NoHo>LA : Web Edition

Seeking…
By Leah Bachar
I attended the performance of Seeking… three one act plays, written and directed by Kevin Michael O’Connor ( who also appears in one of the acts ) at the Sidewalk Studio Theatre in Burbank. From the street, the Sidewalk Studio Theatre is the type of venue you can miss if you blink, but once you are inside you feel really glad that you found it. These performances were intimate theatre at it’s finest. Without that much information in the program, all you know is that you are about to watch three one acts titled “Answers,” “Attention,” and “Revenge,” and after the performances are finished you realize they are perfectly titled.

The first act, “Answers,” is the tale of four sisters who come together for one weekend because one of them has announced that she has a secret she has been keeping from them. Starting out innocently enough as a reunion between family members, the act develops into a deep story of sexual abuse. The sisters are played by April Fitzsimmons, Cybele O’Brien, Elizabeth Rick, and Elena St. John. The four of them do a convincing job of portraying a conversation between sisters. Told at times through the thoughts of Kristen, April Fitzsimmons, we experience how hard it is for her to tell her sisters the truth about their father. When she speaks to her deceased father, you feel as though she is communicating with a ghostly presence who has been haunting her thoughts for as long as she can remember. Mixed with humor, the act does a good job of portraying real life. At the end of the act it is never determined whether anybody got the answers they were looking for, but in life that is usually the case.

The second act, “Attention,” is a little bit more light hearted with a lot more humor. Still, in between all the jokes there remains the issue at hand of attention and insecurities. In this act two roommates, Jack and Chris, played by Scott Brady and Kevin Michael O’Connor, run into some conflict when a girl comes in between them. The situation causes the two roommates to confront their insecurities, everything is brought up from being cheap to being irresponsible. The way these guys play off each other you can’t help but laugh even when they are throwing insults at one another. Even in the lightest of situations we are faced with daily doubts and unfair circumstances, and in the living room of their apartment they do a good job of delivering to us one of those instances.

Just as the mood seemed to be lightening up, the last act, “Revenge,” keeps you guessing about what is going to happen next. Set in John’s apartment, played by Jeff Valentine, the act begins as normal as any other act would with John talking to his lawyer on the phone. Coked up and tense, John seems to be struggling with something over the phone, when suddenly there is a knock at the door, somebody delivering flowers. The delivery guy, played by Matthew John Taylor, makes his way in and controls the attention all the way to the end. At first the confusion that John has over why the delivery guy won’t seem to leave, makes for some funny moments, but when we realize the intention, the act becomes anything but funny. The twist is an excellent one, something undetectable from the first moment and interesting until the end, which is the reason people love theater. The intense situation tests the acting ability of both of these actors, but when you watch it unfold you see they pass the test with flying colors.

You leave feeling like you just witnessed three different days in the lives of three sets of different people, whether witty and comical or emotional and dark one can identify with the situations at hand, and that is the reason for going to the theater.

I attended the performance of Seeking… three one act plays, written and directed by Kevin Michael O’Connor ( who also appears in one of the acts ) at the Sidewalk Studio Theatre in Burbank. From the street, the Sidewalk Studio Theatre is the type of venue you can miss if you blink, but once you are inside you feel really glad that you found it. These performances were intimate theatre at it’s finest. Without that much information in the program, all you know is that you are about to watch three one acts titled “Answers,” “Attention,” and “Revenge,” and after the performances are finished you realize they are perfectly titled.

The second act, “Attention,” is a little bit more light hearted with a lot more humor. Still, in between all the jokes there remains the issue at hand of attention and insecurities. In this act two roommates, Jack and Chris, played by Scott Bradley and Kevin Michael O’Connor, run into some conflict when a girl comes in between them. The situation causes the two roommates to confront their insecurities, everything is brought up from being cheap to being irresponsible. The way these guys play off each other you can’t help but laugh even when they are throwing insults at one another. Even in the lightest of situations we are faced with daily doubts and unfair circumstances, and in the living room of their apartment they do a good job of delivering to us one of those instances.

f both of these actors, but when you watch it unfold you see they pass the test with flying colors.
You leave feeling like you just witnessed three different days in the lives of three sets of different people, whether witty and comical or emotional and dark one can identify with the situations at hand, and that is the reason for going to the theater.

More Theatre
by Don Grigware

In Taylor Negron and Lawrence Justice’s Gangster Planet for the Chautauqua Theatre Alliance at the Egyptian Arena Theatre, Negron also takes center stage as Sandy, a stressed out marijuana-dealing resident of the Hollywood Hills. It’s1992 and his state of depression only worsens with an unexpected visit from his selfish parents - and the onslaught of the LA Riots. Negron, an accomplished standup and comic actor, offers a frenetic, crazed style, reminiscent of Woody Allen, gliding effortlessly in and out of scenes to address the audience with sharp-edged observations on LA and its tastelessness.
David Groh and Jeanette O’Connor are wonderfully cast as the parents, especially O’Connor with her blasé attitude and carefree line readings. Mom is more concerned with how Vicki Lawrence gained her fame than how the riots in the streets got started.
In its current form, the play, directed by Justin Tanner, is sitcom fare. It has a tendency to rush through substance to get to the punch line. A pertinent story involves Sandy being unjustly arrested for not having a light on his bicycle. He was mercilessly thrown in jail and forced to share a cell with a man accused of patricide. Obviously a personal take on police abuse, the story stops there, not allowing Sandy enough opportunity to fully express the pain the incident inflicted on him. Dad’s recognition of not being a great role model for his son comes too quickly as well. Reconciliation needs to develop more gradually – perhaps with some tenderness thrown in for good measure. Another weak link is the fourth character Menno (Simon N. Butera) who lightens things up a bit and provides the play’s best message about breaking free of the past. Yet, the importance of his presence is undermined by the jokes - and laugh you will, aplenty! Keep a keen ear tuned for stories about Rustopher, the messy monkey, and Negron’s cute offbeat word for lurid! Through May 19. Call 323-960-8865.
Speaking of lurid, in its most wildly dramatic connotation, Uncle Vanya, currently at the MET in Hollywood, has a scene, which smacks of sensationalism - and seems to come from out of nowhere – a complete surprise to shock and delight the audience at the same time. Leave it to Anton Chekov to add just the right balance of drama and comedy, joy and pathos to our humdrum lives! I’m speaking, of course, of the attempted murder in Act III, where Vanya (Weston Blakesley) rushes in, wielding a firearm and sets out to kill his cantankerous brother-in-law Serebryakov (Orson Bean).
We knew Vanya was upset, but did not dream that he would react so violently! The moment provokes a startled chuckle, and then a full out laugh, as we realize the full extent of his failure in life: he cannot even kill a man at close range. Chekov characters are totally human in their depression and self-loathing. And life, a century later, remains sadly unchanged, except that we have his wonderful words to keep us going. This production is eloquent with sharp direction from Bruce Katzman for the Classical Theatre Lab.
It also features heartfelt work from Elizabeth Karr as Yelyena and Barbara Lee Bragg as Sonya. An interesting note in the staging is that the actors sit offstage in the front row, where much of the audience may watch them, when they are not “on”. It hardly distracts. In fact, it is quite wonderful to see them react, in character, to what is happening in the scene.
Until May 21. Call 323-957-1152.

More Theatre
by Archie Rothman

The new musical about blue-collar guys stripping to The Full Monty is at the Ahmanson.
This is the case of a hit Broadway show, now in its second year, and beginning its first touring production in LA, that started out as a loser. The Full Monty, originally a sleeper hit film in 1997 about a group of not-especially-hunky British steel workers who stage a one-night-only strip show, the film earned four Oscar nominations including Best Picture. (It lost to Titanic). Almost immediately it was turned into a stage musical with librettist Terrance McNally transferring the film to Buffalo, NY. David Yazbek, a rock composer making his stage musical debut, did the score and the new millennium had its first hit musical. It opened at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatres in May 2001 and then opened on Broadway in September of that same year where it lost the 2001 Tony Awards to The Producers which collected a record 12 awards to Monty’s 0. The September 11 terrorist attacks forced the first touring production to shut down in Chicago in October and scrapped a planned visit to LA’s Kodak Theatre. With the majority of the Broadway cast scheduled to transfer to London, the touring company moved to New York. Although the names and accents have changed, fans of the movie will still hear echoes of the film. The film’s divorced hero Jerry (Christian Anderson) is till trying desperately to keep contact with his son (Bret Fox). His best friend Dave (Michael J. Todaro) struggles with a weight problem. Dance instructor Harold (Robert Westenberg) hasn’t told his free-spending wife Vicki (Carol Woods) who steals the show with her belting voice. Other cast member include Cleavant Derricks and Christopher J. Hanke. This show moves under the direction of Jack O’Brien and the choreography of Jerry Mitchell, and it’s a hoot from start to finish. You’ll love it!
A 150 year-old French farce by Georges Feydeau, He Hunts, is at the Geffen Playhouse. Even with the translation and adaptation by Phillip Littell, the direction by David Schwizer, and a cast of ten talented performers, the farce He Hunts doesn’t get the laughs it tries so hard to get. This type of classic French farce tries too hard, is too frenetic, to please. It has all the requisites to be funny. Best friends, wives and lovers collide in this tale of mistaken identities and sexual intrigue. Leontine Duchotel (Valarie Pettiford) becomes convinced that her husband’s (Maxwell Caulfied) long-standing hunting trips are secretive trysts. When he sets out on another “trip, she rendezvous’ with a lover of her own, Moricet (Stephen Nichols), at an apartment next door to where her husband, coincidentally, is preparing to meet his mistress. Of all the cast the scene-stealer is Carol Kane as Madame Latour with her outrageous gowns and hats. He Hunts will be at the Geffen in Westwood eight performances a week until May 19.
At CSU in Northridge the Performing Arts Center is presenting some exciting attractions. This gem of a theatre, unknown to many, should be a place to visit. Without much fanfare it regularly presents great entertainment, and at affordable prices below $30. There I saw Cleo Laine. And recently I was thrilled by the Aman Folk Ensemble, which will return to LA at the Ford Theatre (near the Hollywood Bowl) on Sun, June 9, 8pm. On May 12, 5pm, Freddy Cole (Nat King Cole’s younger brother) and his quartet will appear. Keith Evans will produce and present White Cliffs of Dover - The Music of WWII with Lainie Nelson on Sun, May 19, 3pm. And on Sat & Sun, July 27 & 28, Anne Jefferys stars in The Fantabulous San Fernando Follies with The Diamonds, comedy team Willie Tyler and Lester, comedian Paul Desmond, dance team. Kathy & James Taylor, singer-host Steward Rose and Bill Casille. For Follies tickets call (818) 785-8885. For other info call (818) 677-7686.

Kiss of the Spider Woman
by Don Grigware
It’s a terrible thing to lose hope”, says Valentin, the political prisoner in love with revolution in Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman. This is the fanatic idealist who believes in the pleasure of torture, because it serves a noble cause. Valentin, however, is a man – and all men need the love of a woman.
What he hardly expects is the attentions of another man. Molina, a window dresser and child abuser, becomes the cellmate of Valentin in a grungy prison in Buenos Aires. Molina first entertains Valentin, telling him stories of exotic movie heroines, and later attends him, by literally wiping his ass and taking care of him as only a true friend or lover would do. An unanticipated love blooms between the very feminine Molina and macho Valentin, despite the ironic fact that each one uses the other for personal gain.
The difficultly with the piece is not only the endless philosophical banter between the two diametrically opposed men, but also buying into the love that results. Is it for real - an honest-to-goodness romance? Or, is it just another phony example of life imitating art? It doesn’t matter which option one chooses, what’s left in the end is one passionate evening and one last kiss before parting. Both lives are doomed. There is nothing else. If the tryst or - that kiss - lacks passion, the production loses credibility.
In this translation by Allan J. Baker at the Eclectic Company Theatre, Joe Camareno as Valentin and Erik Bennett as Molina do not make sparks. Camareno is perhaps best, capturing all the fervor of Valentin’s politics. He is also convincing as the brutish male. Bennett has all the grace and lovely hand movements of Molina, but is afraid to share his inner feelings. He convinces that he is a woman, but not that he is in love. It’s a tough role to play. Bennett needs to trust his fragility and to let himself go – all the way! At present the ending, and consequently much of the evening, capably staged by Taylor Ashbrook, comes across like a sterile workshop exercise.

Christmas Babies by Don Grigware
“We’ll see when we see!” Do you remember your mother uttering these infamous words at the end of a disagreement? I do. Yiddish mothers and daughters – for that matter, all mothers and their children, male or female, irregardless of religion or nationality - are forever at odds. Old world values never quite jibe with modern American conveniences. Darlene Kardon as Ma and Louise Davis as Bersahla carry on in a typical clash of wills in Nalsey Tinberg’s world premiere Christmas Babies currently at the Laurel-grove Theatre in Studio City. With intelligent direction from Kate Randolph, it proves a rewarding experience!
Professor Barrie Singer (Davis) has never been particularly enamored of her name Bersahla. Would you? Sprintze, her ma, on the contrary, gets great pleasure from telling the story of its origin. The name is at the outermost fringes of what constitutes a mass of misunderstandings and difficulties. A woman of steel, a survivor of Hitler’s regime, Sprintze has the right to certain beliefs and feelings, but when it comes to upsetting the progression of Bersahla’s right to live her life her way, she is dead wrong and Bersahla does not hold back.
There is nothing new in this material, but what makes it work – and work beautifully – is Tinberg’s believable dialogue and two very powerful performances.
Kardon and Davis are totally open and brave, as they face the pain and torture that Tinberg and life (“God’s plan”) inflict upon them. They do it with a universal sense of humor. “With age comes age”, exclaims Sprintze. “Jews don’t see the light! Lots of things, but not that!” (About taking her medication) “I didn’t survive Hitler to be poisoned in America!” Yes, ma has the funny lines.
“It is the way it is.”
If you are looking for a wonderfully entertaining slice of life- both laughs and tears are guaranteed- don’t miss Davis and Kardon! To quote Tinsberg “It’s a good story. One of our best!” And don’t be deceived by the title! Christmas Babies has spirit for all seasons.

Death of a Salesman
by Don Grigware
In reference to his Death of a Salesman, currently onstage at the Interact Theatre in North Hollywood, Arthur Miller has been quoted as saying how difficult it is to capture “some of the smell and sense of this very vagrant thing we call existence.” Miller was humble about his ability to convey the uncertainty of survival. No other American writer, except perhaps Tennessee Williams, has managed to portray man’s painful demise with such excruciatingly real detail. With each viewing of Salesman, I identify more closely with Willy Loman. We strive for the top, but often fail. If settling for less is unsuitable, one must face reinventing oneself or be prepared to lose it all. It’s no easy task!
For Willy (Eddie Jones in the best performance of his career), life is a casting off, and his friends have deserted him. It’s a whole new ballgame, where personality no longer gains points. For son Biff (Don Fischer, older than Biff should be, yet vibrant with a youthful spirit) there is a pained recognition of immaturity. Failure rears its ugly head in both generations. Yet for Biff, there is hope, as he is willing to take a risk and leave the rat race behind. Happy (an outstanding turn by Thomas Vincent Kelly) insists on sticking it out in the city- to try and cut a slice of the pie- and with his weakness for the opposite sex, his chances for beating the odds seem slim. Yet for a gambler like Hap, who knows? His success is anyone’s guess. For Willy, it’s just too late to change. According to Miller, it’s best to have the luck of Uncle Ben (Bob Larkin), who at an early age came up a big winner- one in a million! Respect should be payed the common man, but its presence is rare indeed!
Marilyn McIntyre, although too young for Linda Loman, finds the juice of her character’s steadfast nature and does an admirable job. Director Anita Khanzadian remains faithful to Miller with an exemplary production!
See guide for listing.