theatre-2013 – Page 2 – Observations Along the Road

Wunderbar!

Posted onSunday, October 27, 2013Monday, October 28, 2013Authorcahwyguy

Cabrillo Userpic I’ve written before about how I love to finally see musicals I’ve only heard. That’s what led to me seeing a number of new musicals such as “bare“, “Ordinary Days“, and “Burnt Part Boys” earlier this year. But sometimes it applies to older musicals as well. I’ve loved the music to “Kiss Me Kate” for years, but had never gotten around to seeing a production (part of this is because good revival productions of the musical are surprisingly rare in Southern California). That was remedied last night, at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) where I saw a truly outstanding production of Kiss Me Kate. In fact, it is one of the best Cabrillo productions I’ve seen in all our years of going to Cabrillo.

If you hadn’t figured it out from the title, Kiss Me Kate is a musical retelling of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Before I relate a little history of the musical, let me gush a bit about Taming, which is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays (the other is Two Gentleman of Verona, which I know best from the 1970s musical). I’ve seen a number of incarnations of Taming — from the perfect version of Taming done as an episode of Moonlighting back in the 1980s to Shakespeare in the Park to another version this summer at Theatricum Botanticum. The retelling in this musical — while not capturing all the elements of the original — captures many of the key elements and language, and is a hoot to watch.

As for the musical itself: Kiss Me Kate has music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and a book by Sam and Bella Spewack. Cole Porter was one of the most prolific and popular composers of his day. However, he had had a major horse riding accident in 1937 that resulted in the amputation of left leg. This affected his creative output generally, and by the mid-1940s he was dealing with depression. He was talked into writing Kiss Me Kate, and it went on to be one of the most successful musicals of the day. In fact, Kiss Me Kate won the first Tony award for best musical in 1949.

The conceit that makes this musical successful is that it is not just a musical version of Taming. It combines a musical Taming with a backstage story of the actors putting on a production of Taming in Baltimore. The backstage story mirrors the on-stage story: The leads of Taming: Katharine and Petruchio, are played by Lilli Vanessi and Fred Graham. Lilli and Fred have an equally tempestuous relationship and are currently both in love with each other and divorced from each other. Similarly, there is in offstage relationship between the secondary couple, Bianca (Lois Lane) and Lucentio (Bill Calhoun). The secondary relationship (played, as many secondary relationships were in shows of that day, for comic effect) is complicated by the fact that Lois sleeps around, but loves Bill… and Bill can’t stop gambling. In fact, Bill has recently incurred a $10,000 gambling debt from some local gangsters and signed the IOU… as Fred. Complicating all this is that Fred is trying to woo Lois and sends her flowers and a card before the show. However, these flowers and card are delivered to Lilli, who interprets the flowers as anniversary flowers and doesn’t read the card… until during the show. At this point the real shrew comes out, and the fur flies! In some ways, Lilli’s reaction during shrew brings in a some elements of a farce, and the reaction to her ad-libbed fighting makes the Taming scenes all the more fun.

Are there book problems? A few minor ones that show up only in retrospect — that is, when you compare Kate to modern musicals. A number of the songs are more like 1930s musicals in that they have no connection to advancing the plot. This was the pre-Oklahoma style that Porter grew up with. A number of scenes take place infront of a dropped curtain solely to allow scenery changes. These two combine in this show with the number “Brush Up Your Shakespeare”, which is clearly a killing time novelty number. But it’s fun… so no one cares. Similarly, the wonderful number “Too Darn Hot” adds absolutely nothing to the story other than a wonderful dance number… but this was common for musicals of the day (you’ve got similar numbers in Damn Yankees and The Pajama Game). Again: so much fun, and no one cares with that dancing and that music.

So you’ve already got a winning basic story, and a winning conceit and wraparound story. Now add to this all the glorious Porter songs from this show that have become standards — I can’t think of a single one that hasn’t had strong popular play, except perhaps “From This Moment On”. This is what Cabrillo started with — great story, great music. What turned the Cabrillo production into something spectacular was the execution, which was perfect.

In discussing the execution, I’m going to start someplace I normally don’t start — with the musical side. A credit is not provided for the orchestrations here (I’m guessing they are based on the 1999 Broadway Revival), but they were wonderful — clear, crisp, energetic, bright, sparkingly. If you only knew this show from the cast album of the 1948 shows, you’ll be blown out of your seats. Credit here should likely therefore go to the 1999 musical team: orchestrations by Don Sebesky; dance arrangements by David Chase; under the 1999 musical direction of Paul Gemignani. However, I think more credit here goes to the Cabrillo team that executed that design: Darryl Archibald (FB) as musical director and Lloyd Cooper (FB) as associate conductor and assistant musical director. The orchestra assembled by Darryl Tanikawa (FB) was also excellent and a delight to hear in these days of small efforts. It featured Darryl Archibald (FB) as conductor, and consisted of Gary Rautenberg (FB) [Flute I, Piccolo, Clarinet, Alto Sax I], Darryl Tanikawa (FB) [Clarinet I, Alto Sax II], Ian Dahlberg (FB) [Oboe, English-Horn, Tenor Sax, Flute, Clarinet], Darrin Smith [Bassoon, Bariton Sax, Clarinet, Flute], Bill Barrett [Trumpet I, Flugelhorn, Piccolo Trumpet], Chris Maurer/FB [Trumpet II, Flugelhorn, Piccolo Trumpet], June Satton [Trombone, Bass Trombone], Melissa Hendrickson [Horn], Sharon Cooper [Violin I – Concertmaster, Mandolin], Sally Berman [Violin II, Mandolin], Marisa Mcleod [Viola], Rachel Coosaia (FB) [Cello], Lloyd Cooper (FB) [Piano, Keyboard Synth I], Bill Fulton [Keyboard Synth II], Shane Harry [Electric & Acoustic Double String Bass], Michael Deutsch [Percussion] and Alan Peck [Set Drums]. Particularly noteworthy was the trumpet performance of Bill Barrett (at least I’m guessing it was Barrett) onstage during “Too Darn Hot”. But during a number of songs the quality of the orchestral team was apparent — they were just great.

Of course, the on-stage team was no slouch either. Under the perfect direction of Richard Israel (FB), and dancing their feet off with the choreography of John Todd (FB), the acting team also blows you away. Again, I’m particularly noting the directing and choreography team here, because I kept noticing all the small things going on in the background during performances that made this special. This was particularly noteworthy during “Too Darn Hot”, but was in other numbers as well. There was so much going on you need to see this show multiple times to catch it all — but today is the last performance. The team of Israel and Todd brought out the fun in these actors and they just had fun with their characters — and this came across wonderfully on stage. This is what I absolutely love to see — and it is something you don’t get in the movies — performers infused with the joy of performing and their characters, and this joy just infecting and reflecting to the audience.

OK, OK, but what about the actors. In the lead positions were Davis Gaines (FB) as Fred/Petruchio and Victoria Strong (FB) as Lilli/Kate. We’ve seen both many times – Gaines most recently in Silence! , and Strong many years ago in Light in the Piazza. Both were perfect in these roles and brought a dynamism and energy that was spectacular. Both also brought wonderful voices. I particularly enjoyed pulling out the binoculars and watching the faces of these two — they were having such delight and fun with their roles. Just a joy to watch. They had so many strong numbers it is hard to single them out, but I particularly remember Strong taking no prisoners in “I Hate Men” and Gaines in “Where Is The Life that Late I Led”, although they were also great in their joint numbers.

As the secondary couple, Scott Reardon (FB) (Bill/Lucento) and Reba Buhr (FB-Actor, FB) (Lois /Bianca) were no slouches either. We’ve seen both before as well — Reardon as Dauntless in Once Upon a Mattress and Buhr as Sally in You‘re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (one of the best things about that show). Both sang well and performed well, especially in numbers such as “Bianca” (Reardon) and “Always True to You in My Fashion” (Buhr).

Also noteworthy were the two gangsters (a common comedy theme in musicals, which was spoofed in The Drowsy Chaperone): Tom McMahon (FB) and Steve Greene (FB). These two had their main number in “Brush Up Your Shakespeare”, but performed their comic relief role well throughout the production.

In terms of smaller roles, there was the lovely black lady who played Lilli’s dresser (I’m guessing this was Raquel Jeté (FB) as Hattie) and Lamont Whitaker (FB) (Paul), who just shone throughout “Too Darn Hot” and in other small roles. The remainder of the cast is harder to single out primarily because their roles aren’t as strongly identified to the audience in the script. However, a number stand out in my memory even if I don’t know what to call their characters. There was one member of the ensemble who was doing cartwheels in one number and in general bouncing and bounding around — she was just a joy to watch. There were also two larger members of the ensemble who had such joy of movement and stage presence that they just drew your eye (and kudos to the casting director for casting an ensemble of all shapes and sizes, as opposed to the model size of the day). I also remember the dancers during the grape stomping number in Act II — again, these young women were just exuding such fun. The athletic energy and joy of the ensemble was just great. The remaining performers were: Steve Perren (General Howell), Ronald Rezac (Harry/Baptista), Orlando Agawin (FB) (Ensemble), Francesca Barletta (FB) (Ensemble), John Paul Batista (FB) (Riley/Hortensio), Michael Byrne/FB (Flynt/Gremio), Danielle Campbell (FB) (Ensemble), Allen Darby/FB (Ensemble), Martin Feldman/FB (Pops/Ensemble), Jay Gamboa (FB) (Ensemble), Lexi Greene (FB) (Ensemble), Abigail Herman (FB) (Ensemble), Natalie Rose Iscovich/FB (Ensemble) [and the daughter of someone I went to camp with], Kurt Kemper (FB) (Ensemble), Anna Lamonica/FB (Ensemble), Tellina Lee (FB) (Ensemble), Derek A. Lewis/FB (Ensemble), Timothy Reese/FB (Ensemble), Shelly Regner (FB) (Ensemble), Tracy Ray Reynolds (FB) (Ensemble), Harry Schantz (FB) (Ensemble), Joey Sponseller (FB) (Ensemble), and Megan Stronger/FB (Ensemble).

Turning to the technical side of things. The sets were provided by Gateway Playhouse (FB) in Bellport NY and worked quite well. I was particularly taken by the sets for the Taming side of things, which reminded me of the other productions of Taming that I have seen. Costumes were provided by A. Jeffrey Schoenberg (FB) and were quite well done. I particularly appreciated the homage to the original 1948 costumes on the Taming side of things (as opposed to realistic costumes), and period costumes used in the backstage scenes. I also applauded the costumes during Act II, Scene 8 — in particular the use of hosiery for the grape stompers (Christine Gibson was the wardrobe supervisor). The hair and makeup design of Cassie Russek (FB) was strong, especially considering the abuse that it took. Sound was by regular Cabrillo sound designer Jonathan Burke (FB) and was excellent as usual; the lighting by Rand Ryan worked well to establish the mood and didn’t have an obvious overuse of spots (a Cabrillo problem many years ago). Gary Mintz was the technical director. There was a new face as production stage manager: Brooke Baldwin/FB, assisted by Susie Castillo/FB. Another changing of the guard in that position? (First Lindsay, then Allie, now…). Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) is under the artistic direction of Lewis Wilkenfeld (FB).

The last performance of “Kiss Me Kate” is today at 2pm. Given when I’m finishing this writeup, you have about an hour or so to get there and get tickets. So get moving — what are you waiting for? You can purchase tickets online. Cabrillo’s next show is “Forever Plaid” at the end of January (this will be our third visit with the Plaids — fourth if you count Plaid Tidings).

Dining Note: We discovered a new Japanese restaurant — Nori Japanese Grill (menu), which is in the same center with Lassens Natural Foods. Nothing fancy in terms of the restaurant itself — you order at a counter and they bring it to the table. However, the food itself was excellent both in terms of quality and presentation. Quite a surprise, and I think we’ll be back there.

[Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience. I’ve been attending live theatre in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I 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 Theatre and Concerts: November starts with “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Actors Rep of Simi (FB). That will be followed by a visit with Thomas the Tank Engine when we volunteer at OERM over Veterans Day. The third week will be theatre-ish, as we attend ARTS’s Nottingham Village (FB) (a one-weekend ren-faire-ish market — tickets are now on sale), as well as seeing the Trollplayers (FB) production of Steven Schwartz’s “Children of Eden” (which runs November 8-17) [Trollplayers is the community theatre group at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Northridge]. That weekend will also bring a release party for a Kickstarted-CD by Big Daddy. The weekend before Thanksgiving is also very busy with three shows: Tom Paxton (FB) in concert at McCabes Santa Monica (FB) on Friday; “Play It Again Sam” at REP East (FB) on Saturday, and the rescheduled “Miracle on S. Division Street” at the Colony Theatre (FB) on Sunday. Thanksgiving weekend is currently open, as is much of December (December is due to the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC) in New Orleans, which has me out of two the first two weekends in December… but has me wondering about New Orleans theatre), but should bring “The Little Mermaid” at Nobel Middle School, and “Peter and the Starcatcher” at The Ahmanson Theatre. Looking into January…. nothing is currently scheduled, but it will likely bring “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change“, which is the first show of the REP East (FB) season, running 1/17 through 2/15/2014… and the end of the month will bring “Forever Plaid” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Of course, we look forward to seeing you at ACSAC for the wonderful training opportunities there. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

Finding Hope in the Depression

Posted onSunday, October 20, 2013Sunday, January 19, 2014Authorcahwyguy1 Comment

userpic=dramamasks I had set aside this weekend for Carrie – The Musical. Alas, Transfer Theatre Group, the folks putting on the revival, moved it to 2014. Further, my wife was out of town at a quilt show. This left me alone on a weekend with no scheduled theatre — a situation that could not remain. I looked on Goldstar to see what looked interesting, and found four shows: an all-female version of “Hamlet” at the Odyssey, the classic “Waiting for Godot” at the Stella Adler, the depression-era drama “Awake and Sing” at the Group Rep, and a new drama “Strange Disappearance of Bees” at the Raven Playhouse. I asked on Facebook, and received recommendations only for Godot and Awake and Sing. As Godot is around regularly, I decided on Awake and Sing at The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre (FB) in North Hollywood.

“Awake and Sing” was written by Clifford Odets in 1932, and first produced professionally in 1935. It is generally regarded as his masterpiece, although he had his hand in a number of other stories for the screen and stage. It tells the story of the multigenerational Berger family in the Bronx during the depression: grandfather Jacob, mother and father Bessie and Myron, and children Ralph and Hennie. The times are hard, and the family is scraping by on the combined incomes of Bessie, Myron, and Ralph. The play primarily tells the story of Ralph and Hennie (at least these are the characters that achieve transformations over the course of the story), although the central character and driving force is Bessie, the mother.

Bessie is the embodiment of a child of immigrants and a child of the American dream: she demands that her children marry well and better than her, and by well, she means “to someone with means”. Love has no place in the equation. When Hennie discovers she is pregnant from a one-night stand with an unknown man, Bessie “arranges” a marriage with a recent immigrant who has a steady job and prospects, Sam Feinschreiber. Never mind that Hennie doesn’t love him or want him. This marriage particularly annoys the family friend, Moe Axelrod. Axelrod has prospects, drive, and style, but was injured in WWI (losing his leg) and his money comes from his veteran’s pension. He loves Hennie, but she wants nothing to do with him due to his injury. Ralph is also being directed in life by Bessie — he works part-time for his uncle, Morty, in the rag trade. He has a girl, Blanche, who is an orphan and has no income, and the family (read Bessie) wants him to have nothing to do with her — he should find someone who has income and a family that can support them. Observing all of these proceedings is Jacob, the grandfather. Jacob, like Odets at the time, is very left leaning and is constantly citing pro-union and Marxist philosphy. His passion is Caruso. He is constantly pushing Ralph to be a success and make something of his life while he’s young — something he was never able to to do; he interacts less with Hennie. In fact, he has taken out a life insurance policy naming Ralph as his beneficiary — $3,000 — that Bessie does not know about.

The play takes place in three acts. In the first act, we meet the family and the main characters, and learn of both Hennie and Ralph’s situations. We can see how they are chafing under Bessie’s role in the family, but they are powerless to override her. In the second act the problems of their situations become more acute. We see how Hennie is stuck in a marriage she doesn’t want — she’s married to a man who loves her, but whom she detests. As for Ralph, he’s in love with a girl that Bessie is pushing away, and stuck in a life that is focused on scraping the family by, not improving his lot. As the second act ends, Jacob rails against this situation and its futility, and Bessie reacts by yelling at him, belittling him, and destroying his beloved records. Jacob takes the family dog for a walk on the roof, and a little while later, is reported to have slipped and fallen off the roof and died. The final act deals with the aftermath of this death. Morty and Bessie have “arranged” for the insurance man to come over to pay them the money, but Ralph believes it was a suicide. Moe informs Ralph that the policy was in Ralph’s name, and claims to have a note showing it was suicide (which stops Morty and Bessie from going after the insurance man). Moe — and the memory of Jacob’s ranting — convince both Ralph and Hennie to “awake and sing”. Hennie decides to leave her husband and run off with Moe (the man she really loved), and Ralph decides that he is going to make of his life what he wants it to be, and that he will find success on his own terms.

The performances in this production were very strong — owing both to the skills of the actors and the strength of the directoral hand of Larry Eisenberg (FB) [assisted by Lloyd Pedersen]. As I’ve written before, I have a hard time telling where the actor stops and the director begins (or is it vice-verse?). That was certainly true here — the little nuances of the performances and way the characters behave make this family come alive and you really can’t see the directoral effect. This a good thing and makes the performances appear realistic [the same thing is true for film, by the way… if you find yourself watching the direction and cinematography, someone did something wrong].

Speaking of the performances… and the performers themselves. As Bessie Berger, Michele Bernath (FB) is a little dynamo driving the show. I’ve known women like the character she portrayed (my mother was one), pulling the strings for her family so they succeed, and attacking those who get in her way. Bernath portrayed this well, and exuded power and control. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t like her character (hitting too close to home), and that shows the excellence of her performance. Her husband, Myron Berger, was played by Patrick Burke/FB. Burke captured the milquetoast nature of Myron well — someone who has been bullied by his spouse but still strives to see the good in everything and everyone.

I was more taken by the actors playing the children: Christine Joëlle (FB) as Hennie Berger and Troy Whitaker (FB) as Ralph Berger. Joëlle’s take on Hennie was great: reserved, strong, and portraying an attitude that she just didn’t want to be in that house, but also didn’t want to be stuck in a marriage on anyone’s terms other than her own. Alas, the unexpected pregnancy allowed Bessie to bully her into marriage, and she just wanted out. She conveyed this in a wonderful and compelling way and was just fund to watch. Whitaker’s Ralph was also very strong — especially when you consider that he’s just a senior at CSUN — capturing the anger and potential of youth very well. You believed that he was in love; you believed that he wanted more from life; you believed that he cared about these people.

Also in strong main positions were Stan Mazin (FB) as Jacob Berger and Daniel Kaemon as Moe Axelrod. Mazin’s Berger could have used perhaps a little more accent to show his background, but portrayed the passion of his character for his ideals well (and also the defeat of the character for his failures in life). Mazin portrayed Jacob in a way that you could see he desperately wanted his grandchildren to have the success that he never had — but on their terms — and that he wasn’t too happy with how his children Bessie and Morty turned out. Kaemon’s Axelrod was perfect — he had a strong façade of confidence and bravado, but you could see that underneath he was just smitten with Hennie. He captured the pain of the bad leg well and grabbed your focus through his performance.

Rounding out the cast were Robert Gallo (FB) as Uncle Morty, Marcos Cohen (FB) as Sam Feinschreiber, Edgar Mastin as Schlosser, and Amanda as Tootsie. Gallo’s Morty was strong and captured the man focused on his business and money well, although there were a few line problems. Cohen captured the immigrant well, and did a great job of portraying the pain of his relationship with Hennie. Mastin’s character, Schlosser, was the building concierge and only had a small role. Even smaller was the role of Amanda as Tootsie, the dog, although she had the best biography of all in the program. I’m glad she got past her problems with alcohol dependence and Kibbles ‘n’ Bits abuse.

Turning to the technical. Chris Winfield (FB)’s set design captured the depression era well — the single main room, the few rooms on the side, with enough attention to detail that what one saw through the doors was part of the set as well. This was supported by the excellent props of Kellie B. Malone/FB, assisted by Xander Bennett. I particularly noted the attention to detail on the props, making sure that the papers and other artifacts appeared to be from the correct era. The sound design was by Steve Shaw/FB, and was very effective. I particularly noted the quality of the sound effects as well as their directionality — they sounded like where they should be spatially. That’s a nice attention to detail. The lighting was designed by Kim Smith (FB) and did a great job of establishing mood without being noticeable. Jazmin Lopez/FB was the stage manager and light board operator, and Zachary Norman McKnight/FB operated the sound board. Brian Danner (FB) was listed as the fight choreographer, although I didn’t particularly notice any swords on stage :-). Awake and Sing was produced by Drina Durazo (FB) for The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre (FB).

“Awake and Sing” continues at The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre (FB) through November 3, 2013, and is well worth watching. Tickets are available through OvationTix, and discount tickets may be available on Goldstar. It is currently in repertory with “Stories About Old Days” by Bill Harris, which runs through October 27, 2013. The next production at The Group Rep is the world premier of “Mom’s Gift“, running December 6, 2013 through January 19, 2014.

One other word on The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre (FB). Looking at their season brochure and looking at the quality of the set and production, this seems to be another theatre like REP East (FB). This means that this is a theatre we’ll definately watch — although our subscription book is currently full, it looks like a theatre that could be fun to subscribe to. Those in the NoHo area should definitely look into this company — they are priced well and appear to do a great job.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts: October ends with the Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) production of “Kiss Me Kate” (October 26). November starts with “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Actors Rep of Simi (FB). That will be followed by a visit with Thomas the Tank Engine when we volunteer at OERM over Veterans Day. The third week will be theatre-ish, as we attend ARTS’s Nottingham Village (FB) (a one-weekend ren-faire-ish market — tickets are now on sale), as well as seeing the Trollplayers (FB) production of Steven Schwartz’s “Children of Eden” (which runs November 8-17) [Trollplayers is the community theatre group at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Northridge]. That weekend will also bring a release party for a Kickstarted-CD by Big Daddy. The weekend before Thanksgiving is also very busy with three shows: Tom Paxton (FB) in concert at McCabes Santa Monica (FB) on Friday; “Play It Again Sam” at REP East (FB) on Saturday, and the rescheduled “Miracle on S. Division Street” at the Colony Theatre (FB) on Sunday. Thanksgiving weekend is currently open, as is much of December (December is due to the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC) in New Orleans, which has me out of two the first two weekends in December… but has me wondering about New Orleans theatre), but should bring “The Little Mermaid” at Nobel Middle School, and “Peter and the Starcatcher” at The Ahmanson Theatre. Looking into January…. nothing is currently scheduled, but it will likely bring “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change“, which is the first show of the REP East (FB) season, running 1/17 through 2/15/2014. Of course, we look forward to seeing you at ACSAC for the wonderful training opportunities there. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

A Journey of Discovery

Posted onSunday, October 13, 2013Authorcahwyguy

userpic=theatre_tickets Journeys and hills. That’s a good characterization of yesterday. We journeyed over a hill yesterday afternoon to celebrate the life journey of a friend that passed away. We then journeyed to West Los Angeles so that I could see another journey — this time, the journey of five friends up a mountain in West Virginia to the place where their fathers died. The latter, a newish Off-Broadway musical called “The Burnt Part Boys“, was making its West Coast premier at the Third Street Theatre (FB).

I had ordered the tickets to Burnt Part Boys about a month ago, having heard about the musical on one of the blogs I monitor, seen the music highly rated on Amazon, and based on my knowledge that the musical was bluegrass (one of the genres I like). I had only heard the music about a week ago, and liked what I heard. It was the last in a series of new musicals I had seen over the last two months (bare, Carrie That Tune, and Ordinary Days being the others). But yesterday I wasn’t in the best shape for a musical — a migraine had started during the funeral and it crested about an hour before the show. Luckily the meds kicked in and it cleared about 10 minutes before the show started. I’m glad they did. This was a wonderful show that grabbed my attention and my heart, and the performances and story were the emotional journey that I needed.

The Burnt Part Boys (book by Mariana Elder, music by Chris Miller, and lyrics by Nathan Tysen) tells the story of two brothers — Jake and Pete — a coal mining family in in Pickaway WV in 1962. Their father, along with a number of other fathers from the community, had been working in the local coal mine when it collapsed and caught fire ten years prior (“the burnt part”). Since then, the older brother Jake had gone to work for the mining company, which is about to reopen the Burnt Part. When Pete discovers this news, he decides he can’t let this happen — the Burnt Part must remain closed in order to serve as a sanctuary to the men lost. Drawing inspiration from his heroes at The Alamo, he takes his brother’s mining equipment (i.e., dynamite) and goes off with his best friend, Dusty, to blow up the Burnt Part. Along their journey, they join up with a young women they knew from their school who had also lost her father on the Burnt Part. Meanwhile, Jake discovers the missing dynamite, and heads off with his best friend, Chet, to intercept his brother. Eventually these two groups meet, and decide to continue to the Burnt Part. Once there, Pete sneaks off and detonates the explosives, collapsing the mine and trapping them.

The focus of this story is the journey — or should I say journeys — that each of five young people take. Each is on a different journey of challenges and discovery, and both the journey to the mine, as well as the journey they take after the explosion, changes each in profound ways. It is a fascinating journey to watch, and the performances are such that you are just drawn into these characters. Using a relatively simple set and props, these actors make you believe they are in the West Virginia hills climbing up the mountain. The music serves as a nice augmentation to the book by showing the inner facets of the characters and the emotional journeys they take. Thankfully, this was not another sung-through musical (both bare and Ordinary Days were sung-through, and that trend is tiresome); the music works well here to establish the mood and address aspects of the character that normal dialogue cannot. The characters also seem well established and differentiated — each has different aspects and personality quirks that make them appear real and human, and not the cardboard caricatures you often see in shows. The musical does have its dark aspects — both literally and figuratively, given that a portion takes place in a completely dark coal mine. It ends up finding the light, and the self-discovery journey is one that turns out to be well worth watching.

Director Richard Israel (FB) is one of those local directors who you can trust to do consistently good work, and he doesn’t let the audience down here. The performances he draws out of these actors are spectacular, and serve to demonstrate how acting alone can transport an audience — extensive realistic sets and locations are not required. He makes great use of the minimal set to create the illusion of of multiple journeys in the hills, and he uses the actors skill to do the rest. This work combines with the great performances to make this show succeed.

The lead performers are a strong ensemble, which means it is difficult to separate the specific moments and strengths of particular characters. The three younger travelers — Pete, Dusty, and Frances — are brought to life by Daniel David Stewart (FB-Actor, FB-Personal), Adam Dingeman (FB), and Lauren Patten (FB), respectively. The older travelers — Jake and Chet — are brought to life by Aaron Scheff/FB and Joe Donahoe (FB). All gave remarkable performances and sang well. Some special kudos go to Adam Dingeman for his saw-playing (which I hadn’t seen before), and to Lauren Patten for the intensity of her performance. But all of them were spectacular and did a great job of drawing you into their characters, and making you feel that they were real people in that place and time. They also gave off the feeling of enjoying these roles and these people — and when that happens, the audience shares in that joy.

Supporting these five were the four men who played the fathers lost in the mine, as well as few other supporting roles: Matt Musgrove (FB), Philip Dean Lightstone (FB), Richard Hellstern (FB), and Rich Brunner (FB). All projected the required strength and served the story well. Understudies, who we didn’t see, were Shane Orser/FB and Jessica Evans (FB).

The on-stage (but hidden) band was under the musical direction of Gregory Nabours (FB), and consisted of Nabours (FB) on keyboards, David Lee (FB) on guitars, Eden Livingood/FB on violin, and Nikolaus Keelaghan (FB) on viola and percussion.

The set was designed by Will Pelligrini (FB), and consisted of multiple levels of worn boards and wooden pieces, with a silhouette of mountains in the distance. The supporting props were provided by Nicholas Acciani (FB) and were suitably realistic and period. Supporting this illusion well was the lighting of Johnny Ryman (FB), who created the mood using solely yellows and blues, combined with a few LED lights. Cricket S. Myers (FB) sound was, as it always is, excellent — with particular kudos due for the amazing sound effects. The costumes by Vicki Conrad were also effective in establishing place and time. Suzanne Doss/FB was the assistant director, and Lindsay Capacio/FB was the stage manager. “The Burnt Part Boys” was presented by Third Street Theatre (FB) and West Coast Ensemble (FB), and was supported by a Kickstarter (which, alas, I didn’t know about).

“The Burnt Part Boys” continues at the Third Street Theatre (FB) through October 20. Tickets are available online and through Goldstar.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts: Next weekend is currently unbooked — I have no idea what I’m doing. October ends with the Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) production of “Kiss Me Kate” (October 26). November starts with “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Actors Rep of Simi (FB). That will be followed by a visit with Thomas the Tank Engine when we volunteer at OERM over Veterans Day. The third week will be theatre-ish, as we attend ARTS’s Nottingham Village (FB) (a one-weekend ren-faire-ish market — tickets are now on sale). One of those weekends we’re also likely to see a Trollplayers (FB) production of Steven Schwartz’s “Children of Eden” (which runs November 8-17) [Trollplayers is the community theatre group at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Northridge]. The weekend before Thanksgiving will be very busy with three shows: Tom Paxton (FB) in concert at McCabes Santa Monica (FB) on Friday; “Play It Again Sam” at REP East (FB) on Saturday, and the rescheduled “Miracle on S. Division Street” at the Colony Theatre (FB) on Sunday. Thanksgiving weekend is currently open, as is much of December (December is due to the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC) in New Orleans, which has me out of two the first two weekends in December… but has me wondering about New Orleans theatre), but should bring “The Little Mermaid” at Nobel Middle School, and “Peter and the Starcatcher” at The Ahmanson Theatre. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

A Life’s Journey on the Wings of Song

Posted onSunday, October 6, 2013Authorcahwyguy

userpic=colony Exploring a life on stage. This is a common theme in the theatre, especially if the life is an interesting one. It was the theme of Friday’s show, “Humor Abuse“; it is the theme of the two musicals whose cast albums I recently purchased (“Chaplin” and “Scandalous“); and it was the theme of the show we saw last night at The Colony Theatre (FB) — “Breath and Imagination: The Story of Roland Hayes” by Daniel Beaty (FB). The exploration of a life can be magical on stage — it can draw the audience into an experience they never knew, and it can both show and share that spark that propelled the protagonist along their journey. If the story is told right, the audience can walk out of the theatre with a little of that spark inside them, excited to learn more about the protagonist, and with an urge to incorporate that spark into their being. For me, although I found “Breath and Imagination” an interesting and beautiful journey, I didn’t walk out with that spark.

“Breath and Imagination” tells the life story of Roland Hayes (1887-1977), an American Lyric Tenor who was the first African-American artist to receive wide acclaim. The facts in the story agree pretty much with the truth, at least as described by Wikipedia and some other biographies of Roland Hayes, so I’m not going to attempt to re-summarize Hayes’ life story. There were some liberties taken with the timeline (such as who introduced Hayes to Caruso), some facts glossed over (such as the fact he married his cousin, or the fact that he had a brother), and the framing device (the creation of a mixed-race music school at the plantation in George where he grew up) does not appear supported by the facts. The latter is the most problematic, for it leaves the audience with the impression that Hayes created the school to stand up to the racial problems in Georgia. Hayes did attempt to combat racism — both by setting an example of what an African American artist can do, and by pushing for integrated seating in the halls where he performed. Yet neither of those aspects was stressed in the production; rather, it was the fictional creation of a music school where blacks and whites studied together. Perhaps this is where the spark was dimmed.

Daniel Beaty (FB) attempts to tell this story by focusing on the relationship between Hayes and his mother, Fanny Hayes, who he called Angel ‘Mo. Interspersed and told through Negro Spirituals and operatic songs that Hayes sung throughout his life, this relationship and the significant incidents in Hayes’ life are told through vignettes involve Roland, his mother, and occasionally a third character (provided by the accompanist). The story generally moves forward from his young life on the plantation to his success on the stage; it is framed by the opening of the school, and occasionally flashbacks to the incident where his wife and daughter were arrested and physically assaulted for sitting down to purchase shoes in the whites-only section of a shoe store in Rome GA. Through the vignettes, we see how Angel ‘Mo encouraged Roland to pursue singing and spirituals, yet was less enthused when he moved his focus from the church to the stage. We also see some of the various obstacles that Roland overcame in his life, from a life as a sharecropper to the life in the city with limited finances, to the different types of racism he faced in both the south and the north, to his acceptance in Europe (although the story does not show the problems he faced in Germany), to the problems he faced in the “new South” in the mid-1940s.

This is not a musical, although it is filled with music. The music in the show serves to showcase and frame Hayes’ talent (and the musicality he inherited from his parents), but the words of the music do not propel or illuminate the story. The music in the story primarily illuminates Hayes’ talent and the musical environment he grew up in. The music was beautiful, primarily slower spirituals and operatic arias (you can find a full list here). The problem — to me — is that the music needs to be the kindling against which the spark of the story works; when successful, the two combine to create a blaze that excites and warms the soul. My musical tastes are not excited by either operatic arias or spirituals presented operatically (folk-style is a different matter). As a result, I didn’t walk out of the show with the combination making me to “Wow!”; I walked out going “Nice.”. The music flew, but didn’t soar.

Where does the fault lie for this problem? I’m not sure. Some is probably me, as this is a style of music that does not excite me. Part of it belongs to Daniel Beaty (FB)’s story, which does not completely bring out the excitement and energy. Part of it belongs to the director, Saundra McClain (FB), who does not bring out the excitement and joy of these characters in the actors — the performed Hayes appears very controlled and restrained, just like the music that he sings. It is just that somewhere, something — or more like, some energy — is missing. This is not to say the story is bad or uninteresting, or that it was performed poorly. I just contrast this with Friday’s “Humor Abuse“, and if the words describing “HA” were “energy” and “excitement”, the words that describe “B&I” were “control” and “beauty”.

The problem was certainly not in the performances. As Roland Hayes, Elijah Rock (FB) became the author’s vision of Hayes — a controlled powerful man who grew up with music, with a beautiful tenor voice that floated musically, battling the discrimination of his time to become a musical artist. He was paired with Karen Kendrick (FB) as Angel Mo. Kendrick’s performance was remarkable — not only did she have a lovely voice, but she demonstrated a number of acting nuances that caught my eye and made her character real (such as her motion tic when she was playing the elderly Angel Mo, especially when contrasted with the youthful Angel Mo). Rounding out the cast was Kevin Ashworth (FB) as the accompanist as well as a number of other small roles (from Roland’s father to a Georgia police officer to a voice teacher to Miss Robinson at Fisk to King George V). Ashworth played the piano beautifully, and disappeared into the various short roles inbetween. All were great performances; the show was worth seeing for the strength of the performances alone.

The scenic design by Shaun L. Motley (FB) was simple — a piano, a multilevel wooden stage that was elegant but unadorned. The feeling was that of a concert hall, but when combined by the props and set dressing of MacAndMe (FB) and the performances of the actors, portions of the stage were transformed into various other locations, including a sharecroppers farms. Also assisting in these transformations were the simple but effective costumes of Dianne K. Graebner (FB). The lighting design by Jared A. Sayeg (FB) worked well to establish the mood — I particularly noted the use of the projections against the back of the stage and striplights on the side and top of the stage. Some special credit should also be given to Orlando de la Paz, who was the scenic artist and painted the faux wooden floor. The sound design by Dave Mickey (FB) was a little more problematic. It was excellent in the clarity of the sounds, and particularly in the quality and directionality of the sound effects in a number of different scenes. It was overly noticeable, however, in the reverb during the concert scenes. Musical arrangements were by Mike Ruckles (FB), with additional arrangements and musical direction by Rahn Coleman. Mary K. Gabrysiak (FB) was the production stage manager. “Breath and Imagination” was staged and directed by Saundra McClain (FB).

A comment or two about the audience at this performance. First, it was nice to see a contingent of students from Burbank High School — it is so important to expose students to the arts. Second, I noticed what I’ll call the “Pasadena Playhouse Effect” at this show. This refers to the fact that whenever Sheldon Epps would produce a show with an African American theme at the Pasadena Playhouse, suddenly the audience would change… hue. In other words, more African-Americans attend shows about African-Americans, with the white audience for those shows seemingly shrinking. This has always bothered me — I believe good theatre is good theatre, and you can find something in every story and life portrayed that will resonate, even if it is from a different culture and experience than your own. I wish everyone would attend theatre — being a theatre audience is my passion and my joy. Perhaps one day we’ll reach the point where there won’t be obvious hue shifts in an audience depending on the subject of the show. That, perhaps, might make Roland Hayes happy — he wanted people of all colors to attend his shows, and wanted to be seen as an artist, and not just a black artist.

“Breath and Imagination: The Story of Roland Hayes” has one more week at The Colony Theatre (FB), closing on October 13. Tickets are available through the Colony website, and they have been available through Goldstar in the past (although as I write this, there are no current offers). The next production at the Colony is “Miracle on South Division Street” by Tom Dudzick, running November 9 through December 15, 2013 (alas, there are no performances Thanksgiving weekend, which screwed up shifting my tickets back one week). Colony is also doing a special production on October 19, 2013, focused on Gene Kelly called “Gene Kelly – The Legacy” (FB). Ticket prices range from $29 to $59.

Dining Notes: Some sad news here. Our normal go-to place before the Colony has been Cafe Columbia on Glenoaks. Alas, they seem to have closed sometime in the last 30 days — their website is wiped, and their phone has a closed message. I’ll miss their excellent food, and I wonder what happened. Luckily, we recently found another good Columbian restaurant, La Maria, in Burbank. However, we didn’t have time to get there, so Fuddruckers it was.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts: Next week sees me at the West Coast Premier of “Burnt Street Boys“ at the Third Street Theatre (FB). The third week of October had been held for the production of “Carrie – The Musical” (FB) by Transfer Theatre, but this production will now be in 2014. I may go to “Gene Kelly – The Legacy” (FB) at the Colony; I may find something else on Goldstar. October ends with the Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) production of “Kiss Me Kate” (October 26). November starts with “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Actors Rep of Simi (FB). That will be followed by a visit with Thomas the Tank Engine when we volunteer at OERM over Veterans Day. The third week will be theatre-ish, as we attend ARTS’s Nottingham Village (FB) (a one-weekend ren-faire-ish market — tickets are now on sale). One of those weekends we’re also likely to see a Trollplayers (FB) production of Steven Schwartz’s “Children of Eden” (which runs November 8-17) [Trollplayers is the community theatre group at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Northridge]. The weekend before Thanksgiving will be very busy with three shows: Tom Paxton (FB) in concert at McCabes Santa Monica (FB) on Friday; “Play It Again Sam” at REP East (FB) on Saturday, and the rescheduled “Miracle on S. Division Street” at the Colony Theatre (FB) on Sunday. Thanksgiving weekend is currently open, as is much of December (December is due to the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC) in New Orleans, which has me out of two the first two weekends in December… but has me wondering about New Orleans theatre), but should bring “The Little Mermaid” at Nobel Middle School, and “Peter and the Starcatcher” at The Ahmanson Theatre. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

Clowning Around on a Furlough Day

Posted onFriday, October 4, 2013Saturday, October 5, 2013Authorcahwyguy

userpic=ahmanson Yesterday, when I got to work, I was confronted with the news that my employer was on shutdown status due to the government shutdown, and as of today, I was furloughed, charging either vacation or no-pay (luckily, I have lots of saved vacation). When I got home — pretty bummed — and told my wife, she said, “Great! Now you can help me chaperone a class from Van Nuys HS to the Mark Taper Forum tomorrow”. Thus, today saw me riding a big yellow schoolbus to the Music Center to see the current Taper production, “Humor Abuse“. Modulo my headache due to the Santa Ana winds, it was just what I needed.

“Humor Abuse” tells the true story of Lorenzo Pisoni (FB)… and it is told by Lorenzo Pisoni (FB). Lorenzo Pisoni’s father was Larry Pisoni, and Lorenzo Pisoni’s family growing up was the Pickle Family Circus. “Humor Abuse” tells the story of the life of a clown. It tells the story of growing up with a father who was a clown, and who wanted his son to be a clown. In fact, it explores the question of which role was more important to Larry Pisoni — father, or clown. It also explores the clown routines of the Pickle Family Circus — both Larry and Lorenzo. It is funny, it is entertaining, and it is sad. The sadness comes from how the clown life affected Lorenzo — both for good and for bad. It raises the question of whether one can act like a child if one never had a childhood… or perhaps that is why clowns are childish… they never grow up.

After the show, I was thinking more about the distinction between a clown and a comedian. Comedians depend on verbal humor and jokes — puns, stories, misunderstanding, situational humor. You want comedians, go to the production at the Ahmanson — Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys“. This show is about a clown — physical humor, slapsticks, visual puns. This clowning begins with the stage announcements, when Pisoni comes up to make an announcement, and the follow spot keeps avoiding him. He eventually needs to staple it to the floor to keep it in place. Visual puns. Physical humor. This humor continues throughout the show, from clowns in a trunk, to pratfalls, to juggling, to falling down stairs, to falling through the floor. Clowns can create their humor without words, independent of language. We have lots of comedians these days, but few true clowns. If anything, this show is worth seeing just to be reminded about what true clowns are. Lorenzo Pisoni, although he claims to be a straight-man, is a clown. He will make you laugh, and you won’t be scared at all. The humor in this show will help your soul.

That said, this seemed an odd show for the Taper — I can’t imagine it is drawing in the crowds. In some ways, it seems a great show for a shorter run venue — a VPAC, a Broad. This doesn’t mean it isn’t worth seeing — for it is — but the Taper needs to do more to make people aware of what a gem this is. I would never have thought about attending this show — I wasn’t even aware it was in Los Angeles — until my wife made the chaperone offer. I had never seen the LA Times review. I had never heard of Jon Hamm’s Kickstarter effort to make a movie of Lorenzo’s story. It was a last minute replacement for “What the Butler Saw“. So I’m thankful for the furlough — well, at least for taking today as a vacation day — in that it was the kick from the universe to go see this show.

As I mentioned at the start of this write-up, this was a special performance for high school students. At the opening of the show, the representative from CTG talked about what makes theatre so special. One thing was the interaction between the performers and the audience — something that does not exist with a film. The performers feed off the energy of the audience, and every performance was different. This was made clear this afternoon with two different routines. In one, Lorenzo was clowning with giving a balloon to an audience member. In this case, the balloon floated up into the fly space… and popped. That won’t happen everytime, and Lorenzo’s reaction was priceless. In another routine — one where sandbags kept dropping on the stage narrowly missing Lorenzo — we learned in the talk-back afterwards that a number of the drops weren’t when they were supposed to be. That doesn’t happen in the movies, and resulted in additional improvisation. This is why I’m unsure about Hamm’s Kickstarter effort. Clowing on the screen — be it the small screen antics of a Lucille Ball or Jonathan Winters — or the big screen antics of a Jerry Lewis or Roberto Bignigni — just doesn’t have the same humor as a live performer. Live performance brings the timing risk that doesn’t exist elsewhere. You want to see a clown. Go to this show (or go to your local renfaire and seen Moonie).

As you might have surmised by now, this was a one man show; the only performer was Lorenzo Pisoni (FB). The show was created by Lorenzo Pisoni (FB) and Erica Schmidt. It was directed by Erica Schmidt.

Turning to the technical… the set construction credit is buried in the credits, but goes to Seattle Repertory Theatre. It should be larger — Seattle Rep did a truly creative job in the props used, both the original drops and the creative trunks, ladders, stairs, and ballons. The lighting design credit goes to Ben Stanton and was seemingly unnoticeable… except for the beginning and the end of the show. The beginning of the show was noticeable for the clever use of the follow spot; the end was exceptional for the use of the blue light in relationship to the balloon. Sound design and original music was by Bart Fasbender. The sound was clear and crisp, but I noticed the effectiveness of the music even more. Prerecorded, it worked well to support both the mood and the performance. David S. Franklin was the production stage manager, and T.J. Kearney (FB) was the stage manager.

Complements should also go to the students (and their teachers) who attended today. This was a very well behaved and attentive audience — one that was thoroughly entranced with the show. I didn’t see a single text or hear a single phone go off during the show — trying doing that with today’s adults! I was surprised by the large portion that had seen live theatre before, and was also pleased at the number for whom this was their first introduction to theatre. Kudos to CTG for supporting a program such as this.

“Humor Abuse” continues at the Mark Taper Forum through November 3, 2013. Tickets are available online; hottix should also be available. A show guide is available. Go see this show, especially if you need a pick-me-up.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts: Theatre in October continues tomorrow night with “Breath and Imagination” at the Colony Theatre (FB). The second week of October sees me at the West Coast Premier of “Burnt Street Boys“ at the Third Street Theatre (FB). The third week of October is being held for the production of “Carrie – The Musical” (FB) by Transfer Theatre, but tickets are not yet on sale (and it is increasingly looking like this production will now be in 2014). October ends with the Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) production of “Kiss Me Kate” (October 26). November starts with “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Actors Rep of Simi (FB). That will be followed by a visit with Thomas the Tank Engine when we volunteer at OERM over Veterans Day. The third week will be theatre-ish, as we attend ARTS’s Nottingham Village (FB) (a one-weekend ren-faire-ish market — tickets are now on sale). One of those weekends we’re also likely to see a Trollplayers (FB) production of Steven Schwartz’s “Children of Eden” (which runs November 8-17) [Trollplayers is the community theatre group at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Northridge]. The weekend before Thanksgiving will bring Tom Paxton (FB) in concert at McCabes Santa Monica (FB) as well as “Play It Again Sam” at REP East (FB). The last weekend of November brings a rescheduled “Miracle on S. Division Street” at the Colony Theatre (FB). December is mostly open, but should bring “The Little Mermaid” at Nobel Middle School, and “Peter and the Starcatcher” at The Ahmanson Theatre. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

Savages Under the Surface

Posted onSunday, September 29, 2013Authorcahwyguy

userpic=repeast Back in Spring 2011, we missed seeing the New York cast of “God of Carnage” at the Ahmanson. We finally saw “God of Carnage” at ICT in February 2012. At that time, I thought it would be a great production for REP East (FB). Luckily, the artistic director must have read my mind, because it was selected for the 2013 season. Last night we were up at REP to see their production, and I’m pleased to say they’ve done their usual excellent job with it.

“God of Carnage” tells the story of two parental couples who are brought together because their pre-teen children had a schoolyard brawl–specifically, Benjamin Raleigh had used a stick to hit Henry Novak and knock out two of his teeth (injuring the nerve of one of them) [later we learn this occurred because Henry refused to let Benjamin join his “gang” and called him names]. That evening, the parents of Henry (Veronica and Michael Novak) invite Benjamin’s parents (Annette and Alan Raleigh) over to discuss the matter, and to get their son to apologize personally to Henry. As the evening goes on, the parents civil discussion becomes significantly less civilized (especially after Annette vomits over the coffee table), and the veneer that the parents wear becomes ripped off. I could probably describe more, but is really best to watch and see the gory details as these to parents become children and brawl in the fancy living room.

As I was thinking about the show afterwards (as I’m familiar with the book), I was trying to think about what set the REP production apart from the ICT production a year ago. I think the answer is the direction. One thing I noticed — much more than at ICT — was the use of pauses, timing, and facial expressions. You learned so much more about the reactions of these parents from their responses and their body language on top of the written script. Watching Annette’s roiling stomach convulsing you believed in the visceral reaction she was having; Veronica’s reaction was written all over her face. The men’s body language showed their indifference to the whole mess… until it didn’t. Very very well performed and well directed.

With a small cast like this it is hard to single out any particular performance as all were excellent. The hosting parents — Veronica and Michael — were portrayed by Heidi Appe (FB) and Dennis Hadley (FB). The hosted parents — Annette and Alan — were portrayed by Leslie Connelly (FB) and Mark Kaplan (FB). All four were believable, funny, had strong stage presence, and were inhabiting their roles. So much so, in fact, that you believed Connelly was really sick when she vomited, that Kaplan was really more interested in the phone, that Hadley really was a Neanderthal under the surface, and that Appe truly could not stand the artificiality of the other couple. The acting team was directed by Ovington Michael Owston (FB), assisted by Kimbyrly M. Valis (FB).

“God of Carnage” was written by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton.

Turning to the technical. The elegant set was designed by Ovington Michael Owston (FB), and was expertly lit by Tim Christianson/FB. Sound design was by the REP resident sound designer Steven “Nanook” Burkholder/FB and was generally good. Two minor sound comments — the volume of the Pandora radio that plays before the show was a little high, making conversation difficult, and the directionality of the cell phone sound effect was a little disconcerting sitting in the front (although the only way around that would be a small speaker — or second cellphone — in the actor’s pocket). Print design was by the sleep-deprived Mikee Schwinn/FB, and J. T. Centonze (FB) (in his utilikilt) was the stage manager.

“God of Carnage” continues at REP East (FB) in Newhall until October 18, 2013. Tickets are available through the REP Online Box office; discount tickets are available through Goldstar, as well as special discounts for readers of Bitter Lemons (and speaking of Bitter Lemons, they have a Kickstarter that needs support). Next up at REP East is “Play It Again, Sam“, running from November 15, 2013 through December 14, 2013. REP has announced their 2014 season (their 10th), which consists of “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change“, Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues“, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof“, “Return to Forbidden Planet“, “The Great Gatsby“, and “Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club“. Dates for these productions have not been announced.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts: Theatre in October starts on the 5th with “Breath and Imagination” at the Colony Theatre (FB). The second week of October sees me at the West Coast Premier of “Burnt Street Boys“ at the Third Street Theatre (FB). The third week of October is being held for the production of “Carrie – The Musical” (FB) by Transfer Theatre, but tickets are not yet on sale (and it is increasingly looking like this production will now be in 2014). October ends with the Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) production of “Kiss Me Kate” (October 26). November starts with “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Actors Rep of Simi (FB). That will be followed by a visit with Thomas the Tank Engine when we volunteer at OERM over Veterans Day. The third week will be theatre-ish, as we attend ARTS’s Nottingham Village (FB) (a one-weekend ren-faire-ish market — tickets are now on sale). One of those weekends we’re also likely to see a Trollplayers (FB) production of Steven Schwartz’s “Children of Eden” (which runs November 8-17) [Trollplayers is the community theatre group at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Northridge]. The weekend before Thanksgiving will bring Tom Paxton (FB) in concert at McCabes Santa Monica (FB) as well as “Play It Again Sam” at REP East (FB). The last weekend of November brings a rescheduled “Miracle on S. Division Street” at the Colony Theatre (FB). December is mostly open, but should bring “The Little Mermaid” at Nobel Middle School, and “Peter and the Starcatcher” at The Ahmanson Theatre. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

There’s No Tune Like a Show Tune

Posted onMonday, September 23, 2013Monday, September 23, 2013Authorcahwyguy1 Comment

userpic=theatre_musicals There once was a song that went “There’s just no tune / as exciting / as a show tune / in two-four”. That song was written by Jerry Herman for the musical revue “Parade” in 1960. The musical went nowhere; the melody, however, was recycled into “It’s Today” from the musical Mame. It is an example of how many songs from failed or unknown musicals later went on to become hits… or at least were surprisingly good. I could give you many more examples, such as the Bobby Darin hit “Artificial Flowers”, which came from the musical Tenderloin. This notion — of spectacular songs from less-than-spectacular musicals — was the driving notion from the musical revue “Carrie That Tune” was saw last night at the Avery Schreiber Playhouse (FB) in North Hollywood.

“Carrie That Tune” was conceived, directed, and produced by Trace Oakley (FB), who was driven to develop the revue after reading Ken Mandelbaum’s excellent book “Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Musical Flops“. This book looks at a large number of musicals, and attempts to ascertain precisely why they failed. [For those interested in failed musicals, other books that are good are “Second Act Trouble: Behind the Scenes at Broadway’s Big Musical Bombs“ by Steve Suskin; “Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Theatre” by Steve Suskin; and “More Opening Nights on Broadway: A Critical Quote Book of the Musical Theatre, 1965-1981“, also by Steve Suskin]. Oakley went through the book and picked what he thought were a representative sample of good songs from bad musicals and assembled them into a few with a little connecting material. As this is a revue, there is no plot — no synopsis — just a collection of songs.

The show begins with the infamous story of David Merrick and the publicity for “Subways are for Sleeping“, and continues through a large number of shows from the infamous flops to shows recognized for their scores, but which died due to problematic books. So what songs made it in? Here’s my list of the songs from each act. Alas, there was no official song list provided (nor was there a list of who sang which songs in the program — which is a disservice to the performers who are showcasing their talents — so I’ll edit in that information if I can get it. Right now, the performer information is base on my memory and best guesses).

Song	Show	Performer
Act I
Comes Once in a Lifetime	Subways Are For Sleeping	Company
Subway Directions	Subways Are For Sleeping	Unspecified
I Just Can’t Wait	Subways Are For Sleeping	Shelley Scovin (FB), Daniel Floren (FB)
I’ll Never Go There Anymore†	Kelly	Joshua Kerr/FB
You’ve Got Possibilities	It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman	Shelley Scovin (FB), Daniel Floren (FB)
You Can Be A New Yorker Too!	Mayor	Company
Meadowlark	The Bakers Wife	Keri Green/FB
We’re Gonna Be Alright†	Do I Hear a Waltz	Unspecified
Not a Day Goes By†	Merrily We Roll Along	Unspecified
Good Thing Going	Merrily We Roll Along	Unspecified
A Kid Inside	Is There Life after High School?	Unspecified
Carrie	Carrie	Ety Terry (FB)
Act II
Someone Else’s Story	Chess	Unspecified
Bangkok/A Night in Bangkok	Chess	Company
Who Can I Turn To?†	Roar of the Greasepaint, Smell of the Crowd	Joshua Kerr/FB
Joker†	Roar of the Greasepaint, Smell of the Crowd	Joshua Kerr/FB
Feeling Good	Roar of the Greasepaint, Smell of the Crowd	Unspecified
Nobody Steps on Kafritz†	Henry, Sweet Henry	Averi Yorek (FB)
Come Back to Me	On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever	Daniel Floren (FB)
What Did I Have?†	On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever	Unspecified
A Quiet Thing†	Flora, The Red Menace	Unspecified
Time Heals Everything†	Mack and Mabel	Rosanne Limeres (FB)
I Won’t Send Roses /†	Mack and Mabel	Len Smith (FB)
I Won’t Send Roses (Reprise)†	Mack and Mabel	Averi Yorek (FB)
She Touched Me	Drat! The Cat!	Joshua Kerr/FB
Times Like This	Lucky Stiff	Unspecified
Glitter and Be Gay†	Candide	Alenda Bernardi/FB
On the Twentieth Century	On the Twentieth Century	Company

Are these the songs that I would have chosen? Some of them are. Others less so. There are certainly songs that I would have included that are not here, such as “Artificial Flowers” (Tenderloin), “Hey Look Me Over” (Wildcat), “Change in Me” (Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public), “Coffee in a Cardboard Cup” or “Boom Ditty Boom” (70 Girls 70), “The Gentleman is a Dope” (Allegro), “That’s the Way It Happens” (Me and Juliet), or “Hey, Jimmy, Joe, John, Jim, Jack” (Let It Ride). I might also include some songs from modern “flops”, such as Leap of Faith, Scandalous, or Chaplin. But the choice of song is the director’s choice, and overall this was a pretty good list.

How were the performances? Most of them were in the good to very good range, and a few were spectacular. I say “Most” because there was the very-occasional off note, which I wrote off to the fact that most of the cast are new to musicals and the West Coast theatre scene, and I presume that they improve each performance. But those were in the “very few” range — as I said, the great majority of the show had strong singing, and certain performers were just exceptional. Specifically, I really enjoyed Averi Yorek (FB) and Joshua Kerr/FB who had exceptionally strong voices and shone in whatever song they were singing; and Alenda Bernardi/FB, who blew the audience away with a spectacular performance of “Glitter and Be Gay”. Performances I thought were particularly strong are indicated with † in the table above. About the only performance I wasn’t crazy about was “Meadowlark”, where I think they needed a stronger voice on the song (c’mon, Patti LuPone did it originally). In general, the actors had good stage presence and seemed to be having fun with the songs.

The cast consisted of: Mirie Ben-Tzur (FB), Daniel Floren (FB), Keri Green/FB, Rosanne Limeres (FB), Shelley Scovin (FB), Len Smith (FB), Ety Terry (FB), and Averi Yorek (FB). Also in the cast, but seemingly left out of the program, were Joshua Kerr/FB and Alenda Bernardi/FB.

Most of the music was provided by Eunyoung Koh/FB on a keyboard on the side; a few tracks had recorded music when sheet music was unavailable. Koh was very focused on her music, but it was fun to see her face light up when she tossed a performer a hat during one number.

As noted before, the production was directed by Trace Oakley (FB), who did a good job of providing connection between the individual songs and making the songs more than just a “stand up and sing”. A few of the choices were a bit baffling, such as the stuffed chipmunks during “Meadowlark”, or the profusion of women during “Come Back To Me” (which has nothing to do with the point of that song). Other songs were particularly well executed, including the “Don’t Send Me Roses” pairing, the “We’re Gonna Be Alright” pairing, “Nobody Steps on Kafritz”, and “What Did I Have?”. Choreography was by Averi Yorek (FB) and was very good. I particularly enjoyed the dancing during the Bangkok number from Chess and the dancing during “What Did I Have?”. Musical direction was by Alenda Bernardi/FB. Kelly Stevenson/FB was the assistant director, and Tony Candelaria served as stage manager.

Turning to the technical… sigh. This is the one problem area for this show — as evidenced by the fact that there were no technical credits in the program (tsk, tsk). We can set aside sound design, as there were no microphones or special effects. Lighting? Having had a daughter who went through the technical theatre program at Van Nuys HS, as soon as I entered the theatre I noted lighting problems — there was a mix of odd lights (parabolics, leikos, bare bulbs), with few gels, and a number of potential safety issues (none of lights had safeties, which might be due to their mounting approach of being actually bolted to the mounting rack vs. the typical C-clamp; there also appeared to be loose strings and use of gaffers tape for something other than taping down cords). In execution, this was one of the few shows where the lighting actually hurt the show. At times the lights flickered oddly, at times performers were not lit, and most importantly, the lighting was just too harsh, highlighting costuming flaws and not serving to subtly establish the mood or the scene. With respect to costuming (and I’ll note this input is more from my wife)…. there were a number of costuming problems. In a small venue such as this, hosiery can do a wonderful job of smoothing out imperfections on legs. My wife also noted some, umm, foundational problems, and there were a few costumes that could use a little repair. These imperfections would not be noticeable in a large venue, or a venue that was using less-harsh lighting (pink spots can be your friend), but the combination just distracted (when it was easily correctable). The set itself was very simple — a few boxes, a door, a few props — and was sufficient given the budget limitations of a small venue.

[As an aside thought — it would be interesting to see this musical reworked to add in a few more popular numbers and proposed to a venue such as the Colony Theatre (FB). With an even stronger cast, fuller orchestrations, better lighting and costumes, and strong publicity, this could be a strong revue that is popular with audiences. Oh, Barbara Beckley (FB)… you should talk to Trace (FB)!]

“Carrie That Tune” continues at the Avery Schreiber Playhouse (FB) through September 29, 2013. Tickets should be available through the Avery Schreiber Playhouse (FB) or The Mirror Theatre Company, and may be available on Goldstar.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts: Next weekend see us returning to Santa Clarita and REP East (FB) for “God of Carnage” (September 28). Theatre in October starts on the 5th with “Breath and Imagination” at the Colony Theatre (FB). The second week of October sees me at the West Coast Premier of “Burnt Street Boys“ at the Third Street Theatre (FB). The third week of October is being held for the production of “Carrie – The Musical” (FB) by Transfer Theatre, but tickets are not yet on sale (and it is increasingly looking like this production will now be in 2014). October ends with the Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) production of “Kiss Me Kate” (October 26). November will start (hopefully) with “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Actors Rep of Simi (FB). That will be followed by a visit with Thomas the Tank Engine when we volunteer at OERM over Veterans Day. The third week will be theatre-ish, as we attend ARTS’s Nottingham Village (FB) (a one-weekend ren-faire-ish market — tickets are now on sale). One of those weekends we’re also likely to see a Trollplayers (FB) production of Steven Schwartz’s “Children of Eden” (which runs November 8-17) [Trollplayers is the community theatre group at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Northridge]. The weekend before Thanksgiving will bring Tom Paxton (FB) in concert at McCabes Santa Monica (FB) as well as “Play It Again Sam” at REP East (FB). The last weekend of November brings a rescheduled “Miracle on S. Division Street” at the Colony Theatre (FB). December is mostly open, but should bring “The Little Mermaid” at Nobel Middle School, and “Peter and the Starcatcher” at The Ahmanson Theatre. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.

Catholic High Schoolers In Trouble

Posted onSaturday, September 21, 2013Sunday, September 22, 2013Authorcahwyguy

userpic=theatre_tickets Recently, the theatre press in Los Angeles has been a-buzzin’ around the return of the musical “bare” to Los Angeles. Given all the buzz, I gave into the pressure and booked two shows this weekend (I normally only book one show per weekend, and I had already booked Carrie That Tune for Sunday). As a result, this afternoon saw us rushing to mid-Wilshire (and barely making it) for “bare” at the Hayworth Theatre.

Bare (book by Jon Hartmere, Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo, lyrics by Hartmere and music by Intrabartolo) tells the story of two gay Catholic high-schoolers in love. Just with that summary, you might be expecting “Zanna Don’t“, but the story here is much darker. Zanna Don’t ends happy. This doesn’t. In that way, it is very Catholic.

bare takes place at a co-ed Catholic boarding school. Peter, a senior, is rooming with Jason, another senior and his secret lover. The basic focus of the show is the outing of this relationship, with various machinations along the way. These include interactions with Peter’s twin sister, Nadia (who is supposed to be fat, but wasn’t cast that way — more on that later). It also includes another girl, Ivy, who falls in love with Jason, complicating the relationship. Figuring all this out takes a while, because the show is 99% sung through, and hearing the lyrics clearly over the band was a little difficult. There’s a detailed synopsis over at the Wikipedia page — note that this production was doing the original version. I’m not going to try to repeat it because (a) it is too complicated, and (b) I don’t want this post to be exceedingly long.

Reading the synopsis details one of the main problems with this show: the book needs some work and streamlining. Part of the problem is that it is a lot like Rent (its contemporary) — it is sung — or perhaps screamed — through. The story is attempted to be told through the music and lyrics, with very little non-musical dialogue. Although this can work, it (umm) takes work to get it right. First and foremost, one must be able to clearly hear and understand the lyrics, and that wasn’t always the case here. Given that a number of the musical numbers seem to be generic rock supporting sung-through exposition, they could probably be reworked to help tell the story better while providing focus on the truly good numbers (of which there are many). The other problem with the book is the complicated nature and how it keeps coming at you: not only is the story dealing with a gay relationship, it is dealing with problematic parental relationships, teen pregnancy, sexual promiscuity, and heavy drug use (ending with an overdose). It’s a downer, man. The sole bright point in the story is Sister Chantelle and her humor. If I had to choose between a musical to push the agenda of gay rights, I’d go for Zanna Don’t over this. Still, as evidenced by the audience, this show does have its following, and that’s likely due to the recent death of its young and talented composer, Damon Intrabartolo.

A few other observations on the story. It was very interesting watching this story in light of the recent statements by Pope Francis about how the Catholic church should focus on mercy and people before harsh and condemning dogma. That has a directly relationship to this story: Sister Chantelle demonstrate mercy; the priest demonstrates dogma. In the end, it is Chantelle who leads Peter to acceptance; and it is the dogma that drives Jason to his tragic end. How would this story be different in the Pope Francis era? As it is, this story is pretty negative on dogma, and presents a sardonic picture of Catholic boarding schools — rampant sex, drugs, and disbelief (which may be close to reality).

More importantly, bare shows how there is an overall lack of acceptance in Catholicism and their schools, and how this disconnection can have strongly negative results. Those who have seen the show previously argue that this picture is precisely why this show is an argument for acceptance. I can see that, but I think Zanna Don’t did a much better job of demonstrating gay acceptance through its postulating of a world where gay is normal and hetero is queer.

This story has quite a few parallels to Rent. I’ve previously noted the rock opera sung through aspects to the story. It also has a lot of characters with loads of intertwining stories and relationships. It doesn’t end happy. Its composer died far too early. Rent borrowed a number of themes from La Boeheme. My wife noted that bare borrowed some themes from Aaron Copeland. Is bare the Rent for the gay community? Hard to say.

What is the conclusion with respect to the book for bare? Overall, I think the story it tries to tell is a good one and an important one. I think it could have been told better. However, given the history of this musical, we’re likely stuck with the story structure and presentation — flawed as it is. It’s a good story — not great — that gets its message across but ends in a downer.

What’s not a downer are the performances. The cast is uniformly strong, even when I didn’t agree with the casting choices. They all seemed to be living their roles, enjoying their roles, enthusiastically loving their roles, and this was contagious. I’d like to single out a few performances that I found worthy of highlight.

First and foremost: Stephanie Andersen (FB; FB-Fan) as Sister Chantelle. Andersen originated this role in the original 2000 production, and she just owns it. Hell, she runs with it, plays with it, loves it, and spreads the love. She also has what I think is the absolute best number in the show, “God Don’t Make No Trash”, although her other number “911! Emergency” comes a close second.

Also remarkable was Katie Stevens (FB) as Nadia, Jason’s sister. Although I don’t like the casting (according to the songs and the synopsis, Nadia should be large-size and the director didn’t follow through with that), Stevens was spectacular in the role. She had the right level of cynicism and standoffishness for the role, as was both fun and touching to watch. She also took no prisoners in her numbers “Plain Jane Fat Ass” and “Birthday Bitch”.

The two male leads — Payson Lewis (FB) as Peter and Jonah Platt (FB) as Jason — were both strong. Lewis, in particular, did a great job of showing the emotional struggles his character was facing. Both had strong singing voices and carried the story well.

The last performer I would like to single out is Lindsay Pearce (FB) as Ivy. Again, this is someone who caught your eye through her performance, strong acting, and strong singing ability. She was particularly strong in her second act songs.

As for the rest of the company, they stood out strong as an ensemble in their singing and dancing, and a few of them (notably Caitlin Ary (FB) and Katherine Washington/FB) grabbed my eye whenever they were on stage due to their enthusiasm, stage presence, and general look. The rest of the company consisted of Caitlin Ary (FB) [Tanya], John Griffin (FB) [Priest], Kelsey Hainlen (FB) [Rory], Casey Hayden (FB) [Lucas], Christopher Higgins (FB) [Zack], Reesa Ishiyama (FB) [Diane], Alissa-Nicole Koblentz (FB) [Claire], Harrison Meloeny (FB) [Alan], Nathan Parrett (FB) [Matt], Katherine Washington/FB [Kyra].

Elmo Zapp (FB) served as music director, and played bass on-stage. Alex Sellar/FB (lead guitar) and Andrew Orbison (FB) (piano, keys) served as associate music directors. Rounding out the excellent, if not a bit loud, on-stage band were Steve Riley (FB) (drums), Derek Tea (FB) (cello), and Morgan Paros (FB) (violin).

The production was directed by Calvin Remsberg (FB) (assisted by Jevin Andrews (at least according to the program — based on FB, I think the credit is really Andrew Jevin/FB), and choreographed by Jen Oundjian (FB) (assisted by Erik Hall/FB). The direction of the show was strong and effective, given the limitations of the space and the set. Choreography was especially strong and worked well for the rock score.

Turning to the technical. Sigh. The scenic design by Josh Clabaugh was very limited — some movable screens, some dressers, some pews, a set of lockers. This was understandable given the short run of the productions and limited budgets, but the show would have been helped with scenery that better established the various locales. The sound design by Drew Dalzell (FB), assisted by Rebecca Kessin and mixed by Sean Kozma (FB), was more problematic. As has been noted by other reviewers, the sound was often muddled (and it was worse in the back of the theatre, where I stood for one song). This could be a facility problem, and I think this show would have been better served in a venue such as the Colony Theatre or the Pasadena Playhouse — both for their larger size and better acoustics. Still, given the importance of hearing the lyrics in this show, having clear sound was vital, and at many times, it was lacking. The lighting by Brandon Baruch (FB) was effective and served to set the mood quite well. The costumes by Alex Merrell were both strong and weak. Strong, in that the women’s costumes were exceptionally sexy in that Catholic High School Girls in Trouble way; weak in that they didn’t have the uniformity that boarding school uniforms should have (especially in the boy’s ties), and that although they tried to dress Nadia to look fat, they failed miserably. Juliana Scott/FB was the production stage manager. bare was produced by Topher Rhys (FB), Jamie Lee Barnard/FB, and Glory|Struck Productions (FB); Stephanie Lazard/FB was co-producer. Bare was also funded by a successful kickstarter.

bare – A Rock Musical has one more performance, Sunday, at 7:30pm. Tickets are available through Plays411. Allocate plenty of time to get to the theatre — driving in that area is a bitch!

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts: Tomorrow brings our second show of the weekend: “Carrie That Tune” (great songs from flop musicals) at the Avery Schreiber Playhouse (FB) in North Hollywood on Sunday. We close September by returning to Santa Clarita and REP East (FB) for “God of Carnage” (September 28). Theatre in October starts on the 5th with “Breath and Imagination” at the Colony Theatre (FB). The second week of October sees me at the West Coast Premier of “Burnt Street Boys“ at the Third Street Theatre (FB). The third week of October is being held for the production of “Carrie – The Musical” (FB) by Transfer Theatre, but tickets are not yet on sale (and it is increasingly looking like this production will now be in 2014). October ends with the Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) production of “Kiss Me Kate” (October 26). November will start (hopefully) with “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Actors Rep of Simi (FB). That will be followed by a visit with Thomas the Tank Engine when we volunteer at OERM over Veterans Day. The third week will be theatre-ish, as we attend ARTS’s Nottingham Village (FB) (a one-weekend ren-faire-ish market — tickets are now on sale). One of those weekends we’re also likely to see a Trollplayers (FB) production of Steven Schwartz’s “Children of Eden” (which runs November 8-17) [Trollplayers is the community theatre group at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Northridge]. The weekend before Thanksgiving will bring Tom Paxton (FB) in concert at McCabes Santa Monica (FB) as well as “Play It Again Sam” at REP East (FB). The last weekend of November brings a rescheduled “Miracle on S. Division Street” at the Colony Theatre (FB). December is mostly open, but should bring “The Little Mermaid” at Nobel Middle School, and “Peter and the Starcatcher” at The Ahmanson Theatre. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.