🎭 Theatre Writeups, 🛣️ Highway Updates, 📰 Musings on the News, and other 🗯️ Rants and Roadkill Along the Information Superhighway
Can’t get your In-N-Out Fix? You’re not alone. Some Easterners wanted to figure out the secret of a Double-Double Animal Style…. so they had some frozen and shipped, and applied the scientific process to duplicate the tasty treat. Want to make it yourself? Here’s the recipe.
P.S.: In other food news, I’ve heard a rumor that Altoids Peppermint Gum has been discontinued :-(. TJs seems to no longer have it. Can anyone confirm?
Well, it’s Wednesday, and that means accumulated lunchtime news chum. Today’s collection bring articles related to Facebook, the ADA Anniversary, Letter Grades in NYC, Bombshelter Life, Letter Writing, and Fat Fashion.
OK, Folks, you know the drill. Allright everyone, let’s gather in front of our large, 13″, Black and White TV set, and watch as a tall, lanky man in a khaki uniform strides out, introduces himself as Sheriff John, and says: OK, Lunch Brigaders, today we have a special song going out to miss_mimsy in honor of her special day. He pulls out his guitar, slicks back his hair in the manner of They Might Be Giants, and starts singing:
| You’re older than you’ve ever been And now you’re even older And now you’re even older And now you’re even older You’re older than you’ve ever been And now you’re even older And now you’re older still Time is marching on |
This day will soon be at an end And now it’s even sooner And now it’s even sooner And now it’s even sooner This day will soon be at an end And now it’s even sooner And now it’s sooner still You’re older than you’ve ever been |
I haven’t done a Pasadena Playhouse update in a bit, but an item in today’s news caught my eye and made me realize an update is appropriate. For a change, it is all good news.
This afternoon, we went to see “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” at the Mark Taper Forum. The Lt. of Inishmore is a dark comedy by Martin McDonagh. It tells the story of a group of Irish revolutionaries in 1993. The cat of one of the more violent revolutionaries, Padraic, has just been discovered to be killed in a violent fashion. Padraic’s father, Donny, blames the young man who discovered it, Davey, for ther murder. This cat, Wee Thomas, was Padraic’s only friend growing up, and the news prompts him to stop torturing James, the drug dealer, and return to Inishmore. The story progresses from there and I don’t want to spoil the surprises. Just know that along the way you meet Mairead, Davey’s sister and a wanna-be revolutionary, and Christy, Brandon, and Joey—three men who were part of the revolutionary group with Padraic until Padraic split off to form his own splinter group. If you really want the gory details… and this time I really mean gory… read the Wikipedia synopsis.
I mean, I can suspend disbelief about the whole fairy godmother thing. I’m cool with the pumpkin turning into the coach, the mice into coachmen, some birds into valets, and rags into a beautiful outfit. But why, oh why, don’t the shoes change back at midnight like everything else. And to make it worse, the shoe being used as a form of unique identification? C’mon now. I only need 57 people to have a 99% probability of them having the same birthday, and there are 365 possible birthdays in a year. But shoe sizes? Going to woman’s shoes, and there are what… if I’m generous and include ½ sizes, women’s shoe sizes go from 2 to 16, there are perhaps 29 sizes. Hmmm, like a month. As for widths, there are perhaps 10: A, B, C, D, E, EE, EEE, EEEE, F, and G (like shoemakers in Cinderella’s day made all the widths). So we’re looking at around 300 permutations of shoes. If you’re birthday won’t uniquely identify you, then shoes certainly wouldn’t. Not to mention, of course, if it’s larger than your foot, you’ll just claim it fits. Thus Cinderella’s foot must have been on the tiny size, because we know the stepsister’s had to cut their feet to get them to fit. So the shoes, which didn’t transform, as a form of unique ID? No. The prince just had a foot fetish, and planted that shoe to distract his parent’s from that fact.
Then there’s the whole message thing in Cinderella. Sure, I can suspend my disbelief about the magic, but now you’re trying to convince me that it is only inner beauty that matters; that outward appearance means nothing? Sure that’s what the Fairy Godmother says, but she must be smoking something. If that was the case, then the Prince would have seen the beauty in the stepsisters. But (as Steve Martin would say) noooooo… He goes for the beautiful Cinderella. C’mon, even supermodels look good in rags. So here we now have a prince, who expressed no interest in girls until his parents held a fancy dance, who claims to find a girl he likes at the dance and that she left a shoe, who then goes around the city touching the feet of every girl until he finds a beautiful girl of the lowest social standing, and then he tells his parents he wants to marry this beard girl. He was just distracting his parents from the reality. Even the US Military would see through this one.
So why am I riffing on Cinderella? If you hadn’t guessed it by now, we went to Cabrillo Music Theatre last night to see their production of “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella”. Cinderella is one of R&H’s later productions, coming on the heels of two of of their few flops, Me and Juliet and Pipe Dream, and just before Flower Drum Song. It is the only R&H musical done directly for TV (it was first broadcast in 1957), and was later adapted for the stage. As such, it actually has few complete new songs, but lots of reprises and musical underscoring. The songs aren’t distributed evenly across acts (the first act has 13 and the second has just 4); and many of them are evocative (or some might argue duplicative) of other R&H songs. And everything, and I mean everything, seems to be a waltz.
What Cinderella should have going for it is the family friendly aspects. It should draw whole families into the theatre and sell the tickets, getting the kiddies into the seats and introducing them to theatre. This is what the Cabrillo summer production always does: “Cats”, “Singin’ in the Rain”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Music Man”, “The Wizard of Oz”. That this production did, although not to the extent of past summers: we still had a mostly empty balcony, with almost daily exhortation about cheap mezzanine seats.
So let’s suspend our disbelief about the weakness of the book and of the artistic selection of the show. That’s something we can’t change. How did Cabrillo do with the show? There, the statistics are born out: even with a weak show, Cabrillo does a great job. The performances and production win you over.
Let’s start with the stunt casting first, although this appeared to be more for the parents than the kids. In this show, the name players were Marcia Wallaceæ (famous from The Bob Newhart Show and The Simpsons) and Sally Struthersæ (famous from All In The Family, Gilmore Girls, and numerous other shows). I’ll note that Struthers got a nice writeup in the LA Stage Blog. Wallace played the wicked Stepmother (are there any other kinds?), and Struthers the Fairy Godmother. Both did good with these small roles, putting their comic timing and expressions to good use. Struthers was particularly funny in the second act as Harold the Herald, but you could see her repeating some of the Gloria mannerisms. I enjoyed her bit with Portia’s creeky knee—especially the “Oklahoma” reference. Both were tolerable on the singing, but these aren’t the major singing roles.
The true leads of the show were a pair of lesser-knowns: Melissa Mitchell as Cinderella and Derek Klena as the Prince. Klena has perhaps the best claim to notariety, having been on American Idol. Both were excellent singers, and Mitchell in particular was a strong actress. Klena had moments where he broke out of the wooden straightjacket that is the prince’s role. They were fun to watch.
Of course, this being Rodgers and Hammerstein and in the traditional musical model, there had to be comic secondary couples. In this case, the first couple was Norman Largeæ as the King and Christina Saffran Ashfordæ. They had great chemistry together, which doesn’t come as a surprise as they appear to regularly tour together. Large, in particular, was quite good as the harried King, and Ashford was fun as the dominating wife. The second couple were the “ugly” stepsisters: Ann Myers as Portia and Dana Shaw as Joy. Both were great comic actresses (although admittedly I kept imagining Rain Pryor from Sisterella). Again, not large singing roles, but that’s due to the weak book.
Rounding out the cast were Chris Caron (the Herald); Justin Jones (the Chef); Ryan Ruge (the Steward), and David Gilchrist (the Minister). The ensemble consisted of Andrew Allen, Jebbel Arce, Kayla Bailey, Michael Brown, Tyler Matthew Burk, Chris Caron, Drew Foronda, Jennifer Foster, Gari Geiselman, David Gilchrist, Tessa Grady, Justin Jones, Nathan Large, Jessie Lee, Noelle Marion, Tyler Olshansky, Madison Parks, Melissa Danielle Riner, Daniel Rosales, Christanne Rowader, Ryan Ruge, Natalie Sardonia, Karen Staitman, Matthew Stewart, Kurt Tocci, and Estavan Valdes. The children’s ensemble was Alexandria Collins, Gabi Ditto, Joah Ditto, Natalie Esposito, Griffin Giboney, Max Kennedy, Lyrissa Leininger, Quinn Martin, Reno Selmser, Erin Ticktin, and Anthony Valdez.
[æ denotes members of 
Turning to the technical side: The sets were provided by Theatre Under The Stars in Houston TX (I’m guessing the economy has Cabrillo renting as opposed to building sets) and were… and were… they did the job well. Not spectacular, but not shabby either. Lighting was by Jean-Yves Tessier and had some pretty gobos and effects, but suffered from the usual Cabrillo follow-spot problem. The sound, by resident sound designer Jonathan Burke was clear and crisp with no glitches. The wardrobe was supervised by Christine Gibson using costumes from the Musical Theatre of Wichita, with hair and makeup by Paul Hadobas. Both are Cabrillo regulars. The prop designer was Anna Grulva.
[ETA: I also must mentioned the splended technical transformation special effects of Adam J. Bezark, who used black lighting quite effectively to handle the transformation of Cinderella’s pumpkin and mice, as well as the return transformation. Quite stunning.]
The production was directed by Lewis Wilkenfeld, and choreographed by Heather Castillo. Steven Smith was Musical Director, and the orchestra was conducted by Lloyd Cooper. I should note the Orchestra was quite large—17 players. This was refreshing in these days of single-digit bands. John W. Calder III was Production Stage Manager (alas, dear youarebonfante is off working a cruise), with Allie Roy and Taylor Ruge as assistant stage managers.
“Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” continues at Cabrillo for one more weekend, until August 1. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or the Civic Arts Plaza Box Office. I’m sure they are also available through Goldstar or LA Stage Tix.
Dining Notes: Last night, we tried Pacific Fresh Grill at 2060 E Avenida de Los Arboles. I think we’ll do it again, although my MIL didn’t like her spinach salad. My grilled Salmon was excellent, and the other dishes looked quite good. You can see their menu at Sporq.
Upcoming Theatre and Dance. Today it is time for blood and gore with a touch of comedy, as we see “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” at the Mark Taper Forum. August starts with “Young Frankenstein” at the Pantages on August 1. The next weekend brings “[title of show]” at the Celebration Theatre on August 6. August 15 brings the August “Meeting of Minds”, and August 21 “Side Man” at REP East. Looking into September, there is “Free Man of Color” at the Colony on September 4, and “Leap of Faith” at the Ahmanson Theatre (September 5-October 17, to be ticketed), and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” at REP East (9/17-10/16). It is unknown if there will be a September “Meeting of Minds”, and if so, when and where. October will bring “Happy Days: The Musical” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and possibly “The Glass Menagerie” at the Mark Taper Forum.
As always: live theatre is a gift and a unique experience, unlike a movie. It is vitally important in these times that you support your local arts institutions. If you can afford to go to the movies, you can afford to go to theatre. If you need help finding ways, just drop me a note and I’ll teach you some tricks. Lastly, I’ll note that nobody paid me anything to write this review. In fact, I receive no remuneration for any reviews I write.
OK, Folks, you know the drill. Allright everyone, let’s gather in front of our large, 13″, Black and White TV set, and watch as a tall, lanky man in a khaki uniform strides out, introduces himself as Sheriff John, and pulls out his accordion, and then starts singing the Birthday Cake Polka for lyahdan:
| Put another candle on my birthday cake We’re gonna bake a birthday cake Put another candle on my birthday cake I’m another year old today I’m gonna have a party with my birthday cake |
We’ll have some pie and sandwiches And chocolate ice cream too We’ll sing and play the day away And one more thing I’m gonna do I’ll blow out the candles on my birthday cake Happy Birthday to You |
Last night, I went to my annual Alumni Shabbat at camp. No pictures this time (you can look at last year’s pictures here)—the camp infrastructure hasn’t changed that dramatically, save for the introduction of a sibling menorah to CHK up on the hill at the chapel. This is not to say that their weren’t changes; there were, just more subtle.
Now that the Alumni Shabbat have been going on a few years, they’ve got the process down pat (steadily building from what I saw at the first one back in 2006). Get the alumni together. Sweep in front of the cabins then off to the chapel for services. Dinner (chicken, starch, steamed veggies, apple popovers). Zmirot. Dancing. That was all the same, all good, all high energy.
What I notice first as I go through the evening are the changes, the evolution. The new freestanding metal menorah at Hilltop is an example of this. When Hilltop first started, there seemed to be a conscious effort to distance itself from its sibling camp. It had its own traditions. It did a different Birkot (Kramer only did the really short version). Cabins were numbered, not named. Slowly, over time, there has been convergence. So, arguably, the menorah is a reflection of that: emphasizing in a physical, permanant way that these two camps are siblings, and that Hilltop is the younger smaller sibling (for the newer menorah, due to wind exposure, is shorter and squatter). Alternatively, it could symbolize that Hilltop has reached adulthood: it is no longer a “Pioneer” camp, but an adult camp in its own ramp.
This year there was also a new resident director: Andrea Cohen, and unlike with last year’s resident director (Erin), I could detect subtle changes. Back in the days of Gersh, I detected a stronger Israeli vibe. I can’t put my finger on it: perhap it was in how Hebrew was used, perhaps it was in how things were emphasized. But this year I felt a subtle shift back to positive American Judaism (which to me, at least, is a good thing). But as I said, it was subtle. The Hebrew was still there; the words hadn’t changed. Perhaps it was in the tone of the Shabbat service: there were more camper contributions (like the old days), and a new prayerbook (based on Mishkon Tephilo) that gave a modern Reform emphasis. There also seemed to be a bit more of a sense of connection with the camp history.
As I’ve noted before, some old traditions are gone. Have the kids changed? Is this a reflection of society? I can’t answer that. I do know that our Zmirot song sessions, which were in the dining hall, at the table, with the songleaders up front (and often on a piano), with a reasonable volume level, have been replaced by a full-volume, on-your-feet, in-your-face aerobic singing festival in the pavillion, with lyrics projected. The songs written at camp in my era (such as “Cherish the Torah”), the shabbat songs we thought would never die (Mi Pi Ayl, Al Teeria, Or Zarua) and the Debbie Friedman repertoire have been replaced by the modern rock of folks like Rick Recht and the artists of the Ruach albums. Chuck’s music (Justice Justice, Sanctification, Sim Shalom) has disappeared without a trace. There were some songs in English—the old standby “Sabbath Prayer” from Fiddler, Twist and Shout, and a version of Louie, Louie called Pharoah, Pharoah (Whoa, Baby, Let My People Go).
Dancing has also changed. In my day (ahem, whippersnapper), the emphasis was on Israeli dance, which was (not surprisingly) what you tended to see from the 1960s and 1970s. Horas. Lots of accordions. Debkas. Doubles and triple dancing. There were a few of those, but there was much more Israeli modern rock dancing. The session also seemed shorter, but that could be because I was caught up in a conversion with another Alumni.
These changes don’t bother me. Camps must evolve to survive. The American Jewish camp has evolved into the American Jewish camp. The emphasis can’t stay in the past to please the parents; it must evolve to serve the changes in Judaism and the changes in today’s youth. Traditions evolve and grow, and bring people back to camp. There is still the strong love of the campers for camp; the strong friendships that are created; the sense of camp is a place that is home and safe and an accepting family that loves you. That’s what makes this a special place. Over the years, the love of people for the place is absorbed into the fabric of the infrastructure, until it reaches the point where it just envelops you as you start up the hill.
That is why I jump at the chance to go to camp whenever I can. Be it a visit to Hess Kramer or a visit to Hilltop. They offer (at a reasonable price) and I’ll be there. The place is part of my spirit; it regrounds and recenters me whenever I visit. I thank the leaders at the Wilshire Blvd Temple Camps for the opportunities they provide to visit, and for the hard work it takes to keep the place alive.
Lastly, as you can tell by my posts on camp over the years, this place is a very important piece of my life. It was my safe summer home for 10 years, from 1969 through 1979. It shaped my Judaism, it shaped my sense of self, it shaped my sense of what I could accomplish in the world, it shaped my need to do good and right. But it was my experience. What were your youthful shaping experiences? What did you do, growing up, that had the most impact on who you are today?
