Tag: Cecelia Wingate

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Memphis Gaydar We Recommend We Recommend

La Cage aux Folles

In 2010, Randall Hartzog and Jonathan Christian co-starred in Theatre Memphis’ La Cage aux Folles as Georges and Albin, a couple who’ve lived together happily for years in San Tropez. Twelve years later, the two actors, finally at the right age to play the middle-aged pair, have returned to these roles, now under the helm of director Cecelia Wingate.

The musical is derived from the 1973 play of the same name, turned 1978 French film, which was adapted into the 1996 American film The Birdcage, starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. In all its various forms, Georges and Albin’s son returns home with news that he is engaged. The catch: The prospective in-laws are an ultra-conservative bunch while Georges runs a drag nightclub, at which Albin is the star entertainer. As Georges and Albin try to impress their son’s love and her parents, madness and hilarity ensue.

“The fact is that it’s really funny,” Wingate says, “but at the end of the day, it’s a really beautiful and charming love story. A love story between family and who we call family.”

Though Theatre Memphis has performed this musical before, audiences can expect a fresh take, even with the same leads. The original telling is set in the ’70s, but this production is set today. “We wanted to show that things have changed a little bit since the ’70s, but there’s still [anti-LGBTQ] prejudice,” Wingate says. “We also knew it would open us up to different styles of choreography and color palette. … Visually, it’s going to be stunning. The choreography is really exciting.”

Another reason for change in era, Wingate explains, “Drag is so different today than it was in the ’70s.” From the hair to the makeup to the costuming, drag is even more elaborate these days. To that effect, the production brought on local drag performers Wednesday Moss (Austin Wood), Iris LeFluer (Joseph Grant), and Justin Allen Tate.

To purchase tickets or to view the full schedule of performances, go to theatrememphis.org or call (901) 682-8323. Evening performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m.

La Cage aux Folles, Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins Extd., opens Friday, March 4, with performances through March 27, $35.

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Intermission Impossible Theater

Can You Spell Fun? Theatre Memphis Hosts a Lively Bee

The midterm elections are over — hooray! But nobody’s catching a break from our national shit-show. The race for 2020 is on like Fox News in a waiting room! Jeff Sessions is out as Attorney General! The Constitutional Crisis Clock is now set at one minute ’til midnight. Everything only gets worse. Wouldn’t you like to get away? Maybe spend some time in a place a little more like Norman Rockwell’s America? Only funny?

Can You Spell Fun? Theatre Memphis Hosts a Lively Bee (2)

I’ve seen The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee too many times. The jokes shouldn’t work. But they do. The Tony-winning one-act combines all the elements of a traditional musical with all the unexpected surprises of improvisation and audience participation. It’s the rare show that can be exactly the same from night to night while providing a completely different user experience from audience to audience

The musical’s characters represent a broad spectrum of adolescent privilege and insecurity. Chip’s been told he’s not so smart. Olive made friends with a dictionary because her parents were never there for her. Even perfect Miss Marcy Park who plays piano, twirls baton, speaks six whole languages, and spells like a champion is struggling with the personal cost of overachievement. Angst, acne, and unfortunate erections are on parade. It’s only a fraction of the freaky, geeky goodness packed into one of the most purely entertaining musical comedies of the past two decades.

Theatre Memphis

Winners all.

Bee‘s an actor-driven show. It’s the kind of thing a solid company of players could do well with almost no physical resources. But that’s not how Theatre Memphis rolls. It’s certainly not how director Cecelia Wingate (usually) rolls. This one’s a monster of detail with Jack Yates’ immersive set dropping audiences on the sidelines in a school gym so convincing you can practically smell the tube socks. Lighting designer Mandy Heath skillfully, and unobtrusively illuminates a good, old, cutthroat American spelling bee. If you ever went to school, you know all these kids. And you know right away, there will be blood. And hugs. And juice boxes.

Something about this modest ensemble show always brings out the best in character actors. Theatre Memphis’ production is no exception. Jenny Madden, Jimbo Lattimore, Jared Johnson,  Ryan Gilliam, Javier Peña, Nichol Pritchard, and Miranda Tonkin all give fun, first-rate performances. But there’s a little something extra that happens between Kevar Maffitt’s unapologetically weird William Barfee and Jenny Wilson’s nearly spectral take on poor Olive Ostrovsky, who seems to have fled some awful story narrated by Lemony Snicket. He’s over-the-top. She’s just barely there. Together they’re perfect.       

Did I mention at any point that everything is awful? Because that’s not correct. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is anything but awful. If anything, it’s an antidote for awful. While you’re watching it, anyway.
  

Can You Spell Fun? Theatre Memphis Hosts a Lively Bee

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Indie Memphis Saturday: “He Could Have Gone Pro” Leads A Strong Hometowner Shorts Program

Last August, the first annual Memphis Film Prize awarded $10,000 to a short film produced in the Mid-South area. The winner was “He Could Have Gone Pro” by McGehee Montieth.

Actor/director McGehee Monteith (left) in her short film ‘He Coulda Gone Pro’.

“I’m an eighth generation Desoto Countian,” the director says. “I wasn’t one of these kids who always knew what they wanted to be. I’m a voracious reader, so I wanted to be a book editor when I was 7. I wasn’t one of these pageant trained children. I watched Mrs. Doubtfire for the first time when I was 12 years old, and I was completely captivated and mesmerized by Robin Williams. And I remember going to my mom and dad and say, ‘Do people do this for a living? Can I do this for my job?’ And they said yeah! My parents, who are the antithesis of stage parents, got me involved in theater in Desoto County. Got some attention in the theater as a local actor. Then Walk The Line came to town, and they did a national search for Reba Cash, Joaquin Phoenix’s sister. They were looking for the teenage version of her, and I went to an open call above Alfred’s on Beale. I had never been to any kind of scale audition like that before. So I auditioned, and I went home, and thought that was it. I thought I was just going to go back to high school. Then I got the call back that they wanted me to play the role, and also the adult version of the character. So that was the biggest event that probably changed the trajectory of my professional and artistic life. I made so many friends and relationships, and that led to agents and premieres and stuff like that.”

Monteith managed to create an acting career in New York and Los Angeles at the same time she was pursuing a Religious Studies degree from Ole Miss. “I would say you can see it in my work, the way people use religion, and cherry pick things they want from religion.”

She says she drifted into writing as she learned more about the film industry. “I’ve been doing this professionally for ten years, and I’ve seen the industry and the model change from when people are just actors, or writers, or directors. I noticed that people who were actors were writing their own work.”

She wrote a female-drivien romantic comedy called Ollie Stop, which is currently in development, before tackling her award winning short film. “I always loved specifically the term ‘He coulda gone pro’, because the writer in me always wants to know, ‘Why didn’t he?’ I’d written the outline and had the bones of what the story would be, and when I heard about the film prize, I thought, it’s time to finish this.”

Monteith both directed and stars in the film. “I went to film school on YouTube,” she says. “I have the sense enough to know, when you don’t know how to do something, surround yourself with people who do. Don’t get a camera. Find a great DP.”

Ryan Earl Parker, the genius Memphis-based cinematographer, came on board when she pitched him the story. “He moved heaven and earth to make it happen. It would not have been possible without Ryan believing in the project, and bringing his skill set. Filmmaking is not singular, it’s symphonic.”

Monteith’s co-star in the moving film is acclaimed actor/director Cecelia Wingate. She says it was a combination of the support of her veteran crew and tireless preparation was what allowed her to act and direct at the same time, which is among the most challenging feats in filmmaking. “I knew all the shots, I knew every line, mine and everyone else’s. I knew what I wanted. I had a roadmap. I just tried to make sure the people who I was working with had that roadmap, and we were all on the same page. That is what allowed it to be a nice experience.”

The director used the prize money “He Could Have Gone Pro” earned to immediately shoot another short film. “After the win, I felt an obligation to turn around and make more art. The real thrilling part for me was being able to hire and pay that same crew. You got to dance with the one what brung you. I could work with that crew for the rest of my life.”

“He Could Have Gone Pro” screens as part of the Hometowner Narrative Shorts bloc at Circuit Playhouse on Saturday, November 5 at 6 PM. Tickets and passes are available on the Indie Memphis website.