review - Posing Strap Pirates

RECOMMENDED
Posing Strap Pirates
by Michael Van Duzer
directed by Laura Lee Bahr
The Eclectic Company Theatre
through December 10 only: Thurs at 8 pm and Fri, Sat at 10 pm

Back in the 50s and 60s when it was hardly kosher to even mention homosexuality, there existed a raft of pulp fiction novels along with popular physique magazines in the underground that kept gay men somewhat pleased and happy while they had to hide their sexual preferences from public view. Playwright Michael Van Duzer has created a campy, silly play that exhibits the man-to-man appeal of that time period entitled Posing Strap Pirates now onstage at the Eclectic Company Theatre through December 10. 

Copying a story about pirates on the high seas, about a barberous captain and damsels in distress, with maties forced to submit or walk the plank, it turns this world upside down by making the captain and his maties ...gay. The damsels in distress are, in fact, boys, and the treacherous captain a lustfully villainous daddy. Van Duzer uses a narrator in full Amadeus Mozart costume (Paul Duffy) with powdered white wig and long pink coat-tails at the piano - I thought at first I was seeing Liberace, who serves up the story in the pulp fiction style using very proper English to disclose some pretty lurid, scandalous details. The seamen's asides and reactions provide heaps of laughs; most of the humor emanates from these no.place.for.subtlety movements and actions, as where two of the mates break into a dance. At one point the narrator is shushed by the actors and asked to leave the room. Very funny! 

The entire ensemble are great with Kerr Seth Lordygan stealing the hour as Captain Rake Matelot. Hairy chested and bald, he struts around like a horny leather daddy, seething with lust and threatening the worst if he doesn't get any. David Robert May is perfectly cast as Toye Buck the young boy from the sugar plantation engaged to be married who senses his real destiny lies elsewhere. He yearns, not for Rake, but for Cabin Boy Beau Ideal, the handsome, sexy muscle man who is every gay man's dream, played to campy perfection by Jeffrey Patrick Olson. Jonathon Lamer is delightfully drole as Sabre and Mason Hallberg gives us quite the surprise as Bilge. John Dickey is full of surprises as well as Brother Pierre. Amazing that a woman Laura Lee Bahr has directed this kind of material with such flair, wrenching every nuance of comedy from her actors.

This is a fun evening of theatre that should not be taken too seriously. What is most engaging is Van Duzer's fine literate words that copy so expertly the style of the cheap novels. The cast and direction are delicious, and you'll have a great time! There's also enough manly flesh afloat to keep one's attention keenly riveted. Shiver Me Timbers, what a dazzlingly colorful array of jock...I mean... posing straps! 

4 out of 5 stars

http://www.eclecticcompanytheatre.org/

CABARET review - Dangerous Curves

On Sunday December 4 Las Vegas' popular female trio Dangerous Curves performed @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's.  Lisa Smith, Karen Michaels & Margaret Menzies, who comprise Dangerous Curves sang solo and together in a 75 minute varied set that just about blew their audience away. All three are distinctly different beauties in talent, personality and looks, and when they come together, what voices and what beautiful harmony! Not that easy to find nowadays amongst vocalists who strive to overdo style, and scream and screech to grab instant recognition. These gals can really sing and harmonize, and indeed they did with fabulous musical director Dan Ellis at the piano throughout.

Using the title Finding Harmony on the Road Less Travelled the gals incorporated traditional  and newer style pop, jazz, rock and Broadway. Highlights of the evening included: their grab'em opener "Sing", Hendricks' and Ross' eclectically jazzy "Cloudburst", Smith's lovely interp of "Someone to Watch Over Me", Michaels' great rendition of "Faithless Love", Menzies' intro to a terrific Judy Garland medley from all three, including: "You Made Me Love You", "Rockabye Your Baby", Charlie Chaplin's gorgeous "Smile", "The Man That Got Away", the rarely heard "Mr. Monotony" and of course "Over the Rainbow". For Broadway stalwarts like myself, we were treated to a Stephen Sondheim medley that blended: "Anyone Can Whistle", "Being Alive", "No One Is Alone" and "Not While I'm Around". Menzies talked about how much Garland has influenced most female singers and how Sondheim's lyrics really interpret the character an actress is playing. The gals payed tribute to their friendship with "Moon River", did a cute "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and put out the idea to everyone of follow your dreams with "Sing Your Own Song". They closed with "I'm A Woman" and as encore did a splashing arrangement of their newly recorded "I'll Be Home for Christmas".

This was a splendid evening of song and merriment @ Sterling's, perhaps one of the finest of this past season. Michaels, Smith and Menzies all possess great vocal instruments individually, and, I'll say it again, when they put it together, the harmony is sensational, akin to the Lennon or McGuire Sisters, a sound you just do not hear enough of these days. I was over the moon. You will be too, if you purchase their CD Girl Talk:
http://dangerouscurves.weebly.com/meet-the-girls.html

review - WICKED

CRITIC'S PICK
Wicked
book by Winnie Holzman
music & lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
directed by Joe Mantello
Pantages Theatre
through Jan 29

katie rose clarke as glinda

mamie parris as elphaba

As familiar and beloved as The Wizard of Oz? Not quite, but getting there, slowly but surely, Wicked has an international fan following to boggle the mind. And it has sold more t-shirts than any show in Broadway history. Now in a return engagement at the Pantages, this scaled down tour of Wicked still catches fire, due mostly to a gifted cast.


The sets are smaller and the ensemble has a few less singers/dancers,
more noticeable in the big chorus numbers like the opener "No One Mourns the Wicked", but what is there is choice, as they say. Katie Rose Clarke is spectacular as Glinda, with a voice perhaps more beautiful than any other Glinda to date and enough spunky humor and energy for a whole batch of self-absorbed Glindas. Mamie Parris as Elphaba comes through terrifically on her big numbers like "Defying Gravity" and is overall very good, but is less dynamic than say... Eden Espinosa or Stephanie Block, who went several steps beyond. Parris pulls her Elphaba inward, focusing on her intelligent individuality. Kyle Dean Massey makes a delightfully effective and sexy Fyero, and Mark Jacoby and Liz McCartney are nothing short of fabulous as the Wizard and Madame Morrible respectively. At last I was able to understand every word uttered by Madame Morrible.

liz mccartney as madame morrible
Character actresses in the past have concentrated on the eccentricities and forgotten that they are speaking English. Justin Brill makes a dutiful Boq and Stephanie Brown i s fetching as Nessarose. Paul Slade Smith is wonderfully on target as the poor creature Doctor Dillamond. In conclusion, some of the subtleties brought by past actors may be missing, but as a whole everyone and everything works in fine 
tune, with Joe Mantello's original direction and Wayne Cilento's musical staging magically in tact.

kyle dean massey
Many have argued in the past that writer Winnie Holzman spends too much time in Act II incorporating and tying up loose ends with Wizard of Oz plot threads. But what fun to see how the tin man, cowardly lion and scarecrow came into the picture. And nobody can argue against the humor generated from Elphaba defaming that little girl from Kansas for stealing her sister's shoes. As far as Stephen Schwartz' score is concerned, in my mind there are no more beautiful ballads than "I'm Not That Girl" and especially "For Good". Really listen to the lyrics of the latter; it will reduce you to tears and make you rethink the true value of friendship.

One question that has undoubtedly arisen is "Why Wicked again? It had such a long run the first time around." All I can say in response to this is the show has brought thousands of young people into the theatre and has made musical theatre fans out of them. They adore the score, play the CD, sing the songs and cannot wait to go back to the theatre to see it again. If it takes something Wicked to do this, that's just fine, as our musical theatre is in desperate need of loving, caring admirers.
This Wicked is wickedly good fun and with just the right amount of heart to make it totally worthwhile. Tickets make a great Christmas present for the entire family.

5 out of 5 stars

Gloria Stroock Plays Rose Kennedy @ Theatre 40

An old acting companion, Gloria Stroock and I were in Stella Adler's Conservatory of Acing Scene Study Workshops in LA in the late 70s. She was great then and has only gotten better with time.

Lyn Stanley Makes Cabaret Debut @ Sterling's

congratulating miss stanley

karen morrow and renowned vocal coach Marge Rivingston were on hand
review below!
interview & review of marge rivingston's book:
http://losangeles.broadwayworld.com/article/Singing_Coach_to_the_Stars_
Marge_Rivingston_Talks_About_Herself_and_the_Joys_of_H

review - The Color of Rose

CRITIC'S PICK
The Color of Rose
written & directed by Kathrine Bates
Theatre 40
runs Mon, Tues and Wed through December 21.

"Rise above it!" was a phrase used throughout Rose Kennedy's long life (1890-1995) to get her past the personal turmoil and tragedies that beset her and her large Irish clan. One question overheard by many in the audience on the opening night at Theatre 40 of Kathrine Bates' The Color of Rose was "How could she stay with such an awful man for so many years?" Joe Kennedy had a reputation as a womanizer; he was also a manipulator of money and corporations, and an alcoholic to boot. But he was Irish Catholic. Rose Fitzgerald was also Irish Catholic, and Irish Catholic people in those days remained loyal to one another and by and large did not divorce. Divorce was rare. Rose's life was hardly a bed of roses, but she contented herself with her children's achievements and never said an unkind word in public about Joe's wrongdoings. That's the way it was, and in Bates' new play, Rose Kennedy receives a pure and totally human rendering as the icon of motherhood. She does regret never having attended Wellesley College, and of course, there's her rejection of daughter Kathleen who rebelled and married a Protestant, living her life in England until her untimely death in a plane crash. If only they had reconciled: it's not difficult to comprehend how a mother would feel about that or about poor daughter Rosemary, who had undergone a labotomy at the insistence of father Joe, who took medical advice as the best recourse. Again, it's Rose defending Joe's decisions and standing behind him 100%. It was her job as a dutiful wife, and she remained stalwart, as was expected of her.

Bates represents Rose at three different stages of life: the young Rose, in her 20s as a wide-eyed optimist (Shelby Kocee), at middle age as life got tougher (Lia Sargent) and at old age (Gloria Stroock) as she looks back at her mistakes and tries to make sense of it all. These are not three separate monologues at three distinct time periods, but rather one fluid piece with all three Roses on stage simultaneously watching and listening to the others speak as the story unfolds. It's in the mind of the older Rose as she recollects, in preparing to face an interview, and it works beautifully. For example, when a middle aged Rose frets about an incident, the older Rose is there to remind her that you must forgive and forget. On the joyous side, all the women can exult in how young Rose felt on her wedding day, and on the down side, even the young Rose can understand the shock and devastation she would experience on the day her beloved son JFK was assassinated. Bates splendid direction of the three is having them sort of dance around each other and on occasion lend a hand, as when old Rose needs assistance in sitting down or standing; they are an integral part of each other and work splendidly together like three ballerinas in unison. It is lovely to watch.

The three actresses are outstanding. Kocee brings out Rose's joy and vulnerability, Sargent her tough skin and Stroock her whole emotional being, resolved but fragile, as she surveys her past strengths and weaknesses. Their chemistry together is impeccable.

Jeff G. Rack's set design is of an elegant hotel drawing room where the interview is about to take place with the elder Rose. There is a large vase of flowers center stage from which the actresses take roses consistently and describe them by color: how that color depicts a quality or personality trait. Blue represents the unnatural, the unattainable, that without question fits with the Kennedy curse and quest for Camelot; peach, gentility, used to describe the nature of Jacqueline, and so on...

Some may argue that Rose comes off too perfect in The Color of Rose, but who wants to argue about a 104-year-old woman that continuously stood tall and played out bravely the hand she was dealt? Like Kathrine Bates says, Rose Kennedy was indeed "a wonder".

5 out of 5 stars

news - Walk a Mile in My Pradas

At the press screening in NoHo for Walk a Mile in My Pradas, a new holiday film executive produced and costarring Emrhys Cooper(above left) and Rick Sudi Karatas(above, middle), who also cowrote the screenplay with Tom Archdeacon.
check out more photos and my review of the film on my film blog:
http://grigwareonmovies.blogspot.com/2011/11/review-walk-mile-in-my-pradas.html/
http://grigwareonmovies.blogspot.com/2011/11/press-screening-of-walk-mile-in-my.html

CABARET review - Lyn Stanley

On Sunday evening November 27, vivacious Lyn Stanley made her much anticipated cabaret debut @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's to an enthusiastic crowd. Stanley is a champion ballroom dancer, who, at the advice of musician Paul T. Smith, made a dynamic transition to singing. Stanley has just the right style for night club work. Not unlike Peggy Lee, she is sensuously alluring, and when she performs numbers like "Fever", or "Do Right", Lee's first big hit, she really hits the mark. It's her emphasis on the lyrics that truly gives her delivery its flair. 


Tony Award nominated actress/singer Sharon McKnight served meticulously as director of the show entitled Makin' Whoopee; the wonderful Bill Schneider served as musical director. Schneider accompanied on piano throughout the 70-minute set, Sherry Luchette was on bass and Jack LeCompte, drums. A truly fine musical combo!


Makin' Whoopee included of course the title song, another great tune that matches Stanley's style, "Hernando's Hideaway" from Pajama Game, the ever cool and sophisticated "One For My Baby" and the delightfully playful "Arthur" made so famous by Liza Minnelli in The Act. Stanley also offered Doris Day's "Love Me or Leave Me", and her mother's personal favorite ballad "More Than You Know". There was a cute tribute to Disney films and their leading ladies with "Disney Way", though Stanley needs more experience in handling the humorous lyrics and in executing comic bits, and the very moving "Pieces of Dreams" which served as her finale. There was an exciting dance video showing the ballroom finesse that won her three prizes in Florida competition, and a winning segment in which she introduced her inspiration, Ella Fitzgerald's renowned accompanist Paul T. Smith, about to turn 90, who blew the audience away with his dazzling artistry at the piano on a medley of movie tunes.


Lyn Stanley is a lovely human being, who donates part of the proceeds of every concert she gives to charities, those in particular that rehabilitate drug-abused teenagers. Infusing the performance on stage with her abundant warmth and genuine personality, Stanley is a pleasure to watch and listen to, and with a few more experimental gigs will eventually find her niche in the night club circuit.

interview: http://grigwaretalkstheatre.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-lyn-stanley.html

CABARET review - Peter Mac: As Long As I'm Singing

Tribute artist Peter Mac, nominated for 4 BWW Awards 2011, left his dresses in the closet November 25 and 26 to present an intimate evening of song at the Gardenia in honor of his favorite composers. Potpourri was almost the title of the show, Mac explained, because the composers as diverse as Harold Arlen and Bobby Darin, who composed the opener and title song "As Long As I'm Singing", created tunes with a mix of styles. Very few impressionists can strip away the makeup and perform as themselves. Jim Bailey did it on occasion, and Peter Mac is following gloriously in his footsteps. Mac has a terrific vocal range, and much, much more... he's sexy and has an aura, a charismatic spirit that never lets down. Anecdote follows anecdote, and he keeps his audience on their toes as they are asked to take commemorative journeys with him. Such TV programs as Dark Shadows and everyone's fav vampire Barnabas Collins played into a couple of his songs. Remember? Those who did not live through the 60s had either collected those delightful Shadows videos like Mac himself or had found themselves entertained by the gothic soap's actors, such as David Selby or Lara Parker, at yearly conventions/festivals. If none of the preceding, you can look forward to the new film starring Johnny Depp as Collins. Mac essayed "If I Can't Love Her" from Beauty and the Beast and really delved into this in depth love that he compared to that of Barnabas and his beloved Josette Dupres.

Other highlights of the set included: Al Hoffman's rousing "I'm Gonna Live 'Til I Die", made so popular by Mr. Sinatra; Arlen's ultra-dramatic "Any Place I Hand My Hat Is Home", "When The Sun Comes Out" and one of Garland's favorites, a piece-de-resistance "Come Rain or Come Shine"; Alan Brandt's and Bob Haymes' lovely "That's All"; from Judy's Carnegie Hall concert, this year celebrating 50 years: Lerner and Lowe's "Almost Like Being in Love" and Rodgers' and Hart's "This Can't Be Love", and another stunning Alan Menken tune with Howard Ashman "Proud of Your Boy" from Disney's film Aladdin. Stephen Schwartz's "Beautiful City" from the movie Godspell paid hommage to the slow rebuilding of the Twin Towers in New York. There was a gorgeous lesser known "After the Holidays" by John Meyer, which Garland sang for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show before she passed in 1968, and the dynamic "Birth of the Blues" by Henderson, Desylva and Brown closed the classy 65-minute set, accompanied throughout by fab Brian Miller at the piano.

Peter Mac is incredible as Judy Garland and his bevy of other ladies. All by himself ...  he is every bit as engaging and magnetic ...  so handsome, so charming, so knowledgeable, so gifted ... Peter Mac.

Don't miss The Judy Garland Christmas Special December 14-17 at the Gardenia with special guests Bea Arthur...among others...shhhhhhh. Can't tell you the rest, just be there!

with musical director Brian Miller

Matthew Lillard Interesting to Watch Onstage

Giving his unique all to Harbor @ the Big Victory Theatre.
review below!

news - As Is

playing through December 17!
http://www.circustheatricals.com/

review - Harbor

RECOMMENDED
Harbor
written & directed by Jon Cellini
Victory Theatre
through December 3

Webster defines harbor as shelter, refuge... for boats, of course... but the meaning may be extended to include human beings, in regard to harboring - holding onto - feelings, emotions. When Tommy (Matthew Lillard) accuses his ex-wife Jules (Mary Thornton Brown) of "harboring sh-- and never letting go", he places the initial blame for their breakup on her, excusing his own weaknesses and lack of commitment. The connection between Tommy and Jules is but one of the relationships explored in Jon Cellini's engrossing new play Harbor onstage at the Big Victory until December 3.

Jules is seeing Saul (Grinnell Morris), a successful scientist who is crazy about her, but she, for a multitude of reasons, just cannot commit. Then there's Jules' dad, with whom she was quite close (Bob Rumnock; role shared with John C. McLaughlin), who has just passed away. Jules and her sister DeeDee (Luka Lyman) are still grieving, each in her own way. Then there's DeeDee's marriage to loyal Ronnie (P J Marino), which seems the happiest of the lot. There's also Tommy's new wife Christie (Zibby Allen), the complete opposite of Jules in so many ways. She's less sophisticated, to be sure, but warm, caring and easy to get to know and like, as she refuses to hold on to negativity - unlike Jules. Finally there's Justin (Matthew Gardner), Jules' and Tommy's teenage son, trying to deal with his own set of issues as well as to make sense of all the adult turmoil around him. But wait, this is a dramedy, and there are many comic moments to lighten things up.

Cellini has created a very enjoyable evening of theatre in which the main issue is Jules' relationship with Tommy. Despite their divorce, when they come together, sparks fly, both negative and positive. An attraction remains that both must deal with. For Jules who is also dealing with the loss of her father, her father's will - in which Tommy was named inherited owner of his boats, Justin's angst and Saul's moving in on her much too quickly - well, the stress is more than she can bear. There is a great sense of humor within the dialogue, some delightful characterizations, and an overall very realistic approach to the situations that make for a finely tuned play with great potential. My only qualm is that the play begins and ends with Jules. In the opening scene she sees her father before he dies and the closing scene is a fabrication in her mind in which the father and Tommy come together in a peaceful reconciliation. Does this mean that Jules' perspective dominates the entire play? Is it all to be judged subjectively from her viewpoint or is there an objective eye at work here? I see both, but it's not crystal clear if Cellini wants Jules in control of all that comes across, particularly in regard to Tommy's behavior.

Under Cellini's fast-moving direction, the entire cast glows. Brown is engaging from the first scene. She makes Jules real, complex, strong, yet vulnerable. Lillard is an electric presence on stage. He is tall and lanky, and carries himself well, even when he sits and stretches out for comfort. His volatility is intense, yet his tremendous humor makes Tommy's faults seem less affecting than his likability. He's like a big kid who never grew up. As to appealing, all of the actors put humane touches on the characters, making them totally pleasant company. Gardner, especially stands out, making Justin's maturation focused and perceptive.

Harbor's strengths outweigh its flaws, making it simultaneously absorbing and enjoyable to watch. One scene toward the end of Act I in which the whole ensemble play the game Celebrity is laugh-out-loud hilarious, showing without restraint the aggressively competitive nature of each and every player.

 Great cast! Go see it through December 3 only!

4 out of 5 stars
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
See my interview with Matthew Lillard:
http://grigwaretalkstheatre.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-with-matthew-lillard.html

Peter Mac Presents A Judy Garland Christmas

Congrats to all the Ovation Award Winners for 2011

http://losangeles.broadwayworld.com/article/Raul-Esparza-Laurie-Metcalf-et-al-Win-2011-Ovation-Awards-20111115

Hollywood Arms Fine Cast of Kentwood Players at Westchester Playhouse

(top: Alice Lunsford plays Nanny; bottom: Cynthia Rothschild plays Louise, Carol Burnett's mother)

review - below!

Marilyn Maye Sings Jerry Herman at Feinstein's

This was taken by Michael Sterling when Marilyn Maye performed at the Catalina Jazz Club in September 2009. She closes tonight (November 12, 2011) at Feinstein's in New York saluting the music of Jerry Herman in his 80th birthday year. Happy Birthday, Jerry!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
check out this newest review of MM's January 2012 performance from Michael Dale of BWW, NYC:
http://broadwayworld.com/showtime/viewblog.cfm?blogid=3402

The Eddon Awards for grigwaretalkstheatre 2011

Looking over the long, long list of nominations for BWW Awards has made me aware of just how many outstanding people there are to watch locally in LA.  Here are a mere 6 to keep your eye on.
FYI, the Eddon Awards (the Year-End Best for grigwaretalkstheatre) will be announced here December 23, 2011.*

emrhys cooper-entertaining mr. sloane

the atherton twins in iris

peter mac

melody hollis

ignacio serrichio-kowalski

juliet landau
*http://grigwarereviews.blogspot.com/2011/01/first-annual-eddon-awards-2011.html

Juliet Landau a Dream Actress

Our interview will be up on my Interview site November 18.

review - RIVERDANCE

CRITIC'S PICK
Riverdance
directed by John McColgan
@ Pantages Theatre
through November 20 only

From the top Riverdance is defined as journey...that takes us from land to water and back, or from land to sky and back, from one land to another, even... from one life to the next... oh, what awesome journeys Riverdance enfolds! Incorporating dance, song and music, both traditional and contemporary, the show began in 1994 as a salute to these art forms but not without an abundance of variety. According to director John McColgan, it would be impossible to represent Irish dance without presenting ballet or Spanish flamenco, and so the Irish Dance Troupe includes dancers from Australia, Great Britain, and Spain. One great highlight of Act I is the Firedance with Flamenco soloist Marita Martinez-Rey...

who stops the show with her dazzling display of  fast, graceful footwork and inspired beauty. Footwork of the flamenco style certainly has a lot in common with the steadily heavy footwork of Irish dancing, but you must see both to appreciate how one may have influenced the other. Dance as a part of culture must be appreciated by future generations in order to be maintained, and thus in journeying to new lands, it acquires new steps and further growth. In Act II, no greater example of this change is to be seen than in The Harbour of the New World sequence where the baritone soloist Michael E. Wood trades taps with Irish dancer Craig Ashurst.

Styles have assuredly changed but they merge beautifully when represented side by side. Other highlights of this spectacular evening include: Thunderstorm, where the Irish male dancers let off steam as well as some gutteral primal screams, The Countess Cathleen by the lasses, and the title number the colorful "Riverdance" as the Act I finale. Within the song segments my favorite is "Heal Their Hearts-Freedom" by the baritone soloist Michael E. Wood who so magnificently shows off his double skill with singing, then dancing Trading Taps immediately thereafter. The 5 musicians are all terrific: the Irish Piper gives us "Lament", then the fiddler, the flautist, and those sensational drummers, whose loud and thunderous beats add so much vibrancy to the harmonious sounds of the tapping shoes, offer equally mesmerizing solos. Drums and taps combined create  an indescribably electric energy that literally drives you to the edge of your seat.

Bravo to the lead dancers Craig Ashurst, Caterina Coyne, Alana Mallon, Padraic Moyles, Jason O'Neil and Chloey Turner and to the other 18 of the dance ensemble. Kudos as well to the Riverdance Band with musical director Declan Masterson, Piper Matt Bashford, fiddler Pat Mangan, drums Mark Alfred and saxophonist Dave McGauran. To tappers Michael E. Wood and Ben Mapp and to all the glorious singing members of the company, a hearty thank you.

Dancing, singing and music keep a culture alive and all peoples thriving and happy. Without them...well, let's hope they never die. Go see Riverdance and come alive through this Sunday November 20 only!

5 out of 5 stars

review - Travels with My Aunt

RECOMMENDED 
Travels with My Aunt
adapted for the stage from Graham Greene's novel by Giles Havergal
directed by David Dean Bottrell
Colony Theatre
through December 18

For those who like their theatre, like their literature, deliciously different, look no further than Travels with My Aunt, adapted by Giles Havergal from Graham Greene's novel, now onstage at the Colony Theatre. Packed with internationally political intrigue and perilous crime-laden adventures, ...Aunt follows Aunt Augusta (Mark Capri) as she seizes an opportunity to rescue her former bank teller, now bored florist nephew Henry (Thomas James O'Leary) from his humdrum life after the death of his mother. If it sounds akin to Auntie Mame, you're not far off track. Mame marches to the tune of her own drummer, and so does Augusta. It takes Henry longer to loosen up than Patrick in Mame, but eventually he does lose his tourist status through the journeys to Paris, Rome, Istanbul as well as to Paraguay and other places in South America. All the characters are played by four actors: the aforementioned Capri and O'Leary, as well as Larry Cedar and Sybyl Walker. A major treat in the proceedings is playfulness through transgender and also across racial lines. Meaning in simple terms that the men play women as well as men, the female actress essays male characters as well as female; a white man plays a black man and a black woman a mesh of white people. Sound interesting? It is. Yet somehow, in spite of all this fun, I found myself enjoying the play less than I thought I should. Why?

I could not pinpoint one specific thing. David Dean Bottrell moves the piece along with a sweeping pace, and every time Cedar appeared as Augusta's servant/lover Wordsworth or Walker appeared as the toothless Visconti, international smuggler and other lover of Augusta, I was in stitches. When these characters were absent, there was a parade of other people, some less colorful by nature. Yes, true, Cedar plays a man named Conley and Walker his young daughter, who show up on opposite sides of the world and these are assuredly fun as well, so what is missing? Mmmm...curious... When I first heard Capri speak as Augusta, I heard tones of Lady Bracknel from The Importance of Being Ernest, but she's far too stuffy, hardly bearing the flamboyance of an Auntie Mame, so I forced myself to look closer and saw perhaps a bit of restraint, but all good actors are guilty of that from time to time, so Capri must be judged for his own originality in interpretation, and overall he works terribly skillfully. After all, Augusta is Augusta, and Mame, Mame and perhaps I was taking the comparison too far. This can happen when one stretches one's imagination, as Aunt requires you to do. Then it dawned on me. I must say I believe I was reading far too much in and expected much too much.

There's plenty of comedy here, especially from the brilliant Cedar and versatile Walker, and the whole plot with its unpredictability is not unlike a delightfully eccentric, off-kilter roller coaster ride. Don't do as I did! Expect less and enjoy Travels with My Aunt from moment to moment, as it should be experienced. It's simplistic, imaginative, one-of-a-kind storytelling. And its intelligent, funny lines about living (Auntie Mame's "Life's a banquet" certainly does apply), smuggling (described criminally as a business coup) and including some priceless jabs at constantly crumbling South American countries ("Every day we live will seem a victory") make me want to run right out and buy the script.
4 out of 5 stars

review - Hollywood Arms

RECOMMENDED
Hollywood Arms
by Carol Burnett and Carrie Hamilton
directed by Lewis Hauser
Kentwood Players
through December 17

To my knowledge this is the West Coast premiere of Hollywood Arms by Carol Burnett and her daughter the late Carrie Hamilton, based on Burnett's well written best-selling memoir One More Time. There was a reading at the now Carrie Hamilton Theatre of the Pasadena Playhouse a few years back when the theatre switched names, but not a full-fledged production. The Kentwood Players do quite well in bringing the slice-of-life dramedy to life, now onstage at the Westchester Playhouse through December 17.

laurel andersen & francesca farina
When it played Broadway, Hollywood Arms was attacked by critics as being a sanitized version of what life was like in poverty-stricken Hollywood of the 40s and early 50s, and some went as far as saying it would not hold water were it not the autobiography of Carol Burnett. I do not agree entirely. Yes, of course, interest is piqued because of Burnett's celebrity, but the play, despite Burnett's obvious unconditional love of her dysfunctional family members, plays out realistically. In the play Carol is called Helen (Francesca Farina, age 10; Laurel Andersen, 20). In Act I she leaves Texas at an impressionable age chaperoned by her Nanny (Alice Lunsford) for the purpose of taking up residence in Hollywood, California where her alcoholic mother Louise (Cynthia Rothschild) has been struggling for a few years to make it as a writer. Helen's father Jody (Samuel Huntington), now divorced from Louise, also lives in California, but is much of the time unavailable due to his bouts with alcoholism and consumption. Hollywood Arms is the rundown apartment building where Louise and now Nanny and Helen reside in separate apartments down the hall from one another. With Louise and Nanny both on welfare, there is little for poor Helen to do, apart from going to school, but to accompany her grandmother to the movies for bargain matinees and hang out on the rooftop with apartment manager Dixie's (Valerie Ruel) son Malcolm (Mason Bromberg), a young boy close to her age. He is really her only friend, and she passes the time peeking in at neighbors through their apartment windows and doing her radio show aloud, with a bevy of characterizations. As a young girl, Helen had a talent for impersonation, and 10 years later, where Act II picks up, at UCLA, Helen majors in theater arts. Most who have read One More Time know of Burnett's struggles living with Nanny's hypochondria and stinginess and with Louise and Jody's recurring alcoholic bouts. Her young life was hardly normal, so her escape into a world of fantasy made complete sense. It seems redundant to go into the rest of the story, as the whole world knows of her tremendous talent and how it made her practically an overnight success in New York on Broadway and on TV's Ed Sullivan and Garry Moore Shows.

Lewis Hauser has lovingly directed his cast and staged the piece with fine pacing. More a drama than a comedy, Hollywood Arms is oft times painful to watch and its characters, though recognizable, complex and tortured. Burnett and Hamilton have laced the piece with standard tunes like "Chasing Rainbows" and Kate Smith's "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" which add a nice soothing touch and even some comic relief from time to time. Rothschild is superb as Louise, not holding back an ounce of the dismal depression that plagued her, as a wanna.be writer failure. Lunsford is precious as Nanny, who whines constantly, but beneath the exterior is likeable and funny. Farina does well with the young Helen, but it is Andersen who simply soars as the grownup Helen, just bursting with a blazing talent. Her monologue from the movie theater where she recreates every character in the Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy film is sheer delight. Praise as well to Huntington as the weak Jody, to Ruel as the loyal Dixie and to Joseph Roman as Bill, Louise's steady, caring boyfriend. Emma Hatton also does fine work as Helen's younger sister Alice. Michael McGee's set design of the dingy apartment is spot on perfect, as are Jayne Hamil's appropriate period costumes.

The Kentwood Players' history dates back to 1949,  they own their own theater the Westchester Playhouse and have their very own costume department. They frequently do musicals and serve the community admirably. This is my first visit, but certainly not my last. Keep up the good work!
4 out of 5 stars

entire cast of hollywood arms