Horror mixes with hilarity in Bright Ideas, a macabre satire by young Eric Coble that is currently unlocking a toychest full of surprises at Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. As the playwright veers from playfulness to violence and then to phantasmagoria, we’re kept off balance.
The indictment of parents who scheme on behalf of their children, force-feeding them knowledge and culture while vying for vacancies at the choicest preschools, is devastating. But Joshua and Genevra Bradley aren’t depicted as twisted, inhuman monsters.
No, they love their little 3-year-old Matt to excess. Amid smug parents who have already secured a place at Bright Ideas Early Childhood Development Academy — and the elite whose children have been crowned the best students of previous years — they are goaded to violence and megalomania. By the age of four, Matt must have a seat in those hallowed classrooms. And that crown!
Josh and Genevra are willing to kill for basically the same reason that Macbeth and his ballsy Lady are willing to undertake such insane risks in Shakespeare’s Scottish play — the fulfillment of an irresistibly enticing prophecy. We don’t perceive the parallel immediately perhaps, but it begins when the Bradleys learn that it’s a 98% certainty that their son will make it to Harvard, Princeton or Dartmouth if they manage to leap off the top of the waiting list and into Bright Ideas.
Parallels to Macbeth occur more vividly as the Bradleys descend into crime. They invite Genevra’s co-worker, a proud divorced mother of a Bright Ideas child, to their home for dinner so they can murder her (and seize the kid’s slot when he’s shipped to his dad in Detroit). As she’s whipping up the fatal pesto to poison their guest, the wavering Genevra sees a vision of a mortar and pestle suspended in the air, corresponding with Macbeth’s dagger. At the climactic birthday banquet for Matt, the ghost of the murdered Denise reappears — unseen to the others like Banquo’s ghost.
In an intriguing gender switch, Joshua’s downward spiral parallels Lady Macbeth’s. After prodding his wife into the first of her crimes — appealing tauntingly to her maternal instincts — Joshua guiltily disintegrates into alcoholism. Soon he’s sleepwalking, unable to wash that damn pesto off his hands.
Chip Decker’s set design and his stage direction coordinate well together in establishing a giddy mood and sustaining a frenetic pace. Though Coble’s mad romp shuttles us from playground to airplane to Genevra’s workplace to the Bradleys’ kitchen and dining room, Decker’s set whisks us smartly through the 14 scenes — with bright kindergarten primary colors from the moment we’re greeted by the oversize toy blocks at a mediocre daycare.
Though their interaction seemed slightly out-of-sync and unspontaneous at the outset last Saturday, Greta Marie Zandstra and Michael Nester proved more than equal to the extreme challenges presented by the final phases of the Bradleys’ appalling descent. Nester degenerates from a clean-cut opportunistic dad to an apathetic lush. Zandstra evolves convincingly from an obsequious, irresolute wimp to a pistol-packing tyrant, a complete MacPackage of crazed parenting. It’s an absurd transformation tinged with horror — and a sharp point.
Among the supporting ensemble, all of whom play multiple roles, Donna Scott gets the choicest comedy bits, including the opportunity to perish in a pool of pesto. Newcomer Tosha Vincent scores as the teacher whom Generva terrorizes. Brett Gentile is most memorable as the smiley father of toddler royalty and as the Scottish coach tapped to pump up Matt’s athletic prowess.
One scene that lingers in my mind is a simple gathering of parents at a field trip. All of them are toting digital handycams so they can capture every moment and movement of their children. They seem like laughable mutant clones with electronic gadgets permanently lifted in front of their eyes — watching their children grow up on miniscule LCD screens instead of witnessing the life-size miracle in glorious 3D.
Bright Ideas and live theater are for those who appreciate the difference.
Soprano suffragette Susan B. Anthony emphatically wore the pants in Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s opera-in-concert presentation of Beethoven’s Fidelio. Portraying the brave, devoted Leonore, who disguises herself as Fidelio to learn the fate of her wrongfully imprisoned husband, Anthony scorned the usual concert finery worn by guest soloists. For the opening act, she appeared in black slacks, black vest and a positively Byronic wide-collared white blouse.With her platinum hair, Anthony was a dashingly romantic action hero, and her singing had all the fire you could wish. So it was no small achievement that bass baritone Thomas Jesatko, as the vindictive Don Pizarro, emerged as an intimidating adversary. The confrontation between these two powerhouses in the beloved Florestan’s prison cell was absolutely thrilling when Leonore, shedding her Fidelio disguise, stood up against Pizarro’s murderous brutality.
Anthony surpassed herself in this dramatic climax. Both she and Jesatko also outclassed Michael Konig in his US debut as Florestan. In his concert duds, Konig apparently felt he could forego any intensive acting. The hopeless desolation was missing when Florestan began his famed aria at the outset of Act 2. Certainly he rose to the heroic transport that accompanies his delirious vision of Leonore, but he couldn’t be troubled to faint away after this spasm of joy. At his Brevard concert this summer, Ben Heppner turned this same aria into a three-act drama.
Joining maestro Christof Perick and the CSO onstage for Act 1 were the men of the Oratorio Singers, vocally portraying the downtrodden prisoners of Seville who get a rare peep of sunlight. The full co-ed ensemble flooded the Belk Theater stage for Act 2, a prime reason why Florestan’s final liberation will rank among the most triumphant moments of Symphony’s season.
UNC-Charlotte opened their new performing arts facility last week, and it’s a beauty. But the splendor of Robinson Hall isn’t the only reason to consider venturing up to U-City for the current production of Rodgers & Hart’s On Your Toes.Drawing upon the school’s resources in dance, theater and music, this production is one of the best-designed, most lavishly produced musicals ever by a Charlotte-based company. Scenic designer Brian Ruggaber and costume ace Bob Croghan are the chief dazzlers.
Personnel onstage also transcend the usual college theatrical, with UNCC alum Peter Okkerse as vaudeville hoofer Junior Dolan and NC Dance Theatre stalwart Ben Kubie as Russian ballet star Konstantine Morrosine. Playing with both their affections — and mastering both styles of dance — 49er junior Tai Dorn is Vera Baronova, a uniquely alluring ballerina.
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2004.
