Families in Crisis

In the fall of 1963 a new musical headed toward Broadway with a creative team that (at least on paper) seemed likely to guarantee box office success. Directed by Vincent J. Donehue (and with costumes by Irene Sharaff), its star was the beloved Mary Martin, whose most recent triumph had been as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Unfortunately, Jennie was met with poor reviews (Boston's Elliot Norton claimed that the show was "too long, too cultured, and sometimes even too solemn for its own good." Following its Broadway premiere on October 17 at the Majestic Theatre, Walter Kerr described the new musical as "a woeful tale of some woeful people told in a woeful way."

With the nation plunged into grief in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, not even the strong advance sales to theatre parties eager to see Mary Martin could save Jennie, which closed on December 28 after only 82 performances. Thankfully, an original cast album was recorded that preserved the show's songs (lyrics by Howard Dietz and music by Arthur Schwartz). Indeed, one of the most appealing numbers seems like another anthem in support of optimism (in 1949, Mary Martin had introduced audiences to Rodgers and Hammerstein's "A Cockeyed Optimist" in South Pacific at the same theatre).


While optimism is all well and fine, tragedy is often what drives headlines. These days, we seem to be blessed with new types of tragedies, ranging from brain-eating amoebas (Naegleria fowleri) and cases of mosquito-borne Eastern equine encephalitis (both of which can kill their victims within days) to increasing reports of parents whose young children died after being left for a substantial amount of time in an overheated, parked car -- from users of impure vaping products suffering severe (and sometimes fatal) lung damage to a father accidentally killing his son by driving a speedboat over the boy. Just in time for "back to school" season, Sandy Hook Promise released the following public service announcement as a sobering reminder to parents and politicians:


With mass shootings, the Trump administration's determination to roll back the government's pre-existing environmental protections, and wildfires threatening the Amazon rainforest, it's no surprise that two recent performances I attended focused on such topical issues as teen suicide and the long-term side effects of toxic waste dumps on the residents of minority communities.

• One was a production of Charles Gounod's 1867 opera, Roméo et Juliette (which is itself an adaptation of Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy about a pair of star-crossed lovers). That performance was such an artistic triumph that its stars held hands as they came skipping back onstage for their first curtain call like a pair of giddy adolescents.
• The other was a contemporary drama which boiled down to an embarrassingly pretentious (albeit well-intentioned) hot mess that delivered a master class in what happens when talented and dedicated artists attempt to put lipstick on a pig.

* * * * * * * * *

Many writers (myself included) start with an idea. It may involve a vague concept, a piece of news that was "ripped from the headlines," or an issue of great personal concern. They start with an idea and then build upon that idea to develop a column, novel or, perhaps, a play. Some writers rely on their fervid imagination; others stick to a proven methodology for expanding their thoughts into a fully-formed piece of work.

After many years of writing about theatre, I've come to think of certain dramas as "index card plays" because it seems as if their author came up with one or two solid ideas, tried to create complex characters, struggled to tell a story, yet ultimately failed to achieve the anticipated goal. Crowded Fire Theater is currently presenting the West Coast premiere of Christina Anderson's 2009 drama entitled Inked Baby (which received its world premiere from Playwrights Horizons). Unfortunately, this piece strikes me as a textbook example of an "index card play."

Leigh Rondon-Davis (Lena) and Christell Lewis (Gloria)
in a scene from Inked Baby (Photo by: Cheshire Isaacs)

First, let's look at Anderson's characters. Gloria (Christell Lewis) and Greer (David Everett Moore) are a middle-aged African American couple who have been trying to have a child for several years. After two miscarriages (and not wishing to pursue in vitro fertilization), they have agreed to ask Gloria's younger sister, Lena (Leigh Rondon-Davis), to act as a surrogate. Greer tries to flatter Lena with reassurances that the genes for beautiful women run in her family. Early in the play, the audience witnesses Lena and her brother-n-law copulating with a clear goal in mind. While the result is the long-desired viable pregnancy, other complications quickly ensue.

David Everett Moore as Greer in a scene from
Inked Baby (Photo by: Cheshire Isaacs)

Greer becomes a control freak who likes to set rules for the woman who will bear his child. Nor does he like the idea of Lena socializing with her childhood friend, Ky (Jasmine Milan Williams). Unlike a woman who feels the hormonal changes that accompany pregnancy, Gloria becomes increasingly insecure about participating in the usual rituals that surround the anticipation of motherhood (by the time her friends throw a baby shower for her, she is starting to feel like an impostor). Soon she is getting drunk and having an affair with Odlum (Kenny Scott), a hunky black tattoo artist.

Kenny Scott as Odlum in a scene from Inked Baby
(Photo by: Cheshire Isaacs)

Meanwhile, rumors abound about some strange medical tests or "samplings" that are being performed on members of the local community. These are aggressively administered by an intimidating medical assistant (Jennifer McNeal) whose cartoonish props and idiotic technique provoke intense physical reactions from each patient that border on the supernatural. Though meant to be theatrical, these come across as the fever dreams and gimmicky attempts of a high school English major to pass off some drek writing as provocative symbolism without the slightest knowledge of what goes on in a doctor's office.

Jasmine Milan Williams (Ky) and Jennifer McNeal (Medical
Assistant) in a scene from Inked Baby (Photo by: Cheshire Isaacs)

But there's a reason for the pseudo-scariness. Apparently, a big, bad, and anonymous corporation is trying to discover what kind of damage it might be liable for if the contaminated waste it dumped in the neighborhood decades ago has started to bear strange fruit. That plot thread ties in nicely with news reports (similar to concerns about San Francisco's Hunters Point shipyard that has recently been turned into a housing development) about how racial minorities have suffered from a deadly combination of socioeconomic redlining and not knowing that they live on contaminated land.

Working on a handsome unit set designed by Celeste Martore with costumes by Jackquelin Pedota, lighting by Dylan Feldman, and sound designed by Christopher Sauceda, Lisa Marie Rollins has directed Inked Baby with great care, assisted by intimacy director Maya Herbsman and movement choreographer Kendra Barnes.

Despite some pointed zingers, Anderson's thin script builds to a big reveal in which various characters who have been "sampled" reach into their shirts, pants, and underwear to pull out crumpled bits of dirt which (in a juvenile attempt at symbolism) are meant to describe vital organs that have rotted away as a result of radiation or toxic shock syndrome. The Yiddish term "meesa mishina" roughly translates as "a strange or unnatural death" which plagues the characters in Inked Baby (as well as the quality of Anderson's play).

Back in 2014, when Magic Theatre presented the world premiere of Anderson’s Pen/Man/Ship, I wrote:

“There are many plot points in Anderson's script that, while qualifying as fanciful fictions, are downright ludicrous in terms of life at sea in a traditionally all-male environment. Whereas Melville's Captain Ahab went in search of a white whale, Anderson seems to be sailing the southern Atlantic in search of a purpose (or perhaps a porpoise). The playwright frequently offers hints about her characters in the play's script, but fails to develop them further or explain them clearly to the audience. Although she had never been on a ship, did not know how to swim, and wasn't exactly sure where she was going, Anderson was interested in finding an African-American theme set in the Victorian era."

“‘I consider myself a political writer," she explained. "The only thing I knew was that I really liked the idea of having these people of color on a ship.’ My guess is that a brief encounter with Herman Melville's unfinished novella, Billy Budd (in its prose, film, or operatic format), might have offered Anderson a stronger sense of shipboard life in an all-male environment.”

A similar vagueness afflicts Inked Baby. While strong on writing dialogue, Anderson seems to have trouble with narrative structure and getting her audience to suspend its sense of disbelief. Despite strong performances from Crowded Fire's ensemble, as Greer and Gloria discover that affection has evaporated from their marriage, Inked Baby unwittingly confirms that some heterosexuals are simply not cut out to have children.

Performances of Inked Baby continue through October 5 at the Potrero Stage (click here for tickets).

* * * * * * * * *

The San Francisco Opera kicked off its 2019-2020 season with superb revivals of Billy Budd and Roméo et Juliette. With sets designed by Eric Chevalier, costumes by Carola Volles, and lighting by Roberto Venturi, this co-production of Gounod's opera with the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and Opéra de Monte-Carlo may have looked a bit restrained from a design standpoint, but glowed with the kind of vitality and integrity one rarely finds onstage. In his director’s note, Jean-Louis Grinda stresses that:

“Respecting the period is key to me because it allows us to do justice to the original story and, at the same time, recognize Gounod’s efforts to imbue the work with a Renaissance flavor. This does not imply that shifting the time period would weaken this story: it is far too strong to be diminished by such an adaptation, for its message is timeless. Such a transposition seemed an unnecessary device, and I opted to interpret the piece as written. Within this frame, one can mount this drama of absolute love, which touches every viewer with its deep injustice and a tragic outcome so easily avoidable. The prologue leaves no doubt as to the ending, yet we will experience the story as if for the first time.”

Pene Pati and Nadine Sierra in a scene from
Roméo et Juliette (Photo by: Cory Weaver)

“The time period is evidenced here primarily via the costumes, as well as by the spare simplicity of the scenery. I wanted to offer an airy stage with wide open spaces, driving the audience’s focus fully on the characters themselves. It is necessary to subtly evoke the physical locations, for any attempt to reproduce them faithfully would be a lost cause. How to bring to life onstage the splendors of Verona’s palaces? Moreover, as the costumes of the period were lavish to the extreme, I opted not to present them with such burdensome complexity. Let us instead elicit them, suggest them, and leave the rest to the imagination.”

Stephanie Lauricella as Stephano in Roméo et Juliette
(Photo by: Cory Weaver)

It is worth nothing that, out of the 12 featured and supporting roles in this production, nine (75%) were cast with graduates of the Merola Opera Program. While supporting roles were dominated by Lucas Meachem's bellowing bravado as Mercutio and James Creswell's sober, sonorous Friar Lawrence, Stephanie Lauricella scored strongly as young Stephano with Philip Skinner taking on the voice of authority as the Duke of Verona. Timothy Mix (Count Capulet) and Eve Gigliotti (Juliette's nurse, Gertrude) rounded out the adults witnessing the plot's tragic events.

Lucas Meachem as Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
(Photo by: Cory Weaver)

In smaller roles, Hadleigh Adams appeared as Paris, SeokJong Baek as Gregorio, Christopher Oglesby as Benvolio, and Daniel Montenegro as the hateful Tybalt. The audience, however, kept its eyes and ears locked on Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, magnificently embodied by Pene Pati as Roméo and Nadine Sierra as the [supposedly] 13-year-old Juliette. Unlike more mature singers, both artists were able to convince the audience of the youthful ardor and impetuousness that were driving their passions. There was a definite sense that what their characters were feeling was overwhelmingly new and exciting for them.

Both of these artists are not only graduates of the Merola Opera Program, but also exceptional musicians in the early stages of major international careers. A lithe performer who moves with near balletic grace, Sierra (who won the 2017 Richard Tucker Award) has made a strong impression on local audiences as Musetta, Lucia, Pamina, and the Countess Almaviva. In recent seasons, she has added Gilda, Violetta, Susanna, and Manon to her repertoire.

Nadine Sierra co-stars in Roméo et Juliette (Photo by: Cory Weaver)

Pati's star is rising like a rocket. Originally slated to cover the role of Roméo and sing the final performance of the run in San Francisco, he stepped in after the originally scheduled tenor, Bryan Hymel, withdrew from the production. For a large man, he moves extremely well and demonstrates a solid vocal technique with power to spare. In the opera's Act III, Scene 2 finale (where the original score requires the tenor to hold a G note for a single measure), Pati confidently went from a G to a high C and sat on that note for eight measures, delivering the kind of thrill perhaps rivaled only by Manrico's "Di quella pira" aria in Il Trovatore.

Pene Pati co-stars in Roméo et Juliette (Photo by: Cory Weaver)

Having appeared here as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, he is taking on such roles as Macduff, Alfredo, B.F. Pinkerton, and Nemorino. Because of his physique and vocal stamina, I'm sure many people in the media will start referring to him as "the next Pavarotti." I hope his management will avoid going whole hog on the comparison and highlight the fact that Pati is both a better actor and, it would seem, a better musician. I wish him the very best.

The score for Gounod's Roméo et Juliette has warmed my heart since the first time I saw it performed (with Franco Corelli and Mirella Freni as the romantic leads). While most people are only familiar with Juliette's Waltz Song in Act I, there is such a wealth of music -- ranging from orchestral fugues to brilliant arias for the tenor, from impassioned duets to large choral moments -- that its charms are hard to resist. Much of this production's success is due to the work of conductor Yves Abel, director Jean-Louis Grinda, associate director Vanessa d’Ayral de Serignac, fight director Dave Maier, choreographer Lawrence Pech, and San Francisco Opera's chorus director Ian Robertson.

Watching Pati's "a star is born" performance was thrilling. The young lovers' death scene was more moving than I can ever remember. Here's a tiny sample: