Center
Stage with Pat Launer on KSDS JAZZ88
THEATRE REVIEWS:
“Xanadu” –
“Scrooge in Rouge” – Diversionary Theatre
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AIRDATE:
NOVEMBER 28, 2008
‘Tis the season to be silly.
Times are tough, the news just keeps getting worse; you might as well escape
completely. And have I got the shows for you!
Remember “Xanadu,” the movie? That 1980 classic that was, perhaps,
one of the worst films ever made? Gene Kelly on roller
skates? -- What were they thinking! Even Olivia Newton-John said she
cringes whenever she watches the film. Well, it’s back -- as a musical, that riffs on every
cheesy element of the original. First, you might recall, there’s the Muse and
her sister Muses (some of whom are played by men here). She springs to life to
help a struggling artist create the apotheosis of art: a roller disco. You thought it couldn’t get
any more preposterous? Think again, my friend!
Playwright Douglas
Carter Beane and director Christopher Ashley are
spoofing everything from the Greek gods to “Clash of the Titans,” from
Newton-John to Medusa, from the artlessness of the ‘80s to the airheadedness of
Or, head to Hillcrest
for “Scrooge in Rouge,” where ‘don we now our gay apparel’ takes on a whole new
meaning. Diversionary Theatre transports you to a 19th century English
music-hall, with all the slapstick, pratfalls and dreadful puns that entails.
Three talented performers (including a man and
a woman in drag) play 23 characters in a zillion quick-change costumes, to
enact ‘A Christmas Carol,’ like you’ve never seen it. Music and pandemonium
abound.
Now, if you like a
little more bite in your humor, you won’t want to miss “U.S. Drag,” which
finally, has nothing to do with cross-dressing. In this black comedy, two smart
but vapid
So, choose your comical
poison… and you might just die laughing!
“Scrooge in Rouge” runs through December
21 at Diversionary Theatre, on the edge of Hillcrest.
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“Xanadu” continues
through December 31 at the La Jolla Playhouse on the campus of UCSD.
©2008 PAT LAUNER