreeland fit easily into the society of New York, as she and her family had been prominent socialites since their arrival in the United States. Vreeland was also friends with designer Coco Chanel (whom she bought her clothes from exclusively) as well as a variety of other artists, composers, and photographers. She first entered the publishing world as a columnist for Harper's Bazaar in 1936 before moving on to be editor-in-chief for Vogue, which she joined in 1963, until 1971.In "Full Gallop," Vreeland is on stage by herself in an elaborately decorated sitting room, undoubtedly part of some extravagant apartment in New York City. The play is set in the year 1971, a few months after Vreeland’s dismissal from Vogue. The only other character in the play is her French maid, Yvonne, who can be heard, but never seen on stage.

The plot centers on a dinner party that Vreeland wants to throw for some of her closest friends, but she barely afford—not that she will have any food anyway; the chef she has hired is running late every time she calls, or does not have the ingredients for Swedish meatballs, which she is adamant upon serving.

Vreeland ruminates about how she has just been fired from Vogue and how heart-wrenching that was. She is dressed sleekly in all black, carries her cigarette in a long holder and goes back and forth from talking to the audience while sprawled out on a fainting lounge, or speaking to Yvonne over the intercom to ask, for the millionth time, whether the chef is able to come or not. She picks up a copy of the New York Post and sighs because it speaks of her Vogue termination. She wonders why she picked that awful chintz slipcover for the armchair across the room. She is frustrated that she has so much talent and knowledge, but she is currently stuck in her apartment with nothing to do but stew.

But along the way, through her speeches and body language, the audience is able to see how she commanded the room with her presence and unfaltering knowledge of what is "haute" and what is not, making it easy to see that she was a formidable force in the fashion world. Her command is so powerful, that it is said that Vreeland was said to be the inspiration for Meryl Streep's character Miranda Priestly in "The Devil Wears Prada" as well as Maggie Prescott in “Funny Face” (played by Kay Thompson). She knows color (she calls pink the “navy blue of India”), she knows style. She knows that in fashion, one day you’re on top of the world, and the next day, you could be nothing. But that doesn’t let her down. She had built her career for too many years, and hated to be hurting at that minute. While the play shows Vreeland at a moment when she is particularly vulnerable after her Vogue termination and reflecting on her life so far, the real Vreeland was able to flourish in another career as a consultant at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1971.

It's Clear: 'A Fitting Confusion' provides great comedy

Theatre: Mary L. Welch Theatre, Lycoming College

Main Characters:

Balthazar Moulineaux (McGair Valois)
Etienne (John Forrester)
Bassinet (Steve Ferguson)
Dartagnan (Vincent Sisley)
Suzanne (Nara Naranjit)
Yvonne (Kaitlyn Hobbs)

Director: Fred Wild

I saw this play in part because I have seen all of the plays my college has put on since I started last year, and in part because my slightly wacky but very cool French teacher was excited because “A Fitting Confusion” is an English translation of the play “Tailleur pour Dames.”

“Tailleur pour Dames,” which means “Ladies’ Dressmaker” was written in 1884 by a then 24-year old French playwright named Georges Feydeau. The plot centers on the main character, Dr. Balthazar Moulineaux, a married man whose secret trysts with other women and lies to his wife about his indiscretions turn from seemingly little white lies into a whole mess of deception and disaster for all involved.

Feydeau described his characters’ situation as “whenever [they] absolutely, positively under any circumstances shouldn’t meet, I put them in the same room together. “A Fitting Confusion” seems like a very appropriate title to this adaptation.

Doctors and patients, husbands and wives, are those who accompany Dr. Moulineaux. His faithful servent Etienne is always present to be his cover, his new wife Yvonne will not be fooled by his lies, and her mother Madame Aigerville will make sure of that. Caught also in the chaos are Dr. Moulineaux’s mistress Suzanne and her husband Dartagnan.

As usual, my school’s productions are always well done. Especially impressive is their unfaltering quality in the little bit of time from when the play is cast to opening night (the school had just finished its previous production a little over a month ago). I also love whenever there is a comedy being presented, and I wish the school would do them more often. It’s not that I don’t like a good drama, but there’s one thing about emoting dramatically (yelling, crying, etc.) and there’s another thing to be able to stretch one’s acting chops and hit the nail the comedic timing (which is not an easy task, I’ve heard).

The cast, also typical of the school’s theater department, was very well cast. I thought they picked the perfect person to fit the character of Dr. Moulineaux. I also enjoyed the characters of Bassinet and Etienne, and am a fan of both of the actors that portrayed them.

What I also found very interesting, apart from the excellent acting, was the elaborate and very Parisian-esque late 1800s costumes. The dresses for the women were very elaborate and beautiful.

Overall, this was another job well done for the Lycoming College Theater department with all of the elements that make a good two and a half hours at the theater.

(picture found at poly-theatre.org)

'Angels in America' Heavenly

Theatre: Mary L. Welch Theatre, Lycoming College
Main Characters:
Joe Pitt (Vincent Sisley)
Harper Pitt (Melissa Newman)
Louis Ironson (Elijah Perry)
Prior Walter (Ross Tieken)
Roy Cohn (Barry Schaub)
Director: N.J. Stanley

This weekend and next, my college put on Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize winning play Angels in America. My review appeared in the October 9 edition of the school newspaper.

The theater department’s first show of the 2008-2009 season, “Angels in America,” was my fifth theater experience at Lycoming, so I already knew of the hard work and dedication students and staff put in to make each production amazing, and “Angels” was no exception.

The story line of “Angels in America” surrounds the intertwining of the lives of two couples. One couple is lovers Louis Ironson and Prior Walter. When Prior learns that he has AIDS, Louis panics and leaves him. Louis then meets Joe Pitt, a lawyer and a Mormon who is struggling in his relationship with his wife Harper. Harper has her own struggles with an addiction to Valium.

“Angels in America” is set in the mid-1980s in the emergence of the AIDS crisis, but also in the conservatism of the Reagan era. In her program notes, director N.J. Stanley writes that “playwright Tony Kushner intentionally shoves a variety of marginalized peoples into his spotlight—homosexuals, Mormons, Jews, African Americans—and examines their personal struggles in a country that still…struggles with its ability to distinguish tolerance from acceptance.”

To fully portray such struggles, a strong and diverse cast was needed, and the company of “Angels” certainly provides that.

Having seen all four main stage theater productions last year, I had come to admire the performances of current seniors Melissa Newman, who played Harper, and Barry Schaub, who played Joe Pitt’s slick, crass business mentor with a deadly secret, Roy Cohn.

Harper is a woman that I saw to be almost at the center of the characters. Her drug-addled and hallucinogenic antics are the most visible problems of the main characters, but she is someone who her husband Joe cannot seem to leave, though he seems to come back only to spar with her. Her hallucinations also intersect with Prior’s dreams and fantasies as both wish for a life in which they are healthier.

Although Roy Cohn is a supporting character and not seen as much as some of the others, his scenes are still powerful. Cohn believes he has the ability to say and do whatever he wants because of his influential work as a lawyer (he was a prosecutor for the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case which convicted the couple of treason and sentenced them to death.) But when he finds out that he, too, has AIDS, his secrets are revealed and his insecurities begin to take over him.

Newman and Schaub delivered their typically outstanding performances, as did theater regular Vincent Sisley, who played Joe Pitt. However, I was blown away by the debut performances of two freshman leads, Elijah Perry and Ross Tieken, who played Louis and Prior, respectively. Though each of their characters were strong and emotional on their own, their ability to blend their performances while portraying a couple was phenomenal.

While the props were sometimes no more than a table and chairs or a bed, they were subtle enough to highlight the actors on stage, and the lighting did this well also. While the play itself was overall a job well done, I think the ability to understand some of the characters that appeared toward the end, especially Ethel Rosenberg (portrayed by senior Tyler Winthrop) and the angel (played by sophomore Brianne Shaw), was a bit taken away from the fact that “Angels in America” is actually two full-length plays. Lycoming put on Part I, “Millennium Approaches.” Hopefully, the theater will some day put on Part II, “Perestroika.”

(picture from www.amazon.ca)

'Wicked' Awesome

Theatre: Gershwin Theatre, New York City
Main Characters: Glinda (Kendra Kassebaum)
Elphaba (Kerry Ellis)
Wizard of Oz (Michael DeVries)
Doctor Dillamond (Timothy Britten Parker)
Fiyero (Aaron Tveit)
Madame Morrible (Jayne Houdy Shell)
Director: Joe Mantello

“Wicked” is a relatively new play to New York City’s Broadway (it first opened in 2003), and it is an innovative play with a new perspective. It is a re-imagining of L. Frank Baum’s classic children’s tale “The Wizard of Oz.” This time, it is from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West. The tagline to the production is “So much happened before Dorothy dropped in.”

The play opens to the scene in the “Wizard of Oz” where the Wicked Witch has melted and the citizens of Oz, with Glinda the Good Witch are rejoicing her death. Then the play flashes back to the Wicked Witch’s attendance at sorcery school. We learn that her real name is Elphaba and that she went to school with Glinda.

Since the plot of “Wicked” can be a bit confusing, I found an online synopsis that uses all of the musical’s songs in context.

By Carol de Giere of musicalschwartz.com

ACT I - Wicked Synopsis and Song Commentary
1. NO ONE MOURNS THE WICKED - Glinda and Citizens of Oz
Combining celebrative feeling with the show's edgy irony, this somewhat melancholy and dramatic song introduces the frame for the storyline. Wicked begins with the celebration of the death of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, as we would have seen towards the end of The Wizard of Oz movie, just after Dorothy melted her by accidentally throwing a bucket of water in her direction. Here we first meet Glinda and learn the "official" story of the Wicked Witch's demise. At the end of the song and scene, the timeline shifts to Elphaba's birth, and then jumps to her college days.
With its tone, this song introduces the "Things are not what they seem" theme which the audience will appreciate by the finale.
2. DEAR OLD SHIZ - Galinda and Students
The jump in the story timeline from Elphaba's birth to her college days creates a need for some transitional material. This song provides stage time for the students to enter little by little, culminating in Galinda's grand arrival, dressed in a creamy white suit and riding a luggage cart pushed in by someone else. It suggests the superficial togetherness of the student body. The students are in fact quite unaccepting of a certain green-skinned freshman.
3. THE WIZARD AND I - Morrible, Elphaba
This is Elphaba's "I Want" number. It introduces what she wants on the surface. It also hints at her subconscious desire to be accepted by a fatherly figure that the Wizard represents, as made more poignant by her being snubbed by Frex, the father she grew up with who favors the other daughter, Nessarose.
4. WHAT IS THIS FEELING? - Galinda, Elphaba, and Students
There has to be a moment when we see the future friends as enemies. This is the beginning of their journey to friendship-the initial loathing that shifts to a deep bond later on.
5. SOMETHING BAD (happening in oz) - Dr. Dillamond and Elphaba
The mistreatment of talking Animals provides a storytelling vehicle for the political element of the tale. Something "Baaaaad" (as bleated by the talking Goat professor Dr. Dillamond who may be losing his voice) introduces the conflict between the Wizard, Madame Morrible, and the Animals without giving away the whole story. This song hints at the nature of the Animal oppression. It also provides a context for the interaction between the goat and Elphaba, and on stage it's clear that these two at the fringe of Oz society are beginning to care about each other's welfare.
6. DANCING THROUGH LIFE-Fiyero, Galinda, Boq, Nessarose, Elphaba, and Students
A flunk-out from various other colleges, Prince Fiyero struts his stuff when he shows up at Shiz and introduces his philosophy "Dancing Through Life." In this song sequence, we are introduced to parts of the love triangles in the story: Nessarose longs for the attention of the munchkin Boq, who himself has been stricken with the charm of the unreachable Galinda from the moment he laid eyes on her. Events that occur in the course of this sequence change Elphaba's and Galinda's relationship, beginning its ascent to friendship.
7. POPULAR-Galinda
"Popular" is a "list song" in which Galinda enumerates her suggestions for what it takes to be popular. She also demonstrates the self-absorbed, prideful side of her character. (Kristin says her models for Galinda included the pageant girls she met earlier in her life.) It sets up what Elphaba is expected to want and therefore provides a contrast for her decision to reject popularity for the sake of principles.
8. I'M NOT THAT GIRL - Elphaba
Boy meets girl Number 1 (Elphaba). Boy goes off with girl Number 2 (Galinda). Girl Number 1 is sad and needs to sing about it.
Galinda changes her name to Glinda before her Emerald City trip
9. ONE SHORT DAY - Glinda, Elphaba, and Denizens of the Emerald City
It's gonna be a short day, though joyous at first. Elphaba is surrounded by green and is on her way to meet the Wizard who she may be able to work with in order to make Oz a better place and become accepted herself. The Wizomania section of the song is actually performed as a mini-musical that Elphaba and Glinda are attending as tourist in the Emerald City.
10. A SENTIMENTAL MAN-The Wizard
The Wizard has many layers. Here we see his tender side that gains Elphaba's trust-but not for long.
11. DEFYING GRAVITY - Elphaba, Glinda, Guards and Citizens of Oz
Glinda would like to see Elphaba conform and also realize her dream as expressed in "The Wizard and I." But when Elphaba discovers that the Wizard is behind the mistreatment of animals (as in Maguire's novel), she must change her dream. She takes a stand. This is her moment when she resolves to follow her new conviction based on her inner moral sense and care for Dr. Dillamond, even though it means social rejection.
ACT II Wicked Synopsis and Song Commentary
12. THANK GOODNESS --Glinda, Morrible, and Citizens of Oz
In this song we feel Fiyero's pull towards the missing green girl and his cavalier attitude towards Glinda, who has more or less foisted herself upon him. "Thank Goodness," while offering a word play with Glinda the Good who has created a festivity for the Oz citizens, is all about the irony of the situation. It's also about those experiences in everyone's life when what was anticipated turns out not to be so desirable as we once thought.
13. WONDERFUL - The Wizard, Elphaba
Here again, we see the Wizard's softer side, and learn that he got swept up (like Glinda) in the glamour of attention. He holds out the promise to Elphaba that, with him, she can fulfill her subconscious longing to be accepted by a fatherly figure.
14. I'M NOT THAT GIRL (reprise) - Glinda
In Act I, Boy went off with Girl Number 2 (Glinda). Now Girl Number 2 gets rejected when Boy goes off with Girl Number 1 (Elphaba). Glinda needs to sing about it. It helps us appreciate Girl Number 2's hurt that will motivate some of her later actions.
15. AS LONG AS YOU'RE MINE - Elphaba and Fiyero
It's been an almost impossible journey to romance. These two need to sing about it, make up for lost time, and comment on their future, which is completely insecure except for their mutual affection.
16. NO GOOD DEED - Elphaba
This song moment harkens back to the novel. When something negative happens to Fiyero, Elphaba becomes discouraged and begins in a sense to own the reputation that has been thrust upon her.
17. MARCH OF THE WITCH HUNTERS - Boq and Citizens of Oz
Affected by the smear campaign conducted by Madame Morrible and the Wizard, the Ozians set out to find the supposedly wicked Witch. They are ignorant of Elphaba's attempts to save the Animals.
18. FOR GOOD - Glinda and Elphaba
Glinda and Elphaba, whose friendship has been tested by circumstances and by the challenges of their relationship with Fiyero, find a way to see beyond their issues and feel their mutual love. They sing to each knowing "it well may be/that we will never meet again/in this lifetime..."
19. FINALE - All
We have come full circle to the melting scene and beyond, but things are not what they seemed when we started. Now we can appreciate the complete shifts that all the characters have gone through except Madame Morrible. It becomes clear why the music takes a slightly mournful tone. It's sad that no one mourns the supposedly "wicked" outcasts who may actually be the most worthy of our praise. It underscores the social message: don't jump too quickly to judge by what you see happening on the surface.

This was my first ever trip to New York City (shocking, after living nearly 20 years in Pennsylvania, a mere three hours away). I went this past Saturday, September 21, with my mom, aunt, and grandmother. We took a bus and were dropped off in Times Square. (I have to admit that I was unimpressed at how congested with people Times Square was, and how narrow the streets seemed to be compared to how it seems on television.) Nonetheless, the play was the best part and very well done. The costumes, stage props, and special effects were very high-tech and elaborate. What impressed me most were the singing voices of Kassebaum and Ellis (my favorite was Ellis in the song “Defying Gravity”). Plus: the dialogue is very comical and I loved the subtle references to Dorothy and "The Wizard of Oz." Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this play as my first Broadway experience and hope to see many more in the city.

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