Theatre Notes
who was in that coffin? In the second act Marguerite reveals to the enam- ored Faust that in addition to her mother’s death her young sister has also died. “An even greater sorrow,” she tells Faust. Aha! Now we know who that ghostly waif was that started the second act in front of the curtain. Great singing by a fine cast (Cast
One at the matinee I attended) and a striking physical production save the show. Tenor Alexander Boyer as Faust sings better than I have ever heard him, hooking the high Cs with thrilling confidence and purity. Jasmina Halimic’s marvelous power and control bring an aching poignan- cy to her Marguerite. With a rich, lush basso voice, Branch Fields’ Méphistophélès is superb. With his movie star charisma and commanding presence, he brings a delicious, lively humor to the role. As Marguerite’s brother Valentin, splendid baritone Krassen Karagiozov adds another sterling role to his OSJ résumé. The opera chorus’s wonderful blend of voices gets a good workout in Faust singing the score with aplomb.
In costumes designed by Earl
Staley and Toni Businger, the charac- ters looked as if they had stepped out of the Breugel-esque painted drops of the marvelous minimalist set designed by Steven C. Kemp, which was trans- parently lit by David Lee Cuthbert, except for moments of demonic high style. The production nicely comple- mented the self-conscious theatricality of Brad Dalton’s direction, which to his credit nicely blew some of the dust from the creaky libretto. As always, the opera orchestra
under the baton of David Rohrbaugh played the lush score flawlessly. Faust runs through May 6 at The
California Theatre on First Street in Downtown San Jose.
Pintello Comedy Theater PAGEANT, THE MUSICAL COMEDY BEAUTY PAGEANT
C
ross dresser, transvestite, drag queen, female impressionist, female
impersonator…there is something about a male dressing up as a female, whether as a lampoon or for art – after all, men
played the women’s roles in the time of Shakespeare – that is inherently enter- taining. Sometimes one sits gob smacked at the sheer audacity of it, or sometimes at the thinness of the disguise, or the self-consciousness of the performers, or the lack of same, or sometimes at the thrilling success of the illusion. It is both complicated to do and complicated to watch – a veritable stew of emotions. The opening night audience at Pintello Comedy Theater found the beauty con- test musical Pageant, screamingly hilari- ous from beginning to end. Peter Mandel plays a silver fox
announcer à la Bert Parks who emcees the Second Annual Glamouresse Beauty Contest crooning about the loveliness of the contestants as some very well known local performers (and one not so local anymore) don the drag to strut, sing and dance with a complete commit- ment to be, as one of the show’s songs goes, “natural born women.” For the talent portion of the contest,
tall and willowy CJ Patereau as “Miss Deep South” performs “Camptown Races” with hand puppets. Chunky farm girl “Miss Great Plains” (Jeff
24 May 2012 • Out & About (L. TO R.) JEFF PATEREAU, MATT HALUZA, JOHN BREWER, PETER MANDEL, CHRIS BEZANSON, CJ PATEREAU AND LAWRENCE-MICHAEL C. ARIAS IN
PINTELLO COMEDY THEATER’S “PAGEANT” PLAYING THROUGH MAY 12 AT THE GRANGE HALL IN GILROY.
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