Photo by Brend Sharp. Ruth dances the Conga with the Naval Cadets.

Sisters Eileen and Ruth leave Columbus, Ohio to seek their fortunes in New York City in Betty Comden and Adolf Green’s “Wonderful Town,” presented by the College Light Opera Company at Highfield Theatre in Falmouth this week. Music is by George Gershwin.

The CLOC production is directed by Michael Scarola, with music direction by Beth Burrier.

Alexa Devlin is wonderful herself as Ruth, the witty, intelligent sister who wants to be writer, but has no luck with men, and Elaine Daiber is sweet Eileen, the beautiful sister, an aspiring actress who charms men without even trying.

It is the summer of 1935 as the play opens. A vibrant James Soller is the tour guide who describes the sights and sounds of quirky Christopher Street in Greenwich Village to an eager group of tourists, introducing us to the main characters along the way. It is a great opening number with lots of activity on both levels of the set, sending the message: “Life is gay, life is sweet, such interesting people life on Christopher Street.”

In one of the nice moments in the show, the crowds of tourists and residents part at the end of the song, revealing the travel-weary sisters, suitcases and typewriter case in hand, ready to take on the town—after a good night’s sleep.

Fortunately, or not, they meet Mr. Appopolous (Kyle Yampiro), a landlord and would-be famous painter, who just happens to have a recently vacated apartment  available. Mr. Yampiro brings warmth and humor to this role.

It is not a perfect apartment by any means. Passersby drop in unannounced and call out to them through the street-level window, and explosions shake the apartment on a regular basis from subway construction down below.

The sisters have second thoughts about coming to New York in their engaging duet: “Why, oh, why, oh why oh, why did I ever leave Ohio?”

Photo by Richard Harbison. Alexa Devlin as Ruth and Elaine Daiber as Eileen regret leaving Ohio.

The sisters display their attraction, or lack of attraction to men in a comical subway scene, in which the sisters separately ride the train. Ruth is ignored, while every man on the train relinquishes his seat for Eileen and ogles her for the rest of the trip.

Although she is too appealing to be convincing as the plain sister (Ms. Devlin lights up the stage whenever she is on it), Ms. Devlin is buoyant and funny in “One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man” and “Swing.” She has some great dance moves in “Conga,” one of the highlights of the show, even as her character is trying to discourage the Brazilian Naval Cadets she is trying to write a story about  from carrying her away in their lively dance.

There is also a great series of scenes in which an editor (Robert Baker, played by Brad Baron) reads the stories that Ruth has submitted while Ms. Devlin and other cast members act them out on the upper level of the stage.

Ms. Daiber does a fine job as Eileen, though we must wait for the second act to see her really interact with men. In “My Darlin’ Eileen,” the Irish police officers (Eileen has been arrested) croon to her, the “fairest colleen that ever I’ve seen,” even as she tells them she is not Irish. Complete with step dancing, this is another high point in the show.

Brad Baron is excellent as the kind-hearted editor who first tells Ruth to go home—a million kids like her come to New York to seek their fortunes—and later stands up for her. His voice is deep and expressive in “What A Waste,” “A Quiet Girl,” and “It’s Love.”

Brian Aker is The Wreck, a former football player living on his wits, and with his fiancée Helen (Edith Grossman). His big number, “Pass the Football,” is delightful.

Brian Shaw is fabulous as Speedy Valenti, who runs a night club and just can’t stop dancing.

The orchestra again does a magnificent job, though it was once or twice too loud for me to comfortably hear the lyrics. The music is jazzy and engaging, often more reflective of the early 1950s (the musical premiered in 1953).

The grand finale: "It's Love."

“Wonderful Town” is an upbeat show with some great ensemble numbers. There is one final show, tonight at 8 PM. Tickets are $30 and may be purchased by calling  508-548-0668.

Next week, CLOC presents “On the Twentieth Century,” another Comden and Green collaboration. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 PM, with a Thursday matinee at 2.

“Raising Renee,” by Newton filmmakers Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher, is an honest and intimate portrait of a family and the issues of race, class, and intellectual disability that they face. The feature documentary (81 minutes) will be screened on Monday, August 1, at 7 PM in Redfield Auditorium on Water Street.

As the film opens, Beverly McIver, an accomplished painter, is happily pursuing her career, winning awards, exhibiting her work. In 2003, she had her first solo exhibit in New York City, and she flew her mother, Ethel, and her sister Renee up from Greensboro, North Carolina, where she had grown up in the projects.

The documentary captures that trip. We meet Ethel and Renee, who is often the subject of Beverly’s bold, colorful portraits. Renee, 43, is mentally disabled, functioning at about the 3rd grade level.

Violent and angry when growing up, Renee developed a more gentle nature in her adult years. She spends her days making potholders, selling them for $1.25 each. She and Ethel live in housing for the elderly and disabled, and Ethel takes care of Renee’s every need, and they do good deeds for other people, without ever asking for money in return.

When making out her will, Ethel asked Beverly to take care of Renee after her death, and Beverly reluctantly agreed, though she was single and had never taken care of anything other than her cats. Her mother was strong and healthy, though, and Beverly did not expect anything to happen.

The next year, however, Ethel is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and the end comes quickly. And Beverly must fulfill her promise to her mother.

The film follows Beverly and her family over six years, from the solo exhibit, through the death of Ethel, and during five years of Beverly and Renee’s life together. We learn about the changes Beverly must make in her life, her frustrations with Renee, her fears that her life as an artist is over, and we see the deep love this family has for one another.

Illustrating the film are Beverly’s wonderful portraits of Renee and of family scenes. We see her painting techniques and learn about the evolution of her approach over time.

Beverly tells what it was like growing up in the South, about poverty, racial discrimination, and violence against African Americans. Beverly’s bluntness, her vibrant personality, Renee’s quiet endurance, and the sensitive work of the filmmakers draw one into this eloquent and warm-hearted portrait of a family.

“Jimmy Tingle’s American Dream” will be screened on Tuesday, August 2, at 7 PM, at Redfield Auditorium on Water Street, and Tingle, himself, will perform at Woods Hole Community Hall, 68 Water Street, on Thursday, August 4, at 8 PM.

A comedian and a commentator on social and political issues, Tingle explores what the American Dream means to him, and to others, in this hour-long documentary. And he mixes in a healthy dose of humor.

“The American Dream,” he says in the opening scene, “is about creating a better life for yourself and your family, and thereby creating a better world. It’s about new ways of thinking, and new beginnings, and new opportunities. It’s about challenging the conventional wisdom of the day, pushing the boundaries of the human spirit. It’s about a second chance in life, a second opportunity. It’s about freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, free enterprise, freedom of just about everything, except parking.”

The film, written and produced by Tingle, was shot over the course of seven years, during which time Tingle realizes his dream of having his own theater, where he and “like-minded” people could perform, and also sees that theater fail and close, as he moves on to pursue other dreams.

We hear from many of the people who performed at the theater, as well as his mother, Frances, and others he encounters, including Robert Altman, Mort Sahl, Janeane Garafalo, Sean Hannity, Lewis Black, Al Franken, Robert Reich, Colin Quinn, and more. He talks to the man and the woman in the street, to political commentators, to journalists, to those with money and power and to homeless people struggling to get by.

The film traces Tingle’s career as a comic and political activist from his early appearances on late night talk shows, as he explores the many elements of the American Dream: freedom, equality, immigration, religion, and civil rights, and the factors that work against the American Dream: religious differences, intolerance, corporate greed, political intrigue, and loss of values.

He takes us to Provincetown, Plymouth Rock, and Plimoth Plantation to discuss the American Dream envisioned by the Pilgrims, and then to Washington, where he is inspired by the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and others.

Tingle also shares some more personal dreams: his tale about taking his son to a Red Sox game is funny and endearing. And his commencement speech at Harvard.

Tingle makes us laugh, but also encourages us to think about the American Dream, about social and political issues, and what it takes to realize our dreams.

Tickets for the public performance and the film screening are available at the Woods Hole Film Festival site: www.woodsholefilmfestival.org.

“We Still Live Here (Âs Nutayuneân)” (2010, 56 minutes) is a feature documentary by Anne Makepeace. This is a beautiful, fascinating, and inspiring film about the efforts of the Wampanoag people to bring back their native language—100 years after the last fluent speaker died.

It was in 1994 when Jessie (Little Doe) Baird, a Mashpee Wampanoag social worker, began having recurring dreams about people who seemed familiar—they looked like her relatives—but spoke a language she could not understand, until one day she realized it was Wampanoag, and they wanted her to bring the language back to those who were still living.

She found that many other Wampanoag shared her interest in the language, and a group of them set to work, trying to figure out how to learn a language for which there were no textbooks or recordings. Eventually, she received a yearlong research fellowship to study linguistics at MIT, and then earned a master’s degree in linguistics.

Two sources of native language were used to recreate the language: original deeds and legal documents written in English and Wampanoag, and copies of the Bible, translated into Wampanoag, often with notes in them, written in Wampanoag. Ironically, the legal documents had been written to deprive the Wampanoag of their land and rights, and the Bible had been written by missionaries to replace their native religion with Christianity. But, for Jessie, they were the Rosetta Stone that allowed her and others to figure out the language, to teach it to herself and to others.

This connection with the past was extremely meaningful. Touching the original documents written in Wampanoag, said one woman, “is like touching the hand” that wrote them.

The Wampanoag have experienced many losses: the loss of land holdings to the English settlers, death of two-thirds of the population from yellow fever, the loss of children to the state, and loss of cultural traditions along with their language.

As they began learning the language, they gained insights into their lost culture. For instance, the literal translation of “I lost my land rights” is “I fell down on the ground.” To have no land is to have nothing to stand on.

It becomes clear that the language is not just words; knowing the language opens up a whole new understanding of the world. Though fluency has not yet been achieved, dramatic progress has been made.

Ms. Makepeace tells this incredible story through Jessie’s own words, and the words of many other members of the tribe, including Jessie’s daughter Mae, the first contemporary native speaker of the language. The cinematography of the land and the people is very effective, as is Ms. Makepeace’s creative use of animation and old maps to illustrate historic concepts.

“We Still Live Here” will be shown Sunday, July 31, at 7 PM, at Redfield Auditorium. For more information on the film, including film clips and an interview with the director, visit www.makepeaceproductions.com/wampfilm.html.

Chief Earl Mills, Jr.

The trailer was also shown last weekend at the Cultural Survival Bazaar, tomorrow and Sunday, at Peg Noonan Park, on Main Street in Falmouth.

Circus Smirkus, the only traveling youth circus in America, comes to Sandwich for its annual visit in August. Performances are at Heritage Museums & Gardens, with shows on Monday, August 1, at 7 PM and Tuesday and Wednesday, August 2 and 3, at 2 and 7 PM.

Those who love the circus and those who love a good film will want to see Signe Taylor’s documentary, “Circus Dreams” (2011, 82 minutes) at the Woods Hole Film Festival, on Sunday, July 31, at 7 PM at Redfield Auditorium on Water Street, serendipitously the day before the actual circus comes to town.

“Circus Dreams” is the engaging behind-the-scenes story of Circus Smirkus. We follow a group of young performers from their auditions to rehearsals to their performances in the ring. Because most of the footage was shot four years ago, we learn what happened after their Smirkus adventures, too, who went on to perform in professional circuses, and who moved on to follow other dreams.

The movie focuses on Joy and Maddy, two young women clowns (a rarity in the circus business, where most clowns are male), who are out to show that girls can be funny, too; Jacob, a lonely young man who finds friendship among his fellow performers; and Thula, a 12-year-old hula dancer from Hawaii, unable to attend the audition because of an arm injury, but who prevails because of her unique talent.

Competition is fierce, and rehearsals are demanding, as the teens learn a whole new set of skills. We see daring young aerialists and a pair of brothers determinedly practicing their diablo juggling, inventing new tricks and ways of working together. A clown routine, “which always worked before,” is not successful with the young women clowns, and the two girls rush to create a whole new routine, taking more advantage of their skills and interests, right before the opening performance.

We also learn about the history of the circus and the struggle to keep it above water financially.

Cinematography is excellent, wonderfully documenting the personal and on-stage drama, telling the intimate stories of the lives of the circus performers and the organizers who keep the show on the road. Children (and adults) of all ages will be intrigued and entertained, even, perhaps, inspired to run away and join the circus themselves.

The gorgeous and awe-inspiring feature documentary “Oceans” opens the Woods Hole Film Festival tomorrow at 7 PM. The film will be shown in Redfield Auditorium on Water Street.

Produced by Disneynature (2010, 84 minutes) and directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud and narrated by Pierce Brosnan, the film offers one spectacular shot after another, from every possible angle, of the amazing creatures that live in the oceans of the world, and of the oceans themselves, its vastness, its power, its calmness, and the many and varied habitats within it.

In one remarkable sequence, huge numbers of dolphins race through the water, leaping and diving, chasing a school of sardines, while, overhead, flocks of seabirds soar and divebomb into the water, after the fish themselves. Soon they are joined by whales and sharks.

Later we see whales breeching, one after another, then quietly tending to their young. We see seals and sea lions basking in the sun and bounding through the water, their journeys occasionally cut short by a great white shark, or an orca.

We see baby sea turtles emerging from their nests, trying to make it to the water before being scooped up by a frigate bird. Only one in 1,000 turtles make it to the sea.

There are crabs, sea slugs, and strange and exotic creatures of all kinds, such as the blanket octopus, or the dugong, a large marine mammal that once lived entirely on land.

The film mentions, but only briefly, problems such as endangered species, overfishing, unintended capture in fish nets (by-catch), pollution, and the effects of climate change.

Music and sound effects are used well, never overused, to illustrate the playfulness of dolphins, the drama of life-and-death struggles between predator and prey, and the relentless march of spider crab battalions across the ocean floor.

There is not, however, a lot of information about any particular species or detailed explanations about their behavior. Often the narration simply stops as the viewer is left to wonder and imagine on their own. Many times, it seems, more information would be helpful.

Yet, there is a certain advantage to the minimal narrative. Rather than barrage us with facts and figures, the film allows us to make our own interpretations, and it make encourage many viewers to seek out additional sources of information on the ocean and its inhabitants. And the minimal narration probably makes the film more accessible for children.

Viewers will learn that there is an incredible world beneath the surface of the ocean, one that is well worth exploring.

For the past couple of weeks, I have had the pleasure of previewing films that will be shown at the festival. There are films for every interest, by emerging and independent filmmakers, some quite mainstream in style and others more experimental. There are documentaries, narratives, and personal stories. You can’t go too far wrong.

In this and the next several posts, I will share my review of the movies I have seen. If you have seen any of the films, I would love to hear what you think.

Let’s start with short films:

One of the unique things about film festivals is that they provide opportunities to see quirky, innovative, experimental, and otherwise non-mainstream short films. Here on the Cape, short films are simply not seen outside of film festivals.

Those who enjoy short films will have plenty to choose from at the Woods Hole Film Festival, which opens Saturday, July 30, and runs through Saturday, August 6. Fifty-eight short films will be shown in 10 short-film sessions. Kids Day, beginning at 2 PM on Saturday, August 6, offers an additional 13 shorts, 10 of them animations.

Several films are about Cape Cod and the Islands: “02543,” “Morning Copy,” “Patrimony,” and “Waves.”

For a complete schedule, visit www.woodsholefilmfestival.org. One may browse by date, type of film, or search for films by name. Additional information is available for each film, including stills, trailers, and, in one case (“Morning Copy”), the entire short film.

“02543,” to be shown on Tuesday, August 2, at 5 PM, in the Old Woods Hole Fire Station on Water Street, is a 12-minute documentary about Roger Gamache and the Woods Hole Post Office. It was produced and directed by Woods Hole documentary filmmaker Kristin Alexander, who was also the cinematographer and, with Ken Alexander, edited the film.

It is simple and direct, capturing the essence of Roger Gamache’s 20-year career with the Woods Hole Post Office (29 years in the postal service). Mr. Gamache sings a song he wrote about post office regulations, tells anecdotes about his mentor John (“Johnny Rotten) Klink, plays the bagpipes (he learned to play while he was working at the post office and went on to form the Brian Boru Pipe Band), and talks about the Stage Door Canteen, which he directs and plays saxophone in, every Thursday night at Liam Maguire’s Irish Pub & Restaurant in Falmouth.

Mr. Gamache graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1977, and took a post office job when his father suggested he needed something to fall back on. He ran the post office for many years single-handedly. Not too much intrigue here, but it is a nice, homey look at the Woods Hole community, and the Stage Door Canteen provides the swinging soundtrack.

“Morning Copy” will be screened on Friday, August 5, at 9 PM in the Woods Hole Community Hall. The 10-minute film shows two old men who live in the gingerbread cottage community in Oak Bluffs. Their story is told without words. The men speak, instead, through some expressive light, jazzy music, a clarinet representing one of the men, a trombone, the other. In this little vignette, the Vineyard Gazette is printed every day, and the two men vie to get the first copy of the paper as it comes hot off the presses.

Two local actors, Don Lyons and Leslie J. Stark, star, conveying volumes with their facial expressions. The photography is well-done, the music is wonderful, the scenery is lovely and familiar, and the storyline is heartwarming. The film was produced and directed by 20-something brothers Dan and Greg Martino of Martha’s Vineyard Productions.

“Patrimony” and “Waves” are both beautifully produced, with gorgeous scenes of their settings in Pocasset and Wellfleet, respectively. Both are debut films for their directors.

“Patrimony” will be screened Wednesday, August 3, at 7 PM, at the Old Woods Hole Fire Station. The 17-minute film stars Robert Vaughn and Melissa Errico, major Hollywood stars, but it was written and directed by first-time filmmaker Donald E. Marcus, a resident of Cataumet.

Mr. Marcus has long written and produced for theater and television, but this is his first venture into film. He decided to start small, with a short, to learn the ropes of film-making, before venturing, in the future, into feature films.

Mr. Vaughn plays an elderly man whose son has died, and Ms. Errico plays his son’s wife, who visits him at his spacious coastal estate. The two have never gotten along, and the death of the son/husband has introduced a new problem.

There is not enough back story here to convince one that the ending is logical and justified, but it is still a compelling film that raises interesting questions about family dynamics. And the scenery is exquisite.

“Waves,” 20 minutes long, will be shown Wednesday, August 3, at 5 PM, at the Old Woods Hole Fire Station. The film follows Norah Winslow, a young woman who has just graduated from New York University with a degree in journalism.

She fails to get a job at The New York Times, and she is rejected by graduate schools, despite her impressive credentials. So, she returns to Wellfleet, moves into her old house, gets her old part-time job at the Wellfleet Market, and takes up with her old boyfriend, who has never left his job at the market.

Director Emily Harrold, a film student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, writes that she wanted to bring attention to the problems that college graduates are having finding jobs. While this film is an excellent effort for a team of young college students (they were freshmen when they made the film), it may not be as successful in conveying that message. Norah seems to have given up the job hunt rather soon after graduation, and it does not look like she even scouted out the local papers before settling into the grocery store job.

The film, however, like “Patrimony,” is professionally crafted and well worth a look. And do not forget the 67 other shorts. Chances are you will find some you might not understand or agree with, some that make you smile, some that teach you something, and a lot that will impress you with the talent and vision of the writers, directors, cast members, and technical teams involved.

You know the story, you know the music ,and you probably can sing many of the lyrics, yet “My Fair Lady” can still seem timeless, fresh, thrilling, and funny when brought to life by a talented theater company. The College Light Opera Company does just that this week at Highfield Theatre.

Samantha Helmstetter, as Eliza Doolittle, and Michael Puglia, as Professor Henry Higgins, generate a magnetic field that keeps the audience in the palm of their hands as they sing, dance, and fight their way through this Lerner and Loewe classic. Ms. Helmstetter’s Liza shines as a duchess even when she is described as “a squashed cabbage leaf” by Mr. Puglia’s overbearing and patronizing Higgins. They spar throughout the show with Liza enduring bullying, threats, and—worst of all—indifference, before emerging assertive and independent as a match for her tutor.

Mr. Puglia controls the stage, talking and singing the male chauvinistic fantasies of his virtues as “just an ordinary man,” and the dangers that befall when you “let a woman in your life.” He is at his best in the comic retelling of Liza’s triumphant performance at the Royal Ball where she passes as a lady of noble lineage.

Kyle Yampiro, as Colonel Pickering, is the straight man who sets up the laughs for the professor. He and Mr. Puglia and Ms. Helmstetter labor through the painful elocution lessons that lead to the joyful tango when Liza’s “Rain in Spain” finally falls on the plain in plain English. Mr. Puglia makes the logical Higgins touchingly sentimental when he sings “Accustomed to Her Face.”

Ms. Helmstetter makes Liza’s Cockney accent and dialect work beautifully in her early songs. “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” is accompanied by a talented quartet of Cockney lads played by Mike Dorsey, Scott Wasserman, Brandon Grimes, and Brad Baron. They harmonize nicely with Ms. Helmstetter’s rich voice. She is amusingly homicidal in delivering her own fantasy of revenge when she sings “Just you wait, ‘enry ‘iggins.” When she sings “I Could Have Danced All Night,” she is accompanied by Higgins’s servants played by Rachel Marschke, Stephanie Dietz, Brynn Lewallen, Brian Bowman, and Ethan Contreras. It is a magical moment on stage because you come to understand that Liza is experiencing the joy of achievement. The moment gets better when the servants withdraw behind the curtain, and Ms. Helmstetter stands alone in the spotlight and sings the verses again. She really has a wonderful voice and the opening night audience recognized her with applause long after she left the stage.

There are plenty of laughs in this production, most of them coming right from the book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Liza’s stilted attempts at small talk at the Ascot opening day races are still very funny. Drifting from the safe conversational waters of weather and health, Liza nearly drowns in the telling of her aunt’s death: “Them ‘as pinched it [her straw hat], done her in.”

Brian Shaw does justice to the swagger and charm of Alfred P. Doolittle and leads his buddies in rollicking renditions of “With a Little Bit of Luck,” and “Get Me to the Church on Time.” James Soller, as Liza’s would-be beau Freddy, has a fine voice for the wistful song, “On the Street Where You Live.”

Stage director Mark A. Pearson makes the Ascot races memorable with his crowd of top-hatted gentlemen and begowned ladies posing stiffly while singing about how thrilling they feel and how frantic they are. Of course, Liza’s irrepressible enthusiasm bursts this bubble of decorum when she urges her horse to “move your blooming ****.”

Choreographer Heidi Kloes puts nearly the entire ensemble on stage for high-stepping dances in the flower market scenes with Mr. Doolittle. Costume designer Kake Boucher provides elegant gowns for the ladies. Liza’s transformation from frowzy to regal is stunning. The Cockney dancers are handsome in mixed plaids.

From overture to curtain call, this performance was superb.

“My Fair Lady” continues tonight and tomorrow night at 8. Tickets are $30 and are available by calling 508-548-0668, or by visiting the CLOC box office, 58 Highfield Drive, in Falmouth. Box office hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 AM to 12:30 PM, 2 to 5 PM, and 7 to 9 PM.

“Guys and Dolls” opens Tuesday, July 20, and runs through Saturday, July 24.

The College Light Opera Company’s “Evita” is presented in muted colors on a dimly lit, sparsely furnished stage, with archival photographs and film of Eva Duarte de Perón and Juan Perón playing silently, almost continuously in the background on two large screens on either side of the stage. It is an intriguing production, and the subdued, yet powerful, style emphasizes the emotional appeal of Eva Perón and the crucial role she came to play in Argentina.

“Evita” was originally written as a rock opera concept album in 1976, with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The songs, notably “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” had become popular prior to the opening of the play in London in 1978 and in New York in 1978. (The movie, starring Madonna, came later, in 1996.)

Perhaps because of its musical album origins, or because it attempts to cover a lot of ground (Evita’s life, from age 15 to her death at the age of 33), the musical sometimes seems like a series of musical vignettes, rather than a cohesive, ongoing story.

The character of Che (sometimes interpreted as the revolutionary Che Guevara) helps to hold the story together with a running commentary on Evita’s life, providing continuity, and a heavy dose of criticism of Evita, countering her public image as Santa Evita, the patron saint of Argentina. Che shows us a woman who slept her way to the top of her show business career and, once First Lady of Argentina, was more intent on being dazzling than in truly solving the problems of the poor.

Also providing clues to the action is a Greek chorus, who add a dramatic touch.

Directed for CLOC by John R. Lucas, with musical direction by David Moschler, “Evita” is a fascinating look not only at Eva Perón and Argentina, but also the state of the world in the 1940s and ’50s, and the political realities of that time and our own. Unless one is intimately familiar with the life of Eva Perón, however, it does take some attentive listening to the lyrics to follow the action.

The show opens in an unusual fashion, with cast members on stage taking chairs, facing the audience, as the audience is coming in and taking their own seats. Cast members linger and talk to each other, before finding their seats, just as the audience is still conversing. On stage, the Argentine residents are watching a movie, suddenly interrupted with the shocking news that Eva Perón has entered immortality.

The scene switches to the funeral with the simple act of the cast changing the positions of their chairs, as they sing a “Requiem for Evita.” Che, played with just enough cynicism and self-righteousness by Justin John Moriz, introduces us to Eva, stunningly portrayed by Amanda Horvath, who, at 15, yearns to leave her impoverished life in the slums for Buenos Aires.

Both Mr. Moriz and Ms. Horvath have fine singing voices and are well-suited for their roles. Ms. Horvath bears a striking resemblance to Eva Perón, whose likeness is almost constantly displayed on the photo screens, and her voice was often strong and lyrical, rich with overtones. Sometimes, however, her voice was barely audible, and seemed tentative. Since she clearly has the talent for the role, this may have been due to opening night issues.

At 15, Eva convinces her lover, Magaldi, a nightclub singer (“On This Night of a Thousand Stars”) to take her to Buenos Aires, though he thinks it is a bad idea. “The likes of you will get swept up in the morning with the trash,” he sings to her. Patrick J. Hagen is an amusing Magaldi with a strong voice.

In “Buenos Aires,” the raised platform on the stage allows the dancers to add their foot stompings to the rhythms of the music, but it also makes it harder to hear Eva. The choreography is compelling, however.

In “Goodnight and Thank You,” Eva runs through a series of lovers as she rises to the top.

Another humorous and wonderfully done scene follows in “The Art of the Possible,” in which Juan Perón rises to the top of the military leadership by winning a game of musical chairs. Tall and powerful looking, with a voice to match, Brandon Grimes makes a fine Juan Perón.

Eva and Juan finally meet at a charity concert for victims of an earthquake. As another couple (Ethan Contreras and Rachel Marschke) dance the tango, Eva and Juan get to know each other, ultimately joining the tango, another very effective scene.

In “Another Suitcase, Another Hall,” Perón’s mistress (Christine Lacey) is told to leave, and she sings poignantly of the sorrows of love.
“A New Argentina” concludes the first act with a rousing expression of the people’s growing support for Perón.

Act 2 has a number of fine scenes as well, including Eva’s declaration of her “need to be dazzling. The people need it, and so do I,” in “High Flying Adored,” with Che.

“Santa Evita” features four local young people: Grace Brakeman of Woods Hole, who will enter 8th grade in the fall; Fiona Hopewell of Falmouth, who will be going into 7th grade; Pippa Ryan of Falmouth, who enters 11th grade in the fall; and Gussie Gordon of Boston, entering 6th grade. Their sweet young voices were joined by the voices of four women, then the women’s chorus, then the men, building to a powerful conclusion.

Costumes, by Kate Boucher, were well done, evoking the time period, and the social class of the characters. Set design was by Tim Boucher, and choreography was by Heidi Kloes.

“Evita” continues tonight and tomorrow night at 8 at Highfield Theatre in Falmouth. Tickets are $30 and are available by calling 508-548-0668 or by visiting the CLOC box office, 58 Highfield Drive, in Falmouth. Box office hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 AM to 12:30 PM, 2 to 5 PM, and 7 to 9 PM.

Originally published in the Falmouth Enterprise on Friday, October 17, 2008.

The Beatles came to the Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center in Hyannis last Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, in the form of the Classical Mystery Tour, a Beatles tribute band that specializes in performing with local symphony orchestras. The concert was the first in this season’s series of Pops concerts presented by Maestro Jung-Ho Pak and the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra. The multi-generational crowd went wild, offering up not one, but three energetic standing ovations, singing and clapping along on cue, and having a glorious time, some remembering the magic of 40-plus years ago, and others feeling the energy of a “live” Beatles performance for perhaps the first time.

A Beatles orchestra performance may seem odd at first because the Beatles never performed live with an orchestra, but many Beatles songs were written for various degrees of orchestration and recorded with accompanying violins, cellos, horns, saxophones, and piccolo trumpets. “Eleanor Rigby,” for instance, was recorded with a double string quartet—no guitars at all, while trumpets add festivity to “Penny Lane.”
Some songs incorporated more instruments than others. According to Wikipedia, “Hey Jude” was recorded with an orchestra consisting of 10 violins, three violas, three cellos, two flutes, one contra bassoon, one bassoon, two clarinets, one contra bass clarinet, four trumpets, four trombones, two horns, percussion, and two string basses. In the original, the orchestra clapped their hands and sang along to the chorus. “All You Need Is Love” has a similar orchestral backup and includes snippets of classical works amid the melody.

Last weekend’s concerts began with an orchestral medley of some of the Beatles’ big hits. Mr. Pak conducted with verve and passion, but the orchestra-only rendition was missing some of the magic I had come to hear.

Finally the Beatles (Jim Owen as John Lennon, Tony Kishman as Paul McCartney, Tom Teeley as George Harrison, and Chris Camilleri as Ringo Starr) bounded out onto the stage, with almost enough energy for me to imagine that they really were the Beatles. They were all good musicians; the drummer was particularly impressive, and it was remarkable how much each singer looked and sounded like his Beatles character. Their costumes added to the illusion, beginning with their tailored suits, moving to Sgt. Pepper band uniforms, and finally to individual costumes, including a cream-colored suit, granny glasses, and longer hair for John. More use might have been made of a large screen behind the orchestra, which only occasionally displayed different colors, ripples on the water, or a peace sign.

The songs were all familiar to the audience and well-received. I was a little disappointed though, wanting the singers to be more like Beatles, to sound more like them, to sing with more characteristic harmonies, move more like them, express the Beatles’ quirky sense of humor more often, and to call each other John, Paul, George, and Ringo, not their real names. There was an occasional odd joke; toward the end, “John” said, “We only have time for a few more songs, and this song is one of them.” You probably had to have been there. It was funny in a nice Beatles-like deadpan way.
Highlights included Mr. Kishman’s rendition of “Yesterday” as Paul, with acoustic guitar and strings, which was appropriately tender. Good use of the orchestra was made on “All You Need Is Love,” and the trumpets were delightful in “Penny Lane.” I also enjoyed “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” for its varied and creative use of the orchestral instruments. “Eleanor Rigby” was satisfying, featuring string players. There was a nice echo effect in “A Day in the Life,” and the intensifying crescendo was excellent.

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” included some impressive guitar playing (Eric Clapton played guitar in the recorded version) and some psychedelic musical effects. Mr. Kishman also took the lead in “Long and Winding Road,” looking and sounding remarkably like Paul McCartney at the piano, with most of the orchestra playing. As John, Mr. Owen did a good job on “Imagine.” “Hey Jude” was played as an encore, the overhead disco light flashing, and the entire audience enthusiastically singing along.

My main complaint was the sound system. The amplification of the guitars was excessive, obscuring more delicate and varied contributions of the orchestra, and the singers seemed to want to belt out every song, rather than offering some of the more nuanced renditions. All the rock equipment: guitars, microphones, amplifiers, and drums tended to hide the orchestra from view as well.

Jung-Ho Pak looked great in his Sgt. Pepper jacket, though, and he seemed to be doing a magnificent job conducting the orchestra, or various elements of it, through the performance.