Tessa Gibbons

GHDT ‘Casket Girls’ dance again

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By John Lyle Belden

Though shrouded in myth, the story of the “Casket Girls” is true*. In the 1720s, by order of King Louis IV of France at the urging of the Church, young women were sent to new Gulf Coast colonies to be wives to the men there in hopes of keeping them civilized and Christian.

These filles a la cassette (girls with suitcases) were eventually referred to with the word casquette, which conjured the more popular term. They were pale and delicate, it was said, sensitive to the sun and, perhaps, the magical spirit of New Orleans.

Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre has revived its production that tells the legend with “modern gothic vampire” flair, featuring original music by Cory Gabel. Choreography and costumes are again by Gregory Glade Hancock, with lighting by Ryan Koharchik.

This modern-dance ballet centers on the character of Catherine (Abigail Lessaris), a Casket Girl who lives with the Sisters of St. Ursula until she finds her beau, Jean (guest dancer Cody Miley). But supernatural forces strike, changing her forever.

The second act brings the undead Catherine back to New Orleans a century later, finding an ally in voodoo priestess Mother Ava May (Olivia Payton) and love with sweet Saraphine (Josie Moody). But evil Lucien (Thomas Mason) wants to rule the city, and if Catherine doesn’t join him, he knows the Casket Girl now has something to lose.

Dancers also include Nathalie Boyle, David Elser, Fiadh Flynn, Sophie Jones, Zoe Maish, Vivien Mickels, Hazel Moore, Audrey Springer, Josie Steinmetz, and Lucy Grontkowski of The Conservatory of Dance at Granger, Ind., with guest vocalist Tessa Gibbons.

Stunning and beautiful throughout, the music and movement embrace a dark atmosphere evoking the works of Anne Rice and the goth-punk aesthetic of the World of Darkness roleplaying games. Gabel, in close collaboration with Hancock, brings a Nine-Inch-Nails-esque percussion to the score, giving a relentless beat to the characters’ stilled and breaking hearts.

A unique danse macabre for this spooky season, “The Casket Girls” have just one performance remaining, 5 p.m. today (Oct. 25) as I post this, at The Tarkington in the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel. Watch for this production to likely return in coming years.

With this, GHDT opens its 28th season. Next up is its next improvised collaboration in the “Melange” series on Nov. 15-16 as Mickels dances while vocalist Jessica Hawkins sings and Madhuchhanda Mandal creates a visual work of art. The full company celebrates the Holidays with Winterfest on Dec. 4-7 and 11-14. These performances will be at The Florence performance space at The Academy of Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre, 329 Gradle Dr., Carmel.

Full information and tickets at gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org.

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(*History and legend of the Casket Girls at NewOrleans.com)

A family life far from ‘Normal’

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By John Lyle Belden

We encourage all who can to see “Next to Normal,” the Tony and Pulitzer-winning musical by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt at Footlite Musicals.

A couple of caveats: There are all manner of content warnings for this dramatic rock opera about a mother’s struggle with severe bipolar disorder, including themes of suicide, drug use, and treatment by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). This production places all the seating on the stage, meaning both a more intimate experience and limited audience size. Technically all performances – through Sunday, Jan. 19 – are sold out, but any who wish to take a seat left by a no-show are encouraged to try. Call 317-926-6630 for details.

Diana Goodman (Angela Manlove) looks like a typical suburban Mom, with a headstrong son, Gabe (Parker Taylor); overachieving daughter, Natalie (Tessa Gibbons); and very understanding even when baffled husband, Dan (Milo Ellis). She has also had 16 years of bipolar symptoms, for which she has taken numerous medications.

Off her pills at Gabe’s urging, she goes manic, including inviting Natalie’s new boyfriend Henry (Nate Taillon) to dinner. But everything will come crashing down when the birthday cake comes out.

Bobby Haley plays both psychopharmacologist Dr. Fine and the more helpful therapist, Dr. Madden.  

Realizing the complexities of portraying mental disorders, as well as the advances in diagnosis and treatment since the show’s premiere Off-Broadway in 2008 (and on Broadway the next year), director Paige Scott sought guidance from mental health professionals, including Tracy Herring and Erin Becker (who are also local actors). They said they have seen in their practice people much like the musical’s characters – those with serious mental illness as well as family members with their own issues. Herring noted that practically all the portrayals of symptoms and treatment here are appropriate and not sensationalized for the stage.

“I expected to hate it,” Becker said of her first encounter with the show. But she, too, appreciated the manner in which the events were shown, adding that ECT has become even more manageable than what Diana experiences – the character’s over-the-top response a reaction to past horror stories of “shock therapy.” While considered a last resort (as it is presented here) for severe conditions, Becker notes that some patients will undergo a session, “maybe 30 seconds,” and go to work later that day.

The actors took great pains with their portrayals, resulting in beautiful, heartfelt work. Manlove brings us into Diana’s pain, but we also see the toll her illness takes on the others. Gibbons’s Natalie acts out, needing to be seen; Ellis’s Dan is a rock that is crumbling. Meanwhile, Taylor gives a brilliantly fierce performance as Gabe. Haley strikes the right balance of professionalism and empathy as Madden. Taillon as Henry plays the kind of friend we all need at times like these.

With mental health awareness having come to the fore in today’s culture, “Next to Normal” is as important a theatre work as ever, and in Scott’s careful hands, with this cast and crew, a masterpiece.

Footlite Musicals is located at 1847 N. Alabama St., Indianapolis; online at footlite.org.

‘Sweeney’ stalks Westfield

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By John Lyle Belden

The spooky season has begun, and it’s not just the change in the weather.

Main Street Productions presents “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at the Basile Westfield Playhouse. With other local stagings in recent years, the popular film version, and today’s buzz about the Broadway revival with Josh Groban, most folks know this assures a ghoulish good time.

Inspired by 19th-century British “penny dreadfuls” with book by Hugh Wheeler and songs by Stephen Sondheim, attend the tale: Todd (Mike Lipphardt), who had been wrongly “transported” on a prison ship, returns to London to seek his revenge on Judge Turpin (John Parks Whitaker). He arrives with the wistful young sailor Anthony Hope (Nate Moore), who had saved Todd’s life at sea. Sweeney finds at his former home a shop where Mrs. Lovett (Claire Slaven) sells “the Worst Pies in London.” He learns his wife had taken poison and the Judge took his daughter Johanna (Lizzie Schultz) as ward. Coincidentally, Anthony finds Johanna at her balcony and seeks to woo her. Turpin’s will, and local law, are enforced by The Beadle Bamford (Bailey Hunt).

After eliminating the competition, Señor Pirelli (Chris Ritchie), Sweeney opens his barber service just above the pie shop where Lovett’s cooking suddenly gets a whole lot better. In the process, she takes on Pirelli’s former assistant Tobias (Alex Bast) as her own.

In addition, there’s a pesky Beggar Woman (Tessa Gibbons) about. Also, from the dozen-member chorus, Aidan Morris takes the brief role of madhouse-keeper Jonas Fogg.

Some would say the star of the show is the infamous barber chair in which Todd dispatches his victims. I was informed this one was reconditioned from use in the Footlite Musicals production. However, Jay Ganz and Mason Odle designed and built a splendid set around it.

Directed by Andrea Odle, Lipphardt gives us a nearly perfect presentation of Mr. Todd – undying grudge, creepy vocal tone, powerful singing, dead-eyed stare, and all. Slaven wickedly matches him as the ever-plotting Lovett. To the other extreme, Moore and Schultz are ever charming. Bast, in one of the more complex roles, turns in an excellent performance as well.

Perhaps the most interesting was Hunt’s cartoonishly odd Beadle. With his eccentric style and strutting walk, he looks like he escaped from a British “Panto,” yet somehow fits right in this setting. Likewise, Gibbons puts a little more effort than expected in her role, to great effect.

Perhaps the best scene is the entire cast’s enactment of Lovett’s fantasy during “By the Sea,” a surreal bit worthy of some award on its own.

Musical director is Laura Hicks. Dwayne Lewis is stage manager.

Little pies (not meat, though) are sold as souvenir refreshments before and during the show. Greet autumn with this macabre classic, with performances Thursday through Sunday (Sept. 28-Oct. 1) at 220 N. Union St., downtown Westfield. Get info and tickets at westfieldplayhouse.org.

Belfry presents literary classic of age of excess

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By John Lyle Belden

It has become common practice when staging a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy to place it in another time and place than its original setting – such as America in the “Roaring” 1920s. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” is already very much at home in that era, which gives heft to the Simon Levy stage adaptation, presented by Belfry Theatre at Theater at the Fort in Lawrence.

Directed by Andrea Odle, this production presents people caught up in the roar of jazz, fancy cars, bootleg booze, and easy money, oblivious to the fact it was all too good to last. If a sip of gin made everyone an outlaw, what other sins were fair game? And what if even the slickest con man had honest feelings?

Our narrator and guide through this gilded world, Nick Carraway (Troy Bridges), visits his cousin Daisy (Rachel Bush) and her husband Tom Buchanan (Mike Lipphardt) at their swank Long Island home. She introduces Nick to tennis star Jordan Baker (Tessa Gibbons) with hopes of matchmaking. 

Nick’s rental is next to the palatial estate of the mysterious Jay Gatsby (Samuel Smith), thrower of frequent wild parties. Upon meeting, Nick finds Gatsby is a fellow World War I veteran – a fact obscured by numerous rumors about his life and wealth – who had a past relationship with Daisy. The tangled web of characters includes Tom’s mistress Myrtle (Jessica Hawkins) and her unsuspecting husband George Wilson (Jackson Stollings), New York City socialites Chester (Zach Thompson) and Lucille McKee (Erin Chandler), and Gatsby’s business associate Meyer Wolfsheim (Nicholas Maudlin). Maudlin and Chandler also play a Policeman and witness to a tragic event in the second act.

Bridges ably plays Nick as one both fascinated and repulsed by the excesses around him. Smith presents Gatsby with a shrewd eye, likable even when you don’t quite trust him. Bush gives us a sweet young woman with everything but bravery. Gibbons, on the other hand, plays Jordan strong but addicted to the glamour of a life she feels she earned. Hawkins wins our sympathies as someone who didn’t get the breaks but keeps hoping to the point of delusion. Lipphardt manages an interesting but mildly detestable character living in a time and place where bigotry could get a person quite far in society. 

The play presents a fascinating insight and commentary on a past era that resonates so well with our own, when the lifestyle of excess is still splashed upon our screens and reported with the news. Perhaps the 2020s have a roar of their own. 

Remaining performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, at 8920 Otis Ave. For info and tickets, see thebelfrytheatre.com and artsforlawrence.org.

Footlite gets truly ‘Wild’

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By John Lyle Belden

In 1928, Joseph Moncure March published his narrative poem, “The Wild Party,” a tale of Prohibition Era excess that was shocking at the time, and still quite racy. Taking the notion of living well as the best revenge to its debauched extreme, the story has been made into a film and at least two stage shows. The musical with book, music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa premiered in New York in 2000.

Now, “Andrew Lippa’s Wild Party” has taken over the stage of Footlite Musicals, directed by Bradley Allan Lowe. 

Queenie (Nina Stilabower) “was a blonde” with extreme sexual appettes. She would find them sated by fellow vaudeville performer Burrs (Joseph David Massingale). But she gets jaded, and he takes things too far. Thus, hoping for both excitement and a chance to embarrass her lover, Queenie proposes they throw a party. And with a guest list familiar with a wide range of sin, things are bound to get very, very wild.

Among those who show up for a long night of loud phonograph jazz, cocaine, and bathtub gin are Madeline (Miranda Nehrig) the lesbian, Eddie (Daniel Draves) the pugilist, Mae (Karen Hurt) Eddie’s gal, Jackie (Cameron Hicks) the dancer, Brothers D’Armano (Connor Chamberlin and Isaac Becker) the lovers and musical producers, Dolores (Aprille Goodman) the hooker, and Nadine (Lauren Frank) the minor. Fashionably late comes vivacious Kate (Logan Hill) with her date, Mr. Black (Allen Sledge).

Also occupying the stage for much of the show are Ervin Gainer, Logan Laflin, Claire Slaven, DeSean McLucas, Grant Craig, Jacoba White, Job Victor Willman, Anna Lee, Reno Moore and Tessa Gibbons. True to the title, the cast create a visual cacophony throughout most of the scenes, with some appropriate freezes when the action focuses on a solo or duo. Prior to the party, many stand by (and sing and dance) as a chorus mostly unseen by Queenie and Burrs. When the party gets going, there is a lot happening.

Lippa putting his own spin on the text, creating a mostly sung-through musical, didn’t seem to do the original verse any favors. Since March gave various characters the spotlight in the poem, it translated to Queenie and Burrs’ songs mostly advancing the plot, while the most memorable numbers are asides with supporting characters. Nehrig puts in the best performance with Madeline’s comic sapphic lament “An Old-Fashioned Love Story.” Draves and Hurt charm with Eddie and Mae’s “Two of a Kind.” The D’Armanos give us a fun digression, with Queenie and Burrs, presenting part of their saucy Biblical musical.

Stilabower and Massingale do very well as the leads, while Sledge adds surprising depth as Black develops feelings for Queenie, who surprises herself by reciprocating. Hill is dynamite, channeling the greatest redheaded comics in her portrayal of Kate. 

A note must be made of the show’s content. It goes beyond the swear words and the drunken fight (At this party? Who would have guessed?). This is the most mature content I’ve seen in a Footlite show – two words: choreographed rape. In movie terms, consider this a hard “R”. 

If you are familiar with the source material, or feel you are up for this kind of entertainment, check out the Wild Party through March 20 at 1847 N. Alabama St., Indianapolis. Info and tickets at footlite.org.

Spinning a story with a bit of Broadway

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By John Lyle Belden

These are unusual times, so here is an unusual show.

While advising all who feel unwell or uncomfortable to sit this one out, Fat Turtle Theatre is, last we heard, continuing with its production of “This is Us: An Inspirational Steampunk Broadway Cabaret.”

This is a little out of the comfort zone for Fat Turtle, a company that typically does plays, as well as founder Aaron Cleveland, who as the show’s Narrator is called upon to sing. But it does fit within the mission of presenting Indiana works, as the revue of Broadway songs are hung like ornaments on an original story by local playwright Nicole Amsler.

The setting and aesthetic, as noted in the title, are the alternate-history dystopia of Steampunk, with its corsets and clockworks. This helps give the whole production a familiar, yet otherworldly feel. 

Cleveland recites Amsler’s fable about a grieving father who devises “a machine to take all the pain of the world” and how his children strive to save him from it. Honestly, it sounds like the seed from which a great original musical could be grown.

But for now, we get an interesting selection of songs that loosely fit the theme, taken from a wide variety of Broadway shows. While some are easily recognizable, like a tune from “Wicked,” and include current hits like one from “Dear Evan Hansen,” there are also numbers from shows such as “Newsies,” “The Color Purple,” “Kinky Boots,” “Jekyll & Hyde,” “Mean Girls,” and even a beautifully appropriate song from the underappreciated “Pirate Queen.” 

To deliver these song-and-dance bits, we have area talents Tessa Gibbons, Jessica Hawkins, Kaitlin Holden, Jenn Kaufmann, Richelle Lutz, Jennifer Poytner, Brad Root and Jackson Stollings. Direction and choreography are by Andrea Odle, and there is a small band of musicians, led by Linda Parr. 

The result is an entertaining distraction — for a couple of hours — from current events, and the opportunity to enjoy songs even fans of showtunes don’t hear every day. This gang puts their hearts into their performances — as well as a bit of humor, when Hawkins and Stollings take on a fun old standard. Actually, every individual gets a chance to stand center and shine. 

The costumes, by Shannon Rice, include inventive use of blue LED wires to enhance the retro-sci-fi feel and add necessary emphasis when the circuits resemble the human heart. 

There is one scheduled weekend left, March 20-21 at The Switch, 10029 E. 126th St., Suite D, Fishers (in Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy), and as this cabaret is also a company fundraiser, all who are interested, and feel up to it, are encouraged to attend, or at least consider Fat Turtle in your charitable giving.

Details are at FatTurtleTheatre.com.

Catch ‘Big Fish’ at Footlite

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By John Lyle Belden

Nothing is as entertaining as a good story, and in “Big Fish,” on stage through July 23 at Footlite Musicals, we meet a man whose life is full of them.

This recent Broadway musical, based on the 2003 Tim Burton film (and 1998 Daniel Wallace novel), is Footlite’s Young Adult production (with a couple of older actors), directed by Kathleen Clarke Horrigan.

Edward Bloom (Kyle Cherry) believes one should be the hero of his story, and tells his young son, Will (Rocco Meo), one fantastical tale after another. But by the time he grows up, adult Will (Drew Bryson) sees his father as a mystery shrouded in self-made myths. Then, as Edward’s health starts to fail, Will quests for the truth – and finds a new understanding of the man who met a witch, befriended a giant, joined the circus and saved a town.

Edward’s stories come to life through the magic of the stage. We see him encounter a mermaid (Tessa Gibbons), and later the witch (Tayler Seymour) who tells him how he will die. Rather than despair, the news gives him confidence to face any dangerous situation knowing “that’s not how it ends.” So he bravely confronts Karl the Giant (Zachary Hoover) and has himself shot out of a cannon so he can meet and propose to beautiful redheaded Sandra (Regan Desautels).

The show features some memorable songs (“Be the Hero,” “Fight the Dragons,” “Stranger,” “Start Over”) and dance breaks – the Alabama Stomp is guaranteed to bring fish to the surface – as well as solid performances. Aside from actors listed so far, notable cast members include Samantha Russell as Jenny Hill, Edward’s high school sweetheart; Noah Nordman as Don Price, the classmate who returned to Ashton, Ala., after college; and Jeff Reeves, showing the youngsters how it’s done as circus boss Amos Calloway.

Footlite’s production is a beautiful tribute to the bond between fathers and sons, strong even when frayed, as well as the importance of stories and the power of love. Just don’t be surprised if your heart hesitates whenever you see daffodils.

During the run of the show, there is a fundraiser in the lobby benefiting cancer charities.

Find Footlite at 1847 N. Alabama St., just north of downtown Indy; call 317-926-6630 or visit footlite.org.

At TOTS: A story of street-lights people who don’t stop believin’

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By John Lyle Belden

The rock hits of the 1980s form the tapestry of “Rock of Ages,” the Broadway musical in its first local production at Theatre on the Square.

Sarah Hoffman plays Sherrie, a small-town girl, livin’ in a lonely world; Davey Pelsue is Drew (a/k/a aspiring rocker Wolfgang von Cult), a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit – you know how the song goes.

They work at the Bourbon Room, an LA bar and club owned by Dennis Dupree (Dave Ruark) with Lonny (John Kern), our Narrator – they want nothing but a good time, and it don’t get better than this.

But foreign developer Hertz Kleinaman (Bryan D. Padgett) and son Franz (Zach Ramsey) have plans to tear down the Sunset Strip. When City Planner Regina Kuntz (Andrea Heiden) objects, the Mayor (Josiah McCruiston) fires her, so she leads the resistance, reminding all that they built this city on rock and roll.

Facing the final countdown, the Bourbon Room has one last show, headlined with newly-solo rock god Stacee Jaxx (Thomas Cardwell) and featuring Wolfgang’s debut. In all that’s happening, Drew loses Sherrie, and it will take more than words to win her back. And yes, “Oh, Sherrie” is also in the show (but not the title song, as they couldn’t get rights to Def Leppard’s hits).

This exceptional, energetic cast includes Paige Scott as “Mama” Justice, owner of the nearby Venus Gentleman’s Club; Jonathan Krouse as Joey Primo, Jaxx’s replacement in Anvil; a dancing chorus including Jessica Hawkins, Jordan Fox, Tessa Gibbons, Katherine Jones, Janice Hibbard and Jessica Hughes; and Hannah Boswell as the wonderfully anonymous Waitress No. 1. Director Ty Stover let Boswell expand her role to help smooth scene changes, she said, and she has become an audience favorite.

Not everyone is radio-perfect in reproducing the old FM-band tunes, but this isn’t meant to be a revue. Some lyrics and verses are altered by context, and some songs nicely mashed-up, to serve the musical’s story. The performers front-and-center, however, are stellar – especially Hoffman, as well as Pelsue, who delivers as though this musical was written for him.

The show is incredibly fun, whether you remember the decade of big hair and big attitudes, or only know the 30-year-old songs (yes, that old) from the Classic Rock station. The onstage bar actually offers retro sodas and beer before each act, and cast members occasionally cross the fourth wall to sit with you.

Got too much time on your hands? You have no excuse not to see this. Here they go again at TOTS, 627 Massachusetts Ave., through April 1. Call 317-685-8687 or visit www.tots.org.

John L. Belden is also Associate Editor and A&E editor of The Eagle (formerly The Word), the Indianapolis-based Midwest LGBTQ news source.