Category: dance

🎭🩰 An Unexpected Love Story | “Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet” @ Ahmanson

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Matthew Bourne's Romeo + Juliet (Ahmanson)When the 2023-2024 Ahmanson season was announced, I saw the inclusion of Matthew Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet and thought: Ugh. Ballet. I had seen his Cinderella back in 2019, and had a very mixed reaction. About that Cinderella, I wrote: ” I found it difficult to get into the story of Cinderella, and I identify who the myriad of characters were. The dance itself was beautiful, and the dancers were highly skilled, and much emotion was conveyed. But what who did what? I wasn’t always sure. Which of the Pilot’s friends was Tom and which was Dick — I have absolutely no idea. In fact, other than seeing the characters as their “role” (pilot, stepmother, child), I couldn’t tell you who was which name. Although there was theatricality, the notion of conveying more than the gist of the story to the audience was lost.”

Given this experience, I went into the 2024 Romeo + Juliet very apprehensive. I’m not a ballet or dance fan, and Bourne didn’t work for me last time. I’m pleased to say that this time I was pleasantly surprised. The music had energy; the dancing was entertaining; and I roughly knew who people were. I say roughly, because unless you are really familiar with the characters in Shakespeare’s story, you would be hard-pressed to tell a Mercutio from a Balthasar, a Dorcas from a Lavinia, or a Sebastian from a Fabian. Romeo and Juliet, on the other hand, you can identify. So you just watch the dance.

So, setting aside identification of which ancillary character was which, the story was great. Bourne resets the action to some sort of Juvenile Hall or Facility in the future–seemingly some sort of prison with guards and such. But there does seem to be some way for parents to check their children into the facility, so perhaps it isn’t quiet a jail. It’s harder to identify the factions in the story. There is one clear bad guy (he’s the one in black with the tattoo), but the motives of the others in the facility are less clear. I’d say you can’t tell the families apart without a program, but the program doesn’t help here. So I think if you want to really understand the story being told, you would be best to brush up your Shakespeare before seeing the show; or lacking that, at least read the Cliff Notes.

The staging was interesting. The Juvie Hall was imagined as a white tiled facility, with a railing above, stairs on the side, and gated entrances for boys and girls. it was white. The costuming was white. The lights were white. This made the few characters who were not in white–the Reverend, the Senator, the Governor–really stand out. If you see this, I encourage you to watch the reflections and the shadows on the stage, which were as beautiful as the dancers themselves.

The dancing was energetic, with moves that were much more modern dance than traditional ballet. There was humor at times, and some of the dancers even smiled :-). Looking back without any notes, it is hard to recall any specific moves, only the overall visual effect. Suffice it to say it was unique enough to draw my interest and keep my interest. Rarely did I find myself looking elsewhere in the auditorium or getting drowsy.

In summary, this changed my opinion of ballet. I still find it hard to get into the story, and believe you need to really understand the story well beforehand to understand the dance. However, with the right music and staging, appreciating the beauty of the dance itself is easy. This show had the right music and staging to make the dance really enjoyable.

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet continues at the Ahmanson through February 25, 2024. Tickets are available through the CTG website.

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet . Directed and Choreographed by Matthew Bourne. Music by Terry Davies based on the original score by Sergei Prokofiew. Cast at this performance:  Jackson Fisch Romeo ; Hannah Kremer Juliet; Adam Galbraith Tybalt; Cameron Flynn Mercutio; Leonardo McCorkindale Balthasar; Euan Garrett Benvolio; Daisy May Kemp Rev. Bernadette Laurence, Brie Montague, Nurse; Paris Fitzpatrick Senator Montague, Guard, Orderly; Anya Ferdinand Frenchie; Eleanor McGrath Dorcas; Tasha Chu Magdalen, Governor Escalus; Blue Makwana Lavinia; Kate Lyons Morgan; Kurumi Kamayachi Martha; Matthew Amos Edmund; Eve Ngbokota Lennox; Louis Harris Sebastian; Dylan Jones Fabian; Lyra Treglown Faith. Production and Creatives: Bryony Pennington Dance Captain; Lez Brotherston Set and Costume Design; Paule Constable Lighting Design; Paul Groothuis Sound Design; Terry Davies Orchestrator; Sergei Prokofiev Composer; Etta Murfitt New Adventures Assoc. Artistic Director; Arielle Smith Assoc. Choreographer; Neil Westmoreland New Adventures Resident Artistic Assoc.; Alan Vincent New Adventures Resident Director; Daisy May Kemp New Adventures Asst. Resident Director; Duncan Parker Stage Manager; Ian Wheatstone Company Manager.

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Administrivia: I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; Geffen Playhouse (Mini-Subscription); 5-Star Theatricals. We’re looking for the right intimate theatre to subscribe at — it hasn’t been the same since Rep East died (it’s now The Main, and although it does a lot of theatre, it doesn’t have seasons or a resident company), and post-COVID, most 99-seaters aren’t back to doing seasons (or seasons we like). I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming Theatre – Next 90ish Days:

On the Theatrical Horizon:

There are a few shows for which announcements have crossed my transom that may be of interest: The CSUN Theatre Department in Northridge will be doing the Spongebob Musical in April 2024. We really wanted to see this when it was on tour in 2020, but the tour was killed by COVID; we did drive up to Woodland CA to see a friend in a community theatre production of it. It is a great show about science and climate denial. Charles Stewart Howard Playhouse in Woodland Hills will be doing Hands on a Hardbody in May 2024. CSH announced this back in 2020, but it was killed by COVID; I’m glad to see it will be back (and with a friend in the cast, even). Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica has announced their Mainstage 2024 Season, and it includes Bat Boy the Musical running Sept 28 through October 18. We saw Bat Boy back when CSUN did it in 2014; it is a wonderful musical about how a society treats outsiders. Conundrum Theatre Company will be doing Urinetown The Musical in mid to late March 2024 at the Broadwater; this is a great musical, but we can’t fit it into the schedule (nor does my wife care to see it again). However, if you haven’t seen it, it is worth seeing. I also just learned about a theatre company in Fullerton, Maverick Theater. They are doing Evil Dead: The Musical , which is a hoot if you’ve never seen it (we’ve seen it twice). They also have some interesting other stuff on their season, and we might drive down for Santa Claus Vs The Martians in November.

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🥁 The Beat Lives On | “Step Afrika” @ The Soraya/VPAC

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Setp Afrika - Drumfolk (The Soraya)As I’ve indicated before, I don’t always write up the live performances that we see at the Soraya/VPAC (FB). Sometimes, this is because they are concerts (where I don’t have a set list in advance) and I don’t know the names of all the pieces. Other times, they are performance pieces, such as the recent astounding “Hotel” from Cirque Eloize, which had to be seen and just no written description could fit. But sometimes we see a piece that deserves a writeup. Step Afrika!‘s piece “Drumfolk”, which we saw Sunday afternoon, as such a piece. For those unfamiliar with Step Afrika!, is it a professional company dedicated to the tradition of stepping — a dance form that uses the body as a percussive instrument. The company promotes stepping as a contemporary dance genre, using that art form to creates programs that expand on stepping’s unique place in history, and often doing a deep exploration of the African-American experience.

The heart of Drumfolk was an exploration of the Stono Rebellion of 1739, a revolt initiated by 20 enslaved Africans in the colony of South Carolina. In response to the rebellion, colonial leadership got the crown to pass the Negro Act of 1740. The act made it illegal for enslaved Africans to move abroad, assemble in groups, raise food, earn money, and learn to write (though reading was not proscribed). Additionally, owners were permitted to kill rebellious slaves if necessary. The Act remained in effect until 1865. It also singled out drumps as an illegal weapon, and took away the right for slaves to own or play the drums. However, as the program for the show noted, “They took the drums away… but they could not stop the beat.”

When I heard that line during the show, I harkened back to another production that explored the place of the beat in the African American experience: Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk. That musical explored a much broader swath of history and experience, but both demonstrated the centrality of the drum and the beat, and of dance and movement, to the African American experience.

The program that we saw (which evidently was recently designed … something like 4 days before our performance) consisted of three pieces:

Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable and informative presentation.

The production featured Taylor McFerrin and the members of Step Afrika!: Kofi Agyei,Jeeda Barrington (FB), Jamaal Collier, Dionne Eleby, Matthew Evans, Conrad Kelly, Misha Michel, Vincent Montgomery, Joe Murchison, Ronnique Murray, Dustin Praylow, Anesia Sandifer, Brittny Smith, Jordan Spry, and Nicholas Stewart.

The creative and production team consisted of: C. Brian Williams Founder and Executive Director; Jakari Sherman Director; Mfoniso Akpan (FB) Artistic Director; Simone Baskerville Production Manager & Touring Stage Manager; Kenaan M. Quander Costume Designer; Erik Teague Mask Designer; Mary Rathell Wardrobe Assistant; Marianne Meadows Lighting Designer; Yannick Godts Lighting Supervisor; Steven M. Allen Composer; Kevin Alexander Sound Designer; and Jeremiah L. Davison Sound Engineer.

This was the only performance of Step Afrika! at the Soraya this year.

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Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre (or music) critic; I am, however, a regular theatre and music audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted (or I’ll make a donation to the theatre, in lieu of payment). I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at 5 Star Theatricals (FB), the Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB),  the Soraya/VPAC (FB), the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) [2020-2021 season] and the Musical Theatre Guild (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals). I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups. Note to publicists or producers reading this: here’s my policy on taking comp tickets. Bottom-Line: Only for things of nominal value, like Fringe.

Upcoming Shows:

As for the last weekend of February, I’ll be in Madison WI visiting my daughter, the the lineup she has scheduled is busy: The Revolutionists from Mercury Players Theatre/Bartell Theatre on the UW Madison campus on Friday (Eileen Evers is an alternative); the Lee Blessing play Down The Road from Two Crows Theatre Company on Saturday (columbinus at Edgewood College is the bad weather backup), and MST 3000 on Sunday. Whew! Alas, I’ll be missing both Nefesh Mountain at Temple Israel of Hollywood and Tom Paxton and the Don Juans at McCabes due to this.

March starts with Passion at Boston Court (FB) the first weekend. The 2nd weekend brings the MRJ Man of the Year dinner (and The Wild Party at Morgan Wixson). The 3rd brings Morris’ Room at Actors Co-op (FB) ; and the last weekend brings Spongebob Squarepants at the Dolby Theatre/Broadway in LA (FB) and the MoTAS/TBH Seder. April is similarly busy: the 1st weekend is Mamma Mia at 5 Star Theatricals (FB); the 2nd is during Pesach and is open (but has Count Basie at the Soraya/VPAC (FB) the Thursday before); the 3rd is Once on This Island at the Ahmanson Theatre; the last is Hamilton at the Hollywood Pantages (FB) (and possibly Hands on a Hardbody at the Charles Stewart Howard Playhouse (FB)), and the first weekend of May is Mean Girls at the Dolby Theatre/Broadway in LA (FB). The second weekend of May brings a concert performance of Randy Newman’s Faust at the Soraya/VPAC (FB). The third weekend of May brings A Man of No Importance at Actors Co-op (FB) . The fourth and fifth weekends are currently open, but I”m eyeing a production at the Fountain Theatre for our synagogue’s live theatre group during that time.

As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Better-Lemons, Musicals in LA, @ This Stage, Footlights, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves. Want to know how to attend lots of live stuff affordably? Take a look at my post on How to attend Live Theatre on a Budget. Want to learn about all the great theatre in Southern California? Read my post on how Los Angeles (and its environs) is the best area for theatre in the Country!

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💃 Cryptography and Apples | “Invertigo Dance Theatre” @ The Broad Stage

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Invertigo Dance Theatre (Broad Stage)Our summer performance hiatus is over. As a side effect of Fringe burnout and the surfeit of performances that come out in July, we tend to have a lighter attendance schedule at the end of August and in early September. But that hiatus is over, and it is weekly live performance from now until December, when the conference creates another hiatus. First up: Alan Turing.

Back in early August, I received an email from The Broad Stage (FB) about an upcoming production that caught my eye. It talked about a performance that “invites us into the life of mathematical genius Alan Turing as cast into the mythologized ideas of his favorite film, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Now I’ve been doing computer science since the mid 1970s, and computer security since the mid 1980s, so any story about Turing intrigued me. I went to the Broad web page for the event, and read the following:

Invertigo Dance Theatre (FB)’s Formulae & Fairy Tales places the worlds of mathematics, artificial intelligence and cryptography into a vivid, twisted fairy-tale palette. The multi-dimensional story casts the life of Alan Turing, mathematical genius and World War II codebreaker, into the Technicolor and mythologized ideas of his favorite film, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Step into a world of lush dance, dynamic theatre, math, sex, fairy tales, humor and death.

Now, I’m not much of a dance person, other than in the context of a musical. I didn’t quite understand the Martha Graham company when I saw it, and I never saw what others saw in Matthew Bourne’s work. But this sounded fascinating. One does not often see pioneers of computer science on the stage, nor does one often see cryptography on stage. Computer Security, in general, gets little attention from live theatre artists. And so, with curiosity peaking, I went out to Goldstar and grabbed some tickets.

Now that I’ve seen the performance, I’m still working on processing it. Much of this is a vocabulary problem. Theatre, in many ways, is easy. We have words, we have stories. We have performance that is either realistic or mock-realism. We can typically relate what we see on the stage to what we know in real life, and can thus assess it.

Dance is much more abstract, especially in a piece where you don’t know the story ahead of time. This piece had some explanatory text, but the story was mostly told in dance and movement. The dance world has its own conventions, and if you are not fluent in them (which I am not), both understanding and describing them are difficult.

That said, the dance here was beautiful. There were feelings that were raised; feelings and images. There was the sense of cogs in a wheel; cogs in a machine; cogs in a rotor. That’s appropriate, given the nature of the Enigma. There were elements of the Snow White story, and there were clearly mathematical elements. There were notions of relationships, both conventional and non-conventional. All of these were from the movement, aided at times from the projections.

There was clearly metaphor: in particular, in the sequence using the Turing quote about how “one day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, ‘My little computer said such a funny thing this morning”, all the computers that were taking to the park were … apples. Could this a reference to Apples and the iPhone?

The dance also involved spoken elements, sometimes cryptic, relating the story of Turing. A repeated motif was the invocation of the Turing Test, which had slightly different construction each time it was invoked — and none of the times fit precisely what Computer Scientists understand as a Turning test (interacting with an unknown entity you cannot see, and through questions along, you make the determination of human or not).

Overall, the production was beautiful to watch. I can’t say it was what I expected, but I’m not sure what I was expecting.

Performers: Cody Brunelle-Potter (FB), Hyosun Choi (FB), Jessica Dunn (FB), Spencer Jensen (FB), Corina Kinnear (💃FB), Dominique McDougal (💃FB, FB), and Luke Dakota Zender (FB). The performances were very strong; I was particularly taken with the dance of Brunelle-Potter and Choi.

Choreography by: Laura Karlin (FB), Cody Brunelle-Potter (FB), Hyosun Choi (FB), William Clayton (FB), Jessica Dunn (FB), Adrian Hoffman (FB), Isaac Huerta, Spencer Jensen (FB), Corina Kinnear (💃FB), Dominique McDougal (💃FB, FB), Shane Raiford, and Luke Dakota Zender (FB).

Original music composed by: Toby Karlin (FB), Julia Kent,  and Eric Mason (FB). Additional music by Afriara Quartet (FB), A Winged Victory for the Sullen, and Nebulo (FB). Text was primarily written by Laura Karlin (FB), with other text by Janna Levin and Alan Turing.

Created and directed by Laura Karlin (FB).

Production credits: R. S. Buck (FB) Production Stage Manager, Lighting Design, Technical Direction; Celestial Zenith (FB) Stage Manager; Rosalida Medina (FB) Costume Design; NightLight Labs Scenic and video design; Veronica Mullins (FB) Sound Engineer; Mallory Fabian (FB) Rehearsal Director. Laura Karlin (FB) is the artistic director of Invertigo Dance Theatre (FB); David Mack (FB) Executive Director.

We caught the last performance of Intvertigo at the Broad, although I have heard rumors that this production may be touring.

✒

I like to say that I’m a professional audience, and that’s why I like theatre. I don’t have the creativity in me to inhabit other characters, and in general, the writing I do is limited to non-fiction — government documents and policies, highway pages, and reviews like these. I don’t have the ability to take an idea and turn it into characters and stories that might be compelling to an audience. I’m also a long time cybersecurity professional, and attending years of the Hollywood Fringe Festival has convinced me that the medium of the stage could be used to teach about cybersecurity in a way that audiences could learn, without being overwhelmed with technology. The notion I have is to take some broad cybersecurity themes and concepts and translate them into stories that could teach in a compelling way. But I don’t have the expertise to build a story out of the idea. If this is something that might interest you, please let me know. I don’t have funds for a commission or anything like that, but it might be something we could turn into a property beneficial for all.

🎭

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre (or music) critic; I am, however, a regular theatre and music audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted (or I’ll make a donation to the theatre, in lieu of payment). I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at 5 Star Theatricals (FB), the Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB),  the Soraya/VPAC (FB), and the Musical Theatre Guild (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals). I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows:

Next weekend brings Barnum at Musical Theatre Guild (FB), and the the last weekend of September brings Blue Man Group at the Hollywood Pantages (FB). We start getting really busy in October, starting with The Mystery of Irma Vep at Actors Co-op (FB) and Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville at Canyon Theatre Guild. The next weekend brings Anastasia – The Musical at the Hollywood Pantages (FB). The third weekend brings us back to the Kavli for The Music Man at 5 Star Theatricals (FB), followed by In Trousers at the Lounge Theatre from Knot Free Productions. October concludes with Mandy Gonzalez at the Soraya/VPAC (FB) and the MoTAS Poker Tournament.

Looking to November, it starts with A Miracle on 34th Street – The Radio Play at  Actors Co-op (FB), followed by Big Daddy the Band of 1959 at McCabes (FB) in Santa Monica.. The second weekend brings Summer at the Hollywood Pantages (FB) and The Goodbye Girl at Musical Theatre Guild (FB).  The third weekend is open, but I’m looking at a number of shows. November concludes with Bandstand at Broadway in Thousand Oaks. 

December is relatively open right now, given that we lose two weekends to ACSAC, and the small theatres are often darker around the holidays.

As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Better-Lemons, Musicals in LA, @ This Stage, Footlights, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves. Want to know how to attend lots of live stuff affordably? Take a look at my post on How to attend Live Theatre on a Budget. Want to learn about all the great theatre in Southern California? Read my post on how Los Angeles (and its environs) is the best area for theatre in the Country!

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