#1
Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:08pm
NOTE: I'VE ADDED MY ESSAY ON THE BEST/WORST OF LAST YEAR'S L.A. THEATER TO THE END OF THE ORIGINAL POST.
Everyone, please forgive me for starting my own congratulatory thread but I just received word today that I've been "hand-selected" to be an Ovation Awards voter for 2005-2006! This means that starting September 1, I can see basically any show in the L.A. and surrounding areas absolutely free!
I do have about half a dozen subscriptions already ordered (Pasadena Playhouse, Colony, Actors Co-Op, East West Players, Reprise, Theater League) but all the rest will gratis! Since I saw 160 shows in 2004 and already over 100 this year, you can imagine how much money I'll be saving, and how many plays I'll be attending. I could easily pay for an extra trip to New York on the savings!
Plus for many of the productions I can bring a guest (depending on the producers) so if you're in the area, I'll be taking applications. :)
But even more than the savings, it's truly an honor to have been selected by the Ovations Review Committee and to know that I'll be one of the voters for "L.A.'s most coveted theater honor." Los Angeles Times
This is even better than being cast in a play!
I'm hugging myself even as I type.
Steven :)
MY ESSAY ABOUT L.A. THEATER THIS PAST YEAR:
I have been a theatergoer all my life! I cannot imagine my life without the theater, and feel very fortunate to live in Los Angeles, arguably the best theater town in the U.S. Here are some of the plays that made an impression on me over the past year.
1. MOST MEMORABLE MUSICALS
110 in the Shade (Pasadena Playhouse)
Could New York have done it better? With Tony-nominated Marin Mazzie and her husband Jason Daniely in the leads, there would have been two more Tony nominations had it been on Broadway. Splendid singing and heart-rending performances all around. This production may have suffered (a bit) from a too-small ensemble, but the music (glorious!), the performances (better by far than those heard on the Original Broadway Cast recording), and the staging (real rain, in buckets at the end) made this one of my choices for best musical of the year.
Caroline, or Change (Ahmanson Theater)
I saw it three times, marveling at the bravura performance of Tonya Pinkins, the musically diverse and inspired score by Jeannine Tesori, the moving book by Tony Kushner, and the perfectly etched supporting characters. A history lesson as well. Recasting of The Washing Machine and The Moon during the latter part of the run proved how much even a great musical depends on its actors, as the replacements were not nearly as good as the originals, and though still an incredible evening of theater, something was lacking without the original performers. Regardless, A+ for the evening!
Dorian (NoHo Arts Center)
How did they do it--make a 99-seat theater seem enormous! The double-decked stage, the large and supremely talented Broadway and local cast, the often soaring music: this was what you’d expect to see at the Ahmanson. Though I was less moved than I felt I ought to have been, Max Von Essen and Kevin Bailey sang gorgeously and inhabited their roles quite to perfection.
2. MOST MEMORABLE PLAYS
The Shadow Box (Attic Theater, Los Angeles)
Never would I have thought that a play about three people facing terminal cancer could be filled with so much humor and be so ultimately uplifting. Not acting, but being; that’s what the extraordinarily talented ensemble cast achieved. There wasn’t a false moment. The realistic and detailed set depicting a rustic hospice belied what was most likely a limited-budgeted production. A class act all the way!
Theater District (Black Dahlia Theater, Los Angeles)
This dramedy by the writer of 30something was distinguished by its superb ensemble cast headed by Bill Brochtrup and an outstanding script by Richard Kramer. A nearly bare dark stage came alive as lighting and clever prop/furniture changes transformed it into numerous immediately recognizable locales. Theater District spoke with great wisdom about parenting, coupledom, gays, straights, teenagers, all in 80 wonderful minutes.
2 Across (Santa Monica Playhouse).
The theater looked like someone’s very comfortable home and inside it was a most realistic BART train (set). A middle aged man and woman, strangers, met cute, bickered, flirted, revealed secrets, and ultimately connected. There were: Laughs galore. A farfetched but welcome happen ending. And stellar performances. With two alternating casts, I wish I’d been able to see both.
3.MOST FORGETTABLE PLAY/MOST FORGETTABLE MUSICAL
Climbing Everest (Colony Theater, Burbank)
What an overwrought and underwhelming play. The set (boxy mountains) was atrocious, the premise (risking one’s life to bring back a frozen body) was flawed, and the script (the lead character’s tiresome moving in and out of the story) was awkward. Unlike the cast of Shadow Box, Katie A. Keane was always “acting.” (People’s eyes get wet when they cry. Not hers. A lot of histrionics, though.) Enough happened that I can’t say I was bored. Then again, I can’t fault the many who did not stay for the second act.
Lovers Mayhem (Secret Rose Theater, NoHo)
I’ve included this dud because it was so excruciatingly bad. Miscast, poorly written (both book and instantly forgettable songs), unimaginatively staged, and full of amateurish performances. It played down the street from Dorian. Alas, Dorian it was not.
Runners-up for excellence: Porcelain (Chance Theater, Anaheim), Oliver (Orange County Performing Arts Center), Nine (La Habra Depot), Songs for a New World (Rubicon Theater, Ventura), Tape (Ivar Black Box, Los Angeles)…
Everyone, please forgive me for starting my own congratulatory thread but I just received word today that I've been "hand-selected" to be an Ovation Awards voter for 2005-2006! This means that starting September 1, I can see basically any show in the L.A. and surrounding areas absolutely free!
I do have about half a dozen subscriptions already ordered (Pasadena Playhouse, Colony, Actors Co-Op, East West Players, Reprise, Theater League) but all the rest will gratis! Since I saw 160 shows in 2004 and already over 100 this year, you can imagine how much money I'll be saving, and how many plays I'll be attending. I could easily pay for an extra trip to New York on the savings!
Plus for many of the productions I can bring a guest (depending on the producers) so if you're in the area, I'll be taking applications. :)
But even more than the savings, it's truly an honor to have been selected by the Ovations Review Committee and to know that I'll be one of the voters for "L.A.'s most coveted theater honor." Los Angeles Times
This is even better than being cast in a play!
I'm hugging myself even as I type.
Steven :)
MY ESSAY ABOUT L.A. THEATER THIS PAST YEAR:
I have been a theatergoer all my life! I cannot imagine my life without the theater, and feel very fortunate to live in Los Angeles, arguably the best theater town in the U.S. Here are some of the plays that made an impression on me over the past year.
1. MOST MEMORABLE MUSICALS
110 in the Shade (Pasadena Playhouse)
Could New York have done it better? With Tony-nominated Marin Mazzie and her husband Jason Daniely in the leads, there would have been two more Tony nominations had it been on Broadway. Splendid singing and heart-rending performances all around. This production may have suffered (a bit) from a too-small ensemble, but the music (glorious!), the performances (better by far than those heard on the Original Broadway Cast recording), and the staging (real rain, in buckets at the end) made this one of my choices for best musical of the year.
Caroline, or Change (Ahmanson Theater)
I saw it three times, marveling at the bravura performance of Tonya Pinkins, the musically diverse and inspired score by Jeannine Tesori, the moving book by Tony Kushner, and the perfectly etched supporting characters. A history lesson as well. Recasting of The Washing Machine and The Moon during the latter part of the run proved how much even a great musical depends on its actors, as the replacements were not nearly as good as the originals, and though still an incredible evening of theater, something was lacking without the original performers. Regardless, A+ for the evening!
Dorian (NoHo Arts Center)
How did they do it--make a 99-seat theater seem enormous! The double-decked stage, the large and supremely talented Broadway and local cast, the often soaring music: this was what you’d expect to see at the Ahmanson. Though I was less moved than I felt I ought to have been, Max Von Essen and Kevin Bailey sang gorgeously and inhabited their roles quite to perfection.
2. MOST MEMORABLE PLAYS
The Shadow Box (Attic Theater, Los Angeles)
Never would I have thought that a play about three people facing terminal cancer could be filled with so much humor and be so ultimately uplifting. Not acting, but being; that’s what the extraordinarily talented ensemble cast achieved. There wasn’t a false moment. The realistic and detailed set depicting a rustic hospice belied what was most likely a limited-budgeted production. A class act all the way!
Theater District (Black Dahlia Theater, Los Angeles)
This dramedy by the writer of 30something was distinguished by its superb ensemble cast headed by Bill Brochtrup and an outstanding script by Richard Kramer. A nearly bare dark stage came alive as lighting and clever prop/furniture changes transformed it into numerous immediately recognizable locales. Theater District spoke with great wisdom about parenting, coupledom, gays, straights, teenagers, all in 80 wonderful minutes.
2 Across (Santa Monica Playhouse).
The theater looked like someone’s very comfortable home and inside it was a most realistic BART train (set). A middle aged man and woman, strangers, met cute, bickered, flirted, revealed secrets, and ultimately connected. There were: Laughs galore. A farfetched but welcome happen ending. And stellar performances. With two alternating casts, I wish I’d been able to see both.
3.MOST FORGETTABLE PLAY/MOST FORGETTABLE MUSICAL
Climbing Everest (Colony Theater, Burbank)
What an overwrought and underwhelming play. The set (boxy mountains) was atrocious, the premise (risking one’s life to bring back a frozen body) was flawed, and the script (the lead character’s tiresome moving in and out of the story) was awkward. Unlike the cast of Shadow Box, Katie A. Keane was always “acting.” (People’s eyes get wet when they cry. Not hers. A lot of histrionics, though.) Enough happened that I can’t say I was bored. Then again, I can’t fault the many who did not stay for the second act.
Lovers Mayhem (Secret Rose Theater, NoHo)
I’ve included this dud because it was so excruciatingly bad. Miscast, poorly written (both book and instantly forgettable songs), unimaginatively staged, and full of amateurish performances. It played down the street from Dorian. Alas, Dorian it was not.
Runners-up for excellence: Porcelain (Chance Theater, Anaheim), Oliver (Orange County Performing Arts Center), Nine (La Habra Depot), Songs for a New World (Rubicon Theater, Ventura), Tape (Ivar Black Box, Los Angeles)…
Updated On: 7/22/05 at 11:08 PM
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