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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1987)
just entertainment PETTYGROVE HOUSE CAFE MW C om er 23rd & NW Pettygrove Mousketeer murderers GRAND RE-OPENING SPECIAL Buy one full course dinner in April (priced from $6.95 to $10.95) and re ceive a 2nd dinner of equal or lesser value Valid Tues.-Thurs. only Bring this ad GARDENS OPENING SOON Regular Menu 2.95-8.95 Closed Sunday-Monday Uptown & Downtown R eservations 221-42S4 Call for information about our: April 13 — Sherry & Port tasting April 20 — Wines from "down under" 3731 SE Hawthorne Portland, Oregon 232-1010 iSL. TTlundo LTD FOR WO ME If You Buy $ 355.60 worth of merchandise from April 15th to June 30 in our store at 3556 SE Hawthorne you will receive a gift certificate for $35.56. Portland Store Only Portland 8 No Sale Clothing . No Returns # 3666 SE Hawthorn« P p r 239-4606____________ Visa MasterCard American Express Cannon Beach 216 N Hemlock 436-1572 SAMPLE ROUND TRIP AIR FARES AIR • RAILS • CARS CRUISE • HOTELS • TOURS TOM WEST Amsterdam .. Key W est__ San Francisco Hawaii.......... from $553.00 from $336.00 from $118.00 from $299.00 (503) 223-2866 918 S o u th w e st Yam hill e Portland, Oregon 97204 e Phono (503) 223*2886 H O U R S : 8:00 a .m .-6:00 p.m. Daily, Opon Saturdays ACROSS FROM PIONEER SQUARE Even though West Side Story is a condemnation of prejudice, the white Jets come off better than the Puerto Rican Sharks. Shocking Greek extends run. BY D O U G E ortland Civic Theatre has come very close to giving us an excellent ver sion of West Side Story ; the master piece of modem musical theatre by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. While the production does not match the excellence of the score, this is still quite an P enjoyable piece of work. What really makes this production worthwhile is the chorus. They are alive and active, they are in character and they play off one another, they perform the very good (and very Fosse-esque) choreography with enthusiasm — and of course, it helps that the gang members are cute. It would be good if the leads had the same enthu siasm. They are competent, generally in tune, but they just lack the spark that the choruses have. Diano LoVerso as Anita and Shawn Rogers as Riff are lively and charming in their interaction with the choruses, but they do not seem to have anything to play off of when dealing with Maria, Tony, and Bernardo. It is interesting that the Jets (the white gang) come off better than the Puerto Ri can Sharks. Even though this show is a condemnation of prejudice, it is still a pro duct of the late ’50s, and the whites are shown as more sympathetic; they get more to do in the show, and their characters are better defined. All the white gang mem bers have identities and lines, we remember their names, but I can only re member two of the Puerto Ricans ever speaking; the rest were sort of stage dressing. The sets and lighting are excellent, as usual for the Civic. David Kelly’s orchestra is good (except the strings are out-of-tune). The direction by Greg Tamb- lyn is generally very good; the play moves along at a good rate and the relationships are clear. I could only hope that it felt a bit more dangerous, a bit dirtier. These are street gangs who end up committing mur der. While it is somewhat accidental and is all very stylized, these kids seem more like Mousketeers than murderers. This production would be quite good if it were almost any other show, but just good is not quite good enough for West Side Story. In some ways it is too bad that the music, lyrics and story are so good, because if the performance is not also fantastic we feel let down. While this pro duction is still enjoyable, it has the same problems that Civic had last year with another show by Bernstein, Candide. In both shows the big things that are lacking are control and tightness, they come close but are just not as precise as they need to be. This is very complex music and it re quires complex dancing, the performers have to concentrate on vocal production and rhythmic precision w hile they are V < r 19X7 M A R T I N > • • 6 6 # « « t e « 4 « t f c « / Sf-r n . moving, and they have to act, and it all needs to be simultaneously under tight control, look effortless, and be spontane ous. These things might seem incompati ble (and there are many who cannot achieve them who say that they are incom patible), but that is what makes musical theatre the most difficult art form we have. reek, by Steven Berkoff, is being given its Northwest premiere by Storefront Theatre, and it is one of the finest pieces of theatre I have seen in Portland in a long time. The script is fresh and adventurous (and somewhat caustic), and the cast and technical aspects of this production are first-rate and professional. The story of Greek is a reworking of the Oedipus legend in modern-day working class London. The script is quite violent, especially in the first act. Berkoff is trying to shock the audience into recognizing the uncaring and cruelty that people have for each other in our present society. He is try ing to get us to take a good hard look at the world around us, see what is wrong and what is right about it, and see what we can do to make it a better place to be in. It is a forceful point he is trying to make, and he does it in a forceful manner, some might say too forceful. This is a play that brings out some strong emotions in the audience, some emotions that not everyone will like; that is one thing that makes this play worthwhile, it makes you react. Director Rosalie Brandon has put together an excellent cast of some of Port land’s most seasoned actors: Vana O ’Brien, Ted Roisum, Keith Scales, and Dee Dee Van Zyl. Though Scales as Eddie (or Oedipus) has the most lines, this is very much an ensemble show, and the actors work with one another very well, none of them come off as being more important than anyother. The women are deserving of particular praise. O’Brien does an amazing job of making an overlong mono logue by the Sphinx constantly interested and enjoyable, and her portrayal of Ed die’s soggy old mother is perfection. Van Zyl standing over the body of her dead husband and lamenting that now her life has lost its meaning is an incredibly touch ing moment — I think the high point of the play. Greek has been a great success for Storefront, and is now occupying the loft space at the old Sumus Theatre on NW 13th. When I saw it for the second time on the closing weekend of the first run, the actors were getting a little over-indulgent after their great success of the previous weeks. They were playing for laughs too much, rather than just letting them come, j and they were getting laughs in some places that cheapened what the play was trying to do. Maybe the few weeks off and re rehearsal will clean these few spots up. Still, this is a remarkable show, and I highly recommend that it be seen. 9 G