“The Rep can sing the Blues”

Pullman Porter Blues by Cheryl L. West playing at Seattle Rep through October 28

First of all, I love that The Rep is opening its 50th anniversary season with a new original play by a Seattle playwright. Nurturing original and local works means the world to me and I couldn’t be happier that a brand new show is gracing one of the largest stages in the city. Second of all, Pullman Porter Blues was a completely immersive theatre experience that transported me onto the Panama Limited line and took me on their amazing journey. From the set, to the music and the characters I was totally enthralled from beginning to end. I was surprised to be filled with a rush of emotion at the very beginning as the “steel curtain” was drawn up to reveal a full train car and the three generations of porters began to sing a heart wrenching railroad blues while they worked in a synchronized, almost militant fashion. It was so beautifully done that I just wanted to cry. The set was gorgeous, the blues were penetrating, and the actors worked so well together. I thought maybe it was just because I had been waiting so long to see this show that it was just emotion born from excitement, but that same rush of emotion hit me again at the end as they reprised in front of the steel curtain. But my tears came flowing out shortly thereafter as the lights came up for curtain call and the porters had real tears in their eyes. It is hard not to be moved, whether audience or cast, when the story is one of fathers working their lives away so that the next generation won’t have too. The most poignant line for me was “sometimes a man has to work hard for a freedom that he ain’t never see”.

The way West contrasted the African American porters with the Caucasian characters in the show was brilliant. It was evident that the porters fought hard and worked even harder to make a good life for their families. Each generation of porters hoped more for their sons and each generation was more educated and determined to have a better life for their sons. While the Caucasian characters just accepted the lives they were given. For instance as the grandfather, Monroe, and father, Sylvester, saved every penny to send the son, Cephus, to medical school, the Caucasian conductor, Tex, squandered his money and couldn’t send his children to school even though he was paid three times as much. It seemed that he was ashamed to be jealous of the porters but I think he had every reason to be. Also, the white woman, Lutie, was a severely uneducated bum and made fun of Cephus for being so well spoken and well mannered. While Lutie was train hopping, the porters were making an honest earning and living on the trains. Though the porters were looked down upon by the people they served I was rooting for them all along because it was apparent to me that they were far better people than Tex and Lutie could ever hope to be and to me that was a true story of triumph in the face of adversity.

I was also very intrigued with the use of multimedia on stage. This was a play with blues music but in no way a musical. Each character had a very real reason to sing the blues and the songs came so naturally. The use of choreography never seemed forced because it was either them dancing or moving to get their work done in a methodical way. The blues singer, Sister Juba, and her band helped in that respect. Playing live music and giving the actors a reason to dance and sing as well. Sister Juba was amazing! A big black woman who crooned the blues in a longing and determined way, spoke her mind to anyone who would listen, and smoked real cigarettes on stage! I’m not even a smoker but I am a big advocate of smoking on stage I think it is a sensory experience that is hard to fake with stage cigarettes and it can really transport an audience into a scene because they can see, hear and smell that characters smoke. Seeing an actress smoking on stage at The Rep was a big highlight for me.

The set was astounding, they managed to build a beautiful, luxury train on stage. Even the frame of the stage was what looked like mahogany wood with gold accents, there were cabinets and shelves that opened and lights for each cabin that would buzz and light up when the passengers needed the porters assistance. The moving pieces of the set flowed so well from scene to scene that I felt like I was walking through the Panama Limited from bar car, to cabin, to suite, to caboose. Along with the amazing set there was also a very clever use of projection. It projected several images through the show, sometimes a map that routed the places the train was moving through, and at times it was railroad tracks or overlaid silhouettes of railroad slaves, but altogether it moved through the scenes in a seamless and non-distracting way and it always enhanced the feel of each scene.

I was truly impressed by Seattle Rep’s production of Cheryl West’s Pullman Porter Blues. The actors were great, the direction was spot on, and the story was touching. I have high hopes for the rest of the 50th anniversary season because this show definitely started it out with a bang! Someday this will be a classic but for now it is an original and exciting show. Everything from the fog rolling off the stage at the beginning, to the blues band playing their music, to the smell of Sister Juba’s cigarette made me fall deeper into the Pullman Porter Blues and I almost did not want to fall out. For that I am truly grateful for the Seattle Rep because being physically affected in a way that I haven’t before by a new play is what live theatre is all about.

“Stay for Rocky, Leave for Hedwig”
by Tony Gavilanes

“Rocky Horror Show plus Hedwig & the Angry Inch”
by Chandelier Productions at Washington Hall

UPDATE 10/14/12
This is a great pleasure to write. We went again on closing night to Chandelier Productions’ Rocky Horror/Hedwig Double Feature on a gracious comp for Chelsea, Lacy, and I, and we had a wonderful time.

Whittling it down to the crux, this was an extravaganza of talent supported by a fun and serious production. The performances shone! Ultimately it is a performance that stays with you, and there was not a thing that inhibited my experience of the caliber in this team of people. From the entering note of Rocky to the final chorus of Hedwig’s “Under Pressure,” I was swimming in the outpour from the stage. The energy that came across from each member of the cast and crew was an obvious testament to their regimen of rehearsal. It came across loud and clear.. and guys, I want to say thank you, to all of you, because you pulled off a stunning show.

We clapped, we danced, we made friends, and we had a good couple of those gummi bear shots.. Whew! You should have seen my face chewin on those things. Potent. That being said, I would relate that word to this performance: Potent. Thank you again, from me, and all of us. We wish you the very best!

 - Tony Gavilanes

Rocky Horror last night was one of the best live performances of the musical that i have ever seen. Every single performance was stunning. I cried during ‘I’m Going Home’ for the first time since i was a teenager, and it came as no surprise that Paul Gauger received a standing o right after. I found myself wishing for a repeat button for most of the numbers. I am so thankful to have been able to see it again and i am only sorry that it doesn’t run for one more weekend. The cast and crew should be brimming with pride.

And as for Hedwig, jesus christ. The performance topped any and all expectations i had. I was completely crushed as I left the theatre on opening night, having to leave because my ride couldn’t stay. I have been waiting to sing and dance along to the Hedwig feature for two months. For two whole months i have heard nothing but amazing comments from the our friends in the cast about what we were in store for, how dead on and passionate Dustin Schisler’s performance of Hedwig really is. Thanks to the generous comp tickets offered to us by Chandelier Productions, I finally got to see the show last night. I was completely transfixed from the second the show started. And as Hedwig placed her beautiful blonde tresses on Yitzhak’s head i couldn’t believe that i couldn’t rewind. That was truly gorgeous. Thank you so much. You have no idea how badly i needed that shot of East Berlin brilliance, how badly i needed to cry along to ‘Origin’s of Love’ (every day you get to hear that song is automatically a great day), and how long i have waited to scream at the front of the stage to ‘Angry Inch.’. I will be in the audience the next time this show runs. Bravo.

- Chelsea Madsen

ORIGINAL POST
I have to preface this by saying it is not our prerogative to talk shit about other local, independent production companies. In fact we were hoping to give a rave review, but we also have to tell the truth of our experience. The performers in Rocky were amazing I just wished the production elements matched their talent. It was told to me early on by one of the Rocky actors that this was going to be a difficult production for a theatre person because it was being put on by a rock band. I see it now. I was the drummer/producer, half passed out, a rack of empty tall boys under my drum throne.. no songs rehearsed, nor any new conceived… just four hours spent jamming. That is exactly what I feel I experienced at Chandelier Productions’ version of Rocky Horror/Hedwig.

It is currently 12:35am during Hedwig and one of our company members finally closed out the obscene distraction of “an actress” from Rocky gallivanting loudly in the back row with a group of friends. I don’t understand how a performer can be so disrespectful to other performers. It is now 20 minutes into the show and I think I saw a few fire marshals coming up the stairs before the door closed. I am tired and confused… It would likely be easier to connect with this show if I could understand more than half of the words. I am a sound engineer audiophile, and so I will be understanding, but there was a four-speaker sound system that was mixed so poorly that the microphones were unintelligible as soon as the band came in. What doesn’t help is Hedwig’s deep German accent trying to come through his microphone cupping akin to a House of Pain show. I would imagine that the Hedwig show would do well in a bar, where noisy drunks are atmosphere as opposed to distraction. In a hall, sound carries, and when the actor of the prior show is drunk in the hallway, there should be someone in production to keep them corralled. Unfortunately for the firemen and audience, the Director, Musical Director and Producer were all on stage. Plainly put, this show was sloppy. The only thing keeping me attentive is writing this review and feeling the weight of said actress on my leg as she leans on me loudly calling out conversation about me during one of Hedwig’s monologues.

I digress. The title of this review is “Stay for Rocky, Leave for Hedwig.” Rocky Horror was a beautiful mess, as it should be. Fantastic performances by some of Seattle’s brightest independent actors. We at CLP have a bias because we have three members in this show (which is why we rolled into opening night with 14 people). For us the standout performances were John Paul Sharp who played Riff Raff in an original and interesting way, Sarah Burchfield, Rachel Tyrrel and Meg Phillips as the Phantoms who sang back-up in every song along with being the stagehands but didn’t even get the honor of a proper curtain call, and Brock Madden as the innocent and naive Brad. Paul Gauger looked amazing and played an incredible and absorbing Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but the stage originality of JP as Riff Raff blew me away juxtaposed to the film version. I am not a Rocky fan, despite dressing up with most of our group. I actually haven’t made it fully through the film version once. For a first-timer, I would have thought that the actors would have reacted to the callbacks quite a lot more and utilized the audience. The fourth wall was broken only once by Dustin Schisler as Dr. Scott (also the Musical Director), and it worked. Found out later that the rest of the cast was told specifically not to react to the audience… I will say that the performances carried Rocky Horror despite not knowing the words to the songs and not being able to understand them through such bad sound. (For those who know, there were two Mackie powered 450s on stage as actor monitors, and two-decade-old passive JBLs for the audience…).

I must mention that our will-call tickets were for 8pm. We arrived half an hour early, but there was a block-long line until 8:40 when they finally began to let us in with no explanation or apologies on why we were waiting for over an hour. The bar line ran long.. The show began over 30 minutes after 9pm. Oh… and Lacy couldn’t even bring me back a drink despite waiting in line because the staff couldn’t get their Square (credit card iPhone device) working and didn’t put up a sign that said “no credit cards” or “cash only”.

It was nice knowing my $20 went to Gay City, a very good cause, but at this point it is 12:55am I have been keeping myself entertained by staring at my own words. This is unfair to the actors and their work strained out since April of this year when rehearsals began. But it is also unfair to me, the audience member. I am a first-timer to Rocky Horror and/or Hedwig & the Angry Inch. I get them. Tragic, beautiful, twisted and sexual; stories of despair in a world not meant for the hero. But I am bored. I have been turned off. Abrasive and rude, but mostly sloppy. Whether it was waiting outside in the cold, not being able to buy drinks, projection mishaps and technical difficulties, drunk performers on stage and in the back of the hall, or the set falling on top of the Hedwig band three times…  There are an infinite number of moving parts in a production, and when there is such a disjoint between all of them, the performances can hardly hold their own. A great number of fans stayed cheering, singing along to words completely unintelligible. I just wish I was one of them…