Bad Girls of Broadway provides a tantalizing portrait of Broadway's most brazen and bawdy babes!
Photo: Alex Ryer and assistant Adam Wooley by Kenny Wardell
Performing next door to Rossmoor in the Del Valle Theatre, Alex Ryer’s “Bad Girls of Broadway” is a delightful show that tells a titillating tale of three of Broadway’s most bawdy and brazen babes, whose outrageous and outspoken talent paved the way for women to enjoy much greater freedom today! In addition, Alex’s award winning show, “Pure Piaf”, the life and music of Edith Piaf, will be playing in repertory fashion in the same theatre. I made mention of this show in a recent article and I was quite frankly shocked that there were only a handful of patrons who had bought tickets to the Friday night performance. I understand that every resident in Rossmoor received a full-color promotion piece in the mail and it was advertised in our newspaper. This is an outstanding, fun-filled show that you should not miss, if you have any appreciation of the three main characters, Mae West, Sophie Tucker and Fanny Brice. In fact, it was so good that I am going back to see the alternating performance of “Pure Piaf”.
My knowledge and appreciation for Mae West blossomed last year following the production of her play, “Sex”, that was performed in the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. I had no idea of what a truly brilliant writer, actress and promotional expert she was until I started doing some research to write my article, after I was blown away by the brilliance demonstrated by her writing skills. Last week I saw a biographical PBS show about Mae West and this show by Alex Ryer was like the frosting on the cake.
I think we have all heard and gotten a kick out of Mae West’s audacious one-liners such as: “I go for two kinds of men, domestic and imported; It isn't what I do, but how I do it. It isn't what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it; Don't keep a man guessing too long - he's sure to find the answer somewhere else; I used to be Snow White, but I drifted; I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.”
Ryer is a truly outstanding performer who makes her characters come alive. She not only takes on the character’s impersonation, but she acts as narrator, telling the audience a lot about each character’s life and times, what made them unique in the entertainment world, and why we should appreciate their contributions to women’s emancipation from puritanical molding and male dominance. Her characterizations of Fanny Brice and Sophie Tucker are both fun and enlightening as well.
Sure, I remember Baby Snooks (the radio version), but I didn’t realize that Fanny Brice didn’t take on this character that she made famous until she was 40 years old, while in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1934. Fanny Brice was both a brilliant comedienne and heartfelt romantic entertainer in the Follies. She became so loved and revered that the Barbara Streisand movie, “Funny Girl”, became a lasting tribute to her great and lasting love affair with Broadway.
Her characterization and insights into the life and times of Sophie Tucker are equally delightful. Little did I know, that Sophie Tucker, in addition to her role as a comedienne, played a major role in making “women-in-pants” an acceptable image all across America. Sophie was a “full sized woman”, weighing 145 pounds at age 13. She was so large that the burlesque managers required her to do her skits in “blackface” because she was “so big and ugly” that they didn’t expect her to be accepted for herself. When she found herself without any of her makeup when her baggage was misplaced before a performance, she went on stage without the makeup and was a huge hit. She never wore blackface again. She became so great a success in the Ziegfeld Follies with the audiences, that other women in the show refused to be seen on stage with her. She moved on to other Vaudeville venues, traveling to Europe, was a great success in England, made eight movies and became a huge success on radio and eventually on television.
Ryer is a terrific entertainer in her own right, landing the role of “Audrey” in the first national touring show of “Little Shop of Horrors”. She has worked with Imogene Coca and Judy Kaye in the play, “On the Twentieth Century”. She has traveled and performed all over the world, entertaining American soldiers in Europe and garnering many accolades for her outstanding skills as a singer, dancer and actress. I met both her and her husband after the show and was impressed with how gracious and delightful a couple they both are.
Ryer is backed by a superb piano stylist, Emily Fellner, Elijah Samuels (woodwinds) and Peggy Fasing (stringed instruments). In addition, in her skit about Mae West, she is accompanied by an excellent “Guy Friday”, a dresser, prop supplier and gag assistant who is played by Adam Wooley. Adam is a really handsome young man, whose athletic demeanor and good looks adds significantly to Miss “W’s” image as a male attracting magnet . Mae West was known, especially in her later shows in Las Vegas, for having a bevy of buff body builders embracing her every move, but I actually liked Adam’s portrayal as an adoring younger man, much better. To me the image really fit!
This fun-filled show, “Bad Girls of Broadway” and the “Pure Piaf” show will continue in alternating productions in the Del Valle Theatre, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, now through November 29th. “Bad Girls of Broadway” plays November 6th, 13th, 14th, 20th, 21st, 27th and 28th. “Pure Piaf” plays November 8th, 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 28th, and 29th. Friday and Saturday performances are at 7:30, with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., closing on the 29th. Tickets range between $32 (seniors) and $35 for general admission and can be purchased by calling the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts at (925) 943-7469, the Barnes and Noble Book store in Walnut Creek or by going to their website at http://www.lesherartscenter.org/.
Murder and double jeopardy take center stage in Center Repertory Company’s production of “Witness for the Prosecution”!
Agatha Christie’s brilliantly suspenseful award winning dramatic play, “Witness for the Prosecution”, is currently playing in the Margaret Lesher Theatre in the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in downtown Walnut Creek. Under the expert direction of Michael Butler, this tightly constructed and intriguing play addresses a murder trial conducted in the “Old Bailey”, a famous British court, where it comes fully to life.
This play was originally written as a short story by Agatha Christie. It was first produced on stage in Nottingham, England in 1953, then moved on to the Winter Garden Theatre in London a month later. This intriguing play details the story of a young married man, Leonard Vole (Alex Moggridge), who befriends a very wealthy older woman, Mrs. French. When Mrs. French is found murdered a couple of months later, Mr. Vole becomes the prime suspect, when it is revealed that Mrs. French had recently changed her will and left the majority of her estate to him. Strong circumstantial evidence also points to Mr. Vole as the perpetrator. Leonard’s wife, Romaine (Carrie Paff), a very cold and calculating woman of European origin, provides his only alibi, telling her husband’s attorney (solicitor), Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Mark Anderson Phillips), that he returned home and was with her precisely when the murder supposedly occurred. Sir Robarts is concerned that the wife of the accused is not likely to provide the greatest of asset to the defense, just because she is his wife. He explains this fact to her. The attorney and his assistant, Jean Mayhew (Valerie Weak), prepare what appears to be a very weak case of defense and begin that defense in court when completely unexpectedly, the accused murderer’s wife is surprisingly called as a witness for the prosecution. The defense team and her husband are stunned!
The remainder of the play has more twists and turns than a “pig’s tail”, and this stunning revelation is the first of several revelations and plot twists that continue to turn this brilliantly written plot into one of the most exciting plays you can possibly imagine.
The acting is perfect in every respect. If you have seen the movie version starring Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton, Elsa Manchester and Marlene Dietrich, dismiss everything you remember, because this director’s vision develops his characters differently. I loved Alex Moggridge’s characterization of the suspected murderer, Leonard Vole. He seems totally unassailable, a simple guy who is caught in a web of circumstance. His excuses and reasons for befriending Mr. French seems totally plausible. Miss Paff’s portrayal of his double-crossing wife, Romaine, is brilliant. Mark Anderson Phillips’s character (Sir Wilfrid Robarts) is totally different than that portrayed by Charles Laughton in the movie, as the character is written totally different in the play version. It works very well in this production. Prosecuting attorney, Mr. Myers (played by Mark Farrell), is simply outstanding. The entire cast is perfectly selected and is directed in excellent fashion by Michael Butler.
The carousel set designed by J.B. Wilson is stunning, well conceived and highly effective. The costumes by Victoria Livingston-Hall are equally well conceived. One of the most effective elements in this production is the lighting design by Scott Denison.
If you enjoy the excellent mystery and suspense created by one of the most prolific mystery writers of our times, Agatha Christie, then by all means, “Witness for the Prosecution” is a must see on your entertainment agenda. This production continues Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m., Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m., now through November 21st. Tickets may be secured by calling (925) 943-7469 or visiting their web page at http://www.centerrep.org/ or visiting the ticket office at 1601 Civic drive or the ticket outlet at the Barnes and Noble book store in Walnut Creek.