A CHRISTMAS CAROL -- Commonweal Theatre Company

script: Charles Dickens
adaptation: "the Commonweal"
director: Alan Bailey
cast: Anna Grace Bingham, Amanda Davis, Scott Dixon, David Hennessey, Eric Knutson, Matthew Luck, Simon Cropp, Magnolia Decker, Elsa Hennessey-Barnes
scenic design: Joel Sass
costume design: Greta Raatz
lighting design: Patrick Strain

Charles Dickens' classic tale of a curmudgeon who, after being visited by ghosts, becomes a loveable philanthropist.

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I will say, straight up, that I don't care for this adaptation. I first saw this two, maybe three years ago, and was utterly devestated that I had brought a group of young cub scouts, who were thoroughly bored. This adaptation is, in my opinion, readers theatre. The cast tells you what happened or what will happen, how a character felt, and then they act out a little bit. This is not why I go to the theatre -- to have someone tell me a story.

Why did I bother going, then? I went because the new director for the production is a friend of mine, and hopefully, bias aside, I can admit that I enjoyed this production more than I have in the past.

There is still a "reader's theatre" quality to it, that I don't care for, but much of that sense has been removed and the actors actually get to show us their emotions and the story, rather than tell much of it.

Director Alan Bailey keeps the story moving along well, and works the small cast through a large number of roles quite well. The action moves quickly and there is no change for the audience to be lulled to sleep.

The set is beautiful, and very functional for this version.

If you want to see something at the Commonweal, this is probably the company at their best. Unfortunately, I still can't recommend it as outstanding theatre.

JAMES SEWELL BALLET -- Saint Mary's University Page Theatre Professional Series

Three dances.

KLEZMER DANCES
music: Giora Feidman
choreography: James Sewell
lighting: Kevin A. Jones
costumes: Amy B. Kaufman
dancers: Penelope French, Brittany Fridenstine, Chris Hannon, Justin Leaf, Nicolas Lincoln, Sally Rousse, James Sewell, Emily Tyra

A beautiful piece. Innovative choreography that blended so nicely with the unique music and the gorgeous costumes. Easily the best number of the evening.


BRAHMS DUET
choreography: Sally Rousse (in collaboration with Mariusz Olszewski)
music: Johannes Brahms (Piano Concerto No.1 in D Minor)
dancers: Sally Rousse, Mariusz Olszewski
lighting: Kevin A. Jones
costumes: George Tachet

The words I hear from nearly everyone are, "I could have done without this one."

There was nothing particularly wrong with it, but it didn't seem to move anyone. It wasn't tremendously beautiful or touching. I got no sense of storyline. It was just a dance to a typical, slow, Brahms duet.

I could have done without this one.


GUY NOIR: THE BALLET
characters created by: Garrison Keillor
storline: James Sewell and Sally Rousse
narration: Garrison Keillor
choreography: James Sewell
dancers: James Sewell, Emily tyra, Justin Leaf, Penelope Freeh, Nicolas Lincoln, Brittany Fridenstine, Sally Rousse
music: Richard Dworsky and The Guy's All Star Shoe Band, Chopin, E.H. Hagen, Horace Silver, Billy Strahorn
lighting: Kevin A. Jones
costumes: Mary Hansmeyer
properties: Kevin Jones, Mary Hansmeyer

This was the reason we were here. We wanted to see the Guy Noir ballet. It was ambitious, with moments of wonderful creativity, humor, and exellent dance, but over-all it lacked a cohesive focus. Sometimes I thought people were just wandering around the stage for no reason, distracting from what was going on elsewhere.

This particular performance was riddled with prop problems, but that aside, I felt that the storyline needed more of Sewell as Guy Noir dancing, and less attempt at establishing a plot.

This had/has potential, but perhaps it needs an outsider's eye to let Sewell and Rousse know how to fix it.

THE GOD OF HELL -- Saint Mary's University of Minnesota School of the Arts

script: Sam Shepard
director: Dr. Gary Diomandes
cast: Casey Howe, Peter Snell, Melissa Kaffine, Andy Greene
scenic designer: Fluffy Blake
lighting designer: Fluffy Blake
costume designer: Br. Thomas Houde, FSC
sound designer: Jimmy Iddins
stage manager: Melanie Reuvers

The U.S. government invades rural Wisconsin.

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This is not one of Shepard's best.

At the beginning of this long one-act, I felt as though I could have been watching a Pinter play -- the clipped language, a husband and wife not really listening to one another but managing to communicate, a stranger, perhaps two, invading their home. It sounds a little like Pinter's The Birthday Party. But this piece goes off on a Shepard rampage against the Bush administration's use of patriotism to throw out the American Constitution and do whatever the hell it pleases.

The play hits you over the head a little too much with its message, which makes it comical. And by being comical, we lose any sense of fear and horror and revulsion at what is being done.

The idea that the stranger in the basement had received so many shocks that he carried electricity within him, was great, and the sense of his being tortured i nthe basement was sickening and compelling. But as soon as he made his appearance onstage and received a shock, it could in no way match the degree to which the actor could play it unseen.

I'm still not sure why the farmer, who begins to convert to the patriotic agent's ways, reacted as he did to the shock treatments. I don't believe that there was enough time for him to have been subjected to the tortures.

Some of the dialog seemed just wrong. The Wisconsin born and bred, farm wife, reacts to the torture by commenting on how the wires are attached to the man's penis. She must say "penis" four or five times. I couldn't imagine her doing that. And then, after having said this much, she then refers to it as, "His ... thing." NOW she can't say "penis?"

The cast did a decent job with a difficult, less than stellar play.