From Here

Posted on by Thor

From Here is a new musical by local playwright, Donald Rupe. Donald handled the book, music and lyrics with additional music by Jason Bailey. This musical is personal and heart felt while also being incredibly funny. The simple stage set, painted by Ashleigh-Anne Gardner, had a map of Orlando with a heart at it’s center.
Small hearts scattered around the map showed where each of the cast
members were from. The story centers around Daniel (Blake Aburn), who in the very first scene is calling his mom (Sarah Lee Dobbs) on his cell phone but it becomes clear that she never picks up. He related to the audience first hand how his father left when he was very young, and he became inseparable from his mom. However when he came out to her, she said some things that can never be taken back. They had not spoken since that day. This yearning for acceptance while remaining defiantly independent is the life blood of the story.

The story is about friends, from here, meaning Orlando Florida, just before the Pulse Nightclub shooting, but the shooting doesn’t happen until deep into the second act. A joyous game night shows just how these friends gain joyous strength from being together. Michelle (Dorothy Christopher) is an amazing singer and after Daniel looses a boyfriend, she insists that he come to her show. She sets him up on the sly with someone new and sings a glorious song celebrating her gay friends that had me laughing out loud.

I will not go into the plot of this fabulous musical. You should experience it first hand with few preconceptions. All of the performers had exceptional voices and the music and lyrics were amazing. I have not felt this warmly embraced by a theater performance since seeing Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George with the original cast on Broadway. This show has Broadway legs. Perhaps I am biased since the show deals with the wave of emotions that followed the horror of June 12, 2016. This play brought all those emotions flooding back, it was both painful and cathartic.

After the shooting, all the friends gathered together to watch the news on TV. They were all safe. The loss of the 49 lives seemed all the more devastating since they all frequented the club, and had such amazing and memorable times there. This was the moment I wish I had sketched but I knew it would be over too soon. They held each other through the days that followed, and then found that the world responded to the horrific event that same way they did, with the hope that love is more powerful that hate. In a time when politics seem to want to divide people, the message of this show is more important than ever. Daniel’s final words summed up what is important in life… “All that matters here are the people you choose to love, and, of
course, the people who choose to love you back.”

This is quite honestly the best play I have seen this year.  I highly encourage you to go. It was an emotional roller coaster, but in the end very up-lifting. It is a uniquely Orlando story, one we have all lived, and are still living.

From Here is running through March 15, 2020 Do NOT miss it! Tickets.

Remaining show dates…

Sat Feb 29, 2020 at 7:30pm $18-25

Sun Mar 1, 2020 at 7:30pm $18-25

Thur Mar 5, 2020 at 7:30pm $15

Fri Mar 6, 2020 at 7:30pm $18-25

Sat Mar 7, 2020 at 7:30pm $18-25

Sun Mar 8, 2020 at 3:00pm $18-25

Thu Mar 12, 2020 at 7:30pm $18-25

Fri Mar 13, 2020 at 7:30pm $18-25

Sat Mar 14, 2020 at 7:30pm $18-25

Sun Mar 15, 2020 at 7:30pm $18-25

Assassins

Posted on by Thor

I went to sketch the opening night performance of Assassins at Breakthrough Theater (419 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789). Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics and he also wrote the music for one of my favorite shows, Sunday in the Park with George. I had never seen Assassins but since I love Sondheim, I had to go. The book was by John Weidman, and the show was directed by Angela Cotto.

Breakthrough theater is a tiny little gem in Winter Park. The  lobby was warm and welcoming with a concessions stand. The walls were covered floor to ceiling with framed posters from past shows. This show wasn’t as crowded as I would have expected for a Sondheim musical.

The premise of the show was strange and unsettling. Assassins from throughout America’s history assembled together to justify their second Amendment right to bear arms and kill presidents. In the opening act, Iris M. Johnson, acted as a gun dealer offering guns to each assassin in turn to bolster their self worth and ego. John Wilkes Booth, (Gabrial Garcia) sang a ballad,  about why he needed to kill Abraham Lincoln after the  Civil War had ended.

Every Assassin was always waving around a gun, and sitting in the front row, I felt uncomfortable having so many weapons pointed in my general direction. Granted they were clearly toy guns and the audio sound effects were faint caps popping any time a gun was fired.

In one scene, Rebecca McVeigh as “Squeaky” Fromme, the girlfriend of Charles Manson, and Carol Jaqueline Palumbo as Sara Jane Moore, started shooting at a bucket of Kentucky Fried chicken. Squeeky’s manic laughter was truly terrifying, but what was more terrifying was the fact that so many people in the audience were laughing. Perhaps this is deeply ingrained in America, we are taught from an early age that violence is funny and entertaining.

Lee Harvey Oswald (Scott Gilbert) had a conscience. He went to work carrying a package of curtain rods. His minimum wage job left him with low self esteem. The entire cast of assassins, sang a song encouraging him to shoot John Kennedy. According to them his act of violence would help keep their memory alive. When he opened the package of curtain rods, he found a rifle. At one point they became a chorus line waving their guns in unison.

I find myself sketching people who are still deeply affected by the massacre at Pulse. I respected Anderson Cooper for never saying the gunman’s name when reporting about the Pulse Nightclub massacre. The names of these assassins are better left unsaid. The very premise of the play seems to make light of the horror of such violent acts. I lost some respect for Sondheim for writing this musical that seems to glorify and justify the acts of these assassins. Perhaps the show might make audiences think twice about gun control, but the message is lost if they laugh instead. A mentally deranged person seeing this play might think that they might one day share the fame of these assassins. We are sitting on a powder keg. All that said, one song from the show keeps ringing in my head. (Why did You Do it Johnny?)

Performances of Assassins continue through November 26, 2018.

Tickets are $20 General Admission, $18 Seniors, $15 Students, and $12 on Mondays.

Best Sketches of 2012

Posted on by Thor

Vote results are in for the best sketches of 2012.

1. July 18, (the Parentheticals),  nominated by, Mathew OGrady with 54% of the votes.

2. Oct 10, Blog Con, nominated by Bess Auer with 12% of the votes.

2. (Tie) Oct 24, Sunday in the Park with George, nominated by Zac Alfson with 12% of the votes.

3. Feb 21, Night of Fire. Analytics nominated post. With 4% of the votes.

3. (Tie) May 18, The Eighties Strike Back. Analytics nominated post. With 4% of the votes. 

3. (Tie) December 13th,

Last Tango in Paris. Nominated by Hengua, with 4% of the votes.

3. (Tie) June 6, NAMTA. Nominated by Analytics, with 4% of the votes.

 

3. (Tie) September 4, RAW: RADIATE. Nominated by Analytics, with 4% of the votes. 

 3. (Tie) January 5, We Buy Gold, Nominated by Analytics, with 4% of the votes.

To maintain the one a day posting schedule, here is a sketch of a Mall window display from the AADW Archives. The writing was on the window of a Saks Fifth Avenue store. The display was designed by Shepard Fairey of Studio Number One. Shepard was best known for doing the red white and blue Obama campaign poster.

Sunday in the Park With George.

Posted on by Thor

I had too step out of an artist talk back with United Arts President and CEO, Floria Maria Garcia, at Urban ReThink about the state of the arts in Orlando. It was a hot topic on which I have plenty of opinions but little time to express them. I rushed over to Church Street and sat in the very back row of the brand new Harriet Theater to see the Mad Cow Theater production of Sunday in the Park With George.  The lobby is magnificent with a large plate glass window view overlooking Church Street. The new theater offers roomier seating but the low office building ceilings offer a challenge since it limits the height of the stage sets. The stage was a blank canvas. White panels were arranged accordion style across the back of the stage. Executive Director, Mitzi Maxwell, introduced the play which she called Stephen Sondheim‘s tribute to creativity. I first saw the play in 1983 in New York City, and I fell in love with it. I would often play the cassette tape soundtrack as I painted until the audio tape eventually stretched and broke. Change is inevitable as we move on.

When George Seurat, played by Matt Horohoe, started sketching, Dot, played by Hannah Laird, the white panels were removed by actors in period costume to uncover Lisa Bucks wonderful painted rendition of the Island of La Grande Jatte. The play follows George’s life and creative process as he creates a huge canvas celebrating a Sunday in the park. His relationship wit Dot becomes strained as he looses himself in his work. This stage production brought back all the joy and emotions from the show I first experienced in New York City. Now that I am older and obsessed with capturing life, I better understand George Seurat.

In my sketch, I tried to assemble the cast in a fair approximation of where they were in George’s final composition.  Since the composition was finalized for only a short moment, I didn’t catch every character. Like any urban sketch done on location, I placed figures where they best balanced out the composition I was assembling. I placed George Seurat where the monkey would be found in his painting. The second act isn’t as strong as the first, but it features my favorite song, Art isn’t Easy! I absolutely loved this show, and the cast did an astounding job of keeping up with Sondheim’s fast paced lyrics. The show continues through October 28th. Performances are selling out so get your tickets now! As I got up to leave my pencil sharpener fell out of my lap and crashed to the floor. It popped open spilling pencil shavings everywhere. Embarrassed, I picked up a few with my fingers but decided a vacuum would hopefully pick up the delicate curled shavings with little effort.

“White: a blank page or canvas. His favorite – so many possibilities.”

– George Seurat

Sunday in the Park with George

Posted on by Thor

I went to the new Mad Cow, Blackbox Theater (54 West Church Street) where Lisa (pronounced Li-za) Buck was working on a huge set painting for Sunday in the Park with George. The painting was based on the large pointillist canvas now hanging in the Chicago Institute of Art in Chicago. The painting leaves out all the figures which will have the cast stepping in to fill the roles.

Lisa used long bamboo poles to hold her paint brushes. Painting was like an act of ballet with Lisa in constant motion. She had slated two hours to paint in the water. She was using old scenic paint which was chalkier than she was used to. This meant her brush dried out quickly with each brush stroke. This kind of forced her to work in s semi-pointillist manner. Overall she takes about 22 hours to finish a piece be it this large, or small. Lisa will be doing the set design for an upcoming Mad Cow production called The Road to Mecca.

Sunday in the Park with George Rehearsal

Posted on by Thor

The Harriet Theater stage was a blank canvas waiting to be painted. George Seurat, played by Matt Horohoe, turned away from Dot, played by Hannah Laird, to return to his painting. Dot followed him angrily as he climbed the ladder to work on his immense painting, The Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. She shouted at him, “Yes, George, run to your work. Hide behind your painting. I have come to tell you I am leaving because I thought you might care to know-foolish of me, because you care about nothing.”

(George) I care about many things.

(Dot)
Things-not people.

(George)
People, too. I cannot divide my feelings up as neatly as you, and I am not hiding behind my canvas-I am living in it.

(Dot)
What you care for is yourself.

“Tell me that you’re hurt, Tell me you’re relieved, Tell me that you’re bored. Anything, but don’t assume I know. Tell me what you feel!”

My fatigued eyes watered up as I sketched the heated argument in song. I knew every word.

Having seen the original, Sunday in the Park with George on Broadway, I was excited when Mad Cow Theater announced that this musical would be the first show to open in the new Harriet Theater (54 Church Street, Orlando). The space was still raw and unused when I walked in to sketch a rehearsal. All the theater seats were still covered with bubble wrap.  Director Timothy Williams sat in the front row watching the actors perform. Everyone was still, “on book” but the performance as Seurat and Dot argued was vibrant and hit home. I was shocked at how much Hannah Laird, with her cherub-like face resembled Bernadette Peters. Robin Jensen on piano slowed down the beat in one scene so the actors could keep pace and then speed up.The actors did an amazing job keeping up with Sondheim’s fast paced lyrics. Their voices were warm and full.  Robin kept stressing that everyone needed to clearly enunciate each word.

A square cut out stood in place for a dog. George interacted with the dog as he sketched, personifying how his life might be. No one knew if the dog would face stage left or right once cut out and painted, so Tim shouted out for someone to look at the painting to find out. It turns out that George had been addressing the dogs rump. I liked that Tim suggested to Matt that he think about the old Disney animators and the way they would act out how a deer or a dog might behave.

When all the actors assembled on stage to recreate the finished painting my heart swelled with the music. It is easy to see why this show won a Pulitzer prize. As I left, Tim noticed I was carrying an artists stool and he pointed at me saying to the prop man, “Look! That is the kind of seat we need for George!”  The ladder will later be “pimped out” with a shelf where George keeps his palette, paints and beer. The music and Lyrics are by Stephen Sondheim and the play is based on a book by James Lapine. The opening Night performance in Orlando will be October 6, 2012 and  the show runs through October 28th. The gala,
which will take place on October 6, features a pre-show dinner at  the
Rusty Spoon, followed by the Opening Night performance of Sunday in the Park with George, and a post show cast party at Kres Chophouse (17 West Church Street, Orlando). Gala tickets are $125. Regular show ticket prices are $25-$32.

“A blank page or canvas, his favorite. So many possibilities.”