Home  Entertainment Reviews Review: Ruthless! The Musical (April 5)
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Review: Ruthless! The Musical (April 5) |
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Written by Barry Gaines
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Saturday, 05 April 2008 |
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OK, so you’ve seen "King Lear" at the Vortex (or at least made reservations). Now I'm as big a fan of existential nihilism as the next person, but if you are looking for a lighter take on intergenerational relationships, I recommend The Growing Stage's production of "Ruthless! The Musical" at the Auxiliary Dog Theatre.
This wicked spoof of theatrical ambition and the genetics of talent (think “Gypsy” meets “The Bad Seed”) has book and lyrics by Joel Paley and music by Marvin Laird. It opened off Broadway in 1992 and ran for ten months. Gifted director Hal Simons has assembled a strong cast who seem to be having as much fun with the play as is the audience. Musical Director Paul Roth ably accompanies the singers on piano upstage. The plot is as complex as the family tree that relates almost everyone to everyone else. Judy Denmark is an ideal housewife and mother to young Tina, a third grader. Tina tells us in song she is “Born to Entertain,” and she would (and does) kill for the part of Pippi Longstocking in “Pippi in Tahiti: The [School] Musical” written by her teacher Miss Thorn. We meet Judy’s adoptive mother, the vitriolic theater critic Lita Encore, and her overpowering agent Sylvia St. Croix. In the second act Judy realizes she is really Ginger DelMarco, the hugely talented daughter of the hugely talented (and presumed dead after a fatal review) Ruth DelMarco. Ginger wins Tony awards while Tina serves time in the Reform School for the Pathologically Talented. Add an ambitious assistant Eve (as in “All About . . .”) and “Modern Thespian” reporter Emily Block and the stage is full—of music and mayhem. The entire cast is excellent. Debi Flores as Lita Encore sings “I Hate Musicals” with heart(burn), and Marcia Tippit as Misses Thorn and Block knows how to sell a song such as the plaintive lament, “Teaching Third Grade.” Wendy Leverenz-Barker sings and dances her way into your heart as murder victim Louise Lerman and scheming associate Eve. Erin Moody is fab as Judy/Ginger. Her soprano voice is strong and clear, even in her upper register; her energy and versatility are prodigious. Moody is nicely supported by her cross-gendered costars. Tina is performed with appealing authority by Max Woltman. He looks wonderful in the little-girl costumes assembled by Kari Reese, and he plays the role (excuse the expression) straight. Not so with Robert Johnson, Albuquerque’s queen of drag, who portrays Sylvia St. Croix with a wink and a spit curl. Johnson is an enormous hoot, as over-the-top as the play. “Ruthless!” is great fun. “Ruthless! The Musical at the Auxiliary Dog Theatre, 3011 Monte Vista NE, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through April 20. $16 general admission, $14 students and seniors. Call 288-1205 for reservations.
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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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