Feb 16
Becca MartinUncategorized
Anti-Cooking Crusader Drawn Over to the Domestic Side
I scared myself at Wal-Mart the other night. Instead of buying makeup or a pair of shoes, I chose a Pyrex measuring cup as my reward for surviving the monthly grocery run.
Then I went home and perused cookbooks for a recipe for pork loin.
Good grief! What’s happened to me? I’m turning into … Abby Burnett!
Abby, longtime Morning News food columnist and a dear friend, is a kindred spirit, someone from whom I was obviously separated at birth. We share many of the same quirks, foibles, paranoias, passions…
Except when it comes to food. We both love to eat it, but that is where we’ve always parted company. She loves to cook it, read about cooking it, think about cooking it, talk about cooking it, collect things that have to do with cooking it. I’ve always wanted it to appear magically on my plate — and when I’m finished with it, I want the plate to hop up on its own little legs and go jump in the dishwasher. I’ve always believed the kitchen was for providing ice, not entertainment. You think men and women have trouble communicating!
Abby: “I get to interview Paul Prudhomme. You know, the Cajun chef. I actually get to taste his cooking! Isn’t that incredible?!”
Becca: “Is this like having John Cena over for dinner?”
Abby, after long pause: “No, I think it’s like having John Cena practice wrestling moves with you in your yard.”
Becca: “Oh, cool!”
Or…
Abby: “It was wonderful. I cooked, we ate, we talked about the food — you know, the different spices in it, the subtle tastes, the texture… It was just so nice to have someone to do that with. Oh, I know you don’t get it.”
Becca: “Sure I do. My sweetie laughed out loud at ‘Fraggle Rock.’”
But, oh, heaven help me when Abby gets together with another cook — my mother-in-law, for instance. Then the conversation inevitably turns to the merits of various spring-form pans, the secrets of perfect stuffed mushrooms or whether to use a water bath for baking dessert, and soon I find myself sitting in the corner, rocking autistically and wondering if the NCAA will ever change the possession rule on defensive tie-ups.
When I was Lifestyles editor, recipes were my greatest challenge. A typo like 4 tablespoons of salt didn’t faze me. What did I know? Someone once asked me how I could do that job if I couldn’t cook. And although the smart-aleck answer about covering gay issues without being a lesbian shut her up, it did give me pause. Perhaps I had taken a wrong turn on the road to womanhood…
My mother was always a terrific cook — nothing fancy, just what she calls “food food,” roast pork, mashed potatoes, cherry cobbler. It’s not that I couldn’t have learned.
I just had no interest. Cooking was for women who intended to stay at home and also learn to sew. I was going to be a great actress — or at least a great drama teacher — and would live on caffeine and coffee cake, thank you very much.
When that plan fell through, I married Dan. He wooed me with crepes and London broil, and it was love at first bite. I almost never cooked — and when I did, he wasn’t very impressed. This is the first time in my whole life I’ve had my own kitchen — a place where I can experiment, make a mess and clean it up myself, all without anyone helping me do it. Sure, I have a tiny stove, an even tinier microwave and about 3 square feet of countertop, but it’s mine, all mine. And I have someone wonderful to cook for — someone who is impressed when I get the chili right!
So imagine Abby’s surprise when I called her to report I’d successfully made up a recipe for that pork loin. She couldn’t have been any more shocked than I was — but the old adage is true. When it’s just you against Betty Crocker, in the squared circle of the kitchen, eventually Betty will win.
Feb 14
Becca MartinUncategorized
“Sundown Town” hurts.
Sometimes, it’s so eloquent and beautiful, it’s painful.
Sometimes, it’s so brutal and ugly, it’s painful.
One thing is certain: Even at 2.5 hours, TheatreSquared’s new play by Kevin Cohea is never boring.
Although it started life as a bluegrass musical, “Sundown Town” grew up to be something completely different. It’s still got the music, but now the songs wrap around the story of Moses, a drifter who wanders into a 1918 Arkansas town where African-Americans aren’t welcome — especially after dark but really, not at all.
It’s a little overwhelming to try to “review” something like this play. It’s amazing that a drama like this was born in Fayetteville, Ark., written by a local playwright, workshopped by a local company, produced on a local stage. It probably won’t ever be “Rent” — because 20somethings aren’t likely to attach themselves to it in droves — but it should surely be staged at every regional theater in the South. It’s not overly ambitious to imagine it off-Broadway. It could be a film, the next “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
How do you “review” that?!
So let me simply tell you what I liked — but let me start with what I didn’t, because the list is SO MUCH shorter.
I would take out two songs — don’t really care which two. The play is just a little bit long for a drama — not because people aren’t enthralled but because you can feel the time pass during a drama whereas you might not during “Mamma Mia.”
Choose to use all the props or no props, please. It’s distracting to watch the actors pantomime the fiddle and the dishes when they have the pocket knife and the Bible.
I understand what the light change, the music and the slow motion are meant to convey when violence erupts. But it would be a lot more powerful — a lot more brutal, but a lot more powerful — to do the necessary fight choreography and stage it in real time. When Loretta slaps Annie, it should be shocking and (that word again) hurtful. When Mutt kills Scratch, it should be the ugliest, most awful thing ever. And — my personal opinion, as all this is — we need to see what happens to Moses. The words don’t pull any punches; the action shouldn’t either.
What do I love? Everything else!
The script is powerful and evocative. I’d like to say I always knew Kevin Cohea had it in him — and I did. And still, I believe this is the tip of his iceberg as a playwright.
The cast — as I said Friday night — is only as good as its weakest link, which makes it perfect:
I’ve watched Bill Rogers on stage for years — and wouldn’t have known he was Scratch! Wow. Just wow.
I remember Halley Mayo as a sweet-faced child actress at Arts Center of the Ozarks and Arts Live Theatre, and I thought she made Annie sympathetic and naive and rebellious and sweet and hopeful — just like Annie needed to be.
I don’t think the show could have opened with a stronger voice than David Wright’s as the preacher we trust to watch out for his flock — but this time, he can’t.
Quinn Gasaway tore my heart out as Joshua, making him real and poignant but not a caricature of a disabled boy.
Bruch Reed also evoked all sorts of emotions as Dub — his love for his daughter, his distance from his wife, his respect for Moses, even after what happened at the church.
Valarie Andrews broke my heart as Loretta, all of whose passion has turned in the wrong directions.
John T. Smith’s Bill Cheatham is slimy — not evil, but too much of a coward to be good.
Playing Mutt puts Kris Pruett in danger of getting slapped on the street. Nasty, stupid, hateful and so believable is the character that the actor needs to issue a disclaimer: I am not he.
And Alex West… I thought when I saw Alex West as Moses in rehearsal that he was too quiet, too low-key to hold the show together. I was wrong. During the performance, what I saw as too quiet thrums with veiled power. Moses’ still waters run deep.
The set is wonderful and versatile.
And the music by 3 Penny Acre is what sets “Sundown Town” apart. I heard a theatergoer say the songs don’t forward the action well enough. It’s true they’re not lyrics that are part of the story; again, I’ll use “Rent” as a contrast. But they suit the story perfectly. And the live band keeps the show in motion.
I thought when I saw Bob Ford’s “My Father’s War,” I had been as privileged as a theatergoer in Fayetteville could be.
Now I am twice blessed.
Halley Mayo is Annie and Alex West is Moses in the TheatreSquared production of Kevin Cohea's "Sundown Town."
Feb 09
Becca MartinUncategorized
Truth be told, I’ve never had any real desire to see “Mamma Mia.”
Sure, I grew up with the music of Abba. But I just couldn’t imagine it wrapped around a sappy romance.
Then I “met” Kaye Tuckerman.
Tuckerman is playing Donna Sheridan in the touring production that is stopping this week at the Walton Arts Center. We “spoke” via Facebook, and even in her messages, she was charming, eloquent, fascinating and powerful.
She’s the reason I left the house tonight.
Wow! Was it ever worth it!
Tuckerman was all that I expected, with a beautiful and powerful voice and a stage presence that kept all eyes on her. What I didn’t expect — and should have — was the intensity she brought to the character. If you’ve ever been in love, been dumped, been lonely or felt the bittersweet joy of watching your child grow up, you can feel every emotion with her.
Even more surprising was how mucn I enjoyed the story, which weaves in Abba’s lyrics seamlessly.
There is so much more to say — about the singing, about the dancing, about the wonderfully versatile set, about the orchestra, and perhaps I’ll elaborate tomorrow. But I wanted to be the first to tell you that, whether you’re 5 or 95, you’ll laugh, you’ll sing along, you’ll wipe away a tear or two — and you’ll leave the theater with a spring in your step!
Cynic turned fan. Enough said.
Australian-born actress Kaye Tuckerman, center, parlayed a passion for performing into playing the iconic role of Donna Sheridan in “Mamma Mia.”
Feb 08
Becca MartinUncategorized
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” opens Friday at Rogers Little Theater.
“It’s colorful. It’s lively. And it holds your attention,” director Ed McClure says of the production, part of the silver anniversary season of revivals at RLT. “It’s just one of those shows people like.”
Here’s what Josh Jones has to say about reprising his role as Joseph:
Q. What is the biggest challenge of your role? Has it changed since the last time?
A. Because I am reprising this terrific role, I think the biggest challenge is trying to make the character of “Joseph” bigger and better than I did before. The role hasn’t necessarily changed from the first time I portrayed “Joseph,”, but now that I am older, I seem to better appreciate the minor comedic bits in the musical dialogue and find the deeper meaning in the great tragedies and dilemmas that “Joseph” faced; it’s easy for the story to get lost in the fast-paced excitement of the vivid production…this time, I’m making sure that “Joseph” is more of a bright character than an onlooker. I also have to say that the terrific cast is pumping up the volume to ensure that the reprise of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” is bigger, brighter and more colorful than ever before!
Q. What do you think makes this show so popular?
Courtesy Old Hat Studios Joshua Derek Jones, center, is Joseph and, clockwise from bottom center, Michael Gann, Adam Powell, Spencer Thompson, Christopher Junkerman, Travis Mitchell, Ty Wagner, Christopher Roderick, Tyler Volz and Randall Lothes are his brothers in Rogers Little Theater’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
A. This show is called” Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and it follows suit. The less than 2-hour show is an absolute technicolor production from bright costumes, high-energy dancing, and nonstop colorful music that ranges from disco fever, Elvis-esque bebops, Western and Reggae, and heartfelt power ballads. Not only does it have a universal and family-friendly theme that EVERYONE can enjoy, I believe the audience can feel the enthusiasm the cast has for being on stage and simply having a wonderful time!
Read more about the show Friday in this week’s What’s Up!
FAQ
‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’
WHEN — 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Sunday & again Feb. 17-20 & Feb. 24-27
WHERE — Rogers Little Theater’s Victory Theater in downtown Rogers
COST — $9.50-$42
INFO — 631-8988
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