Big weekend of theater produces a clean sweep across the boards

Theater Reviews: ‘Cabaret’, ‘Ghosts of Celilo’, ‘Grace’

By Eric Bartels

The Portland Tribune, Oct 1, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

©2007 OWEN CAREY

Clifford Bradshaw (played by Romain Frugé) tries to plan an escape from impending danger, but Sally’s (played by Storm Large) hardly listening. The play’s backdrop of rising fascism is more than just window dressing today, the actors say.

Portland audiences were treated to one of the more robust weekends of theater in memory when the city’s top two professional companies – joined by one its hottest newcomers – launched highly-anticipated productions Friday night. Here’s the way the Tribune saw it.

'Cabaret'

There were two story lines driving the buzz around last weekend's opening of the racy musical at Portland Center Stage. One was that Center Stage and artistic director Chris Coleman had opted for bigger-than-life lounge singer Storm Large for the role immortalized by Liza Minnelli in the 1972 film version. The other was whether the charismatic but inexperienced Large could adapt to the peculiar demands of the musical theater stage.

It may be the last time anyone doubts Large’s abilities.

Coleman’s production is a good one: playful and confident and energetically delivered by a cast well-stocked with local talent beyond Large and co-star Wade McCollum. Coleman had promised all kinds of ramped-up naughtiness and he delivers, with his stars baring close to all and everyone offering heaps of slap and tickle and enough crotch-grabbing to put an entire baseball infield to shame.

Given the oversexed milieu, the show gets a tender and crucial lift – perhaps surprising for those familiar with the movie version only — from the performances of Michelle Mariana and Richard Mathews as an aging couple whose romance provides the moral center of the story. Both actors are terrific.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for New York import Romain Frugé, who seems small opposite Large as a struggling American writer drawn irresistibly to the impulsive nightclub singer and the world she inhabits. He’s an assured performer and sings well, but never presents the sexual ambiguity or dangerous charm the role requires.

Maybe he didn’t have a chance. The fact is, the entire production is nearly eclipsed by the sheer power generated by Large. It now seems preposterous that anyone questioned her fitness for the role. For all of the wattage she can generate, Large has always been able to dial herself down to a whisper without losing a bit of command, and here she uses body language and an apparently native sense of performance to go pliant and vulnerable when necessary, even as she towers over everything around her. Oh, and did we mention that her Sally Bowles is English? Large takes on the accent and handles that challenge deftly, too.

Perhaps most amazing, Large does all this with seemingly little effort. When she absolutely slays the show’s iconic title number toward the play’s end, she’s clearly restraining her gigantic voice to keep it in the building. The moment forces the onlooker toward a sobering thought: Here is Large, almost without experience in musical theater, performing for a full house on opening night… and making it look easy.

The new storyline: what will this remarkable performer choose to do next?

7:30 p.m. FRIDAY and SATURDAY, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. SUNDAY, 7:30 Tuesday-Thursday (other times later in run), Gerding Theater at the Armory, Main Stage, 128 N.W. Eleventh Ave., 503-445-3700, www.pcs.org, $18.50-$63.50.

'Ghosts of Celilo'

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit