Ovation Fellows are current students or recent alumni from Los Angeles area universities. Fellows are paired with a Mentor, currently serving as an Ovation Award voter, and see productions and meet artists around Greater Los Angeles throughout the year. Their articles, posted on LAStageBlog, are intended to be their personal responses to their experiences, and not as critical reviews or representing the views of LA Stage Alliance.
Jesse Bethune is an Ovation Fellow from California State University Northridge.
Once again my mentor Kevin and I were on our way to another theatrical production in the Los Angeles area. The date was March 20 and this time we were headed back to North Hollywood, an area filled with many small theatre companies, to see Andak Stage Company’s world premiere production of Liberty Inn: The Musical with book and lyrics by Dakin Matthews and music by B.T. Ryback. The men met while acting in The History Boys at the Ahmanson Theatre in late 2007.
When I first heard the title Liberty Inn: The Musical, I didn’t know what to expect. Would this be some kind of sequel to 1776? Was I going to be bored to tears by a musical regarding American history? Maybe this was something about the Civil War. Would it be depressing like the fabulous Les Miserables, or would it be on the lighter side of things and maybe not as fabulous? Once the show got started, I discovered none of this was true.
Liberty Inn: The Musical is an adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s comic masterpiece La Locandiera (“The Landlady”). The original work by Goldoni came out of the commedia dell’arte theatrical movement in Italy and Matthews and Ryback made the smart decision to move the story from the Italian countryside to Pre-Colonial America. This allows the material to become more familiar to its audiences and still allows the production to follow the main ideal found in other commedia dell’arte performances: a very hilarious and entertaining play with outlandish yet likeable characters.
Liberty Inn: The Musical is a fun and wonderfully hysterical musical anchored by both excellent lyrics that make you actually laugh out loud and outstanding performances from the entire cast, especially John DeMita as The Marquis and a scene stealing Charlotte DiGregorio as Sofia, an Italian actress staying at the Inn. Both DeMita and DiGregorio have exceptional comedic timing and both clearly understand the style and movements of commedia dell’arte. Even those these two performances stood out for me, I have to add the entire cast is truly talented and all perform well in this funny evening filled with hilarious songs.
Another fabulous aspect to this production is the venue itself. Inside is a very small and intimate studio space that might seat 25 to 30 people at most. The playing space is small and it is a great treat to watch this production since the live singing happens right in front of you without any need for microphones or unnecessary belting. All of the actors sang great and the space makes you feel as though you are truly there in the moment taking part in something special.
Even though the stage is very small, this production still utilizes a great set and costumes and wonderful choreographed set changes that are also fun to witness. Going to see Liberty Inn: The Musical was truly a treat and I would recommend it to anyone who loves to laugh since the comedy pours from the stage directly into the audience.
