NOISES OFF – BRILLIANT MADCAP COMEDY ON STAGE AT LCLT

 

SHORT TAKE:

Inventively staged, skillfully acted, and adroitly directed British comedy, the classic Noises Off by Michael Frayn, a play within a play at Lake Charles Little Theatre, showing from September 13 through September 29, 2019. GET YOUR TICKETS HERE!

WHO SHOULD GO:

Mid to upper teens and older for mildly sexual topics done in (almost) completely innocent fun. Nothing is shown and language is very mild. Younger than mid-teens should be parentally previewed and depend upon the child.

LONG TAKE:

Move over James Brown. The hardest working people in show business are the  actors performing Noises Off at The Lake Charles Little Theatre from Friday night September 13 through Sunday matinee September 29, 2019.

I’m going to try hard not to give anything away because you need to see this fast paced, clever and hilarious play with the fresh eyes this dynamic and brilliant cast, crew and director deserve to get. Not only is there a lot going on but this is the kind of play which is so funny and well written, and this version so energetic and professionally conceived, you’ll want to see it more than once. I saw Noises Off on stage years ago and the movie with Michael Caine several times but familiarity only made this witty badinage funnier and this iteration had me laughing from curtain up to curtain call.

The set is incredible – probably the most challenging I have ever seen at LCLT – and I can’t think of a soul in the world I would have trusted more to build it than LCLT’s own Randy Partin. Built by Mr. Partin in 110 hours over six weeks as a labor of devotion to this Theatre, it is one of, if not THE most ambitious sets LCLT has ever used. Seven (or eight depending how you define them) crucial entrance/exit portals in a two story parlor of a large off season bed and breakfast provides the setting of this raucous comedy as an ensemble cast rehearse and perform the first act of a British sex farce called Nothing On – a play within the play. The set is as much of a character as the performers.

As though channeling Led Zepplin’s “Stairway to Heaven” or Ike and Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary”, Noises Off begins gently – or I should say with that certain inherent gentility of an innately British parlor comedy – as the characters and their quirks are introduced. Then slowly the action builds over three acts to Mad Mad World levels of freneticism as tempers flare, sleepless nights take their toll, personalities clash, and jealousies rage amidst the over worked, under prepared thespians, who desperately struggle to make some sense of a timing-crucial confusing play and their own even more befuddled love lives. A tagline I once read sums it up nicely: “The drama! The suspense! And the curtain hasn’t even gone up yet!”

It takes a truly brilliant actor to play the fool – Jerry Lewis, the stooge and buffoon on stage and screen, was actually the brains and organizer of the Lewis-Martin team. Stan Laurel, on film and in vaudeville the ever whining, clueless whipping boy for Oliver Hardy was, in truth, the author of most of the routines and genius behind their success. Similarly, it takes virtuoso coordination and intricately planned team effort to appear to get wrong a play which, itself, is suppose to require flawless timing.

The clockwork details require talented hands and this brilliant LCLT troupe manuever like the Blue Angels on stage with, collectively, over a hundred years of tenured experience amongst them. You will recognize most, if not all, of the performers.

Brett Downer is the brave soul who directed this enormously challenging Russian nesting doll of a play which relies on timing, entrances, exits, and … sardines.

Heather Partin is Belinda/Flavia, the mediator of the beleaguered troupe. If you have EVER been to LCLT or a community band concert you will likely have seen Heather. Her resume is impressive, ranging from Nunsense to MacBeth, devoted wife of Randy, and costume designer for the show.

Paula McCain, most recently from Mamma Mia! but debuting with LCLT here, she plays Dotty/Mrs. Clackett, financially desperate for Nothing On to succeed and the center about which much of the interpersonal friction is created amongst the cast.

Greg Stratton, playing to type, is Lloyd, the director of this play within the play, who is part teacher/father-figure, part chaos instigator, whose mind isn’t always on the job at hand.       Greg teaches Mass Com at McNeese, has been acting and directing for decades from the nostalgic comedy Laughter on the 23rd Floor to the tongue-in-cheek mystery The 39 Steps.

The loveable and reliable but hopelessly insecure Garry/Roger is played by Michael Davis, a singer, actor, dancer and video producer, most recently in LCLT’s Pump Boys and Dinettes.

Rebecca Harris, having sparkled in ACTS Theatre’s Arsenic and Old Lace, is sweetly ditzy Brooke/Vicki who soldiers on no matter the obstacles in her own guileless way.

Angela Martin debuts with Lake Charles Little Theatre as Poppy, the devoted but under appreciated, both on and off stage, assistant stage manager.  While debuting here in her first speaking part Ms. Martin nonetheless has an impressive set of credentials which include a stint with London’s West End! not to mention being married to castmate Cary Martin.

Cary Martin is our own prodigal son, last at LCLT 20 years ago, but returning to the fold as Frederick/Philip, a well-meaning but daft and perpetually confused soul.

Cameron Scallon, veteran of LCLT and lately one of the leads in Bye Bye Birdie, plays Tim, of necessity the resident Jack of all trades, the exhausted and threadbare stage manager, who is constantly plugging up holes in this leaking levee with not enough fingers to go around.

Gary Shannon on stage is the amiable but constantly drunken Selsdon/Burglar and in real life is the morning drive show radio host for KHLA, host of KBYS’ Sunday morning Jazz Show, long time veteran of community theater and independent film makers here in Lake Charles, and who  some years ago, I saw perform an amazing Willie Loman from Death of a Salesman with only a scant few weeks preparation.

Accessories to the insanity are: James Johnson as set decorator, Dan Sadler as Technical Consultant, Jonathan in lighting, David Wynn from KBYS for sound, and Liz Trahan who was kind enough to put together the ingeniously crafted program.

Aaaaaaaaaaand not to discourage audience members from either buying concessions or hitting the “loo” but you’ll really want to stay for at least part of the scene changes during intermission.

So for the most fun you’ll have this side of your best friend’s wedding, go see Noises Off at Lake Charles Little Theatre. You can CALL 337433-7988, buy tickets at the door or get them HERE. And plan to go early in the run the first time, as you’ll likely want to see it again.

{NOTE: In an effort not to spoil the show I’m holding off on some of the photos, but will release them all after the run of the show.}

 

EARLY MAN – LAUGH AS WALLACE AND GROMIT MEETS EVERY SPORTS MOVIE CLICHE KNOWN TO MAN

SHORT TAKE:

Adorable, funny, family friendly, typical sports outing about an underdog cavemen team playing soccer against a more sophisticated "Bronze Age" team to win their valley back, all brought to us by Nick Park and friends, the creators of SHAUN THE SHEEP!!!

WHO SHOULD SEE IT:

If you like Wallace and Gromit or Shaun the Sheep or Chicken Run or The Wrong Trousers or…. oh EVERYBODY!!!

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LONG TAKE:

What do the fantasy franchises: Harry Potter, The Avengers, Game of Thrones and……. Wallace and Gromit have in common? Wallace and Gromit????!!!!

The answer is: Early Man.

Early Man is an adorable plasticine animation feature length movie brought  to you by the same instigators, led by Nick Park, who created The Wrong Trousers, and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

With tongue firmly planted in cheek, the story is spun about the lives of a group of Cavemen who were forced into the lone habitable spot by a meteor which devastated the rest of the known Earth. Their valley is lush and green, where all about them is the Badlands: with dangerous mutant animals, harsh rocky ground, and volcanos. The Badlands looks a bit like I'd imagine the Wembley Stadium parking lot after an EFL Championship game. But there are a couple of silver linings. Not only did the meteor strike carve out at least this one fertile area but the meteor, itself, also gave them the template for history's first football. By that, for those of you reading in America, I mean soccer. But the Brits call it football, so there it is.

Fast forward a couple "eras" and Dug (voiced by Eddie Redmayne – Newt Scamander from the "Harry Potter" world of Fantastic Beasts) and the tribe of which he is a member, happily lives on fruits, nuts and the odd rabbit (which said presented rabbit is about as catchable as Bugs Bunny so, in effect, they are de facto vegetarians). But Dug is ambitious – he wants to hunt mammoths………!

But that's not what the story is about. Their idyll is interrupted when Lord Nooth (voiced by The Avengers' Tom Hiddleson) sporting an impenetrable guise of Italian accent, comes upon the scene with equipment made of the bronze which he has mined from his nearby kingdom.

Dug challenges them to a game of soccer/football to win their valley back. Completely outmatched, Dug's group has no equipment, no training, no experience and doesn't even know the rules, but his chutzpah gets the attention of a local girl, Goona (voiced by Game of Thrones' Maizie Williams) from the Bronze kingdom who coaches Dug's tribe in exchange for a spot on the team. Nick Par, the creator, even lends a hand — or voice — for the emotive and communicative grunts and snorts of Dug's intelligent pig, Hognob.

The story is a pretty formulaic case of underdog team goes up against much better players with nothing but a good cause, lots of heart, and a ringer. We've seen the like in everything from The Karate Kid (karate) to Facing the Giants (American football) to Bad News Bears (baseball) to Mystery Alaska (hockey) and Balls of Fury (ping pong), and it works — every — time because, as Patton put it so well – "Americans love a winner" and everyone loves the underdog because in them we all  find inspiration. But this time it's played for laughs, parodying the sport, the genre, diva professional players, sports announcers, a "win one for the Gipper" moment, a hen pecked husband, you name it.

It's a clean, gentle, lovable movie that kids will enjoy for the claymation/plasticine animation and adults will appreciate for the pokes at the cliches. While there is a good deal of spoofing and teasing, there's not a mean spot in Nick Park's entire imaginative brain.

The cast list is like an old home week of favorite kids' characters, especially from the Harry Potter franchise. So when you take your kids you can happily point out that Eddie Redmayne is both Dug andNewt Scamander.  Timothy Spall, who voiced Chief Bobnar also moonlighted as Peter Pettigrew. Mark Williams, who does the voice for Barry, was also Mr. Weasley.

Miriam Margolyes, who voices Queen Oofeefa was also Professor Sprout. And Tom Hiddleson is Lord Nooth andLoki! I'll let you figure out how to explain Maisie Williams' stint in Game of Thrones. But, if it helps, she was also in a handful of Dr. Whos.

Early Man is available on Amazon now. So go watch this cute movie that will be delightful to kids, footballers, adults, fans of Wallace and Gromit, Harry Potter afficianados, pig farmers, rabbits, cavemen ………………

KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE – DELIGHTFUL COMIC BOOK STYLE BOND

Kingsman-golden-circleSHORT TAKE:

Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the sequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service, successfully returns to the tongue-in-cheek spy world of Eggsey – the street tough turned posh spy.

LONG TAKE:

Take one part Avengers superheroes, one part tongue in cheek graphic novel adaptation, throw in characters you’ve come to love from the first Kingsman,  add a touch of monomaniacal villain complete with homicidal robot dogs and a henchman with a cybernetic killer arm,  gizmos that would have made Q salivate, Zombieland-style comic book graphic violence, and blend with a Bond background – shaken not stirred – and you have Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

kingsman 1 posterI loved Kingsman: The Secret Service. 007 which skates right up to the edge of parody, complete with outrageous fight scenes, action which would have killed an ordinary human a dozen times over leave our heroes unscathed and not even sweaty. If you haven’t seen the first one, The Golden Circle can stand on its own. Background is provided when needed – sparse enough not to be a sledgehammer but enough to all make sense.

Kingsman does it right. They do NOT take themselves too seriously but still respect their characters and the world they inhabit. They always stay within the confines of the universe they create. They never cheat out a deus ex machine. Their problems are convoluted but their resolutions are based upon established clues.

characters kingsman 1The first Kingsman movie introduced the Kingsmen, a secret society of spies and specialists who defend the world from bad guys. Based in England their code names are taken from the Arthurian legends.harry & eggsey We also meet our hero – Eggsey – a diamond in the rough, son of a deceased  Kingsman who Harry (Colin Firth), veteran Kingsman (code named Galahad) sponsors as a candidate to become a Kingsman. We get to see the trials and are introduced to that film’s super-villain played by a lisping Samuel L Jackson.

eggseyThis time out we pick up the story in a very Bond-like dramatic fashion, with a bang – and an outlandish car chase, a cybernetic bad guy, bombs, and underwateran underwater hideout – as the now experienced Kingsman, Eggsey, thwarts a battalion of unknown henchman who try to assassinate him.

I really don’t want to give anything away because this a movie that is tremendous fun and full of surprises and delightful cameos. It deserves to be enjoyed unspoiled. But I will say that Golden Circle introduces us to an entire other group of Kingsmen – cousins you might say – to help combat a new world threatening megalomaniac.

merlin and eggseyTaron Egerton is, again, delightful as, Eggsey, the street-wise polished Eliza Doolittle of the Bond world. I was really happy to see Mark Strong reappear in one of the few good guys roles he’s ever done as Merlin, this Universe’s Q. princess tildeHanna Alstrom reprises her role as Princess Tilde, former damsel in distress, now Eggsey’s girlfriend. And then there’s……well, as Dr. Who’s River Song might caution —- Spoilers, which I am loathe to do here.statesmen

I highly recommend this movie to any ADULT who wants to see a fun, funny, action adventure, good old fashioned archly delivered Bond yarn. casino royaleFor anyone old enough to remember the David Niven 1967 outright parody of James Bond, Casino Royale, there is a small flavoring of that too, like a teensy bit of sugar in a spaghetti sauce, just to be sure we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

But ADULT is the key noun here. There are an exorbitant number of profanities. (I love the British and British movies, but I sometimes genuinely wonder if they know any  emotion filled adjective other than the F word). And there are an unfortunate number of blasphemies used as expletives. In addition there is at least one graphic, oddly and ultimately animated rather intimate physical scene.

robot dogs

There is a LOT of comic book violence including everything from explosions to dismemberment and an unnaturally clean Fargo homage.

But if you are in the mood and of  the disposition, if you enjoyed the first Kingsman then you will love this one too. There are plenty of familiar references but lots of new characters, innovations, bad guys and preposterous plot contrivances to keep even the most jaded adventure/spy thriller fan happy.

Kingsman, like Eggsey, may be the new kid on the block in terms of spy adventures, but this budding franchise, like our intrepid hero, has proven itself again. k-gcLike the first Kingsman outing, Golden Circle is both a really good time on the outlandish spy adventure train as well as often laugh out loud funny and just plain old, sometimes even silly, fun. But this ride is for big people only.