In the thriller “DEATHTRAP”, now playing a Theatre 29, Sidney (Leonard Weber) and Porter Milgrim (Tom Highfill) discuss business related to Sidney’s will. (Theatre 29 photo)
DEATHTRAP, A thriller in two acts. One set, five characters, a juicy murder in Act One, unexpected developments in Act Two. Sound construction, good dialogue, laughs in the right places, Highly commercial. So begins the plotting and planning by Sidney Bruhl, a down and out playwright, to once again have a successful play.
Currently running through February 9th at Theatre 29, “Deathtrap”, A thriller in two acts by Ira Levin, follows the exploits of Sidney, Clifford, Myra, Helga and Porter in the pursuit of the perfect play.
As Myra Bruhl, played by Janet Peercy, asked Sidney Bruhl, played by Leonard Weber, “Would you ….actually kill someone to have another successful play?” After a brief pause Sidney replies “Don’t be foolish darling, Of course I would.”
Enter Clifford Anderson, played by Benjamin Bees, author of the “…a gifted director couldn’t hurt it” play. Watch closely as the many facets of Clifford are revealed.
All appears to be well until the arrival of a Dutch physic Helga Ten Dorp, played by Judy Andreshak, who finds lost car keys under clothes dryers.
As if things were not muddled enough, enter Sidney’s attorney, Porter Milgrim, played by Tom Highfill. Suffice it to say that Porter is ‘sharp…dull…but sharp”
Does DEATHTRAP exist or is it just a ruse, will Clifford and Sidney actually collaborate on the “ shaping and pointing up in the right places” necessary to make DEATHTRAP the play of the year. Who is the “woman will use dagger again…not in play but because of play” as “seen” by Helga Ten Dorp.
DEATHTRAP..A thriller which will leave you guessing even after the final curtain has fallen. Running Friday and Saturday nights through February 9 with a 2:30 matinee Sunday, February 3.
A message posted on a jihadist website on Sunday promised that “terrible” attacks will soon strike the US, France, Denmark and other European countries.
“Where will the next strike by Al-Qaeda be?” a message on the Ansar al-Mujahidin network read, followed by: “The house of disbelief: America, France, Denmark and other countries in Europe, and in the countries that helped and help France and other places.”
The message threatened attacks that will be “strong, serious, alarming, earth-shattering and terrible,”which will be carried out both collectively and individually.
The post also singled out France, telling the country to prepare for a “long war of attrition.”
The threats against France may be connected to the French military’s recent operation in Maliagainst pro-Al-Qaeda militants.
The commentators on the forum praised the message, and said they hoped to “hear the news of these strikes soon.”
The Ansar al-Mujahidin network is a well-known jihadist forum that has previously published messages affiliated with Al-Qaeda and its supporters. In April 2012, the NYPD launched an investigation into a 3-D image posted on the forum that said Al-Qaeda would soon return to New York City.
Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre Company (CV REP), under artistic director Ron Celona’s creative and watchful leadership, has steadily grown into a formidable theatrical Equity player in the Valley’s vibrant theatre scene.
The current production at the cozy (88 seat) and intimate venue is the thoughtful and insightful comedy/drama “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks”, written by Florida-born playwright Richard Alfieri, and directed and choreographed by Ron Celona.
CV Rep now in its second season in its new theatre digs at The Atrium, in Rancho Mirage, is building a reputation as a “go to” theatre for actors who like CV Rep’s two- hander format. The previous six productions over the last eighteen months have been award winning and well-done productions – all selected and directed by Celona.
Now comes “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” starring Bobbi Stam as Lilly Harrison; and Sean Galuszka as Michael Minetti. Their story is a light dramedy, with poignant underpinnings, about a relationship between the widow of a Southern Baptist minister and her gay dance instructor.
Can one imagine a more emotional and polar-opposite minefield to navigate, even in 2013? However, it’s not a Red state/Blue state type of confrontational and/or generational encounter we’re dealing with here. Alfieri’s play and his characters are all too human to be so callously pigeon-holed. Yes, it’s easy to mis-communicate and form opinions and impressions early on. However, their initial antagonism gives way to compassion as the two swing dance, tango, foxtrot, waltz, and cha-cha- into a genuine friendship.
Lilly, is the epitome of a South Carolinian widow who retires to Florida. At first she is guarded and wary of strangers. When Michael appears at her door ready to give her the first of the dance lessons she ordered, his coarse language and his breezy manner are very off-putting to a cultured, Southern, senior citizen. She begins to have second thoughts about continuing the lessons at all.
Michael realizes that perhaps, he’s gone a little far and too fast for Lilly to be comfortable, and quickly retreats to a neutral corner and a comfort zone where both parties can recalibrate. But, Michael has his quirks, hang ups, and demons too.
Bobbi Stam’s Lilly takes the stage with confidence and delivers a finely nuanced portrayal of a person who learns, not only things about herself, but gains insight into the plight of others. The on stage chemistry between Lilly and Michael builds slowly in Act I to a most satisfying ending in Act II. Stam’s overall effort is a little polished gem of a performance, and she’s a good dancer as well.
Sean Galuszka’s Michael is nicely drawn and one can really feel his discomfort, at times, as a person who is not sure if he really likes himself. He allows us to peek beneath all of Michael’s self-deprecating, and wisecracking humor, to reveal a basically nice person who cares about others but has a hard time displaying his feelings. The dance sequences with Lilly, are a nice touch thanks to the choreography input of director Celona.
In the technical department talented Set Designer Jimmy Cuomo continues to top himself by delivering one gorgeous set design after another. His “Dance … Lessons” design is spot on as a Florida beach condominium. And Stuart A. Fabel’s lighting designs paint the tiny on stage areas with just the right amount of light; allowing us to appreciate the lovely costume designs of Aalsa Lee.
CV Reps production of “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” is a heart-warming play that is sure to please everyone who sees it. Remember, one can’t know the book just by its cover. For reservations and ticket information phone 760-296-2966 or go online to www.cvrep.org.
It’s been fifty-six years since George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”, the wonderfully witty and misogynistic stage play about English society and its language, became the basis for one of Broadway’s most endearing musicals… “My Fair Lady”. The “Pygmalion” story, sans the wonderful music of Frederick Loewe, and the brilliant lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner, still has the insight and Shaw’s love of the language that continues to resonate with today’s audiences one hundred years later.
Shaw, a Nobel laureate in Literature had legions of fans and admirers. He also had battalions of detractors. But admirers and detractors alike agree the irascible Irishman was a brilliant writer and innovator.
Photos by Henry DiRocco.
“Pygmalion”, the sparkling comedy production on the Old Globe’s Shiley Stage, stars Robert Sean Leonard of TV’s “House M.D.” as Henry Higgins. The production, steadfastly directed by Nicholas Martin, co-stars San Diego favorite, Paxton Whitehead as the redoubtable Colonel Pickering and Charlotte Parry as Eliza Doolittle. Parry’s Eliza is one of the best Eliza’s seen on any stage in a long time.
The story in short (in case you’ve been living in a cave for the last 100 years), deals with a speech professor (Leonard) who makes a wager with Pickering (Whitehead) that he can pass off a common Cockney flower girl (Parry) as the pinnacle of English society. The storyline is enduring and engaging and is one that has been reinvented over and over through the years.
In addition to its long life on the stage, the play was adapted for the screen by Shaw himself, in 1938 with Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller, as Higgins and Eliza. And was adapted again, most famously, as the blockbuster stage musical in 1956, which ran for a then record 2,717 performances, and starred Rex Harrison with Julie Andrews on Broadway and Harrison and Audrey Hepburn in the movie version. In a somewhat ironic side bar note, the 1956 Moss Hart directed musical “My Fair Lady”, hewed more closely to the 1938 screen version than to Shaw’s original stage play. The Old Globe’s production, under newly appointed Associate Artist and play director Martin, however, is a faithful rendering of Shaw’s 1913 stage play.
Once the opening night jitters vanished midway in the first act, the cast got down to business and fully engaged the audience. In Act II, everyone is at full throttle, and Shaw’s “non-love” story between Higgins and Eliza veers into familiar Shaw territory – the war between the classes and the clashes between men and women.
Leonard turns in a solid performance (with occasional accent lapses) as Professor Higgins, the supreme misogynist and the verbal speech teacher from Hell. Parry shines in a spot-on performance as Eliza. She brings, not only a proper street vendor quality early in her portrayal, and displays a dignity later on, albeit created by Higgins, which gives her an inner glow that he can’t fathom. When Parry is on stage all eyes are on her.
Whitehead’s Pickering is courtly and sensible making a fitting Dr. Watson figure to Leonard’s spoiled and arrogant Henry Higgins cum Sherlock Holmes. Don Sparks as Alfred P. Doolittle (Shaw is the equal of the great Dickens when it comes to giving character names that define and fit each cast member’s character), is both a hoot and a comic delight, however, he too slips in and out of accents. It must be an “Americans-playing-Brits” kind of a thing that causes it to happen.
Photos by Henry DiRocco.
Kandis Chappell brings an imperious, yet classy, style and wit to her performance as Mrs. Higgins, and Deborah Taylor as Mrs. Pearce offers wisdom and motherly advice as Henry’s housekeeper, to both Eliza and Higgins. The supporting players all deliver nicely judged performances in this seamlessly directed Shavian master-work.
Martin’s creative team has provided a functional scenic design by Alexander Dodge that provides plenty of space to create three set locations, and a lighting design by Philip S. Rosenberg, which allows the costume designs of Robert Morgan to be fully appreciated.
Welcome to the Old Globe Theatre’s new Artistic Director Barry Edelstein who looks to be the beneficiary of this winning production as he now begins to shape this season and future seasons under his aegis.
A documentary about jailed punk band Pussy Riot, who became a household name after their controversial act at Russia’s main cathedral, ‘Pussy Riot—A Punk Prayer’ has won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award in America.
The Russian and British co-production, directed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin, was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, competing against 11 other titles.
The three members of the feminist punk group were arrested after they stormed Christ the Savior Cathedral, in February 2012, and performed a profanity-laden ‘punk prayer.’ The trio was sentenced to two years each in a medium-security prison for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.
The women insisted they never intended to offend people’s religious sensibilities. One of members was released on probation after successfully appealing her conviction.
“I think that one of the things that interested us is why those 40 seconds – what they did when they went into the cathedral – why it became such a perfect storm of everything,” one of the film’s creators, Maxim Pozdorovkin, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Trevi fountain in Rome (AFP Photo / Gabriel Bouys)
One of the best-known symbols of Rome, the Trevi Fountain, will receive a much needed facelift from Italian luxury fashion brand Fendi who are financing the $3,5million restoration of the baroque masterpiece.
The restoration of the fountain, completed in 1762, is due to take 20 months. Rome’s fountains “are there to glorify water, which is the most important thing in life,” Fendi’s creative director Karl Lagerfeld told a press conference.
The Trevi Fountain was featured in an iconic scene in Fellini’s 1960 film La Dolce Vita, starring Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni. It also appeared in Roman Holiday which starred Audrey Hepburn.
Fendi will be the only sponsor of the pricey restoration, which will be done in stages in order not to scare off millions of tourists. A plaque noting Fendi’s contribution will be placed on the landmark once completed.
The Fountain was last restored in 1989. Last summer parts of the stonework from the fountain’s façade started to crumble after being affected by winter weather.
