Theater Review

Tom Titus

* EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of three articles

reviewing 1999 in local theater.

For local professional and semiprofessional theater groups, 1999 was a

milestone year.

South Coast Repertory marked its 35th season (measured from its genesis

in Long Beach in 1964, not its initial foray into our backyard in 1965).

The Theater District passed its five-year mark -- and began to wonder if

there would be a sixth, let alone a 35th.

At SCR, the Moliere comedy that introduced SCR to local audiences,

“Tartuffe,” returned for a third incarnation and put old-timers like your

correspondent in mind of that wild, freewheeling ’65 production, done in

commedia style, on the stage of the old Laguna Playhouse, a month before

the Second Step Theater in Newport Beach was completed.

This “Tartuffe” was an elaborately designed and costumed affair with

thunderous technical effects that reminded us just how far SCR has

progressed in the last three and a half decades. Still, it was far from

the cream of the company’s 1999 crop.

That distinction must go to “The Norman Conquests: Round and Round the

Garden,” Alan Ayckbourn’s superb piece of merriment directed by Martin

Benson and played out against a breathtakingly realistic setting by

Michael Devine -- both of whom left their fingerprints indelibly on SCR’s

1965 season.

An extremely close second choice is August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” a

thoroughly involving drama about descendants of slaves making their place

in 1937 Pittsburgh. Directed by Seret Scott and designed by Ralph

Funicello, the show resonated with warmth and passion.

Rounding out SCR’s top five for ’99 were George Bernard Shaw’s “The

Philanderer” and John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” both directed by

company co-founder David Emmes, and the haunting “Two Sisters and a

Piano” on the Second Stage, directed by Loretta Greco.

As for individual honors, it would be difficult to select a single best

actor, so the choice must be a tie between Timothy Landfield in “The

Norman Conquests” and Jefferson Breland in “Of Mice and Men.” Best

actress laurels should rest comfortably on the shoulders of Kellie

Waymire for her work in John Glore’s original play “On the Jump.”

Other noteworthy performances were turned in by Rene Augensen and Hope

Alexander, “Tartuffe”; Martin Jarvis and Cindy Katz, “Skylight”; Hal

Landon Jr., “Play Strinberg”; Adriana Sevan, “Two Sisters and a Piano”;

Douglas Weston and Nancy Bell, “The Philanderer”; Victor Mack and Kim

Staunton, “The Piano Lesson,” and Greg Watanabe, “The Summer Moon.”

Down the street a ways, at the Theater District, founders Mario and Joan

Lescot are ending the year (century, millennium) with final performances

at the Lab Anti-Mall showplace, with prospects of a replacement theater

somewhat dim. But if this isthe end, they really went out with a bang.

Of the six productions, all staged by Mario Lescot, top honors must go to

“Dancing at Lughnasa,” the Irish dramatic comedy splendidly realized by

an outstanding cast. Another terrific ensemble piece, “Five Women Wearing

the Same Dress,” was the No. 2 selection.

Two other shows also merit plaudits in retrospect. The recent comedy

“Sylvia” demonstrated that a pretty girl could be quite convincing as a

dog, and “Light Sensitive” still touched the heart in its third (or is it

fourth) staging.

The year was replete with acting excellence, with most company members

taking on a number of assignments. Top individual honors at the Theater

District for 1999 go to David Rousseve for “Light Sensitive” and “Dancing

at Lughnasa” and Alice Ensor for “Dancing at Lughnasa” and “Auntie Mame.”

Other richly defined portrayals were offered during the year by Deborah

Conroy in “Dancing at Lughnasa,” Lorianne Hill in “The Heiress,” Shannon

Hunt in “Sylvia” and the entire cast of “Five Women Wearing the Same

Dress.”

Community and collegiate theatrical excellence will be recognized in the

next installment of this retrospective, due Dec. 30, followed on New

Year’s Day by the selection of the Daily Pilot’s man and woman of the

year in theater for 1999.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear

Thursdays and Saturdays.