Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Eve of destruction

Cygnet stages Dogfight; New Village Arts explores Forbidden Planet

In Forbidden Planet the cast speaks in Shakespearean iambics and sings ’60s rock songs.
In Forbidden Planet the cast speaks in Shakespearean iambics and sings ’60s rock songs.

Dogfight

There are good reasons to see Cygnet Theatre’s Dogfight, and reasons to wonder why much of the musical feels ungrounded and artificial.

Three marines, last night stateside, November 21, 1963. Tomorrow they’re off, first to Okinawa, then to a “little country near India” called Vietnam, where they’ll be “advisors” in a “police action.” Before painting San Francisco red, they enact an age-old Marine tradition: a “dogfight.” Each brings the “ugliest woman” he can find to a party. The winner — i.e., the biggest “dog” — wins a pile of loot from a common pool.

Eddie Birdlace, Alpha predator, talks withdrawn Rose Fenny into going. As described, she looks like SF’s answer to Tracy Turnblad of Hairspray: beehive hair, a mite zaftig, an inverted pyramid of petticoats. And like Tracy, Rose is ahead of her time. She even listens to Bob Dylan (but contrary to what the musical suggests, few did in the fall of ’63). What follows is The Taming of the Shrew in reverse. Modest Rose asserts herself and blooms. Sexist pig Eddie, back from ’Nam disillusioned and disrespected, learns to see eye-to-eye.

A puzzle: if the date is November 21, 1963, why doesn’t Cygnet do anything about it? It’s the eve of the Kennedy assassination. A single remark says, “The whole damn world might change tomorrow.” But other than that, the date’s unused, it’s significance unimportant to those who don’t recognize it.

Sponsored
Sponsored

This isn’t just Rose and Eddie’s last night of innocence. It’s America’s. They shoot JFK tomorrow at 12:30 p.m., Dallas time. The 21st functions the way World War I looms over Shaw’s unsuspecting aristocrats in Heartbreak House, and Vesuvius about to erupt in The Last Days of Pompeii. Without the “eve of destruction” subtext, much of Dogfight plays long and thin. Until the middle of Act two, the characters are mostly generic, the scenes predictable (Do opposites attract? Will he see her truly?). And the writing has an odd double duty: an intimate chamber musical with an occasional cinematic sweep (Duchan adapted the script from the 1991 Warner Brothers movie with River Phoenix and Lili Taylor).

The music doesn’t match the period. There are no American Bandstand standards or Gary “U.S.” Bonds’ people “dancin’ like they were mad.” Instead it’s a flexible, Sondheim-inflected score that rises to the occasion when the occasion arises in Act two, when personalities break through stock types. In effect, the second act redeems the slender first.

Best of show: when Eddie and Rose go out for real, the tables turn with “First Date, Last Date.” The composers enhance one of the movie’s best scenes with a melodic duet at once romantic and awkward. Though at times his voice came in flat on opening night, Patrick Osteen makes Eddie’s sweeping arc from hair-trigger machismo to kind and gentle quite credibly.

Catie Grady, a staple at Lamb’s Players, has a beautiful knack for inviting the audience into Rose’s world, never once asking for support or approval. Her talent earns both.

Another weakness of the book: not counting Eddie and Rose, most of the characters are expendable bundles of energy. An exception is Sarrah Errington’s savvy Marcy. She’s a hooker and the “loser” who wins the dogfight. Her version of the title song’s a salvo delivered center mass.

Aided by David Brannen’s often rough-house choreography and Terry O’Donnell’s always expert musical direction, director Sean Murray nicely orchestrates clashing cultures: Rose’s stay-at-home San Francisco; and the loose cannon Marines’ cluster-assault on civilization. To their credit, Murray and company don’t pull punches when things turn cruel or when — thanks to Chris Rynne’s lighting but with too much smoke — a firefight breaks out “in country.”

In the last few years, Sean Fanning has blossomed as a scenic designer. His black, wrought-iron set (sleazy North Beach in the background?) doubles as a site for war and peace. But Jacinda Johnston-Fischer’s costumes get ahead of themselves. The clothes, especially the uniforms, are apt for 1963. But when Eddie returns, the women wear the tie-dyed and rainbow-spacey outfits of the Summer of Love, 1967. Did Eddie spend four years in Vietnam? Or did it just seem that way?

Dogfight, A Musical Love Story, music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, book by Peter Duchan

Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs Street, Old Town

Directed by Sean Murray; cast: Mal Domingo, Sarah Errington, Charles Evans, Jr., Bryan Charles Feldman, Ben Gibson, Catie Grady, Alex Hoeffler, Scott Nickley, Patrick Osteen, Eric Von Metzke, Debra Wanger; scenic design, Sean Fanning; costumes, Jacinda Johnston-Fischer; lighting, Chris Rynne; sound, David Scott; musical director, Terry O’Donnell; choreographer, David Brannen

Playing through August 23; Sunday at 7 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Matinee Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. 619-337-1525; http://cygnettheatr…">cygnettheatre.com.


Return to the Forbidden Planet

A tractor beam pulls starship NCC-1701-1 down to the planet Deliria, where a deranged scientist looks and acts like Flash Gordon’s Emperor Ming the Merciless (if he’s before your time, be glad, he’s headlined many a nightmare of mine ever since). The scientist, Prospero, experiments with “telegenesis” and shelters his innocent daughter, Miranda.

Sounds like an episode of Star Trek? Well, sort of. In Return to the Forbidden Planet everyone speaks in Shakespearean iambics and sings rock ’n’ roll songs from the early ’60s.

So Miranda (Kelly Derouin) asks “Why Must I Be a Teenager in Love?”; Captain Tempest (David S. Humphrey, slinking around like Conrad Birdie) and the cast feel “Good Vibrations”; and Science Officer Gloria (Marlene Montes) nails every song she sings to the rear wall.

The night I caught the show, the over-amped sound system did as well. Someone toned it down for the overstuffed second act, which can’t figure out how to end. Fortunately, New Village Arts has Jon Lorenz directing and Colleen Kollar Smith choreographing. They’re the crack team behind Lamb’s Players’ long-running hit Mixtape and have an alchemical knack for mining musical periods, styles, and movements and making gold. Their touches and weavings bring freshness and humor to a meandering script that, in lesser hands, would play as if Captain Kirk stunned it with a phaser.

Return to the Forbidden Planet, by Bob Carlton

New Village Arts Theatre, 2787 State Street, Carlsbad

Directed by Jon Lorenz; cast, Brian Butler, Morgan Carberry, Kevane La’Marr, Kelly Derouin, Manny Fernandes, Charlie Gange, David S. Humphrey, Marlene Montes; scenic design, Natalie Khuen; costumes, Danita Lee; projections, Blake McCarty; lighting, Chris Renda; sound, Garrett Wysocki; musical director, Justin Gray; choreographer, Colleen Kollar Smith

Playing through September 6; Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. Matinee Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. 760-433-3245; http://newvillagear…">newvillagearts.org

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Stinkfoot Orchestra conjures Zappa at Winstons

His music is a blend of technical excellence and not-so-subtle humor
In Forbidden Planet the cast speaks in Shakespearean iambics and sings ’60s rock songs.
In Forbidden Planet the cast speaks in Shakespearean iambics and sings ’60s rock songs.

Dogfight

There are good reasons to see Cygnet Theatre’s Dogfight, and reasons to wonder why much of the musical feels ungrounded and artificial.

Three marines, last night stateside, November 21, 1963. Tomorrow they’re off, first to Okinawa, then to a “little country near India” called Vietnam, where they’ll be “advisors” in a “police action.” Before painting San Francisco red, they enact an age-old Marine tradition: a “dogfight.” Each brings the “ugliest woman” he can find to a party. The winner — i.e., the biggest “dog” — wins a pile of loot from a common pool.

Eddie Birdlace, Alpha predator, talks withdrawn Rose Fenny into going. As described, she looks like SF’s answer to Tracy Turnblad of Hairspray: beehive hair, a mite zaftig, an inverted pyramid of petticoats. And like Tracy, Rose is ahead of her time. She even listens to Bob Dylan (but contrary to what the musical suggests, few did in the fall of ’63). What follows is The Taming of the Shrew in reverse. Modest Rose asserts herself and blooms. Sexist pig Eddie, back from ’Nam disillusioned and disrespected, learns to see eye-to-eye.

A puzzle: if the date is November 21, 1963, why doesn’t Cygnet do anything about it? It’s the eve of the Kennedy assassination. A single remark says, “The whole damn world might change tomorrow.” But other than that, the date’s unused, it’s significance unimportant to those who don’t recognize it.

Sponsored
Sponsored

This isn’t just Rose and Eddie’s last night of innocence. It’s America’s. They shoot JFK tomorrow at 12:30 p.m., Dallas time. The 21st functions the way World War I looms over Shaw’s unsuspecting aristocrats in Heartbreak House, and Vesuvius about to erupt in The Last Days of Pompeii. Without the “eve of destruction” subtext, much of Dogfight plays long and thin. Until the middle of Act two, the characters are mostly generic, the scenes predictable (Do opposites attract? Will he see her truly?). And the writing has an odd double duty: an intimate chamber musical with an occasional cinematic sweep (Duchan adapted the script from the 1991 Warner Brothers movie with River Phoenix and Lili Taylor).

The music doesn’t match the period. There are no American Bandstand standards or Gary “U.S.” Bonds’ people “dancin’ like they were mad.” Instead it’s a flexible, Sondheim-inflected score that rises to the occasion when the occasion arises in Act two, when personalities break through stock types. In effect, the second act redeems the slender first.

Best of show: when Eddie and Rose go out for real, the tables turn with “First Date, Last Date.” The composers enhance one of the movie’s best scenes with a melodic duet at once romantic and awkward. Though at times his voice came in flat on opening night, Patrick Osteen makes Eddie’s sweeping arc from hair-trigger machismo to kind and gentle quite credibly.

Catie Grady, a staple at Lamb’s Players, has a beautiful knack for inviting the audience into Rose’s world, never once asking for support or approval. Her talent earns both.

Another weakness of the book: not counting Eddie and Rose, most of the characters are expendable bundles of energy. An exception is Sarrah Errington’s savvy Marcy. She’s a hooker and the “loser” who wins the dogfight. Her version of the title song’s a salvo delivered center mass.

Aided by David Brannen’s often rough-house choreography and Terry O’Donnell’s always expert musical direction, director Sean Murray nicely orchestrates clashing cultures: Rose’s stay-at-home San Francisco; and the loose cannon Marines’ cluster-assault on civilization. To their credit, Murray and company don’t pull punches when things turn cruel or when — thanks to Chris Rynne’s lighting but with too much smoke — a firefight breaks out “in country.”

In the last few years, Sean Fanning has blossomed as a scenic designer. His black, wrought-iron set (sleazy North Beach in the background?) doubles as a site for war and peace. But Jacinda Johnston-Fischer’s costumes get ahead of themselves. The clothes, especially the uniforms, are apt for 1963. But when Eddie returns, the women wear the tie-dyed and rainbow-spacey outfits of the Summer of Love, 1967. Did Eddie spend four years in Vietnam? Or did it just seem that way?

Dogfight, A Musical Love Story, music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, book by Peter Duchan

Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs Street, Old Town

Directed by Sean Murray; cast: Mal Domingo, Sarah Errington, Charles Evans, Jr., Bryan Charles Feldman, Ben Gibson, Catie Grady, Alex Hoeffler, Scott Nickley, Patrick Osteen, Eric Von Metzke, Debra Wanger; scenic design, Sean Fanning; costumes, Jacinda Johnston-Fischer; lighting, Chris Rynne; sound, David Scott; musical director, Terry O’Donnell; choreographer, David Brannen

Playing through August 23; Sunday at 7 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Matinee Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. 619-337-1525; http://cygnettheatr…">cygnettheatre.com.


Return to the Forbidden Planet

A tractor beam pulls starship NCC-1701-1 down to the planet Deliria, where a deranged scientist looks and acts like Flash Gordon’s Emperor Ming the Merciless (if he’s before your time, be glad, he’s headlined many a nightmare of mine ever since). The scientist, Prospero, experiments with “telegenesis” and shelters his innocent daughter, Miranda.

Sounds like an episode of Star Trek? Well, sort of. In Return to the Forbidden Planet everyone speaks in Shakespearean iambics and sings rock ’n’ roll songs from the early ’60s.

So Miranda (Kelly Derouin) asks “Why Must I Be a Teenager in Love?”; Captain Tempest (David S. Humphrey, slinking around like Conrad Birdie) and the cast feel “Good Vibrations”; and Science Officer Gloria (Marlene Montes) nails every song she sings to the rear wall.

The night I caught the show, the over-amped sound system did as well. Someone toned it down for the overstuffed second act, which can’t figure out how to end. Fortunately, New Village Arts has Jon Lorenz directing and Colleen Kollar Smith choreographing. They’re the crack team behind Lamb’s Players’ long-running hit Mixtape and have an alchemical knack for mining musical periods, styles, and movements and making gold. Their touches and weavings bring freshness and humor to a meandering script that, in lesser hands, would play as if Captain Kirk stunned it with a phaser.

Return to the Forbidden Planet, by Bob Carlton

New Village Arts Theatre, 2787 State Street, Carlsbad

Directed by Jon Lorenz; cast, Brian Butler, Morgan Carberry, Kevane La’Marr, Kelly Derouin, Manny Fernandes, Charlie Gange, David S. Humphrey, Marlene Montes; scenic design, Natalie Khuen; costumes, Danita Lee; projections, Blake McCarty; lighting, Chris Renda; sound, Garrett Wysocki; musical director, Justin Gray; choreographer, Colleen Kollar Smith

Playing through September 6; Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. Matinee Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. 760-433-3245; http://newvillagear…">newvillagearts.org

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why Unified® Review: What To Expect Dropshipping (Positive & Negative)

Next Article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.