Month: January 2014

California Highway Headlines – January 2013

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

userpic=roadgeekingA new year, and that means its time for a new collection of highway headlines:

  • 4.4 miles of new carpool lanes officially opened on 10 freeway between 605 and Puente Ave.. Caltrans and Metro [in mid-December] officially dedicated 2.2 miles of HOV lanes in both directions on the 10 freeway between the 605 freeway and Puente Avenue in Baldwin Park.
  • Caltrans Dismisses Montecito Groups’ Pleas on Highway 101, Tells SBCAG It Backs Original Plan. After months of meetings and analysis, Caltrans is right back where it started with Highway 101 in Montecito. Caltrans director Malcolm Dougherty wants to move forward with the original proposed South Coast Highway 101 HOV Project, he said in a recommendation letter issued Friday. The ongoing Highway 101 widening project includes the addition of carpool lanes through Montecito, the elimination of left-side entrance and exit ramps at Cabrillo Boulevard and Sheffield Drive, and the closing of the southbound Los Patos Way exit ramp.
  • Caltrans’s Way Is the Highway. Four days before Christmas, statewide Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty quietly drew a very bright line in the sand regarding his agency’s plans to widen Highway 101 from Montecito to the Ventura border, notifying critics with Common Sense 101, the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), and anyone wondering about the fate of the biggest public works project ​— ​worth an estimated $450 million ​— ​to hit the South Coast in decades. Caltrans, the director stated, would give no further consideration to the much-disputed left-hand exit and entrance ramps at Cabrillo Boulevard and Sheffield Drive, stating their retention would pose “long-term safety and operational conditions and are not viable or approvable as part of this project.”
  • Drought’s Persistence Reveals More of Lake Cachuma’s Hidden Past Life. As the drought and receding shoreline of Lake Cachuma continue to do their thing, Santa Barbarans worry. And not without merit. Generations of locals have fretted about much-needed water — or lack thereof — and have come up with a number of ways to remedy the situation. In fact, the creation of the lake in the 1950s was just such a solution. One of the few perks of having a longstanding drought is that certain topographical features, otherwise unseen to us, reveal themselves. Such is the case with the “mystery bridge” and the foundations of a long-gone ranch that are usually submerged under the waters of the lake.
  • San Clemente Could See A Second I-5 Widening. A $275 million I-5 widening that will add carpool lanes between San Juan Creek Road in San Juan Capistrano and just past Avenida Pico in San Clemente could lead to a second widening in San Clemente. Don’t expect the second widening in San Clemente to occur anytime soon. The Transportation Authority has yet to determine the project’s scope and a source of funding for it, said OCTA spokesman Joel Zlotnik. More information here.
  • Highway 12 project sees progress. A $130 million push to widen Highway 12 to four lanes for the 6 miles through Jameson Canyon will see some milestones in coming days and weeks. What appears to be one project is really two separate projects with separate contractors, one in Napa County and one in Solano County. State Department of Transportation Senior Resident Engineer Elias Moussa said the Napa County side is 90 percent finished and the Solano County side is 70 percent finished.
  • I-215 overhaul included 15 new bridges, 34 ramps. A bevy of dignitaries hailed completion of the Route 215 widening project Friday. Deborah Barmack, formerly of SANBAG, says it took 7-years. But, the $647 million project was much more than a freeway improvement. “It will not only improve transportation and movement of goods, but it has served as a stimulus to reinvent the city of San Bernardino.” The overhaul included 15 new bridges, four new lanes, two flyovers and the reconstruction of 34 ramps.
  • Jamzilla 405 operation more complex than Carmageddon. The planned 80-hour “Jamzilla” paving operation now scheduled for Presidents’ Day Weekend, February 14-18 is more complex, requires new construction and is more time-consuming than the epic “Carmageddon” bridge demolitions of 2011 and 2012.
  • Bottleneck Opener? I-5 Widening In South County Starts Wednesday. A $249 million project to smooth out a notorious bottleneck on I-5 gets underway Wednesday – not with the clink of shovels, but with the crack of a six-foot Australian bullwhip. The project will add carpool lanes to nearly six miles of the freeway as it curves from San Juan Capistrano to San Clemente. Transportation officials consider its launch a big enough event that they hired a champion whip cracker – “Lovely Leslie” Leone of San Juan Capistrano – to cut the ceremonial starting ribbon.
  • I-5 freeway project gets cracking in South O.C.. The sharp crack of a whip Wednesday signaled the start of freeway construction that will add carpool lanes between San Juan Creek Road and Avenida Pico. More than 100 transportation, community and business leaders gathered to celebrate the start of construction for the $249 million I-5 South Improvement Project. In addition to adding the carpool lane in both directions between San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, the project will rebuild the Avenida Pico interchange in San Clemente.
  • 101 Freeway toll studied . Paying a toll to bypass traffic on Ventura County’s stretch of the 101 Freeway may be the wave of the future for local commuters. But even if the Ventura County Transportation Commission’s $111,000 feasibility study finds that installing High-Occupancy Toll lanes along the 101 Freeway is doable, it would take at least a decade before motorists could actually use them.
  • Demolition of old Bay Bridge span months behind schedule. It’s only just begun, and the $239 million takedown of the old Bay Bridge eastern span has already fallen six months behind schedule – prompting officials to reopen negotiations with the contractor to try to speed things up. One immediate effect of the delay: The scheduled hookup of the popular bike and pedestrian path to Yerba Buena Island has been put back. Caltrans originally hoped to have the old bridge out of the way and the bike path ready to be connected to Yerba Buena by early 2015. “We are now looking at the summer of 2015,” said bridge project spokesman Andrew Gordon.
  • Preserving the Old Bay Bridge . As demolition moves forward on the historic structure, Bay Area artists are advocating for creative reuse of the steel before it’s scrapped and sent overseas.
  • Planning officials to study possible teardown of I-280 segment for rail connection. A stretch of Interstate 280, aka the John F. Foran Freeway, dissects much of the southern reaches of San Francisco and has its terminus at Fourth and King streets. Now the seeds are being planted for the potential transformation of the northernmost stretch of the old “southern freeway” as far south as Mariposa Street to make way for new rail links, among other projects in the area.
Share

Thank You for the Honor of Your Company

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

userpic=folk-artistsMy tastes in music haven’t always been this varied. Although now I have over 33,000 songs on my iPod, from loads of different genres, things were different when I was young. Back in my teens, I wasn’t into the rock music of my friends — I was into folk. Primarily, that meant Peter, Paul, and Mary. Since then, I’ve branched out. I’ve also learned more about folk music, and the folk music revival of the 1960s. Kingston Trio. Tom Paxton. Chad Mitchell Trio. Dave Van Ronk. Joan Baez. Judy Collins. Brothers Four. Mississippi John Hurt. Burl Ives. … and the father of the entire movement, Pete Seeger.

The world lost Pete yesterday.

All I can say in response are the words of Tom Paxton, in his song “Thank You for the Honor of Your Company”:

When I find myself with a song to write,
I remember candles in the night.
Voices raised in ragged harmony,
Singing this land was made for you and me.
Some of those voices are silent now and gone;
I’m glad to see how you’ve been keeping on.
I remember the songs that pulled us through,
And when I hear those songs, I think of you.

So, thank you for the honor of your company;
The music was as sweet as the good red wine.
Thanks for the company,
And thanks for the harmony,
I’m here to say the honor was all mine.

Back when times were tough and the news was bad,
Faith and a couple of songs was all we had.
Songs we rearranged and made our own;
Songs it sometimes seemed we’d always known.
We’ve been together now for a long long time;
And if ever I was the poet, you were the rhyme.
It was always the music that kept us strong.
And, if ever I was the singer, you were the song.

So, thank you for the honor of your company;
The music was as sweet as the good red wine.
Thanks for the company,
And thanks for the harmony,
I’m here to say the honor was all mine.

Decade after decade, year by hear,
Season after season, we’re still here,
And it does not take a crystal ball to know
We’re gonna go out singing when we go.
A five-string banjo and a steel string guitar
Just a couple of the reasons why we’ve come this far,
Singing like we always have and will,
Knowing the circle is unbroken still.

So, thank you for the honor of your company;
The music was as sweet as the good red wine.
Thanks for the company,
And thanks for the harmony,
I’m here to say the honor was all mine.

 

Share

Monday Rant: Spy Agencies Spy. That’s a Surprise?

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

userpic=securityMonday’s seem to be my day to rant over something I saw while skimming the news at lunch. Today’s rant is prompted by the article “Report: Spy agencies collude to gather personal data from mobile apps” in PCWorld. Thanks to Snowden’s disclosures, the world appears to be up in arms that spy agencies are (heaven forfend) spying, and (heaven forfend again) spying quite possibly on them.

Guess what. That’s their job. It’s in their name. They are spy agencies.

Think about this: Imagine you are the head of a spy agency. Imagine you have been tasked to find enemies who are tasked with harming the country you are sworn to protect and defend. Wouldn’t you do anything you could think of to find them? In this quest, would you care at all about the other information gathered along the way that shows people who might be people? Probably not. That stuff is chaff, not the nuggets of grain you want. You have to sort through a hella lot of chaff to find the occasional grain.

So why is everyone up in arms about this? I opine there are two reasons.

First, there is a growing distrust of government and government agencies, egged on by the wackos and conspiracy theorists whose voices are amplified by the Internets. Read any newspaper during WWII. There were much much more flagrant violations of rights during those times than today, but they were swept under the rug. People no longer trust government, and no longer believe it is working in their interest. That’s why they are scared. It is also a significant concern independent of the spying — we need to restore the faith that the government is on the side of the people. [Or, as some might argue, we need to restore government that is on the side of the people. Both views beg the question of what “on the side of the people” means.]

Second, there is a growing surprise that the government can find out as much as they can. Part of that, my friends, is on all of our backs. We’ve been so eager to adopt new technology before it is mature, and before the security and privacy safeguards have been designed and are strong. Is it any surprise that designed-in weaknesses are exploited? Similarly, we have failed to keep our laws up to date with all the facets of technology. So is it any surprise that people are exploiting those laws?

So spy agencies spy. It’s the scorpion and the frog all over again. What should we do about it all?

First, work with lawmakers to enact updated laws that appropriately protect privacy while providing national security and dealing with current and future technology.

Second, vow not to adopt the latest and greatest until you know it provides you a level of protection that you want. Let companies know you’re willing to pay for security, not go cheap for compromises.

Third, understand where the threat lies. The government could care less about the chaff. Big business, on the other hand, loves the chaff. They mine it, research it, learn your habits, so that they can sell you more and more. Remember: if it is free, you are the product. Be careful who you give your information to.

 

Share

A Milestone Crossed

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

userpic=ipodThis morning, a milestone was crossed: the 33,000th song was added to my iPod. Although I can’t identify exactly which song that was, I can identify the 33,000th song that moved from the unplayed playlist to the Music playlist: Crazy by Patsy Cline, from the album “The Definitive Collection” (Patsy Cline). What prompted crossing the line was an email this morning announcing a large number of $5 digital albums. I went through the list and identified a number of potential albums (including multiple Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Glen Campbell, and others), but for pocketbook reasons, settled on six:

  • Endless Summer (Beach Boys)
  • When Country Meets Dixie (The Dukes of Dixieland and The Oak Ridge Boys)
  • The Definitive Collection (Patsy Cline)
  • Blonde On Blonde (Bob Dylan)
  • Rock Of The Westies (Elton John)
  • Surrealistic Pillow (Jefferson Airplane)

[What were the “near misses”? 11-17-70 (Elton John); 20 Greatest Hits (Glen Campbell); All The Best (Glen Campbell); At Folsom Prison (Johnny Cash); Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits (Vol. 1) (Bob Dylan); C.W. McCall’s Greatest Hits (C.W. McCall); Heart Like a Wheel (Linda Ronstadt);  Live in Australia (Elton John); Love Has Come for You (Steve Martin); Monterey International Pop Festival;  Greetings from Asbury Park NJ (Bruce Springsteen); Nebraska (Bruce Springsteen);  Best of the Irish Rovers (Irish Rovers)]

I’ve still got a few LPs to record (including some big band, Willie Nelson, and Julie London); once those are in and I get the “5 or fewer plays” playlist back down to zero (0), I’ll devote some more energy to getting the “10 or fewer plays” playlist to somewhere around 29,000 songs before binging on music again. (well, at least that’s what I’m telling myself). Oh, and if you’re curious, I still have 27GB free on the iPod — this is why I love the iPod Classic, and have no desire for a modern iPod or iPhone with significantly less storage. Apple — if you want us iPod Classic folks to move over to the new ecosystem, you need to make an affordable iPod with at least 160GB of storage after accounting for the operating system and a typical app load (i.e., go for 256GB).

Current Music: “Feed Me” – Rock Of The Westies (Elton John)

Share

Thinking About Relationships

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (Repertory East Playhouse)userpic=repeastThis is a relationship weekend. I talked about congregational relationships Friday night at the Men’s Club Shabbat; I’ve been thinking about our theatre subscription relationships with Cabrillo; and last night I saw a musical (“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change“) that focuses on relationships. To be precise, I saw a musical about relationships for the second time — for back in 2006, we had just discovered Repertory East Playhouse (FB). The second production we ever saw there, in March 2006, was “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change“, and it cemented our relationship with this theatre as a place we wanted to be.  [I’ll note that back in 2006, “I Love You…” was followed shortly thereafter by “Forever Plaid” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB); and this year, we’re seeing “Forever Plaid” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) two weeks after “I Love You…“. Aren’t coincidences grand?]

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” (book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro (FB), music by Jimmy Roberts (FB)) is a series of vignettes that, over the course of the show, trace relationships from the first date to senior-citizen relationships. Starting with the dating process, we see the trials and tribulations of trying to find the right person, and the seemingly endless progression of wrong people that are tried and discarded along the way. Essentially, the entire first act is focused on this search, concluding with the wedding vows. Along the way, the continual questions seems to be: “Why am I doing this?” and “What am I getting into?”. The second act focuses on the post-marriage relationships: the problems of the bridesmaid, how marriage and children affect the relationship. Most importantly, the second act focuses on the maturation of relationships — moving away from the frenzied desire to find perfection in a partner to the acceptance of what real love is and the value of companionship.

The musical has no continuing characters, and there is not a traditional storyline. The four actors (two men, two women) portray a variety of characters over the various scenes, with the focus being the message and not the growth of any individual character. Even though I’ve seen the show before and am well acquainted with the music, I still found myself being touched by the story. I think this is because that, as you move through life, different scenes reach out to you in different ways. Back in 2006, I resonated more with the “Marriage Tango” and the “Highway of Love” songs; today, I’m more in the “Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With You” area. I think everyone will find something that resonates with them in this musical. That was certainly true if you listened to the audience reaction to this: although there was continual laughter, you could tell from where the laughter was that difference scenes were speaking to different people.

The performers in this show: Stephanie Fredricks (FB) (Woman I), Renee Cohen (FB) (Woman 2), Tim Hearl (FB) (Man 1), and Jason Peter Kennedy (FB) (Man 2), were very strong. I was blown away by the power in the singing voices of both Stephanie and Renee; the songs for the men didn’t provide as much opportunity for power, but their voices were equally pleasant. I still have some particular numbers in this show that I absolutely love — my favorite being “Always a Bridesmaid”. I’m pleased to say that Stephanie Fredricks (FB) hit it out of the park with that number, giving an absolutely spot-on performance on top of the song. Brava! Another other notable vocal performance was in “Single Man Drought”.

But in addition to the singing, I just loved the performances themselves. They were touching, comic, and just a delight to watch. I particularly remember the gentle interaction between the actors in “Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With You?” (there was just some small facial gestures and movements that just made this scene perfect), the touching nature of “I Can Live With That”, the comic use of the bear in “The Baby Song”, the humorous charactures in “A Stud and a Baby” and “Hey There Single Gal”. In general — this is just a fun show, with great performance and very tender movements.

“I Love You…” was directed by Richard Van Slyke (FB), with vocal direction by Virginia Stewart (FB). Choreography was by Samantha Whidby (FB). As always, I can never separate where the director ends and the actor begins, which typically means that both are strong. This directoral team brought out strong performances in the actors that were believable and touching, and yet still conveyed the fun that the actors were having with the role. As I noted before, the singing was very good, and the movement was effective for the REP space. The main drawback was that the music was recorded (my write-up in 2006 shows they had a keyboard player back then). I still prefer live music, and I hope that one day in the future REP can figure out how to work their limited space to add live music to the mix.

No credit is provided for the set design, which was very simple (a number of risers, some partially outlined framed spaces) but which worked very well for this show. Costumes were designed by Erin Rivlin (FB) and worked reasonably well (although the wedding dress could use a little adjustment). As always, the lighting design was by Tim Christianson/FB, and the sound design was by Steven “Nanook” Burkholder/FB. J. T. Centonze (FB) (in his utilikilt) was the stage manager and coordinated the props. Print and video designs were by Mikee Schwinn/FB. “I Love You…” was produced by Ovington Michael Owston (FB).

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” continues at Repertory East Playhouse (FB) through February 15. It is well worth seeing. Tickets are available through the REP Online Box office, and may be available from Goldstar (be careful not to confuse it with the production in North Hollywood at Crown City, which closes this week) and the 25Score Card. I’ll note that REP appears to have a new domain name, the-rep.org, but it just seems to redirect to the main site, repeastplayhouse.org.

[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:  Next weekend takes us to Downtown LA, where we’re seeing “Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike” at the Mark Taper Forum. February 8 will bring “Forever Plaid” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). The following weekend brings Lysistrata Jones at The Chance Theatre (FB) in Anaheim on February 16. The next weekend, February 22, is currently open — I’m hoping to get tickets for “Discord: The Gospel According to Jefferson, Dickens, and Tolstoy” (LA Stage Tix) at the No Ho Arts Center; other possibilities are “On The Money” at the Victory Theatre Center (FB); “Above the Fold” at the Pasadena Playhouse (FB); or “My Name is Asher Lev” at the Fountain Theatre (FB) (as this runs through April 19, this might be good for mid-March or April), or something else that hasn’t caught my attention yet. I may wait to see what else shows up on Goldstar. The last day of February sees us in Studio City at Two Roads Theatre for Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing“, followed the next evening by the MRJ Regional Man of the Year dinner at Temple Beth Hillel. March theatre starts with “Sex and Education” at The Colony Theatre (FB) on March 8.  (this might be good for March 16); The weekend of March 16 brings Purim Schpiels, with Sunday afternoon bringing “Inherit the Wind” at the Grove Theatre Center (FB) in Burbank. March 22 is being held for “Harmony” at The Ahmanson Theatre (FB). March concludes with “Biloxi Blues” at REP East (FB) on March 29. April will start with “In The Heights” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on April 5, and should also bring “Tallest Tree” at the Mark Taper Forum, as well as the Southern California Renaissance Faire. 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.

 

Share

Saturday Stew: Technology, Cannibal Rats, &c

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Observation StewIt’s Saturday, and you know what that means: time to clear out the links list of articles that never quite formed into themes of three or more articles:

  • The iPod of Prison. An interesting article from the New Yorker on the Sony SRF-39FB, a clear plastic AM/FM radio that is the most popular radio … in prisons. The clear plastic is one factor, the sound quality and reception is another, as well as the price. It is only now starting to be replaced by MP3 players, where the prison controls what can be downloaded.
  • Risks of BYOD. The catchword today in business is BYOD – Bring Your Own Device. Businesses have become more accomodating of employee’s using their personal smartphones and other devices on corporate networks. But there’s a big downside — when you leave the company, typically they have the right to remotely wipe your device. You should read any connection agreements you need to click through carefully, and make an offline archive of any personal information before you leave.
  • Multilingual. Here’s a neat article and video: “Let It Go” (from Frozen) in 25 languages, and how Disney planned the movie for 41 languages. I love how seamless the video is — great job from the sound engineers to get the timing exactly right. I love listening to songs I know in other language, be it “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish, “Hair” in Hebrew, “Les Miserables” in French, the Beatles in German. I blame my high school Spanish teacher, who constantly played “yo no encuentro satisfacción”.
  • Cannibal Rats. There evidently is a ship floating around the northern Atlantic that is filled with cannibal rats. Whether or not you think the story is real, the concept is right up there with “Snakes on a Plane”. Can’t you just see the horror movie now. Our teens on a pleasure cruise come upon an abandoned ship and decide to explore.. and they find…
  • No Ren Faires in Your Long-Term Future. Good news for history, English, and other liberal arts majors: it’s not the career death you’ve been told. Liberal arts majors may start off slower than others when it comes to the postgraduate career path, but they close much of the salary and unemployment gap over time, a new report shows. By their mid-50s, liberal arts majors with an advanced or undergraduate degree are on average making more money those who studied in professional and pre-professional fields, and are employed at similar rates…. with one exception. Salaries still lag behind engineering and math and sciences graduates, who in their late 50s make about $98,000 and $87,000, respectively.
  • A Loss for the Jewish Community. The LA Times and the Jewish Journal are reporting that Harvey Fields has died. Rabbi Fields was just taking over from Rabbi Wolf as senior Rabbi at Wilshire Blvd Temple when we got married; Rabbi Wolf had been senior rabbi for a year after the death of Rabbi Magnin. We were only at Wilshire as Fields was coming in, but he did remarkable things for the congregation during the time — he basically brought the congregation back into modern progressive Judaism, stemmed the membership decline, and completely revitalized the place. I was more involved with the camps, and during much of his time, there weren’t significant changes there (those came near the end of Fields’ tenure as Rabbi Leder was coming in). But Fields still deserves a lot of credit for what he did for Wilshire Blvd Temple and the Jewish community in Los Angeles.

 

Share

The Rest of the Story

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

userpic=frebergToday’s news chum brings you, as Paul Harvey might say, “the rest of the story”:

 

Share

Thoughts on a Theatre Season – Cabrillo 2014-2015

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Cabrillo UserpicWe’ve been subscribing at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) in Thousand Oaks since forever, if the value of forever is 2001. Our first show at Cabrillo was “Anything Goes” in 2001, and since then they have been a reliable source of well-produced musicals, often ones not commonly done in the area, with great regional talent and the occasional name performer, at a reasonable price. You can see all their past seasons here. We now bring our senior mother-in-law with us, and she seems to enjoy the shows there as well.

We just got our renewal notice for the 2014-2015 season. Here are the shows in the season:

  • Memphis (November 14-23, 2014). We saw the first National tour of this when it was at the Pantages. We had reasonably good seats, so we could hear well, and the plot of the show wasn’t that spectacular. At least it wasn’t a jukebox show.
  • Mary Poppins: The Broadway Musical. (April 17-26, 2015). We saw the first National tour of this when it was at the Ahmanson. Great production, but we were off on the side (which really didn’t hurt that much).
  • Oklahoma (July 17-26, 2015). We’ve seen this before — ages ago — when it was at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. Not sure how much I want to see it again. It was last at Cabrillo in 1996.
  • [Bonus Production] Company (January 23-February 8, 2015). We just saw an intimate scale production of this at Crown City Theatre back in March 2013. Not sure anything can top that.

In short, this is a season where I’ve seen all the shows at some point, and most I’m lukewarm about seeing again. The season ticket prices, where we’re sitting, is $108 for 3 shows, or $138 for 3 shows plus the bonus. I’m truly undecided — that money could equally well go for more shows at a smaller company (such as The Group Rep (FB)), but we would get less musicals. I could explore a different musical company, such as Musical Theatre West, which has more interesting shows, but they do a lot of shows I’ve seen anyway, plus they are down in Long Beach (an even worse schlepp from the Valley than Thousand Oaks). Their staged reading series is more interesting, but that’s only a single night (making scheduling difficult)… plus it is still in Long Beach. Actors Rep of Simi or Canyon Theatre Guild are also possibilities, but they are much more at the regional/amateur theatre level.

P.S.: Wonderful quote in the review of “Discord”: “They quickly get on one another’s nerves: Imagine the dramaturgical love-child of “Steve Allen’s Meeting of Minds” and Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit.””

Share