PETER PAN
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
No matter how many Peter Pans you’ve seen, you’ve never seen a Peter Pan nearly as thrilling as threesixty’s Peter Pan. Its producers tout the production’s “500 tons of tent and equipment, 100 cast and crew, and 400 square miles of computer generated imagery on a screen the size of 3 IMAX theaters.” Previous reviewers have called it “spectacular,” “thrilling,” “breathtaking,” “joyous,” “mesmerizing,” and “magical.” It’s all of this, and laugh-out-loud funny to boot.
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THE ELEPHANT MAN
Monday, October 4th, 2010
When most people hear the title The Elephant Man, they likely recall David Lynch’s 1980 film, which received 8 Academy Award nominations, including one for John Hurt’s unforgettable leading performance.
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IN THE NEXT ROOM (or the vibrator play)
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
It’s the late 1800s and Sabrina Daldry is exhibiting symptoms that concern her considerably older husband. Light has been bothering Sabrina lately, and she cries at the drop of her heavily veiled hat. A consultation with a certain Dr. Givings reveals the cause of her ailments: hysteria. (A contemporary doctor would probably diagnose her condition as depression resulting from sexual frustration.) Fortunately, Dr. Givings has just the treatment to cure Sabrina of her ills, a device made possible by the recent arrival of electric current into New York’s wealthier homes. A two or three-minute application of this vibrating apparatus to Sabrina’s private parts, plus a bit of digital stimulation administered by the doctor’s faithful nurse Annie, provides an almost instantaneous improvement in Sabrina’s mental state (along with a number of moans and gasps of pleasure), and she eagerly agrees to return for daily treatments.
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THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010
Since discovering USC’s Musical Theatre Repertory nearly three years ago with their sensational intimate staging of Sunday In The Park With George, I’ve tried never to miss an MTR production. Unlike USC mainstage productions, MTR shows are entirely student produced, directed, designed, and performed, thereby providing sneak previews of future Broadway/regional theater on-and-offstage talents. With veteran MTR members graduating each June and moving on to professional careers, every new school year introduces a fresh batch of Trojan theater majors every bit as talented as their predecessors, something MTR’s current production of William Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee makes perfectly clear.
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NO, NO, NANETTE
Friday, October 1st, 2010
“Tea For Two” and “I Want To Be Happy,” two of the biggest hits of the 1920s, made their Broadway debut eighty-five years ago in No, No, Nanette, a show that won a grand total of four big Tony Awards—not in its original Broadway engagement but forty-six years later in a revival that ran almost three times longer than the original. For this reason alone, No, No, Nanette is worthy of attention, even in 2010, and 21st Century theatergoers now have the chance to discover this little bit of Broadway nostalgia at the Downey Civic Light Opera.
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TAKE ME OUT
Thursday, September 30th, 2010
Baseball superstar Darren Lemming of the New York Empires would seem to have it made. Blessed with a physical beauty and athletic prowess most can only dream of, the biracial outfielder’s Golden Boy status has kept him above whatever bigotry a lesser man might likely have encountered in major league sports. So certain, in fact, is Darren of being above it all that when he comes out publicly as gay, he expects few if any repercussions from the announcement. Yes, other baseball players might suffer from the homophobia rampant in professional athletics, but not Darren Lemming—that is until pitcher Shane Mungitt arrives to rescue Darren’s loss-plagued team and all hell breaks loose.
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STATE OF THE UNION
Sunday, September 26th, 2010
The Republican Party has lost control of the White House and wants it back in the next election. “If we get a strong candidate, we’ve got a better than fighting chance,” remarks newspaper publisher Kay Thorndyke at a meeting with party bigwig James Conover and reporter/political strategist Spike MacManus. “The party’s best chance is to put up a candidate who’s never been identified with politics,” Kay goes on, and the trio set their sights on wealthy, self-made tycoon Grant Matthews. It just so happens that Kay and Grant have been carrying on an affair under the nose of Grant’s justifiably suspicious wife Mary, but no matter. What the public doesn’t know won’t hurt the Republican candidate, whoever he may turn out to be. Now, if they can just get Grant and Mary to play the parts of happily married man and wife and persuade Grant to tone down those speeches that have riled the special interest groups, thereby presenting a more homogenized image to the American public, they may just have an electable candidate.
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THE GOAT OR, WHO IS SYLVIA?
Saturday, September 25th, 2010
If you are a theatergoer who likes to be intellectually challenged, loves nothing more than laughing out loud unless it’s witnessing absolutely brilliant acting, doesn’t get his or her knickers in a twist by subject matter some would deem inappropriate for the dinner table—and if you know nothing at all about the plot twists in Edward Albee’s The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia?, then read no further. Simply head on over to the Chance Theater for a production so all-around splendid that it will knock your goat’s wool socks off.
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