SAN DIEGO THEATRE SCENE

"CURTAIN CALLS" #240

By Pat Launer

www.sdtheatrescene.com

04/25/08

 

Love, loss and loneliness, those are the themes

From La Gaviota to fragile Glass dreams.

Hysterical Blindness leaves lives amiss,

But it could be a Prelude to a Kiss.

And Missing Persons can be foretellers

Of healing among the Attic Dwellers.

 

 

 

SOULMATES

 

THE SHOW: Prelude to a Kiss, a modern fairy tale by Craig Lucas (screenwriter of “Silence of the Lambs”) whose title comes from a torch song by Duke Ellington (lyrics by Irving Mills and Mack Gordon). The romantic comedy was commissioned by South Coast Repertory Theatre in 1988. The 1990 Off Broadway production, which starred Alec Baldwin and Mary-Louise Parker, received a Tony nomination for Best Play and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Alec Baldwin reprised his role in the poorly-received 1992 movie, which also featured Meg Ryan.

 

THE STORY: A young, smart couple meet-cute and fall in love, despite the girl’s rather pessimistic outlook on life. After a whirlwind romance, Rita and Peter get hitched. At the wedding, a strange Old Man appears and asks to kiss the bride. The moment has magical reverberations. In that instant, the two seem to have switched souls. Once an unhappy Peter figures out what’s happened (as a result of a miserable honeymoon), he seeks out the Old Man, and discovers the true meaning of love, loss and devotion.

 

THE BACKSTORY (maybe): The play was written and staged during the height of the AIDS crisis.  Numerous critics interpreted the story as a metaphor for the pandemic, which had ravaged many young, handsome men. In this view, Peter's quest symbolizes the efforts of gay men to continue to love the beautiful souls that now inhabit sick, decrepit bodies. But it can also apply to any relationship and the need to adore the spiritual interior of the beloved, not just the attractive packaging.

 

THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: Under the direction of Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, there’s a light touch of magic about the production, which suits the fanciful tale just right. Esther Emery (that multi-talented wiz-woman) has designed a whimsical set of movable metal sculptures, curlicue shapes that mirror the headboard on the couple’s bed, and wheel around (a bit too much) to reconfigure; for the wedding, they come together in a heart-shape. The lighting, which has to capture soliloquies and magical transformations, is expertly designed (Jason Bieber and Ashley Jenks). The multi-talents Kristianne Kurner and Joshua Everett Johnson, staples at New Village Arts (she’s now the executive artistic director and he was just named an artistic associate) are playing romantic leads for the first time; both have specialized in character roles. She gets off to a slow start, a little less flirtatious and free-spirited than the character demands. But as she proceeds, she relaxes into the role, both as the playful woman and the sickly but life-grabbing old man geezer who takes up residence in her body. Johnson is a sheer delight throughout; he’s funny, smart, sarcastic, perplexed. We happily take the journey with him, to find out where his soulmate has gone, and who this odd stranger he’s living with really is. Charlie Riendeau is charmingly crusty and then coy as the disease-ridden Man inhabited by the spirit of a young girl. Neither Kurner nor Riendeau overplays the transition; under the sturdy, confident direction of Turner Sonnenberg, their slight changes of posture and demeanor speak volumes. Tim Parker is appealing in the small role of Peter’s not-so-sensitive buddy. And as Rita’s parents, Kathryn Herbruck is solid and Jack Missett is a hoot. The rest of the ensemble – Don Evans, Li-Anne Rowswell, Carlos Darze, Anyelid Menese – provides satisfying support.

 

A magical date-show, or couples evening out. It’s a treat for anyone, so well done it’s irresistible, even to the most curmudgeonly among us.

 

THE LOCATION: New Village Arts, through May 18

 

BOTTOM LINE: Best Bet

 

 

Breakable Glass

 

THE SHOW: The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams’ shattering masterpiece, his first theatrical success. The play premiered in Chicago in 1944, and the next year, won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. The drama was actually reworked material from one of Williams’ short stories, “Portrait of a Girl in Glass,” and was originally entitled The Gentleman Caller.

 

THE BACKSTORY/THE STORY: Williams himself called it a “memory play,” and it’s his most autobiographical work, based on the time he lived in St. Louis, trapped with a domineering mother and a withdrawn, emotionally disabled sister who, with his mother's consent, was later lobotomized. He never got over that misguided decision. The restless son Tom, a writer, clearly a stand-in for the playwright, is also haunted by his sister.

 

The play is set in an oppressive tenement apartment in St. Louis, in the 1930s. Its cramped quarters are overflowing with failed expectations, false hopes and deep melancholy. Tom is the narrator who introduces and ends the story, his own reminiscence seen through the smoke of his fire-escape cigarettes. A budding poet, Tom feels constrained by his mother’s overprotective ministrations and his dead-end job at a warehouse. He has the restiveness and wanderlust of his father, who abandoned the family long ago (“a telephone man who fell in love with long distance”). Amanda, a former Southern belle, spends her life wrapped in the memories of her younger days, when she had scores of suitors. She believes that the only hope for her painfully shy daughter, Laura, is a gentleman caller. Amanda bullies and badgers Tom until he finally brings Jim home from the warehouse for a life-changing dinner at the Wingfield abode.

 

THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: From the get-go, this production is discomforting. The set (designed by Michael Fagin), far from the claustrophobic tenement of the text, is wide-open, expansive and multi-leveled, a disastrous environment for a daughter with a lame leg. The slatted walkway on its edge bears little resemblance to a fire escape (truly an escape for frustrated, agitated Tom). Much of the beautiful, lyrical language of the narration is presented as voiceover, which serves to distance the audience, rather than connecting us to Tom and his remembrances. The lighting (Chris Lee) is fine until the seminal second-act scene between Laura and Jim which, played by candlelight, is barely visible. The costumes (Anne Kennedy) are just right for the period; the faded, lacy gown of Amanda’s youth is especially attractive and evocative.

 

The headliner here is Mare Winningham, Emmy Award-winner (for the TV movies “George Wallace” and “Amber Waves”). She was also nominated for an Oscar for her 1995 performance in “Georgia.”  Williams’ play usually belongs to Amanda, but this production is an ensemble piece, a reasonable directorial decision. But there are many other missteps by director Joe Calarco, who did commendable work at the Globe in 2006, with the world premiere of Lincolnesque. He seems a bit skittish about presenting such an emotionally intense work in the round, and he doesn’t seem to trust the language of the play. So the first scenes are filled with unnecessary movement and fussy stage business. The overactivity slows the action.

 

Cunningham seems young for the role, and though her accent is credibly Southern, she doesn’t have the outsized personality needed for Amanda, a dominant and domineering woman consumed by memory, insecurity, despair and desperation. Her fierce overprotection of her children, and her insensitivity toward them, comes across merely as nagging and nitpicking.

 

First-time actor Michael Simpson is too animated and overactive as Tom, usually played as something of an angry depressive. Simpson bounds across the stage rather than grinding along in his suffocating home the way he slogs through his days in a dead-end warehouse job. There is no discernible subtext or complexity to his character, and he doesn’t in any way suggest the soul or sensibility of a poet. He does write in his little book quite a bit, which is all we have to look at when those unfortunate voiced-over narrations occur. Voiceover is also an intrusive conceit when used to repeat (unnecessarily) the various rebukes and reproaches Amanda has flung at Tom (as if the director doesn’t believe that we’re able to discern their cumulative effect on our own). There’s a great deal of ‘indicating’ here, underscoring words or lines in the text with illustrative sound or movement.

 

Michelle Federer exudes all the retiring shyness of Laura, though her limp comes and goes. And she becomes implausibly direct in her interactions with her gentleman caller. Still, her scene with the forceful, advice-spewing Jim is the highlight of the evening. After he stops posing in the wide-leg stance of a cop, Kevin Isola sits on the floor with Laura, offers her gum and attention, and her fluttering hands, expectant look and dashed hopes succeed in breaking our hearts. This is the longed-for moment when the play takes over, rather than the direction, and we feel all the pain and pathos Williams intended.

 

THE LOCATION: The Old Globe’s Cassius Carter Center Stage, through May 18

Side Note: This is the final Globe production in the Carter, which has been the setting for 229 productions over 39 years. In July, construction begins on the new, newly renamed arena stage, the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, which will be part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

 

 

 

Anton, Olé!

 

THE SHOW: La Gaviota, a world premiere adaptation of Chekhov’s 1895 drama, The Seagull, by local playwright/actor/director Claudio Raygoza.

 

THE STORY: Though it’s set in Veracruz, Mexico in 1910, during the Revolution, the plot hews close to Chekhov’s original (set in late 19th century Russia). The focus remains on a raft of romantic and artistic conflicts. A famous actress and her brother retreat from the city to their country home. The actress has a popular (though middle-brow) writer in tow, as well as a brooding artist son (in Chekhov a playwright; here, a filmmaker, using the brand new technology that he sees as the wave of the future, though no one takes him or his art seriously. The young man is in love with the attractive if unstable neighbor, who is his muse and leading lady. She, in turn, falls hard for the writer. The dapper doctor loves the actress. The housekeeper loves the doctor, with whom she’s had a child, a brooding, lovelorn depressive who always dresses in black. There are other characters who don’t contribute a great deal to the action (some of whom just add color to Chekhov’s play): a foreman, an aging grandma, and here, a visiting French medic and a Yaqui Indian who barely says a word. Just about everyone is erroneously enamored, and almost all are thwarted in love, some with disastrous results.

 

THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: The play boasts some beautiful, lyrical language. And the production is strikingly designed (though the rickety, fourth-act pergola seems more elaborate to construct than necessary). The adobe house with flowers and potted plants (created by Matt Scott and Claudio Raygoza) looks lovely, the bright blue and coral colors set off against a changing sky and an expanse of sand. The monochromatic costumes (Judy Watson) are appealing. But the Mexican setting doesn’t seem to add much to the story. Guns are heard in the background; mention is made of the fighting in ‘the capital.’ The brooding young woman goes off to fight. But little is made of the class distinctions (there are at least three in evidence), the brief mention of crypto-Jews, or the relevance of the Revolution, except that, as in Chekhov, everyone and everything is on the brink of catastrophe and change. With this expert cast (direction by Glenn Paris), it would have been just as compelling to present the Chekhov text as written, or to create something completely new, unimpeded by the constraints and characters of the source material. This hybrid doesn’t do complete justice to either play. Apparently, the first incarnation of the adaptation was more than 4 hours long; the abbreviated version still comes in at 2 hours 40 min. The loose ends and extraneous characters suggest that it could be trimmed even further.

 

All that said, there are many delights to be had in this production. The welcome return of Linda Castro, for one, an actor who commands a stage and brings great depth and intricacy to a character. She plays Irene (Chekhov’s Irina Arkadina), a flighty hedonist who can be casually cruel to her loved ones. Her current paramour, the novelist Alejandro Gabriel Romero (a name far removed from Chekhov’s Trigorin) is well played by Claudio Raygoza, and their scenes crackle, while Raygoza’s interactions with the infatuated young Nina (attractive, appealing Sara Beth Morgan) sizzle. Morgan’s character takes one of the more significant emotional journeys in the play and her last scene is heartrending. Steven Lone is fine as Nico, the dedicated young artist no one respects or loves, though his final moments are a long time coming. Matt Scott plays an enigmatic character (the French doctor) and his accent (sometimes French-sounding, sometimes otherwise) renders much of his dialogue unintelligible. John Padilla is excellent as the philandering country doctor and Trina Kaplan makes for a convincing matriarch, though the significance of her presence and her dance remain opaque.

 

Raygoza is an exhilarating writer, a man of fascinating ideas and a lush bilingual background to draw on. Both his recent plays, this and last year’s Punks (inspired by Jean Genêt’s The Maids) reveal a marvelous feel for language and theatricality. He hasn’t quite hit the bull’s-eye yet, but his aim is awfully good.

 

THE LOCATION: ion theatre; The Lab at the Academy of Performing Arts, through May 17

 

 

Jersey Girls

 

THE SHOW: Hysterical Blindness, a 1997 play by Laura Cahill, who adapted her script for a 2002 HBO movie, starring Gena Rowlands, Uma Thurman and Ben Gazzara.

 

THE STORY: In 1980s New Jersey, two blue-collar gals are on the prowl. Frantically man-hungry, one even leaves behind a young, out-of-wedlock daughter while she goes cattin’ around in the local bars every night. Debby is the more desperate of the two, throwing herself at any guy who crosses her path, offering herself and her sexual specialties with abandon. She doesn’t have any ambition except a solid relationship, and if she thinks a guy even vaguely glances in her direction, she’ll leave her best friend in the lurch without a second thought. Her buddy has just a tad more sense, sensitivity and responsibility. Back at home, Debby’s mom, bereft since her husband left her years ago, is finally noticed by someone, the only remotely likable character in the play. Nick, a retired widower, courts Virginia gently and courteously, but Debby thinks he’s just like all the jerks she comes in contact with. She wouldn’t know a nice guy if she tripped over him. Her mother, a hard-working waitress, hasn’t exactly cultivated a loving, understanding relationship with her daughter. At the end, left alone again, she finally buys something a little extravagant for herself. There’s the slightest suggestion that her interactions with Debby may improve and that the infantile Debby may start to grow up a little. But it’s a faint glimmer of hope in this dark, generally unfunny comedy that, for all its heavy-handed symbolism (the title, for instance), paints a trashy, vulgar, self-loathing portrait of women and the desperation that makes men disdain them.

 

THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: Despite the fine cast, this isn’t a likable bunch of characters, no one that you’d care to spend even short evening with (in this case, 90 intermissionless minutes). And their antics aren’t particularly amusing. As the centerpiece, Debby, stunning Jessica John is terrifically attired (she did the costume design), in a series of slutty getups straight from the ‘80s, though stilettos have certainly made a comeback, and the desperation of these women, alas, is timeless. John slathers on the Jersey tawk extra-thick (but some of the dialect details are inaccurate); the form of her output sometimes overwhelms the content, unsavory though it may be. Amanda Sitton, always credible, is less over-the-top, in talk and action. Jonathan Sachs and Dylan Seaton make for nasty louts who treat these young women with condescension and contempt. Jill Drexler seems like a hard-working mom, until you realize what she’s allowed her daughter to become. Dale Morris is unassuming and polite as frugal, working-class Nick; sadly, the only mildly agreeable character makes a premature exit from the piece.

 

It’s not quite clear why Backyard Productions founder/producers Jessica John and Lauren Wilson would want to showcase such a female-bashing play. Director Francis Gercke hasn’t sufficiently mined the dark humor of the piece. The design elements are minimal but effective (set by Tim Wallace, lighting by Eric Lotze, sound by M. Scott Grabau), but the whole doesn’t add up to anything you’d like to remember.

 

THE LOCATION: Backyard Productions at Cygnet Theatre, through May 11

 

 

Flights of Fancy Rule at The Baldwin New Play Festival at UCSD

 

THE SHOWS:

 

The Attic Dwellers, by second-year MFA playwright Jennifer Barclay, is a post-apocalyptic fantasy exhorting us to give up our rank materialism and addiction to electronics. The final image, one of the production’s most potent, suggests that if we just pull the plug, the stars and birds will come back. On the way to that conclusion, however, the production is extremely loud, both in its provocative sound design (Chris Luessmann) and its performances. Under the direction of first-year MFA student Adam Arian, three of the five actors spend most of their time screaming. The feverish pitch of the emotions and on-the-nose arguments is close to brain-splitting. There’s also a relentless onrush of profanity that seems pointless and gratuitous; it all feels rather adolescent, though the intention and the message are good. Even the set (Rob Tintoc) is overdone. The only understated performance is by Milana Vayntrub, an undergraduate with LA credits and SAG and AFTRA cards. As the two-character radio announcer, Evan Powell is amusing when he isn’t shouting, and he’s endearing as the little boy who seeks and tells the Truth. As one of the last survivors of the worldwide disaster, being held captive in an L.A. attic, Lorene Chesley plays one shrill, angry note, and the same goes for one of her captors (Patrick Riley). Ross Crain, as the other heinous, environment-destroying hostage, has moments of pathos when he talks about his lost young daughter. The suspense isn’t sufficient and the payoff is minimal. The same points are made over and over. The play would work better at a brisk 90 minutes (instead of a repetitive 110).

 

Bureau of Missing Persons, by third year (graduating) MFA playwright Lila Rose Kaplan, is a sheer, whimsical delight. And, as directed by gifted third year directing MFA Sarah Rasmussen, it’s simply magical. The story focuses on grief and loss, love and forgiveness, letting go and giving way to playfulness and wild imaginings.

 

When Angela, a 4th grade teacher, takes her class on a field trip to the zoo, one young boy goes missing, and is never found. She breaks down, falls apart, and hasn’t left her house in a year. Richard, her ultra-academic fiancé, frustrated and helpless, leaves her and moves out. Her supercilious mother scolds her. Her wacky housecleaner Patrice reads to her from the obituaries --  and indirectly introduces her to Simon, a kindergarten teacher whose wife has been missing for a month. Their teasingly seductive, teacherly interactions convince Angela, with the surreptitious help of the enigmatic Patrice, to go with Simon to the cave in Pakistan where his wife was last seen. In the bat-infested cavern, Angela’s mother shows up, as does Richard, and ultimately, Patrice. A lot of the healing is child’s play. And dancing doesn’t hurt, either.

 

This deliciously unpredictable play is as linguistically and thematically grounded as it is dramatically enchanted. The design, direction and performances are pitch-perfect, endlessly mysterious and humorous. Kristin Ellert’s set design is simple, sleek and evocative, revolving from a colorful living room to a deeply-etched, textural, earth-toned cave. The lighting (Stephen Sakowski) and sound (composed and designed by recent Patté Award winner Toby Jaguar Algya) add to the charm.

 

As Angela, first-year MFA acting student Maren Bush is captivating, animated and attentive as the teacher gathering up her class-ful of ‘buddies,’ and after the disappearance disaster, just as convincingly scattered, depressed and crazed by grief, guilt and loss. Her meeting with Johnny Wu’s Simon is hilarious; he never overplays the loopiness of his character, and he makes us love him to bits. Another very promising first year actor is Maritxell Carrero, whose zany, off-the-wall Patrice is watching everyone’s moves and pulling all the strings. Faculty member Eva Barnes makes a wonderful appearance as the well-heeled, hissing, manners-obsessed mother. Joel J. Gelman has the straightest role as Richard, but even he gets into the screwball frolicking by the end.

 

Kaplan’s play was workshopped last year at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and further shepherded by the much-lauded playwright Naomi Iizuka, head of the UCSD Playwriting program. This inspired creation should be picked up and produced, somewhere, soon. See it now and say you saw it first.

 

THE LOCATION: UCSD, various locations, through April 26

The Festival comprises an award-winning reading, two one-acts and three full-length plays, by the gifted writers in the 3-year MFA Playwriting program.

 

 

NEWS AND VIEWS ….

… Go Ask Alice…. SDTheatrescene’s own Terrific Teen, Alice Cash, is really a winner (but we knew that!). She just scored big – twice! First, she’s one of 16 finalists for the Chargers Champion Scholarship, which recognizes juniors in San Diego high schools for their leadership. Each finalist receives a $7000 scholarship and a Sony laptop. Created in 2000 by Alex and Dean Spanos, and presented by Wells Fargo, the program honors students for “making a difference in their communities and in people’s lives”. And this week, Alice also was named a Finalist in the 2008 Girls Going Places Entrepreneurship Award Program, a national project that recognizes and rewards the “enterprising spirit” of girls age 12 to 18. Each year, the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America awards cash prizes to 15 girls who are taking the first steps toward financial independence and making a difference in their schools and communities. Alice will receive $1000, that will also be added to her college education fund. I was pleased to be able to write letters of support for both her applications, and am thrilled that she snagged both awards. Brava, Alice! You go, girl!

 

… Get ready for the third installment of the inventive Challenge Theatre, wherein local playwrights are presented with a theme for a short play. The first group was given the subject of war; the second, standing up to prejudice within one’s own group. This time, the request was for a comedy about death; the evening’s title is “Funny Bones.” The four new one-acts were written by Tim West, David Wiener, Dallas McLaughlin and Challenge Theatre artistic director Michael Thomas Tower. “This promises to be a fun evening of terminal variety,” quips Tower. Challenge Theatre runs Monday-Wednesday from April 20-May 7, with a special performance on Mother’s Day, May 11. At 6th @ Penn Theatre. 619-688-9210; www.sixthatpenn.com

 

 

… Betty BOops! … Last week, I mentioned the upcoming appearance of Betty Buckley at the Balboa Theatre. The date I gave was incorrect. The Broadway star, Tony Award winner for Cats and Tony nominee for Triumph of Love and Sunset Boulevard, will be here on MAY 10 at 8pm. Her show, titled “An Evening with Betty Buckley and Kenny Werner,” is an eclectic program devoted to Broadway classics and selected standards, presented in collaboration with a jazz pianist. May 10 at the Balboa Theatre. Tickets at (619/858/760) 570-1100; Ticketmaster, or www.sandiegotheatres.org.

 

 

… The New York Awards season has begun… and once again, San Diego is lookin’ good. The 58th annual Outer Critics Circle Awards nominations were released this week, announced by Sandy Duncan, who performed at the Old Globe in A Body of Water in 2006. Mel Brooks came out on top once again; his newest musical, Young Frankenstein, earned 10 noms, the most of any show of the season. Cry-Baby, The Musical, the tuneful version of the John Waters film that premiered last year at the La Jolla Playhouse, snagged three nominations, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical. A Catered Affair, Harvey Fierstein’s new musical (with a score by John Bucchino) that opened last year at the Old Globe, was also nominated in the Best Musical category, as was Xanadu, directed by Christopher Ashley, artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse. Rob Ashford was nominated for Outstanding Choreography for his wildly inventive work on Cry-Baby; Bartlett Sher, formerly of San Diego, was listed as Outstanding Director of a Musical (South Pacific); Faith Prince got a nod for her wonderful performance in A Catered Affair (Outstanding Actress in a Musical), and Harriet Harris was noticed as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her work in Cry-Baby.

 

… Sudden Retreat... Funny solo performer Moira Keefe has been forced to cancel her latest performance, Life with a Teenager… I’m having a hot flashback, and the first staged reading of her latest wacky work, My Year of Living Anxiously. The comic evening was slated for April 27, intended as a benefit for the graduating MFA Acting class of 2008 at UCSD. Moira still sends her best wishes to the graduates and plans to re-schedule her performance soon.

 

…. San Diegan thinks he can dance… and he’s right! … San Diego native Kiril Kulish, age 14, has been chosen from a nationwide search to be one of thee young boys alternating in the title role of Billy Elliott, the Musical, which begins previews on Broadway October 1 (official opening Nov. 13). The musicalized version of the 2000 movie, with a score by Elton John and book & lyrics by Lee Hall, concerns a kid from a working-class family in northern England who just wants to dance. Kulish feels the same. He started studying ballet at age 5 and ballroom dancing at 8, and he’s won high-profile competitions in both. The San Diego prodigy is also a concert pianist. One of the other boys who’ll be sharing the lead role is Montreal-born David Alvarez, 13, who previously lived in San Diego and now calls New York home. Alvarez, who appeared in the successful London production of the new musical, was the youngest American to win the World Irish Dancing Championship, at age 11. More than 1500 young men auditioned for the role over the past three years. They were expected to perform ballet, tap, contemporary dance and acrobatics, and sing an Elton John ballad, all while displaying charismatic style. “Playing Billy,” said director Stephen Daldry, “is like playing Hamlet and running a marathon at the same time.”

 

… Speaking of young performers… Looks like the acting/singing gene runs in the family! KNSD’s Kimberly King is the proud mama of two adorable kids making their musical theater debuts this weekend. Cameron, age 9 and Karly, 6½, will appear in Big River, 4/26 and 4/27, at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts. The production is brought to us by the Metropolitan Educational Theatre Network, which operates throughout California. Their large-scale musicals can include up to 300 participants, ranging in age from 4 to adult. And two of those are heirs to the King.

www.met2.org. Tickets at 858-672-7744.

 

…New Guy in Town… The Old Globe has just announced the latest addition to their roster of Associate Artists… Charles Janasz, a consummate, Juilliard-trained actor who’s appeared in every Summer Shakespeare Festival production since 2004, when the Globe returned to the repertory format. He was especially noteworthy in As You Like It (2004), The Winter’s Tale (2005) and Titus Andronicus (2006). Globe executive producer Lou Spisto calls Janasz “one of the most talented and versatile classical actors in the country.” He joins the ranks of 50 other Associate Artists, a list that includes Jonathan McMurtry, Dakin Matthews, A.R. Gurney, Ralph Funicello, Kandis Chappell, Tovah Feldshuh, Stephen Metcalfe, Richard Easton and Marion Ross.

 

… What Happens in Vegas… doesn’t always stay there… Another blow to the effort to turn Las Vegas into the Great Western White Way. It’s got the lights, but it can’t sustain the theater. The latest casualty is Spamalot, which will leave the Wynn Las Vegas after a scant 15-month run, which still beats out the nine-month run of Avenue Q (for which Steve Wynn built his hotel theater) and four month staying power of Hairspray. Wynn is taking a break from theater, putting longtime Vegas cimpressionist/comedian Danny Gans into the theater for an extended run. Looks like Cirque du Soleil and its innumerable knockoffs rule the Strip. Sigh.

 

 

THE READING CORNER

 

… Just for Mom … By popular demand, the San Diego Black Ensemble Theatre is presenting a Special Mother’s Day Event… a reprise performance of the staged reading of Waiting to be Invited, by M. Shepard Massatt, directed by Antonio TJ Johnson. Set in Atlanta in 1964, on the day before segregation was outlawed in public spaces, the play focuses on four African American women who decide to eat lunch in a place that supported segregation, bravely putting aside their fears and facing a new future. Wonderful cast: Syliva M’Lafi Thompson, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Monique Gaffney, Veronica Murphy, Veronica Henson-Phillips and Ida Rhem. 7:30pm on Sunday, May 11 at the Malcolm X Library. Proceeds will go toward the next SDBET season. www.sdbet.org

 

…Read out, Louise!... Write Out Loud, the group founded by Walter Ritter and Veronica Murphy, dedicated to presenting public readings of great short stories, continues its inaugural season with “Girls Night Out,” five tales of women, by women, read by women. The afternoon event features actors Linda Libby, Trina Kaplan, Amanda Sitton, Monique Gaffney, and the first public reading of “Merry Widow” by Loretta Hass, an award-winning San Diego writer who will read her own story. 2pm Saturday, May 3 at Cygnet Theatre (College area). writeoutloudsd@yahoo.com.

 

 

DANCE DEPARTMENT

… Emerge from winter… Patricia Rincon Dance Collective is sending a callout to artists to participate in its Emerge Festival 2008, set to take place in October. This is an opportunity for up-and-coming choreographers/artists to present their work. Last year’s Emerge Festival was a big success. The deadline for submissions, voted on by committee, is May 1. for details, contact Patricia Rincon (princon@ucsd.edu) or anyone on the committee --  David Achison, Faith Jensen-Ismay, Eric Geiger, Jillian Chu, Deven Brawley or Daniel Marshall.

 

… Diving for Pearls… Emmy Award-winning choreographer John Malashock has made a little cottage industry of his dance work on Georges Bizet’s first opera, The Pearl Fishers. Malashock first created dance segments for the San Diego Opera production in 2004, and he’s since gone on to present his choreography for Opera Companies in Michigan, New York, San Francisco, Florida, Washington and Montreal. The exotically-set opera, which premiered in Paris in 1863, returns to the San Diego Opera May 3-11, with choreography by Malashock, natch. www.sdopera.com

 

... The Power of Art… from ArtPower! at UCSD…. Next up in their eclectic season, the Belgian dance troupe Ultima Vez, described as “a potent mixture of danger, conflict, attraction and repulsion,” also referred to as “adrenaline choreography,” combining live action, film and music. For mature audiences only. 8pm on Wednesday, April 30 at Mandeville Auditorium on the UCSD campus. After the performance, the choreographer, Wim Vadekeybus, will talk about his work, his life and his inspiration.

… What’s hoppin’ across the pond? … ArtPower! presents Dance Salon: A Look at European Contemporary Dance and its relationship to American modern dance. A free conversation with ArtPower! artistic director Marty Wollesen and UCSD Department of Dance chair Allyson Green.
Wednesday, May 7, 6:30-8:00pm, Room 155, Galbraith Hall, on the campus of UCSD. Free.
artpower.ucsd.edu

 

 

 

'NOT TO BE MISSED!' (Pat’s Picks)

 

Bureau of Missing Persons – a delightfully magical, whimsical new work by UCSD MFA playwright Lila Rose Kaplan. Part of the Baldwin New Play Festival

Mandell Weiss Forum Studio, two performances only: 4/24 and 4/25 @ 8pm

 

Prelude to a Kiss – light and delightful; a modern-day fairy tale, enchantingly executed

New Village Arts, through 5/18

 

33 Variations – a fascinating conception, stunningly directed; Beethoven’s brilliant “Diabelli Variations” inspired the interweaving of two stories, two centuries, two obsessions

La Jolla Playhouse, through 5/4

 

Terra Nova –  chilling story (based in fact), intense drama, excellent production

Inukshuk Production Company at Compass Theatre (formerly 6th @ Penn), through 5/11

 

 A Little Night Music – a challenging chamber musical, delightfully executed

Cygnet Theatre at the Old Town Theatre, through 5/11

 

 

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

 

 

 

Mayday! Mayday! Don’t miss all the great work on San Diego stages! Celebrate the new month  -- and Cinco de Mayo – at the theater.

Pat

 

© 2008 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.