| THE BOSTON GLOBE |
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Moving tales of love make 'contact'
By Terry Byrne
June 14, 2008
BEVERLY - Romantic, heartbreaking, and breathtakingly beautiful, choreographer Susan Stroman's "contact" packs a powerful dramatic punch.
In the North Shore Music Theatre's crisp and classy production, director Tome Cousin, who was a member of Stroman's original cast, is faithful to the show's look and feel while adding a little extra urgency with his in-the-round staging.
Inspired by unexpected moments of connection and fueled by a wildly imaginative musical score that ranges from Bizet to the Beach Boys, "contact" is essentially three short stories of men and women making contact with each other, told through the language of dance.
"Swinging" tells the story behind a painting by 18th-century artist Jean-Honore Fragonard, in which a girl on a swing (Ariel Shepley) is teasing her companion (Jake Pfarr), while a servant (Sean Ewing) pushes the swing for her. Set to the jaunty jazz violin of Stephane Grappelli's "My Heart Stood Still," the mood is playful with an undercurrent of sexual tension, capped off by a clever twist at the story's end.
"Did You Move?" follows the increasingly imaginative efforts of an abused wife to escape her dead-end marriage. Set in 1954 in an Italian restaurant, the husband (Steve Luker) commands his wife (Sally Mae Dunn) not to move, speak, or even look at anyone else while he heads to the buffet. Once left alone, she has a series of daydreams to the music of Grieg, Tchaikovsky, and Bizet in which she imagines the freedom to move any way she desires; being swept off her feet by the headwaiter (Matt Rivera); and finally eliminating her tormentor in a triumphant dance that brings together the restaurant's patrons and staff.
Dunn joyfully executes Stroman's jazzy turns of phrase and grand jetes, and the ultimately tragic tale is lightened by some great comic moments. Tome's company is flawless - spinning, leaping, and landing with impressive precision.
The fine line between winning and losing drives the title piece, which follows Michael Wiley (Tony winner Jarrod Emick), a lonely advertising executive at the top of his game and the end of his rope. Dean Martin singing "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" sets the scene for Wiley's series of failed suicide attempts, following his return home after winning an award for his work. Driven by a message on his answering machine to meet friends at a pool hall that becomes a swing dance club after hours, the awkward Wiley tries to get in the groove.
"Runaround Sue," "Beyond the Sea," and "Simply Irresistible" are among the tunes that provide the soundtrack for some sexy dancing, given even more heat by the elusive Girl in the Yellow Dress (Naomi Hubert), who selects and rejects partners with regal disdain. Hubert has the long legs and elegant extension needed for the role, but adds an inviting smile that makes her seem more approachable.
Tome's transition from Wiley's bleak apartment to the mysterious dance hall is smart and swift, and his ability to shift the audience's focus from two dancers to 16 keeps the excitement factor high. Since the original production of "contact" was done on a three-quarter thrust stage, it's not too much of an adjustment to North Shore's arena.
Still, Tome gives the scenes a marvelous flow, and his dancers build on both the characters and the steps to make the essential connection. The final moment of "contact" is so simple its emotional power is surprising.
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| BOSTON PHOENIX |
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North Shore's snazzy revival of contact
By CAROLYN CLAY
June 17, 2008
For a Broadway show, contact is closer to Twyla Tharp than George M. Cohan. Tharp hit the street in 2002 with her own "dance play," Movin' Out, which was set to Billy Joel songs pounded out by an on-stage piano man. But Susan Stroman's 1999 contact, seen here in a snazzy revival by North Shore Music Theatre (through June 29), was first. The show - really three vignettes linked by a themes of loneliness, liberation, and play - won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical. Some were outraged, since nobody sings and the music, which ranges from Tchaikovsky to the Beach Boys, is pre-recorded. But whether contact is or isn't a musical, it is an original entertainment, and for all its synchronistic slickness, it's far from heartless. And at North Shore Music Theatre, where Stroman's direction and choreography have been replicated by original cast member Tomé Cousin, the balance between showmanship and human need is maintained. Some adjustments have been made to accommodate NSMT's theater in the round, but by and large, this is the contact Stroman made.
Commissioned to create an original work for Lincoln Center, Stroman and minimal-book writer John Weidman began with the title tale. They were inspired by Stroman's late-night meander into a meat-packing-district pool hall doing after-hours duty as a swing-dance venue, and by the Ambrose Bierce story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," where a man in a noose escapes into dream. And "contact," which comprises the entire second act, is the main event. The shorter first-act vignettes were invented to further the themes of "swinging" and the freeing power of dance.
The curtain raiser, "Swinging," is a brief dance sketch with a Pinteresque twist, inspired by the 1768 Fragonard painting Les hasards heureux de l'escarpolette and set to Stéphane Grappelli's jazz rendering of Rodgers & Hart's "My Heart Stood Still." In a sylvan glen, a servant pushes a peach-clad lass on a swing as her aristocratic admirer reclines on the ground taking peeks up her dress. Flirtation ensues, but when the boyfriend goes off to fetch more wine, the swing becomes a trapeze for a high-flying copulative encounter between lady and valet. It's a buoyant, gymnastic affair performed with soaring, ducking precision by Sean Ewing and Ariel Shepley before Jake Pfarr returns to add an unexpected flourish to the fantasy.
"Did You Move?" hurtles forward to an Italian restaurant in Queens circa 1954, where a bit of statuary from the first piece becomes part of the décor. Enter a Sopranos-esque couple out to enjoy buffet night, she a nervous talker swathed in gray-blue organza, he a grim controller sporting a glower. "Don't talk, don't smile, don't frickin' move," the husband (a brute Steve Luker) instructs his cowed wife before trudging off in search of manicotti. Whereupon she leans her head back, gracefully relaxes her shoulders, and takes off on the first of several madcap balletic escapes set to Grieg, Tchaikovsky, and Bizet, the headwaiter (a fleet, insouciant Matt Rivera) hurling his tray aside to partner her in fiercely whimsical pas de deux complete with lifts, jétés, and climbing up one's fellow diners. But for all the nimbly danced craziness, you don't forget that at the center of the piece is an abused woman whose emancipation is temporary and imagined. And if Sally Mae Dunn is not Broadway's Karen Ziemba, whose trembling arms evoked a pathos that was chilling, she's a lithe dancer who brings both piquancy and a comedienne's chops to the part.
In "contact," Tony winner Jarrod Emick plays Michael Wiley, a successful ad man who, following the score of his fifth Clio, goes home to kill himself. Perhaps it's the distraction of a ringing telephone whose answering machine is alternately besieged by threatening complaints from the lady downstairs who wants him to get a rug and his agent inviting him to the swing-dance dive, but Michael has little luck putting his lights out. Eventually he winds up - if only in his mind - at the bar full of swing dancers dominated by a cold-smoldering Girl in a Yellow Dress, who accepts and rejects partners with sensuous hauteur.
Bewitched, bothered, etc., Michael is nonetheless handicapped by the fact that he doesn't dance. A lonely man chained to language, he can save himself only by assimilating the rhythm and letting himself go. Even then it isn't easy, as the dances - to music ranging from "Runaround Sue" and "Simply Irresistible" to the climactic "Sing, Sing, Sing," with its squealing jazz horns - escalate into trials wherein the ensemble serves as an undulating obstacle course between Michael and the sexy creature in the clingy canary. Deborah Yates, the original Girl in a Yellow Dress, was taller than anyone else on stage, and her legs were like stilts. Naomi Hubert is slighter, but her cocked legs are long, her back is exquisitely arched, and her dance moves are knife-sharp. And Emick, without turning "contact" into some high-stepping Hamlet, conveys the desperation of a man driven rather than drawn to dance.
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| THE BEVERLY CITIZEN |
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Make ‘Contact' with this show
By Dan Mac Alpine
Jun 13, 2008 @ 04:47 PM
"Contact" may take a little attitude adjustment for the typical musical audience, but ultimately it does exactly what its title says - it makes contact, deep and poignant, sometimes joyful and fun, often painful.
The piece - it just seems wrong to call it a "show" - consists of three vignettes. Each tells a story. Exquisite choreography and dance, crisp, evocative and interpretive, unites all three works.
Think modern ballet in which the actors express themselves through movement rather than through song and you'll be in the right mindset to appreciate this latest North Shore Music Theatre production.
And there's so much to appreciate.
The ending of the second storyline, "Did You Move?" provides the single most heartfelt moment I've seen in seven year's worth of shows at the North Shore Music Theatre - and as Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I'm going to say about that."
Ironically, in a piece that relies on dance to communicate, "Did You Move" relies heavily on Steve Luker who doesn't dance a step. At least not in the technical sense. Rather than leaping or spinning across the stage, he uses his body language to intimidate and threaten. He squares his shoulders or snaps off bills as he counts them to make his character instantly despicable and the character around which the scene revolves.
His character dominates and verbally abuses his wife in a restaurant; she retreats into danced fantasies to escape her fate.
The wait staff and patrons provide needed comic relief - watching the waiters aggravate Luker's husband as he tries to get a "fricken" roll made the audience erupt in laughter. They also provide superb dance support to Sally Mae Dunn's wife. Dunn, as is the case with the rest of the cast, dances elegantly, with conviction in her movements. These dancers know how punctuate a moment and finish an emotion with the point of a toe or finger. They sharpen the dance and make it seem effortless in the process.
The finale, "Contact," has a tough act to follow but provides every bit the character insight, the riveting emotion and revelation as its predecessor.
Naomi Hubert shimmers as the Girl in the Yellow Dress, executing with diamond hardness and laser precision. She mixes elements of Greek goddess, Catholic saint and human warmth in her performance. The Girl in the Yellow Dress becomes if not the salvation, at least reclamation, of Jarrod Emick's character, Michael Wiley, whose mid-life crisis takes the audience into the depths of human isolation and loneliness.
The question becomes: Will Wiley accept that shimmering, golden ray of hope?
And there are moments when Wiley's fate hangs in the balance, when nothing, nothing happens, and the director allows the tension to build, sucking the audience into total silence, making a stray cough or inadvertent crinkling paper sound like a thunder clap in the theater.
By contrast, the first act, "The Swing," is flirtatious fun and sexually playful. Based on a mid 18th-century painting of the same name, the story involves three players: Ariel Shepley as The Girl on the Swing, Jake Pfarr as her aristocratic lover and Sean Ewing as the servant. Ah, but things may not be as they seem. So keep a sharp eye and ear.
One thing's for sure, it's unlikely anyone in the audience will view a swing in quite the same way after seeing this performance.
At very end of the act, the servant yells out, "Well played!"
The same could be said for the entire production.
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| COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER COMPANY |
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‘Contact' high: NSMT show highlights soaring Stroman choreography
By Sally Applegate Community Newspaper Company
June 17, 2008
Beverly - And now for something completely different, as the Monty Python troupe would say. "Contact" - running through June 29 at North Shore Music Theatre - is not your usual Broadway musical.
This most unusual three-part piece, featuring the unique choreography of Susan Stroman, uses its gifted cast of dancers as dramatic and comic actors, storytellers through movement, and often as aspects of human psychology, particularly in its title piece "Contact," featuring the famous girl in a yellow dress.
Act Two features the brilliant dancers of the cast in ensemble numbers that pit them against a neurotic, lonely celebrity named Michael Wiley, engagingly played and danced by Jarrod Emick, who won the Tony, Drama Desk and Theatre World awards as Joe Hardy in the 1994 revival of "Damn Yankees." His lengthy theater credits include leads in New York's original "The Boy from Oz" and the London premiere of "The Full Monty," and on Broadway tours as Enjolras in "Les Mis" and Chris in "Miss Saigon."
The title piece has the advantage of telling a complex and compelling story. Emick brings a sweet, world-weary quality to the role of Michael, a celebrity whose successful theater career masks the utter loneliness of his real life. We first see him accepting a major award to enthusiastic applause, then opening the door to his dead silent and empty apartment and firing up his telephone answering machine, with only a trophy for company.
Between the cajoling of friends urging him to join them at a bar, the lecturing of his psychiatrist, and the fury of his downstairs neighbor complaining about the noise from his apartment, there is nothing on that telephone tape to soothe the soul. He makes a nearly successful suicide attempt, and this triggers the famous fantasy scene where he meets the girl in a yellow dress at a noisy club.
Stroman's choreography for this scene turns the girl into the golden focal point and a symbol of everything Michael does not have as he struggles to reach her side and interact with her. The choreography is fascinating as dancers at the club become obstructions to his quest without missing a beat, symbolizing all his frustrations wrapped up into one frenetic encounter.
As the golden girl in question, Naomi Hubert expertly captures Stroman's vision of the girl as a still-point, gliding contained and catlike through the frenetic dance activity surrounding her. Long-legged, sexy and exotic, Hubert is everything the audience was expecting to see in this famous dance character.
A standout in the outstanding dance ensemble is Sean Ewing as a powerful and handsome dance partner. A note of hope creeps into the end of this long narrative dance number, which concludes the show.
Less famous, but certainly beguiling is the first half of the show, featuring a darling sex romp and an abused wife's fantasy. "Swinging," the sex romp, is set in 1767 in a forest glade where a lady, a gentleman and their servant cavort on and around a swing in pastel period costumes, to a jazz rendition of "My Heart Stood Still." The gentleman goes off to fetch more wine and the handsome, athletic servant has his way with the lady. Or does he? Or is he? Great fun, and Sean Ewing, Ariel Shepley and Jake Pfarr make the most of it.
"Did You Move?" the abused wife's fantasy, is set in an Italian restaurant in Queens, in 1954. As the crude husband, Steve Luker is appropriately coarse and infuriating and Sally Mae Dunn is endearingly dumb as the abused wife. Every time the clueless oaf leaves her alone, the wife slips into her own fantasy world of wild dancing and sexual fantasy. Dunn, a marvelous dancer, and her partner, the headwaiter, danced brilliantly by Matt Rivera, create some great sexual chemistry.
Tomé Cousin, who performed in and helped create the original "Contact" in New York, has done a fine job recreating Susan Stroman's original choreography and direction, and North Shore has assembled a marvelous ensemble cast of dancers to do it justice.
If you love dancing and want to see it at its best, head over to North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly for this production. This is an adult show with sex and suicide thrown into the mix. Don't bring any kids under the age of 16 - unless you come to the June 22 matinee and drop them off for a free theater workshop while you attend the show. Through the new Kids Club program, your children from ages 4-11 will be instructed in acting, dancing and singing while you view the show, but hurry - reservations for Kids Club are due by Friday, June 20.
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| SWAMPSCOTT REPORTER |
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A swing in the right direction
By Charlene Peters, Editor
Tue Jun 17, 2008, 04:20 PM EDT
I cannot resist sharing my thoughts on North Shore Music Theatre's "Contact," the second musical performance of the season, as I was shocked - but not bothered. This one is a must-see for all adults, but my strong advice is to keep the little ones and teens at home, or you might have a lot of explaining to do.
The essence of "Contact" came "right out of the gate," offers Marblehead's Janet Sheehan, an avid attendee and participant in local theater. Sheehan had experienced the musical once before, so she was prepared for the show's overt sexual content that pushed the envelope for the community theater-in-the-round.
I, however, was not prepared for the unashamed acts portrayed before my eyes, and my theater companion said he was a bit embarrassed to be watching certain parts - yet it was his first time he didn't "rest his eyes" mid-performance. Once we got used to the sensational scenes, we found the musical and intense plots to be the best we'd ever experienced at NSMT.
Like a consecutive three-ring circus, the settings and plots transition in a trio of time and travel through a gamut of emotions to do with love - not necessarily true love, but of stolen love, or lustful moments, dysfunctional and abusive love, and a journey to find love in the least likely place.
Kudos goes to writer John Weidman, and choreographer Susan Stroman proves choreography to be key to the successful interpretation of the story, and a big thanks to Mungioli Theatricals' Arnold J. Mungioli, who gathered a magnificently talented cast. The utmost regard goes to Naomi Hubert, the girl in the yellow dress, who slam-dunks fantasy dance scenes like none I've ever witnessed.
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| THEATER MIRROR |
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"Contact" Sparks Connections
Reviewed by Beverly Creasey
June 19, 2008
If dance is your bag, then you'll get a kick out of CONTACT at the North Shore Music Theatre (through June 29th). Susan Stroman's choreography (with a whisper of dialogue by John Weidman) is hip and theatrical, making the three separate ballets more than just dance.
The first piece takes a naughty peak behind the canvas at Fragonard's l8th century portrait of a free spirited lady (Ariel Shepley) on a swing. As the painting comes to vibrant life, we eavesdrop on the balance of sexual power at play. Stefan Grappelli's cheeky, contemporary violin makes you think more of a country hoedown than French country 1768, adding to the sexy sizzle.
The second, a hilarious romp called "Did You Move?" lets a harried housewife (Sally Mae Dunn) act out or rather dance out, her inner desires. How can she not move, with Grieg's erotic "Anitra's Dance" filling her ears? How can she not waltz when Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" beckons her? Everyone gets into the act, including a handsome headwaiter (Matt Rivera) who caresses her from under a table.
The gem of the evening is the third dance, a choreographed vignette about a desperately unhappy man (Jarrod Emick) who is starving for real CONTACT. Once he spies the gorgeous woman in the yellow dress (Naomi Hubert), he will try anything to connect with her. The music moves from the pop innocence of Bobby Darren and Dion to Robert Palmer's ultra-sophisticated "Simply Irresistible" and we're hooked, grooving in our seats, tapping our feet to the control of the rhythm until Van Morrison's "Moondance" sets us free. Tome Cousin recreates Stroman's compelling choreography so deftly, you really don't mind the silly ending you saw coming a mile away.
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