Penn and Teller at Spirit Mountain Casino

The quirky Vegas magicians Penn and Teller brought their totally wacky show to Spirit Mountain Saturday night It was equal parts Big Magic, comedy, and Teller's masterful sleight-of-hand magic. The opening trick had an audience member's cellphone appear inside a sealed box, which would be impressive enough, but inside the box was a fish, and the phone was inside the fish.  They dubbed the trick "cell-fish" and promised that the audience member's camera will have caught the secret of the trick.

The duo also performed their famous American Flag trick in which a flag appears to be burned, and reappears on its pole, a bit that was once telecast on an episode of "The West Wing" Another stand-out was a deliberately failed card-trick that meant Teller could not not be released from a giant tank of water.

Penn and Teller put on a fantastic show, and as always, Spirit Mountain is a delightful venue. It is exceptionally wheelchair-friendly, if you haven't been, you must go.  

"The Paino Lesson" @ Portland Playhouse

I am honored to add my voice to the chorus of praise for Portland Playhouse's latest August Wilson production, "The Piano Lesson". It is truly amazing how much this comparatively very small theatre can do with Wilson's sweeping works. In fact, it was their first Wilson production, "Radio Golf" that made me face the prospect of being lugged-up their stairs once again, only to find that they had installed a ramp.  "The Piano Lesson" is story about overcoming the ghosts of the past, sometimes literally. My favorite moments were the musical interludes. The play won Wilson a second Pulitzer Prize, and tickets to Portland Playhouse's production are selling quickly. Get your tickets now, the show must close on Nov. 16.

'Night Mother @ Coho Productions

My first exposure to " 'Night Mother" was the film with Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft and I remember thinking, "I bet this is so much better on stage." As director Gavin Hoffman says in his notes " 'Night Mother" is an oft-talked about, but rarely seen play." And so, how very fortunate we are that it is being staged in the intimate CoHo Theater. I won't give away the central plot point, but I will say that as I sat there with my white-knuckled hands against my ears at the end, I was not self-conscious. If I had to pick one show that is currently running as a "must-see" it is " 'Night Mother" hands-down. And hurry, it is a brief run, which ends Nov. 8th.  If one of the two actresses does not win a Drammy for her work, something is very wrong.

Thelma: Jacklyn Maddux

Jessie: Dana Millican

CoHo

2257 NW Raleigh St 

Portland, OR 97210 

(503) 220-2646

coco@cohoproductions.org

"The Typographer's Dream" @ PCS

Adam Bock must have had one hell of an office job at one time. His work reflects the tedium and monotony like no one else. While "The Receptionist" was much darker, "The Typographer's Dream" might be just slightly more incisive. I would have never thought that the nature of your job could subconsciously influence how you speak in your leisure time. I'm sure the repetitiveness of the narrative is intentional, but for this reason you may be glad that the show is a lean seventy-five minutes. There is however a unexpected and brilliantly goofy dance by Laura Faye Smith that breaks things up nicely, in fact it's worth the price of admission all by itself.

"Middletown" @ Third Rail Rep

Darius Pierce's performance of a breathless monologue at the beginning of "Middletown" is reason enough to see the show. He has the best moments in the show. His delivery of a line as a tourist telling a guide "let me take a picture of you being wrong" is priceless. "Middletown"'s funniest humor comes from lines like that, another stand-out is when a nurse remarks, "I always thought 'Botulism' sounded like a philosophy of poor choices."  Be warned that the play is very odd, I'm not sure I understood it all, but for some people "odd" is a selling-point. But, once again, the biggest draw for me was Darius Pierce, I hadn't realized how much I have missed his totally unique stage-presence.

"Exiles" @ Artists Rep

"Exiles" is the story of Cubans fleeing their country for Miami during a mass exodus known as The Mariel Boatlift. The projections in the show are beautiful, and Bobby Bernea absolutely steals the show as "The Lunatic", a character representing the many criminals and mental patients released by Castro to embarrass the United States.

There was one minor disappointment with the projections: "The Lunatic" has a flashback scene describing the political cartoons which made him run afoul of the government. There is a verbal description of one involving Castro and a pineapple, and judging by the laughter from the roughly one-fourth of the audience who could see it, I felt like I missed something important.

"Exiles" is a lean and tense drama that is worth seeing, especially for Bermea's performance, which is sure to rank among the best of the season.

"Dreamgirls" @ Portland Center Stage

"Dreamgirls" is a fictionalization of the rise and breakup of The Supremes. It is one of the few musicals which doesn't sound Broadwayized, (it's always fun to create a word.) In other words, to my knowledge it is the earliest example of a rock musical which was not written by a rock musician. So, it is the perfect show to take someone who is reluctant to go. Every thing about this show oozes with glitz, from the dazzling costumes to the intricate sets. But, the very best part of "Dreamgirls" is the Act I finale "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," and Nattalyee Randall as Effe White knocks it out of the park.

Do yourself a favor and see "Dreamgirls" I am telling you that you won't regret it.

"Whodunit" @ Broadway Rose

It's always nice to find a show that you can recommend to everybody, a show so genuinely fun that it has something to please every taste. "Whodunit", which runs through October 19th at Broadway Rose Theatre Company's New Stage Auditorium is a tuneful romp, a twisty mystery, and an off-the-wall comedy. The most surprising thing about it is quality of the solo numbers, despite the lightness of the material. Standouts include "If Only" and "A Lady's Maid" One of my favorite elements of shows like this is that even the background characters get their moment in the spotlight--often in unexpected ways.

Also noteworthy is the set by Charles Murdock Lucas, even the man who introduced the show couldn't resist entering by its grand staircase. 

Oh, one final suggestion: Be sure to take a friend, so that you might ponder the clues during intermission.

"Whodunit" By Ed Dixon

Broadway Rose New Stage Auditorium

12850 SW Grant Ave., Tigard.

Broadwayrose.org

503.620.5262

"Intimate Apparel" at Artists Rep

"Intimate Apparel" is a play about a lot of different things: love, betrayal, gender roles,  race, religion. But, as is the case with all forms of art, the viewer has the privilege of selecting which themes resonate the most with him personally, and for me "Intimate Apparel" is at its best when it is an ode to craft. What stuck with me most after the curtain went down is how all art is fundamentally the same. All art has elements of craft, and all craft has elements of art. Would I have ever thought about sewing and clothing in this way had I not seen "Intimate Apparel"? No. And the appreciation of craft goes beyond the spoken word in this show, the set is gorgeous, and as is to be expected in a show about clothing, the costumes take center stage. It is fitting that this production allows for the people who toil behind the scenes to have their moment in the spotlight, much like the protagonist herself.

"Butt Kapinski" @ Coho Theatre

I got an e-mail about "Butt Kapinski" and I had to suppress a squeal. A film noir parody with a title like that? It couldn't be more my kind of thing if it tried. "Butt" is a one woman show, and she spends most of the hour-plus wearing an interrogation lamp. That alone is worth the price of admission, add in her speech impediment and the pronunciation of "noir" and you're set. It must be noted however that the production spins into some explicit territory toward the end, and it was more than a little uncomfortable to attend with my mother, (who incidentally made her stage debut as a corpse.) "Butt" is a two-night traveling show, the final one is tonight at 7:30.

CoHo Theatre 

2257 NW Raleigh St 

Portland, OR 97210 

(503) 220-2646

coco@cohoproductions.org