Tag: reviews-2016

Rediscovering the Magic | “The Little Mermaid” @ Cabrillo Music Theatre

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Disney's The Little Mermaid (Cabrillo Music Theatre)Cabrillo UserpicThis season at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) has been a great one. All four of the season’s show have been “firsts” for me — in that the Cabrillo production has been the first time I have seen the adult version of the show done by a professional company. Their first show, Damn Yankees, I’d only seen Van Nuys HS do. Their second show, A Funny Thing Happened … Forum I had only seen the movie version. Their third show, Children of Eden, I’d only seen a church group do. Last night’s show, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, I’d only seen the Jr. version from Nobel Middle School.

In lacking the ability to see a professional version of these shows, I wasn’t alone. Damn Yankees is rarely done on the large stage, and Funny Thing is so complex you don’t often see it (although it had a recent 99-seat revival at Crown City). Children of Eden has never been on the big stage in LA.  All three of those are older musicals, so perhaps that’s not a surprise.

But The Little Mermaid? After it closed on Broadway in 2009 after a mixed run on 685 performances and tepid reviews, a tour was announced but never materialized. Unlike other Disney musicals — Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Newsies have played the Hollywood Pantages (FB) multiple times; Aida has been at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) — The Little Mermaid has never been on a main Los Angeles stage. Even the recent Hollywood Bowl production was actors singing along to the animated film, not the musical. The only place to see it has been school productions… until this year.

After the tepid reception of the show on Broadway, professional productions were limited… until Glenn Casale came along. Glenn reworked and redesigned the production from the problematic Broadway version for a 2012 Dutch production. He then reworked it again for Sacramento in the round later that year. It hit the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2013, and then the Pittsburgh CLO (remember those names, you’ll see them later). This year, a mini-tour of the revised version materialized, hitting cities such as Houston’s Theatre under the Stars, Sacramento, Dallas, and La Mirada. That would have been an interesting version to see, as it had both Tracy Lore (of CMT’s Once Upon a Mattress) and Devon Hadsell (FB) (of Chance’s Lysistrata Jones) in it. But that wasn’t Cabrillo’s version.

Cabrillo Music Theatre is Broadway in Your Backyard, and they pride themselves in not booking tours. They cast using a mix of local and new-to-local top talent. They pride themselves on finding newcomers (such as Katharine McPhee (FB), who was in CMT’s Annie Get Your Gun) who excel. They do this all in an environment of community outreach and giving back. They had an existential scare earlier this year, but they survived and are going strong into next year.

This is a long way of saying that last night we were at CMT’s second performance of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and it was our first time seeing the show in a fully professional version. It was our first time seeing the reworked Glenn Casale envisioning, reworked and reimagined just a little bit more by director Larry Raben (FB) and choreographer Heather Castillo (FB). I should note that I also came into the show with no preconceived notions from the original animated movie as — and you’re probably shocked — I’ve never watched the entire animated version. I’m also pleased to say (BLUF as it were), that we were blown away by the imagination and inventiveness of the CMT version, and it continued their standard of theatrical excellence for which they are known.

You, on the other hand… you have likely seen the 1989 animated film, based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, and produced by Howard Ashman and John Musker, written and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, with music and lyrics by Alan Menkin and Howard Ashman. You may have even heard (as had I) the score of the stage version, which had added songs by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater and book by Doug Wright. So you probably know the story well.

So…. I’m not going to detail it for you. However, I will note that there have been significant changes from the animated movie, especially in Ariel’s motivation, and significant changes from the 2009 Original Broadway version, especially in the nature of the relationship between Triton and Ariel, and even more pointedly between Triton and Ursula. They are detailed somewhat in the Wikipedia synopsis of the stage version, and even more so in the summary of how Glenn Casale reworked the stage version in 2012.  However, do be warned: this is, at its heart, a children’s fairy tale. Don’t expect depth, angst, bathos, or truly adult themes. This isn’t The Lion King, and it’s not based on Hamlet. It is based on a Disney animated movie. It improves on it some, but can only go so far.

Cabrillo’s version of the show brought the undersea world to life in a creative and imaginative way.  This is not to say that feet were never visible on the fish — during some of the dance numbers they were wearing colorful sneakers. But rather, for the main mer-folk, their costumes covered the feet; this was combined with flying affects to allow them to swim across the stage as if they had fins. Other characters glided across the stage on hoverboards or skate-shoes. There were giant puppets of jellyfish. There was undulating seaweed. There was loads of black lighting and iridescence. This contrasted with the human world, which was sunlit in a normal spectrum, with normal costumes.

The performances, as with all Cabrillo productions, were excellent. In the lead position was Alison Bagli (FB) as Ariel. Bagli brought a wonderful youthful enthusiasm and a lovely voice to what could be a saccharine role. In particular, she made the role seem, well, as realistic as a mermaid could be — both in capturing the late teenage rebellion against the strictures of a parent refusing to see the child as an adult, and in capturing the joy of discovering something new…. like feet. But she was somehow more… adult. She didn’t play the role as the typical 14-year old; she was 19 with glimpses of 15. She did a spectacular job with signature numbers such as “The World Above” and “Part of Your World”.

In the featured role as the crab mentor, crab advisor, and composer was Lawrence Cummingsæ (FB) as Sebastian. Cummings was an accomplished singer and dancer, doing wonderful in Sebastian’s key songs of “Kiss the Girl” and the ear-worm “Under the Sea”. He was able to capture the exasperated nature of the character well, and provided wonderful comic relief.  [æ denotes members of Actors Equity]

Featured actors with a more understandable relationship to Ariel were Conor Guzmánæ (FB) as Ariel’s love interest, Prince Eric, and David Engelæ (FB) as Ariel’s father, King Triton. Guzman’s Eric was the typical Disney prince, whom the story imbued with a problem similar to Ariel’s: having a nature different from what their parent wanted them to be. He captured that aspect well, and had a wonderful singing voice to boot. He also exhibited a great chemistry with Bagli’s Ariel, especially  in numbers like “One Step Closer”.  Engel’s Triton was suitably parental, although his kingly presence was a bit light until supported by sound effects and bass vibrations. He had a wonderful number in “If Only”, especially in the second act’s quartet, but was lightly used by the story.

In featured roles as Ariel’s friends were Pablo Rossil (FB) as Scuttle, the seagull, and Michael C. Kennedy (FB) as Flounder, the tropical fish. Kennedy’s Flounder, who we meet first, does a great job of capturing a boy with teen affection for Ariel, who never seems to quite notice him. He’s one of the three actors who use hoverboards heavily in the show, and he handles it quite well. He brought a great youthful enthusiasm to the role.  Rossil’s Scuttle is much more comic relief, although he does get a great number in “Positoovity”. He does a reasonable job of making the character his own, as opposed to channeling the animated version’s Buddy Hackett.  As one would expect, he does a lot of flying in the role, which he handles quite well.

The requisite evil side of the story was represented by Triton’s sister, the octopus Ursula (Debbie Prutsman) in the main position, and electric-eels Flotsam and Jetsam (Eric Stanton Betts (FB) and Alex Levy/FB, respectively) as the supporting minions.  Prutsman was strong as Ursula, capturing the evil nature of the character well, especially in songs like “Daddy’s Little Angel” and her signature number, “Poor Unfortunate Soul”. Flotsam and Jetsam were more supporting eels, although they did get a little bit of a number in “Sweet Child”, and handled their hoverboards well.

Rounding out the named characters were David Gilchrist (FB) as Grimsby, Tyler Stouffer (FB) as Chef Louis, and the gaggle of girls that made up Ariel’s sisters: Gillian Bozajian (FB) (Atina), Lyrissa Leininger (FB) (Adella), Janaya Mahealani Jones/FB (Arista), Missy Marion (FB) (Andrina), Jamie Mills (Aquata), and Annie Sherman (FB) (Allana). Gilchrist was great as always in a comic supporting role; we’ve seen him in a number of productions over the years. Stouffer really only gets one number –“Les Poissons” — which really has little to do with the plot other than comic relief. He handled the number well, although it was difficult at times to make out his words (which could have been a sound problem). Ariel’s sisters had fun with their few numbers — “Daughters of Triton” and particularly “She’s in Love” — but were otherwise not deeply characterized in the story. It was nice to see a bit of diverse casting there.

Rounding out the production was one of the few luxuries that CMT has: a large ensemble and a large kids ensemble, which they used to great effect (especially the kids in quite a few numbers). The ensemble consisted of: Jeni Baker (FB), John Paul Batista (FB), Alex Choate (FB), Rodd Farhadi (FB), Kevin Gilmond (FB), Scott Hendrickson (FB), Jenny Hoffman (FB), Kurt Kemper (FB), Julia Kreinces (FB), Joey Langford (FB), Janelle Loren (FB), Kenneth Mosley (FB), Brittney Nevison (FB), Jordan Schneider/FB, and Ryan Schultze/FB. The kids ensemble consisted of Baylee Fogelmanis, Calista Loter, Mia Nelson, Drew Rosen, Marcello Silva/FB, Taylor Lynda Thomas/FB, and Hattie Ugoretz/FB. Kenneth Mosley (FB) was also the understudy for Sebastian.

As is pointed out at every CMT show: Live musical theatre needs live music. The CMT Orchestra, under the music direction of Colin Freeman (FB), was excellent. The orchestra consisted of: Colin Freeman (FB) (Conductor), Gary Rautenberg (FB) (Flute, Alto Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet); Kimaree Gilad (Oboe, English Horn); Darryl Tanikawa (FB) (Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Soprano Sax, Alto Sax); Bill Barrett (Trumpet, Flugelhorn); Melissa Hendrickson (FB) (Horn); Sharon Cooper (Violin I – Concertmaster); Sally Berman (Violin 2); Rachel Coosaia (FB) (Cello); Cassie Nickols (FB) (Keyboard I); Lloyd Cooper (FB) (Keyboard II); Tom Griffin (Keyboard III); Colin Freeman (FB) (Keyboard IV); Shane Harry/FB (Electric and Double String Bass); Alan Peck (Set Drums); and Tyler Smith/FB (Percussion). Darryl Tanikawa (FB) was the Orchestra Contractor. The orchestra was produced by Tanikawa Artists Management LLC.

Turning to the remaining creative and production credits. The scenery design was by Kenneth Foy, with the scenery, props, and costumes having been created by a partnership with the aforementioned Paper Mill Playhouse (FB), Pittsburgh CLO (FB), Kansas City Starlight Theatre (FB), Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, and Dallas Summer Musicals (FB). Costume Design was by Amy Clark and Mark Koss. Christine Gibson (FB) was the costume supervisor. Stephanie Fenner/FB and Cassie Russek (FB) did the hair and makeup design, and Alex Choate (FB) designed additional props. I mention these all in virtually one breath because they all combined to create magic: an undersea delight, and believable and identifiable characters.  The magic was additionally created by the flying effects of ZFX, Inc.; the sound design of Jonathan Burke (FB), and the lighting design of Christina L. Munich (FB). I’ll note there were a few times where the spots were a little off; this was the second performance, so presumably that will be corrected. Rounding out the production credits: John W. Calder III (FB) (Stage Manager); David Elzer/Demand PR (Press Representative); C. Raul Espinoza (FB) (Marketing Consultant); Jack Allaway (Technical Director). Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) is under the artistic direction of Lewis Wilkenfeld (FB).

There is one more weekend for you to catch this excellent production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid,  with shows from July 20 – 24, 2016. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Discount tickets may be available through Goldstar.

* * *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts 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 currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB), the  Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB), and I plan to renew my mini-subscription at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB). Past subscriptions have included  The Colony Theatre (FB) (which went dormant in 2016), and Repertory East Playhouse (“REP”) (FB) in Newhall (which entered radio silence in 2016). 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 end of July gets busy, with Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) on July 23, Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN on July 24, and a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland on July 28, and … currently nothing for the weekend. August is a bit more open in terms of theatre. The first weekend just has a Jethawks game on Sunday; the second weekend has a Bar Mitzvah.  The third weekend brings another event from the wonderful counter-cultural orchestra, Muse/ique (FB) — American/Rhapsody — a celebration of George Gershwin. Late August sees us looking at shows down San Diego/Escondido for one weekend. The best of the shows available — or at least the most interesting — is Titanic from Moonlight Stages. September returns to conventional theatre. The first weekend has a HOLD for Calendar Girls at The Group Rep (FB). The second weekend may be another Muse/ique (FB) event — Summer/Time, a reimagined retelling of Porgy and Bess. The third weekend has a HOLD for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Mark Taper Forum (FB). The last weekend is The Hunchback of Notre Dame at The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (FB).

Continuing the look ahead: October is a bit more booked. The first weekend brings Dear World at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) and Our Town at Actors Co-op (FB), as well as the start of the High Holy Days. The second weekend has another Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) event: this time for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. The third weekend has yet another VPAC event: An Evening with Kelli O’Hara on Friday, as well as tickets for Evita at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on Saturday. The following weekend brings Turn of the Screw at Actors Co-op (FB) on October 22 and the new Tumbleweed Festival (FB) on October 23. The last weekend of October brings Linden Waddell’s Hello Again, The Songs of Allen Sherman at Temple Ahavat Shalom (a joint fundraiser for MoTAS and Sisterhood). Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, October is also the North Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and it looks like a theatre in Pasadena will be presenting the musical Funny Girl. November is still in the planning stages, but we know it will include Hedwig and the Angry Inch at  the Hollywood Pantages (FB); a Day Out With Thomas at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) [excuse me, “Southern California Railway Museum”]; the Nottingham Festival (FB); and possibly Little Women at the Chance Theatre (FB) in Anaheim. 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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A Frank Midrash | “Thirteen’s Spring” @ HFF16

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Thirteen's Spring (HFF16)userpic=fringeIn Jewish literature, the term Midrash refers to a method of interpreting biblical stories that goes beyond simple distillation of religious, legal, or moral teachings; specifically, Midrash fills in gaps left in the biblical narrative regarding events and personalities that are only hinted at. Much fiction, and a lot of good theatre, is essentially midrash. Look at the hit musical Wicked. This is a midrash about what happened to the witches in the Oz story before the events in the book. Look at the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which explores what happens when the two courtier characters are off-stage.

Last night, I saw a theatrical midrash based on The Diary of Anne Frank. For those unfamiliar with the book, Anne Frank was a Dutch Jewish girl who went into hiding in an attic in Amsterdam when the Nazi’s invaded. Anne didn’t survive the war; after the war her father found the diary and published it, whereupon it became a classic of Holocaust literature, and the basis for plays and movies. There is more summary of the book on the Wiki page.

As I was saying, however, last night we saw a theatrical midrash based on The Diary of Anne Frank: Thirteen’s Spring from The Moving Art Collective (FB), an encore presentation from June’s Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB). Thirteen’s Spring explores the period just before the Frank family went into hiding. Wikipedia described this period as follows:

During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Anne Frank received a blank diary as one of her presents on June 12, 1942, her 13th birthday. According to The Anne Frank House, the red, checkered autograph book which Anne used as her diary was actually not a surprise, since she had chosen it the day before with her father when browsing a bookstore near her home. She began to write in it on June 14, 1942, two days later. On July 5, 1942, Anne′s older sister Margot received an official summons to report to a Nazi work camp in Germany, and on July 6, Margot and Anne went into hiding with their father Otto and mother Edith.

Thirteen’s Spring explores those few days, although it plays with the timeline a bit, compressing the period from June 12 to July 6 seemingly into a single day (in the play, Anne gets the diary on the morning of her birthday, and seemingly goes into hiding that evening). The play, written by Amanda Jane Shank (FB) and directed by Fernando Belo (FB), principally focuses on two things: Anne’s budding relationship with “Hello” (Helmut “Hello” Silberberg), and the preparation of Anne’s parents for the escape into hiding, and its effect on Anne. It captures well Anne’s enthusiasm for life and her uncertainty of her budding romance. It also captures well what must have been Anne’s confusion at her parents’ preparations (selling family possessions; moving others into the attic ahead of time). Lastly, it portrays well Anne’s surprise when it was time to go, without warning.

Thirteen's Spring (Production Photos)This was a Fringe production, and in their program they note that they “hope to use this opportunity at the Hollywood Fringe Festival to expand our audiences and develop the piece further”. I spent some time this morning, as I researched and wrote this, thinking about that question. The question that keeps coming to mind is: Is the Anne we meet when the play opens the same Anne as at the end of the play, and how do we make that clear. The Anne of the original book resonated with people because of the combination of youthful naiveté, wisdom, and optimism. Did these few days shape that, or did they create or change something about Anne? Figuring out the way to address dramatic visualization of that transformation would appear to be the “development” that would be appropriate. The other characters in the piece are the catalysts for Anne’s growth — and like catalysts, enable the reaction while staying unchanged or minimally changed.

Even without the further development, I think this piece is strong and a potential facilitator of good discussion. In addition to the story exploration, the strength comes from excellent performances. In the lead position was Nora King (FB) as Anne. King’s Anne was playful, girlish, innocent, and seemingly open to the world in front of her, not wanting to give it up. When you realize that this was being portrayed by an adult actress (I hesitate to use the word “older”), it is all the more impressive. Playing off her as her potential first boyfriend was Joseph Tanner Paul (FB) as “Hello”. Paul captured equally well the uncertainty that boys go through at the same time: wanting to take the lead, to initiate something (but they don’t know what), while being scared to do so at the same time. Again, well captured and well performed.

Anne’s parents were portrayed by Michael Bates/FB [Otto Frank] and Elena Sanz (FB) [Edith Frank]. The two captured well the concern the parents must have had — concern not only with the upcoming disruption in their lives, but how that would play out for their daughter at this time in her life.

In terms of remaining technical and creative credits, there are only two in the program: Jesse Fryery (FB) as lighting designer, and Stephanie Petagno as Costume Designer. Presumably, the scenic design came from the director, Fernando Belo (FB). This design was relatively simple: suitcases, boxes, a table and chairs, and some lamps to represent the Frank home, and…. well, nothing really to represent the world outside the home. Fryery’s lighting design worked well to support the desired mood and to focus attention to the action… and the opening in the dark was spectacular. Petagno’s costumes seemed appropriately period, but I’m not an expert on period costume. If I had one comment on the design aspects, it was that nothing indicated that this was a Jewish family at all. That may have been intentional: I think Anne Frank’s diary resonated with so many precisely because Anne wasn’t one of those scary, different, Orthodox Jews with their odd dress and customs, but a secular Jew. She looked and behaved like everyone else, amplifying the sense that this was a typical family and the terror they faced could be faced by anyone. Thirteen’s Spring was produced by Emily Mae Heller (FB), Nora King (FB), and Fernando Belo (FB); it was presented by The Moving Art Collective (FB).

There is one more encore performance of Thirteen’s Spring: tonight at 7:30 PM. Tickets are available through the HFF site, or at the door.  I think it is well worth seeing.

* * *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts 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 currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB), the  Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB), and I plan to renew my mini-subscription at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB). Past subscriptions have included  The Colony Theatre (FB) (which went dormant in 2016), and Repertory East Playhouse (“REP”) (FB) in Newhall (which entered radio silence in 2016). 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:  Tonight sees us out in Thousand Oaks for The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). The end of July gets busy, with Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) on July 23, Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN on July 24, and a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland on July 28, and … currently nothing for the weekend. August is a bit more open in terms of theatre. The first weekend just has a Jethawks game on Sunday; the second weekend has a Bar Mitzvah.  The third weekend brings another event from the wonderful counter-cultural orchestra, Muse/ique (FB) — American/Rhapsody — a celebration of George Gershwin. Late August sees us looking at shows down San Diego/Escondido for one weekend. The best of the shows available — or at least the most interesting — is Titanic from Moonlight Stages. September returns to conventional theatre. The first weekend has a HOLD for Calendar Girls at The Group Rep (FB). The second weekend may be another Muse/ique (FB) event — Summer/Time, a reimagined retelling of Porgy and Bess. The third weekend has a HOLD for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Mark Taper Forum (FB). The last weekend is The Hunchback of Notre Dame at The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (FB).

Continuing the look ahead: October is a bit more booked. The first weekend brings Dear World at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) and Our Town at Actors Co-op (FB), as well as the start of the High Holy Days. The second weekend has another Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) event: this time for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. The third weekend has yet another VPAC event: An Evening with Kelli O’Hara on Friday, as well as tickets for Evita at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on Saturday. The following weekend brings Turn of the Screw at Actors Co-op (FB) on October 22 and the new Tumbleweed Festival (FB) on October 23. The last weekend of October brings Linden Waddell’s Hello Again, The Songs of Allen Sherman at Temple Ahavat Shalom (a joint fundraiser for MoTAS and Sisterhood). Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, October is also the North Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and it looks like a theatre in Pasadena will be presenting the musical Funny Girl. November is still in the planning stages, but we know it will include Hedwig and the Angry Inch at  the Hollywood Pantages (FB); a Day Out With Thomas at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) [excuse me, “Southern California Railway Museum”]; the Nottingham Festival (FB); and possibly Little Women at the Chance Theatre (FB) in Anaheim. 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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Dysfunctional Relationships | “Grey Gardens” @ Ahmanson

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Grey Gardens (Ahmanson)userpic=ahmansonSometimes, you see a show and wonder what was going through the instigator’s mind. What prompted Stephen Sondheim to see a musical in the story of Sweeney Todd? What led Kander and Ebb to see a musical in the story of the Scottsboro Boys? Why did Merrill and Styne see a musical in the story of Prettybelle? Why, oh why, was there a notion to musicalize “The Madwoman of Chaillot” as Dear World? Musicalize Carrie? What are you smoking?

Then, surprisingly, the ideas sometimes work out. Sweeney Todd is a masterpiece. History is showing that there was more to Carrie – The Musical than originally seen. Scottsboro Boys may eventually find its place as well.

There’s no hope, however, for Dear World or Prettybelle.

Then there is last night’s show at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB): Grey Gardens, the Musical. One wonders what possessed book writer Doug Wright, composer Scott Frankel, and lyricist Michael Korie, to see a musical in the documentary film “Grey Gardens” by David  and Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer, and Susan Froemke, is beyond me. The result — which tells of the dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beal (“Little Evie”) — may have great performances, but the story leaves you shaking your head and asking “Why?”

Let me elaborate. The title, Grey Gardens, refers to an estate in East Hampton, NY, that was purchased in the mid-1920s by the Phelan Beale. Beale was a Wall Street banker, and his with, Edith, was socialite and singer, whose primary claim to fame was as the aunt of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Jackie, and her sister Lee, used to spend their summers with their aunt during the 1940s at Grey Gardens. Edith and Phelan’s daughter, also named Edith, was another aspiring actress. Any chance she had for marriage with thwarted by her mother, and eventually both Ediths ended up living in squalor in Grey Gardens with a collection of over 50 cats and feral raccoons. The situation was so bad they were threatened by the East Hampton health department. A documentary film was made of their story, and it became a cult classic.

The musical, Grey Gardens, attempts to tell the story in the documentary. The first half occurs in the 1940s, and centers on the engagement party for Little Edie and Joseph Kennedy Jr. (Jack Kennedy’s older brother). Big Edie sabotages the engagement to bring attention to herself, and Little Edie storms off to New York. This act takes some liberties with the story: there is no confirmation of the Kennedy-Beale engagement or this party; the actual party was a coming out party for Edie’s brother and took place earlier, with the divorce telegram actually arriving in 1946. The second half occurs in the early 1970s, and is essentially the documentary brought to life. It shows what Big and Little Evie’s life had degenerated into, their self-delusions, their dysfunctional relationship.

Ultimately, however, the show is a picture of a dysfunctional mother, and how she screwed up her daughter. Why we would want to see this — when there is no ultimate redemption — is beyond me. So you’re probably asking why I bought tickets? That’s easier to answer: I had seen the performance on the Tonys (they did the opening number from Act II), and had heard the music, and wanted to see how they handled the story. My conclusion was that there were some very good numbers, some excellent performances, but the story was one of those train wrecks that make you wonder afterwords why you found it so interesting.

My wife identified the problem well: both she and I grew up with mothers who were easily like this. We escaped. So why would we want to see a story that shows what could have been? It didn’t leave us with a great feeling.

That’s not to say there were not redeeming aspects. This wasn’t a complete train wreck like I Caligula, The Musical. A number of the songs are very entertaining, such as “The Five-Fifteen” (a dangerous ear worm), “Marry Well”, “The Revolutionary Costume for Today” (the number I saw on the Tonys) and “The House We Live In”. But I think the most poignant number is the penultimate one, “Another Winter in a Summer Town”, which could easily be a sad standard. It captures well the sadness of Little Evie’s life, what happens in the Winter for a Summer Town girl.

The performances were much stronger than the story itself. The trick conceit of this show is that the actress playing “Big Evie” in the first act becomes the Little Evie of the second act. This Edith was portrayed by Rachel York, who gave a remarkable performance. According to two of the orchestra members we spoke to after the show at the Metro station, her performance perfectly captured the Little Edie of the documentary. I haven’t seen the documentary, but it was a strong performance both in characterization and vocalization. She was just mesmerizing on stage.

Playing against York’s Little Edie in the second act, as Big Edie, was Betty Buckley (FB). Again, this was a great performance of a controlling woman, who achieved the control in various passive aggressive ways. Another example of strong characterization and vocalization. The two played well against each other — you could believe they were mother and daughter fighting.

At this point, I’ll interject to credit the director, Michael Wilson. I can never tell what comes from the director and what comes from the actor, but Wilson clearly worked with this cast to make the portrayals realistic, and it worked.

Playing against York’s Big Edie in the first act was Sarah Hunt (FB). I quite enjoyed Hunt’s performance — I thought she captured the spunk and the scheming of Little Edie quite well, and was extremely cute in “Two Peas in a Pod”.

Before I go to the other adult characters, I want to mention two who stole the show whenever they were onstage: Katie Silverman (FB) as Jacqueline Bouvier and Payton Ella (FB) as Lee Bouvier. These two little girls were cute as proverbial buttons, strong singers and dancers, and just fun to watch. Did I mention they were cute as buttons?

Turning to the main male characters. Simon Jones was very strong as J. V. “Major” Bouvier and Norman Vincent Peale — I particularly enjoyed him in “Marry Well”. The book doesn’t quite capture what he did in real life, but the performance was a hoot none-the-less. Josh Young (FB) demonstrated his strong singing and performance skills as both Joseph P. Kennedy Jr and Jerry, especially in “Going Places”.

Rounding out the male performers in named roles were Bryan Batt (FB) as George “Gould” Strong and Davon Williams (FB) as Brooks Sr. and Brooks Jr.  Both were very strong; Batt was wonderful in his facial expressions and playfulness.  I also noticed he was actually playing the piano.

Rounding out the cast as the ensemble players — choir members in some scenes, the camera and sound operators, asst. townspeople — were…. well, the ensemble isn’t explicitly credited as ensemble. Understudies are credited, so I’ll presume that the ensemble consisted of some subset of the understudies. The “understudies” were: Olivia Curry (u/s Jackie Bouvier, u/s Lee Bouvier), Rogelio Douglas Jr (FB) (u/s Brooks Jr, u/s Brooks Sr.), Steven Good (FB) (u/s George “Gould” Strong, u/s Kennedy Jr/Jerry, u/s Major Bouvier), Melina Kalomas (FB) (u/s Little Evie), Michelle London (FB) (u/s Young “Little” Evie, Dance Captain), and Rebecca Spencer (FB) (u/s Edith Bouvier Beale).

This was not your typical show, with large dance numbers with long-legged chorines. There was some dance, and there was definitely movement, and it was under the choreography of Hope Clarke. Still, some numbers exhibited great movement — in particular, “Marry Well”, “Two Peas in a Pod”, and “The House We Live In”.  Charles Swan (FB) served as Associate Director/Choreographer.

The music was under the music direction of Kevin Stites, who served as the conductor and lead keyboard for the hidden orchestra. The other orchestra members were: Gerald Sternbach (FB) (Associate Conductor, Keyboard); Sal Lozano (Reed 1); Jeff Driskill (Reed 2); Laura Brenes (French Horn); John Fumo (FB) (Trumpet); Jen Choi Fischer (Violin); David Mergin (Cello); Ken Wild (Bass); and Cliff Hulling (Percussion). Robert Payne was the Music Contractor.

Turning to the other creative aspects: The scenic design was by Jeff Cowie; the lighting design was by Howell Binkley; and the projection design was by Jason H. Thompson (FB). I mention these three in one breath because they all integrated together. The scenic design was a combination of a decayed shingle house (which reflected the pictures I’ve seen of the real Grey Gardens), but built upon projections to establish the time of day and to provide background for various songs. More significantly, the projections included documentary style film output that was seemingly real-time, yet I couldn’t always find the camera. All three integrated with the lighting to focus attention and provide mood impacts. The sound design of Jon Weston was clear and didn’t overpower, although at times you could tell you were listening to the speaker instead of the person speaking. The costume design of Ilona Somogyi combined with Paul Huntly‘s wig design to bring the characters to life.  I particularly noted how the costuming reflected the real quirky sensibilities of the real Little Evie, as well as the style of the clothes that the little girls wore.  Rounding out the production credits: Original Casting – Stewart/Whitley (FB); L.A. Casting – Beth Lipari, CSA (FB); Production Stage Management – Robert Bennett; Assistant Stage Manager – Denise Yaney. This production was “inspired” by the Bay Street Theatre production with the same leads and the same director (and, not surprisingly, many of the same costumes).

Grey Gardens continues at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) through August 14th. Tickets are available through the Ahmanson Box Office. Discount tickets may be available through Goldstar, and $25 HotTix may be available by calling the Ahmanson at 213.628.2772. Should you go see it? If you liked the documentary, or want to see an odd musical about a dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship, go. If that’s not your bag, or you want a traditional musical, skip it.

Regarding the HotTix comment. As we walked into the show, the subscription sales pushing critter stated that HotTix will not be available next season. I haven’t been able to confirm that online; I have a question into to CTG Customer Service. Looking at their subscription packages raises a number of question, especially as they have gone to a seating plan that divides up the orchestra (which could be the rationale for eliminating HotTix). This is a plan similar to the Pantages, and it is what drove us to subscriptions. However, their pricing makes no sense: (a) they do not offer subscription seats in either the Premium or the back Mezzanine or Balcony (which both contradicts their claim of subscriptions getting the best seats, as well as providing affordable subscriptions in the back as they used to do); (b) their pricing for the full subscriptions (6 shows) tends to have higher prices than the design-your-package with a minimum of 4 shows (the “design your package”, for Saturday Night, has $23 for D, $38 for C, $65 for B, and $90 for D, whereas the full subscription is $33, $48, $75, and no option for A; and (c) the “Passport” has only a single price, making its use for the lower price tickets non-sensical (they should offer a tier of Passports that tie to the seating areas, with discounts in other areas). Again, I have a query into CTG Customer Service.

* * *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts 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 currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB), the  Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB), and I plan to renew my mini-subscription at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB). Past subscriptions have included  The Colony Theatre (FB) (which went dormant in 2016), and Repertory East Playhouse (“REP”) (FB) in Newhall (which entered radio silence in 2016). 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:  July brings us back to conventional theatre and performance. Next weekend brings a Fringe encore performance of Thirteen’s Spring, as well as The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). The end of July gets busy, with Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) on July 23, Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN on July 24 (pending ticketing), and a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland on July 28, and … currently nothing for the weekend. August is a bit more open in terms of theatre. The first weekend just has a Jethawks game on Sunday; the second weekend has a hold for a Bar Mitzvah.  The third weekend brings another event from the wonderful counter-cultural orchestra, Muse/ique (FB) — American/Rhapsody — a celebration of George Gershwin. Late August sees us looking at shows down San Diego/Escondido for one weekend. The best of the shows available — or at least the most interesting — is Titanic from Moonlight Stages. September returns to conventional theatre. The first weekend has a HOLD for Calendar Girls at The Group Rep (FB). The second weekend may be another Muse/ique (FB) event — Summer/Time, a reimagined retelling of Porgy and Bess. The third weekend has a HOLD for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Mark Taper Forum (FB). The last weekend is yet another HOLD; this time, for The Hunchback of Notre Dame at The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (FB).

Continuing the look ahead: October is a bit more booked. The first weekend has a HOLD for Dear World at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) and Our Town at Actors Co-op (FB), as well as the start of the High Holy Days. The second weekend has another Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) HOLD: this time for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. The third weekend has yet another VPAC HOLD for An Evening with Kelli O’Hara on Friday, as well as tickets for Evita at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on Saturday. The following weekend brings Turn of the Screw at Actors Co-op (FB) on October 22 and the new Tumbleweed Festival (FB) on October 23. The last weekend of October brings Linden Waddell’s Hello Again, The Songs of Allen Sherman at Temple Ahavat Shalom (a joint fundraiser for MoTAS and Sisterhood). Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, October is also the North Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB). November is still in the planning stages, but we know it will include Hedwig and the Angry Inch at  the Hollywood Pantages (FB); a Day Out With Thomas at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) [excuse me, “Southern California Railway Museum”]; the Nottingham Festival (FB); and possibly Little Women at the Chance Theatre (FB) in Anaheim. 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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Music is a Beautiful Tapestry | “Beautiful” @ Hollywood Pantages

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Beautiful (Pantages)userpic=broadwaylaAnd just like that, with the coming of July, the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB) is over (except for the encore extensions). For us, that means a return to our typical mix of shows (both large and small) and other live performance events. First up: Beautiful — The Carole King Musical (FB) at the Hollywood Pantages (FB). Beautiful purports to tell the story of singer-songwriter Carole King (FB, Wiki) through her music.

Watching the show Saturday night — which was excellent and very entertaining — my mind mused about the potential of this show in the regional and amateur markets, and drifted to other similar shows I have seen. I thought about 1978’s Ain’t Misbehavin’, 1981’s Sophisticated Ladies, 1995’s Smokey Joe’s Cafe, and 2005’s Jersey Boys.  Each show has had a successful after life, and each essentially captured the music of a generation: Ain’t Misbehavin’ captured Fats Waller’s music of the 1930s; Sophisticated Ladies captured Duke Ellington’s music of the 1950s; Smokey Joe’s captured Lieber and Stoller’s music of the 1950s; and Jersey captured Franki Valli’s music of the 1960s. All focused on what were essentially singer-songwriters; that is, people who primarily played their own music. Musicals that focused more on the cover artist have never gained the same traction — can you think of a successful Broadway musical that has addressed Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley (neither of whom were writing their own music), or even the rock writing teams (about the closest are Beatlemania or The Who’s Tommy, and I don’t think anyone has addressed the Rolling Stones).

But focusing on the evolution of the singer-songwriter does capture the audience; often, such a focus captures the music of a generation. That was clear to me at Beautiful, which captures much of the catalog of Carole King — in particular, the songs of the 1960s and her emergence as a singer-songwriter in the Laurel Canyon scene of the early 1970s (which also gave us folks like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell). Never mind the fact that, if you do a little research,  you discover that the story presented plays a little loose with the chronology (especially the order in which the songs were written and became hits). It does capture the people and the key personalities; it does show the pain behind the stories. In doing so, it does attempt to imbue particular songs with a meaning that, perhaps, they only have in hindsight.

More importantly, the story it tells is one of empowerment. We see a daughter of the 1940s and 1950s — a daughter who believed her voice was dictated by her looks and her husband — take control of her life. The audience reaction when Carole King decided that she was the right person to sing her songs, and that she was the one who could dictate how they sound was transformative. It demonstrated the importance of controlling your own destiny to one’s self-worth.

So what if the first song that King wrote and sold was 1958’s “The Right Girl”, as opposed to 1962’s “It Might as Well Rain Until September”. So what if 1959’s response, “Oh Neal” wasn’t mentioned in relation to Sedaka’s “Oh Carol”. So what if the story stops back in 1971 at the Carnegie Hall Concert. — essentially shortly after the success of Tapestry, with no mention of her first album, Writer. So what if there is no mention of the other three husbands. This is theatre, where life and music is rearranged to fit the story to be told. Oh, and that music, that music. It is the music of a generation (and, I must admit, it is my generation — Tapestry is one of my favorite albums.

It should be noted that King did not write the book for the musical — that task fell to Douglas McGrath. McGrath’s story focused primarily on the tumultuous relationship between King and her first husband, Gerry Goffin; the competitive relationship between Goffin and King and their contemporary songwriting team of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann.; their relationship with producer Don Kirshner; and the growth in confidence and self-assertiveness in King with her transition from background composer to confident singer-songwriter. Originally, King did not want to see her story replayed on the Broadway stage;  it was far too painful for her to relive. Eventually, her daughter convinced her to let the story be told, and she gave the show her blessing. She finally saw the full show after it opened.

I’m not going to detail the story as presented in the musical. There’s a good synopsis on the Beautiful Wikipedia page, and I’ll let you go there.  Suffice it to say that this is a jukebox musical in the same sense as the ones I listed at the start: songs are presented in historical context and somewhat historical order, but only rarely are they used to illustrate a character’s feelings or mood (unlike songs in a traditional book musical).

Reading the above you might get the impression that I felt the modifications to history hurt the presentation. They didn’t; most of the audience was probably not aware of them. The audience (and this audience member) heard the music and was instantly transported to the good time. The story as told flowed smoothly, and the performances were fantastic. How close they were to the originals I can’t say, but they were very enjoyable.

The performances in this show were top notch. In the lead position was Abby Mueller (FB) as Carole King (and the regulations state that we must note that her sister, Jesse, originated the role on Broadway). Mueller was a fantastic King, capturing the voice and the character well. She also appeared to actually be playing the piano, at least in those scenes with the grand piano (as opposed to the upright, where they hid the hands on the keyboard).

Playing off Mueller’s King were her songwriting contemporaries: Liam Tobin (FB) as her husband, Gerry Goffin; Becky Gulsvig† (FB) as Cynthia Weil; and Ben Fankhauser (FB)   as Barry Mann.  All presented good characterizations of their characters and did remarkable on thier songs. I was particularly taken by Gulsvig’s personality as it came across in her performance.

Rounding out the main named characters were Suzanne Grodner (FB) as Genie Klein, Carole’s mother and Curt Bouril† (FB) as Don Kirshner. Both are primarily character, as opposed to singing roles. In both cases, the actors did a great job of creating appropriate characters.

[†: At our performance. I must note that this show had the most “date-ranged” cast I’ve seen in a while; it is unclear whether those who were off returned to the ensemble in unnamed roles, or were just not present on stage. I’ll indicate where appropriate date ranged roles. † will indicated if they played the role at our performance on 7/2.]

In many ways, what made this show was the ensemble, who not only played unnamed background singers and characters, but rotated in and out as major performers of the 1960s. The ensemble consisted of Ashley Blanchet (FB) [Ensemble; Shirelle; Little Eva; “One Fine Day” backup singer], Sarah Bockel (FB) [Ensemble; Betty (6/22-6/30, 7/5-7/17); u/s Carole, Genie]; Andrew Brewer (FB) [Ensemble; Don Kirshner (7/3-7/7); Righteous Brother† (6/22-7/2, 7/8-7/17); Nick† (6/22-7/2, 7/18-7/17); u/s Gerry, Don]; Britney Coleman (FB) [Ensemble; Shirelle; “One Fine Day” backup singer; “Uptown” singer]; Rebecca E. Covington (FB) [Ensemble; Shirelle; Janelle Woods]; Josh A. Dawson (FB) [Ensemble; Drifter]; John Michael Dias (FB) [Ensemble; Neil Sedaka; Righteous Brother; Lou Adler; u/s Barry]; Sidney Dupont (FB) [Swing]; Ryan Farnsworth (FB) [Swing; u/s Barry]; Matt Faucher (FB) [Swing; Don Kirshner (7/8-7/10); Righteous Brother (7/3-7/7); Nick (7/3-7/7); u/s Gerry, Don], Rosharra Francis (FB) [Swing; Lucille (7/3)]; Jay McKenzie (FB) [Ensemble; Drifter]; Alaina Mills [Swing; Betty† (7/1-7/3); Cynthia Weil (7/7); Marilyn Wald (6/25-6/30); u/s Carole, Cynthia, Genie; Dance Captain]; Paris Nix (FB) [Ensemble; Drifter]; Noah J. Ricketts (FB) [Ensemble; Drifter];  Ximone Rose (FB) [Swing; Lucille (7/5-7/10); Marilyn Wald† (7/1-7/3)]; Salisha Thomas (FB) [Ensemble; Lucille† (6/22-7/2, 7/12-7/17); Shirelle; “One Fine Day” backup singer]; DeLaney Westfall (FB) [Ensemble; Marilyn Wald (6/22-6/24, 7/5-7/17); u/s Cynthia]. Whew. A few performances I wanted to note: I like Ashley Blanchet’s Little Eve — quite a bit of spunk and a nice costume transition. I also liked Andrew Brewer and John Michael Dias’ Righteous Brothers — it was interesting seeing the same scene we saw earlier this year from the other side of the story.

Turning to the music and movement side of the equation: The choreography was by Josh Prince, and seemed to reflect the early 1960s style of dance well. Other than dance as part of musical groups, there wasn’t much Broadway style dancing. The composers and lyricists were mentioned previously (i.e., Goffin / King, Mann / Weil). Music use was by arrangement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing (FB). Orchestrations, vocal, and music arrangements were by Steve Sidwell. Music supervision and additional music arrangements were by Jason Howland (FB). The music director was Susan Draus (FB), and the Music coordinator was John Miller (FB). The band consisted of Susan Draus (FB) as conductor and on keys; Nick Williams (FB) as assistant conductor and also on keys; Shannon Ford (FB) on drums; Eric Stockton (FB) on first guitar; Dick Mitchell on alto sax, flute, tenor sax, and alto flute; John Yoakum (FB) on tenor sax, baritone sax, clarinet, and flute; Wayne Bergeron (FB) on trumpet and flugelhorn; Andy Martin (FB) on trombone and bass trombone; Trey Henry (FB) on bass and electric bass; Paul Viapiano (FB) on guitar and second acoustic guitar, Brian Kilgore (FB) on percussion, David Witham (FB) on third keyboard. Christian Regul (FB) was the keyboard sub, and Brian Miller (who I discovered happens to be married to Carol Burnett) was the orchestra contractor.   If you follow those links you’ll see why the music was so good: they got some top notch musicians for the show — both local and on tour. I’ll note that it also looked like the lead, Abby Mueller (FB), was actually playing the grand piano.

The production was directed by Marc Bruni (FB), who did a good job of making the performers seem to be the characters they are supposed to be.

The scenic design by Derek McLane was simple but complicated — an elaborate background, frames, drops, risers, etc, that all made extensive use of LED lighting to get a multitude of colors, but providing minimal sense of place except for hints of set pieces — a sofa here, a table there, a tape deck here, a barstool there. Peter Kaczorowski‘s lighting design did well to establish and support the mood. Brian Ronan (FB)’s sound design was clear but loud; those with sensitive ears should bring foam earplugs. Alejo Vietti (FB)’s costume design was clever and seemed period appropriate; I particularly noted Little Eva’s transformation. Wig and hair design was by Charles G. LaPointe (FB), with make-up design by Joe Dulude II (FB). As with the costumes, the wigs seemed very era appropriate. Rounding out the production credits: Casting – Stephen Kopel, CSA; Production Stage Manager – Eric Sprosty (FB); Production Management – Juniper Street Productions, Inc. (FB) Stage Manager – Nicole Olson (FB).

Beautiful — The Carole King Musical (FB) continues at the Hollywood Pantages (FB) through July 17. Tickets are available through the Pantages website; discount tickets may be available through Goldstar. This is a very enjoyable musical, well worth seeing.

* * *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts 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 currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB), the  Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB), and I plan to renew my mini-subscription at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB). Past subscriptions have included  The Colony Theatre (FB) (which went dormant in 2016), and Repertory East Playhouse (“REP”) (FB) in Newhall (which entered radio silence in 2016). 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:  July brings us back to conventional theatre and performance. Yesterday was the Western Corps Connection (FB) in Riverside. The weekend of July 9 brings Grey Gardens at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB). The weekend of July 15 may bring a Fringe encore performance of Thirteen’s Spring, as well as The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). The end of July gets busy, with Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) on July 23, Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN on July 24 (pending ticketing), and a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland on July 28, and … currently nothing for the weekend. August is a bit more open in terms of theatre. The first weekend just has a Jethawks game on Sunday; the second weekend has a hold for a Bar Mitzvah.  The third weekend brings another event from the wonderful counter-cultural orchestra, Muse/ique (FB) — American/Rhapsody — a celebration of George Gershwin. Late August sees us looking at shows down San Diego/Escondido for one weekend. The best of the shows available — or at least the most interesting — is Titanic from Moonlight Stages. September returns to conventional theatre. The first weekend has a HOLD for Calendar Girls at The Group Rep (FB). The second weekend may be another Muse/ique (FB) event — Summer/Time, a reimagined retelling of Porgy and Bess. The third weekend has a HOLD for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Mark Taper Forum (FB). The last weekend is yet another HOLD; this time, for The Hunchback of Notre Dame at The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (FB).

Continuing the look ahead: October is a bit more booked. The first weekend has a HOLD for Dear World at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) and Our Town at Actors Co-op (FB), as well as the start of the High Holy Days. The second weekend has another Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) HOLD: this time for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. The third weekend has yet another VPAC HOLD for An Evening with Kelli O’Hara on Friday, as well as tickets for Evita at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on Saturday. The following weekend brings Turn of the Screw at Actors Co-op (FB) on October 22 and the new Tumbleweed Festival (FB) on October 23. The last weekend of October brings Linden Waddell’s Hello Again, The Songs of Allen Sherman at Temple Ahavat Shalom (a joint fundraiser for MoTAS and Sisterhood). Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, October is also the North Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB). November is still in the planning stages, but we know it will include Hedwig and the Angry Inch at  the Hollywood Pantages (FB); a Day Out With Thomas at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) [excuse me, “Southern California Railway Museum”]; the Nottingham Festival (FB); and possibly Little Women at the Chance Theatre (FB) in Anaheim. 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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It’s Rotten in Denmark | “Hamlet” @ HFF16

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Hamlet (HFF16)userpic=fringeWhen reading through the list of shows at the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), shows catch my eyes for various reasons. For example, yesterday’s show, Hamlet, was written up thusly:

Hamlet is set in the 1940s of Las Vegas and the Royal Family is the mob. Having a struggling desert town working its way towards greatness as a parallel for the turmoil that Denmark was going through connects modern audiences to a time they never experienced before. With a script cut to emphasize the story’s moral and original language to emphasize the depth of the story, this retelling of a classic will wow audiences.

Reading this, I thought: “Wow! Ever since I saw the Four Clowns presents Hamlet, I’ve been wanting to see another take on Hamlet. Plus, I’m a student of the history of Las Vegas (especially the mob era in Vegas), and this blend sounds fascinating. I’m in”. So we booked our tickets, and last night we worked our way to West Hollywood for our last show of the Fringe Festival: Hamlet, from the Boundless Artists Theatre Company/FB.

Alas, the description was better than the execution. This is not to say that the performance was bad — it wasn’t (although it had some problems). Rather, it simply didn’t match the expectation created from the catalog description. Let’s analyze why, and what could have been done to fix it.

Let’s start with that first line: “Hamlet is set in the 1940s of Las Vegas and the Royal Family is the mob.” Great, great idea. So we walk into the theatre, and it is a black box with no set, no projections. The only intimation that we are dealing with the mob is that everyone is in black suits and dark shirts and carry guns, and the ladies are in heels with black hose. Yup. Damon Runyon (think “Guys and Dolls”) mobsters. That’s it. The language still refers to Kings and Queens and Princes and Denmark and France, but with a light New York accent. That’s all that gives us the sense of place. Doesn’t work. Nothing in this execution said “Vegas” at all.

So, what could they have done? First, move it up about 8-10 years. In the early 40s, the only resorts on the strip were El Rancho Vegas and The Last Frontier, both started before the war and both without heavy mob involvement. The Flamingo opened in 1946, and the era that is desired is the 10 year era after that, probably best between 1954 and 1956 when you had a number of mob-owned “union pension fund funded” resorts opening. 1954 is particularly good: you’ve got the El Rancho, Last Frontier, Flamingo, Sahara, Sands, Desert Inn, and Thunderbird operating. Go to 1958 and you can add about 5 more, including the Stardust and Riviera. Make Claude (Claudius) the general manager of the hotel, who bumped off the previous general manager and married his wife, Gertrude. Hamlet could remain Gertrude’s son, and perhaps be something like the Casino Director who doesn’t like the situation, perhaps because Claude was the general manager at a competing resort (and, yes, this happened at the time — look up folks like Gus Greenbaum, who was brought in to manage the Riviera in 1955, after successfully managing the Flamingo Hotel after the death (some would say mob hit) of Bugsy Siegel. In December 1958, Greenbaum and his wife were murdered in their Phoenix, Arizona home, reportedly on the orders of either Meyer Lansky or Tony Accardo. Make the other characters have similar changes: Ophelia as Hamlet’s girlfriend who works in the hotel; Laertes in another position and connected to his father, Polonius, who perhaps works with one of the union pension funds. The key point is that if you are going to set it in Vegas and the mob-controlled strip, you have to adjust the story to that context and mileau. Tweak the characters and names. As this is Fringe, use projections to establish the places: the hotel, offices, on the casino floor, in the desert burying a body. Make the costumes era appropriate and not caricatures of what you think the era is.

The mob Vegas aspect is a wonderful place to set the Hamlet story and to modernize it (doing so could be a great start at a fun screenplay). However, the execution of this version just failed miserably on that count. It was less visible than the Royal Nevada. The director, Rachel Lynn Walker (FB), who was also responsible for the adaptation and adjustments, needed to study and understand the era before attempting to do this.

Independent of screwing up the theme, how was this production as Hamlet itself? What would Billy Shakespeare think? By the way, if you aren’t familiar with Hamlet, either read the Wikipedia entry, the sparknotes, or the play itself.

On this aspect, the show was a bit better, but was still flawed (but see the note at the end). The adaptation did a lot of work to preserve the key lines that everyone expects from Hamlet. That was the good part. The bad part was that many of the actors spoke their lines far too fast, and without clear enunciation, which made it difficult for the audience to follow the story (which is already difficult given the unfamiliarity with Shakespeare’s language and language patterns). This was evidence from the moment when Bernardo steps on the stage and speaks his first lines (the actor playing Bernardo was one of the worst — but far from the only — offender). This problem I blame squarely on the director, Rachel Lynn Walker (FB), who has the responsibility to guide her actors to ensure they can be heard and understood by the audience. I have to tell technical students this all the time: slow down and speak clearly. This is certainly true for actors, who must add projection on top of that (and is doubly true when you are adding an accent).

So, we set aside the theme, and we set aside hearing many of the actors, and what do we have left? The performances. I’m pleased here to say there were some strong performances that offset the weak and worked to carry the story. We’ll do it in the usual tiers, with highlights.

At the time, of course, there is Evan Garcia (FB)’s Hamlet. For the most part, Garcia spoke clear but perhaps a little fast, and captured the emotions well (although he might need to a bit of work to convey the madness of Hamlet a little better). He also didn’t appear to have the strong connection required with Cynthia Asmar/FB‘s Ophelia, who is supposedly his love. Asmar’s Ophelia was fun to watch — kudos for casting diverse body shapes — and handled most of her lines well.

As the King and Queen, Richard Lozoya (FB) and Lauren Sanatra (FB), respectively, performed reasonably well. My wife thought Lozoya spoke a little fast; I thought he was OK. More importantly, other than the words there was nothing to convey a good sense of what the relationship was between Hamlet and these folks, and why he cared about them at all.

Polonius was played by Sergio Venegas (FB), and he had one of the best performances of the team. He spoke clear and loud, and did a great job of conveying his meaning. Shannon Walker (FB)’s Horatio worked well sometimes and at other times spoke too fast. In any case, she performed well and was fun to watch. However, there were a few points where it was clear she was struggling on the next line; by the 5th Fringe show that problem should have gone away. Her partner-in-crime, Daniel Verdugo/FB‘s Bernardo, was more of a problem. He always spoke too fast and too softly, and it was often difficult to figure out what he was saying or doing.

Rounding out the cast were Andrew Cercedes (FB) as Guildenstern, Joy Ann-Marie Horn/FB as Rosencranz, and Ryan Jones/FB as the ghost. Rosencranz and Guildenstern needed to work on their projection and slow down a bit more.

Turning to the production side again, there was no credit provided for set design, because there was no set. Costume and Prop design was by the director, Rachel Lynn Walker (FB), and here again there were some distracting fails. My wife noted that the shoes were wrong for the era. At one point Joy Ann-Marie Horn/FB was an a dress with a large opening in the back, and a bra strap was clearly visible. This did not fit the era in question — either the 1940s or 1950s. In the final scenes, Shannon Walker (FB) needs to watch out as she was about falling out of her top when she was leaning forward. Again — that’s a costuming problem that should have been caught by the director.  Actors seemingly kept dropping their props, and the variety of guns was off. On the plus side, the fight and dance choreography by Richard Lozoya (FB) was quite good. No credit was provided for stage management or lighting design. Justin Huen operated the board, and the production was presented by the Boundless Artists Theatre Company/FB.

Note: Writing this up uncovered the fact that most of the actors, as well as the director, of this production are relatively new to the industry. I do not want this writeup to seem harsher than it should — they were very good for their skill level. The problem is: the audience (especially an audience at Fringe) doesn’t know the actor’s skill level. As a result, the actors and production team need to up their game. There are things one overlooks because it is Fringe: fancy sets, fancy costumes, lots of rehearsal time in the space. But other things are space independent: learning to speak at a speed where the audience can understand, speaking with sufficient projection and enunciation to convey the story. Exhibiting emotions and relating is one thing, but what makes something a play over a pantomime is the writing. I encourage these young actors to keep practicing and working at the craft, and hope to see them much improved next year. This is where a skilled director can come in; they can educate and teach while molding and shaping. I fear the director in this case was overextended: not enough time to research for the writing, not enough time to rehearse with the actors, and not enough time to research to get the costumes to convey the message. In any case, this company still has a skill I don’t have — inhabiting another character. I’m just an engineer who knows how to write.

We saw the last performance of Hamlet, and it looks like it wasn’t extended for the Fringe Encore Awards.

Attention Programmers! Take the Fringe Programming Challenge! Scheduling your shows at the Fringe can be a pain in the …. I’m trying to solve the problem for next year, so take a look at my specs for a Fringe scheduling app. Can you write it?

* * *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts 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 currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) and the  Hollywood Pantages (FB); my subscription at  The Colony Theatre (FB) has gone dormant, and REP East (FB) has seemingly gone dark for 2016. 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: Ah, June. Wonderful June. June is the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and I’ve already written about the shows I plan to see, as well as suggestions to the Fringe regarding viewing the audience as a customer. Our Fringe/June schedule is as follows (for shows in the past, ✍ indicates writeup is in progress; ✒ indicates writeup is complete and links to the writeup):

Whew. July brings us back to conventional theatre, with Beautiful at the  Hollywood Pantages (FB) and the Western Corps Connection (FB) the first weekend, Grey Gardens at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB); the second weekend, The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB); the third weekend, Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) and Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN; the fourth weekend, a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland, and … currently nothing for the weekend. As of right now, August is completely open. One weekend has a bar mitzvah, and there are a few holds for show, but nothing is booked. Late August may see us looking at shows down San Diego/Escondido for one weekend. The best of the shows available — or at least the most interesting — is Titanic from Moonlight Stages. September is similarly mostly hold dates at this point. 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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Big is Beautiful | “My Big Fat Blonde Musical” @ HFF16

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

My Big Fat Blonde Musical (HFF16)userpic=fringeOK, perhaps my taste in women is coloring my reaction to this musical. After all, if you know the women I dated (as well as the one I eventually married), you’ll know they all fit one particular mold.

No, not that mold.

They were all natural women who were comfortable in their bodies, who didn’t accept how society told them they had to look or had to behave, and who didn’t taken nothing from nobody.

(Excuse me while a song from Tom Paxton runs through the brain: …)

All over this great big city,
Can’t find a woman who’s nice and pretty.
They all look like a page in a magazine.
Legs are long and they eat like a sparrow.
Figures stick to the straight and narrow.
Top and bottom are the same as in between.

[Cho:]
Show me a pretty little number,
When she walks, she rolls like thunder,
Eyes as deep and dark as the deep blue sea.
Round right here and round right there,
Pretty red lips and her very own hair,
Wrap her up, she’s the natural girl for me.

OK, digression ended. Back to the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), where yesterday evening we saw our last show in the Sacred Fools (FB) Black Box space:  My Big Fat Blond Musical at 8:30pm.

My Big Fat Blond Musical, which was written, composed, and produced by Theresa Stroll (FB) and her finace, Bobby McGlynn (FB), and performed by Stroll, is the story of Stroll’s experience in Hollywood, where she moved from Connecticut to pursue a dream of being an actress. Unfortunately, she found out that Hollywood — in particular, the TV and Film industry — doesn’t have a liking of large (well, fubsy, well, fat) women, except as comic relief and the girl that never gets the guy. She did eventually find an answer to her problem — I’m not going to say it is the answer — but more on that later.

Throughout the show, Stroll relates her story portraying multiple characters along the way: an Austrialian actress working in a bar, her manager at Starbucks, a talent manager, and so forth. She had a particular point to make about the burden of student loans and how the loan companies start making demands to get their money back even before the student has begun to achieve their earning potential. This, as a dad of a recent UC Berkeley grad, scares me a little, although it is a little reassuring to know that her loan total is only the amount of a compact car.

Throughout the show, there are a number of songs and dances that convey the points of the accompanying scenes. Stroll sings these very well (there were only a few minor reaches), but one or two of songs themselves could use a little work if they were to survive out of the show. On the other hand, some were excellent — “Carbs and Oils” was a great parody of Modern Major General, and “Fuck It!” could be the anthem of many people that I know.  They do have a demo recording of the songs available for a PayPal payment of $2 to fatmusical@gmail.com.

By the end of the story, Stroll has found the avenue to success, and it is reminiscent of the will in A Class Act: she decides to tell Hollywood to F-it, and take control of her own destiny… and one aspect of this is creating a musical… which is, you guessed it….

I think the message that this show imparts is a great one: Don’t wait for destiny to come to you, go out and make your own destiny. It is one that is true for fat or thin actors, but especially true for actors that don’t fit the normal stereotypical molds of Hollywood and the TV and film industry. I’d say that we’re lucky that the theatrical stage is more diverse… but is it?

Stroll, in this show, touches on that last aspects of acceptable discrimination. We can no longer discriminate based on sex, race, creed, color, orientation, gender identification, religion; however, being fat or large — that you can make fun of. That’s wrong. We’re seeing some increasingly popular viral campaigns expressing that view — that what we need are real sizes and real people. (That’s one reason I supported The Nu Project (FB) — for it has a great message — all women are beautiful). But Hollywood and related acting professions (i.e., stage) still view the world through a narrow lens of shapes, sizes and colors. Fringe festival is beautiful because it allows celebration outside that boundary — whether “big boned”, “big chested”, or just “big opinioned”. Fringe embraces the wide variety of theatre in all its natural values from the one person to the ensemble, from the loosely scripted to the tightly scripted, from the polished to the not, from the… well you get it.

This is why Theresa Stroll’s piece is so important to be seen: to make us aware of the discrimination in the industry. Why can’t we have a show (other than Mike and Molly, which although it had the premise, was painfully flawed in execution) where the large girl gets the guy and is treated no different than the skinny girl that gets the guy (i.e., no jokes about size)? Why can’t we cast size diverse as well as color diverse? Why must the only role for fat be funny?

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I truly enjoyed this piece (as did my wife).

The production was directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson (FB), who is not from Australia but from St. Louis (but those midwest accents are difficult 🙂 ). Choreography was by Lindsay Braverman (FB). Rebecca Schoenberg (FB) [any relation to Larry?] was the stage manager. There were no credits given for lighting or sound or projections, but all worked very well in establishing place and mood.

Alas, we caught the last performance of My Big Fat Blonde Musical. I have heard rumors that it might be extended with a few shows, so keep checking their ticket page or follow @FatMusical  on Twitter for updates.

As a PS for this: We need to get some producer to follow this up with a production of Pretty Faces: The Large and Lovely Musical (FB, Amazon) at the next Fringe Festival. Vocal selections are available, but I can’t find licensing info. It looks like you contact the author.

Attention Programmers! Take the Fringe Programming Challenge! Scheduling your shows at the Fringe can be a pain in the …. I’m trying to solve the problem for next year, so take a look at my specs for a Fringe scheduling app. Can you write it?

* * *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts 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 currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) and the  Hollywood Pantages (FB); my subscription at  The Colony Theatre (FB) has gone dormant, and REP East (FB) has seemingly gone dark for 2016. 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: Ah, June. Wonderful June. June is the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and I’ve already written about the shows I plan to see, as well as suggestions to the Fringe regarding viewing the audience as a customer. Our Fringe/June schedule is as follows (for shows in the past, ✍ indicates writeup is in progress; ✒ indicates writeup is complete and links to the writeup):

Whew. July brings us back to conventional theatre, with Beautiful at the  Hollywood Pantages (FB) and the Western Corps Connection (FB) the first weekend, Grey Gardens at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB); the second weekend, The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB); the third weekend, Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) and Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN; the fourth weekend, a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland, and … currently nothing for the weekend. As of right now, August is completely open. One weekend has a bar mitzvah, and there are a few holds for show, but nothing is booked. Late August may see us looking at shows down San Diego/Escondido for one weekend. The best of the shows available — or at least the most interesting — is Titanic from Moonlight Stages. September is similarly mostly hold dates at this point. 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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Forbidden Love Rears Its Ugly Head | “Taming of the Show” @ HFF16

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Taming of the Show (HFF16)userpic=fringeThose who have been paying attention this month may be wondering where this show came from? After all, it wasn’t on our original schedule of 15 shows; it wasn’t even on the list of shows of interest for the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB). Those wondering would be correct. This show was added at the last minute, when we realized we had a three hour break between our two Saturday days, which were at the same theatre. This looked interesting, and it was at the same theatre — and so, for the first time, we had three consecutive shows in the Sacred Fools (FB) Black Box space: Squeeze My Cans at 4pm, Taming of the Show at 6pm, and My Big Fat Blond Musical at 8:30pm.

In the manner of productions like Kiss Me Kate, the focus of Taming of the Show is less the Shakespeare production itself than the meta-story of the making of the production. And, as in KMK, that “making” is going all wrong. In the case of Taming/Show, you have a maniacal director (Montana Stanislavski) who has a conception of the show as a time-travel story: an astronaut goes back to pre-historic times where mankind is living with dinosaurs. Think Flintstones, but with more grunting and less technology. OK, don’t think Flintstones; think It’s About Time. You have a lead actor (Brayden Stryker) who has an over-inflated sense of self, whose peak was being on the CW, and who uses drugs and sex to get by and a lead actress (Annie) who doesn’t want to have anything to do with the lead actor. You have one additional actor (Ronald Jeremy — and yes, they called him that) who played most of remaining male roles (and some female ones), and one additional actor (Betty Turnipseed) who played most of the remaining female roles (and some of the male ones). You have an aged stage manager Hilary Nikademus, and a former student of his drawn into being assistant stage manager, Eddie Littlejeans. Oh, and this ASM is recovering from theatrical tourettes, where he breaks out in song at any inconvenient moment.

What could go wrong?

Oh, and I forgot: there is a strong theme of forbidden love — the love that must not speak its name. That’s right: the love between someone in the crew and someone in the cast. Naturally, in this case, the tension isn’t just created with the show: Eddie falls in love with Annie, who is also the object of lust of the lead, Brayden. Annie wants nothing to do with either of them.

Now wind it up and let it go.

This isn’t Broadway-caliber writing folks. This isn’t even Colony-caliber writing. That’s not to say the show was bad. It was just not deep; it wasn’t complex. The characters were lightly drawn and boxed into particular tropes and roles. The humor was broad and broadcast. The show was funny and made you laugh, but then you felt guilty for laughing at such an obvious and broad joke. These problems can be laid squarely at the feet of the author, Blake Walker (FB) — and it appears they were intentional. The show notes indicate that the original production (this started when Walker was in college at SMU) was intended as a comment on the state of the theatre department there, and has been refined to embrace the tropes, cliches, frustrations and experiences found in the real world. Translating that, it means that this show was intended more as a parody and less as a real show — and parody is by its nature broad and cliched.

The performances were reasonably good and fit the materials — that is, the stereotypes and tropes — well. In the lead positions (at least from my point of view) was Jeff DeCrosta (FB) as Eddie and Chineze Enekwechi (FB) as Annie. DeCrosta gave a very affable and friendly performance; just a nice guy you wanted to succeed. I don’t judge these things, but my wife thought he was good looking.  He also had a very nice singing voice with only the occasional overreach. Enekwechi’s Annie was similarly accessible and friendly, and the actress just had a lovely face that was a delight to watch. I also kept detecting a slight sense of a lovely accent to her voice.

Steve Peterson (FB)’s Hilary Nikademus had an odd creepy cryptkeeper vibe to him, which was likely due to his makeup. This made the ending of the show a little hard to visualize, but then again, it takes all types. Peterson’s Nikademus had this aura of “been there, seen this, I don’t need another T-shirt” that was quite interesting.

The two “professionals” (at least in terms of the story) were Marc Forget (FB) as Montana Stanislavski and Greg Steinbrecher (FB) as Brayden Stryker. Both captured their stereotypes well: Forget as the overboard director more obsessed with his ego than the production, and Stryker as the celebrity actor more obsessed with his ego that …. well, you get it.

Rounding out the cast were Paula Deming (FB)’s Betty Turnipseed and Anthony Pappastrat (FB)’s (Ronald Jeremy). First and foremost, I should note that Pappastrat’s portrayal of Jeremy was nothing like that other Ronald Jeremy. Pappastrat had the character with the most physical comedy of the ensemble, and he handled it well. I liked Deming, but I was confused as to what age she was portraying. She seemed to have both young and old aspects. Still, she was quite fun to watch.

The music was by Blake Walker (FB) and Michael Turner, and was provided by an on-stage upright piano — which must be a pain to load in/out for Fringe. Some notes were off, and there were times where the cast that sung (i.e., “Eddie”) had trouble reaching the notes of the lyrics.

The production was directed by Blake Walker (FB), assisted by Karissa McKinney (FB). Rebecca Schoenberg (FB) [any relation to Larry?] was the stage manager. Billy Gill (FB) was the onstage accompanist, with Todd Collins (FB) providing the fight choreography. Props and costumes were by Lynn Downey Braswell (FB). In general, the props and costumes worked well, modulo the cryptkeeper hair. Taming of the Show was presented by Little Candle Productions (FB).

We caught the last performance of Taming of the Show. If encore performances get added, they will be listed (and available to ticket) through the show’s ticketing page. This was a silly show, not deep, but situationally funny and enjoyable.

Attention Programmers! Take the Fringe Programming Challenge! Scheduling your shows at the Fringe can be a pain in the …. I’m trying to solve the problem for next year, so take a look at my specs for a Fringe scheduling app. Can you write it?

* * *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts 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 currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) and the  Hollywood Pantages (FB); my subscription at  The Colony Theatre (FB) has gone dormant, and REP East (FB) has seemingly gone dark for 2016. 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: Ah, June. Wonderful June. June is the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and I’ve already written about the shows I plan to see, as well as suggestions to the Fringe regarding viewing the audience as a customer. Our Fringe/June schedule is as follows (for shows in the past, ✍ indicates writeup is in progress; ✒ indicates writeup is complete and links to the writeup):

Whew. July brings us back to conventional theatre, with Beautiful at the  Hollywood Pantages (FB) and the Western Corps Connection (FB) the first weekend, Grey Gardens at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB); the second weekend, The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB); the third weekend, Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) and Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN; the fourth weekend, a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland, and … currently nothing for the weekend. As of right now, August is completely open. One weekend has a bar mitzvah, and there are a few holds for show, but nothing is booked. Late August may see us looking at shows down San Diego/Escondido for one weekend. The best of the shows available — or at least the most interesting — is Titanic from Moonlight Stages. September is similarly mostly hold dates at this point. 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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The L is for Love | “Squeeze My Cans” @ HFF16

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Squeeze My Cans (HFF16)userpic=fringeWhat makes something a cult? What makes something a religion? Is any belief system valid? Who was responsible for rerouting Route 79 in Riverside County between Gilman Springs Road and the Ramona Expressway? Did you like “Battlefield: Earth”?

That last question is a really important one.

Squeeze My Cans (HFF16, FB), which we saw yesterday afternoon as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), is one woman’s story of how she got drawn into the tar-baby that is Scientology, how she worked her way into the upper tiers of the religions, and how she eventually escaped its grasp. Not only did this effort take more than a decade, it decimated her finances.

If you’re like me, you’ve heard of Scientology, and how it was created by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. You may have seen the large amount of properties they own in Hollywood. You may have heard perceptions that it is a cult.  You may have heard stories of Tom Cruise, Kirstie Alley, and John Travolta. You may have also heard that the Church of Scientology makes it very difficult for the truth of the story to get out, or for people to leave the church. You may have heard that the church tends to isolate people and disconnect them from their families.

Again, I’ll ask what is a church, and what is a cult? But don’t answer yet — after all, I wouldn’t want to draw the wrath of Scientology down upon me.

Now, coming in, I knew a little more about Scientology, primarily because I had listened to A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant (you can listen too) [As an aside: it has been years since that show has been done in LA, and it would be ripe for a revival at a future Fringe]. I know about Scientology’s notion of Thetans and Xinu and ideas about aliens that sounded like they had been lifted from a science fiction novel. But that’s about all I knew.

I found Cathy Schenkelberg (FB)’s story about her interactions with Scientology scary and fascinating. Her manner of telling the story brought just the right amount of humor and humility to counter the horror of it all. She drew me (and the rest of the audience) in, and just held our attention rapt for a very fast paced and packed 80 minutes. Looking at it from the outside, it was easy to see the cult-ish signs: the constant demands for money, the taking out of loans for classes and to move up levels, the control over the life, the isolation from the outside world and outside voices. It is chilling, but it is even more chilling the mind games that the Church played so that those inside never realized it.

But you know what is even more scary? The fact that the Church is still out there doing it, drawing people in with their celebrities and influence. Even more scary than that? A number of the evangelical groups within our accepted religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) are doing just that. Where do you think the radicalized religious fanatics come from? Programs that use the same techniques as Scientology.

But why did this touch me so? Because I remember the days of cults first-hand. I remember the Moonies on college campuses, and the large meetings where they would attempt to recruit and draw people in.

The presentation in Squeeze My Cans was not only performed by Schenkelberg, it was written by her based on her experience, developed over years. It was directed by Shirley Anderson (FB), with lighting design by Brandon Baruch (FB) and Sound Design and Projections by Toy Deiorio (FB). The direction, lighting, and sound faded into the background — as they should — because Schenkelberg’s story and performance was just so engrossing.

There is one more performance of Squeeze My Cans at the main part of the Fringe Festival: today (Sun 6/26) at 8:00PM. Tickets (if not sold out) are available through the Fringe website. It may be extended with a few more shows in July; that will be announced tonight. Performances take place at the Sacred Fools (FB) Black Box. Check their Fringe Page for updates. It will also be presented the latter half of July as part of the Solo Celebration in Chicago. Go see this, and learn about the danger that is Scientology.

Attention Programmers! Take the Fringe Programming Challenge! Scheduling your shows at the Fringe can be a pain in the …. I’m trying to solve the problem for next year, so take a look at my specs for a Fringe scheduling app. Can you write it?

* * *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts 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 currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) and the  Hollywood Pantages (FB); my subscription at  The Colony Theatre (FB) has gone dormant, and REP East (FB) has seemingly gone dark for 2016. 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: Ah, June. Wonderful June. June is the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and I’ve already written about the shows I plan to see, as well as suggestions to the Fringe regarding viewing the audience as a customer. Our Fringe/June schedule is as follows (for shows in the past, ✍ indicates writeup is in progress; ✒ indicates writeup is complete and links to the writeup):

Whew. July brings us back to conventional theatre, with Beautiful at the  Hollywood Pantages (FB) and the Western Corps Connection (FB) the first weekend, Grey Gardens at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB); the second weekend, The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB); the third weekend, Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) and Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN; the fourth weekend, a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland, and … currently nothing for the weekend. As of right now, August is completely open. One weekend has a bar mitzvah, and there are a few holds for show, but nothing is booked. Late August may see us looking at shows down San Diego/Escondido for one weekend. The best of the shows available — or at least the most interesting — is Titanic from Moonlight Stages. September is similarly mostly hold dates at this point. 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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