Monthly Archives: June 2017

Ann Arbor Summer Festival: Colin Mochrie & Brad Sherwood – Scared Scriptless Tour

26 June 2017

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Like the old E.F. Hutton commercials, when Rebecca Biber speaks, everybody listens. Or, more appropriately, when my musically gifted pal Rebecca Biber invites you to attend a local arts and culture event, you go because she has lovely, free-thinking, quirky taste that is always spot on.

Rebecca and I bonded over the years, performing together in a number of local productions, but our friendship has transcended the generally ephemeral “summer camp” nature of most casts (“I’ll write you! I promise! We’ll be best friends foreeeeeverrrrr!!”). She’s even contributed a time or two to this blog right here … when she thought my take on a particular film might have been a bit misguided. Now, that‘s a strong friendship.

So, per Rebecca’s recommendation, off we went arm-in-arm this past Saturday night to Ann Arbor’s Power Center to view an Ann Arbor Summer Fest performance by improv comics Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood. The duo is arguably best known for their work on ABC’s comedy game show Whose Line Is It Anyway? hosted by Drew Carey, adapted from the original BBC series, and running from the late 90s through the early 00s. The show was recently revived … yet again … on the CW, with Aisha Tyler as its host and many of the same cast members.

[Dropping some knowledge, courtesy of Wikipedia: “The title of the show itself is a comedic riposte to another radio show that moved to television, What’s My Line, merged with the title of a 1972 teleplay (and eventual theatrical play) Whose Life Is It Anyway?“]

Confessional: I don’t much care for improv comedy. It always seems rather half-a**ed and much funnier to the performers than it is to the audience, like observing self-indulgent, marginally witty children sweatily play in the backyard. I also rarely watched the tv show in any of its incarnations, though, admittedly, when I did, I thought the performers displayed an impish sparkle and zany glee that transcended any quibbles I had with the genre.

I’m happy to report, that, on the whole, Rebecca’s recommendation as well as my heretofore superficial appreciation of the Whose Line cast were validated by Saturday’s show.

Mochrie and Sherwood’s “Scared Scriptless” (cute name) show runs a brisk 90 minutes. (The older I get, sometimes, that is the only selling point I need.) It is a warmly, lovingly shaggy mess of around half a dozen “improv games” (don’t worry – that phrase usually turns by blood to water too) that involve audience members, both onstage and through solicited topics/suggestions.

As I understand, many of these games were also played as part of the TV program, so longtime fans will be greatly rewarded by “sound effects” (two audience members supply silly noises in audio accompaniment to the onstage shenanigans), “confessional” (wherein Sherwood has to confess to a fictitious crime by guessing via a series of increasingly absurd clues what Mad Libs-style topics the audience has given Mochrie), and “puppets” (whereby two audience members maneuver Mochrie and Sherwood about the stage in reaction to their Looney Tunes repartee). It is a testament to the duo, who have been touring for fourteen years, that these exercises remained fresh and joy-filled. Sherwood particularly seemed to take great delight in the audience interaction and the comedic challenges placed before him, say, when he and Mochrie were forced to traverse blind-folded and barefooted across a mouse-trap strewn stage telling a story where each of their exchanged lines had to begin with a subsequent letter of the alphabet.

My favorite segment, though, involved Sherwood and Mochrie inventing lyrics to a randomly selected popular tune within the context of a particular scenario (for some reason they lived in a place called “Needlepoint Land,” but them’s-the-nonsensical-breaks with improv). Mochrie ably demonstrated that he is no songsmith, but Sherwood was a revelation, with a strong musical comedy voice and a jaw-dropping ability to invent clever, bizarre, and authentically funny rhyming lyrics on-the-spot. Loved. That.

If these sweet-natured, good-hearted improv clowns find their way to a town near you, give them a shot. Sit in the balcony, as we did, if you want to avoid getting yanked onstage and being forced to honk like a goose or to sing a Beatles ditty. Oh, and if Rebecca Biber suggests you check out a certain entertainer or show, go do it. You won’t be sorry!

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Save The Date! August 28 at West Bloomfield’s Berman Center for the Performing Arts: Encore Michigan’s 2017 Wilde Awards will celebrate the best and brightest that Michigan theatre has to offer!  “Publisher David Francis Kiley and actor Roy Sexton will co-host the award show.” Yeah. You read that correctly. Heaven help us all. More info here.

“We had another remarkable season of wonderful performances, new scripts, touring shows, and it all makes the voting extremely difficult,” says Kiley. “It’s difficult every year, and there is a lot of debate among the critics after we have scored each show that we review for technical and artistic expression. … There are going to be many improvements to the show. The entertainment is going to knock people’s socks off, and the award show aspect is going to nip along at a faster pace. We are making sure there is more adequate bar service, which was a bit of a problem in 2016. This is going to be a show that not only the industry is going to want to come to, but theater lovers. It’s going to be a fun, fun night.”

And, if all else fails, apparently there will be better bar service. 🙂

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Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital). In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.

“Be careful in the world of men, Diana, for they do not deserve you.” Wonder Woman (2017)

10 June 2017

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[Image Source: Wikipedia]

I loved Wonder Woman as a little kid – the escapist kitsch of the Lynda Carter TV version with the spinning costume changes and the disco theme song and that Pepsodent-grinning Lyle Waggoner.

As I entered adolescence, the DC Comics version went through her own renaissance, led in great part by one of my favorite writers/artists George Perez (and later advanced in equal measure by Phil Jimenez and Greg Rucka). Diana, Amazonian princess, rediscovered her mythic Greek roots, fully embracing all of the soapy sudsy sturm-und-drang that being the daughter of Zeus and Hyppolyta can bring with a whole heaping helping of jealous demi-god cousins, stepmothers, and half-siblings biting at her heels. Those stories were great fun (for the reader … not so much for Diana herself.)

I’m happy to report that the new (and first?!) cinematic treatment of Wonder Woman honors all that has come before, even incorporating a bit of original creator William Moulton Marston’s skeezy blend of feminist kink (see: Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor exiting an Amazonian glowing warm springs hot tub while Diana’s gaze sizes him up – literally – but she is ultimately more interested in his wristwatch than anything else.)

Whether or not Wonder Woman finally breaks the Zack Snyder-invoked curse of stinkeroo movie-making that has blighted DC Comics’ cinematic output to date or is merely the brilliant exception that proves the rule remains to be seen. Nonetheless, director Patty Jenkins (Monster) working from a script by Allan Heinberg (who rocked the comics world over ten years ago with the similarly humanistic Young Avengers) gives us a return to form for classically majestic comic book movie making (Richard Donner’s Superman, Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy) with a nod toward Marvel’s postmodern humane whimsy (Captain America, Ant-Man) but with a surety of voice and purpose that is wholly its own.

Is it feminist? Of course it is! Unapologetically and utterly inclusively so.

“Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.” Diana, as portrayed with warmth and fire and wit and steel by Gal Gadot, is a stranger in a strange land to whom all creatures (man, woman, child, animal) deserve respect and love … and if you are incapable of showing that love, she’ll unequivocally kick your ass.

Making the interesting choice to set the action during WWI (Wonder Woman has traditionally been more associated with WWII), Jenkins and Heinberg make absolute hay with a setting where war was arguably at its peak of muddy, bloody brutality and where the nascent suffrage movement continued to make waves (pro and con) for women in society.

In Wonder Woman, Gadot fulfills the promise of her all-too-brief screen time in the comparatively glum and humorless (and horrifically titled) Batman v. Superman: Dawn of  Justice, delivering a star turn for the ages. It is not a showy performance (ironic, I know, since she is wearing a glittering metallic bathing suit, wielding a mammoth sword, deflecting lightning bolts with her bracelets, and, you know, flying) but is layered with beautiful notes of heartache, ironic detachment, utter bemusement, and complete bewilderment over a world designed chiefly to destroy.

She is joined by a stellar supporting cast – the aforementioned Pine who turns his character actor good looks into matinee idol charm as mansplaining sidekick Steve Trevor, glowering Danny Huston as a German warmonger, David Thewlis as a British idealogue whose rhetoric seems to urge a quick and speedy armistice, Elena Anaya as a bruised soul whose distaste for humanity leads her to develop poisonous gasses of mass destruction, and Lucy Davis stealing every scene as bantering “secretary” Etta Candy whose delight at being in the presence of a woman (Diana), who could give two whits about societal decorum, is utterly infectious.

The film is at its most thrilling when Diana leads a ragtag band of adorably mismatched soldiers across the Western Front, herself marching directly through the battle lines, armed only with her wits, her magic bracelets, and her righteous indignation over the horrors she has just witnessed befalling everyday families (and horses). I may have cried a little (a lot) during that sequence.

Wonder Woman‘s only misstep is in its length. At nearly 2.5 hours, the film’s running time strains audience patience. Though beautiful and transporting, the movie’s opening third, set in Diana’s home Themiscyra or “Paradise Island” amidst a utopia of warrior women, is, well, kind of a bore. While it is essential to show Amazonian society, which is designed through reason and equality, contrasted with man’s ugly world, locked as it is in the plague of war, we could have used about 20 fewer minutes of pristine beaches, jewel-hued skies, horseback-riding, and Queen Hyppolyta (Connie Nielsen) and her dutiful General Antiope (Robin Wright) stumbling to mimic Gadot’s irrepressibly undefinable accent. (At times, I wondered if the Amazon nation settled off Greece by way of Transylvania.)

Hyppolyta warns Diana early in the film, in a line that foreshadows thematically all that is to come, “Be careful in the world of men, Diana, for they do not deserve you.” Indeed, we do not deserve Wonder Woman, but we do need her and her message of inclusion and peace, tolerance and integrity  … now, more than ever.

P.S. And, rest in peace, to that other superhero icon of my youth, Adam West, whose Batman introduced me to a universe of colorful characters that I still love to this day.

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Thank you to Rose McInerney of WomanScape​ for her kind words and for referencing the above Wonder Woman​ review in her fabulous site’s latest and greatest. Rose writes, “So, while Wonder Woman is undoubtedly good storytelling with a sizable marketing budget, its success is also explained by key factors in our changing world. The first of these is the growing number of men like movie reviewer Roy Sexton who are joining with women to help promote the Diana-like warriors in our world. Roy lends his unabashed support and writing talents advocating for feminism and equal rights.” Read here.

 

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Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital). In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.

Whitley County Historical Bulletin covers Blue Bell Lofts opening

6 June 2017

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Thanks to Dani Tippman from the Whitley County Historical Society for this coverage of the Blue Bell Lofts Grand Opening! Dani was unable to attend the ribbon-cutting, but watched and enjoyed my mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s speech on video. Dani wanted to include this story in the Whitley County Historial Bulletin. That is really a special treat, as my mom wrote a piece in 1987 on the history of the facility that also appeared in The Bulletin and was used extensively in Commonwealth’s research for this transformative project – you can read that piece here.

My mom did want to note that in the excitement of the day there were a couple of items she misstated and would like to correct: “The corrections would be 50 layers of denim which I had mis-stated….and that the plant was called Blue Bell in 1943 after several name changes. When in another building behind the bowling alley, it was called Globe-Superior…becoming Blue Bell-Globe when Globe-Superior was bought out. From 1936, it was called Blue Bell-Globe until just the Blue Bell name in ’43. At one point down south after Big Ben and Blue Bell merged the company was called Blue Bell Overall Company from 1930 until 1936, when it became Blue Bell-Globe and, finally – as I wrote – in 1943, BLUE BELL, INC. Thus, Blue Bell affiliation provided the final lasting name change to simply Blue Bell one year after my dad Roy Duncan arrived. First big acquisition after the name change was CASEY JONES!” Enjoy!

 

BONUS: From 1987, The Post and Mail’s coverage of Susie’s original Blue Bell article in The Bulletin

So closes #Drood. A helluva week!

4 June 2017

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And so closes #Drood. What a week! So grateful to this show and its exceptional cast and crew and our dynamite director Ron Baumanis … you helped me reclaim my theatre mojo. Thank you!

 

 

Thanks to those friends and family who showed their support and attended a performance through the run: John Mola, Don and Susie Sexton, Benjamin and Jane Kang, Aaron Latham, Rob Zannini, Nikki Bagdady Horn, Jackie Jenkins, Kim Elizabeth Johnson, Penny Yohn, Sharon Karaboyas, Diana Zentz Hegedus, Michele Woolems Gale, Julia Spanja Hoffert, Sue Booth, Brian Cox, Kelly Little, Edmond Reynolds, Ann Little, Jeff Steinhauer, Michele Walters Szczypka, Mary Philips Letters, Rich and Susan Geary and co., Bonnie Torti, Melynee Weber-Lynch and Jim Lynch, Bridget and Don and friends, Kristy Smith and Chris, Laurie Rorrer Armstrong, Eric and Rebecca Dale Winder, Heather LaDuke and Sienna and Ariel, Dan Morrison, Steve DeBruyne, Matthew G Tomich, Anne Bauman, Christine Dotson Blossom, Sue Nelson, Josh and Sarah Maday and darling Olivia, Evelyn and Kevin DiCola, Mitch Holdwick and Anya Dale, Rachel Green and co., Bridget and Nondus Carr, Jaclyn Klein, Samantha Fletcher-Garbutt, Donna Kallio Wolbers and Jason Wolbers, Jason Karas and Claire Elizabeth, Samantha Gordon, Linda Pawlowski Hemphill, Lisa Harrell, Jon Woods and Brian Goins, Eric Walkuski and Jasmine, Beth Kennedy, Kevin Kaminski, Jeff Weisserman, Breeda Kelly Miller, Michelle MacDonald McAllister, Tom McAllister, Rebecca Biber, Matthew Pecek, Amy Sundback, Henry Kiley, David Francis Kiley, Sheri Chisholm, Scott Chisholm, Don Blumenthal, Brent Stansfield and Evelyn, Michelle Clark and Alex, Laura Sagolla.

 

Enjoy these photos by my loving parents and other friends from the past week, including a special message we received from Rupert Holmes, the musical’s creator!

 

Clive Paget/John Jasper out.

 

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is Satisfying, Enjoyable, First Rate (Review – Ann Arbor Civic Theatre)

2 June 2017

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I think I can live with this! My goodness!!! We are all beyond thrilled!

Mostly Musical Theatre

“DroooooooooD!”

Do you find reading this name to yourself is a little amusing? Bet your lips puckered without your realizing it. Try saying it aloud; bet you can’t without having a little fun with it. At A2CT’s hilarious production of  “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre this weekend, you can think it, say it, sing it, even stand up and shout it at the top of your lungs and you will be in good company. It is encouraged and it is satisfying, much like the performance that surrounds it. It’s no wonder this interactive Rupert Holmes musical won several Tony Awards. It’s that fun.

As the real story goes, The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel written by Charles Dickens, who died before completing it, leaving the explanation of the title character’s mysterious disappearance unresolved. However, in the musical, we, the audience, get to…

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#Drood opens tonight! June 1 – don’t miss it, #AnnArbor  

1 June 2017

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Ann Arbor Civic’s #Drood opens tonight June 1 at The Lydia Mendelssohn! Enjoy these photos by the fabulous Aaron C Wade from last night’s dress rehearsal! And listen to our delightful director Ron Baumanis and terrific “Chairman” Jarred Hoffert on W4Country here and The Lucy Ann Lance Show here. 

Ann Arbor Civic Theatre presents the hilarious audience-solves-the-murder musical, Rupert Holmes’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood, June 1, 7:30p, June 2 and 3, 8:00p, June 4, 2:00p at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.a2ct.org/shows/the-mystery-of-edwin-drood.

And please join our Drood Facebook event page for ongoing updates: https://www.facebook.com/events/243536762791387/

The musical concerns a troupe of players at an English Music Hall putting on a musical production of Charles Dickens’ last novel which, alas, he died before completing. It is up to the audience to vote and decide who the murderer, detective, and the evenings lovers will be. Every performance features a different ending based on the audience vote, and is an evening of smartly written, very funny entertainment for all ages. Drood won 5 Tony Winning and 9 Drama Desk awards in 1986, and recently had a revival on Broadway which garnered raves. The musical was originally produced by the Joseph Papp New York Shakespeare Festival in New York’s Central Park. Parents should be aware that there is a light smattering of late 1800’s colorful British language.

All performers in the 19-member cast play dual roles — those of performers at the Music Hall, and the characters they become “on stage” for the staging of the novel. Jared Hoffert is the evening’s Chairperson. Drood (a male impersonator) is played by Vanessa Banister. Evil Jasper is played by Roy Sexton. Love interest Rosa Bud is played by Kimberly Elliott. Brother/sister Neville and Helena are played by Brandon Cave and Becca Nowak. Brodie Brockie plays the Reverend Crisparkle, Michael Cicirelli is Bazzard, and Alisa Mutchler Bauer plays the mysterious Princess Puffer while Durdles is played by Jimmy Dee Arnold. The cast is rounded out by Peter Dannug, Sarah Sweeter, Heather Wing, Julia Fertel, Ashleigh Glass, Chris Joseph, Kari Nilsen and Kelly Wade. There is a mysterious guest appearance by Ch. Brady Cesaro.

Directed by award-winning Ron Baumanis (Bonnie & Clyde, The Wedding Singer, next to normal), musical directed by Daniel Bachelis (who also conducts the full orchestra), and choreographed by Debra Calabrese (Croswell Opera House’s Memphis, In The Heights). Designed by Ron Baumanis, Lighting Design by Thom Johnson, Sound Design by Bob Skon, Costume Design by Molly Borneman, properties designed by Aaron Wade. Produced by Wendy Sielaff.