{"id":4250,"date":"2010-02-14T08:11:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-14T16:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=4250"},"modified":"2010-02-14T08:11:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-14T16:11:00","slug":"plaids-in-drag-plus-a-blond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=4250","title":{"rendered":"Plaids in Drag, Plus a Blond"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Mention the Andrews Sisters to most of today\u2019s youth, and you\u2019re likely to get a blank stare. They\u2019re of a generation that has never seen the singing sisters<\/a>, and their parents have likely only seen the sisters on TV. Perhaps their grandparents might remember them. Today\u2019s youths are more likely to have heard of the Williams Sisters<\/a> or the Jonas Brothers<\/a>. However, in their day (the 1940s) they were one of the best known singing groups — and more importantly for the purposes of this post, provided extensive entertainment for Allied forces overseas<\/a>, touring regularly for the U.S.O.<\/a> . I mention this because last night we saw the Andrews Sisters<\/a> on stage. OK, we didn\u2019t, we saw an incredibly accurate facsimile. OK, we didn\u2019t, but we did see an incredible facsimile. Perhaps I should explain….<\/p>\n

Last night, we saw the second show of the Cabrillo Music Theatre<\/a>, \u201cThe Andrews Brothers<\/a><\/i>\u201d. \u201cAndrews Brothers<\/a>\u201d is a jukebox musical written by Roger Bean<\/a>, an expert in this particular genre of musical. Roger has also done the extremely popular musicals \u201cThe Marvelous Wonderettes<\/a>\u201d and \u201cLife Could Be a Dream<\/a>\u201d, and so the audience going in knows (a) they will be entertained and (b) plot doesn\u2019t matter. This is a good thing, trust me.<\/p>\n

The plot of \u201cAndrews Brothers\u201d exists only to set up the music. Three brothers (Lawrence, Max, and Patrick) are in the South Pacific working as the stage crew for the U.S.O., preparing for the last show of the famous Andrews Sisters at a remote naval base, where the troops are shipping off to the war zone the next day. The stage manager, Max, receives a telegram that the backup singers for the sisters cannot make the show, and to arrange something. The show opens to find Max rehearsing with Peggy Jones<\/a>, the pinup-girl talent for the show, having convinced Peggy that Max and his brothers are the backup singers. This goes on for most of the first act, until eventually (a) a telegram is revealed indicating the the Andrews Sisters cannot make it, and (b) the boys are figured out for who they are. The brothers and Peggy decide that the show must go on, and since the sister\u2019s costumes are there and the brothers know the dance moves… it was time to do RuPaul proud. The second act is that U.S.O. show with the brothers playing the sisters. At the end of the act, it is reavealed to the troops that the real talent was the brothers, and they come out and do a medley of Andrews Sisters\u2019 hits.<\/p>\n

As the above summary makes clear, the story is scaffolding. There\u2019s no depth there, but it provides just enough bones to string a collection of wonderful music. The audience knows this going in, luckily, so the story doesn\u2019t make a difference. Additionally, the show includes a bit of audience participation, which is always good to energize an audience (and is quite funny to watch). What really makes this show succeed or fail, however, is the cast. Get a good cast, you get a good show. Luckily, Cabrillo has an outstanding cast. The reason for this is that the color of the Cabrillo cast is not Army green or Navy khaki, but plaid.<\/p>\n

The heart of \u201cThe Andrews Brothers\u201d at Cabrillo is Forever Plaid. Well, ¾s of Forever Plaid, for the brothers are played by 3 long-time Plaids: Stan Chandler<\/a> (Lawrence Andrews), David Engel<\/a> (Max Andrews), and Larry Raben<\/a> (Patrick Andrews). This made the first act of the show a bit of \u201cThe Plaids Go To War\u201d, but that\u2019s a good thing, because these three actors are extremely talented and a joy to watch. We have seen them on before, not only at Cabrillo, but at venues such as late, lamented Pasadena Playhouse (where I remember Stan well for his performance in Once a Kingdom<\/i>). The talented trio was rounded out with Darcie Roberts<\/a> (Peggy Jones), another talented actor, singer, and dancer, who we have also seen before on the Southern California stage. The talents of this group ensure the music is great, the dancing is fun, and oh, who cares about the plot :-).<\/p>\n

The production was pulled together by Nick Degruccio<\/a>, an extremely talented musical director who knows how to get the best out of his cast. If it is an outstanding musical in Southern California, odds are that Nick was involved. Combine this with the choreography of Roger Castellano<\/a>, and you can\u2019t lose. The presentation was helped by the technical talents of Cabrillo regulars T. Theresa Scarano<\/a> (Production Manager), Jonathan Burke<\/a> (Sound Design), Paul Hadobas<\/a> (Hair\/Wig Design), and Cabrillo newcomer Christina L. Munich<\/a> (Lighting Design). They created a set that evoked a WWII Navy island camp (think South Pacific<\/i>) during the first act, and a makeshift stage in the second. The lighting deserves a few special comments. Although there was extensive use of follow spots (a Cabrillo trademark, and more of a problem due to spillover in the balcony), there was also some quite effective use of gobos<\/a>—both to provide flooring effects in the first act and to provide curtain effects in the second act. Sets and costumes were from the Musical Theatre West production. Music was provided by the Cabrillo Music Theatre Orchestra, under the musical direction of Lloyd Cooper, contracted by Darryl W. Tanikawa. The production was staged managed by the \u201cever capable\u201dTM<\/font><\/sup> Lindsay Martens, assisted by Allie Roy, who had the unenvious job of riding herd on the craziness onstage and making it come off perfect.<\/p>\n

In a move a bit unusual for Cabrillo, there was pre-show entertainment and intermission entertainment in the form of period newsreels (created by Steve Glaudini, David Engel, and Nick DeGruccio). These also featured aged footage of Harry Selvin and his orchestra… and the opening featured aged footage of the usual opening speaker Carole W. Nussbaum (CEO of Cabrillo) discussing the remainder of the season. I\u2019ll note this show was unusual for Cabrillo in another way: it had a 100% equity cast, with no local Cabrillo on-stage talent, and as such was more of a touring production than Cabrillo normally does. Is this a sign of the economy? I have no idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Andrews Brothers<\/i>\u201d has its last performance on the Cabrillo stage tonight. Upcoming Cabrillo productions for this season are: \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors<\/i>\u201d (April 23 – May 2, 2010) and \u201cRodgers & Hammerstein\u2019s Cinderella<\/i>\u201d (July 23 – August 1, 2010).<\/p>\n

Upcoming Theatre<\/b>. As for us, what\u2019s upcoming on the theatre calendar<\/a>? Next weekend sees us running between three theatres: Saturday evening sees us in North Hollywood for Interact Theatre\u2019s \u201cDirty Rotten Scoundrels<\/i>\u201d<\/a> at the NoHo Arts Center, with Sunday afternon bringing \u201cRay Bradbury\u2019s Wisdom 2116<\/a><\/i>\u201d at the Fremont Theatre Center in South Pasadena<\/a>, and Sunday evening bringing the February installment of \u201cMeeting of Minds<\/i>\u201d<\/a> (Episode 23 with Jean Smart as Catherine the Great, Ian Buchanan as Oliver Cromwell, and James Handy as Daniel O’Connell) at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood. The last week of February is open, and may remain that way as we\u2019re seeing our congregation\u2019s Purim Schpeil on Sunday evening. March starts with \u201cThe Story of My Life<\/i>\u201d at the Havok Theatre<\/a> on March 6 @ 8pm (where we\u2019ll be joined by shutterbug93<\/a>). March 14 brings \u201cOn Golden Pond<\/i>\u201d at REP East<\/a>, and March 21 will be \u201cMeeting of Minds<\/a><\/i>\u201d. April brings more of potential interest, mostly unscheduled, including \u201cJacques Brel is Alive and Living in Paris<\/i>\u201d at the Colony Theatre<\/a> (likely April 10 or April 16), \u201cDamn Yankees\u201d at Van Nuys HS (April 15-17), the April installment of \u201cMeeting of Minds<\/a>\u201d at the Steve Allen Theatre on April 18, \u201c12 Angry Men\u201d at REP East<\/a> (likely April 24), and the So Cal Ren Faire<\/a> (either April 25 or May 16). May looks to be equally busy, with \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors<\/i> at Cabrillo Music Theatre<\/a> (May 1), \u201cSee What I Wanna See<\/i>\u201d at the Blank<\/a> (likely May 9), \u201cThe 39 Steps<\/i>\u201d at the Ahmanson<\/a> (likely May 15), the May installment of \u201cMeeting of Minds<\/i><\/a>\u201d at the Steve Allen Theatre (May 16), the Spring Dance Show at Van Nuys HS (May 20-22), and \u201cThe Wedding Singer<\/i>\u201d at Repertory East Playhouse in Newhall<\/a> (likely May 30). <\/p>\n

As always: live theatre is a gift and a unique experience, unlike a movie. It is vitally important in these times that you support your local arts institutions. If you can afford to go to the movies, you can afford to go to theatre. If you need help finding ways, just drop me a note and I\u2019ll teach you some tricks. Lastly, I\u2019ll note that nobody paid me anything to write this review. In fact, I receive no remuneration for any reviews I write.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mention the Andrews Sisters to most of today\u2019s youth, and you\u2019re likely to get a blank stare. They\u2019re of a generation that has never seen the singing sisters, and their parents have likely only seen the sisters on TV. Perhaps their grandparents might remember them. Today\u2019s youths are more likely to have heard of the Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,28,1],"tags":[454,249,331,261,323],"class_list":["post-4250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-theatre","category-lj-xfer","tag-cabrillo-music-theatre","tag-nick-degruccio","tag-reviews-2010","tag-roger-bean","tag-theatre-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}