SAN DIEGO THEATRE SCENE

"CURTAIN CALLS" #217

By Pat Launer

www.sdtheatrescene.com

11/02/07

 

Halloween’s over but the air is still scary

It’s spooky out there for the unwary

So escape the ash and smoke and dust:

Make it a week of ‘Theater or Bust!’

Though H-Day’s over, you’ll find, without doubt,

There are still Zombies out and about.

 

 

 

ZOMBIES IN OUR MIDST

 

 

THE SHOW: Zombie Prom, the nuclear rock ‘n’ roll tuner with music by Dana P. Rowe and lyrics by John Dempsey. The show premiered in Florida in 1993, ran Off Broadway in 1996, and was made into a movie in 2006, with Ru-Paul as the austere principal, Miss Strict.

 

THE STORY: It’s a little bit of Grease, Bat Boy, Little Shop of Horrors and even – though we won’t see the musical version for another two weeks – Cry-Baby. Set in the Communist-obsessed 1950s, at Enrico Fermi High School (named for the father of the Atomic bomb), the story centers on a leather-jacketed orphan named Jonny (proudly rebellious in omitting the ‘H’), who hooks up with sweet, poodle-skirted Toffee. When her parents force her to dump this supposed Bad Boy, he’s devastated, and throws himself into the local nuclear reactor (doesn’t every community have one of those??). But her love calls to him in the briny deep (he’s been buried at sea in a metal casket) and he returns from the dead, as a green-tinged, mutant, teenage nuclear Zombie, hellbent on graduating, and taking his girl to the prom as planned. But the tyrannical Miss Strict threatens to cancel the senior prom. At the same time, yellow journalist and social muckraker Eddie Flagrante (of Exposé Magazine) runs with the torrid tale and takes on Miss Strict to boot (a woman with whom he has a past) to wage a battle for Zombie rights.

 

THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: The show is supremely silly and self-mocking and thoroughly delightful. I’d take this high school over the whitewashed Stepford institution in Disney’s High School Musical any day of the week (see review below). This wacky invention spoofs all kinds of movies, musicals, songs and genres, and mercifully never takes itself seriously. Under all the nuclear waste, it also sports a message of acceptance of difference (even if the victim of prejudice happens to be undead or green), in a far less earnest, smarmy way than that other high school musical.

 

Professor/director Rick Simas has scored another hit (his 2005 production of Bat Boy was terrific), with scads of funny bits, clever choreography (Annette Yé), neat sound and lighting effects (Matt Warburton, Michael Paolini, respectively) and wonderful, period-perfect costumes (Kelley Convery). Even the hair and wigs are fun. Scenic designer Sean Fanning has created an amusing forced perspective that makes the entire, oversized school portals loom above, leaning way back, looking for all the world like the whole edifice might topple over from its own overbearing weight.

 

The ensemble is outstanding, each talented student in the chorus carving out a little character with unique quirks. The lead ‘lovers’ (and in this high school, they do kiss!), 3rd semester MFA Musical Theater students Maeve Martin and Joseph Almohaya make a cute and musically delectable duo. Charlie Reuter and Lindsey Gearhart pair off well as the mustachioed sleaze and the repressed, ruler-wielding dominatrix, and they’re especially good in the humorous tango number, “Exposé.” There are fine comic turns by Amylee Amost (an undergrad with big potential) as the school slut; Christa Pozzi as a nerdy student and a Carmen Miranda-wannabe; and Steve Limones (love that Alfala-cowlick hair!).

 

Musically, the lyrics are more memorable than the melodies; the performances carry both. The band is all pro: conductor Wendy Thompson on keyboard, Ron Councell on synthesizer, Kenneth Dumlao on guitar, Fred Ubaldo on bass and Danny King on drums/percussion.

 

Seeing the show on Halloween was the icing on this cartoonishly ghoulish cake. Many audience members were in full regalia, and there was a costume contest onstage during intermission (as appropriate to the play’s period – and ours! – ‘Jesus’ won!). All in all, a fun night out, by any definition. Escape the fires –into the heat of a comic nuclear calamity.

 

THE LOCATION: SDSU’s Don Powell Theatre, through November 4

 

BOTTOM LINE: BEST BET

 

 

 

Not MY High School!

 

Okay, so maybe I’m not awash in the ‘tween zeitgeist. But I find Disney High School Musical to be pretty moronic, unbearably squeaky-clean (This must be Disney High, not East HS), trite and musically uninspired. But I’m not 9-14, the adoring age of the perpetrators of this phenom that’s taken the country, no, the world, by storm. The third iteration of the original Disney Channel 2006 movie is about to be filmed (whether or not the star had her nude pix online for all her pre-pubescent fans to see). There’s an Ice Tour, a DVD board game, and the original, Emmy-winning TV version (8 wins, 16 noms), which even won the Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Programming. It must be me.

 

It couldn’t just  have been Disney’s outrageous marketing blitz. There’s obviously something more here, themes of self-esteem, and shooting for the stars, following your dreams, etc. etc. etc. For me, the seminal moment is when the leads sing DON’T “Stick to the Status Quo.” Besides teaching legions of kids a Latin expression they’d otherwise never know, I like that sentiment. Sure, I’m all for self-esteem and following your bliss. But anyone who calls this a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet must consider “The Simpsons” high art. I mean, really, Get a Grip.

 

The two different worlds that spawned these two ‘lovers’ (who never kiss until one final, fleeting peck at the end, despite numerous opportunities to come together, musically, dramatically, physically – if this were anywhere else but Disney-Land) are the Jocks and the Brainiacs. Sigh. The other ‘rival’ groups are the Nerds, Thespians and Skater Dudes. And when these two (the basketball captain and the new girl/ math-whiz) venture out of their cliques, it inspires the whole school to interact, collaborate and sing. So, the other message is, Step outside your tight-knit, rule-bound clan, reach beyond expected norms, and actually talk to the geeks you wouldn’t normally spit on. Good suggestions for junior high and high schoolers, I suppose. Okay, yes, for all of us, though reaching for the adult implications is a pretty big stretch. Despite all the hyperkinetic activity and heartful singing, I had trouble staying focused. And will I also have to watch the Broadway San Diego touring version, coming in December? Shoot me now.

 

I tried to get caught up in the energy of the J*Company production, which gave its all to the forever-upbeat musical, set in a fantasy high school (supposedly in Albuquerque) where there are no tough kids or drug-users or meanies greater than the bitchy theater diva who tries to thwart the lovers’ plans to … gasp! … audition for the school musical. It didn’t look anything like my high school, a public institution in Queens, NY. But Main Street in Disneyland doesn’t look like anything that ever existed, past or present. Go ahead, call me a curmudgeon; I’m probably kicking all your sacred cows. Let ‘em tip, I say.

 

The best part of the production, which was attractively designed (Tony Cucuzzella) and costumed (Cindy Kinnard), was the impressive cast of 70 kids, ages 10-17, who mastered all the moves and hand motions (direction by Rayme Sciaroni, choreography by Peter Kalivas) and most of them actually looked like they were having a good time. I loved the enthusiastic singing along from the audience (distracting though it might have been); these little kids, who overflowed the 500-seat theater, were really really into it.

 

The leads acquitted themselves well; 15 year olds Michael Dashefsky and Arianna Afsar are cute and talented, with pleasant voices and a believable connection. Also noteworthy were Megan Evans as the overly theatrical drama teacher; Trevor Bowles as the brainless jock; and Matt Maretz as the nerdy, melodramatic school announcer, who clumsily segues the scene transitions (one of several problems with the book, written by David Simpatico).

 

The rangy, bubble-gum music may be attributed to the 13 credited songwriters. Though the cast was vocally variable, they sang with energy and spirit, and they get extra points for that. There was a great band, containing some of San Diego’s finest (Amy Dalton and Patrick Marion on keyboards; David Rumley on drums, Rik Ogden and Jonathan Davis on guitar and Oliver Shirley on electric bass), but there were lots of sound problems during the matinee I attended, with ear-blasting feedback recurring frequently. Nobody else seemed to notice. The kids were excited, the parents were thrilled, and I was at least glad I’d witnessed what all the international hubbub is about. I loved seeing all those kids the theater. But I still don’t get it.

 

 

The Last Days of Amadeus

 

I caught the final performance of Cadenza: Mozart’s Last Year, the world premiere by Vantage Theatre’s Robert Salerno. The playwright clearly has done his homework, and he’s got a lot on his mind. Enough to fill two different plays, which is basically what he’s put together in two acts. The first hews fairly close to the facts, as they’re known, and close to Amadeus, sans Salieri (though he is disparagingly referred to once or twice). Salerno’s is also a feisty Mozart, but not as cacklingly obnoxious and scatological as Peter Schaffer’s. He’s more consumed; the music is everything. He nearly totally ignores hearth and home, and on his deathbed laments that his children barely know him, and vice versa.

 

This drama considers creative genius, and how it exists beyond space and time. But all that really doesn’t come till the second act, when Beethoven, Einstein and Ben Franklin show up. Then we’re in the 11th dimension and all bets are off. It would be fine to have this brilliant meeting of the minds, with all the prescient perceptions and anachronistic detail, some of it knowingly humorous. But when Salerno also brings in Sarastro and the Queen of the Night, from “The Magic Flute,” the drama takes yet another sharp urn, as the two opposites battle for the Great Man’s soul. In the opera, the characters symbolized the voice of Enlightened Reason vs. the irrational and diabolical. In the context of the play, both also refer to arguments about the Masons, with its secrets, morals and metaphysical ideas. But that section, coupled with the appearance of Lilith, the mythical she-demon (bearer of disease, illness and death) makes the play feel like its veering out of control. Excellent intentions, great breadth of knowledge, but too much of too much.

 

Rhys Green does an excellent turn as Mozart, with his musical obsession and unlikely inspirations (colliding billiard balls, chipring canary), as well as his impatience and outbursts. Paula Berkenstadt hits just the right notes as the devoted and long-suffering wife, Costanza. James Steinberg, Dave Rivas and Werner Hashagen are delightful in their second-act appearances as Franklin, Beethoven and Einstein, respectively, and they all bear striking resemblances to the groundbreakers they portray. Co-directors Salerno and his wife, Dori Salois, have allowed some of the actors to teeter on the edge of over-the-top, and there’s entirely too much yelling and declaiming. The set and sound design (also by Salerno) are effective and evocative, though the multimedia presentation (Salerno again) doesn’t really add much to the mix. Salois’ costumes are attractive and period-appropriate. There’s a lot to commend here, but the play needs refining and conflating, so the acts fit together more seamlessly, and the intent is more consistent throughout. Vantage is certainly to be commended for taking chances, with new work and provocative ideas.

 

 

 

 

Southern Fried Story

 

Carlsbad Playereaders scored another local premiere with The Young Man from Atlanta, Horton Foote’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1995 drama. It’s a small family story, but it goes deep into the American psyche. Center stage are a middle-aged couple, whose achievement of the American Dream suddenly turns into a nightmare. Their son has recently died under mysterious circumstances, and the husband is put out to pasture from a firm he’s worked at for 38 years. Will’s go-getter, ‘everything will be okay’ attitude won’t help pay for the enormous house he just built, or the new car he’s ordered. And the young man of the title, the son’s roommate, keeps coming around (though he never appears onstage). The wife feels sorry for him and keeps giving him money, but she doesn’t tell her bereft husband. She likes the youthful companionship, and it makes her feel closer to her dead son. And it forces her to confront other furtive acts she’s kept from her mate over the years.

 

The setting is 1950, but it could be now. Issues of aging and honesty, denial and family secrets, swirl around these complex characters. It’s all very Southern (set in Houston), where what is not said is so much more significant than what is, and where truth and confrontation are eternally elusive.

 

New Village Arts co-founder Francis Gercke directed a marvelous cast, headed by forthright, no-nonsense Jack Missett and the ever heartbreaking Dana Case, who does repressed emotion better than just about anyone. As a current and former maid, Monique Gaffney and Karole Foreman underscored the racial and class divide, while Jim Chovick brought a sagacity to Case’s stepfather that belied his own susceptibility to a con-man come-on. Joshua Everett Johnson was wonderful, in a deliciously slimy, understated way, as an enigmatic Atlanta relative who has stories to tell about the dead son, and questionable needs of his own. (Can’t wait to see Josh sink his teeth into the central role in Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth, coming to NVA in January).

 

Once again, Carlsbad Playreaders provided a satisfying evening of theater, a reading that strips a play down to its essentials… language, character and relationship. And the drama, which leaves many questions unanswered, is a provocative challenge to the thinking theatergoer. It should receive a full production somewhere soon.

 

 

 

…UPDATE!!…

***PERFORMANCE ALTERNATIONS, CANCELLATIONS, REINSTATEMENTS ***

Sledgehammer Theatre: The remaining performances of Seven Crimes have been canceled.

San Diego State University: Performances of Zombie Prom have been extended, through November 4th. See review above. Further info at 619-594-6884 or theatre.sdsu.edu

Southwestern College: The postponed performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream, set in the 1960s and directed by Katie Rodda, continue through November 8. Info at: http://www.swccd.edu/~pva/.

USD: The opening of Muertos: A Day of the Dead Play has been postponed to this weekend, 11/2-11/3. Info at: http://www.sandiego.edu/theatre/news.php?_focus=29967.

Welk Resorts Theatre:  Performances of Thoroughly Modern Millie have been reinstated after the Welk evacuation. The show runs through the weekend (11/4). Call (888) 802-7469 for more information.

 

NEWS AND VIEWS ….

TV Guide: … Watch my next appearance on “Inside San Diego” on KUSI-TV (channel 51/cable 9) on Wednesday, November 7 at 11am. My last stint on the show, when I discussed Dracula (NCRT), St. Nicholas (Cygnet) and SDSU’s Zombie Prom , is now on my website for viewing: www.patteproductions.com. Tape, watch or TiVo, and keep letting them know you like it; they like that!

……And for more weekly theater suggestions, check out my little corner on KNSD’s What’s Hot webpage: www.nbcsandiego.com. Click on What’s Hot.

… Next week with Luis…. “The Legacy of Luis Valdez, Father of Chicano Theater,” the documentary I made with Rick Bollinger of City TV, will be shown at the 11th International Latino Film Festival in the Bay Area, as part of a Tribute to Luis Valdez. The Festival runs Nov. 2-18; our film shows at 6pm on Thursday Nov. 8. If you’ll be in the neighborhood … I’ll be there, along with the Valdez family. www.latinofilmfestival.org

… Back again, Bigger and Better: VOX NOVA THEATRE had planned a staged reading of its brand new musical, written by founder/artistic director Ruff Yeager. But the fires forced cancellation. Now, Yeager is readying a full production of A Christmas Carol: Not-so-Tiny Tim’s Great Big Musical. The family-friendly new take on the Dickens classic, from Tiny’s not-so-small perspective, is directed by Susan Stratton and features Ria Carey, Jason Connors, Olivia Espinosa, Fred Harlow, Jessica Lerner and John Martin. 11/24-12/23 at 6th @ Penn Theatre. www.voxnovatheatrecompany.com

… Shakespeare Sings… The San Diego Shakespeare Society hosts A Musical Shakespeare Evening at the Neurosciences Institute Auditorium in La Jolla, Monday, Nov. 19 at 7:30pm. Experience the songs of The Bard in their original setting, and learn what music meant to a Shakespearean audience and how Will’s works have inspired operas, musicals, ballets and more. San Diego faves Jonathan McMurtry and Rosina Reynolds will share their thoughts on Shakespeare, and some of our finest local performers will also have their way with Will, including Bill Nolan, TJ Johnson, Amy Biedel. young thespians Daniel and Rebecca Myers, Vox Nobili, The San Diego Civic Dance Company, and members of the San Diego Ballet. Tix available at the ARTS TIX booths or online at www.sandiegoperforms.com. For further info: www.sandiegoshakespearesociety.org.

 

… Same Night, Different Activity: The Aspire Playwrights Collective, a group of seven local playwrights founded by Kristina Meek, presents a staged reading of a new, full-length play by actor/writer/trapeze artist (!) Kevin Six. Love Negotiated concerns “fear, denial, love and the fear and denial of love.” Patricia Elmore Costa directs, and a discussion follows (Come even if you fear and deny love!). 7pm on Monday, Nov. 19, at the Athenaeum School of the Arts Studio, 4441 Park Blvd. No reservations necessary. Kevin has set up a unique pay-scale: You pay based on how much you liked the show. “If you like it $10, pay $10. If you like it fidy cent, pay fidy cent. If you like it bupkis, pay bupkis.”

 

… Black Storytellers of San Diego presents Tales from the Dark Thirty, a reference to “that time when it is neither day nor night; when shadows lurk and play on the mind.” Saturday, November 3, 3:30pm in the Malcolm X Library, 5148 Market St., SD 92114. Admission is free.

 

… Writers’/Actors’ Workshop: An all-day intensive, culminating in evening performances. Sat. Nov. 17, taught by local writer/director/composer/producer Eric Scot Frydler, courtesy of New Vision Theatre Company at the Sunshine Brooks Theatre in Oceanside. Participate as writer, actor or audience member. Pre-registration required. www.nvtheatre.com

 

…Teen Musical Theatre Competition: The J* Company’s Project Center Stage 2008, open to ages 13-18. First Round auditions 7-9pm Tues. Nov. 13 in the Garfield Theatre at the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla; Wed. 11/14 at California Center for the Arts-Escondido; and Thursday, 11/15 at the Joan Kroc Theatre/Salvation Army Kroc Center on University Ave. in the Rolando area. The Final Round concert takes place Sat. February 2 at the JCC in La Jolla. Info at www.lfjcc.org/jcompany

 

… New Music…. The San Diego Songwriters Guild (Bridget Brigitte, President) invites you to its 16th annual Song Contest, where performances will be inspiring and winners of the songwriting competition will be selected and awarded. Bridget promises an exciting event, Wednesday, November 14 at 7pm at the Chicken Pie Diner in San Marcos; 760-591-9393. For info: www.sdsongwriters.org

 

… Castro’s Back!!.. Much-lauded local actor Linda Castro is back in California, after a stint in chilly Cleveland. But the city warmed up to her right-quick. Cleveland Scene Magazine named her “Best Actress for 2007,” for her portrayal of Serafina in The Rose Tattoo  at Ensemble Theatre. Linda’s now living just up the road in Huntington Beach and hopes to spend more time in her old stomping grounds of San Diego soon.

 

… Captain Kirk? It you want to see Kirk Douglas live (while he’s still around), catch him at the Jewish Book Fair at the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla on Monday, Nov. 19 at 6pm. He’ll participate in a Q&A, and talk about “90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning.”

 

… Missing Your Music?? In the wake of the fires, Greene Music is offering to help those who may have lost their beloved piano in the local disaster. To provide musical diversion during this stressful time, they’ll deliver a piano anywhere in San Diego county, with no charge for moving or rental. 858-586-7000; www.greenemusic.com.

 

 

 

'NOT TO BE MISSED!' (Pat’s Picks)

 

Zombie Prom –wacky, silly, nuclear fun; well directed and well-sung

SDSU (don Powell Theatre), through November 4

 

Jersey Boys – still irresistible after all these years! Two talented, native San Diegan JBs; the singing, story and songs are terrific

Civic Theatre, through November 11

 

Dracula – very spooky and scary; a cautionary tale about taking and relinquishing control. The performances and effects are great!

North Coast Repertory Theatre, through November 18

 

The Turn of the Screw and St. Nicholas – a deliciously ghostly double-bill, excellently performed and sure to leave you wondering (in the best dramatic way)

Cygnet Theatre, on and off-nights, through November 11

 

Humble Boy – a Hamletian man-child, overpowered by his oversexed mother, grieving for his absent father; quirky characters, delightful production

New Village Arts, through November 11

 

A Catered Affair  - poignant, touching story, beautifully acted, well sung, with the music excellently integrated into the dialogue

The Old Globe, through November 4

 

Thoroughly Modern Millie -- thoroughly engaging production, with great singing and dancing

Welk Resort Theatre, through November 4.

 

(For full text of all of Pat’s past reviews, going back to 1990, use the Search engine at www.patteproductions.com)

 

 

Recover from the fires -- and Halloween overindulgence – at a theater near you!

 

Pat

 

© 2007 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.

 

For more than 20 years, Pat Launer has been the only regular broadcast theater critic in San Diego. An Emmy Award-winner with a Ph.D. in Communication Arts & Sciences, Pat sees and reviews more than 200 local theater productions every year. For the past decade, she has hosted and produced The Patté Awards for Theatre Excellence, a gala community event that honors local theatermakers (“San Diegans making theater for San Diego”) and celebrates the broad diversity of San Diego theater.