In 'My Name Is Alice,' Laughs, Lore and Lyrics
Thursday, October 26, 2006; Page PW08
What is it about "A . . . My Name is Alice," a musical revue that looks at the contemporary female experience in America through songs and sketches, that relegates it to offbeat performance venues?
An early version was staged by collaborators Joan Micklin Silver and Julianne Boyd for an abortion rights benefit in the early 1980s. Liking the result, they called on their show-business friends to contribute more bits and pieces, which they cobbled together into a clever presentation in 1984, staged in the basement of a Manhattan theater. A look at the show's history lists basement after basement for performances ever since.
  Among the eight-person cast of "A . . . My Name Is Alice" are, from left, Deb Crawford, Val Nelson, Anita Miller, Pat Clark, Amy Treat and Kat Brais. The show is a musical revue performed by Rooftop Productions in Manassas. (By Louise Noakes) |
Rooftop Productions in Manassas has put an end to that with its current staging. The theater group is neither on a rooftop nor in a basement but on the third floor of the Center for the Arts at the Candy Factory in Manassas, a loft space otherwise known as the Kellar Theater. They might have spent a bit more time in the rehearsal hall, however, as the all-female cast of eight (for a show usually performed by a quintet) was frequently in rough shape on opening weekend.
It's a simple show, done with minimal backdrops and props. There are 28 scenes showcasing women dealing with various circumstances and relationships, mostly through humor but occasionally with flashes of clinical insight or poignancy. Men, of course, are objects of ridicule, but always with a smile that says, "We don't really hate you, even if it's all your fault." Actually, the men under scrutiny by a coterie of middle-age ladies who are out for a night of ogling male strippers (with the song "Pretty Young Men," by Susan Birkenhead and Lucy Simon) are definitely not ridiculed.
Anchoring the show is Kat Brais, who shines in a number of sketches. She's especially on target as a tyrannical kindergarten teacher who humiliates a parent (Anita Miller) for raising an independent-minded daughter ("Welcome to Kindergarten, Mrs. Johnson," by Marta Kauffman, David Crane and Michael Skloff), and in performing the male role in comic Anne Meara's famous skit about the construction worker who likes to shout at women passing by, only to be taken to task by an unfazed female (Val Nelson). Brais also has an adequate singing voice, which shines here because the singing otherwise ranges from terrible to barely passable.
Either director Scott Bailey put the women onstage well before they were ready, or he cast people who cannot sing to perform in a show that is mostly singing. Fortunately, the enthusiasm of the ensemble was infectious and the ladies got quite a few laughs, especially when not singing.
Highlights include Nelson as a 72-year-old African American woman getting her hair done ("Ms. Mae," by Cassandra Medley) and taking on everything from cornrows to white people in a stream-of-consciousness monologue; and Mimsi Janis as a single woman who fights to register for gifts at a bridal registry. When told she has to be a bride, she zings back, "They've already won the sweepstakes. Why do they get the door prize as well?" in the number "Non-Bridaled Passion" by Kate Shein.
Janis has an engaging comic touch, evident in the non-singing elements of her performance as a lovestruck girl who doesn't mind being ridiculed for her passion ("Pay Them No Mind," by Calvin Alexander and James Shorter). The laughs came when the object of her affection was revealed in a well-choreographed comedy sequence obviously added well after 1984.
The songs are generally Sondheim-light, which is fine, but a few are icky with sentimentality, such as "The Portrait," by Amanda McBroom, tortured here by Deb Crawford, who falls to her knees sobbing, "Mama, I'm lost and I'm lonely" in a cringe-inducing moment. "I Sure Like the Boys (Who Like to dance Slow)" by Steve Tesich and Lucy Simon might be lovely but not as tentatively performed by weak-voiced Tasha Boutselis. Pat Clark and Amy Treat round out the group, with Clark effective as an older woman reentering the world of dating ("At My Age," by June Siegel and Glen Roven) and Treat proving a good comic foil in several sketches.
"A . . . My Name is Alice" continues through Nov. 4, performed by Rooftop Productions at the Kellar Theater in the Center for the Arts at the Candy Factory, 9419 Battle St., Manassas. Showtime Fridays and Saturdays is 8 p.m. Tickets are $15; $12 for students and seniors. For tickets or information, call 703-330-2787. For information about the arts center, visithttp:/
