Home  Entertainment Reviews Review: Morning’s at Seven by Paul Osborn (Nov. 3)
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Review: Morning’s at Seven by Paul Osborn (Nov. 3) |
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Written by Barry Gaines
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Saturday, 03 November 2007 |
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Picture, if you can, a Norman Rockwell cover on an issue of “True Confessions” magazine. That should get you in the mood for “Morning’s at Seven” by Paul Osborn now playing at the Adobe Theater.
This study of sibling revelry is performed with warmth and charm by a fine cast under the able direction of Brian Hansen. The play has an unusual stage history. It opened on Broadway in November 1939 but closed after only 44 performances. It was revived in 1980 and won three Tony Awards, playing for 580 performances. (There was also a moderately successful revival in 2002). The play examines the interactions between four senior-citizen sisters and their families. Living in adjacent houses that share a back yard are Ida (with husband Carl and son Homer) and Cora (with husband Thor). Maiden sister Arry lives with Thor and Cora, and sister Esty lives nearby with husband David. The situation is clearly volatile. Homebody Homer brings his fiancée Myrtle to meet his family (after a dozen years of courtship) and to see the house that his father built for him and his future bride. The play explores the importance of home and family, and most of the characters ask the question “Where am I in life?” There are no profound answers, but the exploration is both funny and fun. Bob Byers’s nicely crafted realistic set deserves mention, as do Lynn Hall’s hairstyles/wigs. They take us back in time. The ensemble cast is strong and works well together. Each character has a chance to shine. I only have space for highlights. Hal Simons is marvelously vapid as Homer and TJ Cardella gives humanity to cartoon-like Myrtle. Jim Cady and Gail Spidle made me believe in the reality of Thor and Cora. Linda Williams captures the feistiness and futility of old maid Arry, who harbors an explosive secret. The play’s title (with its confusing apostrophe) is taken from a Robert Browning lyric that ends with the famous lines “God’s in His heaven— / All’s right with the world!” “Morning’s at Seven” maintains that optimistic worldview. It must have been a difficult philosophy to embrace in 1939 when the play originally opened and Europe was newly at war. And it is difficult to espouse today. But for a few hours in the theater, “All’s right with the world.” “Morning’s at Seven” by Paul Osborn at the Adobe Theater, 9813 Fourth NW, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through November 11. $12 general public, $10 seniors and students. Call 898-9222 for ticket information
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About Reviewers D.S. Crafts (Website) Composer Daniel Steven Crafts came to New Mexico from San Francisco where he had hosted a classical music radio program on KPFA. His first commission from opera star Jerry Hadley, "The Song & the Slogan" based on texts by Carl Sandburg, was made into a TV program for the PBS network and aired nationally in 2004 and won an Emmy for Best Music. His latest opera La Llorona is a collaboration with novelist Rudolfo Anaya based on his play "The Season of La Llorona." Mr. Crafts is currently working on another commission from Jerry Hadley for a piece about the American Southwest which includes texts by Rudolfo Anaya and V.B. Price. Two CDs of his music, Contemporaries (short, satirical keyboard works) and ARIAS (excerpts from his various operas) have been released on the BACAT label in San Francisco.
David Steinberg David Steinberg has covered state government, the courts, city and county government in Santa Fe for the Albuquerque Journal. He's been an arts writer for the past 20 years, and serves as the book editor, for the Journal. Over the years, he's also acted in plays, sung in choruses and played trumpet.
Jennifer Noyer Jennifer Noyer has been writing dance reviews for the Albuquerque Journal for 17 years, as well as contributing articles for Dance Magazine and other art journals. She trained in dance with Hanya Holm in New York City and Colorado Springs, and studied several dance techniques at the graduate level at the University of Michigan. After teaching dance at Wayne State University she entered and completed a Masters Degree in Humanities there. In New Mexico Ms. Noyer has taught, directed, and choreographed contemporary dance for several years. Her writing on dance includes a monograph accompanying the video of choreographer Bill Evens’ ballet “The Legacy.” An overview of Evans’s world wide career, it was written and published during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Ms. Noyer’s studies in the humanities, and her studio dance work influence her approach to dance as an integrative art form in the United States.
Barry Gaines Barry Gaines has taught Shakespeare in the University of New Mexico English Department for over twenty-five years and has received two outstanding teaching awards. He has written theater reviews for the Journal since 2000. He has attended theater all over the world including Shakespeare productions in Russia, South Africa, Denmark, and Poland. He has also served as literary advisor for two professional theater companies and written performance reviews for Shakespeare Quarterly. Gaines has taken two years of acting with Paul Ford and appeared in small parts in three plays at the Albuquerque Little Theater. He believes that he is probably a better reviewer than actor.
Joanne Sheehy Hoover Joanne Sheehy Hoover, music critic emeritus of the Albuquerque Journal, has written for NPR, PBS, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Symphony, among others. She has also been a music lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and a music critic and arts writer for The Washington Post. She was director of the Levine School of Music, one of the country’s largest community music schools, in Washington, D. C. 1980-1993. She and her husband moved to Corrales, New Mexico in July 1993. Also a poet, her fifth collection, “Einstein in New Mexico,” was published in 2002.
Marissa Greenberg Marissa Greenberg is a member of the faculty of the University of New Mexico English Department, where she teaches Shakespeare and early English literature. A prior guest reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal, Greenberg will be reviewing theater while Barry Gaines is out of town. She also composed and edited the program notes for last year’s Albuquerque Shakespeare Festival and has written performance reviews for Shakespeare Bulletin. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Greenberg has been performing and studying drama for most of her life. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to review for the Journal.
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