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| L to R Dory Schultz, Josh Shaw, Kelly Derouin |
By Joe Straw
A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to perform in a remount of
a musical “Dogfight” written and directed by James Kennedy and produced by Don
Grenough at the Fig Tree Theatre in Hollywood. I had seen Kennedy’s production of “Van Gogh”
with Sally Kirkland (it was not bad) so I decided to audition. The music was pretty good, the tunes were catchy,
and Edward James Olmos had originated the role I took, so I thought, why not. (Good for Olmos, good for me.) The cast featured Robert Miano, Kevin Major
Howard, Angel Salazar, and an additional cast of wacky characters. This was a
musical based on the crazy life of Howard Hughes. It ran for a couple of months but overall it
was not a success. Some things are not
musical material. – The Editor
Nouvelle Adaptation Productions in Association with the
Secret Rose Theatre presents the world premier of I, Caligula: an Insanity
Musical - Book & Lyrics by Kai Cofer, Music & Orchestrations by Cody
Gillette and directed by Kai Cofer. It is playing at the Secret Rose in North
Hollywood through August 26, 2012.
First thing I noticed was the singing. The voices were strong, some better than
others, but they were strong.
The musical goes something like this; we are in an insane
asylum (Is this politically correct?) or a mental institution with a cast of characters
who are completely loony, batty, crazy, and good looking. (Throw in the good.) There is very little in the way of book and
most of the actions are musical tunes that are conducted by someone in his
underwear (Cody T. Gillette).
The Director of the Institution tells us they are doing this
play as a form of therapy, (always good),
and introduces the cast.
Caligula (Dory Schultz) looks at himself in the mirror and
sings “Don’t call me crazy, don’t call me a loon, All I ever wanted was the
moon, the moon.” And strangely this keeps repeating itself throughout the show.
Caligula is dissatisfied with his wife, Cesonia (Elizabeth
Harmetz), and wants to marry his sister, Drucilla (Kelly Derouin), who likes to
run around almost naked. So Caligula
banishes his wife off to somewhere while he and his sister kill Tiberius.
But the actor playing Tiberius doesn’t make it (typical actor)
so the Director (Kevin Dalbey) plays Tiberius.
The Director, in sash and suit, falls into position on the
couch and Caligula and Drucilla kill him.
Now Caligula is crowned Emperor of Rome.
But Cesonia, unhappy with the way things went, resolves to
kill Drucilla by feeding her poison grapes. Drucilla dies, very dramatically, I
might add, at the ripe old age of 21 and they carry her carcass off to where
they bury important Roman people.
“Poison is the most effective weapon in an arsenal of love.” – Cesonia
Distraught Caligula does his best to take over and gets
caught up in an orgy much to the dismay of the Director who suggest this is not
actually part of the show. As people are undressing, caressing, and molesting
each other, the director takes a syringe and injects the actor playing Caligula
into reality. The actor playing Caligula
has gone too far.
In theater, you try things and hope for the best. Kai Cofer, the director, gives us an
interesting setup, the insane asylum, and hopes the actors and singers call
pull this off. What is missing is the
demarcating of reality versus play-acting.
For example, the Director looks and acts like one of the crazies so we
are not really sure if he is staff or one of the loonies. Better to give him a true position of
authority and put him in the audience complete with table applauding the actors
and blocking their movement on stage. The Director’s time may be better suited off stage. Also, this play needs more humor and a lighter touch.
Cody T. Gillette,
as the Composer, Music Director, and lastly a character—the Orchestrator did a
nice job keeping the night going. Some
things may need to be (or not to be) cut.
His Orchestrator character was effective and wacky. More gel on the
hair, please.
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| Elizabeth Harmetz, Carissa Gipprich, Josh Shaw, E. Scott Levin |
Dory Schultz
plays Caligula. He has a very nice
voice. As far as characterization, this
is a difficult one. He is a man in an
asylum, playing a man who is certifiably crazy, but there is not a grand
distinction between the two.
Elizabeth Harmetz
plays Cesonia. She also has a terrific
voice and has a better feel for the character.
Josh Shaw play
Skipio. I was confused about his purpose
in the play but again he has a nice voice and a nice look.
E. Scott Levin
plays Marco. He has a very nice baritone
voice, a rich character, and a very nice presence on stage.
Kelly Derouin as
Drucilla ran around the stage in a bikini all night, partially because her
character likes to wear little clothing or no clothing at all. She has a wonderful smile and a beautiful
voice. But looked liked her face was sunburned so I wasn’t really sure if it
was part of the character or if she is rehearsing someplace where there is a
lot of sun. Still she did a terrific job.
Kevin Dalbey
plays the Director and Tiberius has got to give us two defined characters. The Director must be in control. He should get off the stage and when off
stage, he must do something that actively directs this production. We must know that he is a doctor first and a
director second.
Carrissa Lynn
Gipprich plays Nurse. She was
funny. I liked the scene where she hops
out on stage completely tied up. Nice
job.
Meredith Overcash
plays Halicon also has a nice voice, a very nice look, and looks the part of a
very pale, almost white, person in an insane asylum.
A lot of hard work went into this production. Still, there’s room for improvement.
The crew member were:
Heather Lipson Bell – Choreographer
Kelly Derouin – Dance Captain
Nora Feldman – Publicity
Laura Coker – Box Office
Florence Canicave – Graphics Design
Chris Canicave – Website Design
Go and take someone who likes bugged out whacky musicals!
Reservation: 323-822-7898
www.icaligulathemusical.com
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