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🎭 Worth and Beauty in All Things | "Real Women Have Curves" @ Casa 0101

2026-04-26T20:26:02Z

Back in July 2025, there was a very interesting episode of Planet Money about garment works, and the costs of making a garment in America. You can read the transcript here. Garment work is piece work (although legally they should be making up the difference between that and minimum wage), with workers being paid perhaps 30¢ a piece for the various parts, for a bra that might retail for $62. To earn a living, they often bring work home. Many of these workers are immigrants, and many are undocumented. When we buy a cheap T-shirt that was made overseas, we never think about the working conditions of the people that made it. When we buy a “Made in the USA” garment, we don’t think about the people who make that garment for us: who assemble and sew it, who manufacture the fabric. People who get paid pennies for a garment we pay hundreds for.

All of this went through my mind last night when we went to see the play Real Women Have Curves, at the theatre founded by its author, Josefina López many many years ago. Although this property has been around for a while, I’ve never seen it: I haven’t been to a production of the play, nor have I watched the subsequent movie version. I have listened to the cast album to the recent Broadway musical version, and I hope someday to see that. Perhaps more on that later.

Real Women Have Curves tells the story of five women working in a small garment factory operation, seemingly in East Los Angeles. A mother (Carmen), her older daughter (Estela), her younger daughter (Ana), and two friends (Pancha and Rosali). They live their lives in fear of the immigration authorities (although all but Estela are now here legally). They have little money, as their operation hasn’t been paid for the last order as they delivered late, and that payment won’t come until they finish the next large order. The owner of the shop, Estela, is being on the payments for the machine and the courts are coming after her (which is why she hasn’t started the immigration paperwork). Despite all these problems, they are happy and hopeful that they will be able to move forward. The protagonist of the story even hopes to be a writer some day, if she can afford to go to NYU. As all workers do, they gossip about their love lives, their opens and fears. They are realistic about their size and joke about it. They are also tired from the heat, but cannot open the door because of the immigration fears. When one worker collapses, they worry if they will get the order finished.

Although written in the late 1980s, the play makes many comments that are relevant today. Certainly, the issue of garment workers being underpaid and exploited is as relevant today as it was in the 1980s. In the play, they comment about how they might make $30 for a dress that sells for $200; the Planet Money article shows those ratios are still holding. They also comment that most of the folks buying garments don’t understand the work that goes into the making of the garment, while those who do the work can see the evidence of the sweat and labor that goes into it. The play also comments on how society views women and their bodies, and the chase for women to be young and beautiful and thing. It makes explicit comments about seeing the beauty in real bodies, with realistic sizes, and all the scrapes, bumps, scars, and cellulite that comes from a life well lived. It that, the play presaged the monologues that resonated so much in the movie Barbie about society’s unrealistic expectations about women. Lastly, an overriding theme of the play is the fear of la migra — immigration authorities — taking people and disappearing them with little notice. This hasn’t changed; under the Trump administration it has gotten worse. I’ve listened to someone recent podcasts that detail the horrors that ICE is inflicting on people and the fear it creates, as well as the damage that the tear gas they use inflicts. The fear was real then, and the fear is real now, and those pushing the agenda forget that these are just real people, doing the low paid jobs that most folks don’t want to do but need to be done. Politics builds up the fear and hides the people; this play makes us see the people and the impacts. In that, this is a vitally important play today, just as it was when it first came out.

The performances were outstanding. Stefany Arroyo, a recent graduate, was wonderful as Ana, brining a joy and delight (as well as realism) to the role. In a small theatre like this, you could see the real emotions in her face, and it was wonderful. Blanca Araceli was strong as her mother Carmen, and Yasha Alaniz brought an interesting joy to Estela. Rounding out the ensemble was Amy Melendrez as Rosali and Laura Vega as Pancha. These two made you really believe that they were friends. The direction by Corky Dominguez demonstrated he was familiar with the play, and knew how to bring out the characters as real.

The set (designed by César Retana-Holguín) was realistic; my wife noted that they were using real industrial sewing machines (powered by imagination), set up properly. Costumes also appeared realistic and appropriate for the time. I appreciated the makeup work that deemphasized existing skin art, which was less prevalent in the time of the play.

Overall, this was a wonderful play: it now makes me want to watch the movie, and I increasingly hope someone mounts the recent musical (which, alas, didn’t do well in a crowded Broadway season and thus didn’t mount a tour). Hopefully, a local theatre company will choose to produce the musical (I’ve heard rumors this might be happening, which makes me happy). But until that happens, we’ll have to be satisfied with this excellent production of the original play.

Go see this show. Casa 0101 needs your support, and seeing this production is a great way of doing it. This is our fourth show at Casa: We saw a bilingual production of Aladdin ages ago, as well as Remembering Boyle Heights and Sister Act. They bring talent and heart to all their shows, and we need to remember to go there more often (and a hint — go down a few blocks and have dinner at Casa Fina beforehand, which was started by Josefina López as well). Real Women Have Curves is yet another example of the excellent productions at Casa 0101, and the story it tells is perhaps more important today as when it was first written in 1988. The show continues through May 3, 2026, and there are both English and Spanish versions. More information is available through the Casa 0101 website, although I seem to recall it may be sold out through the rest of the run.

Next up at Casa 0101 is Soul Sacrifice, running May 29 – June 21, 2026. The synopsis is: “Nine-year-old Connie doesn’t know what to do about her world falling apart. Her older brother, Luie, has been drafted into the Vietnam War, her father is drinking, her mother spends hours praying, and her siblings, Ben and Rachel, respond differently. Ben is protesting while Rachel’s focus is on Victor, who’s also been drafted, filling their home with tense silences and raised voices. Set against the backdrop of Vietnam and the Chicano Movement, Connie watches her family unravel under the weight of war, activism, grief, and ultimately witnesses the resilience of family.” More information here.

Credits

Real Women Have Curves. Written by Josefina López. Directed by Corky Dominguez. Produced by Emmanuel Deleage.

Cast (^æ indicates members of Actors Equity): Stefany Arroya Ana; Yasha Alaniz^æ Estela; Blanca Araceli^æ Carmen; Amy Melendrez Rosali; Laura Vega^æ Pancha; Mariana Montes Sandoval u/s Estela / Carmen / Pancha ; Gabriela Machuca u/s Ana / Rosali.

Production and Creative: Josefina López Casa 0101 Artistic Director / Playwright; Emmanuel Deleage Producer / Executive Director; Corky Dominguez Director; Angelica Ornelas Stage Manager; Joy V. Diaz Asst Stage Manager; Doreen Sanchez Asst Stage Manager; Andy James Garcia Prop Manager; Alejandro Parra Lighting Designer; Miguel Angel Delgado Sound Designer / Technical Director; César Retana-Holguín Scenic Designer; Jeremiah Ocañas Set Construction; Tony Iniguez Costume Designer; Abel Alvarado Asst Costume Designer; Itzel Ocampo Graphic Designer / Marketing & Operations Manager; Edward Padilla Casting Director; Steve Moyer Public Relations Press Representative; Mark Kraus Development Director; Karla “Ojeda” Melendez Program Administrator; Jorge Villanueva Facilities Manager; Oscar Basulto Box Office Manager.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; BIH/Pantages; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

Key: ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

May: ♦ Falstaff at LA Opera; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Fat Ham at Black Reperatory Theatre (St. Louis) ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
July: ♦ Mexodus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ The Wizard of Oz at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ If/Then at Chromolume Theatre.
August: ♦ Beauty and the Beast at BIH/Pantages;

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 Worth and Beauty in All Things | "Real Women Have Curves" @ Casa 0101 by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🎭 The Clash of the Old and New | "Flower Drum Song" @ East West

2026-04-20T22:13:50Z

Revisals. The process where the book of a musical (and occasionally a play) is reworked to update the story, potentially remove problematic or outdated material, and to fix things that really didn’t work. Sometimes these reworks are light, such as the rework of Sweeney Todd to have the actors play their own instruments or dramatically downsize the set of players, or the rework of West Side Story to include more lyrics in Spanish. Sometimes they are more significant, such as the rework of Cats that is currently on Broadway: Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Sometimes they are successful, and sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes they change very little, and yet are very controversial. An example of this is the recent revival of Oklahoma, which was a stripped down version of the musical that retained all the words, but made the presentation much darker. There were those who got what was being done and loved it. There were those that hated it.

Oklahoma brings us to the second relevant aspect of this little discourse: Rogers and Hammerstein. The main stage shows of this dynamic duo fall into three groups (I’m excluding the two shows done primarily for the large and small screen: State Fair and Cinderella). There are the shows that became clear classics: Oklahoma, South Pacific, and The Sound of Music. There are the shows in the middle that are problematic today for various reasons: The King and I, Carousel, and Flower Drum Song. Lastly, there are the shows that are rarely performed today, and that were generally not all that successful: Allegro, Me and Juliet, and Pipe Dream.

The first tier of shows seem frozen. With the exception of the aforementioned Oklahoma, there haven’t been attempts to radically revisit these shows to expose unseen aspects. The Sound of Music is currently on tour; I don’t expect the staging to be any different from the regional production I saw last year at 5-Star Theatrical, or the versions one sees in a community theatre. What can you do with The Sound of Music? How do you improve on that show? South Pacific is similar: there are a few more stereotypes in that show, but those are accurate for the time, and the point made by that show remains applicable.

The last tier of shows are begging for rework and revival. Allegro was the most successful of the bunch, but really hasn’t been revived except for one Encores version. Similarly with Pipe Dream. All need rework to fix the problems that doomed them in the first place.

This brings us to the middle tier. The King and I suffers from a major stereotype problem: Although the music is beautiful, the portrayal of the Siamese kingdom is offensive today both in the style of speech and how the people are viewed. It also is deeply entrenched in the “white savior” problem, and that may be incurable. Carousel has a major problem with domestic violence against women. Although the story is strong, it would likely require rework to be acceptable today. That leaves Flower Drum Song. FDS was successful when first released, but over time has become a problem. The penultimate show by the duo, it suffered from a very stereotypical view of the Asian-American community (not surprising, as it was written by two white guys), and has not aged well. The movie version wasn’t a classic, and the show has seen few revivals due to the portrayal problem. Read the summary of the 1958 plot on Wikipedia, and the problems become clear.

According to Wikipedia, after seeing the mid-1990s revival of The King and I, playwright David Henry Hwang got the idea to rework and revise FDS with proper representation. It took a few years, but a revised version hit Los Angeles and then Broadway in 2002. There was a complete rework of the plot, retaining only character names, most of the music, and the ultimate points of the musical about the clash of old and new cultures. It had mix reviews and wasn’t successful (although I liked the album, but didn’t see the show). You can read the summary of the 2002 plot on Wikipedia. I think the new story generally works well.

This brings us to 2025. East West Players chose to include Flower Drum Song as the last show in their 2025-2026 season (which immediately caught my eye, and I grabbed tickets as soon as I could). This version would be yet another rework by David Henry Hwang of the 2002 rework. It finally hit the stage this week, and after two cancelled preview performances due to technical issues, it opened for preview performances Saturday. We saw the second preview performance Sunday evening. It officially opens Thursday. So note: Some of my observations may be overtaken by events, and some things we saw may have been adjusted by opening.

In terms of story, about 85 to 90% of the 2002 story remains.

The ending coda has completely changed, but luckily they retained having the cast state where they are from (something I loved on the cast album). I did notice a number of lyric changes from the original show, and even a few from the 2002 revival. I like the new ending quite a bit.

Skip this paragraph if you want to avoid a spoiler: According to Wikipedia, the ending in 2002 was “Ta leaves Club Chop Suey and the two become street performers as Chao departs for Hong Kong. Harvard announces his intention to return home and attempt a reconciliation with his disappointed parents. Despite his irritation at Ta, Wang allows him to marry Mei-li at the club (which now features Ta’s Chinese opera one day a week), as the company celebrates how Chinese and American cultures have converged to create this happy moment.” The updated show has the double wedding as the ending still. However, most of the main characters move to Los Angeles — and in fact, it is implied that Ta and Mei-li start a theatre company in Los Angeles that eventually becomes East West Players. Harvard remains in San Francisco, and turns the club into a successful gay Asian nightclub to provide visibility for yet another segment of the Asian community.

As this was a preview, there were a few problems but no stopping of the show. In the first act, as the headdress was being removed from Linda Low’s head, it caught on her hair pulling off her wig. As she tried to recover it flew in the face of the actor next to her. The actors handled the problem quite well, and the humor played well with the audience. I wouldn’t be surprised if that problem doesn’t become part of the show. In the second act during “Don’t Marry Me”, the problem of using real food arose: one actor was still chewing when it was time for his song cue. Again, this was handled professionally (with a little humor) and worked well. Such is the fun of a preview, and actually added to the enjoyment of the show.

Overall, the reworked version of the show did a great job of illustrating the problems of the Asian immigrant experience in the 1950s and 1960s, where white culture saw them as a stereotype created by movies (e.g., Mickey Rooney playing Japanese) and media. It was characterized in the show as the impossibility of being 100% Asian or 100% American. The updated epilogue does a better job of showing the transition of the Asian-American community.

Performances were strong throughout. My wife loved the performance of Scott Keiji Takeda as Ta (the son), in particular his voice. I loved Grace Yoo’s Mei-Li, especially watching her facial expressions. Krista Marie Yu was strong as Linda Low, and Kenton Chen seemed to be having great fun playing it up as Harvard. Emily Kuroda captured the humor of Madame Liang well; similarly, Marc Oca did a great job as the father, Wang, capturing the change from the traditional to the nightclub performer. Lastly, it is always a joy to see Gedde Watanabe on stage.

The ensemble was strong, playing multiple role and singing and dancing up a storm. I can’t speak to the authenticity of the dance moves, but they were fun to watch.

Staging was simple. Thankfully, there were no projections, and no confetti gun. There were a few tables and such as props, and appropriate background signs and such. They established location quite well. The costumes were effective and beautiful. There were a few sound problems, but that’s not a surprise in a preview performance where the sound is still being tuned and the performers are still adapting to the microphones.

About my only complaint with the show was the program: For all the credits included, there was no credit and bio for Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Although older audiences know who these folks are, the “kids” today likely have little idea — and especially, they may not know anything more about them than Oklahoma or The Sound of Music.

My wife summed it up best as we were leaving, and talking to Emily Kuroda who played Madame Liang as we walked to our cars: This was one of the best productions we’ve seen in a long time, both in terms of story and performance. It continues at the Aratani Theatre next to the JACCC through May 31. Tickets are available through the EWP website. Go see this show.

Credits

Flower Drum Song. Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by David Henry Hwang, based on the original book by Hascar Hammerstein II and Joseph Fields, which was based on the novel by C. Y. Lee. Directed by Lily Tung Crystal^*. Choreographed by Lainie Sakakura^* and Janelle Dote Portman.

Cast: (^æ indicates members of Actors Equity): Cooper Lee Bennett Chao; Kenton Chen^æ Harvard; Emily Kuroda^æ Madame Liang; Marc Oka^æ Wang; Scott Teiji Takeda^æ Ta; Gedde Watanabe^æ Chin; Grace Yoo^æ Mei-Li; Krista Marie Yu^æ Linda Low; Joven Calloway^æ Ensemble, u/s Harvard; Ethan Yaheen-Moy Chan Ensemble, u/s Ta, u/s Chao; Ijay Espinoza Ensemble; Sierra Goria Ensemble Swing; Sally Hong^æ Ensemble, Dance Captain, Ms. Lee; Tony Jin Ensemble Swing; Brian Shimasaki Liebson^æ Ensemble; Esther Lee^æ Ensemble, u/s Linda Low; Emma Park Ensemble; Gemma Pedersen Ensemble, u/s Mei-Li, u/s Linda Low; Hillary Tang^æ Ensemble; Ai Toyoshima^æ Ensemble; Haoyi Wen Ensemble; Paul Wong^æ Ensemble, u/s Chin, u/s Wang. Gedde Watanabe^æ performs Chin from Apr 16-May 10 and May 17-31. Paul Wong^æ performs Chin and Ethan Yaheen-Moy Chan performs Ensemble from May 11-17. Joven Calloway^æ performs Harvard and Tony Jin performs Ensemble on May 23.

Music Department; Marc Macalinta Music Directior, Conductor, Keyboards; Don Sebesky Orchestrations; David Chase Musical Adaptation; Richard Berent Asst Music Director, Keyboard; Robert Elhai Additional Arrangements; Ian Dahlberg Reed 2; Vincent Reyes Guitars; Casey Lipka Bass; Phil Moore Reed 1; Rebecah Yeh Cello; Christopher Spilsbury Drums / Percussion; Avery Robinson Trombone; Peter Marcos Violin; Richie Francisco Trumpet.

Production and Creative (^* Member of Stage Directors and Chroeographers Society; ^¤ Member of United Scenic Artists 829): David Henry Hwang Book; Richard Rodgers Music; Oscar Hammerstein II Lyrics; Lily Tung Crystal^* Director; Lainie Sakakura^* Choreographer; Janelle Dote Portman Choreographer; Jamie Guan Beijing Opera Choreographer; Chen-Wei Liao^¤ Scenic Designer; Jiyoun Chang^¤ Lighting Design; Ruoxuan Li Costume Design; Brian Hsieh Sound Design; Naomi Kasahara Properties Design; Y. Sharon Peng Hair and Makeup Design; Darlene Miyakawa^* Production Stage Manager; Annie Jin Wang Dramaturg; Shinshin Yuder Tsai Intimacy Director; Mara Palma Asst. Director / Directing Fellow; Patrick Chew Cultural and Language Consultant; Katie Adams Asst Scenic Designer; Ruth Araujo Asst Costume Designer; Antonia Yang Asst Lighting Designer; Maddi Deckard Asst. Sound Designer; Kevin Dajay Asst Props Designer; Sarah Albee Asst Choreographer; Nora Degreen Asst Choreographer; Grace Mori Asst Beijing Opera Choreographer; Brandon Hong Cheng^æ, Jaclyn Gehringer, and Bonifacia-Erlinda Montaño Asst Stage Manager; Sally Hong^æ Dance Captain; Ai Toyoshima^æ Asst. Dance Captain. Robert Longbottom Original Direction and Choreography.

Small Print: FLOWER DRUM SONG is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, www.concordtheatricals.org. Produced on Broadway by Benjamin Mordecai, Michael A. Jenkins, Waxman Williams Entertainment, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum/Gordon Davidson/Charles Dillingham, with Robert G. Bartner, Dragotta/Gill/Roberts, Kelpie Arts/Dramatic Forces, and by arrangement with The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

Key: ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

April: ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101.
May: ♦ Falstaff at LA Opera; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
July: ♦ Mexodus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ The Wizard of Oz at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ If/Then at Chromolume Theatre.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 The Clash of the Old and New | "Flower Drum Song" @ East West by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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Life, Examined | "Ride the Cyclone" @ The Main

2026-04-12T23:04:52Z

If your life ended suddenly tomorrow, what would be remembered? What would you remember? Would you be remembered? What impact would you have made?

These are the questions posted by the musical Ride The Cyclone, which we saw yesterday at The Main in Santa Clarita (Newhall), and which continues for one more weekend. The story, narrated by the mechanical fortune teller Karnak (who has the ability to predict a person’s time and means of death, which who has been set to family friendly fun mode) tells the story of the St. Cassian High School chamber choir of Uranium City, Saskatchewan. When the choir visited Karnak, even though he knew it would cause their death, his “family friendly mode” instead told them their lucky number, and that they should “Ride the Cyclone”. Their mistake. A part failed, the ride failed, and they all died. They entered into a limbo, along with a headless”Jane Doe” who was found in a choir uniform. Karnak informs them they are all to have a little contest, where one will win the prize: Being brought back to life. The show then proceeds to have each tell their life, with a bit of narration by Karnak, until the winner is chosen.

I never realized it before, but this show is a variation on Cats. This show has less dancing, but has a better plot, better music, and much darker humor.

I won’t spoil the details of the character’s stories, but if you want you can read the Wikipedia summary. I discovered the show through the cast album, which is great. When I subsequently found a production, I made arrangements to see the show and it was well worth it.

This show was mounted at The Main, an 81-seat black box operated by the City of Santa Clarita, in the space that was formerly Rep East Playhouse. A moment of silence for The Rep. We still miss that place.

Being at this small of a theatre with a community based, non-Equity cast and a small budget means the scenery was simple. But for the small budget, the talent was generally strong. Sadie Kate Gibson was outstanding as Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg, with a strong singing voice and a great humor that came across well. Jonah Deocariza was equally strong as Constance Blackwood. Also notable was Ty Pierson’s Noel Gruber, who was spectacular in their song. The choreography worked well in the small space. I also enjoyed Jeff Frame’s Karnak and the sardonic way he brought across the humor.

As I just came from the science fair, some places for improvement: Some of the characters spoke a little too fast, making it hard to figure out what they were saying. Sanya Arnold had a lovely voice as Jane Doe, but at point it didn’t seem to blend as well as it could (a clash between a more operative voice and musical theatre style). However, that could have been intentional.

This was a really fun show, and I liked the dark humor. It makes some interesting statements about what we do with our life, both in our dreams and what we do. It raises good questions: What makes a life lived one that was worth living? What impacts do we leave? It is probably not appropriate for small children.

Ride the Cyclone continues at The Main though April 19, 2026. Tickets are available through Eventbrite. I’ll note the team behind this show is doing a production of Every Brilliant Thing in September. Every Brilliant Thing is currently on Broadway with Daniel Radcliff, to be followed by Mariska Hargitay. So if you don’t mind seeing it with a local performer, that’ll be your chance.

Credits

Ride The Cyclone: The Musical. Book, music, and lyrics by Jacob Richmond and Booke Maxwell. Originally produced by Kevin McCollum and Morris Berchard. Directed by Jeff Frame. Choreographed by Jonah Deocariza.

Cast: Sanya Arnold Jane Doe; Danny Barrios Ricky Potts; Jonah Deocariza Constance Blackwood; Sadie Kate Gibson Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg; Liam Johnson Mischa Backinski; Ty Peirson Noel Gruber; Jeff Frame Karnak.

Music Department: No credits. Presumably prerecorded.

Production and Creative: Jeff Frame Director; Jonah Deocariza Choreographer; Sadie Kate Gibson Vocal Director; Kyndal Zakarian Stage Manager; Kasey Smith Asst Stage Manager; Kristi Frame Costumes; Haileigh Frame Props; Billy Davis Set Design; Phil Lantis Lighting Design; Aidan Frame Light Tech; Lindsay Gibson, Walker Gibson, & Jeremy Thompson Sound Techs; Shannon Bouknight Scenic Artist; Haileigh Frame Promotional Material Design. Presented by Outpost Media.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

April: ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101.
May: ♦ Falstaff at LA Opera; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
July: ♦ Mexodus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ The Wizard of Oz at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ If/Then at Chromolume Theatre.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Life, Examined | "Ride the Cyclone" @ The Main by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🎭 A Family Business | "Kim's Convenience" @ CTG/Ahmanson

2026-04-05T03:18:59Z

Let me start out by saying that we don’t have Netflix. We’ve long used DirecTV Satellite, and have so much backed up on the DVR to watch we’re not switching. We’ve dabbled in the streaming (Paramount+, for Star Trek), but that’s about it. Given all the price increases we’re reading that Netflix is doing, we’re likely not to be subscribing for a while either.

Why do I mention this? Because Kim’s Convenience is evidently a Canadian sitcom on Netflix, and unlike much of the world, we’ve never seen it. It was evidently based on an original play by Ins Choi, which we hadn’t seen either. Well, until this afternoon at the Ahmanson.

Let’s just say that seeing the play makes me want to see the series. However, it doesn’t make me want to see it enough to pay Netflix prices. Eventually, these Netflix “exclusives” will show up elsewhere, I’m sure, as companies attempt to monetize their catalogs. So, for those folks (like us) who are not Netflix folks: Seeing this show is one way to get a taste of Netflix without that continual monthly charge.

Kim’s Convenience is a touching and warm story about a Korean family running a small family store in Toronto. Along its journey, it touches upon the issue of families and all their disagreements, on the generational passing of a family business when the next generation has other plans, on Black-Korean relations, and how family can bring things together. It wasn’t what I expected: When I saw an old man running a convenience store, I was expecting something darker with crime and theft and violence, but that just wasn’t there. Perhaps if the story had been set in America; this was a Canadian story after all.

The cast was very strong; this isn’t surprising as most of the cast is the original cast of the original play. Alas, at our performance we didn’t get playwright Ins Choi in the lead, but his alternate James Yi was wonderful in the role. Brandon McKnight did a great job of portraying a large number of different characters, and I really enjoyed the facial expressions of Kelly Seo’s Janet.

The staging was simple: A single-set well-stocked convenience store (I wonder what they are going to do with all the products afterwards?). Industrial lighting, except for a few scenes. Other than stocking the story, this is likely something that can be done at the regional or school level, if it is ever released for licensing.

I really don’t have much more to say, other than this was a delightful show that we really enjoyed. Go see it.

Kim’s Convenience continues at The Ahmanson Theatre through April 19, 2026. Visit the show page to get tickets.

Lastly, the Ahmanson Theatre announced their 2026-2027 season last week. Not quite the touring blockbuster of the Broadway in Hollywood season, but still quite good. I also predicted right, guessing that both Oh, Mary and Boop! The Musical would end up at CTG. The One CTG subscription package is (1) The Turning (Taper, 9/2-10/11/25); Oh Mary! (Ahmanson, 11/10-12/10/26); Destiny of Desire (Taper, 11/11-12/20/25); Christmas Carol Goes Wrong (Ahmanson, 12/12/25-1/10/26); Fiddler on the Roof (Yiddish) (Ahmanson, 2/13-3/14/26); John Proctor is the Villain (Taper, 3/17-4/25/26); August Wilson’s Fences (Taper, 5/26-7/3/26); and Boop! The Musical (Ahmanson, 7/6-8/1/26). The CTG:FWD add-ons are The Music Man, Riverdance 30-The New Generation, Dogman: The Musical, and Clue. When I initially blocked dates on the calendar (in the current season, we were the 1st Saturday at the Ahmanson, and the 6th Saturday at the Taper), there were some bad conflicts: Two shows were on the same day, and one show would have had us running from at DTLA matinee to a 730p show in Thousand Oaks. Luckily, CTG learned: According to the subscriber line, subscribers in our group are now the 1st Saturday at the Ahmanson, and the 3rd Saturday at the Taper. Much better. There is currently only one bad conflict, and that involves moving the Pantages show to accommodate a show at the Soraya. We’ll have a couple of runs from DTLA to either the Soraya or the Pantages, but those are doable. We’re on auto-renewal, so I shouldn’t have much to do other than add Riverdance to the mix.

One other season comment: Could the theatres please stagger their season subscriptions. Broadway in Hollywood hit last month. CTG this month. I just got emails from the Pasadena Playhouse and the Soraya about renewing our memberships there. When these all hit at the same time, especially if there are not payment plans, it can overload the pocketbook.

Credits

Kim’s Convenience. Written by Ins Choi. Directed by Weyni Mengesha.

Cast [underscores indicate “at our performance”; ~~strikeouts~~ indicate “not at our performance”; ↑ indicates “swung up”]: ~~Ins Choi~~ James Yi Appa; Kelly Seo Janet; Esther Chung Umma; Ryan Jinn Jung; Brandon McKnight Rich, Alex, Mr. Lee, Mike. Alternates and Understudies: ↑ James Yi Appa Alternate; Frank Chung Jung u/s; Ngabo Nabea Rich, Alex, Mr. Lee, Mike u/s; Rosie Simon Janet/Umma u/s.

Production and Creative: Weyni Megesha Director; Ins Choi Author; Joanna Yu Set Design; Ming Wong Costume Design; Wen-Ling Liao Lighting Design; Fan Zhang Sound Design; Nicole Eun-Ju Bell Projection Design; David S. Franklin Production Stage Manager; Angela Mae Bago Asst Stage Manager; Michelle Blair Asst Stage Manager; Aaron Jan Asst Director; Becca Trimbur Company Manager; Pemberly Productions Tour General Manager. The set, props, paint, and costumes for this production were built by the Soulpepper Theatre Company artists in Toronto, ON, CANADA.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

April: ♦ ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101. NOTE: We need judges for the California Science and Engineering Fair. If you have a degree in the sciences and are available to judge April 12 at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, sign up to judge here.
May: ♦ Falstaff at LA Opera; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
July: ♦ Mexodus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ The Wizard of Oz at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ If/Then at Chromolume Theatre.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 A Family Business | "Kim's Convenience" @ CTG/Ahmanson by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🚘 Headlines About California Highways – March 2026

2026-04-01T20:45:36Z

No fooling! It’s time for another headline post. Although I’m posting this on April Fool’s Day, there are no “fool” headlines buried herein — after all, these headlines cover March 2026, not April. Then again…

2026 marks the 30^th Anniversary of the California Highways website. The changelog for 1996 shows the first “official” changes in October 1996, although it notes that “Changes before early 1996 were not specifically noted, although this site, in various forms, dates back at least as far as 1992, and possibly as early as 1986. Searching on Google Groups uncovers an early posting of the state highway list in December of 1992 to the Usenet Group ca.driving. In 1995, there was a posting of the highway list in response to a question, showing a last modified date of 1994. By October 1996, postings were being made showing the existence of the California Highways page off of Pacificnet. The earliest capture of the site on the Wayback Machine is in December 1998.” So welcome to the 30^th Anniversary year, or perhaps the 40^th Anniversary year, of California Highways! Speaking of the website, I’m pleased to announce that the January-March updates to the California Highways website have been posted.

With respect to the podcast: Season 4 is written and recording is proceeding apace. We’re planning a few bonus episodes that don’t take as much research and writing; after which I’ll turn my attention to Season 5, covering Routes 15 through 23. I particularly like ep 4.12, which covers the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley, using the first segment of Route 14 as the starting point. Zencaster is working well for recording the podcast. I think it sounds better, but I would love to hear from the listeners. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-80 folks, and I’d love to get that number up, although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). You can help our listening audience grow. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episodes have been posted this month:

March | CA RxR 4.08: Route 12: Sonoma and Napa. Episode 4.08 is the first of three episodes focusing on Route 12. We start by exploring LRN 12, which we visited before in our episodes on Route 8, for LRN 12 became I-8 between San Diego and El Centro. We then look at Sign Route 12 and Route 12, which are mostly the same route… except, of course, in the first segment where they differ in routing between Route 1 and US 101. Episode 4.08 focuses on the first two segments of Route 12, which covers the portions between Route 1 near Valley Ford or Jenner through Sebastapol, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Napa, and into Cordelia. Episode 4.09 will cover Route 12 from I-80 near Suisan City through the Sacramento Wetlands to Lodi and Route 99. Lastly, Episode 4.10 will cover Route 12 from Route 99 to the Sierra Foothill and San Andreas, where it meets Route 49. As usual, we’ll cover historical routings, projects, and names along the route. (Spotify for Creators)
March | CA RxR 4.09: Route 12: Crossing the Wetlands. Episode 4.09 continues our exploration of Route 12 through an exploration of the middle section of the route: From Fairfield/Cordelia through the “Drive to Stay Alive” corridor, on through the wetlands of Rio Vista, and into the central valley and Lodi. We explore the big change in routing that happened in Rio Vista. We also look at some major projects within this segment, as well as some of the interesting names. We also review LRN 12, which we visited before in our episodes on Route 8, for LRN 12 became I-8 between San Diego and El Centro. Our exploration of Route 12 will conclude in Episode 4.10, which will cover Route 12 from Route 99 to the Sierra Foothill and San Andreas, where it meets Route 49. (Spotify for Creators)

As a reminder: One of the sources for the highway page updates (and the raison d’etre for for this post) are headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. I collect them in this post, which serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, and so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my ~~highway-obsessed~~ highway-interested readers.

One last point of personal interest: For over 20 years, I’ve been a judge at the California Science and Engineering Fair. This is the state level fair for all those Middle and High School science fairs, that bubble up to their county fairs, than then make it post those fairs to the state level. This year, the CSEF is on Sunday April 12 at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks. We always need judges in a wide variety of scientific and engineering categories. So if you are working the in the field of science or engineering, consider volunteering to be a judge. I’ll be there, probably running the Jr. Mathematical Sciences panel. We do get highway related projects: Last year’s winner in our category was a kid that used cellular automata to model traffic on I-405.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for March 2026.

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. ＄＄ paywalls require the use of archive.ph. ☊ indicates an primarily audio article. 🎥 indicates a primarily video article. 🎩 indicates hat/tip to someone for finding this article. ]

Highway Headlines

Metro Committee Approves Additional Early Construction Funding for Union Station Run-Through Tracks (Streetsblog Los Angeles). This week the Metro Construction Committee approved an additional $210 million for early construction work on the long planned Union Station run-through tracks project, called Link US. Metro already had allocated about $300 million for early Link US construction already underway; this ups the “pre-construction” phase to a half-billion dollars. If you’re completely unfamiliar with LinkUS, watch SBLA’s short explainer video. Since opening in 1939, Union Station has operated with inefficient stub-end tracks. Essentially trains nose into the station, then have to reverse to get out. Metro estimates that fixing this will increase Union Station capacity from 180 to 278 trains daily and reduce train dwell times from ~20 minutes to ~5 minutes – greatly benefitting riders on Metrolink, Amtrak, and future CA High-Speed Rail. Link US is a huge undertaking which includes building a new bridge over and along the 101 Freeway. The initial phase is anticipated to cost roughly $2.3 billion.
☊ Untangling the 101/92 interchange and what it means for the Peninsula (WheelTalk). The Highway 101 and 92 interchange is one of the busiest and most complex transportation hubs in the Bay Area — and it’s also the focus of several major projects that often get confused with one another. In this episode of Wheel Talk, we break down three distinct transportation efforts connected to the interchange and surrounding communities, each with its own purpose and timeline. First, we look at a safety and bottleneck improvement project already underway, designed to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow through known trouble spots. Caltrans Public Information Officer Jeneane Crawford explains what drivers can expect during construction and how success will be measured. Next, we examine a proposed direct connectors project that could link Highway 92 with the 101 express lanes. Still under review, this proposal has raised important community questions. San Mateo County Transportation Authority Director of Project Delivery Jess Manzi responds to public concerns and clarifies where the project stands today.
Steel-weld inspection and plate repairs continue on Carquinez Bridge (The Bay Link Blog). Caltrans continues to perform essential steel weld inspection project weld inspections and repairs on the Carquinez Bridge. The work is critical to maintaining the ongoing structural integrity of the bridge. Carquinez Bridge closures are expected to continue through March.
＄ New Highway 101 carpool lane hours take effect in Sonoma, Marin counties after unpopular September shift (Press Democrat). If commuters on Highway 101 in Sonoma and Marin counties are feeling a bit whipsawed these days, that’s understandable. For the second time in six months, crews for California’s transportation department recently finished updating signs displaying a new set of carpool lane hours for that 52-mile corridor. As of Monday, revised signs announced that the latest high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane hours are 6 to 9 a.m. in the morning and 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the evening, in both counties, in both directions, Monday through Friday. This latest iteration represents a retreat from the HOV lane hours unveiled by Caltrans – to widespread condemnation – on Sept. 8.
＄＄ SANDAG outsources troubled highway toll collection [🎩 andy3175] (San Diego Union Tribune). San Diego’s regional planning agency is largely walking away — for now — from its controversial management of local toll roads, after years of billing-software problems that led to scathing audits and millions in legal costs. The San Diego Association of Governments is set to ink a contract with two Orange County transit agencies that will hand them control of the billing and financial systems for the tolled section of state Route 125 in the South Bay and toll lanes on Interstate 15 in North County. The move could save the agency more than $2 million a year, its staff said. On Friday, SANDAG’s board unanimously backed the new contract with the Transportation Corridor Agencies, or TCA, which consists of two different agencies that oversee four Orange County toll roads, as well as handle the billing system for tolled lanes on Interstate 10 in San Bernardino County.
State Route 168 Shaver Lake Viaduct Project (FB/Caltrans Central Valley District 6). The Department of Transportation (Caltrans), in cooperation with Viking Construction, announces the State Route 168 Shaver Lake Viaduct Project in Fresno County to begin April 2026. This project would construct a two-lane viaduct structure on a new alignment on State Route 168 along a section of Shaver Lake shoreline, in Fresno County, from Post Mile (PM) 49.1 to PM 49.5.

( Read more... )

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🎭 The Ministry of Silly Theatre | "Spamalot" @ Pantages/BIH

2026-03-29T19:56:07Z

Just as with movies, there are some theatre shows that are worth seeing again and again, and there are some that are one and done, unless there’s some extenuating circumstances. The “Bridges of Madison County”? It never caught my attention that much, and I’m not sure I’d see it again unless it was part of a season. Most Sondheim shows? I’ll see those again and again, because there are often new interpretations. Things like “Hamilton” or “Wicked”? Possibly, if there is sufficient time between the last time I saw the show or something different. Often, what prompts seeing a show again is a reimagining or a unique venue: For example, the recent “A Color Purple” at Chromolume was interesting to see again because the company was taking a show that was intended for a large theatre and doing it in a 74 seat black box. Similarly, “The Play That Goes Wrong” at 5-Star was interesting as it was a regional theatre production, vs. a community theatre (Canyon Theatre Guild) or a tour (Ahmanson). On the other hand, I’m not all that interested in “The Sound of Music” tour coming to the Pantages: I’ve seen it innumerable times, at all level of theatres, and there are really no new reinterpretations of the productions. You turn your brain off to the story, and just watch the performances. It is a showcase for up and coming talent, and not much more.

This brings us to Spamalot, which was saw last night at the Pantages/Broadway in Hollywood. We last saw this in 2009 at the Ahmanson, when I wrote:

I should also note that I don’t believe this is a show that will have a long future of revivals. I’m not sure the Python-bits are that timeless, and the parodies of other shows will become less funny as time goes on. Rarely do you see the topical humorous reviews such as “New Faces of 1952” or “Parade: A Musical Review” (the one by Jerry Herman) revived, no matter how good the material. Combine that with some of the unique technical projection requirements of this show (which cuts out the high school half life)… and my conclusion is that you should see this tour now. I’m not sure we’ll be seeing it in 2020 (whereas we might see “The Producers”).

So why did we see it again? Well, primarily because it was part of the season. But as it got closer, we were looking forward to it. It was a reliable source of laughter, and that’s something we all need these days. This production was the tour-mounting of the 2023 Broadway revival. It’s been a long time since we last saw it, and there haven’t been all that many local, community, or regional productions. What did I think of it? All things in good time.

If you’re not familiar with Spamalot, here’s how I described it back in 2009:

One group that was popular [in my high school days, i.e., the 1970s] in my circles was a comedy troupe known as Monty Python. Their BBC program (or should that be programme), Monty Python’s Flying Circus, was just hitting PBS in the US at that time, as was their movie, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail (“Monty Python’s Life of Brian” hit while I was in college). We watched those shows and those movies again and again. And again. And again. And again. Eventually we got so we could recite the jokes and scenes in our sleep. You could just say, “the dead parrot sketch”, and folks would know what you meant.

I note this all as background, because today we went to go see “Monty Python’s Spamalot” at the Ahmanson Theatre. As the cover states, Spamalot is “lovingly ripped off” from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” with the nibbly bits of “Life of Brian” tossed in. The show features book and lyrics by Eric Idle, and music by Eric Idle and John DuPrez, based on a screenplay by Monty Python. The story is roughly that of “Holy Grail”: Arthur gathers his knights together and goes looking for the Grail. You can find a full synopsis in the Wikipedia entry, but suffice it to say that all the favorite and expected Python bits are there: killer bunnies, cow catapults, farting French, gay jokes, cocoanuts, arguments about swallows, the Black Knight, etc. There are also other bits thrown in that are various parodies of the musical theatre biz, from the ethnicity of successful show producers, to parodies of numerous shows and composers. In the end, everyone finds their grails, and the show ends with a group sing-along.

Therein lies the success of the show, and theirin lies the problems. If one is a neophyte to Monty Python, the recycled bits are likely uproareously funny. If one is a rabid Python fanboy or fangirl, the bits are mandatory… and uproareously funny. If you are someone familiar with Python and to whom repeated humor become less laugh-out-loud the more often you hear the joke, the Python bits become checkmarks on a page. However, this is not to say the show isn’t funny: what saves the show is the new material. Although some is weak (the whole notion of Laker Girls as the cheering squad for the Lady of the Lake, the eventual Queen Gueneviere), some of it is spot-on, in particular, “The Song That Goes Like This” (which is a Phantom of the Opera parody), “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” (which is a parody of “Fiddler”, and arguably a parody of every Mel Brooks musical), and “I’m All Alone”. Other songs, although drawn from the Python canon, are very well executed and enjoyable, in particular “I Am Not Dead Yet” and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. Our production had an extremely cute topical number inserted about Sarah Palin to the tune of Frère Jacques. I also enjoyed Patsy’s line near the end, but I won’t give it away. So overall the show is enjoyable, and you walk away humming tunes. I guess that’s the meaning of success… even without Jews.

Watching the production in 2026, the recycled bits for one familiar with the show are less funny, but they were still interesting with respect to the audience reaction. The audience was anticipating them, and interacting with them: an it was that interaction that was funny. There was the extra applause that the favorite bits were reached. There was the audience calling out to the actors. Spamalot has become a participation show, and that adds to the fun. I can imagine that something similar will happen in the new Broadway revival of Rocky Horror.

The other thing that makes this show worthy of repeat is that it isn’t the same show as in 2009. Whereas, as noted above, there were jokes about Sarah Palin in 2009, those jokes were gone in this production. There were a few Trump jokes, and many more topical references inserted into the show. A recent interview with Eric Idle in the LA Times noted that he is constantly tinkering with the show to improve it. The show also has places where the fourth wall is broken, and places where improvisation is explicitly encouraged (for example, I’m sure the renaming of the Knights that say “Ni” is improvised each night to befuddle the actor that plays King Arthur). This improvisation keeps the show fresh and keeps the actors on their toes (and is something you never see in a static movie).

So this show was thoroughly enjoyable, made even better by the excellent tour cast. Major Attaway, as King Arthur, honed his skill doing the Genie in Aladdin. You could clearly tell he was having fun with this performance, especially with his facial expressions and reactions. He felt comfortable enough in the role to play with it, and this is the type of show that encourages that play (contrast this, for example, with Hamilton, which is very tightly scripted and choreographed with no changes possible). Attaway was having fun playing off his compatriots in crime, Sean Bell as Sir Robin, Steven Telsey as the Historian, Blake Segal as Patsy, and Leo Roberts as Galahad. Adding to this insanity was Amanda Robles as the Lady of the Lake, who was having fun with her diva role. She’s a bit more constrained, as she can’t adlib the music, which requires orchestral coordination, but she was still able to keep up with the fun (especially in the closing sequences).

On the whole, the combination of this cast and the improvisation and the updating of the bits made this a really enjoyable remounting.

There were, however, some complaints. My primary complaint is the overdependence on projections. I understand that projections reduce the cost of Broadway productions, and make possible some scenes that can’t be done otherwise (the travel scenes in Anastasia come to mind). But overdependence on projections can make shows impossible to mount outside of the original tours and Broadway productions as local and regional theatres don’t have the means to duplicate the projections, nor the budgets to implement real sets to replace them. In the case of this production of Spamalot, the castle sets and projections were spectacular, but overdone. I understand the need for the projection of God, as that was done in the Python animation style. But much of the other projections were clearly cost saving, such as the torches during the “Dennis” scene, or the storms or sunlight or backgrounds and such. The tendancy seems to be to use projections to replace stage-craft magic. It does save cost; the environmental savings are unclear dependent on how much the LCD sets are reused. But something is lost, and it does make some jokes fall flat. A good example of this is the opening joke at the start of Act II about being lost in a very expensive forest set. Well, that doesn’t work when your forest is primarily a projection on a screen used throughout the show.

I must also insert my usual note about the confetti cannon. I think Spamalot deserves the blame for introducing this in 2009. Nowadays, every show seems to think they need a confetti cannon to show non-recyclable shit into the audience. Whereas it made a nice conclusion at the end of the sing-along originally, it has become overdone.

The confetti cannon is an example of what I call the sustainability problem in both theatre and movies. Think about all the sets that get constructed for the movies, that then get tossed out (at least sitcom sets are often reused). Stage sets last longer, but tend to see less reuse other than flats (which are repainted). Projections, for all my hate, at least are somewhat sustainable. But confetti cannons are often an example of needless waste: they don’t advance the plot, and they make a mess of typically plasticized bits that are then just tossed into a landfill. If you’re going to shoot something into the audience, shoot popcorn. At least it is biodegradable.

But those are minor complaints. This was a really fun show, with great performances. Sound and lighting was strong. Folks should really go see it — the touring cast is just awesome.

Our performance was also during the twice-a-year fundraising periods for Broadway Cares – Equity Fights AIDS. Again, the cast had quite a bit of fund with the fundraising call, inserting their own humor and playfulness in the appeal for what is a serious organization. They even auctioned off a pair of cocoanut shells autographed by Eric Idle. We go to such much theatre that we typically get the “red buckets” at least twice a year (I think they fundraise around Easter and Thanksgiving). The organization is good and we always donate. You should too. This time, they even had the credit card readers working; this is much better than the QR code as you don’t have to fill out the forms.

Spamalot continues at the Hollywood Pantages (Broadway in Hollywood) until April 12, 2026. Go see it. Tickets are available through the BIH website.

P.S.: Broadway in Hollywood has announced their 2026-2027 season, and it is strong. The season is WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (Sep. 8 – 27, 2026); THE OUTSIDERS (Sep. 30 – Oct 18, 2026); THE WHO’S TOMMY (Oct. 27 – Nov. 15, 2026); BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (March 9 – 28, 2027); OPERATION MINCEMEAT (March 30 – April 18, 2027); MAYBE HAPPY ENDING (May 4 – 23, 2027); THE GREAT GATSBY (June 1 – 20, 2027); and DEATH BECOMES HER (July 6 – 25, 2027). The add-ons are HAMILTON and THE LION KING. Only one retread in the bunch (Tommy). I do fear that this means the 2027-2028 season will be weak. I expect that Oh Mary will go to the Ahmanson, and possibly Boop as well. That just leaves Just In Time and possibly Boop for 2027-2028. Many of the other shows from the season closed early and aren’t likely to tour (Dead Outlaw, Smash, Redwood, Queen of Versailles), and other recent shows just haven’t announced tours (in particular, Real Women Have Curves - The Musical, Illinoise and How to Dance in Ohio). Some of these might show up at the Ahmanson, which does actually mount local productions, but not at the Pantages which only books tours. As for other stuff on tour (see here and here): there’s not much else, other than possibly Heathers or Hamnet (which would go to the Ahmanson). There’s also not a lot of new stuff coming to the current Broadway season to feed the tour market. So 2027-2028 may be a weak season. Expect Wicked and Chicago to return :-). Perhaps some local theatre will decide to mount Real Women Have Curves – The Musical or Dead Outlaw. One can hope.

Credits

Monty Python’s Spamalot. Book and lyrics by Eric Idle. Music by John Du Prez & Eric Idle^*. A musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail from the original screenplay by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes.
^*: According to the fine print, although most music and lyrics are © 2005 by Eric Idle d/b/a Rutsongs Music and John Du Prez d/b/a Ocean Music, there are some exceptions. Notably, songs from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: “Finland”, with music and tyrics by Michael Palin, “Knights of the Round Table” with music by Neil Innes and lyrics by Graham Chapman and John Cleese; “Brave Sir Robin” with music by Neil Innes and lyrics by Eric Idle, and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, with music and lyrics by Eric Idle from Life of Brian.

Cast [underscores indicate “at our performance”; ~~strikeouts~~ indicate “not at our performance”; ↑ indicates “swung up”]: Major Attaway King Arthur; Sean Bell Sir Robin, Guard 1, Brother Maynard; Chris Collins-Pisano Sir Lancelot, The French Taunter, Knight of Ni, Tim the Enchanter; Ellis C. Dawson III Dennis’ Mother, Sir Bedevere, Concorde; Leo Roberts Sir Galahad, The Black Knight, Prince Herbert;’s Father; Amanda Robles The Lady of the Lake; Blake Segal Mayor, Patsy, Guard 2; Steven Telsey Historian, Not Dead Fred, Baby, Nun, Mime, Minstrel, Prince Herbert, Bunny; Lindsay Lee Alhady Ensemble; Delany Benson Ensemble; Connor Coughlan Ensemble; L’ogan J’ones Ensemble; Graham Keen Ensemble; Claire Kennard Ensemble; Ben Lanham Ensemble; Nathaniel Mahone Ensemble; Meridien Terrell Ensemble. Swings: Jack Brewer, Maddie Mossner, Emilie Renier, Mark Tran Russ

Music Department (♯ indicates local): Jonathan W. Gorst Music Director, Conductor, Keys 1; John Bell Music Supervision and Additional Arrangements; David Lai Music Coordinator; Glen Kelly Music Arranger; Larry Hochman Orchestrator; Shan Ffrench Assoc. Music Director, Keys 2; Brandon Wong Drums; ♯ Jen Choi Fischer Violin; ♯ Jeff Driskill Alto Sax, Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet; ♯ Aaron Smith Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Piccolo; ♯ Nick Daley Trombone; ♯ Michael Abraham Guitar (Electric/Nylon String Acoustic), Banjo, Ukulele; ♯ Michael Valerio Bass (Acoustic/5-String Electric); ♯ Alby Potts Keyboard Sub; ♯ Eric Heinly Orchestra Contractor; Randy Cohen Keyboards LLC Synthesizer Programming; Josh Clayton Music Preparation.

Production and Creative: Eric Idle Book, Music, Lyrics; John Du Prez Music; John Rhodes Director, Choreographer; Paul Tate Depoo III Scenic and Projection Design; Jen Caprio Costume Design; Cory Pattak Lighting Design; Kai Harada Sound Design; Haley Parcher Sound Design; Tom Watson Hair and Wig Design; Derek Kolluri Assoc Director; Michael Fatica Assoc Choreographer; Emilie Renier Dance Captain, Fight Captain; Jack Brewer Asst Dance Captain; Ray Wetmore & JR Goodman Production Props Supervisors; Patrick Mulryan Dialect Coach; Geoff Josselson Casting Casting Director; Sightline Productions Production Management; Matthew Brooks Production Stage Manager; Anna K. Rains Stage Manager; Dani Berman Asst Stage Manager; Elaina Z. Kaehler Asst Stage Manager; James Neal Company Manager; RCI Theatricals General Manager; Bond Theatrical Tour Booking, Marketing, & Publicity; The Social Team Social Media.

Fine print credit items: For some reason, the credits include a shoutout to Ohio, The Heart of It All, even though there is no obvious connection to Ohio. Spam is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods LLC.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101. NOTE: We need judges for the California Science and Engineering Fair. If you have a degree in the sciences and are available to judge April 12 at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, sign up to judge here.
May: ♦ Falstaff at LA Opera; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
July: ♦ Mexodus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ The Wizard of Oz at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ If/Then at Chromolume Theatre.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 The Ministry of Silly Theatre | "Spamalot" @ Pantages/BIH by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🛣 Changes to the California Highways Website for January-March 2026

2026-03-27T15:11:01Z

Before we start on the update: 2026 marks the 30^th Anniversary of this website. The changelog for 1996 shows the first “official” changes in October 1996, although it notes that “Changes before early 1996 were not specifically noted, although this site, in various forms, dates back at least as far as 1992, and possibly as early as 1986. Searching on Google Groups uncovers an early posting of the state highway list in December of 1992 to the Usenet Group ca.driving. In 1995, there was a posting of the highway list in response to a question, showing a last modified date of 1994. By October 1996, postings were being made showing the existence of the California Highways page off of Pacificnet.The earliest capture of the site on the Wayback Machine is in December 1998.” So welcome to the start of the 30^th Anniversary year, or perhaps the 40^th Anniversary year, of California Highways!

This update covers January, February, and March 2026. Before we dive into the updates to the California Highways site, an update on the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Podcasters, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcaster or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Podcasters). The following episodes have been posted since the last update at the end of 2025:

March | CA RxR 4.08: Route 12: Sonoma and Napa. Episode 4.08 is the first of three episodes focusing on Route 12. We start by exploring LRN 12, which we visited before in our episodes on Route 8, for LRN 12 became I-8 between San Diego and El Centro. We then look at Sign Route 12 and Route 12, which are mostly the same route… except, of course, in the first segment where they differ in routing between Route 1 and US 101. Episode 4.08 focuses on the first two segments of Route 12, which covers the portions between Route 1 near Valley Ford or Jenner through Sebastapol, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Napa, and into Cordelia. Episode 4.09 will cover Route 12 from I-80 near Suisan City through the Sacramento Wetlands to Lodi and Route 99. Lastly, Episode 4.10 will cover Route 12 from Route 99 to the Sierra Foothill and San Andreas, where it meets Route 49. As usual, we’ll cover historical routings, projects, and names along the route. (Spotify for Creators)
February | CA RxR 4.07: Route 11: From Pasadena to the Border. In Episode 4.07, we examine Route 11. We’ll start by exploring LRN 11, which was essentially the first state highway, running from Sacramento to Placerville, later extended to run from Antioch to the Nevada State Line near Lake Tahoe. Today, it is primarily US 50 with a bit of Route 160. We then explore the original Sign Route 11, which was LRN 165 and LRN 205, and is today’s Route 110. It was also US 60, and is perhaps better known as the Harbor Freeway and the Pasadena Freeway / Arroyo Seco Parkway. We explore the history and various routings of Sign Route 11, including the history of the Figueroa Tunnels. Lastly, we explore the current Route 11, which is a short route near the Mexico border that connects the San Diego Freeway System (Route 905/Route 125) to the Otay Mesa East port of entry. (Spotify for Creators)
January | CA RxR 4.06: I-10: San Bernardino Freeway. Episode 4.06 continues our exploration of Route 10. Episode 4.05 covered the first segment of Route 10: The Santa Monica Freeway between Route 1 and the I-5/US 101 junction. This episode, 4.06, covers the second segment of Route 10, from US 101 to the Arizona Border. Along the way, we explore the former I-110 segment, Route 10S, and do a deep dive into the US highways that shaped this segment of I-10: US 60, US 70, and US 99. We explore the historical routing of those highways across this segment. We also look at some of the names on the highway, and current projects along the highway. (Spotify for Creators)
January | CA RxR 4.05: I-10: Santa Monica Freeway. With Episode 4.05, we turn our attention to Route 10. This first episode on Route 10 starts with an exploration of the 10^th route (the last ordinal route we’ll do), which was the Emigrant Gap Highway, and became the basis for LRN 37. This became part of the Lincoln Highway, then US 40, and is now part of I-80 from Sacramento to Nevada. We look at LRN 10, which became Route 198 from US 101 near San Lucas to Sequoia National Park. We then explore Sign Route 10 (which we discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county), which ran from US 101A to US 101, later becoming Route 42 and US 101 Bypass, and eventually I-105 and I-5. Lastly, we turn to post-1964 Route 10, which is today’s I-10. In this episode, we focus on the first segment: “From Route 1 in Santa Monica to Route 5 near Seventh Street in Los Angeles”, which is today’s Santa Monica Freeway. We look at its origins as Sign Route 6, which became Sign Route 26 along LRN 173, LRN 166, and LRN 171. We focus on LRN 173 (LRN 166 and LRN 171 were discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county, as well as our episode on Route 6), which was Olympic Blvd. We explore the history of the Santa Monica Freeway segment, the experiments tried along this highway, some significant projects along this segment, and some significant names on this segment. (Spotify for Creators)

Turning to the updates to the California Highways pages: Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the (virtual) papers and my research for the fourth and fifth seasons of the podcast in January, February, and March 2026 (which are posted to the roadgeeking category at the “Observations Along The Road” and to the California Highways Facebook group) as well as any backed up email changes. I also reviewed the the AAroads forum (Ꜳ). This resulted in changes on the following routes, with credit as indicated [my research^(ℱ), contributions of information or leads (via direct mail or ꜲRoads) from andy3175⁽²⁾, ClassicsHasClass⁽³⁾, Tom Fearer [Max Rockatansky]⁽⁴⁾, Mike Palmer⁽⁵⁾, Will Poundstone⁽⁶⁾]: Route 1^(ℱ), Route 2^(ℱ), Route 4^(ℱ,4), I-5^(ℱ), Sign Route 7^(ℱ), Route 9⁽⁴⁾, I-10^(ℱ), Route 12^(ℱ), Route 14^(ℱ,6), Route 16^(ℱ), Route 24^(ℱ), Route 26^(ℱ), Route 28^(ℱ), Route 34^(ℱ), Route 37^(ℱ), Route 47^(ℱ,5), Route 49^(ℱ), US 50^(ℱ), Route 57^(ℱ), Campus Parkway/Route 59⁽⁴⁾, Route 60^(ℱ), Route 71^(ℱ), Route 74^(ℱ), I-80^(ℱ), Route 82^(ℱ), Route 84^(ℱ), Route 90^(ℱ), Route 91^(ℱ), Route 92^(ℱ), Route 93^(ℱ), Route 99^(ℱ), US 101^(ℱ), I-105^(ℱ), Route 118^(ℱ), Route 125⁽²⁾, Route 134^(ℱ), Route 138^(ℱ), Route 140^(ℱ), Route 168^(ℱ), Route 180⁽⁴⁾, I-210^(ℱ), I-215^(ℱ), Route 211^(ℱ), I-215^(ℱ), Route 217^(ℱ), Route 241^(ℱ), Route 255^(ℱ), Route 260^(ℱ), US 395⁽³⁾, I-405^(ℱ,6), I-580^(ℱ), I-680^(ℱ), I-710^(ℱ), I-880^(ℱ), LRN 7^(ℱ), LRN 77^(ℱ), LRN 221^(ℱ), County Sign Route E15^(ℱ), El Camino Real^(ℱ).
(Source: private email through 3/19/2026, Highway headline posts through and including the March 2026 Headline post (up to “Fifth Street” (HL) and “Douglas Flat” (GN)), AARoads through 3/27/2026)

Completed work on Season 4, and started work on Season 5, of the Route by Route podcast. Research for and preparation of the episodes posted or written during this period resulted in changes and updates to the following routes: I-10, Route 12, Route 13, Route 14, Route 49, Route 110, Route 112, Route 123, Route 260, I-980, LRN 8, LRN 9, LRN 10, LRN 11, LRN 12, LRN 13, LRN 14, LRN 24, County Sign Route J5.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the California Legislature site, for bills through 2026-03-20. As usual, I recommend to every Californian that they visit the legislative website regularly and see what their legis-critters are doing. As many people are unfamiliar with how the legislature operates (and why there are so many “non-substantive changes” and “gut and amend” bills), I’ve added the legislative calendar (updated for 2026) to the end of the Pending Legislation page. This is early in the even-numbered year session, so there’s a lot of introduction of placeholder bills, and a lot of amending of those placeholder bills (and bills that remained active from the previous year). Noted the passage of the following bills / resolutions (I also identified a number of errors in bills and resolutions, and submitted comments as indicated):

ACR 71 (Kalra) Little Saigon Freeway.
Designates the portion of US 101 in the County of Santa Clara from Story Road (SCL 34.224) to the junction with Route 280 and Route 680 (SCL 34.873) as the “Little Saigon Freeway”. In August 2025, it was noted that Santa Clara leaders had shown support for the proposal; see here.02/20/26 Chaptered by Secretary of State – Res. Chapter 4, Statutes of 2026.

Reviewed the online agenda of the California Coastal Commission for the January through March meetings. The following items were of interest:

February: Agenda Item W12a. February 2026 Appeal No. A-1-MEN-25-0050 (Caltrans Gualala Downtown Streetscape Project, Mendocino County). Appeals by (1) Save Gualala, and (2) Bower Limited Partnership from decision of County of Mendocino granting permit with conditions to the California Department of Transportation District 1 for the Gualala Downtown Streetscape Enhancement project that proposes to reconfigure approximately 0.5 mi. segment of Route 1, removing on-highway parking and installing two-way left turn lanes, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, pedestrian refuge islands, crosswalks, activated flashing beacons, drainage, landscaping, and other improvements from post mile 0.6 to 1.0 in unincorporated Gualala, Mendocino County. (AS-A)
February: Agenda Item W13a. February 2026 Application No. 1-25-0828 (Caltrans Albion River Bridge Repair and Maintenance, Mendocino County). Application by the California Department of Transportation District 1 to repair and maintain the Albion River Bridge through replacement in-kind of 53 deteriorated timber scabs and inspection and potential replacement of at least three split ring connectors and one mole claw connector located at the base of the timber towers, all located above the Albion River within the Caltrans right of way on Route 1, Mendocino County. (MP-SF)

I checked California Transportation Commission page for the agenda and results of the January and March 2026 meetings of the California Transportation Commission. As always, note that I tend not to track items that do not impact these pages — i.e., pavement rehabilitation or replacement, landscaping, drainage, culverts, roadside facilities, charging stations, or other things that do not impact the routing or history, unless they are really significant. As such, the following items were of interest:

( Read more... )

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🎭 Finding Hope in Straight Crooked Lines | "Here Lies Love" @ CTG/Taper

2026-03-22T15:37:07Z

Many years ago, I got the off-Broadway cast album for Here Lies Love, a musical about Imelda Marcos by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim. I fell in love with the last song on the album, “God Draws Straight”. In my mind, I thought it was about LGBTQ stuff, similar to “God Don’t Make No Trash” from bare. Well, yesterday afternoon we saw Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper Forum, and I came to realize the song means something different—something more timely. It means that building a more just and democratic society can be done, but it isn’t a straight path. There are fits and starts, and sometimes you go the wrong direction, but if you persevere and keep protesting and fighting, you will reach your goal.

This musical was written in 2010, and didn’t open Off-Broadway until 2013. This was long before the rise of Donald Trump. Yet the musical hits today as something very timely: the behavior of Ferdinand Marcos in office is very similar to the behavior of Trump. Abusing democracy, grabbing power, using the military against citizens, disappearing people. The key difference is that Melania shows no interesting in personally taking power (thankfully). “God Draws Straight” concludes on a hopeful note, but alas recent history hasn’t borne that out, with Duterte‘s rise to power, and then the election of BongBong Marcos, Imelda and Ferdinand’s son. But the parallels remain.

This is the first regional production of Here Lies Love in Los Angeles, after an initial Broadway run in 2023. This production reimagines the story from a disco to a noontime Philippine TV show hosted by a drag-queen, still telling Marcos’ story. It also retains a controversial aspect from the original production: recorded music. I became suspicious of this in the program, where in an interview with Byrne, he talks about «”track acts” in dicos, live disco sets with backing tracks where artists would perform karaoke version of their hits». I also noted that there were no credits for the musicians in the program: only a music director and a music producer. I agree with the Broadway Unions somewhat here: Theatre requires live performance, and if at all possible, live music (I make some exceptions for intimate theatres that have neither space nor budget). If you are going to do recorded music, at least have the courtesy to record and acknowledge the musicians that performed the music for the recording.

The concept of the musical is entertaining, and does a great job of educating people about the history of the Marcos regime in the Philippines (similar to the way Evita educates about the rise of the Peron Family in Argentina). The fear is that the upbeat and pop nature of the musical masks the actual terror and fear of those that had to live under the regime, and potentially makes Marcos appear to be a better person than she was. This is a form of historical whitewashing (or, to use a less charged term, gaslighting), similar to the whitewashing that has taken place about the People Power Revolution. Luckily, the program for the show helps one to see through the glitz to the reality. As I write this, I realize the parallel to the change that CTG made in this production: the drag queen narrator provides a similar façade: a face of glitz and glamour, with something different underneath. In a world of those who would be authoritarian and who would grab and take power, the truth and the reality doesn’t matter. What is important is the façade, the image, the story created by the media. As noted before, this musical speaks well today.

The performances were top-notch, with an incredibly large cast for the small Taper space. We had an understudy in the narrator position of Imeldific, Steven-Adam Agdeppa. Steven-Adam was wonderful, showing the transition from the glitz to the man under the glitz. Reanne Acasio was a very strong Imelda, and Josua Dela Cruz was a great Ninoy Aquino. Carol Angeli stood out as Estrelia Cumpas, Imelda’s nanny and childhood friend. Also notable, although I can’t tell from the program which ensemble member she was, was the ensemble member who played Cory Aquino, Ninoy’s wife. She just had a look that drew my eye to her. The ensemble members were interesting to watch, especially the facial expressions and their interactions with the audience. I’ll note that this show is very audience-interactive; it is not a proscenium-stage show that plays to a passive audience.

I should also note: There is no mention of Imelda Marcos’ shoe obsession; the only hint is at the beginning when she is given her first set of heels to replace her flats. I’ll also note that the term “Imeldific”, which is used as the name of the drag-queen in the show and is a Philippine adjective meaning «”anything exaggeratedly ostentatious or in bad taste”, referring to clothing, architecture, décor, etc.» is something that could equally be well-applied to Trump’s taste and decorating style. Parallels upon parallels indeed. Perhaps the media needs to start using the term Imeldific to describe Trump.

The story of Marcos is told in Here Lies Love generally in a sung-through fashion. Although there are small snips of dialogue, most of the story comes through the dance numbers and the projections on the upper screen. We brought our binoculars, but sometimes focusing on watching the faces and the dancers meant that we missed some of the story on the projections.

The show also contains my current pet peeve: Confetti that drops from the ceiling. There is no real story need for this other than the glitz. It creates plastic that just gets thrown away, which is horrid for the environment. We need to push back against this trend (and I know I’ll see it next week at Spamalot).

Overall, we really enjoyed this show. We learned a lot of history, realized a lot of (scary) parallels, and were entertained through the performances. Yes, I did tear up when “God Draws Straight” started; it just hits that way. If you can get tickets, I recommend the show. Tickets should be available through the CTG website.

Credits

Here Lies Love. Concept, music and lyrics by David Byrne. Music by Fatboy Slim. Choreography by William Carlos Angulo. Directed by Snehal Desai.

Cast [underscores indicate “at our performance”; ~~strikeouts~~ indicate “not at our performance”; ↑ indicates “swung up”]: Reanne Acasio Imelda Marcos; Joan Almedilla Aurora Aquino; Carol Angeli Estrella Cumpas; Joshua Dela Cruz Ninoy Aquino; Sarah Kay Maria Luisa; ~~Aura Mayari~~ Steven-Adam Agdeppa Imeldific; Chris Renfro Ferdinand Marcos. Ensemble: ~~Steven-Adam Agdeppa~~, Kayla Amistad, Kelvin Co, Joanne Javien Coudriet, Audrey Lyn Crabiño, Jefflorenz Garrido Garrick; Goce Macatangay, Danielle Louise Mendoza, Justine Rafael, ↑ Hayden Rivas, Ryan Salazar. Swings: ↑ Hayden Rivas, Johnisa Almariya Breault, Zandi de Jesus.

Music Department: Joe Cruz Music Director. Jennifer Lin Music Director; Justin Levine Music Producer, Vocal Arrangements; Matt Stine Music Production, Additional Arrangements. No credit is provided for the actual musicians.

Production and Creative: David Byrne Concept, Music, Lyrics; Fatboy Slim Music; Snehal Desai Director, CTG Artistic Director; William Carlos Angulo Choreographer; Hayden Rivas Dance Captain; Arnel Sanciaco Scenic Designer; Jaymee Ngerwichit Costume Designer; Marcella Barbeau Lighting Designer; Brian Hsieh Sound Designer; Yee Eun Nam Projection Design; Kaleena Jordan Wig, Hair, and Makeup Design; Ely Sonny Orquiza Dramaturg; Janelle Dote Portman Assoc. Director; U. J. Mangune Assoc. Choreographer; Jill Gold Production Stage Manager; Miriam E. Mendoza Stage Manager; Jihee Jenny Park Stage Manager; Kimberly Grigsby Vocal Arrangements; Justin Levine Vocal Arrangements; Michael Donovan CSA Casting; Richie Ferris CSA Casting; Joseph Pinzon Casting Consultant; Jimmy Elinski Drag Queen Costume Specialist.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

Some interesting shows that have caught my eye. Wisteria Theatre is doing Reefer Madness: The Musical (in April), as is Long Beach Playhouse (in October/November). Wisteria was overpriced for a black-box; I might look into Long Beach’s production (but have to factor in the drive). Ebony Rep is doing Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the end of May into June. I love the show, but the prices are a bit high and I’m still trying to decide. I have a hold on the calendar. Casa 0101 is doing the play version of Real Women Have Curves from the end of March into May. Conundrum Theatre is doing a bunch of shows, but notably Big Fish in December 2026. And, as noted earlier, the Colony Theatre is doing Catch Me If You Can in the September/October 2026 timeframe. I’ll look into ticketing the fall shows once I know the CTG Season, to prevent conflicts. Broadway in Hollywood has announced its 2026-2027 season, and it is spectacular. The only major shows missing are Oh Mary, Boop: The Musical, and Just In Time. I expect Oh Mary to show up at the Ahmanson, and possibly Boop; Just In Time might be in the following Broadway in Hollywood season as I haven’t seen it announce any tour dates. Perhaps some local theatre will decide to mount Real Women Have Curves – The Musical or Dead Outlaw. One can hope. Lastly, I’ll note Group Rep in NoHo has announced their season, which includes a mounting of Applause in the July-August timeframe. That’s useful if you missed the MTG one-nighter; I haven’t yet decided if I want to see it again (although Group Rep does a great job with older and rarely done musical re-visits).

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

March: MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101. NOTE: We need judges for the California Science and Engineering Fair. If you have a degree in the sciences and are available to judge April 12 at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, sign up to judge here.
May: ♦ Falstaff at LA Opera; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 Finding Hope in Straight Crooked Lines | "Here Lies Love" @ CTG/Taper by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🎭 Third Times The Charm, Right? | "The Play That Goes Wrong" @ 5-Star

2026-03-16T15:46:36Z

Back when you were in high school, you would often get assignments that would have you compare and contrast various things. That particular exercise doesn’t go away, especially if you are an avid theatregoer. After all, how many productions of The Sound of Music will you see over your lifetime? The story doesn’t change: What changes is the execution, and how one particular production team brings that production to life, on a different stage, with different actors. We saw that earlier this weekend with The Color Purple, where we were able to compare and contrast a production of that musical in a 74-seat black box, as compared to the original version on the Ahmanson Stage and the revival version on the Pantages stage.

We had that chance again yesterday with The Play That Goes Wrong, which is being presented for two more weekends by 5-Star Theatricals (nee Cabrillo Music Theatre). Here, the interesting contrast was between the original Broadway tour (which we saw at the Ahmanson in 2019) and a community theatre production (mounted by Canyon Theatre Guild in 2024). Here you have widely varying budgets and actor skill levels, from a Broadway-caliber touring set and a full union cast to a community theatre with no budgets for rentals and a home-grown cast (I won’t say amateur or unskilled, tho, as CTG’s talent pool often draws from local regulars as well as other theatre industry folks, but not AEA). 5-Star is somewhere in the middle: They have the budget to rent reasonable sets (although I miss the days they built their own), have a small number of AEA actors, have a casting team that identifies strong up-and-coming actors (I still remember seeing Katherine McPhee, prior to American Idol, on the Cabrillo Stage leading “Annie Get Your Gun” in 2005), and get strong directors.

First, some background to this particular play. As I wrote back in 2019:

The premise of The Play That Goes Wrong is a simple one: an amateur British theatre company, the Cornley University Drama Society, has been afforded the honour through a British-American Cultural Exchange Program of presenting a play on tour in America: The Murder at Haversham Manor, written by Susie H.K. Brideswell. Unfortunately, during the production, everything that can go wrong during the production does. Miscues. Misplaced props. Non-cooperating sets. Bad actors. Technology issues. Trying to summarize the story is pointless — the story exists only to provide a framework for the mayhem, and the mayhem is so rapid-fire that trying to describe it is (a) impossible, and (b) would destroy the humor.

The Play That Goes Wrong is a farce. Farce exaggerates things, with broad stereotypical characters, often intentionally bad acting, and extremely tight timing. Perhaps the best known example of a farce is the play Noises Off. The problem with farce is that repeat viewing often destroys the humor as you become aware of the intentional missteps. Some find the humor fresh each time; some find it diminishes. I’d avoid seeing the same farce too frequently; if you do, look for what is fresh and new in the execution.

The good news is that 5-Star has found an extremely strong cast (more on that in a sec), with a strong director that was able to bring out their playfulness. They got the timing right (or is that wrong?). They hit the humor beats, and were able to bring their own flair to the production. The bad news is that 5-Star didn’t strongly commit to the conceit of the show. I remember that the community CTG had flyers in the bathrooms and around the theatre about the missing dog (it is a plot beat in the story). They had a fake program within the real program about the Cornly University Drama Society play, with fake bios of the characters on the stage, and fake ads that had real working websites. 5-Star missed that little extra (which, truthfully, would not have cost a significant amount). Those who have seen this farce before would notice. For the T.O. audience that was new to this play, perhaps they might not; but that little extra does add to the humor.

Setting that aside, the execution was flawless (although it seems wrong to say that when discussing a play whose purpose is for everything to go wrong). They did have the pre-curtain schtick, with audience involvement. They did play with the usual opening announcements. The show was entertaining and funny, with appropriate overacting and missteps.

In many ways, the “star” of TPTGW is the set. Alas, here 5-Star didn’t take the risk of building their own set (as Canyon TG did). They rented it from Studio Tenn Theatre Company, which meant the set was shipped from Tennessee, where Studio Tenn is located. The set worked well and supported the requisite antics. Renting vs. building takes away the fun of seeing whether the company can execute the tight set building needs. As with intentional overacting, intentionally building a set (and props) that are designed to fail is an art. The rental set did that just fine; I just missed the extra local touch. However, I will note that set rental is better environmentally as set reuse prevents that large amount of waste that comes after the show ends.

Where this production shines is in the casting and the direction. Director Larry Raben brought out the playfulness in the cast, which was a mix of local and AEA talent. He got the timings precise, and knew when to play up the comedy moves to bring out the laughs. All of the cast was strong, but there were some notable highlights. The first was Gabi Manoukian as Annie, one of the stage managers. In her stage manager role, she conveys a sufficient back-stage personality to make the later uncomfortable transition to actor believable. She’s fun to watch in the opening sequences, and her closing transformation is just great. Adam Hagenbuch knocked it out of the park, both in his early portrayals of the dead Charles Haversham and his final portrayals as the same character. Justin Michael Wilcox was a strong Chris/Inspector. I particularly liked his audience interaction early on, and his (apparent) ab-libbing at points as things go awry. John Shartzer was great as Max, the seeming neophyte actor who played to the audience reaction. Hell, all of the cast was really strong, and each deserves recognition.

Should you go see this? Probably. About the only caveat might be if you’ve seen a lot of productions of TPTGW, simply because you know the beats. Still, even in that case, this is worth seeing because of the flawless execution by this cast. The Play That Goes Wrong continues at the Scherr Forum at the Bank of America Thousand Oaks Plaza Theatre, presented by 5-Star Theatricals, until March 29, 2026. Tickets are available through the 5-Star website.

Credits

The Play That Goes Wrong. A Mischief Theatre production. Written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer. Directed by Larry Rabin.

Cast (^æ denotes members of Actors Equity): Timothy Willard Trevor Watson – Lighting and Sound Operator; Justin Michael Wilcox^æ Chris Bean – Inspector Carter & Director; Adam Hagenbuch^æ Jonathan Harris – Charles Haversham; Mark Gagliardi^æ Robert Grove – Thomas Colleymoore; Travis Joe Dixon Dennis Tyde – Perkins; Lyndsi LaRose Sandra Wilkinson – Florence Colleymoore; John Shartzer^æ Max Bennett – Cecil Haversham; and Gabi Manoukian Annie Twilloil – Stage Manager. Swings: Noah Kaplan, Smantha Lawrence-Mata, and Calaway Swanson.

Production and Creative: Larry Rabin Director; Coby Rogers Asst. Director; Olivia Riddle^æ Production Stage Manager; Morgan McDonald^æ Asst. Stage Manager; Cody Tellis Rutledge Scenic Designer; Studio Tenn Theatre Company Set Rental; Brandon Baruch Lighting Design; Jonathan A. Burke Sound Design; Julia Pinhey Asst Sound Design; Isa Underdahl Sound Mixer; Alex Choate Tech Director/Prop Design; Jacob Holcombe Asst Prop Design/Crew Chief; Gail Garon Costume Design; Luis Martinez Wig and Hair Design; EK Dagenfield Production Manager; Michael Donovan Casting Director; Richie Ferris Casting Director; David Elzer Publicity; Fresh Interactive Marketing; Cindy Murray Executive Director/Producer. Also worthy of note for this production is the 5-Star crew: Destin Washington-Wolfe, Sierra Armstrong, and the Stage Crew: Cameron Probe, San Dyck Forum Technical Supervisor; Finn Traxler Forum Lighting; Ben Blonigan Forum Audio, Form Rail Operator.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

Some interesting shows that have caught my eye. Wisteria Theatre is doing Reefer Madness: The Musical (in April), as is Long Beach Playhouse (in October/November). Wisteria was overpriced for a black-box; I might look into Long Beach’s production (but have to factor in the drive). Ebony Rep is doing Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the end of May into June. I love the show, but the prices are a bit high and I’m still trying to decide. I have a hold on the calendar. Casa 0101 is doing the play version of Real Women Have Curves from the end of March into May. Conundrum Theatre is doing a bunch of shows, but notably Big Fish in December 2026. And, as noted earlier, the Colony Theatre is doing Catch Me If You Can in the September/October 2026 timeframe. I’ll look into ticketing the fall shows once I know the CTG Season, to prevent conflicts. Broadway in Hollywood has announced its 2026-2027 season, and it is spectacular. The only major shows missing are Oh Mary, Boop: The Musical, and Just In Time. I expect Oh Mary to show up at the Ahmanson, and possibly Boop; Just In Time might be in the following Broadway in Hollywood season as I haven’t seen it announce any tour dates. Perhaps some local theatre will decide to mount Real Women Have Curves – The Musical or Dead Outlaw. One can hope. I do know the Segerstrom is doing Curves in Concert on March 20, but we just can’t make it due to the distance and a busy busy March. Lastly, I’ll note Group Rep in NoHo has announced their season, which includes a mounting of Applause in the July-August timeframe. That’s useful if you missed the MTG one-nighter; I haven’t yet decided if I want to see it again (although Group Rep does a great job with older and rarely done musical re-visits).

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

March: ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101. NOTE: We need judges for the California Science and Engineering Fair. If you have a degree in the sciences and are available to judge April 12 at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, sign up to judge here.
May: ♦ Falstaff at LA Opera; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 Third Times The Charm, Right? | "The Play That Goes Wrong" @ 5-Star by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🎭 Inner Strength and Resilience | "The Color Purple" @ Chromolume

2026-03-14T20:18:27Z

Last night, we saw The Color Purple at Chomolume Theatre at the Zephyr. We have a history with both, so a little digression is in order at the start. Watch out for rabbit holes.

We last saw The Color Purple at the Hollywood Pantages in June 2018. That day, we also saw The Story of My Life down the street at the Hobgoblin, a production of Chromolume Theatre as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Little did we know then (or perhaps we did — I can’t remember) that it would be the last incarnation of that iteration of Chromolume: the rest of their season (Jane Eyre, The Musical and Stephen Sondheim’s Passion). We had been Chromolume Subscribers since 2016 when we discovered them with Prez, and enjoyed two great seasons (although Hello Again was strange). In 2018, Chromolume would lose their tenancy at The Attic Theatre in West Adams, and after various kerfuffles, would go quiet until 2025, about 7 years later. Chomolume restarted in 2025 with a season consisting of First Date, I Love You Because, The Bridges of Madison County, Marry Me a Little, and Passion. All of which we had seen, and none of which we cared to see again. In fact, Passion was the last show I saw (at Boston Court) before the pandemic closed everything down. But we’ve always loved the company and what they try to do, and so we resubscribed this season. The Chromolume 2026 season is: The Color Purple, Elegies (HFF), If/Then, and Stephen Sondheim’s Roadshow (a/k/a Bounce). Most we haven’t seen, and for most of them, it is hard to imagine how they would be done in a 80-ish seat black box with no fly or orchestra space. But if any company can do it, this one can: After all, they staged Pacific Overtures in a small black box theatre.

Continuing the story/history lesson: This bring us to 2010, which is when I previously saw The Story of My Life (a two-hander musical that is just beautiful). 2010 was the disastrous year of the Pasadena Playhouse bankruptcy, when subscribers were left with donated tickets. We switched our subscription to the Colony Theatre that year; Colony later had its own financial troubles, went dark, and is slowly coming back. The Pasadena Playhouse has also returned strong: winning a regional Tony Award and doing mostly strong productions such as the just finished Amadeus (with a few misses, such as their recent Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha). Yes, we are back as members at the Pasadena Playhouse. Reading through the theatre posts about 2010 also reminded me how I (back then) hated the Pantages; now we are regular subscribers and are quite looking forward to their upcoming season.

Finishing the history lesson: This brings us to 2008, when we saw the first iteration of The Color Purple musical at the Ahmanson. That was my first time seeing the show: I had heard of the original movie with Oprah Winfrey, but hadn’t seen it. I had never read the book. I was impressed with the story and with the music, and how much of the show was sung through (and yet it didn’t feel like a sung-through musical). As I wrote then: “This is the mark of a good musical: it can use music to concisely tell story, establish people and personas, and advance the plot. The music works very well in this, even though there are very few “stand alone” songs.”

This also brings us back to The Color Purple — and I promise I’ll tie it back to that long introduction rabbit hole. Here’s how I described The Color Purple back in 2008:

“The Color Purple” basically tells the story of Celie, a young black girl in the south, knocked up by her step-pseudofather twice by the age of 14, and then married off soon after to a man who beats her to get her to obey. It is the story of the love between Celie and her sister Nettie, the story of the relationships in Celie’s life. In particular, it is about how Celie’s relationships with some strong black women make her realize that she is loved, that she does have value, that she can stand up for herself and accomplish something, and the power that love plays in it all.

That was a bit simplistic. The Color Purple is a story about love, but it is even more the story of resilience, of saying “Hell No” when people try to push you down. It is a story about love, but much less the traditional notion of romantic boy-girl love. The love in Color Purple is about the love and bond between sisters, the love and bond between women, and the love that is formed out of goodness and caring about others.

The notion of resilience is what ties this musical to the history I started with. We see resilience is the story of Chromolume Theatre, which has refused to stay down over its 24 year history (with 2 7-year breaks). We see resilience in the story of the Pasadena Playhouse, which has come back strong. We may also be seeing resilience in the story of the Colony, which looks to be recovering from its down period (and will be producing Catch Me If You Can later in the year, which we’re interested in seeing); however, the Colony isn’t yet back to doing seasons yet. Resilience is the story of small theatre in Los Angeles: a small but vital community that depends on a network of performers and audience members that believe in it, despite others thinking Los Angeles is a film center. Los Angeles is a theatre town. Its small theatres are alive. They are producing knock-out productions such as Chromolume’s The Color Purple, which according to Chromolume is almost completely sold out at the time it is opening. Who would have thought this would happen back in the days of the I Love 99 fights and Actors Equity changing the 99-seat and under rules? Of course, small theatre (just like big theatre) is rarely profitable, and theatres like Chromolume depend on your support to survive. Donate today.

Now, let’s turn our focus to this production. When Chromolume announced their season, I wondered how they might mount The Color Purple in the tiny theatre they were leasing. The Zephyr is a 74 seat thrust theatre, with no wing space, no fly space, and no orchestra space. There are barely dressing rooms, and crossing from one side of the stage to the other off-stage requires going outside through a narrow alleyway. So I was curious. How would Chromolume do this. Luckily, the recent John Doyle staging of the 2015 revival (which is the version licensed) uses minimal sets, and the directory Elijah Green built upon this. The Chromolume set consisted of a house-suggestive structure with a small triangular thrust area, and a large number of wood chairs. Green built upon this, and used every inch of the small Zephyr space to bring the story alive, including the aisle spaces within the audience area.

Green also cast the production with remarkable talent, notably Veronica Driscoll as Celie and Jodi Marks as Sofia. Driscoll was outstanding, especially in her transformation between the first and second acts and how she found her inner beauty and strength. She had a remarkable singing voice. Marks’ Sofia was also strong (we’d seen her before in 5-Star’s Frozen), especially in the second act. But all of the cast was strong: strong singing, strong dancing, strong characterizations. Others that caught my eye were Milyah Law as Doris, and Jayla Bryant’s Darlene. They were part of a trio that essentially served as a greek chorus commenting on the story. Jonathan Farrington was a strong Harpo, and Lonnie Jones III was strong as Mister. Lastly, Minque Taylor was dazzling as Shug Avery, and (although not seen as much), Shelby Williams was great as Nettie.

I’d also like to highlight one spectacular number: Miss Celie’s Pants. The dancing and the movement here was just stupendous. It was a joy to watch.

Seeing The Color Purple in an intimate space brings one closer to the story, and one notices characterizations and story aspects that get lost in the cavernous touring spaces of the Pantages or the Ahmanson, especially when one isn’t in the overpriced center orchestra seats. You can see the real emotions of the characters, see the joy in the dancers, realize story beats. It makes the story come alive in a very different way than the detached experience you get in the large houses. If you have the chance to see shows like this in intimate or smaller theatres, take it.

Were there some problems? Only some minor things. The music at times overpowered the actors. That’s unsurprising, as the small theatre doesn’t amplify the actors, and you can’t always soften the instruments. The sound without amplification is also directional, so that when actors were facing away it was harder to hear them. That’s how theatre was originally, folks, so just be aware. You can also insert my pet peeve about tattoos: the trend of “kids” these days to get tattoos is a problem in the theatre, when seeing a tattoo makes one see the performer as the modern actor, not the character. It’s something that is hard to fix as people have the right to do with their bodies as they will, and can’t easily be undone (and I’ll need to get used to it), but there are minimization techniques. But these are really at the noise level, and none really distracted.

Lighting generally did a great job of establishing the mood (and is harder in this theatre where there are no real spaces for follow spots), and costumes generally established the place and mood well.

Overall, this is a production that is well worth seeing. You can get tickets through the Chromolume website, but be aware that many shows are sold out. They may be able to extend if the demand is there, so let them know. The show currently runs through March 29.

Lastly, I generally don’t write up concerts. We had two concerts between Amadeus at the Pasadena Playhouse and The Color Purple: Mandy Gonzalez at the Broad Stage and Noel Paul Stookey at Cerritos Center. Both were excellent.

Credits

The Color Purple. Based upon the novel written by Alice Walker and the Warner Bros./Ambin Entertainment motion picture. Book by Marsha Norman. Music and Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. Directed by Elijah Green. Choreography by Katie Powers-Faulk.

Cast: Veronica Driscoll Celie; Minque Taylor Shug Avery; Lonnie Jones III Mister; Jodi Marks Sofia; Jonathan Farrington Harpo; Shelby Williams Nettie; Amaya J Squeak; Jayla Bryant Darlene; Milyah Law Doris; Olivia Leyva Jarene; Jordan McAllister Ol’ Mister; Johnathan O’Neal Buster; Christopher Baker Preacher; Kara Marie Church Soloist; Omari Miller Grady; Stephen Gregg Pa; Myia LaShaun Olivia. Understudies: Barbara Ann Reed Celie u/s; Andante Petit-Homme Mister u/s; Journie Ma-Johnson Sofia u/s; Kara Marie Squeak u/s.

Music Department: Miki Yokomizo Music Director, Piano; Kiarah Davis Guitar; Tony Jones Drums.

Production and Creative: Elijah Green Director; Miki Yokomizo Music Director; Katie Powers-Faulk Choreographer; Ariella Salinas Fiore Intimacy Director; Shawn Plunkett Scenic Design; Shon LeBlanc Costume Design; Daniel Mitchener Lighting Design; James Esposito Sound Design, Chromolume VP of Operations; Mara Aguilar Production Stage Manager; Kendré Scott Asst Stage Manager; Ken Wether Publicity; Bonnie Sludikoff Chromolume Artist Coordinator; Niko Montelibano Marketing; Veronica Vasquez Casting Associate; Michael Angel Social Media Manager; Lizeth Olguin Moore Box Office Coordinator; Brianne Lopez-Cole House Manager.

Administrivia

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

Some interesting shows that have caught my eye. Wisteria Theatre is doing Reefer Madness: The Musical (in April), as is Long Beach Playhouse (in October/November). Wisteria was overpriced for a black-box; I might look into Long Beach’s production (but have to factor in the drive). Ebony Rep is doing Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the end of May into June. I love the show, but the prices are a bit high and I’m still trying to decide. I have a hold on the calendar. Casa 0101 is doing the play version of Real Women Have Curves from the end of March into May. Conundrum Theatre is doing a bunch of shows, but notably Big Fish in December 2026. And, as noted earlier, the Colony Theatre is doing Catch Me If You Can in the September/October 2026 timeframe. I’ll look into ticketing the fall shows once I know the CTG Season, to prevent conflicts. Broadway in Hollywood has announced its 2026-2027 season, and it is spectacular. The only major shows missing are Oh Mary, Boop: The Musical, and Just In Time. I expect Oh Mary to show up at the Ahmanson, and possibly Boop; Just In Time might be in the following Broadway in Hollywood season as I haven’t seen it announce any tour dates. Perhaps some local theatre will decide to mount Real Women Have Curves – The Musical or Dead Outlaw. One can hope. I do know the Segerstrom is doing Curves in Concert on March 20, but we just can’t make it due to the distance and a busy busy March.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

March: ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101. NOTE: We need judges for the California Science and Engineering Fair. If you have a degree in the sciences and are available to judge April 12 at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, sign up to judge here.
May: ♦ Falstaff at LA Opera; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 Inner Strength and Resilience | "The Color Purple" @ Chromolume by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🚘 Headlines About California Highways – February 2026

2026-03-01T18:47:57Z

[As you can see, the SNAP autoposter is working again]

What? February is over already? Seems like it is only been four weeks? Time is going fast in 2026, perhaps because we want it to be over fast. Now that I’m retired, the days are busy in a different sense: working on the highway pages, and working at the gym. Reading the news and looking for articles related to California Highways, saving them away for this headline post. I’m continuing to work on the highway pages: The January headlines are incorporated in the source files, and after this post I’ll start on the February pages and likely work on finishing the update round (unless I wait until the March headlines). Note that 2026 marks the 30^th Anniversary of the California Highways website. The changelog for 1996 shows the first “official” changes in October 1996, although it notes that “Changes before early 1996 were not specifically noted, although this site, in various forms, dates back at least as far as 1992, and possibly as early as 1986. Searching on Google Groups uncovers an early posting of the state highway list in December of 1992 to the Usenet Group ca.driving. In 1995, there was a posting of the highway list in response to a question, showing a last modified date of 1994. By October 1996, postings were being made showing the existence of the California Highways page off of Pacificnet. The earliest capture of the site on the Wayback Machine is in December 1998.” So welcome to the 30^th Anniversary year, or perhaps the 40^th Anniversary year, of California Highways!

With respect to the podcast: Season 4 is written and recording is proceeding apace. We’re planing a few bonus episodes that don’t take as much research and writing; after which I’ll turn my attention to Season 5, covering Routes 15 through 23. I particularly like ep 4.12, which covers the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley, using the first segment of Route 14 as the starting point. Zencaster is working well for recording the podcast. I think it sounds better, but I would love to hear from the listeners. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-80 folks, and I’d love to get that number up, although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). You can help our listening audience grow. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episode has been posted this month:

February | CA RxR 4.07: Route 11: From Pasadena to the Border. In Episode 4.07, we examine Route 11. We’ll start by exploring LRN 11, which was essentially the first state highway, running from Sacramento to Placerville, later extended to run from Antioch to the Nevada State Line near Lake Tahoe. Today, it is primarily US 50 with a bit of Route 160. We then the original Sign Route 11, which was LRN 165 and LRN 205, and is today’s Route 110. It was also US 60, and is perhaps better known as the Harbor Freeway and the Pasadena Freeway / Arroyo Seco Parkway. We explore the history and various routings of Sign Route 11, including the history of the Figueroa Tunnels. Lastly, we explore the current Route 11, which is a short route near the Mexico border that connects the San Diego Freeway System (Route 905/Route 125) to the Otay Mesa East port of entry.
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On deck: In episode 4.08, we start a three-episode group that will cover Route 12. Route 12 runs from Route 1 near Valley Ford to US 101 and thence to Sonoma area. It then runs through Napa to meet I-80 near Cordelia. That part is episode 4.08. Episode 4.09 will cover Route 12 from I-80 near Suisan City through the Sacramento Wetlands to Lodi and Route 99. Lastly, Episode 4.10 will cover Route 12 from Route 99 to the Sierra Foothill and San Andreas, where it meets Route 49. (Spotify for Creators)

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for February 2026.

Key

Highway Headlines

Commission to Hear Status 710 Freeway Stub Redevelopment Report (Pasadena Now). The city’s Human Relations Commission will receive a presentation on the Reconnecting Pasadena 710 project at its Feb. 3 meeting, focusing on social justice considerations and community perspectives. Danny Parker, chair of the Reconnecting Pasadena 710 Advisory Group, will address commissioners at 6:30 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Community Center, at 1020 North Fair Oaks Avenue. The presentation marks the commission’s first formal update on the long-debated freeway stub redevelopment since the project gained renewed attention last fall.
O’Byrne’s Ferry Bridge (No. 281 California Historical Landmark) (Sierra Nevada Geotourism). O’Byrne’s Ferry Bridge started out as a simple old toll bridge between two counties, and ended its legacy by making a splash! Patrick O. Byrne started construction of a chain cable bridge in 1852 across the Stanislaus River on the line between Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. It soon became a bustling toll bridge since it was on the primary road between Stockton and Sonora.
＄ Could part of Highway 1 be moved inland? (San Mateo Daily Journal). A potential long-term suggestion to address erosion along Highway 1 in the Surfers Beach area by elevating the road and moving it inward to the Burnham Strip is generating concern from community leaders, who say the proposal doesn’t adequately address environmental root causes and ignores a park planned for the area. Caltrans will take the plan and deve lop a more detailed feasibility study, beginning a long development process that can take up to five to 10 years, said Joshua Smith, California Coastal Commission spokesperson. The plan, which was submitted to the California Coastal Commission by Caltrans in November, offers long-term alternatives to protect the threatened highway, including various combinations of moving it in by around 200 feet, raising the road with a bridge structure and more nature-based defenses.
California Invests Nearly 1 Billion Dollars for Safer Highways, Improving Transit and Expanding Walkable Communities (Caltrans). The California Transportation Commission (CTC) this past week allocated nearly $1 billion to expand transit capabilities, add new highway safety features and boost the state’s continued climate action goals. Bolstered by Governor Gavin Newsom’s Build More, Faster – For All infrastructure agenda, these improvements will make California communities safer and more climate resilient. The $988.7 million approved today includes $184 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) and $336 million in support from Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. The investments made by these two funding sources have created an estimated 684,000 jobs. It has helped Californians, businesses and visitors who rely on the state’s transportation network for employment and educational opportunities, access to goods and services and connection to recreational attractions. […] The list of funded projects includes $96 million to improve travel times and enhance traffic safety between Ventura County and Goleta with high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, pedestrian and bike paths and transit enhancements.
City of Malibu announces new safety measures after deadly pedestrian crash on Pacific Coast Highway (ABC7 Los Angeles). Malibu officials are highlighting new safety efforts along Pacific Coast Highway as authorities investigate another deadly crash in which a pedestrian was hit and killed overnight, briefly shutting down portions of the roadway. The incident comes amid long-standing concerns about speeding on the busy coastal stretch. Safety along the highway has been under scrutiny for years, including after a 2023 crash that killed four Pepperdine University students.
＄ The breathtaking wonders of California Highway 127 (Los Angeles Times). By midwinter, Los Angeles is defined less by cold than by light. Cool, clear mornings give way to afternoons shaped by the low winter arc of the sun, painting the mountains in long shadows and the sky in improbable color. And as that low light settles in, my whole body shifts in spirit. Somewhere deep in the limbic system, a synapse fires like a flare, tracing the old circuitry of migration and memory — that annual pull toward the wide-open deserts of the American Southwest. I dream of lizards, dark skies, sand dunes and sunsets streaked in rose-mauve and smoky violet, the air heavy with the scent of wet creosote and campfire smoke.
On Highway 127, I discovered the breathtaking wonders of going the long way (LA Times via MSN). By midwinter, Los Angeles is defined less by cold than by light. Cool, clear mornings give way to afternoons shaped by the low winter arc of the sun, painting the mountains in long shadows and the sky in improbable color. And as that low light settles in, my whole body shifts in spirit. Somewhere d eep in the limbic system, a synapse fires like a flare, tracing the old circuitry of migration and memory — that annual pull toward the wide-open deserts of the American Southwest. I dream of lizards, dark skies, sand dunes and sunsets streaked in rose-mauve and smoky violet, the air heavy with the scent of wet creosote and campfire smoke. But mostly I long for the open road, those forgotten highways where pavement runs through the quaint towns, weathered landmarks and the millions of acres of public land in the desert. It is a nostalgia shared by the chroniclers of the past.
When will Angeles Crest Highway reopen after Christmas storm damage? Caltrans gives update (ABC7 Los Angeles). A portion of the Angeles Crest Highway has been closed for about a month after the Christmas week storms washed away parts of the road. Repair work is underway, but when exactly will the highway will reopen? Eyewitness News spoke with Monica Ruvalcaba with Caltrans on Wednesday, who said the highway is closed indefinitely for about a 30-mile stretch, starting at Newcomb’s Ranch to Big Pines Highway. The extent of the damage in some areas is so bad, Caltrans crews can’t get to those spots yet.
Caltrans to Begin SR-4 Old River Bridge Maintenance Project (Contra Costa News). Caltrans will soon begin a bridge maintenance and preservation project that will make necessary upgrades and repairs of the Old River Bridge on State Route 4 (SR-4), located at the San Joaquin/Contra Costa County line, east of Discovery Bay. This project is required to install a new polyester concrete overlay to the bridge deck (roadway) surface, install new guardrail systems located at the approaches of each end of the bridge, and painting of the bridge steel structure with weather-resistant paint and materials to increase the reliability and serviceability of this 100-year-old swing span bridge. Additional in-water work will see the existing timber waling and the fenders on the north side of Pier 3 replaced, while the south side of Pier 2 would be supported with new high-density polyethylene walers mounted to the existing timber piles.

( Read more... )

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🎭 A Portrait of Obsession | “Amadeus” @ Pasadena Playhouse

2026-02-22T19:31:49Z

[Note: The Wordpress plugin that did autoposting is broken. If someone has a recommendation for a replacement plugin, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to have to do these manually for now. The original post for this is:
https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=17528 ]

Wolfgang and Antonio, it's been a while. I think we last saw Amadeus in the excellent Rep East production back in 2010, with Daniel Lench in the lead role as Salieri. Well, alas for Daniel, Jefferson Mays has topped him in the outstanding production of Amadeus we saw last night at the Pasadena Playhouse. They more than made up for the disappointing previous production Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha back in October. Amadeus is a well known play by Peter Shaffer. Back in 2010, I summarized the play as follows:

“Amadeus” (you may have seen the motion picture) tells the story of the rivalry between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart… or should I say imagined rivalry, for Mozart didn’t see Salieri as a rival, whereas Salieri saw Mozart as a rival in God’s eyes. The story is told in flashback, from Salieri’s point of view, as Salieri is dying. He is attempting to confess to killing Mozart by relating the story of how he did the deed. He begins by telling how he dedicated his life to praising God through music, but when he saw Mozart’s music, realized that God had forsaken him and chosen Mozart to be his voice. Further, Salieri saw that Mozart was a base and callow fellow, a pottymouthed, childish prodigy, further cementing the notion that the gift must be from God. At the moment of that realization, Salieri vows to make God abandon his chosen voice. Much of the play is Salieri relating how he believes his actions created the situations that drove Mozart deeper into poverty, dispair, and eventual destitution. At the end, Mozart is dead in his 30s, but Salieri lives on another 25 years being elevated in fame, only to know that everlasting fame and retribution will be Mozart’s, for it will be Mozart’s music that survives. Salieri eventually commits suicide so that his name will at least live in infamy, but fails in that as well.

Given how well known the play is, there are two things that distinguish one production of Amadeus from another: the performances and the production. The production we saw back in 2010 was an exemplar of creativity on limited budget: a small production in an 81 seat black box, with outstanding performances by mostly local performers that were part of the regular Rep East ensemble team. I still remember the harpsicord/piano they built for that production, which remained in the Rep East lobby for years after, until the company folded a few years later. I have no idea what the replacement theatre, The Main, did with it. The Pasadena Playhouse, on the other hand, is more at the other end of the spectrum. They have a larger donor base, and there was significant additional philanthropic support for this production. They were also able to draw from a different actor pool: unlike the intimate theatre scene in Los Angeles, the PP is able to draw from (and pay for) Equity actors (although I should note that the Rep production did have three Equity actors, including Lench in the lead role). It shows. The Los Angeles Times has a great article on the production aspects of this show. The article notes the design aspects of the stage created by the Pasadena Playhouse's on-site scenic design shop. This includes "the forced perspective of scenic designer Alexander Dodge’s set, which makes a royal room seem to disappear into the distance" and "An electric keyboard programmed to sound like a fortepiano is also embedded in a handcrafted instrument, which actors with musical training can play." The costumes are quite extravagant, and the LA Times noted "Linda Cho designed the costumes and L.A. Opera fabricated the extravagant 18th century garments". L.A. Opera also provided additional training for the performances of the opera snippets within the production. And yet, this production is an example of what can be done with traditional stagecraft: there are no electronic tricks; there is no projected scenery (although there are some projected tapestries). Construction is flats and trapdoors and hidden stairs. It shows the power of theatre, without the mechanical and electrical supports that productions these days seem to rely upon far too heavily. But I think what really made this production of Amadeus stand out was the work of Jefferson Mays as Salieri. He just drew you into the performance, capturing well the inner obsession had had all of his life: with his music, with being known, with wanting to be the voice of God... and how that obsession turned from the creation of art to revenge when faced with the upstart and contradiction that was Mozart. For Mozart had the talent; he was a child prodigy that was composing from his youngest days. Music just poured from him. But he also remained childish, with few people skills, a potty mouth, and (according to the play) a childish obsession with sex and bums (asses). Sam Clemmett captured that contradictory nature well, and it played well with the growing infuriation showed by Mays' Salieri at how God bypassed and mocked him in the talent department. The two performances played well off of each other. There were a few other notable performances. Jennifer Chang and Hilary Ward were outstanding as the Venticellis (the aides to Salieri), with great facial impressions. Lauren Worsham was fun as Constanze Mozart, especially in her scenes with Salieri. Matthew Patrick Davis was a hoot as Joseph II, especially as the very tall Davis had to fit through the very small forced perspective doors at the back of the stage. Lastly, note that the Playhouse cast some real opera talent as the performers in the Mozart opera snippits: Michelle Allie Drever and Alaysha Fox have been in quite a few operas. Note that it looks like the Playhouse (now that it owns the building) has finally giving up on its restaurant space ever being a stand-alone success, and has turned it into a bar and lounge, and perhaps a small concert performance space. This is a wonderful idea and a great use of the space. However, the concessions are far too expensive: $9 for a box of cookies or $12 for a chocolate chip cookie is poor form, when one can just walk across the street to The Stand and get cookies for $3.50 or a large brownie for $4.50. A dollar or two markup to support the theatre is tolerable; doubling the price (especially for something that is pre-packaged) isn't. Amadeus has had its run extended: It now continues until March 15. You can get tickets through the Pasadena Playhouse website. You might be able to get discount tickets from the Today Tix website, but Today Tix really is not as good as their predecessor, Goldstar Events.

Credits

Amadeus. Written by Peter Shaffer. Directed by Darko Tresnjak. Cast: Kanajuan Bentley Van Swieten; Jared Andrew Bybee Valet / Major-Domo; Jennifer Chang Venticelli; Sam Clemmett Mozart; Matthew Patrick Davis Joseph II; Michelle Allie Drever Katherina Cavalieri / Soprano; Alaysha Fox Teresa Salieri / Soprano; Matthew Henerson Count Johann Kilian Von Strack; John Lavelle Orsini-Rosenberg; Jefferson Mays Salieri; Brent Schindele Cook / Kappelmeister / Harpsichordist; Hilary Ward Venticelli; Lauren Worsham Constanze. Production and Creatives: Peter Shaffer Playwright; Darko Tresnjak Director; Alexander Dodge Scenic Designer; Linda Cho Costume Designer; Pablo Santiago Lighting Designer; Jane Shaw Sound Designer; Aaron Rhyne Projection Designer; Will Vicari Hair / Wig / Makeup Designer; Jeff Bernstein Music Director; Jennifer Ringo Vocal Coach; Sasha Nicolle Smith Intimacy Consultant; Miranda Johnson-Haddad Dramaturg; David S. Franklin Production Stage Manager; Alyssa Escalante Asst Stage Manager; Ryan Bernard-Tymensky Casting.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre ^NEW, and 5-Star Theatricals. We just added Chromolume Theatre as our intimate theatre subscription — we subscribed there pre-pandemic when they were at their West Adams location, but they died back in 2018. They started back up last year (but we had seen all their shows); this year, their season is particularly interesting: The Color Purple, If/Then, Elegies (during Hollywood Fringe), and Roadshow (nee Bounce) [by Steven Sondheim]. Mind you, these are all in the intimate theatre setting, and this will be the first time Roadshow has been done in Los Angeles, to my knowledge. Information on purchasing their 2026 season is here. Our previous intimate theatre, Actors Co-Op, seems to be on hiatus. Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania. I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

February: ♣ Mandy Gonzalez in Concert: Broadway and Beyond at Broad Stage.
March: ♣ Noel Paul Stookey at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts; ✡ MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; ✡ MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; ✡ MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; 🧬 California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101
May: ♦ Anyone Can Whistle at El Portal Theatre; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.

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🎭 Dated Claws | "Applause" @ MTG

2026-02-16T18:15:50Z

If you haven't figured it out by now, I enjoy seeing shows that I've only heard but never seen. Sometimes my schedule or circumstances just don't permit it. For example, Long Beach Playhouse is doing "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman" the next three weekends, but I just don't have space in my schedule to fit it in, plus the space is not easily accessible. But sometimes it does work out, and certain companies tend to do these "rarer" shows more than others. One of these companies is Musical Theatre Guild, whose mission includes "presenting either forgotten, neglected, or unfairly dismissed Broadway musicals." These are presented in a minimalist concert format: 25 hours max rehearsal, minimal costumes, minimal sets (if any), with scripts in hand. They are also one night only shows. Since COVID, their shows have been fewer: they used to have three a season; recently it has been perhaps one or two a year, plus some concerts. Still, if you like the rarely produced gems, they are worth keeping an eye on (or, today, subscribing to their newsletter).

There most recent show, which we saw last night, was Applause. This is a rarely done musical that originally was on Broadway back in 1970. It was at the LA Civic Light Opera (the predecessor to organizations like Broadway in Hollywood or what was being done at Center Theatre Group) in 1972, which was two shows before I saw my first LACLO show, The Rothschilds. So I've never seen it; I've only heard the music. The original show starred folks like Lauren Bacall and Bonnie Franklin.

Applause is based upon the original short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr, and the subsequent film "All About Eve". The plot is similar to the movie, but was reworked to not use movie characters (as permission from Fox wasn't obtained until late in the process), and to update the timeframe to Broadway in the 1970s. The basic notion of a starlet/grifter who attaches herself to an older star, sucks up to her, and eventually usurps her fame and glory, remains. You can read the plot summary on the Wikipedia page; I won't repeat it here.

The show is in someway a love-letter to the theatre, especially the title song "Applause", which makes one think a bit of the later production, A Chorus Line. There is an underlying love of the theatre in this show; the notion of this is why people do the crazy business called "show". That aspect of the show still works.

That said, a show that worked in 1970 has problematic areas 55 years later. One of the problems was highlighted by MTG in their introduction to the show: the use of the term "gypsy". When the show came out, the term (in the theatre-sense) referred to dancers and chorus members that went from show to show. There was even a ceremony where they were honored by the presentation of a "gypsy robe" (since renamed the "legacy robe"). The term arose from the historical usage of the term "gypsy" that referred to the nomadic Rominii people, but later evolved into a slur against the same folks. Its use in the show here is less problematic as it is the theatre sense, but it is still a problem (and a problem for the even better known show, Gypsy, although that arguably is named after a character).

However, the use of the term "gypsy" is not the major dated problem with the show. The real problem shows up in the second act, where the producer Howard Benedict invites Eve up to his room, with an implication that it would be a good career move. This is followed by another interaction where he uses his production power over her. The wikipedia synopsis puts it thusly: "Her plans with Buzz are crushed by Howard who claims her for himself, telling her "We both know what you want and you know I'm the one who can get it for you" – Eve needs Howard's influence as a producer as well as his silence concerning her devious rise to stardom." But the power imbalance and sexual implications are clear. This was something that might have been accepted in the 1940s and 1950s when the original story and movie were written, and even as late as the end of the 1960s. But in today's environment, this is clearly a sexual harassment situation, and is uncomfortable to watch. I think this aspect of the story might render the original version unproducible except as a "museum" (period) piece; as with Flower Drum Song some rewriting and revisiting would be necessary to update this for modern audiences.

Also problematic is Margo's resolution: She decides that she wants to make lasagna so that she can get back her love, Bill, who wants a more traditional wife as opposed to one that is in love with her career. Again, that is a notion that might have been borderline acceptable to audiences in the late 1960s and early 1970s. To an audience 55 years later (except in certain states), that notion is quaint and outdated. A different resolution that brings the two together would be needed to make things more plausible for audiences in the 2020s.

Lastly, the show clearly reflects the original casting. The characterizations of Margo were clearly designed to be amplified by the presence of Lauren Bacall in the role. The songs were clearly keyed and designed to suit Bacall's limited range (similar to what Kander and Ebb did for her in Woman of the Year).

What I detailed above were problems not of MTG's making. They knew of these problems when they chose the show, and their goal was to present the show warts and all. Even dated shows deserve to be remembered (well, perhaps not The Girl from Nantucket or Whoop Up!), and MTGs mission is to remind us what is good about the show. So let's now turn to discussing MTG's production of Applause.

Let's start with the music, which was spectacular. This is because the normal limited orchestra that MTG can afford was supplemented by the David Lee Foundation to an expanded 17 piece orchestra. We recognized many of the names in the orchestra as being musicians that are also involved with big bands and orchestras we like, such as Mike Deutsch, Wayne Bergeron, Chris Maurer, and Steve Trapani. There's a reason I take the time to always list the orchestra members: you start to learn the regulars in the Los Angeles theatre and music scene. Los Angeles has some of the most talented musicians around.

In general, the performances were strong, modulo the limited rehearsal time. This meant that scripts were in hand, and there were the occasional line slips and such that really didn't detract from anything. Barbara Carlton Heart made a great Margo Channing, and she seemed to be having quite a bit of fun with the role. Ashley Moniz was also strong as Eve Harringon, and Melissa Lyons Caldretti made a great Bonnie. I also liked Joshua Finkel's Buzz, and Leslie Stevens's Karen made me keep thinking of Mary Tyler Moore, for some reason.

The ensemble was also strong, notably Jennifer Bennett (whom I recall seeing in a cantor's concert many years ago) and Chantal Tribble. Also notable was Jasmine Ejan for her dancing on roller skates.

I also loved the insert in the program: «"Who's That Girl" will be sung by Margo and Eve, not by the characters from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.» Sigh, this meant that we didn't get a song from Mary, Natasha, and Old Bolkonsky. However, they missed the other "oops" in their performance dedication, where the end dates should have been 2025, not 1925.

The major problem in the show's production was unsurprising given the limited rehearsal time: sound. Microphones were going in and out. Some ensemble performers had to resort to using handheld microphones; for others, the microphones were not mixed right making things harder to hear. Normally, this would be ironed out in subsequent performance or full rehearsals. MTG doesn't have that luxury, and it is a continual problem.

I can't tell you to go see this performance, as it was a one-time show. I can urge you to get on MTG's mailing list, and to explore their 30th Anniversary Gala and Concert on 10.11.2026 at the Broad Stage. I also encourage you to support the rarely done musicals so they get done. For example, Colony Theatre is doing Catch Me If You Can; Conundrum will be doing Big Fish; Chromolume will be doing Sondheim's Road Show. Supposedly the El Portal will be doing Anyone Can Whistle at the end of April, although it has disappeared from their calendar again, so who knows. I have an inquiry in on that one.

Credits

Applause. Book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Music by Charles Strouse. Lyrics by Lee Adams. Based on the 1950 film All About Eve written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck; and the original 1946 story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr. Directed and Choreographed by Trance Thompson.

Cast (all are members of Actors Equity): Barbara Charlton Heart Margo Channing; Brian Kim McCormick Bill Sampson; Ashley Moniz Eve Harrington; Melissa Lyons Caldretti Bonnie; Taubert Nedalini Duane Fox; Robert Yacko Howard Benedict; Joshua Finkel Buzz Richards; Leslie Stevens Karen Richards. Ensemble: Patrick Beller, Jennifer Bennett, Jasmine Ejan, Kevin Matsumoto, Benny Perez, Roma Scarano, Chantal Tribble, George Xavier. ASL Interpreters: Angelina Guidice, Lior Klein.

Music Department: Brad Ellis Conductor / Piano; Nate Light Bass; Brian Boyce Drums; Zane Johnson Guitar; Alexander Rannie Harp / Organ; Mike Deutsch Percussion; Wayne Bergeron Trumpet; Dan Fornero Trumpet; Chris Maurer Trumpet; Alan Kaplan Trombone; Erin Navarro Trombone; Steve Trapani Bass Trombone; Phil Feather Reeds; Greg Huckins Reeds; Glen Berger Reeds; Jimmy Emerzian Reeds; Allen Savedoff Reeds; Alexander Rannie Orchestra Contractor.

Production and Creative: Trance Thompson Director / Choreographer; Brad Ellis Music Director; Jennifer Gordon Production Coordinator; Tonoccus McClain Production Coordinator; Leesa Freed Production Stage Manager; Stacey Cortez Asst Stage Manager; Scottie Nevil Asst Stage Manager; John W. Calder II Production Stage Manager; A. Jeffrey Schoneberg Costume Designer; Arwyn Austin Sound Engineer.

Administrivia

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

February: ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya; ♣ Mandy Gonzalez in Concert: Broadway and Beyond at Broad Stage.
March: ♣ Noel Paul Stookey at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts; MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101
May: ♦ Anyone Can Whistle at El Portal Theatre; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.

Originally posted as https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=17522 ; for some reason, the crossposter didn't work.

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📰 Saying the Unspeakable

2026-02-12T19:48:40Z

Recently, I’ve been reading the news and having a bunch of unspeakable (or unpostable) thoughts. Perhaps I should explain. These are thoughts that might be unpopular with the folks that just superficially read the news, who don’t bother to think deeply about the news and consequences, or don’t understand that many issues have deeper complexities than might just be on the surface. Trying to describe these in the short-form post that is FB or other social media doesn’t work well, so I’m turning to my blog. Here are some of these potentially unpopular thoughts:

Not Everyone Named in the Epstein Files is a Pedophile. What prompted this thought was Lauren Gunderson. Gunderson is playwright and author; she is actually the most produced playwright of the last 3 years, with many feminist and scientific plays out there. Recently, a theatre company in Rhode Island cancelled a production of Gunderson’s play the Revolutionists (see my review of another production) because Gunderson’s name surfaced in the latest batch of publicly released Jeffrey Epstein-related files. Now, Gunderson has never met Epstein and has never had anything to do with him (as she notes in her response). However, her ex-husband knows him well; one reason (I presume) he is an “ex”. I’ve also seen memes going around saying that anyone mentioned in the Epstein files should be prosecuted and treated as guilty even without a trial.

Hopefully, we all agree that pedophilia is bad. But simply being named in the files doesn’t make one guilty of that crime. I write loads of posts and emails that mention Trump; that doesn’t mean I’m guilty of the same crimes. A fundamental notion in the USA is that folks are innocent until proven guilty. The Epstein files should be analyzed, in their unredacted form, to determine those who are likely to have committed crimes. Those crimes should be then investigated to find corroborating evidence, which can then be used by the legal system to bring people to justice. But a simple mention in the files should not be viewed as proof of guilt of the same crimes as Epstein.

And, yes, this means that some guilty men may have finessed the system to suppress sufficient evidence to convince a jury. That’s where the civil courts come in: there’s a lower standard to sue for monetary damages. Remember that OJ was not convicted criminally for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman; he was convicted in civil court. Further, the low moral standards that come from deep involvement with Epstein likely mean there are often other crimes for which there may be more evidence (and prison is still prison). But we must remember that our society presumes innocence, and the mere mention in the Epstein files or a passing association therein doesn’t mean the individual is guilty of Epstein’s crimes. There needs to be more than a mere mention.

Our Current Election System is Suitably Strong to Prevent Non-Citizens From Voting. Recently, the SAVE Act has been in the news. On the surface, this seems like a good thing: We don’t want non-citizens voting in local, state, and Federal elections. Who could be against that? Well, I’m against this act, because it is a backdoor way of limiting the citizens that can vote, serving to disenfranchise the poor, minorities, the disabled, and women. This article explains things well. The SAVE Act requires proof of citizenship, IN PERSON, at the time one registers. The “in person” is a problem for many, especially the disabled and those who cannot travel or take time away from work. It is a problem for the military. The only acceptable proofs of citizenship are birth certificates and passports, and they must match the name on your ID. The requirement for a passport is a problem: A large percentage of Americans don’t have passports because they don’t travel internationally, or cannot afford the cost of the passport (plus the cost of the pictures and other documents). Birth certificates are also a problem, as some folks simply don’t have them due to home births, or can not obtain or afford them. Plus, if people have changed their names, they then need the extra costs of obtaining the paper trail of the name changes, which might not be acceptable (and remember, each government document will have processing costs). Lastly, all of these takes time.
More importantly, it isn’t needed. We already have laws that prevent non-citizens from voting, and states already require proof when folks register, and match up information in state databases (for example, they should be able to match up information with the Real ID information which also notes citizenship). Further, despite all the claims by the Trump administration, non-citizen voting is not a problem. Recent research has shown that noncitizen voting occasionally happens but in minuscule numbers, and not in any coordinated way. “Noncitizens are not a large threat to our election system currently,” said David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR), which conducted the research. “Even states that are looking everywhere to try to amplify the numbers of noncitizens … when they actually look, they find a surprisingly, shockingly small number.” The fact that there is a “shockingly small number” means that it isn’t sufficient to impact an election — certainly not at the national level, which is what the SAVE Act is worried about.

In reality, the SAVE Act is just an attempt to make it harder for segments of the population that are likely to vote Democratic to be able to register. It is just a poll tax in disguise. But to speak out against requiring an ID to vote sounds like you are saying just anyone can vote, which is something very different.

Denying Passports Based on Non-Payment of Child Support Is Bad. Another item in the news relates to the State Department denying passports to those who don’t pay child support. On the surface, this seems like a reasonable idea. After all, non-payment of child support is a bad bad thing. But think about this in terms of the requirements of the SAVE Act, and suddenly this seems like a bad idea. After all, the goals of this idea can be met in many other ways: most notably, by simply putting the names on the TSA “no fly” list and watch lists at ground borders.

Here’s why doing this by denying passports is bad: Given the SAVE Act, it can also serve to disenfranchise. Now, we do disenfranchise at the state level for some crimes, notably convicted felons. States could certainly choose to do this for child-support scofflaws. But it should be at the state level. If the Feds could do this by State Department fiat, think of what else they could do. Deny passports to naturalized citizens. Deny passports to people whose parents are citizens. It is just the crack in the door to more voter suppression. This proposal has its hard in the right place, but the implementation is flawed.

So, I’ve said it: Three things that on the surface sound like I’m taking the wrong position. But, when you think about them, you come to realize that the opinions of the “court of public opinion” are often not well thought out.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 📰 Saying the Unspeakable by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🚘 Headlines About California Highways – January 2026

2026-01-31T20:54:01Z

The march of time continues. It’s hard to believe we’re at the end of January already; time is relentless in marching forward. As always, I’ve been spending the time reading the news and looking for articles related to California Highways, saving them away for this headline post. This post will also mark the start of working on the next round of updates for the highway pages: I typically do two to three headline posts in each update round. Speaking of the “March of Time”: 2026 marks the 30^th Anniversary of the California Highways website. The changelog for 1996 shows the first “official” changes in October 1996, although it notes that “Changes before early 1996 were not specifically noted, although this site, in various forms, dates back at least as far as 1992, and possibly as early as 1986. Searching on Google Groups uncovers an early posting of the state highway list in December of 1992 to the Usenet Group ca.driving. In 1995, there was a posting of the highway list in response to a question, showing a last modified date of 1994. By October 1996, postings were being made showing the existence of the California Highways page off of Pacificnet.The earliest capture of the site on the Wayback Machine is in December 1998.” So welcome to the start of the 30^th Anniversary year, or perhaps the 40^th Anniversary year, of California Highways!

The timing of the switch to highway site updates is good, as I just finished writing the last episode of Season 4. We’re starting to plan a few bonus episodes that don’t take as much research and writing; after which I’ll turn my attention to Season 5, covering Routes 15 through 23. I particularly like ep 4.12, which covers the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley, using the first segment of Route 14 as the starting point.

Season 4 of the podcast continues, and we’re now using new recording software (Zencaster). I think it sounds better, but I would love to hear from the listeners. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-70 folks, and I’d love to get that number up (as of today, we’re at 53 for 4.06, 56 for 4.05, 51 for 4.04, 68 for 4.03, 79 for 4.02, and 121 for 4.01), although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). I have no idea why there was so much interest in Route 8 in San Diego. You can help our listening audience grow. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episode has been posted this month:

January | CA RxR 4.06: I-10: San Bernardino Freeway. Episode 4.06 continues our exploration of Route 10. Episode 4.05 covered the first segment of Route 10: The Santa Monica Freeway between Route 1 and the I-5/US 101 junction. This episode, 4.06, covers the second segment of Route 10, from US 101 to the Arizona Border. Along the way, we explore the former I-110 segment, Route 10S, and do a deep dive into the US highways that shaped this segment of I-10: US 60, US 70, and US 99. We explore the historical routing of those highways across this segment. We also look at some of the names on the highway, and current projects along the highway.In the next episode, 4.07, we’ll turn our attention to Route 11. We’ll start by exploring LRN 11, and then look at the original Sign Route 11. This was originally tied closely with the development of US 66, and became today’s Route 110. We’ll also talk about the current Route 11. (Spotify for Podcasters)
January | CA RxR 4.05: I-10: Santa Monica Freeway. With Episode 4.05, we turn our attention to Route 10. This first episode on Route 10 starts with an exploration of the 10th route (the last ordinal route we’ll do), which was the Emigrant Gap Highway, and became the basis for LRN 37. This became part of the Lincoln Highway, then US 40, and is now part of I-80 from Sacramento to Nevada. We look at LRN 10, which became Route 198 from US 101 near San Lucas to Sequoia National Park. We then explore Sign Route 10 (which we discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county), which ran from US 101A to US 101, later becoming Route 42 and US 101 Bypass, and eventually I-105 and I-5. Lastly, we turn to post-1964 Route 10, which is today’s I-10. In this episode, we focus on the first segment: “From Route 1 in Santa Monica to Route 5 near Seventh Street in Los Angeles”, which is today’s Santa Monica Freeway. We look at its origins as Sign Route 6, which became Sign Route 26 along LRN 173, LRN 166, and LRN 171. We focus on LRN 173 (LRN 166 and LRN 171 were discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county, as well as our episode on Route 6), which was Olympic Blvd. We explore the history of the Santa Monica Freeway segment, the experiments tried along this highway, some significant projects along this segment, and some significant names on this segment.We will complete our exploration of Route 10 in Episode 4.06, which explores the San Bernardino Freeway: Its origins in LRN 26 and LRN 64 and the Ramona Airline. The history and strange intertwinings of the US highways that were signed on Route 10: US 60, US 70, and US 99. The transition to I-10 and the story of Route 10S. Lastly, we’ll cover projects and names on the segment. (Spotify for Creators)

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for January 2026.

Key

Highway Headlines

Calif. mountain highway used by millions ‘destroyed’ by heavy rainfall (SF Gate). Toward the end of August, outdoorsy Angelenos rejoiced when the entirety of the region’s 66-mile forest highway finally reopened after a yearslong section closure. But now, just a few months later, a chunk of the highway is already closed again — and likely will be for a while. Angeles Crest Highway, also known as state Route 2, is currently closed between Cedar Springs, near its intersection with the long-closed northern end of state Route 39, all the way east to where the highway hits state Route 138 near the Cajon Pass. In total, it’s a roughly 27-mile closure, pocked by washed-out roads, crumbled asphalt and other recent storm damage.
New traffic light in operation at State Route 32 and County Road P in Glenn County (Lake County News). Caltrans reported that the newly installed traffic signal at the intersection of State Route 32 and County Road P in Glenn County was activated on Wednesday and is now fully operational. Drivers traveling through the intersection should be alert to the new traffic pattern and obey all signal indications. The signal installation is part of a safety improvement effort to improve traffic operations and reduce collisions along the SR 32 corridor between Orland and Hamilton City. The project also included shoulder work, pavement improvements, Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades and roadway striping.
🎁 Congestion pricing after one year: How life has changed (The New York Times – Gift Article). One year after the start of congestion pricing, traffic jams are less severe, streets are safer, and commute times are improving for travelers from well beyond Manhattan. Though these changes aren’t noticeable to many, and others feel the tolls are a financial burden, the fees have generated hundreds of millions of dollars for public transportation projects. And it has probably contributed to rising transit ridership. The program, which on Jan. 5, 2025, began charging most drivers $9 during peak travel times to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, has quickly left its mark. To assess its impact, The New York Times reviewed city and state data, outside research, and the feedback of more than 600 readers with vastly different views of the toll.
New Traffic Pattern – Route 47 (FB/Port of Los Angeles). ⚠️ Reminder: A new traffic pattern is coming to the SR 47 Interchange at the Port of Los Angeles. Get project information and traffic updates here: https://portofla.org/sr47
＄ The best public U.S. transportation museums to visit in 2026 (East Bay Times). Some folks yearn to see Michelangelo’s “David” at the Galleria dell’Accademia. For others, basking in awe over a Union Pacific “Big Boy” — the largest steam locomotive ever built — is as high as art can get. For dads and their hapless families who get dragged into such stuff, Yahoo has published a helpful guide to the “Best Transportation Museums to Visit in the U.S.” The list spans from institutions for U.S. Air Force war machines to Hollywood-movie vehicles in Las Vegas. (The Batmobile!) It includes two museums in California: a classic-cars mecca in San Francisco, and a trove of historic sea vessels in San Diego.
＄ Thrill-seekers, residents clash as the Mulholland ‘Snake’ reopens – Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles Times). Its serpentine curves have entranced drivers for decades, and even lured some to their death. For motorcycle and car enthusiasts, riding the hair-raising turns of the 2.4-mile section of Mulholland Highway known as “the Snake” can feel akin to a religious experience. When the road reopened after a nearly seven-year closure in December, its devotees returned in droves. “It is so gratifying, so tactual, it clears my head and reinvigorates my soul,” said Malibu resident Doug Baron, who fell in love with the canyon road while cruising it alongside childhood friend Chad McQueen in the late 1970s.
El Camino Real sees renewal project (The Bay Link Blog). Caltrans will begin construction on the State Route 82 (El Camino Real) Roadway Renewal Project this winter, marking a major rehabilitation to a vital section of SR-82 traversing Burlingame, Hillsborough, San Mateo and Millbrae. Over the coming months and years, the $173 million State Highway Operations and Protection Program (SHOPP) effort will deliver critical infrastructure upgrades, including improved visibility for drivers, enhanced drainage to mitigate localized flooding, and upgraded sidewalks, curb ramps, and pedestrian facilities to ensure full compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. The project is included in the MTC’s Bay Area Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and Plan Bay Area 2040. Aging eucalyptus trees along the sidewalks will also be removed, and the canopy reinvigorated with more than 300 new trees, preserving the historic significance of the Howard Ralston Eucalyptus Rows.

( Read more... )

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🎭 Jewish-ish | "Jewish for Dinner" @ Santa Monica Playhouse

2026-01-26T20:41:55Z

Affinity. The desire to be part of a group with similar likes and interests. It is one of the ways that we, as humans, come together to meet people and have fun together. Affinity comes from shared beliefs, shared hobbies, shared interests. My synagogue, Temple Ahavat Shalom in Northridge, has a number of these affinity groups (which we call small groups) to bring people together. One of them is a group of people that love to attend live theatre, which I coordinate.

My belief is that such a group, as it is under synagogue auspices, should attend live performance events that have a Jewish theme. It’s not right for a synagogue group to go see Christian-themed plays (e.g., Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, A Man for All Seasons), nor generally secular plays. I also don’t want it to be all Holocaust, all the time. So I try to find interesting Jewish plays, and along the way, introduce the group to small theatres they may never have seen. So we’ve seen shows such as Sukkot at 6th Street/Skylight Theatre in 2024, Treyf at the Geffen Playhouse in 2022, It Shoulda’ Been You at MTG in 2020; in 2022; It Shoulda’ Been You at MTG in 2020; Eight Nights at Antaeus in 2019; and numerous online things during the pandemic: Shared Legacies at JWT; Stars of David at the Y! I Love Yiddish Fest; Fabulous Fanny Brice; Allan Sherman Unmasked!; and Jews, God, and History (Not Necessarily In That Order). I should also note that, because of these writeups, I’m viewed as a theatre critic by some publicists; as such, I get lots of press release mailings and invitations to shows.

One of those lists is the mailing list for the Santa Monica Playhouse. We were there a long time ago — way back in 2014 — to see Author Author, a play they do on Sholom Aleichem (In fact, they will be doing it again in May 2026). A mailing from them in December 2025 mentioned a play they were doing: Jewish For Dinner:

Santa Monica, CA. December 10, 2025. The Santa Monica Playhouse Jewish Heritage Program is excited to present the WORLD PREMIERE of Lou Borenstein’s play Jewish for Dinner.

Ruth Cohen finally finds the perfect man to love, marry, and above all else, bring home to her Conservative family. But she neglected to ask one, small question: Is he Jewish? Or, can he at least fake it?

The play is based on the short film “Jewish for Lunch,” that won Best Comedy at the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival, Best Comedy and Best Actor (Rylie Decocq) at the Mentone Film Festival, and Best Jewish Short Film at the Anatolian Film Festival in Turkey. Written & directed by Lou Borenstein.

This sounded like a perfect outing for our TAS Live Theatre Group. So I sent out a message, and we ended up with a group of 19-22 people at the show (we have 19 in the group photograph, but my RSVP count was 20, and I was told we had one or two more after that who didn’t tell me they were coming). We had a delightful dinner at Fromins Santa Monica beforehand (it’s no Brents (our local deli in Northridge), but there are few like Brents), which has been in Santa Monica for 47 years under family ownership.

So, on to the show itself.

As the Press Release noted, Jewish for Dinner is an expansion and extension of the 2022 13 minute short film, Jewish for Lunch, featuring much of the original cast. You can see the original film on YouTube. The situation in the film (which is still in the play) was expanded with more backstory and context; there was also a resolution added turning this from a filmed situation into a broader story with some deeper questions. The SM Playhouse did a staged reading of this back in August 2025, and now they have mounted the full play.

The basic story ties back to how I opened this writeup: affinity. Shared interests often lead to the desire, as we form relationships, to bring “like” together: people from the same background, the same religion, the same culture. This often reduces friction and provides common touchpoints and language. So this play’s setup is this: Conservative (as in the Conservative Movement in Judaism; not politically) Jewish family. Father, mother, two adult kids. Regular Shabbat dinner. A friend comes over, and is playing with the dating apps on her phone. The daughter comments how hard it is to find a nice Jewish guy. The friend suggests dating out of the faith. She dismisses the idea, giving numerous examples of how her family wouldn’t accept it or how it is doomed to failure. She also kvetches about the synagogue adding a high-holiday service they for which they are charging … something called Tashlich. The family notes this shouldn’t be a surprise: the synagogue is remodeling and needs more money for the remodel. There’s an argument about how she wouldn’t mind donating the money, but doesn’t like the subterfuge of the added service. She decides to go into the synagogue to complain. When she gets there, the Rabbi is in a meeting with a handsome architect, David Green, over some rolled architecture diagrams (that look like a Torah scroll). Insert a meet cute, and the fact that she doesn’t know that David Green is actually not Jewish. They quickly fall in love, and he proposes. Then, as they say in the sitcom world, hijinks ensue. We have family dinners with the usual confusions and problems. We have meetings with the Rabbi. We have fights, and the inevitable reconciliations. C’mon, you don’t really believe they would stay broken up over this?

If you’ve made it this far into the writeup, you’re probably wondering what I thought of the play. There are two ways to look at this, modulo some quibbles I’ll mention in a few.

First and foremost, this is a very funny play. My wife and I were laughing quite a bit, and our temple group also greatly enjoyed the play. There were situations that we recognized, and it captured much of American Jewish culture today, with all of its stereotypes.

That said, it also felt at times like an episode of The Neighborhood. Now, we love that sitcom and find it very funny, but there are times that it telegraphs the train wreck that is about to occur. You get that feeling here. And, as with The Neighborhood, you find the wreck is averted by some little twist or story point that takes things in a redeeming direction. Still a bit of a train wreck, but still very funny. And the basis of the train wreck is pretty easy to see: Non-Jew trying to blend in as Jewish, and (a) getting everything slightly wrong, and (b) the girlfriend in a panic because of it all.

But even with the gefilte fish out of the bathtub problem, the show has an interesting point to make: What makes someone Jewish? Is it simply an association by birth, even if one doesn’t understand or even know all the rituals (such as how the daughter was unaware of tashlich). Is it belief? Is it a desire to be part of the Jewish people and find meaning, as the boyfriend learns by the end? What is the ultimate problem with intermarriage? It used to be a big issue in the non-Orthodox community (it has always been a shanda in the Orthodox community). Reform started accepting it in the 1980s and it is now very common and accepted. Conservative Judaism used to prohibit such marriages, but even that attitude is changing. So in raising these questions, I think this show can provide some good discussions about belief, Judaism, and interfaith marriage.

I think my biggest quibble is the setup, but that could easily be rectified by some writing fixes. The main problem: Tashlich is a pretty standard part of Jewish High Holyday practice. I know that it has been done at most Reform congregations I’ve been at (TAS does it at either Limekiln Creek or Lake Balboa). Further, as Tashlich is done off premises, there usually is not an extra charge on top of High Holyday tickets. For those who aren’t Jewish, you might be wondering about the practice of charging for services. For most Shabbats, there is no charge to attend services, except possibly a registration access due to security in these antisemitic times. But for the High Holydays, when even the non-observant Jews come to synagogue, there are often tickets used to ensure sufficient seats. These are typically included with membership, although some congregations charge extra for better (i.e., closer to the bimah) seats; there are also charges for additional tickets. Note that there is often an unticketed family service open to the community; and of course in these post-COVID days, there are often live-streamed services. But back to the play: I’ve never known about an extra charge for a tashlich service. This easily could be changed to something else for which there is a charge — perhaps a Sukkot-dinner, perhaps some other event. But using tashlich as an excuse took me out of the story.

There were some directorial quibbles. At times, the projections still had the menu bar at the time and the Apple finder at the bottom. For a Conservative Jewish household, they had some mannerisms that were less than Conservative (but, then again, that’s common in Conservative families). During the High Holyday service, they seemed to do the mourner’s kaddish in the middle of the service. The hatza-kaddish (half-kaddish) I could understand, as that separates segments, but the full mourners kaddish is at the end. Some folks in our group indicated they had to stifle the desire to stand up during some of the prayers. But I think these are all minor quibbles, and ones that would be ironed out in a production that ran longer or had a greater budget.

I do have one more major quibble, and it is a common one these days: I absolutely hate having programs that are only available via QR code. You can’t easily look at them during the show; you don’t have a long term record; and most importantly, they have no archival quality because websites change, are reorganized, or disappear. That online program of today will be gone tomorrow. Shows, at minimum, should have a one pager (which, if you fold it and print double-sided, can give you four “pages”). Give the basics about the show and cast. Even if you have to use a tiny-font (8 pt), and print in black and white, there should be something.

The cast was generally strong, which isn’t a surprise as many came from the short film. There seemed to be a few hesitation points, but I’m willing to write that off to this being a small theatre with a small number of runs. Kate Huffman, as Ruth Cohen (the daughter) was very strong, as was Rylie Decocq as the boyfriend. I also liked Daryl Mendelsohn as the Rabbi, as he had the right gravitas. Some of the mannerisms were a bit exaggerated, but that fits with the overall sitcom style. This is a case where a dramaturg might have helped with some fine tuning.

Jewish for Dinner runs until March 1, 2026 at the Santa Monica Playhouse. Tickets are $25 or less, and are available online through Showclix or by calling the box office at 310-394-9779 ext 1. This isn’t a deep show and is a bit sitcomish, but is very very funny and makes some good points. It was great for our theatre group, and would be a great show for synagogue groups.

The Santa Monica Playhouse is recovering from a water pipe break that damaged / destroyed their stage and dressing rooms. The stage is rebuilt; the backstage less so. They are still looking for donations, and did a plea at the end of the show. We supported them. You should to.

Credits

Jewish for Dinner. Written by Lou Stone Boren. Directed by Jeff Jackson.

Cast: Kate Huffman Ruth Cohen; Ryle Decocq Dave Green; Abby Kohl Mollie Green; Gregory Cohen Leo Cohen; Ben Horwitz Gabriel Cohen; Amanda Dolan Sheba; Daryl Mendelsohn Rabbi Rosh.

Production and Creative: Lou Stone Borenstein Playwright; Jeff Jackson Director; George J Vennes III Technical Director; Joseph Perez Playhouse Projects Coordinator; Sandra Zeitzew Public Relations; Chris DeCarlo and Evelyn Rudie Artistic Directors. Surprisingly, the program has no credits for sound (and there was sound), lights (and there were lights), projections (and there were projections), and stage management (because there is always stage management). Given the program is being done via QR code and online, those credits should be added to the program.

Administrivia

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

January: ♣ Tom Chapin @ McCabes.
February: ♦ Applause at MTG (at Broad Stage); ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya; ♣ Mandy Gonzalez in Concert: Broadway and Beyond at Broad Stage.
March: ✡ MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; ✡ MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; ✡ MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; 🧬 California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ⊕ ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101
May: ♦ Anyone Can Whistle at El Portal Theatre; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 Jewish-ish | "Jewish for Dinner" @ Santa Monica Playhouse by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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Villainy and Human Natures | "All the Devils Are Here" @ Broad Stage

2026-01-18T23:09:21Z

The book and musical and movie of Wicked all start from the simple question: “Are people born evil, or do they have evilness thrust upon them?” Although Patrick Page, in his one man show All The Devils Are Here (which we saw last night at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica), doesn’t mention Wicked, he does address the question through the eyes of perhaps the greatest storyteller of them all, William Shakespeare.

Page’s premise is that Shakespeare invented the villain as we know him: a character with an underlying motivation to do evil. Before Shakespeare, per Page, there were bad guys, but they were very broadly and shallowly drawn. They were the vices in morality plays, existing solely to tempt the good guys and demonstrate why one should follow a particularly moral path. But then came Shakespeare and Richard III.

Page walks the audience chronologically through Shakespeare’s villains, and shows how Shakespeare’s characterization of them changed and deepened over time. In the early days they were often based on physiognomy: if one looks bad, than one must be bad. Richard III was the first with his deformities, but then there were Jews and Moors and others that fits the stereotypes of the time. For each of these, Page not only explains the Shakespeare, but expertly does one-man scenes from the plays in question to demonstrate his point.

He then goes on to show how Shakespeare’s understanding of the villain changed over times, especially after he had his poetry period during the plague. By the time we get to Hamlet, we’re having villains we depth and underlying motivations, who often turn the stereotypes of the time around. As one moves towards the Scottish Play, the exploration of true sociopaths appear. He talked about the traits of a sociopath. He quoted a book, but I had to use Dr. Google, who had something similar: “Sociopath traits, part of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), include a significant disregard for rules and others’ rights, lack of empathy or remorse, manipulative and deceitful behavior, impulsivity, shallow emotions (like anger), and a tendency towards irresponsibility, often masked by superficial charm. They may exploit others, struggle with relationships, act aggressively, and have a weak conscience, but can differ from psychopaths in being more erratic and less calculating.” He pointed out that in our audience of 500 or so, there should be about 13 sociopaths, and he was sure we knew such people in our lives, or are seeing them in the political news. Here’s a more detailed list I found.

He spent a bunch of time discussing the characters and the motivations in the Scottish Play, doing a number of scenes therefrom. One of the things he pointed out is how Shakespeare did things different than other playwrights: Other authors created characters to make a point or teach morality. Shakespeare created characters that held the mirror up to ourselves, enabling us to see them as the flawed characters we all are. No one is the 100% noble hero or the 100% villain (well, except for the true sociopaths): we all have some heroic aspects, and some villainous aspects. Perhaps that is why Shakespeare’s characters resonate so.

Another thing that Page did was explain why Shakespeare was doing what he was doing. He showed where Shakespeare used conventions of the day, and where he explicitly broke those conventions in a way that Elizabethian audiences would recognize. He showed where the characters were using rhetorical tricks to make particular points. He showed the comparison to Shakespeare’s contemporaries. It truly was a master class in understanding a master, and it did make me want to go see some more Shakespeare (I haven’t seen all that much, and what I tend to see are his lighter comedies, vs. the darker plays). That unfamiliarity did hinder me at a few points where I got lost in the language.

Page also made an effort to map Shakespeare’s character archetypes to contemporary dramas. I don’t remember them all (because I don’t watch them all), but I remember him mentioning characters like William White and Tony Soprano as being drawn directly from Shakespearian characters, as well as folks like Scar in the Lion King.

All The Devils Are Here is a show well worth seeing. It will teach you a lot about Shakespeare, as well as helping to identify those sociopaths among us (and those we elect to public office). It runs at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica until January 25. GO SEE IT. Tickets are available through the Broad Stage. There was a talkback after the show, which was also fun.

About my only regret is that we didn’t get a chance to run into Patrick Page’s wife, Paige Davis. I’m a long term fan of hers, and both she and my wife are gluten free, and they would have had fun talking about that.

Credits

All The Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain. Created and performed by Patrick Page. Directed by Simon Godwin.

Production Team: Arnulfo Maldonado Scenic Design; Emily Rebholz Costume Design; Stacey Derosier Lighting Design; Darrow L. West Sound Design; Natalie Hratko Production Stage Manager; Stewert Productions / Bethany Stewert Tour Production Manager; Joe Burt Assoc Scenic Design; Avery Regan Lighting Supervisor; Rayn Matthew Hall Assoc Sound Design; Bryan Hunt Tour Producer; Mara Isaacs Executive Producer.

Administrivia

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

January: ♦ Jewish for Dinner at the Santa Monica Playhouse; ♣ Tom Chapin @ McCabes.
February: ♦ Applause at MTG; ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya; ♣ Mandy Gonzalez in Concert: Broadway and Beyond at Broad Stage.
March: ✡ MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; ✡ MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; ✡ MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; 🧬 California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ⊕ ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101
May: ♦ Anyone Can Whistle at El Portal Theatre; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Villainy and Human Natures | "All the Devils Are Here" @ Broad Stage by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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💻 Horns of a Dilemma: Upgrade or New / Windows 11

2026-01-15T15:46:57Z

In October, I kicked a can down the road, but I’m staring at the end of the road with no further ability to kick it. So I need some advice.

My main laptop is an HP Envy 17 purchased in 2018. Here are the specs:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz 1.99 GHz
Installed RAM 12.0 GB (11.8 GB usable)
Storage:
- C: 238 GB SSD SK hynix BC501 HFM256GDJTNG-8310A,
- D: 932 GB HDD HGST HTS721010A9E630
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2 GB), Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (128 MB)

I’m currently running Windows 10 in Extended Support. I have my documents directory pointing to my D: drive. I absolutely DO NOT want Windows Backup or OneDrive. I don’t want to story my files in the cloud, and I already have a strong backup scheme through Acronis (my D: drive is backed up to the Acronis Cloud daily; I backup to offline USB drives weekly). I have replaced my battery once due to swelling. My current system is suitably fast, and I have loads of software I like. My current system has a CD-ROM (which new systems don’t have), and I have 3 USB-A and 1 USB-C ports (most systems don’t have that many ports these days). I don’t know the health of my current C: drive (SSDs have a fixed lifetime).

Here’s the question: I’m going to have to move to Windows 11. Should I…

Upgrade my current system to Windows 11, and then replace my hard drive with a 1 TB SSD. I’d probably get our laptop repair shop to add the new drive. I’m nervous about doing the upgrade — I might get them to do that as well. This is an example of the “devil you know” route, but I’m also upgrading a system that is 7 years old.
Purchase a new Windows 11 system. This is a more laborious and expensive route, as I would then want to update a bunch of software as well (WordPerfect, PaintShopPro, Roxio) to current versions, and some software might be unavailable. Things probably will break (including some software I depend upon). I’d no longer have an internal CD-ROM, and I’d have fewer ports. The upside is that the hardware would be new and would likely last longer.

The biggest fear in upgrading is Windows Backup. I’ve been told that Windows 11 turns this on by default. I made that mistake once: Windows Backup then changes your %DOCUMENTS% path to a hidden OneDrive directory on your C: drive, which it then mirrors to the cloud. This is bad if you have a small C: drive, and if you do things wrong, you lose files when you turn it off. Luckily, I had a full backup from that day. I want my files locally, on a separate data drive from my C: drive. Supposedly, you can turn off OneDrive, and Windows Backup. I’d like to avoid that mess. I have no idea of the upgrade process tries to turn it on. I’m sure a new setup would turn it on; I’d have to turn it off and change the DOCUMENTS path before loading files and more programs.

So, great Internet brain: Should I upgrade or get a new system?

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 💻 Horns of a Dilemma: Upgrade or New / Windows 11 by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🎭 What Age Takes Away | "The Notebook" @ BIH/Pantages

2026-01-11T21:12:15Z

When the 2025-2026 season for Broadway in Hollywood was announced, there was a mixture of shows I was excited to see (Suffs, Stereophonic), the usual retreads on tour (Sound of Music), and the anticipatory “mehs”. In the “meh” category was The Notebook, a weepy chick-flick turned musical, based on the original novel by Nicholas Sparks (i.e., it technically wasn’t based on the 2004 movie, but played on the familiarity of the intellectual property. I’ll note that I’ve never seen the movie; it is not the type of movie to which I’d allocate one of my few movie slots a year.

Well, I saw The Notebook last night at the Pantages.

First and foremost, it wasn’t the weepshow I expected (I think back to my reactions to The Bodyguard or Ghost: The Musical). It certainly wasn’t bad. It had an engrossing story that was easy to follow (certainly easier than Stereophonic). The performances were excellent. But overall it wasn’t … memorable. Of course, this is odd for a musical that is at its heart about memory.

The Notebook is about a couple, Noah and Allie. When we first meet them, Noah is reading a story to Allie, who is in a home with some form of severe memory loss or dementia, probably Altzheimers. She doesn’t know who Noah is. The story he is reading is their story: how they met, fell in love, had kids, and so on. He believes that when he finishes the story, she’ll come back to him (remember him). That story, is essentially, the musical.

This is not a jukebox musical. The music and lyrics are by Ingrid Michaelson. They are pretty. They also don’t stick in your head; when you walk out of the theatre they are gone. Most of the songs are slower ballads. There are few high-energy numbers, and this isn’t a dance show. I had gotten the album previously. If I had to compare it musically to something, perhaps it would be Light in the Piazza or Bridges of Madison County. Both of those are mostly slow numbers, and if you asked me to recall the music from those shows afterwards I’d be hard pressed to do so.

What does stick with you afterwards is the performance, especially Beau Gravitte as the Older Noah and Sharon Catherine Brown as the Older Allie. They are a believable couple, and Brown (especially) has the mannerisms down. The part of the story that really touches is her performance: It isn’t the love that touches, it is the loss of life that touches. She brings that to the stage, and Gravitte brings the love. The middle and younger Noahs and Allies bring the youth and energy, but it is the performances of the older Noah and Allie that you leave with. They are the heart and soul of this show. Also notable was the performance of understudy Makenna Jackson as the younger Allie; she brought a lot of vitality to the role.

One additional thought: During the last song, “Coda”, which is all about remembering life and people, what came to mind was: a parallel with Dear Evan Hansen. DEH has, as one of its things, remembering people. Being seen and not forgotten. The Notebook is also about remembering people and not forgetting them.

Should you go see it? That’s a harder question. You won’t hate it if you see it, and it isn’t polarizing like Stereophonic was. But it is also forgettable. If you’re into weepy love stories, you’ll love it. If you have a parent who is suffering from memory degradation, this might hit too close to home.

The Notebook continues at Broadway in Hollywood through January 26. Tickets are available through the Pantages website.

Credits

The Notebook: The Musical. Book by Bekah Brunstetter. Music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson. Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. Directed by Michael Greif & Schele Williams. Choreography by Katie Spelman.

Cast [underscores indicate “at our performance”; ~~strikeouts~~ indicate “not at our performance”; ↑ indicates “swung up”]: Beau Gravitte Older Noah; ~~Ken Wulf Clark~~ Jesse Corbin Middle Noah; Kyle Mangold Younger Noah; Sharon Catherine Brown Older Allie; Alysha Deslorieux Middle Allie; ~~Chloe Cheers~~ Makenna Jackson Younger Allie; Annie Tolpegin Mother / Nurse Lori; Connor Richardson Johnny; ↑ ~~Jesse Corbin~~ Nick Brogan Lon / others; Jerome Harmann-Hardeman Father / Son / others; Rayna Hickman Nurse Joanna / others; ↑ ~~Makenna Jackson~~ Samantha Rios Sarah / Grandaughter / others; Caleb Mathura Fin / Grandson / others; Grace Ohwensadeyo Rundberg Georgie / Concierge / others. Swings: ↑ Nick Brogan, Aaron Ramey, Shari Washington Rhone, ↑ Samantha Rios, Emily Some, Joe Verga.

Music Department (♯ indicates local): Carmel Dean Music Supervision, Co-Orchestrations; John Clancy Co-Orchestrations; Tina Faye Conductor / Keyboard; Mary Grace Ellerbee Assoc. Conductor / Keyboard 2; Gioia Gedicks Violin / Viola; Sarah Fuller Harp; Quinten Hansen Reeds; Michael Karcher, Michiko Egger Guitar; Chris Sutherland Percussion; ♯ Jen Choi Fisher Violin / Viola; ♯ Brian LaFontaine Guitar 2 (Steel String / Nylon String Acoustic / Mandolin); ♯ Brad Gardner Keyboard 2; ♯ Eric Heinly Music Contractor; Kimberlee Wertz Music Coordinator; Billy Jay Stein and Hiro Iida for Strange Cranium Electronic Music Design; Christopher Petti and Harrison Roth Mainbrain / Ableton Programming; Adam Wiggins for Strange Cranium Tour MainStage Programming; Megan Sperger for J&J Music Preparation Music Preparation

Production and Creative: Ingrid Michaelson Music and Lyrics; Bekah Brunstetter Book; Nicholas Sparks Original Novel Author; Michael Grief Director; Schele Williams Director; Katie Spelman Choreographer; David Zinn Scenic Design; Brett J. Banakis Scenic Design; Paloma Young Costume Design; Ben Stanton Lighting Design; Nevin Steinberg Sound Design; Mia Neal Hair and Wig Design; Lucy MacKinnon Video Design; Claire Warden Intimacy Director; Samantha Rios Dance Captain; Justin Myhre Production Stage Manager; Melissa Richter Stage Manager; Egypt Dixon Asst. Stage Manager; Asmeret Ghebremichael Assoc Director; Emily Madigan Assoc Choreographer; The Telsey Office Casting; Neuro Tour Physical Therapy; Hudson Theatrical Associates Production Management; Theatre Matters General Management; Michael Camp Company Manager; The Booking Group Tour Booking Agency; Allied Global Marketing Tour Marketing & Press; And That’s Showbiz Social Media.

Administrivia

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

January: ♦ All the Devils Are Here at The Broad; ♦ Jewish for Dinner at the Santa Monica Playhouse; ♣ Tom Chapin @ McCabes.
February: ♦ Applause at MTG; ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya.
March: ✡ MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; ✡ MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; ✡ MoTAS Poker Tournament; Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; 🧬 California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 What Age Takes Away | "The Notebook" @ BIH/Pantages by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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🛣 Changes to the California Highway Pages covering November - December 2025

2026-01-02T16:12:37Z

Now that 2025 is in the rearview mirror, it’s time for the last highway page update for 2025. This cycle, whose changes are detailed on the December 2025 Change Page with proper formatting, or just pasted below, covers November through December 2025. Enjoy, and as always, “ready, set, discuss”.

Next up: Continuing work on the California Highways: Route by Route Season 4 episodes. The background research is done, and next up is writing the last episodes of the season (the last two episodes on Route 12, Route 13, and Route 14). Episode 4.05, on the Santa Monica Freeway, is recorded and awaiting editing. Look for that episode to be posted at the end of next week.

On to the changelog:

This update covers the rest of October, November, and December 2025. Before we dive into the updates to the California Highways site, an update on the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Podcasters, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcaster or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Podcasters) . The following episodes have been posted since the last update in mid-October:

November | CA RxR 4.02: I-8 and US 80 Between El Cajon and the Arizona Border. This is Episode 4.02, which continues our exploration of Route 8, better known as Interstate 8. In this episode, we focus on the portion of I-8 from La Mesa (just outside of San Diego) to the Arizona border. We look at not only current I-8, but the routing of the predecessor route, US 80. We discuss the communities of La Mesa and El Cajon, Alpine and Descanso, Boulevard, the Mountain Springs Grade, Jacumba, Ocatillo (with a digression on the Imperial Highway), El Centro, Holtville and the Algondenes Dunes (with a digression on the Plank Road), Winterhaven and Yuma. We also briefly talk about the interesting routing of US 80 within Arizona, and how it differs from I-8. We talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. In the next episode, we’ll turn our attention to Route 9, which currently runs from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos, but which once ran all the way to Castro Valley. (Spotify for Creators)
November | CA RxR 4.03: Route 9: Santa Cruz and Saratoga. Episode 4.03 starts a pair of episodes that explore Route 9, which in its post-1964 version runs from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and Los Gatos. Before 1964, Route 9 continued N up to the Mountain View area, and then across to Milpitas, and up to the Castro Valley. This episode (4.03) covers the current Route 9 from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos; the next episode (4.04) covers the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 through Mountain View, Milpitas, and up through Hayward and the Castro Valley. This episode also explores the 9^th State Route between Peanut and Kuntz (now Mad River), and LRN 9. LRN 9 ran all the way from Ventura to San Bernardino, and was Sign Route 118 from Ventura to Pasadena, and US 66 from Pasadena to San Bernardino. As always, we’ll talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. As noted, the next episode explores the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 from Saratoga through Milpitas to the Castro Valley. (Spotify for Creators)
December | CA RxR 4.04: Route 9: Pre-1964 – Milpitas to Castro Valley. Episode 4.04 is our second episode exploring Route 9, which in its post-1964 version runs from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and Los Gatos. Before 1964, Route 9 continued N up to the Mountain View area, and then across to Milpitas, and up to the Castro Valley. The previous episode covered post-1964 Route 9 (and the first segment of pre-1964 Sign Route 9) from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and then into Los Gatos, as well as all the 9^th State Route and LRN 9. This episode (4.04) covers the pre-1964 Route 9 portions N of Saratoga: Sign Route 9 through Mountain View, Milpitas, and up through Hayward and the Castro Valley. This portion of Sign Route 9 became Route 85, Route 237, Route 17/I-880/I-680 (in portions) and Route 238. The next pair of episodes will be covering I-10, with episode 4.05 covering the Santa Monica Freeway portion, and episode 4.06 covering the San Bernardino Freeway portion. (Spotify for Creators)

Turning to the updates to the California Highways pages: Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the (virtual) papers and my research for the fourth season of the podcast in October, November, and December 2025 (which are posted to the roadgeeking category at the “Observations Along The Road” and to the California Highways Facebook group) as well as any backed up email changes. I also reviewed the the AAroads forum (Ꜳ). This resulted in changes on the following routes, with credit as indicated [my research^(ℱ), contributions of information or leads (via direct mail or ꜲRoads) from Graham Bakulin⁽²⁾, DTComposer⁽³⁾, Tom Fearer⁽⁴⁾, Metro I-5 North County Enhancements Project⁽⁵⁾, Adrian Ople (City of Brawley)⁽⁶⁾, Mike Palmer⁽⁷⁾, Will Poundstone⁽⁸⁾]: Route 1^(ℱ), Route 2^(ℱ), Route 4^(ℱ,4), I-5^(ℱ,5), US 6^(ℱ), I-15^(ℱ), Route 16⁽⁴⁾, Route 22^(ℱ), Route 24⁽⁴⁾, Route 26^(ℱ), Route 27^(ℱ), Route 33⁽⁴⁾, Route 37^(ℱ), Route 38^(ℱ), Route 39^(ℱ), Route 41^(ℱ), Route 47^(ℱ,7), Route 49^(ℱ), US 50^(ℱ), LRN 50^(ℱ), Route 51^(ℱ), Route 52^(ℱ), Route 57^(ℱ), Route 59⁽⁴⁾, Route 64^(ℱ), Route 70^(ℱ,4), Route 78^(ℱ), I-80^(ℱ), Route 82^(ℱ), Route 84^(ℱ), US 99^(ℱ), Route 99⁽⁴⁾, US 101^(ℱ), Route 110^(ℱ), Route 116^(ℱ), Route 118^(ℱ), Route 120^(ℱ), Route 121^(ℱ), Route 131^(ℱ), Route 134^(ℱ), Route 135^(ℱ), Route 170^(ℱ), Route 180⁽⁴⁾, LRN 183⁽²⁾, Route 185^(ℱ), Route 187^(ℱ), Route 198^(ℱ), Route 217^(ℱ), Route 240^(ℱ), Route 247^(ℱ), Route 258^(ℱ), Route 260⁽⁴⁾, Route 275⁽⁴⁾, I-280^(ℱ), I-380⁽³⁾, US 395^(ℱ), I-405^(ℱ), I-580^(ℱ), I-605^(ℱ), I-680^(ℱ), I-710^(ℱ,8), I-780^(ℱ), County Sign Route J1⁽⁴⁾, County Sign Route J6⁽⁴⁾, County Sign Route J16⁽⁴⁾, County Sign Route J17⁽⁴⁾, County Sign Route S17⁽⁶⁾.
(Source: private email through 1/1/2026, Highway headline posts through and including the December 2025 Headline post, AARoads through 1/1/2026)

Continued work on Season 4 of the Route by Route podcast. Research for and preparation of the episodes for the back half of the season (covering Route 11 through Route 14) resulted in changes and updates to the following routes: Route 12, Route 13, Route 14, Route 24, Route 29, I-110, Route 116, Route 121, LRN 7, LRN 12, LRN 13, LRN 51, LRN 74, LRN 104.

Added an interesting link to the maps page: Old Insurance Maps. This can provide some interesting comparisons of highway routing to redlining.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the California Legislature site, for bills through 2025-12-29. As usual, I recommend to every Californian that they visit the legislative website regularly and see what their legis-critters are doing. As many people are unfamiliar with how the legislature operates (and why there are so many “non-substantive changes” and “gut and amend” bills), I’ve added the legislative calendar (updated for 2025) to the end of the Pending Legislation page. Noted the passage of the following bills / resolutions:

SB 695 (Cortese) Transportation: climate resiliency: projects of statewide and regional significance.
Existing law establishes the State Transportation Infrastructure Climate Adaptation Program, administered by the Department of Transportation, for purposes of planning, developing, and implementing projects adapting state transportation infrastructure to climate change. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with, among others, the Transportation Agency and the California Transportation Commission, to develop a program of its top priority climate adaptation projects and to submit projects in this program to the commission for adoption. Existing law requires the department, in developing the program of projects, to consider specified criteria, including, but not limited to, the benefits of the project to preserving or enhancing regional or statewide mobility, economy, goods movement, and safety, and other benefits associated with protecting the asset.
This bill would require the department, in consultation with the commission and the agency, and on or before July 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to create a prioritized list of projects of statewide and regional significance, as defined, to better prepare the state for extreme weather-related events, with priority based on specified criteria. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to submit to the Legislature a report containing the prioritized list of projects.

10/13/25 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 781, Statutes of 2025.

Reviewed the online agenda of the California Coastal Commission for the November and December meetings. There were no items related to state highways in the reviewed agendas.

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Headlines About California Highways – December 2025

2026-01-01T18:05:28Z

And with the flipping of a calendar page, 2025 is in the rearview mirror. It was an eventful year. I retired from Circle A ranch in July, and haven’t missed either the daily grind or the cybersecurity field. My only remaining involvement is ACSAC (Annual Computer Security Applications Conference), which will continue for a few more years. We had a successful ACSAC in Hawaii this year (with attendance roughly equal to last year, which given the current environment says something); the next two years will be here in Los Angeles (making logistics easier). I’ve been keeping very busy with the highway pages and the podcast. I attended the mandatory holiday movies, and even squeezed in some theatre and concerts. Lastly, but not leastly, politics-wise, 2025 was very stress inducing; hopefully, 2026 will bring some hope for the future (especially in November). But we have to make it through the campaign season first, and I predict that will be a messy spring, summer, and fall. The other messy question for 2026 is: Do I upgrade my Windows 10 machine (purchased at the end of 2018) to Windows 11, or just buy a new Windows 11 machine? Each option has its own fears, stresses, and headaches.

I’m continuing to work on podcast episodes. I’ve completed the first episode on Route 12, and will complete the remaining two on Route 12, one on Route 13, and one on Route 14 after the last round of updates for 2025 are posted. For those, all that remains is incorporation of this headline post, and then it is time to generate and post. Episode 4.05 is also recorded and pending editing, so that should go up around the end of next week.

Season 4 of the podcast continues, and we’re now using new recording software (Zencaster). I think it sounds better, but I would love to hear from the listeners. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-70 folks, and I’d love to get that number up (as of today, we’re at 37 for 4.04, 61 for 4.03, 69 for 4.02, 93 for 4.01, and 72 for 3.15), although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). You can help. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episode has been posted this month:

December | CA RxR 4.04: Route 9: Pre-1964 – Milpitas to Castro Valley. Episode 4.04 is our second episode exploring Route 9, which in its post-1964 version runs from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and Los Gatos. Before 1964, Route 9 continued N up to the Mountain View area, and then across to Milpitas, and up to the Castro Valley. The previous episode covered post-1964 Route 9 (and the first segment of pre-1964 Sign Route 9) from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and then into Los Gatos, as well as all the 9^th State Route and LRN 9. This episode (4.04) covers the pre-1964 Route 9 portions N of Saratoga: Sign Route 9 through Mountain View, Milpitas, and up through Hayward and the Castro Valley. This portion of Sign Route 9 became Route 85, Route 237, Route 17/I-880/I-680 (in portions) and Route 238. The next pair of episodes will be covering I-10, with episode 4.05 covering the Santa Monica Freeway portion, and episode 4.06 covering the San Bernardino Freeway portion. (Spotify for Creators)

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for December.

Key

Highway Headlines

＄ New ramp meters along Highway 101 in Sonoma and Marin counties to be activated Tuesday (Petaluma Argus-Courier). New Highway 101 ramp meters in Sonoma and Marin counties will be activated starting Tuesday to help manage traffic flow, according to Caltrans. Caltrans will turn on seven meters, which are traffic signals at onramps, in Sonoma County and five in Marin County in both northbound and southbound directions, the agency said in a Wednesday news release. All of the Sonoma County meters and both Marin County northbound meters will be switched on Tuesday. Three southbound Marin County meters, which are located along the Marin-Sonoma Narrows project area, will be turned on after some additional drainage and electrical work is completed, likely in early 2026, Caltrans spokesperson Matt O’Donnell said in an email Wednesday. The meters — located in Petaluma, Novato, Sausalito and Mill Valley — will be active at varying hours Monday through Friday. Signs will be placed ahead of the meters, letting drivers know of the new traffic signals.
Work begins on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge ‘open-road tolling’ project (Richmond Standard). The Richmond–San Rafael Bridge is entering a new era of tolling. The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) announced that pre-construction work for a full conversion to “open-road tolling” (ORT) begins this week, weather permitting. When construction is fully underway, drivers can expect overnight westbound lane closures, with full overnight closures expected for the gantry installation (dates to be determined). This marks the first ORT conversion among the seven BATA-managed bridges. When the structure is built, vehicles will no longer need to slow for toll booths. Instead, overhead equipment will automatically detect FasTrak tags or license-plate accounts as drivers pass under at freeway speeds.
The Bay Bridge, Nearing Age 90, Gets a Physical (KQED). For most of the past year, Caltrans contractors have conducted a far-from-routine physical on an 89-year-old patient: the monumental western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. In a process completed in September, engineers opened up the massive main cables that support the bridge’s double-deck roadway between Yerba Buena Island and San Francisco’s Rincon Hill to check on conditions inside. The results from that exam are due by early next year. The last time crews looked inside the cables was in 2003, during a major seismic upgrade project. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission said this year’s checkup was the first systematic investigation of the 25-inch diameter cables since the Bay Bridge was completed in 1936.
＄ ‘The Snake’ stretch of Mulholland Hwy. reopens after 6 years (Los Angeles Times). For more than six years, adrenaline junkies have yearned for the moment that, once again, they can careen around the serpentine corners of a stretch of Mulholland Highway with the crisp mountain air rushing through their hair. Their wait came to an end Tuesday as a 2.4-mile section of the road known as “the Snake” slithered back to life. The area of the highway roughly between Kanan Road and Sierra Creek Road has been closed to vehicle traffic since early 2019 after it was charred in the Woolsey fire and further damaged by winter rains.
Mulholland Highway’s Iconic 2.4-Mile Winding Stretch ‘The Snake’ Has Officially Reopened — After Almost Seven Years (Secret Los Angeles). Mulholland Highway is one of Los Angeles’ most iconic roads, famous for its winding curves and breathtaking views that make it a must for any scenic drive. Its serpentine path has become a symbol of the city’s adventurous spirit and laid-back lifestyle. So ingrained is it in L.A.’s identity that it even inspired the title of David Lynch’s cult classic film. For decades, locals and visitors alike have flocked to this legendary route to experience a drive that feels uniquely Californian. Everything changed in 2018 when the devastating Woolsey Fire swept through the area, followed by heavy rains and landslides that forced the closure of the iconic section. For nearly seven years, drivers had to bypass “The Snake,” leaving a gap in one of L.A.’s most celebrated scenic routes. Now, according to the L.A. Times, the narrow 2.4-mile stretch has officially reopened, restoring a beloved piece of the city’s landscape.
New report paints damning picture of California’s aging infrastructure (SF Gate). In 1989, as the Loma Prieta earthquake shook the ground up to 60 miles from its center, a section of the Bay Bridge collapsed. The bridge failure was a visible representation of California’s vulnerable infrastructure; a 53-year-old span that hadn’t been retrofitted adequately to withstand a disaster. A recently released report shows just how much of California’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair or replacement. The report, which assigns a grade to 17 different categories of infrastructure and is compiled by the American Society of Civil Engineers, gave the state’s cumulative infrastructure a C-, unchanged since 2019, but below the nation’s C grade. Since 2019, grades for aviation, energy, hazardous waste, levees, ports and rail all improved, while the state’s dams, drinking water, schools and stormwater declined. The study is completed about every six years.
＄ Plans to raise Vincent Thomas Bridge rejected by state (Los Angeles Times). Construction on the Vincent Thomas Bridge near the Port of Los Angeles is slated to begin next month, but the project will not include a 26-foot bridge hoist that port officials were hoping for. Port Executive Director Gene Seroka proposed raising the bridge earlier this year amid existing plans from the California Department of Transportation to re-deck the emerald green overpass connecting San Pedro to Terminal Island and Long Beach. Raising the bridge would allow larger, more efficient ships to travel underneath carrying cargo. About 40% of the port’s cargo capacity is beyond the bridge, which sits at 185 feet high.

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Sausage Making | "Stereophonic" @ BiH/Pantages

2025-12-28T22:10:47Z

There’s an adage that goes something like: Sausage is tasty, but you don’t want to see how it is made. If there is a short summary of “Stereophonic“, which we saw last night at the Hollywood Pantages as part of the Broadway in Hollywood season, that would be it.

Going into this show, I didn’t know what to expect. Coming into the 2024 Tony awards, it had loads of buzz. Loads of Tony nominations. According to Wikipedia: “13 overall nominations at the 77^th Tony Awards, breaking the record previously held by the Jeremy O. Harris play Slave Play (2020) to receive the most nominations for a play in the history of the ceremony; The play proceeded to win five awards: Best Play (which it also won at the Drama Desk Award, the Drama League Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award), Best Direction of a Play, Best Featured Actor in a Play (for Will Brill; Eli Gelb and Tom Pecinka also received nominations for the award), Best Scenic Design of a Play and Best Sound Design of a Play. Juliana Canfield and Sarah Pidgeon both received nominations for Best Featured Actress in a Play.”

The Broadway production received excellent reviews. I had gotten the album and was underwhelmed, but then again: This was a play with music, not a musical. So based on the Tony awards, and the performance at the Tony Awards, I was looking forward to the show. But then I started reading the comments when Broadway in Hollywood was posting about the show on Facebook. Comments like:

“Most nominated play in theater? Then theater is dead. Our entire group left at intermission tonight.”.

“I saw some comments before we saw it on Tuesday that the Pantages is too big for this particular show. And after leaving at Intermission (which we’ve NEVER done before), I’d have to agree. 1/4 of the stage was cut off for us and the play was incredibly slow.”

“Was really looking forward to this production. I’ve had season tickets for years here, and have been going to theater my entire life. I have NEVER walked out of a production before. We left at intermission.”

The pre-show buzz was so bad that Broadway in Hollywood felt the need to manage expectations, sending out an email that said to expect “cinematic, almost documentary-style pacing” and “Stereophonic paces in real time with conversations that overlap, spark, and erupt”, noting “Trust the silence. Sometimes the quietest moments are the loudest.”

But, then again, I also saw comments praising the show. So I really didn’t know what to expect going in. Would this be a disaster on the level of “Girl From the North Country”? Would this be spectacular, on the level of “To Kill A Mockingbird” (the last non-musical to play the Pantages)? I just didn’t know. All I really knew is that this was a play based on the making of a record album, supposedly based on Fleetwood Mac and the creation of the 1977 album “Rumours”, and that the Broadway running time of 3 hours, 10 minutes had been cut to 2 hours, 50 minutes.

So, here are my thoughts:

First, I think this was very much a case of a good show in the wrong theatre, with the wrong audience. The Broadway in Hollywood audience has been trained on musicals, with the best reception for spectacular, uplifting musicals. This was a dark (in theme) downer of a show. It wasn’t musical. It had slow pacing, with a documentary style, meaning the story wasn’t spoon fed to the audience. It had a single set that was boxed-in on the stage, meaning that much was lost in the cavern that is the Pantages. In short: This wasn’t playing to an audience that was receptive to the story, and the theatre was so big it swallowed the performances. These were two fatal flaws that doomed the reception of the show for much of the Pantages audience. “Stereophonic” would have been received much better on the Ahmanson stage; it might even have been acclaimed had it be done in one of Los Angeles’ mid-size prestige houses such as the Pasadena Playhouse or the Geffen.

Second, reviews were right in that it was a bit slow in its pacing. Taking a show on tour allows the production team a chance to review and improve the production for its eventual long life. A prime example of this is “The Addams Family”. That show had book and pacing problems on Broadway. It was revisited for the tour, and the result was a production that is now extremely popular and is being done everywhere. The production team of “Stereophonic” wisely cut out 30 minutes in preparing the tour version, as noted in the program. I think they could have tightened the production just a bit more.

Thirdly, this was not a production for everyone. There was strong language, there was reference to sex and drugs and rock and roll. There were fights. There was overtalking. There was silence. This wasn’t a feel-good show. The characters ended the show in a different place than where they started, but it was arguably a much worse place in terms of relationships and the band’s future. Those looking for a light musical would be disappointed. Those looking for a traditional play with a traditional structure and storytelling would be disappointed. This was a play for a more sophisticated audience who were willing to tough it out for a good conclusion.

That said: This wasn’t a “I Caligula: An Insanity Musical” level train-wreck. It wasn’t a “Girl from the North Country” level disaster. It was even better than mediocre. I was interested in the characters, and what happened to them. The story was interesting, and the behind-the-scenes of the making of an album was interesting. It clearly is a pressure cooker, and a good environment for story telling. It could have used a bit more dramatization to clarify the story and heighten interest. It probably had more relevance for those familiar with Fleetwood Mac and the “Rumours” album (I think I might have one Fleetwood Mac album in my library — it is a group I never knowingly listened to).

If I had to rate it, it was on the level of “OK” to “good”. I enjoyed the story, but I don’t really have a desire to see it again. But this clearly is a play not for everyone. I did like the Four Rules for Engineers stated early on in the show: 1. Show up. 2. Pay Attention. 3. Tell the truth. 4. Deal with the consequences

The performances were strong. I particularly liked Jack Barrett’s Grover, Claire Dejean’s Diana, and Denver Milord’s Peter.

“Stereophonic” continues at the Hollywood Pantages until January 2, 2026. You can get tickets through the Pantages website. Be forewarned that this isn’t a show for everyone: There were a number of people that left before and during intermission.

Other December Live Performances

You may have noticed a dearth of reviews during December. Part of that was due to the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference, which was in Waikiki the week of December 8, and prevented us from seeing shows the first and second weekends of December. However, while at the Conference, we did see the Pa’ina Waikiki Luau at Waikiki Beach Marriott. We actually coordinated the attendance of a group of 245 conference attendees at the luau. The luau itself was spectacular, with hulu, island stories, fire dancing, and all other sorts of traditional dances. Of course, the best was when we quietly engineered for our conference chair to join the dancing on stage. I have heard there are videos of this, but I don’t have the links.

After we returned, we saw two live concert performances. I normally don’t review concert performances, but I’m listing them for completeness:

Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson. I went in expecting this to be mostly Broadway music. Instead, it drew heavily from Ben’s solo albums and songwriting. It was an enjoyable show, and those more familiar with Ben’s music were really rocking out to it.
Nochebuena: A Christmas Spectacular at the Soraya. This production featured Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles, Mariachi Pueblo Viejo from Tucson, and had as a special guest Ximena Sariñana. I didn’t understand much of the words, but the dance was spectacular.

Lastly, the Christmas period concluded as halachicly required, with two movies: “Wicked: For Good” and “Song Sung Blue”. Both were excellent.

Credits

Stereophonic. Written by David Adjmi. Original songs by Will Butler. Directed by Daniel Aukin.

Cast: Jack Barrett Grover; Claire Dejean Diana; Steven Lee Johnson Charlie; Emilie Kouatchou Holly; Cornelius McMoyler Simon; Denver Milord Peter; Christopher Mowod Reg. Understudies: Jake Regensburg u/s Grover, u/s Reg; Quinn Allyn Martin u/s Diana; Andrew Gombas u/s Charlie, u/s Peter; Lauren Wilmore u/s Holly; Eli Bridges u/s Simon.

Production and Creative: David Adjmi Playwright; Will Butler Original Songs and Orchestrations; Daniel Aukin Director; David Zinn Scenic Design; Enver Chakartash Costume Design; Jiyoun Chang Lighting Design; Ryan Rumery Sound Design; Robert Pickens & Katie Gell Hair and Makeup Design; Justin Craig Music Director and Orchestrations; Alldaffer & Donadio Casting Casting; Gigi Buffington Vocal, Text, and Dialect Coach; Dylan Glen General Manager; Brian Decaluwe Company Manager; Geoff Maus Production Stage Manager; Holly Adam Stage Manager; Work Light Productions Production Management; Bond Theatrical Tour Booking, Marketing & Publicity; Ray Wetmore & JR Goodman Production Props Supervisor; Ann James Intimacy Coordinator; Drew Leary Fight Director.

Favorite Minor Credit: Work Light Productions Tax Credit Consultant.

Administrivia

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

January: ♣ New Beginnings: A Chromolume Cabaret! at Chromolume; ♦ The Notebook at BIH/Pantages; ♦ All the Devils Are Here at The Broad; ♦ Jewish for Dinner at the Santa Monica Playhouse; ♣ Tom Chapin @ McCabes.
February: ♦ Applause at MTG; ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya.
March: ✡ MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ✡ MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at TBD; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; ✡ MoTAS Poker Tournament; Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; 🧬 California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Sausage Making | "Stereophonic" @ BiH/Pantages by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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Holiday Traditions: Wickedness and Music | "Wicked: For Good" and "Song Sung Blue"

2025-12-28T20:09:41Z

As you know, it is a halachic tradition to see a movie on Christmas Day, followed by Chinese Food. We arranged the Chinese Food through our synagogue’s brotherhood, but it was up to us to pick the movies. Normally, we’re live theatre folks: If you follow my blog at all, you know that we see live theatre or other forms of live performance almost every week (on average). But movies, in a movie theater? That’s reserved for the week around Christmas. I also don’t feel the need for full writeups (as I do with stage shows) for movies, especially given the size of the production team compared to live theatre production teams. That’s why IMDB exists. So here are some thoughts about the movies we saw this holiday season.

Wicked: For Good

GIven that last year’s holiday movie was “Wicked: Part 1“, it is probably no surprise that this year’s pair of holiday movies started out with “Wicked: For Good” on Erev Christmas. Before we get started on the movie itself, a small bitch about the titles: I get that the producers changed their mind on the title after the first movie was released, but the fact that there’s a Part 1 without a Part 2 just gnaws at my brain. If an autauer as great as George Lucas can retitle “Star Wars” to “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” after its release, then you can fix the title mismatch. Rename one of the parts of make things consistent. Ideally, the solution would be something along the lines of: “Wicked (Act 1): Defying Gravity” and “Wicked (Act 2): For Good”. With that off my chest…

This is a movie. This means that much of the audience was unfamiliar with the original musical by Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz, let alone the original books by Gregory Maguire. This also means that they went into the movie expecting a continuation of the lightness and humor of the first movie. They didn’t get it. I felt bad for the family sharing our row at the theatre who brought their smalls (under 10 years old) with them. They were scared by the darkness, and bored by the love story, and as a result, were crying and couldn’t sit still. Folks: Act 2 of “Wicked” is dark. It was extremely dark in the original book, and just a bit lighter in the stage production, but is dark none-the-less. Folks should expect this, even given the MGM film. The focus of the story, the “Wicked Witch”, dies in the end. This can’t be a light story where the two girlfriends go skipping down the path together.

Gregory Maguire wrote his original book (which was the first of four in the series) as a political allegory during the Clinton administration. According to Wikipedia, while living in London in the early 1990s, he noticed that while the problem of evil had been explored from many different perspectives, those perspectives were seldom synthesized together. He wondered whether calling a person evil might be enough to cause a self-fulfilling prophecy. He decided to use the milieu of Oz to explore the story: hence, “Wicked”. His politics got more pointed in the later books: In particular, his second book in the series “Son of a Witch”, explores the political torture of the second Bush administration. The musical changed the story quite a bit (especially the ending), but kept the political themes, and the Act 2 movie leaned into that even more.

I mention this all because this really shows the adaptability of Oz. L. Frank Baum wrote the original story (before he started the rest of the children book series) as a political allegory about the McKinley administration and the silver standard (hence the silver shoes). Maguire wrote his first story exploring what makes people evil, as well as the nature of the power of propaganda and attacks on class. Yet viewing the story today, it is a wonderful commentary on the Trump administration, the administration’s manipulation of “truth”, and of the harnessing of hatred of a particular subclass of citizens to gain and retain power. The Wizard’s song “Wonderful” exposes this well, and is perhaps the political heart of the story (the emotional heart, as always, is the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda). I’m sure that much of the audience was unaware of this political message going in: Hopefully, they will learn from it. We are still dealing with the Carney who is running a government based on carnival flim-flam alone (and no real skills, other than charm), who is making up and selling a story, and who is abusing contributing citizens to gain and retain power. Children’s stories are often used to teach adult lessons in disguise.

The performances in the movie were outstanding. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were great, and bought distinct personalities and exceptionally strong singing voices to the role. I always love Ethan Slater (who I’ll always think of a Spongebob from the Spongebob Musical), and Jonathan Bailey made a great Fiyero.

The movie made a number of changes to the original story (for example, Elphaba’s father was originally an itinerant preacher). The movie also expanded a number of parts of the story, and made many aspects of the connection to the 1939 movie a lot more explicit (certainly more explicit than in the musical). The transformations of the Tin Man and Scarecrow were particularly strong. I did like how the ending ties well to the original story and map of Oz (and that’s all I’ll say).

Lastly, as I noted in my original comment on Facebook, it is amazing how many people it takes to make a movie, especially when compared to a stage production. The production team for the stage consists of perhaps 20 to 30 people, with perhaps another 20 in the costume and scenery shops. The Wicked movies listed at least 200 people, I’d guess.

One article I read noted that this movie was key for Universal, which viewed the movie as a tentpole franchise. Unlike their action movie or animation franchises, this movie appeals to women and brings them into the theaters. Hence, the intense and almost overwhelming marketing blitz for the pair of movies, which continues unabated. I’ve already heard rumors that there will be more movies in this franchise, although it is unclear in what direction they will go. It is hard to imagine them continuing with Maguire’s remaining 3 books (“Son of a Witch”, “A Lion Among Men”, and “Out of Oz”), simply because of their darkness, political intrigue, and work required to musicalize them. More likely would be Oz-adjacent stories set in the Maguire/Holzman universe, with new music. I’m not sure those will succeed, but given the desire of the audience, they probably will. Get ready for “Wicked: The Sparkly and the Furious”.

An excellent movie, well worth seeing. I predict that this pair of movies will continue to be shown and reshown on your television screens for a long time, just like the ubiquitous “Back to the Future”.

Song Sung Blue

When I first heard about the movie “Song Sung Blue” and saw advertising for it, I was afraid it would be another Neil Diamond bio-pic. This didn’t interest me at all, as I had recently seen the excellent “A Beautiful Noise” at the Pantages. I also had no interest in seeing Jackman, whose musical star was tainted by the mess with Sutton Foster (who I think is a wonderful Broadway artist). But when my daughter was in town last week, she suggested that we go see “Song Sung Blue”, indicating that my concerns were misplaced. In particular, it was NOT a Neil Diamond bio-pic; rather, it was a story about two real Neil Diamond interpreters and was based on real life.

In parallel, I started reading some stories in the NY Times about Kate Hudson’s performance, and how it was particularly strong. As that article starts:

She’s a middle-aged, blue-collar amputee who sings backup in a kitschy Neil Diamond cover band. “I don’t want to be a hairdresser,” she says with a heavy Wisconsin accent. “I want to sing and dance.”

It’s not exactly a role that shouts Oscar. At first glance, it reads more like Razzie bait.

But the right actress in the right part: As played by Kate Hudson in the musical bio-dramedy “Song Sung Blue,” arriving in theaters on Christmas Day, the character, Claire, transcends her movie-of-the-week attributes — so much so that Hudson could land in the best actress race at the Academy Awards.

This sounded intriguing. I could overlook Hugh Jackman for that. So we booked tickets for this movie as our Christmas Day movie. I’m really glad we did.

This movie tells the story of Mike and Claire Sardina, who became famous as Lightning and Thunder, a group that interpreted Neil Diamond music at state fairs in the midwest, going so far as to open for Pearl Jam (yes, that’s true). Mike was a down-on-his-luck cover impersonation artist. He meets Claire, another such artist, and falls for her professionally and emotionally. The movie explores their ups and downs, and how music was the heart of their relationship. It is based mostly on real life, although there were a few changes from the real story of the Sardina’s. I found the story compelling, although the way the director presented the story there was almost too much foreshadowing. Some of the plot beats were predictable from the telegraphing alone (unlike real life). The movie would almost have been stronger without them (although it does make me curious to see the original 2008 documentary).

Hugh Jackman’s performance was good, and he makes a credible Neil Diamond impersonator. However (and this is especially true listening to the soundtrack of the movie in isolation), his Australian accent comes slightly through (e.g., at times I thought I was listening to Peter Allen singing Neil Diamond). If you don’t get that reference, Hugh Jackman burst onto the stage as a singer through the musical “A Boy from Oz“, which tells the story of Peter Allen). I don’t recall that accent coming through in “The Greatest Showman”, but now I’ll listen for it. His acting was very strong. For those that know him only from Wolverine, this might be a shock. For those that know him from stage or Showman, it is less of a surprise. He does bring quite a bit of depth to the role.

Kate Hudson is remarkable. I had no idea she was that strong of singer: she handles both the Neil Diamond and the Patsy Cline numbers with aplomb. Her performance, as the Times noted, was Oscar-worthy. She becomes Claire Sardina — and unlike a lot of actresses, is unafraid to do scenes sans makeup and showing her real age and vulnerability. She brings the character alive through performance alone. In some ways, this is unsurprising given her parents. But it also shows that she has been underestimated by the Hollywood machine. Hopefully, this will open more doors for her and a wider range of options.

Other performances were equally strong: I didn’t realize until the credits that Jim Belushi was involved. I was also particularly taken by Ella Anderson as Rachel (Claire’s daughter) and King Princess (as Angelina, Mike’s daughter) and their relationship to their parents. Hudson Hensley was also strong as Dana, Claire’s other child. Dana’s status is quietly male in the movie: In the articles I’ve seen about the real-life Dayna, I’ve seen all sorts of pronouns being used. Again, this is a movie that will play to middle-America, perhaps making a statement about acceptance they don’t realize they are getting.

Again, this is a movie I strongly recommend.

And thus, our two movies for 2025 are achieved. We now return you to your regularly posted theatre reviews.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Holiday Traditions: Wickedness and Music | "Wicked: For Good" and "Song Sung Blue" by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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Headlines About California Highways – November 2025

2025-12-01T18:10:44Z

November is now in the books. This means two things: It is now less than a week away before ACSAC (Annual Computer Security Applications Conference), and holiday movies and music have started. I’m looking forward to the former, for which I’m local arrangements and registration chair (although it is a lot of work); much less so to the latter (because if one doesn’t observe Christmas, the hoopla over the holiday becomes a bit obsessive). That said, whatever holiday you are observing during this month of holidays: I hope it is happy, meaningful, and celebrated with those you love and care about.

I’m continuing to work on podcast episodes. I’ve currently working on writing the first episode on Route 12, leaving two more on Route 12, one on Route 13, and one on Route 14 to go. I’ll be getting back to the last round of updates for 2025 as soon as I get back from the conference.

We’ve started Season 4 of the podcast, and we were able to use new recording software (Zencaster) for episode. I think it sounds better, and I’m hopeful that the next episode will be even better as I now know how to adjust my microphone input better. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-70 folks, and I’d love to get that number up (as of today, we’re at 36 for 4.03, 63 for 4.01 and 4.02 and 70 for 3.15), although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). You can help. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episode has been posted this month:

November | CA RxR 4.03: Route 9: Santa Cruz and Saratoga. Episode 4.03 starts a pair of episodes that explore Route 9, which in its post-1964 version runs from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and Los Gatos. Before 1964, Route 9 continued N up to the Mountain View area, and then across to Milpitas, and up to the Castro Valley. This episode (4.03) covers the current Route 9 from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos; the next episode (4.04) covers the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 through Mountain View, Milpitas, and up through Hayward and the Castro Valley. This episode also explores the 9^th State Route between Peanut and Kuntz (now Mad River), and LRN 9. LRN 9 ran all the way from Ventura to San Bernardino, and was Sign Route 118 from Ventura to Pasadena, and US 66 from Pasadena to San Bernardino. As always, we’ll talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. As noted, the next episode explores the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 from Saratoga through Milpitas to the Castro Valley. (Spotify for Podcasters)
November | CA RxR 4.02: I-8 and US 80 Between El Cajon and the Arizona Border. This is Episode 4.02, which continues our exploration of Route 8, better known as Interstate 8. In this episode, we focus on the portion of I-8 from La Mesa (just outside of San Diego) to the Arizona border. We look at not only current I-8, but the routing of the predecessor route, US 80. We discuss the communities of La Mesa and El Cajon, Alpine and Descanso, Boulevard, the Mountain Springs Grade, Jacumba, Ocatillo (with a digression on the Imperial Highway), El Centro, Holtville and the Algondenes Dunes (with a digression on the Plank Road), Winterhaven and Yuma. We also briefly talk about the interesting routing of US 80 within Arizona, and how it differs from I-8. We talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. In the next episode, we’ll turn our attention to Route 9, which currently runs from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos, but which once ran all the way to Castro Valley. (Spotify for Podcasters)

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for November.

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. ☊ indicates an primarily audio article. ↈ indicates a primarily video article. ]

Highway Headlines

Two Weeks After Anniversary of Fatal Malibu Crash, City Could Reject PCH Safety Improvements (Streetsblog Los Angeles). On Monday, November 3, the Malibu Planning Commission will hold a final hearing on the proposed Caltrans Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Safety Project, a $55 million plan to repave and upgrade the western portion of PCH between Cross Creek Road and the Ventura County line. Find meeting details at the bottom of this article. This PCH project has been in the works for years. Then, after a fatal crash that killed four young women standing along PCH on October 17, 2023, advocates scrambled to get Caltrans to include safety improvements along with the repaving. The project now aims to improve safety and accessibility along the corridor via a range of infrastructure updates. Proposed features include 15 miles of new or upgraded bike lanes, nearly 7,000 linear feet of new sidewalks in high-pedestrian areas including near Pepperdine University, 42 dark-sky compliant light poles, 19 guardrails, 22 curb ramps, three retaining walls, and two realigned intersections. The plan also includes median reconstruction and law enforcement pull-outs at various locations.
Freeway vs. Highway: Yes, the Difference Matters (Readers Digest). Some road names are regional, but it’s the definitions that matter most. Life is a highway, or so the snappy song by Canadian crooner Tom Cochrane tells us. But what is a highway, exactly? And when it comes to freeways vs. highways, is there a real difference? Living in New York City means I’ve driven on many high-speed roads in the tristate area, from parkways to expressways and everything in between. And I’m here to tell you they are indeed distinct from one another. But don’t take my word for it—I’m no driving expert. (I get more parking tickets than I should and occasionally use the bus lane to pass.) Instead, I’ve tapped Nathan Huynh, PhD, a highway expert and professor of civil engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, to suss out these thoroughfare subtleties, explain regional name differences and tell us why road terms matter.
＄ Caltrans cuts ribbon on 395 Olancha-Cartago widening (Ridgecrest Daily Independent). There are safer travels ahead on U.S. 395 in the Owens Valley with the end of major construction on the Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project. This project constructed 12.5 miles of new pavement, replacing the previous two-lane highway with a split 4-lane expressway designed to eliminate cross-centerline crashes. This is the final stretch of U.S. 395 to be converted into a 4-lane expressway in most of Inyo County. “The Olancha Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project underscores Caltrans’ safety and people-first philosophy,” said Acting District 9 Director Brandon Fitt. “Enhancing safety along this vital roadway improves the quality of life for residents of Olancha and Cartago and provides a better and more efficient travel experience for drivers.”
Caltrans Commitment to Safety Highlighted in Completion of the Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project (Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News). There are safer travels ahead on U.S. 395 in the Owens Valley with the end of major construction on the Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project. This project constructed 12.5 miles of new pavement, replacing the previous two-lane highway with a split 4-lane expressway designed to eliminate cross-centerline crashes. This is the final stretch of U.S. 395 to be converted into a 4-lane expressway in most of Inyo County. “The Olancha Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project underscores Caltrans’ safety and people-first philosophy,” said Acting District 9 Director Brandon Fitt. “Enhancing safety along this vital roadway improves the quality of life for residents of Olancha and Cartago and provides a better and more efficient travel experience for drivers.” The new lanes on U.S. 395 closed the gap between existing four-lane sections to the north and south. The upgraded facility will meet future transportation demands as vehicle and freight traffic through the region continues to increase.
Construction continues for Fanny Bridge near Lake Tahoe; nearby construction also scheduled (2 News Nevada). The Fanny Bridge construction continues in Sunnyside, California, along Lake Tahoe while crews add a permanent sewer line scheduled for Friday, November 7. During this project, cars will detour onto Lake Boulevard bypass to access State Route 89 and State Route 28. According to Caltrans, West Lake Boulevard will remain open for business and for transit center access, with only the Fanny Bridge being closed. The walking and bicycle path across the Truckee River Dam will remain open throughout the project.
Old Woman Springs Road officially designated “High Desert State Scenic Highway” (Z107.7 FM Joshua Tree). State Route 247, known locally as Old Woman Springs Road, now has a new name. The road that connects Yucca Valley to Barstow will now by known as “High Desert State Scenic Highway.” The Homestead Valley Community Council (HVCC) received word from Caltrans that the road was officially dedicated as “scenic” by the state’s road agency on October 4. The HVCC had been campaigning for the highway to be designated as scenic, and was informed of the designation by San Bernardino County’s Land Use Services on Thursday (October 30).
Goleta’s San Jose Creek Bridge Set for Major Replacement Project (Edhat). The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will replace the San Jose Creek Bridge along State Route 217 in Goleta, the agency announced on social media on October 27, 2025. The work will require full overnight closures between Hollister Avenue and Sandspit Road on October 28, 2025, and October 30, 2025, from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. The road closures will allow for the installation of precast girders for the new bridge, the City of Goleta said in a statement. The bicycle lane will remain open during the overnight closures.
Hwy. 1 slide update: Caltrans installs cable nets to prevent falling rocks (SLO Tribune via MSN). Crews continue making progress in stabilizing Regent’s Slide on Highway 1, Caltrans said Wednesday, giving an update on work at the troublesome cliff face that’s contributed to a nearly three-year closure along the Big Sur Coast. of that stretch of the All-American Road and National Scenic Byway. The state road agency still estimates a spring 2026 reopening for through travel from Cambria to the Monterey Bay area, maybe as early as late March. That timing depends on various influences, of course, the most significant of which is weather, because heavy rains can unleash more slides in the geologically unstable area.
California’s Iconic, Major Interstate With Renowned Views Has Been Named America’s Busiest Highway (Yahoo! News). Similar to Interstate 95 (I-95), the East Coast’s major highway that’s considered one of America’s deadliest, the West Coast’s own Interstate 5 (I-5) stands out, not for danger, but for its sheer volume of traffic. Recently named America’s busiest highway by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), I-5 is more than just a road; it’s a lifeline connecting some of the country’s most vital regions. This 1,381-mile artery isn’t just about logistics, it’s a journey through the heart of the West Coast — and a scenic one at that. From sun-drenched beaches and bustling metropolises to sprawling farmland and snow-capped peaks, I-5 offers an unmatched visual narrative. Travelers along the Pacific Coast experience a true spectrum of the American landscape, especially between Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Santa Ana — the stretch of area under the spotlight in this recent study.

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Progress Is Possible, Not Guaranteed | "Suffs" @ BIH/Pantages

2025-11-23T20:42:22Z

In these troubled times, what we need if something that reminds us to keep fighting for our goals, to keep fighting even when faced with an administration that wants to jail us and do unspeakable things to us just for exercising our constitutional right to protest. If we keep ourselves focused on that singular goal and if we protest not just with words but with actions that cannot be ignored, we will eventually win. Luckily for those of us in Southern California, such a reminder is currently at the Pantages Theatre under the “Broadway in Hollywood” banner: Suffs, with music, lyrics, and books by Shania Taub.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, we saw Suffs last night at the Pantages, and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Suffs tells the story of the fight to pass the 19^th Amendment, which is what gave women the right to vote. If it sounds like a dry subject, well so was the life of Alexander Hamilton. You saw what happened with that story. Suffs really doesn’t cover the entire 65+ years of the Suffragist movement, however; instead, it focuses pretty much on the last decade or so: from the start of the Wilson administration through the passage of the amendment, including a bit of a postscript regarding the modern day. The ultimate point of the show seems to be the message that polite behind-the-scenes work is important, but insufficient to bring about change. Action is required: peaceful protest, strong messaging to the people, and getting those impacted out on the streets to effect change. Although this show premiered during the Biden administration, this message is especially important during the Trump administration. We’ve all seen the impact of the 50501 movement, the “No Kings” marches, and the emphasis on the release of the Epstein Files on this administration. We can learn from history; and that learning seems to be part of this show.

It should be no surprise that Hilary Clinton was part of the producing team of the Broadway production; alas, she doesn’t appear to be listed as part of the producing team for the National Tour.

Suffs focuses on quite a few real historical characters, most notably Alice Paul, and her cohorts from what became the National Woman’s Party: Ruza Wenclawska, Lucy Burns, Doris Stevens, and Inez Milholland. It also focuses on the clash between Paul’s strategy and the strategy of the NWP when contrasted to the more sedate National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), led by Carrie Chapman Catt and Molly Hay. It also intertwines the story of some Black Suffragists, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, and Phyllis Terrell. As you can tell by the links, these were all real people, as were (of course) Woodrow Wilson, his chief of staff Dudley Malone, and backers such as Alva Belmont. As with that other historical musical, Hamilton, the book gets the story mostly right, although it does play with the timeline a little for narrative purposes.

As a man who was unfamiliar with the story of women getting the right to vote, I found this music inspiring (and I loved much of the music). I saw numerous parallels between the story of this fight, and the fights we are seeing today with the Trump administration. The story relates to the continuing right for gay and Trans rights, and (alas) for the continuing fight for women’s right. The musical rightly points out that the protagonist of the musical, Alice Paul, was one of the authors of the Equal Rights Amendment, which didn’t get submitted to the states until the Nixon Administration, and which still hasn’t quite passed to this day (some say it is past its ratification deadline, and some states want to retract their ratification). In fact, it was just this week that Michelle Obama said that the country isn’t ready for a woman president. The battle for the equality of women is far from over, and the battle to convince many of my sex that men aren’t the sole ones that posses the right and ability to lead continues. The patriarchal notions of male leadership rights, both in politics and at home, still haven’t gone away (and this country is far worse for it, for it gave us Donald Trump in 2016 over Hilary Clinton, and Donald Trump in 2024 over Kamala Harris)

But I’m a man, and my opinion of this show shouldn’t be the only thing that matters. So I asked my wife — a person who personifies one of the best songs in the show, a “Great American Bitch”, in the best sense of the phrase. Her attitude is that we need another mob like the one shown in the show to descend on all the men in politics who don’t understand women and reproduction to fight for women to have the control over their own bodies and their reproductive rights. She loved the show and found it empowering.

There were points in the show that drew echoes of Hamilton, particularly the song “Finish the Fight”, and the various battle songs. The show, unlike Hamilton, also passes the high school test: this show could easily be staged in high schools (unlike the full version of Hamilton). I predict, once the rights are released, that it will be a popular high school production because of its combination of history education and music. Alas, two things may hold it back: First, words like “bitch”. Second, the men that don’t want their womenfolk to be reminded of their political power.

The performances were extremely strong and strident. We moved back from row Q to row Y this season, and perhaps we hit the sweet-spot for sound in the theatre (or the sound engineer for this show was particularly good). Spectacularly impressive performances were the norm. Most notable was Maya Keheler as Alice Paul, Livvy Marcus as Doris Stevens, Joyce Meimei Zheng as Ruza Wenclawska, Monica Tulia Ramirez as Inez Milholland, and Danyel Fulton as Ida B. Wells. I’ll note that all roles in this cast were played by women (perhaps this would limit the high school producibility, but perhaps not).

The music is strong and entertaining, although it does suffer from the problem that the best songs are concentrated in the first act. That, perhaps, is unavoidable given the story. It also made me think of The Rothschilds when Inez Milholland reappeared as ghost in the second act. Just as with Meyer Rothschild in The Rothschilds, the performer was such a powerhouse they had to reappear, even though they died in the first act. Book and liberetto authors, however, will find a way.

This is a show that all should see, and may be one of the best shows in this season of Broadway in Hollywood. It continues at the Pantages through December 7. For more details and tickets, visit the show page at Broadway in Hollywood. Go see this one. It will more than make up for the sobfest I expect The Notebook to be.

Credits

Suffs. Book, music, and lyrics by Shaina Taub. Directed by Leigh Silverman. Choreography by Mayte Natalio.

Cast [underscores indicate “at our performance”; ~~strikeouts~~ indicate “not at our performance”; ↑ indicates “swung up”]: Jenny Ashman President Woodrow Wilson; Anna Bakun Ensemble / Speaker of the House; Tami Dahbura Mollie Hay; Danyel Fulton Ida B. Wells; Marya Grandy Carrie Chapman Catt; Marissa Hecker Ensemble / Dr. White / Mailman; Kaitlyn Jackson Ensemble / Mrs. Herndon (Nov 18-23); Trisha Jeffrey Mary Church Terrell; Maya Keleher Alice Paul; Livvy Marcus Doris Stevens; Victoria Pekel Phyllis Terrell / Robin; Brandi Porter Dudley Malone; Monica Tulia Ramirez Inez Milholland; ~~Jenna Lea Rosen~~ Aquila Sol Ensemble / Major Sylvester / Senator Burn; ~~Gretchen Shope~~ Ensemble / Mrs. Herndon (Nov 25 – Dec 7); Laura Stracko Alva Belmont / Phoebe Burn; Gwynne Wood Lucy Burns; Joyce Meimei Zheng Ruza Wenclawska. Principle Covers: Abigail Aziz, Ariana Burks. Swings: Annalese Fusaro, Amanda K. Lopez, Merrill Peiffer, ↑ Aquila Sol.

Music Department (♯ indicates local): Andrea Grody Music Supervisor, Co-Vocal & Incidental Arrangements; Michael Starobin Orchestrations; Dani Lee Hutch Music Director, Conductor, Keyboard 1; Kerianne Brennan Assoc. Conductor, Keyboard 2; Edward Hamilton Acoustic & Electric Bass; Daniel Santiago Drums; ♯ Jen Choi Fischer Violin; ♯ Ira Glansbeek Cello; ♯ Jeff Driskill Reed 1 (Flute / Piccolo / Clarinet / Bass Clarinet / Soprano Sax / Bari Sax); ♯ Sean Franz Reed 2 (Flute / Clarinet / Alto Sax); ♯ Aaron Smith and Barbara Laronga Trumpet / Flugelhorn; ♯ Amy Bowers Trombone / Euphonium; ♯ Michael Abraham Guitar (Acoustic / Electric / Banjo / Mandolin); ♯ Brad Gardner Keyboard Sub; ♯ Eric Heinly Orchestra Contractor; Kristy Norter and Julie Ferrara Music Coordinator; Randy Cohen and Sam Starobin, Randy Cohen Keyboards LLC Electronic Music Design; Drew Nichols, Tim Crook, and Nick Schenkel Assoc. Electronic Music Design; Emily Grishman Music Copying; Adriana Grace, Timothy Hanson, and Alden Terry Music Preparation.

Production and Creative: Shaina Taub Book, Music, & Lyrics; Leigh Silverman Director; Mayte Natalio Choreographer; Riccardo Hernández Broadway Scenic Designer; Christine Peters Tour Scenic Designer; Paul Tazewell Costume Designer; Lap Chi Chu Lighting Designer; Jason Crystal Sound Design; Charles G. LaPointe Hair and Wig Design; Joe Dulude II Makeup Design; Lori Elizabeth Parquet Assoc Director; Hawley Gould Assoc. Choreographer; Amanda K. Lopez Dance Captain; Stacy N. Taylor Production Stage Manager; Maya Bhatnagar Stage Manager; Megan Ciszek Asst Stage Manager; The Telsey Office Casting; Hudson Theatrical Associates Production Management; Brand-Nexus Marketing Supervisor; Allied Touring Tour Marketing and Press; Think Tank Social Media; The Booking Group Tour Booking Agency; 101 Productions Ltd General Manager.

Favorite Minor Credit: Bad Monkey Props Horse Body and Mechanics.

Administrivia

Upcoming ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

December: ◊ ACSAC Conference; ♣ Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson at CTG/Ahmanson; ♣ Nochebuena: A Christmas Spectacular at The Soraya; ♦ Stereophonic at BIH/Pantages;
January: ♦ The Notebook at BIH/Pantages; ♦ All the Devils Are Here at The Broad; ♣ Tom Chapin @ McCabes.
February: ♦ Applause at MTG; ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya.
March: The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; MoTAS Poker Tournament; Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Progress Is Possible, Not Guaranteed | "Suffs" @ BIH/Pantages by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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