Oh Pshaw!
There have been few productions of George Bernard Shaw plays in the last decade. He's currently at the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre in Educating Shaw, a play about his unconventional courtship of Charlotte Payne-Townshend. Some favorite quotations from the …
Franny & Lenny: A Post-view
I've been a fixed fan of Leonard Bernstein's work, which Hershey Felder's now performing at the Old Globe. But I appreciate from afar. My close friend, Francis Thumm, took Bernstein's conducting class at the L.A. Philharmonic and knew him personally. …
Hershey Felder in Maestro: The Art of Leonard Bernstein at the Old Globe
Leonard Bernstein contained multitudes. He was more than an extraordinary composer/conductor, who knew every note in the canon and its musical value. He was a gifted teacher (astonishingly patient, clear, and generous). His Six Talks at Harvard (1976) also show …
My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish, & I'm In Therapy at the Lyceum
"Your mother said to talk about drugs and sex." "Sure pop, what do you want to know? That's one of the better moments in Steve Solomon's stand-up comedy routine disguised as a visit to his therapist. While waiting for an …
A Star-Studded Opening Night
The Who's Tommy originated at the La Jolla Playhouse July, 1992. Co-written by Pete Townshend, of the Who, and Des McAnuff, artistic director of the playhouse, the rock musical told the story of the "deaf, dumb, and blind kid" made …
The Hillcrest Fire: Jason's Story
On Monday, July 25, at 7:30 p.m., Moxie Theatre hosts "After the Fire -- A Benefit Jam for Jason Connors and Gwen Fish." They lost everything in the recent Hillcrest fire. On July 1, Jason gave his landlord 30 days …
The Hillcrest Fire: Gwen's Story
On Monday, July 25, at 7:30, Moxie Theatre hosts "After the Fire - a Benefit Jam for Jason Connors and Gwen Fish." They lost everything in the recent Hillcrest fire. During the day, Gwen Fish teaches English as a Foreign …
Five Course Love at North Coast Rep
Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, California, "There is no there, there" — or was that what Oakland said of Stein? There isn't much to Gregg Coffin's Five Course Love either. The intermissionless bauble's allegedly about kinds of love, but most …
Of a Shipwreck and The Tempest
The storm and shipwreck in Shakespeare's The Tempest came from his creative alchemy. There is, however, a possible source that may have helped inspire the play. In 1607, the Virginia Company built the Sea Venture, the first ship designed for …
The Woolgatherer at Ion Theatre
Rose is such an emotional shut in it doesn't take Cliff long to ask, "Do you believe in life before death?" He's an extroverted truck driver. His rig's down for repairs in Philadelphia. He's come to Rose's studio apartment for …
Body Awareness at Ion Theatre
It's "Body Awareness Week" at Shirley State College in Vermont. Speakers and installations will promote physical diversity. Also on campus: Frank Bonitatibus. He's a house guest of Phyllis and Joyce, partners for the last three years. Frank photographs naked women …
Peer Gynt at La Jolla Playhouse
Henrik Ibsen's evasive masterpiece (1867) has five, hour-long acts, around 50 characters, and more locations than most movies. At the La Jolla Playhouse, director David Schweizer has trimmed the play - really trimmed it - to two hours and five …
The Show Must Go On
Years ago, my brother Michael was an actor at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis (at left in the photo, as Lucky in Waiting for Godot). When I told him Our Town was playing in San Diego, he recalled his first …
Much Ado About Nothing at Old Globe
When Shakespeare wrote his "merry war" between Beatrice and Benedick, intelligent women were in vogue. Men still kept an eye on dowries and external attractions, make no mistake, but female courtly wits had an - all too brief - appeal. …
Haunted Memories of the Old Lyceum, part one
The original Lyceum Theatre stood at 314-316 F Street, downtown. Built in 1913, it was demolished in 1985, to make room for the Horton Plaza parking complex. Between 1981 and 1982, the San Diego Repertory Theatre produced shows in the …
A Naked Stage
A cartoon in the New Yorker, March, 1938, shows three women standing before a ticket booth. One asks, obviously worried: "Does this play have scenery?" Thornton Wilder's Our Town had opened in February. Many a first-nighter thought they'd made a …
A Triangulation of Ambassadors
In The Music Man, currently at Lambs Players, Professor Harold Hill says we don't hear clearly enough. Music's everywhere, if only we'd listen: to the clack of a train, the banter of traveling salesmen, or the "pick-a-little, talk-a-little" of gossips. …
Kawhi Leonard - lottery pick?
I'm stepping outside my regular duties because the real drama today isn't on a San Diego stage. It's in Newark, New Jersey, site of this year's NBA draft. A basketball coach of mine broke the game into three phases: get …
Opening-Night Rituals
Circle Circle dot dot opens The Break Up/Break Down on Saturday at Tenth Avenue Theatre. The play, by Katherine Harroff, and the company are brand new. So what will the cast do in the hours and minutes before the big …
Swimming in the Shallows at InnerMission Productions
Barb feels possession-heavy. When she hears that Buddhist monks in Thailand have only eight possessions total, she decides to prune hers (but does a pair of shoes count as one or two?). Her husband Bob's a model consumer. He replaces …