Month: June 2012

Publicity in the Electronic Era

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Last weekend at the MoTAS meeting (Men of Temple Ahavat Shalom), we were discussing publicity, what works and what does. It was an interesting discussion, so I thought I would expand on it a bit here.

Here’s the problem in a nutshell: How does one cost-effectively publicize an event and get people to attend?

In the “old” days (read “less than 10 years ago”), the answer was that you would put articles in the event in your newsletters and make flyers. You would hand them out, mail them out, people would put them on their refrigerators, and (hopefully) attend. The physically printed flyer would serve as a reminder — something “in your face”, as it were.

But today, what do we do? We want to save trees, so we email our newsletters and have weekly email blasts. We set up web pages for our announcements. And do you know what happens? No one attends. They forget about the event; they don’t RSVP. The email and electronic communications are easily ignored and forgotten.

This isn’t just a synagogue problem. I see it at work, where they have gone to email announcements, a web page, and an online newsletter that no one reads. It affects conferences, where electronic calls-for-participation are easily ignored.

Paper has distinct advantages. It sticks around. You can put it on your refrigerator. You can give it to a friend or colleague and spread the news of the event. But it costs, and it isn’t green.

So what is the answer? How do we publicize in this modern era? Your thoughts are welcome.

 

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A One-Two Punch

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Today’s a busy day, so here’s a quick one-two punch over lunch:

 

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Telling Quotes

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Some interesting quotes seen in articles perused over lunch:

Music: Hot August Night NYC (Neil Diamond): Cracklin’ Rosie

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Unexpected Costs Increases

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Today’s lunch-time reading brings a trio of stories about price increases, and why they are occurring:

  • Birthday Balloons. If you want to give floating balloons for a special event, expect to be paying a lot more. Helium is in increasingly short supply and its price is rising dramatically. Forget oil. We can find natural substitutes for oil. Helium, on the other hand, is a nonrenewable resource produced by the radioactive decay of thorium and uranium, and there aren’t really good substitutes (Hydrogen is too explosive, and you can’t go too far up the table before you hit Oxygen). Why do we have less helium. Blame the natural gas surplus. The most economical way to capture helium is to separate it from natural gas. And producing less natural gas also means less helium.
  • Dry Cleaning. Where do you think the costs are in dry cleaning? The labor? The chemicals? The machines? The plastic bags? One hidden cost no one thinks of are the wire-hangers. The prices of the (usually vietnamese made) wire hangers are going up, and thus dry cleaning prices are going up.
  • Funerals. You can’t even escape cost increases when you die, because the cost of funerals are going up. The average cost is up over 17.5%… and that doesn’t include the cost of the grave space and opening and closing a grave ($2,500), a headstone ($2,000) or grave marker ($1,000), making the average closer to $8,000 to $10,000.

 

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Moving Space in Time

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

A couple of interesting articles today regarding the space shuttle.

  • Space Shuttle Enterprise… is being moved by barge from JFK Airport in New York to its final destination, the Intrepid Museum. Today, after shipping out from JFK, Enterprise will make its way toward New York Harbor by traveling along the shore of Queens and Brooklyn. The planned route will bring Enterprise by the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, slip by Coney Island, and then pass under the Verrazano Bridge before pulling into a temporary dock in New Jersey’s Port Elizabeth. On Tuesday, the shuttle will finish the journey by leaving Port Elizabeth, passing the Statue of Liberty, floating up the Hudson River by the World Trade Center’s Freedom Tower, and arriving at the Intrepid museum.
  • Space Shuttle Explorer (a/k/a Space Shuttle Replica). This is moving in Houston. The replica will take an early-morning trip from its dock at Clear Lake to the Space Center Houston by way of the area’s NASA Parkway and NASA 1 Bypass. The space shuttle replica was previously on display in Cape Canaveral, Fla., at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, the welcome center for the nearby Kennedy Space Center spaceport that served as the homeport for NASA’s space shuttle fleet for 30 years. Florida will be getting Atlantis.
  • Space Shuttle Endeavor. This is the interesting one. Endeavour is being prepared for its cross-country trip to Los Angeles, where it will be delivered to the California Science Center for public display. Once it arrives, it will face an interesting problem: how to get from LAX to the California ScienCenter near Exposition Park, where it will be housed.  A report has been provided to the City Council detailing how hard this task will be: “…after being flown to Los Angeles International Airport, the shuttle will travel roughly ten miles on city streets to its new home at the California Science Center. To be transported on its belly, the shuttle will exceed five stories high and boast a wingspan of 78 feet. Detailed planning and coordination will be required to find an appropriate route that will avoid freeway overpasses and identify streets that are both wide enough and strong enough to support the Endeavour. It will be necessary for City crews to temporarily relocate overhead wires, street signs and traffic control devices to allow the shuttle to move safely through city streets. Additionally, traffic officers will need to be deployed at various locations along the route to assist motorists where traffic signal equipment has been removed.” For reference, your normal lane width is between 10-12 feet, so 78 feet means you’ll need a six to eight lane wide street for the entire route, with no places where the roadway goes under something (and remember, the route will have to cross I-405 at some point), and the ability to move something about 52 feet high… and any bridge you use needs to be able to support the load. Now remember the route will likely need to move across some of the more densely populated places in LA (Inglewood, South Central) to end up near USC. I wouldn’t want to be the space planner for that move.

 

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Ghosts of the Past in the Follies of the Present

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Today, in the LA Times, there is a story about the first semi-nude Vegas showgirl. She’s still got the showgirl in her; it shapes her life. She was once asked to carry Cary Grant’s child. Looking back about whether she should have done it, her response was “You wouldn’t have to care about money today, that’s for sure. But then I wouldn’t be who I am today. I’d be somebody else.”

That story dovetails well with the show we saw last night: “Follies“, which is playing through June 9 at the Ahmanson. “Follies”, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Goldman, tells the stories of a collection of old showgirls — the former Weismann Girls of the period between WWI and WWII — who have been gathered together for one last time. It is a story of a life in the theatre, and love for the theatre. Even more so, it is a story of regrets and choices not made, of relationship durability and relationship loss.

One thing Follies is not, however, is a story for young people. This is not due to any specific problematic content, but simply because they won’t understand the story. They’ll love the beautiful music and the spectacle. But they won’t understand the ghosts that haunt older people — especially the people in this show. As you get older, you acquire this ghost that is the younger you. This show makes those ghosts visible. We see the ghost showgirls inside these older women. We see the young women and men inside the characters, with their youthful exuberance and regrets. This would go over the heads of most 20-year-olds, and was probably one reason the show was not a successs when it first premiered in 1971.

So what is the story of Follies? Here’s a cut-down summary, drawn from Wikipedia: The show takes place on the soon-to-be demolished stage of the Weismann Theatre, where a reunion is being held to honor Weismann’s “Follies” shows past. This theatre is constantly populated with the ghosts of the beautiful chorus girls who once performed there. As the reunion starts, we begin to meet the Follies girls that came for the reunion, beginning with Sally Durant Plummer, now 49. Next we meet Phyllis Rogers Stone, a stylish and elegant woman, who arrives with her handsome and successful husband, Ben Stone. As more guests arrive, Sally’s husband, Buddy, enters. These are the major couples at the center of the piece: Sally married to Buddy, but in love with Ben; Buddy in love with Sally-of-the-past, not the Sally of today; Phyllis distance from Ben; and Ben walking through the motions. As the reunion continues, Mr. Weismann enters to greet his guests. We meet the other showgirls, and get to know more about them through various numbers. Former Weismann performers at the reunion include Max and Stella Deems, who lost their radio jobs and became store owners in Miami; Solange La Fitte, a coquette, who is still vibrant three decades later; Hattie Walker, who has outlived five younger husbands; Vincent and Vanessa, former dancers who now own an Arthur Murray franchise; Heidi Schiller, for whom Franz Lehár once wrote a waltz; and Carlotta Campion, a film star who has embraced life and benefited from every experience. As the guests reminisce, the stories of Ben, Phyllis, Buddy and Sally unfold. Phyllis and Sally were roommates while in the Follies, and Ben and Buddy were best friends at school in New York. As the stories are told, the ghosts in the background come alive and echo the stories being told. Sally is awed by Ben’s apparently glamorous life, but Ben wonders if he made the right choices and considers how things might have been. Sally tells Ben how her days have been spent with Buddy; it is clear that Sally is still in love with Ben – even though she was terribly hurt when Ben chose to marry Phyllis. As the reunion continues, we see the truth come out and the lives unravel. This culminates in the second act in the Loveland sequence, where each of these four characters goes through a nervous breakdown and we see their inner thoughts. By the end of the story, we’re back at the reunion, and watching which relationships survive, and which don’t.

The production of “Follies” at the Ahmanson was spectacular. It starts the moment you walk in the theatre, where the normally grand auditorium is transformed into an aging theatre about to be torn down. The production is the first I’ve seen that effectively creates ghosts and tells a story with flashbacks. This works — but it is such a novel approach I can see why it didn’t work in the 1970s. And the performances, oh the performance, they are wonderful. Credit for this not only goes to the actors, but to Eric Schaeffer who directed this story is a moving and haunting way.

But the actors, oh the actors. Let’s start with the leads: Victoria Clark as Sally Durant Plummer, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, and Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone. These four were all wonderful, making you believe the characters were who they were. Each had their standout moments: Burstein in “The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me-Blues”; Raines in a numbers such as “The Road You Didn’t Take”; Maxwell in “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” (a really dancing tour-de-force), and Clark in “Losing My Mind”. If I have any quibble it is with the casting of Clark: wonderful performance, but her voice is a bit operatic for the role (and, for the record, I also had a problem with Bernadette Peters in this role: she’s just not the right actress for this character). I’m not sure who is right: my wife suggested Annie Potts, but I’m not sure.

Next we come to the other former showgirls. These we see mostly through their spot performances. As Hattie, Jayne Houdyshell does a spot-on “Broadway Baby”, where you can see the inner performer in the doudy exterior. As Carlotta, Elaine Paige brings down the house with “I’m Still Here”. As Solange, Mary Beth Peil does a spectacular “Ah, Paris”, and the entire crew does a spectacular “Whose That Woman”, led by the wonderful Terri White (who has been through a lot). Rounding out the showgirls, we have Florence Lacey as Sandra Crane, Colleen Fitzpatrick as Dee Dee, Carol Neblett as Heidi,  and Susan Watson as Emily Whitman (who does a wonderful number, “Rain on the Roof” with her husband, Theodore, portrayed by Sammy Williams).

Throughout all these numbers, we constantly see the younger versions of these characters. Chief among the younger versions are Christian Delcroix as Young Buddy, Nick Verina as Young Ben, Lora Lee Gayer as Young Sally, and Kirsten Scott as Young Phyllis. These four just shine in numbers such as “Waiting for the Girls Upstairs”  and in the Loveland sequences. Rounding out the “young” versions were Leah Horowitz (Young Heidi), Becky Elizabeth Stout (Young Sandra, Buddy’s Blues “Margie”), Angel Reda (Young Solange), Jenifer Foote (Young Hattie, Buddy’s Blues “Sally”), Erin N. Moore (Young Stella), Danielle Jordan (Young Emily), and Pamela Otterson (Young Carlotta). All of these performers were also part of the ensemble, and were principally seen as ghosts and dancers echoing the older versions of their characters.

Rounding out the cast and ensemble were Obba Babatundé (Max Deems), Michael Hayes (Roscoe), David Sabin (Dimitri Weismann), Clifton Samuels (Kevin), and the other members of the ensemble: John Carroll, Mathew deGuzman (Swing, Dance Captain), Sara Edwards (Swing, Dance Captain), Nathaniel Flatt, Leslie Donna Flesner, Amanda Kloots-Larsen, Joseph Kolinski (understudy), Joe Komara, Jessica Perrizo, Andrew Pirozzi, Sam Strasfeld, and Sarrah Strimel.

Turning to the music and dance aspects. I’ve already mentioned that the music was composed by Stephen Sondheim. Orchestrations were by Jonathan Tunick. Music direction was by James Moore, and the production featured a nice large and lush orchestra. The choreography was by Warren Carlyle and was beautiful. I particularly noted the ghostly spectral showgirls constantly moving in the back, and how the younger versions of the dancers mirrors the older performers. Dance music was arranged by John Berkman.

The technical production was also outstanding. From the moment you enter the theatre you were aware of Derek McLane‘s wonderful scenic design. He transformed the Ahmanson stage into a decaying theatre, but even more amazing was the sudden Loveland transmission. Speaking of Loveland, that sequence highlighted the lighting design of Natasha Katz, where you could easily see how color created a mood. The costumes of Gregg Barnes did a wonderful job of creating not only the fabulous showgirl costumes, but the informal actor clothing of the thirties, as well as establishing the older showgirl characters and their present lives. Hair and wig design was by David Brian Brown, with make up by Joseph Dulude II. The sound design by Kai Harada was hidden, as a good sound design should be–everything was clear and crisp and the sound effects were natural. Juniper Street Productions served as the production manager, and Mark Rozzano is the company manager. David Ruttura was associate director. Ray Jin was the production stage manager.

“Follies” continues at the Ahamanson until June 9. You can get tickets through the Ahmanson Website, although if you’re looking for the cheap tickets, here’s a hint. If there are lots of balcony tickets available, just go to the box office and ask for Hottix. You can get two balcony tickets, day of show, at the box office, for $20 each, no surcharge. That’s what we did.

Upcoming Theatre, Concerts, and Dance: Rounding out June we have “Addams Family” at the Pantages on June 15 and “Million Dollar Quartet” at the Pantages on June 22, as well as the Palisades High School mega-picnic and the Wilshire Blvd Temple Camps 60th Anniversary. July features “The Savannah Disputation” at the Colony, “The Laramie Project” at REP East, and “Meet Me In St. Louis” at Cabrillo. August is more open, but will bring “Memphis” at the Pantages and “Playdates” at REP East.  As always, open dates are subject to be filled in with productions that have yet to appear on the RADAR of Goldstar or LA Stage Alliance.

Music: Follies (Highlights from the 1971 Original Broadway Cast) (Fufi D’Orsay / Ethel Shutta): Ah! Paris / Broadway Baby

 

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Looking for a Few Good Ideas… and Men

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

I’ve jumped back into the frey… the Temple officer frey, that is. I’ve been elected a Mens Club Vice President (without portfolio), and we’re having a meeting tomorrow to discuss ideas for the upcoming year. I’ve got a few ideas bouncing around my head, but I could use some help to finish fleshing them out.

When you think of a Mens Club, what activities come to mind? Probably your typical “manly” activities, right? Sporting events. Grilling meat. Poker. Golf. Camping. We do all of these things, but they aren’t attracting new participants to join the organization. We do have other events: mens only discussions, a mens-only seder, sukkah building, but these are much lower key.

I’m of the belief that limiting the group to stereotypical “mens” activities will only get us “stereotypical” men. That’s probably not the bulk of men in the congregation. We need to come up with activities to attract other men to join. If these activities can (a) raise funds for the congregation, and (b) have a connection to Judaism, so much the better.

I’ve been trying for the last few years to start a gaming afternoon. We’ve had low attendance, but I think that is a publicity problem. I need to publicize it to the school better… and more importantly, publicize it to the adult members of the congregation who probably think board gaming is for kids only. I was wondering this morning if we might increase attendance by adding in RPGs — in particular, some form of Jewish-themed RPG, if such a thing exists (it’s an intriguing notion when you think about it–just imagine an RPG of the Jews wandering out of Sinai, battling monsters along the way :-)).

One idea I’m thinking of proposing is a quarterly Jewish-themed theatre outing. We get together to see a Jewish-themed show, and go out for dessert afterwards and discuss the show. We could probably make a little money by purchasing group discount tickets and selling them at full price; we might also be able to get the theatres to donate gift certificates for the Golf Tournament prize table, once a relationship has been established.  This would serve to build community and attract those not into sporting events.

I’m open to additional ideas and suggestions. The question is: how do we draw them men of the congregation into our activities, and get them working together and making friends. If we can build the community of the mens club, we’re subtlety strengthening the community of the overall congregation.

Thoughts are welcome.

Music: In These Times (Peter, Paul & Mary): Wayfaring Stranger

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Revisiting a Friend in Dr. Seuss’ World

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Last night, we went to go see “Seussical–The Musical” at Nobel Middle School in Northrdge. Now, I’m sure your first question is… why? After all, our daughter has graduated high school, we have no other kids, so why would we willingly go to a middle school to see a musical. You’re probably thinking we are crazy. Trust me: we’re not. This little middle school does damn fine performances equaling or bettering many high schools and coming close to small regional productions. Plus, the people behind the program are just wonderful, and seeing how it was these people that were the teachers that were the initial “spark” for our daughter in school, we just had to go.

Before I go into the specifics of this production, I want to talk about the program itself. Back in 2005, there was no drama program at Nobel–at least nothing that presented shows to people. That changed in 2006, when two hard-working English teachers, Fanny Araña and Jean Martellaro, revitalized the program. Our daughter was in that first show, An Evening of Silverstein, and it touched a nerve for her. She was involved in every show thenceforth while at Nobel; she remained involved while at Van Nuys. It was the reason she went to Van Nuys HS (she loved working in theatre); it gave her friends and self-confidence. I think it was the “nudge” that turned her into the woman of today.

Now, that first show wasn’t all that fancy. There were a few lights on a light bar on the side, plugged in with extension cords because they couldn’t use the lights in the building. There was little amplification, and you couldn’t hear the kids. Sets were simplistic. The program wasn’t supported by the administration; in fact, it seemed as if the administration was actively hostile at times. Over the years, this program has grown and grown and become more professional. In Spring 2008 for Grease, there were professional-quality sets. Since then, the quality of the shows has continued to improve. They’ve got full theatrical lighting (paid for by the program or grants), a full lighting board and sound board with wireless microphones. They had spectacular sets. They are training students not only on acting and singing, but on the technical and backstage aspects of the production. They had remarkable costumes. All this in a drama progam at a Math-Science-Technology magnet. Even the administration seems to have turned around. Although there are still problems, I now see the school promote the drama productions and it has become something the school is proud of. All this is due to the work of Fanny and Jean and the parents, children, and others they have loved and brought into their orbit. These two women have made this program, and I just love them (both as teachers, and as really great people).

Turning to the show itself. This is one we’ve seen before–at the Teen Drama Workshop at CSUN. “Seussical” is a musical based on the Dr. Seuss books, with music by Lynn Ahrens, Book and Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and co-conceived by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and Eric Idle. The story basically combines “Horton Hears a Who” with “Horton Hatches an Egg”, with a number of other Seuss stories and characters thrown in for good measure. If you are familiar with the two-act version of the cast album, this is a cut down, one act version that preserves the basic story, but cuts out some of the more extraneous stuff, such as the Butter Battle, and the environmental subplot (it appears to be the Jr. High/Middle School version).  It is a great show for middle school: it supports good characters, lots of music, and lots of positions for kids.

Nobel did a great job with the show. I really couldn’t detect acting problems–there wasn’t the overacting you often see in HS productions. There was just good storytelling and kids having fun. The singing was mixed–some good, some weaker–but this is what you get in middle school with kids that aren’t going into that career. It was a step above past productions–this is likely due to the introduction of a choral director, Sara Greenberg. I’ll go into the tech in a bit.

Some of the kids performances were outstanding. Particularly notable was Michael Dager as Horton the Elephant: this young man could sing well, and could act well, conveying his emotion to the audience clearly. Also mostly strong were Julia Trites as the Cat in the Hat, Jessica Bell as Gertrude McFuzz, Jenny Tuell as the Sour Kangaroo. The acting of these three was all great, and for the most part, their singing was strong and spot on. As Jojo, Jordan Vasich started out weak, but once he moved into the real Jojo role, was pretty good. A number of other kids caught my eye with their acting–particularly Deven Streeton at Thing1, Megan Chu as Thing 2, the twins (Amanda and Jessica Wilheim) who played the baby kangaroos, and whichever citizen of Whoville was wearing the glasses.  These youngsters were just fun to watch.

As would be expected, there was a large cast in this show, and I could only highlight a few. The full cast was: Cat in the Hat: Julia Trites; Jojo: Jordan Vasich. Horton: Michael Dager. Gertrude McFuzz: Jessica Bell. Amayzing Mayzie: Taylor Pearl. Sour Kangaroo: Jenny Tuell. Baby Kangaroos: Amanda and Jessica Wilsheim. Mr. Mayor: Noah Gephart Canada. Mrs. Mayor: Jenny McNabb. Vlad Vladikoff: Cruz Godinez. Yertle the Turtle: Shelby Kaplan. Bird Girls: Abigail Franks, Emily Bernstein, Gianna Lowe, Kayla Hamburg, Shelby Vasich, Victoria Solkovitz. Wickersham Mob Boss: Josh Zweig. Wickershams: Aria Doherty, Bennett Chester, Edgar Tumbokon, Jeremiah Coleman, Michael Lertzman, Sabrina Vasich. Whoville Citizens: Alexander Goldbloom, Adnrea Mayorga, Berna Amet, Cassandra Cohen, Kaitlyn Guadagno, Maya Efrat, Nick Katurich, Nichole Wilheim, Shane Harrington. Thing 1: Deven Streeton. Thing 2: Megan Chu. Jungle Creatures: Alice Kazantsev, Ashley David, Crystal Garcia, Jaylen Dunn, Jessica Zubia Calsada, Josh Lloyd, Josue Solorzano, Sukhmani Kaur. Hunters: Josue Solorzano, Wade Hawthorne. Jungle Creatures/Fish: Alyssa Escartin, Drew Golden, Lisette Avila, Madison Tilner, Michaela Moser, Sanam Vojdanpak, Shannon Fonseca. Jungle Creatures/Circus Performers: Brian Card, Emily Flores, Miaya May, Michelle Sarabia, Shiloh Sacks, Sukhmani Kaur, Wade Hawthorne.

The production was directed by Jean Martellaro and produced by Fanny Araña. Choreography was by Carloyn Doherty. Choral direction by Sara Greenberg. No credit was provided for the recorded music.

Turning to the technical: Nobel has improved 200% in terms of light and sound. Going from the early days of stand up microphones at the front, with some light stands on the side that kept overheating and no controls for either to last night’s show: with multiple standard theatrical lights both on the sides and on top in front of the stage, as well as overhead on the stage, with a full lighting and sound board. Credit to this improvement goes to the technical directors, Fanny Araña and Brian Bengler. Brian also did lighting and sound design, and other than a few glitches, it was pretty good (and in many ways, stronger than I’ve seen at Van Nuys). The spectacular sets were designed by Gail Zweben, stepping in for regular designer Dennis Kull, who was unable to do the show. These sets were clever, multilevel (something you rarely see in middle school), well constructed, and took great advantage of black lighting. The costumes were extremely clever, and were the work of a large number of people. Also spectacular were the fish puppets — I think these had the audience in awe.

Technical credits (not already given): Production crew: Chriss Bell, Darlene Streeton, Huan Chu. Production assistants: Charlene Wilheim, Debbie Canada, John Roberto, Steve Wilheim. Specialty costumes: Bird Girls & Kangaroos – Larissa Kazantsev; Whos & Monkeys – Michelle Hamburg. Costume Assistants: Darleen Streeton, Debbie Sornborger, Lucia Arias, Patty Katurich. Fish puppet creators: Diane Kaspar, Baljot, Chanal, Micole Granados, Savannah Flores, Thrinity Martinez. Technical crew: Alex Pappas, Andre Shahinian, Bella Ortega, Daniel Zgodzay, Denise Rojas, Gillian Evenas, Isaíjah Johnson, Jojo Roecker, Jordan Whittaker, Luis Gallardo, Matan Levin, Megan Roberto, Nicolas Carlson, Ridge Echiverri, Rosemary Vazquez, Sahar Alubhoy, Salpy Haroutunian, Shaha Shahinian, Shane Scott, Stephanie Italiaie, Taylor Ketterling, Tyler Greene, Zaharun Hossain.

“Seussical” continues at Nobel Middle School today at 2pm and 630pm. Nobel Middle School is in Northridge CA at Tampa and Lassen; parking is on Merridy one block N of Tampa. This program is funded by donations, not tickets at the door. So come, donate, and help keep this program alive.

ETA: You can see some wonderful pictures of the production here.

Upcoming Theatre, Concerts, and Dance: I may see if I can get last-minute tickets to  “Follies” at the Ahmanson for tonight. Rounding out June we have “Addams Family” at the Pantages on June 15 and “Million Dollar Quartet” at the Pantages on June 22, as well as the Palisades High School mega-picnic and the Wilshire Blvd Temple Camps 60th Anniversary. July features “The Savannah Disputation” at the Colony, “The Laramie Project” at REP East, and “Meet Me In St. Louis” at Cabrillo. August is more open, but will bring “Memphis” at the Pantages and “Playdates” at REP East.  As always, open dates are subject to be filled in with productions that have yet to appear on the RADAR of Goldstar or LA Stage Alliance.

Music: Confessions (Liza Minnelli): Close Your Eyes

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