Word: welling
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Such questions of origin and purpose aside, however, the Leverett crew deserves credit for putting together a show without any embarrassingly bad moments and with some rivetingly good ones as well. A workman-like air prevails in the Leverett Old Library, as though the performers want to tell the audience. "We promised you nothing more than a collection of Jacques Brel songs, and here they are." There's a feebly executed but well-meaning attempt to create coffee-house atmosphere--the audience trades its ticket stubs during intermission for a cup of coffee and a croissant--but the floodlit cavernous...
Among the women, Caroline Rody's sweet secure voice renders the multi-lingual "Marieke" gracefully, if a bit timidly. Susan Pollock's voice sounds very well-trained--in fact, too well-trained. Her careful attention to breathing and assiduously precise placement of each note is distracting. The demure soprano of Carla Seidel finds the right, slightly cloying tone for "Carousel," though by the end she becomes both inaudible and unintelligible as she tries to keep up with the song. But then, that's the point...
...them. Although some individual numbers have full vignettes acted out around them, there's no sense that these people have any ideas about their materials except that they're beautiful or passionate songs. Black turtlenecks and black trousers can't single-handedly evoke the contnent, and no matter how well-wrought Brel's songs are, they could use a little interpretation to carry the evening...
Unconventional leads may have sparked the production, even if the supporting cast sagged. But both Henry Higgins (Hollander) and Eliza Doolittle (Tompsett) turn in standardized and mediocre performances. Tompsett's voice is low and well-modulated with a slight Southern softening, and though she tries to shrill, her slummy "Garn..." resonates with upper-class tonality. You can't make a sow's ear out of a silk purse. Only in scenes when Eliza is supposed to be furious with Higgins does Tompsett cast of her placid demeanor, and then she sizzles: her eyes splash cyanide when she seethes, "Just...
Looking beyond this week, Forman is aiming for a successful year in open competitions, knowing that she needs only to stay well and train properly to work her 800 meters time down to 2:02.9, which would qualify her for the Olympic trials...