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Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), better known as Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. She was presumed to have infected 51 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook. She was twice forcibly isolated by public health authorities and died after a total of nearly three decades in isolation. (Wikipedia)
Last night David and I saw Mark St. Germain's play Typhoid Mary at Barrington Stage 2. It is a dramatic masterpiece about this amazing woman who worked as a cook in several New York homes after coming from Ireland.
Heading the cast in the title role was Tasha Lawrence, who simply was Typhoid Mary. Her strong performance was the glue that held the whole play together. Angry, sympathetic, loving in turn, she captured all the emotions of this conflicted woman.
Kevin O'Rourke was excellent as Dr. William Miller, the man who was in charge of her incarceration in one hospital where she was forced to stay out of the public eye.
Miles G. Jackson was Father Michael McKuen/ Martin Fazier the priest who tried to give her comfort in her incarceration and a fellow sufferer of the disease. He played both parts extremely well.
Keri Safran played another doctor, Dr. Ann Saltzer, who was not sympathetic to Mary's condition and who, at one point, thought of ending Mary's life with an injection.
Frances Evans was fine in the role of the child Sarah, in whose home Mary cooked and who loved the young girl who died of typhoid fever.
It was an engrossing evening in the theatre. Bravi to the cast and to Mark St. Germain for producing this fine work.
Stephen Sondheim has got to be one of the great composers of musical theatre of the past century. I say century because he is three days younger than I!
Company last night at Barrington Stage again proved this point. It is a wonderful show filled with great music and choice lyrics. Last night's cast was in top form.
Aaron Tveit as Bobby was as good as Dean Jones in the original production, which I saw in 1970. A good actor, he had the necessary high range for his last big number 'Being live'.
Ellen Harvey stopped the show as Joanne, singing "The ladies who lunch'. Elaine Stritch was the first Joanne and is tough act to follow.
Likewise, Lauren Marcus with 'I'm not getting married today', a lightning-fast tongue twister which she delivered with breathless speed, delighting the audience.
Nora Schell as Marta has an enormous voice in 'Another hundred people just got offa the train'. Perhaps too big to be amplified. Her high notes gave me a headache. Female Broadway singers should be legally barred from Belting that high in their range!
The rest of the cast was excellent. Kate Loprest as Susan, Paul Schaefer as Peter, Jeanette Bayardelle as Sarah, Lawrence Street as Harry, Joseph Spieldenner as Paul, Jane Pfitsch as Jenny, James Ludwig as David, Mara Davi as April, and Rebecca Kuznick as Kathy.
The conductor was Dan Pardo who kept everything moving at a smart pace.
It was a good closing performance for the summer season.
This was neither 'this' nor 'that'.
We saw the play This, by Melissa James Gibson, at Barrington Stage 2 last night. A rather confusing plot involves four people who have known each other and have been friends since high school, who are entering middle age- if 38 is really considered middle age.
Erica Dorfler
Marrell, played by Erica Dorfler, is married to Tom, played by Eddie Boroevich. They have a small child who is mainly heard crying off-stage. Jane, played by Julia Coffey, is recently widowed. They are trying to set her up with Jean-Pierre, played by Paris Remillard, a 'Doctor without Borders'. Alan is their gay friend.
Eddie Boroevich
In the opening scene they play a game with Jane as 'it', wherein she asks questions that are answered 'yes', 'no, or 'maybe', depending on whether her question ends in a vowel, a consonant, or a y. She, of course, gets caught up in the non-story and decides it's all about her and her dead husband. She leaves in anger.
Julia Coffey
Tom comes to her apartment and confesses he has always loved her. They have sex- standing up and fully clothed. Now they both feel guilty.
Mark H. Dold
The rest of the play concerns their guilt, Marrell's unhappiness with her marriage and Alan's desire to go to Africa with Jean-Pierre, who turns out to be bi-sexual.
Paris Remillard
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln....
All of the actors seemed like fine thespians but there was too much emotion with too little plot.
At the very end, Jane has a solo scene, talking to her daughter who is asleep and whom we have never seen. She apologizes for what a miserable mother she has been. The End.
Whew!
The play was directed by Louisa Proske.
Taking Steps is Alan Ayckbourn's satire of a satire, farce of a farce, silent movie, with all the pratfalls, mugging,and mistaken identity of the Chaplain era. Plus inane dialogue, often shouted so you are sure to realize it's funny. In other words, it's too bloody much!
As in the typical French farce, people are running in and out of doors, hiding in closets, confusing identities, sleeping in the wrong bed with the wrong person. In this case they are running up and down three flights of stairs, which on this stage are all on the same level.
Claire Brownell
The play, at Barrington Stage, which was directed by Sam Buntrock, starred Claire Brownell, Helen Cespedes, Carson Elrod, Matthew Greer, Richard Hollis, and Luke Smith.
Carson Elrod
I'm sure that they are all fine actors but were encouraged by Mr. Buntrock to chew the scenery to a fare thee well.
Matthew Greer
The set was imaginative and confusing. Hanging above the set was a full sized set of stairs with a couple of doors, giving the audience the idea of the three stories of the house. The actual set was all on one level. Often the actors were supposed to be on different floors but were criss-crossing each other on the stage, pretending they were not seeing each other. They had to pretend to climb the stairs by clomping about on the level.
Richard Hollis
Busy, busy!
Luke Smith
I did not see the Broadway original in the seventies but it only ran a couple of months.
Helen Cespedes
Everyone else seemed to enjoy it. I was just weary from all the running around without much of a plot to hang the energy on.
