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REVIEW: ‘SPANK!’ makes sold-out Paramount audience cry with laughter

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Danielle Trzcinski is all wide-eyed innocence as virginal Tasha Woode in "SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody," which had female fans swooning Friday night (5/10/13) at the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids. (Timn Greenway photo)

CEDAR RAPIDS — A full house of (mostly) female fans yelped and screamed throughout “SPANK!” last night (5/10/13) at the Paramount Theatre.

They weren’t in pain — although some of the singing and writing was purposely painful. Instead, this “Fifty Shades of Grey” theatrical parody makes its audience writhe in laughter.

I see no Tony Awards in its future. It’s more like a two-hour “Saturday Night Live” sketch with plenty of bumping, grinding and naughty bits, punctuated by pop songs with “new” trashy lyrics. “Tainted Love” is the perfect theme song for this show — a bit of fan-fic based on the wildly popular fan-fic trilogy that swept pop culture off its feet last spring and summer.

The play follows the path of E.L. James’ books, quickly dubbed “mommy porn,” in which brainiac college virgin Anastasia Steele’s educational path deviates when she trips and falls into the arms of Christian Grey, a debonair, dominating megamogul billionaire with an appetite for S&M whips and chains.

As with many parodies, the stage version isn’t endorsed by James or her publishing company, so the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent. The play’s onstage writer is E.B. Janet and the characters she creates are Tasha Woode and Hugh Hanson. Same basic plot, same grey silk necktie binding the lovers in knot after naughty knot.

Anne Marie Scheffler is hilarious as author Janet, a bored housewife determined to make the most of her weekend free of her husband and kids, kicking back and cranking out a sex fantasy trilogy. What could be so hard about that? Apparently, singing and dancing. Janet isn’t good at either, but I suspect the highly trained actress with an extensive comedy resume was trying to be bad, in which case, she was good, if not great. Especially hilarious were the moments following the steamy scenes, in which she batted her eyes with wide-eye innocence and simply said, “You’re welcome.”

Gabe Bowling sets plenty of hearts afire in "SPANK!" (Mills Entertainment photo)

Gabe Bowling was a hunka hunka burning love, dressed and undressed, gyrating through Hanson’s 50 shades of shadowy grey, blurring the lines of bad-boy goodness, kindling Woode’s fire. Danielle Trzcinski is his match as Tasha, adding spunky spark to their burning fires of passion.

The dialogue is as awful as in the books, which is no easy feat. It’s hard to write badly, unless you’re a bad writer to begin with — then it’s easy. This is hard.

Anyway, back to the story. Boy opens door, girl falls into his arms, he shows up at the hardware store where she works, buys some rope and duct tape, asks her out, ties her up, binding her heart and her hands as time goes on. They navigate his jet-set lifestyle in helicopters, hovercrafts, jetpacks and hang gliders, landing time and again in his Red Room of Pain.

It ain’t Shakespeare, but the Bard was bawdy in his own right, it’s just that he really could write, right?

“SPANK!” is trashy, flashy fun — two hours of escapism embraced by a mostly young audience ready to cut loose in best bachelorette party fashion. Even my inner goddess was ready for a cigarette at intermission, and I don’t smoke. This show does.

Miss it last night or desiring more tonight? It’s playing three times this weekend in Dubuque. Laters, baby.

FAST TAKE

What: “SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody”

When: 4 and 7 p.m. Saturday (5/11) and 2 p.m. Sunday (5/12)

Where: Mississippi Moon Bar, Diamond Jo Casino, 301 Bell St., Dubuque:

Tickets: $29.75 to $39.75, (563) 690-4758 or Diamondjo.com

Show website: Spankshow.com

 

REVIEW: Flawless ‘Summerland Project’ takes viewers into brave new world

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Christopher Cole (from left), Angela Billman and Marty Norton star in "The Summerland Project," on the Theatre Cedar Rapids mainstage through Feb. 2, 2013. (Von Presley Studios photo)

CEDAR RAPIDS — A lot was on the line at Theatre Cedar Rapids on Friday night. (1/11/13) A large crowd had turned out to see a new play by a local author. That weightiest of phrases, “world premiere,” was being bandied about. The show was TCR’s 400th production.

It was a significant moment.

And each and every person involved in “The Summerland Project” — writer Rob Merritt, director Leslie Charipar, a creative technical crew and an impassioned cast of seven — was ready for that moment. This was very nearly a flawless production of an impressive script.

Merritt’s play appears to draw from a variety of influences: the Pygmalion myth,  “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ” (source material for  “Blade Runner”),  “Frankenstein” and more. Nevertheless, “The Summerland Project” feels fresh and original. It posits a future in which the human brain can be uploaded into a synthetic body with its memories intact.

Would the resulting being be human? Even if it were, would it be moral to cheat death in this way? And what rights would be inalienable to these all but alien creations?

To pull off a high concept play like “The Summerland Project,” Merritt’s script must accomplish a lot: serve up the moral problems in a compelling way; deal with philosophical and scientific exposition in a manner that doesn’t slow the action down; subtly set up plot points that enable and drive the climactic scenes; provide the characters with complex, believable motivations and natural, flowing dialogue; and upset our expectations and problematize our biases.

“The Summerland Project” is successful in each and every one of these areas. Merritt’s program note points to the collaborative development of portions of the text over time, but it is clear that his guiding vision and skillful writing are at the heart of the play’s success. The script itself is a significant accomplishment.

The details

Derek Easton’s spare set, which is enhanced by two walls of video monitors, is perfect. The physical trappings of science fiction are kept to a minimum, which strenghtens the focus on the characters. The monitors could easily have become a distraction, but they are employed so deftly that they only serve to enhance the story, adding drama at key moments and elucidating the mind of the play’s central character.

But all of this — a sharp script, a striking set — would be for naught if the cast couldn’t deliver. Fortunately, with strong direction from Charipar and a clear commitment to the material, this cast was stellar. Each performer inhabited his or her role in such a way that we could see, hear and feel the struggles of the characters to bring huge dreams to fruition at any cost, to stand up for a moral code, to emerge victorious in the face of equally intractable opposition, to find love amid confusion and heartbreak. To a person, the cast — Christopher Cole, Jon Day, Scott Humeston, Matthew James, Marty Norton and Tierra Plowden — deserves kudos.

I’ve left one cast member out of that list because she has earned special commendation. Angela Billman is simply brilliant as Amelia Summerland. Billman’s portrayal of a new kind of person — a hybrid of artificial organism and uploaded personality — is thrilling. As her character relearned to be Amelia (and that formulation of what is happening is just one of a number of possible interpretations), she was by turns hilarious and heartbreaking. It’s a demanding role on which much depends, and Billman could not have been better.

“The Summerland Project” strongly engages both the heart and the mind. It reminded me of the classic science fiction tale which has appeared in many forms over the years, including as a stage play “Flowers for Algernon.” Like that seminal story, “The Summerland Project” is a devastatingly good piece of work.

I hope this is just the first of many stages from which Amelia Summerland will connect with and challenge audiences.

Related: Local playwright’s creation comes to life

REVIEW: ‘War Horse’ is magnificent theatrical achievement

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Andrew Veenstra portrays Albert, riding atop Joey, powered by John Riddleberger, Patrick Osteen and Jessica Krueger in "War Horse." Mount Vernon native Alex Morf will play Albert on Dec. 15 and 16 when the production's national tour comes to the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines. (Brinkhoff/Moegenburg photo)

DES MOINES — “War Horse” is even more thrilling on stage than on screen.

The 2011 Tony Award-winning Best Play that inspired the blockbuster movie is a magnificent beast of beauty, power and grace. It opened to gasps, cheers and three curtain calls Tuesday (12/11/12) at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, and continues there through Dec. 16.

The show is even more special for Eastern Iowans, since Mount Vernon native Alex Morf, 32, who was wonderful in a supporting role Tuesday, will step into the lead role for all matinee and evening shows Saturday and Sunday.

While we’re used to seeing Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future this time of year, this play, wrapped in the harrowing trappings of war, has an overarching spirit of goodness, honor and kindness. It’s easily a two-tissue experience as we watch a young English boy fall completely in love with his new foal, Joey, a gift his father gave with much sacrifice.

Boy and horse grow together, developing a bond that transcends time, space and trauma when the strapping horse is sold to the British cavalry at the onset of World War I. Joey is shipped to France to serve as an officer’s steed, but through the bombings and strife, is hurtled into impossible peril pulling field guns, dodging tanks, struggling through barbed wire and staring down the barrel of a gun when it seems he can’t go on.

If you’ve seen the movie, you know how that all plays out. That doesn’t lessen the impact of this marvelous piece of theater at its best. It’s an amalgam of impeccable acting, breathtaking battle choreography, multimedia scenery, driving music and puppetry that blazes new trails.

The first national Broadway tour of "War Horse" is onstage at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines from Dec. 11 to 16, 2012. (Brinkhoff/Moegenburg photo)

Every actor in the huge ensemble is solid and crucial to the success of the show, but it’s the horses and auxiliary animals that captivate your attention. The life-size beasts are larger than life in the way they spring into action. Each of the half-dozen or so horses requires three people at the head, heart and hind, bringing such subtly and elegance to their movements and sound effects that the animals seem like breathing flesh and blood, instead of metal framework and transparent cloth.

The minute we see baby Joey onstage, we understand why Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones of Handspring Puppet Company in South Africa received a special Tony award for their work. And when the actors mount the adult horses to ride into battle or frolic across the stage, the moments are truly monumental achievements.

All of the horse operators are dressed in the early 1900s garb of young men, which is another stroke of genius for the overall stage picture. We know they are there, but they are instantly at one with the animals — including an especially hissy goose — so when the horses charge into battle, we see “real” horses rearing on their hind legs. And we weep at their demise.

Music undulates throughout the show, sometimes through the Song Man, a lilting Celtic narrator and his accordion accompanist, other times through a brass band (where Morf plays a mean, crisp trombone) and several times, from the entire cast. The only permanent scenery is a giant swath of torn paper suspended above the stage, where pencil-sketch scenery is projected in animated form. Stark lighting and blinding bomb blasts engulf the stage and audience in the most intense sensory assault at the height of battle.

This is a play that will never grow old, shedding light on a horrible war eclipsed by ensuing 20th century violence. Above all, it is a story of a love and devotion that knows no cost.

The details

  • What: “War Horse”
  • Where: Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, 221 Walnut St.
  • When: Through Dec. 16; 7:30 p.m. through Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday
  • Tickets: $45 to $90 at the Civic Center Box Office, Ticketmaster outlets, 1-(800) 745-3000 or CivicCenter.org
  • Extra: Alex Morf and musical friends from the show will play a bluegrass concert to benefit the Mount Vernon High School theater program, 8 p.m. Dec. 17, Cornell College theater complex

Related: Mount Vernon native saddles up for ‘War Horse’ lead role

 

REVIEW: Old Creamery dials M for madcap mayhem in Hitchcock spoof

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Vaughn Irving and Lisa Margolin star in "The 39 Steps" at The Old Creamery Theatre.

AMANA — For being a silly bit of escapism, the 2005 comic stage adaptation of “The 39 Steps” is remarkably true to the late Alfred Hitchcock’s anything-but-funny 1935 thriller.

In the hands of the Old Creamery Theatre’s tongue-in-cheeky master cast, many scenes play out fast enough to induce vertigo. Toward the end, however, the pace goes downhill, only to pick up once again to tie up all the loose ends. Sort of. The title revelation kind of peters out, without clearly stating the reason everyone has been running around in a frenzy for two hours.

But no matter, it’s all fun, with enough laugh-out-loud moments during Friday’s opening matinee (10/11/12) to have the audience chuckling and chatting on the way out the door.

So, here’s a taste of the convoluted plot.

It’s 1935, and Richard Hannay (expertly played by the dashing Vaughn Irving) has headed to the theater to alleviate his boredom. The amazing Mr. Memory is onstage (played by the amazing Sean McCall). The mysterious Annabella (the comely chameleon Lisa Margolin) slides into the seat next to Hannay, and before you know it, she’s baring her soul. Shots ring out, mayhem ensues and Hannay and Annabella slip out to his apartment.

Hannay then stumbles upon a murder, and suddenly this man who knew too little knows too much. He’s off and running, first meeting some hilarious strangers on a train, then fleeing on foot through a rear window, zigzagging north by northwest to Scotland.

Along the way, Hannay meets more lovely women, bumbling inspectors, shady spies, an inkeeper and his wife, vaudevillians and assorted villains — all played by three actors — Margolin in most of the female roles, McCall in most of the goofiest roles and the spunky Nicholas Hodge in assorted other roles.

Half the fun is watching them slip in and out of the skin and costumes of their various characters. In one especially captivating scene, the guys only have time to change hats and accents, yet we never lose track of who’s who.

A few key scenery pieces are all that’s needed to keep a tight rope on the place settings.

And yes, the script is peppered with references to some of Hitchcock’s iconic, notorious films.

While I prefer my Hitchcock undiluted, it’s fun to look through this blatantly torn curtain to see the master played for laughs.

ARTS EXTRA

What: “The 39 Steps”

Where: Old Creamery Theatre mainstage, 39 38th Ave., Amana

When: Through Nov. 11, 2012; 3 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

Tickets: $27 adults, $17.50 students, at 1-(800) 352-6262 or Oldcreamery.com;$12 student rush 30 minutes before curtain

Information: Oldcreamery.com

Review: ‘Drawer Boy’ draws on full range of human experience

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"The Drawer Boy" at the Iowa Theatre Artists Company in Amana features Robert Gardner (left) as Morgan and Steve Shaffer as Angus, lifelong friends whose reality is shattered when a young drama student probes too deeply for a play he's helping to write. The play runs through Sept. 16, 2012. (Meg Merckens photo)

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia

AMANA — “The Drawer Boy” is the epitome of theatrical excellence. Its themes are universal, reflecting elements of human nature that are funny, sweetly sad and riveting in the hands of the superb professionals at the Iowa Theatre Artists Company through Sept. 16.

Two hours fly by as your heart aches and embraces two aging, lifelong buddies: Morgan, a farmer who tends to the land and to Angus, a one-time artist who now bakes their bread and adds numbers in his steel-plated head, damaged during a London air raid 30 years earlier. Before the doctors could close the hole, his memory escaped, Morgan explains to Miles, a city boy who seeks to observe their way of life to inform a play he and his college mates are writing.

It’s the summer of 1972, and all the action takes place in the kitchen and side yard of the men’s simple farmhouse in central Ontario. But that same farmhouse and those same circumstances slide seamlessly across the years and across the miles, easily landing in the Midwest. The farm crisis of the ’70s mirrors the farm crisis of today. The broken bodies and shattered dreams of World War II mirror the traumas of wars past and present.

And yet, the laughter flows freely until old wounds are re-visited and revised in Act 2, leaving Friday night’s audience (9/7/12) fiercely quiet, scarcely able to breathe.

Director Tom Johnson and co-producer Meg Merckens have assembled a flawless trio to handle the complexities of a show that seems so simple by design. We’ve all seen worlds collide when the naiveté of youth is thrust upon the wisdom of the elders. The way this plays out, however, is harrowing, charming and utterly entertaining.

Cedar Rapids native Steve Shaffer, one of the finest actors ever to trod the boards in Eastern Iowa, returns from the Twin Cities for his debut on the Iowa Theatre Artists’ stage. He has a long history with Johnson and Merckens, however, working with them through the ’70s and ’80s at the Old Creamery Theatre, first in Garrison, then at the Depot Stage in Amana.

As always, he is pitch-perfect with this most demanding role of Angus, slipping in and out of his reverie and anguish, amid moments of lucidity. His every movement rings true, with bewilderment wrapped around bursts of an almost frantic need to grasp clarity and cling to memories that surface with growing frequency before they fade away.

Robert Gardner of St. Peter, Minn., has become a familiar face to Amana audiences. He anchors the show with a mix of solidity, gruffness and humor as Morgan toys mercilessly with the hapless youth who doesn’t realize farmers don’t really rotate crops by hand or wash pieces of gravel before tossing them into a culvert.

Alex Shockley, a recent Central College graduate working this season for the Amana troupe, has the unenviable task of annoying the audience with the audacity of the young playwright Miles, who really is in over his head in every aspect of the story. This is the character that brings calamity and change to the men’s comfortable routine. Shockley is up to the task, opposite such seasoned pros.

As always, Johnson’s eye for an era dresses the set with all the right touches to recreate a farmhouse where the modern conveniences are at least 20 years behind the times. Undulating lighting and music carry the shifting moods.

This is a marvelous show that will stick with you long after the lights go out.

ARTS EXTRA

What: “The Drawer Boy” by Michael Healey

Where: Iowa Theatre Artists Company, 4709 220th Trl., Amana

When: Through Sept. 16, 2012; 7:30 p.m. Fridays; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 1:30 p.m. Sundays

Tickets: $22.50 adults, $10 students, at the Box Office, (319) 622-3222 or email itac@southslope.net

Information: Iowatheatreartists.org

 

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the grinch musical is worth checking out

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According to a review in Variety, a musical version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is worth checking out both for adults and kids.  Although, it might be better to bring your kids to the show.  Not solely to enjoy the play more with their innocence, but also to avoid the funny looks that go hand-in-hand with showing up alone to a show/movie heavily populated with children.

But yeah, the Grinch musical is apparently very good.  Obviously, they didn’t write the musical off of the Jim Carrey movie, which was horrid.

So head over to the link above, and read the review and keep it in mind if it ever comes to Iowa.