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Nine
AOL DIGITAL CITY By and large, the productions done at the innovative
Chance Theatre tend to be either small, arty new pieces or unusual revivals.
For what the theatre bills as its most ambitious work yet staged, it tackles
the 1982 Tony-winner for Best Musical, 'Nine.' Based on Fellini's brilliant
film '8 1/2,' it tells the story of a successful Italian film director
trying to cope with mid-life crisis, severe artistic block and the many
women who have passed through his life. The musical is being prepped for
a Broadway revival next season with Antonio Banderas in the lead, and
while this version doesn't have the same star power, it does feature the
direction/choreography of the award-winning Martie Ramm. Cast members
include Richard C. Hawkes, Erika Amato, Nikka Lanzarone and April Wilson.
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OC WEEKLY But Nine, Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston’s early 1980s stage adaptation of Fellini’s 8 1/2, works—for the most part. It’s never able to escape entirely the goofiness that permeates any creative enterprise in which people burst spontaneously into song. But that’s the genre. And Nine is bold enough to compensate for the inherent strangeness of the medium. The chutzpah required to adapt Fellini for the musical stage may account in some measure for the fact that Nine dominated the 1982 Tony Awards and is being revived on Broadway next year. In this Chance Theater production, director Martie Ramm’s interpretation even works as art. It doesn’t capture the Pirandello-like brilliance of Fellini’s film, an abstract dreamscape that explores the nexus between life, art, reality and illusion. But this production does capture the intense human drama of the film, primarily through the very strong characterizations of the women around the show’s male protagonist. In Nine, that man is Guido (Richard C. Hawkes). As in Fellini’s 8 1/2, Guido is a brilliant auteur and profligate womanizer. Every film he makes is an event—but his past three have been dramatic flops. He’s waging battles on three fronts. One is a war against himself—he’s insecure about his next project and can’t settle on an idea. His high-strung, controlling producer (Liliane LaFleur) is stalking him, demanding a new script immediately. And his love life, the envy of most red-blooded straight males, is impossibly complicated, filled with the accusations, demonstrations and seductions of his many love interests, which include—but are not limited to—his wife, Luisa (Erika Amato); his sex-kitten mistress, Carla (Nikka Lanzarone); and his creative muse, the actress Claudia (Erika Ceporius). Nine other women serve a variety of roles, from critics out to destroy Guido’s reputation to German tourists Guido recruits for his spur-of-the-moment film. The play, like the movie, blends the present and the past, with the ghosts of his mother (April Wilson), the woman who first deflowered him (Hilary Pingle) and the nine-year-old Guido (Travis Rose) all popping up periodically to comment and explain some of the older Guido’s fears and facets. The female leads in this production are pitch-perfect. Amato, Lanzarone and Ceporius capture the particular drives of their characters. Amato yearns for respect and honesty; Lanzarone for more of Guido’s passion; Ceporius is attracted to his creative soul. But the very things that attract them to Guido frustrate them. Through their actions, we’re able to sense how a self-obsessed prick like Guido can also be so compelling and fascinating. ...It may not be Fellini, but it’s
decent musical theater. And that’s a win by any measure.
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NORTHERN LIGHTS Twenty years ago, Federico Fellini's
classic film "8 1/2" was made into a musical. Called "Nine,"
it took Broadway quite by surprise. During the 1982 Season, It went on
to win the coveted Tony Award for Best Musical. And, in 2003, it will
return to Broadway, starring Antonio Banderas, as the lead character Guido
Contini. There is no need, however, to wait until next year, or to buy
a plane ticket to New York. The production of "Nine," currently
on stage at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills, will be a very tough
act to follow!
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OC REGISTER Only film buffs know the background of Federico Fellini's film "8 1/2" and, by the same token, theater enthusiasts are in on the origins of "Nine," the 1982 stage musical based on the 1963 Fellini film. By the early '60s Fellini had directed eight films. He had signed a contract for his ninth, but the pressure he felt to provide a worthy follow-up to his masterpiece, "La Dolce Vita," had him at a creative impasse. It gradually dawned on him that a film describing the agonies and ecstasies of the filmmaking process might not only solve his problem and provide an apt subject for his next project, but also the process of making such a film might prove cathartic for the troubled director. It did indeed prove so. The film is so self-reflexive that even its title refers to its position in the Fellini pantheon, a film that documents its own creation as the director's eighth (but not yet completed ninth) feature film. ..Like the film, the story revolves around middle-age film director Guido and the creative dead-end he has reached. He's famous and devastatingly attractive to women, which causes quite a tumult in his personal life as he juggles affairs with his lover and various starlets while keeping his wife and confidante, Luisa, emotionally satisfied. Guido's personal problems have begun to catch up with him, suffocating his artistic gifts, so he and Luisa flee to a swanky Venetian spa, where Guido hopes to reignite the wellsprings of inspiration. The show's various musical set pieces document Guido's exterior battles with (for starters) producers, temperamental starlets, reporters and more, as well as his interior ones with several personal demons. Director Martie Ramm has a good handle on the musical material and a facility for moving her cast around in eye-catching ways on Chuck Ketter's tiled-spa set. Ramm's casting of the show's many female characters is nearly ideal, ranging from Guido's wife to his mistress, his mother, his demanding producer, her personal assistant and an enchanting whore who teaches him some important life lessons. All 13 women are well-trained vocally and skilled at executing Ramm's dance steps, with capable musical direction from Rob Woyshner. Rick Friend has created a steady, listenable arrangement of Yeston's generally undistinguished score. Robyn Fishman's costume design works mostly with basic black, giving the production a visual simplicity that's arresting and appealing. ...Erika Amato brings a wealth of emotion to Luisa, painting her loyalty, anger and pain as very real and lending a powerful vocal style to her songs. Even while her slinky bodysuit emphasizes mistress Carla's limber sensuality, Nikka Lanzarone shows the young woman's emotional vulnerability. Erika Ceporius backs up the fiery vanity of international film star Claudia with believable depth and, like Amato, a striking vocal style. Tamara Davis adds energy and colorful shadings
to the role of Guido's acerbic producer, and Kristel Koehler, Hilary Pingle
and Alex Bueno capitalize on their time in the spotlight.
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CURTAINUP.COM Here's an intriguing theatrical recipe. Take one part Fellini, a director whose films and style were so dazzlingly surreal and dreamlike and yet hauntingly captured the human condition that Fellini-esque became a cinematic adjective. Now, mix with an equal part of Broadway musical, a genre that also eschews linearity and reserves the right to break into song, dance or as-needed choruses to tell its tale. Combine lovingly in a live theater format. What do you get? Well, in 1982, with a clever book by Arthur Kopit and pleasing music by Maury Yeston, you got a Nine, a musical adaptation of Fellini's legendary 8-1/2. And it turned out to be a tasty (and different) enough collaboration to garner 12 Tony nominations and win the Tony for Best Musical. Now, 20 years later the show is being served up live and hot at Anaheim Hill's Chance Theater in Orange County. And, it's again, a refreshing combination of humor, poignancy and sensuality. Fellini's original self-revealing movie-within-a-movie concept translates well to the live stage. Troubled anti-hero, Guido Contini, is an Italian film director, who at 40 is hailed as the best, yet can't seem to find his creative muse anymore. This midlife crisis is fueled by endless distractions of his decadent lifestyle. Pressures of everyone looking to him, depending on him, demanding of him to supply the magic weigh heavily on Guido. And there's an angry female producer backing his upcoming new film who wants results -- now! With Guido's last three films having flopped, and every woman in his Casanova-ish life (wife, mistress, leading lady, departed-mother, fans, critics) pulling him in different directions, Guido is one worried auteur. Like a top gunfighter who's lost his sense of invulnerability, Guido is shaking in his maestro boots. Under whimsical, inventive direction/choreography by Martie Ramm, the show nicely juxtaposes bawdy fun with piercing self-doubts about life's meaning. Against a versatile minimalist abstract setting of an Italian white tile spa, 13 varied, talented women become an ever-present combination modern Greek chorus, and step out as the key women in Guido's life. This maintains high energy and creates an often funny, kaleidoscopic, sensual human set. There are enough arresting musical numbers to successfully carry the plot forward while showcasing the vocal, movement and acting licks of the large cast. To name just a few musical highlights: "Only With You" "Ti Voglio Benea", "In An Unusual Way", "Simple" and the haunting, "Be On Your Own." ...Good-looking star Richard C. Hawkes as Guido carries the heavy load as center of the show's universe well... Overall, Hawkes wins our caring as a not quite bigger-than-life falling idol. The women in the cast appealingly in bringing their characters to life. Erika [Amato], as loyal, loving, disgusted wife Luisa, has a lovely voice and an intense presence. SuzAnne Joy Bradaric is a standout singer/performer, with good comedic chops. Nikka Lanzarone as number one mistress exudes sexuality with delightful side orders of vulnerability and temper. Tamara Davis commands the stage as the fiery French film producer holding Guido's feet to the fire. Erika Ceporius, Guido's touchy leading lady, nicely projects an inner love/self-centered tug-of-war with grace, and convincing song interpretations. Hilary Pingle lights up the stage with earthy abandon. It's especially nice to find smaller venues, like
the aptly named Chance Theater tackle the challenges of as ambitious a
production as this. If you can find your way to the 91 Freeway, Chance
Theater's Nine is worth the drive. And, since it is being reprised on
Broadway next season(starring Antonio Banderas), think of the gas you'll
save not having to drive to Manhattan.
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BACK STAGE WEST Fitting a Broadway-sized musical into the intimate confines of The Chance Theater is a challenging undertaking, especially when the musical in question is Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston's lofty creation, Nine. Based on the film 8 1/2--Fellini's watershed depiction of a movie director's strange midlife crisis--the play is an ambitious fantasy. But the outsized scope of this musical doesn't come from the usual sources. There are no elaborate set pieces or fancy effects here. Instead the show derives its grandiose dimensions from the intense psyche of its leading man, the larger-than-life Lothario Guido Contini--an artistically and emotionally blocked director whose life takes a drastic turn at age 40. Dogged by the press, his pushy producer, and his disgruntled wife, Contini has hit rock bottom. Even the solace of a posh Italian spa--the play's setting--can't relieve his desperation, which sends him into a dreamlike tailspin. Ultimately reality and memory commingle as Contini amusingly and forlornly ruminates on his youth and the many women who have both inspired and tormented him. The resulting carnival atmosphere, as characters parade across the stage and Contini's mind, gives this musical its oversized feel. ...Exuding a lusty verve that's utterly mesmerizing,
Tamara Davis turns ["Folies Bergeres"] into a bawdy, dazzling
display. And her talent doesn't end with this number. Kicking LaFleur's
haughty demeanor into high gear throughout the program, Davis consistently
steals the limelight with her riveting interpretation...
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SENIOR CITIZEN REPORTER It was almost as if being in Greece and attending a play in one of their ancient theatres. In those olden times most used the concept of the chorus. From time to time, even today, the "Greek Chorus" is used. This scheme was used to herald some calamity, in the near offering or to bemoan one that has already happened. Somewhat similar is the use of a bevy of woman during the production of [The Chance Theater]'s, "Nine". ... "Nine" is loosely based upon the hectic, artistic life of Federico Fellini. In addition capturing ideas from the highly seen ["8 1/2"]. The entire theater was quite full and all awaited how the Grecian, Romanesque setting was to be used. The lights dimmed and immediately featured an interesting sequence. This was buttressed by the singing group who filled in, as a Greek Chorus, with predictions and comments or highlighting a special emotional act. ...Now we have a lady whose credits are not very dominating, but whose performance is stellar, both as an actress and as a vocalist. She is perfect in the angry role of Claudia; who is very upset at what she perceives as a snub of the first water. The lady is [Erika Ceporius]. In addition she is a member of The Chance Theater Ensemble. Another of the more gentler sex is April Wilson who does quite a believable interpretation of Guido's concerned mother. She has a very aloof sterness, yet at the same time, soft and tender her troubled son. Her duet with him is excellent and riveting... a very fine actress. Her training shows. Yet another actress who rates special attention is Erika Amato. She gives the part of the much abused wife, Luisa, so much honesty. The lady has a sort of vocal ability that paints this important character with lots of ethos and pathos. I should like to see her in other plays to see the total range of her work. The playhouse is a very amitious one and does a whole
raft of shows thath taps the gamut of availability; at times several in
the works at the same moment...
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