THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406070166
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MONTAGUE GAMMON III
DATELINE: 940609 LENGTH: Long
Young performers were joined by newcomers to local stages, some bringing from elsewhere impressive resumes. All had as their company a venerable institution that was making a welcome comeback.
{REST} No time in recent memory has seen so many praiseworthy musicals grace the city's stages.
Barbara Simon, from ``The Beggar's Opera'' and Sarah Garvey-Potvin, from ``Hip Hop Hurrah,'' are mentioned first not just because the memory of their performances is fresh. The musical layman's vocabulary cannot do justice to Simon's wondrous, awe-inspiring voice, which the New England Conservatory of Music honored by giving her a full scholarship to study opera.
Singer, dancer and actress Garvey-Potvin has been noticeable in the Hurrah Players for a couple of years. In the latest production she made a remarkable impression, as much for her sharp ensemble work as for her considerable solo abilities.
``The Beggar's Opera'' ended The Governor's Magnet School of the Performing Arts theater season, which had begun a year ago with ``Seesaw.'' In that effort, April Piles showed a fine command of wide ranging vocal styles while acting impeccably. Jesse Kearney's dancing easily matched the versatility and strength of Piles' singing, and that is no small compliment.
Both Magnet School shows and the Hurrah Players production were uncommonly well directed. Mike Tick was in charge of ``Seesaw,'' Jefferson H. Lindquist of ``Beggar's Opera,'' and Hugh Copeland of ``Hip Hop Hurrah.''
Yet another musical review deserves mention for the upbeat tune and contagious energy it brought to the stage. The aptly named ``Good Times Musical Revue'' at Norfolk State University condensed all the verve and talent that have marked so many shows there for so long.
Speaking of the NSU facility and years past, the simple fact that the Norfolk Player's Guild produced its first show in half a decade marked a highlight of the year. The Guild has fair claim to the awkward but important title of oldest African-American community theater in the country. Staging Lorraine Hansbury's drama ``Raisin in the Sun'' at NSU's G.W.C. Brown Theatre, the group made a welcome return from apparent dormancy.
The Performing Arts Repertory of the Norfolk Public Schools weighed in with a couple of musicals that deserve mention. Their productions of ``Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' and ``Oliver'' transcend the scripts. Both featured a trio of multi-talented high school seniors, Repertory stalwarts Jennifer Kelly, Torrey Russell and Karen Yoccia.
Old Dominion's two theater programs present some shining moments. Amy Ingram's concentrated, fierce energy as the wheelchair-bound title character made ``Laura: Remembrances of a Young Woman'' a gripping piece of work in the small Stables Theatre.
At the ODU University Theatre, the modulated, careful acting of Kathy Umberger and Michael Volpendesta were matched with the splendid designs of Gary Brown's imaginative set and Konrad Winers' lighting in ``The House of Blue Leaves.''
Mention of the Winters name brings up an easily missed fact. Whenever one finds good costume designs at ODU, at the Magnet School, or at Generic Theater, Angela Winters seems to be their creator.
The Little Theatre of Norfolk introduced to Tidewater two experienced performers from elsewhere. The acting of William Barnard in ``Angel Street'' and of Sandra Tabachnick in ``The Children's Hour'' served notice that these two veterans of other stages can be important factors on the local scene.
Dave Faber is anything but a newcomer to the Norfolk Savoyards. Always a fine vocalist, always fun to watch, always original and clever, Faber reached a hilariously extended comic high point in ``H.M.S. Pinafore'' with his solo ``Never Mind the Why and Wherefore.''
``Pinafore,'' directed by Mark Hudgins, boasted two small masterpieces of physical comedy. A duet between Clifford Hoffman and Robert Shirley, and a passage in which Shirley and a chorus of crew members exchanged a series of perfectly mistimed salutes, were elegant, spare, perfectly timed and funny.
Generic Theater's Bob Nelson, acting in ``Voice of the Prairie,'' managed to provoke laughs with an even more sparse, more pared down bit where he did nothing more than hold his hand over his nose and stare at a microphone that had shocked him. The look on his face deserved no term less than priceless.
In the same play Franki Hardin came back to the stage after too long an absence with an exceptionally warm, detailed and intelligently crafted characterization of a young blind woman.
The most striking acting job of the year came to pass at Generic, in Edward Morgan's play ``Every Fool's Feast.'' Joel Ladd, as the vice Avarice, tapped some personal wellspring of incendiary intensity and brought forth a riveting, unforgettable performance.
Ladd was just one member of a top flight cast who gave this script its important world premiere. Local author Morgan is more well-known as a playwright and director in other areas of the country. His imagination and lyrical ability should assure wider acclaim, and secure bragging rights for all who worked with him or saw his work in Tidewater. by CNB