Dragon Productions: On The Verge

Left to right: Meredith Hagedorn, Doll Picotto, and Maria Giere Marquis. Photo courtesy Kimberlee Wittlieb and Dragon Productions.

Dragon Productions, located in downtown Redwood City, is notable for performing strange and obscure plays that test the boundaries of the medium of theatre. Their current production, Eric Overmyer’s On The Verge (Or the Geography of Yearning) falls firmly within their wheelhouse. Using the trappings of three Victorian-era explorers on an adventure in the mysterious Terra Incognita, the play embarks on a wild journey through time, language and culture that defies literary norms.

Though there is technically a plot, much of it is an excuse, the colorful tent pitched over a linguistic funhouse. There’s no sense of dramatic structure or stakes, and very little character development, but the show doesn’t need it – it’s a whirlwind of words, an exploration of sound as much as meaning through the use of rhymes, description, and onomatopoeia. It’s much closer to poetry than it is to literature; if you go in expecting this experience, you’ll get more out of the show.

Despite the looseness of the plot, the three main characters are well defined. Mary (Doll Picotto) represents the values of her native Victorian era, professing the virtues of stiff bloomers and classical anthropology. Her booming voice and intense personality win the audience over. On the other side of the spectrum is Alex (Maria Giere Marquis), a younger explorer obsessed with rhymes and Tibet; she’s more than willing to eschew her social norms and gaily dance forward into the future. Bridging the two is Fanny (Meredith Hagedorn, also the executive artistic director of the company), who doesn’t subscribe to any one corner of acting but adapts as the circumstances change. The ever-surprising Tom Gough pops up periodically in a number of different roles, ranging from a small yeti to the mysterious Mr. Coffee.

The set is more suggested than built, a stark black-and-white affair that makes use of projected subtitles to separate scenes. Lighting designer William Campbell subtly relights the stage to give a vague sense of location: a pale green for the misty rainforest, icy blue for the freezing mountains. Following the example of the play itself, the technical details of On the Verge are blurry and ambiguous, designed deliberately for the audience to not have a clear mental image of what’s happening.

A lot more occurs in On the Verge than I describe in this review, and I’m purposely leaving it out so, should you attend, you can experience the same surprises as the opening night audience. It’s a tremendously strange play, a slice of the unexpected unlike anything you’ve seen in a long time. If you’re a fan of plays that are a little more out there, consider it for your next evening of theatre.

Suisha House

Location: Redwood City, CA

Food: Japanese

Close To: Dragon Productions, Fox Theatre

Suisha House is perhaps a perfect destination for theatregoers looking for Japanese food before their play. It’s located just a few blocks from Redwood City’s two premiere theatres, and despite its intimate space, the restaurant always seems to have an open table or two for dinner. Sporting a menu of both sushi and Japanese comfort food at inexpensive prices, Suisha’s a great place to grab a bite to eat before your show.

There are a number of appetizers to choose from, including gyoza ($5.95), a Japanese pot sticker filled with either pork or vegetables. The gyoza, which are also available as a free side along certain dishes, are crisp and bursting with flavor, without being greasy or overwhelming the flavor of your entrée. They’re so addictive, you might regret only ordering one set of six.

Of note on Suisha House’s menu is its selection of udon noodle dishes. I’m personally more of a fan of the thick udon noodle than its more popular cousin ramen, and Suisha does udon justice. The most luxurious choice is the nabeyaki udon ($11.50), a rich mix of ingredients including chicken, shrimp tempura, vegetables, and a fried egg, a combination of flavors that becomes even more savory and complex as you eat it.

Like many casual Japanese places, there are also combination meals ($14.95 for two options at dinner, $17.95 for three). These come with sides that include Suisha’s miso soup, which is slightly saltier and more savory than miso soups served at other restaurants – a good compliment to many of the combination choices, which trend towards sweeter flavors. Consider ordering the tonkatsu, a fried pork cutlet that comes with rich katsu sauce on the side, along with one of Suisha’s numerous sushi options. The milder sushi helps balance out the heavier flavors of the fried cutlet so neither overwhelms the palate.

With a reasonable selection of tasty Japanese dishes, convenient location near two theatres, and friendly service, Suisha House is an excellent choice for a pre-show dinner. My favorite little touch is when they bring the check: Instead of a couple of wrapped hard candies, the waiter will serve a peeled orange with some toothpicks to round out your meal. It’s one of the cutest things I’ve seen from a restaurant in a long time.

Cavalia: Odysseo

Elise Verdoncq and Omerio. Photo courtesy Cavalia and Dan Harper.

Created in 2003 by Cirque du Soleil co-founder Normand Latourelle, the troupe Cavalia combines intricate human acrobatics with complex equine performances featuring dozens of trained horses in the lavish custom settings. Their recent touring show Odysseo is a melding of visual delight and incredible precision, simultaneously evoking a fantasy dreamscape and the horse-riding cultures of the world. The performance continually exceeds its own standards for what’s possible in human and equestrian motion, never settling to simply meet audience expectations.

Normally, descriptions of the technical theatre go near the end of a Theatre and Bites review, but because Odysseo’s performances are so profoundly tied to its venue, the subject deserves to be mentioned first. The show takes place in a gigantic white tent that can be seen from the highway, featuring a curved proscenium stage several times bigger than that of Bay Area regional theatres. Because of its size and subtle lighting, the space almost seems like watching a show outside. The stage itself tilts to create the illusion of great distance, which provides a sense of vastness and glory.

Odysseo consists of fourteen scenes; almost all feature its four-legged performers. These scenes can almost be seen as an introduction to the spectrum of horse performance, with riders enacting deliberate, precise dressage routines at one moment and performing wild Cossack riding acrobatics the next. The scenes don’t simply hew to formal notions of equestrian skill, either: “The Odyssey,” which opens Odysseo’s second act, opens with horses lying prone and slowly bonding with their handlers before joining together into the spectacular choreography of a Liberty performance.

Though all of the scenes are gorgeous, the very best are the two at the end: “The Great Adventure” and the grand finale, “Odysseo.” Without giving too much away, “Great Adventure” begins with a quiet, captivating solo performance by Elise Verdoncq, riding Lusitano horse Omerio, as the front of the stage fills with a shallow layer of water. This water, though no great impediment to human or horse, adds a layer of spectacle to the daring, adventurous routines about to unfold.

The inclusion of horses adds an interesting dash of uncertainty to a performance art that is almost robotically precise with only human dancers. The horses are well trained and talented, but they are still animals and possess their own habits and idiosyncrasies. (I saw the aforementioned Omerio try to sip some water out of a groove in the stage at the end of “The Great Adventure.”) The broad staging and ensemble of Odysseo allows audience members to follow a horse that particularly interests them, which adds a nice touch to the theatrical experience.

Cavalia’s Odysseo is a lavish, incredibly well choreographed performance piece that combines the best work of human and horse alike. It provides an evening of stunning visuals, uplifting themes, and a glimpse at the connection between species that has existed since the dawn of civilization. For people drawn to the performing arts for aesthetics as much as they are for a well-crafted script, Odysseo is a must-see.

Theatreworks: Life of the Party

London cast. Photo courtesy CB-PR and Alastair Muir. 

While most well known for his Broadway hits Big Fish and The Addams Family, lyricist and composer Andrew Lippa has created a wide portfolio of theatrical projects, many of which received productions at Theatreworks over the years. Life of the Party, running at the theatre company’s Mountain View venue, collects the best of Lippa’s songs in a revue tied together by his recollections of the writing process.

Lippa himself is the main character of the show, performing on the piano and in song. In between numbers, he displays a ringmaster-like wit, joking around with the audience and playing on their expectations of how to behave during a concert. The production feels less like a parade of Lippa’s greatness and more like a private performance after dinner: He laughs, he jokes, and at times he’s vulnerable.  The rest of the cast has serious experience: Damian Humbley worked on Sondheim shows in the West End, Teal Wicks was Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway, and Sally Ann Triplett has a number of top-level accolades to her name.

The songs themselves vary from goofy to heartfelt, from innocent to raunchy, and from Lippa’s most established musicals to numbers from shows he never finished. Included near the end of the show is a preview from his adaptation of classic children’s book The Man in the Ceiling, a taste of something that might arrive at TheatreWorks in the future. There’s something for everyone in Life of the Party, whether they prefer songs with complex lyrical structure, satisfying scoring and instrumentation, or just a fun theme and jokes.

Morgan Large’s set reflects the mélange of shows and influences present in the revue. Numerous objects and pictures, including a loving portrait of Lippa’s artistic idol Stephen Sondheim, decorate the multi-story shelves bracing the stage. They light up when songs from their relevant show comes onstage, but even without emphasis, their presence tempts people familiar with Lippa’s work as to the numbers to come. More than anything, the technical work takes advantage of the way live theatre presents multiple places for the audience to pay attention.

Life of the Party at Theatreworks collects the composing and performing talent of Andrew Lippa in a fun and glamorous revue. If you’re looking for an evening of fun without much structure, want to acquaint yourself with the works of a Bay Area musical theatre steadfast, or especially if you’re already a fan of his, the show is definitely worth checking out.

Theatreworks: Confederates

Left to right: Tasha Lawrence, Jessica Lynn Carol, Richard Prioleau. Photo courtesy Kevin Berne.

Though there are many political thrillers in the world of theatre, not many describe the surreal experiences of journalists on the campaign trail. Suzanne Bradbeer’s Confederates, premiering at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, uses this setting to examine the nature of scandal, journalism’s role in modern politics, and whether it’s more important to be first or to be right.

Three characters are present in the play: Maddie (Jessica Lynn Carroll), the daughter of a long-shot Presidential candidate, and the two journalists covering her and her family. Will (Richard Prioleau) has a personal connection with Maddie, and Stephanie (Tasha Lawrence) has a Type-A personality and a burning desire to get the scoop. Caroll portrays Maddie as likeable with an ignorant streak, perhaps similar to the main character of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. While the play centers on Maddie’s major gaffe, the audience can safely believe that what she did was not out of malice.

Maddie despises Stephanie and only talks to Will, who then talks to Stephanie. This makes Will the only connection between his fellow journalist and the woman they are both writing about. As Will, Prioleau interprets his stage time with each of the other actors differently: He’s collected and mature around the childish Maddie, but a little goofier and able to deliver jokes to Stephanie when she’s around to act as a foil. Lawrence is great at becoming the archetypical career woman as Stephanie, but adds a third dimension to the character through her love of the political game and her adoration of the intelligent, erudite candidate she’s covering.

Andrew Boyce’s set, modern with lots of glass and bold colors like the set of a cable news show, is, without doubt, one of the best TheatreWorks sets I’ve seen. It serves the needs of the production’s numerous locations, including buses and hotel rooms, while tying everything together in something slick and modern. This evokes the political themes of the play without beating the audience over the head with symbolism.

With instant access to a flood of news from large, faceless websites, it’s easy to forget the process that goes into delivering it. Confederates at Theatreworks takes a fascinating look into this life, portraying journalists not as marionettes holding cameras, but as real people who sometimes let their feelings get in the way. If you enjoy plays about politics, but want a fresh perspective on the climb to the top, Confederates is worth a watch.