"Anonymous," the Movie. Will I or Won't I?

Just for the record, I think Shakespeare wrote his own plays. And I really, really think it's nonsense to suggest otherwise.

But a movie called "Anonymous," from blockbuster director Roland Emmerich, opens on October 28th, and it casts the actual William Shakespeare, the glover's son from Stratford-upon-Avon, as a silly hooligan who fronted for the real writer, Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford. So, you know, Shakespeare was a nobody from Stratford who couldn't possibly have written these fabulous plays because he wasn't noble or aristocratic or educated enough, blah blah blah. The "Anonymous" trailer is already all over my television. And that gives me pause. Do I avoid it like the plague, because I find the very idea odious and idiotic? Or do I pay my money and "review" (and therefore spend time on) something I hope dies a quick death?

It's a dilemma.


One of the blogs I follow (see column at right) has already dealt with the "Anonymous" issue far better than I ever could. Holger Schott Syme, the author of that blog, is an associate professor who teaches Shakespeare (and other topics) at the University of Toronto, where he also chairs the Department of English and Drama at the Mississauga campus. In a blog post from September 19th called "People Being Stupid About Shakespeare," Syme dissects the movie quite neatly, pointing out all the ways it is even more idiotic than you might expect from an "authorship" movie.

I will wait while you go and read that post.

Well done, yes? But Syme goes on, on October 18th, to suggest that it is not acceptable to just ignore the "Anonymous" ideas floating around out there. In "Enough Already," Syme argues that meeting Anti-Stratfordians with either boredom or rage isn't going to make them go away. He talks about Sony pictures encouraging high school teachers to use "Anonymous" in classes as a "quasi-textbook" and offers a poster of a German production of "Macbeth" that says the play was written by Edward de Vere, "alias William Shakespeare." Seriously. On the poster!

So there's my dilemma again. Should I ignore a movie that is guaranteed to set my teeth on edge? Or see it and then write about it, even though I knew I would hate it before I went?

I think I am just going to stay out of it and direct you to keep reading Holger Schott Syme.

More "Where Are They Now?"

I can't believe I forgot these two.

Christopher Denham was very well cast during his time at U of I, playing Prior in "Angels in America" and Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet," among other roles, as well as appearing in "This Is Our Youth" at the Station. Right out of college, Denham scored the role of Harold in "Master Harold...and the boys" opposite Danny Glover and Michael Boatman on Broadway. After that, Denham appeared off-Broadway in Charles L. Mee's "Wintertime" and Adam Rapp's "Red Light Winter," which earned him a Lucille Lortel Award, and back on Broadway as a replacement in "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" at the Lyceum. He is also a playwright, with his play "Caged" directed by Rapp for Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in 2006. Denham has also done a bit of film, with appearances in "Charlie Wilson's War" (directed by Mike Nichols, starring Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks), "Duplicity" (the fizzy caper film with Roberts again, this time opposite Clive Owen) and "Shutter Island" (the highly-promoted Martin Scorsese movie with Leonardo DiCaprio). Denham is the one on the right in the "El Camino" poster, where he appeared opposite "Mad Men" star Elisabeth Moss.

Denham has the lead in a 2011 film called "Forgetting the Girl," directed by Nate Taylor, which reminded me of another successful U of I alum who also appears in that movie. I remember Holley Fain very well from her roles as Antigone and Catherine in "Proof" when she was an undergrad. Since then, she has been showing up all over the small screen, with guest spots on "Lipstick Jungle," "The Good Wife," "The Mentalist" and "Children's Hospital," a prominent role in "Gossip Girl" and an upcoming turn as a romantic foil for "McDreamy" on "Grey's Anatomy." A few years back, Fain appeared in "Frank's Home," a play about Frank Lloyd Wright (played by Peter Weller), directed by Robert Falls. "Frank's Home" moved from Chicago's Goodman Theatre to Playwrights Horizons in New York. Fain then starred in the American Airlines Theatre production of "Present Laughter" on Broadway with Victor Garber and Harriet Harris. You can read an interview with Holley about "Present Laughter" here.

Where Are They Now? Some of the Successful Performers Who Started Here

We see a lot of acting students (and students who are in other disciplines who act on the side) come through central Illinois. And, yes, we all know what happened to John Malkovich and Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry and Jane Lynch and Gary Cole and Judith Ivey and Sean Hayes and Laurie Metcalf, all ISU students who made good. Or Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who supposedly played Sarah Brown in an Illini Union Board production of "Guys and Dolls" once upon a time. But they are all before my time as a reviewer, meaning I didn't actually see any of them on stage in central Illinois.

Here are some other performers I've personally seen in shows either in Champaign-Urbana or Bloomington-Normal. No, I didn't know when I saw them that they would zoom to the top. If there's one thing I've learned in all this time watching and reviewing college theater... You just never know.

Nick Offerman, now the amazing Ron Swanson (seen above) on TV's "Parks and Recreation," didn't get cast much in U of I's mainstage shows. I do remember him as a policeman blowing a whistle in a Feydeau farce in the Colwell Playhouse at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, as a soldier in "Biloxi Blues" at Urbana's Station Theatre, and in a bizarre piece about a burglar (Offerman) and a terrible child (played by Jimmy Slonina, now a Cirque du Soleil performer) who makes the burglar put his arm down a garbage disposal at the Armory Free Theater. I'm glad Nick survived the garbage disposal. Now he's a star!

In the same class as Nick Offerman, Joe Foust emerged as an actor to watch both at U of I and at the Station, where he had a small role in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and stole the show night after night. Always entertaining and eminently watchable, Foust went to Chicago with Offerman and other members of that same class to found the Defiant Theatre, named the Best Experimental Theatre in Chicago by Chicago Magazine in 1999. Foust co-wrote and directed "Action Movie: The Play," one of Defiant's biggest successes. He shared Joseph Jefferson Awards for the fight choreography in "Action Movie" and the puppetry and masks in "The Skriker." Since the much-lamented end of Defiant Theatre, Foust has performed at Chicago Shakespeare, the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Remy Bumppo, Wisdom Bridge and many other theaters, including frequent trips to Peninsula Players in Door County, where he recently did "God of Carnage." And he's played the unhappy elf in "Santaland Diaries" more than once at Chicago's Theater Wit.

Linda Gillum was another one of those U of I actors who founded the Defiant Theatre. Gillum has been an Artistic Associate at Chicago's Remy Bumppo Theatre since 2001, and she has acted in shows with A Red Orchid, Court, Defiant, Lyric Opera, Mercury, Northlight, Roadworks, ShawChicago, Steppenwolf and Theatre at the Center, and directed at Chicago Dramatists, Defiant, Famous Door, Illinois Repertory Theatre, Next Theatre, Noble Fool, St. Croix Festival, Timber Lake Playhouse, Carthage College as well as back at her alma mater, the University of Illinois. She teaches acting at Remy Bumppo, Acting Studio Chicago and the Theatre School at DePaul University.

Around the same time as Foust, Gillum and Offerman were earning their undergrad degrees, Dominic Fumusa was earning his MFA at U of I. Fumusa went from leading roles at U of I to Stephen Belber's "Tape" at the Humana Festival in Louisville and "Wait Until Dark" on Broadway, roles in everything from "Sex and the City" to "Law and Order" and "The Sopranos" and originating one of the roles in Richard Greenberg's "Take Me Out" on Broadway. Fumusa did the national tour of "Tuesdays with Morrie" opposite Harold Gould and is currently playing the hunky (if clueless) husband on HBO's "Nurse Jackie."

James Vincent Meredith wasn't an acting major (I think he started in pre-law at U of I) but he did play the lead in "Six Degrees of Separation" at the Station Theatre back in 1995. And he was very, very good. My friend Steve Keen directed that show, and I hope it was the success experience of "Six Degrees" that convinced James he ought to stay an actor. Meredith left Urbana for Chicago, where he did shows with Chicago Shakespeare and the Goodman, eventually joining Steppenwolf as an ensemble member. With Steppenwolf, he has played roles in "Superior Donuts," "The Bluest Eye" and "The Crucible," and is currently wowing critics in "Clybourne Park" (that's James in the "Clybourne Park" poster you see here) as well as in the STARZ series "Boss" starring Kelsey Grammer.

Another Steppenwolf ensemble member, Jon Michael Hill, went straight from U of I to the ensemble. In Urbana, I remember his performances in "A Chorus Line" and "King Lear" in the Colwell Playhouse and in "Gynt" and, oddly enough, "Six Degrees of Separation," in the Studio Theatre. Hill made a splash in "The Tempest," including a nomination for a Joseph Jefferson Award, and as the lead in the original production of "Superior Donuts" from Steppenwolf that went to Broadway, earning him a Tony nomination and a 2010 Theatre World Award. Hill followed that up by starring in ABC's "Detroit 1-8-7" last season.

The lovely Leslie Ann Sheppard memorably appeared in "The Crucible" and "Ring Around the Moon" at ISU, after which she, too, found success in Chicago, including being named one of the Chicago Tribune's "Hot New Faces" last year for her work in the musical "The Hundred Dresses" for the Chicago Children's Theatre. One of the founding members of Suitcase Shakespeare Company, Sheppard also appeared recently to offer advice to ISU theater students as part of Homecoming festivities.

It's clear that Illinois Wesleyan students have done very well in their post-college careers, especially if you can keep an eye on their Facebook page, where they detail the exploits of alums like Bryonha Marie Parham (in "Porgy and Bess" coming to Broadway in previews in December), Casey Erin Clark (in the 25th anniversary touring production of "Les Misérables"), Lisa Karlin (in "The Addams Family" on Broadway) and Evan Kasprzak, who placed third on the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" while still a student. He is currently appearing in "Newsies" at Paper Mill Playhouse. And Sarah Bockel, who just graduated in 2010, went on as an understudy in the title role in "Violet" at Bailiwick Chicago and earned herself a rave review.

If you have other success stories I missed, send 'em on. I've been meaning to do this "Where Are They Now?" story for a long time, and I've probably misplaced some names along the way.

But, in any event, I hope this means our current ISU, IWU and U of I students will look at that BFA or MFA a little differently. In time, who knows? You just may end up with your own Pyramid of Greatness.

PS Classics Has Your Ticket to the DC/Broadway "Follies"

Along with their brand-new original cast recording of Maury Yeston's "Death Takes a Holiday," PS Classics is also offering a cast recording of the current Broadway production of "Follies," this one starring "two-time Tony Award-winner Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, four-time Tony Award-nominee Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, two-time Tony Award-nominee Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, three-time Emmy Award-nominee Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone and four-time Olivier Award-nominee Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion."

This "Follies" started at the Kennedy Center under the direction of Eric Schaeffer, cofounder and artistic director of Arlington, Virginia's Signature Theatre. "Follies" played at the Kennedy Center in May and June of this year, transferring to Broadway's Marquis Theatre in September to begin a limited run. (That run has now been extended to January 22, by the way.)

If you've seen the Peters/Maxwell/Burstein/Raines "Follies" and want to relive the experience, or if you won't be able to get to New York before January 22, PS Classics' producer Tommy Krasker may just be your new best friend. Krasker is known for the care he takes in creating these tributes to shows, performers and composers. He sweats the details and we all benefit.

Right now, PS Classics is taking pre-orders, with plans to ship on November 15th.

As I said about the Chicago "Follies" that's playing till November 13, you can never get enough of this particular show. Adding this cd to your collection is a no-brainer. So go forth and pre-order!

Losing My Mind Over "Follies" at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

At first blush, "Follies" is a strange fit for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. This Stephen Sondheim/James Goldman confection is not, after all, Shakespeare. But director Gary Griffin (who also happens to be the Associate Artistic Director at Chicago Shakes) has made something of a cottage industry of directing Sondheim shows there, successfully staging "Sunday in the Park with George," "Passion," and a very well-received "Pacific Overtures" (that ended up winning a pot of Olivier Awards in London's West End) in the upstairs black box theater and "A Little Night Music" downstairs in the 500-seat Courtyard Theater.

These "Follies" are supposed to be set in 1971, in a huge, decaying Broadway theater during a party held by impresario Dimitri Weismann (very much in the Florenz Ziegfeld mold) to celebrate and say goodbye to the theater, which is set to be torn down, and to reunite the former Follies girls who sang and danced there over the years. So we expect to see the interior of a specific kind of early 20th century theater, like, perhaps, the Winter Garden or the New Amsterdam, where Ziegfeld actually produced his Follies. The lovely Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier, with its thrust stage and gallery seating, is definitely not that kind of venue.

So we know from the get-go that we will be seeing a more intimate "Follies." Scaling down the number of Follies girls and the dance numbers to fit on a small stage? Not so nifty. But if the trade-off is a chance to experience all the beauty and pain of Sondheim's amazing "Follies" songs close up, I'll take that bargain every time.

I am not, as it happens, unbiased or dispassionate when it comes to "Follies." I love this show. You could do a production with five-year-olds tap-dancing through "Too Many Mornings" and I would still be choked up from the overture through the finale. Sondheim's haunting, emotional score matched with Goldman's story of youthful promise, middle-aged regret, dashed dreams and misplaced passion goes straight to my heart.

Still, even if I force myself to get critical, there's a lot to love about the Chicago Shakespeare Theater production. For one thing, it sounds beautiful, with a 12-piece orchestra on risers behind the proscenium and visible throughout most of the show. All of the voices in the cast are terrific, giving Sondheim's magnificent score everything it deserves. And most of the casting is dead-on, from Mike Nussbaum, adorable and irreverent as Mr. Weismann himself, to Bill Chamberlain and his sterling tenor giving us a delightful "Beautiful Girls," Marilynn Bogetich bringing down the house as Hattie, she of the tired feet pounding 42nd Street in "Broadway Baby," Nancy Voigts bringing it down again as Stella, who leads the ladies in the Mirror Dance -- AKA "Who's That Woman?" -- and Chicago favorite Hollis Resnik, showing us the elegance and the steely-eyed tenacity in Carlotta Campion, once a sloe-eyed vamp on the big screen but now reduced to TV, who smashes the house to smithereens when she belts out "I'm Still Here."

I also liked Griffin's use of one special Follies ghost, a beautiful apparition who drifts through the theater as a constant reminder of the past, played by Jen Donohoo, performing half of a waltz opposite one leading man and stopping the other one dead in his path. There are other ghosts on stage, but Donohoo's Showgirl leads the way.

Those are your supporting players, creating a vision of Follies numbers of the past, while in the foreground we have Sally, once a flaky, fun chorus girl who ate Baby Ruths for breakfast, now a fading housewife in Phoenix; Phyllis, her old roommate, who has honed off all her rough edges in order to be a polished and sophisticated political wife; Ben, the promising law student turned big-time politico who married Phyllis but still remembers his fling with Sally; and Buddy, Ben's nice guy pal back in the old days, now married to Sally, trying in vain to keep them both sane while spending most of his time on the road as a traveling salesman. There are two sets of this quartet, since we see current Sally, Phyllis, Ben and Buddy as well as their younger counterparts who fell into all the heartache in the first place.

Among the older quartet, Susan Moniz is quite wonderful as Sally, the one who has never gotten past the love affair she once had. Moniz looks cute and youthful, even as the cracks in her psyche start to show, with the right "Twinkle in her eye, hot off the press, strictly a mess" demeanor when she enters, and a devastating "Losing My Mind" when the time comes.

I also liked Robert Petkoff's Buddy quite a bit. Petkoff pulls off the singing, dancing, self-loathing and inner turmoil in "Buddy's Blues," with a nifty Jimmy Durante/Groucho vibe that feels energetic and fresh.

Caroline O'Connor, who looks a bit like Betty Boop, seems a strange choice for Phyllis, although I could certainly understand why she was cast when we got to her big second-act number. O'Connor can dance. And then some. Apparently Griffin envisioned "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" as a boffo jazzhands-and-muscled-chorus-boys-in-bowler-hats number right out of "Chicago," and O'Connor delivers that with sizzle and snap. And jazz hands. But Phyllis is supposed to have gone from Jessica Simpson to Princess Grace, to have been a happy, unformed young thing who worked her butt off to turn herself into the impossibly posh, chilly woman who collects Braques and Chagalls and routinely arranges dinners for ten elderly men from the U.N. With the wrong hair, the wrong dress, a jazz dancer's posture and a strangely stilted delivery, O'Connor never reads as Phyllis to me.

Brent Barrett certainly looks handsome and debonair enough for Ben, the center of the love quadrangle, and his voice is fabulous, although there are times when he seems to be aiming for the second balcony of a large theater rather than the tenth row of this Courtyard. He is also hampered by a number right out of "Chicago," when his "Live, Laugh, Love" turns into Billy Flynn's "All I Care About," complete with white tie and tails and fan-dancers.

Individually, the younger quartet shows off good voices and character choices, but none of them match up well with their older selves. By that, I mean they don't resemble Barrett, Moniz, O'Connor or Petkoff at all, in terms of size, hair color, or even type. That's a bit unsettling.

Still, the joy of seeing Nussbaum, Bogetich, Voigts and Resnik strut their stuff is more than enough to make this a fabulous "Follies" experience, and Moniz may be my new favorite Sally. Oh, who am I kidding? The first notes of the overture are enough to get me there.

The Chicago Shakespeare production has a limited run, with quite a few sell-outs. So get your tickets now if you haven't already. To my way of thinking, there is never enough of "Follies."

FOLLIES

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by James Goldman.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Performances through November 13

Director: Gary Griffin
Musical Director: Brad Haak
Choreographer: Alex Sanchez
Scenic Designer: Kevin Depinet
Costume Designer: Virgil C. Johnson
Lighting Designer: Christine Binder
Sound Designers: Joshua Horvath and Ray Nardelli
Wig and Make-up Designer: Melissa Veal

Cast includes: Susan Moniz, Caroline O'Connor, Brent Barrett, Robert Petkoff, L.R. Davidson, Rachel Cantor, Andrew Keltz, Adrian Aguilar, Mike Nussbaum, Jen Donohoo, Bill Chamberlain, Marilynn Bogetich, Kathy Taylor, Dennis Kelly, Ami Silvestre, Nancy Voigts, David Elliott, Hollis Resnik, Linda Stephens, Kari Sorenson, Christina Myers, Amanda Tanguay, Amanda Kroiss, Rhett Guter, Julius C. Carter, Devin Archer, Jenny Guse, Nate Lewellyn, Tanner Smale.

Running time: 2:30, including one 15-minute intermission

Note: If you'd like a video peek at this "Follies," check out this page from the online Chicago Tribune.

Collaboration Adds Power to Area Arts

Ruthie Cobb from the Area Arts Round Table Collaboration Committee recently sent me this update about that committee's September meeting. She asked that readers pay special attention to this section:

This event was the first in a series of workshops planned by AART's Collaboration Committee. Response from the participants was positive and most expressed a desire to keep the conversation going. Future workshops are planned to focus on connecting the arts with area businesses and with communities in McLean County.

Here's what else Ruthie had to share:

"The Area Arts Round Table (AART) hosted a workshop for area artists to explore ideas for collaborating with each other and to lay a foundation for future activities. A group of 50 people representing visual arts, dance, theatre, music, and literary arts attended the two-hour event held September 12 at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. The workshop, entitled “Getting Our Arts Together,” also drew educators, administrators and board members from local arts-related organizations, as well as representatives from Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan Universities and Heartland Community College.

"AART facilitator Judy Brown began with a brief introduction to the art of collaboration, followed by comments from several members of the arts community who are already involved in a variety of collaborative ventures. Joel Aalberts, performing arts director for the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, described how his venue works with area schools and the Children’s Discovery Museum to offer multi-stop, one-day field trips. The BCPA has also combined efforts with the Bloomington-Normal Jaycees to host an outdoor concert and a fundraising event.

"Candace Summers, educator at the McLean County Museum of History, discussed the Museum’s collaboration with Evergreen Cemetery and the Illinois Voices Theatre company for the annual Cemetery Walk. Summers also noted that special exhibits at the Museum offer opportunities for partnering with the McLean County Arts Center and a poetry group. Tri-Valley Junior High School students research and create displays about various elements of local and state history that are exhibited at the Museum each year.

"Eaton Gallery owners Herb and Pamala Eaton described their long-running collaboration with other artists who have studios and galleries in Downtown Bloomington. The Around the Corner Art Walk has allowed the public to learn more about the local arts scene, and the artists have gained experience facilitating the annual event. The Gallery has also hosted New Route Theatre’s 'One Shot Deal' theatrical productions once a month since last February.

"Details about the McLean County Dance Association’s collaborative efforts were presented by Judy Brown. Students in McLean County school districts benefit from the dance group’s interactive performances. The organization also takes dance to audiences in area daycare centers, retirement centers, and the McLean County Arts Center.

"Workshop participants were then given time to get acquainted and brainstorm ideas for potential collaboration. Discussion groups were arranged to include perspectives from all artistic disciplines, as well as local educational institutions and arts organizations. Representatives from each group summarized the ideas and concerns. Among the many ideas discussed were ways to offer more public and school outreach opportunities, the inclusion of live music in more theatrical productions, development of standardized agreements for use by collaborators, and the desirability of establishing an arts information clearinghouse. The last item is already on the AART 'to-do' list. Joann Goetzinger of the AART Communication Committee noted that an extensive survey is being prepared to collect detailed information about area arts and venues. The searchable database will be available on an AART website that is also being developed.

"This event was the first in a series of workshops planned by AART's Collaboration Committee. Response from the participants was positive and most expressed a desire to keep the conversation going. Future workshops are planned to focus on connecting the arts with area businesses and with communities in McLean County.

"The Area Arts Round Table is a non-profit organization based at the McLean County Arts Center in Bloomington. Members seek to stimulate arts participation by encouraging cooperation and building leadership in the arts community, and promoting a positive image for the arts as an essential part of the central Illinois culture. For more information about the Area Arts Round Table, contact Doug Johnson at (309) 829-0011."

Collaboration and cooperation as a way of creating critical mass to get all the individual organizations and artists noticed was one of the main themes of last May's "One State Together in the Arts" conference held at the Normal Marriott.

New Route's "Soda" One Night Only Wednesday October 12

Tomorrow night will be your one chance to see local playwright Kamaya Thompson's new one-act play, "Soda," at the Eaton Gallery in Bloomington. Thompson is a senior at Illinois Wesleyan University.

"Soda," billed as "a play in poetry," involves issues of race and class in America that are not often discussed. Those topics include "old and new racism," levels of education among minorities, and the path that uneducated, underprivileged kids are currently taking in our America. Thompson has written her play in a way that challenges and provokes assumptions and misconceptions. And her provocative one-act play will introduce the community to a powerful new voice in local theatre. This performance of "Soda" will be followed by a discussion.

"Soda" will be presented October 12 at 7 pm at the Eaton Gallery, 104 North Center Street in Bloomington, as part of New Route Theatre's One Shot Deal series. Jamelle Robinson, who played Undine in New Route's production of "Fabulation," is directing a cast that includes Anne Cook, Corey Hardin, Charlene Ifenso-Okpala, Ariele Jones, Tamar Lange, Matthew Robinson, Matt Vlazny and Terrance Washington.

As always, seating is limited at the Eaton Gallery, so reserve your seat in advance by e-mailing a request to new.route.theatre@gmail.com.

SODA
By Kamaya Thompson

Wednesday, October 12
7 pm

New Route Theatre One-Shot Deal Series
Herb Eaton Studio and Gallery
411 North Center Street
Bloomington, IL