Eat, drink and be Mary

Poppins soars at BAAY

by Christopher Key

I doubt if there is anything original I can say about the beloved musical Mary Poppins.  It’s simply a classic, adored by children and adults alike for its witty dialogue, evocative characters and memorable music.  Put that together with some truly gifted kids from Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth and you’ve got the most delightful evening ten bucks can buy.

I may also have exhausted all the adjectives I can use to describe what BAAY founder David Post can do with his young charges.  He directs with an obvious love for the material, but it’s his love for the kids that creates the kind of magic Mary Poppins can only dream of. 

Pianist and Vocal Director Evan Ingalls has them sounding like a million bucks and you will simply not believe what student choreographer Zoë Taylor Sturtz has achieved with the dance numbers.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Ms. Poppins herself is played to perfection by Lainie Mueller.  She not only sparkles as an actor, but has a wonderful voice that compares favorably with a certain actor who made the role famous in the 1964 Disney film.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

The nonpareil nanny, of course, is assisted in her enchantments by Bert the Chimney Sweep.  Meixing Rain plays Bert with the requisite twinkle in the eye and a terrific voice.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Magic is perhaps the only thing that can save a couple of kids from becoming typical upper-class British twits like their Father.  Mehar Singh has the whole stiff-upper-lip, once-more-dear-friends-into-the-breach thing down cold.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

His long-suffering wife, a closet suffragette, is portrayed with hand-wringing pathos by Jadelyn Drake.  It’s a bit of a stretch to believe that such a man as her husband could unbend long enough to reproduce, but there are two children whose lives are changed by the flying nanny.

Corinn van Woerden and Ethan Riggs are absolutely delightful as the Banks children.  Riggs, in particular, has a mischievous stage presence that bodes well for future roles.

There is an all-star cast of BAAY brilliance backing them up and that’s just the ones I saw tonight.  There’s a complete second cast who are most certainly as good as this one, but there’s only one of me.  My recommendation would be to see the show at least twice to appreciate all the hard-working kids who make BAAY rock.

Dana Crediford, who seems to be everywhere, provides the imaginative costuming and you’d better believe the kids hang up their costumes when she tells ‘em, thank you very much!

Mary Poppins plays June 3 – 12 at the BAAY playhouse at the corner of State and Maple.  Tickets are $10 at the door or on the website.

You may find that you enjoy this even more than the movie thanks to the wild energy the BAAY kids bring to every performance.

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Ground control to Major Barnes

BAAY achieves low earth orbit

by Christopher Key

Steve Barnes’ mind doesn’t operate the way most of ours’ do.  For that, we should be forever grateful because he takes us to places we would not otherwise go.  One of the resident geniuses at Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth, Barnes is among the reasons BAAY has been wildly successful at turning out students whose theatrical and musical talents never fail to exceed expectations.  Even when those expectations have become ridiculously high over the years.  I know this because I keep casting BAAY graduates in my own shows.

Barnes’ fertile imagination has created another original musical called The Skylark and it is both stirring and touching.  I’m not sure how he does this.  If I knew, I’d be writing musicals instead of reviews.  His work is always otherworldly, for lack of a better description.  In The Skylark, he creates a utopian society that has rejected science in favor of agrarian stability.  In doing so, he gives “grounded” a whole new meaning.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

This society is led by an Earth Mother type whose hippie consciousness conceals an incipient thought-control tyrant.  Kenzie Knapp portrays this character with an authenticity that any veteran of the 1960s will recognize immediately.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Despite all her efforts, her son, Lamarque, is looking up instead of down.  He sees the stars and wants to know the wherefore and the why.  John Malquist plays him with an ethereal innocence and idealism that will wrench your heart.  It’s tempting to think of this character as Barnes’ alter ego, but I think Professor Granular is a better fit.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

The good professor is the very image of the mad scientist whose experiments may blow up and kill lots of people on occasion, but who doesn’t let that slow him down.  Henry Winslow perfectly captures that mad gleam in the eye that you can see in portraits of Tesla, Einstein, and Feynman.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Carmen Souza plays the Professor’s daughter with the genuine intensity of a true believer.  She doesn’t speak to her schoolmates because they live in different worlds and there is no basis for communication.  The good hippie kids in her class torment her unmercifully, but she finds a soul-mate in Lamarque.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Barnes has a wonderfully twisted sense of humor and it gets thoroughly unleashed in the character of Copernicus, an android created by the Professor.  Anya Seegers is simply brilliant in the role of the humanoid who dreams of nothing more than being able to taste pie.  Her two sistoids are played equally well by Melissa Burke-Manwaring and Elsie Dank.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Zoë Taylor doesn’t get much stage time as schoolteacher Miss Jessup.  But she deserves enormous credit for creating the evocative choreography.

Throughout the play, I kept being reminded of the late David Bowie, both because of the subject matter and because Barnes’ music and lyrics are worthy of that comparison.  You’ll find it hard to believe that young actors and singers can perform at this level, but that’s BAAY in a nutshell.

Ashley Suloway-Baker delivers a dazzling lighting design, Walt Souza is responsible for the nifty set design and Costume Goddess Genny Cohn does her usual amazing thing.

There are eight performances of this very contemporary musical running from March 10 – 20.  For precise times and ticketing information, see the BAAY website.

Steve Barnes is an apparently incurable optimist and The Skylark is thoroughly contagious.  Catch it.

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C'est formidable!

BAAY does Les Mis

by Christopher Key

Wanna do one of the most difficult musicals in the standard canon with middle and high school actors?  Who ya gonna call?  How about David Post at Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth?  The man has no fear and he instills that in his young students.  The way they respond defies expectations and he’s been doing it for years. 

Les Miserables is frightening for even professional companies because the music is challenging, to say the least, and the staging requirements are daunting.  Director Post and his gifted students are more than up to the challenge.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume most of you know the story so that I can focus on the actors and techies that make this show sing.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

This is the story of Jean Valjean and if you don’t have a badass actor in this role, you’re sunk.  Noah Dunn is stunning, both as an actor and a singer with an amazing range.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

His nemesis is Inspector Javert.  I haven’t seen Nick Schackel onstage in a while and I missed something.  Schackel has seriously found himself as an actor and singer.  His Javert is definitive.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Rosamund Dyer plays Fantine, the single mother who struggles to protect her daughter Cosette.  Dyer has a dreamy voice and lovely stage presence.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

The power of any musical must be tempered by some comic relief and Thénardier provides that as the cheerfully amoral street entrepreneur.  Kaleb Harrison is raucously perfect.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Corinne Charbonneau is both brilliant and brassy as his partner in crime.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

The Thénardier’s daughter, Éponine, is played by Olivia Brice and her portrayal of unrequited love is a thing of beauty.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Marius, the object of that unrequited affection, is played by Colin Glaze, whose acting and vocal skills are unparalleled, even though he has one of those baby faces that will keep him playing male ingénues for years.  I know from painful experience.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

He requites the affection of the grown-up Cosette, played by Amy Wilson.  She has an ethereal stage presence and lovely voice.

Photo credit - Christopher Key

Despite all the distractions, there is some serious history going on here and Jack Shaughnessy rallies the troops as Gavroche, a leader of the revolution.

Les Mis is, obviously, a historical drama and as such requires period costuming.  Dana Crediford works wonders.  Sixteen-year-old Asher Suloway-Baker delivers a complex lighting design and Ian Bivins designed the deceptively simple set.  Music Director Steve Barnes has his charges singing at a level that most adult theatre companies would envy.

You won’t believe your eyes and ears unless you see this for yourself.  Les Miserables plays January 29 through February 7 at the BAAY Playhouse, 1059 North State Street.  Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.  For further details, see the BAAY website.

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