[NEohioPAL]PD Review of Roar at Actors' Summit

Mon Sep 24 08:02:00 PDT 2001

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Bravura performance elevates new theater's opening show 
09/24/01
Tony Brown
Plain Dealer Theater Critic
HUDSON- The occasion: Actors Summit christened its new theater in a warehouse 
on the outskirts of the downtown residential section of this quaint Summit 
County town. 

The vehicle: "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd," an 
oddball 1960s attempt at existentialist musical theater, opened in the 
company's versatile "black box" performance space this weekend. 
The best reason to go: As Sir, the rules-changing symbol of the ruling 
classes who cheats poor Cocky out of crumbs of bread, Wayne Turney transforms 
every giggle, every supercilious glance, every husky note into a carefully 
placed building block in a truly monumental and sinister performance. 
All in all, it's a happy event for Actors' Summit, a small professional 
company that was started three years ago and has been looking for a home ever 
since. 
The new theater has limitations, including a noisy ventilation system and a 
lack of overhead space from which to fly in scenery. But it can be configured 
in any number of permutations to match a director's vision. 

Appropriate set 
For "Roar," director Neil Thackaberry arranges the audience on three sides of 
set designer Robert Stegmiller's simple series of platforms and steps. It's a 
rather bleak, bare-bones affair, appropriate to the stalwart morals of the 
material. 
First performed in England before coming to Broadway in 1965, "Roar" is an 
attempt by actor-writer Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse (who had earlier 
collaborated on "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off") to marry the pessimistic 
existentialism of Samuel Beckett with the melodies of traditional musical 
theater. 
Playing their worldly board game, Sir and Cocky resemble not only Vladimir 
and Estragon in "Waiting for Godot," but they also have much in common with 
Beckett's whip-snapping Pozzo and slave Lucky in the same play. And there are 
references to Broadway musicals, most obviously to "Fiddler on the Roof" and 
"My Fair Lady." 
Today the show is largely a curiosity, an archaeological artifact, a relic. 
With its Everyman themes, it anticipates the far more popular "Pippin" and 
"Godspell." The same sort of Brechtian burlesque at work in "Roar" can be 
seen now in the Broadway musical "Urinetown." 
Turney, his baritone booming, his shirt stuffed and his beady eyes peering 
out over the top of reading glasses, immediately establishes himself as the 
ringmaster of this little circus act and doesn't flag a whit as the symbolism 
grows heavier than greasepaint. 

Top performance 
This is a master-class on playing the conniving villain, not with a dark 
sneer, but with a light and sardonic laugh. It's the caliber of performance 
one would expect to find at Cleveland Play House, where Turney was a member 
of the ensemble for many years. 
As Turney's foil, Play House and Great Lakes Theater Festival veteran Greg 
Violand stretches his face into grimaces of pain as a captivatingly 
Chaplinesque Cocky. But some of the upper ranges of the Act 1-closing "Who 
Can I Turn to" are just beyond his vocal abilities. 
Darryl Miller, a music-education undergrad at Kent State University, makes a 
brief but indelible impression in his one song, "Feeling Good" as the Black 
(originally The Negro) who helps liberate Cocky. Kari Kandel leads the urchin 
chorus and appears as Sir's sexual plaything. And, just as Newley both 
directed and appeared as Cocky in his own show, so Actors' Summit founder and 
artistic director Thackaberry stomps about in an unbilled cameo. 
"Roar of the Greasepaint" is a silly but entertaining bit of slightly 
out-of-date frippery. Its hearty theatricality, made even heartier by 
Turney's bravura performance, makes for a fun and fitting opening of a new 
theater. 

Contact Tony Brown at 
: tbrown at plaind.com, 216-999-4181 

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<HTML>Bravura performance elevates new theater's opening show 
 09/24/01
 Tony Brown
 Plain Dealer Theater Critic
 HUDSON- The occasion: Actors Summit christened its new theater in a warehouse on the outskirts of the downtown residential section of this quaint Summit County town. 
 
 The vehicle: "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd," an oddball 1960s attempt at existentialist musical theater, opened in the company's versatile "black box" performance space this weekend. 
 The best reason to go: As Sir, the rules-changing symbol of the ruling classes who cheats poor Cocky out of crumbs of bread, Wayne Turney transforms every giggle, every supercilious glance, every husky note into a carefully placed building block in a truly monumental and sinister performance. 
 All in all, it's a happy event for Actors' Summit, a small professional company that was started three years ago and has been looking for a home ever since. 
 The new theater has limitations, including a noisy ventilation system and a lack of overhead space from which to fly in scenery. But it can be configured in any number of permutations to match a director's vision. 
 
 Appropriate set 
 For "Roar," director Neil Thackaberry arranges the audience on three sides of set designer Robert Stegmiller's simple series of platforms and steps. It's a rather bleak, bare-bones affair, appropriate to the stalwart morals of the material. 
 First performed in England before coming to Broadway in 1965, "Roar" is an attempt by actor-writer Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse (who had earlier collaborated on "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off") to marry the pessimistic existentialism of Samuel Beckett with the melodies of traditional musical theater. 
 Playing their worldly board game, Sir and Cocky resemble not only Vladimir and Estragon in "Waiting for Godot," but they also have much in common with Beckett's whip-snapping Pozzo and slave Lucky in the same play. And there are references to Broadway musicals, most obviously to "Fiddler on the Roof" and "My Fair Lady." 
 Today the show is largely a curiosity, an archaeological artifact, a relic. With its Everyman themes, it anticipates the far more popular "Pippin" and "Godspell." The same sort of Brechtian burlesque at work in "Roar" can be seen now in the Broadway musical "Urinetown." 
 Turney, his baritone booming, his shirt stuffed and his beady eyes peering out over the top of reading glasses, immediately establishes himself as the ringmaster of this little circus act and doesn't flag a whit as the symbolism grows heavier than greasepaint. 
 
 Top performance 
 This is a master-class on playing the conniving villain, not with a dark sneer, but with a light and sardonic laugh. It's the caliber of performance one would expect to find at Cleveland Play House, where Turney was a member of the ensemble for many years. 
 As Turney's foil, Play House and Great Lakes Theater Festival veteran Greg Violand stretches his face into grimaces of pain as a captivatingly Chaplinesque Cocky. But some of the upper ranges of the Act 1-closing "Who Can I Turn to" are just beyond his vocal abilities. 
 Darryl Miller, a music-education undergrad at Kent State University, makes a brief but indelible impression in his one song, "Feeling Good" as the Black (originally The Negro) who helps liberate Cocky. Kari Kandel leads the urchin chorus and appears as Sir's sexual plaything. And, just as Newley both directed and appeared as Cocky in his own show, so Actors' Summit founder and artistic director Thackaberry stomps about in an unbilled cameo. 
 "Roar of the Greasepaint" is a silly but entertaining bit of slightly out-of-date frippery. Its hearty theatricality, made even heartier by Turney's bravura performance, makes for a fun and fitting opening of a new theater. 
 
 Contact Tony Brown at 
 : tbrown at plaind.com, 216-999-4181 
 
 
 
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