Lamb's "A Christmas Carol"

                        Cast of "A Christmas Carol"

Lamb’s Players Theatre has been presenting “A Christmas Carol” for something like 44 years.

This year is a particularly wonderful show, thanks to a terrific cast (each playing multiple characters) and a musical score consisting of great musical medleys arranged by Deborah Smyth, Vanda Eggington, Ian Brandon and Mary Kidd. The show is adapted and directed by Kerry Meads.

Brian Mackey plays the old goat Scrooge, whose life choices have led him to pinch pennies rather than donating them to the needy, to say mean things to nearly everyone and to act in a way that results in the almost visible shrinking of his spirit.

It’s Christmas Eve at the start of the play, and Scrooge’s clerk Bob Cratchit (Geno Carr) asks to leave early. You remember the volcano that erupts at that request, but finally Scrooge lets him go, with strict orders to come in early the next day.

With nothing else to do, Scrooge goes home to be visited by ghosts of his past, (including his recently-deceased partner Marley) so he gets to view all the dreadful things he’s done. Some people have to learn the hard way.

Meanwhile, the townspeople are getting ready to celebrate the Christmastide with feasting, joy, and helping the poor, like regular people. The Cratchits are not rich (thanks largely to Scrooge’s penury), but they are a happy family, despite the fact that Tiny Tim is crippled. But they eat, celebrate, love each other and are glad to be alive.

The other characters – Old Joe, Fred and others – are also having a wonderful, musical time, singing one or another of the 13 beautiful medleys arranged by talented musicians Deborah Smyth, Vanya Eggington, Ian Brandon and Mary Kidd. This music is a particularly delightful aspect of the play.

The technical aspects of the play are also excellent. Michael McKeon’s sets and especially projection designs are particularly fine. Jeanne Reith does her dependable magic with the costumes, Nathan Pierson does wonders with the lighting and Patrick Duffy’s sound design is just right, and so are Rachel Hengst’s props.

Christmas is coming. Do yourself a favor and get over to Lamb’s to see this amusing, uplifting and musically magic show.

The details

Lamb’s Players “A Christmas Carol” plays through Dec. 24, 2022 at Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Avenue in Coronado.

Shows  Tuesday through Saturday at 7 p.m.; matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 24 shows at noon and 4 p.m.

Tickets: lambs players.org or 1-619-437-6000 

Theater Review: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

 

                           Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird"

It’s easy to tut-tut about the horrifyingly uncivilized events in “To Kill a Mockingbird” until you listen to the daily news. It makes you wonder how much we’ve learned about fairness. 

You recall the story: Writer Harper Lee grew up in the Depression-era South (in Monroeville, Alabama), when black people were slaves or farmhands and not allowed to be much more. Her 1960 novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” is loosely based on the trial of a black man wrongly arrested for the rape of a white woman. Lee was ten at the time.

The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was made into an Oscar-winning film. It has since become a play, and is in fact the highest-grossing in Broadway history.

The latest version, a rewrite by Aaron Sorkin (of “A Few Good Men” and “West Wing” fame), won Tonys on Broadway and is now on a multi-year national tour. It is at San Diego Civic Theatre through December 4.

Emmy-winner Richard Thomas plays Atticus Finch, the attorney assigned to defend Tom Robinson (Yaegel T. Welch), a black man accused by the bigoted Bob Ewell (Joey Collins), who claims that Tom raped his teenage daughter Mayella (Arianna Gayle Stucki). Mayella seems to cower in the corner the whole time.

Directed by Bartlett Sher, the background story is largely told by three teens: Finch’s mouthy tomboy daughter Scout (Melanie Moore), typical teen son Jem (Justin Mark) and visiting friend Dill Harris (Steven Lee Johnson), who is extraordinarily interested in a reclusive neighbor named Boo Radley (Travis Jones). Time jumps back and forth, and set pieces roll in and out at a brisk pace as the story is told and the trial proceeds.

Though it’s clear to Atticus from the start that his client Tom is not guilty, he’s up against entrenched racism and bigotry – and an all-white jury definitely not of Tom’s peers who are determined to convict him.

Judge Taylor (Richard Poe) is white but interested in the truth, though it’s likely he knows what the all-white jury will find regardless of the truth.

Maycomb’s ideas about fairness may even be said to be reflected in Miriam Buether’s weathered set for the courtroom and the Finch front porch.

But in this version, Atticus’ motherly black housekeeper Calpurnia (Jacqueline Williams) plays a larger part, as she calls him on his privilege and they plot to try to fix it together.

Atticus puts it this way: “We have to heal this wound or we will never stop bleeding. We can’t go on like this.” 

Atticus seems to believe things will change for the better, noting that “Our darkest days are always followed by our best hours.”

Let’s hope he will prove right.

The details

“To Kill a Mockingbird” plays through Dec. 4, 2022 at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave. at B Street in downtown San Diego.

Shows Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 1 and  6:30 p.m.

Tickets: https://www.broadwaysd.com/upcoming-events/to-kill-a-mockingbird/

Theater Review: The October Night of Johnny Zero

Things are a little weird in the ’burbs of Delaware Valley on the eastern seaboard. There we find the Pinnolinis – Franky and his mom Barbara – living about as apart as people can be when they share a house.

Franky (Geoffrey Ulysses Geissinger) is a high schooler, seemingly unusually diffident, even reticent. Barbara (Jessica John) is a disturbed person who talks a lot and drinks more. It’s 1981 and dad is not to be seen. Maybe. Franky and his mom seem to communicate mostly by shouting between floors: Barbara is often upstairs. Franky seems to hang out in the kitchen.

This is a three-story place, with an apparently spooky downstairs that holds (among other things) the fridge and a freezer where mom stashes the milk (you read that right) and other things normally defrosted before consumed.

Franky’s classmate Johnny (Marcel Ferrin) comes over to ask for help with a book report so he can be done with it and get to the basketball game tonight. (He wears a Celtics t-shirt, so we assume he’s on the team.) His mom forgot to pick him up, and unfortunately Franky’s phone isn’t working. So Johnny’s stuck with these strange folks for a while.

Franky wants to type something, but can’t find the typewriter. That’s because mom has put it in a cupboard in the kitchen. Go figure.

Where’s Franky’s dad? He might be the hulking presence that shows up every now and then in the darkness. Or he might just be out of the picture entirely.

Franky seems to have had a brother named Danny, who it seems chose to live in the cellar under the staircase. What happened to him is not explained.

John seems to be having a wonderful time with her disturbed character, and she is always, to be sure, a joy to watch. She gets the smart-alecky comments that make the show occasionally fun to watch.

Geissinger and Ferrin play well off each other, even seem to need each other, the more intellectual Franky complementing the less brainy athlete. Both are excellent actors I’d be happy to see onstage again.

Yi-Chien Lee’s set works well, and the occasionally spooky sounds and lighting are well handled by Kate Rose Reynolds and Kevin Anthenill. 

But the script itself needs work. The playwright calls it “magical,” but it doesn’t seem so to this viewer. It seems to become more and more abusive, both to Franky and the audience. And the final scene (I’ll spare you a description), is inexcusably grim and seemingly pointless, sending the audience home depressed. 

The details

“The October Night of Johnny Zero” plays through Dec. 10, 2022 at Backyard Renaissance Theatre at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 Tenth Ave. in San Diego.

Plays Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m.

Tickets: (960) 975-7189 or online at backyardrenaissance.com

 

Theater Review: Ebenezer Scrooge's BIG San Diego Christmas Show

Scrooge, etc.

You remember that famous Scrooge guy, who says endearing things like "A friend is merely an enemy you haven't known long enough."

Guess what, he’s back at The Old Globe again, to amuse, horrify and fascinate    you for a very fast, extremely funny 70 minutes of misanthropy and Christmas cheer. The novella’s time frame has been moved up not quite two centuries so we can hear comments like “Tell the Padres they came close. They could do it this year.”

Playwrights Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen started the whole thing in 2017 in Pennsylvania. The Globe’s Artistic Director Barry Edelstein saw it there and asked if they could tailor it to San Diego, et voilà.

Bill Buell plays the old geezer, busy grousing around as usual when his clerk Bob Cratchit (Christopher M. Ramirez) timidly asks to be allowed to leave a few hours early on Christmas Eve.

“We work till 8:45 every day, Bob,” is the answer.

Five actors – four playing multiple roles and Bill Buell playing Scrooge – illustrate the story of the grouch who goes home, eats meagerly and gets ready for bed (wait till you see this!) and crawls in. When Marley’s ghost shows up, a click is heard, and a disembodied voice says “bed chamber secured.”  Eek.

The ghosts of Christmases past, present and flitter in and out, and Scrooge is forced to see his unhappy past, when his school picked a chair instead of him for the cricket team. 

On the other hand, he worked for Mr. Fezzi, who made great wigs. That wasn’t an awful experience. But then he loses his true love Lavinia, who sails off to America without him. 

Only when he finally gets the message, and sends a passing boy to buy a huge turkey to give away, do things start to get better. And when the Palo Altos quartet starts to sing, things almost get jolly.

The story is familiar, but the presentation is definitely not, and that’s the reason to see this production. The actors are excellent and about as versatile a group as I’ve ever seen. The props and costumes are great, and everybody gets to leave singing a song.

Can’t get much better than that. 

The details

“Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show” plays through Dec. 24, 2022 at The Old Globe’s Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre.

Show schedule: Tuesday through Friday at 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.

Tickets: www.TheOldGlobe.org or (619) 234-5623

 

Theater Review: As You Like It

                       The cast of "As You Like It"

Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” is a comedy about finding yourself, being yourself and learning to like yourself as you are. Here, after royal brothers argue about who should be boss in court, the daughter of one (Rosalind) is banished. She takes her cousin Celia (daughter of the other) with her and they escape the bickering by moving to the Forest of Eden, where anybody can be anything and rules are meant to be broken. Or maybe there are no rules.

But what happens then? La Jolla Playhouse and Diversionary Theatre are co-producing a a new, “gender-full” version that explores all the possibilities of love, gender and self-discovery. 

The show is co-directed by LJP’s Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Will Davis, associate professor in the John Wells Directing Program at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama. Davis is transgender, and the cast of trans, non-binary and queer performers offer an updated version of Will’s 16th century play, first published and performed in 1623.

Oh, the original characters are there. The brothers Oliver (TaiReikca L.A.) and Orlando (Esco Jouley), more or less pitted against each other at court, can relax a bit in the wild and just be bros together. 

The Shakespearean clown Touchstone (Cody Sloan) is playfully there, and he starts by dragging in Rosalind and Celia’s suitcases. That’s a touch.

The professional wrestler Charles (UCSD MFA candidate Taiwo Sokan) asks Oliver to watch out when he fights poor, weak little Orlando. Until something more interesting happens.

And Jaques (Rami Margron), the Shakespearean melancholic, brings attitude.

Rosalind is played with relish by Peter Smith, and Jen Richards’ Celia proves charming and supportive of her cousin.

David Greenspan is effective as Rosalind’s father Duke Senior and as Adam, the court’s loyal elderly former servant.

And we mustn’t forget the shepherds: Phoebe (Alanna Darby), a terrific singer who falls in love with Rosalind but is pursued by a hopelessly smitten shepherd named Silvius (Jess Barbagallo). And the other country characters, goatherd Audrey (See Anzoátegui and country boy William (Allison Husko), who pursues her. And Rachel Crowl plays three roles: the shepherd Corin, the villain Duke Frederick and the bass player in the onstage band.

It’s a busy, crazy time, updated by contemporary pop songs by the likes of Tracy Chapman (“Fast Car”) and Queen (“Somebody to Love Me”).

The technical aspects of the show are simple and effective. Emmie Finckel’s scenic design allows the cast to easily move parts that need to be elsewhere. The forest set is particularly lush with greenery.

Mel Ng’s costumes range from standard male attire to eye-popping drag gowns and Cha See’s lighting highlights the right things at the right times.

Shakespeare is universal, and this production illustrates that updating social norms is one that even the Bard might have enjoyed.

The details

“As You Like It” plays through December 11, 2022 at La Jolla Playhouse’s Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive in La Jolla.

Shows Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.

Tickets: lajollaplayhouse.org or (858) 550-1010

Theater Review: Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

                     The cast of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"

There’s something about a redemption tale that always makes me misty. And there’s no better for the season than Dr. Seuss’ story about that mean old Grinch who “hated Christmas and all the Whos down in Whoville.”

The Old Globe Theatre is back with the 25th incarnation of the saga about the return of the Grinch’s now-retired faithful old dog Max (Steve Gunderson), who comes back to say hello and farewell to the Grinch, the current dog Max and all the Whos he liked so much.

The new Young Max – Tyrone Davis, Jr.  – is a wonderful addition, with a lovely voice and charming acting style. The Maxes quickly make friends, and Old Max relates the whole story to the new dog in a show just as charming now as it was the first time around.

The world seems to get getting Grinchier by the day, but this one – played by returnee Andrew Polec in a seemingly rattier and grungier green suit than I recall – looks even worse. No wonder he’s in such a bad mood.

The Grinch’s attitude worsens as Christmas approaches – he simply can’t fathom what’s to be jolly about. How can he stop it? Then he comes up with an “awful, wonderful” idea – to stop Christmas from coming. 

He figures that since the holiday seems to be about shopping, all he has to do is disrupt the gift-giving and that dinner with the “traditional roastbeest.” 

He tries to do that, but no matter how mean he is, the Whos still offer friendship and good cheer. How can any self-respecting meanie deal with that?

You know the answer, but you’ll love seeing it onstage for the first or 25th time, because it’s just fun.

The cast is great, many of them repeaters, and the kids are double-cast. I saw the Red Team, adorable as always, and this Cindy-Lou Who (Issa Ally) manages to melt the Grinch’s heart without much effort. Between her and Young Max, the old grump doesn’t stand a chance.

Many of the adults Whos are returnees, and they welcome the fine Kevin Solis as Papa Who.

Director James Vásquez adds just the right touches, and Elan McMahan officiates again in the orchestra pit. She and her orchestra of eight keep the by-now famous 10 songs (by Timothy Mason and Mel Marvin) percolating along.

It’s hard not to walk out humming some of the songs and thinking about how nice it is to be nice. What a great holiday present.

The details

“Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” plays through December 31, 2022 on the Globe’s Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage.

Performance schedule varies; please visit TheOldGlobe.org for a full schedule, call the box office (619) 234-5623) or visit the Globe’s box office in person.

    

    

                            Cindy-Lou Who (Ally Issa) and the Grinch (Andrew Polec)

 

Film Review: She Said

 

It had to happen. In 1976, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford exposed the Watergate scandal that brought down an American president.

Now, 40-some years and the #MeToo Movement later, we have “She Said,” detailing how two New York Times reporters exposed film mogul Harvey Weinstein’s repulsive activities requiring sexual services of young actresses looking for jobs.

This time, the reporters are Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, playing New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who doggedly pursued young female victims in an attempt to get them “on the record.”

Twohey and Kantor were not surprised that many of the victims were willing to describe their experiences, nor that almost all of them said they were afraid of Weinstein and would only talk “off the record.”

Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan

But they kept working until they finally found someone willing to talk on the record. That opened the floodgate for others. 

Mulligan and Kazan are magnificent as the investigators, who keep at it despite the “off the record” responses. It must have been extremely frustrating, but these two kept at without giving in to annoyance in the process. 

It was worth the effort, because it brought to public consciousness what women have known for eons. 

Weinstein was convicted on two of the five charges brought against him and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He appealed the conviction, which was upheld in court. He is currently serving in California, where he faces other sexual assault charges from five women over the course of a decade.

“She Said” should be seen by everyone.