KSDS Jazz 88
Your Connection To The Arts In San Diego
It’s summertime, the livin’ is easy, and the evenings are warm … so how about a little music by Moonlight or singin’ in Starlight? It’s the perfect time for an outdoor musical. And two 20th century classics are filling San Diego skies..… “”Guys and Dolls” and “Into the Woods.” Written nearly 40 years apart, both are uncannily clever, thanks to the brilliance of composer Frank Loesser, librettist Abe Burrows and the inimitable Stephen Sondheim.
First stop, Starlight Theatre, the grand dame of outdoor musical venues. When the shows began in Balboa Park 62 years ago, this was a different city. The few planes that flew over were a novelty; people loved to watch those stop-on-a-dime freezes. But now we’ve got a major international airport. And with a lyric-driven musical like “Into the Woods,” where the words are everything and there aren’t many big production numbers, it’s just unacceptable to be smack in the middle of a busy flight-path. The night I was there, the show was stopped 32 times, which only served to highlight the show’s weaknesses -- its length and repetitiveness.
“Into the Woods” is the story of what happens after “happily ever after,” an even grimmer look at Grimm’s fairy tales, showing us the disappointment that reflects the luster of dreams being tarnished by reality. The singing is excellent; the sets and costumes are colorful and fanciful. Cinderella, golden-voiced Sarah Bermudez, gets to wear some gorgeous gowns. But her Prince turns out to be a philanderer. The other standouts are the poor Baker, engagingly played by Tom Andrew, who just wants a child. And Lili Fuller’s delectable Little Red Riding Hood, just wants to get to Grandma’s. But they’re all thwarted by Leigh Scarritt’s funny, nasty, power-voiced Witch. The actors are working hard, along with their 15 fellow cast members and 13 musicians, against daunting odds. It’s time for Starlight to make a change. Enclose the space or move. This just isn’t fun any more.
Now, for some unimpeded musical amusement, head up to Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista, where you’ll find a bunch of delightful “Guys and Dolls,” energetically directed by John Vaughan, who totally nails the Prohibition-era, Damon Runyan dialect and humor. “Guys and Dolls’ is one of the all-time great musicals, and this is the funniest production I’ve seen in a long time, thanks especially to Lance Smith as that indefatigable crap-game organizer, Nathan Detroit, and Tracy Lore as his long-suffering fiancée, the psychosomatic sniffler, Adelaide. They are a hoot, and their singing is terrific. The rest of the 24-member ensemble is great, with the males doing exceptional work on Vaughan’s choreography. With a brassy, 18-piece orchestra, the Vista hills are alive with the sound of music. So, grab a picnic dinner and your favorite fellow theatergoer. And try your luck at a summer musical.
"Guys and Dolls" runs through July 20, at Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista.
“Into the Woods” continues through July 27 at Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park.
© 2008 Pat Launer
Women who love too much – and the men who leave them. Two plays, obsessive females, serious amounts of disappointment and pain.
“Madagascar” is a puzzle wrapped in an enigma, framed as a mystery. Written by upcoming New York playwright J.T. Rogers, the drama is getting its West coast premiere at North Coast Repertory Theatre, under the precise and assured direction of David Ellenstein. The structure is tricky: a series of occasionally intersecting monologues, delivered directly to the audience.
It’s like a mosaic: bits of brightly colored glass, doled out one sliver at a time. Some of the pieces fit together, but it doesn’t create a complete picture. We’re up to the challenge, but we have to keep our attention sharply focused. The onlookers’ memory has to be as acute as the characters’. Perhaps Rogers, whose writing can be lyrical and intriguing, is just doling out a dose of steely cold reality. If you love someone to bits, and they suddenly disappear on you, you might torture yourself replaying every utterance and encounter, but you may never fully understand. It’s unnerving, but it’s life.
Skillfully navigating this sea of ambiguity are three outstanding performers. Rosina Reynolds is a rich, ramrod-straight gorgon, dripping in pearls, entitlement and condescension. She loves her son as intensely as his sister June does. Christy Yael is heartbreaking as brokenhearted June, retracing his every step, but unable to fathom what happened or why. Frank Corrado is the mother’s lover, caught in a dysfunctional crossfire he barely comprehends. There’s no light at the end of this labyrinthine tunnel. I guarantee you’ll be up half the night trying to figure it all out.
Shakespeare, as always, has it all figured out. He understood more of human nature and foibles than all the playwrights since him put together. For reasons that aren’t totally clear, the tragicomedy “All’s Well that Ends Well” is one of his least-performed plays – just the kind Old Globe artistic director Darko Tresnjak loves to dust off and dig into. In his gorgeous production, he gives his excellent cast delectable bits of stage business that keep us entertained and enthralled.
This is the story of accomplished and single-minded Helena, who’ll do anything to make the cad Bertram her husband. She goes before the King, puts her life on the line, even stands in for another woman in bed. In return, he berates her, abandons her on their wedding night, and lies about his extracurricular exploits. Ultimately, he makes a neck-snapping turnaround that Tresnjak somehow charms us into accepting. Perhaps this arrogant young count just needed to grow up. We hope for the best, but we fear for Helena in the long run.
So, not all’s exactly well at the end of these two provocative plays. But with great productions like these, we’ll take the lumps along with the poetic language and compulsive love.
"Madagascar" runs through August 3, at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach.
“All’s Well that Ends Well” continues on the Old Globe’s Festival Stage, playing in repertory with “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”
© 2008 Pat Launer
Prepare yourself for The Second Coming – Dubac is back! That’s Robert Dubac, the smart, funny, perceptive, incisive, ever-searching and always-skeptical writer/comedian/ magician, who has a lot more to tell us about males and females, Bush and Pavlov, Freud and his own tell-it-like-it-is/no-holds-barred Uncle Bobby. His first one-man show -- part stand-up comedy routine, part ‘Men are From Mars’ instruction manual – was provocatively titled “The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?” For his new show, “Robert Dubac’s Male Intellect: The 2nd Coming,” he spends the first act giving us the best of his last show. Which isn’t all bad since the best stuff is mighty good, and I liked this condensed version a whole lot better than the other one in its entirety – though that show has toured more than 500 American cities and ten other countries. Dubac is already at work on the final part of his trilogy, called ‘Piss and Moan.’ But that’s another show for another day.
Right now, in “The 2nd Coming,” brought to us by Miracle Theatre Productions, we learn once again about the male and female brain, and the female side of the male brain, in Dubac’s eternal and elusive pursuit of What Women Want. Once he gets men to get in touch with their more feminine side, they can achieve a sense of Balance that allows them to walk through the Door of Truth. And that’s where Act 2 begins, with a hilarious diatribe on things personal, political and philosophical. Dubac relishes talking about the four things that are never supposed to be brought up in dinner-table conversation: sex, race, politics and religion. For instance, one thing he thinks we need is “to focus on the ‘fun’ in fundamentalism, not the ‘mental.” And, he asks: “Do we need gay people in the military? Most assuredly. Because when we slip it to countries like Iraq from behind – let’s use professionals.”
Morphing into a slew of comical if sometimes stereotypical characters, from a tobacco-chewing redneck to a limp-wristed metrosexual, and periodically demonstrating his delightful sleight-of-hand, Dubac rails against our cultural hypocrisies, gleefully skewering the media, consumerism, political correctness and the daily onslaught of “propaganda” we’re force-fed in the name of news, fact and infotainment. His highly amped, machine-gun delivery is an assault of its own, but of the witty, clever, word-and-idea-drunk variety.
Be forewarned: This is not mindless humor, and it’s not for the faint of heart. In his attempt to encourage us to think outside the box, Dubac hovers on the edge of the comfort zone. If you don’t want your sacred cows tipped, stay home, scratch your belly and crack open a brewski. But if you’re open to this engaging, multiple-personality wise-guy, you may laugh yourself silly, though he’ll have you thinking all the while, and all the way home.
"Robert Dubac’s Male Intellect: The 2nd Coming" will run until July 27th at the Lyceum Theatre in Horton Plaza.
© 2008 Pat Launer
For an archive of all of Pat's reviews, going back to 1990, use the 'search' function at www.PatteProductions.com.
