February 2007 Archives

I learn from playbill.com _ which learned it from Fox News _ that Hugh Jackman and Jill Paice are high on the list of hopefuls to play Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara in a new musical version of Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind." Paice was the attractive, light of foot ingenue Nikki in Kander and Ebb's "Curtains" which is about to open on Broadway (and previously world premiered at the Ahmanson Theatre).

Hugh Jackman, of course, is Wolverine.

My second thought upon reading this news was that Jackman might make a credible Rhett.

And my first thought upon reading that anybody would think about making a musical of "Gone with the Wind" was something along the lines of...

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

followed shortly thereafter by the impluse...

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

If memory serves _ and, frighteningly, in this case, I think it does _ I recall a musical "Gone with the Wind" embeded in the 1984 Drew Barrymore/Ryan O'Neal movie "Irreconcilable Differences?" That was a young Sharon Stone playing the singing Scarlett.

Some things, to borrow a phrase from "GTTW's" Mammy, "jes ain't fittin."

I find it remarkable when performers bounce directly from one L.A. stage experience to another, particularly actors who _ it's fairly clear _ could probably cash a much more substantial paycheck in another medium. I figure their agents must undergo corronaries. "You're doing what? Again?"

Laurence Fishburne ("The Matrix") did the L.A. stage bounce it last year when he went from "Without Walls" at the Mark Taper Forum to "Fences" at the Pasadena Playhouse. Now you know why he did it: two pretty amazing parts, and the man figures to have plenty of healthy film opportunities still waiting for him once the final curtain rings down on the stage gig.

Now I notice that Vicki Lewis, the redheaded former star of "NewsRadio" is set to appear both in "They're Playing Our Song" currently at the El Portal Theatre, followed quickly thereafter by David Mamet's "Squirrels" (Yes, I feel your "Huh?" I'd never heard of it either) at the Miles Playhouse. It opens March 23 (www.squirrelsbymamet.com).

Now, Lewis is a creature of the stage. She's been on Broadway, and in a Reprise! show or two (Most recently "City of Angels"). She's also been in a bunch of movies: "Pushing Tin," "Godzilla" and a bunch of TV. Our old friend IMDB has her listed as appearing in the upcoming flick "Out of Omaha" and the TV movie "The Last Day of Summer."

Here's wishing Ms. Lewis and her perhaps aghast representatives all the best.

Yes, indeed, it's a good thing to have a 25 year friendship with a world famous architect, particularly when you're on the board of directors of a theater that is eyeing a redesign.

That's how things apparently are going down in Pasadena where Frank Gehry (he of Disney Concert Hall, the Norton Simon, et al) has agreed to donate a pro bono, two phase design of the Pasadena Playhouse's Carrie Hamilton Theatre.

Hamilton is the late daughter of Carol Burnett, who is on the Playhouse's Board of Directors. Currently, the Furious Theatre Company works out of the Hamilton, and the PP also does its Hot House at the Playhouse series there.

Gehry's work involves revamping the existing space and drawing up plans for a new 300 seat performance space (name as yet undetermined). As I understand it, this new enhanced Hamilton would be in addition the existing space once the goals of the Playhouse's $8.5 million capital campaign is complete.

Well, thanks to the Burnett-Gehry connection, that price tag apparently won't include an architect's fee.

For more information on the Carrie Hamilton Theatre, check out www.pasadenaplayhouse.org or www.carriehamiltontheatre.com.

A great David Mamet anecdote.

When I chatted with Greg Germann, formerly of "Ally McBeal," currently staring in Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" at the Geffen Playhouse, the actor recalled his first in person encounter with Mamet.

Freshly arrived in New York, Germann was cast as an understudy and a page in Circle Repertory Company's "Hamlet" with William Hurt as the Prince of Denmark and Lindsay Crouse (then Mrs. David Mamet) as Ophelia.

Mamet, of course saw the production.

"Being a young actor, I did like ten pages of research on Elizabethan pages," Germann said, "and David came up to me. I was just a kid. He came up to me after a performance one night, and said 'I’ve been watching you, I've been watching you on stage. I believe everything you're doing, You are a page.' And he was sincere."

Well, flash forward many years. Mamet attends several rehearsals of "Speed-the-Plow" only to be reminded by Greg Germann of this iconic first meeting. Quite naturally, Mamet doesn't remember the encouter.

But at the conclusion of one successful "S-t-P" rehearsal, the playwright gives the actor a verbal "attaboy."

"He said, 'Good job today. Once a page, always a page.'" Germann said.

What greater praise is even possible?

For "Altar Boyz": The 8-year-old future theater critic lasted 25 minutes. Poor kid. He woke up before his usual 5:50 wake up call and didn't really get a second of down time all day. And, natch, the $%^#! thing started 15 minutes late.

His early tap out, however, meant there would be no need for me to explain what exactly the Altar Boyz were referring to when they were singing "Girl You Make me Want to Wait."

For small favors, yours truly is grateful.

The David Mamet musical "A Waitress in Yellowstone" has been bumped from the Kirk Douglas season in favor of a revival of William Inge's "Come Back, Little Sheba" staring "Law and Order" veteran S. Epatha Merkerson (whose name is considerably more difficult to write to us theater types than something simple like David Mamet).

Merkerson's definitely got the stuff, and, at least in person, was great fun to be around when she took every award under the sun for the HBO "Lackawanna Blues." During her meet the press sessions, she'd always be gabbing untethered about acceptance speeches being dropped down her dress, hot flashes, finding work, all those good things. In "Sheba," she'll play Lola who is stuck ina stale 25 year marriage with Doc. it's the role that won Shirley Booth btoh an Oscar and a Tony.

As for Mamet, well, a musical from the master of verbal staccato would have been intriguing. Center Theatre Group says it will be ready next season. They've said the same about the Mowtown musical "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Let's see which one, if any, gets here first.

"Come Back, Little Sheba" opens June 24. (213) 628-2772. www.centertheatregroup.org.

Answer: 5 minutes. Maybe 6.

I'll give you the "Jeopardy" style question/answer (quanswer?) to the above a little later on in this post.

First a word or two about efforts to get the young ones a little bit of theater culture.

I think it's a good thing _ duh! _ and I have the (occasionally) drowsy child to prove to back up my claim. My boy Jeremy, age 8, has been dragged along to every "Stomp"-ing, "Cats"-like "42nd Street"-ed Cirque du Soleil bit of live entertainment that his determined dad considers even the slightest bit within his age range. There are things I know he's not ready for, and things he really digs ("Dr Doolittle," saints preserve us, was a favorite). Yes, he often goes to bed late on school nights. Yes, he probably enjoys movies more, but by God, he's going to these things because I think he will get something out of all this.

Which is why I take particular delight in organizations like East L.A. Classic Theatre which _ last Saturday _ had offered a free performance of its 85 minute version of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" at the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium.

Prior to the community performance, school children throughout the San Gabriel Unified School District saw this Mariachi "Much Ado..." Per East L.A. Classic Theatre's website, the production was created in response to "... California State Board of Education’s history and social science curriculum mandate requiring 4th grade students to study '…the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interactions among people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and Mexican rancho periods.'" So it's a little bit of history as well wrapped up into broad entertainment.

The production next plays Los Angeles Trade Trech College later this month. That school will also get Artistic Director Tony Plana's adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet," a "Zoot Zuit" R and J.

East L.A. Classics has performed "Much Ado" at the Ford Amphitheatre and is in discussions about bringing the show to Pacoima. (Check out www.eastlaclassic.org.)

Yes, it's Shakespeare. Yes, my kid would probably vastly prefer to play his Gameboy, but I sincerely hope that in addition to whatever I can do for and with him, his school will get opportunities to see theater and dance, hear music, all that good stuff.

I took him to the San Gabriel performance, by the way. That 5 minutes at the top of my post was about how long he lasted before tucking his head against the seat and dozing through the entire performance. No reflection on the quality of the ent. He gets up early, and can drop like a stone in a dark room. Particularly when the show starts late (another of my pet peeves).

The battle continues.

That would be the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (or LADCC) of which I am not a member. The group has announced its nominations for the best of Los Angeles theatre over the past season. Some interesting choices. Some I don't agree with. Many _ mea cupla _ I haven't seen. The awards will be handed out March 19 at the El Portal. The public can attend, although that $35 ticket price may be more productively applied to seeing a full length
length performance. Still, Culture Clash, the Troubadour Theater Co. and the Marvellous Wonderettes will entertain at the LADCC shindig.

If you're interested, check out the list at www.ladramacriticscircle.com.

Of some note: "Beehive" which was the first production of Valley Musical Theatre at the El Portal in NoHo took five nominations. The production will play a return engagement at the El Portal beginning April 20. www.elportaltheatre.com or www.valleymusicaltheatre.com.

The new season announcements are starting to trickle in from some of the major houses.

We'll start at the Geffen Playhouse, which has scheduled the West Coast premiere of Wendy Wasserstein's last play, "Third," to kick off 07-08 (opening Sept. 19) and will present the new musical "The Best is Yet to Come," co-conceived by David Zippell and Larry Gelbart with music by the late Cy Coleman. Zippel directs.

Wasserstein's play is set before the launch of the second Gulf War, and finds a New England university professor out to take down one of her students for plagiarism.

"The Best..." (beginning performances Nov. 28) is described this way:

"In the vain of celebrating songwriter as storyteller, 'The Best is Yet to Come' allows Cy Coleman’s music speak for itself in this World premiere production. Co-conceived by Larry Gelbart and David Zippel, 'The Best is Yet to Come' is an innovative approach to new musical theater highlighting such songs as “The Best is Yet to Come,�? “Hey, Big Spender,�? and “The Oldest Profession,�? among many others. With a stellar five-person company, an entire songbook comes to life as a collection of stories is told through song.

That seems to be an elegant way of saying "musical revue."

Gelbert, Zippel and the late Coleman were the team behind "City of Angels." If this is indeed celebrating Coleman's tunes, one wonders what precisely anybody needs the likes of Gelbart and Zippel for.

But it's not for me to prejudge...Well, OK, sure it is.

Check out www.geffenplayhouse.com.

More musical news comes from Reprise! at UCLA's Freud Playhouse which has expanded from three to four productions per season starting in the 07-08 campaign. If you've seen Reprise's current offering of "Sunday in the Park with George," you'll agree that this increase is a good thing.

They'll kick off with Rodgers and Hart's "On Your Toes," (Aug. 14-26) concerning a teacher trying to get a Russian ballet master to stage a jazz ballet, and nearly getting bumped off in the process. Next up, an old chestnut, "Damn Yankees" (Nov. 6-18) about a deal struck with the Devil to allow the Senators to beat the Yankees. Then it's "Li'l Abner," (Feb. 5-17, 2008) based on the Al Capp comic strip, and Kander and Ebb's "Flora, the Red Menace," (May 6-18, 2008) about a Depression era fahsion designer. This was the musical that made Liza Minnelli a star.

www.reprise.org.