April 2007 Archives

Now that I have your attention, let me tell you about my weekend...

Nah, I won't con you. I really did see _ and you can too _ actors Amy Landecker and Andrew Elvis Miller completely starkers in Tracey Letts' "Bug" at the Coast Playhouse. I'd say it was the most, er, arresting thing about the production, but that wouldn't be accurate. And now I'll shut up about "Bug" since my review of the production will appear in Friday's Daily News and on www.dailynews.com.

"Bug" will be a movie, BTW, with Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon in the should-be-nude roles. "The Exorcist's" Wiliam Friedkin directs. It's due out May 25.

Stage nudity, also BTW, can be a gimmick, or it can be used for authenticity dramatic effect, whatever. Unless the work is "O, Calcutta."

When Reprise! did "Hair" some seven or eight summers ago, the entire cast joined in the nude scene (all, apparently, except Marissa Jarret Winokur). At the time, I heard that the male members (did I just use that term?) of the cast engaged in some backstage, er, enhancement exercises to keep themselves in fighting form for the scene. This may or may not be true, but I sure like to to believe that went down...or up, as the case may be.

There will be a local production of "Hair" opening September 14 at the MET Theatre, with nudity. (www.theMETtheatre.com)...

...Blog randomness, gotta love it!...

Back in the mid 1990s, when I was seeing shows up in the SF Bay Area, every single damned thing I saw -- and this was not 'cause _ I picked 'em _ involved full frontal male nudity. And, save your cracks and snickers. I'm talking "Othello" at ACT and "The Beaux Stratagem" at Berkeley Rep.

Those were the good old days.

Anybody else out there in reader land have memorable encounters with flesh on stage? Si si, let me know.

Just by way of repetition here, readers, I do welcome the feedback, props and missiles alike. That goes for the blog items and for anything you see as a theater critic for the Los Angeles Daily News (and in another assorted SoCal papers that my company owns).

I bring this up because this morning I arrived at my desk and listened to a purposefully anonymous call who thought I came across as seriously sour grapes when I took apart the Falcon Theatre's production of "Balancing Act." She apparently read the review the night before the thing appeared in print, advised me to take a good hard look at how I "come off" in print and informed me that it was due to unprofessional reviews like mine that she and her husband stopped taking the Daily Bulletin. Which is one of our company's sister papers, by the way, that also runs my reviews from time to time.

God, I love this job!

Had this lady been, er, courageous enough to leave a name, a return phone number, or an e-mail address, I would have gotten back to her and thanked her for writing. I would have asked her whether she had seen the production in question or whether her objection to my review was based purely on my tone (the equivalent of "I don't like your face."). In either case, I would have said what I always say whenever someone gets in my face : something along the lines of, "well, you're free to disagree with me. Differing viewpoints is what makes this job (and theater-going in general) worthwhile. Thanks again for contacting me."

I don't really think the angry mystery caller is reading this blog entry. My point is, I LIKE FEEDBACK. Tell me if I'm full of it, if I nailed it, if I missed something. Make it a two way street. When I write my review, I've given my opinion. Why not give me yours in return?

That's all.

Happy playgoing.

OK, the following events are not really linked, beyond a certain Cervantes familiarity, but we in the blog business are trained to note connections where we find them.

So it goes with a couple of windmill tiltings.

First in progress: A Noise Within's excellent production of the Don Quixote musical "Man of La Mancha" continues in repertory through June 10 out in Glendale. I was a little bit leery of the city's foremost classical repertory company staging a contemporary musical _ an oft produced musical, at that _ but the production was spare, dark, and stirring as is should be. So I recommend it.

For younger viewers, there's a teen adaptation of the Quixote story _ titled "Quixote" and produced by the Showdown Theatre Academy _ opening tonight at the Hub Theatre in North Hollywood. This is a modern adaptation about a teen in New Mexico who wigs out a bit and goes on an honorable quest much in the same way that delusional Don Q. did in the Cervantes version.

Kudos to Showdown who, in addition to having a post show talk back on issues of isolation, teendom and the Viriginia Tech massacre, will be giving out copies of the classic "Don Quixote de La Mancha" to any teens in attendance. It all goes down next Saturday, May 5, at 2 p.m. at 5245 Lankerishim Blvd in NoHo. For more info., call (661) 799 0758 or visit www.showdownstageco.com.

Apparently this is what happens when your home base is taken up with behemoths.

Or when the road is dry. I'm not sure which.

Ever go to the Pantages? Sure you do. Who doesn't want to catch the umpteenth tour of "Annie" or "Les Miz" or "Stomp." When the popular big budget musicals tour, if they don't come to the Ahmanson, they go to Broadway/L.A.

Now, in an earlier entry, I speculated about what might happen to Broadway/L.A.'s season now that the return of "Wicked" has the Pantages occupied for the conceivable future, and now that the Wilshire Theatre -- B/L.A.'s frequent default venue _is under new management. Not to worry, I was told. We can still use the Wilshire or UCLA or the Wadsworth.

Indeed, they can. And they have. Not that what they're bringing in is exactly thrilling.

Here's the line-up:

"Camelot" with Michael York at UCLA's Royce Hall, Sept. 11 to 23. An L.A. premiere.

"The Rat Pack -- Live at the Sands" at the Wilshire Theatre, Dec. 4 to 16. Also an L.A. premiere

"The Color Purple" at the Ahmanson Theatre, Feb. 11 to March 2, 2008. Yet a third L.A. premiere.

Now, this being an announcement geared toward subscribers, there are some other opportunities for those looking to re-up.

Renewing Broadway/L.A. subscribers can buy tix for "Jersey Boys" at the Ahmanson Theatre (opening June 1).

Subscribers can also get decent "Wicked" tickets. (Big surprise those puppies are still available!)

And theater goers who are road minded can also purchase priority seats for "Monty Python's Spamalot" at the Wynn Las Vegas.

Sound like a decent lineup? Well, it might be if any of it was remotely fresh. Or close. Or if Broadway/L.A. were responsible for its being here.

"The Color Purple" is coming into town, to the Ahmanson, under the CTG banner. So that's not a new addition. Same with "Jersey Boys." You'd hope Broadway L.A. subscribers wouldn't have to shell out decent money just for the chance to buy decent seats to someone else's production, but you never know.

"Wicked"... OK, that's still a draw, but what Broadway/ L.A. subscribers out there haven't already seen it by now?

The Michael York "Camelot" -- which I thought was trash -- may be an L.A. premiere, but it already played in La Mirada. It kicked off its tour at the La Mirada Performing Arts Center which houses McCoy Rigby Entertainment.

"Spamalot" -- Did I mention that you have to go to VEGAS to see it! Does your subscription cost include gas and hotel accommodations?

Now, September to the end of March does not a season make. I'm hoping that somewhere in those gaps, the folks at Broadway/L.A. might find something on the road that they can plug in to an opening: at the Wadsworth, the Brentwood, the Wilshire, wherever!

As it stands, the only new entry being brought into the city by Broadway/L.A., the only thing Angelinos will have not seen before, is, gulp!, "The Rat Pack -- Live at the Sands." I'm assuming this is somewhat difference from "The Rat Pack Live" which was at the Kodak Theatre back in 2004.

One can hope.

Congrats to David Lindsay-Abaire for winning the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for drama for "Rabbit Hole."

Thankfully, the show has played L.A. well before this honor was bestowed. "Rabbit Hole" opened the season at the Geffen Playhouse last September in a K-A production staring Amy Ryan, Tate Donovan and Joyce Van Patten. Carolyn Cantor directed.

We'll be seeing plenty of Linsday-Abaire's name in the months upcoming. The musical "High Fidelity" opened and closed rather unceremoniously, and the playwright is working on a musical adaptation of, gulp, "Shrek."

He's also writing a screenplay of "Rabbit Hole" which, and I'm just guessing here, will end up on TV or cable over the big screen. The play is about two parents coping with the death of their child.

Wonder which movie version will see the light of day first: "Rabbit Hole" or the 2004-2005 Pulitzer winner -- John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" _ which Shanley will direct.

The last Pulitzer winning play to become a movie, by the way was, "Proof" which took the prize in 2000-2001.

A revival of "On Golden Pond" is out and "Matter of Honor" is in at the Pasadena Playhouse.

The year concludes with a new musical based on the life of Ray Charles. "Ray Charles Live! -- a new musical" (playing Oct. 341 to Dec. 9) will be directed by Sheldon Epps with music by Charles and a book by Suzan-Lori Parks. Given that Ms. Parks has written 365 plays in 365 days, extracting another one from the word processor should be a cakewalk.

Hopefully enough time has elapsed since the film of "Ray" for renewed interest in a dramatic depiction of Charles's life. The Pasadena Playhouse doesn't necessarily play it safe with musicals -- original or revived. I'd guess it would be tough for them to duplicate the audience-grabbing double whammy of "Fences" (not a musical) and "Sister Act" (musical), but "Ray Charles Live" could be exciting.

Unless it's going to bring James Earl Jones back into town, I shed no tears over seeing "On Golden Pond" fall of the schedule of any major regional theater. "Matter of Honor" (Aug. 24 to Sept. 30) by Michael Chepiga and directed by Scott Schwartz, tells the story of an African American West Point cadet named Johnson Whittaker, the roommate of Henry Flipper, the first African American cadet to graduate from the Point. Whittaker didn't make it. "Matter of Honor" recounts why not.

My 8 year old theater critic in training son -- who is known to doze -- did not check out for a single second during a Sunday evening performance of "Sleeping Beauty Wakes" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

He squirmed and shifted a bit, and once tried to stand up.

He later observed _ of the show produced by Deaf West Theatre _ that "Usually there aren't deaf people in plays."

Watch your back, Ben Brantley. Your days are numbered.

Here at The City in Curtains, we try to give you season announcement information as it trickles in. I usually get somewhat jazzed hearing what different companies have in store for the months ahead. Quite often, I groan, "What? 'The Odd Couple' again?'

When I get an announcement out of McCoy-Rigby Entertainment like the 2007-08 season notice that came down the pike a couple of days ago, I thank the theater gods for staying in my corner. Hence this blog entry.

Now, for those unaware, the McCoy Rigby season plays out at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. The creative forces are producer Tom McCoy and his musical theater performing wife Cathy Rigby, Yes, she of gymnastics and "Peter Pan" fame.

Shows that play at La Mirada are often musicals or well known straight plays. "Greater Tuna" is there now. Suzanne Sommers is coming in. You get the idea.

They also occasionally launch tours, such as last year's "Camelot" with Michael York and, a few years back, "Peter Pan" starring, uh huh, Cathy Rigby.

Now, I mean no disrespect to Ms Rigby, who knows her niche and who has been playing Peter Pan (AKA the boy who doesn't want to grow up) for what feels like centuries. During that last tour, which originated in La Mirada and was supposed to signal her farewell to the role, her husband made a pre curtain announcement that talked about "Peter Pan" Viagra being on sale in the gift shop. Yes, I know, please try to contain your laughter.

There is no shame, of course, to milking something until you can milk it no further. Whether Ms. Rigby sticks to her resolve to Pan no further is entirely up to her.

But looking at the 07-08 season, I was bemused to find a season opening revival of "Too Old for the Chorus," a musical about the joys and rewards of aging.

No, "Too Old" will not star Cathy Rigby.

But the next production will, and here's where things get funny.

Next up at La Mirada (Nov. 2 to 18, 2007 so mark your calendars, folks,) is a revival of A.R. Gurney's comedy "Sylvia," a play about a love triangle of sorts between a middle aged man, his steady wife and the female dog he brings home. The pup is usually played by an actress of ingenue age. Sarah Jessica Parker, then age 30, played it at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

In La Mirada, the role of the "sassy little mongrel who is a shameless flirt" will be played by _ wait for it _ Cathy Rigby. Who will be 54.

Yes, it must be nice to run a theatre. That's one way to guarantee you'll never be too old to play the puppy.

The rest of the season? Oh right. Alfred Uhry's "Driving Miss Daisy" (Feb. 1-18, 2008) , the musical "I Do! I Do!" (April 11-27), and Uhry's "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" (June 6-22).

For more details, check out (714) 994-6310 or t www.lamiradatheatre.com.

Down by the Riverside, they're making musicals. Have been for quite some time, in fact.

A few weeks back, I got an e-mail _ as I sometimes do _ from a publicist for Performance Riverside which produces musicals on the campus of Riverside Community College. The organization used to be called Riverside Civic Light Opera,. I know this not because I'm a history buff on such matters or even because this is an especially relevant fact, but because...well, the reason is kind of a dirty little secret, but I'll spill it presently.

Anyway, Performance Riverside PR guy Chuck Abernathy sent me an e-mail announcement on the company's latest show, "Sensational Showtunes" (playing through Sunday) along with an enormous picture that clogged up my e-mail memory. I'm a one man theater reviewing band here at the old DN, and unless there's something really major happening outside L.A., I'm not reviewing much past Pasadena. Call me provincial, but there it is.

So I asked Mr. Abernathy to delete me from his contact list, basically saying that I (meaning the Daily News's reviewing staff) doesn't really get to Riverside. At all. Ever. Never request something like this from a PR guy.

Mr Abernathy, of course, wasn't about to take this sitting down (or standing up, as the case may be), and he wrote me back the following response. It's printed verbatim, because the spelling mistakes, etc. amused me.

Dear Mr. Henderson,

The question has never been whether you get out to Riverside. We aren't asking for a review neccessarily...we get those, and I know they are available to all LA Newspaper group members syndicated through the SB Sun....you may have read reporter Ralph ANderson passed away recently, but his spouse, Frances Scoggins has picked up his mantle. There's no point or relevancy to whether you yourself get out to Riverside much. It's whether or not your readers who enjoy or want to participate in music and performing get out to Riverside. It's also a question of whether the LA Daily News supports artists from it's own community who commute to Riverside for a chance to be paid to participate in their art. I know that because we pay our performers we have more than our share of performers from LA; in fact, until fairly recently we'd have LA auditions (in Burbank, as I recall, which is part of your beat), but now people are less shy about coming to our auditions in Riverside, so it's become unneccessary. Also, Danny Micheals and Lannie Alexander are cast members from your beat, as is our Choreographer John Vaughan. Cassie Murphy, from LaVerne, is also a former Citrus College Citrus Singer, as was John Vaughan. This event, then, is definately part of LA Daily News' beat.... is and always has been a big influence on us, and our mailing list indicated we have patrons attending from your sphere of influence. Wheter you get out here is immaterial...your readers do. It is, in fact, impossible that there would be no one with in the influence of in your 575,000 daily circulation

Quick question: How are the pictures I send you "hard to delete"? I've never had anyone complain that an e-mail or photo was "hard to delete", nor have I ever recieved a hard to delete photo or e-mail. It's usually just one click. I send the photos separtaely from the releases out of consideration for people running dial-up or a lower bandwidth...if you don't want the picture, just delete it before opening the attached file. That's not hard for anybody.

If what is its, however, that you just don't want to be bothered, that's fine...that's a totally acceptable reason for a journalist to ask not to be contacted. If this is the case, I will happily remove you. I just wanted to be clear.

Chuck Abernathy
Performance Riverside

Hell hath no venom like a theater troupe scorned. (He did subsequently agree to remove me).

So how about it all of you Inland Empire readers (or actors)? Seen anything at Performance Riverside recently? Ever? Am I missing great things? Should I be dropping by my alma mater with a bit more regularity?

Actually, RCC is not my alma mater, but UC Riverside is. Four of the best years of my meager existence were spent as an English major at that campus. During said time, I also saw four productions at what was then RCLO: "Evita," "Hello Dolly!" and "Brigadoon" and "Kismet." And guess what...they were all quite damned decent. Seriously. The company has a lot more professional contracts now than they did back in the late 1980s, and their productions show up from time to time at the local award shows.

Oh, and here's the dirty little secret I promised...before becoming the urbane and worldly theater critic you know him to be, yours truly was actually in the chorus of RCLO's "Oklahoma" back in 1987. I think I had maybe three lines, and, thankfully, they didn't make me dance.

I guess this makes me a Performance Riverside alum after all.

...but he sure gets a lot of mileage out of people thinking he is. Go to www.abevigoda.com, and check out what pops up.

My compadres at the Culver City News killed off Abe Vigoda ("Barney Miller's" Sgt. Fish) while writing about Valerie Vigoda who fronts the band GrooveLily. V.V. appears in the new Deaf West musical "Sleeping Beauty Wakes."

Turns out, they were wrong on two counts. Valerie Vigoda is not related to still alive Abe as they -- and previously this blog -- said she was. I got an e-mail from V.V.'s father Bob who said she once wrote to him asking whether there could be any kinship. And he wrote back _ sending a signed photo _ giving a definitive negative.

Had lunch with Vigoda (Valerie, not Abe) and her husband Brendan Milburn a couple weeks back. They're a cool duo, and I enjoyed their tunes well before they upped for this new musical (it opens this weekend at the Kirk Douglas Theatre). Never thought to ask, "Hey, any relation to the late Abe Vigoda." Probably wouldn't have been the best ice breaker, although given V.V.'s sense of humor _ and, I suspect Abe's _ she might have had some good anecdotes.

GrooveLily had a sleeper (no pun intended) hit with its earlier concertized musical "Striking 12:" a contemporary adaptation of "The Little Matchgirl" that has a grumpy thirtysomething alone on New Year's Eve striking (pun intended) up a rapport with a lady who sells special lightbulbs designed to stave off seasonal affect disorder.

To date, the three members of GrooveLily _ Vigoda, Milburn and Gene Lewin _ have been a package deal with "Striking 12" -- they wrote it, they perform it. This year, though, the licensed version is going out allowing other companies to produce it. I hope someone does it in L.A.

In the meantime, you can catch two of the three GrooveLilys (with Shannon Ford subbing for drummer Lewin) at the Douglas, www.centertheatregroup.org.