Tag: reviews-2013

What ‘Cha Want To Get Married For?

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Company - At Crown City Theatreuserpic=theatre_ticketsGetting out of your comfort zone. This is something I’ve been discussing with my daughter of late, as she (a History major) has been taking an Astronomy class. This is also something most of us do in life when we get into a relationship and take a leap of faith when we commit to a lifetime relationship when we get married. Getting our of his comfort zone is the question ultimately faced by the lead character, Robert, in that classic Stephen Sondheim / George Furth musical-comedy “Company“, which we saw last night at the Crown City Theatre in North Hollywood. In short, this is an excellent production of the musical, and is well worth going to.

Before I go on, I’d like to note that this is a write-up, it is not a review. I am not a trained theatre critic, and I pay to attend every show I go to, just like most other audience members. I share my opinions on the shows I see with my friends, because I believe the best way to grow live theatre is to spread the word. This is in response to an editorial by Peter Finlayson on Footlights that was in our program, lambasting the “hacks” (untrained critics) who post their opinions about shows in blogs. I’ll have a separate post on that later, but that editorial served to insult this “hack”.

Luckily, the show more than made up for that insult. For those not familiar with it, “Company” is one of those seminal musicals (Sondheim has a lot of those). When it premiered in 1970, it was a flop. Critics and audiences at the time did not appreciate or connect with its music and found its books confusing. The music was Sondheim at his best: a mix of dissonance, clever patter numbers, tender numbers, and exceedingly complex numbers that served to illuminate the characters, as opposed to being an integral part of the plot or moving story forward. George Furth’s book was not necessarily linear, presenting a series of vignettes about marriage and relationships. It also made a point that did not necessarily sit well.

Given this structure for the story, describing it is difficult. “Company” is really the story of Robert (Bobby). Bobby is turning 35, and all of his married friends want him to get married. These friends — Joanne and Larry, Peter and Susan, Harry and Sarah, David and Jenny, and Paul and Amy — all believe that being married is the desirable state, and that by 35 one should be married. As for Bobby… well, he wants to get married, but not really, well he’s unsure. Through a series of scenes we see how Bobby views the marriages of his friends, as well as Bobby’s relationships with the single girls in his life. All of these propel Bobby into a deeper understanding of why he might want to get married, and what marriage really is. Sondheim has indicated this is one of those musicals where he had trouble getting just the right song for the ending, and the one he chose, “Being Alive”, worked well to capture the final point being made.

The director, Albert Alarr (FB), updated the story slightly, incorporating modern communication devices and modern dances. These updates worked very well, especially during the opening where Bobby is simultaneously playing a video game while dealing with email, messages, phone calls, texts, and chats from his married friends. Alarr also did an excellent job in bringing out the characters from the actors — one of the things I was impressed with in this production is how well performed it was. That’s a sign of a director in synergy with his acting ensemble. This was just a well well performed performance.

It was also great to see this musical up-close in a small venue. I’ve begun to realize that many “Broadway” musicals shine when given the small treatment — when the creative energy is used to make the big show up close and personal. I’ve seen this in the under-99 seat version of Gypsy, and it truly shows in this small theatre production of Company. The performances amplify — you get a close-up sense of the people and the couples, and the small space makes the show even more New-York-ish than a large gigantic stage would do.

Let’s now look at the cast and the couples, and in doing so, I’ll highlight two of my favorite performances; the rest I’ll hit as I go through the cast. [* indicates members of Actors Equity or one of the other 4A unions for actors]

In the lead position was Ben Rovner* (FB) as Robert. Rovner’s Robert was comfortable and accessible, and just seemed like the type of person you would like to be around — a good friend always there when you need him. You could see why these couples liked him and wanted him to be what they perceived as happy. Rovner’s signing voice was delightful, shining in numerous numbers such as “Marry Me a Little” and “Being Alive”, and he danced wonderfully.

Moving from the lead to one of the smaller roles, equally impressive was Julia Black*’s Marta. Marta is one of the girlfriends of Bobby, and is the lead singer for  “Another Hundred People”. Black impressed me in two ways. First, she had a wonderfully powerful singing voice that you could hear in the background of a number of songs, and which shone in “Another Hundred People”. Further, she had a wonderfully expressive face that reacted to the story going on around her — again, this was seen in “Another Hundred People”, as well as in the interplay with Peter and Susan, the married couple who divorced but are still living together for the children. She was also a standout in “You Could Drive a Person Crazy”.

In the Broadway original, one of the standouts was Elaine Stritch as Joanne. In the production, Joanne was played by Sonja Alarr* (FB), playing off of her stage husband Larry (Mike Hagiwara* (FB)). Both were excellent. Alarr’s Joanne wasn’t quite as hard and cynical as the original, but came across as a lovely older lady with a sardonic view of life and an incredible capacity for alcohol. Her two main numbers — “The Little Things You Do Together” and the “Ladies Who Lunch” were just great. Hagiwara was one of the best male performers on the stage, with a great voice and wonderful movement.

During Joanne’s first number, we meet the couple of Harry (James Calvert* (FB)) and Sarah (Libby Baker* (FB)). The two worked well together, and Baker had a very lovely singing voice.

The couple of Amy and Paul were portrayed by Amy Albert* (FB) and Christopher Davis Carlisle* (FB). Albert’s Amy was spectacular, and I was blown away by her comic timing, expressions, and vocal capacity during “Not Getting Married”. Carlisle shown less in the singing and more in the reactions during the same number.

Peter (Zeffin Quinn Hollis* (FB)) and Susan (Lena Gwendolyn Hill* (FB)) were mentioned earlier — they are a married couple who decided the best way to preserve their relationship was divorce.  I was unsure about Hill’s Southern portrayal at the beginning, but it ended up working quite well and both performers were fun to watch.

The last couple is David (Jon Hand* (FB)) and Jenny (Beatrice Crosbie* (FB)). Both were a delight to watch, especially in the pot scene where seeing Jenny high was a treat.

Rounding out the cast were Robert’s other two girlfriends — and the remaining parts of the trio for “You Could Drive a Person Crazy”. April, the flight attendant, was played by Emma Degerstedt* (FB). She was spectacular in “Barcelona” and “Drive a Person Crazy”, with a delightful look and wonderful comic timing. The other remaining girlfriend was Kathy (Katy O’Donnell* (FB)).

As I indicated at the beginning, the entire cast was fun to watch, and the large number of people conveyed the New York feel quite well. Also working well was the set design by Jack Forrestel (FB), which integrated well with the props from Joanne McGee (FB) and the projections by Zeffin Quinn Hollis*(FB) to turn the long black-box Crown City space into an effective New York apartment. It is this creativity that shows small theatre at its best — these things are easy to do when you have lots of fly and wing space, but when you are limited and you make it work it is just remarkable. The lighting design by Anna Cecelia Martin worked well to convey the mood, and the sound design by Mark Duggar/FB worked well to provide that ambient noise of New York well. The costumes by Tanya Apuya (FB) worked very well, especially the lovely outfits for all the female characters.  Serving as music director (and on the piano) was William A. Reilly/FB, and the delightful choreography was by John Todd/FB. Gary Lamb/FB was the Technical Director, and Kimberly Bullock/FB was the production stage manager.

“Company” continues at Crown City Theatre at least through the end of March. Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets, and note that shows seem to be selling out.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   Next weekend takes us to the Pantages and Hollywood for  “Catch Me If You Can”on March 16. The fourth week of March brings “Boeing Boeing” at REP East on March 23, and March ends with “End of the Rainbow” at the Ahmanson on March 30. April has less theatre — so far, only one show is scheduled. The first weekend of April is open. The next weekend brings with the Southern California Renaissance Faire.  Following that is “Grease” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and April concludes with a winetasting at Temple Ahavat Shalom. May is busy in a different sense, with two concerts — Elton John in Las Vegas on May 4, and (tentative) Michael Feinstein at VPAC on May 11. May also brings “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre and “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. Lastly, continuing the look ahead, June will bring (tenative) “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre, “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, and (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA. We were originally planning on the Western Corps Connection at the end of the month, but their collection of corps this year is poor. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

Music: NEO: New, Emerging…Outstanding! (Concert Cast) (Darius De Haas): “Field Flowers (Based On Text By Thomas Campbell)”

 

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Don’t Go Down Into The Quarry In The Middle of the Night

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back-before-midnightuserpic=colonySomethings are easy to do in the theatre: musicals, comedy, drama, and even mysteries. Somethings are a lot harder to do, and to do right. Thrillers are one such genre. Thrillers are different than mysteries: thrillers need to make you jump in your seat occasionally, and that element of surprise is hard to achieve with live actors. Luckily, the current comedy/thriller “I’ll Be Back Before Midnight” at the Colony Theatre in Burbank does it, and does it well. How do we know this? We saw it last night.

“I’ll Be Back Before Midnight“, written by Peter Colley, takes place in an old isolated farmhouse (where else would such a story take place… c’mon). The setup is as follows: Greg Sanderson, a PhD student studying stone tools, has rented a farmhouse near an isolated quarry where he is doing field research with his father-in-law. He bring his wife, Jan, to the farmhouse for some rest — and to rejuvenate their relationship, after Jan has been released from the hospital after a massive depressive incident. This incident occurred after Greg’s mother died, and Laura, Greg’s sister, returned into Greg’s life. Unbeknowst to Jan, Greg has also invited Laura to the farmhouse; this is a problem as Jan has an intense hatred and distrust of Laura. The last element in this mix is George Willowby, from whom Jan has rented the house. Shortly after Jan and Greg arrive, George comes over to check on the house… and tells Jan of the history of the house. This includes the fact that he bought the house for his son, who never lived there choosing instead to go live in the city. He also indicates the house is haunted, dating back to when a young bride was murdered in the living room by a crazed deformed man who broke in through a window. Since then, there are ghostly heartbeats heard when the crazed man is about, and blood seeps up from the floorboards whenever a murder has been committed. But Jan doesn’t need to worry; he’s provided them with a loaded shotgun.

There. You have all the ingredients you need. A haunted farmhouse. Ghosts, murders, and isolation. A nervous wife. A hated sister. A man in the middle. A jolly old neighbor to provide the needed exposition, and a little comic relief. Mix and stir well, and add some darkness to the mix. You end up with a delightful thriller….

….which I must add was well executed by the Colony Theatre. This is the type of piece that the Colony does very well — a character-driven piece that their scenic designer can have fun with. They can establish the atmosphere, pick great actors, provide good direction, and the result is wonderous (as evidenced by the fact that the run has been extended). In this case, the direction is so good because it is being done by someone who knows the piece very very well — because he wrote it. Under the direction of Peter Colley and David Rose, the suspense is maintained well and surprises are not telegraphed. The characters seem realistic (well, I’m not sure the farmer would drink that much). It all works very well.

The acting team is also very talented. As the mentally-nervous wife, Jan, Joanna Strapp does a great job of conveying the tenuous stability of her mental state, combined with coolness and cleverness. She is just fun to watch. Playing off her is Tyler Pierce as her husband, Greg. Pierce, as Greg, portrays the man trying to please two masters quite well: he seemingly wants his wife to recover and have their marriage be what it once was, but he also seemingly wants to maintain a strong relationship with his sister, Laura. Laura was played by Kate Maher, who does a very good job of portraying (to be blunt) a controlling bitch of a sister who does not believe her brother’s wife is good enough for him. The last actor in the mix is Ron Orbach, playing the farmer next door, George Willowby. We last saw Orbach many many years ago (in the late 1980s) at the Pasadena Playhouse; it was great to see him again. Orbach brought the humor to the ensemble wonderfully, and provided some surprising aspects near the end of the story.
[All actors are members of Actors Equity]

Turning to the technical side: Stephen Gifford‘s scenic design was excellent as always: he recreated a wonderfully rustic farmhouse on the Colony stage, assisted with properties from Colony regular MacAndME. My only problem with the design is that there were too many rock tools around if this was a new rental by Greg. Lighting was by Colony regular Luke Moyer, and it did a great job of establishing the mood. The sound, by Drew Dalzell, was very effective, although the pre-show and intermission sounds were a little loud.  The costumes by Dianne K. Graebner worked well. Leesa Freed served as the Production Stage Manager.

“I’ll Be Back Before Midnight” was supposed to close tonight, but it has been extended through March 17. Go see it, you’ll be at the edge of your seats while having a blast. Tickets are available through the Colony website. The Colony also reported that they have sufficient funds to mount their next production, “Falling for Make Believe“ , a musical building on the songbook of Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers. This runs April 24 – May 19, 2013, and you can also buy tickets through the Colony website. Alas, the Colony has not yet been able to commit to the 2013-2014 season. I’ve suggested that they do a Kickstarter, but they seem to prefer older fundraising models. Let’s hope they make it.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   Next weekend sees us in North Hollywood for “Company” at the Crown City Theatre. The third week of March takes us to the Pantages and Hollywood for  “Catch Me If You Can”on March 16. The fourth week of March brings “Boeing Boeing” at REP East on March 23, and ends with “End of the Rainbow” at the Ahmanson on March 30. April has less theatre — so far, only one show is scheduled. The first weekend of April is open. The next weekend brings with the Southern California Renaissance Faire.  Following that is “Grease” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and April concludes with a winetasting at Temple Ahavat Shalom. May is busy in a different sense, with two concerts — Elton John in Las Vegas on May 4, and (tentative) Michael Feinstein at VPAC on May 11. May also brings “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre and “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. Lastly, continuing the look ahead, June will bring (tenative) “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre, “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, and (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA. We were originally planning on the Western Corps Connection at the end of the month, but their collection of corps this year is poor. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

Music: Country — After All These Years (Chet Atkins): “I Can Hear Kentucky Calling Me”

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Growing Old is a Bitch

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The Snake Canuserpic=dramamasksIt’s hard to be middle-aged. It’s even harder if you’re middle-aged and female and looking for love. Well, at least that’s the premise of Kathryn Graf‘s new play, “The Snake Can“, which we saw last night at The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in West Los Angeles.

“The Snake Can” tells the story of three women, all in their early 50s: Nina, an artist, who recently separated from her husband Paul; Meg, who is twice divorced; and Harriet, a writer, widowed 7 years ago after a number of years of a loving marriage. All are navigating the rocky relationship waters, attempting to find both themselves and relationships in the modern world. The play concerns this questions. Each of the women’s story is somewhat separate, except where the women get together to talk to each other about their relationship problems. Harriet, a homemaker and stay-at-home mom from the suburbs, has finally decided to go after new relationships, and is doing it through a website called matchmaking.luv (ummm, yes… it seems authors don’t always understand the domain naming system). She has met a man named Stephen, and has to overcome both his past and his reluctance to commit. This past, mind you, includes a number of bisexual years that included a man named Brad. Nina is less navigating dating than navigating separating from her long-time actor husband, Paul. She’s had her bootie calls, but is flinging herself into her art (literally) more than dating. Meg, who is perhaps the smartest of them all, has had a series of relationships but nothing seems to work. All three seem to love to drown their sorrows with copious amounts of wine (hmmm, they would fit really great into Cougartown). By the time the play ends, all have learned something about themselves, and have found some sense of closure in their relationships.

The direction by Steven Robman is smart, and the situations presented by the women draw you into the story well. As for being realistic — well that I’m unsure of, but then again, I haven’t dealt with the dating scene since the 1980s! If anything, they gave me the sense of being a little too earnest, and the resulting story had a bit of a sitcom feel to it. That could also be the side effect of having to squeeze all the character growth and driving situations into 120 minutes. The types of women portrayed did feel right, and I’ve certainly seen men like that before. One got the sense that these were people who wanted the relationship for the comfort of the relationship, not particularly for anything physical. The play also resonated well with the older middle-aged audience found in the theatre today. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.

Much of this came from the performances of the acting team. In the lead positions were Diane Cary* as Nina, Jane Kaczmarek* as Harriet, and Sharon Sharth* was Meg. All came off as realistic, and I particularly enjoyed the performances of Sharth and Kaczmarek. Sharth, as Meg, as beautiful and accessible, and exuded a wonderful air of confidence. Kaczmarek, as Harriet, gave off the suburban wife vibe well, although drinking a bit much (I hope that was stage alcohol, or those actresses might need a driver at the end of an evening). Cary was a little bit colder as Nina, but I also enjoyed her character.

In the two main male roles were Paul Lieber as Paul and James Lancaster* as Stephen. Lieber’s Paul struck me as a bit of a looser Malcolm McDowell, but that could be a look thing. You could tell from Lieber’s performance that this was a man having trouble navigating the relationship waters as well. He wanted to be with his wife, who no longer wanted him, and really didn’t want to date. He just wanted the comfort of what he had. Lancaster’s Stephen was different — a character who wanted a relationship with a women and who had been bisexual in the past, who could never seem to make relationships of either type work in the long run. He was scared of having relationships work, and portrayed this quite well.  Rounding out the male cast was Joel Polis* as the boyfriend Jake and Stephen’s former lover, Brad.
[*: Member of Actors Equity]

Turning to the technical: The set, which was designed by Jeffery P. Eisenmann, worked reasonably well. The apartment side of the set worked well, although the textures on the wall interfered with the excellent projections of Hana S. Kim. The props by Lorely Trinidad worked well. The set was well lit by Adam Blumenthal, and the sound design and sound effects of Cricket S. Myers were (umm) effective. The costumes of Miguel Montalvo were appropriate to my eye and conveyed the period well. Liana Dillaway was the Production Stage Manager, assisted by Priscilla Miranda. “The Snake Can” was produced by Racquel Lehrman.

“The Snake Can” continues at The Odyssey Theatre until March 2. Tickets are available through the Odyssey; discount tickets may be available through LA Stage Tix. It is worth seeing. Upcoming productions at The Odyssey include “Rank” by Robert Massey (3/23 – 5/12) and “Annapurna” (by Sharr White). Other productions listed that intrigue me include “Ionescopade: A Musical Vaudeville“, built around th eplays, playlets, and poetry of Eugene Ionesco (6/8 – 7/28/2013); an all-female casting of “Hamlet” featuring Charlayne Woodard as Gertrude (8/17 – 10/13/13), and a “Waiting for Godot”-esque play called “Old Clown Wanted” about three out-of-work circus clowns marking time in a deserted office.

Dining Notes: As we were on the Westside and had just hit Record Surplus (where we scored with loads of music, including a French-cast-album of Hair), we decided to explore nearby restaurants. We ended up at an excellent Oaxacan Mexican restaurant on Santa Monica called Monte Alban. Yummy and different. We’ll be back.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   March starts with “I’ll Be Back Before Midnight” at the Colony. The following weekend sees us in North Hollywood for “Company” at the Crown City Theatre. The third week of March takes us to the Pantages and Hollywood for  “Catch Me If You Can”on March 16. The fourth week of March brings “Boeing Boeing” at REP East on March 23, and ends with “End of the Rainbow” at the Ahmanson on March 30. April has less theatre — so far, only one show is scheduled. The first weekend of April is open. The next weekend brings with the Southern California Renaissance Faire.  Following that is “Grease” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and April concludes with a winetasting at Temple Ahavat Shalom. May is busy in a different sense, with two concerts — Elton John in Las Vegas on May 4, and (tentative) Michael Feinstein at VPAC on May 11. May also brings “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre and “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. Lastly, continuing the look ahead, June will bring (tenative) “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre, “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA, and the Western Corps Connection at the end of the month. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

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Timing is Everything

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Run For Your Wife (Canyon Theatre Guild)userpic=theatre_ticketsMy first introduction to the unique theatrical form that is farce — at least that I recognized as farce — was in 1982 in New York, when I saw the Michael Frayn play “Noises Off” in its first run on Broadway. Since then I’ve seen farce off and on — a revival of “Noises Off” at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2003, “Don’t Dress for Dinner” at REP in 2006, “Is He Dead?” at ICT in 2009, “The 39 Steps” at the Ahmanson in 2010, various Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward farces, and numerous others — but I haven’t sought them out. I’ve typically seen them as part of a season, with a few exceptions. Yesterday afternoon was one of those exceptions, as some good friends invited us to join them for the Canyon Theatre Guild (FB) production of Ray Cooney‘s “Run for your Wife” in Newhall.

“Run for your Wife” is a 1983 farce that was extremely popular in the UK, and is a favorite of regional and small theatre companies, as it works well and tends to be popular with audiences. It doesn’t appear to be as popular on the big screen: a theatrical version opened this week, and appears to be getting very poor reviews (UK Independent: “Biggest Turkey Ever Filmed“; UK Guardian: “woefully dated“). In general, theatrical farce doesn’t work on the screen, because all the timing risks are gone.

In general, timing is at the heart of farce. Usually, farce depends on split second timing, word play, sexual humor, quick entries and exits, and reactions. Combine this with a British accent, and you’re off and running. Run for your Wife is no exception. At the heart of Run for your Wife is a timing problem. John Smith is a taxi driver who has a balancing problem. He has one wife, Mary, in Wimbledon who he sees after his afternoon shift… and another wife, Barbara, in Streatham (4½ minutes away), who he sees after his morning shift. John is very precise in his schedule. So when John fails to materialize at the expected time, each wife rings the local police to report him missing. When John surfaces at Mary’s flat, it is after being in hospital with a head injury received fending off muggers. This not only gets him in the news, but confused him enough that he gave both addresses to the hospital. And this sets everything in action. Soon the mix is joined with detective sergeants from both the Wimbleton and Streatham police stations attempting to find out what happened to John. Of course, John isn’t helped by his upstairs neighbor in Wimbleton, Stanley Gardner, to whom he confides his secret. That’s the basic setup, so you can now imagine how the confusion grows as Stanley and John attempt to protect their secret by building lies upon fake identities and running back and forth between flats. There’s one last fly in the ointment: Bobby Franklin, a flaming gay interior designer who lives with his boyfriend in the flat above Mary Smith, and who has spilled some cans of red paint that are dripping into the bathroom. Lastly, I should note that Run for your Wife  typically is staged in a single room that represents both flats, split in half with one flat predominately in one side in one color, and the other flat on the other side. Ready. Set. Go. Laugh.

For the most part this works well, but the book is a little dated. Especially in the second act, the play tends to take the typical British 1980s stereotypical view of homosexuals. Formally setting the play in the 1980s helps a little to excuse this, but it is still grating to today’s sensibilities. This is something a director needs to be sensitive about — it is a problem many plays and musicals face when they get revived (look at the controversies over the revival of Showboat in 1993). It didn’t seem to affect that CTG audience at our performance, but that is likely because the humor is so broad and slapstick it was just ignored. Another reason could very well be that in the theatre, for farce, one tends to write off any plot specifics anyway. Farce plots are convoluted and far-fetched to begin with. This sets up the humor, and enables it to continue at the frantic pace that farce requires. If you insist that a theatrical farce have a realistic plot — or even one whose twists can be easily described — then you are just wasting your time. [I’ll note that this is often not true for cinema unless you are dealing with animation; if you film it realistically, the audience expects the story to be realistic.]

Run for your Wife depends on accurate timing, on lots of dialogue said correctly, and on great reactions from the actors as the farce builds. Luckily, the director of Run for your Wife, Mike Davies/FB, assisted by Heidi Meiseles/FB, did a very good job of getting this out of his team. Their timing was, for the most part, spot on. Their lines were, for the most part, delivered well and with good accents. The reaction shots were very funny, and they seemed to be enjoying their characters and going with the flow. This is a good thing; when actors have fun with what they are doing, that fun is communicated to the audience and everything builds.

rfyw-lund-bradfordThe ensemble for Run for your Wife was also very strong. In the lead positions were Tom Lund (FB) as John Smith and Wade Bradford (FB) as Stanley Gardner (pictured to the right — image snarfed from Facebook). Lund (who we’ve seen before in the REP productions of Journey’s End and Laramie Project) played the harried taxi driver very well, and very strong in his reaction shots. He had a casual easygoing nature, but seemed quick on his feet. Still, it was difficult to see what both of his beautiful “wives” saw in him, but that seems to be a common problem with productions of this show :-). Bradford also did very well, comfortably switching between accents and voices, and playing the different personas he had to project very well. My only problem with Bradford’s character was his makeup — the facial hair just seemed off and odd to me. But that’s a minor complaint — he had great timing, great reactions, and was just having fun.

Also having fun were the two wives. As the Wimbleton wife, Mary Smith, Kamber Grace Moen/FB was a joy to watch, and not just because she’s very pretty. As with the rest of the ensemble, she had great timing and comic reactions, and interacted well with the other characters. The Streadham wife, Barbara Smith, was played by Bea Schreiber/FB. Schreiber had a very different look than Moen — both beautiful, but with a different build and different facial reactions. Again, as with the rest of the ensemble, Schreiber had great timing and comic reaction. According to the write-ups of this play that I have seen, Mary was supposed to be more straight-laced, and Barbara more sexually charged. Looking at the actresses, I wonder how the humor would have changed had the actresses been swapped in the two roles, raising the question of how looks might influence our perceptions of characters. Ah, well, this is farce. I shouldn’t try to think too much, should I?

Rounding out the cast were the two detective sergeants, Troughton from Wimbleton (Davie Wisehart/FB) and Porterhouse from Streadham (Michael Keane/FB). Both were very good. Lastly, D.J. Hersch/FB played the flaming Streadham upstairs neighbor, Bobby Franklin.  Again, good timing and reactions.

The set for Run for your Wife was designed by Brian Maly and Doug Holiday/FB. The set worked well enough, although it could have used a stronger differentiating colour scheme between the two flats. The sound design by William Davies/FB worked well with good sound effects. The lighting by Brian Maly was also reasonably good. Caroline Morgan/FB was the stage manager.

As I noted early on, this production was at the Canyon Theatre Guild (FB Group) in Newhall… so I’d like to say few words about the Canyon Theatre Guild itself, as this was our first time there. CTG is at the other end of the block from one of our favorite theatres, REP East Playhouse. The two are different in a number of ways. REP productions use predominately Equity, SAG, and other actors who work in theatre, and take place in an 81-seat “black box”. CTG is formally more at the “community theatre” level — they draw from skilled amateurs combined with aspiring professionals, with a house that is significantly larger (I’d guess 3 times larger). Luckily, CTG has been doing theatre in Santa Clarita for a long time (42 years, in fact), and has a great pool of talent from which to draw (in fact, many actors perform at both REP and CTG). Although the basic CTG facility is very nice, the seating at CTG looks to be former movie theater seating, including the drink holders in the armrests and the plastic seatbacks, and the rake of the seating flattened out near the roof (reducing sight lines). Canyon Theatre Guild does an interesting mix of shows — primarily popular musicals and plays. I’ll keep an eye on them, and we may be back for a future production.

There is one more weekend for Run For Your Wife and its co-production, Suessical – The Musical. Tickets are available from the CTG box office at (661) 799-2702. Run has two performances left: Friday 2/22 and Saturday 2/23 at 8pm; Suessical has one performance left on Saturday 2/23 at 2pm. CTG often puts their shows up on Goldstar, although I don’t believe there are offers active for these shows currently. Upcoming at CTG is the musical “Hairspray”, running Mar 23rd 2013 to Apr 27th 2013, the comedy “The Fox on the Fairway” running May 24 – June 22, 2013, and a new version of “The Little Mermaid” running May 25-June 23, 2013. CTG will also be producing the regional premiere of Les Miserables at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center running July 20, 2013 – August 11, 2013. CTG also has an extensive education program.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   Next weekend brings  “The Snake Can” at the Odyssey Theatre (based on an ad that caught Karen’s eye in the latest Footlights). Karen (but not me) will be seeing “When You’re In Love The Whole World is Jewish” at the Greenway Court Theatre on Feburary 21. March starts with “I’ll Be Back Before Midnight” at the Colony. The following weekend sees us in North Hollywood for “Company” at the Crown City Theatre. The third week of March takes us to the Pantages and Hollywood for  “Catch Me If You Can”on March 16. The fourth week of March brings “Boeing Boeing” at REP East on March 23. March may also bring “End of the Rainbow” at the Ahmanson, most likely on March 30. April will bring the Southern California Renaissance Faire , “Grease” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and a winetasting at Temple Ahavat Shalom. May is also busy, with two concerts — Elton John in Las Vegas on May 4, and (tentative) Michael Feinstein at VPAC on May 11. May may also bring “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre, “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. Lastly, continuing the look ahead, June will bring (tenative) “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre, “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA, and the Western Corps Connection at the end of the month. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

 

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A Strip Show at the Cabrillo

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

You're A Good Man, Charlie BrownCabrillo UserpicComic strips — especially those regularly published in the newspapers — are interesting things. At one level they are aimed for children, but at another level they are something completely different. One of my favorite examples of this is the webcomic “Garfield minus Garfield“, which takes the regular Garfield comic and simply subtracts Garfield. This turns what is often a childish strip into a wonderful portrait of existential angst, sadness, and loneliness. I got to thinking about Garfield last night at Cabrillo Music Theatre in Thousand Oaks, while we were attending their latest production, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown“.

“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” (henceforth, YAGMCB) is a simple piece — a series of vignettes (very much like a series of comic strips) that illustrate incidents from the Peanuts comic strip written by Charles Shultz, where most of the vignettes are punctuated with simple musical novelty numbers. I’ll note it isn’t the only stage show about Charlie Brown; there is also “Snoopy! The Musical” (which I’ve heard but never seen), and the unauthorized “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” (which visits the characters (or close facsimiles thereof) as teens, which we saw in 2010). It features only six characters: Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Sally Brown, and Snoopy. It’s inherent simplicity and small cast make it work wonderfully off-Broadway (where it ran for over 1,500 performances in early 1970) and in smaller theatres; that is also what works against it in larger Broadway venues (as demonstrated by the first Broadway run, which lasted only 32 performances, or the revival, which ran longer at 149 performances). This size problem is one thing that works against the show in the Cabrillo production — the show is simply dwarfed by the cavernous Kavli stage and theatre space. The inherent smallness and beauty of the piece is lost. This is no fault of the actors, writers, or directors, but of the producers. YAGMCB is simply not an appropriate piece for large theatres.

As I noted at the beginning, YAGMCB is a series of vignettes, with original book, music, and lyrics by Clark M. Gesner. The Cabrillo production is based on the 1999 revival, which replaced the original Patty with Sally Brown, and featured additional dialogue by Michael Mayer  and additional music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. The vignette approach mirrors the comic strip nature very well, but it also means that it inherits another characteristic of many comic strips that make them bad for the stage: no through story. In the Peanuts strip, the characters never age, they never grow, they never learn. They never have crises to overcome along the path. That works well for gag-a-day strips; however, it works poorly for much live theatre. In the theatre, such productions are often enjoyable but ultimately empty, marshmallows that are sweet going down but mostly empty. What YAGMCB does have for depth — if you are looking for any — is the ultimate angst and depression (and yet continuing optimism, which will be torn asunder in his teens) of Charlie Brown when faced with the characters around him. You see these character traits (which were magnified and amplified in the unauthorized and aforementioned Dog Sees God) well in this show. With the adult side of your mind, they are fun to watch.

With the kid side of your mind, however, you see the simple strip. Here is where YAGMCB works quite well. It does bring the nature of the strips to the stage well. The universal humor, featuring situations we’ve all faced, works well. The director, Lewis Wilenfeld, does a great job of bringing out the kid in the adult actors. Although initially jarring, the fact that these are adults playing kids eventually fades  away, and you are left seeing the characters you love so well. The situations present reflect the best moments of the comic strip: Linus and his blanket, Schroeder and his piano, Charlie Brown and his kite, Snoopy and his food, Snoopy and his Sopwith Camel, Snoopy and his birds, Lucy and her crabbiness, and so on. The songs in the production, for the most part, are not deep. They are amusing and they often tell the story, but they don’t have complexity. There is one exception — the standout song from the show: “Happiness”. This is the closing song of the show, and it touches on everything it means to be a child, to be a friend, and it cements the relationships between these comic strip characters.

So let’s look at the characters… and the actors, who performed them very well. Although the production may have been dwarfed by the Kavli stage, the performances did a great job of filling the theatre.

As Charlie Brown, Dane Biren (FB) is appropriately youthful, but didn’t fully strike me as Charlie Brown. Still, especially as the show went on, he worked quite well. He had a delightful singing voice, and was particularly notable — both in performance and acting — in his numbers “The Kite” and “T.E.A.M.” (The Baseball Game). I also enjoyed him in the closing finale of “Happiness”.

Cabrillo - Lucy and Charlie BrownLucy, as portrayed by Natalie Storrs (FB), was more problematic. For me, her look was off — she looked too old for the character, and her costuming was off (I never recall Lucy wearing bloomers in the strip, and this production put both Lucy and Sally in bloomers, as seen in the image to the right). However, her comic timing was wonderful, her performance was very strong, and her singing was great (and very much like the cast album). Storr particularly shone with her comic performance in “Schroeder” and “The Doctor is In”, and her vignette about crabbiness. Ultimately, I was won over by Storr’s Lucy despite the problems, and truly enjoyed her performance.

Linux, Lucy’s younger brother, was well played by Jeffrey Scott Parsons* (FB). Linus represents the philosophical viewpoint (he becomes a pothead in Dog Meets God), and Parsons portrayed that well. He was exceptional in “My Blanket and Me”, and touching in the aforementioned crabbiness vignette. In the 1999 revival, Linux was cast (for whatever reason) as Asian. I’m not sure how this would have affected the character’s reception.

Schroeder was cast with a black actor, following the model of the revival. As Schroeder, Todrick Hall* (FB) worked reasonably well. He sang a bit softer than I expected, but performed quite well. He also gave off — to me — a gay vibe to the character. It was just something in the mannerisms and vocal style. This aspect of Schroeder has been picked up by others (and is a major plot point in Dog Meets God, although it turns out there’s something darker, which is the conceit of Dog Meets God). In YAGMCB, however, it was a little odd. Hall was particularly great in Beethoven Day, one of the new numbers introduced for the revival, as well has his interactions with the other characters.

Sally Brown is a character that was new to the revival. Her character replaced the original Patty of the strip (not Peppermint Patty). Reba Buhr (FB) did a great job with her, channeling Kristen Chenowith, the original Sally Brown, quite well. Buhr moved well and sang well, and was a standout in her number “My New Philosophy”. She also captured Sally’s mood swings very well. She was very fun to watch.

Lastly, we have Snoopy, as portrayed by Zachary Ford* (FB). As any Peanuts reader knows, although Charlie Brown is the center of the strip, Snoopy is the star and lead character. That definitely comes across in this show. Although costumed somewhat poorly (a white jumpsuit with no indications of dog), Ford still came across as a dog pretty well, especially in numbers such as “Suppertime”. He was also great in his acting, as shown in the Red Baron number, and his comic performances (as seen during the rabbit chase).

Tessa Grady and Bear Maneschalchi/FB were the understudies.

YAGMCB was directed by the aforementioned Lewis Wilkenfeld, who did a good job bringing out the “kid” in the performances, although some of the movements seemed out of place. Choreography was by Kirsten Chandler, and for the most part was very good, although there were a few spots where it didn’t seem kid-like. Chandler was hindered by the very large Kavli stage and the lack of significant set pieces, providing very little for her to choreograph against. Dean Mora did a wonderful job of music direction and led the spectacular Cabrillo orchestra.

For this production, Cabrillo used the sets by Off-Broadway West, LLC, with additional props by Anna Grijalva/FB. These sets worked, but they were dwarfed by the facility. I did appreciate the fact that they attempted to use perspective to make the actors look like children — extra large props, sofas, pianos, and other set pieces made the actors seem smaller. Sound design was by resident Cabrillo designer Jonathan Burke (FB), and was particularly notable in the high quality of sound effects used. The lighting by Coby Chasman-Beck also worked quite well in establishing the mood, which was supplemented by the excellent projections of Kaitlyn Pietras. Costumes were provided by The Theatre Company in Upland, and worked well for Charlie Brown, Schroeder, and Linus, less so for the Lucy, Sally, and Snoopy. Tim Schroepfer (FB) was the technical director. Allie Roy* (FB) was the production stage manager, assisted by Taylor Ruge. Cabrillo Music Theatre is under the artistic direction of Lewis Wilkenfeld.

One of the things I like about Cabrillo is their family nature. Last nights show included a raffle to have the Kabrillo Kids serenade your sweetie before the second act (which was cute), interactions with local dog rescue organizations, and their usual wonderful support of the Naval Base in Ventura County. This is what makes Cabrillo a very special organization.

The last performance of Cabrillo’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” is today at 2pm. Tickets are available at the box office. There are two productions left in the Cabrillo 2012-2013 season: “Grease” on April 12-21, 2013, and the regional premiere of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” (July 19-28, 2013). There will also be a fundraising singalong to Grease-The Movie at Movico Theater in Thousand Oaks. Information on the Cabrillo Website. Cabrillo has also announced their 2013-2014 season: Kiss Me Kate, October 18-27, 2013; Forever Plaid, January 31-February 9, 2014; In The Heights, March 28-April 6, 2014; and Bye, Bye, Birdie, July 18-27, 2014.

As for us…

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   Today brings a British sex farce, “Run for your Wife” at Canyon Theatre Guild. The last weekend of February is “The Snake Can” at the Odyssey Theatre (based on an ad that caught Karen’s eye in the latest Footlights). Karen (but not me) will be seeing “When You’re In Love The Whole World is Jewish” at the Greenway Court Theatre on Feburary 21. March starts with “I’ll Be Back Before Midnight” at the Colony. The following weekend sees us in North Hollywood for “Company” at the Crown City Theatre. The third week of March takes us to the Pantages and Hollywood for  “Catch Me If You Can”on March 16. The fourth week of March brings “Boeing Boeing” at REP East on March 23. March may also bring “End of the Rainbow” at the Ahmanson, most likely on March 30. April will bring the Southern California Renaissance Faire , “Grease” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and a winetasting at Temple Ahavat Shalom. May is also busy, with two concerts — Elton John in Las Vegas on May 4, and (tentative) Michael Feinstein at VPAC on May 11. May may also bring “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre, “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. Lastly, continuing the look ahead, June will bring (tenative) “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre, “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA, and the Western Corps Connection at the end of the month. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

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A Visit to a Dark Smokey Rock and Roll Club

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backbeatuserpic=ahmansonLast night we went to a rock club. Specifically, we went to rock club located in a large building, in a central part of town, in a dark (and smoky) room, surrounded by a lot of people (between 1600 and 2000,  to be precise), all of whom had paid a lot of money to get in. If that phrase didn’t clue you in, then perhaps I should clarify: last night, we went to the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown Los Angeles to see “Backbeat“, a musical re-telling of the story of the formation of the Beatles. “Backbeat” primarily takes place at the rock club in Hamburg Germany, and throughout the show the characters are chain smoking (clove cigarettes), plus the theatre is filled with theatrical smoke and fog. And music. Very very loud rock music.

“Backbeat“, which is based on the 1994 movie of the same name, purports to tell the story of the early days of the Beatles — specifically, the days when the band was first forming up as the Beatles, and when it consisted of 5 Liverpool blocks: the familiar John, Paul, and George, plus Pete Best on drums and Stuart Sutcliffe on bass. Yes, I said “5” — the Beatles was originally a quintet. Note that I also said “purportedly”, as “Backbeat” takes liberties with the Beatles chronology for the sake of story telling.

You may have noticed that I haven’t called Backbeat a musical. That’s because it isn’t, either in the traditional book musical sense or even a jukebox musical sense. The music in Backbeat does not serve to propel or tell the story; very occasionally, it may echo something that was happening at the time. Backbeat is also not the traditional jukebox musical, with no real story to tell and covering the music of the selected artist over their career. You want a jukebox musical, go see Rain. If anything, Backbeat (except for the end, where it is a concert) is a play with lots of music; a play that tells the backstory of the Beatles with their performances front and center.

The focus of Backbeat, however, is not the Beatles. It is Stuart Sutcliffe. John Lennon met Sutcliffe in the mid-1950s at art school, and convinced him to join the band he had with Paul McCartney and George Harrison (then called The Quarrymen) playing bass (which Stucliffe did not know how to play). Later they added Pete Best, and went off to Hamburg to play a gig in a dive that consisted of 6-8 hour sets. This gig is where they honed their musical style and original bad-boy image (yes, back in these days the Beatles didn’t have the mop-top look, but were a hard rock and roll band in boots and leather jackets). This gig is also where Sutcliffe met Astrid Kirchherr, a German photographer, and fell in love. Backbeat also tells the story of this love and Kirchherr’s influence on Sutcliffe and the band, leading to Sutcliffe eventually quitting the Beatles, proposing to Kirchherr, and dying of a brain hemmorage. Lastly, Backbeat tells the story of the formation of the final Beatles configuration: how Brian Epstein became involved as the first manager of the Beatles, and how Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey). The story mostly sticks to the truth, although at times it plays loose with the chronology, and even portrays some characters different than in real life.

It is in the presentation of this story that Backbeat suffers from its main problem: language. Backbeat has a problem very similar to Billy Elliott: the northern England accents that the principal characters have make it very difficult for an American audience to follow the show. This is something this production is going to need to adjust if it is going to succeed in the colonies, for it has really only played in London and Toronto. There’s also a fair bit of German, which American audiences do not understand. Combine these accents and foreign languages with very fast and angry talking, and the story become quite difficult to follow. In fact, I found myself wanting to see a number of traditional book musical songs — in the style of the Beatles — to exhibit inner thoughts and focus the story better. Alas, I never got them, and I found myself working hard to figure out everything that was happening. I think, if this eventually moves to Broadway, some book songs would be great (perhaps they could get Sir Paul to write them).

There are two other warnings that anyone attending this show needs to know. First, it is loud. I mean, it is Loud. No, I really mean IT IS LOUD. In fact, I would venture to say that the real Beatles never played this loud. We walked out of this production with our ears ringing, and needing quiet for an hour or two to let them recover. It is also very smoky. The lead characters — hell, all characters — are constantly smoking cigarettes (thankfully, clove). That, combined with theatrical smoke and fog, turned the Ahmanson into a venue with limited visibility, where people were running outside during intermission just to get fresh air. I think both of these aspects need to be adjusted if this show is to be a success.

The other observation I’d like to make before going into the cast is a chromatic one. The show is very black and white. By this, I’m not just referring to the story (which presents a particular picture), but the staging and presentation. In general, the lighting, the set, the costumes are all very monochromatic — black, white, grey. There is a little color here and there, but black and white predominate. This makes the feeling be one of “old”, harkening back to the black and white pictures on the early Beatles album covers.

Were the performances black and white? Initially, I didn’t think so. Initially, I thought the production was well played, with the actors bringing a remarkable intensity to their roles. However, the ending of the show convinced me that although they brought the intensity, they didn’t bring the fun. This is because, after the curtain call, the show turned into a rock concert with the leads (essentially, at this point, an early Beatles tribute band) inviting the audience to rock out with them and the cast in a series of 5-6 Beatles songs. It was at this point you saw the cast finally letting down their hair and having fun with the roles — and here is where the show was a pure blast of fun. Why couldn’t this fun be one the stage during the earlier and darker portions? Perhaps this is the fault of the director, David Leveaux, for focusing the main part of the musical on the anger and the history, and not the fun. Then again, perhaps that was the point of Hamburg — the Beatles needed to get past the anger to find the fun; it is the fun that made the Beatles succeed, not the anger.

The musical performances, however, were top notch. The original Beatles consisted of Andrew Knott (John Lennon, guitar); Daniel Healy (Paul McCartney, guitar, bass); Nick Blood (Stuart Sutcliffe, bass), Daniel Westwick (George Harrison, guitar), and Oliver Bennett (Pete Best, drums). All of these young men gave strong musical performances. Acting-wise, the focus was primarily on Knott (Lennon), Healy (McCartney) and Blood (Sutcliffe). The other two had much smaller roles and you learned a lot less about their characters. These young men also didn’t look that much like the originals (although the originals didn’t always look like the originals either); luckily, they sounded like them. As for the acting of the primary band members, it was reasonably good. A major problem (which I noted before) was understanding the heavy accents; I think this is something that requires adjustment for the American audience.

There was one additional principal cast member: Leanne Best as Astrid Kirchherr. It is hard to assess this role. Best came off to be as cold and stiff, but that could just be the German nature of the original character. Certainly you got to see her loosen up quite a bit more during the closing jam session. But in general I enjoyed her performance, although I found her voice a bit husky.

The remainder of the cast created various small roles (this included Ringo Starr) and formed the various shifting members of the ensemble. As such, it was often difficult to single them out for particular notice (although it was quite a bit of fun to watch the female members of the ensemble dancing and playing in character in the background). The remainder of the cast consisted of: Edward Clarke (Bruno Koschmider, Ensemble), Josie Dunn (Ensemble), Sam Ford (Ensemble), Mark Hammersley (Brian Epstein, MC, Ensemble), Perry Ojeda (Swing), Charlotte Palmer (Rosa, Ensemble), Phil Pritchard (Arthur Ballard, Inspector, Ensemble), Dominic Rouse (Klaus Voormann, Ensemble), Louise Shuttleworth (Mrs. Moores, Lecturer 2, Ensemble), Adam Sopp (Tony Sheridan, Ringo Starr, Lecturer 1, Doctor, Ensemble), Charles Swift (Bert Kaempfert, Ensemble), James Wallace (George Martin, Eduard Paolozzi, Mr. Moores, Ensemble), and Miranda Wilford (Dance Captain, Swing). I will note that many of these performers also were playing instruments during the show; there was no separate orchestra pit.
[All actors appear with the permission of Actors Equity. Note that I didn’t say they were Equity members, which likely means this is a British cast with special dispensation to perform in America]

Turning to the creative side: The show was written by Iain Softly and Stephen Jeffreys. It was originally directed by Softly, but this production was directed by the aforementioned David Leveaux. Jason Lawson was associate director. Music supervision was by Paul Stacey. There are no credits for choreography or music; but then again, remember this isn’t a musical.

On the technical side, the large back and white Hamburg nightclub set, which doubles as all the other locales, was designed by Andrew D. Edwards. The sound design, which was VERY LOUD, was designed by Richard Brooker, assisted by Poti Martin.  The lighting, by David Holmes, was very stark but was effective for what it was. The projections were designed by Timothy Bird and Nina Dunn for Knifedge. Ray Gin was the production stage manager, with Lora K. Powell and Michelle Blair serving as stage managers.

“Backbeat” continues at the Ahmanson Theatre through March 1. Tickets are available through the online Ahmanson box office. Given how empty our show was, you may very likely still find Hottix available.

Dining Notes: We found a new place to eat before the show, and it was… yum. The Parks Finest BBQ, at 1267 W Temple near Edgeware, was a wonderful fusion of Filipino and BBQ. Their meat was divine, with a dry rub that didn’t need sauce, moist, meaty and tender. The also have great vegetables: we had the Elote, which is a combination of smoked corn off the cob, with mayo, parmesian cheese, and cayenne. Their veggie medley (which we had without the peppers), was also excellent. One hint: parking is hard to find; your best best is to make a left from Temple onto Edgeware, and find parking on Edgeware.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   Next weekend brings “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at Cabrillo Music Theatre on Saturday, and “Run for your Wife” at Canyon Theatre Guild on Sunday. The last weekend of February is “The Snake Can” at the Odyssey Theatre (based on an ad that caught Karen’s eye in the latest Footlights). Karen (but not me) will be seeing “When You’re In Love The Whole World is Jewish” at the Greenway Court Theatre on Feburary 21. March starts with “I’ll Be Back Before Midnight” at the Colony. After a break for Fogcon (although I may do something here), theatre picks up with “Catch Me If You Can” at Broadway LA/Pantages on March 16 and “Boeing Boeing” at REP East on March 23. March may also bring “End of the Rainbow” at the Ahmanson, most likely on March 30. April will bring the Southern California Renaissance Faire , “Grease” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and a winetasting at Temple Ahavat Shalom. May is also busy, with two concerts — Elton John in Las Vegas on May 4, and (tentative) Michael Feinstein at VPAC on May 11. May may also bring “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre, “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. Lastly, continuing the look ahead, June will bring (tenative) “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre, “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA, and the Western Corps Connection at the end of the month. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

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Your Word is Redux

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Putnam-County-(REP)userpic=repeastCan you give me a definition?

To bring back, to revisit.

Can you use it in a sentence?

“Bobby, there used to be ducks on the mantle but they’re gone. Shit. Now I’m going to have to redux it.”

Last night we went to the “Parent-Teacher Conference” (i.e., “adults-only”) version of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at REP East. As we were just there on Saturday night, I’m not going to do a full re-review. Rather, I’m just going to give a few additional observations:

  • We were sitting in a different location in the audience, which afforded a good view of the cast on the bleachers. It was quite interesting to watch them and their reactions to the other spellers.
  • The adults-only version wasn’t that risque, or perhaps we’re just not shocked by that much. A few cuss words thrown around, a number of sexual terms given to people to spell, and some mildly adult definitions and introductions. Then again, to go to a more “adult” (skin) version would have been creepy — after all, the spellers are supposed to be in elementary school… and this isn’t Carson.
  • What was more interesting, however, was the reaction of the other students when the sexual terms came out. They were totally confused by the words. Good playing there.
  • I did notice that some of the song references to India were changed to refer to Tom Cruise and Scientology. This created in me the totally odd thought: What if the REP mounted “A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant“. Yes, there is such a musical — I even have the cast album!
  • My wife was particularly enamored of Jason J. Lewis (FB) [Mitch Mahoney]’s vocal performance at this production — he was in particuarly fine form. We also enjoyed meeting and talking to Jason and his lovely wife Annie Ramsey Lewis/FB [Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre] after the show. Jason recommended we look into Glendale Center Theatre (which is near a great used bookstore). We haven’t been there before, but I’ll add them to my Goldstar watch list.

As I’ve noted before, this is a great production — one you should really go see if you can figure out how to get to Santa Clarita. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee continues through February 23 at REP East Playhouse. Tickets are available through the REP Online Box Office, and are usually available on Goldstar.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   This weekend, on February 9, is “Backbeat” at the Ahmanson. February 16 brings “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at Cabrillo Music Theatre on Saturday, and “Run for your Wife” at Canyon Theatre Guild on Sunday. The last weekend of February is “The Snake Can” at the Odyssey Theatre (based on an ad that caught Karen’s eye in the latest Footlights). Karen (but not me) will be seeing “When You’re In Love The Whole World is Jewish” at the Greenway Court Theatre on Feburary 21. March starts with “I’ll Be Back Before Midnight” at the Colony. After a break for Fogcon (although I may do something here), theatre picks up with “Catch Me If You Can” at Broadway LA/Pantages on March 16 and “Boeing Boeing” at REP East on March 23. March may also bring “End of the Rainbow” at the Ahmanson, most likely on March 30. April will bring the Southern California Renaissance Faire , “Grease” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and a winetasting at Temple Ahavat Shalom. May is also busy, with two concerts — Elton John in Las Vegas on May 4, and (tentative) Michael Feinstein at VPAC on May 11. May may also bring “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre, “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. Lastly, continuing the look ahead, June will bring (tenative) “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre, “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA, and the Western Corps Connection at the end of the month. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

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After All, It Is An ANNUAL Spelling Bee

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Putnam-County-(REP)userpic=repeastThere are some shows you never get tired of seeing (and others for which one performance is more than enough). One of the shows high on my repeat list is “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (although you think by now is would be past number 25–I think although they can spell, they can’t do math!), which we saw last night at the Repertory East Playhouse in Newhall, CA. This is our third time seeing the show: the first was in 2007 with the original Broadway cast at the Wadsworth Theatre; the second was in 2009 at LA Valley College with a student cast. I’m pleased to say the REP cast was equal to if not better than both those casts. REP also made some interesting casting choices which made you look at the show a little differently.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, conceived by Rebecca Feldman), tells the story of six mitsfits at a local Spelling Bee, and their quest to win the Bee. However, these six aren’t the only participants in the Bee: there are also four audience members drawn at random (based on interviews held before the show), who sink or swim on their own. In the first half of the Bee, you clearly know who will win (the cast members) and who will lose — the fun part is learning the back-stories for the competitors, and seeing the crazy introductions the writers have — both for the cast members and the audience participants. The words given to the audience participants differ every show, and the audience members are encouraged to play along by asking for definitions and sentence use. The resulting answers are often some of the funniest moments in the show. The second half of the show is the serious competition, with the final five contestants being winnowed down. During this part you learn more about the kids and see how they grow — and what is really inside of them.

The six real contestants in the Bee are:

  1. Marcy Park, an overachiever, who knows five six languages, excels in sports (and everything else), and who is driven to win the bee.
  2. Leaf Coneybear, a second-runner up who got to the competition because the kids in front of him had to attend a Bat Mitzvah. Comes from a hippie family, in this show, from Topanga Canyon (hmmm, he was from Topanga Canyon in the 2007 production as well).
  3. William Barfée, an eccentric character who spells words before saying them with his “magic foot”, who is allergic to peanuts and everything else, and who is probably like someone you knew in your high school.
  4. Olive Ostrovsky, an isolated newcomer to the Bee, whose parents seem to be taking out their agressions through her, and so she finds the dictionary a safe place to hide.
  5. Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, the product of two dads who are pushing her to succeed… however she can.
  6. Chip Tolentino, last year’s winner, a fierce competitor… until other problems rise up to distract him.

Rounding this out are Rona Lisa Peretti, the mistress of ceremonies and the #1 realtor in Putnam County; Douglas Panch , the vice-principle serving as judge, and Mitch Mahoney, who is doing his community service by comforting kids when they lose. The story itself is the competition of the Spelling Bee and the interaction of the contestants, working its way up to the final winner.

What makes Putnam County succeed or fail is its cast (well, and the direction, but I still have trouble separating direction from performance). REP’s cast was excellent; they didn’t have that long-in-the-tooth problem that the Broadway cast had, and were still able to bring youthful exuberance to the production. As I noted before, the director (Mark Kaplan/FB) made some interesting casting choices that injected a little difference into the show — in a good way. So let’s meet the team:

As Marcy Park, Kelly Bader/FB was a departure from the typical casting. Normally, Marcy is cast with an Asian actress, bringing out the stereotypical over-achieving Asian. Bader gave off a more parochial schoolgirl vibe, making her more the blonde overachiever you hate. This make you look at the role and the character quite differently. Bader’s performance was strong, especially her movement and dance.

As Leaf Coneybear, Lucas Moore/FB brought a wonderful spirit and energy to an offbeat character. He struck me as that slight-autistic or Aspberger’s kid you  knew in school — in his own world and quite happy there, but with a magical power to excel in selected areas. He also did a great job of portraying one of Logainne’s two dads. He was a delight to watch.

As William Barfée, Kevin Rhedin/FB did a wonderful job.  Every Barfée I’ve seen has been very different. The original, Dan Fogler, had this manic energy to the character. At LAVC, Paul Dietz brought a different vibe with a look and foot I initially didn’t like. Rhedin’s Barfée was a disheveled outcast focused on winning, but you could see that inside the character was a scared boy. Rhedin did a great job of portraying the transformation that came over Barfée when he was able to spell a word without the foot: you could see a visible confidence grow. This is great acting.

As Olive Ostrovsky, Mary Grace Wilson/FB was perhaps my favorite performer in the piece. A strong singer, a beautiful face, and great movement and comic timing made Wilson just a delight to watch. You could see, in her performance, that there was a very strong girl under the initially unsure character. Wilson is evidently in a relationship with Rhedin, and brought a wonderful chemistry and unspoken connection between Wilson’s Ostrovsky and Rhedin’s Barfée.

As Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, Annie Ramsey Lewis/FB brought a bunch of fun to the role. I was initially unsure about Lewis, as the speech impediment of the character was a bit strong, making it hard to understand what she was saying. But her performance was great, saying in character, with the impediment, not only through the spoken parts but through the sung parts as well. Again, fun to watch, but in a different way. She was also part of the other couple in the cast, although I didn’t notice any unspoken interplay with her spouse.

As the last student, Chip Tolentino, K. C. Lindley/FB conveyed the Boy Scout notion of wanting to be the best well, which made it all the more effective when he lost. I was a bit worried, however, at the start of Act II when he was lobbying candy at the audience; it gave a different meaning to “you could put an eye out with that thing!”.

Rounding out the cast were Sarah Krieg (FB) as Rona Perretti, Richard Van Slyke (FB) as Douglas Panch, and Jason J. Lewis (FB) as Mitch Mahoney. Krieg was amazing (and not for being the first cast member so far to actually have her own webpage). Normally Rona is a role you don’t notice that much, but Krieg had such a wonderful singing voice and presence that you were just drawn to her performance. Well done! Van Slyke’s performance has Panch was the typical VP you never liked, which worked well. I’ve always wondered about that character’s backstory. Lastly, as Mitch Mahoney, Jason Lewis (the other Lewis in the cast) was a departure from the traditional Mahoney casting. Traditionally, Mahoney is cast as black to build upon the stereotype of the menacing black ex-con. Lewis’s Mahoney was more hoodlum; a powerful angry man you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. This brought a different vibe to the character, but worked well.

In addition to Mark Kaplan/FB‘s direction, Leslie Berra (FB) served as vocal coach and assistant director. Berra deserves compliments–the singing of this cast was excellent. Nancy Alterman provided the choreography, which was effective in the small space. The music for the show was pre-recorded; alas, the REP does not have sufficient space for live music in productions.

Turning to the technical. There was no specific credit for the scenic design, although Madi Orgill/FB, Mikee Schwinn/FB, and Ovington Michael Owston/FB constructed the set. The set was a more cartoon-ish gym (as opposed to the realistic gym of the Wadsworth or the suggestive gym of LAVC), but it worked quite well. Tim Christianson/FB did the effective lighting design, and Steven “Nanook” Burkholder/FB handled the sound with his usual expertise. Christina Aguilar/FB was the theatre manager and stage manger, with Marie-Claire Erdynast/FB serving as the assistant stage manager (it was fun to watch her dancing to the music as she set and cleaned up for each act).

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee continues through February 23 at REP East Playhouse. Tickets are available through the REP Online Box Office, and are usually available on Goldstar. Note that REP shows often sell out quickly, and that there will be a special “parent-teacher conference” performance (adult-only) on Thursday, February 7.  REP has announced their 2013 season, and it is a good one: Putnam County (Jan 25-Feb 23), Boeing, Boeing (Mar 15-Apr 13), To Kill a Mockingbird (May 10-Jun 15), 9 to 5–The Musical (Jul 12-Aug 17), God of Carnage (Sep 20-Oct 19), and Woody Allen’s “Play It Again Sam” (Nov 15-Dec 14). Subscriptions start at $110, and are well worth it — especially for the family you get as part of the deal, as the REP staff, cast, and crew are truly a wonderful family to be a part of. Click here to learn more about REP Season Tickets.

Dining Note: Dinner was at Spumoni‘s, where I had an Italian Sausage pasta dish. After all, what better way to celebrate Groundhog Day than be eating ground hog. (We go out on that joke) (No, we do reprise of song, that help) (But not much).

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   Our next theatre is at the REP again, when we have a scheduled parent-student conference for the adult-only version of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on February 7. Next weekend, on February 9, is “Backbeat” at the Ahmanson. February 16 brings “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and the last weekend of February is “The Snake Can” at the Odyssey Theatre (based on an ad that caught Karen’s eye in the latest Footlights). Karen (but not me) will be seeing “When You’re In Love The Whole World is Jewish” at the Greenway Court Theatre on Feburary 21. March starts with “I’ll Be Back Before Midnight” at the Colony. After a break for Fogcon (although I may do something here), theatre picks up with “Catch Me If You Can” at Broadway LA/Pantages on March 16 and “Boeing Boeing” at REP East on March 23. March may also bring “End of the Rainbow” at the Ahmanson, most likely on March 30. April will bring the Southern California Renaissance Faire , “Grease” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and a winetasting at Temple Ahavat Shalom. May is also busy, with two concerts — Elton John in Las Vegas on May 4, and (tentative) Michael Feinstein at VPAC on May 11. May may also bring “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre, “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. Lastly, continuing the look ahead, June will bring (tenative) “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre, “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA, and the Western Corps Connection at the end of the month. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

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