|
|
|
November 27th, 2010
08:19 pm - Have yourself an elementary Christmas, my dear Watsons
On the heels of a not-particularly-pleasant encounter with John Longenbaugh, not only an accomplished Seattle playwright but also the PR Manager for 5th Avenue Theatre (which explains why he didn't take too kindly to my criticisms of 5th Avenue in my recent post)... I planned to see Taproot Theatre's production of his original Christmas mash-up Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Carol. And I say that with no intent whatsoever at derision: I was intrigued at his melding of the conventional Christmas Carol story with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories into an 'old becomes new through innovative combination' holiday tale, and had a good feeling I was going to like what I saw this afternoon. Taproot also has impressed me with their professional presentation and excellent provisions as a theatre venue.
Now... I've sat down to watch shows and realized within the first few minutes that I wasn't going to like it, and had concrete theme-related reasons why. But rarely do I sit down and realize immediately that I'm going to love a show. Usually with such shows I watch and immediately see things I really like, but they have to accumulate before I realize I'm seeing a great show. Doesn't seem fair that it's easy to dislike a show but takes some time to like it, but such is life.
However, I immediately found a joy in this production within the first few moments, and it kept giving reason after reason to rave about it, never letting up until the lights went black to end Act One and left me with the realization that my biggest gripe was the fact that the show was eventually going to end. I immediately knew I was going to really enjoy this production and for the rest of the afternoon it gave me no real reason to believe otherwise.
We open with the famous Doctor Watson (the joyously affable Stephen Grenley) introducing the story as he traditionally does in all of Doyle's Holmes tales, soon segueing to Holmes' dusty, disused office. And by the way: Nice touch by director Scott Nolte and set designer Mark Lund in establishing a top-step platform as Holmes' office in separated space, while establishing the lower off-set steps as the outside area. This neat touch was a simple approach that saved a ton of trouble and resources while fulfilling the script's needs.
Though I don't want to give away too many details (this IS a Sherlock Holmes story, after all), I will establish the play's opening moments:
Watson and landlady Mrs. Hudson (Pam Nolte) are at odds with the inactive and drug-imbibing Sherlock Holmes (Terry Edward Moore) on Christmas Eve in 1894 over Holmes' withdrawal from his bread and butter detective business. Holmes has his reasons for his cultivated disinterest, and is his usual sharply misanthropic self (Longenbaugh really did his homework and got the intricate details of the Holmes characters just right) to his tried/true companions all the way, as well as with outside requestors in desperate need of his services. Holmes pushes all away, and then we slide into the Christmas Carol portion of the story where, though you can probably guess what generally happens from there, you don't/won't entirely expect what Holmes discovers, or what the future holds for Holmes and his fellow citizens.
T.E. Moore as Holmes drives this play with the relentless, measured energy that this production needs, coloring in every bit the character detail you want to see out of a staged Sherlock Holmes, and finding tons of subtextual opportunities to give humor to lines that might not have had it otherwise. Not that the script isn't good: Longenbaugh's tightly written yet ambitiously rich script is full of dry, subtlely inserted wit... including a neat, snuck-in callback to the original Christmas Carol that I'll keep secret as it's best seen for yourself.
Grenley gives a lovable soul to the earnestly serious Watson, where even before the heart of the play's plot kicks in you feel for the lack of attention his friendship-motivated empathies receive from the unusually misanthropic Holmes. Flashback scenes include a heartbreaking scene between Aaron Lamb as a young Holmes and Jesse Notehelfer as his college sweetheart Becky. Ensemble character work from Eric Riedmann, Grenley, Lamb, David Dorrian and Alex Robertson (and while they shape-shift between characters so fast it's hard to keep track to who's playing what, the characters they slip into are distinct and clear) painted pictures with such character work, in tandem with Longenbaugh's script, that as Holmes flashes back, to the present and forward, they really capture the widespread feelings that have been and are getting hurt from Holmes' neglect. Along with this, Moore's greatest work in this production comes in gradually progressing emotionally throughout the play from bitter veteran detective to a man heartbroken with the fruits of his neglect.
By intermission the crowd was positively thrilled with the play, and walked out at the end very happy with how they spent their two hours. It seems every company in Seattle is producing a Christmas play for December, and if you're torn on which one to see, I decidedly recommend you check out Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol at Taproot, if not for the above reasons then for the following:
- It's a brand new play... not the umpteenth production of the same play that gets produced every year.
- The play is written by an accomplished and talented local Seattle playwright (John Longenbaugh). This isn't something from Broadway or off-Broadway: This play came from our backyard.
- The play is produced entirely by and entirely features local talent... and not in that Seattle Rep sense of "people who live here right now but just moved here from across the country and got all their experience somewhere else" local but honest to goodness "people who have lived here a while and have mostly cut their teeth here" local. REAL local talent.
- It's a meshing of a common Christmas story (A Christmas Carol) with a popular 19th century non-Christmas character (Sherlock Holmes) that was thoroughly researched, workshopped and perfected and pays consistent, thorough tribute to both sources of material.
- Most of all, in light of the above... this production is trying something new, testing new waters. Even if it is a mash-up of classic material, the production is not falling into the familiar trap of giving audiences another rendition of the same old stuff they've seen before, but experimenting, giving audiences something they haven't really seen before... and even trying to send them off with some sort of applicable take-away message beyond the expected "Don't be a Scrooge"... a message about exploring how we live our lives, how we perceive our heroes and the perils of those we look up to taking the admiration of their peers for granted.
For that last part John Longenbaugh and Taproot Theatre deserve a load of credit. Sure, experimentation is not exactly Taproot's forte and a look at their 2011 season indicates more revivals (The Odyssey, An Ideal Husband... and Brownie Points hints at falling into the same niched quicksand as Wedding Belles) than discoveries (as always they're more than welcome to prove that notion wrong). But Sherlock... is a step in the right direction, and as always John Longenbaugh comes to the table with a play that takes us in a different direction, speaks to us at eye level and tries to show us a new thing or three. And most of all, it's just a great show that's totally worth seeing.
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol runs through December 30, Wednesdays through Saturdays (twice on Saturday) at 7:30 pm (2:00 pm on Saturday) at the fabulously polished and presentable Taproot Theatre in Greenwood on N 85th Street just west of Greenwood Avenue, across from Gordito's. Tickets as always are a bit pricey, starting around $20-25 and working up towards $35 depending on when you go, and reservations are recommended (they've already sold out all remaining November dates). TPS members can get a ticket at the door half an hour before showtime for $10. Those under age 25 can always get a ticket for $10. Students and seniors get a $3 discount off the regular ticket prices. Other discounts and special nights may apply but given shows are rapidly selling out I wouldn't hold my breath. Still, get a ticket and see it while you can.
EDIT: ... I didn't even mention the big detail with this show, the 2009 Greenwood fire that KO'd the venue and this production's originally planned run. The funny thing is that, if not for that fire, I may not have ever seen this show as for various reasons I wasn't seeing shows last winter and of course wouldn't have seen it had it ran as scheduled. So in a backhanded way, the fire was a blessing for me as the resulting circumstances allowed me to experience it this winter.
That is not to say the fire was a good thing. It's just to say that life's curses can sometimes, somehow lead to good fortune. And great to see, one year later, that the fire did not derail Taproot's work as here they are putting on successful shows to big crowds.
|
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/73452822/155370) | | From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) zinnea |
|---|
| Date: | November 28th, 2010 07:00 am (UTC) |
|---|
| | | (Link) |
|
I still have to write up my review of the show which will also be positive; I really enjoyed it a lot. I thought Moore was fantastic! Holmes really felt credible and whole. The scene with Becky was particularly well done.
I really liked the F/X, too. The Christmas Truce scene in particular was SO well done. I didn't even cover the lighting, which was impressively seamless and set the mood time and again. And now that you mention the truce scene, whoever recorded the caroling did a great job with getting the sound levels just right so that it really did seem like caroling in the distance instead of canned recording. As I've noticed with Wooden O's productions over the summer (they use a lot of pre-recorded sound), hastily recorded sound effects can easily sound pre-canned and kill the suspension of disbelief, so this sound design was very well done. ![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/43263358/848687) | | From: | rhonan |
|---|
| Date: | November 28th, 2010 10:28 am (UTC) |
|---|
| | | (Link) |
|
I shall have to check it out. Especially since Taproot is in the neighborhood. Pricey for theatre, but if there's one Taproot show I could recommend seeing in the next year this is it. |
|
