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THE LOS ANGELES TIMES – RECOMMENDED! (David C. Nichols)
Grown-up Grimm pulls no punches!
A satanic arrangement maims an innocent girl, who nonetheless
marries royalty. Three rural roommates change their domestic
routine only to become lunch. Two brothers mimicking their beef-butcher
dad push roughhousing into tragedy. These tabloid scenarios are
from "Tres Grimm! (Grimm III)" at the MET Theatre.
George Larkin's third slate of adult takes on tales by folklore's
cautionary brothers is a vivacious volume earmarked by wry designs
and spry playing, some distractions notwithstanding.
A modern storyteller (Lindsay Frame) and her stepdaughter (Angela
DiMarco) propel Larkin's prologue, "The Death of the Little
Hen." This ensemble schoolyard goof is vicious and hysterical.
So is Ruth Silveira's saga of "The Mouse, the Bird, and
the Sausage," with Tyler Tanner's rodent, Rachel Levy's
avian and Eric Riviera's Hormel candidate all hilarious.
Tanner and Jeff Folschinsky's "The Singing Bone" is
a bebop riff featuring director Noah Blake, whose vocals ignite
his colleagues. Erik Evans' "How Some Children Played at
Slaughtering" (the butcher's boys) sees Alexis Wesley, Jonathan
Winn, Geoffrey Hillback and Skip Moore balancing satire and horror,
under set designer Bo Crowell's direction.
Robert Hensley's riveting "The Dark Sisters" is impressive,
particularly Donovan Knowles' betrayed soldier and the title
trio of Sondra Mayer, Renée Mignosa and Dawn Worrall.
Chantal Bilodeau's haunting "The Miller's Daughter" is
the evening's peak. Worrall's hand-amputated heroine, Winn's
devil, Ryan Horner's king, Mignosa's double-duty moms and Christopher
Spencer's father are directed by L. Flint Esquerra with flair.”
“Energy abounds, and the dècor suggests Andrei
Serban on peyote.”
LA WEEKLY - RECOMMENDED! (Neal Weaver)
The stories in this — producer George Larkin’s third
collection of playlets based on the folktales collected by the
Brothers Grimm — would be gory Grand Guignol if they were
played straight, but here the approach is (mostly) tongue-in-cheek,
providing more giggles than gore. Some of the tales proved too
grim for the Grimms: They appeared in early editions of their
works but were eliminated from later printings. Other stories
that have been sanitized by modern editors are here restored
to their original gory detail. In “Cinderella,” the
ugly stepsisters chop off their toes and heels in an attempt
to fit into the glass slipper, and Sleeping Beauty is awakened
not with a kiss but a rape. (One tale ends with startling finality: “Everybody
is dead.”) Ten writers, eight directors, three musicians
and 19 actors have joined forces for this extravaganza, so it’s
difficult to single out individual contributions. But the clever
and madly eclectic original music, composed and conducted by
Brenda Varda, lends rich counterpoint to all the tales. Overall,
this is an exuberant and funny exercise in schadenfreude and
gallows humor.
schadenfreude \SHAHD-n-froy-duh\, noun:
A malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others.
REVIEWPLAYS.COM (Lynne Bronstein)
“Tres Grimm uses several directors and writers and a cast
of about twenty vigorous young actors to stage these stories.
As a mother (Lindsay Frame) reads "bedtime stories" to
her daughter (Angela DeMarco) in between-scenes narrative sketches,
we are told that the Grimm Brothers discarded and added stories
to successive editions of their books, while subsequent editors "cleaned
up" the violence, frank sexuality, and sad endings of many
of the surviving stories. Disney cleaned things up even more,
as the company demonstrates in "Disney Divas." Did
you know that Sleeping Beauty’s father raped her? That
the Seven Dwarves are slaughtered in one variant of the Snow
White story? That Cinderella’s sisters mutilated their
feet to fit them into the slipper? Eeech! Be forewarned that
in other tales enacted here, an entire family dies as a result
of "child’s play" that turns brutal, a girl has
her hands cut off, a man is blinded by his former friends, and
one brother kills another.
Each tale is told in a slightly different way, depending on
the writers and director involved. Two outstanding sketches use
music and humor to great effect. In "The Singing Bone," by
Tyler Tanner and Jeff Folschinsky, eight beret-wearing cast members
tell the story of a murder and the flute fashioned from a bone
that betrays the murderer. (Noah Blake is credited as director
but there is no mention of the jazz-style choreography-whoever
came up with it, hats off to them)."Master Pfriem" written
and choreographed by Brenda Varda, and directed by L. Flint Esquerra,
is a mini-musical about an annoying effete snob cobbler who can’t
stop complaining and insulting people, until the angels teach
him a lesson. Christopher Spencer is hilarious in the title role.
On the more serious side, two effective stories are Robert Hensley’s "The
Dark Sisters," and Chantal Bilodeau’s "The Miller’s
Daughter." ‘The Dark Sisters" is a tale of greed,
revenge, and triumph over agony. It makes wonderful use of lighting,
music, and costumes to achieve its nightmarish ambience. (The
sisters of the title are mounted on the backs of three other
cast members to create three grotesquely shaped monster women).
As the wounded and ultimately redeemed hero, Donovan Knowles,
a Met regular, gives the evening’s best non-comic performance. "The
Miller’s Daughter" survives being sold to the Devil
by her hard-up father, as well as other hardships. Dawn Worrall
plays this role with uncloying purity”
“Special mention must be made of the great work done by
the three-piece music ensemble, T.J. Welch on percussion, Michael
Johnson on guitar, and the aforementioned Brenda Varda on keyboards
and vocals.
Overall, though, "Tres Grimm" is an entertaining evening
of theatre that will probably prompt some to dust off their old
fairy-tale books and look up the more controversial variants.
But it may not be suitable for young children, according to modern
standards. The Met is offering a somewhat tamer children’s
matinee on Saturdays.”
THE MAESTRO ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE (Michael Upward)
Très Grimm! Très formidable!
HOLLYWOOD, CA - In this celebration of the folk tale and live
story telling, Trés Grimm! (Grimm III) is the third installment
in a series of plays that draw from the original stories by the
Brothers Grimm. While quite humorous at times, all of the stories
have one thing in common: they reveal dark moral truths about
humanity. Producer George Larkin has assembled a fine cast to
bring these stories to life at The Met Theatre in Hollywood.
Containing 13 short "vignettes," the play ranges from
the sublime: a charming ballet sequence, to the ridiculous: a
walking sausage and his two best friends. Rachel Levy gave a
funny and convincing performance as the sausage's misguided friend, "Bird."
In the musical story of Master Pfriem, written and composed
by Brenda Varda, Christopher Spencer gave a colorful and comical
interpretation of this nit-picking perfectionist. Lindsay Frame
and Angela DiMarco played the storyteller and her daughter who
occasionally became entangled in the stories. A talented group
of musicians accompanied the production under the direction of
Brenda Varda who composed an enchanting score for Trés
Grimm!
The play was written by a group of authors. "The Singing
Bone" by Tyler Tanner and Jeff Folschinsky, and "The
Fox and the Geese" by Alexis Wesley seemed to be among the
audience's favorites. Culminating the evening was "The Miller's
Daughter" which was spiritedly written by Chantal Bilodeau,
and artistically directed by L. Flint Esquerra. Chorus leaders
Sondra Mayer and Donovan Knowles artfully told the story of this
intriguing fairy tale.
Revealing the darkest side of the Grimm brothers was "How
Some Children Played at Slaughtering," written by Erik Evans.
While difficult to watch such a violent scene, it gave a glimpse
of the innocent, yet wicked aspect of the human condition. At
the same time it allowed the actors an opportunity to demonstrate
the true scope of their abilities.
Together with the rest of the writing team (Drew Brody, Robert
Hensley and Ruth Silveira), George Larkin has created an edgy
and imaginative experience in modern theater. Remaining true
to the vivid Grimm stories of the early 19th century, this entertaining
adaptation is not for the whole family. However, The Met Theatre
will be presenting family friendly versions of Trés Grimm!
on February 14, 21 and 28
ACCESSIBLY LIVE (Rich Borowy)
TRES GRIMM, the return of stage depictions of tales and fables
created and conceived by the Brothers Grimm, makes a return at
Hollywood's MET Theatre.
The pair of story-collecting siblings received many of the tales and fables
from the common people of Germany around surrounding countries during the early
19th Century. They published a book of these stories in one volume. It was
so well taken, the book went through seven editions. Later versions added stories,
changed and edited a few, and even dropped a couple. In Tres Grimm, some of
the lesser known tales are depicted on stage. Some are charming (The Fox And
The Geese), others are a bit macabre (The Death Of The Little Hen), while the
rest are rather...well, grim! They are full of horrible death and sorrow, getting
rather creepy in nature. However, the common folks liked their stories 'saucy
and meaty', and this is as 'meaty' as one could get!
Producer George Larkin, who also conceived two previous shows of Grimm Fairy
Tales depicted on stage, takes a dozen of these stories and fables, and thanks
to a cast of writers, directors, and of course, the cast -- they all form an
anthology of stories that are rather honest, if not 'politicialy correct' to
later mass audiences. Original live score conducted and composed by Brenda
Varda adds to the mood to this production. (The three piece band featuring
Michael Johnson on guitar, T. J. Welch on percussion, and Varda on the keyboards
can really jam!) It takes an army of talent to create such as show as this
one, and they all can prove that fact!
TRES GRIMM in this form is indeed a real 'adult' show suitable for adult minds
only! However, for those who grew up on such fairy tales, thanks to cartoon
masters as Walt Disney and Jay Ward, and want to keep though pleasant thoughts
of 'em in mind, there is a family friendly version of Tres Grimm, performing
on Saturday afternoons! Take the kiddies to that one!
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