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This Production Runs on Weekends from November 2, 2007, through November 18, 2007.
To Do Productions, fresh off the heels of its rollicking blockbuster Naked Boys Singing, will be holding auditions
soon for its next production: Paul Rudnick's Valhalla.
VALHALLA intertwines two stories: the life of Ludwig of Bavaria, the 1880s Mad King responsible for building a series
of storybook castles inspired by Wagnerian operas, and the fictional adventures of James Avery, a wild Texas teenager of the
1940s. These two iconoclasts are tracked from childhood through their deaths, and while they embody separate eras, they are
ultimately revealed as time-traveling soul mates. The play explores questions of beauty and madness, as both Ludwig and James
pursue lives of operatic passion, bringing them in contact with such diverse figures as a high-school quarterback, the prettiest
girl in Dainsville, Texas, most of the characters of Lohengrin and Princess Sophie, who declares herself the loneliest humpback
in Europe. VALHALLA is a comic epic, confronting the price to be paid for wanting, and getting, everything you dream
of.
- From Dramatists Play Service
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| Cammie West, Shannon Williams |
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| Shannon Williams |
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| Liz Mills, Keith Launey |
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| Chris Weaver, Keith Launey, Shannon Williams, Cammie West, Carlos Gonzalez |
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| Keith Launey, Chris Weaver, Shannon Williams, Liz Mills, Cammie West, carlos Gonzalez |
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| Keith Launey, Chris Weaver, Liz Mills |
Minus any hesitation I want to say that director Glenn Meche's amazing production of Paul Rudnick's "epic comedy"
VALHALLA is the best play I've ever seen at the humble Marigny Theatre. ...
Because of Paul Rudnick's masterful structure of VALHALLA, I could (and I want to) see VALHALLA again. It is unlike any
current comedy - a comedy which also touches you. Because Rudnick has much to say about love and life he has two separate
tales progressing simultaneously. Often the modern characters interact with the historic personnel in a unique style keeping
the play bouncing along. It really is a masterful job. Rudnick's dialogue is fast and constantly funny filled with bon mots
worth repeating. I was very impressed by this off-Broadway semi-hit, which actually deserves a much better reputation.
Director Glenn Meche has guided it all with remarkable fluidity now assuring himself as my favorite director in town -
stiff competition. He has cast 6 super-talented actors portraying 25 different characters changing their theatrical attitudes
and costumes in rapid speed. As mad king Ludwig, Shannon Williams continues to impress, Keith Launey is the boy from Texas
in love with Chris Weaver, who weds the prettiest girl in town. Later the romantic trio produce a baby. Cammie West is the
Queen Mother bent on her nutty son becoming king, while Carlos Gonzalez is her major domo handling the maddening Ludwig with
curiosity. Pretty Liz Mills is a standout (among so many standouts) as the Texas beauty and the hump back beauty to the King.
This is the best acting ensemble in the city right now.
By time Wagner's themes from TANNHAUSER were heard you could have picked me up with a shovel. Naturally the opening nighters
gave this stunning production a solid standing ovation with shouts of BRAVO BRAVO filling the comfortable Marigny Theatre.
VALHALLA is an adult, thinking-man's play one you must pay attention to, with some male nudity. Paul Rudnick's witty dialogue
and Producer Donald James' glamorous costumes are enough to excite you.
If you enjoy fast, funny, hilarious live stage plays with a masterful director and six superb actors - don't miss VALHALLA
now at The Marigny Theatre on St. Claude one block from Elysian Fields. BRAVO! BRAVO! Top Rating - 4
- WYES-TV 12 PBS, Al Shea
The architect of Disney's fairytale castle, King Ludwig of Bavaria (Shannon Williams), came to life in a campy, anachronistic
play, Valhalla, by Paul Rudnick. The clever script was skillfully executed by an outrageous band of players who deftly transformed
from one character to another, changing gender, sexuality, class and era. The rundown cabaret setting actually supported the
possibility of finding the mythical Shangri-la in contemporary society, if only one values one's people and surroundings.
From the first several scenes, the paradox of time and space is clear. Boys are coming of age as gay men, albeit with
differences in nationalities and statuses. In rural Texas and in Germany, the mysteries of life are revealed through image
and experience. The sheltered Ludwig learns through wrestling; the exploration of two-dimensional pictures leads to a 3-D
close encounter between James Avery (Keith Launey) and Henry Lee (Chris Weaver). Given the exigencies of closet life, the
pubescent boys are propelled away from their desires as their families encourage them to seek societal acceptance.
The settings are vividly drawn as characters waltz (sometimes literally, as choreographed by Kevin Champagne) from one
period costume to another. The red hair of Queen Marie of Bavaria (Cammie West) was beautifully offset by her baby blue dress.
Ludwig flounced in a gold and burgundy brocade frockcoat, a white ruffled blouse and white tights. In sharp contrast, Henry
and James wore blue-collar jeans and T-shirts of the pre-WWII era. At times, the 40s costumes seem slightly contemporary;
for example, the red and black plaid wool dress of Sally Mortimer (Liz Mills) looked marvelous with her hair, but updated
the period ever so slightly. Still, the detailed military uniforms, especially that of duplicitous, yet faithful, Pfeiffer
(Carlos Gonzalez), christened the periods with a slightly frothy realism. Further defining the locale, Director and Set Designer
Glenn Meche's scenic details gave a sense of place, such as wedding toile draped over the proscenium or the shadowy gobos
that cast imaginary prison bars on James in jail. Such was the tiny touches of artistry that served as springboards for the
actors' craft.
This play hinges on the actors' abilities to play multiple roles, jumping from one culture to another, at the drop of
a hat; Director Glenn Meche navigated the actors through the changes with sharp clarity. Shannon Williams' precise and studied
period gesture anchored the show. Liz Mills retained a natural, believable quality as the sweet, but tough Sally in the 1940s
and the gracious, hump-backed Princess Sophie of the 19th century. Cammie West delighted the crowd in her over-the-top characterizations
not only of European royalty but also as a New York Jewish tour operator ironically guiding groups amid the murals of operas
by the notable anti-Semite Richard Wagner. The antics of James Avery, who tattooed Henry Lee's name on his arm, then stole
Lee’s bride upon his release, threatened to derail love's potential. Having realized King Ludwig’s proclivities
for Wagnerian opera stars, Princess Sophie declined to marry the King. As the worlds began to collide, Ludwig reacted to war
by embarking on a fantastical building frenzy culminating in ethereal underground grotto in Valhalla. Keith Launey's oddly
touching fidelity in the midst of love and war promoted a disneyfied, yet gay, happily ever after; however, in the spirit
of the German hero who dies trying, Henry Lee's unshakeable innocence broke hearts as he died tragically coming out as he
admitted "I love you" in the arms of his beloved.
Not unlike Voltaire's message in Candide, Vahalla inspires living in the moment, content in one's own community. Even
as the characters traveled from land to land and time to time, the play offers a glimpse of happiness in the earthly plane.
The young war hero, who also doubled as Lohengrin, climbs the yellow-painted stairs to Valhalla; the daughter of Sally has
journeyed to Germany to return the heart of Ludwig to the grotto where he had committed suicide. Just so, if one follows one's
heart's desire, one love may achieve paradise in the vaulted heavens.
- StageClick.com
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Audiences Will Be in Heaven at "Valhalla"
"Valhalla" is an enormous undertaking of a play for any theater anywhere.
The technical aspects, lighting and sets, wigs and costumes, the quick changes of character and costumes are but a few
of the demands. The six-character play, in which four of the actors play multiple roles, requires a strong and remarkably
adroit cast.
[To Do's] production is up to the play's challenges. ...
Ludwig is finely portrayed by Shannon Williams as subtly mad right from the beginning, yet vulnerable to beauty and to
love. James Avery, played by Keith Launey, is seduction itself and an equal to Ludwig in his love of beauty.
Cammie West played four, or was it 400, well-delineated characters. Her Queen, her Princess and her Tour Guide Natalie,
and others were memorable, full of energy and aplomb. Liz Mills was keenly right and achingly funny and/or moving as every
character she portrayed.
It's easy to see why Chris Weaver's Henry Lee Stafford is attractive to both sexes. He is that appealing and that good
an actor. Carlos Gonzalez, playing five different roles, showed the work of an inventive and solid actor.
- Lyla Hay Owen, "Times-Picayune", 11/09/2007
Read the rest of Ms Owen's review here.
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| Keith Launey |
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| Keith Launey, Chris Weaver |
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| Shannon Williams, Carlos Gonzalez |
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| Cammie West, Shannon Williams |
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| Cammie West |
It's hard to give an adequate idea of how funny all this mayhem is. Under Glenn Meche's direction, a remarkable cast moved
easily through the zigzags of the story from poignant moment to total, surreal nonsense. If the cast had been less inspired,
this epic comedy could have become a tedious conundrum. But as it was, Valhalla delights...
- Dalt Wonk, "Gambit Weekly", 11/27/2007
A MIRACLE ON MARIGNY STREET
No one knows where, when, or why it happens and it rarely does happen, but IT happened recently at the Marigny Theatre on
Marigny Street. IT happened when Paul Rudnick's play, Valhalla, in a recent premiere production of Donald James' To
Do Production Company was staged at this little regional theater magically directed by Glenn Meche. I think it helped put
another bright spotlight on this fledgling company.
On a small stage with no real set and only actors in bright costumes, this dark comedy which explores man's often unattainable
quest for beauty - from Bavaria's gay Mad King Ludwig to a young dreamer in Texas growing up before WWII - and the ultimately
tragic cost of their blind ambitions became the ineffable vehicle for one of those IT theatrical experiences. One critic I
know wept. Another came to almost every performance. This Valhalla caused the audience to become so swept up in the
moment that there was profound silence at the end, then explosive applause.
This show was an example of the power and influence that can happen when either through luck or insightful selection, the
actors chosen play their parts on stage with such red hot perfection that the whole play becomes a mystical journey into that
unforgettable something which the great critic Walter Kerr called "theatrical incandescence" - when IT happens, people leave
the theater so moved, so burned by the fire of fine art, that they will bear the seared scar forever. And that's what makes
for great theater. And that's what those of us lucky enough to witness this production discovered. A burning beauty in the
words and ideas of the playwright and the "pretend with perfection" skills and phosphorescent chemistry of just the right
actors at the right moments, at least one of whom had never been on stage before.
And who were the actors who left such a splendid shining theatrical memory of their work in our hearts and minds? Cammie West-Patterson
as Margaret Avery/Queen Marie/Princess Enid/and Natalie Kippelbaum; Carlos Gonzales as Pfeiffer/Otto/Footman/Princess Ursula
the Unusual/Rev. Howesberry and Sergeant; the beautiful 18 year old Chris Weaver in his debut on stage as Henry Lee Stafford/
Helmut/Opera Singer; Keith Launey as James Avery; Liz Mills as Sally Mortimer/Princess Patricia/Princess Sophie/Marie Antoinette/Annie
Avery; and Shannon Williams as Mad King Ludwig.
Glenn Meche directed with all the gods at his side. Kevin Champagne did choreography, Timm Holt lighting, and Donald James,
assisted by Regina Adams, did the beautiful costumes. It is this kind of ineffable theatrical experience which defines the
worth and the necessity of live theater. It is a magical production in every sense of theater artistry - such as this one
- that brings the true glory and necessity of the arts and the catharsis of theater into the realms of the spiritual. And
that's what the IT is all about. To Do Productions and the cast and tech crew of this show really did let IT all hang out
with emotionally pyrotechnical repercussions. Your show was a little miracle on Marigny Street.
- Patrick Shannon, Ambush Magazine, 01/02/2008
For further information on this production, click here.
To see more photographs from this production, click here.
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