Reviews

COMMENTS & REVIEWS

...what critics, audiences, directors, producers and presenters
are saying about this new play.

"Jordan Rhodes and Lynn Moore bring Hemingway to life! What a treat for all of us. PAPA "the man, the myth, the legend" is a great event in the theatre".

- Robert Wagner

"The outstanding performances of Jordan Rhodes and Lynn Moore combined with excellent set design, lighting design, original music, authentic costumes and props make PAPA "the man, the myth, the legend" a wonderful evening of theatre".

- Frank Capra, Jr.

"Play gives audience look at Hemingway's action-packed existence. The play is a delightful romp through Hemingway's panoramic life. Rhodes dominates the stage as Hemingway. He is in turn daunting, gleeful, frustrated and arrogant".

- Lynn Trenning
The Charlotte Observer
-Complete review-

“The night Hemingway came to town and left an unforgettable impression on this theater lover. Papa, the man, the myth, the legend was nothing less than terrific. I could have been sitting in an off-Broadway theater - the production was that professionally mounted and the acting that good. Jordan Rhodes played Hemingway and did a great job. He captured nuance. He did his homework. When Rhodes read Hemingway’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech he was spot-on with inflection and intent. The play, written by Rhodes and Ken Vose, both of whom have extensive credits in film and television, takes place in Hemingway’s mind. Hemingway is in Ketchum Idaho, and we meet him just before he is about to put a shotgun to his head in 1961. - The play does what good theater is supposed to do. Hemingway’s women are another thread that runs through the play and they were played by Lynn Moore. For one actor to assume roles of five women in Hemingway’s life must have presented a challenge, but Lynn Moore managed it marvelously. The women were brought to life. Michael C. Sapp directed and the pacing of character development and the actor’s stage movements added to the interest of the story being told by Rhodes’ Hemingway. I hope the play succeeds financially, it did succeed artistically.”

- Pete Skiba
Theater Critic, The Brunswick Beacon.
-Complete review-

"A beautifully conceived, superbly performed production... I learned more about Hemingway in two hours than in all the books I'd ever read about him. Terrific theatre - what more can I say..."

- Bruce W. Stark
NY Theatrical Producer.

"High praises for this well written drama, which Jordan Rhodes and Lynn Moore superbly bring to life. 'Papa' is a MUST SEE!"

- Laura Lynn Scigliano
Pasadena Playhouse Alumnus.

"The production was supported by attractive lighting and wonderfully chosen and mastered sound cues. The personal props and costumes had a real sense of authenticity. the audience became mesmerized by the character, and hung on his every word. Upon exiting the theatre they commented on both the life of Ernest Hemingway and the outstanding performance of Jordan Rhodes"

- Bruce Phair, Director
Darte Center for the Performing Arts
Wilkes-Barre, PA.

"An enthusiastic audience gave a well deserved standing ovation to Jordan Rhodes and Lynn Moore in the new play, PAPA: "the man, the myth, the legend.""

- Becka Powers
Greensboro News and Record
-Complete review-

"A strong script, a well designed and functional set, beautiful original music, creative direction PLUS brilliant acting = PAPA, the man, the myth, the legend. A wonderful evening of theatre! "

- Sam L. Garner, Executive Director/Producer
The Thalian Association, Wilmington, NC.

"...Jordan Rhodes’ portrayal of “Papa”, complete with the self-destructive tendencies, was joyous, sad and devastatingly honest"

- Wayne Bradley
WLGX - Smooth Jazz 106.7.

"Forty-one years after his death, biographers and scholars still are searching through personal artifacts and disecting every sentence of every book and letter the man ever wrote, just to discover a trace of Mr. Hemingway's true personality.
Wouldn't it be nice to get his side of the story?"

- Amy Hotz
Wilmingson Morning Star.
-Complete review-

My Comments and Thoughts Regarding the Direction of
"PAPA," the man, the myth, the legend.

"Playwrights Ken Vose and Jordan Rhodes have crafted a tightly, well structured view into the life of Ernest Hemingway. From his early years as an ambulance driver in Italy during WWI, his forays into the literary elite of Paris, his fascination with bullfights in Spain, his life in Cuba, his trips to the plains of Africa, serving as a journalist through several wars, and his obsession with beautiful women. Hemingway is portrayed as a man who is not content to just live life but rather hurls himself at it. Jordan Rhodes co-wrote and performs the role of Papa. His portrayal is no less than genius as he leads us not only through a full range of emotions but subtly transforms himself over two hours from a vibrant nineteen-year old to a man of sixty whose energies and intellect suffer from too much living. The five scenes of the play flow effortlessly with transitions performed by Lynn Moore as the five women in Hemingway's life, all portrayed succinctly and effectively. "PAPA" is important and exhilarating theatre."

-Michael C. Sapp - Director, Presenter and
Executive Director of Odell Williamson Auditorium.

The following article is from the

Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA, Friday, May 17, 2002

Play probes complex
Hemingway mystique

by Mary Therese Biebel

To hear Earnest Hemingway tell it, his lover Jane Manson wanted him so badly, she once climbed through a hotel window. Agnes von Kurowsky, the nurse who took care of him during World War I, managed intimacy despite that heavy cast. By the way, Hemingway "also liberated Paris," playwright Ken Vose said with a chuckle as he discussed "Papa, the man, the myth, the legend." The dramatic interpretation of the noted author's life will be presented at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday at Wilkes University's Darte Center for the Performing Arts. Vose, who taught screenwriting at Wilkes this past semester, said the work reflects the way He was still one of the most influential writers of the past century. Comparing Hemingway to Norman Mailer and Dashiel Hammett, Vose said, "They make you want to (write), but they cripple you because they make you think you can never do it as well." Vose wrote "Papa" in collaboration with actor Jordan Rhodes, who will portray Hemingway on stage. Actress Lynn Moore will play von Kurowsky as well as the four women who married Hemingway -Elizabeth Hadley, Pauline Pfieffer, Martha Gelhom and Mary Welsh. Having the same actress play all the women gives weight to the theory that Hemingway was attracted to the same kind of personality again and again, Vose said. The playwright has been a Hemingway fan since he read "Death in the Afternoon" while stationed in Texas with the U.S. Air Force during the 1950s. The story prompted Vase to see a bullfight, where he was mesmerized by the action and tension. "It's epic. Its life and death, and it's brutal but beautiful to look at," he said. "The man usually wins, but there's never been a top bullfighter that hasn't survived being gored." Despite his fascination with the sport Vose was never tempted to enter the ring himself - opting to instead work as a playwright and screenwriter. Writing for the stage is the more difficult craft, he said. "It's hard to keep the audiences suspension of disbelief. If a character turns his head and says he's looking at an elephant, you've got to get them to believe he's looking at an elephant."