January 2024 – Observations Along the Road

🎭 Who Told Them About My Family? | “Sukkot” @ 6th Act / Skylight

Posted onSunday, January 28, 2024Tuesday, January 30, 2024AuthorcahwyguyLeave a comment

Sukkot (Sixth Act at Skylight) Let’s get the fanboy out of the way first. I saw Elim Garek in a play today. Well, Andy Robinson, but I could figure it out. It was everything I could hope for, and it was the icing on the cake of a great play.

So, going back to the start. I’m always on the lookout for Jewish-themed plays for the Live Theatre group at our synagogue (which I coordinate). I don’t want only plays focused on the holocaust or bad things, but I want plays that will stimulate the mind, and get the group thinking about Judaism. So when the North Hollywood facebook page posted about the upcoming play Sukkot being done by the 6th Act Company at Skylight Theatre, I knew I had our next show. I coordinate the group, and off we went to the show. It was a very successful outing.

Sukkot, by Matthew Leavitt, tells the story of the Sullivan family. Patrick, the father of three adult children, has just lost his wife to cancer. He was raised Catholic, but she was Jewish. The unveiling of her marker, marking one year after the death, is coming up. It lands on Sukkot, the Feast of Booths. For those unfamiliar, this is when Jews build open-air structures in their yards and eat and sometimes sleep in them, symbolizing the booths that the Jews escaping Egypt slept in in the desert. It is notable for being the only holiday where Jews are commanded to rejoice.

So, to try and rediscover joy, Patrick builds a sukkah in his back yard, and has all his children who are coming out for the unveiling “live” in the hut. This serves as the central focal point for the story. In turn, we meet the children: Asher, who has been living with Patrick taking care of his mother while she died of Breast Cancer. He is unemployed. Mairead, who has a husband and two children, lives in St. Louis, and is a gynecologist. The youngest, Eden, who lives in the Pacific Northwest and does children’s entertainment. Unsurprisingly, the children are very different from each other, and have the sibling squabbles we all know.

The show is at point hilariously funny and deeply inciteful. We went with a group, and I think everyone saw elements from their families or their children in the characters. As an example, for me it raised the question I’m debating now: Should I retire, and what will I do with myself when I retire? But the show delves into much more: relationships between children, relationships between parents and children, parents raising children differently, dealing with life and illness, dealing with elderly parents, realizing parents are people too. I saw my mother-in-law in the show; I saw my wife’s siblings; I saw my parents. Somehow they turned a camera on everyone’s family.

I’m not going to spoil the details of the story with further details of plots specifics, but I think all the characters grow and learn. There are some important points that come from show. First is that family may fight and squabble, but when a family member needs help, they usually come together. I think a more important message was on the meaning of Sukkot. One character observes that the only time we get unquestioning positives is when we get married, or right after we die. We don’t hear the latter. So Sukkot should be the time we rejoice in each other, and tell people the good things about them. Thinking good about people at least once a year isn’t a bad thing.

The performances were remarkable. I’ve already mentioned Andy Robinson, who played Patrick. There were times I could see Garak there, but his characterization of the father was nuanced and fun to watch. All of the other cast members—Jonathan Slavin (Asher), Liza Seneca (Maired), and Natalie Lander (Eden)—were equally compelling characters, played well. Show like this remind one of how special live theatre is for the Los Angeles community. These were all top grade actors, and here we get to see them, in an intimate theatre, doing what they love best: acting on the stage. This is small theatre—they aren’t doing this for the money. They are known in the industry—they don’t need the exposure. They are doing this for the love and perfection of the craft, and it shows.

The writing of the show was strong, and there were points that reminded me of Moonlighting, with the overlapping dialogue. But Leavitt created compelling characters and story, and there were only a few “ouch” moments. Some of those came from some characterizations of Jewish practice that might grate for a Jewish group; others were mentions such as “UC Fresno”, which is wrong in many ways (there is a UC Merced, and a Cal State Fresno, and they are different things). But overall, this was great.

Sukkot. Written by Matthew Leavitt; Directed by Joel Zwick. Cast: Andy Robinson _{Patrick Sullivan}; Jonathan Slavin _{Asher Sullivan}; Liza Seneca _{Mairead Sullivan}; Natalie Lander _{Eden Sullivan}. Production and Creative Team: Mark Mendelson _{Scenic Design}; Douglas Gabrielle _{Lighting Design}; Christopher Moscatiello _{Sound Design}; David Elzer, Demand PR _Publicity; Michelle Hanzelova-Bierbauer _{Graphic Design}; Rich Wong _{Stage Manager}.

Sukkot plays for one more weekend at the Skylight Theatre (until Feb 4^th), over on Vermont S of Franklin, near Skylight Books. Tickets are available through the Sixth Act website; discount tickets may be available through the usual suspects. This was a really interesting play, and I strongly recommend it.

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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:

February: Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet at CTG/Ahmanson; Marvelous Wonderettes – Dream On at Canyon Theatre Guild; The Wiz at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages.
March: One of the Good Ones at the Pasadena Playhouse; Million Dollar Quartet at 5-Star Theatricals; Chicago at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages; Fat Ham at Geffen Playhouse.
April: Funny Girl at CTG/Ahamanson Theatre; Renaissance Pleasure Faire; Xanadu (🎫 Pending) at Canyon Theatre Guild; Gordon Goodwin and the Big Phat Band at BofA/Kavli Theatre in Thousand Oaks; Spongebob Squarepants – The Musical at CSUN Theatre.
May: Hands on a Hardbody at Charles Stewart Howard Playhouse (🎫 Pending); Girl from the North Country at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages; The Play That Goes Wrong at Canyon Theatre Guild (🎫 Pending); Jelly’s Last Jam at the Pasadena Playhouse.

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.

ETA 24-01-30: 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.

Second: Broadway Dallas just announced their season. I like to look at the announcements of other “presenting houses” (i.e., regional theatres that specialize in touring productions) to get an idea of what will be coming to Broadway in Hollywood or the Ahmanson. Broadway Dallas’ season included the following shows that haven’t yet been in Los Angeles: Shucked; Back to the Future – The Musical; & Juliet; and Life of Pi. Other shows that I know will be touring are a new remounting of Beauty and the Beast (lukewarm on this, but I’m sure it will be at least an option at Broadway in Hollywood) and the recent production of Parade. According to Playbill and some other sources, other upcoming tour productions (that haven’t been announced for the LA area) are Kimberly Akimbo; the new revival of Sweeny Todd; A Beautiful Noise; Some Like It Hot; and New York, New York. I hope How to Dance in Ohio tours, but perhaps there will be a regional mounting; Harmony should be seen and I also hope it tours, but we saw it in a pre-Broadway version almost 10 years ago.

🎭 The White House is a Farce | “POTUS” @ Geffen Playhouse

Posted onSunday, January 28, 2024Sunday, January 28, 2024AuthorcahwyguyLeave a comment

POTUS (Geffen Playhouse) The West Wing was never like this. Or, perhaps given some recent presidents, it was — and it was covered up well. After all, I’m sure the White House staff is great at covering up from the gaffes of the President. One thing is definitely for certain—this wasn’t like last week’s train wreck. For unlike last week where it was clearly a you either loved it or didn’t get it affair (and we weren’t alone on that — Stage and Cinema talked about how the show “devolves into a self-indulgent tangent that meanders without direction”; whereas McNulty at the Times talks about how “irony and egotism are blended like a fine Bordeaux”), POTUS, or more properly POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, currently at the Geffen Playhouse through February 25, was uproariously funny. This is a show well worth seeing.

POTUS tells the story of seven women in the White House, all of whom are working or in the orbit of the President of the United States (POTUS). This POTUS doesn’t correspond to any particular POTUS, although he clearly is an amalgam of quite a few of the recent inhabitants of that position. I can think of certain recent POTUS (POTUSes? POTII?) that were clearly the model for the playwright, Selina Fillinger, although they are never named. But the focus of this story is not the specifics of the man (who is never really seen), but the women behind him and how they deal with the consequences of his actions. These women are: Harriet, his Chief of Staff, Jean, his Press Secretary; Stephanie, his Secretary; Margaret, his wife; Chris, a reporter; and Dusty and Bernadette, two women more in the personal orbit of the man.

The show opens with a SNAFU where the President refers to his wife with a slang term sure to upset … and the situation devolves from there into a broad farce. That this show is a farce means a number of things theatrically. First, it means that the show is not intended to have meaningful character arcs or show character growth (do the characters grow or learn anything in Noises Off or The Play That Goes Wrong?). Second, the character archetypes are painted with a broad, almost caricatureish brush, somewhat stereotypical even. This means that they are clearly not intended to be fully realistic portrayals of real competent women. They are women designed for the comedy potential of the positions, with certain characteristics overdrawn for the humor. For a farce, one needs to suspend that belief. Farces are rarely realistic.

After all, a President would never fuck up. A President would never call people names. A President would never do things that would insult and offend our allies. A President would never fool around with other women while in office. A President would never have siblings whose behavior would embarrass the office. That would never happen, right? The President’s office would never be a farce, right?

I won’t spoil the plot of this show, as that could rob the show of a lot of the humor (which is in the discovery of just how fucked up this POTUS is). I will say that the cast of the show is remarkable, and are spot-on in terms of both timing and comic characterization. I’m not sure I can single out one performance over any of the others; they were all great. Jennifer Chamber’s direction was impeccably timed (again, something that is key for any farce to succeed), and worked well to bring out humor.

This show is well worth seeing.

A few last notes, before the credits: First, if you choose to park next door in the parking lot under the Chick-Fil-A, be forewarned. It is a horrid lot, with really tight turns. Do remember to pay at the pay machines before you go to your car to leave. Make life better for others. It took me a half-hour to clear that lot because of the clueless folks who waited to pay until they were at the gate, and then couldn’t figure out that the credit card goes in a different slot from the ticket. Second, it was really sad to drive up Westwood Blvd to the theatre and see all the empty storefronts. When I went to UCLA in the late 1970s, Westwood was this vibrant student town with quirky shops and great restaurants. It then got mall-ified, and then greedy landlords jacked up rents and priced distinctive shops out. Now it is empty, and doesn’t serve anyone. It’s sad, and the landlords need to realize that it is better to have someone in your storefront paying a moderate something, than an empty storefront with an unrealized potential that may never happen.

POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Written by Selina Fillinger. Directed by Jennifer Chambers. Cast: Ito Aghayere _Chris; Alexandra Billings _Margaret; Lauren Blumenfeld _Stephanie; Shannon Cochran _Harriet; Celeste Den _Jean; Jane Levy _Dusty; Deirdre Lovejoy _Bernadette. Understudies: Lorene Chesley _{Margaret / Chris}; Joy Donze _{Stephanie / Dusty / Bernadette}; Desirée Mee Jung _Jean; Elaine Rivkin _Harriet. Production and Creative Team: Brett J. Banakis _{Set & Video Design}; Samantha C. Jones _{Costume Design}; Elizabeth Harper _{Lighting Design}; Lindsay Jones _{Original Music & Sound Design}; Emily Moler _{Assoc. Director}; Julie Ouellette _{Fight Director}; Amanda Rose Villarreal _{Intimacy Director}; Olivia O’Connor _Dramaturg; Darlene Miyakawa _{Production Stage Manager}; Colleen Danaher _{Asst. Stage Manager}; Phyllis Schuringa, CSA _{Casting Director}. This is not a tour of the recent Broadway production; it is a local Geffen remounting of the show.

POTUS continues at the Geffen Playhouse through February 25. Tickets are available through the Geffen Playhouse Website; discount tickets are likely available through the usual places. Note that the show has very strong language and themes, and is not for children.

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Upcoming Theatre – Next 90ish Days:

January: Sukkot at Sixth Act/Skylight Theatre.
February: Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet at CTG/Ahmanson; Marvelous Wonderettes – Dream On at Canyon Theatre Guild; The Wiz at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages.
March: One of the Good Ones at the Pasadena Playhouse; Million Dollar Quartet at 5-Star Theatricals; Chicago at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages; Fat Ham at Geffen Playhouse.
April: Funny Girl at CTG/Ahamanson Theatre; Renaissance Pleasure Faire; Xanadu (🎫 Pending) at Canyon Theatre Guild; Gordon Goodwin and the Big Phat Band at BofA/Kavli Theatre in TO; Spongebob Squarepants – The Musical at CSUN Theatre.

On the Theatrical Horizon:

🎭 A Narcissistic Exercise | “Kate” @ Pasadena Playhouse

Posted onSunday, January 21, 2024Sunday, January 28, 2024AuthorcahwyguyLeave a comment

Kate (Pasadena Playhouse) Color me unimpressed. Color me confused.

I guess I should have been warned when Kate’s name was everywhere around the theatre, and her image was everywhere, and she was posing the lobby wanting people to ignore her. Her image was all over the men’s room, ferrchristssake. Then there’s her “Statement from the Artist”, which includes this: “The theatre requires a sacred corporal exchange – a sense-based modality of transference that demands physical presence.” WTF?

This was an exercise in a person wanting to be on display, who was seemingly in love with her own image.

On display she was, for 85 long minutes.

Perhaps I wasn’t her audience. Perhaps I just don’t get her humor. There were folks in the audience laughing uproariously. I laughed about 3 times, overall. She reminded me of Conan O’Brien, someone else who I don’t find funny at all. She was all exaggerated facial expressions, self-examination, and pointless dialogue. It is a form of humor I don’t understand.

The NY Times wrote of this show, when it was in New York,

Impatient, stylized, cerebral, Berlant’s comedy has never been for all markets. Nearly a decade ago, my colleague, Jason Zinoman, an early champion, described her as “not to everyone’s taste.” Marc Maron, on a recent episode of the WTF podcast, introduced her this way: “She’s an odd presence. But funny.” Her comedy resembles an infinite recursion, a hall of mirrors in which the reflections rarely flatter.

Note: The NY Times link is one of my “Gift Article” links, so you can read the whole thing. It does a good job of explaining what she is doing, although not everything mentioned is in the Pasadena Playhouse lobby. As they put it:

…she is a comic for all the girls out there who think too much… The confessional solo is a hallowed form downtown; Berlant desecrates it from every side. She plays with its creeds the way that a cat might toy with a mouse — teasing, batting, swiping, mauling. […] how you respond to “Kate” may have to do with how much you enjoy seeing theatrical tropes savaged. … The accents, the miming, the assumption of multiple characters, the buildup to some terrible trauma, all are satirized here.

So I understand now what she was trying to do. It still didn’t land with this audience goer. Listening to some of the folks as we left, we weren’t alone. Yet there were others for who it landed in a way they understood. I just don’t get what they saw.

But there are many things in this world I don’t get. #include <political-reference>

Kate certainly wasn’t for this theatregoer, who tends to prefer traditional stuff. I’m not a standup comedy person (I don’t go to comedy clubs). I’m not into the avant guard or overly expressionistic comedy. I just don’t know what to make of this, other than it wasn’t something I liked, or would care to see again. Sometimes, theatre hits it out of the park. Sometimes, they get a base hit. Sometimes, they swing and miss, and swing and miss, and swing and miss, and ….

If Kate Berlant and her style is your thing, enjoy. We didn’t.

One additional note: The program for Kate is a similarly narcissistic, with her picture plastered everywhere. Hell, her show starts with the projected background showing links to her Amazon series, and showing her IMDB credits. But the creative team bios? Those are relegated to a QR code. That’s really poor form; a trend I don’t like. Websites go away or are reorganized away; printed program are a record of shows forever. I pay for my tickets; I should get a program with bios. There’s an Equity logo on this show; Equity shouldn’t put up with this. As a side note: The code takes you to https://pasadenaplayhouse.ihub.app/c/kate/feed?postTypeId=whatsNew .

Second note to the Pasadena Playhouse: That’s the other problem with QR codes: You have no idea where you are going — and unless you have your scanner set up to not automatically take you there, they are a cybersecurity nightmare. Well, even if you do, they are, because you can’t assess whether is a website is safe based on a URL alone. You also disenfranchise your audience (in that it is difficult to scan a QR code that is embedded within an online program) , and QR code programs encourage audiences to play with their phones during a show. Traditional printed programs, please.

Warning: There is an intense strobe light sequence in this show. Be forewarned if you insist on going to this show, and you are at all sensitive.

Kate. Runs until February 11. Tickets available through the Pasadena Playhouse, and likely through your favorite discount source.

Cast: Kate Berlant (Kate).

Above the Line Production: Kate Berlant (Writer); Bo Burnham (Director)

Below the Line Production and Creatives: Dots (Scenic Design); Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design); Palmer Hefferan (Sound Design); Lindsay Jones (Stage Manager); Brad Enlow (Technical Director / Production Supervisor); Davidson & Choy Publicity (Press), David S. Franklin (Asst. Stage Manager).

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Upcoming Theatre – Next 90ish Days:

January: POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive at the Geffen Playhouse; Sukkot at Sixth Act/Skylight Theatre.
February: Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet at CTG/Ahmanson; Marvelous Wonderettes – Dream On at Canyon Theatre Guild; The Wiz at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages.
March: One of the Good Ones at the Pasadena Playhouse; Million Dollar Quartet at 5-Star Theatricals; Chicago at Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages; Fat Ham at Geffen Playhouse.
April: Funny Girl at CTG/Ahamanson Theatre; Renaissance Pleasure Faire; Xanadu (🎫 Pending) at Canyon Theatre Guild; Gordon Goodwin and the Big Phat Band at BofA/Kavli Theatre in TO.