France’s Victor Hugo and Spain’s Miguel de Cervantes each wrote epic, complex novels that stand as national treasures, but to most people today they are best known through the stage adaptations that they spawned. Les Misérables and Man of La Mancha are two great examples of that singularly American genre — the musical — and by coincidence, both are currently on view in first-rate productions here in South Florida.
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre, the most accomplished resident company in the area when it comes to making challenging musicals look easy, currently features a Les Miz that is outstanding in every aspect. Although not boldly reconceived like its recent Fiddler on the Roof or The Music Man, it is sufficient that it renders the towering, through-sung show with stirring vocals and exquisite visuals.
Director Mark Martino hedges his bet a little by casting two veterans of the show, Gregg Goodbrod and Aloysius Gigl, as petty thief-turned-mayor Jean Valjean and the man who obsessively tracks him down, Inspector Javert. Both have gorgeous voices, as they demonstrate on their showy solos — Valjean’s “Bring Him Home,” a prayer for the safety of student Marius in battle, and Javert’s “Stars,” an anguished soliloquy on his life’s purpose. But while they both sing well, it is the way they act the drama in these songs that make them such standouts.
Even though the show covers just a fraction of the book, it does span decades in a cinematic sweep that Martino delivers without relying on the turntable staging of the musical’s original production. In his approach, he is aided significantly by the scenic design of inventive Paul Tate DePoo III, who conjures up a central staircase and elevated bridge to evoke scenes of Paris, but he can also make them disappear instantly to replace them with the battle barricades or Valjean’s pastoral home.
The entire design team deserves praise, including Paul Black for his lighting, frequently shafts of shadow and rays of sun, as well as the artillery explosions of battle. Gail Baldoni costumes the 25-member cast in period garb, either the finery of the wealthy or the humble clothes of the poor, the so-called “Miserable Ones.” Also crucial in the production’s success is the sound design of Marty Mets, which brings welcome clarity to the score, balancing the vocals against Eric Alsford’s tight 13-piece orchestra.
The entire ensemble is strong, though certain songs are necessarily standouts. Margaret Kelly does commendable justice to dying prostitute Fantine’s mournful “I Dreamed a Dream,” Joshua Charles Skurnik is a stalwart Marius, delivering that ode to loss, “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” and Elizabeth McMonagle scores with Eponine’s expression of unrequited love for Marius (“On My Own”). Even the innkeeper and his wife, the Thernadiers (Richard Vida, Margot Moreland) excel in the show’s weak link roles, refusing to settle for mere comic relief.
As usual, the Maltz comes up against the potential audience resistance to a show that it has seen before, perhaps several times. But this is a Les Misérables that exceeds expectations, and that you do not want to miss.
LES MISÉRABLES, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter. Through Sunday, April 5. Tickets: From $54. Call:561-575-2223.
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With Man of La Mancha, it is not just a matter of how Don Quixote can be cut down to size to be contained in an evening of theater, but how adapter Dale Wasserman was able to merge the novel with a biographical excerpt of Cervantes’ life.
He uses as his framework the story of the author/actor and his manservant thrown into prison for offenses against the church in a sideline of collecting taxes. While waiting to be tried by the Spanish Inquisition, Cervantes must first survive his fellow prisoners. So he diverts them — Scheherazade-style — by enacting the tale of his deluded, but idealistic knight, Don Quixote.
Man of La Mancha captivated audiences when it opened on Broadway in 1965 and now, 50 years later, it still enthralls. Of course, it helps that the Wick Theatre of Boca Raton has engaged director Dom Ruggiero and he, in turn, has the services of several Broadway veterans in key roles. George Dvorsky (The Scarlet Pimpernel) assumes the central characters of Cervantes and Quixote, employing a rich baritone to deliver the Big Song, “The Impossible Dream,” with welcome, unconventional phrasing that lets an audience hear this anthem of striving for the stars in a new light.
As Cervantes’s manservant and Quixote’s squire, Sancho Panza, pudgy Robert Anthony Jones is playing these parts for the ninth time, but he brings a spontaneity to them, earning laughs without stooping to the Borscht Belt cadences that others have relied on. Two summers ago, Alix Paige took on the role of kitchen wench Aldonza in the La Mancha concert at Palm Beach Dramaworks. She now gets the opportunity to assume the role in full production and, as hoped for, she delivers a deeper, more nuanced performance as the angry, abused woman, a part written almost entirely in capital letters.
Man of La Mancha, like Les Misérables, is a musical of serious intent, a savvy choice for theatergoers who are not naturally drawn to the musical theater. But let its unabashed romanticism wash over you and chances are you will be swept away by the show’s message and uplift.
MAN OF LA MANCHA, Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Through Sunday, March 29. Tickets: $58-$62. Call: 561-995-2333.
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Overshadowing the merits of Allison Gregory’s Uncertain Terms, the third of three new works in Theatre at Arts Garage’s Celebration of Women’s Voices, is Louis Tyrrell’s announcement that he will be resigning as artistic director of the four-year-old Delray Beach company at the conclusion of the production’s run at the end of March. Typical of Tyrrell’s eye for a worthy new script is this dark, twisted comedy of family ties, human loss and real estate sales in a soft market.
Gregory nimbly spins her tale around nicotine-addicted Carol Black, her two discontented grown children, Dani and Matthew, and her loose cannon former son-in-law, Harry Bennyhoff. They are all drawn back to Carol’s home in a reunion of sorts, as it is gussied up in preparation for a real estate agents’s open house. Harry is the odd man out, not expected and not welcome, a bull in the china shop who literally breaks in when his outdated keys fail to work on the front door lock. Once inside, though, he carries on a conversation with Carol, even if he seems to be the only person who sees her — shades of the old Topper television series.
More than a few things are off-kilter in this world, but Gregory apparently releases information begrudgingly and has a way of altering realities and switching time frames without warning, often within a single line of dialogue.
Still, go with the flow, enjoy the ride even if you are not issued a road map and reap the benefits. Uncertain Terms often seems reminiscent of early TV sitcom, particularly when neighbor and realtor Paula Twombly (Elizabeth Dimon) stops by. And if a stranger happens to be around, like a stray with the unlikely name of Tawnee Faithful, Paula knows enough to downshift into full sales mode. But just as we consider dismissing Paula as a lightweight, she grows and darkens relating how her husband has suffered a sudden, potentially fatal attack.
Similarly, Harry (Todd Allen Durkin, who does a great imitation of a goose) first seems to be a general nuisance, but when he learn that he was Carol’s caretaker for 10 years as she battled cancer, long after his marriage to Dani died, we sense there is more to the guy than was initially evident. Barbara Bradshaw’s Carol is an ethereal chatterbox who keeps entering with different color wigs. Filling out the cast is Erin Joy Schmidt as Dani, a wound-too-tight marketing executive, and Matt Stabile as her younger, irresponsible and unemployed brother, Matthew.
Uncertain Terms keeps threatening to spin out of control, but director Tyrrell and his talented cast manage to keep it in motion and in hand, thanks largely to centrifugal force. This marks the first time South Flrida has been exposed to Gregory’s work, which has been produced at regional theaters all across the country. Hers is a voice that deserves to be heard, even if her intent is not always completely clear.
UNCERTAIN TERMS, Theatre at Arts Garage, 180 N.E. 1st St., Delray Beach. Through Sunday, March 29. Tickets: $30-$45. Call: (561) 450-6357.