By snoadmin
International City Theatre, located at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, ends their 26th season with the rarely-revived production of “The Robber Bridegroom,” directed by Todd Nielsen. This comical, sexy, and boisterous Tony Award-nominated musical makes you feel like you’ve been invited to a square-dance party during 18th century Mississippi.
In this adult Southern fairytale, a clever gentleman bandit, a rich plantation owner, a money-hungry step-mother, and an evil thief — who carries his brother’s head in a trunk — all chase after the young-hearted sassy Rosamund (Jamison Lingle), with various motives like stealing from her, killing her or, best of all, pleasuring her.
“The Robber Bridegroom,” originally a 1942 novella by Eudora Welty, captures theatrical rhetoric with sexual innuendos, musical puns and several forms of double entendre, which is a phrase that has another connotation apart from the literal and is intentionally risque.
Aside from the thrust-style stage, which extends into the audience on three sides to add more intimacy, the performers also jump into the audience at the start of the play with magic tricks, Southern-style greetings and overall crazy brainless banter.
After the very handsome and debonair Jamie Lockhart (Chad Doreck) introduces the storyline of the musical, he also announces the musicians as “settlers” while they walk down the aisles of the theater and onto the stage. The band, which includes a piano player, banjo player and fiddle player, accompanies the actors on stage, giving the feel of a hoedown get-together with their upbeat Broadway-bluegrass score.
While searching through the woods, Rosamond, the beautiful plantation owner’s daughter, performs one of the most memorable songs, “Ain’t Nothin’ Up,” singing about how her life lacks excitement and the main thing missing is a man. It is in this scene where the Southern colonial characters transform into forest creatures, prancing, slithering and flying across the stage with a somewhat-realistic, yet hilarious animistic representation. An audience member is even asked to participate after one of the actors gives him two branches and tells him to be a tree.
Goat (Adam Wylie) appears natural at his craft because his performance is so good that it’s easy to forget that he is acting. Goat is the typical hillbilly stereotype who is clumsy and not smart at all, but makes it ridiculously humorous by falling off stage, getting yelled at and jumping with his high-pitched squeals and “eeeeps!”
Another character, who could be compared to Johhny Depp’s portrayal of Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Carribean,” is Little Harp (Michael Uribes) the evil thief and rival of Jamie Lockhart. Not only does Little Harp have the rugged costume of a robber, but Uribes captures the essence of a mischievous and foolish trickster similar to how Depp embodies the Jack Sparrow character.
Combined with robbery, riches, love and sex, along with great singing and square dancing, “The Robber Bridegroom” will run at the International City Theatre (300 E. Ocean Blvd.) Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., from Oct. 14 through Nov. 6. Tickets are $37 on Thursdays, and $44 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. For reservations and information, visit internationalcitytheatre.org.
Disclaimer: The Daily 49er is not responsible for Postings made on www.daily49er.wpengine.com. Persons commenting are solely responsible for Postings made on this website. Persons commenting agree to the Terms of Use of the website. If Postings do not abide by the Rules of Conduct or Posting Regulations as listed in the Postings Policy, the Daily 49er has all rights to delete Postings as it deems necessary. The Daily 49er strongly advises individuals to not abuse their First Amendment rights, and to avoid language suggestive of hate speech. This site also encourages users to make Postings relevant to the article or other Postings.
