Word: staging
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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This year, however, Louisville is on the upswing. Four of the seven shows at the just completed festival seem sure to have further life; one is among the freshest, funniest and most poignant works seen on any U.S. stage this season. Though the writers included Broadway stalwart Arthur Kopit, novelist Harry Crews and columnist William F. Buckley Jr., the best script, aptly for Louisville's tradition of discovery, came from regional-theater veteran Constance Congdon, whose works have never been produced in New York City...
Leave that problem to the stage crew. As a show with a social conscience (all proceeds go to benefit the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless) and an action-packed human conflict, True West really works...
Connell's performance is also effective, although Norman's explosive presence dominates the stage. As Austin, he nicely portrays the character's outer conflict between halting his brother's moral decline and saving his own career. He also copes with his deeper problems of dealing with his unseen father's alcoholism and destitution and his own dissatisfaction with his staid family life...
...hunchbacked King Gama (Kenneth Bamberger) steals the spotlight in the prologue when he limps on stage to explain that Ida has run out on her engagement to Prince Hilarion. His amusing gestures and grimaces demonstrate why he has been the mainstay of several Harvard Gilbert and Sullivan Players' shows. Bamberger most recently starred as King Pooh-Ba in the fall production of The Mikado...
...multi-level set lets more actors to fit on the Agassiz's stage, and the costumes are pretty. In one nice touch, when Hilarion, Cyril and Florian crossdress, their ruffles match the gowns of their love interests. Something, however, went wrong with the choreography. Virtually all of the female chorus members move stiffly, as if they can only bend at the waist. They look odd and distract attention from the main action...