Funny Little Maus
The Garage
San Francisco, CA 94103
+1 415 829 2301
http://www.brownpapertickets.com
Review © 2009, Wcities
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Funny Little Maus |
975 Howard Street The Garage San Francisco, CA 94103 +1 415 829 2301 http://www.brownpapertickets.com |
Wunderland Theatre Company's production of Disney & Deutschland does the best it can given a tiny performance area, where downstage is just a few feet from the front row. It takes a lot of confidence to give a full performance when you can see the faces of every person in the audience, and these talented thespians really give it their all. The stage at 975 Howard Street (aptly named "The Garage," as its concrete floors and narrow spaces indicate that it might have been used as such in the not-too-distant past) is incredibly limited in scope, yet big enough and blank enough to enable the audience to suspend disbelief and fall into the largely unknown story, that of a mysterious 1935 meeting between Walt Disney and Adolf Hitler. While playwright John J. Powers indulges in more than a little speculation as to the details of that meeting, the historical fact of the meeting's occurrence presents a compelling basis for a script. Kevin Seaman is surprisingly menacing as Adolf Hitler, at times transcending both his years and his nationality to truly embody the dominating figure, seeming comfortable underneath Hitler's ugly, harsh hairline and infamous moustache. The real show-stealer, though, is Aaron Martinsen, whose portrayal of all-American Walter Disney is a largely comedic role. Martinsen charmingly brings a certain (no pun intended) cartoonish optimism to the role. However, this does not diminish the performance; rather, it accurately reflects the attitude of a country recently refreshing itself after the tragedies of the Great Depression, and the attitude of a particular man who knows he's on the brink of building a motion picture and cultural empire. Powers includes this element in the script, implying that the idea for Disneyland (and later Disneyworld) came from a scaled-down model of Hitler's intended "new" Berlin, which he kept in the particular office that served as the site for the meeting. The play is almost entirely set in the meeting, and such a lack of scenery change necessitates a strong script wrought with tension and conflict. The conflict in this production is characterized by the differing goals of the characters. Hitler himself seems to meet with Disney out of curiosity and, thinking strategically, he strives to find out exactly what this young American is after. Disney, on the other hand, is as good as his word: he simply thought it would be "nice" to meet a world leader since he "stopped by that neck of the woods," (as he might have said), to receive an award in a nearby European country. However, during the course of the meeting, Disney himself comes to realize his subconscious intention, which was to learn from Hitler how to go about building a fantasyland that he could shape to fit his vision of a utopian society. The meeting's other key participants, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda Josef Goebbels (Kevin Copps), and the Reich's official filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Donna K. Moore), have their own motivations. Goebbels seems jealous of Riefenstahl's position so close to his beloved Hitler (though Powers' characterization of the overtly amorous relationship between Riefenstahl and Hitler seems incredibly inaccurate and hard to believe), so he attends the meeting to protect the Führer from both the American and Riefenstahl. Riefenstahl obviously wants to ingratiate herself to Walt Disney for her own personal gain, and only allies herself with the Nazi agenda as far as it benefits her career. The show as a whole, however, is one of the better small theater productions of the year. Tickets: $10-$20 Performances: Through February 24. -Meenakshi Preisser Review © 2009, Wcities |
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