When a theatre decides to present a Noel Coward play be it in the San Diego area, or anywhere else for that matter, it had better have a director with the understanding and appreciation for the gifted and prodigious playwright (more than 50 plays), from Teddington, Middlesex England.

Coward was not only a bold and stylish writer of English drawing room comedies and dramas  of wit and bite, he was also an equal opportunity offender; skewering England’s upper class society in particular –  a class he yearned to join, and eventually did, becoming Sir Noel Coward in 1969.  He more than most playwrights of the 20th century best understood and reflected the uniqueness of his fellow countrymen; presenting their quirks and idiosyncrasies, warts and all, as well as focusing on their finest hours; becoming rich and famous in the bargain.

North Coast Rep Company, of Solano Beach, CA, launched its 33rd season last weekend and hit   the ground running with Noel Coward’s delightful spin on the 1920’s comedy-of-manners genre “Fallen Angels”. This wonderfully hilarious and fast-paced romp has the very good fortune to have San Diego-based director Rosina Reynolds at the helm.

Reynolds, an actor/director and Coward aficionado, has her creative fingerprints all over this entertaining and stylishly directed comedy that is chock-full of deft and inventive directorial touches.   The production also is blessed with a cast that knows its way around English drawing room farce when they find themselves in one. More about them later.

The story in short, set in the Jazz Age, is about two wealthy upper-class young women and their two clueless husbands.  The bored wives whose home sex lives have stalled after five years are tempted and energized by the news of the return to England of a former French lover who bedded them both before they were married.  This is fertile ground for Coward to mine the “seven deadly sins” on stage, and he does so with verve, style, and panache.  Toss into the mix a dry-witted, scene-stealing house maid who apparently is always right on all domestic issues, who, at times, plays and accompanies herself on the baby grand piano in the living room, as well as serve the meals.  Well, when that happens, one has a recipe for a madcap evening of comedy/farce.

Julia played by Joanna Strapp, is the personification the typical bored female Coward leading lady: spoiled, attractive, rich, lithe, liberated, and ready for an adventure.  The timber in Strapp’s voice sends sultry signals to any within earshot, but one has to be listening.  It’s a finely judged performance underscored by impeccable timing.  Summer Spiro playing best friend Jane, is a bundle of bored energy as well, but has a penchant for martinis that soon gets the two women involved in a classic drinking scene that is one of the highlights of the evening.  Strapp and Spiro have wonderful onstage chemistry that has them feeding-off each other.  It’s a delight to watch them work.

Jacquelyn Ritz as Saunders the maid, shines in her scene-stealing moments, when singing and playing the piano in front of guests, much to the chagrin of Julia and her husband, stick in-the-mud, Fred played with controlled frustration by Thomas Miller.  Jane’s priggish husband Willie played by Jason Maddy is appropriately aghast at the shenanigans going with their two wives while he and Fred have been golfing all day. I last saw Maddy in SD REP’s excellent production of “Red”.  His co-starring portrayal there is 180 degrees opposite from his Willie character in “Angels”.  As for the mysterious French lover Maurice Duclos played by Richard Baird, Maurice only makes one entrance at the end of the play, but we couldn’t say good night without him.  All the men have their moments, but the evening definitely belongs to the ladies of “Fallen Angels”.

 In the technical credits department, director Reynolds leads a creative team consisting of Scenic Designer Marty Burnett, who provides a rich looking London apartment, with plenty of space for the actors to perform their magic.  The lighting design by Matt Novotny complements the costumes of Alina Bokovikova.  Also, it’s always nice to see attention paid to the little details like real tea sets and spot-on props, plus lights that can be seen when doors open in the daylight or when characters leave a room. Very few people in real life just wander off or exit into darkness.   Small details like these are what separate good shows from great shows.

The North Coast Rep Theatre begins its 33rd season with a thoroughly splendid and entertaining production of Noel Coward’s “Fallen Angels” that runs through September 28, 2014.  Don’t Miss It!

If you haven’t seen a production of the Old Globe’s Summer Shakespeare Outdoor Theatre Festival this year you still have time to catch “Two Gentlemen of Verona” in the Lowell Davies Outdoor Theatre in Balboa Park.

Whether Shakespeare is writing stories about comedy, drama or tragedy, the subject of love is never far away.   It’s the universal engine that stokes the fires of romance which acts as a powerful elixir and a necessary component in all Shakespearean plays.

This time The Old Globe wraps up their highly successful 2014 Shakespeare Summer Season with the delightfully entertaining rom/com “Two Gentlemen of Verona”, directed by acclaimed Globe Alum and Tony Award nominee Mark Lamos.

The play is considered to be among Shakespeare’s earliest efforts in playwriting, and features themes of male friendship and bonding, both fidelity (on the part of the ladies), and almost infidelity (on the male side), cross-dressing, a touch of bawdiness, and of course true love.  It’s Shakespeare’s version of a coming-of-age tale between two friends and the women they love.

The story revolves around two young men Proteus (Adam Kantor) and Valentine (Hubert Point-Du Jour) who are boyhood best friends. Thanks to the energetic twenty-three member company ensemble, we see them in their various classes performing fencing, physical training, dancing, and doing the things that gentlemen of that time did to prepare for life’s adventures.  When the time comes for them to venture out from Verona into the big city of Milan to make their fortunes, decisions have to be made.

Valentine wants Proteus to join him on the way to Milan. Proteus, however, has a different plan.  He’s in love with Julia (Kristin Villanueva) and wants to remain close to her in Verona.   A disappointed Valentine then sets out on his own.   Proteus’ father Antonio (Arthur Hanket), thinks Proteus should follow his friend to Milan (during the Renaissance children followed the advice and suggestions of their parents).

In Milan, Valentine and Silvia (Britney Coleman), the daughter of the Duke (Mark Pinter) have met and are in love.  When Proteus arrives he too falls for the lovely Silvia. Later, he reveals to the powerful Duke that Silvia and Valentine plan to elope, whereby Valentine is banished from Milan; leaving the field clear for Proteus to present his case for her love.

Meanwhile, Proteus’ earlier love, Julia, assumes the disguise of a male page and travels to Milan to find him.  The now banished Valentine meets a band of rowdy outlaws in the forest and becomes their leader.  Are you still with me?  Good.  Silvia in search of Valentine is seized by his outlaws and is rescued by Proteus, who once again professes his love for her.  Silvia again spurns Proteus.  Once she gets back to her father’s castle with Valentine and Proteus, Julia arrives and reveals her true identity to all, regaining a contrite Proteus’ love.  Two weddings are then arranged:  Valentine with Silvia, and Proteus with Julia.  Shakespeare’s play are heavily plotted and dense with narrative threads that go off in all directions.  So, let’s just say that they all lived happily ever after.

There are some finely judged and very funny performances in this production.  With a cast of twenty-three performers it is difficult to list everyone, however, there are always standouts: Adam Kantor as Proteus; Hubert Point-Du Jour as Valentine, Britney Coleman as Silvia; and Kristin Villanueva as Julia fill those standout roles.

Solid support comes from Lowell Byers as Turio, the foolish suitor of Silvia (with a cod piece that stands out as well); Mark Pinter as the Duke; Rusty Ross as Speed, the crafty servant to Valentine, and Richard Ruiz as Launce, the clownish servant to Proteus and on-stage handler of a scene-stealing black retriever/mix named Crab, that reinforces the W.C. Fields dictum of never appear in a scene with an animal or a small child.  Both are tough acts to follow.  I loved Fields’ snarky, sarcastic, response when asked years ago if he liked children.  “Yes”, he replied, “when they’re cooked properly.”  Not only is Crab, the dog, a scene-stealer, he receives thunderous applause following every exit.

The creative team led by director Lamos is first rate.  The gorgeous costumes designed by Linda Cho fill the stage with a palette of colors.  From dazzling red and sparkling diaphanous white, and long pink flowing gowns to the rich looking blue doublets and cloaks – costumes of the aristocracy – coupled with the contrasting scruffy-looking brown costumes of the outlaws renders the stage design by John Arnone, awash in color.  The lighting design by Stephen Strawbridge and the sound design by Acme Sound Partners, further enhance the vision of director Lamos, who stages his production with a sure and steady hand.

Even though “Two Gentlemen of Verona” is an early Shakespeare play his writing style, plot, and characters are very relevant for today’s society.  Once the audience gets the hang of the rhyme and meter of the language, it’s easy to follow, whether it’s Renaissance Italy or 21st century San Diego.

There has always been a certain amount of scholarly concern over Shakespeare’s intentions when crafting “Two Gentlemen”.  Is it a comedy underpinned with overtones of farce, or is it a farce outright, laced with comedic shadings concerning friendship and the effects of love?

The production is a visually stunning, light entertaining rom/com romp that sends the eternal message that what this troubled world needs, now more than ever, is love sweet love. So enjoy.

“Two Gentlemen of Verona” runs through September 14, 2014.

Playwright Neil LaBute is a prolific writer of plays and screenplays.  But he rarely appears on the radar screens of mainstream American theatre goers. Some accuse him of being a misogynistic playwright on steroids.

That label may be a little unfair.  They said the same thing about G.B. Shaw’s take on women, but Shaw performed his misogyny surgery with wit, style, and intellectual rigor, whereas, LaBute assaults his audiences with characters that boast a raw, street smart, approach to the modern man/woman relationship, complete with a plethora of F-bombs, shouted at the top of their voices, and other favorite sexual expressions that pass for dialogue these days.   If one scratches beneath the surface of our ever changing society, one will discover complicated and somewhat pathetic characters that continue to hold a fascination for LaBute as well as for others.

In his latest play “Reasons to be Pretty”, directed by artistic director Randall Arney, now playing on the Gil Cates stage of the Geffen Playhouse, LaBute introduces us to four characters in their mid-twenties, who are what some might label as border-line losers.  The younger generation come off as spoiled, self-indulgent, and suffering from a lack of parental oversight when they were growing up.  And, they’re still not grownups when we catch up with them.

The play opens with Stephanie (Amber Tamblyn) screaming at the top of her lungs a series of four-letter expletives directed at her live-in boyfriend Greg (Shawn Hatosy) who is trying to calm her down.  Not an easy task. This is a marital squabble (sans wedding rings and license) between a live-in couple who have trouble communicating.  It seems Greg dropped a casual remark to his best buddy Kent (Nick Gehlfuss), about women in general and their beauty in particular. There is nothing unusual about that, except, that Greg failed to defend Stephanie’s specific beauty, and when the two buddy’s exchanges came back to Steph via her “friend” Carly (Alicia Witt), all Hell broke loose.  Whatever would the world do without gossip as fodder material for writers?

In the case of their friends Kent and Carly and their situation, Carly who works as a night security guard loves her husband Kent.  The issue for them is that Kent has a roving eye for the ladies and for Crystal, a new young hottie at the factory where he works.  The set-up is complete.  Now we wait to see how all this will unfold.  One problem for the audience is that these four flawed characters are not easy to like or to root for.

Director Arney has each character deliver their “Aha monologue” in a spotlighted area straight out to the audience. It’s this convention that gives us some insight into the world of these fallible creatures.  I just wish he took a firmer hand in the vocal modulation and orchestration of the actor’s emotions and delivery.   At times, less is better when it comes to the actors shouting at each other all the time.  Also, there were times when 18 wheeler big rigs would have no trouble slipping in between dialogue cues.

For two and a half hours these talented actors have to maneuver the minefield of LaBute,s, sometime raw and sometime banal dialogue which is liberally peppered with references to “beer, broads, baseball, and sex”.  It is almost like being back in my old military barracks.  It was tolerable then, but now fails to engage and just comes off as tedious.

According to LaBute’s program notes, the world is obsessed with how people wish to be seen by others and that’s very true.  Everyone wants to be perceived as being pretty or handsome.  Unfortunately, life just isn’t that way. Real beauty is always in the eye of the enlightened beholder.  We can still be happy inside our own skins, despite what the world thinks or says.

The technical credits are always solid at the Geffen, and this production is no exception.  The set design by Takeshi Kata makes good use of wagons in expediting scene locations and scene changes and still provide enough space for the actors to do their things.  Lighting designer Daniel Ionazzi provides just the right amount of illumination for mood enhancement, and still allows for the costumes David Mickelsen to be seen and appreciated.

“Reasons to be Pretty” at the Geffen Playhouse may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but one cannot deny the dedication and the commitment on the part of the talented ensemble cast.  The production runs through August 31, 2014.

Oscar winning actor Robin Williams has died in his home in California at the age of 63. “Robin Williams passed away this morning. He has been battling severe depression of late. This is a tragic and sudden loss. The family respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time,” the comedian’s publicist said in a statement. The Marin County Coroner’s office suspects the death to be “suicide due to asphyxia,” but the cause of death is still under investigation.