British threesome explore music
By Meredith Beaumont January 30, 2009 San Miguel de Allende

Theater
Literary Cabaret, Three-Part Harmony
Wed–Sat, Feb 4–7, 8pm
Café Monet
Zacateros 83
80 pesos

The Literary Cabaret presents the second show of its winter season at the beginning of February at Café Monet. The ebullient British threesome will be exploring the wonderful and often wacky world of music with a new program titled Three-Part Harmony.

Considering that the trio has been performing together for 15 years, this is something of an achievement (the harmony that is—not the performing!).

Rick Davey, Marilyn Bullivant and Reesha Browning specialize in bringing excerpts from English literature to the stage in an atmosphere of fun and frivolity. Songs, skits and poetry deal with the musical theme. No aspect of music-making escapes their comment, be it conducting, playing, singing, teaching, writing, dreaming or even administrating (running an orchestra these days can be quite a challenge!). Symphony, opera, jazz, choral, folk and rock ’n’ roll will be subject to the trio’s scrutiny.

The highly talented Joyce Grenfell contributes a number of pieces. As well as being a popular monologuist, humor writer and film star, Grenfell was also a singer with perfect pitch and a formidable knowledge of music. She began her career as a reviewer of BBC classical programming and ended it as a panelist on the TV quiz show Face the Music. She once identified Debussy’s “La Fille au Cheveux Lin” by a single note.

Alan Coren, former editor of the satirical magazine Punch, presents a hitherto unknown side to the composer Beethoven. On the poetry front, the audience will be invited to bebop with Jack Kerouac’s “ Mexico City Blues,” rock with Adrian Mitchell’s “Parade” and quietly listen to Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s thoughts on a concerto by Telemann. Seamus Heaney’s Victorian guitar will be lovingly “played” by Reesha; Rick will poetically strum the blue guitar of Wallace Stevens, as well as keep looking for the French horn lost by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann.

Other songs to round out the program include a 1904 music hall “operatic” number, a piece by Leonard Bernstein about the horror of not being able to get a tune out of your brain and a sad little ditty by Eric Idle. Rick threatens, once more, to serenade us on his ukulele, and Marilyn will take us to the Berlin of the thirties. Reservations will be available at Café Monet.

Pre-wedding jitters

Playreaders Theater
Maggie’s Getting Married
Tue–Thu, Feb 3–5, 7:30pm
St. Paul’s Church
Cardo 6
20 pesos

Maggie’s Getting Married is a touching romantic comedy by Norm Foster, one of Canada’s most prolific and celebrated playwrights. He has been causing gales of laughter in theaters across Canada, the US and now Mexico with his outrageous plays.

It’s the night before Maggie Duncan’s wedding. There’s a family celebration going on and we’re gathered in the kitchen, waiting to meet the groom. When he finally arrives, Wanda, Maggie’s older sister, discovers she knows him a little better than Maggie would like her to. It turns out to be a wild night.

Tom, Maggie’s father, is played by Henry Vermillion. Cass, Maggie’s mother, is Nancy Nugent. Maggie is Shannon Reese, who is making her SMA Playreaders debut. Wanda, Maggie’s sister, is played by Joanna Bryne. Wanda’s boyfriend, Axel, is Wade Ashley, and Russell, the groom-to-be, is BJ Abrahamson.

Eli Nadel is the sound and light technician. Marthe Fraser directs.

The doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30pm or when the house is full. Seats are on a first-come, first-served basis, so it is a good idea to arrive early. Also, Wednesday and Thursday nights are often sold out by 7pm, whereas on Tuesday nights the church is sometimes only half-full.

Peering into the future 
By Tim Johnson 

Theater
War of the Roses
Fri–Sat, Jan 30–31, 8pm
Sun, Feb 1, 5pm
Wed–Sat. Feb 4–7, 8pm
Sun, Feb 8, 5pm 
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos

(l–r, front) Nancy Kandal, Jill Gottlieb (back) Tim Johnson, Clara Dunham, Michael Gottlieb.

Players Workshop ushers in its 105th performance with another dramatic comedy, War of the Roses by Lee Blessing. Not to be confused with the more than difficult (Oh! ...terribly sorry if you liked it) satirical comedy on the big screen back in 1989 starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas as a disenchanted couple facing down the barrel of a loveless marriage.

Nor is War of the Roses to be confused with the fifteenth-century dynastic civil wars (The Wars of the Roses) fought in merry old England between the houses of Lancaster and York. 

Directed by Lola Smith, War is set in the supposed “same” hotel room where married couple Carolyn and David Rose, played by Jill and Michael Gottlieb, spent their honeymoon some 25 years prior. David sees their relationship through rose-colored glasses where nothing is wrong and they are blessed with the riches of life. Carolyn sees a stagnant marriage, and wants a divorce. She sees them as peering into the future with no more surprises, and the absence of exploration and adventure. The intimacy of their relationship is viewed from the audience’s perspective like listening at a door with a shot glass, the door cracked open, with a video camera and a telephoto lens.

As the confused couple, hunkered down in a hotel room in Red Wing, Minnesota, to battle it out, Jill and Michael Gottlieb (partners in “real life”) are no strangers to playing married on the stage. They most recently portrayed Tibby and Jack McCullough, the upper crust, Upper East Side power couple in this past summer’s production of Regrets Only by Paul Rudnick. 

The evening starts with two short plays by Cristopher Durang, known for his outrageous and often absurd comedy, directed by Rudy Hornish and Tim Johnson. Mrs. Sorken, the over-articulate and somewhat dotty hausfrau, shares with us her likes and dislikes of the theater. Naomi in the Living Room explores the absurd relationship between mother and son, and the daughter-in-law, too!

The past several productions of Players Workshop, the oldest running theater company in San Miguel, have sold out. Tickets are on sale in the Biblioteca patio, 10:30am–1:30pm and in the box office, 4–7pm.

Theater

Mame
Mon, Feb 9, 8pm
200 pesos, opening night 
Tue–Sat, Feb 10–14, 8pm
Sun, Feb 15, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Relox 50A
150 pesos 

Mark your calendar and fasten your seatbelts: everyone’s favorite Auntie Mame swoops larger than life into San Miguel on February 9. The classic Broadway musical runs for seven nights, and tickets are on sale now at the Biblioteca Pública.

The musical boasts a large cast of talented singers and actors, some veterans of the San Miguel stage and others new. Among the newcomers are 11-year-old Max Lazen and his 12-year-old brother, Jacob, both of whom play Mame’s nephew, Patrick, in alternate performances. The boys’ parents, Mark and Catherine, play Patrick as an adult and Pegeen Ryan, respectively.

Joining the Lazens in Mame are Judy Marzulli in the title role; Cindy Wilkenson McMullen as Agnes, the frumpy but lovable nanny; Susan Neubeck as Vera, the tippling grande dame of the stage; Don Connolly as the charming plantation owner Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside and 10 other talented actors and singers.

Siobhan Bryne on the boards again for Iguana
By Kirsten Dehner and Jim Newell

Siobhan Bryne is one of six actors performing in Mixed Nuts, one of three productions being mounted as part of Iguana’s Festival de Artes in February. She was last seen in San Miguel in The Dresser four years ago. We caught up with her between rehearsals at the Salon Independencia, which has been converted into a theater.

Kirsten Dehner: It has been four years since your last role. How does it feel to be back in the acting game again?

Siobhan Bryne: Both challenging and exciting.

KD: Can you tell us, first, about what you find challenging?

SB: Well, I’m doing several monologues, which is something I’ve never done before and that means lots of memorizing. It’s different from scene work. I’m doing OK with that, but it’s getting the lines into a stream of consciousness that’s challenging to me, especially when combined with stage business. Plus, I’m doing three different accents besides my native Brit, and humor is one of the hardest things to bring off, so there’s a lot to accomplish. It’s what I signed on for, though, and so here I am again, doing what I love.

Jim Newell: You’ve done quite a bit of theater over the years, right?

SB: When I was 10, I played the lead in a school play that won me a scholarship to a theater school in London, where I spent the next seven years studying acting. I continued on in college and did some summer stock in England before moving to Venezuela, where I also performed. In Atlanta, Georgia, I acted in local productions, including the Southeastern Shakespeare Festival. I could go on and on, but let’s just say I’ve done commercials, TV movies and voice dubbing and even had my own radio show. I followed on with similar work when we moved to Sarasota, Florida, which is where my late husband and I lived until we moved to San Miguel in 1999 to live part-time. I’m almost full-time now.


KD: So what’s exciting about renewing your acting life?

SB: Working with committed actors and directors. When I auditioned for Iguana Productions, I thought that because of my age I’d be hard to cast and might be wasting their time. To my surprise, they asked me to join them right away. I am happy to be associated with a professional-minded and forward-thinking group. It’s also great to have a new venue in town. I love the freedom of working in the three-quarter round and on a minimal stylized set. The festival is an ambitious undertaking and I’m excited to be a part of it.