Visited By The Ghosts of Stories Past

How does one explain the timelessness of art to people who insist that school arts programs are nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars and should be removed from education budgets?

• One might point to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival's slogan, "True Art Transcends Time," as a means of demonstrating how, year after year, decade after decade, and generation after generation, art continues to inspire people and broaden their horizons.
• One could remind them of popular tales from the Bible, indigenous cultures, Greek mythology, and such beloved fabulists as the Brothers Grimm, Aesop, and Jules Verne that have easily withstood the test of time.
• One might ask them to listen to a variety of singers interpreting a single operatic aria, folk song, or jazz standard.
• Or introduce doubters to people whose lives have been impacted by "unforgettable" live performances.
• One might ask them to think about the numerous ways music has fed the passions of their friends and family members for dance, singing, and making love.
• Or show them how Hans Christian Anderson's 1844 fairy tale, The Snow Queen, has frequently been adapted for stage and screen as well as inspiring operas, ballets, films, and full-length animation features such as Disney's 2013 hit, Frozen (which has been adapted into a stage musical that will open on Broadway on March 22, 2018).

Not only is there plenty of food for thought, the above scenarios also point to the malleability of certain works of art that can be updated, reinterpreted, or rediscovered by new generations. Two textbook examples of this phenomenon are currently being performed on Bay area stages with fascinating results.

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When compiling a playlist (or what was once known as a mixtape), few people think of themselves as curators. Most just want to share the music they love with people they love (or with people who might love them a little more for loving the same music that they love). San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon opened its 2017-2018 season with a new production of Ain't Misbehavin' -- the delightful musical revue that took New York by storm nearly 40 years ago. As described in Wikipedia:

"The musical is a tribute to the black musicians of the 1920s and 1930s who were part of the Harlem Renaissance, an era of growing creativity, cultural awareness, and ethnic pride, and takes its title from the 1929 [Fats] Waller song Ain't Misbehavin'. It was a time when Manhattan nightclubs like the Cotton Club and the Savoy Ballroom were the playgrounds of high society and Lenox Avenue dives were filled with piano players banging out the new beat known as swing. Five performers present an evening of rowdy, raunchy, and humorous songs that encapsulate the various moods of the era and reflect Waller's view of life as a journey meant for pleasure and play."

Arís-Allen Roberson, Ashley D. Gallo, and Branden Noel Thomas
in a scene from Ain't Misbehavin' (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studios)

Working on a unit set designed by Brian Watson (with costumes by Bethany Deal and lighting by Maxx Kurzunski), 42nd Street Moon takes full advantage of the intimacy of the Gateway Theatre to squeeze maximum pleasure out of this evening of American music conceived by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr. Ain't Misbehavin' contains a wealth of old standards ranging from Keepin' Out of Mischief Now and I Can't Give You Anything But Love to lesser-known gems such as Two Sleepy People and I'm Going to Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.

Katrina Lauren McGraw in a scene from Ain't Misbehavin'
(Photo by: Ben Krantz Studios)

However, the evening reaches exquisite heights with such rarely-heard songs as Lounging at the Waldorf and Fat and Greasy.

Arís-Allen Roberson and Branden Noel Thomas in a scene
from Ain't Misbehavin' (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studios)

With music director Dave Dobrusky on piano, Nick DiScala on reeds, Amanda Wu on bass, and Tim Vaughan on drums, Jeffrey Polk has directed and choreographed this revival of Ain't Misbehavin' with gusto while letting songs such as Honeysuckle Rose, Mean to Me, and Black and Blue be sung in a surprisingly subdued voice. Ashley D. Gallo (who is also credited as the show's dance captain) shines in numbers like Ladies Who Sing With the Band and the Jitterbug Waltz. Aris-Allen Roberson scores strongly with his sensual rendition of The Viper's Drag while Branden Noel Thomas milks Your Feet's Too Big for every ounce of comedy.

Erica Richardson in a scene from Ain't Misbehavin'
(Photo by: Ben Krantz Studios)

Perhaps because I've enjoyed the work of so many large Wagnerian sopranos (as well as the ample-bodied contraltos often cast in operettas written by Gilbert and Sullivan), I harbor a particular fondness for large women with equally large voices. Katrina Lauren McGraw (who recently appeared as the Sour Kangaroo in the Bay Area Musicals production of Seussical) and Erica Richardson (who evokes memories of the brassy timbre of Nell Carter's voice) deliver songs like Find Out What They Like, When the Nylons Bloom Again, and Squeeze Me with a ribald zest and zeal.

Erica Richardson and Katrina Lauren McGraw in a scene
from Ain't Misbehavin' (Photo by: Ben Krantz Studios)

Performances of Ain't Misbehavin' continue through October 29 at the newly renamed Gateway Theatre (click here for tickets). While the venue may be small, that joint is really jumpin'!

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Stranger things have happened, but I never expected a musical adaptation of The Book of Exodus to reveal that a stubborn, stupid, spoiled, and hotheaded young jock named Ramses might have been a Biblical precursor to Eric Trump! There are, of course, other guilty pleasures to be found in The Prince of Egypt, a new musical (with book by Philip LaZebnik and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz) that has been directed by the songwriter's son, Scott Schwartz.

Katherine Dela Cruz and Christina Sajous in a scene
from The Prince of Egypt (Photo by: Kevin Berne)

While the truly religious turn to the Bible for the original source material, some of us look instead to Cecil B. DeMille's two screen versions of The Ten Commandments (the 1923 silent film and the 1956 Vistavision spectacle that starred Charlton Heston as Moses). Indeed, one of my favorite scenes in the 1956 version occurs when Moses returns from his encounter with the burning bush, looking radically changed by his experience, and Joshua (John Derek) gasps "Moses! Your hair!"

This new musical (which received its world premiere from TheatreWorks Silicon Valley as part of a co-production with the Fredericia Teater in Denmark) is essentially a screen-to-stage adaptation of  1998's full-length feature from Dreamworks Animation which included songs by Stephen Schwartz in addition to the film score by Hans Zimmer. The biggest challenge is how to condense a fast-moving animated film (or even a Cecil B. DeMille spectacle) into a lively stage show in which dance and special effects are key ingredients in moving the story forward.

Jason Gotay (Ramses) and Diluckshan Jeyaratnam (Moses)
in a scene from The Prince of Egypt (Photo by: Kevin Berne)

Much of this has been accomplished with a unit set designed by Kevin Depinet (who uses styrofoam blocks as an Ancient Egyptian version of Legos) with handsome projections designed by Shawn Sagady, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, and lighting designed by Mike Billings. Thanks to the sound design by Cliff Caruthers and musical direction by William Liberatore -- as well as August Eriksmoen's impressive orchestrations -- Sean Cheesman's athletic choreography goes a long way toward keeping up a lively pace for the proceedings.

Moses (Diluckshan Jeyaratnam) and Ramses (Jason Gotay) race their
chariots in a scene from The Prince of Egypt (Photo by: Kevin Berne)

Schwartz's song list has more than doubled for this stage adaptation, which now features such manly duets as "Faster" and "The Secret Room," even though Tzipporah's "Dance to the Day" and a quest song for Moses entitled "Footprints in the Sand" have much more dramatic impact. Unfortunately, the creative team's attempt to cram so much exposition into one big musical sausage that the audience can wrap its lips around leads to some unintentionally funny and surprisingly cheesy moments.

• Are the teenaged Moses (Diluckshan Jeyaratnam) and Ramses (Jason Gotay) trying just a little too hard to establish their street cred as Ancient Egyptian bros?
• Does a key element of Kevin Depinet's set look like a low-cost version of Pride Rock in The Lion King?
• Does an anachronistic bottle dance honoring the wedding of Moses and Tzipporah seem too obviously lifted from Fiddler on the Roof? (When did tribal Jews living in the desert graduate from drinking out of goatskins to glass bottles?)
• Is the audience witnessing the Gerard Alessandrini equivalent of cultural appropriation?

Moses (Diluckshan Jeyaratnam) lifts his rod in anticipation of another
plague in a scene from The Prince of Egypt (Photo by: Kevin Berne)

In moments like these, I think back to my reaction to a performance of another Stephen Schwartz musical at San Francisco's Curran Theatre (I exited an out-of-town tryout performance of Wicked whistling the lighting cues). These days, when the ridiculous upstages the sublime, I try to concentrate on whatever physical assets a new show has that deserve attention. Whenever the styrofoam building blocks meant to signify the architectural wonder of Ancient Egypt's pyramids failed to impress, the sculptured torsos of two outstanding dancers (Ramone Owens and Joshua Keith) offered plenty of visual compensation for the suffering of Jewish slaves.

Brennyn Lark (Tzipporah) and Diluckshan Jeyaratnam (Moses)
in a scene from The Prince of Egypt (Photo by: Kevin Berne)

Despite the competent casting of Diluckshan Jeyaratnam as Moses and Jason Gotay as Ramses, the portrayals of the high priest, Hotep, by William Mann and Pharaoh Seti by Tom Nelis left a lot to be desired. Among the Midianites, Paul-Jordan Jansen's characterization of Jethro and David Crane's Aaron were reduced to stock characters.

The production's strongest assets lay in some of its female voices, most notably Julia Motyka's Miriam, Jamila Sabares-Klemm's Nefertari, Brennyn Lark's fiercely sung and danced Tzipporah, and the rich, lush mezzo-soprano of Christina Sajous as Queen Tuya. Performances of The Prince of Egypt continue through November 5 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (click here for tickets). Here's the trailer.