Friday, December 16, 2016
Review: LITTLE DRUMMER BOWIE is the Best Bauble of the Season
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| L-R: Katie Kitani, Katie DeShan, Rick Batalla, Joseph Leo Bwarie, Niles Rivers, and Cloie Wyatt Taylor. Photo by Sasha A. Venola |
Savvy theatre companies know the secret to success is simple: find your niche, do it better than anyone else, keep growing, and give the people what they want. Do those four things and you’ll be among the handful of companies who never want for an audience. Do it good-naturedly, with a healthy dose of humor, and you’ll work your way into the hearts of that audience so deeply they will claim you as their very own and follow you wherever you go.
The Troubadour Theater Company is such a company. Their home base is the Falcon Theatre in Toluca Lake where the late Garry Marshall – family man, beloved mentor, and cherished friend – always encouraged them to “give it a shot” and try new things. With his passing this year, the Troubies’ latest original work Little Drummer Bowie carries with it a touch of the bittersweet.
Their champion is no longer sitting in his usual corner seat grinning as the jokes fly fast and furiously from the stage. I can only imagine how much they miss him, though I’m sure he is still watching, albeit from a much loftier vantage point, and smiling, nonetheless. For the record… we, in the audience, miss him as well.
Perhaps it is fitting then that Little Drummer Bowie, a Christmas story about the search for love and the importance of family is their musical of choice for 2016, a year in which we also lost pop icon and glam rocker, David Bowie, another family man admired for his innovative work.
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| Katie Kitani, Rick Batalla, Lisa Valenzuela, Joseph Leo Bwarie, Niles Rivers, Katie DeShan, and Cloie Wyatt Taylor. Photo by Sasha A. Venola |
Bowie’s music lends itself beautifully to the Troubies’ unique brand of theatre, which takes a well-known classic story (in this case, the 1968 stop motion animated special The Little Drummer Boy) and the songs of a famous musician (like David Bowie) and morphs them into a wonderfully warped original tale. Troubie trademarks include a circus-style sensibility, shtick-loving comedy, song parodies, dance sequences, a house band to rival anything you’ll hear on late night television, and a troupe of actors who throw themselves into the fun house, full-bore, every time. Audiences can’t get enough of it.
For Little Drummer Bowie, A Musical Parody of Biblical Proportions, Bowie’s alter-ego Ziggy Stardust is dropped into a Troubie-fied version of The Little Drummer Boy as its title character. Ziggy (Joseph Leo Bwarie) is adept at playing the drum but doesn’t play well with others, choosing instead to eschew the company of people and spend his time with animal pals Babaa (Katie Kitani) and Samson (Cloie Wyatt Taylor).
But this is Jerusalem before the birth of Christ (don’t worry, that’ll take place before the final curtain) and Ziggy has no way to pay his tax so he agrees to join Ben Haramed (Riccardo Berdini) and sidekick Ali’s (Beth Kennedy) traveling show to earn money. What he doesn’t bargain for is how the rush of fame will change him.
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| L-R: Rod Webb, Rick Batalla, Beth Kennedy, Eric Heinly, Niles Rivers, and Dana Decker. Photo by Sasha A. Venola |
Chance meetings with Mary (Lisa Valenzuela) and Joseph (Rick Batalla) of Nazareth; three famous Kings following a star – Don (Niles Rivers), Larry (Batalla) and Billie Jean (Kennedy) – and a trio of wandering shepherds – Rivers, Batalla and Katie DeShan (as spicy Little Bowie Peep) give Ziggy pause to question the meaning of life while simultaneously ensuring the audience a grand good time.
Even though the show is a complete ensemble piece, each member of the troupe has a specific function within it. Little Drummer Bowie makes great use of its longtime members’ strengths, like Valenzuela’s vocal chops (girl can belt!) and Batalla’s improv skills. She turns “Fame” into one hot number (with Berdini) and he will chew on a comedy bit until he gets his groan from the audience no matter how long it takes. Running gags are his specialty and this time around it’s 20 hilarious years in the evolution of the mobile phone. Watch out if you’re sitting in the front row, or anywhere he can see you. You’re fair game.
The detail with which Kennedy creates characters is so remarkably impressive and genuinely wacky that I’d put her skills up against Lucille Ball or Carol Burnett any day. During Ziggy’s emotional ballad “Life on Mars?” she’s over in the corner doing a dance of the veils that finds her writhing on the floor and twirling tassels at hyper speed. She also has a way of pinning the laughs mid-air for those brief serious moments that call for dramatic sincerity. That’s when you see how deep the well really is.
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| Joseph Leo Bwarie and Beth Kennedy. Photo by Sherry Greczmiel |
Bwarie brings considerable star quality to the production. The Broadway ringer and studio musician holds the record for the most performances as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys (over 2000) and his association with Garry Marshall goes back over ten years to the world premiere of Marshall’s musical Happy Days in which he originated the role of Chachi. Incidentally, that’s the gig that got him Jersey Boys when Carole King heard him sing.
Here he pays homage to David Bowie with moody magnificence, channeling the many levels and idiosyncrasies of the icon with stunning facility. And that voice. From where I was sitting I could see quite a few audience members, both male and female, caught up in the Bwarie-Bowie swoon worthy charm. It’s hard to pick a favorite from the half dozen or so songs he sings but that intro to “Space Oddity” (better known as “Ground Control to ‘Captain’ Tom”) is up there at the top of my list.
The show is co-directed by Bwari and artistic director Matt Walker who, for the first time, isn’t on stage with the rest of his trusty comrades. He’s missed – not because they can’t do without him – but because Walker’s unique style and ringmaster sparkle have always been the driving force behind all of the zaniness. We do get to hear him as The Voice From Above and you’ll still recognize his hand at work throughout the show. Batalla and Kennedy shoulder the heavy lifting in his absence and they do it admirably. Newcomers rise to the occasion, particularly Wyatt Taylor as a dancing donkey with attitude. Choreography by Jordana Toback is crisp and well-executed.
Longtime Troubie musical director Eric Heinly’s arrangements of Bowie’s hits are full of bright textures and rich sound. “Starman,” “Changes,” “Under Pressure,” “Oh! You Pretty Things” and the aforementioned “Space Oddity,” “Fame,” and “Life on Mars?” will remind you how prolific Bowie was and this set list is Heinly’s forte. There isn’t a weak musical moment anywhere.
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| L-R: Katie Kitani, Cloie Wyatt Taylor, Katie DeShan, Rick Batalla, Riccardo Berdini, Beth Kennedy, Niles Rivers,and Lisa Valenzuela. Photo by Sasha A. Venola |
Neither is there a lack of color. Sharon McGunigle’s costumes are an ingenious blend of fantasy, desert garb, and candy-colored ‘70s and ‘80s nightclub gear. Scenic designer Christopher Scott Murillo places three interlocking pedestals center stage in front of the band to capitalize on the rock concert aspects of the show and a Wailing Wall behind them that creates a polished diorama-like setting under the glow of JM Montecalvo’s lighting. It’s the kind of design that would travel nicely should they ever want to take this Christmas confection on the road.
David Bowie once said, “I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” The same can be said of every Troubie show I’ve ever seen. You never know what they’ll say or do next but this bunch of inspired clowns has mastered the fine art of making theatre fun, and that’s what people really want at this time of year. Little Drummer Bowie is the roller coaster ride you need to get you through the mayhem and madness of the holidays. For sheer entertainment value, you can’t beat it. Best bauble of the season, bar none!
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| L-R: Rick Batalla, Katie DeShan, and Niles Rivers. Photo by Sasha A. Venola |
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| Riccardo Berdini. Photo by Sherry Greczmiel |
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| Joseph Leo Bwarie. Photo by Sherry Greczmiel |
LITTLE DRUMMER BOWIE
November 30, 2016 - January 15, 2017
The Troubies at the Falcon Theatre
4252 Riverside Drive
Burbank, CA 91505
Tickets: (818) 955-8101 or www.FalconTheatre.com
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Labels: falcon theatre, troubies
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Dim the Lights for Garry Marshall, Founder of the Falcon Theatre
Garry Marshall, film and television writer, director, and actor, has passed away at the age of 81, at 5:00pm on Tuesday July 19 from complications of pneumonia following a stroke at a hospital in Burbank, California.
Mr. Marshall created the hit sitcoms Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy, as well as directing 18 films, including Beaches, Overboard, The Princess Diaries, Mother’s Day, and Pretty Woman, for which Mr. Marshall was the revising for a Broadway-bound musical.
He was born in The Bronx, New York, and was a proud graduate of DeWitt Clinton High School and Northwestern University. Marshall is survived by his beloved wife of 53 years, nurse Barbara Sue Marshall, two sisters, Ronny Hallin and Penny Marshall, three children, Lori, a writer, Kathleen, a theatre producer, and Scott, a film and TV director, as well as six grandchildren, and his live theatre, the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, California.
Funeral services will be private. A memorial is being planned for his birthday on November 13. The family requests no flowers. Donations in the name of Garry Marshall can be made to The Saban Community Clinic, formerly known as the Los Angeles Free Clinic, The Intensive Care Unit at Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank, and Northwestern University Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.
He loved telling stories, making people laugh, and playing softball, winning numerous championships. Even at age 81, he had a record this year of 6 - 1 pitching for his team.
Dim the lights for a wonderful, kind, charming man of Hollywood. We will all miss seeing you at the theater.
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Labels: falcon theatre
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Review: Sondheim Two Ways – Examining Assassins and UnScripted
Using the suggestions of a family heirloom and a sequence of four notes volunteered by the audience, eight actors, a pianist, and a lighting improviser weave a Sondheim-esque tale of love, loss, and lessons learned reminiscent of the sights and sounds of Into the Woods, Company, Sweeney Todd, Side By Side By Sondheim, and more.
It’s all here: the challenging vocal lines, romantic swells, dissonant harmonies, and overlapping counterpoint accompanying a journey that teaches its characters about the world. Funny, heartwarming, and full of surprises, it’s all-Sondheim, all the time, and only you get to see it this time before it’s gone forever.
As with The Troubies, Falcon Theatre’s normal summer resident laugh company, a great deal of the fun is in the moments that go awry – Lisa Fredrickson trying to sit up on a ledge and not quite getting there but not pretending it didn’t happen, Kelly Holden Bashar responding with a line of dialogue full of accidental sexual innuendo and then watching her realize it after the audience gets it first, and those meta moments when the lyrics turn in on themselves to capture not only what is happening in the story but the plight of the actors as well.
These crafty adventurers will chew on an idea as long as they can to see where it goes, and while not every thread leads to the promised land, the skill of this merry band is never in question.
The work is a completely collaborative effort so it’s hard to single out any one individual however, at this performance, showstopping turns by Michele Spears in a song and dance sequence turned production number and Cory Rouse’s lighthearted rapid patter songs went above and beyond in the category of “thinking on one’s feet.” Brian Michael Jones and Brian Lohman also created a completely unexpected and wholly satisfying story arc for their buddy characters that could never have been planned. Hilarious and intellectual…we never saw it coming. Come to think of it, they probably didn’t either.
But the star player in the company this time around is musical director Peter Smith on piano. His background in jazz is a definite asset in crafting this kind of improvised madness. It requires a unique ability to be both ahead of the actors and present to their immediate musical needs to continually propel the action forward. Smith does all that and more.
Over at the 99-seat Pico Playhouse, Red Blanket Productions is mounting a revival of Sondheim’s darkly comic musical Assassins, a thought-provoking examination of historical figures whose only claim to fame was killing, or attempting to kill, a U.S. President. First produced off-Broadway in 1990, the show experienced a number of complications before its circuitous path finally led to Broadway in 2004, where it won five Tony Awards.
For that production the roles of the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald were played by the same actor for the first time – Neil Patrick Harris – a choice that added a decidedly unsettling quality to the production. After bonding with a wholesome fresh-faced narrator for three quarters of the show, the audience suddenly watches him morph into the killer who takes down President John F. Kennedy in the eleventh hour. The decision to combine the roles was so powerful that, though not required, it is often duplicated in productions, even today.
That isn’t the case with Dan Fishbach’s remount at Pico Playhouse. Sean Benedict plays the tormented Oswald and Nick Tubbs, the enthusiastically happy Balladeer. Goaded by John Wilkes Booth (Travis Rhett Wilson) and the rest of the assassins, Oswald’s bullet finds its target and the world changes forever. The production’s final tableau always hits an audience in the gut regardless of how successful the scenes leading up to it have been.
For the show to work, a director needs to achieve a balance between the presentational aspects of the writing (which is responsible for much of the show’s comedy) and the intricately nuanced inner life of the characters. Each one honestly believes the words he or she says and that truth must come through, especially if their performances are pushed to the broad end of the spectrum. Broad can be funny but it must be truthful first, otherwise the actors end up acting twice as hard to make sure their bit is funny. When that happens their words ring a notch emptier and the audience doesn’t feel the punch of how pathetically horrifying their actions really are. Or, they become a one-note character – angry, sloppy, or crazy are the three choices that seem to be most popular.
Normally staged in a carnival-like setting, Alex Kolmanovsky’s captivating design jettisons the dark affair to a kind of surreal purgatory. Here the killers are found out of time in a midway where presidents’ faces pop up as targets in a shooting range and ensemble members peer through what looks like the torn pages of a book from beyond the walls. Effective too is Will Adashek’s use of light and shadow to create a 3-D texture to the visuals.
Taken at face value, the production is an eerie adventure into a surreal musical world and will certainly leave you humming Sondheim’s lively ditties on your way out to the car. But for those looking for more, a deeper dive is needed.
Sondheim UnScripted photos by Jill Mamey: Brian Lohmann and Daniel Blinkoff
Kari Coleman, Daniel Blinkoff, Jen Reiter, Brian Lohmann, Kelly Holden Bashar, and Cory Rouse
Assassins photos by Will Adashek: The cast of Assassins
Travis Rhett Wilson and Adam Hunter Howard
SONDHEIM UNSCRIPTED
August 19 - September 27, 2015
Falcon Theatre
4252 Riverside Drive
Burbank, CA 91505
Tickets: www.falcontheatre.com
ASSASSINS
August 21 - September 27, 2015
Pico Playhouse
10508 West Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles 90064.
Tickets: www.assassinsmusicalLA.com
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Labels: falcon theatre, impro theatre, pico playhouse
Sunday, June 30, 2013
What's Happening Around Town for June 30, 2013
What Am I Hearing? The Aural Life of the TheatreJoin LA Stage Alliance and the Geffen Playhouse this Monday July 1st for What Am I Hearing? The Aural Life of the Theatre, the latest in the series of industry events. Composers. Music Directors. Arrangers. Sound Designers. Sound Engineers. So many different artists and technicians are intimately involved in what you HEAR when you attend the theatre. But what do they all do and how do they work together? How can you tell who created that particular bit of auditory magic that worked so well to tell the story? In this interactive session, including samples of music and sound from a variety of LA artists and productions, sound-based artists will shine a light into the inner workings of how they collaborate every day. Speakers include Darryl Archibald, John Ballinger and Drew Dalzell. Moderated by Terence McFarland, CEO of LA StageAlliance. Click Here to RSVP for this FREE event.
The Troubies will go Walkin’ in a One-Hit Winter Warlock Wonderland this holiday season as they return to the Falcon Theatre with a brand new musical. Matt Walker directs the one-hit-wonders cabaret clip-show which will follow the life of one of the Troubies’ most beloved characters, the Winter Warlock. The show runs Dec. 4 – Jan. 19, 2014, with opening night set for Friday, Dec. 13.
Garry Marshall has also announced the rest of the season, which celebrates both new and classic comedy. Impro Theatre’s Twilight Zone Unscripted kicks off the season with an homage to Rod Serling’s sci-fi series The Twilight Zone by creating new never-before-seen and never-to-be-seen again episodes with every performance. Next, you’ll enter a haunted estate on a dark and stormy spoof-filled night in the side-splitting satire The Mystery of Irma Vep, complete with werewolves, vampires and damsels in distress. In the New Year, get ready to have your heart stolen during Bunny Bunny – Gilda Radner: A Sort of Romantic Comedy, a hilarious and personal story of the playwright’s friendship with one of America’s most beloved comediennes. And finally, The Last Act of Lilka Kadison closes the season with a humorous journey about grace in the face of loss as we spend an afternoon with Lilka Kadison while she wrestles with the ghosts of her past and present seventy years after she fled Poland on the eve of World War II. For a complete schedule of dates and subscription prices go to www.falcontheatre.com.
Performance Riverside Drowsy Chaperone Auditions
Please note that the dates originally published by Backstage were incorrect. Auditions will be held on July 28 & 29 not June 28 & 29. For questions and information please contact Joey Smith, 951-222-8793. Roger Castellano will direct and choreograph; Scott Smith is musical director. The Drowsy Chaperone rehearses Aug. 31-Sept. 26, and runs Sept. 27-Oct. 6 at the Landis Performing Arts Center in Riverside, CA. Auditions will take place at Landis Performing Arts Center, Riverside City College Campus, 4800 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92506. For a complete breakdown of roles go to www.performanceriverside.org.
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Labels: falcon theatre, la stage alliance, performance riverside, troubies
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Review: The Troubies' A Midsummer Saturday Night's Fever Dream
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| Rob Nagle (Flute), Rick Batalla (Bottom), Mike Sulprizio (Snout), Lisa Valenzuela(Starveling) and Matt Walker (Puck). Photos by Chelsea Sutton. |
There are no fewer than nine different productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream playing in theatres around the Southland this summer but I can guarantee that none of them will be done up quite like the Troubies’ A Midsummer Saturday Night’s Fever Dream at the Falcon Theatre. Combining Shakespeare’s text with iconic Bees Gees songs from the “Saturday Night Fever” disco era, and adding an abundance of improvised jokes, over-the-top sight gags, and plenty of audience participation, they once again celebrate the mischief that inevitably transpires on a Troubie stage.
Most of Shakespeare’s familiar plot happens in Act I. After an ominous prologue by trickster Puck (Matt Walker, who also directs) and a brief set-up of characters, we escape to the woods where the real action takes place. Here Faeries play tricks at the expense of four Tolucean lovers. Helena (Beth Kennedy) loves Demetrius (Joseph Leo Bwarie), Demetrius loves Hermia (Katherine Malak), Hermia loves Lysander (Tyler King), and no one loves Helena…that is until the Faerie King Oberon (Matt Merchant) orders Puck to use a magical flower to tilt the scales in Helena’s favor. When Puck anoints the wrong lover’s eyes it becomes merry mayhem for all, including Oberon's Queen, Titania (Monica Schneider), on this mercurial midsummer night.
At the same time, a band of amateur actors, consisting of Rick Batalla (Bottom), Rob Nagle (Flute), Lisa Valenzuela (Starveling) and Mike Sulprizio (Snout), rehearses a play to be performed before the duke. More about them later.
Walker is an impish Puck, more ominous than usual, who resembles bat boy (yes, the one from the musical), with his shirt pulled up over his head revealing tiny little green horns and a unitard-clad body that snaps across the stage like a rubber band. He can save an inflatable tree from sudden death, execute a booger bit that makes the entire audience groan for five minutes, and still continue to call the shots like the true ringmaster that he is.
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| From top: Katherine Malak, Tyler Cook, Beth Kennedy & Joseph Leo Bwarie. |
Kennedy is endearing as her nerdy girl BFF Helena and though it’s clear why she’s the odd woman out (lime green elastic waist pants and a Martina Navratilova wig are only the beginning), her determination to win over Demetrius keeps us rooting for this underdog all the way. Plus, she has an easy command of the text that brings fresh colors and a disarming honesty to Helena’s often-recited speeches.
The Troubie secret weapon this time around, however, is Joseph Leo Bwarie as Demetrius. His boy band creation in long blonde locks definitely knows how to glamour the audience, both with his big brown eyes and with his gorgeous tenor voice. He should, since he toured as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys for almost five years. He’s a ringer for the “Saturday Night Fever” sound and captures all the nuances needed for the reimagined catalogue of Bee Gees hits.
You want more to laugh at? Try Oberon’s bare-chested shake weight addiction, Helena and Hermia’s Three Stooges fight, Puck’s Princess Leia/R2D2 riff, or Theseus’ (Morgan Rusler) dead serious line delivery while wearing gold rimmed platform heels and a perfectly coiffed brunette ladies wig.
What does that leave for Act II? A completely hysterical version of the tragedy, Pyramus and Thisbe, presented by the Rude Mechanicals at the wedding of Theseus, Hippolyta, and the now reunited couples that makes up for some uneven pacing and repetitive choreography in Act I. While not all of the first act’s jokes land, stay tuned for a brilliant comeback in Act II, beginning with Puck’s spin on Shakespeare’s verse in iambic pentameter.
Enter Rick Batalla playing Pyramus in a Marvin the Martian get-up that made me laugh out loud. Thisbe is Rob Nagle – much “More Than a Woman” – who has stolen Miss Piggy’s voice and wrapped it delicately in a shy little milk maid’s basketball-sized bosom. Oh, the things that happen to this poor couple destined to meet at the chink of a wall. Oh, the comedy that ensues when a funny man and a straight man know how to work a scene just right.
Valenzuela’s Starveling is now a thickly-accented Latino worker who moonlights selling oranges under the freeway and ‘hangs the moon’ in this play-within-a-play as I’m sure you’ve never seen it before. Sulprizio’s wall gag will require that you keep a close watch on any extraneous body parts to fully comprehend the joke.
Yes, it’s a Pyramus and Thisbe worthy of its own complete act and when everybody dies at the end, it’s still not over. From there we jump to the afterlife and the company’s big number “Disco Inferno,” followed by a very funny epilogue to the dream and an audience & cast dance off onstage to “How Funky Can You Get.”
If your parents kept a trunk full of dress-up clothes for the kids from their disco days it would contain the kind of retro pieces and sparkly theatrical staples that Sharon McGunigle uses to create Midsummer a la Troubie style. Set designer Jeffrey McLaughlin’s Jackson Pollock-inspired floor is an especially eye-catching collage of color. Eric Heinly’s band makes sure everyone is “Stayin’ Alive.”
Tickets are hard to come by for the show as this one was almost sold out before it even opened. If you miss it at the Falcon, you can catch it at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts July 12 - 14, ’cause after all, it isn’t summer without the Troubies.
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| The cast of A Midsummer Saturday Night's Fever Dream |
A MIDSUMMER SATURDAY NIGHT’S FEVER DREAM
The Troubies @ the Falcon Theatre
Now through July 7, 2013
Fri. at 8pm, Sat. at 4pm & 8pm, Sun. at 4pm & 7pm
4252 Riverside Dr., Burbank, CA 91505
Tickets: (818) 955-8101 or www.FalconTheatre.com
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Labels: falcon theatre, troubies
Saturday, April 27, 2013
What's Happening Around Town for April 27, 2013
Falcon Theatre is proud to present Troubadour Theater Company’s A Midsummer Saturday Night’s Fever Dream, directed by Matt Walker. Previews begin May 31st and the show opens Friday, June 7th at 8pm. How Deep Is Your Love for the Troubies?! Join them as they dig down to their roots and dust off their fairy wings, tights and white disco suits to re-imagine Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The star-crossed lovers steam and scheme, and the Bard‘s most famous fairy, Puck, will be Jive Talkin’ as this assorted band of merrymakers heats up into a Disco Inferno. The Night Fevers will break 104 and make you sweat, so don your halter tops and Boogie Shoes and let the Troubies melt your hearts. Feeling the fever already? Take A Fifth of Beethoven and call me in the morning! Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Dr., Burbank, CA 91505. For tickets* call (818) 955-8101 or visit www.FalconTheatre.com. *Tickets go on sale May 4, 2013.
A Little New Music at Rockwell
A new musical theater event, A Little New Music, will
take place at Rockwell: Table & Stage on Tuesday May 14 at 8:00 pm. $10
plus 2-item minimum. A Little New Music is a fast-paced hour of the best new or
unheard musical theater songs out there. Whether it’s a premiere from an
established writer or an undiscovered tuner from a promising up-and-comer, its
mission is to entertain with a program that keeps your finger on the pulse. Featuring
music from Jeff Marx (Avenue Q), Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (A Christmas Story:
The Musical), Jeff Bowen [title of show], Ryan Scott Oliver, Ben Toth &
Sam Forman (Sleepless in Seattle), Gregory Nabours, Michael Mahler, Jeff Thomson
& Jordan Mann, and more. Performers will be a mix of highly established
names together with local up and coming talent. For more information visit
David O’s New Tempest
Composer David O.’s latest project is what he calls a “new
kind of opera” based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The piece uses the text of
the original play as the libretto for a new piece of live music-theatre,
scored-through from beginning to end for singer/actors and instrumentalists.
Collaborators include director Jessica Kubzansky (Theatre @ Boston Court), dramaturg
Dani Bedau (Shakespeare Center LA), and costume designer Ann Closs-Farley. An Indiegogo
campaign is in the works that will fund a workshop reading/singing of the first
half of it this Fall. For more information, and opportunities to help fund the
project go to www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-tempest-part-one. There are some great perks for funders available now.
The Old Globe’s 2013-14 Season Features Three Musicals
Artistic Director Barry Edelstein announced The Old
Globe’s 2013-2014 season this week, which will include a world premiere
musical, Dog and Pony, by Rick Elice and Michael Patrick Walker, as well as the
previously announced William Shakespeare/Jeff Buckley rock musical The Last
Goodbye. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! also returns for its 16th
consecutive year.
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| Alex Timbers |
Sept. 20 – Nov. 3, 2013
The Last Goodbye
Conceived and Adapted by Michael Kimmel
Music and Lyrics by Jeff Buckley
The Last Goodbye is a musical fusion of Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet and the incendiary rock songs of legendary singer-songwriter
Jeff Buckley. Directed by Broadway wunderkind Alex Timbers (Peter and the
Starcatcher, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) and choreographed by Sonya Tayeh
(“SoYou Can Think You Can Dance”), The Last Goodbye is the must-see event of the
fall season.
Nov. 16 – Dec. 28, 2013
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Book and Lyrics by Timothy Mason, Music by Mel Marvin
Original Production Conceived and Directed by Jack
O’Brien
Original Choreography by John DeLuca
Everyone’s favorite green meanie will return for his 16th
consecutive year in this heartwarming musical based on the classic book and
animated film. James Vásquez returns to direct this beloved San Diego holiday
tradition.
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| Michael Patrick Walker |
May 28 – June 29, 2014
Dog and Pony
Book by Rick Elice
Music and Lyrics by Michael Patrick Walker
From the award-winning talents behind Jersey Boys, Peter
and the Starcatcher and Altar Boyz, Dog and Pony is a romantic musical comedy
that follows Mags and Andy, a successful screenwriting team, as their professional
relationship evolves into something more. Tony Award winner Roger Rees (The
Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby) returns to the Globe to helm the world premiere of this delightful
new musical.
The season will also include the world premiere comedy,
The Few by Samuel D. Hunter (Sept. 28 -Oct. 27, 2013), the west coast premiere
of Bethany by Laura Marks, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch (Jan. 25 - Feb. 23,
2014), Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale
(Feb. 8 - March 16, 2014), the first indoor Shakespeare production at
the Globe in over a decade, Time and the Conways by J.B. Priestley (March 29 - May 4, 2014), the California premiere of Water by the Spoonful by Quiara
Alegría Hudes (April 12 - May 11, 2014), and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and
Spike by Christopher Durang, directed by Nicholas Martin (May 17 – June 22,
2014). Season subscriptions are available now at www.TheOldGlobe.org or by
calling (619)23-GLOBE [234-5623].
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Labels: david o, falcon theatre, old globe, rockwell, troubies
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
A Troubie Reinvention: Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReinDOORS
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| Molly Alvarez (Clarice), Matt Walker (Donner), Steven Booth (Rudolph), Beth Kennedy (Blitzen), Rick Batalla (Santa) & Lisa Valenzuela (Mrs. Claus). Photos by Chelsea Sutton. |
Tickets for the annual Troubadour Theatre Company holiday shows are consistently some of the most sought after in L.A. and loyal Troubie fans know to get them early. Each show delivers the company’s unique brand of theatre magic wrapped up in circus ribbons, physical theatrics, dazzling music, and that trademark fearless swan dive into the depths of improvised comedy. All that to say that it’s one crazy good time for both audience and actors.
This year’s holiday treat takes the famous story of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and mixes it with the music of Jim Morrison and the Doors to create a new Christmas one-of-a-kind favorite, Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReinDOORS. Picture Rick Batalla reinventing the lizard king as Santa Claus, bare-chested, without his Ho Hos (they’re hard to get right now), in red spandex and plenty of attitude, and then picture him later in an ‘80s purple unitard as Moonracer, the Lion King on the Island of Misfit Toys and you’ll get the idea. He’s a smart retort just waiting to happen and, as you’d expect, he happens all over the stage.
Sharon McGunigle’s costumes give the players the visual liftoff that helps these characters jump off the page. Hermey’s (Kyle Nudo) bright yellow larger than life comb over wave, Sam the Snowman’s (Paul C. Vogt) dropped crotch snow suit, Blitzen’s (Beth Kennedy) fluorescent green pillow baby bump, and Mrs. Claus’s (Lisa Valenzuela) Paula Dean wig all provide opportunity for comedy just by existing onstage. And if you give this gang an opening for a joke, you can be certain they’ll go after it with everything they’ve got.
It’s a tall order trying to top last year’s wildly successful A Christmas Westside Story, which featured unparalleled production numbers (choreographed by Molly Alvarez, who also provides the great dance moves in Rudolph) and a perfect marriage of story and humor like no Troubie show before. But each show has its own distinctive style and director Matt Walker and the gang have taken a sweeter, more intimate direction with Rudolph that accentuates the storytelling while still delivering the Troubies’ high-energy ability to delight the senses. Plus, the regulars are in fine form and don’t disappoint.
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| Dan Waskom and Paul C. Vogt |
Donner’s psychedelic trip is one of the two sensational big scenes in the show. This one comes complete with an all-out circus rendezvous featuring a lovely aerial hoop sequence by Caroline Gross and a myriad of circus tricks, juggling sequences, and magic tricks that even includes Walker doing some plate spinning with the audience.
The other is the climactic scene in which Rudolph takes to the skies with his glowing red nose to save Christmas. Blitzen’s Tab addiction almost does Kennedy in but she rallies in time to set up ground control (with a little help from a member of the audience) and goes in for the assist to make sure we have a happy ending. Even Dan Waskom as Bomi, the Abominable Snow Monster, gets his shining moments. On tall stilts, and covered head to toe in white furry fleece that must have taken an entire bolt of fabric, he quite literally commands the stage. There are a few larger than life Abominable gags that are fun and unexpected, just like you’d hope to see from the Troubies, and if you haven’t already heard about them, I’m not going to spoil the surprise here.
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| Steven Booth and Molly Alvarez |
Candy-coated stage designs and whimsical lighting effects by Jeffrey McLaughlin and Jeremy Pivnick, respectively, make Rudolph glow like a winter wonderland. Eric Heinly's house band also never disappoints, rocking out on re-imagined songs by The Doors that include “Hello I Love You,” “Touch Me,” “Riders on the Storm,” “Don’t You Love Her Madly,” “Light My Fire,” and “Break on Through (To The Other Side).”
There is one non-DOORS tune that makes an appearance in the show, and well it should. As the finale joins cast and audience in a “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” sing-along, it’s one more holiday show in the books for Walker and his comedy commandos of Toluca Lake. An annual holiday tradition for locals anywhere in a 50-mile radius, make sure you get your tickets and get in on the jokes now…before these ReinDOORS go down in history.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReinDOORS
The Troubies @ the Falcon Theatre
Tickets: (818) 955-9101
4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA
www.falconTheatre.com
www.troubie.com
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Labels: falcon theatre, troubies