Tag: theatre-2006

Farce. n. A light dramatic composition marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot.

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

This afternoon we went out to the Rep East Playhouse (REP) in Saugus, CA to see two one-act farces. As usual, REP did a wonderful job with the plays.

The first, The Real Inspector Hound is a short play by Tom Stoppard. The play starts as you watch two pretentious and semi-prestigious theatre critics watching one play, who seem to be more taken up with their own agendas than with the play. What they are watching is a spoofy, by-the-numbers, overacted murder mystery onstage. The critics are the second-string critic for a London newspaper, Moon, who is obsessed with his position in the journalistic hierarchy, while Birdboot, who works for a different paper, chews chocolates and proclaims his famed objectivity as he prepares to praise to the skies the performance of the actress playing Felicity, who is young beauty he just happened to have supped with the night before. He later become enamored of Lady Cynthia Muldoon, a drama queen extraordinaire with a body to match. Neither critic is exactly taken with the routine drama, which touches all the usual bases and includes all the usual suspects generally employed in the genre, which doesn’t prevent them from uttering high-flown, patently meaningless critiques. At one point, however, the stage phone keeps ringing, unanswered. This unnerves the critics, and one of them answers the phone. This then draws them into the play, which suddendly make real life both a stage and a farce.

The second play was Black Comedy by British dramatist Peter Shaffer (Equus). The play is more of a traditional farce set in a London flat during an electrical blackout, and is written to be staged under a reversed lighting scheme: that is, the play opens with a dinner party beginning on a darkened stage, then a few minutes into the show “a fuse blows”, the stage lights come up, and the characters are seen shambling around apparently invisible to one another. The plot is well described in the cited Wikipedia entry: suffice it to say that it has all the elements of a farce: split-second timing, a pretty lady running around only in lingerie, mistaken identities, odd accents, and broad physical comedy. It was really the stronger of the two pieces.

The cast featured Amber Clark (Felicity/Carol Meklert), George D. Cummings* (Birdboot/Harold Gorringe), Damian d’Entremont* (Simon/Schuppanzigh), Gaynor Kelly* (Mrs. Drudge/Miss Furnival), Tervor Kimball* (Moon/Brindsley Miller), Daniel Lench* (Magnus/Colonel Melkett), Mikee Schwinn (Inspector Hound/Georg Bamberger), and Nicole White (Cynthia/Clea). The production was directed by Barbara Hungtinton (a Pasadena Playhouse alumni), assisted by Car0line Morgan. Nanook did the sound design, and Katie Mitchell did the set design.

What did I think of the show. First, I thought that Nicole White looked a lot like what kuni_izumi will look like in a few years. In terms of acting, I thought they all did an excellent job. Farce is tricky to pull off, as it takes a lot of split-second timing, and the ability not to crack up while you’re doing what you’re doing. It is not the type of acting that requires nuances of facial expressions (as one sees in musicals): it calls for broad physical comedy, often overplayed. This is what they did, and did very well.

For more pictures and another assessment of the performance, here’s the review from the Santa Clarita Signal.

Next up at the REP is the drama Proof by David Auburn. This play won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2001 Tony Award for Best Play. The play concerns Catherine, the daughter of Robert, a recently deceased mathematical genius and professor at the University of Chicago, and her struggle with mathematical genius and mental illness. Upon her father’s death, his ex-graduate student discovers a paradigm-shifting proof about prime numbers in his office. The title refers both to that proof and to the play’s central question: Can Catherine prove the proof’s authorship? Along with proving the proof, the daughter also finds herself in a relationship with 26-year-old graduate student. Throughout, the play explores Catherine’s fear of following in her father’s footsteps, both mathematically and mentally. It should be quite good. It runs September 22 through October 28.

For us, it is a break for vacation in the San Francisco/Sacramento area. If you’re on my friends list, you can see our planning–if not, give a shout here because we’d love to meet you. I’m not sure about theatre on the trip: Kiss of the Spider Woman is at New Conservatory Theatre, but it might be too intense for an 11½yo, given its subject matter. I don’t see anything else of interest on the Goldstar Listings, but if you have a suggestion, let us know.

When we return, it is Curtains at the Ahmanson on August 26th; followed by Fences (starting Laurence Fishburne and Angela Basset) at the Pasadena Playhouse on Sept. 23rd. I also am thinking about tickets to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Orange County in early September, but that might not pan out either (it depends if Goldstar puts them up). As noted above, we’re also planning to see proof at the REP, but we haven’t purchased tickets yet.

*: Member of Actors Equity Association

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Seventy-Six Chestnuts In The Big Parade…

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

You see, there once was this elephant, Horton, and he heard a Who. No, wait. That’s Seussical, which was supposed to have been the last show in the 2005-2006 Cabrillo Music Theatre season. So let’s try this again.

So, have you heard the one about the travelling salesman that didn’t know the territory. He sold bands, boy bands. No, not Menudo or the Backstreet Boys. Rather, he sold band instruments, uniforms, and instruction books in River City, Iowa in 1912. He was a lying, cheating, salesman, with a girl in every town. But he got his foot caught in the door, but in the end, everyone got what they wanted.

That’s right, today we saw that old chestnut, The Music Man, with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson of Mason City, Iowa. This was his first show, and many people consider it a model show for musical theatre with its construction. It has been done on numerous stages many times. On Broadway, it starred Robert Preston and Barbara Cook, and was made into a movie very close to the stage show starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones. Everyone knows songs from the show, including “P is for Pool” and “Seventy-Six Trombones”.

So, how did Cabrillo do with this chestnut. Very well indeed. The production starred John Bisom* as Professor Harold Hill, and Jill Van Velzer* as Marion Paroo. Bison had a wonderful voice for Hill, but for those used to seeing Preston, he was a bit long and lanky. I don’t think this detracted from his performance, which was excellent. He’s had lots of tall and lanky roles, such as Will in The Will Rogers Follies, Cornelius Hackl in Hello Dolly, Lank in Crazy for You, Cliff in Caberet, etc. He would make a wonderful lead for Barnum: he has the energy and the voice. I should also note, for shutterbug93, that he was a co-lead with Misty Cotton in Anyone Can Whistle. I was even more impressed with Jill Van Velzer, who played Marion Paroo. Van Velzer has played Marion before in San Diego, but also played Guenevere in Camelot (at CMT), Abigail Adams in 1776 (winning an Ovation Award), Anna in The King and I, among other lead roles. She had a wonderful voice, but even more was the joy and ease she brought to the role. It was effortless acting and singing, and she had fun with the part. Both were excellent.

Rounding out the cast was Paul Keith* (Mayor Shinn), Rosemary Bird (Eulalie Shinn), Ron Rosen (Marcellus), Laurie Deremer (Mrs. Paroo), Trever James Berger (Winthrop), Heidi Bjorndahl (Amaryll), Joseph Marshall (Tommy Djilas), Karlee Ferreira (Zaneeta Shinn), Ronald Rezac (Charlie Cowell), Michael Downing (Ewart Dunlop), Joe Santiago (Olin Britt), Gary Saxer (Jacey Squires), Jay Weber (Oliver Hix), Tami Keaton (Mrs. Squires), Courtney Potter (Ethel Toffelmier), Randy Ryder (Maud Dunlop), Tania Storrs (Alma Hix), Tari Allgeier, Robert Bastron, Becca Cornelius, Tavis Danz, Erin Fagundes, Steven Ferezy, David Friel, Alexei Gagne-Keats, Cristie Grissmer, Christine Iobst, Mandy Korpinen, Courtenay Krieger, Matthew Alan Rawles, Catherine Ricafort, Jacob Roland, Rebecca Steinberg, Richard Storrs, James Ward, Sasha Verginia Weiss, Kevin Brown, Veronica Dunne, Hogan Fulton, Garianna Geiselman, Courtney Germann, Ethan Goldberg, Tessa Grady, Dean Hendricks, Madeline Nancy Holcombe, Quinby Kasch, Samantha Posner, Brendan Ellis Rosenthal, and Eric Austin Young. Whew. That’s a large cast. Standouts among all this group were Trevor Berger and Joseph Marshall, both of whom were accomplished dancers (and Tervor did a wonderful job on his solo). I was less impressed with Ron Rosen as Marcellus: his singing in his one number left a lot lacking (and following in the footsteps of Buddy Hackett…). As for the rest, they were good, but you could tell some of them were working on it with the obvious forced smiles. Many were veterans of previous CMT productions. The dancing was both challenging and excellent, and was designed by John Charron. Credit should also go to the orchestra which was extremely strong, under the musical direction of Darryl Archibald. The production was directed by Lewis Wilkenfeld.

The 2006-2007 of Cabrillo Music Theatre should be good, featuring A Chorus Line, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Of these, I’ve only seen the first, many years ago, during the first national tour at the Shubert in Century City. As for us, next up on the theatre calendar is Black Comedy and The Real Inspector Hound at the Rep East Playhouse in Santa Clarita tomorrow afternoon. After that, we take a break for vacation (although we might see something–I’ve debated about Kiss of the Spider Woman at New Conservatory Theatre, but it might be too intense for an 11½yo, given its subject matter… does anyone have other suggestions for shows 8/13-8/25 in the San Francisco Bay area or Sacramento). As soon as we return, it is Curtains at the Ahmanson on August 26th; followed by Fences (starting Laurence Fishburne and Angela Basset) at the Pasadena Playhouse on Sept. 23rd. I also am thinking about tickets to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Orange County in early September, but that might not pan out either (it depends if Goldstar puts them up).

*: Member of Actors Equity Association

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Marriage, Take 2.

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Tonight, we saw the second marriage musical, The Last 5 Years, at the Pasadena Playhouse. As you may recall from Take 1, the Pasadena Playhouse is doing two two-person musicals on the subject of marriage. The first was “I Do! I Do!, and “The Last 5 Years” is the second. Whereas I Do! I Do! told the story of a traditional marriage that works, The Last 5 Years tells the story of a marriage that didn’t work. This is done with an interesting plot device: she tells the story from the breakup to the first meeting, while he tells the story from the first meeting to the breakup. She and He alternate songs, meeting only in the middle (the marriage).

The casting for The Last 5 Years was perfect. She, Cathy, was played by Misty Cotton. He, Jamie, was played by Daniel Tatar. Both were powerhouse singers and actors, and brought the house down. [I should note that we had a Misty Cotton cheering section in the row behind us–I almost thought shutterbug93 was in the audience!] As with I Do! I Do!, the show was directed by Nick Degruccio, with scenic design by Tom Buderwitz, costume design by Jean-Pierre Dorleac, lighting design by Steven Young, sound design by Frederick W. Boot, musical direction by David O, and choreography by Lee Martino. You can find some production photos for the show on this page from the playhouse’s blog.

So, the question the Playhouse asks the audience to do is to compare and contrast the two musicals. Why does Michael and Agnes have a marriage that works, whereas Jamie and Cathy have a marriage that fails? I was talking to my wife about this on the way home. Michael and Agnes (I Do! I Do!) have a traditional marriage. He works; she raises the kids. They care about each other, forget when appropriate, and are there when the other needs them. My wife calls this inter-dependency; I think cross-dependency is a better term. Jamie and Cathy, on the other hand, are independent. They both have careers, both in fields where they demand the limelight. Each wants the other to pay attention to them, at the sacrifice of their own needs. Complicating this is the interfaith aspect: my wife noted that Jewish guys often are egocentric. I don’ t know that she right. Of course, I’m the one doing the blog, so you pay attention to me :-). Anyway, both Jamie and Cathy are so focused on having the attention on them they forget the other. Add to that Jamie’s dalliances, and you have a recipe for failure.

An added plus about tonight’s show: As we were leaving, we ran into Sheldon Epps, the artistic director. We let him know how much we enjoyed both musicals. We told him we weren’t that impressed with the first two shows, but have loved the rest (he responded something like “I may not like every shirt you have”). We let him know we have been subscribers since 1986, and although there have been a few poor shows, the quality of the Playhouse overall is extremely high. It was neat meeting him.

Next up on the theatre calendar: “The Music Man” at Cabrillo Music Theatre on August 5th; Black Comedy and The Real Inspector Hound at the Rep East Playhouse in Santa Clarita on August 6; Curtains at the Ahmanson on August 26th, and Fences (starting Laurence Fishburne and Angela Basset) at the Pasadena Playhouse on Sept. 23rd. I also am thinking about tickets to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Orange County in early September, but that might not pan out either (it depends if Goldstar puts them up). We might see something on vacation, depending on what is in the Sacramento or S.F. Bay area on Goldstar.

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A Dog On The Stage. Make That Dogs. 101, To Be Precise.

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This morning, my daughter and I went to see one of her friends in “Disneys 101 Dalmations“, an adaptation by Marcy Heisler, with music and lyrics by Mel Leven, Randy Rogel, Richard Gibbs, Brian Smith, Martin Lee Fuller, and Dan Root. It was a production of the 49th Annual TeenAge Drama Workshop at CSUN. Going into such a production, the bar is pretty low: you know there are kids doing the show, and it is aimed at the kids in the audience, based on an animated movie that wasn’t known for its songs to begin with.

So what did a think? Pleasant. The show, for the skills of those involved, was quite good. There were a number of strong performers, especially Francesca Riso, Kelsey Cottrell, and Rachel Eisner, all of whom sang quite well. Although some of the large cast were unsure about themselves, others were quite confident, and the fun they were having came through. Of course, it goes without saying that all of the teen actors playing the dogs really knew how to shake their tails [pauses for groan].

I think, of this cast, there are some who have the capacity to succeed in this field. Kudos for CSUN and this program, which combined with their excellent theatre arts program, does a wonderful job of preparing children for the stage.

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Getting Ready for the weekend…

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

First, a while back I posted a review of “It Came From Beyond“, a delightful 1950s camp musical that we saw with shutterbug93, starring Kevin Earley. Music and lyrics by Norman Thalheimer and Stephen Michael Schwartz. Christianson and Thalheimer are known for their new musical Wicked City Blues; Stephen Michael Schwartz is well known for being a member of Parachute Express, doing the music for Jay Jay the Jet Plane, and being a member of Temple Beth Hillel. The author of the show, Cornell Christianson, has just posted a few clips from the show on YouTube, so I figured I would take advantage of the new embedding feature…

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Add Another To The Mix

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Saturday evening, I wrote:

Next up on the theatre calendar: The Last 5 Years at the Pasadena Playhouse on July 29th; “The Music Man” at Cabrillo Music Theatre on August 5th; Curtains at the Ahmanson on August 26th, and Fences (starting Laurence Fishburne and Angela Basset) at the Pasadena Playhouse on Sept. 23rd. I thought about tickets for Lucky Stiff at the Fullerton Civic Light Opera, but we can only do a Sunday matinee on 7/23, and that’s not on Goldstar (only the 7pm performance). I also am thinking about tickets to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Orange County in early September, but that might not pan out either (it depends if Goldstar puts them up). We might see something on vacation, depending on what is in the Sacramento or S.F. Bay area on Goldstar. Is anyone aware of half-price ticket outlets for Sacramento, as Goldstar doesn’t cover that area?

Well, thanks to Goldstar, I have another to add to the mix: Black Comedy and The Real Inspector Hound at the Rep East Playhouse in Santa Clarita on Sunday, 8/6 at 2pm.

The Real Inspector Hound is a short play by Tom Stoppard. The story line follows two theatre critics that are watching a ridiculous set-up of a country house murder mystery, in the style of a “whodunit”. By accident, they become involved in the action causing a series of events that parallel the play they are watching. It is a parody of the stereotypical “whodunnit” thriller as well as of the critics watching the play, with their personal desires and obsessions interwoven into their bombastic and pompous review.

Black Comedy is a one-act play by British dramatist Peter Shaffer (Equus). The play is a farce set in a London flat during an electrical blackout, and is written to be staged under a reversed lighting scheme: that is, the play opens with a dinner party beginning on a darkened stage, then a few minutes into the show “a fuse blows”, the stage lights come up, and the characters are seen shambling around apparently invisible to one another. The play is, suitably enough, a black comedy in which the effect loss of light would have on a group of people who all hold things from each other is explored; as such, its title is a pun.

Busy, busy, weekends.

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Passing of the Age of Aquarius

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

One of the syndications I read on LiveJournal is mark_evanier (which usually has some interesting “old time” TV memories). One of Mark’s recent entries discussed a Los Angeles Times article (which I had also seen) about the pending demolition of four historic Hollywood buildings: the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant, the Hollywood Palladium, the CBS Sunset/Gower Studios, and the Nickelodeon Theatre.

About the Nickelodeon Theatre, the LA Times wrote:

On the preservationists’ watch list is the Nickelodeon building at 6230 Sunset Blvd. It is being acquired by Palo Alto housing developer Essex Property Trust for about $25 million, according to real estate sources with knowledge of the transaction, who asked not to be identified because the deal hasn’t closed. [Observers] expect [Essex] to develop condominiums and shops. The seller is Sunset-Gower Studios, which acquired the building in 1983 and improved it into a modern facility that has been used for filming several television shows in front of live audiences, including “Star Search” and the short-lived “Chevy Chase Show.” […] Children’s entertainment broadcaster Nickelodeon confirmed that it must leave when its 10-year lease expires in April to clear the way for new construction. Spokeswoman Marianne Romano said Nickelodeon shot there frequently, recording such series as “Kenan & Kel” and “The Amanda Show.”

This doesn’t say much about the history of the building, by Mark’s article provide the clue:

The Nickelodeon Theater is probably even less practical. Just in my lifetime, that building has been a half dozen things, passed from owner to owner like a Christmas fruit cake. I remember when the one-time Earl Carroll Theater was all painted up in psychedelic decor and renamed the Aquarius to house the Los Angeles company of the rock musical, Hair.


Now, I never saw Hair in this building, but I did see Ain’t Misbehavin’ there. I’m also aware of the building’s long history as the Earl Carroll Theatre. It was built in 1938, and as Carroll had done in New York, over the doors of the entrance he had emblazoned the words “Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world.” It was a glamorous supper club-theatre with a 60-foot wide double revolving turntable and staircase plus swings that could be lowered from the ceiling. It later became a nightclub under the name, the “Moulin Rouge,” and then the “Hullabaloo” Rock and Roll club, capitalizing on the popularity of the television variety show Hullabaloo. In the late 1960’s it became the “Aquarius Theatre” and was home for the Los Angeles tribe. As the Aquarius, it was made famous as the place where Jim Morrison and The Doors performed on July 21, 1969. Around 1978, it was the home to the touring production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ (which is where I got to see the incomparable combination of Ken Ross, Andre de Shields, Nell Carter, Armelia McQueen, and Charlayne Woodard). In 1983, the Pick-Vanoff Company purchased the property and converted it into a state-of-the art television theater used for “Star Search.” It later became the Chevy Chase Theatre and the Nickelodeon Theater.

In short, this is a building with history. I wish it was still a viable live-theatre performance venue, but that’s not in the cards. It looks like it is no longer a viable production venue either. They might do adaptive reuse, but I don’t believe the facade is the history.

History progresses. Just as most of 1950’s vegas exists now only in memories and books, so will (soon) the Earl Carroll/Aquarius Theatre. That’s life. I did want to share the memory, though…

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