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Dramas in spotlight at Community Concert Hall this weekend
Herald Staff Report
Photo by Courtesy of Joshua Posamentier
Janine Bergener stars as a friendly witch in the title role of “Strega Nona” at a performance earlier this fall at the Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley, Calif. The Fort Lewis College Community Concert Hall will host a matinee of the musical Sunday afternoon.
Rather than offering yet another live music option on an already jampacked Halloween weekend, the Fort Lewis College Community Concert Hall instead will use its stage for dramatic pursuits.
Tonight, the critically acclaimed Aquila Theatre of New York City brings a new twist to Henrik Ibsen's classic play, "An Enemy of the People." The 1892 plotline is, perhaps, even more relevant today than when the Norwegian playwright first introduced it.
The story deals with the moral and social implications of whistle-blowing. A doctor in a small town that relies on the healing waters of its local spa finds that those same waters that provide the town's economic lifeblood also are toxic. He must weigh the economic benefits against the health hazards, and he's under pressure from the town fathers to remain silent on the dangers.
Without giving away the entire story, Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" is a retelling of "Enemy of the People," with Roy Scheider's Sheriff Brody character assuming the role of the beleaguered physician.
On Sunday afternoon, Tomie DePaola's 1975 children's book Strega Nona comes to life as a stage musical. There's not a lot of press yet on the show, which debuted earlier this month in California as a joint production between New York-based Maximum Entertainment and the Bay Area's Active Arts Theater for Young Audiences. But the story has become relatively well-known and the company has designed a colorful, pop-up book-inspired set and put the book, which primarily is pictures, to music.
Strega Nona is a friendly witch in an Italian village who uses her powers to help the townspeople with their everyday problems.
To do this, she employs a magical pasta pot that also makes as much or as little pasta as she likes. A local dunderhead named Big Anthony stumbles on the pasta pot secret, but not having the proper knowledge of its use, he conjures up a nonstop barrage of pasta that threatens to overtake the town.
Long story short, Strega Nona figures out a way to stem the spaghetti tide, but Big Anthony is taught a lesson by being condemned to eat all of the superfluous pasta.
ted@durangoherald.com
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