{"id":247350,"date":"2014-06-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/success-in-uniform\/"},"modified":"2014-06-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-06T07:00:00","slug":"success-in-uniform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/success-in-uniform\/","title":{"rendered":"Success in uniform"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlene Baldridge |\u00a0Theater Review <\/p>\n

Dazzling language, delicious dialogue and a bit of intellectual and historical swashbuckling add up to one of the best new plays seen this season.<\/p>\n

Add to those descriptors a well-paced, derring-do story that\u2019s mostly true, glorious performances, brilliant direction, and the sum total is Tim Burns\u2019 fascinating \u201cFaded Glory,\u201d playing in its world premiere at North Coast Repertory Theatre through June 22.<\/p>\n

\"(l<\/a>
(l to r) Shana Wride, Andrew Barnicle, Bruce Turk and Frances Anita Rivera (Photo by Aaron Rumley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1973, after reading a Sickles\u2019 biography, Burns wrote and received an NEA award for this, his first play. \u201cFaded Glory\u201d itself quickly faded in lieu of his burgeoning career as a television writer. The work lay fallow until discovered by North Coast Repertory Artistic Director David Ellenstein.<\/p>\n

The only things faded are the decorations that adorn Union Army Major-General Daniel Sickles\u2019 uniform, prominently displayed on a dressmaker\u2019s form in his New York City home circa 1914. In real life, it is the year of the general\u2019s death, but his fire is undiminished, even though we find him in a wheelchair. Sickles lost a leg at Gettysburg and was awarded the Medal of Honor, which was later withdrawn because he shot and killed his wife\u2019s lover. Even though Sickles got off on temporary insanity, the medal was still withheld.<\/p>\n

As the play begins, the irascible general (Andrew Barnicle) and his caretaker, Eleanor Wilmerding (Shana Wride, perfectly cast heart of the production), await the arrival of a portraitist and news of the ceremony at which the medal will be bestowed. The uniform still fits, and so does most everything else about the amazing tale, rife with juicy situations and unexpected characters. Biographers may debate the details, but the play is a humdinger.<\/p>\n

Sickles is trying to avoid his Spanish wife, whom he has not seen for 37 years. She was a handmaid to Queen Isabella II (both ladies of Spain are played by Frances Anita Rivera) to whom he had embassy and with whom he had an affair. His failed mission was to obtain Cuba for the U.S. Unknown to Sickles, he gained something else.<\/p>\n

\"Shana<\/a>
Shana Wride and Andrew Barnicle (Photo by Aaron Rumley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Actor Bruce Turk, fondly remembered from Darko Tresnjak-directed Old Globe Shakespeare Festivals, is stunning as actor John Barrymore. One of life\u2019s joys is Turk\u2019s pronunciation of the words \u201cpetulant lips\u201d and his description of a Barrymore entrance: \u201cThe audience would hear my balls clack.\u201d Barrymore is a drinking buddy of Wilmerding\u2019s carousing cousin, Frank Butler (played by Ben Cole, also adept in two additional roles). Rachael Van Wormer plays two characters, most hilariously the proto-feminist portraitist Lenott Parlaghy, who has a stunning concept of rape prevention (costumes by Sonia Elizabeth Lerner).<\/p>\n

To take a romp through Sickles\u2019 extraordinary and controversial life could be a slog. In Burns\u2019 capable hands it is never less than mesmerizing, unfolding naturally through the dialogue of Sickles and Wilmerding. Their affection, as played by Barnicle and Wride, is so convincingly deep that the implausible yet factual play is upheld. Other contributors are scenic designer Marty Burnett, lighting designer Matt Novotny, sound designer Melanie Chen, props designer Ben Cole and hair and wig designer Peter Herman.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlene Baldridge |\u00a0Theater Review<\/p>","protected":false},"author":731,"featured_media":247351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Success in uniform","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/731"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}