Tag: other-theatres

How do we know our perception of the world is what we believe it to be?

This deep question is ultimately at the heart of the new production from Four Clowns (FB) at The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (FB), Four Clowns Presents Lunatics and Actors, written by David Bridel and directed by Jeremy Aluma (FB). Lunatics & Actors explores the question of emotional authenticity, through a descent into the real-life obsessions of Dr. Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne du Loulogne. du Loulogne was a French neurologist who greatly advanced the science of electrophysiology. Duchenne’s monograph, Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine – also illustrated prominently by his photographs – was the first study on the physiology of emotion and was seminal to Darwin’s later work. Duchenne also wanted to determine how the muscles in the human face produce facial expressions that Duchenne believed to be directly linked to the soul of man. Duchenne is known, in particular, for the way he triggered muscular contractions with electrical probes, recording the resulting distorted and often grotesque expressions with the recently invented camera. The images that Four Clowns used in their poster for the program are literally of Duchenne performing facial electro-stimulation.

In Lunatics & Actors, Duchenne (Thaddeus Shafer (FB; FB (page))) is presenting the audience with a simple question: what is authentic emotion? Can a highly skilled trained actor produce authentic emotion? Can the skills of the actor surpass the real emotion induced through electrostimulation? In asking these questions, the production induces a different set of question in the audience. Namely, it raises the question of whether any of the emotions that we might see on stage or screen are real, or even realistic portrayal. Is the entire history of theatrical entertainment just an artifice, a facade of fake emotion? If it is, are we better off going out and experiencing real emotion?

The way that Duchenne does that is to create a challenge: knowing that he is in Los Angeles and the audience is filled with actors, he selects three actors from the audience to test against three lunatics from his asylum. The question: between the actor and the lunatic, who can portray the most authentic emotion. He begins by interviewing the actors to find the most skilled amongst them, based on training, technique, experience, and recognition. At our performance we had three actors, whose names I cannot currently remember. There were various levels of technique and experience, ranging from students to one who had won a few local awards and had toured with a Shakespeare troupe.  The doctor selected the most experienced candidate, and we were off.

The doctor then introduced us to his three lunatics: Bon-Bon (Tyler Bremer/FB), Fifi (Alexis Jones (FB)), and Pepe (Andrew Eldredge (FB)). Not being an expert in neuropsychology, I can’t quite described their maladies. Externally, Bon-Bon seemed to be driven for treats, but otherwise pliant and withdrawn. Fifi seemed shell-shocked; she wanted treats but never got them. Pepe was energetic and strange, almost prone to violence. All were in straightjackets.

The doctor then proceeded to request the selected actor to portray a series of emotions, which in many cases seemed to confuse or befuddle him based on his experience. He then used electroshock on his selected lunatic, and induced the requested emotion. The audience was then asked which was the most authentic emotion. In most cases, it appeared to this audience member that the lunatics gave the better performance. It seemed that way to our selected actor as well, as he got more and more incensed.

Things, well, things degenerated from there.

To describe more of the story might give away some of the twists and turns, so I’ll defer doing so. But the experience, as noted above, explored electroshock therapy, and its ability to make its subjects do whatever the authority figure asks them to do, and to believe whatever the authority figure wants them to believe. One review I encountered writing this up referred to this as gaslighting on stage. Reviewing the definition of the term, I would say that is accurate. As such, I would note that this performance could potentially be triggery (i.e., TRIGGER WARNING)  to those troubled by gaslighting simulations or situations, or those who have undergone electroshock therapy. But I think the ultimate question the gaslighting results asked is a real one — and a significant one — are the emotions and beliefs we see something that we should believe, and who is really responsible for those emotions. Is the fear induced by electroshock (for example) the same as real fear for a situation? Is what is perceived as real by the lunatic or actor the same as a real-life experience? For actors, what is a realistic performance?

I don’t think these questions are easy one, but I think the discussion of them can be an interesting discussion. However, the path to get to the questions can be a dark and disturbing one; perhaps one that is not for everyone.

But this is a Four Clowns production, you say. Where are the clowns? Wikipedia says the following about clowns: “The comedy that clowns perform is usually in the role of a fool whose everyday actions and tasks become extraordinary—and for whom the ridiculous, for a short while, becomes ordinary.”  That is certainly true in this production. The style of questioning of the actors by Duchenne is clearly ridiculous, and the answers (and his reactions) to the questions becomes hilarious. The performances of the lunatics: they are certainly foolish and become extraordinary in the transformation of their madness. So while this is not your traditional clowning — and certainly not the style of clowning we saw in Four Clowns’ recent Hamlet — it is one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in a while.

Other reviewers I’ve read have been seemingly insulted by the premise of the show. The aforementioned “gaslighting” review said ” In essence it is an experiment in acting versus physical forced mind control, the gas lighting of an artist to a mere puppet or shadow of the real.” and it went on to state “What the play is lacking is the realization that the physical manifestation of an expression could be separate from the actual feeling. If anything this play can be the center piece of a lively discourse for actors of the conflicting acting schools of thought…”. Now, I’m not an actor. I’ve never claimed to be an actor, and I’m envious of those that can inhabit other characters. I’m a cybersecurity specialist — an engineer — who loves watching theatre. To me, it raised the interesting question of the artifice of what we see, and whether our senses can really tell us anything authentic about the world. It emphasized the importance of experience over detached observation. As such, the play remains a centerpiece for lively discussion, but perhaps not the discussion that an actor might have (who would feel their craft had been insulted by the question).

I should note that the play does not appear to be an accurate representation of the works of Dr. Duchenne. Then again, it doesn’t claim to do so: it is a fictional play, not an autobiography.

It somehow seems inauthentic to say this (at this point), but what makes this play works so well is the performance of the actors, and the qualities and emotions that the director draws out of them. Whether they were real or not, they were transmitted to the audience and they felt real. All of the actors were excellent, but I’ll particularly call out Thaddeus Shafer (FB; FB (page))’s Duchenne. He was hilarious in his questioning of the actors and his responses to their responses. How much of this was scripted vs. improvised is unknown to me. It was funny to watch. He also handled the dark side and the descent of Duchenne quite well.

The portrayal of the three lunatics, Bon-Bon (Tyler Bremer/FB), Fifi (Alexis Jones (FB)), and Pepe (Andrew Eldredge (FB)), was also quite strong. The transition between lunatic and sane emotion was quite startling, and seemingly believable. As such, it was a remarkable performance.

Lastly, there was the actor that was selected at our show. For an unprepared actor drawn from the audience, he was great. In particular, he was remarkable as the show descended into madness and gaslighting. He’s lucky he remembered his lines from his past shows.

Turning now to the production aspects: One of the remarkable things about Four Clowns productions is their set design. Fred Kinney (FB), who designed the set here, did a great job of creating the industrial madhouse feel. There was sheetrock hung by galvanized steel plumbers tape. There was open 2×4 woodwork. There were industrial power boxes, seemingly wired to control the industrial style lighting. A remarkably creepy feel, augmented by the lighting from Azra King-Abadi (FB) and the well-timed sound effects from Kate Fechtig/FB, who did the sound design. The combination was…. realistic and creepy. Kinney also did the properties (under the control of Nicole Mercs, propmistress). The electroshock apparatus had a wonderful steampunk-ish feel to them with loads of exposed brass, cords, and old-style incandescent lighting. That, combined with the chairs and other props, increased the uneasiness feeling substantially. I was also intrigued by Duchenne’s glasses. Elena Flores (FB) provided the costume design, which was equivalently creepy with blood-splattered straight-jackets and Victorian dresses and suit-pants. Rounding out the production credits were: Matt MacCready (FB) [Technical Director]; Amaka Izuchi (FB) [Assistant Director]; Ashley Jo Navarro (FB) [Stage Manager], and David Anis (FB) [Producer].

The publicity material for the show notes that this is the last collaboration between David Bridel and Jeremy Aluma (FB) for a while. Bridel continues in his academic positions as USC, where he directs the MFA in Acting and is Interim Dean of the School of Dramatic Arts. Aluma is off to Chi-town for grad school for an MFA in Directing. Having met Jeremy a few times through Four Clowns, I know he will be great and I wish him well in his new city. Hopefully, he’ll direct some theatre there that he can move to Los Angeles. Hint to Jeremy: if you do get to direct a show in Chicago, hire Moonie (Philip Earl Johnson). He is a clown of the first order, who you can see as part of the Moonie and Broon show at the RenFaire. He’s also a great actor.

Four Clowns Presents Lunatics and Actors, written by David Bridel and directed by Jeremy Aluma (FB), continues at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles through May 28, 2016. Tickets range from $12 to $15 and can be purchased through Four Clowns online. Discount tickets may be available through Goldstar. Although the production may be somewhat disturbing, it is also quite funny. If you can handle portrayal of electroshock therapy to induce emotion, you’ll find it enjoyable.

* 🎭 🎭 🎭 *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) and the  Hollywood Pantages (FB); my subscription at  The Colony Theatre (FB) has gone dormant, and REP East (FB) has seemingly gone dark for 2016. Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: May starts with Endgame at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB), followed by Carney Magic at The Colony Theatre (FB). We then run off to the Bay Area for our daughter’s graduation from Berkeley. While there, we are seeing the Landmark Musical Theatre (FB)’s West Coast Regional Premiere of The Boy from Oz (but pay no attention to that production behind the curtain at the Celebration Theatre (FB) — if they start the same day, they are simultaneous premieres and both have equal bragging rights). We will also be seeing The Last 5 Years at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.) (FB).  May 21 brings Los Angeles: Now and Then (FB), a new musical at LA City College (FB) from Bruce Kimmel. The last weekend of May has HOLDs for the MoTAS Outing to the Jethawks, and for I Only Have Eyes for You at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre (FB).

That brings us to June. June is the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and I’ve already written about the shows I plan to see, as well as suggestions to the Fringe regarding viewing the audience as a customer. Our Fringe schedule is as follows:

• Sat, 6/4: Alien vs. Musical (230p) ✨Code 197 DWB (Driving While Blewish) (400p) ✨ Toxic Avenger: The Musical  (600p)
• Sun, 6/5: Tell Me On A Sunday (600p) ✨ All The Best Killers are Librarians (800p)
• Sat, 6/11: Pali Hi All Year Picnic, Einstein (400p)
• Sun, 6/12: Titus Andronicus Jr. (700p); and then the Tony Awards when I get home.
• Sat, 6/18: 30JJ or Bust: The World is My Underwire (1130a) ✨ Lamprey: Weekend of Vengeance (200p) ✨ Mark Twain Answers All Your Questions (600p) ✨ The Old Woman (800p)
• Sun, 6/19: Sweet Love Adieu (100p) ✨ All Aboard the Marriage Hearse (400p)
• Sat, 6/27: Squeeze My Cans (400p) ✨ My Big Fat Blond Musical (830p)
• Sun, 6/28: Temple Israel Reunion; Hamlet (Las Vegas Style) (630p)

Whew. July brings us back to conventional theatre, with Beautiful at the  Hollywood Pantages (FB) and the Western Corps Connection (FB) the first weekend, a HOLD for Grey Gardens at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB); the second weekend, The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB); the third weekend, Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) and Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN; the fourth weekend, a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland, and a HOLD for Armadillo Necktie at The Group Rep (FB) the last weekend.  As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

Back in mid-March, I received a very interesting press release about the forthcoming play “Anton in Show Business” (now running at the Hudson Mainstage (FB) through May 15th). The release (or some article I saw on the show) noted that a unique fact about this production was its all female production team: writer, director, producer, cast, creatives. Everyone except the guy who built the set was female. Given all the recent talk about diversity (both in the theatre, such as the Producers Perspective with Lynn Ahrens, or elsewhere, such as in the recent excellent episodes of both Startup and of Reply All), and the importance of having women (and minorities) both on-stage and in the creative and production positions — this was (alas) noteworthy.

Alas, the one possible weekend I could see the show was already booked. But then that changed. As a result, Sunday afternoon saw us in Hollywood for the all female Anton in Show Business, written by Jane Martin and directed by Nell Teare (FB).

Anton in Show Business tells the story of two New York actresses and one Hollywood star recruited to star in a production of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters in San Antonio, Texas. Along the way (i.e., as the story is told), theatrical conventions are skewered, the industry is criticized in many ways, comments are made about the power of critics, realities are exhibited about the power of producers… and of their “name” stars, and in general the curtain is pulled back to expose what theatre is really like (well, at least what the mysterious Jane Martin wants you to think theatre is really like — I wouldn’t know, being a cybersecurity guy).

This is all done on a very simple set: chairs, beds, tables, and that’s about it. The entire sense of story comes through costuming and the wonderful performance of the various characters.  The character who keeps things moving along is the stage manager, T-Anne. She introduces the sense of place, provides the interstitials when place changes or there is information of side significance. Also providing commentary are the three actresses — the Hollywood star Holly, the long-suffering off-Broadway actress Casey, and the newbie Lisabette. In many ways, the behavior of these three provides an echo of their counterparts in Three Sisters, Masha, Olga, and Irina. Additional commentary is provided by an “audience” member, Joby, who is also a critic.

Given the simplistic set, direction is key. Luckily, Nell Teare (FB)’s direction is spot-on, making these characters believable and amplifying the chemistry between the actresses. One would almost think she understood the commentary being made about the theatre personally.

In the lead positions were Gillian Shure (FB) as Holly, Anzu Lawson (FB) as Casey, and Dana Pollak (FB) as Lisabette. All three were a delight. Shure’s Holly projected a wonderful sense of self-importance and confidence that befit her character. She was also able to show the underlying vulnerability within her facade of bravada. Lawson’s Casey had that wonderful sense of “been there, done that”, which was appropriate for a character of her experience and lack of significant advancement. Lastly, there was Pollak’s ever cheerful Lisabette who was just a joy to watch.

Supporting these folks were a number of talented actresses who got to portray multiple characters. Courtney Sauls (FB) was not only the aforementioned stage manager T-Anne, but also Andwyneth (the Female African American Artistic Director of the San Antonio Black Rage Ensemble) as well as Don Blount (the Male VP of Tobacco Co, the corporate sponsor). Sauls was wonderful in all the roles, but I particularly enjoyed her stage manager and her single scene as Andwyneth. Just hilarious. Claudia de Vasco (FB) was Ralph (the arrogant gay British stage director), Wikewitch Konalkvis (the male Polish stage director), and Joe Bob (the Chairman of the Board of the San Antonio Black Rage Ensemble). de Vasco’s Ralph did a wonderful job of capturing the arrogance of British directors, as well as the overblown sense of importance of the Polish director. Lastly, Marguerite Insolia (FB) was Kate (the producer of the San Antonio Three Sisters), as well as Ben (a San Antonio actor and cowboy singer playing Vershinin), and Jackey (a gay male costume designer). We saw Insolia mostly in the role of Kate, where she had just the right sense of exasperation at the proceedings and her loss of control. She was also strong as Ben in her interactions with Shure’s Holly. Jesse Madera (FB) was Joby, the audience member and critic.

Katie Hall  (FB) was the understudy in the cast so we didn’t see her. Although the main cast was great, it would have been nice to see her as she was a REP East alumna.

Turning to the production and creative side: The production design was by Isabella Mack (FB), and was relatively simple in terms of set construction. No specific credit is given for costume design, so presumably Mack took care of that as well. The costumes were very good, especially the one for Andwyneth. Mack also handled the lighting design. No credits were provided for sound design, however Ashley Clark (FB) (whom we know from the Nigerian Spam Scam Scam (FB) team) was there. Ashley has handled those functions in other shows, so she might have been doing that here as well. Set construction was by the token male Aaron Lyons (FB). Sandra Kuker (FB) handled publicity. Lara Myrene (FB) was the real stage manager. Anton in Show Business was produced by Gillian Shure (FB) (which has greater significance, as the program notes this was under AEA’s Self Producing Plan (as opposed to the 99-Seat agreement that the #pro99 group is working to keep in a modified form).

Anton in Show Business continues at the Hudson Mainstage (FB) until May 15th. Tickets are available through Plays411.net. Discount tickets are available through Goldstar. This is a very funny show, well worth seeing.

* 🎭 🎭 🎭 *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) and the  Hollywood Pantages (FB); my subscription at  The Colony Theatre (FB) has gone dormant, and REP East (FB) has seemingly gone dark for 2016. Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: The last weekend of April will be the Four Clowns (FB) production of Lunatics and Actors at the LA Shakespeare Center on April 30. May starts with Endgame at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB). We then run off to the Bay Area for our daughter’s graduation from Berkeley. While there, we are seeing the Landmark Musical Theatre (FB)’s West Coast Regional Premiere of The Boy from Oz (but pay no attention to that production behind the curtain at the Celebration Theatre (FB) — if they start the same day, they are simultaneous premieres and both have equal bragging rights). We will also be seeing The Last 5 Years at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.) (FB).  May 21 has a HOLD for Los Angeles: Then and Now, a new musical at LA City College (FB) from Bruce Kimmel. The last weekend of May has HOLDs for the MoTAS Outing to the Jethawks, and for I Only Have Eyes for You at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre (FB). As for June? It’s the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and I’ve started to hold dates for the following shows: Alien vs. Musical ✨ All Aboard the Marriage Hearse ✨ All The Best Killers are Librarians ✨ Code 197 DWB (Driving While Blewish) ✨ Qaddafi’s Cook — Living in Hell, Cooking for the Devil ✨ Squeeze My Cans ✨Tell Me On A Sunday  ✨ Toxic Avenger: The Musical  ✨  Vintage Box ✨ Einstein ✨Titus Andronicus Jr. ✨The Old Woman ✨Sweet Love Adieu ✨ My Big Fat Blond Musical✨Doctor in the House ✨ Hamlet (Las Vegas Style) ✨. But that’s just a small percentage; there are over 240 shows listed now.  We thought about Love The Body Positive, but then again… no. Can’t be scaring people.  July brings us back to conventional theatre, with Beautiful at the  Hollywood Pantages (FB) and the Western Corps Connection (FB) the first weekend, a HOLD for Grey Gardens at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) the second weekend, The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB)  the third weekend, a HOLD for Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) and Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN the fourth weekend, a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynton Marsalis and Aaron Copeland, and a HOLD for Armadillo Necktie at The Group Rep (FB) the last weekend.  As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

Selecting theatre is a lot like going on a blind date. You peruse a list of shows, swiping left, swiping right, until something piques your interest. But before you commit to seeing it, you do a bit of research. You read the press release. You read reviews of the show. You look at the Lemonmeter. This is very similar to the online dating scene: you review profiles and you mark some for future investigation. You read their background. You look at their ratings (perhaps from others that went out with them). For both shows and dates, in the end, you pick one that you hope is compatible with your taste.  However, that selection doesn’t always work out, for your tastes may not agree with others. Everyone else can like the person or show, and it might have off tastes or characteristics for you. That doesn’t make it bad; that just makes it something that you might not like. Further, people and shows can be like cilantro: over time and with enough exposure, you can grow to love them.

Last night, we saw Stella’s Last J-Date at the Whitefire Theatre (FB) in Sherman Oaks. The show looked like it would be a winner: the press-release writeup sounded interesting, there were some great performers in the show, and it was universally loved over on Bitter Lemons. And, for the most part, we enjoyed it. For the most part, as there was some small percentage that hit wrong, that left us a little confused. That’s happened before: I remember one show at ZJU that everyone was hysterical over while we were just… whelmed (neither over nor under). That also happened with the recent Bach at Leipzig over at Group Rep — everyone else loved it, but something was off for us (although not quite as bitter as B-L made us out to be).

Stella’s Last J-Date is simply that: we’re the fly-on-the-wall watching Stella, a neurotic Jewish female dog trainer of unspecified middle age (I’d guess in her 40s) out on a date arranged by J-Date. Her date of the evening is Isaac, a 50-60s fellow who is a 5th grade teacher. The entire evening consists of their determining whether they are compatible, exposing their particular neuroses and quirks, coming together and blowing apart, and so forth. We learn secrets about each. We learn the color of their baggage. They slap. They hit. They make fun of their problems. Periodically, the evening is punctured with the appearance of Don, a black pimp-like character who seems to beat up Isaac to give up trying to like Stella. Don seems to know secrets about both Isaac and Stella, and appears to be warning Isaac to run… run…. run…. and don’t look back.

Let’s get the most important part out first: This is a funny show. Even as the underlying story left us a little confused (more on that in a moment), there were some wonderful jokes that had us really laughing along the way. I can’t remember most of them, but I do remember one about how Jewish women don’t care how much something costs, but how much they saved. There were great comedic performances, verbal and non-verbal. So where was the problem?

Thinking about the show afterwards, I can see three areas that may have made things difficult for us, and that might not have bothered others:

• Stereotypes. The show was built around a number of stereotypes of characters. The neurotic Jewish woman that can’t hold on to a man, that loves to shop, that obsesses over everything, that has been through the drug mill. The nebbish Jewish man who is a milquetoast. The African-American pimpish character. Stereotypes are wonderful to convey information without exposition, but in today’s society they are increasingly uncomfortable. In the wrong eyes, they can be slightly-insulting or off-putting. They often become a comedy crutch, something to lean on when it is difficult to create the character of depth from their experience. Stereotypes are very popular on sitcoms, and there is a reason why. Some Jews embrace our stereotypes. Some don’t. (and if you don’t believe me, ask any one that truly understands Yiddish culture and the Yiddish language what they think of the stereotype of Yiddish as a language with funny sounding insulting words).
• Character Arc. From attending a lot of theatre, I’ve learned that one thing you look for is a character arc. Characters in a story (at least the main ones) typically start at point A, face some sort of trial or situation, and end up at point B having learned something about themselves or changed something about their character. Where is the character arc here? It clearly isn’t Don’s– he’s just a catalyst. Do Stella or Isaac really change from the beginning to the end? They’ve faced their problems, but has it affected them in any way, changed anything about their characters? In the end, I don’t think so. They’ve found each other. But have they changed who they are? I don’t think so, or at least we don’t know for sure. Without that change, this is just a bunch of very funny jokes in a particular context.
• Confusion. Specifically, who or what was Don? The character was clearly not someone from J-Date (then again, he could be blewish). Was he part of Isaac’s subconscious? Stella’s subconscious? Both? Neither? Stella’s protector? All I could conclude is that he was an unexplained weenie with the purpose of exposing and exploiting subconscious aspects of Isaac’s and Stella’s past. That left me confused.

So, with respect to the story by Andy Rooster Bloch (FB), is this good or bad? I think it is clearly funny. Very funny. Laugh out loud funny. But, at least for me, funny isn’t enough. I want that funny to come from someplace deeper, and not just be one-liners tossed off to hide the pain. There’s a something more that is needed here to move this from sitcom to story. It’s good as it is, but is good enough? I’m not sure. I guess I would characterize it as the difference between Gilligan’s Island and Cheers: Does the character of Gilligan change from the beginning of the series to the end? Does the character of Sam change from the beginning to the end? Which has endearling long-lasting watchability? However, as I said, theatre is like dating, and I may be looking for different things in my theatrical matches than others are. This could be your perfect date.

One thing that is not a problem is the performances. The cast, under the direction of Bryan Rasmussen (FB), is very strong. I was particularly impressed by Barry Livingston (FB)’s performance as Isaac. Of course, I remember Barry from My Three Sons (and I have an even vaguer recollection about him being a kid in Westchester, near the airport, and possibly in the same Cub Scout troup back in the 1960s). Barry was spectacular — especially for what he didn’t say. The opening scene, which is essentially non-verbal reaction and movement from Barry, was priceless. He has the ability to convey wonderous information with his body and face. This continued throughout the show, and I think his performance was one of, if not the main, highlights of the show. His performance wasn’t comic slapstick — it was a mixture of pathos, Buster Keaton, and exasperated bemusement. If you go see this, watch him and I think you’ll be as impressed as I was.

Amy Smallman-Winston (FB) played the neurotic Stella. She captured the neuroses and craziness of the character well — she was certainly someone that I wouldn’t want to be involved with. She was clearly able to handle the physical comedy well, but didn’t have the same level of character study moments to exploit. Somehow, given the ending, she needed something a little bit more to hint at it. She did have the most comic lines in the show and tossed them off with perfection.

Lastly, there was Elvis Nolasco (FB)’s Don. His character was an enigma: it is hard to know if he was portraying it well without knowing what it was supposed to be. I can, however, safely say that he was fun to watch, and his interactions with Barry’s Isaac were quite good.

Bryan Rasmussen (FB) also did the scenic design, and it was relatively simple: tables and chairs to create the impression of a bar, with projections by David Svengalis (FB) to place it in New York. The simple set worked well, especially considering that the one stage at the Whitefire is having to serve at least three different shows each week (so complicated set treatments weren’t possible). The lighting of Derrick McDaniel (FB) served to enhance and create the mood. David Svengalis (FB) was also responsible for the sound and video design; my only comment here was that the opening sounds of the bar were just a little too loud. I don’t have that much to say about the costume design of Morgan DeGroff (FB) [assisted by Laura Tiefer (FB)] other than they appeared reasonable (although Don’s outfit might have been the source of confusion about his character). Remaining production credits: Nancy Santiago/FB [Assistant Director]; Mike Mahaffey (FB) [Fight Choreographer]; Ricki Maslar, CSA (FB) [Casting Director], Nora Feldman (FB) [Public Relations], David Svengalis (FB) [Technical Director]; Neda Ganjeh-Tabe/FB [House Manager]; and Scott Disharoon (FB) [Producer]. Stella’s Last J-Date appears to be a production of the Whitefire Theatre (FB) [I say appears to be, because with three productions going on, I’m not sure which are productions of the home company, and which are rentals from outside producers. The involvement of Whitefire’s Artistic Director, Bryan Rasmussen (FB), makes me believe this is a Whitefire show.]

Stella’s Last J-Date continues on Thursdays at the Whitefire Theatre (FB), with an extended run through May 26, 2016. Tickets are available through Brownpaper Tickets, as well as through Goldstar.

* 🎭 🎭 🎭 *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) and the  Hollywood Pantages (FB); my subscription at  The Colony Theatre (FB) has gone dormant, and REP East (FB) has seemingly gone dark for 2016. Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: This weekend is our annual visit to the Renaissance Faire (Southern). Next weekend is Pesach, but we are squeezing in a show on Sunday when we go see Anton in Show Business at Hollywood’s Hudson Mainstage Theatre (FB). The last weekend of April will be the Four Clowns (FB) production of Lunatics and Actors at the LA Shakespeare Center on April 30. May starts with Endgame at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB). We then run off to the Bay Area for our daughter’s graduation from Berkeley. While there, we are seeing the Landmark Musical Theatre (FB)’s West Coast Regional Premiere of The Boy from Oz (but pay no attention to that production behind the curtain at the Celebration Theatre (FB) — if they start the same day, they are simultaneous premieres and both have equal bragging rights). We may also be seeing The Last 5 Years at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.) (FB).  May 21 has a HOLD for Los Angeles: Then and Now, a new musical at LA City College (FB) from Bruce Kimmel. The last weekend of May has HOLDs for the MoTAS Outing to the Jethawks, and for I Only Have Eyes for You at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre (FB). As for June? It’s the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and I’ve started to hold dates for the following shows: Alien vs. Musical ✨ All Aboard the Marriage Hearse ✨ All The Best Killers are Librarians ✨ Code 197 DWB (Driving While Blewish) ✨ Qaddafi’s Cook — Living in Hell, Cooking for the Devil ✨ Squeeze My Cans ✨Tell Me On A Sunday  ✨ Toxic Avenger: The Musical  ✨  Vintage Box ✨ Einstein ✨Titus Andronicus Jr. ✨The Old Woman ✨Sweet Love Adieu ✨ My Big Fat Blond Musical✨Doctor in the House ✨ Hamlet (Las Vegas Style) ✨. But that’s just a small percentage; there are over 240 shows listed now.  We thought about Love The Body Positive, but then again… no. Can’t be scaring people.  July brings us back to conventional theatre, with for Beautiful at the  Hollywood Pantages (FB) and the Western Corps Connection (FB) the first weekend, a HOLD for Grey Gardens at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) the second weekend, The Little Mermaid at  Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB)  the third weekend, a HOLD for Weird Al Yankovic at the Hollywood Bowl (FB) and Operaworks (FB) Opera Re-Constructed at CSUN the fourth weekend, a mid-week Hollywood Bowl (FB) concert of Wynford Marsalles and Aaron Copland, and a HOLD for Armadillo Necktie at The Group Rep (FB) the last weekend.  As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

Distracted and impaired driving. This is a major factor as to why our roads are unsafe these days. From driving while drunk, high, or sleepy to fiddling with electronic devices while driving, anything that distracts the driver from paying attention to the road is bad. Luckily, there have been major publicity and educational campaigns about this. While we still have problems with drunk drivers, they are much less frequent thanks to folks like MADD. People know now to have a designated driver, and that even one drink might be too many. But that wasn’t always the case. It certainly wasn’t the case in 1958, which is the timeframe of the play we saw yesterday afternoon, A Shred of Evidence by R. C. Sherriff at Theatre Forty (FB) on the grounds of Beverly Hills High School.

A Shred of Evidence is a murder mystery about a man who was killed by an unknown driver on late evening in a suburb outside London. Unlike most murder mysteries — which are told with a focus on the investigator and the investigation — A Shred of Evidence is told from the perspective of another driver on the road that night. As the play opens, the driver, Richard Medway, has just woken up. In talking to his wife, Laura, he discovers the he had arrived home last night, disheveled. He had gone upstairs, leaving the car running and the garage door open for the local constable to find. Luckily, the constable had woken the wife and gotten everything closed down. He informs his wife that he will become a director of his company, with a substantial boost in pay (enough to send his daughter to Oxford — although the price — £250 — seems awfully low these days).

In further discussions, he learns that the car was damaged, and there is a stripe of green paint on the side.  Turning on the radio, he also learns that there had been accident on a local street where a driver hit a man on a bicycle, and then just driven off. He doesn’t think he had done it, but after a visit from a local questioning inspector, he isn’t so sure. As he thinks back on the incident, he realizes he had had a lot — perhaps too much — to drink and could have been driving drunk.

This is the focus of the play. Information keeps coming up that circumstantially appears to indict Richard, and Richard keeps working to convince everyone that he didn’t do it. As the days goes on, Richard discovers just how much he had to drink, and how much he doesn’t remember.

So did he do it? You’ll have to see the play to find out.  Let’s just say… nah, let’s not.

A few broad comments on the story itself. The play is long — perhaps 2.5 hours plus intermission. It’s not a musical, just lots of discussion and exposition to bring out the various factors. That can combine with a warm theatre, comfortable seats, and the modulation of the voices on stage to drowse one out — especially in a post-lunch production. I caught it happening to me a few times, and I saw it happening to other audience members. I’m not sure how to counter that, but perhaps a bit more emotion and either movement or modulation in the tones may help somewhat.

The second broad comment I alluded to in my introduction. The play focuses on a drunk driver. He’s the hero. Throughout the entire play, he’s working to actively cover up the fact that he drove while drunk — and his friends are enabling him. They are coming up with cover stories and buying into his rationalizations. To the modern mindset, that’s unconscionable. Would we cover up for a friend that had driven while drunk. Would we even let him get on the road (or would we call a cab or an Uber/Lyft)? This clash — between the values of 1958 and the values of today — needed some sort of framing to distract the mental gnashing. At minimum, some public service announcements in the program would probably have been appropriate.

Under the direction of Jules Aaron, the actors executed to story in a reasonable fashion. It is unclear if there were directorial choices that could have been made to up the energy, choices that might have addressed the perception of the length. I can’t answer that, but I can comment on one very puzzling directorial choice: at the end of every act or scene, melodramatic music would swell as on a soap opera. Puh-leaze. Musical manipulation of that sort is not necessary for this play, and it seemed forced (and even someone insulting to the audience).

In the lead positions were David Hunt Stafford (FB) as Richard Medway and Alison Blanchard (FB) as Laura Medway. The two made a believable couple; there was just a casual friendliness that comes from long-term relationships. Stafford handled the role well, although there were numerous odd hesitations and a few misstarts on lines that I rarely see these days. I’m going to chalk it up to a bad memory day — we all know that happens as we get older. Luckily, these mostly fit the character and the actor went with the flow. Rounding out the family in a much smaller role was Katy Yoder (FB) as their daughter, Pamela. She was fun to watch — bouncy and energetic and exuding fun. She brought that special spark that the show needed a bit more of.

The investigator of the accident was portrayed by Daniel Lench (FB), whom we know well from his numerous appearances on the boards at Repertory East Playhouse (FB). He gave yet another wonderful performance, bringing an interesting character, energy, and accent to the role.

Providing the support for the lead character (Richard Medway) were John Wallace Combs (FB) as John Cartwright, the Medway’s friend and solicitor, and Richard Hoyt Miller (FB) as Captain Foster, one of the two men that Richard had driven home that night. Combs made a strong Cartwright, coming across as friendly and concerned, and well informed about legal issues. He, too, had a just a few issues with line misstarts. Miller’s Foster was everything you would expect in a rugby-playing carpet salesman.

Rounding out the cast in smaller roles were Peter McGlynn (FB) as Mr. Bennett (the other man that Medway drove home), Esther Richman (FB) as Bennett’s wife, and Richard Carner as a police sergeant. My only comment here is that McGlynn came off as suitably menacing, but Richman’s portrayal of his wife seemed perhaps overly shrill. Suzan Solomon (FB) was the alternative for Mrs. Bennett.

On the production and creative side, the set design by Jeff G. Rack was sumptuous and elegant — a full detailed recreation of a British suburb house. The sound design by Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski (FB) provided appropriate sound effects, although I could have done without the aforementioned melodramatic music. The lighting design by Ric Zimmerman (FB) essentially emulated house lighting, meaning it was mostly whites and yellows and didn’t amplify the emotions. The costumes by Michele Young (FB) and Makeup / Hair / Wig Design by Judi Lewin (FB) worked together to appear suitable for the characters, although I can’t speak to authenticity for the locale or the era. Linda Brennan (FB) was the dialect coach. Don Solosan (FB) was the stage manager; Richard Carner was the assistant stage manager, and Jean Sportelli was the assistant director. David Hunt Stafford (FB) is the Artistic / Managing director of Theatre Forty (FB).

A Shred of Evidence continues through April 17 at Theatre Forty (FB). Tickets are available by calling 310-364-0535 or through their website. Discount tickets may be available on Goldstar or LA Stage Tix. Despite the length, we found the play enjoyable.

* 🎭 🎭 🎭 *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I had been subscribing at three theatres:  The Colony Theatre (FB), Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB), and REP East (FB): but all have gone or are going dark., I just added a subscription to the  Hollywood Pantages (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: April will start with Lea Salonga at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) on April 1 and an Elayne Boosler concert at Temple Ahavat Shalom on April 2 (this concert is open to the community; get your tickets here). We have a mid-week concert of the Turtle Quintet at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) on April 7, followed by “Children of Eden” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on April 10. The next weekend’s theatre is on Thursday, because the weekend brings our annual visit to the Renaissance Faire (Southern). The Thursday show is Stella’s Last J-Date at the Whitefire Theatre (FB). The fourth weekend in April is is Pesach, but the Indie Chi Productions dark comedy Dinner at Home Between Deaths at the Odyssey Theatre (FB) sounded so interesting I’ve booked Sunday tickets. The last weekend of April has a hold date for The Boy from Oz at the Celebration Theatre (FB) (although we may end up seeing the Landmark Musical Theatre (FB) in the Bay Area instead (support their kickstarter), meaning I have a weekend to program!). May starts with a hold date for Endgame at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB). We then run off to the Bay Area for our daughter’s graduation from Berkeley. While there, we may squeeze in a show: the Landmark Musical Theatre (FB) is doing The Boy from Oz, but otherwise the pickings and concerts are bare. May 21 has a hold for Los Angeles: Then and Now, a new musical at LA City College (FB) from Bruce Kimmel. The last weekend of May has holds for the MoTAS Outing to the Jethawks, and Armadillo Necktie at The Group Rep (FB). As for June? It’s the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and I’ve started to hold dates for the following shows: All Aboard the Marriage Hearse ✨ All The Best Killers are Librarians ✨ Qaddafi’s Cook — Living in Hell, Cooking for the Devil ✨ Squeeze My Cans ✨Tell Me On A Sunday  ✨ Toxic Avenger: The Musical  ✨  Vintage Box ✨ Einstein ✨Titus Andronicus Jr. ✨The Old Woman ✨Sweet Love Adieu ✨ My Big Fat Blond Musical✨. We thought about Love The Body Positive, but then again… no. Can’t be scaring people.  As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

 

 

Jukebox musicals (so called because they mine the discography of a particular artist) typically take one of three forms: there is the straightforward presentation of an artist’s music (think Sophisticated Ladies), perhaps with vignettes for each song; there is a biographic presentation of the artist that uses the songs to tell the artists life (think Jersey Boys); and then there is the show that attempts to take the artist’s songs and form them into a coherent story that makes the songs work in a musical context (think Mamma Mia). All Shook Up, the show we saw last night at Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixson (FB) Theatre, falls strongly in the latter category. An innocuous but plausible love story serves as the bones upon which hangs approximately two hours of Elvis Presley (FB) most popular hits. At the end, you may not go away caring about the story at all, but you’ll be hummin’ those tunes. And really, is that such a bad thing: to be entertained for two hours with really good music and performances?

Author Joe DiPietro (FB), who has written such musicals as Memphis, I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change, and Toxic Avenger: The Musical crafted a musical focused on a roustabout who comes into town, exciting the womenfolk and stirring up all sorts of relationships. Watching it, I kept having the notion that the story line was familiar, especially about the leading lady wanting the leading man, and disguising herself as a man to do so. There’s only one author I know who loves to do that in his stories — and when I got home I checked (and I was right): this was a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night,, which has been made into other musicals such as Play-On.

The basic storyline — or at least the story setup — does sound a lot like Shakespeare’s comedies of mistaken identities and love, where everything ends in marriage (the definition of a Shakespeare comedy). Roustabout Chad (a 50’s Elvis type) comes to a small town in the middle of nowhere, where everyone is bored out of their lives. This is a town that has banned music and dancing and anything fun. His bike breaks down, and so he brings it to Natalie, the greasemonkey mechanic daughter of Jim Haller (who lost his wife and love three years ago). Natalie instantly falls in love/lust with Chad, not knowing that Dennis, the bespectacled dentist to be is in love with her. Jim is good friends with Sylvia, the owner of the town bar (and Sylvia has more than friendship in mind for Jim, unbeknownst to Jim). Chad, on the other hand, has no interest in Natalie — she’s too tomboyish; his fixation is on the docent of the town’s museum — the sexy Miss Sandra. Also interested in Sandra is Jim (remember, Natalie’s dad). Adding to the panic in all of this is the mayor, Matilda, whose military-school son Dean Hyde has become smitten with Lorraine, Sylvia’s daughter (but this is “forbidden” love as Sylvia is black, and thus so is Lorraine).

To try to get Chad to notice her, Natalie decides that Chad must get to know her as a friend first. She uses grease to fake a beard and mustache (which of course looks real and camouflages her girlish looks and figure), and has Dennis (who by now is Chad’s sidekick) introduce her to Chad as Ed. Chad grows to like Ed as a friend, but is still interested in Sandra. Dennis also suggests that Chad give Sandra a Shakespeare sonnet, which he has Ed do on his behalf. This results in Sandra falling in love with Ed. Meanwhile, Ed kisses Chad, leaving Chad all confused. Oh, yeah, and the Sheriff is in love with the Mayor.

Confused yet. There’s a more detailed summary of the plot on Wikipedia, which also has an enumeration of all the different love relationships in the show.

Deep book, this is not. Fluff based on Shakespeare’s confusion comedies it is. Don’t go in expecting more, other than to be entertained. You want something deep, find a different show.

Let’s turn now to Morgan-Wixson’s execution of the show. For those unfamiliar with M-W (we hadn’t been there since the 1995 production of Baby), it is a 200-or-so seat community theatre that goes back to 1946, when it was the Santa Monica Theatre Guild. They now get a mixture of up-and-coming professionals (non-AEA, but possibly SAG-AFTRA) and community actors.  For a show such as this with a large ensemble, that’s reasonable.  You can see some great publicity shots of the cast in the BWW Writeup of the show.

In the lead positions, I think the standout in the cast was Zoe D’Andrea/FB as Natalie Haller. She not only had a wonderful small-town girl look and hidden-beauty as Natalie/Ed, she also had a knockout voice. Reading her credits, it shows that she took on the role of another Natalie — the daughter in Next to Normal.  I could easily see her in the role — she had the requisite power and projection in her voice. She is someone who I would hope to see again on larger stages in the future. Playing against her as Chad, the Roustabout, was Christopher Paul Tiernan II/FB. Tiernan had a good presence and a winning performance, but needed a slightly stronger and slightly deeper voice to pull off the Elvis-imitation. Still, the two together were fun to watch.

Chasing after Natalie was dweebish Dennis, played by Paul Luoma (FB). Luoma portrayed the teen quite well (I didn’t realize his age until writing this post), and sang and moved well.

The second couple of interest were Lorraine and Dean Hyde, portrayed by Flynn Hayward/FB and Joseph Monsour (FB), respectively. Hayward was particularly strong as Lorraine, radiating quite a lot of fun and joy with the role, which came across in her performance and her singing. Monsour worked with her well.

The key older adults in the cast were Larry Gesling/FB‘s Jim Haller, and Brittney S. Wheeler (FB)’s Sylvia. Here, the standout performance-wise was Wheeler, with a great gospel-style voice and oodles of character. Wheeler, however, needs a bit more power behind that great voice. She needs to outshine the musical. She was great, but could be much greater. Gesling is evidently a long-time player at the M-W, and gave a very strong folksy performance that worked well for his character. He handled his leather jacket well (said one CBG to another).

The object of both Chad and Jim’s affection was Miss Sylvia, portrayed to sexy perfection by Alice Reynolds/FB. Reynolds sang strong, exuded a wonderful sense of sex, and captured the role quite well.

Rounding out the significant named roles were Jewel Greenberg (FB) as Mayor Matilda Hyde and Matthew Artson (FB) as Sheriff Earl. Greenberg captured the mean momma well, especially in her one main song “Devil in Disguise”. Artson was mostly silent and strong, but his final scene was great.

Rounding out the cast were Eileen Cherry O’Donnell (FB) (Henrietta), Gillian Bozajian (FB) (Ensemble), Chandler David (FB) (Ensemble), Anne Claire Hudson (FB) (Ensemble), Dana Mazarin (FB) (Ensemble), Caeli Molina (FB) (Ensemble), Marc Ostroff (FB) (Ensemble), Alexander Reaves (FB) (Ensemble), Robin Twitty (FB) (Ensemble), Holly Weber/FB (Ensemble), and Steven Weber/FB (Ensemble). As is common, it is hard to single out people within the ensemble, but I will observed that they all seemed to be having a lot of fun with this production, and that joy is broadcast out into the audience, which is a good thing.

The production was directed by Nell Teare (FB), who also served as choreographer. I always find it hard to separate the director from the actor’s performance, which I presume is the mark of good direction. I will say that there were no obvious directorial problems, and the actors seemed to convey the story well with good feeling. The dancing was interesting. It was a mix of period dance with some clear ballet steps thrown in — which seemed out of context for the characters in the story. They were fun to watch and well executed; I just found myself going — oh, that’s ballet. Kristi Slager (FB) was also credited with choreography.

Music direction was by Anne Gesling (FB)… and there were no other music credits. This implies that the music was pre-recorded; I have no idea whether it was done just for this show, or provided by the licensing agents. In either case, I want to encourage the theatre to use live music — it makes a significant difference in the energy in the show.  The music ties very closely to the sound design by… by…. hmmm, there was no credit for sound design. This is a small enough theatre that the actors were not amplified — which can be good if they can properly project — but that is hampered by the recorded music which then has to adjust its volume so that the actors can hear it, the audience can hear it, and it doesn’t overpower one or the other. Some work may need to be done to adjust that balance.

The set design was by Lidiya Korotko (FB), and was clearly in the community theatre vein: flats that were rolled on and off the stage with various props, and a back-projection to establish place. It worked at that level, although the back projection needs to be off the stage so it doesn’t shake as the actors move. As for the flats, they are certainly in the range of acceptable theatre, although an number of items were creatively drawn or constructed (such as the gas pumps). The mix of realistic and created items was a little bit jarring.  The sense of place created by the sets was supported by the costume design of Kristie Rutledge. The costumes seemed sufficiently period, but there were little things that created questions. My wife couldn’t recall if crinoline came in all the colors used back in the 1950s; I was unsure whether the belts the ladies were wearing on their dresses were correct.  The lighting design was by William Wilday; it did a suitable job of establishing time and mood. Deena Tovar was the stage manager. All Shook Up was produced by Meredith Wright.

All Shook Up continues at the Morgan-Wixson theatre until April 2. You can buy tickets online through M-W’s online ticketing. Discount tickets may be available through Goldstar.

* 🎭 🎭 🎭 *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  The Colony Theatre (FB), Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB), and I just added the  Hollywood Pantages (FB). In 2015, my intimate theatre subscription was at REP East (FB), although they are reorganizing and (per the birdies) will not start 2016 shows until August. Additionally, the Colony just announced that the remainder of their season has been cancelled, so the status of that subscription is up in the air. Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: The third weekend of March takes us back to the Pasadena Playhouse (FB) on March 19 to see Harvey Fierstein’s Casa Valentina, followed by Bach at Leipzig at The Group Rep (FB) on March 20.  The last weekend of March brings “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) on Saturday, followed by A Shred of Evidence at Theatre 40 (FB) on Sunday.  April will start with Lea Salonga at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) on April 1 and an Elaine Boosler concert at Temple Ahavat Shalom on April 2 (this concert is open to the community; get your tickets here). We have a mid-week concert of the Turtle Quintet at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) on April 7, followed by “Children of Eden” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) on April 10. The next weekend our annual visit to the Renaissance Faire (Southern). The fourth weekend in April is is Pesach, but the Indie Chi Productions dark comedy Dinner at Home Between Deaths at the Odyssey Theatre (FB) sounded so interesting I’ve booked Sunday tickets. The last weekend of April has a hold date for The Boy from Oz at the Celebration Theatre (FB). May starts with a hold date for Endgame at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB). We then run off to the Bay Area for our daughter’s graduation from Berkeley. While there, we may squeeze in a show: the Landmark Musical Theatre (FB) is doing The Boy from Oz (if we miss it at the Celebration), but otherwise the pickings and concerts are bare. May 21 has a hold for Los Angeles: Then and Now, a new musical at LA City College (FB) from Bruce Kimmel. The last weekend of May has holds for the MoTAS Outing to the Jethawks, and Armadillo Necktie at The Group Rep (FB). As for June? It’s the Hollywood Fringe Festival (FB), and loads and loads of shows that aren’t scheduled yet. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

If you read my blog a lot, you’ll know that I listen to a lot of podcasts — so many, that it is a job to keep up. One of the many theatre podcasts on my subscription list is Anthony Byrnes’s “Opening the Curtain“. Back in September, the B-man had a strong recommendation for 24th Street Theatre (FB)’s “Man Covets Bird”, written by Finegan Kruckmeyer (FB). He wrote that it was sophisticated children’s theatre, and that it was theatre magic. Alas, I couldn’t fit it into my schedule, but I remember the glowing reviews. Later, I received email indicating it was coming back for a 6 week run starting in Mid-February, so I made sure to get tickets.

Going in, I didn’t know much about the show, other than it was magical. The tag line in the publicity was “Because it’s a liberating thing to talk publicly about thing you’re only supposed to think privately”. That does not describe the show. Not. at. all.

Trying to describe the show, I faced a problem. Most of the reviews of the show (a good source of synopsii) gave the opening premise, and then devolved into wonderment about the execution, not the story. It was as if the magic of the execution overshone the story. But I wanted to piece together the story. I wanted to figure — in this 70 minute intermissionless exposition — what the moral was. After all, this was a Theatre for Young Audiences production. There has to be a moral, a message, a teaching. Right?

So let’s get the start of the story and the magic out of the way first. The basic story concerns a man, never quite named, who serves as the narrator and focal point of the story. At the beginning, he wakes up in his parent’s home to discover that he’s become a stranger that his parents no longer recognize. He recognizes himself, of course, but to his family and his town, he is alien. Children won’t understand this at all, but parent’s will see that as the teenage years.

This young man soon finds a young bird, similarly orphaned, who can not fly. He takes the bird, so to speak, under his wing. He ventures off to the big city. where he gets a job in a factory where he pushes a button whenever a light comes on. Light, push button. Light, push button. Light, push button. He lives in factory housing, and attempts to build joy by building his nest there, and by listening to his bird’s song.

Let’s digress at this point into B-man’s theatre magic. This story is told by two men: the man (Andrew Huber (FB)) and the bird (Leeav Sofer (FB)). They have, essentially, a bare set of walls and boxes. But what makes the story is the projections. Simple, chalk-like animated projections that move around all the walls — front, back, sides. They become magic in their interaction with the players, and essentially become a third player themselves. I’ve seen this magic happen three times before: a production from The Road Company of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency back in 2006; the absolutely wonderful Astro Boy and the God of Comics from Sacred Fools; and the recent Empire at La Mirada. In all of them the critical acclaim quickly lost track of the story, and were astounded at the magic of the projection. I agree that the projections were magical. All four of these shows represent an advancement of the art of projection design from a cheap replacement for a background flat to becoming a character of their own. But magical thought they are… and as close as they are to a character … they are part of the set dressing. They are the frame on which the story is hung, but that story has to be there. The problem with most of the Man Covets Bird writeups is they start with the story and get lost in the magic.

Here’s the problem: The story is a pretty good parable about growing up, and what you will face through life. Children will see the magic and get lost in the awe of it all. Adult will recognize the subtle message, and what it is telling them to do.

So, we left off with the man working in a factory, getting joy from his bird’s song. He’s living in factory housing and attempting to build the nest, but the house isn’t his. The owners keep coming and rearranging his nest to their idea of what it should be. This doesn’t make the man happy.

One day, he discovers an abandoned Ice Cream truck, which (to paraphrase the show) had lost the “ce Cre” and the “m”, under which someone had graffitied a word that rhymes with “nupid”. But the man decides to make the truck his home. He cleans it, repairs it, and builds his nest there. As he does, the wounded bird heals. By the time the man is finished, he is whole again. He has built his nest, and is happy again. He lets the bird go. The bird joins the rest of his flock, and is happy. The man is a little sad, but understands this is part of life. Eventually, the man restores the engine, and goes and visits his parents. He reconciles with them, understanding what happened, and feeling how they felt when his bird left him.

As I said, many of the reviewers got lost in the magic, and didn’t see the story. Some felt it fluttered around. Some felt the relationship with the parents was irrelevant. Some saw it as a commentary on the industrial revolution — a horrified notion of work, as one wrote. Some saw the imagery as random. I posit that few of them were middle-age parents of teens. One came close, positing the meaning as “Life proceeds in fits and starts, through long periods of tedium interrupted by mysterious change. Although a person may never feel as though he or she is on the right path, a courageous or generous act occasionally results in a moment of grace.”

Here’s how I saw it:

The bird was a metaphor for joy and happiness. Through the bird, the man found a way to bring joy in his life; a way to bring joy to even joyless tasks. He tried to spread that joy through sharing the bird’s song … and he discovered that everyone in the factory had their own bird — their own way of finding the joy in life. The lesson: life is what you make of it. You can view it as drudgework, or you can find the joy in life and be happy.

There was also a message about growing up. The opening with the parents represented the first stage: becoming that teen alien, and needing to leave your parent’s nest to find your own way. The man tried to build his own nest in someone else’s house, but that didn’t bring him joy. When he decided to live life his own way, with his own nest in his own style, he found happiness. By finding his own joy and his own happiness, he was finally able to see and understand and respect the needs of others.

Not a bad message at all, especially for kids and adults. Oh, and the significance of the 8 years? At the beginning the man was a teenager — figure 16-18. He’s gone for 8 years. This makes him 26. When do studies show that men start to actually mature? Not when they go off to college… but in their late 20s.

In short: the presentation is magical. The story is even more so. And, like one Fringe show I went to, there’s ice cream at the end. (But this show is much better. Both the show and the ice cream.)

In addition to the wonderful conception and projections, what makes this show magic are the performances. Huber and Sofer, under the direction of Debbie Devine (FB), artistic director of 24th Street, have a very gentle way of telling the story with humor and music (Sofer also served as musical director, and composed melodies for the music-less songs in the script, as well as musicalizing other dialogue). You can hear the music on their Soundcloud Playlist. The two men are never in your face or harsh; they present the story in a manner accessible to adults and children. They have a very relaxing presence (almost too relaxing at points — their lyrical voices just lull you). But they are just a delight to watch. You get the clear impression that their is a deep friendship between these two men, or should I say the man and the bird.

Supporting these two men, as I noted above, is the invisible actor: the video design of Matthew G. Hill (FB). I’ve talked about them before, but they are clearly magical: chalk drawing that come to life, and with which the actors interact as if they were real. These are augmented by the sound design of the very talented Cricket S. Myers (FB) [who seems to be everywhere these days]. This sound design not only includes amplification of the actors, but wonderful sound effects that form part of the interplay of the story. Lastly, this is supported by the lighting design of Dan Weingarten (FB). Weingarten had an interesting problem: how to convey mood with the lighting without washing out the projections. He figured out how to do it; how to make the lighting enhance the story on top of the projections.

Rounding out the creative and production team were the costumes of Michael Mullen (FB). Alexx Zachary (FB) was the stage manager. There also was a delightfully friendly person at the door greeting people, but I didn’t get her name.

The executive directory of 24th Street Theatre is Jay McAdams (FB), who did the announcements. I got a chance to finally meet him after the show; Jay is the founder of the #pro99 group on Facebook that has been supporting the I Love 99 effort.  I’m one of the few non-actors in that group, and it is amazing the community Jay has built.

One other brief note, before I finish up. I had never been to 24th Street Theatre before. It is in this funky community just outside of USC. Across the street is the Union Theatre, home to the Velaslavasay Panorama, an old fashioned panoramic entertainment in an old theatre. This is one of these little historic neighborhoods that LA folks should know about but never discover. 24th Street is doing a wonderful mission of bringing magic to children and adults there. Well worth visiting.

Man Covets Bird continues at the 24th Street Theatre (FB) until at least May 15th (so ignore the “for 6 weeks”). Tickets are available online, or by calling (213) 745-6516. Discount tickets are available on Goldstar and LA Stage Tix; there are also special prices for neighborhood residents and children. This production is ostensibly for ages 7 and up; it is your judgment on younger, but make sure they can deal with a lot of exposition. Please bring them cough lozenges;  there was one child behind us that kept coughing up a storm who was pretty distracting. I felt sorry for his parents.

* 🎭 🎭 🎭 *

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  The Colony Theatre (FB), Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB), and I just added the  Hollywood Pantages (FB). In 2015, my intimate theatre subscription was at REP East (FB), although they are reorganizing and (per the birdies) will not start 2016 shows until August. Additionally, the Colony just announced that the remainder of their season has been cancelled, so the status of that subscription is up in the air. Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: The second weekend of March recently opened up, due to the cancellation of “Another Roll of the Dice” at The Colony Theatre (FB). We’ve replaced “Dice” with another musical: “All Shook Up” at the Morgan-Wixson (FB) in Santa Monica.  [This also permits me to get more music for my iPod Classic (now at 512GB) by visiting Record Surplus)] The third weekend of March takes us back to the Pasadena Playhouse (FB) on March 19 to see Harvey Fierstein’s Casa Valentina, followed by Bach at Leipzig at The Group Rep (FB) on March 20.  The last weekend of March brings “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB).  April will start with Lea Salonga at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB) on April 1 and an Elaine Boosler concert at Temple Ahavat Shalom on April 2 (this concert is open to the community; get your tickets here). April will also bring the Turtle Quintet at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) (FB), “Children of Eden” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB) , and our annual visit to the Renaissance Faire (Southern). April may also bring A Shred of Evidence at Theatre 40 (FB). As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves.

[Note: Although I’m posting this on Talk Like a Pirate day, this isn’t in pirate speak. Alas, the “Arrrr” and “Ayeeee” keys on my keyboard are broken.]

Clowns. Some find them scary. Some find them funny. Some just don’t understand them, or think of them solely in their “big top” circus incarnation — the white makeup, the big shoes, the squirting flowers. But real clowns — in the form of true clowning around — are much different. They have an inspired silliness — they just enjoy wild play. Want an example? Look no further than Moonie, a regular at Ren Faire. He’s just silly and funny, playing on and off people. Clowns are just funny.

Now, let’s look at Hamlet. One of William Shakespeare‘s greatest plays. A tragedy, in which everyone dies. Sad. Heavy. Somber drama. Think Lion King drama. But within the play lies…. madness. After all, Hamlet puts on an antic disposition. Right?

Combine the two … clowns and Hamlet and the result is… intriguing. That was my thinking when I received a press release about this show. I’d heard good things about the Four Clowns (FB) company, and unfortunately had to miss their fringe shows. So this press release piqued my interest, and when the opportunity arose to schedule it… I did. Building off a day when I was working at home, I scheduled a Friday evening show (opening night, in fact), and we worked our way through traffic to get to the Shakespeare Center near downtown for Four Clowns Presents Hamlet. I’m very glad we did, and that’s not just because we got to have a great dinner at The Park’s Finest beforehand.

Now, I’m decidedly not a Shakespeare expert. I studied it in high school, and saw the New York Shakespeare’s version of Two Gentlemen of Verona (in fact, it is still my favorite show). I’d also seen Moonlighting’s Atomic Shakespeare. But other than that, my exposure until recently was limited. In the last few years I’ve seen a bit more: Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Old Globe in San Diego; The Taming of the Shrew at Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival and Theatricum Botanicum; As You Like It at Theatricum Botanicum. All of them comedies (everyone gets married). I’ve never seen the big dramas such as Hamlet or the Scottish Play.

As a result, the Four Clowns version of Hamlet was probably the first time I’ve explored Hamlet as Hamlet since 1975 and Mr. Smith’s English Class at Pali Hi. Guess what. It was the perfect introduction to the piece. From the ghost wandering through the audience before the opening to the final closing scenes, it was inspired lunacy. The story came through, but the dark and somber nature heightened through the iambic pentameter wasn’t there to clutter the understanding. In fact, by lightening the tone of the story, the clowns made the story accessible and understandable, despite the difficulties that the language of Shakespeare’s time can bring. Translation: Go see this — it makes Shakespeare accessible in a truly unique way.

Normally, at this point, I’d summarize the story of Hamlet. I’m not sure I need to do that — you may already know the story, or you may have seen The Lion King and know the basis of the story. You can always read the summary at Wikipedia, or read the actual play (it’s in the public domain). The elevator summary is that it is a story of revenge: Hamlet learns from the ghost that his father was murdered, and vows revenge on his uncle, King Claudius — who did the deed and married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. To do this, he pretends to be mad. Only his best friend Horatio knows the truth. Hamlet is even forced to hide the truth from his love, Ophelia, and her father Pelonius and brother Laertes. Added to this mix are two fools: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

This, as I’ve noted before, is a classic story. It is one of Shakespeare’s most produced plays, and has been reworked into countless cover stories (including the aforementioned Lion King). Who can find fault with a classic story of revenge and madness, murder and mayhem? But not everyone likes dark heavy dramas.

The Four Clowns Company took this story and lightened it up… by not changing a single plot point. What they did was turn the knob on the lunacy to a 12 when the max was 10, and dial back the somberness and actual violence. This wasn’t to the level of caricature, although Rosencrantz and Guildenstern did seem like a pair of drunken frat boys. They just changed the sanity to silly, and let the descent into lunacy proceed apace.

You get a sense of what will be happening from the pre-show, when the ghost (Joe DeSoto (FB)) starts wandering amongst the audience, making spooky hand motions (I really have no other way to describe it), and encouraging the audience to play along. This is all silent play, but very funny and very reminiscent of how Moonie plays with his audience. DeSoto seems to excel at this silent form of play. You see it again during his actual scenes as the ghost — you just don’t know where he is going to go with anything.

After the artistic director announcements, we meet an overenthusiastic Horatio (Connor Kelly-Eiding (FB)). This overenthusiasm continued throughout the show — Kelly-Eiding seemed almost like a puppy craving the acceptance and full of manic energy. It was just a joy to watch, and I found my eye drawn to her character whenever she was one the stage. Horatio then proceeds to introduce us to all the characters, after which they leave and Hamlet and Horatio encounter the Ghost.

Hamlet (Andrew Eiden (FB)) is initially portrayed as very somber — perhaps the one sane member of this troupe. The lunacy arises when Hamlet puts on the red nose… at which point the unpredictability arises. But his intensity when he delivers Hamlet’s classic monologue from the audience is remarkable, and his lunacy and actions before that only serve to heighten understanding of the classic words.  He was just fun to watch.

The “bad guys” of this story are King Claudius (Corey Johnson (FB)) and Queen Gertrude (Charlotte Chanler (FB)). Chanler’s Gertrude kept making me think of Carol Kane, for some reason. This is a good thing: Kane is a wonderful comic actress, and that sense of comic timing and lunacy came across on Chanler’s Gertrude. Watching her face the first time she gets killed is delightful.  Similarly, Johnson’s Claudius came across more as comic than evil.

The other major family in the story is Polonius (Scotty Farris (FB)), and his two children, Ophelia (Elizabeth Godley (FB)) and Laertes (Joe DeSoto (FB)). Farris captures the befuddled old man well, with some great comic overacting at point. Godley’s Ophelia is sweet — I particularly recall the scene where Hamlet eats the flower and watching her reaction. We don’t see that much of DeSoto as Laertes, but he does do a wonderful job in the swordfighting scene.

Rounding out the cast were Rosencrantz (Dave Honigman (FB)) and Guildenstern (Tyler Bremer/FB), who will later go on to star in their own play. These two men elevated the small courtier role into gag comedy, coming off as a pair of frat brothers on the edge of drunken playfulness.  The torture scene with Hamlet and Horatio is great, and their introduction to the Queen is hilarious.

Four Clowns Presents Hamlet was adapted and directed by Turner Munch (FB). I spoke to Munch after the show, expressing my usual confusion of where the director ends and the actor begins. He indicated that this production was truly a collaborative effort with everyone contributing bits and ideas; his job was to bring the various pieces together and to make them into some sort of coherent whole. He did a great job.

On the technical side… The set and props by Alexandra Giron/FB was relatively simple: some chairs, some fabric. There were more props, but they all worked to establish the appropriate sense of place and story. Lighting Design was by Mcleod Benson/FB, and it worked well-enough. Nothing fancy, but adequately illuminating :-). The back projection scenese were also quite good. There was no credit for sound design; this was too bad, as there were some scenes where sound was used to great effect. Costumes, hair, and make-up were by Elena Flores/FB and worked well. The costumes defined their characters well (the ghost costume was particularly creative). Fight choreography was by Matt Franta (FB), and appeared quite realistic. Rounding out the technical credits were: Technical Director – Matt MacCready/FB; Production Manager – Julianna Stephanie Ojeda/FB; Graphic Designer – Zach Steel (FB); Trailer Editor – Adam Carpenter/FB; Stage Manager – Ashley Jo Navarro/FB; Producers – Jeremy Aluma (FB), Sara Waugh/FB, and David Anthony Anis (FB). Four Clows is under the artistic direction of Jeremy Aluma (FB).

Four Clowns Presents Hamlet continues at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (FB) in a co-production with the Four Clowns (FB) until Saturday, October 10, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM. Tickets are available through the Four Clowns website. This show does not appear to be on Goldstar. It is well worth seeing; one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in a long time. We’re going to keep our eyes open for other Four Clowns productions — they’re great.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre critic; I am, however, a regular theatre audience member. 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 am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I subscribe at three theatres:  REP East (FB), The Colony Theatre (FB), and Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals).  I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows: This evening brings our second show of the weekend: “The Diviners” at REP East (FB). Next weekend sees us going down to La Mirada to see “First Date” at The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (FB). October was being held for the NoHo Fringe Festival (FB), but they haven’t put up the Fringe shows yet, so I’ve started booking weekends. The first weekend of October brings “The Baker’s Wife” at Actors Co-op (FB) in Hollywood. The second weekend of October brings “The Best of Enemies” at The Colony Theatre (FB). The third weekend of October takes us to Thousand Oaks for “Damn Yankees” at Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB). The fourth weekend of October brings “Uncle Vanya” at Antaeus Theatre Company (FB) in North Hollywood. Halloween weekend sees me at CSUN for Urinetown, and then both of us out in Simi Valley for “The Addams Family” at the Simi Cultural Arts Center (Simi Actors Rep Theatre (FB)). The following weekend sees us back in Simi for the Nottingham Festival (FB) on November 7. We then go out to Perris for “A Day Out with Thomas” at Orange Empire Railway Museum (FB) on November 11 (I can’t skip seeing my buddy Thomas and his friend Percy). The bookings for November conclude with Deathtrap at REP East (FB) on November 14; the rest of the month is currently open. December brings “Humble Boy” at The Colony Theatre (FB) the first weekend, followed by a mid-week stint as a producer, when we present The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam as the dinner entertainment at the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). December also has dates held for “The Bridges of Madison County” at the Ahmanson Theatre (FB) and “If/Then” at the Pantages (FB). There are also a few other interesting productions I’m keeping my eyes open for. The first is the Fall show at The Blank Theatre (FB), “Something Truly Monstrous”, sounds wonderful — however, it runs through November 8, so squeezing it in would mean a double weekend. The show at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (FB) also sounds like an interesting exploration of clutter —  but “The Object Lesson” only runs through October 4, and I’m not sure we can squeeze it in. As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Bitter-Lemons, and Musicals in LA, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411.