Andrew Hamm: the Bipolar Express

Ruminations on theatre, music, and just about anything else that crosses my bipolar brain.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Richmond Family Magazine: "Breast in Show" "sometimes garner[s] laughter, other times silence, and a few times tears."

From Richmond Family Magazine:
 
Breast in Show: High-Energy Musical Offers Laughter and Tears
Reviewed by Lynn Kirk, breast cancer survivor
 
The humor of breast cancer sounds like the ultimate oxymoron, but the musical Breast in Show masterfully blends comedy with tragedy as it examines six very different people’s struggles with the way-too-prevalent disease.

Playing to a nearly full house at Willow Lawn, talented actors donned multiple roles as they guided the audience through the harrowing, yet sometimes humorous journey of breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and life (or not) thereafter.

Its high-energy musical numbers sometimes garnered laughter, other times silence, and a few time times tears. In between, skilled one-liners zinged the patrons in unexpected ways:  “Time, all I need is time” … “My oncologist is the man I adore!” … “How I long for a chance to play at NORMAL” … “Cancer arrived like a thief”… and from a co-survivor (one character’s spouse), “I know she’s sick, but why do I feel I’m dying?”

The stretches of humor helped ease pain, tackle stress, and balance perspectives. The Chemo Café’s poison cocktails; the deadliest-cell-in-town dance; the oncologist’s blah, blah, blah diagnosis no one can understand; and Freddie’s trunk of life-changing cranial prostheses, i.e. wigs, provided comic relief when needed most.

There were no misrepresentations, probably because the show was inspired by actual medical interviews with patients, medical personnel, and families. True to the disease, the actors represented women of different ages – as well as a male breast cancer victim – and not all survived. And though each prognosis and circumstance differed, every breast cancer patient was deemed a warrior: a determined fighter strengthened by hope!

Produced by Carol Piersol, the 90-minute show is part of the annual Acts of Faith Festival and is in partnership with the Virginia Repertory Theatre, Willow Lawn Stage.

Breast in Show continues with performances on various dates through March 19. Tickets are $25 per person; $20 per person for groups of 10 minimum; and $10 per student (with valid ID). Additional details are available at www.Va-Rep.org/bis.html  or (804) 282-2620.

Times-Dispatch: "Breast in Show" full of "irreverent humor" and "vulnerability"

 From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Theater Review: "Breast in Show"
BY CELIA WREN
Special correspondent


You might not expect to meet comedy in a chemotherapy ward. But irreverent humor bubbles up often in “Breast in Show,” a breast cancer-themed musical whose characters spend a good deal of time in a hospital’s chemo treatment zone.

For instance, at one point in director Billy Christopher Maupin’s lively production of the musical — at Virginia Repertory Theatre’s Willow Lawn Stage — a group of gutsy cancer-patient characters interacts with a zany wig vendor, played by Andrew Hamm.

Submitting stoically to their IV drips, the patients — who have lost their hair during treatment — look on bemusedly as the exuberant vendor pulls headdresses out of a pink trunk: red, curly locks worthy of a femme fatale; a clutch of ebullient dreadlocks; and more.

“Try a hairpiece that hangs! /Add a hat! Add some bangs!/ Or a turban!” the vendor sings, pulling a silky turban over his own head and striking a regal pose.


Humor can be a survival strategy for the sick and beleaguered, so it’s apt that levity should abound in “Breast in Show,” an earnest, smartly constructed 80 minutes of theater created by book writer Lisa Hayes and composer/lyricist Joan Cushing, based on a concept by Eileen Mitchard.

Presented in Richmond by Carol Piersol, in partnership with Virginia Rep, the musical depicts — in short, snappy scenes and longer songs — the diagnosis, treatment and (mostly) recovery of various breast cancer patients: a workaholic lawyer named Wendy (Lauren Leinhaas-Cook), a fragile young mother named Chelsea (Brittany D. Simmons), a wisecracking man named Pete (Russell Rowland) and others.

Hanging out in the chemo ward, these characters support one another by telling jokes; their brave quips harmonize with Cushing’s witty, cabaret-style musical numbers, which include a torch song for a deadly cancer cell (Chloe Williams, in a sultry black dress and red feather boa); an aria for pompous doctors who warble incomprehensible medical jargon; and a ballad for an elderly woman who has a crush on her oncologist. (Jeanie Rule is droll as the amorous patient, who looks rapt as the doctor, played by Rowland, probes her mouth with a tongue depressor.)

Not that “Breast in Show” is all laughs: Exchanging humor for poignancy, the production periodically spotlights characters in moments of vulnerability.

In a couple of touching mini-monologues, for instance, Wendy’s husband (Hamm, speaking quietly in a pool of dim light) talks about how lonely he feels as he tries to be a pillar of courage for his spouse.

Lynne M. Hartman designed the relatively sophisticated lighting, which jazzes up the minimal set. Maupin and Nikki Wragg designed the character-appropriate costumes.

Maupin and choreographer Jennifer Hammond do an admirable job keeping the scenes fluid. (There are some clever almost-dance numbers featuring the hospital chairs and IV drips, for instance.)

On opening night, the singing and acting were occasionally hesitant, but the production will probably gain poise in subsequent performances. The three-piece band is already launching into Cushing’s score with gusto.

John Porter: "Make the time to check out 'Breast in Show'."

From Mondo Johnny:

Breast In Show Powerful and Funny
by John Porter

While the subject of breast cancer might seem unusual subject for a musical, but BREAST IN SHOW turns a healing light on the darkness and the outcome, while mixed, is generally satisfying. The show, produced by Carol Piersol in Partnership with Virginia Repertory Theatre is being staged at the Willow Lawn Theatre and running through March 19. Director Billy Christopher Maupin has assembled an ensemble of six strong performers and singers and the script takes the audience on a truly emotional ride.

All six performers: Andrew Hamm, Brittany D. Simmons, Chloe Williams, Jeanie Rule, Lauren Leinhass-Cook, and Russell Rowland play multiple roles, all of whom have been affected by breast cancer. Most play patients, even one of the men for the play explores many of the myths and truths about the disease.

The strongest part of the play, aside from the subject matter, is the music. The music and lyrics are by Joan Cushing and she takes on the confusion that accompanies learning one has breast cancer in a song called, I think, “The Blah Blah Song.” I say “I think” because unfortunately there is no list of songs in the program. 

While the new patients ask questions, all they hear from the doctors is rhythmic blah blah blah and thus learn very little about their condition.

Another stand out song is the Kander and Ebb inspired “Chemo Café” as the group welcomes a new member to the circle of friends undergoing chemotherapy. Jennifer Hammond’s choreography at this point may be hampered by having her dancers in rolling chairs and attached to iv units, but she makes the most of it and the song really hits home.

A couple of other songs that really resonated were “Normal Someday,” a quartet of two married couples sharing their dreams of having a normal life. Rowland’s deep baritone is particularly expressive and when coupled with Leinhass-Cook’s quiet pleas, the song wrings out a great deal of emotion.

A big laugh however is provided with “Dr. Honniwell,” a risqué ditty from Jeanie Rule to her oncologist.

Laughter is a big part of BREAST IN SHOW and that makes the play more human. If this had been an 84-minute unrelenting drama, it would have been difficult for many to take. I doubt you can find any person on this earth who hasn’t been touched by cancer, and if you do that person should count themselves blessed beyond belief. So, with every audience member potentially reflecting on their own memories and emotions, the humor allows us to release the tension just a little bit.

One weaker portion of the play is the book by Lisa Hayes. I felt the script was almost there – it still has a few rough edges that can be smoothed out further to make the show even stronger. Telling several stories at once is a great device, but sometimes things don’t come together as well. For example, Andrew Hamm has two nice moments as a breast cancer husband in a support group setting. Both are very quick, but easily could have been used to a greater power as a further commenting on what his wife was going through – or used as a longer monologue. But two vignettes separated as they lose their power.

Hamm does have a couple of great moments; one in particular is Fabulous Freddy who brings wigs and prosthetics to the chemo café. Jeanie Rule has a great supporting moment as Aunt Bonnie, a loving but misguided family member.

One of the more powerful moments of the play is Lauren Leinhaas-Cook’s emotional meltdown and the effect on the audience was heart rending.

Musical Director Kim Fox and her two musicians, Derrick Englert on bass, and Scott Milstead on drums provide a rich sound. Lynne M. Hartman’s lights are good as she moves us around the stage and from scene to scene in the blink of an eye. Nikki Wragg and Maupin have designed a nice collection of costumes.

The fragility of life is deftly explored in BREAST IN SHOW, but it is tempered with good songs, a little silliness, and a great deal of hope. I hope the limited run production will not be lost in the avalanche of good theatre  that has been running around Richmond.

Make the time to check this out.



(As always, I copy entire reviews on this blog for archival purposes only.)