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In the early Nineteenth Century, the Brothers Grimm became renowned
as collectors of German folk tales, retelling them in the language
of the common folk rather than the aloof academic. Not initially
successful, they eventually achieved fame and prosperity. They
were, in a sense, literary anthropologists. The versions of these
tales that most American children have come to know have been
bowdlerized and sanitized and are sometimes bland. The original
German versions are stranger, darker, often violent, sometimes
in distinctly questionable taste.
The scripts presented are based on authentic Grimm stories, but
are generally selected from their more obscure tales not necessarily
exposed to American audience.
All with live musical accompaniment composed and conducted by
Brenda Varda. Co-produced by Lise Hart.
The production:
All new! More of the REAL stories of the Brothers Grimm developed,
co-written, & produced by George Larkin for the Met Theatre.
The play received a Backstage West honorable mention Garland for
a writer and five L.A. Weekly Award nominations for writers and
directors.
Also, “Infinite Cinderella,” a piece in “Grimm,
Too!” written by , was selected to be part of the 2002 Nantucket
Short Play Festival.
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We also took the family friendly part of the show and put on free shows for
families in the theatre’s area – Rampart. .
We sent out bilingual people into the area with a Spanish
and English flier to get them to come. We had overflow groups
of families show up, with many seeing their first play
Right: Some of the show’s nominees for Best Writing
or Direction in a One Act: Bryan Davidson, Larry Biederman,
Denise Barnard, and George Larkin. Not shown are fellow
nominees Ruth Silveira and Scott Tobis.
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The reviews:
BACKSTAGE WEST (Dany Margolies)
There's literal, and then there's literal. And therein lies a
tale‚ or 10 tales in this case. These reworkings of the
Brothers Grimm's tiny morality tales do nothing so much as reflect
the talents of their respective creative teams. That a hanky gets
"carried off by a stream" when actors fold and remove
that stream of silky turquoise cloth is literal staging that thrills...
Dialogue that clips along as if led by an offstage conductor enlivens
the storytelling...
At Grimm's spectacular best, Wayne Peter Liebman's delectable
rendering of "The Goosegirl" is narrated by the characters
Book-It style, fully charged by director L. Flint Esquerra's whimsical
staging and seamless storytelling that even melds with its opening
and closing blackouts. This is controlled silliness: Visual puns
toy with the language, while actors take no step unless it is
ripe with life, purpose, and humor. Meredyth Hunt's charmingly
embellished portrayal of a princess seems even better when paired
with Eric J. Stein's larger-than-life oaf; Mikhail Blokh's sad-sack
Horse canters in cahoots with the saucy princess and her nefarious
sidekick (Lise Hart). Stephanie Northrup's take on The Elements
is crisp and sprightly.
Likewise an unmitigated joy, Padraic Duffy's punny take on "The
Flounder" takes us underwater, where the eponymous piscis
(John Douglas Williams) tries to school a variety of his buddies.
Director Allison Gammon has the actors in differing comedic runs;
we can imagine her endlessly studying an aquarium for ideas. Hunt's
Carp is a New York broad; Stein's jester of a Herring spouts a
comprehensive fish-species-as-pun monologue; Hart's Pike is a
dippy Beat poetess, her free verse recited against an accompaniment
of bass (the instrument, that is) and drums.
Elegantly penned by George Larkin, "Infinite Cinderella"
weaves together variants on the happily-ever-after tale of a pure
girl and her prince, beloved over ages and cultures, the evening's
lively introduction unfussily directed by Denise Barnard...
Of its technical elements, this show's most successful is its
costume design, featuring witty, effective, utilitarian, and just-plain-pleasing
togs... The original music, by Brenda Varda, featuring spiffing
jazz riffs by guitarist Jay Dover, in the main enhances the tales
with sometimes Teutonic, sometimes ethereal tunes and orchestrations.
LA WEEKLY - recommended! (Luis Reyes)
Like its predecessor last year at the Sacred Fools Theater, this
collection of Grimm adaptations contains a range of theatrical
styles, all performed with gusto. Strongest of the evening, Bryan
Davidson’s revisiting of Death’s Messengers (directed
by Larry Biederman) finds the Viennese brothers themselves (Michael
Lanahan and Tom Costello) in a search for stories to include in
their latest volume of work that eventually leads them to a subterranean
vagrant (John Douglas Williams) haunted by death. Brenda Varda
gives a hearty musical spin to Duration of Life, in which animals
(Denise Barnard, Noah Blake, LaCares Green, Mathew Moore) ask
Mother Nature (Beth Bergman) for fewer years on this human-spoiled
planet. Wayne Peter Liebman’s The Goosegirl is more a straight
adaptation, but director L. Flint Esquerra maintains a quick,
comedy-of-manners pace that nudges this lowbrow comedy towards
a higher brow. And they pull it all off with what seems like hardly
a budget at all.
ACCESSIBLY LIVE
Two separate productions are currently playing at The MET Theatre
in Hollywood that should not be missed!
The first show, GRIMM, TOO, a collection of stories and fables
originally collected by the Brothers Grimm, who in early 19th
century Germany, compiled stories that offer a moral over one's
actions. The stories were funny, sad, and even cruel, sometimes
setting up a horrible demise of the stories' characters in the
end. These were far from being the cute and charming fables that
kids were told and retold. Many of these stories are depicted
on stage as they were collected way back when! These tales, many
of them a bit strange, range from a childless couple how gives
birth to a good natured hedgehog, from a poor woman how gives
all of the worldly possessions, only to receive more in return,
to the telling (and re-re-re-telling) of the tale that is best
known as "Cinderella".
Conceived by producer George Larkin, and directed by seven directors,
written by nine writers, played by twenty actors, and music provided
by a live jazz combo to boot, GRIMM TOO is funny, sad, cruel,
and still holds its ironic charm. It's again one-part Fractured
Fairy Tales, one part Saturday Night Live, and all entertaining.
Just remember to leave the kids at home! (For the evenings, anyway!)
THE PLAY REVIEW
A classic popular song's lyrics declare that "Fairy tales
can come true? it can happen to you." This is one time when
you might hope they don't! The Met theater has dug up some obscure
tales from the Brothers Grimm archives and is bringing the audience
face to face with these strange accounts, which have been written
and re-written by contemporary writers and by now are probably
but a mere shadow of the originals. Still, many will not ever
make the kiddie repertoire, but could be good vehicles for a type
of "Twilight Zone" or something like that, since they
are too strange to make mainstream storytelling. Unless you consider
theatre mainstream.
The show starts out with a re-telling of Cinderella in several
versions from different countries. If there is one thing that
is obvious, it's the exuberant energy the actors display as they
literally rush from one version to another, in various accents,
dialects, costumes and situations. After that, it only gets more
strange.
According to the program notes, the Grimm brothers collected
folk tales and retold them, but since some were so gory and strange,
they were forced to change them to make them more acceptable to
the general public.
We can see why... Of course, the average person might not be
too comfortable with a hedgehog around, but this one is exceptional
and manages to marry a beautiful princess. Later on when another
vignette shows a school of fish who reluctantly follow a flounder,
you begin to see that there may not necessarily be a moral to
these tales. When a thumb wins a game show, or a beheaded horse
talks, you know they are teetering on the edge of the envelope.
All these are funny to watch, however, and the audience laughed
with gusto at most of them. (When they were meant to be funny.)
Some stories are downright gory, others are sad, and still some
are outlandish, but they all have the one common element of being
done very well with excellent acting, good music and an eye toward
stylized presentations. They even threw in a little nudity to
spice up The Star of Money story, but quite frankly, it would
have worked just as well without the bare breasts. All in all,
however, this is a fun show, and the huge ensemble did a wonderful
job keeping it going.
The images: (click for larger version)
More Grimm: Check out the first "Grimm!"
page. And next up is “Tres
Grimm!”
Also, wanna hear from past writers and directors of Grimm? See
the Testimonials page.
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