IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, A RADIO PLAY at GAMM

November 30, 2023December 12, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Fred Sullivan, Jr., Lynsey Ford, Tony Estrella, Jim O’Brien, Andrew Iacovelli, Background L to R: Helena Tafuri, Milly Massey in GAMM Theatre’s production of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life, A Radio Play’. Photos by Nile Scott Studios

Review by Tony Annicone

This year, GAMM Theatre’s holiday production is “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live A Radio Play,” adapted by Joe Landry. It’s their fifth presentation of this show. Seven performers plus a sound effects man deliver all the lines of all the characters in the Frank Capra movie. This beloved American holiday classic comes to captivating life as a live radio broadcast in Warwick, RI. It is staged as an old-fashioned 1940s radio show. The audience is transported back in time as a radio audience watching an ensemble of performers bringing dozens of characters to life on stage. The “broadcast” is interspersed with live commercials about Greenwood Credit Union and Gamm Theatre. Before the show, there is a sing-a-long with cast members doing “Jingle Bells” and “12 Days of Christmas,” with the Foley Artist doing sound effects for each day while doing them faster and faster each time. Relive the story of the idealistic George Bailey as he considers ending his life one fateful Christmas Eve. This is a fully realized version of the story initially brought to life by Frank Capra in the movie that starred Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Directed previously by Damon Kiely and remounted this year as well as last year by Tony Estrella, who molds these eight talented performers (including himself) into these iconic characters from the movie perfectly, obtains incredible performances from them, and blends the comedy and pathos to get them many laughs and tears on their journey. Tony plays George once again and also appeared in that role in the past three versions of this show. A spontaneous standing ovation is their well-deserved reward at the end of the performance.

“TOPDOG, UNDERDOG” at the Gamm Theatre

September 13, 2023September 18, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Anthony Goss and Marc Pierre in Topdog/Underdog at the Gamm. Photo by Cat Laine

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Gamm Theatre’s opening show of their 39th season is “Topdog/Underdog,” the 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Suzan-Lori Parks, the first African-American woman to win the prize. In 2023 this show won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. This play is about brotherly love, sibling rivalry, and surviving the American Dream. The story centers on two fiercely competitive African-American brothers with a troubled past who share a room in a squalid boardinghouse. The two brothers are Lincoln and Booth. Lincoln is an ex-card shark now working a “straight” job impersonating Abraham Lincoln at an arcade, while Booth is a petty thief set on surpassing his older brother’s reputation as a notorious three-card Monte hustler. Director Cliff Odle casts these two roles splendidly and elicits multilayered performances from both actors. They fully embody these two characters, displaying what makes them the way they are. The audience discovers where they’ve been and how each has either changed or stayed the same. It examines how these two brothers live in dire economic circumstances and how they try to navigate them differently. As Lincoln and Booth, Anthony Goss and Marc Pierre display great depth of emotions as these two siblings. Their brilliant performances propel the audience to their feet at the end of the show. Bravo on jobs well done.

GAMM Theatre’s ‘THE CHILDREN’

April 12, 2023May 4, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Tony Annicone

GAMM Theatre’s closing show of their season is “The Children” by Lucy Kirkwood. It’s a thought-provoking play that is 90 minutes long with no intermission and takes place in a remote English cottage by the sea. This is where retired scientists Robin and Hazel are determined to grow old together while the world around them crumbles. The couple tries to live normally after a disaster at the local power station where they used to work. It has devastated the area, and the threat of radiation pollution hangs over their heads. Robin and Hazel try to continue their daily routines of practicing yoga, tending to their cows, and rationing their electricity. However, their tranquil world is rattled by the arrival of their friend and former colleague, Rose. After working in America for 38 years, she shows up with a life-altering request that reveals uncovered secrets. The three of them were instrumental in constructing the power plant so close to populated areas many years ago and must face the consequences of their actions. Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear explosion, these include being concerned about future generations.

Gamm’s “Faith Healer” Explores Truth and Myth

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Tony Estrella as Frank Hardy in Gamm Theatre’s “Faith Healer”. Photos by Cat Laine

by Tony Annicone

The opening show in 2023 at GAMM Theatre is the 1979 “Faith Healer” by the acclaimed Irish author Brian Friel, who also wrote “Translations” and “Dancing at Lughnasa.” This play deals with a faith healer, his wife and his stage manager, whose stories are told by each character from their vantage point and the audience learns there is a deep dark secret hidden in their relationships. The story is told in lyrical monologues about Francis Hardy’s performances and about a terrible event that shaped all that happened afterwards. Making her U.S. debut as a director is Donnla Hughes who originally hails from Ireland. She directs this show with a firm and steady hand. She completely understands the way that Friel writes these characters and has her performers bring out the inner workings of the three of them, so the audience grasps things completely during each of their monologues. The three characters are Frank Hardy, the faith healer, his wife or mistress, Grace Hardy and his manager, Teddy. They capture the memory and humanity of their situation in a beautiful and unique way which wins them a resounding standing ovation at the close of the show.

Gamm Theatre’s Gritty ‘Sweat’ Brings Home the Demise of the American Worker

November 1, 2022November 14, 2022 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Cast of ‘Sweat’ at Gamm Theatre. Kym Gomes, Steve Kidd, and Jamie Jose Hernandez. Photos by Cat Laine

by Tony Annicone

The second show of Gamm Theatre’s 38th season is The Pulitzer Prize winning play “Sweat” by Lynn Nottage. “Sweat” premiered in 2015 and tackles the loss of work and de-industrialization in modern America. Based on interviews with residents of Reading, a small town in Pennsylvania, the play vividly portrays the betrayal and resentments of striking female workers during the decline of the industry and how it destroys their families. Unfortunately, it also helped Trump win over the small towns of this state in 2016. Nottage delves into the plight of the working class. Two ex-cons being interviewed by their parole officer open and close the show in 2008. This last segment is where the audience learns of the results that led to their arrest and rips your heart out. The main action takes place in 2000. African American Cynthia is given a promotion over her oldest white friend, Tracey. The personal betrayal becomes more apparent when she learns she must tell the workers they must take a 60% cut in their wages. This leads to a lockout, and scabs enter the situation, which leads to violence (which explains the parole interview scenes.) Director Rachel Walshe casts these nine roles splendidly and has her cast delve into what makes each of them tick as they examine their motives for the approval or disapproval of Cynthia’s rise to her position of power. Rachel also gives each member of her cast their moment to shine with outstanding speeches or what the effects of their actions result in and the consequences they must face. Rachel always does a marvelous job with all of the shows I have seen her direct and this one is no exception. Brava!

GAMM’s “Describe the Night” a Tale of Russian Disinformation

September 1, 2022September 20, 2022 michaelhoban1 Comment

Donnla Hughes as Yevgenia, Michael Liebhauser as Isaac; foreground: Sean McConaghy as Nikolai in Gamm Theatre’s production of “Describe the Night”. Photos by Cat Laine

by Tony Annicone

GAMM Theatre’s opening show of their 38th season is “Describe the Night” by Rajiv Joseph, the Obie Award winner for Best American Play. The show spans 90 years and is set in Russia, eastern Germany, and Poland. We meet real life author, Isaac Babel, a wire-journalist, and writer of fantastic tales as he wanders the countryside in 1920. He soon develops a friendship with Nikolai Yezkov, a Red Cavalry Captain who insists on fact-based unimaginative stories. Babel’s diary about Soviet history is woven through the show wonderfully.

Gamm Theatre’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is Wonderful Indeed

December 3, 2021December 3, 2021 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Lynsey Ford as Mary and Tony Estrella as George Bailey (foreground) in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life:A Live Radio Play’ at the Gamm Theatre. Photos by Peter Goldberg

by Mike Hoban

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play – Adapted by Joe Landry; Directed by Damon Kiely; Music Direction by Emily Turtle; Set Design by Michael McGarty; Costume Design by Jessie Darrell Jarbadan; Lighting Design by Noah Beauregard. Presented by The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, RI. Through December 24^t^h, 2021

When I was a younger man, I watched It’s a Wonderful Life on PBS for the first time with my brother, long before it became a Christmastime staple. As the credits rolled, we sat motionless on either end of the couch, trying to hide our tears from one another, without success. It was a powerful experience, and one that was recreated multiple times during the holiday season for me and millions of others through the years. So the idea that that type of magic could be reproduced on stage – in the form of a radio play no less – seemed implausible at best. But miracle of miracles, the production of It’s a Wonderful Life:A Live Radio Play, now playing at The Gamm Theatre in Warwick, RI, delivers the same deeply gratifying sensation as the original movie, largely on the strength of the almost campy performances by its stellar cast, who embrace their radio star personas with wild exuberance.

Gamm Theatre’s ‘Admissions’ Brilliantly Examines Ongoing Controversy

January 22, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Jim O’Brien, Jacob Osborne, and Deb Martin in GAMM Theatre’s ‘Admissions’

by Tony Annicone

GAMM Theatre’s 35th season continues with their first show of 2020 which is the off-Broadway hit play “Admissions” by Joshua Harmon. He won the 2018 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for best play. His other plays are “Significant Other” and “Bad Jews.” Harmon’s newest comedy/drama explores white privilege in attending prestigious institutions of higher learning. It could reflect as a show torn from the headlines of the current college admissions scandals of 2019, but was actually written before it took place. In this piece, set just before Christmas of 2015 to Easter of 2016, Sherri, the mother, is the head of an admissions department at Hillcrest, a New England prep school in New Hampshire who wants to diversify the student body. Her husband is the school’s headmaster and they have been quite successful with her initiatives. However when their son, Charlie wants to attend an Ivy League university, Yale University, their progressive values and ideas collide with their own self-interests with dramatic and shocking results that leave the audience on the edge of their seats. Bryn Boice casts these five roles splendidly and elicits strong performances from each of them. The kitchen set with staircase to a second floor is hidden by a brick wall that ascends when the scene changes from the school to the home is designed by Patrick Lynch. It is outstanding as are the lovely costumes by Amanda Downing Carney.

Riveting ‘JQA’ at GAMM Theatre

October 1, 2019December 27, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

(Candice Brown, Helena Tafuri in Gamm Theatre’s ‘JQA’)

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The second show of GAMM Theatre’s 35th season is the New England premiere of “JQA” by Aaron Posner. “JQA” tells the story about the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams. It unfolds in nine separate scenes and although it is the history of the man, Posner makes it applicable to current events. And it is a brilliant and excellently written play. Riveting and electrifying, the play shows great depth and emotion and isn’t dry as dust as one would expect from historical plays. It also has some famous people who knew JQA in each of the scenes including his father, John Adams, President George Washington, his British born wife, Louisa, his mother, Abigail Adams, his Secretary of State Henry Clay, his successor, Andrew Jackson, abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Director Tony Estrella casts this show with four strong performers to play multiple roles including each of them playing JQA himself. The adage “Do good and be good is required of every man in power” is told to JQA by his mother on her deathbed. And that is the lesson that needed to be learned back in the 1800’s as it needs to be learned now. Honor and dignity are what leaders of nations need back then and especially nowadays, too.

A DOLL’S HOUSE PART 2 – Gamm Theatre

September 4, 2019September 21, 2019 michaelhoban1 Comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

GAMM’S 35th season opener is “A Doll’s House, Part 2” and what a wonderful opening show this is. Written by Lucas Hnath, it takes place 15 years after Nora leaves her husband and her three children in Henrik Ibsen’s 19th century drama “A Doll’s House.” The Ibsen show was also directed by Fred Sullivan at GAMM back in 2011. Nora is now a writer and returns to ask Torvald to help her out because a judge is demanding something from her. She arrives and meets with the nanny, Anne Marie, Torvald and her grown daughter Emmy. Nora has long conversations with all three of them at different times. Questions brought up include what would bring Nora back after 15 years and how would these three people receive her? Has she truly won her emancipation, what has it done to her pysche or does she need her family again? This show is about what would happen to Nora after we leave the 1879 “A Doll’s House” by Ibsen. Hnath’s show opened on Broadway back in 2017 and was nominated for 8 Tony Awards. Fred once again directs with a deft hand, eliciting strong performances from his four talented cast members.