June 2008 Archives

Come summer, I never seem to be able to leave Shakespeare festival-related news for very long, particularly not when presented with what can only be described as festival oddities.

I've now told you about two "As You Like It"s, and a trio of "Taming of the Shrews." Well, what's a summer, I always say, without a bunch of Dromios and Antipholi.

OK, I would never always say that.

Two productions of "The Comedy of Errors," arguably Shakespeare's dippiest comedy (two sets of twins, masters and servants, each with the same names) will be here. Their appearance will prove conclusively that pretty much anybody can label anything a "festival" if the term sells.

Which apparently it does in, gulp, Frazier Park California where "Errors" will run in rotating rep with "You Can't Take It With You" at the third annual Mountain Shakespeare Festival.

This from the Mountainshakes pitchperson: "Mountain Shakespeare Festival was founded by experienced theatre professionals and it is rapidly achieving their goal of creating a prestigious and entertaining festival similar to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. "

Ambitions are well and good, but I have been to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and I have been to Frazier Park (although not to the Mountain Shakespeare Fest). Good bloody luck.

Does two plays a festival make? Apparently so at the Pine Mountain Club were visitors are invited to drink in the mountain air and recreational amenities along with their Bard cultcha starting Jul 5 and running through July. www.Mountainshakes.org or call (661) 242-6904.

I promised two "Errors." The second arrives at -- ta-dah!-- the Open Fist Shakespeare Festival in Hollywood July 12 in a production directed by Ron West. For the fest, West also directs _ and scripts _ a new musical comedy "deLEARious" somewhat inspired by that laugh riot "King Lear."

Here's the description: "Ron and Phil, two composers in Los Angeles, are writing about King James I and Shakespeare, who are writing about the legendary King Lear. Phil gets sick of Ron's laziness and womanizing; King James gets sick of Shakespeare and demotes him to working on the Bible; and King Lear gets sick of everyone and goes crazy. Hilarity ensues. And, believe it or not, in this version, there's a happy ending."

Uh, right.

Well, "deLEARious" and "Errors" run in repertory which apparently makes this, yep, another Shakespeare Festival.

(323) 882-6912, www.openfist.org

Yeah, yeah, it's a little later for a Tony Awards post mortem. There weren't truthfully a lot of surprises, and the shows/actors with southland ties weren't exactly big news either.

"Cry-Baby" -- which started life at the La Jolla Playhouse -- won nothing and has closed. "A Catered Affair -- originating at the Old Globe in San Diego -- will fold July 27.

I would have predicted "Cry-Baby" to have a longer life than "Catered Affair." Based on a John Waters movie, "Cry-Baby" was good, nasty, high energy rockin' fun with a great turn by Harriet Harris. "A Catered Affair" is a chamber piece, nearly brought down by co-creator and star Harvey Fierstein.

Shows you what I know. "Cry-Baby" played 68 performances (it may yet tour); "A Catered Affair" will end at 116.

"Curtains," the backstage mystery with David Hyde Pierce that opened in 2007, (out of town tryout at the Ahmanson), will top both "Affair" and "Cry-Baby" with more than 500 performances when it shuts this weekend. Pierce, bless his non Niles Crane heart, has stayed with it the entire way. How this beast will look on tour without DHP is a question, indeed.

...was 9 year-old Jeremy Henerson at the opening night of "Shipwrecked: The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont" at the Geffen Playhouse. Hell of a good Donald Margulies play that had played earlier this season At South Coast Rep.

His father, me, was enthralled. My review runs tomorrow in the Daily News (or check out www.la.com). You can bring the kids.

The picture is starting to come into focus on the national tour of "Spring Awakening" which hits the Ahmanson Theatre at the end of October. I've been blogging about this Duncan Shiek/Steven Sater musical -- based on the 1891 Frank Wedekind play -- for awhile now, or at least since it took last season's Tony Award for best musical.

Not that that makes me especially prescient. I gather that people have been drooling over this musical -- about hot and bothered kids in a German prep school -- as a genre changer since it was in workshops.

Before it officially opens its national tour in San Francisco, it will have a "pre-tour" run at the Balboa Theatre in San Diego August 15-31. As it happens that I will be vacationing in San Diego during the run, I will try to interview a cast member or two in person. Maybe check out the show, too. Dunno yet.

Anyway, for the tour, they've plucked two of the current Broadway company members to play Moritz and Melchior. Blake Bashoff (Moritz) had a recurring role on "Lost." Canadian musician Kyle Riabko (Melchior) has an album, "Before I Speak," and has toured with Maroon 5 and Jason Mraz and John Mayer.

No casting on the girls yet, but we can rest assured the role of Wendla will not be played by original company member Lea Michele. Michele will in fact be out our way doing a cabaret Aug. 15-16 at Mark's Restaurant in West Hollywood (www.inticketing.com/evinfo.php?eventid=25950.). She'll also be part of the concertized "Les Miserables" cast at the Hollywood Bowl playing another doomed heroine, Eponine, Aug. 9-10 opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell, Rosie O'Donnell, John Lloyd Young et al. www.hollywoodbowl.com.

There's a little bit of irony in the "Les Miz" gig. Michele had done the workshops of "Spring Awakening" well before it moved on to become a hit. She was reportedly offered the role of Eponine in the Broadway revival of "Les Miz" but turned it down to stay the course with "Awakening." Smart lady.

Anyway, if anyone out there simply can't WAIT to get into this tale, s/he can catch the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble's production of the Wedekind play ("Spring's Awakening." This is NOT the musical) at the Powerhouse Theatre, July 3-26. (310) 396-3680 x3, www.latensemble.org.

I might of thought that Idina Menzel's moment to capitalize was a couple of years ago, back when "Wicked" was white hot rather than just regular hot. Menzel, the play's first green witch Elphaba, won a Tony award, made the movies "Rent" and "Enchanted" returned to "Wicked" in London and even fit in another play, Michael John LaChiusa's "See What I Wanna to See."

...OK, when I put it that way, it's not like Menzel has been sitting around doing nothing. And pity the fool who underestimates the power of green. During the Tonys telecast last week, Menzel's very appearance during the "Rent" reunion drew the typical girlish shriek from the audience (fellow "Wicked"-teer Kristin Chenoweth, less soo). I did see Menzel play "Wicked," BTW, when the show was in its pre Broadway tryout in San Francisco. And, yes, she was pretty terrific.

She's got a new album out, "I Stand", and she'll be in concert at the Wiltern Theatre Aug 15. No way to get tix yet, but Menzel fans can check out www.idinamenzel.com for more info.

You may have noticed that if I find two productions of the same play in close proximity to each other, it constitutes an L.A. theatre trend. Hey, my blog, my rules, right?

And, granted, it's not so eye openingly amazing to find a whole rash of productions of "As You Like it" or "Taming of the Shrew" as I have done in recent posts. (A reader even added a third "Shrew" that I had forgotten at Rep East Playhouse in Santa Clarita is doing "Shrew" as part of Shakespeare in the Park, the weekends of 6/21 and 6/28 (see comments), and thanks much for that, Daniel Faigin.

Now we've got a couple of companies saying, "I'll see your Shakespeare and raise you a pair of Pinters." Two productions of Pinter's "Betrayal" are about to open. The play was written 30 years ago, so I guess it's anniversary time.

"Betrayal" is a three character play that travels backward in time, chronicling a seven year adulterous love affair. Husband, wife, lover. Produced on Broadway in 1980, the Peter Hall directed production starred Blythe Danner, Roy Scheider and Raul Julia. A 2000 revival featured Liev Schreiber, Juliette Binoche. It was also a movie starring Jeremy Irons, Ben Kingsley and Patricia Hodge.

I know, I know, get to the CURRENT news, Henerson.

First up is the Andak Stage Company production opening June 28 at the New Place Theatre in NoHo. It stars Nike Doukas, Leo Marks and Dan Reichert. Andak, incidentally, is the company run by Dakin Matthews and Anne McNaughton. June 28-Aug. 3. (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, www.Andak.org.

Next up is The Playground's production of "Betrayal" opening July 10 at the Matrix Theatre for a three week run through July 27. This one's got TV folks Henry Simmons (of "NYPD Blue"), Sophina Brown (of TV's "Shark") and Rick Wasserman.

The folks who informed me about the Playground production didn't provide me with any more who/what or contact info . A look at the Matrix Theatre website indicates that the Paul Mazursky directed "The Catskill Sonata" will be up at the Matrix July 6 through Sept. 2. I don't recall the Matrix having more than once performance space, so not sure what's going on here. Check back in a day or two and I should have better info.

I do suspect, however, that entirely un Pinteer-ian "The Catskill Sonata" will not be in mass re-production any time soon.

I thought it was "As you Like it." Turns out "Taming of the Shrew" is getting a couple of local workouts, too.

We've got Shakespeare Festival/ L.A. which _ as their moniker might suggest _ tailors Shakespeare works to Los Angeles and the Southern California area. Not sure what this means for the company's modern L.A-set "Shrew" opening July 9 at Cathedral Our Lady of the Angels (and then playing July 23-27 at the South Coast Botanic Gardens), but director Ben Donenberg knows his stuff and usually serves up something interesting.

The SF/LA "Shrew" promises to "examine Angelenos' negotiations with transportation, relationships and commerce."

The food donation admission charge for the Queen of Angels run is a pretty cool thing as well. (213) 975-989, www.ShakespeareFestivalLA.org.

Closer to home (if you live in the Valley) is Shakespeare in the Park-ing Lot Sunday morning production of "Shrew" that runs July 13 through Aug. 17. No description of any special concept-izing, but there will be Renaissance music. (866) 811- 4111 or www.theatermania.com.

Given that the Park-ing Lot "Shrew" plays at 10 a.m. and Sf/LA goes up in the evening, I guess it's even possible to see both in one day on. Not that any sick, "Shrew" obsessed individual would actually attempt such a thing.

It's rarely _ OK, never_ a good sign when your lead drops out twelve days before you're set to begin performances. That's what's happened with Tanya Barfield's "Of Equal Measure" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Previews begin June 29 for a July 11 opening.

LisaGay Hamilton, a terrific actress and former series regular on "The Practice" was to play Jade Kingston, the White House employed stenographer during the Wilson administration. Her replacement, according to playbill.com, is Michole Briana White.

Still in the cast are Christian Campbell, Dennis Cockrum, Scott Dawson, Michael Hyland, Joseph C. Phillips, Lawrence Pressman, T. Ryder Smith, Christopher Warren and Michael T. Weiss.

Tickets: (213) 628-2772, online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org,

...and while I'll have a few thoughts to share once the awards are handed out, it probably bears noting the SoCal ties of some of the nominated plays, performers, etc. I'll throw in a bit of news, so that if clips of any of the nominated shows pique your fancy during Sunday's telecast, you'll have an idea if/when they'll be coming out here.

Best musical nominee "Cry-Baby" was already here, premiering at the La Jolla Playhouse in the fall. Christopher Ashley, who directed another nominated musical, "Xanadu," is the artistic director at the La Jolla Playhouse where "Xanadu" will kick off its national tour in November. (No word yet when it will get to L.A., but I'm guessing mid to late 09.)

"A Catered Affair," which was nominated for three Tonys including best orchestrations, premiered last September at the Old Globe in San Diego. Best actor nominee Tom Wopat and best actress nominee Faith Prince were both in that production.

Laurie Metcalf, best featured actress nominee for David Mamet's "November" works L.A. stages quite a bit whether at the Geffen Playhouse -- run by her fellow Steppenwolf Theatre Co. mate Randall Arney -- or at some smaller venue for playwright Justin Tanner. She was here not so long ago with "The Quality of Life" written and directed by Jane Anderson at the Geffen.

Speaking of Arney, the Geffen just announced that he'll direct the West Coast premiere of the best play-nominated Connor McPherson yarn, "The Seafarer" (as well as a production for Steppenwolf), in April of 2009. Fans of MCPherson's "The Weir" will probably want to take notice. The play is described as: "A whiskey laden tale set over a poker game in the Dublin home of two brothers on Christmas Eve, a fable about power, redemption and betting against the odds.

S. Epatha Merkerson, nominated for best performance by a leading actress in "Come Back, Little Sheba." Michael Pressman's production -- with Merkerson headlining a different cast -- played the Kirk Douglas Theatre last June and July.

As previously blogged, the revival of "Grease" (a best musical revival nominee) will get here during the 08-09 Broadway/LA series in March.

Best Actor nominee Laurence Fishburne (of the solo play "Thurgood") kicked his stage yearnings back into gear a couple years back with back to back productions of "Without Walls" and "Fences."

Once the Tonys have been handed out Sunday, there figure to be a spate of announcements about closings and tours. The presumptive best play winner, Tracy Letts' "August: Osage County" has already announced it will launch its national tour next summer from San Francisco. No L.A. dates announced, but believe you me, it will get here.

So will "Disney's The Little Mermaid" (best original score). If I had to guess, I'd say 2011.

Well, never say never, but it doesn't sound like Julianne Moore is contemplating a return to Broadway -- or any stage -- anytime soon.

She had a rather highly publicized turn in the premiere of David Hare's "The Vertical Hour" from the end of Nov. 06 to March 07. The reviews weren't exactly ecstatic. Or rather, they weren't exactly ecstatic for anyone (or anything) who wasn't Bill Nighy.

I have this thing, you see, about asking actors who have stage work in their background if they ever plan to, I don't know, GET BACK to the stage. Usually I'm interviewing said actors about movies which, as we all know, will typically pay them considerably more than any play ever will, and will often provide friendlier working hours, maybe some travel, all those things that actors like to get so they NO LONGER HAVE TO work on stage.

I interviewed Julianne Moore by phone about the movie "Savage Grace." My interview should be on-line if not today, then certainly Sunday on LA.com. (It will run in the Daily News that same day).

"Savage Grace" has Moore playing a New York socialite named Barbara Baekeland who was twelve kinds of nuts (her son Tony was equally so). The movie, which is not rated, is a bit extreme. So is/was Barbara. Greek tragedy here.

Moore apparently went on to do "The Vertical Hour" for Sam Mendes -- her Broadway debut -- immediately after wrapping "Savage Grace." Did she enjoy Broadway? Not especially, she told me.

"I loved the people and I loved the play. But I don't know. I don't think Broadway is for me," Moore said. "The demands on my time are too hard. I've got school aged children, and everything revolves around evenings and weekends. There are reasons people with small children don't do plays."

OK, no argument there, and I've heard this from countless other actors male and female. If you want to be around to put your kid to bed, you do movies and TV. A case could, I suppose, be made that rather than commit to a lengthy Broadway run, you come out to L.A. with a pet project and stage it for 4-6 weeks at one of our regionals out here.

Julianne Moore, who played Ophelia at the Guthrie way back in the day and did some other off Broadway stuff, would probably be bottled lightening on stage. "Vanya on 42nd Street," which is essentially a filmed version of an "Uncle Vanya" workshop, gives a teaser.

There's more to it though. As she sees it, Moore is no longer a creature of the stage, or maybe she never was.

"I think for me, with the scale I like to work in, I prefer film. I really do," she continued. "It's just more suited to what I want to do I Don't fundamentally like performing. On stage, it didn't feel right to me. It felt too much like being looked at rather than being inside the story."

Now of course Moore has 10,0001 film projects, so it won't be an issue. Maybe when her kids (who are 10 and 6) get older, she'll reconsider.

People do, y'know. I asked Steppenwolf alum Joan Allen on two separate occasions when she would ever get back on stage, and she basically told me that her time on the boards -- and all those seriously tough roles -- effectively burnt her out.

Until now. Playbill.com reports that Allen will return to Broadway with Jeremy Irons for the world premiere of "Impressionism" in the spring of 2009.

Granted, they've got little or nothing -- OK, absolutely nothing -- to do with each other beyond the fact that they're both coming to L.A. in separate productions.

Oh, and the fact that they're both pretty terrific actors.

Julie White won a Tony award for playing a maniac of an agent trying to keep her pretty boy client in the closet in Douglas Carter Beane's "The Little Dog Laughed." White, who has played L.A. area stages before ("Expecting Isabel," "Dinner With Friends") will reprise her "Little Dog" role at the Kirk Douglas Theatre Nov. 23-Dec. 21.

And who says acclaimed performances don't transfer anymore? White was kinda the toast of New York for a while there, so kudos to Michael Ritchie to get her to re-up for Culver City.

Right now, all you can get are season tickets (213) 972-4444. for the Douglas 08-09 season, but that will change.

Chazz Palminteri, meanwhile, brings his "A Bronx Tale," which he both writes and performs, to the Wadsworth Theatre Sept. 9-21. It's a coming of age tale set in the Bronx during the 1960s. The movie starred Palminteri and Robert De Niro, who directed it.

Palminteri has been in a bunch of movies ("The Usual Suspects," "Mulholland Falls" among them. Writers everywhere worship at the man's shrine for his work in Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway." The performance was Oscar nominated, and Palminteri was dead on as the mob hit man turned playwright who "fixes" hapless John Cusack's play and rubs out Jennifer Tilly's mob moll with the line "Olive, I think you should know this: you're a horrible actress."

As Billy Crudup would say, "Priceless."

Tix for "A Bronx Tale" are available through Ticketmaster, 213-365-3500.

This summer's "IT" Shakespeare play -- as you might have guessed from this posting's not too subtle heading, appears to be "As You Like It."

The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum has one up and running with Geer company mainstay Wilow Geer as Rosalind. That one will figures to be traditionally staged since most the company's Bard plays are. Performances are Sundays at 3 p.m. through Sept. 28. (310) 455-3723, www.theatricum.com.

Come to learn that the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival on the campus of Cal Lutheran will open their summer season with "As You" set in the 1970s and featuring Shakespeare's lyrics set to the tunes of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Arlo Guthrie and Janis Joplin. It opens the 27th and runs through July 13.

Both sites are outdoors.

There might be one more, although this one right now is nothing more than a program tease.

Christine Lakin, who has worked in several shows with the Troubadour Theater Co. has put in her program bio for "Dog Sees God" (currently at the Hudson Backstage. Oh, and see it) that she'll appear in the Troubies' "As U2 Like It" in August of 08 at the Falcon Theatre.

OK, that production -- if it will in fact exist -- is not mentioned on either the Troubadour Website (www.troubie.com), nor the Falcon's (www.falcontheatre.com). Doesn't mean it's not happening. Just means if it is, they haven't confirmed it yet.

If "As U2 Like It" -- which would, duh, superimpose the music of U2 onto "As You Like It" -- does come to the Falcon, it will likely fall into rotating repertory with the Troubies' summer sequel: "Alice in One Hit Wonderland 2: Through the Looking Glass." Folks who came to last year's "One Hit Wonderland" may remember Lewis Carroll's tale positively infested with the music of one-hit wonders. "Through the Looking Glass" begins previews July 17 and runs through Oct. 12 which means the Falcon will have no difficulty filling seats for the next few months. Fall (818) 955-8101 for tix.

Lakin, BTW, played Alice. Since she's in "Dog Sees God" through July 6, I'm figuring she won't be available to put on the pinafore again.