Cabrillo 2013-2014 Season Announcement

Just received the announcement of the Cabillo Music Theatre 2013-2014 season. Here are the shows and my thoughts thereupon:

• Kiss Me Kate, October 18-27, 2013. It’s been ages since I’ve seen this, and it has wonderful music. It will be nice to see it again. Based on the advertising, this appears to be based on currently licensed 1999 version.
• Forever Plaid, January 31-February 9, 2014. I’ve seen this numerous times, from the original production at The Pasadena Playhouse in 1991 to the most recent Cabrillo production in 2006 (and that’s not counting the holiday variations such as Plaid Tidings in 2001). I’m not that excited about seeing it again, but that’s probably just me. It’s a great show and a crowd pleaser, and should do well for the Cabrillo audience in the Winter “jukebox” slot. The licensed version says one act, but I recall an intermission.
• In The Heights, March 28-April 6, 2014. We last saw this in 2010 at the Pantages, and the Pantages ruined the show. We were in the balcony, and the sound was so muddled we really couldn’t follow the story. Thus I’m looking forward to this production where I can actually see the show. It will be really interesting to see how Cabrillo handles this in what is likely one of the first regional (non-tour) productions.
• Bye, Bye, Birdie, July 18-27, 2014.I haven’t seen this on stage in ages, or at least long enough that I don’t remember it. It’s a good and fun show, and I’m surprised that the latest incarnation wasn’t a long runner on Broadway. This is the sort of show that Cabrillo can do well. Unclear what version they are doing, or if they are adding any songs.

In summary, a reasonable season. Three shows it will be good to see again, and one “eh” but tolerable. No shows that are new to me, but that’s getting harder to do. I’m sure we’ll renew, and we’ll likely move from the balcony to the mezzanine (the balcony is getting too steep for my wife and her mom to handle). Right now, we’re the penultimate performance the last Saturday at 8pm. We might change that to the first Sunday matinee or the 2nd Saturday matinee if the wife and M-I-L prefer. We moved to Saturday night to accommodate our daughter, but going back to the Saturday matinee could impact the occasional So Cal Games Day, or impact seeing a Saturday night show.

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Saturday News Chum: Comments, Porn, Jewish Costumes, Harvey House, Dylan, and DirecTV

Yesterday I was actually able to tie a number of articles about unexpected change together — you did read it, didn’t you? Today, no such luck. So here goes…

• Dearth of Comments. As someone who writes long blog posts, I always wonder if people didn’t read them. After all, we’re in the TL;DR generation — people only comment on short Facebook posts, tweets, and tumbled pictures, right? Andrew Ducker on LJ alerted me to an interesting article on this phenomenon: The Guardian publishes stats on the size of their commenting community. It turns out that only a small percentage of readers comments, and of that small percentage, the comments are dominated by a small number of posters. So, if you read news articles and always see the same crazies, that’s why. That’s also probably why those of us with blogs see so little comments, or it’s always the same folks. So c’mon, join the commenting pool. It’s less frightening than a delurk week.
• Growing Up in Porn. There was a very interesting article in the SF Chronicle about Liberty Bradford Mitchell, the daughter of one of the Mitchell Brothers (of porn fame) on what it was like to grow up in an environment where there was porn all around. She turned out pretty well, and it is interesting how her environment shaped her world view. Hint: the shaping came less from the porn, and more from the 1960s hippie outlook.
• Wearing a Costume. A post on weirdjews on LJ alerted me to an interesting set of costumes at Walmart. These include (stereotypical) grand rabbis, Jewish mothers, Jewish high priests, and various Orthodox garb. Odd to see this reduced to caricature, but if the Simpsons can do it. Related to this was an interesting take from the Kveller blog: What’s a Jewish Costume?
• Harvey House. I always love to visit Union Station downtown, and look at the Harvey House that is seemingly frozen in time. Perhaps not for much longer… Union Station is seeking an operator for the restaurant space.
• Protecting Copyright. An interesting article from NPR on copyright in Europe, and why it is prompting people like Bob Dylan to do limited release of music from the vaults… in order to extend copyright 20 years. Ah, the law of unintended consequences.
• Prices Going Up. Lastly, something that doesn’t surprise me: DirecTV to Increase Prices an Average of 4.5% Starting in February.

 

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along The Road (on cahighways.org) as this entry by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link below; you can sign in with your LJ, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. There are currently comments on the Wordpress blog. PS: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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