A cowboy comedy, a banned melodrama & Linda Ronstadt: 3 must-see shows on Cape Cod stages
"Tumacho"
Written by: Ethan Lipton, directed by Maura Hanlon, musical direction by Nick Nudler, presented by Cape Rep Theatre
What it's about: The few remaining inhabitants of an almost-ghost-town are being terrorized by the villainous gunslinger Big Bill Yardley (Ari Lew), who picks off the few hearty souls who haven’t abandoned ship. Bearded old Sam (Ian Ryder) predicts that “when the streets run red with blood, the clouds are upside down and a three-legged coyote roams the streets,” the powerful spirit Tumacho will inhabit a human body and save them. When all of those things come to pass, Tumacho enters the scene, but who is hosting the visitor and who will save the townspeople from this new tormentor?
See it or not: Go for 90 minutes of joyfully wacky comedy. The first hint of just how wacky this show is going to be is the title — “Tumacho,” pronounced “too macho.” Then there’s the line in the program describing the setting as “a lousy little town.” And of course, there’s the opening number, which features singing cacti, as the whole company prepares the audience for a trip into a dusty western town that might well be called Goofytown.
Highlight of the show: The cast works together throughout like a well-oiled machine, through such comedic bits as the “doo doo” discussion between Yardley and Dr. Alonzo (Robert Tucker) and a wonderful scene where Clement Graham Sr. (Nick Nudler) grows an extra pair of arms for the amusement of local sweetheart Catalina (Holly Erin McCarthy). Thanks to musical direction by Nudler, this perfect symmetry is particularly evident during ensemble song-and-dance numbers like the opening “One Horse Town,” “We Need a Break” and the closing “Oh, the Saguaro.”
Fun fact: Trips across the neighboring mountains are represented by simple horse-and-rider puppets cast members bounce behind a mini mountain range. (Sounds a little too basic, but it works!)
Worth noting: The rest of the set is appealingly simple, with the monotone feel you’d expect in a small desert town, until a brightly colored poster entitled “Hacienda” denotes Catalina’s move to a vibrant new life.
One more thing: The hilarious nuggets throughout are just priceless, such as resident Chappy (Jared Hagan) being a gourmet chef who dreams of starting a hostage negotiation company.
If you go: 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through June 12 at Cape Rep Indoor Theater, 3299 Route 6A, Brewster. $35, with group rates and student rush tickets available; 508-896-1888 or www.caperep.org. Masks required.
'Silver Threads: A Musical Tribute to Linda Ronstadt"
Review from the 2021 production at Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich JuniorTheatre that is transferring to Cotuit Center for the Arts
Conceived by: Sonia Schonning and Marcia Wytrwal
What it's about: This is a musical tour de force through the long — and surprisingly diverse — career of one of the all-time greats of rock music. Cape-based female vocalists Wytrwal, Sonia Schonning and Sara Bleything take turns as lead singer backed by a four-piece band led by musica director Robert Wilder.
Highlight of the show: Bleything flawlessly performs “Poor Wandering One” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance.” Ronstadt played Mabel in the classic operetta, in 1980 on Broadway (earning a Tony Award nomination) and in the 1983 film version.
Fun fact: Ronstadt was born in Tucson, which explains the country/western feel to some of her songs.
Worth noting: The long list of songs includes familiar and not-so-familiar Ronstadt numbers, including “When Will I Be Loved,” “Different Drum,” “Hurt So Bad,” and of course “Desperado.”
One more thing: Ronstadt’s father’s background was Mexican, likely contributing to some of her beautifully plaintive Spanish songs. This show includes “Tu Solo Tu” and “Por Un Amor.”
If you go: 7:30 p.m. June 1-4, 9-11, 16-27 and 4 p.m. June 5, 12 and 19 at Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Falmouth Road (Route 28); $35 with discounts available; https://artsonthecape.org/
"The Drag”
Written by: Mae West, with musical arrangements by Jon Richardson; presented by The Provincetown Theater, directed by company artistic director David Drake
What it's about: This is a “re-premiere” of what came to be known as Mae West’s “homosexual comedy.” But that term is really a misnomer. Thanks to Drake’s direction, the show is actually a clever blend of comedy, music and drama, with a couple of old vaudeville-style bits thrown in for good measure. It tells the story of an ill-fated romance between two young men, David Caldwell (Jameson Redding) and Rollie Kingsbury (Thom Markee), who is married to the young ingénue Clair (Racine Oxtoby). Rollie also hosts parties with a corps of Greenwich Village drag queens while the unsuspecting Clair is out shopping or at the opera. This, of course, was all something of a sticky situation way back in those other ‘20s. No matter the term Roaring Twenties, most of the world was still in the clutches of the conservative 19th century, and the mere mention of homosexuality was taboo.
See it or not: Go for the fun of the costumes, humor and — just for good measure — a dramatic history lesson. There was a lot going on behind the scenes of that seemingly traditional world our grandparents occupied.
Highlight of the show: The cross-dressing bits and musical numbers are just sheer delights. First there are the costumes, which, thanks to designer Zahrah Agha, are all sequins and sparkle. When the many performers are strutting down the stairs in Rollie’s Park Avenue apartment, kicking up their heels for a Charleston or lined up on stage in musical numbers, it’s a feast for the eyes.
There is also a wonderful segment in which Hal Swanson/The Duchess (William Mullin) and Hell’s Kitchen Kate (Stephen Carey) do a series of vaudeville-style one-liners poking fun at the conservative world they occupy circa 1920. Carey’s character is clothed in a Mae-West-style costume, complete with a huge, feathered hat. Great fun!
Fun fact: West actually wrote this and other plays under her pen name Jane Mast and her own name. This play was a follow-up to her controversial offering “Sex.” West wrote and performed in a number of plays and films, including “I’m No Angel” and “Klondike Annie,” two early talkies that catapulted her to fame. (And you thought she just sashayed on stage breathing “Why don’t you come up and see me sometime.”)
Worth noting: “The Drag” never quite made it to Broadway. Instead, the show played throughout June 1919 at Gay City, an LGBTQ community center in Seattle, then opened in 1927 on the east coast in Connecticut and New Jersey, eventually being closed down by the vice squad. (You have to wonder if that’s where the phrase “banned in Bayonne” comes from.)
One more thing: The theater has five full-length plays slated for its 2022 season. Next on the docket is “The Lady Hamlet” by noted novelist and playwright Sarah Schulman. This look at a contest to become the first female Hamlet on Broadway is slated to run June 27-July 21.
If you go: 7 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, through June 5 at the Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St.; $40; 508-487-7487, www.provincetowntheater.org.