REP 2012-13 Season Round-Up

Once again, the University of Delaware's Resident Ensemble Players only gave us five productions this year...that 2010-11 season that brought us ten shows seems so long ago and I long for a return to a double digit season!  I will say -- and this almost feels sacrilege considering how much I truly enjoy what's going on at the Thompson Theater at the Roselle Center for the Arts -- this season didn't bowl me over and, in fact, proved to be a bit disappointing when looking back on it.  While it's great to see the same actors take on different roles, I long for the return of the students in the Professional Theater Training Program and, unfortunately, it seems they foolishly won't be returning next year either.  The troupe does need a little bit of new blood injected into it in order to shake things up a little bit.  [This season's addition of Erin Partin in several plays was a welcome new face.]

I was pleased that this year we got to see two modern plays bookending the season -- Fever and The Weir (although the latter is steeped in ghost stories of the past) -- which is something this troupe hasn't always done and I hope to see more of in the future.  Both plays had the similarity of taking place in bars, but only one was truly successful, while the other has faded considerably in stature in the short time since I've seen it.  [While I fully appreciate the "coup" that is having a Broadway-produced playwright compose a work specifically for your repertory theater, I think two plays by Theresa Rebeck is enough for quite a while.]

We got another Shakespearean production in Hamlet and although it didn't quite create the mesmerizingly joyful experience of 2010's Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet's a different beast and expecting wide-eyed wonderment from such a heavy piece is asking for something even the REP can't magically conjure up.  The idea of a Shakespeare piece every other season sounds like a winner to me as I truly appreciate seeing the Bard's words spring to life.

Although I wasn't a fan of the comedic Anything to Declare (I think there's a reason it's not a well-known farce) or the musical The Threepenny Opera, I know some that thoroughly enjoyed them.  [I know for a fact that my sentiments on Anything to Declare are not shared by many.]  But even this year's "lesser" shows (in my opinion, obviously) further prove why I enjoy the REP so much in that it opens up my eyes to playwrights that I might never have shelled out the big bucks for to see on Broadway, but now I might (this season's Conor McPherson [The Weir] as an example).  Then again, when you have the production quality that the REP embodies in podunk Delaware, there's really no need to spend the exorbitant amounts New York City requires to see a show.

In my reviews, I try to only focus on the positives of the wonderful REP (as we're pleaded to do by the REP's artistic director Sanford Robbins prior to ever show) even if there are faults, and I recognize the significance of the varied types of works the troupe presented to us this season.  However, here's hoping next season is a return to the tip-top form they've proven they're capable of in seasons past.

For the third year in a row, what follows is a list of the stellar aspects from the REP's 2012-13 season.

Total Number of Nominations

(# of nominations includes Honorable Mentions)

(Click on titles for link to original review)

Hamlet -- 6

The Threepenny Opera -- 4

The Weir -- 4

Fever -- 2

Anything to Declare? -- 1

Best Costume Design
Winner -- Fabio Toblini - Hamlet
Honorable Mention -- Mathew LeFebvre - The Threepenny Opera

Photos by Paul Cerro/REP

Best Scenic Design
Winner -- Mathew LeFebvre - The Threepenny Opera
Honorable Mention -- Alexander Dodge - Hamlet

One can always rely on the REP to place production design at the forefront and this season's Hamlet and The Threepenny Opera were the two plays that exemplified this philosophy the best.  Mathew LeFebvre tackled both the costumes and scenic design for Threepenny, winning my award for his stark sets which were stunningly beautiful in their simplicity.  That snapshot of Threepenny above started the play out on an incredibly high note.

Fabio Toblini's costumes for Hamlet were fantastic.  I noted in my review that there was an audible gasp from the audience when Elizabeth Heflin first appeared onstage as Gertrude in her sumptuous blood red gown that apparently took 200 man hours to create.  Even the simplicity of a tattered white gown worn by Ophelia as she begins her maddening downward spiral was gorgeous.

Best Performances

8. Kathleen Pirkl Tague - Fever

7. Elizabeth Heflin - The Threepenny Opera

6. Michael Gotch - Hamlet
5. Michael Gotch - Fever
4. Stephen Pelinski - The Weir
3. Erin Partin - Hamlet

2. Kathleen Pirkl Tague - The Weir

1. Mic Matarrese - Anything to Declare?

Best Overall Body of Work
Winner -- Mic Matarrese

Anything to Declare was my least favorite production of the season, but seeing Mic Matarrese play the comedic lead (which seems like it doesn't happen often) was one of the play's bright spots.  He takes his character's ridiculous predicament and imbues a nervous tension that makes the whole thing seem believable.  It may seem odd that I place Matarrese as having the best overall body of work considering that he's only in my Best Performances list once, but I felt like this was the year the REP really gave him an opportunity to shine in a wide variety of ways.  From the simple role of a bartender in The Weir to the slightly more complex role as a bar patron in Fever (roles which bookended the season), Matarrese was a pleasure to watch in every role he embodied this year.  [He was in the forefront of The Threepenny Opera and while he did a nice job, I will admit that something about his character in the play's final moments turned me off completely...but that's more of a problem with the deus ex machina at the end of the play more than anything else.]

The duo at the center of The Weir -- Kathleen Pirkl Tague and Stephen Pelinski -- were fantastic.  Ms. Tague excels at comedy (see her #8 placement for Fever), but she can nail a dramatic role and she did so in The Weir.  And in the same play, Mr. Pelinski gave us what I think is his best performance yet with his character's unexpected and heartstring-tugging arc as the play progressed.

Kudos also to guest artist Erin Partin who I thought was fantastic as Ophelia in Hamlet, outshining even the title character, who was also nicely portrayed by REP member Michael Gotch.  That said, I think in a ranking that would surprise anyone who saw all the REP's plays this season, I actually rank Gotch's smaller role in Fever higher than what some might call his tour de force performance in Hamlet.  Mr. Gotch oftentimes is given comedic roles that require nervous tension and squirminess to be in the forefront, but in Fever, he wasn't forced to utilize those characteristics and gave us something quite different and much more confident character-wise than what we're used to seeing and it was quite refreshing.

Best Direction
Winner -- Mark Lamos - Hamlet
Honorable Mentions:
Leslie Reidel - The Weir
Matthew Earnest - The Threepenny Opera
(Yes, despite my dislike for Threepenny, I loved the staging that Earnest brought to the stage, matching his fantastic work on the REP's Way to Heaven a few years ago...I almost named him the winner here.)

Best Overall Production
Winner -- The Weir
Honorable Mention -- Hamlet

A split vote here for the two "big awards."  Although I didn't necessarily agree with everything Mark Lamos brought to Hamlet (I longed for a bit of ambiguity as to whether Hamlet truly was going mad and I never got that in the rather steadfast and strong performance of the title character), there's no denying that Lamos quickened the pace of Shakespeare's beloved masterpiece and still kept all the necessary gravitas intact.  With a stunning set and costumes that permitted Lamos to have more than a few moments of visual beauty onstage, this was a production that was well worth the price of admission.

However, the best production of the season belongs to the understated, yet moving, The Weir written by Conor McPherson and directed by Leslie Reidel.  With fantastic leading performances by Kathleen Pirkl Tague and Stephen Pelinski, the REP's production of The Weir was a perfect fit for the group -- a show that had bits of humor (at which the troupe excels) peppered amidst a dramatic show (at which the troupe also excels) thus allowing us to see the best of both worlds from the cast.  Couple that with the fact that this is a play set in modern times (a refreshing change of pace from what we typically get from the REP which, perhaps rightfully so, focuses more on "classics" than contemporary pieces...although that is changing a little bit it seems), it started off the season with a bang.