El Beh is a confident and charismatic title character in “Mary Poppins” at the SF Playhouse.

Everyone knows it's a fun holiday with Mary Poppins. However, the stage version at the San Francisco Playhouse over the holidays may be a little less cheerful than most people remember.

Featuring a book by “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes, the 2004 musical, which has been making the rounds among Bay Area theater companies in recent years, is a strange combination of the popular 1964 Disney film and the books by PL Travers. Some of the adventures from the film were cut and replaced with incidents and dialogue from the first three Mary Poppins books.

These new additions include the immortal candy store owner Mrs. Corry (the cheerful Sophia LaPaglia), a dancing statue (Dominic Dagdagan), the incompetent servant Robertson Ay (Rod Voltaire Edora, reprising his role from the Woodminster Summer Musicals production) and the fearsome Father George Banks' childhood nanny, played with joyous villainy by Katrina Lauren McGraw.

The film's focus on George's transformation is not only retained in the musical, but even expanded upon, although all of the parental songs have been replaced by new, significantly less catchy songs.

Ryan Drummond is a stern and ponderous Mr. Banks who really makes you feel sorry for his neglected, sweet but wayward children, Jane (sixth grader Ruth Keith, alternating with 13 year old Grace Hutton) and Michael (eighth grader David Rukin). shares the role with 11-year-old Billy Hutton). Abby Haug plays the children's disappointed mother, Winifred Banks, stoically and reserved. (Haug and Drummond played a similar couple in SF Playhouse's “Sunday in the Park with George” this summer.)

The stage musical cuts about a third of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman's wonderful songs from the film, retaining arguably the most memorable pieces, although the others are certainly missing. They're replaced by generally duller songs by composer George Stiles and lyricist Anthony Drewe (the team behind nearly a dozen musicals like “Honk!” and “Betty Blue Eyes”).

The previously unknown orchestra, led by Katie Coleman, does excellent work with new and old numbers, and even the new ditties have some highlights, such as Mary's “Practically Perfect” and “Brimstone and Treacle,” Miss Andrew's sadistic response to “A Spoonful of”. Sugar.”

Chimney sweep and jack-of-all-trades Bert acts as an ever-present observer and provides the musical narration to the tune of a strangely dark version of “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” Wiley Naman Strasser in the SF Playhouse production is the first Bert I've seen who really makes this melancholic version of Bert work, playing the role with empathetic intensity, like someone who sees the pain of the world and himself longs to make things better.

The great cast of the main roles is what really makes the production by company co-founder and production manager Susi Damilano shine. El Beh plays Mary Poppins with a confident and unwavering certainty and a slightly sardonic manner that is terribly charismatic.

The role is deliberately less conventionally feminine than usual in this production, so Behs Mary sings in a slightly lower vocal range and lifts Bert in dances as often as Bert lifts her. Most of it works perfectly, although the strange outfit of pants, bow tie and fancy jacket that costume designer Abra Berman gives the normally immaculate Mary in the second act makes it seem like she's going to a prom.

Supported by cloudy sky projections by Theodore JH Hulsker, Nina Ball's imaginative rotating set of a forest of rooftop chimneys unfolds to reveal various locations around the home and neighborhood. It also leaves little room for Kimberly Richards' choreography, which ends up being rather lackluster, although at times amusingly modern.

Set just as Disney is about to release its own film sequel (“Mary Poppins Returns” in late December), the musical offers a strangely dark but ultimately heartwarming return to Cherry Tree Lane.

Contact Sam Hurwitt at shurwitt@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter.com/shurwitt.

'MARY POPPINS'

By Julian Fellowes, George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Richard B. Sherman and Roger B. Sherman, based on the novels by PL Travers and the Disney film, presented by the San Francisco Playhouse

Through: January 12th

Where: San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., San Francisco

Duration: Two hours and 50 minutes, one break

Tickets: $35-$125; 415-677-9596, www.sfplayhouse.org

The post Barely somber ‘Mary Poppins’ settles in at SF Playhouse appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

“Practically perfect in every way.” When the audience hears that, we know exactly who that means: the wise, magical nanny who flies in on an umbrella and meets the hearts of everyone she meets.

It is also an accurate description of the excellent production that is now enchanting audiences at the Sunset Playhouse. And just in case you think you are too big for your bitches to see Mary Poppins, think again. There were many “big kids” in the audience without the little ones in tow. And they are all the smarter – and delighted – for it.

Director Nate C. Adams did an incredible job with the talented, multi-faceted 36-person cast, taking the latest Broadway musical adaptation and making it work wonderfully in the Sunset room, and doing some engineering marvels in the meantime. Mary Poppins flies! And very well, based on the screams of joy from all the children at the last Sunday matinee.

We all know the story of Mary and those villainous Banks kids, Jane and Michael, their stern, aloof father George, their worried mother Winifred, and the wonderful mix of characters like Bert the chimney sweep. The latest adaptation includes some new songs and characters, as well as many familiar tunes from the popular classic Julie Andrews / Dick Van Dyke. There’s Miss Andrew, George Banks’ nanny, who ends up terrorizing the family. Mary comes back to the rescue.

There are so many good performances and dance numbers during the performance that it’s a challenge to list them all here. But Brianna Rose Lipor recreates Mary Poppins beautifully, from her soaring chant to her detailed recreation of the Mary we know and love. It’s a pleasure to watch Eric Welsh from start to finish when he and Bert show a lot of the fancy footwork of choreographer Ashley Patin, especially in the chimney sweep dance-off “Step In Time”. Brant Allen (Mr. Banks), Carrie A. Gray (Mrs. Banks) Ella Rose Kleefisch (Jane) and Casey Westphal (Michael) impress both individually and as a family unit, which requires intervention from Mary Poppins.

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One of the additional numbers on the show sums up the fun of seeing this Mary Poppins production. “Anything can happen” and it does, especially when the very special nanny flies in. Then the real fun begins.

Until November 4th at the Sunset Playhouse, 790 Wall Street, Elm Grove. For tickets, call 262-782-4430 or visit www.SunsetPlayhouse.com

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ Continues to Delight at Sundown Playhouse appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The popular film classic ‘MARY POPPINS’ comes to the stage of the legendary Woodstock Playhouse with the Woodstock Playhouse Summer Theater Cast 2017, a regional company known for some of the best performances in our NY and tri-state region.

Great family entertainment! One of the most popular films of all time comes to life on stage in this high-profile music production, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” that will enchant the whole family. Join the Banks family, along with Bert the Chimney Sweep, as they greet their new nanny, Mary Poppins, who literally flies onto the stage and into their Cherry Tree Lane home. With unforgettable musical favorites like “A Spoonful of Sugar”, “Let’s Go Fly A Kite”, “Jolly Holiday”, “Step In Time” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” the whole family will be buzzing through the days after your visit. Join us for a rousing, grin-guaranteed, magical musical in which “anything can happen if you let it!”

“The whole world is at your feet. And who sees it but the birds, the stars and the chimney sweeps.”

Sponsored by: Aqua Jet Pools and Spas & Paper House Productions

July 7-23

Friday & Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Sundays at 2 p.m.

http://www.woodstockplayhouse.org

Box office: 845-679-6900

Original text and music by Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman

Book by Julian Fellowes
New songs & additional music & lyrics by Anthony Drewe & George Stiles
Co-designed by Cameron Mackintosh

Based on the stories of PL Travers & the Walt Disney movie

With flies from Foy

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San Francisco Playhouse and executive producers Betty and Cliff Nakamoto in collaboration with Capital Stage presented a fully staged production of Jeanne Sakata’s critically-acclaimed play, Hold These Truths starring Bay Area favorite Jomar Tagatac as Gordon Hirabayashi, under the direction of Jeffrey Lo, Jun. 8 – Jul. 3.

This hybrid co-production of Hold These Truths marked San Francisco Playhouse’s return to in-person performances and was also available for audiences to enjoy at home on-demand. San Francisco Playhouse followed strict health and safety protocols to minimize risks to patrons, actors, and staff.

The Sacramento Premiere and the second leg of performances of Hold These Truths begin on Wednesday, August 25 and continue through Saturday, September 26. Opening night is set for Saturday, August 28 at Capital Stage, 2215 J Street, Sacramento, CA. Click here for more information.

Hold These Truths is based on the incredible true story of one of America’s unsung heroes. In February 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the relocation and incarceration of tens of thousands of innocent American citizens of Japanese ancestry. Among these citizens was Gordon Hirabayashi, whose defiance of the internment order catapulted him into a 50-year journey of conscience to protect the Constitution from a country that viewed him as the enemy. Hold These Truths was inspired by many hours of interviews conducted by playwright Jeanne Sakata with Mr. Hirabayashi as well as numerous primary sources from his life.

Sakata and her husband Tim Patterson flew in from Los Angeles to attend the matinee. The day also marked their 45th wedding anniversary, and the pair returned after the closing night performance for a celebratory champagne toast with the cast and creative team.

The Watsonville native shared, “San Francisco has so many happy childhood and family memories for me. My cousin Sandra Sakata owned the Obiko Boutique and championed local bay area artists, asking them to design wearable art. She nurtured me as a young actor and a young writer. San Francisco is where I was really introduced to the performing arts. It means the world to me to bring Hold These Truths to San Francisco Playhouse.”

The creative team includes Christopher Fitzer (Scenic Designer, Costume Designer, Properties Designer), Heather Kenyon (Lighting Designer), Teddy Hulsker (Sound Designer, Projections Designer), Wolfgang Lancelot Wachalovsky (Video Editor), Sarah Marie Selig (Stage Manager), Ada May (Production Assistant), Janel Miley (Dialect Coach), Yuto Shinagawa (Japanese Dialect & Production Coach), and Cliff Nakamoto (Cultural Consultant).

What the critics are saying: 

“A stellar performance by Jomar Tagatac… a marvelously nuanced portrait displaying both the vulnerability of a man challenged by a great injustice and the strength of perseverance and determination to challenge a system and right a great wrong…Tagatac and Director Jeffery Lo work their magic supported by excellent lighting by Heather Kenyon, sound by Teddy Hulsker and scenic design by Christopher Fitzer.”

BROADWAY WORLD

“The great Bay Area-based Jomar Tagatac…plays the man with sweet depth and comic turns as he encounters, picaresque-like, a broad swath of humanity across the vast spectrum of WWII-era America. It’s a moving masterclass of live, in-person performance with teeth made sharp by its relevance today. But as important as its relevance is its elegance. Director Jeffrey Lo uses a spare stage with simple projected graphics to support Tagatac as he takes us on a lifetime journey from boy to man to American icon. A single suitcase serves both literal and figurative purposes throughout the play, most pointedly as to examine the possessions one must part with versus those one must keep to in order to survive the emotional and economic violence of being dispossessed.”

FORBES

“Sensitively directed by Jeffrey Lo and performed by the sublimely talented Jomar Tagatac, it couldn’t be a better production.”

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER

“While SF Playhouse’s safety precautions are impressive, they pale in comparison to the production on stage. A stellar performance by Jomar Tagatac, Teddy Hulsker’s powerful video and Christopher Fitzer’s versatile set combine for a powerful look at past systemic racism in American culture. Director Jeffrey Lo deftly directs Tagatac.”

EAST BAY TIMES

Jomar Tagatac appeared at San Francisco Playhouse as Mark in Art, and DJ Loki in Today is My Birthday (Theater Mu). At A.C.T. he was seen as Mr. Botard in Rhinoceros and Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol. Other credits include Playwright and others in Vietgone, Fortinbras in Hamlet, George in The Language Archive (Theatreworks), Actor 1 in King of the Yees (San Francisco Playhouse); Quang in Vietgone (Capital Stage Company); The War of the Roses, Macbeth, Everybody, As You Like It (CalShakes), The Happy Ones, and Dogeaters (Magic Theatre). Jomar is a recipient of a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Principle Actor in a Play, and TBA Award for Outstanding Performance in a Featured Role. He earned an MFA from A.C.T.

Jeffrey Lo is a Filipino-American playwright and director based in the Bay Area. He is the recipient of the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artist Award, the Emerging Artist Laureate by Arts Council Silicon Valley and Theatre Bay Area Director’s TITAN Award. In addition to his work in theatre he works as an educator and advocate for issues of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and has served as a grant panelist for the Zellerbach Family Foundation, Silicon Valley Creates and Theatre Bay Area. He is the Director Community Partnerships and Casting Director at the Tony Award Winning TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, a graduate of the Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute and a proud alumnus of the UC Irvine Drama Department.

Jeanne Sakata’s celebrated solo play Hold These Truths (2013 Drama Desk Nomination, Outstanding Solo Performance; 2019 Theatre Bay Awards, Outstanding Production, Principal Performance and Direction) won accolades in 2019 at San Diego Rep and Barrington Stage (encore run by audience demand) after extended 2018 runs at Arena Stage and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, and sold-out shows with the Guthrie Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, ACT Seattle, and PlayMakers Rep. Hold These Truths was recently aired on TV in Philadelphia’s local PBS station, WHYY TV, in a filmed performance produced by People’s Light and Theatre., and is available internationally as a radio play, produced by L.A. Theatre Works. The play, winning rave reviews from The New Yorker, New York Times, and other AP critics, has also been produced in recent years at Perseverance Theatre, Honolulu Theatre for Youth (Daniel Dae Kim, co-producer), Terra Nova Collective, Silk Road Rising, Coachella Valley Rep, Plays and Players, and New Century Theatre. There have been more than 20 productions to date. Premiering with the East West Players in Los Angeles, and then Off-Broadway with the Epic Theatre Ensemble, the play was workshopped by the Lark Play Development Center and the New York Theatre Workshop, and is inspired by the true story of Japanese American civil rights giant Gordon Hirabayashi, to whom President Obama posthumously awarded in 2012 a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Hold These Truths, now published by Ageloff Books and available on Amazon, is also on display at the Library of Congress Playwrights Archive in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection in Washington DC, where the Jeanne Sakata Collection was established in July 2011. Jeanne’s latest work, FOR US ALL, a radio play commissioned by LA Theatre Works and inspired by the 1980’s coram nobis legal battle of Fred Korematsu, will be broadcast on radio in 2021.

San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English will direct Lauren Yee’s The Song of Summer featuring Riley Cheng, Anne Darragh, Riley Hashimoto, Monica Ho, Jeremy Kahn, and Reggie D. White, the  company’s second in-person production since the coronavirus pandemic began, following Hold These Truths. The show will also be available as an on-demand video stream for audiences to enjoy at home. In-person performances at 450 Post Street will take place July 20 through August 14, 2021, with reduced audience capacity. The on-demand video stream will be available July 24 through August 14, 2021. Click here for tickets and more information.

About San Francisco Playhouse
Founded by Bill English and Susi Damilano in 2003, San Francisco Playhouse has been described by the New York Times as “a company that stages some of the most consistently high-quality work around” and deemed “ever adventurous” by the Bay Area News Group. Located in the heart of the Union Square Theater District, San Francisco Playhouse is the city’s premier Off-Broadway company, an intimate alternative to the larger more traditional Union Square theater fare. San Francisco Playhouse provides audiences the opportunity to experience professional theater with top-notch actors and world-class design in a setting where they are close to the action. The company has received multiple awards for overall productions, acting, and design, including the SF Weekly Best Theatre Award and the Bay Guardian’s Best Off-Broadway Theatre Award, as well as three consecutive Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Best Entire Production in the Bay Area (2016-2018). KQED/NPR recently described the company: “San Francisco Playhouse is one of the few theaters in the Bay Area that has a mission that actually shows up on stage. Artistic director Bill English’s commitment to empathy as a guiding philosophical and aesthetic force is admirable and by living that mission, fascinating things happen onstage.” San Francisco Playhouse is committed to providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theater lovers converge to create and experience dramatic works that celebrate the human spirit.

Photo Credit: Lia Chang

San Francisco Playhouse

San Francisco Playhouse

San Francisco Playhouse

San Francisco Playhouse

San Francisco Playhouse

A closing night toast to the San Francisco Playhouse run of Jeanne Sakata’s HOLD THESE TRUTHS

A closing night toast to the San Francisco Playhouse run of Jeanne Sakata’s HOLD THESE TRUTHS

San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English, Tim Patterson, Playwright Jeanne Sakata

Tim Patterson and his wife, Actress and Playwright Jeanne Sakata

HOLD THESE TRUTHS Playwright Jeanne Sakata, Jomar Tagatac, Director Jeffrey Lo

Jomar Tagatac and Jeffrey Lo

Jomar Tagatac, Jeanne Sakata, Bill English and Jeffrey Lo

Jeanne Sakata, Jomar Tagatac, Jeffrey Lo and Lia Chang. Photo by Tim Patterson

San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English

Jomar Tagatac

Jomar Tagatac

Jomar Tagatac

Jomar Tagatac

Jomar Tagatac

Yuto Shinagawa, Marie-Claire Erdynast, Jeanne Sakata, Tim Patterson, Jomar Tagatac, Bill English, Jeffrey Lo, Laura Lorber

Jeff Lamb, Leianne Lamb, Jeanne Sakata and Tim Patterson

Leianne Lamb, Jomar Tagatac, Jeffrey Lo and Jeanne Sakata

Lia Chang, Tim Patterson and Jeanne Sakata

San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English will direct Lauren Yee’s The Song of Summer, Jul. 20 -Aug. 14.

The post San Francisco Playhouse Celebrates Closing Night time Of Jeanne Sakata’s HOLD THESE TRUTHS appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Everyone knows it’s a fun vacation with Mary Poppins. However, the stage version at the San Francisco Playhouse over the holidays may be a little less fun than most people remember.

With a book by Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, the 2004 musical that has made the rounds of Bay Area theater companies in recent years is an odd combination of the popular 1964 Disney film and the Books by PL Travers. Some of the adventures from the film are cut and replaced with incidents and dialogues from Mary Poppins’ first three books.

These additions include the immortal candy merchant Mrs. Corry (cheerful Sophia LaPaglia), a dancing statue (Dominic Dagdagan), the incompetent servant Robertson Ay (Rod Voltaire Edora repeating his role from the production of Woodminster Summer Musicals), and terrifying childhood by father George Banks nanny, played with cheerful villainy by Katrina Lauren McGraw.

The film’s emphasis on George’s transformation is not only retained in the musical, but expanded, although all of the parents’ songs have been replaced with new, much less catchy ones.

Ryan Drummond is a strict and cumbersome Mr. Banks, which really makes you feel for his neglected, cute, but tenacious children Jane (sixth grader Ruth Keith, who takes turns with 13 year old Grace Hutton) and Michael (eighth grader David Rukin) and shares them Role with 11 year old Billy Hutton). Abby Haug is stoic and reserved like the disappointed mother of the children, Winifred Banks. (Haug and Drummond played a similar couple at SF Playhouse’s “Sunday in the Park with George” this summer.)

The stage musical cuts about a third of the wonderful Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman songs from the film, while retaining arguably the most memorable numbers, though the others are sure to be missed. They are replaced by generally boring songs by composer George Stiles and lyricist Anthony Drewe (the team behind nearly a dozen musicals like “Honk!” And “Betty Blue Eyes”).

The invisible orchestra, directed by Katie Coleman, does a good job with numbers new and old, and even the new ditties have some highlights like Mary’s “Practically Perfect” and “Brimstone and Treacle,” Miss Andrew’s sadistic response to “A Spoonful of sugar. “

Chimney sweep and all-rounder Bert acts as an omnipresent observer and provides musical narratives for a strangely dark version of “Chim Chim Cher-ee”. Wiley Naman Strasser in the SF Playhouse production is the first Bert I’ve seen how this melancholy take on Bert really works. He plays the role with empathic intensity, like someone who sees the pain of the world and longs to do things better.

It is the great cast of the leading roles that really makes the staging of co-founder and production manager Susi Damilano shine. El Beh plays Mary Poppins with an imperious and unwavering security and a slightly sardonic atmosphere that is terribly charismatic.

The role in this production is deliberately less conventionally female than usual, so Beh’s Mary sings in a slightly lower register and raises Bert in dances as often as Bert raises it. Most of it works perfectly, although the weird pants, bow tie, and fancy jacket costume designer Abra Berman gives to the normally flawless Mary in act two makes it look like she’s going to a prom.

The inventive rotating set by Nina Ball, supported by Theodore JH Hulsker, Cloudy Sky Projections, can be folded out of a chimney forest on the roof and shows different places around the house and the neighborhood. It also leaves tight space for Kimberly Richards’ choreography, which is rather lackluster, if at times amusingly modern.

The musical is set just as Disney is about to release its own film sequence (“Mary Poppins Returns” in late December) and offers a strangely dark return to Cherry Tree Lane, but ultimately a heartwarming one.

Contact Sam Hurwitt at shurwitt@gmail.com and follow him at Twitter.com/shurwitt.

‘MARY POPPINS’

By Julian Fellowes, George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Richard B. Sherman, and Roger B. Sherman, based on the novels by PL Travers and the Disney film presented by the San Francisco Playhouse

By: January 12th

Where: San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., San Francisco

Running time: Two hours and 50 minutes, a break

Tickets: $ 35- $ 125; 415-677-9596, www.sfplayhouse.org

The post Barely somber ‘Mary Poppins’ settles in at SF Playhouse appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.