The Bill Raiten Blog

NST’s latest production in the works is the classic The Threepenny Opera. This landmark musical features book and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht and music by Kurt Weill.  A scathing and comical critique of the excesses of capitalism that premiered on the eve of the Great Depression, The Threepenny Opera has been widely and frequently produced over the last eighty years.  This is the first time it has been done in Maine in the 21st century, and NST Artistic Director Bill Raiten expects this production to resonate with today’s audience.  It portrays a scandalous and musical tale of thieves, beggars, and various other lowlifes.  Chief among them is the notorious highwayman, MacHeath — more widely known as Mack the Knife, from the song that details some of his exploits.

The play is being directed by veteran NST actor Shari John who recently directed NST’s special one-man show A Christmas Carol.  She has also recently acted in NST Playwright-in-Residence Rick Doyle’s play Too Good To Be True, My Fair Lady and Laughter On The 23rd Floor (all in 2009).  She also directed On Golden Pond (2009) and Last of the Red Hot Lovers (2008).

The main set element is a rather large bridge, constructed with more-or-less traditional timber frame techniques.  The dialog is quite clever and the songs are sensational.  Brecht was frustrated that contemporary theater didn’t seem to have much impact on the audiences; they viewed what happened on stage purely as entertainment.  He wanted to make his audiences think and often confronted them with unusual situations, staging techniques, etc.  There is a moral to this story!  We hope you can enjoy this play with us in March and April.  Here’s a rehearsal picture showing part of the cast:

I strongly encourage anyone who likes Charles Dickens’ tale A Christmas Carol to see NST’s special holiday presentation of it.  I’ve seen this classic several times, done different ways (traditional, avante garde, etc.) and I like the Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Winters readings of it.  NST’s production is more like the latter.  Veteran actor Tim Pugliese (directed by Shari John) plays ALL the parts, walking about a fairly plain stage, switching back and forth from character to character, each with a different accent, intonation, pitch, etc.  At times it seems there’s half-a-dozen people on the stage (including the narrator) and in the mind of the audience, there really is.  It’s very entertaining and showcases Tim’s great talent.  Highly recommended.  It’s on at the Blue Hill Town Hall Theater for one more weekend (Dec. 18,19 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 20 at 3 p.m.)

NST has decided to add a special show to its season in May 2010: La Cage Aux Folles.  This was made into the famous movie “The Birdcage” (starring Robin Williams, Nathan Lane and Gene Hackman, among others.)  The musical centers on the confusion that ensues when the son of a Saint Tropez night club owner and his gay lover brings his fiancée’s ultra conservative parents for dinner.  It will be produced at the Grand in Ellsworth.  We’ll talk more about it in the future.  Anyone interested in acting (there’s a big chorus!), contact Bill Raiten.  See www.newsurrytheatre.org for details.

Best Holiday Wishes to everyone.

Our reprise of “Laughter On The 23rd Floor” was fun and reasonably successful.  We’ve performed this show so many times that it was very easy and fun.  It’s over, so on to new things…

Our original plan to perform another Neil Simon play “The Sunshine Boys” this summer was derailed when one of the principals became seriously ill and had to drop out.  We scrambled around for a solution and decided to try something new for us: a musical play in concert form.  “My Fair Lady” was chosen as it’s well known, has great music and would (hopefully) be easy to get going as we didn’t have much time!  By the time we got a script, score, etc. we only had about 5 weeks to work!

Principals were quickly cast and a chorus was assembled, mostly with new people to NST.  Rehearsals proceeded.  A stage extension was built (think of a large capital “E”, with everything 4′ wide except the center leg of the “E” which was 2′ wide.)  This extension brings actors right down to the audience, with chorus members seated inside the “E”.  Very interesting concept which seems to work.

Performing the play the way Encore productions at City Centre in New York are presented, actors are “on book” for some of the play and “off book” and staged for all of the songs and some of the scenes. Costumes are minimal but colorful and of the period.  It’s a very interesting way to present a musical and the audiences so far seem to like it.  I do too.