Category Archives: The Critic

Island Moving Company, under the artistic direction of Miki Ohlsen, staged “Dracula” over this weekend at Belcourt Castle in Newport, and it was wonderful and outrageous art. (Disclaimer: We’re contributors to the company.)

Belcourt Castle is part Gothic, part Rococo, part silent move, and wholly eerie. Miki used it to great effect to stage a two-act “Dracula” that crept, marched, slithered, flew, and danced through a half-dozen Hearst-like mansion rooms, with the audience led by six musicians along the way. We witnessed dancers descending acrobatically from curtains during a dream sequence, fights in upstairs hallways, the good Count being raised from the dead by some striking “young vampire brides,” and a final scene where the dancers actually emerge from the audience in a hallway, and push us aside to make room for themselves.

David DuBois seemed to enjoy himself much too much playing Dracula, and danced with terrific grace and energy. Gregg Saulnier was wonderful as Jonathan Harker, dancing some of the longest, continual scenes I can imagine (though I would have happily bid on the opportunity to play the role in the dream sequence). Lilia Ortola, one of my favorites, danced a wonderful Mina, including succumbing to the Count’s charms. I always root for the underdog.

Island Moving Company combines classical dance, modern dance, and highly original production values in these venues, creating outstanding entertainment. We parked in the Belcourt Castle lot, walked the long paths into the courtyard, entered a side door, and then traveled through the huge place following the musicians, dancers, and story line. It’s unique to have the dancers emerge from the edge of the audience and create their own stage and room, often brushing you as they move, leap, and spin. These included, quoting the program, “unruly gypsies”! This kind of staging and choreography, combined with the venue, is extraordinary.

The mansion lends its own idiosyncrasies. At one point, a huge, stained-glass door wouldn’t open for Dracula, and as the audience smiled, David wound up magically entering through another door behind the set, something you’d expect Dracula to be able to manage!

The company stages “The Nutcracker” in a similar vein at Rosecliff Mansion in Newport for the holidays (http://www.islandmovingco.org.).

© Alan Weiss 2009. All rights reserved.

The Greater Providence Area is like a middleweight moving up a class to fight heavyweights in the cultural arena. Pound for pound, there are theater, dining, museums, dance, touring shows, symphony and more far beyond what a city this size ordinarily expects.

As an example, here are two performances you shouldn’t miss if you’re in the area:

Trinity Rep (disclaimer: I’m a former board member) is staging “Cabaret” based on the original Isherwood work, so that the wonderful Rachel Warren as Sally Bowles does not have to channel Liza Minnelli. The Kit Kat troupe is worth the price of admission, and Curt Columbus has directed the superficial patina of gaiety nicely over the looming Nazi menace. Stealing the show—and, frankly, too often off stage—is the emcee, Joe Wilson, who is in fine voice, fine fettle, and fine lingerie. He bears an eerie resemblance to LaToya Jackson, which threw me for a while, but he has better legs. This is a wonderful rendition of a classic work: http://www.trinityrep.com/.

A couple of miles north in Pawtucket at the GAMM Theater (disclaimer: I’m on the board), director Tony Estrella also stars in a screamingly funny “Much Ado About Nothing” that is a masterpiece. Tony is arguably the finest working actor in New England (and possibly beyond), and his Benedick is a tour de force. At times the show had to momentarily stop to allow the laughter to die down. We were lucky to see it with a large group of St. George’s School students who had just read it, so it was a more knowledgeable crowd than would ordinarily be the case. The warden (the play is set in 1945 and, unlike so much of Shakespeare that is just a conceit in modern settings, this play sizzles), played by Tom Gleadow, has evidently been given permission to eat the scenery and, quite positively, there’s little left when he’s done with it. GAMM provides great art in an intimate setting, and this is the first of a paired set, with Romeo and Juliet coming with the same cast: http://www.gammtheatre.org/.

There is far better dining in Providence than Boston (we eat out seven nights a week), so take a couple of evenings and enjoy yourselves!

(Recommended pre-Trinity: Gracie’s, right across the street; pre-GAMM: Chez Pascal, 960 Hope St., Providence, a five-minute drive from the theater.)

© Alan Weiss 2009. All rights reserved.

See my review of “A Steady Rain” a few posts ago.

Here’s what the New York Times critic said this morning:

“A Steady Rain” is probably best regarded as a small, wobbly pedestal on which two gods of the screen may stand in order to be worshiped.