Orange County Premiere!

Closer Than Ever
Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Music by David Shire
Directed by Oanh Nguyen
Musically Directed by Dean Anderson
Choreographed by Kelly Todd

L.A. Times Critic's Pick
Roar of the Crowd Winner - Los Angeles

 

THEATER REVIEW

Life is a box of bittersweet memories
by Anne-Margret Bellavoine, Northern Lights

January 15, 2005

Closer Than Ever marks the beginning of the Chance's 7th anniversary season in newly remodeled premises, complete with new seating. And what a treat this award winning Off-Broadway musical is, with perfect timing for New Year resolutions and spring cleaning chores.

The revue style production features 24 songs by Richard Maltby, Jr. with music from David Shire, under the direction of Oanh Nguyen with choreography by Kelly Todd and musical direction by Dean Anderson. The numbers are loosely strung around the stories of three high school girlfriends, Alice (Erika Miller), Angela (Bonnie Wickeraad) and Nancy (Jocelyn Brown), and their respective mates, Paul (Ricky Culbertson), Michael (Jim Goodridge) and George (Darren Buckels).

The Maltby and Shire team worked on several productions together, including Baby, from which several of the show's tunes are incorporated.

Each song is a vignette into these six individuals' lives, universal moments and themes all of us can relate to. Opening a box of tucked away mementoes tugs at one's heartstrings as one relives the events crystallized in the souvenirs, whether poignant or fun. All we ever have are the present and the sum total of what we remember in our journey of growth and change through life.

Jeremy Golden's sober black and white set features six doors, symbolizing the openings and closings of the choices we make and directions we take, leaving other stages and unexplored paths with all their regrets behind us as we venture forth, a feeling echoed in the company's first song of the same title.

The three women have left high school for the mature woman's world where finding a suitable marriage mate is a priority, especially as biological clocks tick, such as for Alice, who has little need for men who just want to remain friends.

The musical numbers range a gamut of intriguing styles with whimsical characterizations.

Paul stalks Alice in a comical ballad, while she tames circus animals acted by Angela and Nancy. Angela, as Miss Byrd, is a staid secretary with a secret fantasy life revolving on her crush on Michael, who struts in his construction belt.

Buying into the fitness illusion cannot but strike a chord in the hilarious 'There's Nothing Like It.' Nancy's 'Life Story' is a touching liberated divorcée's ballad. The three friends question the basis of their enduring friendship in 'Three Friends' and Nancy analyzes repeat behavior patterns.

Angela and Michael perform a sensual tango in 'Fandango,' whereas George and Nancy continue in an out-of-sync relationship in 'There.' 'The March of Time' questions our holding on to things we own, and Alice goes for Doo-wap in 'Back on Base,' ready to embrace life anew. Parenthood looms with its responsibilities, and the final door closes when the first death in the group.

Dean Anderson's live orchestration highlights the numbers in intriguing styles. All six company members deliver their songs with conspiratorial pizzazz and panache.

Closer Than Ever has a sophisticated polish of glib and sleek sexiness with underlying humble humanity at its core. A great musical to fall in love with.

[top]

 

 

 

 

 

THEATER REVIEW

Closer Than Ever
by Melinda Schupmann, Back Stage West

January 19, 2005

When you forget the actors in the show you are watching are actors, and they become the characters designed by the playwright, then theatre works beautifully. In this case, Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire's 1989 musical revue of 20-plus songs spanning their long collaborative partnership deserves a big thumbs up. That's thanks to a well-coached, energetic cast who brings a combination of talent and heart to each number.

Jocelyn A. Brown, Darren C. Buckels, Ricky Culbertson, Jim Goodridge, Erika C. Miller, and Bonnie Wickeraad enter carrying boxes of mementos that trigger recollections from their lives as husbands and wives, parents and children, lovelorn and loved. Often this sort of contrivance can be disappointing, but this time it works, because the cast pulls out all the stops to illuminate the revelatory nature of Maltby's lyrics. Even though they're about the passage of years and the mysterious relationships between men and women that have been explored since recorded time, they feel fresh in the hands of director Oanh Nguyen, choreographer Kelly Todd, and musical director Dean Anderson.

There are a lot of laughs in the show. "Miss Byrd" earns some for Wickeraad's portrayal of a mousy office worker who hides her sex appeal from her co-workers. Miller's spunky "The Bear, the Tiger, the Hamster, and the Mole" is a number cut from Maltby and Shire's Broadway production Baby, but it works very well here as one of the ruminations of sophisticated adults reflecting the culture we live in. There are some touching moments, too. Brown's sensitive "Patterns" is a showstopper, as she reveals the problems of long-term relationships. Goodridge is convincing as he wistfully declaims he is "One of the Good Guys."

Lighting by Masako Tobaru, set design by Jeremy Golden, and costumes by Clarissa C. Pitts enhance the newly reconfigured theatre. It is well on its way to becoming a serious player in Orange County. A lovely, earnest delivery, polished performances, and excellent pacing add up to a strong show that leaves the audience stimulated and entertained. You can't ask for more than that in a night at the theatre.

[top]

 

 

 

 

THEATER REVIEW

A musical collection full of heart and charm
Chance Theater's Closer Than Ever succeeds on songbook and accessibility
by David C. Nichols, Los Angeles Times

January 21, 2005

"Fresh out of bed, your life is outracing you / There dead ahead, another one's facing you / Seems like at times they're practically chasing you / Ev'rywhere another door."

That stanza from the song "Doors" is our portal to the nuances of Closer Than Ever, marking the opening of the Chance Theater's seventh season. Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire's revue about life's transitions receives a sensitive, satisfying Orange County premiere.

A 1989 Outer Critics Circle winner, Closer Than Ever collates unused Maltby/Shire material into a unified entity that feels more organic than most such compendiums. As collaborators, lyricist Maltby and composer Shire have a rarefied gift for melodic, inventive, penetrating theater music. This typifies the musical's exceptional songbook about gains, losses, relationships and change in the Digital Age.

Director Oanh Nguyen's revised narrative concept assigns characters, cuts the "Sound of Muzak" and finds specific stakes in a previously amorphous scenario. Nguyen and cohorts Kelly Todd (choreography), Jeremy Golden (set), Masako Tobaru (lighting), Clarissa C. Pitts (costumes) and Casey Long (sound) explore the material with human-scaled wit and honesty.

The unmannered players, less vocally flashy than such originators as Brent Barrett and Sally Mayes, are altogether articulate and accessible, reaching breathtaking harmonic blend under Dean Anderson's splendid musical direction.

As the pivotal estranged couple, rich-toned Darren C. Buckels and redoubtable Jocelyn A. Brown are enormously affecting. Ricky Culbertson's rapid vibrato and goofy charm work wonderfully with the acerbic, jazzy Erika C. Miller. Bonnie Wickeraad suggests Tina Fey as a Broadway baby, and the open-throated Jim Goodridge radiates full-hearted appeal. That sums up Closer Than Ever, which sneaks inside your head and stays there.

[top]

 

 

 

 

 

THEATER REVIEW

'Closer' to understanding life
Review: Anaheim staging reveals the wit and wisdom of Maltby & Shire's rarely seen 1989 musical revue
by Eric Marchese, Orange County Register

January 21, 2005

Most musical revues, from those of the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalog to the varied collections of Sondheim's music, cull their lineups from their composers' existing shows. Beginning with Starting Here, Starting Now, their first show in revue format, Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire took another approach: Each show is original, crafted of all-new songs while including numbers cut, for one reason or another, from their book shows.

If the theme of Starting Here was "songs of innocence," the duo's 1989 revue Closer Than Ever moved into darker, more mature subject matter - a collection of musical material about the doubts and uncertainties that whirl around friendships, romantic relationships and marriages. If the show, superficially witty but with an underlying wisdom, has only been seen in below-the-radar college stagings in Orange County, it's because it presents a challenge to any theater troupe. Closer is equal parts sophistication, cynicism and raw emotional vulnerability - no easy combination to work with.

Credit the Chance Theater team of Oanh Nguyen, Kelly Todd and Dean Anderson, then, for devising a production that, while mindful of each song's nuances, creates a meaningful connection from one song to the next. Nguyen directs with finesse and style, providing a firm hand in a velvet glove. Todd's choreography creates energy and visual interest, while Anderson's musical direction breathes life into Shire's melodies. Reflecting the show's sensibility, costume designer Clarissa Pitts gives the cast the look of middle-class Americans of the '70s and early '80s.

Though the composers are less acrid than Sondheim, they owe him much, and the Chance's first-rate 2004 staging of Sondheim's seminal Company proved the troupe's readiness for Closer. The two-dozen numbers also seem to be modeled upon - or maybe inspired by - the music of Harry Chapin. Each song tells a self-contained story, often with an ironic or unexpected twist at its conclusion. The Chance cast's three women and three men prove their versatility, moving effortlessly from songs of gentle humor to moving ballads.

If the songs have anything in common, it's their constant allusion to the often-overwhelming degree of choices life presents, particularly when it comes to connections with lovers, friends and family. The opening number "Doors," which reappears twice during the evening, uses portals as a metaphor for the opportunities life places in our path. Even when each chance offers something beneficial, Maltby's lyrics state, the experience of entering a new door is always an unsettling one.

Right in line with the life-as-continuum concept is "The March of Time," whose lyrics detail the pressures of life and the way middle age, with its thankless routine, creeps up on us all, Shire's languid verse music giving way to the riotous discord of the chorus. "I Wouldn't Go Back" expresses open optimism over the way life always winds up turning out better than one expects when trying to predict one's own future.

Focal relationships are the crux of Closer Than Ever, and they make for the show's most indelible moments. Jocelyn A. Brown lends quiet longing to "Life Story," a pungent, bittersweet ballad about a liberated woman - one of the movement's countless pioneers - who makes her way alone in life with a mixture of pride and regret. Brown also delivers an emotional portrait of sadness and despair with "Patterns," a song whose disjunct harmonies add to its feelings of tilted equilibrium.

In "Next Time," Darren C. Buckels sings with a soft, wistful voice combining longing for a failed romance with hope that the next one will succeed. Even more potent is "If I Sing," a heartbreaker that's equal parts sorrow and joy as a show-tune pianist (Buckels) lays flowers at the grave of his dad. "Fathers of Fathers" continues the theme, as we hear from a young new dad (Ricky Culbertson), another a bit older (Jim Goodridge) who misses his now-grown-up kids, and a third (Buckels) now caring for his own elderly father.

Mother-daughter pairings get the nod as Bonnie Wickeraad uses soft yet soaring vocals as a mom advising her daughter on her latest romance in "It's Never That Easy" as Brown, playing her daughter, delivers an equally low-key, singsong reply, "I've Been Here Before." Couples are a frequent subject, too, as when Culbertson and Erika C. Miller reveal truths about themselves at the altar.

Time and again, Maltby and Shire find innovative ways to make us chuckle and laugh aloud or to move us - and, frequently, both within a single scene. Nguyen's flexible staging allows each song to flow easily into the next. Shire is a master of creating vocal counterpoint, and his durable, workable tunes get smooth, sweeping arrangements by Anderson. Still, it's Maltby's lyrics, and the stories these singers tell, that sell us on the hilarity and heartfelt moments that comprise Closer Than Ever.

[top]

 

 

 

 

CRITIC'S PICK

Closer Than Ever
by David C. Nichols, Los Angeles Times

January 27, 2005

In its sensitive, satisfying Orange County premiere, the 1989 Maltby and Shire revue about life's transitions scores via director Oanh Nguyen's revised concept and unmannered cast, exploring this exceptional songbook with human-scaled wit and honesty (D.C.N.).

[top]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WINNER!

Roar of the Crowd - Los Angeles
by Jim McCarthy, Goldstar Events

February 3, 2005

This week, I'm happy to present the two highest-rated current shows, both appropriate to the season:

Flight, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Set on an antebellum Georgia plantation, this story of love's triumph over the wickedness of slavery impressed our reviewers. Cathy Blaivas called it "wonderful and uplifting." C.D. Escamilla says the show "weaves enchanting tale telling with the magic of simple truth." Paula Mitchell points out that the show is all at once "funny, light, serious, and enjoyable." Scott Appel calls it "one of the best shows I have ever seen in L.A." Also, Danira Devereaux, like several others, says it's "highly recommended for all ages," though younger children may squirm because of the show's length. Goldstar Events members rated Flight 3.8 out of 4.

Closer than Ever, at the Chance Theatre in Anaheim Hills. This is a six-person musical revue that weaves together songs of Maltby and Shire to form a narrative about love and personal relationships. Alexis White mentions the "terrific cast of 6 singers and dancers" and their "wonderful performance." Stanley Ashbaugh says the performers have "good stage presence, were high energy and gave the music its just due." Robert Fovall comments that the music "had an important message." Bari Lynn Rudmann enjoys the variety of songs and feelings in the show, saying "each song played out a story all its own." Goldstar Events members rated Closer Than Ever 3.5 out of 4.

So get with the program-the Valentine's season has returned in full force. This week, the Roar says show you care with a great night of live entertainment.

"We attended [Closer than Ever] completely unaware of the songs of Maltby and Shire, and were impressed with the creative, insightful music about relationships that anyone can relate to. There were hints of Sondheim in the subject matter and the frequent ensemble singing. The performers at the Chance have good stage presence, were high energy, and gave the music its just due." —Stanley Ashbaugh, Goldstar Member

- Jim McCarthy, Co-Founder of Goldstar Events, read 765 comments about 137 shows this week submitted by Goldstar members.

[top]

 

 

 

THEATER REVIEW

Intimate Acting
Small theaters offer big delights
by Christopher Trela, O.C. Metro

February 3, 2005

Small, intimate, independent theaters offer myriad delights - and a few woes - not normally available with larger venues. Fewer seats means sitting closer to the action, and the prices are generally much lower than those charged by the big boys. Conversely, production values can vary due to budget constraints, and the acting can range from brilliant to, well, just plain bad. Such are the joys of small theater.

Ironically, while the South Coast Metro area is known as an arts haven, it’s the north county that boasts the greatest group of small theaters. The Vanguard, The Chance, Stages, Rude Guerilla, Hunger Artists, and several others have found success in the northern regions of Orange County, particularly Fullerton and Anaheim. These independent theaters frequently produce plays not normally seen on local stages (including world premieres by local playwrights,) or they provide a new spin on familiar theatrical fare. This maverick spirit and dedication to lofty artistic ideals makes the small theater scene an integral part of Orange County’s arts fabric.


ANAHEIM IS CLOSER THAN EVER
www.chancetheater.com

A prime example of what independent theater is all about can be found at The Chance Theater Repertory Company in Anaheim. This spunky theater troupe just opened its seventh season, an impressive track record in the theater world, given the difficulty of launching and sustaining a theater. They have had success with comedies, dramas, and - amazingly enough - musicals.

The Chance has received accolades in the Orange County arts world for its adventurous productions, with good reviews to back them up. You can add the current production of “Closer Than Ever” to The Chances’ list of hits.

“Closer Than Ever” won an Outer Critics Circle Award in 1989 for Best Off-Broadway Musical and Best Score, but this is the show’s first Orange County production. It was written by Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire, co-writers of the musical “Big” and another Off-Broadway revue, “Starting Here, Starting Now.”

Basically, “Closer Than Ever” is a revue featuring some two dozen songs, each telling an intimate tale about relationships, love, life choices made and options unexplored. These songs are delivered by a cast of three women and three men on a simple, yet functional set with minimal props, which means the songs - and the personalities and vocal prowess of the actors - take center stage.

Unlike a revue of songs by familiar songwriters such as Stephen Sondheim or Kander and Ebb, “Closer Than Ever” contains material that will be unfamiliar to most audiences. The show has no real story line linking the songs, and the actors aren’t really at liberty to create strong characters for each piece. Fortunately, The Chance production features six exceptional actors with strong, colorful voices and welcoming personalities. They bring the material alive while successfully overcoming the limitations of this type of show by delivering heartfelt performances that appropriately soft sell the songs with an abundance of charm and talent.

The show is buoyed by cute and clever choreography (courtesy of Kelly Todd) that adds appropriate movement, and by the understated direction by Oanh Nguyen who adds as much unspoken narrative as possible.

“Closer Than Ever” will never match up to creative musicals like “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” but that’s not the show’s intent. It is a chance to relish and reflect on basic human follies and emotions in an intimate atmosphere. On that level, “Closer Than Ever” is more than worth the price of admission.
“Closer Than Ever” runs through Feb. 20. Call (714) 777-3033.

[top]