Observations Along The Road... at Dreamwidth

It is rare that I am surprised by a show. For most shows, going in, I’ve heard the score, read the synopses, and seen a few reviews. For The Bridges of Madison County (FB) at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) [which we saw last night], however, I was pleasantly surprised. Going in, I had never seen the movie or read the book upon which this was based. Going in I had heard the music — but this is a show where the music alone does not convey the story. Had I read the synopsis? Perhaps, but I certainly didn’t remember it. I had seen that the show had good — and locally, some great — reviews. But in my eyes, this was a romance. For some treason, it was stuck in my head as being another The Light in the Piazza: a romantic chick-theatre outing that wouldn’t particularly excite me.

I was wrong, and I admit it. This show got me hooked into the story. It was beautifully crafted, beautifully performed, and beautifully executed. It was a show where the score — which hadn’t particularly stuck with me before (I preferred the score to JRB‘s Honeymoon in Vegas) — resonated more deeply now that I was able to connect it the story. I truly enjoyed this show. It is one of those special shows where the sum of the parts: the performances, the story, the technical, and the score come together to hook you in a way any individual piece might not.

The story itself is a romance. I’m not a big lover of romances; being an engineer, that’s something that’s not really in my nature. As I said above, I had never read the original novel by Robert James Waller (FB). I had also never seen the Oscar-nominated movie with Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. I hadn’t even read the synopsis with the CD. Perhaps you haven’t either. So here’s the elevator version of the story (you can find a more detailed synopsis on the show’s Wikipedia page): Francesca is a war-bridge, who moved to Madison County, Iowa with her soldier husband, Bud, after the war. Eighteen years later they are still together, with two teenage children (Michael and Carolyn), who are about to head off to Indianapolis IN for the State Fair with their father. Francesca stays home expecting a few days of peace, quiet, rest, and relaxation. A National Geographic photographer, Robert, comes by the farm looking for directions to a particular covered bridge in the county. Francesca directs him to the bridge, and shortly they find themselves falling for each other. Robert fulfills a need she had forgotten in herself; he listens and cares about her as her, in a way her husband doesn’t. Observing this all are her neighbors, Charlie and Marge.  The two lovers grow closer, but all to soon the family is returning home, and the photographs have been taken. Robert goes off, hoping that Francesca will one day contact him. The family returns, and Francesca is soon drawn back into world of family and the love of family. She comes to realize that while the romance was a beautiful fantasy, the reality of family is strong… but she is haunted by the “what if?”. I’ll leave the epilogue to the epilogue.

For the stage, the original book by Waller (FB) was adapted by Marsha Norman (FB) [who did the book for The Color Purple and The Secret Garden], and augmented by the music and lyrics of Jason Robert Brown (FB). An interview in the program with Norman notes that, while the book tells the story from Robert’s point of view, the musical focuses on Francesca’s point of view. It points out that this is one of the few shows that actually has a book by a female playwright, and she describes a picture of the Broadway production’s Francesca, Kelli O’Hara (FB), holding a picture with a wonderful quote: “I need stories by women on stage because my daughter will hear the echo of their voices.” This was a point echoed in the Broadway Bullet, Episode 608 podcast, which was specifically focused on women’s voices and diversity in the theatre (and it dovetails with my diversity post). I’m not sure that I could particularly detect the women’s voice in the story vs. what it might have been with a man’s voice, except perhaps in the gentleness, the memory, and the ongoing battle between passion and family.

Overall, I found the story strangely compelling. It wasn’t the sappy romance I had gone in expecting. The situations and the performances combined to create a world and characters that you quickly grew to care about.

The music was pure Jason Robert Brown (FB) [JRB]. The music reminded me most of his romantic work in The Last 5 Years and the power of Parade, as opposed to the more rockish scores of 13 or Honeymoon in Vegas. There were some wonderful moments that moved into the country and bluegrass side; a style of music which I love. I found that the show made me appreciate the score and cast album more. I particularly liked the energy of “State Route 21”, and the gentle piano background of “What Do You Call a Man Like That?”.  I also found Marian’s number, “Another Life”, quite touching. The Los Angeles audience was also treated to having Brown as the conductor of the orchestra, not the normal tour conductor (Keith Levenson (FB)). Brown also had the luxury of a good size locally-based orchestra: Caleb Hoyer (FB) (Associate Conductor) on Piano; Michelle Maruyama (FB) (Concertmaster) on Violin; Daniel Erben/FB and Justin Rothberg (FB) on Guitars; Sharon Jackson (FB) on 2nd Violin; Pam Jacobson (FB) and Adriana Zoppo (FB) on Viola and Violin; Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick on Cello; Ian Walker (FB) on Bass; and Ed Smith (FB) on Drums and Percussion. Michael Keller (FB) and Michael Aarons (FB) were the music coordinators, and Robert Payne and Dan Savant were the music contractors. Keith Levenson (FB) was the Music Director. Tom Murray (FB) was the Music Supervisor. Jason Robert Brown (FB) did the Orchestrations.

Before I go into the performance, let’s explore the dance. There was none. OK, being serious, there was no choreographer credit, only the broader Movement, credited to Danny Mefford (FB). There is, however, a dance captain in the person of Lucy Horton (FB). The translation of this is that there was none of the gratuitous dancing that you’ll find in other Broadway shows (if you recall, I complained about the gratuitous dancing in the background of last week’s If / Then ). There were one or two dance moments: Robert and Francesca in the kitchen; some brief dancing at the State Fair. But more of the dance was really movement — I might even call it a ballet — of the ensemble members moving the set pieces on and off set. The manner of gentle movement of those pieces were a dance, and were as much part of the story as any kickstep or waltz.

The performances were under the principal direction of Bartlett Sher (FB), who did the Broadway direction, and Tyne Rafaeli (FB), who was the tour director. In a broad sense, if I had to describe the direction, it would be “gentle”. The directoral team allows the performances and story to be front and center, and devised a way for the flashback scenes to be effectively presented.  The only thing I couldn’t quite figure out was why he had ensemble members sitting on the stage just watching the action.

In the lead performance positions were Elizabeth Stanley (FB) as Francesca and Andrew Samonsky (FB) as Robert. I’ll note that Stanley was recently a guest on the wonderful Theater People (FB) podcast. Stanley’s performance was great. Looking nothing like her picture in the program or her website, she just came across as real. She had a lovely voice, and her singing style in this show was so different than in so many other shows. Just beautiful. I also particularly appreciated the little touches she added — facial expressions, little touches here and there such as straightening the hair of her daughter. Opposite her, Samonsky had an easygoing style and a lovely voice that was remarkably appealing. I think the chemistry and interplay between these two are a major reason for the impact of this tour.

In the next tier, we have the remainder of Francesca’s family: Cullen R. Titmas (FB) as Bud, Caitlin Houlahan (FB) as Carolyn, and Dave Thomas Brown (FB) as Michael. Here I was particularly taken with the spunkiness and energy of Houlahan’s performance; she was just fun to watch. Titmas was also quite strong as Bud — he did a great job of conveying the love he had for his family and his wife. Titmas was also very strong in “It All Fades Away”, and the whole family was strong in “Home Before You Know It”.

Also in this tier were the neighbors, Mary Callanan (FB) as Marge and David Hess (FB) as Charlie.  These were smaller roles, but both Callanan and Hess brought something special to them. Calanan was particularly strong in “Get Closer”, and Hess in “When I’m Gone”.

Rounding out the cast were the one-scene characters and ensemble members: Katie Klaus [Marian, Chiara, State Fair Singer]; Cole Burden (FB) [Ensemble, u/s Robert]; Caitlyn Caughell (FB) [Ensemble, u/s Carolyn, u/s Marian / Chiara / State Fair Singer]; Brad Greer (FB) [Ensemble, Paolo, u/s Robert, u/s Michael]; Amy Linden (FB) [Ensemble, u/s Carolyn, u/s Marian /  Chiara / State Fair Singer]; Trista Moldovan (FB) [Ensemble; u/s Francesca, u/s Marge]; Jessica Sheridan (FB) [Ensemble; u/s Marge]; Matt Stokes (FB) [Ensemble, u/s Bud, u/s Charlie]; and Tom Treadwell (FB) [Ensemble, u/s Bud, u/s Charlie). Swings were Lucy Horton (FB) [Dance Captain; u/s Francesca] and Bryan Welnicki [u/s Michael]. The player board indicated that Welnicki was performing at our performance, but there was no substitution announcement and no indication of which ensemble member was not there. Particularly noteworthy here was Klaus — she just was perfection on both “Another Life” and “State Route 21”. There was also an ensemble member that kept drawing my eye, but alas I do not know here name: all I can recall is that in the “State Route 21” number, she was in boots and a shortish skirt, and I want to say blonde, so based on pictures along, I’d guess Jessica.

Finally, let’s turn to the production team and other creatives. The scenic design by Michael Yeargan, with additional set and adaptation by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams (FB) was simple and effective. There were a few fly-down components that evoked location — the edge of a roof, a sign here or there. But most of the pieces were set pieces on wheels moved in and out by the cast members. They worked remarkably well, and became the dance component of the overall production. The kitchen set was particularly nice. This combined with the excellent lighting design of Donald Holder to create a particularly strong unified picture. I particularly appreciated the lit backdrops/projections that worked wonderfully to establish the sense of overall place and mood. The costume design by Catherine Zuber combined with the hair and wigs of David Brian Brown (FB) to create a very good picture of the characters (he also did the wigs for If / Then). I particular admired the costuming and wigs used for Francesca — these made the character look completely different from the actress. The sound design of Jon Weston was clear and unobtrusive. Stephen Gabis was the dialect coach, and (at least to my ears) Francesca sounded Italian — so he must have done something right. Rounding out the production team were: The Booking Group (FB) [Tour Booking]; Telsey+Company (FB) [Casting]; Type A Marketing (FB) [Marketing and Press]; Melissa Chacón (FB) [Production Stage Manager]; Joshua Pilote (FB) [Stage Manager]; Norah Scheinman (FB) [Assistant Stage Manager]; and Ryan Parliment [Company Manager]. There were numerous producers; notable members of the producers team were Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Ken Davenport (FB) [who does an excellent blog and podcast called The Producers Perspective]; Independent Presenters Network [meaning that the LORT theatres on the tour helped get the show off the ground], and Warner Brothers Theatre Ventures (FB) [meaning that the movie team invested in the musical].

The Bridges of Madison County – The Musical (FB) continues at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) through January 17, 2016. Tickets are available through the Ahmanson website; Hottix may be available by calling 213.628.2772. Discount tickets are also available on Goldstar. The show is well worth seeing; I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: This was our penultimate show for 2015. Our last show is later today: Nunsense at Crown City Theatre (FB). After the writeup for that show is posted, expect a “year in review” writeup. The new year, 2016, starts with “Louis and Keeley – Live at the Sahara” at The Geffen Playhouse (FB) on January 2nd. This is followed by “Bullets Over Broadway” at the Pantages (FB) on January 9; “That Lovin’ Feelin’” at The Group Rep (FB) on January 16; “Stomp” at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB)  on January 24; and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on January 30. There is also the open question of whether there will be Repertory East Playhouse (“the REP”) (FB) 2016 season, and when it will start.  However, given there has been no announcement, I feel safe booking all weekends in January  (I’ll note that if there is no REP season, I’ll likely subscribe at Group Rep — call it the Law of Conservation of REP). February starts with a hold date for “An Act of God” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB). The rest of the February schedule is empty except for February 28, when we are seeing The Band of the Royal Marines and the Pipes, Drums, and Highland Dancers of the Scots Guards at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB). March brings “Another Roll of the Dice” at The Colony Theatre (FB), and has two potential dates on hold for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) (pending Hottix). I expect to be filling out February as December goes on.  As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

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First and foremost, because I am obligated to clear the misconception: If you go to If/Then – The Musical expecting a musicalization of that seminal work, “Go To Statement Considered Harmful” by Edgar Dijkstra, you will be solely disappointed.

Although that would make a cool musical. Especially with Idena Menzel (FB) as Grace Hopper.

So what is If/Then (which we saw last night at the Pantages Theatre (FB) in Hollywood) about, if not programming? Science has a theory that every time anyone makes a decision, the universe splits. Each reality reflects the timeline from the decision point, following what would have happened for each way the decision could have gone. This creates an infinite number of alternate realities, reflecting all possible decisions. Many may be dead and lifeless; many may be almost identical. Each is self contained, with no way to know that the other realities exist.

If/Then shows the path of two of those realities as they apply to the life of Dr. Elizabeth Vaughan, an urban planner recently returned to New York City after the end of her college marriage. Both paths revolve around the interaction of Elizabeth and her friends: Lucas (a college friend and housing activist); Kate (a lesbian kindergarten teacher who lives across the hall from Elizabeth); Stephen (another college friend and an urban planner with the City of New York); and Josh (an Army doctor just returned from a tour of duty, who meets Elizabeth in the park).

In one path (the “Liz” path, so-called because Elizabeth is called “Liz” in this path), Liz follows the advice of Kate: she makes the wild choices. She goes into academia, starts dating the man she just met (Josh), and works to build a family and friends.

In the other path (the “Beth” path), Beth follows the advice of Lucas: she accepts a job doing urban planning for the city, and dedicates her life not to love but to work, moving up the urban planning life, working for Stephen.

In both cases, the “ideal” life goes in an uncertain direction in the second act, concluding with Beth/Liz getting the opportunity to start over. You can find a more detailed summary with the various plot twists over on Wikipedia.

The presentation of the alternate realities keeps intertwining the two timelines: songs often keep going back and forth from one line to the other during the song.  Contrast this with The Last 5 Years, which also has two timelines, but keeps them separate except for one meeting point. How do you keep track of which line you are in?  By what characters are around, their demeanor, and by what Elizabeth is called.

In reading the reviews before the show, I’ve seen critics all over the map regarding the story (an original story by Brian Yorkey) and the music/lyrics (music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Brian Yorkey). Some like it; some find it “meh”. I actually enjoyed the story and seeing the multiple lines. If I had one quibble story-wise, it is that the show is far too New York City centric. I understand that to New Yorkers and to those who work on Broadway, New York City is the center of the universe — but it really isn’t. The 33 square miles of Manhattan is just a drop compared to most megalopolises.  The constant dropping of references to New York communities and institutions is confusing to the non-New York audiences, and the New York specific references in the projects provide no meaning or clues to those that know not New York. But the worst part is: none of them are necessary. The story would work just the same in any other major city (with some joke adjustments). This makes the New York attitude come off with a sense of “we’re better and cooler than you” — which will play great on Broadway, but lands with a thud elsewhere, thankyouverymuch.

Modulo the New York aspect, the underlying story I found enjoyable. This is one of those very few musicals that actually had humor that made me laugh. There are great jokes and great lines in this show (none of which I can recall right now, except for a wonderful Yankees / Mets joke), and the leads seemed reasonable, if not perhaps a bit too sitcom-successful. I should also note that I particularly liked the choice to have Elizabeth with a PhD in a technical field — urban planning. This is a wonderful role model for the girls in the audience, and deserves extra applause.

Before I go to the music, an aside about the audience. I’ve commented in the past about a phenomenon I’ll call “audience coloring”: that is, when a show by an African-American author or with African-American theme suddenly changes the complexion of the audience, and the same with other ethnicities. The implication — which I can understand — is that a group previously marginalized in the onstage presentation mix makes a special effort to go to a show that speaks to their experience. But I go to a show to learn about all experiences — and so I would like to see audience diversity for all shows, just as we’re pushing for performer and creative diversity on the stage and in the house. I mention this because there was a “coloring” I hadn’t noticed before at this show: there were significantly more same-sex couples — and visibly out same-sex couples — at this show. When I asked my wife, she felt it was because the show made a conscious effort (if not an over-effort) to portray same-sex and sexually-fluid couples in addition to the main story. I would think so, but it seemed too pushed, too forced. In fact, it is so pushed — and the show is so New York centric — that I wonder how this show will play outside the liberal urban centers (especially in the South and Midwest). I truly look forward to the day that diversity just is there, and the efforts to mirror society diversity aren’t as “in your face” as we’re seeing these days. End the aside. Begin the beguine.

This brings us to the music of the show. Going in, I had heard the album — in fact, I had heard the album with this cast (which is now something rare to get in Los Angeles (ah, for the days when the LACLO usually brought in the Broadway stars)). I had actually liked the music quite a bit — if I look in my iTunes, 60% of the songs are starred as favorites. Some songs are particularly cute — such as “What the Fuck?”; others are very touching. I particularly liked “You Learn to Live Without”, which is a lovely counterpoint to “Who Gave You Permission?” from Ballroom. Both looked at dealing with the aftermath of death: one with acceptance and moving forward, the other with anger. About my only problem with the music was volume — at times, it tended to overpower the voices. I’ll note that the orchestra (credits in a few paragraphs) was conducted by a woman: Carmel Dean [☣] — something you don’t see as much as you should, and kudos to the If/Then team for the selection.
[☣ – Note: Do not go to Dean’s website “carmeldean dot com”– it attempts a drive-by injection of malware. I have contacted the website designers (Roundhouse Designs), and they are working to disinfect the site.]

Music brings us to dance, and dance brings us to cheography. Here, perhaps, is my biggest quibble with the show. Larry Keigwin (FB)’s choreography, assisted by Associate Choreographer Mark Myars (FB), works most of the time. But during many numbers, inexplicably,  there are all these fancy dances going on in the background that seemingly have nothing to do with the story. By doing so, they serve to detract and not enhance the story. I strongly believe that dance in a show must serve the story; it isn’t just there to show of the dancing. Dance can show joy and happiness, love and sorry, in ways that words cannot. But you look in the background in many of the scenes — especially the park scenes early on — and it just makes no sense. Not every musical requires loads of dancing; some are just songs and appropriately rhythmic music. The choreographers here seemed to have forgotten that at points. Marc delaCruz (FB) served as dance captain; it is interesting to note that delaCruz was not the typical swing in the position, but had a significant track (David).

Let’s now turn to the performances. Luckily for many in the West (Denver, Seattle, LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Costa Mesa, Tempe) we get many of the original leads, so I can’t speak to how the new tour leads work. In terms of broad performance, the direction by Michael Greif, assisted by Associate Director David Alpert (FB) and Production Stage Manager Shawn Pennington (FB), worked to keep the distinctions between the multiple timelines clear. I didn’t see an obviously heavy directoral hand, and the movements and emotions seemed to fit the characters well (including, except for the odd dancing, the reactions of the ensemble to the main characters).  I’ll note that Greif has worked with Menzel quite a bit, so the quality of their closeness came out in the seamlessness of the performances.

In terms of individual performances, we begin with Idena Menzel (FB). She clearly brought a younger audience to the show; you should hear the reaction when she came out on stage. She has an energy and a connection to this character that comes across to the audience. I personally feel that she relates to the character and the notion of decisions that can shape one’s life: she’s coming out of a long marriage to Taye Diggs (FB), she’s had her life reshaped by her decisions on Frozen, and she probably is regularly thinking about how her decisions have lead her on this path. She gives a great — indeed, remarkable performance as Elizabeth/ Beth / Liz. Very realistic. Very natural. Some critics have commented on her voice; that didn’t bother me (I like distinctive voices). However, she did suffer from the New York centric focus of the show — the words in the songs often came too fast, making them difficult to follow. This won’t bother the New York audiences at all — New Yawkers talk fast and live fast. But out in the tour world, the story may be a little different. It will be interesting to see how Jackie Burns (FB) modifies the performance once Idena leaves — in particular, will she slightly slow things down to increase understandability.

In the next tier, we have the “best friends”: Kate (LaChanze (FB)) and Lucas (Anthony Rapp (FB)). LaChanze was delight to finally see — I’ve loved her voice since I first heard it on Once on this Island. She, too, brought a realize and naturalness to her character that was great; she clearly enjoyed this role. Similarly with Rapp — he came across as comfortable as Lucas, and had a nice interplay with Menzel. Both had wonderful singing voices.

Also in this tier were the love interests of various forms: James Snyder (FB) as Josh and Daren A. Herbert (FB) as Stephen. We’ve seen Snyder before on the LA stages in Dangerous Beauty. We loved his voice and performance then, and we love it still. He just has a very charming stage presence that makes him instantly likable, which combines with his great voice to give a powerhouse performance. My only complaint is that his album should also have been for sale.  Herbert was new to us, but also gave a good performance as Stephen. You could see him as a New York urban planner.

Rounding out the love interests of the secondary characters were Janine DiVita (FB) as Anne, Kate’s love interest (and U/S Elizabeth); Marc delaCruz (FB) as David, the love interest to Lucas in one track (and dance captain); and Kyra Faith (FB) as Elena.  DiVita gave a spirited performance as Anne — she mostly was in the background in Act I, but shone in Act II. I did enjoy Faith’s performance. She stands out in the ensemble and other numbers due to a unique height and look, and she has a great interaction with Menzel.

Rounding out the cast in smaller and ensemble positions were: English Bernhardt (FB) (Paulette and others); Xavier Cano (FB) (A Soldier and others; u/s David); Corey Greenan (FB) (Deputy Mayor, An Architect, and others; u/s Josh, Stephen); Cliffton Hall (FB) (A Bartender and others; u/s Lucas); Deedee Magno Hall (FB) (Cathy and others; u/s Elizabeth, Kate); Tyler McGee (FB) (A Street Musician and others; u/s Josh); and Alicia Taylor Tomasko (FB) (A Flight Attendant and others). Swings were Charissa Bertels (FB) (Swing; u/s Kate, Anne); Trey Ellett (FB) (Swing; u/s Lucas, David); Joseph Morales (FB) (Swing); and Emily Rogers (FB) (Swing; u/s Anne). This cast has a large number of double-understudies for some reason. Standouts in this group were McGee’s street musician (who I noticed playing his guitar). The group danced well, but note my previous comment on the choreography problems (which isn’t the fault of the performance, who executed the moves beautifully, but perhaps mechanically).

The last performance aspect is music. As noted earlier, the music was by Tom Kitt, who did his usual rockish score. Orchestrations were by Michael Starobin (FB). I found both the music and how it was orchestrated quite good. Rounding out the lead music credits were: Carmel Dean [Music Director]; Annmarie Milazzo [Vocal Arrangements]; Michael Keller [Music Coordinator]; Michael Aarons [Associate Music Coordinator]. The orchestra was conducted by Carmel Dean, assisted by Associate Conductor Kyle Norris (FB), and Assistant Conductor Dan Bailey (FB) [who was also Keyboard 1]. The remainder of the touring musicians were Hidayat Honari (FB) [Guitar] and Jay Mack (FB) [Drums]. These were augmented by LA local musicians Kathleen Robertson (FB) [Violin]; Susan Chatman [Concertmaster]; Jessica Van Velzen (FB) [Viola]; Paula Fehrenbach (FB) [Cello]; Trey Henry [Bass / Electric Bass]; Dick Mitchell [Alto Sax / Flute / Clarinet / Bass Clarinet]; John Yoakum (FB) [Tenor Sax / Clarinet / Oboe / English Horn]; Wayne Bergeron (FB) [Trumpet]; Paul Viapiano (FB) [Guitars]; David Witham (FB) [Keyboard Sub]; Brian Miller [Orchestra Contractor]. I’ll just note — because you don’t get to see the credits — that Bergeron is part of one of the best jazz bands around: Gordon Goodson’s Big Phat Band.

Turning to the creative and production credits. The set design by Mark Wendland worked well: there was a turntable (which obviously sat on top of the Pantages stage so they do not have to build it at each venue) and a number of movable open-frame boxes that served as multiple set pieces, combined with a scaffold. All worked well to establish the sense of place and worked well regarding the multiple timelines. They were augmented by projection design of Peter Nigrini and Dan Scully. The projections kept reinforcing the location as “New York” (dummy) through maps and subway lines, which were meaningless to those who did not know the city (like much of LA). They were, however, effective in conveying the appropriate sense of motion for the subway lines and the air travel. The lighting by Kenneth Posner worked well and provided appropriate emotional support for the scenes; I particularly noted the use of red washes near the end. We sat in the Mezzanine this show, and (unfortunately) discovered that Brian Ronan (FB)’s sound design wasn’t as well tuned for people off the ground floor — the sound was muffled a bit. I’m beginning to think the answer for the Pantages, if you are not mid-to-front on the Orchestra level, is to rent the headphone and let the amplification do its job. You’ll be in better shape than dealing with the sound bouncing off of all the rococo design in the Pantages auditorium. The costumes by Emily Rebholz worked reasonably well, although I was unsure about Menzel’s wedding dress in the Act II opener — it was oddly bulky and the zipper was too prominent (c’mon, I saw it from the balcony). The wig and hair desgin by David Brian Brown (FB) worked well and appeared natural; he must have fun trying to control Tyra Faith’s ‘doo :-). Rounding out the production credits are: Telsey+Company (FB) [Casting]; Jake Bell [Technical Supervision]; 321 Theatrical Management [General Management]; Jen Ash (FB) [Stage Manager]; Heather Englander (FB) [Asst. Stage Manager]. There were too many producers to list them all, so see here instead.

The If/Then tour (FB) continues in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre (FB) through January 3, 2016; it then decamps off to San Diego, Tempe, Costa Mesa. The original cast folks then depart, and the tour cast continues to Dallas and points midwest and east.  Tickets are available through the Pantages Box Office/Ticketmaster; discount tickets are available through Goldstar. I enjoyed the show quite a bit; I think you might as well. Just don’t go expecting to learn anything about program.

P.S.: The programmer in me insists on the following:  ENDIF. Of course, if you’re using Algol 68 or Bash, that should be FI. Then perhaps it should be END IF (Ada), unless it is END-IF (Cobol). Now I see why folks use blocks instead.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: The last weekend of December has “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB), and Nunsense at Crown City Theatre (FB). The new year, 2016, starts with “Louis and Keeley – Live at the Sahara” at The Geffen Playhouse (FB) on January 2nd. This is followed by “Bullets Over Broadway” at the Pantages (FB) on January 9; “Stomp” at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB)  on January 24; and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on January 30. There is also a “hold” (i.e., dates blocked, but awaiting ticketing) for for January 16 or January 17 for “That Lovin’ Feelin’” at The Group Rep (FB). There is also the open question of whether there will be Repertory East Playhouse (“the REP”) (FB) 2016 season, and when it will start. This leads to uncertainty about the Group Rep show (I’ll note that if there is no REP season, I’ll likely subscribe at Group Rep — call it the Law of Conservation of REP). There is currently nothing on the schedule for February, except for February 28, when we are seeing The Band of the Royal Marines and the Pipes, Drums, and Highland Dancers of the Scots Guards at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB). March brings “Another Roll of the Dice” at The Colony Theatre (FB), and has two potential dates on hold for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) (pending Hottix). I expect to be filling out February as December goes on.  As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

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

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Circuses are inherently theatrical. Performers adopt larger than life persona in order to entertain. They clown. They make you laugh. They make you cry. They are theatrical, yes. But are they theatre?

That, perhaps, is the question you find you asking yourself after you see the current production, El Grande Circus de Coca Cola at The Colony Theatre (FB) in Burbank. To me, well, I haven’t seen such inspired lunacy in Burbank since, well, January 2014 when Moonie and Broon were at the Colony. But for others…

El Grande Circus de Coca Cola is, in a sense, a continuation of the story started in El Grande de Coca Cola (which I mean to see when it was at the Ruskin Group Theatre (FB), but (alas) didn’t). The original tells the story of Senor Don Pepe Hernandez, has announced in the local newspaper in that he is going to bring international cabaret to Trujillo. Eventually he succeeds, and we see the cabaret within the cabaret as it unfolds, with all of mistakes — the conjuring tricks that don’t work, the people that trip up, a blind American folk singer who falls off the stage, colliding chorus girls, etc.

El Grande Circus continues the adventures as this troupe sneaks across the border, first to Hollywood, and thence to the Hollywood-adjacent Burbank. The 85-minute, one-act show is a circus performance by Don Pepe (Marcelo Tubert (FB)) and his family: Miguel (Paul Baird (FB)), Maria (Olivia Cristina Delgado (FB)), Consuelo (Lila Dupree (FB)), and Juan (Jesse D. Myers (FB), who replaced Aaron Miller).  The picture to the right shows the original cast (all but the Juan we saw, but he’s the Juan that I want (sorry, couldn’t resist)) at the Skylight (FB), but the production was essentially the same at the Colony).

The show itself consists of circus acts and performances. I was going to say “improvised circus acts”, but this is really more choreographed inspiration, for it takes quite a bit of rehearsal and choreography to make what these folks do on stage come across as improvised. But there is clearly an element of improvisation underlying all of this, for some percentage of the act is playing off the audience, and I get a sense that it changes at every performance. But to give you a sense of what happens in this show, here are some of the scenes we saw:

• Impersonations
• Telenovelas
• Bolshoi Ballet Radioactivo
• An insanely choreography family picture.
• A flea circus
• Ariel Acrobat mishaps
• A palm-reader act

The entire show is narrated by Tubert’s Pepe Hernandez in a mixture of Spanish and Spanglish. It is understandable to those who do not understand Spanish, but it does takes some work. The show does operate at two levels, which jokes that children will get, and many that have double implications of a more adult nature. The performances are uniformly strong, with Delgado and Dupree out in the audience before the show, playing their characters and flirting with the audience members (especially those producers from over the hill in Hollywood).

The show is inspired; it is indeed a three-ring circus in a low-budget single ring. It is theatrical. But is it theatre?

This, ultimately, is the problem with the show. Artistic director Barbara Beckley works to manage expectations before the show, noting how the originally-scheduled production, Humble Boy, had been in the planning stages for over a year, starting when the theatre was in a strong financial condition. That condition weakened over the year and the costs for Humble Boy proved too high, and so the show needed to be replaced. Barbara found El Grande Circus at the Skylight (FB) in Los Feliz (Hollywood), where it had been getting rave reviews. Moving the show provided the ability to bring an established “hit” to a larger theatre without a lot of expense for dramaturgy, set design, rehearsal, etc. This aspect of the story has been downplayed a bit: the #pro99 community likes to point to El Grande Circus as a shining example of 99-seat moving to paid contracts, but that’s not the reason the show is there. In any case, Barbara lets the regulars know this is a show that was brought in to serve a purpose, and that some subscribers love it, and some hate it.

We enjoyed the show, but we’re odd ducklings of the old theatre audience. The show certainly does not fit the notion of conventional theatre. There really is no character growth. There is no storyline. There is no protagonist or antagonist. There is inspired humor, choreographed improvisation. It is unconventional theatre. We saw audience members around us cracking up in laughter. We saw others totally confused as to what we saw. We also saw loads of younger people in the audience.

The show was enjoyable and fun, and we had a blast seeing it. But was the Colony right in bringing it to their stage? For that question, I’m not sure the answer is “yes”. I think that many of their older subscribers (for, alas, Colony does have an older subscription base) will walk away confused, disappointed that this wasn’t the theatre they were expecting. The younger families and their kids have the other problem — they may love this, and it may make them want to come back to the Colony to see more shows — where they will be disappointed as the Colony returns to its traditional shows, such as the Frank Loesser tuner that is up next. A small percentage of their audience will appreciate why Barbara brought this in, and will be open to the wide variety that theatre can encompass — and will enjoy this for what it is.

Luckily, we’re in that small percentage. We enjoyed Tubert’s Pepe, with his mangled English and Spanish, with his air of sanity in a sane world. We enjoyed the sexy Delgado’s Maria and Dupress’s Consuela: from their flirting with the audience to their performances onstage. We enjoyed Baird’s Miguel and Myers’ Juan (especially in the Ballet scene).

Alan Shearman‘s direction keeps the show moving along, although there were a few points where I wondered how close we were to the end. He did a good job of creating the El Grande characters and personas, and helping the actors inhabit those personas. In a show such as this, that’s really critical, for there is no story to provide the motivation or direction.

On the production side, this was a combination of the normal Colony quality and the elements that made it a success in the much smaller and lower-budget Skylight. The scenic design by John Iacovelli (FB) was simple but effective: big top draping and art that created the image of a worn circus facility. This combined with the properties by Jeff Faeth (FB) to establish the lunacy (such as in the magic act scene, or the aforementioned flea circus). Adding to this were the costumes by Sarah Figoten (FB), which were just… inspired. I particularly enjoyed the adapability of the ladies costumes, as well as the male costumes during the ballet scene. The sound design by Jeff Gardner (FB) worked well, although there were points where there was significant background noise — I don’t know if that was intentional, or someone backstage forgot to turn off their microphone. Jennifer Edwards (FB)’s lighting was effective — particularly the use of the LED lights — in establishing the mood of the situation. Although the show appears improvised, what holds it together is the choreography of Tor Campbell (FB) — nowhere is this more apparent than in the slow-motion replay of the family picture, the Bolshoi Ballet number, or in the voodoo scene. The remaining main production credits are: Christopher Hoffman (FB) [Production Coordinator], Garrett Longley (FB) [Production Stage Manager], Paul Ruddy (FB) [Casting Director]; Rachel Berney Needleman (FB) [Associate Producer]; Gary Grossman (FB) [Producer]. These are all Skylight folks — making clear how this was a production of the Skylight Theatre Company (FB) and Flying Cucumber Productions.

El Grande Circus de Coca Cola continues  at The Colony Theatre (FB) through December 13. Tickets are available through the Colony website; discount tickets are available through Goldstar. I found the show very funny, but if you’re looking for a traditional theatrical book-based show, this might not be to your taste.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: This week I become a producer, when we present The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam as the dinner entertainment at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). The weekend after the conference sees us at the NoHo Arts Center (FB) for Theatre 68 (FB)’s production of Who Killed Santa?, which sounded so warped as to be either extremely funny or extremely stupid– should be fun to watch! The third weekend of December brings the touring company of “If/Then” at the Pantages (FB). The last weekend of December has “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB), and Nunsense at Crown City Theatre (FB). I’m just starting to plan 2016 — I’ve been waiting on the Repertory East Playhouse (“the REP”) (FB) schedule. So far, January shows “Bullets Over Broadway” at the Pantages (FB) on January 9; “Stomp” at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB)  on January 24; and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on January 30. There is also a “hold” (i.e., dates blocked, but awaiting ticketing) for “Louis and Keeley – Live at the Sahara” at The Geffen Playhouse (FB) for either January 2 or 16 (pending tickets on Goldstar), and for “That Lovin’ Feelin’” at The Group Rep (FB) for January 17 (in case the REP’s delay pushes their first show back to February). There is currently nothing on the schedule for February, except for February 28, when we are seeing The Band of the Royal Marines and the Pipes, Drums, and Highland Dancers of the Scots Guards at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB). March brings “Another Roll of the Dice” at The Colony Theatre (FB), and has two potential dates on hold for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) (pending Hottix). As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

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

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It’s the weekend after Thanksgiving, and you know what that means. That’s right: it is full-contact Christmas season. We’re inundated with the “Black Friday” emails, the Christmas music is everywhere, the Christmas specials are on every TV channel, and, of course, A Christmas Carol and Elf: The Musical are on the stages. Now, I’m Jewish, which means that it is time for 30 days of suffering through all of these. So why would I voluntarily subject myself to a Christmas-themed play — especially one that wasn’t part of a subscription? The answer is that the synopsis sounded fascinating. What would you think if you got a show that was described as follows:

When Hanukkah falls on Christmas Eve, all Larry Epstein wants to do is eat Chinese food, watch movies and hide from the holidays. But when Christmas is threatened and lives are in peril, Larry is forced by the people in his life to be the Jew that saves Christmas!

Making this even more interesting was the fact that it was being done by Zombie Joes Underground (FB), a theatre better known for doing shows that had a dark, perhaps slightly macabre, element. Joe’s shows run only an hour, so I was curious about how this amalgam would turn out.

The answer, at least based on what we just saw, is pretty good, and not the ZJU fare we’ve come to expect. It was funny. It was cute. It was well performed. It wasn’t religious, nor did it hit you over the head with an ecumenical plot. It didn’t overstay its plot. It didn’t In short, it was enjoyable for a Christmas show.

The story, as described in the advertising blurb above, centered around Larry Epstein. Larry was the typical Jew who got turned off of the holiday by (a) sharing a birthday with Jesus, and (b) having a relationship go south on Christmas. This relationship was with a non-Jew, which also made the relationship with his parents go further south at the same time (because he never told them about it). Also involved with Larry was Lilith, his atheist lesbian roommate. All the two of them want to do is get their Chinese Food and hide from the world.

Of course, this being a comedy developed in the land of sitcoms, that was not to happen. They are constantly interrupted by the stream of neighbors: Rabbi Reuben, who keeps wondering why Larry hasn’t been to shul; Mary, the Christian neighbor who just loves the holidays and has the hots for Larry; Alex, an evangelical that is trying to share the religious meaning of Christmas. Each provides an opportunity for humorous exposition and exploration of Larry’s back character, allowing us to understand why Larry is the way he is (and, after meeting Mr. and Mrs. Epstein in a flashback, seeing why his relationship with Sally went south). Eventually, we get to the meat of the story, which is related by the last visitors: Rodney, “Naughty ‘n’ Nice”, and Sandy: there is an even more ancient character (Krampus) who wants to destroy Christmas, and Larry is the prophesied Jew who will save the holiday. The resolution from that point on is cute, non-religious, and reasonably funny. I’d say that the overall message is that love conquers all, but that really isn’t what does the conquering.

The show isn’t perfect — it does build on quite a few stereotypes, such as Jews eating Chinese on Christmas Eve, the Jewish mother, and particularly, the Orthodox-style Jewish rabbi as seen on sitcoms. I was initially bothered by these, but the fun of the story led me to overlook them. Sitcoms, such as this story, depend on slight over-exaggeration and quick conveyance of archetypes through stereotypes. As it was all done in humor, this gets a pass.

There was also some singing (and I enjoyed the pre-show music — there are some rock versions of Christmas songs I’ve never heard).  As part of the show, there was the Rabbi singing a number of verses from Light One Candle (by Peter, Paul, and Mary). It is interesting to see a modern PP&M song become part of the holiday canon (of course, equal time should be given to Christmas Dinner — which should be made into a show).

Andy Shultz/FB, the writer and director, kept the presentation light and playful. He seemed to ensure the cast was having fun with the presentation. He used the device of having the roommate, Lilith, serve as narrator in a seeming mix of recorded and live (the “recorded” may have been live, but just over the speakers). Zombie Joes is a theatre that seemingly operates on a shoestring and excels in creativity on that budget, and Shultz seemed to bring out the creativity in the actors and their performances.

In the lead positions of this story were Adam Neubauer (FB) as Larry and Kyle Marie Colucci (FB) as Lilith. Neubauer came across as very down to earth; the sort of non-determinate lapsed-Jew college-student type that we all have as a friend. He seemed to capture the character well. Colucci was his roommate (with a very cute sweatshirt: “Dyke the Halls”) who played off of Neubauer quite well.

In the “continuing character” positions (i.e., those that appeared in more than one scene) were: David Wyn Harris (FB) as Mike, Larry’s best friend who also had the hots for Larry’s mom; Caroline Muniak (FB) as Mary, the next door neighbor; and Deirdre Anderson (FB) as Mrs. Epstein. Harris had a good interplay with Neubauer; this isn’t a surprise as it appears they’ve worked together quite a few times at ZJU. He captured the annoying friend vibe quite well. I really enjoyed Muniak’s Mary — not only was the performance fun to watch and a little over the top, but Muniak herself was quite fun to watch in it 😉 ). Anderson captured the Jewish mother vibe well, including the guilt aspects. She also captured, in her second scene, the oversexed single Jewish mother well (making Mike’s attraction understandable).

Rounding out the cast were Derrick Brooks/FB as Rodney, the elf who informed Larry of his mission; Jennifer Nwene (FB) as “Naughty ‘n’ Nice”, the oversexed elf’s assistant who got Larry’s attention; Brady Glasser as the other elf assistant, Sandy, as well as Alex the evangelical; Bonnyjean Hoffert (FB) as Kelly, the entity out to destroy Christmas, and as Sally, Larry’s ex-girlfriend; and Tom Jones/FB as Rabbi Reuben and Mr. Epstein. Brooks was good as the stereotypical humorous elf; he had the right attitude for the role and a playfulness that came across well. Nwene’s role was much smaller; more of an eye-candy position, but she did what she could with it. Glasser was interesting — a sort of nebbish evangelical (an odd combination), and an elf who seemed to be more in the background as Sandy. Hoffert was fun to watch in both her roles: As Sally, she had a playfulness that came across well (especially when she was attacking Larry in a good way); as Kelly, she was having fun with her evil-ness (again, especially when she was attacking Larry). Lastly, I’ve already commented about Jones’ performance as the Rabbi (which wasn’t his fault — it was written that way). I’ll note instead that he captured the Jewish father well.

I’d say that Zombie Joes doesn’t skim on production values, except that they do. This isn’t a bad thing: it forces creativity in many ways. Their sets are simple; their lights are clip-on reflector bulbs on normal extension cords. But the overall creativity comes across, and they worked for this show. There were a few times where it seemed that cast was waiting on the lighting to catch up, but it wasn’t a significant problem. Production credits: Lights and sound: Kristen Maxie/FB; ZJU General Manager: Adam Neubauer (FB); Stage Manager: Vincent Miller/FB; Assistant Directors: Kristen Maxie/FB and Vincent Miller/FB; ZJU webmaster and online PR manager: Randy Long (FB). The Jew That Saved Christmas was produced by Zombie Joe.

Now for the obligatory Zombie Joe comment, which I seem to make every time I visit Zombie Joe’s: their website. Sigh. Their website design, which looks like an old Homestead website because it is an old Homestead website, is truly stuck in the early 1990s era of web design, with a flashy and garish background, poor organization, and what looks to be a non-responsive design. Just as I need to update my highways site, they need to update theirs. Their productions are so good, that their website shouldn’t look so amateurish. So, Mr. Randy Long. You’re their webmaster. Please make their site better — ZJU deserves it.

The Jew That Saved Christmas continues on Sunday afternoons at 3 PM through December 20, 2015. It’s a cute show, and quite funny. It runs 1 hour, without an intermission.  Tickets are available online, or you can call ZJU at 818/202-4120.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: December starts with High School Musical at Nobel Middle School (FB) (running December 1-4) — this is a middle school that does surprisingly good productions (although we may be biased a little — our daughter was there for the first two years of their program). It is followed by “El Grande Circus de Coca-Cola” at The Colony Theatre (FB) on December 5. During the week I become a producer, when we present The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam as the dinner entertainment at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). The weekend after the conference sees us at the NoHo Arts Center (FB) for Theatre 68 (FB)’s production of Who Killed Santa?, which sounded so warped as to be either extremely funny or extremely stupid– should be fun to watch! The third weekend of December brings the touring company of “If/Then” at the Pantages (FB). The last weekend of December is held for “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB). I’m just starting to plan 2016 — I’ve been waiting on the REP schedule. So far, January shows “Bullets Over Broadway” at the Pantages (FB) on January 9; “Stomp” at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB)  on January 24; and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on January 30. There is also a “hold” (i.e., dates blocked, but awaiting ticketing) for “Louis and Keeley – Live at the Sahara” at The Geffen Playhouse (FB) for either January 2 or 16 (pending tickets on Goldstar). There is currently nothing on the schedule for February, except for February 28, when we are seeing The Band of the Royal Marines and the Pipes, Drums, and Highland Dancers of the Scots Guards at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB). March brings “Another Roll of the Dice” at The Colony Theatre (FB), and has two potential dates on hold for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) (pending Hottix). As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

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

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Back when I was in college, there was some homegrown text adventure game (neither “Zork” nor “Advent”) that I used to play. I always wanted to have that game have an elevator that could could find. The doors would open, and it would say, “There is a sign saying “You are on Level 3″, a keyboard mounted into the wall, and a door.”. You could then walk up to that keyboard, enter your door password, and go into the graduate terminal room. You could then log in, and thus get a real system shell.

This was a very “meta” concept: You could go into the game, walk into a terminal room, and log into a fresh instance of the game. It was self-descriptive, self-referential. In fact, in its adjectival form, “meta” is defined as something that refers to to itself or to the conventions of its genre — that is, something self-referential.  A good example would be someone writing a book about writing the book that is being written about writing a book.

Or, for another example, what about a murder mystery called “Deathtrap”, that starts out with a famous but writer-blocked playwright receiving a play from a student, called “Deathtrap”, a comedic whodunnit in 2 acts, 6 scenes, with only 5 characters, set in a Connecticut city. A play so good that the playwright wonders if he could entice the student to come to work with him, and then kill him and publish the play as his own. That, in fact, is the starting premise of the very clever whodunnit “Deathtrap”, by Ira Levin (of “Rosemary’s Baby” fame), that we saw last night at Repertory East Playhouse (“the REP”) (FB).

“Deathtrap” is about… well, I don’t want to spoil the surprises in the story, so suffice it to say that “Deathtrap” is about the writing of the comedic thriller “Deathtrap”. It is a one set, two act, five actor, six scene play. It has the distinction of being the longest running comedy-thriller on Broadway. Although I can’t tell you the plot (if you really want to know, there is always “Wikipedia”), I can tell you the players: Sidney Bruhl, a successful Broadway playwright whose specialty is thrillers, currently suffering from writers blog; Myra Bruhl, his beautiful and wealthy wife; Clifford Anderson, a student of Bruhl’s who has mailed him a carbon-copy of a one-set, two-act, five-character thriller called “Deathtrap”; Helga Ten Dorp, a Swedish author with ESP who helps the police solve crimes and who is on vacation in the area; and Porter Milgrim, the Bruhl family lawyer.

Director Mark Kaplan (FB) (assisted by Kimbyrly M. Valis (FB)) has executed the production well (one might say he did a “killer job”) with the production. I was mostly unfamiliar with the show — I think I’ve seen the movie version years ago, and all I had remembered is that an affable Chistopher Reeve was in the cast. Kaplan did a great job of not telegraphic what was to come through the behavior of the actors themselves, and kept the pacing and movement realistic and crisp. Although, as is said in the opening scene about this play, even “A gifted director couldn’t even hurt it.”

In the lead position was Derrel Maury (FB) as Sidney Bruhl. Maury created a believable playwright, seemingly friendly and creative. He gave off the aura of someone who had been writing for years. His student / mentee, Clifford Anderson, was played by Curtis Crawford/FB. Crawford, again, brought a youthful believability to the character. Reading the bios of both of these men, I believe it is because each is similar to their characters. Not speaking to whether they are capable of murder, but with respect to theatrical experience. Maury, like Bruhl, has been working in the theatre for a long time, joining SAG/AFTRA in 1967 and working onstage since the age of 12. Crawford is really a newcomer, currently studying acting at USC with only a few roles — including REP’s recent The Diviners — on his resume.

Supporting these characters were Kimberly Patterson (FB) as Myra Bruhl, Sidney’s wife; Georgan George (FB) as Helga Ten Dorp, the neighboring author with ESP; and Barry Agin (FB) as Porter Milgrim, Sidney’s lawyer. The lovely Patterson was great as Myra — realistic in her actions, and just a delight to watch. George provided some great comic relief with her movements. It is hard to call anyone portraying ESP as realistic, but George did a great job of making the character fun to watch and enjoyable offstage. Agin had a much smaller role, but worked well in the scenes that he was in.

In fact, my only comments on the show were truly at the level of nits — all easily corrected. For example, only I would notice that when Sydney called Clifford the first time, he dialed 8 digits. In those days, he would have either dialed 7 digits (555-1212) or 11 digits (1-203-555-1212); I also notice that Sydney forgot to zip his fly for the first act (which, admittedly, is something hard to correct in character while onstage once you realize it). Another in our party noted that Clifford was doing carriage return on the typewriter wrong, and that an accent was slightly off for the area. As I said: nits. None of these are significant problems that hindered enjoyment, and only an obsessive compulsive like me would pick up on them.

Turning to the production and technical side: The scenic and prop design was by artistic director of REP, Mikee Schwinn (FB). Mikee indicated that he was working on the set up until the night before opening. I’m pleased to say that the set doesn’t look like it; in fact, the set looks like the excellent sets REP had in the days of Jeff Hyde — and it is a wonderful demonstration of how Mikee is steering REP in the right direction after a rocky year. Sound design was by the always effective Steven “Nanook” Burkholder (FB). Lighting design was by Jeffrey Hampton, who I see is now listed as the REP’s Resident Lighting Designer. Congratulations, Jeff, for restoring the balance of “Jeff” in the Resident Production Artists of the REP.  Costume design was by Cory Logston (FB), and was believable. Laurie Morgan/FB was the production stage manager, assisted by Reed-Ashley Matheson/FB. REP is under the artistic direction of Mikee Schwinn (FB).

“Deathtrap” continues at Repertory East Playhouse (“the REP”) (FB) through December 12. It is an excellent production and well worth seeing. REP has moved to Vendini for ticketing, and the new ticketing website allows you to select your own seats. Tickets may also be available on Goldstar.

Normally, this would be the time and space where I would announce the REP 2016 season. Alas, it hasn’t been announced — or even leaked — to me yet. I spent sometime last night talking to Mikee about where REP is moving in 2016, and I’m excited about the plans we discussed. I don’t want to spoil the details about Mikee’s announcements, but suffice it to say there are plans in the work for greater use of the Playhouse, a return to REP as the flagship professional theatre for actors in the northern San Fernando Valley/Santa Clarita area, and an extremely busy production schedule that will broaden the opportunities for audiences and theatre lovers. I should also note, in the spirit of “full disclosure”, that Mikee has asked me to be on the advisory board of REP. In that capacity, I plan to advise in the same manner I do at work: with a focus on unbiased advice that results in mission success.

An Afternoon Note. Before we went to the REP, we were at Archway Studio Theatre (FB) for a student performance of Dracula.  I’m not doing a full review of the show here for a number of reasons (including the fact that there was no program listing all the names) — and, another “full disclosure” — my niece and nephew were in the cast. I’ll note that the kids did a very good job, especially given extremely limited rehearsal time and the fact that they had never worked with the props before. In the short time before the show, I got to see how the director, Steven Sabel (FB) worked on staging and blocking the students. After the show was a very interesting workshop, where the student actors got to play their roles against the adult actors doing the same show. It was an interesting contrast, and I’m sure it informed the students by seeing how the trained actors came at their roles. As for the student performances: in general, they were good. My only advice might be to remember to project a bit more (some had it down, some didn’t), and remember to slow down when speaking (a common problem I’ve seen at Science Festivals with students that are nervous). But I think the notion of getting kids up on stage is a great one — it provides self confidence, it improves speaking abilities, and it allows exploration of emotions and feelings in a safe environment. Archway’s adult production of Dracula (tickets also available on Goldstar) looks interesting. It has one more weekend of performances.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: Next weekend I’m on my own. I picked up a postcard for “Timeshare”  at Eclectic Theatre Company (FB) while at the Colony for Best of Enemies, and it sounded so interesting I booked a ticket for November 21. The last weekend of November sees us back at Zombie Joes Underground (FB) for the intriguingly-titled “The Jew That Saved Christmas“. December starts with High School Musical at Nobel Middle School (FB) (running December 1-4), followed by “El Grande Circus de Coca-Cola” at The Colony Theatre (FB) on December 5. During the week I become a producer, when we present The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam as the dinner entertainment at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). The weekend after the conference is open. The third weekend of December brings the touring company of “If/Then” at the Pantages (FB). The last weekend of December is held for “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB). I’m just starting to plan 2016 — I’ve been waiting on the REP schedule. So far, January shows “Bullets Over Broadway” at the Pantages (FB) on January 9, and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on January 30. There is currently nothing on the schedule for February. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

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

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I first saw the musical Urinetown back in 2004 at the Wilshire Theatre (now called the Saban Theatre). This was one of the first reviews I had written (I started my Livejournal back in February 2004, and this was May), and it was relatively terse. My opinion about the show then was: “Ignore the bad name, and go see Urinetown while you can. It is one of the funniest musicals I’ve seen in ages, with obvious parodies of other musicals, great acting, and one of the most satirical and sardonic books I’ve seen in ages.” The good news is that, over 10 years later, the musical still holds the humor it held then. In the student-acted, faculty-directed production I saw last night at CSUN, the acting help up very well, despite the plethora of minor technical glitches.

For those that are unfamiliar with “Urinetown: The Musical” (Book by Greg Kotis (FB), Music by Mark Hollmann, and Lyrics by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis (FB)), you can find a detailed synopsis on the Wikipedia page. I won’t repeat all the details; here’s the executive summary: The central conceit of the show is that the world has been living over 20 years with a horrible drought. The situation has gotten so bad that a private company, “Urine Good Company”, has engineered the situation to make it illegal to urinate or defecate in anything other than a public amenity. No private toilets. No peeing in the bushes. The amenities are not free: you must pay to pee. If you break the law, you get sent to the mythicial Urinetown … a place to which people go but never return from.

Our main characters in the show are Caldwell B. Cladwell who owns and operates UGC; his daughter Hope; Penelope Pennywise, who operates Public Amenity #9; Bobby Strong, her assistant custodian; Officer Lockstop, who enforces the law and narrates the story; and Little Sally, a street urchin. The story starts at the public amenity, and after the initial exposition, we see Bobby Strong’s father get sent to Urinetown for peeing in the bushes because he didn’t have the fee, and Bobby refused to give it to him. An encounter with Hope encourages Bobby to listen to his heart and rebel. He opens the urinal for all to pee free. There is a battle with UGC, and Bobby and the people take Hope hostage, while UGC and the cops cannot capture them due to incredibly slow choreography. The rebels want to kill the girl, but they are convinced to keep her alive for leverage. Cladwell offers to meet with Bobby and attempts to bribe him, but Bobby refuses and is sent to Urinetown. Little Sally hears Bobby’s last words and tells the rebels and Hope. Hope goes on to lead the rebels to victory. They open all the urinals and get rid of the fee, but the water runs out and Hope eventually meets the same fate as her father. The world is revealed to be Urinetown. Oh, and the river is in you.

There are a lot of ways to look at this story. The surface story is a commentary on megacorporations as a power for good in the word — or, in reality, an opportunity for unchecked greed. As such, this become an allegory on rich vs. poor, and how the way in which the rich treat the poor can lead to rebellion. But it also points out that the poor may not be able to govern in a far-sighted way, and that short term reward is no substitute for long-term planning.

Yes, I guess it could mean that.

But to me, this musical tells a different story. It tells the same type of story that was later told by shows like “Drowsy Chaperone“, “[title of show]” and the currently running “Something Rotten“. Urinetown is (to me) a commentary on the theatrical form: its structure, its conventions, and the common theatrical tropes that evoke memories of other shows. This is consistent throughout Urinetown through the self-awareness that it is, indeed, a stage musical bound by illogical stage conventions (such as incredibly slow choreography, or the limitations of the ensemble size). It is also consistent through the references and parodies of other shows, such as the bottle dance at the top of Act II, the pastiche of West Side Story gang movements, the Les Misérables style mobs, the sudden choral numbers, the interjection of gospel, and the continual catchphrase of “Whaaaaat”?

But this type of show is not for everyone. You have to be open to its type of humor. You need to be able to suspend disbelief in the non-sensical plot, and just let the parody wash over you like a warm and golden shower. Oh, right, too soon.

This production of Urinetown was a product of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication (FB) at CSUN’s Theatre Arts Department. This means this was primarily a student production, with faculty direction. This production was directed by Kari Hayter (FB), who has directed numerous musicals production that we have seen at The Chance Theatre (FB) in Anaheim. She has also worked with students both as CSU Fullerton and CSU Northridge (CSUN, if you hadn’t figured it out already). In fact, she directed the excellent Drowsy Chaperone that we saw on the VPAC (FB) stage earlier this year. I’ve commented many times that I sometimes have trouble seeing the contribution of the director, but here there were glimpses of how she molded the students into actors. This was evident heavily in the pre-show, where the actors wandered onto stage in costumes and just kept doing little activities in character. It was evident in the early-audience policing of cell-phones by Officers Lockstock and Barrel. It was also evident in the behavior of those characters in the background. Hayter (FB) also was a co-choreographer with Christopher M. Albrecht (FB), and the two worked together to provide good movement across the stage. Urinetown is actually a production that benefits a little from overacting and over-stylized movements; both serve to amplify the comedy in this case. Hayter and Albrecht recognized this and clearly worked with the cast to bring it out.

The cast itself was excellent, especially considering that this was a student cast. I’d like to single out Jessamyn Arnstein (FB)’s Little Sally for special notice. I’ve seen Jessamyn before in both Bat Boy and Drowsy; she was just a knockout here. Strong voice (even with the technical problems), strong performance, strong dance, strong interactions, strong characterization. She took what was clearly a fun satirical role and ran with it. Brava!

Also worthy of special highlight was Daniel Bellusci (FB)’s Cladwell B. Cladwell. We also saw Bellusci in Drowsy as the Man in Chair (when I noted he was the product of Nobel Middle School in the years after my daughter matriculated from that fine institution). Bellusci had an evil aura that was perfect for the role, and had a surprisingly strong singing voice. Again, he got the mannerisms and characterizations down pat (and reminded me of another Nobel actor, Quest Zeidler, all grown up). A great example of this was Cladwell’s “Don’t Be The Bunny” number.

Dahlia Yablon (FB) ‘s Hope Cladwell had just the right sense of spunk and verve for the role, and she had a lovely high singing voice that brought something special to their songs. Yablon spends much of the second act tied to a chair with a gag on her mouth, yet still succeeds in successfully singing and dancing.

John Bernos (FB)’s Bobby Strong was unfortunately plagued with a microphone that kept going in and out, and kept producing a load of static.  He clearly had a great voice, but needed the extra amplification in a room of that size. His performance was strong (and continued in the vein of strong performances — we also saw him in Drowsy), and he captured the gung-ho nature of the character well. He played off of Yablon’s Hope very well, as demonstrated in the number “Follow Your Heart”, but also showed great comic timing in “Run Freedom Run”.

One of the first characters we meet is Robert Collins/FB‘s Officer Lockstock. He captured the tone of the character just right, but needed just a tad more strength in the voice to bring out the satire. But that’s really a minor quibble; I enjoyed his performance quite a bit. I discovered writing this up that Collins was Coalhouse Walker Jr. in a 2013 CSUN production of Ragtime. This shows he had the strength in the voice; my conclusion (therefore) is that he needed a bit more amplification. My only question regarding Collins is one of casting intent. Both Collin’s Officer Lockstock and Robert Stroud/FB‘s Officer Barrel were black, and most of the other cast and ensemble (except for two ensemble members) were white or white-ish. I didn’t know if this was a conscious decision of the director to make a commentary on all the recent police interactions between black and white, or if there was some other message. In the end, I decided that to think about that question was to overthink the question. I opted to accept the performance for what they were: very good, and fun. I’ll note that Lockstock is one of the those roles that actually benefits from a bit of overplay, and I think Collins captured that overplay very well and had fun with the role. I loved his opening speech before the show started, but he needs to remind people not just to not take videos, but to turn off the devices during a show (in fact, to turn off anything that emits light).

The last of the major roles was Valerie Gould/FB‘s Penelope Pennywise. As she did with Mrs. Tottendale in Drowsy, Gould plays older comedy well. She had great over exaggerated mannerisms (in the manner of Three Penny Opera) and style, and played the humor very well. She also handled her one major number, “It’s a Privilege to Pee”, with aplomb. This number had a number of very high notes and odd timing; it was great to see her nail it.

As for the remainder of the cast, who had smaller named and ensemble roles, there are a few worthy of special note. Sarah Kline (FB)’s Josephine Strong shines in her few highlighted moments, and has a great singing voice. Matthew Kesner/FB was appropriately menacing when he was leading the mob in “Snuff That Girl”. Robert Stroud/FB‘s Officer Barrel was a nice contrast to Collins’ Lockstock (almost in a Kenan and Kel fashion). Rounding out the smaller roles and ensemble were: Lance Amann/FB [Mr. McQueen], William Goldstein/FB [Senator Fipp]; Robert Murray/FB [Old Man Strong], Josh Cooper/FB [Tiny Tom]; Kate Graham/FB [Little Becky Two Shoes], Ethan Barker/FB [Robby the Stockfish], Elliott Maynes/FB [Billy Boy Bill]; Lulu Mack/FB [Mrs. Millennium], Nia Bernstine (FB) [Ensemble], Hyungwoo Jang/FB [Ensemble], JayCee Porter/FB [Ensemble], Darian Ramirez/FB [Ensemble], Cade Stedman (FB) [Ensemble], and Jin Villanueva (FB) [Ensemble].

Music was provided by the Urinetown Town Band, under the direction of David Aks (FB). The band consisted of Leon Thomasian (FB) on Piano, Isaac Green (FB) on Bass, Joe Martone (FB) on Drums and Percussion, Sean Harrison (FB) on Saxophones and Clarinets, and Ryan Ruder/FB on Trombone and Euphonium. The band had a real good sound; this was especially noticeable if you hang around for the playout after the bows — the band is just smoking and having fun with the music.

Finally, we turn to the technical and production aspects. This is where this show had the most difficulties; but on the upside, it is also an area that is easy to correct. The scenic design by Christopher Scott Murillo (FB), assisted by Ilana Molina/FB, was mostly a series of scaffolds and structures, with a few drop down signs to suggest locations. The big problem was that the back door of the stage was open, esposing the backstage area. This was never used or incorporated into the design, and so served to distract. At minimum (i.e., if the door could not be closed), put a backdrop over it during the show. Another problematic area was sound, which was designed by Kenji Kang/FB, assisted by Sierra McDuffee/FB. Here the problem was less design, and more technical: the mics were extremely staticky, and kept going in and out during the production. Part of the sound designer’s job is to teach the actors how to move without creating mic problems, and where to place the mic for best effect. Those are the two areas that need to be reexamined. Other than that, the sound was good — especially the background noises in the pre-opening. For the most part, the lighting design of Glen Howes/FB, assisted by Josh Legget/FB, worked well to establish the mood. I particularly liked the use of uplighting to create menace. However, the follow-spot requires a bit more work, as often it played catchup with the actors. The last of the problem areas related to the costumes designed by Paula Higgins (FB), assisted by Diego Arias/FB. Again, the problem wasn’t in the costumes themselves (which were fine), but in the execution. In this case, it was execution with respect to the ensemble’s quick changes: one actor came back in an early scene with the blouse puffing out of the zipper in the back of her skirt; in another ensemble number, a police officers blouse was visible through her unzipped zipper. These are distractions that just didn’t need to be there. One positive credit goes to the Prop Masters, Taylor Anderson/FB and Eric White/FB for engineering quite a few clever props, including the bunny slippers and the Bobby Strong Memorial Mannekin used in Act II. Other significant technical/production credits (there are far too many to list and link all the crew members, supervisors, operators, etc.): Scott McKim/FB [Technical Director], Meg Imamoto (FB) [Production Manager], Corey Sorenson (FB) [Vocal Coach], Jihee Jenny Park/FB [Stage Manager]; Beth Kalish/FB [House Manager], Ah-Jeong Kim [Department Chair/Producer].

Urinetown: The Musical continues at CSUN through November 8, 2015. Tickets and information are available at (818) 677-2488. They are also available online ($20) through Ticketmaster and other outlets. They are not on Goldstar.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: Sunday sees us out in Simi Valley for “The Addams Family” at the Simi Cultural Arts Center (Simi Actors Rep Theatre (FB)). The following weekend sees us back in Simi for the Nottingham Festival (FB) on November 7. We then go out to Perris for “A Day Out with Thomas” at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) on November 11 (I can’t skip seeing my buddy Thomas and his friend Percy). The following week brings Deathtrap at REP East (FB) on November 14. The weekend before Thanksgiving I’m on my own. I picked up a postcard for “Timeshare”  at Eclectic Theatre Company (FB) while at the Colony for Best of Enemies, and it sounded so interesting I booked a ticket for November 21. The last weekend of November is currently open. December brings “El Grande Circus de Coca-Cola” at The Colony Theatre (FB) the first weekend, followed by a mid-week stint as a producer, when we present The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam as the dinner entertainment at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). December also has dates held for “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) and “If/Then” at the Pantages (FB). As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

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

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You gotta have skin.
All you really need is skin.
Skin’s the thing that if you got it outside,
It helps keep your insides in.
It covers your nose,
And it’s wrapped around your toes.
And inside it you put lemon meringue,
And outside ya hang your clothes.

Whoops. Right song. Wrong lyrics.

Those of you who are old enough will remember that parody song on Allan Sherman‘s album “Allan in Wonderland”. The underlying tune was from the song “Heart”, written for the musical Damn Yankees back in 1955 by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. I bring this all up because last night we saw the Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) production of “Damn Yankees“, and about my only complaint with the production had to do with skin. More on that later.

If you recall, we had decided to drop our Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) subscription when the 2014-2015 season was announced: Memphis, Company, Oklahoma, and Mary Poppins. None of which I had a strong desire to see again. So I was pleasantly surprised when the 2015-2016 season was announced: Damn Yankees, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Children of Eden, and The Little Mermaid. These were all shows that I had seen only in amateur productions (high school, middle school, church), or only in the movie version. So we rejoined as subscribers, and it felt good to be back. The Cabrillo organization is a great one — doing a helluva lot in the community and for the community — and it is one we are glad to be able to support. They also help a lot of theatre people get started in the industry — I still remember when we saw Katherine McPhee in Annie Get Your Gun.

As I noted, our only exposure to Damn Yankees was a high school production. Luckily it was a good one — the Van Nuys HS production back in 2010. In many ways, no one can top Quest as Applegate. But I did want to see a professional production, and the Cabrillo one was a very good one.

For those unfamilar with this 1955 show (which starred such folks as Gwen Verdon as Lola and Ray Walston as Applegate)… or its late 1990s revival (with Bebe Neuwirth as Lola and either Victor Garber or Jerry Lewis as Applegate), “Damn Yankees” is a sports-oriented retelling of the Faustian legend. It is set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball. The story is set in motion when a long-time baseball fan, real estate agent Joe Boyd, offers to sell his soul to see his team, the Washington Senators, win the pennant away from those damn Yankees. Be careful what you say, for the Devil (in the form of Mr. Applegate) shows up and offers Joe the chance to leave his long-suffering baseball widow Meg and become the long-ball hitter the Senators need. Joe agrees, but insists on an escape clause: he can decide the evening before the last game to get out and return to his wife. Applegate waves his hands, and Joe Boyd disappears and young Joe Hardy replaces him. Joe shows up at the Senators locker room, and convinces the manager to add him to the team. Everyone is won over by this man, except for a young reporter who is suspicious. While she investigates his background, Joe begins longing for his wife. Joe’s visits back to his old home get under the skin of Applegate, who plots what he can do to get Joe away from his wife. He sends a skilled homewrecker, Lola, after him, but she fails to seduce him. Applegate decides to switch tactics to ensure Joe’s failure. He releases false information about Joe Hardy’s true identity being “Shifty McCoy”, an escaped criminal and con artist. When Gloria discovers this information, she presses charges, and Joe is forced into court. As the Senators prepare for the final game against the Yankees for the pennant, Joe goes on trial. Joe tells the Applegate he wants out, and Applegate says he has to confirm this at 5 minutes before midnight. But the trial has various delays, and at the magic mark, just as Joe is proven innocent, the delays prevent him from exercising the clause. Joe heads into the final game, but Lola has drugged Applegate, and he doesn’t show until the very end. In order to have the Senators lose (the plan all along, for then there will be loads of suicides and anguish from the fans), Applegate does the only thing he can do: turns Joe back as he is catching the final run. Joe Hardy disappears, and Joe Boyd returns to his wife. Applegate tries to convince Joe Boyd to go back to being Joe Hardy, but the older Joe prefers the love of his wife. I’ll note there’s a longer synopsis (alas, of the 1994 version) on Wikipedia; the primary difference appears to be the setting of the novelty number, “Whos Got The Pain” and the setting for “Two Lost Souls”. Cabrillo appears to have done the 1955 version, with the “Pain” number as part of the Talent Show, and the “Souls” number done in a nightclub. That must be what they are licensing.

The story, by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop based on Wallop’s novel “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant“, is a little bit creaky in this age of instant sports stats and online research. However, if you transport yourself to the 1950s, you’re fine. The music, by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, also mostly stills shines. The major problem is the number “Who’s Got the Pain?”, which to this day has nothing to do with the plot and makes absolutely no sense — a dance number inserted to accomodate the conventions of the day and not move the plot one iota. I enjoy the dance of “Whatever Lola Wants”, although I find the number itself a bit odd. Hands down, however, I love the number “Those Were The Good Old Days”.  But the plot is what the plot is: this is a 1955 classic that made the careers of a number of actors, and it still has wonderful roles that actors yearn to do.

The Cabrillo production was directed by Kirsten Chandler (FB). Chandler did a good job of bringing out good performances given the wide mix of skills in the cast. The choreography by John Todd (FB) was extremely energetic — I particularly recall the dance sequence in “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO” and, of course, “Whatever Lola Wants”.  In general all the dance was quite fun to watch.

Leading off on the side of good were John Atkins (FB) as Joe Boyd, Sarah Tattersall (FB) as Meg Boyd, and Travis Leland (FB) as Joe Hardy. Atkins, as the senior Joe, projected the requisite old and creaky, and had a lovely singing voice (used to good effect in “Goodbye Old Girl”. Tattersall brought a youth, vitality, and lovelyness to Meg that I hadn’t seen before, which together with a wonderful singing voice was quite magical. The only problem was that, from the mezzanine, she seemed quite younger than Atkin’s Joe — making the statement that he married her when she was in her 20s a bit odd. She needs to somehow come across as a bit more 50ish, lovely as she is. But, overall, in the scheme of things, that is really a minor problem. Leland (who we saw before in Adding Machine) was a wonderful young Joe — nice voice, nice stage presence, and giving off the aura of the good guy that Joe is. He seemed to fit better with Tattersall’s Meg than did old Joe; this was demonstrated in their lovely ballad “A Man Doesn’t Know”.

Leading off on the side of evil were John Sloman (FB) as Applegate and Renèe Marino (FB) as Lola. Although he could have projected just a touch more malevolence, I enjoyed Sloman’s Applegate. He had slight-of-hand magic down pat, and did a wonderful job on “Good Old Days”, which requires a spectacular song and dance man. Marino’s Lola was a knockout. Spunky, sexy, and playful. She did a wonderful job with her two big numbers in the first act, “A Little Brains, A Little Talent” and “Whatever Lola Wants”, and she was very touching with Leland in the second act’s “Two Lost Souls”. Just fun to watch.

In the second tier of roles, I’d like to highlight Katheryne Penny (FB)’s Gloria Tharpe. Her performance in “Shoeless Joe” was breath-taking — literally, as she must have been out of breath when she was done. Her performance there dancing, singing, and acting made me think of the prior Katherine on the stage (and I hope she has as much success).

Providing mostly comic support as Sister and Doris, respectively, were Farley Cadena (FB) [a Cabrillo regular] and Tara McGrath (FB). Both provided that well, and were fun to watch in their reprise of “Heart”.

The Washington Senators consisted of Ray Mastrovito (FB) (Mr. Welch – Owner); Tom G. McMahon (FB) (Van Buren – Manager); J. Bailey Burcham (FB) (Smokey – Catcher); Timothy Joshua Hearl (FB) (Vernon); Michael Mittman (FB) (Rocky); Tyler Matthew Burk (FB) (Lynch, Sohovik), Ramiro Garcia Jr. (FB) (Micky); Jotapè Lockwood (FB) (Del); Dylan MacDonald (FB) (Ozzie); Rile Reavis (FB) (Henry, Postmaster); Joshua Rivera (FB) (Buster); Brance William Souza (Bouley); Julian Xavier (Bubba). They worked together as a team, and were particularly hilarious to watch during the opening practice prior to “Heart” (and they did a good job on “Heart” as well). The lead members of the team (Van Buren, Rocky, Smokey, Vernon) were particularly good in “Heart” in terms of performance, movement, and voice. Alas, it was during “Heart” that the skin issue mentioned in the beginning occurred. Suffice it to say that I saw some things that might have been better unseen — and the problem was not a performance one, but a directoral or choreographical choice. It didn’t detract from the show, but it stuck in my head.

Rounding out the adult ensemble were Nichole Beeks (FB), Bernadette Bentley (FB), Jenny Hoffman (FB), Janelle Loren, and Alysa Perry (FB). They were very good rounding out the dance in “Six Months Out of Every Year” and in the background of “Two Lost Souls”.  The Children’s Ensemble consisted of Addie Chandler, Calista Loter, Micah Meyers, Drew Rosen, and Marcello Silva. They were cute in their performance of the reprise of Heart, and even cuter leading the audience in “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” during the 7th inning stretch.

The music was under the direction of Cassie Nickols (FB), who also served as conductor. In addition to Nickols, the orchestra consisted of Gary Rautenberg (FB) [Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet, Alto Sax]; Darryl Tanikawa (FB) [Clarinet, Alto Sax]; Ian Dahlberg (FB) [Oboe, English-Horn, Tenor Sax, Clarinet]; Matt Germaine/FB [Bass Clarinet, Tenor Sax, Clarinet]; Darrin Smith [Bassoon, Baritone Sax, Clarinet]; Bill Barrett [Trumpet I]; Chris Maurer [Trumpet II]; June Satton (FB) [Trombone I]; Robert Coomber [Trombone II]; Sharon Cooper [Violin I, Concertmaster]; Sally Berman [Violin II]; Marisa McLeod (FB) [Viola]; Stephen Green [Cello]; Ben Gisberg/FB [Keyboard Synthesizer]; Shane Harry/FB [Double String Bass]; and Tyler Smith/FB [Set Drums, Percussion]. Darryl Tanikawa (FB) was the Orchestra Contractor, and Darryl Archibald (FB) was the Music Supervisor.

Turning to the technical side: There was no credit for set design; the program notes that scenery was provided by FCLO Music Theatre (FB). The set was pretty straightforward, with sets that rolled in for the Boyd home and the dugout, and a basic multilevel structure that served as the stadium and other purposes. Prop Design was by Alex Choate (FB). Costume design was by Christine Gibson (FB), with costumes provided by FCLO Music Theatre (FB), The Theatre Company (FB) in Upland, and Costume World Theatrical (FB). The costumes worked pretty well; I particuarly appreciated the choice of uniform number 42 for the one black dancer. About my only costume quibble was that it kept looking like Katheryne Penny’s sweater would burst during the “Shoeless Joe” number.  Hair and makeup design was by Cassie Russek (FB); it worked pretty well, although I might have worked a tad more grey into Meg’s hair. Sound design was by CMT regular Jonathan Burke (FB); my only comment here was that the balanced needed to be reworked to either increase the amplification of the actors, or decrease the amplification of the orchestra. Lighting was by Rand Ryan, and exhibited the usual Cabrillo over-dependence on follow-spots (which in this case were occasionally late or off position slightly). Other than the spots, it worked well. A few of the buried credits that deserve highlighting. Ray Mastrovito (FB), who played Mr. Welch, is also credited for Applegate’s Magic Effects — this was one thing I particularly liked about this Applegate, so kudos to him. The preshow and intermission video design was by David Engel, and I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of “Who’s On First“.  Rounding out the credits: Gary Mintz was the Technical Director. David Elzer/Demand PR (Public Relations). John W. Calder III (FB) and Chris Warren Murry (FB) were the Production Stage Managers. Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) is under the artistic direction of Lewis Wilkenfeld (FB).

Damn Yankees has one more weekend at Cabrillo. Tickets are available through the Cabrillo web site; discount tickets are available through Goldstar. It’s an enjoyable production.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: October was being held for the NoHo Fringe Festival (FB); they’ve finally announced some shows but nothing yet is of interest. Given their delays, I started booking weekends with non-fringe shows. The fourth weekend of October brings “Uncle Vanya” at Antaeus Theatre Company (FB) in North Hollywood. Halloween weekend sees me at CSUN for Urinetown, and then both of us out in Simi Valley for “The Addams Family” at the Simi Cultural Arts Center (Simi Actors Rep Theatre (FB)). The following weekend sees us back in Simi for the Nottingham Festival (FB) on November 7. We then go out to Perris for “A Day Out with Thomas” at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) on November 11 (I can’t skip seeing my buddy Thomas and his friend Percy). The bookings for November conclude with Deathtrap at REP East (FB) on November 14; the rest of the month is currently open. December brings “El Grande Circus de Coca-Cola” at The Colony Theatre (FB) the first weekend, followed by a mid-week stint as a producer, when we present The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam as the dinner entertainment at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). December also has dates held for “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) and “If/Then” at the Pantages (FB). There are also a few other interesting productions I’m keeping my eyes open for. The first is the Fall show at The Blank Theatre (FB), “Something Truly Monstrous”, sounds wonderful — however, it runs through November 8, so squeezing it in would mean a double weekend. The show at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB) also sounds like an interesting exploration of clutter —  but “The Object Lesson” only runs through October 4, and I’m not sure we can squeeze it in. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

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

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Musicals are interesting beasts. Some get to be very well known through success on Broadway — either by the awards they win, the tours they produce, their financial success, or their performances at the Tonys. Some (especially parody musicals) get to be well known through their off-Broadway success and their cast recordings. Some just produce great cast recordings and stay small and popular in the regional markets. Then there’s that fourth class: the class that becomes well known precisely because of their failure; their creation stories having become the stuff of legend. These musicals get revived more as curiosity pieces. Occasionally, the revival overcomes whatever the reason was for the original failure; sometimes these revivals go on to great success.

One of these “notable failure” musicals was Steven Schwartz (music and lyrics) and Joseph Stein (book)’s “The Baker’s Wife“, based off the movie ” La Femme du Boulanger“. Schwartz was coming off the successes of Godspell and Pippin; Stein was the book writer of Fiddler on the Roof. They developed Baker’s Wife and did a tour of the US with Topol and Carole Demas, who were eventually replaced by Paul Sorvino and Patti LuPone as the leads. The show played Los Angeles in May 1976 (alas, I didn’t see it (or if I did, I don’t remember it) — I was still in high school at the time, and not part of my parent’s LACLO subscription), and the Kennedy Center in November 1976. But the producer’s pulled it before Broadway, with never a good explanation. A studio cast album was made with some excerpts that preserved about 60% of the score; thank’s to this, awareness of the show never died. This album was primarily excerpts; it didn’t give the full score, and was not necessarily in order. But there were some songs that still became staples; most notably, “Meadowlark“. The show became, like Bock/Harnick’s She Loves Me, a show more appreciated because of its score than people having seen the show. Attempts to remount the show would happen occasionally, but it has never made it to Broadway. Last night we saw one such revival at The Actor’s Co-Op (FB) in Hollywood. I’m very glad we did.

The story is a fable, with an unstated moral. It is 1935 in a very small rural village in Provence, France. This is a village where nothing ever changes beyond the occasionally birth and deaths. There are quarrels — but they are never resolved. The bickering provides too much entertainment. The married men (Claude and Barnaby) bicker and put down their wives (Denise and Hortense, respectively), partially because they are pointedly not speaking with each other.  Doumergue bickers with Pierre because Pierre’s oak tree shades the sun from Antoine’s spinach. The priest (M. Le Cure) argues with the town teacher (M. Martine) for his embrace of logic and reason, and with the mayor (M. Marquis) for his embrace of passion with his three “neices”, Nicole, Inez, and Simone). The town drunk, Antoine, argues with everyone, and unmarried Therese watches on disapprovingly. The town is eagerly awaiting the arrival of their new baker: their previously one having died 7 weeks ago, having not arranged for a replacement in advance. Eventually, the baker (Aimable Castagnet) arrives, with his significantly younger and lovely wife, Genevieve. The town cannot understand why the two are together, but loves the resulting bread. One of Marquis’ men, his handyman Dominique, becomes smitten with Genevieve. With the help of his friend Philippe, he woos her and eventually convinces her to leave her husband, the baker. When she does, the baker initially doesn’t believe her — she has gone off to visit her mother. But with her gone, he can’t bake — and the town suffers. He goes on a drunk, and the men try to convince him he is better off without a wife. But he doesn’t believe them, so they organize to hunt for her. Most of the men don’t find her, but eventually she is found and convinced to come back. In the process, the various bickering in the town starts to resolve itself. She returns, and the baker refuses to hear her confession, telling her she has just gone to her mother. The baker’s cat Pom Pom, who had also run away, returned: the baker publicly scolds the cat summarizing everything the wife has done, but forgives her… and she forgives him, and the town has bread again.

I probably didn’t do this synopsis justice — you can also find one on Wikipedia, at MTI, or at the Guide to Musical Theatre … or you could read the libretto.

Watching the show, I tried to figure out how and why it failed. Initially, I thought it might just be a predictable plot. After all, from the minute you mean Genevieve, you know she is going to leave, and that it will destroy the Baker. Very predictable. Very unpleasant. But the show by the end redeemed itself and gave across a good message.

For a time, I thought it might have been Schwartz’ equivalent of Cy Coleman’s Welcome to the Club.  The way the men treat their wives is abhorrent, and the attitude towards woman (especially in the song “The Word’s Luckiest Man”) is horrible. It seemed to be a commentary from the authors about woman, and thus doomed to failure just like Coleman’s Welcome to the Club. Club was an extremely bitter musical about divorce and divorce jail. But as the show went on, this attitude turned around. Women started standing up for themselves, and there began to be reconciliation.

Eventually, I decided the problems was more the time and place of the show. This is not a show for a very large Broadway house, yet with the cast size it needs such a house for financial success. It was best in a small to mid-size house. The story — focusing on love and forgiveness — may also not have fit well in the cynical 1970s when the country was in the mood for neither. This show could come back with a successful production, if handled right.

So how, in the end, do I assess the story? I think ultimately this show is about love, and how love grows and does its magic when it moves from selfish to selfless love. Consider that the villagers learn how to move past their quarreling only when they move from their selfish focus to a selfless focus of finding Genevieve. Genevieve is initially with the Baker to get away from an affair with a married man; she separates easily when thinking only of herself and her pleasures. She finds real love and happiness when she comes back to the relationship and discovers the selfless love of being there for the Baker. The Baker finds the long-term love he needs through forgiveness (which, by definition, is putting someone else before you). The show also demonstrates the power of forgiveness and understanding, and of actually listening. Great messages.

One additional note: This musical makes one other statement about baked goods: they taste better when they are baked with love.

In short, I went in expecting to find a weak book was what doomed this show, and came out loving the underlying story.

I think part of the success is attributable to the director, Richard Israel (FB). Israel has a knack for coming up with great treatments of musicals that are either not well known or problematic. I loved his approaches on local versions of shows such as The Burnt Part Boys, Big, Assassains, Having It All,  Once Upon a Mattress, Kiss Me Kate, Falsettos, or an intimate version of Gypsy.   Israel handled the small space well, transitioning from the cafe to the bakery easily. I also noticed what I guess were the little touches: the expression on a face in the background, the reaction of a town member to a statement. The body language. As I’ve noted many times, I’m not an actor and have never been on a stage without a Powerpoint behind me. I have trouble separating where the actor’s experience ends and the director’s guidance starts. But I just have the sense here of a strong collaborative effort: Israel bringing ideas and vision, and working with the actors to realize them. However, the division, it worked well.

In a musical, the choreography and movement goes along closely with the direction. Julie Hall (FB), the choreographer, worked the small space well. This show doesn’t have a lot of large production numbers, but the ones they had worked well — I particularly enjoyed the movement and dance in “Bread”, “Mercie Madame”, and “The World’s Luckiest Man”.

In the lead acting positions were Greg Baldwin (FB) [Aimable Castagnet] and Chelle Denton (FB) [Genevieve Castagnet]. Baldwin’s Baker was a great everyman — middle aged, average looks, an easygoing personality. Denton’s Genevieve, in contrast, was a knockout. She didn’t have the build of the typical starting actress, but had a lovely and touching form and face — and particularly smile — that just made you melt. You agreed with the townspeople: how could this lovely thing end up with the everyman? In pondering this, I thought about my post yesterday, with an article on how it is life experiences that shape what people find attractive. Denton’s Genevieve was a woman who didn’t know what love was, and how it was distinguished from attraction and lust. Baldwin’s Baker was safe, and that safety was what was attractive. Genevieve brought this across well in her two key songs: “Meadowlark” in the Act I and “Where is the Warmth?” in Act II. In the first, she makes the decision to run off — to have the pleasure while she could, not thinking about the consequences; in the second, she sings of the realization that the physical may provide the heat but not the warmth of safety. Denton’s ability to convey this through the songs we create. The Baker, Aimable, was less of a solo singing role, although he did impart his message well in “If I Have to Live Alone” — he’d been alone before, and the memory of a love is sometime enough. What was best about Baldwin’s Aimable was his face and reaction, best seen in his reactions to “The World’s Luckiest Man” and “Feminine Companionship”… and in his final monologue as part of the Finale. Sitcom cinematographers understand this: humor often comes from the reaction; Baldwin had his reactions down pat.

The earworm of the show belongs to Treva Tegtmeire (FB)’s Denise. In addition to getting to sing the lovely ballad “Chanson” that keeps repeating throughout the show, Tegtmeiere has some great reaction shots as the wife of Jeffrey Markle (FB)’s Claude, particularly when Markle makes some of his more offensive lines about his wife.

Nick Echols (FB)’s Dominique has the right handsome looks to be attractive to Genevieve, and demonstrated he had a lovely singing voice in his “Serenade”, as well as in “Proud Lady”. It was nice to see Echols again — it is always great when we see actors from Repertory East Playhouse [REP] (FB) in Newhall (we saw Nick in Avenue Q back in January 2015) getting wonderful exposure to the rest of the LA Theatre community.

The remainder of the townspeople generally formed an ensemble that makes it difficult to single out any particular characters. Difficult, but not impossible. Jeffrey Markle (FB)’s Claude was not only Denise’s husband, but in a perpetual argument with Michael Worden (FB)’s Barnaby. The two portrayed this argument well — you truly believed they weren’t talking to each other for reasons they didn’t understand (which made the second act transformation work well). Worden was also strong in his interaction with Tracey Bunka’s Hortense — his wife. Worden’s Barnaby continually wouldn’t let her speak; Bunka captured the frustration quite well, which served her second act transition. Another arguing pair were Brian Dyer (FB)’s Pierre and Michael Riney (FB)’s Dourmergue. For these two, the argument was over spinach and trees, and it also came off believable (supporting their second act transition). Brandon Parrish (FB)’s Antoine was also notable in his comic portrayals of a headstrong man with no filter: I particularly enjoyed his “cuckold” imagery.

The Teacher, Kelly Brighton (FB) [M. Martine] had an interesting look and facial expression that drew the eye, and handled the rationality of the role well. Contrasting and conflicting with him was Tim Hodgin (FB)’s priest, M. LeCure, who gave off the correct amount of self-righteous authority and religious babble (and whose pronouncements were particularly interesting considering this came from the author of Godspell). The third element in opposition of M. Martine and M. LeCure was the hedonistic M. le Marquis (which the program lists as being portrayed by two actors: Christopher Maikish (FB) and Stephen Van Dorn (FB) — so I have no idea who we saw). Maikish or VanDorn was fun to watch with the role — it was clear he was having fun with the teasing and the presentation of that point of view. His “nieces” (where a niece is defined as the daughter of a brother, and aren’t all men brothers?) were Lindsey Schuberth (FB) [Simone], Greyson Chadwick (FB) [Inez], and Rachel Hirshee (FB) [Nicole]. These roles were written more as eye candy — and as such, I expected a little more unison is movement and action for some reason. They were provided the opportunity to break out of the undifferentiated eye candy in the song “Feminine Companionship” — which they did quite well — and in the scene where it was just the women. As Therese, Natalie Hope MacMillan (FB) was the town spinster, with predictable reactions to all that was going on. Lastly, Larray Grimes (FB) portrayed Philippe, Domininique’s friend and guitar player for Chanson.

Music direction was provided Jake Anthony (FB), who also conducted the on-stage band and played piano. Rachel Fastenow (FB) was next to him on flute and recorder, with Shaun Valentine (FB) on the other side on percussion (which included drums, washboards, triangles and bells). On the other side of the stage were Jay Rubottom (FB) on bass and Brian Manchen (FB) on accordian. About my only musical complaint is something out of control of the musicians: the volume on the flute tended to overwhelm the voices on stage, particularly Chelle Denton’s. As you can’t lower the volume of the flute, Denton needs to work on upping her volume at tad.

Finally, we turn to the technical and miscellaneous credits. The scenic design of Rich Rose (FB) worked well: tables in front to establish the place of the cafe, some sliding panels with French town scenes,  and the back with the bakery tables and bakery prices (in French ₣). These integrated with the properties of Hanna Mitchell/FB well. I’ll note that the properties include a lot of different styles of bread — if they are using actual bread, they must go through a fair amount of it! The sound of Warren Davis (FB) worked well — there wasn’t any amplification, but I did notice occasional background noises.  Bill E. Kickbush‘s lighting design worked well to establish mood and mostly blended in; however, the LED lights facing the audience at the back were overly noticeable. Wendell C. Carmichael/FB‘s costumes combined with Krys Fehervari (FB)’s hair and makeup design to create a believable town of the era; Chelle Denton’s dress was particularly lovely.  Rounding out the credits were: Heather Chesley (FB) [Artistic Chairperson], David Elzer/Demand PR (FB) [Publicity]; Kate Harmon/FB [Stage Manager]; Rory Patterson (FB) [Production Manager]; Michael D. H. Phillips/FB [Assistant Director]; Hanna Mitchell/FB [Assistant Stage Manager]; and Kimi Walker (FB) [Producer].

One additional note: This production has available for purchase as snacks the typical soda, water, chips, and candy. This is a missed opportunity. This show makes the audience hungry for fresh baked goodies for purchase. They could make some funds easily by having available for sale some fresh tarts, sweet-stuffed croissants, and brioche.

The Baker’s Wife continues at The Actor’s Co-Op (FB) in Hollywood through October 25, 2015. More information on the Actors Co-Op Page. Tickets are available online. It is sold out on Goldstar; discount tickets are no longer available through LA Stage Tix. What this says are: most shows are sold out, so get your tickets now while you can.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: October was being held for the NoHo Fringe Festival (FB); they’ve finally announced some shows but nothing yet is of interest. Given their delays, I started booking weekends with non-fringe shows. Next weekend brings “The Best of Enemies” at The Colony Theatre (FB). The third weekend of October takes us to Thousand Oaks for “Damn Yankees” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). The fourth weekend of October brings “Uncle Vanya” at Antaeus Theatre Company (FB) in North Hollywood. Halloween weekend sees me at CSUN for Urinetown, and then both of us out in Simi Valley for “The Addams Family” at the Simi Cultural Arts Center (Simi Actors Rep Theatre (FB)). The following weekend sees us back in Simi for the Nottingham Festival (FB) on November 7. We then go out to Perris for “A Day Out with Thomas” at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) on November 11 (I can’t skip seeing my buddy Thomas and his friend Percy). The bookings for November conclude with Deathtrap at REP East (FB) on November 14; the rest of the month is currently open. December brings “Humble Boy” at The Colony Theatre (FB) the first weekend, followed by a mid-week stint as a producer, when we present The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam as the dinner entertainment at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). December also has dates held for “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) and “If/Then” at the Pantages (FB). There are also a few other interesting productions I’m keeping my eyes open for. The first is the Fall show at The Blank Theatre (FB), “Something Truly Monstrous”, sounds wonderful — however, it runs through November 8, so squeezing it in would mean a double weekend. The show at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB) also sounds like an interesting exploration of clutter —  but “The Object Lesson” only runs through October 4, and I’m not sure we can squeeze it in. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

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

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This was a double play weekend. Our first play was a comedy, Four Clowns Present Hamlet, on Friday night. Our second play was a drama: The Diviners by Jim Leonard Jr. at REP East (FB), which we saw last night. Sometimes, with double-play weekend, I’m able to figure out a connection between the two shows we see. This weekend? It’s hard to see any connection between a classic drama about revenge (performed by clowns), and a slice of life in 1930s Indiana about a mentally-damaged boy and his relationship with water.

Going in, with a title like The Diviners, what would you expect? I was expecting something like 110 in the Shade or The Rainmaker — that is, something about a community during a drought, and a need for water. A subject that would be very timely, given the current situation in California. Even the short description seems to give the drought emphasis: “The boy was deeply traumatized by a near-drowning in his past and as a result is deathly afraid of water, but ironically is also gifted with the ability to divine the location of water — sorely needed in his drought-besieged community.” But the actual act of “divining” only occurs in one scene, although there is a lot of mention of water. Further, there is only one character with the ability to divine water. So why is the title plural? Let’s see if we can figure that out in a minute.

So if The Diviners isn’t about the process of divination in a drought-ravaged community, what is it about? The folks we came with (who don’t particularly like this play) would say… nothing. It is a slice of life play, nothing more. I would tend to disagree with them. Yes, it is a slice of life in 1930s Zion Indiana; an exploration of a community that is desperately in need. For the farmers, that need is water — although it is less water in the form of wells, and more water in the form of the rain that nourishes their crops. For the townsfolk, that need is a different type of drought — they are in a spiritual drought after the church burned down many years ago. The desperately want that revival spirit back, and are searching for anything to do it.

At the center of the story is the Layman family: father Ferris and children Buddy and Jennie Mae. After an unfortunate near-drowning incident, Buddy was left mentally damaged but with a unique ability: he could sense water. This gave him the power of divination in the traditional sense (i.e., dowsing for water), but it also gave him the ability to sense when much needed storms were coming. It also left him with a tremendous fear of water — particularly cold water. It also left him with a strong desire for his mother, as he was unable to understand that she gave her life saving his. Into this family comes C.C. Showers, a man from Kentucky who has given up being a preacher because he no longer felt the calling. C.C. quickly bonds with this family and starts working for Ferris in his automotive repair shop. He also bonds with Buddy, becoming his friend, and with Jennie Mae. Jennie Mae wants the bond to be romantic; C.C. strives hard to keep it from becoming that because of their difference in ages: he is 30, she is 17.

Surrounding these people are the other residents of Zion, IN. Basil and Luella Bennett are farmers, with two farmhands Melvin Wilder and Dewey Maples. Basil’s concern is his farm: he’s searching for rain for the crops, and the best way to work the land (he does not care for modern equipment). Dewey’s concern is the daughter of the Dry Goods proprietor, Darlene Henshaw. Complicating this is Darlene’s mother, Norma Henshaw: a bible-thumpin’ woman who wants to see the town come back to a stronger faith. Also strongly faithful is Goldie Short, who runs the local diner: she insists on prayer before every meal. Together, Norma, Goldie, and Luella are a bunch of church ladies in search of a church and a pastor.

The play itself is a slice of life: it opens with Basil and Dewey talking about finding Buddy’s body in the river, and going to tell his father. The play then takes place as an extended flashback starting at the arrival of C.C., and continuing until the first scene is essentially repeated. During the play, we see the growth and change in Buddy, and the start of a relationship between C.C. and Jennie Mae. This is what you want to see in a good play.

Unfortunately, what you also want to see is a resolution, and it is in this sense that the story itself falls a little flat. You want to see C.C. help Buddy overcome his fear of water, and finally understand what happens to his mother. This is cut short by Buddy’s death. You want to see the relationship between C.C. and Jennie Mae succeed (even with the age difference) because they seem to fit well together. However, you are left dangling because there is no formal resolution; in fact, it looks like the circumstances of Buddy’s death would push them apart instead of together. As a result, you walk out a little unsatisfied — not from the performances (which were excellent — more on that below), but from the denouement. The resolution doesn’t uplift you as you might hope. You are left searching for something that might not be there.

This brings us back to the title. Why is The Diviners plural? After all, at the surface, The Diviners is about only one diviner: Buddy Layman. But in the broader sense of “divination” being a search for something that may or may not be there, the town is a town of diviners: the church ladies are searching for a church; the farmers are searching for rain; Jennie Mae is searching for love; Buddy is searching for his mom — and a stop to his itching; and C.C…. well, C.C. is searching for a purpose — a meaning for his life without preaching but still with a gift to reach people. The audience is also searching: searching for an uplifting resolution that they ultimately don’t get.

There, my friends, is the connection between the two plays this weekend. Hamlet, ultimately, is a tragedy: everyone touched is destroyed except for Horatio. The Diviners, too, is a tragedy: everyone touched by Buddy is destroyed, in some sense, by his death. Certainly, the hopes that had begun to blossom — for love, for spirituality, for healing — are killed as dead as King Claudius and Queen Gertrude. In Hamlet, the endless push for revenge is seen as destructive in the end. In The Diviners, it is the excessive search for something that really isn’t there that is destructive. That something, by the way, isn’t water.

The performances in The Diviners were top notch. As always, some percentage of the credit should go to the director, Jeff Johnson (FB), who drew out extremely realistic performances from his acting ensemble and (presumably) conceived the design of the overall production for the REP space. Whatever he did, it worked: this was REP back at the top of its performance game. Whatever the faults of this story, you should see it for the quality of the performances on the stage — it demonstrates how REP is the best professional theater in the northern part of LA County.

In the lead performance positions were Liam Johnson/FB as Buddy Layman and Ryan Shrewsbury (FB) as C.C. Showers. Johnson gave a great performance as Buddy, capturing the mental impairment in an effective but not overdone way. You could see his fear of water, his expression of talent, and his mental quirks quite well. Shrewsbury was an effective C.C.: thin, friendly, and able to project an ability to reach people, he was believable as an preacher who had lost the calling — in fact, who wanted to distance himself from it completely. You had the sense that there was some reason why — some way that God had failed him — but it never came out or was said. Great performances.

Rounding out the Layman family were Tyler Joy (FB) as Jennie Mae Layman and Harry Bennett/FB as Ferris Layman. I fell in love with Joy’s portrayal of Jennie Mae — she radiated a distinct sweetness and caring and naivete that was wonderful to watch. Bennett’s Ferris was an interesting father figure — intensely disliking Herbert Hoover, and seemingly unsure how to handle his children — in fact, his way to handle his children was not to handle them — to let them grow as weeds do, finding their own path. Bennett performed that well.

Rounding out the community of Zion IN were the rest of the townfolk: Gin Treadwell-Eng (FB) [Norma Henshaw]; Sanya Arnold/FB [Darlene Henshaw]; Jeni Fitzgerald/FB [Goldie Short]; Randy Aronson (FB) [Basil Bennett]; Laura Lanoil/FB [Luella Bennett];  Barry Agin (FB) [Melvin Wilder], and Curtis Crawford/FB [Dewey Maples].  Crawford and Arnold were convincing as two teens trying to find their way in the world of relationships. Treadwell-Eng, Fitzgerald, and Lanoil were quite convincing as the ladies in the town who simply wanted to see religion back as the central thing in their lives. Aronson’s Basil was a great simple farmer — the side story about his relationship with his bicycle was great.

Turning to the technical side: The scenic design was by Jeffrey Hyde. It was great to see Jeff back doing the design after a long hiatus — it was evident in the quality and the attention to detail in the set (although he does need to replace the CFL in the porch light). In particular, the raised nature of the set to permit digging and to provide for the front lighting was great. Speaking of lighting, the lighting design by Jeffrey Hampton, under the supervision of resident lighting designer Tim Christianson/FB, was very effective. Sound design was by the always effective Steven “Nanook” Burkholder/FB. The costumes by Janet McAnany (FB) and Kristi Johnson/FB were effective and seemed reasonably period. Remaining technical credits: Assistant Director  – Michael Keane/FB; Production Stage Manager – Kim Iosue/FB. REP is under the artistic direction of  Mikee Schwinn/FB.

The Diviners continues at Repertory East Playhouse (FB) in Newhall until October 16. Tickets are available through the REP website or on Goldstar. Even with the weak resolution to the story, it is well worth seeing for the slice of life it creates and the extraordinary performances.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: Next weekend sees us going down to La Mirada to see “First Date” at The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (FB). October was being held for the NoHo Fringe Festival (FB), but they haven’t put up the Fringe shows yet, so I’ve started booking weekends. The first weekend of October brings “The Baker’s Wife” at Actors Co-op (FB) in Hollywood. The second weekend of October brings “The Best of Enemies” at The Colony Theatre (FB). The third weekend of October takes us to Thousand Oaks for “Damn Yankees” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). The fourth weekend of October brings “Uncle Vanya” at Antaeus Theatre Company (FB) in North Hollywood. Halloween weekend sees me at CSUN for Urinetown, and then both of us out in Simi Valley for “The Addams Family” at the Simi Cultural Arts Center (Simi Actors Rep Theatre (FB)). The following weekend sees us back in Simi for the Nottingham Festival (FB) on November 7. We then go out to Perris for “A Day Out with Thomas” at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) on November 11 (I can’t skip seeing my buddy Thomas and his friend Percy). The bookings for November conclude with Deathtrap at REP East (FB) on November 14; the rest of the month is currently open. December brings “Humble Boy” at The Colony Theatre (FB) the first weekend, followed by a mid-week stint as a producer, when we present The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam as the dinner entertainment at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). December also has dates held for “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) and “If/Then” at the Pantages (FB). There are also a few other interesting productions I’m keeping my eyes open for. The first is the Fall show at The Blank Theatre (FB), “Something Truly Monstrous”, sounds wonderful — however, it runs through November 8, so squeezing it in would mean a double weekend. The show at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB) also sounds like an interesting exploration of clutter —  but “The Object Lesson” only runs through October 4, and I’m not sure we can squeeze it in. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

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

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Back in January, one of my favorite folk icons announced that he was stopping touring. After years upon years of making tens and tens of dollars in folk clubs, Tom Paxton was giving up touring. As he wrote in his January newsletter:

It’s going to be an extraordinarily busy year for me because I’ve decided to quit touring after playing The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA in November. The wear and tear are getting to be serious and you all know how awful travel is becoming for us all. So after the Birch, just the odd date here and there, songwriting, but no more touring.

I think another factor in the end of touring was the passing of Tom’s wife, Midge, although he hasn’t said as much.  Instead, he attributes it to the wear and tear of the road, as described  in another interview that I found:

It just became obvious to me that it was time for me to stop touring. I’ve been doing it for 55 years and touring has become very hard for me. Airports are just awful places for me now, they’re exhausting. And I’m just tired of the physical strain of touring. So in November I’m going to say goodbye to it. I’m not going to retire. I’m still going to perform, but it’ll be one-off deals. No more touring.

Luckily, he still plans to write and record:

Oh yeah, I’m still writing. There will be another album down the road. I’m going to be spending more time in Nashville. I have friends down there that I write with and I want to go and write with them some more.

At the time I got Tom’s retirement message, Tom’s only California dates were some dates with Janis Ian in Berkeley in late April. He had last been in LA in 2013. Luckily, he added more dates over the summer: in particular, for the last two nights he made his regular and final pilgrimage to McCabes (FB) in Santa Monica. We were lucky enough to be able to get tickets to his last performance on his last night.

A few general observations on the show itself, before I get into the set list. Tom made no mention of the fact that he was stopping touring, or that this would be his last performance at McCabes (although the announcer did). Tom’s focus was on his new album, Redemption Road, from which many of the songs came (and for which we helped Kickstart). For someone who doesn’t like to stare back, there was a fair amount of reminiscences about the early days of 1963 and the days at the Gaslight.

The show itself was a mix of some oldies, and many songs from the new album. He was accompanied, as he is often accompanied, by Fred Sokolow and Fred’s son, Zac Sokolow. The show consisted of the following songs (* indicates new for this year; ♫ indicates songs from Redemption Road):

I’ll be sad to see Tom go off the road, but I understand the grind well — and how, at his age, he deserves some time to work on songs and not be running from city to city to city (to city). The life of a folk musician is hard, and Tom’s Kickstarter demonstrated there is an audience for his music willing to fund production. I wish him well in this phase of his career, and home that a special event might bring him back to this coast occasionally.

OK, McCabes (FB): The challenge is up to you. You now need to book some new favorites, such as the Austin Lounge Lizards (FB) or Blair Crimmons and the Hookers (FB).

Ob. Disclaimer (for theatre — but I’m not a folk music critic either): I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: Next weekend brings two shows: The Four Clowns Present Hamlet at The Shakespeare Center (FB) on Friday, and “The Diviners” at REP East (FB) on Saturday. The following weekend sees us going down to La Mirada to see “First Date” at The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (FB). October was being held for the NoHo Fringe Festival (FB), but they haven’t put up the Fringe shows yet, so I’ve started booking weekends. The first weekend of October brings “The Baker’s Wife” at Actors Co-op (FB) in Hollywood. The second weekend of October brings “The Best of Enemies” at The Colony Theatre (FB). The third weekend of October takes us to Thousand Oaks for “Damn Yankees” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). The fourth weekend of October brings “Uncle Vanya” at Antaeus Theatre Company (FB) in North Hollywood. Halloween weekend sees me at CSUN for Urinetown, and then both of us out in Simi Valley for “The Addams Family” at the Simi Cultural Arts Center (Simi Actors Rep Theatre (FB)). The following weekend sees us back in Simi for the Nottingham Festival (FB) on November 7. We then go out to Perris for “A Day Out with Thomas” at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) on November 11 (I can’t skip seeing my buddy Thomas and his friend Percy). The bookings for November conclude with Deathtrap at REP East (FB) on November 14; the rest of the month is currently open. December brings “Humble Boy” at The Colony Theatre (FB) the first weekend, followed by a mid-week stint as a producer, when we present The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam as the dinner entertainment at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). December also has dates held for “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) and “If/Then” at the Pantages (FB). There are also a few other interesting productions I’m keeping my eyes open for. The first is the Fall show at The Blank Theatre (FB), “Something Truly Monstrous”, sounds wonderful — however, it runs through November 8, so squeezing it in would mean a double weekend. The show at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB) also sounds like an interesting exploration of clutter —  but “The Object Lesson” only runs through October 4, and I’m not sure we can squeeze it in. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

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

(Click Here to Comment)