The Sound on Stage - Week of 10/02/23

Reviews of Passengers (Seattle Rep), Thrice (Pratidhwani), Cambodian Rock Band (ACT/5th Avenue), Cabaret (Tacoma Musical Playhouse)

I’m constantly amazed not just at the sheer amount of theatre in the Puget Sound region, but by the variety, from professional to all sizes of community theaters, and from well known shows to unique, new, and original pieces. On any given week, there’s bound to be something for everyone. This week’s edition of The Sound on Stage is a great example of that variety, as our coverage includes a touring company from Canada (The 7 Fingers production of Passengers at Seattle Rep), three original plays from Indian women (Pradithwani’s Thrice), a combination concert/history lesson (ACT’s Cambodian Rock Band), and a familiar old favorite (Tacoma Musical Playhouse’s production of Cabaret).

Passengers - through October 15, 2023
Presented By: Seattle Rep (Reviewed: Wednesday, September 27, 2023)

There are few things as beautiful to watch as the human body in motion. It’s been captured in art and has brought people to the theatre for centuries, and seeing a body in motion brings out a sense of wonder and of awe, especially when we see someone do something that is perhaps not so easy for the rest of us. And when that motion is used to tell a story, well then that is something magical. Magical is the perfect word to describe Passengers, produced by The 7 Fingers, and on stage at the Seattle Rep’s Bagley Wright Theatre through October 15.

Passengers is a true performance art piece, using a combination of music, movement, and emotion to present a series of vignettes that deal with the hellos and goodbyes, the reunions and chance encounters of travel, all set in and around the world of the passenger train. This is a breathtaking production, a cirque that uses hoops, trapezes, poles, and other set devices as support for an amazingly talented group of individuals to tell these stories.

The 7 Fingers is a Canadian arts collective that uses theatrical acrobatics to tell stories about the human condition and that celebrate our world, time, and humanity. This group brings all of their talents to bear in Passengers, displaying acts that seem death defying while at the same time are simply beautiful, a combination of flexibility and strength, delivered with a level of precision that is nothing less than awe inspiring.

Shana Carroll is the Director, Writer, and Choreographer of Passengers, and she has produced a show here that runs the spectrum of emotions, from the joy of partners reuniting on a train platform, to the sadness of another parting ways, there’s a hope to Passengers that belies a pervasive undercurrent of melancholy, something that is accentuated by the musical accompaniment of the show and that surely helps build suspense for the audience while the actors layer on their acrobatics. Highlights of the performances themselves are Méliejade Tremblay-Bouchard’s display of flexibility and strength while handling multiple hoops. She’s also quite expressive and funny. Santiago Rivera Laugerud’s juggling is quite impressive, as is Marco Ingaramo’s work on the pole, especially considering how late in the program Marco’s featured performance is. Perhaps the most impressive for my part is Eduardo de Acevedo Grillo. Watching Eduardo move his body with so much ease while suspended from the ceiling above the stage, at times with just one arm, is something anyone who has had rotator cuff surgery can appreciate. Think of the best rings Olympics performance and you’re probably at about 80% of how good he is. The cast is rounded out by Valérie Benoît-Charbonneau, Kaisha Dessalines-Wright, Nella Niva, Mandi Orozco, and Eric Bates. Each of them have a chance to feature their unique skills, and aside from that, this group works together very well in their ensemble pieces. The choreography in Passengers is stunning and the level of precision of performance is a tribute to this group’s talent and preparation.

Passengers is something that is not typically seen on the Seattle stage, but then again, that’s what the Seattle Rep does best, it takes chances bringing art that others won’t, art that challenges our perspective and our sense of what theatre is, and for all of these reasons, and the fact that it’s just that good, Passengers is something that needs to be experienced.

Thrice - closed October 1, 2023
Presented By: Pratidhwani (Reviewed: Thursday, September 28, 2023)

Pratidhwani, the Seattle-based arts organization with an aim to give South Asian art and artists more exposure and opportunity in the region, is celebrating its 20th Anniversary, and even though Artistic Director Agastya Kohli is being generally low key about the milestone, it is quite an achievement.. The group promotes not just drama, but South Asian created and performed dance and music as well. Last season’s Refugees in the Garden City garnered a number of Heilman & Haver nominations, and their latest production shows that the troupe has emerged from the darkness of the Covid pandemic stronger than ever. Thrice: Three Solo Performances by Indian Women runs onstage at Taproot Theatre’s Isaac Studio through October 1, and is just that, three short form, one-woman shows performed by the artists who created them. While they are three distinct stories, the thread that connects them all is the search for place and identity, something that resonates in a world where we all, at one time or another, have searched for our own sense of belonging.

Each of the stories, despite their common underlying theme, are told in different and unique ways. A Labyrinth and its Myriad Mirages, written and performed by Divya Rajan is perhaps the most avant garde of the performances, and it’s also the more difficult of the three, and the one I struggled with the most. Its themes of time gained and lost through the proverbial rabbit hole of social media, and the struggle for balance between sharing and leaving oneself open are clear, but the presentation itself feels slow and deliberate, and a bit disengaging. It never really grabs the audience and brings them in, rather it leaves them continually analyzing the play and searching for the message, asking throughout, “Is this what she’s trying to say?” Divya’s performances are known for breaking the fourth wall, but even this isn’t clear here, the audience constantly left wondering whether they are being addressed or if she is reaching out to an implied character instead. All of this leaves a taste of awkwardness in the collective mouths of those in attendance.

The second performance, Aarti Tiwari’s Flow, Swim, Float?! is everything that A Labyrinth and its Myriad Images isn’t. Aarti’s character is energetic and relatable, a social media influencer in search of a true relationship rather than the artificial ones she’s found through her online presence and persona. Caught up in the trappings of “likes” and “subscribes”, Aarti’s shallow online personality contrasts with her underlying complexities as a human who feels like she needs something real. This is such a relatable issue in today’s largely digital society, where we’re all connected and at the same time very alone. Aarti just wants something authentic. The story is told creatively as well, and with good pace. Aarti does a wonderful job in presenting a layered character that is likable, engaging, and sympathetic, and the manner in which she switches moods is impeccable. It’s that moment when you spend time on the phone pretending to be engaged, hang up and then relax your face into your actual mood. Aarti has mastered this and so much more, and has discovered how to tell a relevant story in an accessible way.

Closing out the evening is The Elephant in the Room, written and performed by Priyanka Shetty. This one is a bit longer than the others, clocking in at about an hour, so it could really stand on its own, but not just because of the timing. It is a well done and seemingly autobiographical piece, told with heart and humor, and beautifully delivered. Priyanka walks the audience through her upbringing in India, her decision to leave the software development company she worked for to pursue a career in the arts, and up to literally the moment we see her on stage. It’s the slightest bit meta and the largest bit superb. The storytelling is done craftily, weaving back and forth through the past and the present, with plenty of insight into her conflict between her Indian heritage and the requirements, it seems, of being an American. There’s so much humor in the early part of the presentation, the thought crossed my mind that Priyanka could be an excellent stand-up comic. But then it seems, as soon as she lifts the audience with humor, she blindsides it with a truth so real that it brings the house to utter silence. It’s this moment that makes this play stand out, a moment that has Priyanka questioning her true identity. How much of her is Indian, how much of her has been molded through the impacts of colonialism, and how much has she changed to acquiesce the demands of the American social structure and its inherent mistrust of anyone new or different? It’s this battle that plays out for the rest of the program, and its done with an underlying seriousness that contrasts her humor masterfully.

Pratidhwani has curated and compiled three distinct and unique plays that deal with the underlying of struggles of people, specifically Indian women, to find their place and their identity. The production as a whole starts slowly but builds as each new show takes the stage, and ends with a standout performance that fits well within the overall context of the program but could easily stand out on its own against any other full length show that I’ve seen. It’s well worth putting the time in early on to get to the final payoff.

Cambodian Rock Band - through November 5, 2023
Presented By: ACT in Partnership with 5th Avenue Theatre (Reviewed: Friday, September 29, 2023)

One of the challenges with covering theatre and trying to see as much as possible is that sometimes dates just don’t line up. That’s sort of what happened with me and Cambodian Rock Band, onstage at ACT’s Falls Theatre and being presented in partnership with the 5th Avenue Theatre. The show runs from September 29 through November 5, though the official opening isn’t until Thursday, October 5. Therefore, the performance I attended on September 29 was a preview, and as such I cannot review it. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t at least provide a preview of it in this space.

Cambodian Rock Band, written by Lauren Yee and directed by Chay Yew, is a combination rock concert, featuring songs by Dengue Fever, and history lesson that deals with the subject of Cambodian genocide under the rule of Pol Pot and his infamous Khmer Rouge regime. The regime is responsible for the deaths of over 2 million Cambodians and brought on a period of terror and subservience that lasted four years. During this time, basic human rights were stripped away from the populace, and art was simply not allowed. As much art as Pol Pot could find, he’d have destroyed, while artists and musicians were forced to hide their identities or face the grim reality of torture and sure death. This is the context around which Cambodian Rock Band is set. Chum, who before the reign of Pol Pot, was in a band with friends Sothea, Rom, Pou, and Leng. In this story, Chum returns to Cambodia after a long absence to confront his daughter Neary, who is leading the team responsible for bringing Duch (Director of the Khmer Rouge’s famous S-21 prison) to justice. The story follows Chum as he revisits the past to bring context to his visit with his daughter. What it also does is provides a first hand account of the torturous nature of Pol Pot’s regime. This is a piece of history that is at best glossed over in high school history books, but one that is having a well deserved light shined on it through this production. It’s hard to watch sometimes, and if I were to write a review, I might say that’s because it’s impeccably acted.

Its music is also wonderfully performed. The show starts out with a few Dengue Fever songs, until the performance is interrupted by the show’s host and narrator. Each actor is also a part of the band, and the music is very good, another learning opportunity here being that this style of music doesn’t get a lot of notoriety here. It’s energetic and very well performed (which is what I would say if I were writing a review). This excellent cast consists first and foremost of Phil Wong as Duch, the fun and funny narrator and not so fun and funny leader of S-21. Phil is excellent at balancing those two aspects of the character duality. Joe Ngo is Chum, Brooke Ishibashi plays his daughter Neary, and Abraham Kim, Tim Liu, and Jane Lui round out the cast, all doing double-duty as band members and character actors. It’s a solid cast and they all deliver multi-faceted performances, they’re especially good at pulling the emotion from the scenes in Chum’s past.

So, while I can’t provide a full review of Cambodian Rock Band, I can say from my experience at the Friday night preview that this is a show that will not disappoint. It’s full of energy and emotion, and performed by an extremely talented cast. Cambodian Rock Band is also an example of how to make history accessible, while at the same time presenting the emotional complexity of a series of events that won’t be found in the average everyday American textbook.

Cabaret - through October 8, 2023
Presented By: Tacoma Musical Playhouse (Reviewed: Saturday, September30, 2023)

Cabaret is one of those shows that exemplifies what is great about American theatre. Set in a historical context, it uses music and dance to tell a story of a certain aspect of a time or place that should never be forgotten, and that we always need to be reminded of lest we fall into the same trap that we fell into before. Cabaret has been using the setting of its Kit Kat Klub in Berlin as both a direct and indirect reference to the Nazi uprising prior to World War II since its Broadway debut in 1966. Think of it as a highly sexualized Sound of Music….or maybe don’t. In any case, it’s been through multiple Broadway and London revivals and is a staple in the community theatre circuit. The latest to tackle the show is Tacoma Musical Playhouse (TMP), where it’s on stage through October 8.

Directed here by John Kelleher, Cabaret opens TMP’s 30th Season and looks to do so with a bang. John has compiled an excellent creative team and a superlative cast. TMP is transformed into the Kit Kat Klub for this production, Dennis Kurtz (set design) and John Chenault (lighting) combining to create a dark and seedy setting, with a lot of blacks and reds, contrasted with rows of theatre lighting. Julles Mills’ costumes are everything a Cabaret fan would hope for, a lot of lace (and little else) for the cabaret girls, a nice fitting suit for American writer Cliff Bradshaw, with a flurry of provocative outfits for the show’s host, the emcee of the Kit Kat Klub. This piece is designed wonderfully.

It’s also acted very well. Josh Wingerter is a superb emcee, opening the show and leading the ensemble with “Willkommen”. Josh could carry this show on his own shoulders, and there are many times he’s asked to do just that. His accent is top notch and he’s ultra seductive, but when the show gets complicated, which it does, toward the end of Act 1 and throughout Act 2, he covers that with a great deal of skill. Whitney Shafer is Sally Bowles, the headliner of the Kit Kat Klub. Sally is a layered character, having generally slept her way to her current position, but is having some thoughts about her future. Whitney is very good in this role and her performance of “Cabaret” is one to bring the house down with, very well done. Charlie Stevens is Cliff, the American who is looking for inspiration to help his new book and unexpectedly runs into Sally Bowles. Cliff’s conflicts are well displayed by Charlie, and while he may not be THE star of Cabaret, he is very good in this lead role. Other performances of note include Brynne Geiszler’s Fraulein Kost, Carrie Sleeper-Bowers’ Fraulein Schneider, and Aleks Merilo as Ernst Ludwig, who has a key and pivotal role here. The exchange between Aleks’ Ernst and Brynne’s Kost toward the end of Act 1 provide the right amount of shock.

Individual performance aside, something seemed to be a bit off during the Saturday matinee performance. I should preface this by saying I’ve seen this cast play to crowds that got it, that were bought into their performance, and it was magical. Unfortunately, that was not the case on Saturday. First off, the audience was not having any of this. Willkommen is a song that has its own energy, but then builds by feeding off the reactions of the audience. With no discernible reaction from the audience, the number fell flat, and the rest of the show followed suit. When Josh implored the audience to leave their troubles outside, from what I can tell they just didn’t listen. And as a show that relies on energy to really work well, when it isn’t there, it kills all of the shows’ emotion. Secondly, I’ve said in previous reviews that the use of a live orchestra is always preferred to canned tracks, but it has to be done right. Here, the orchestra seemed to be a step behind, always playing catch up with the actors while at the same time holding them back. There were a few times on Saturday when it was clear the actors were out of step with the orchestra, even leading to ensemble dancers unsure of their next step. It could be a chicken and egg situation, the restrained tempo preventing the energy from coming through, or the lack of energy from the audience impacting everyone’s enthusiasm onstage. Either way, it’s a shame, because this cast deserves better, and I’ve seen them perform magic.

Cabaret at Tacoma Musical Playhouse has all of the ingredients to be a top shelf musical, a phenomenally talented cast, a transportive set, classic choreography, it’s just missing that one ingredient to put it all together, energy.

For more information on all of these shows, please visit the theatre websites listed below:

Seattle Rep - https://www.seattlerep.org/
Pratidhwani - https://www.pratidhwani.org/
ACT - https://acttheatre.org/
Tacoma Musical Playhouse - https://tmp.org/

BAlso on Stage:
Murder on the Orient Express - Edmonds Driftwood Players (through 10/08)
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) - Lakewood Playhouse (through 10/08)
Disney’s The Little Mermaid - 5th Avenue Theatre (through 10/08)
Ken Ludwig’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood - Village Theatre (Issaquah through 10/15; Everett 10/21-11/12)
Last Drive to Dodge - Taproot Theatre (through 10/21)

Coming Soon:

The Turn of the Screw - BCT (opens 10/06)
Murder on the Nile - Port Gamble Theatre (opens 10/06)
Cry It Out - As If Theatre (opens 10/12)
The Prom - Bainbridge Performing Arts (opens 10/13)
Baskerville - WWCA (opens 10/13)
Bloodletting - Pork Filled Productions (opens 10/19)
Doubt: A Parable - Jewel Box (opens 10/20)
Misery - Tacoma Little Theatre (opens 10/20)
The Merry Wives of Windsor - Seattle Shakespeare (opens 10/25)
Andelana - Dukesbay (opens 10/27)
Cry It Out - inD Theatre (opens 10/27)