There truly is no place like home.  Just ask Dorothy Gale from Kansas.  She really knows, and so does her doggie Toto.  She will tell you in person – from the stage of the Palm Canyon Theatre in Palm Springs – but there is a catch. You have to attend a theatre performance to one of the world’s most beloved stories, in order to learn more.

For those people who have been living on another planet for most of the last century, the classic L. Frank Baum story was made into an iconic motion picture starring Judy Garland and a host of movie stars, back in 1939, during Hollywood’s golden years. The movie is a perennial Holiday TV favorite to this day.

The Palm Canyon Theatre, Palm Springs’ Flagship theatre, now brings a splendid theatrical version to its stage with sparkle, verve, and imagination, all under the steady direction of David McLaughlin, and the technical wizardry of J.W. Layne.

For performers of musicals, it doesn’t get much better than the music of Harold Arlen and the lyrics of E.Y. Harburg in order for the singers and actors to shine, and for the audience to tear up.  And thanks to new stage version book by John Kane, that’s exactly what takes place on stage.

This wonderful holiday show stars Chloe Marcotte as Dorothy.  Marcotte is a lovely soprano who will melt your heart with her rendition of “Over the Rainbow”.  And just like Judy Garland, she is an accomplished actor in the bargain.  Her Maria portrayal in “Westside Story” (opposite Anthony Nannini as Tony) last season was most memorable.  She is reunited with Anthony Nannini, once again, in “Oz”, who plays the Scarecrow.   Also, Nannini is the production’s clever and talented choreographer, who fashions the dance numbers for the entire cast – seven in the adult ensemble and the more than thirty children in the Munchkin Land numbers. He’s a real triple threat performer (with a lot of patience).

The additional principal performers who score in delivering solid performances are: Nikki Hock as Aunt Em’ and as Glinda, the good Witch of the North.  If one closes their eyes, one would believe that actress Billie Burke (the original Glinda in the 1939 movie) was indeed singing and acting up on the Palm Canyon stage.  The same feeling can be said of Luke Rainey as the Tin Man, and Erik Bradley (what energy) as the Cowardly Lion, both channeling their movie character actors (Jack Haley and Bert Larh, respectively).

Peter Mins as Professor Marvel and the Great Oz provides the right amount of bluster and faux wisdom in a role he was born to play.  Morgana Corelli is Miss Gultch and the Wicked Witch of the West.  In her stage makeup and boasting a cackle that could shatter glass, she both thrilled and scared a few of the youngsters in the audience in a spot-on performance.

Speaking of the youngsters in the show, the Munchkin kids – ranging in ages from five to 15 – acquitted themselves with honor and distinction.  They all were totally into their various characters with pro-like dedication in following the director’s instructions (I’m sure many parents thought now why don’t they do that at home when I tell them something?).   Ah, the theatre, it’s one of life’s great mysteries.

Although the book is new, the show remains faithful to the movie version.  The special effects seen in the movie are very effectively recreated on the stage by the creative team under the direction of McLaughlin, and resident Scenic Designer J.W. Layne.

I mentioned earlier that this production sparkled with imagination.  In great part it does because of the many vivid costume colors and designs of Se Layne.  The program notes credit six costume assistants.  I’m surprised that it only takes six to accomplish what this crew puts forth every performance.  I am very familiar with the Palm Canyon Theatre’s backstage area.  It’s a miracle that all of the sets and special effects come off as well as they do, considering the limited space with which the crew has to function.  Kudos also, to sound and lighting designer Stuart A. Fable for a tough assignment he makes looks easy.

“The Wizard of Oz” is a delightful Holiday show, which audiences of all ages will enjoy and appreciate.  The production runs through December 16^th.  Tickets and reservations may be obtained by calling 760-323-5123.

Praised & Maligned Medical Marijuana Collective to Celebrate 3rd Anniversary

Riverside’s actions to close the collective is at the California Supreme Court, but they are still going to celebrate and the public is invited

On Saturday, December 15 the Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center, Riverside’s legendary medical marijuana collective, will be celebrating their third anniversary providing patients with safe, reliable and local access to medicinal marijuana. Getting to this point has been a twisted, tortured and tumultuous path that began back in the spring of 2009.

After serving for 18 months on the Palm Springs Medical Marijuana Task Force that made Palm Springs the first, and so far only city in the Inland Empire to enact zoning regulations for medical marijuana collectives, medical marijuana activist and Registered Nurse Lanny Swerdlow turned his attention to the city of Riverside.

Swerdlow’s involvement with the city of Riverside began in January 2008 when he coordinated the opening of the first doctor’s office specializing in the issuance of medical marijuana recommendations in the Inland Empire. At that time there were only a few collectives in the entire Inland Empire and none in the city of Riverside. Like he did in Palm Springs, he wanted to work with city officials to draft an ordinance regulating their operations.

After unsuccessful meetings with elected city officials and being rebuffed by Police Chief Russ Leach, City Attorney Greg Priamos and several Planning Department managers, Swerdlow realized that Riverside did not even want to talk about allowing medical marijuana collectives let alone form a task force similar to one he had served on in Palm Springs.

Fed up with Riverside’s impenetrable wall of opposition, on August 11, 2009 over 100 Inland Empire residents came before the Riverside City Council putting the city on notice that its zoning ordinance which bans medical marijuana collectives is an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of patients under Prop. 215 and SB 420.

According to an August 19, 2009 article in the Press Enterprise, “Swerdlow threw down the gauntlet last week, telling city officials he will open a facility, “and you do not have the right to prevent us from doing so.””

In December, 2009, in defiance of the city’s ban that patients considered illegal under state law, the Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center (IEPHWC) opened as Riverside’s first medical marijuana collective at 647 Main St., a rather non-descript industrial-warehouse zone on the north side of the city. The city responded six months later by filing a lawsuit seeking an injunction to close the collective.

No one could have imagined at the time that this zoning disagreement between medical marijuana patients and the City of Riverside would wind up at the California Supreme Court as the pivotal case that will decide whether cities and counties in California can ban medical marijuana collectives under their zoning ordinances.

Considering the ferocity of the attacks and the expense defending against them, no one also could have imagined that the Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center would still be around to celebrate their 3rd Anniversary on Saturday, December 14.

But they are!

On Saturday, December 15 at 11 a.m., the IEP Health and Wellness Center invites the general public to learn about their facility by joining in on their 3rd Anniversary celebration by attending a special presentation of Swerdlow’s  ground-breaking seminar on the Health and Medical Benefits of Marijuana. After the seminar, Swerdlow will take everyone on escorted tour of the both praised and maligned IEPHWC collective including their pioneering medical marijuana farmers’ market which brings member patients and member cultivators together. After the seminar and tour, attendees can enjoy fresh off the BBQ grill, hamburgers and hot dogs with all the “fixins.”

There is no cost for the seminar or tour and the general public is encouraged to attend and learn about why marijuana is so important for the health and welfare of the community and to see how the IEPHWC complies with state law in legally distributing marijuana to qualified patients. The IEPHWC is located at 647 Main St., Riverside 92501. Additional information can be obtained by calling 951-782-8400.

A warm and delightful Christmas show comes early for audiences of the Geffen Playhouse, one of LA’s prestigious regional theatres.  Journeyman playwright and 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner in Drama, Donald Margulies, the author of such notable plays as “Time Stands Still”, “Collected Stories”, “Brooklyn Boy”, and “Sight Unseen”, among others – all dramas, by the way – now sails into less turbulent waters with “Coney Island Christmas”, a delightful Christmas season show.   With the creative Bart De Lorenzo at the helm of this imaginative, warm and fuzzy-feeling Holiday show, it is sure to please audiences of all stripes and persuasions.

December is a month that places lots of demands on many individuals and families. It’s also a critical month for the retail business, and live theatre, as well.  Theatres all over the country will be mounting various versions of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, Dr. Suess’s “Grinch” stories, and a myriad of Nativity-themed Christmas pageants and productions, not only in theatres, but also in schools across the country.  Which brings us back to “Coney Island Christmas” at the Geffen.  Playwright Margulies’ canon usually deals with Jewish-themed subject matter.  With this play, however, he broadens the story; appealing to a wider audience.

The story begins in Los Angeles in the present as grandmother Shirley Abramowitz  (wonderfully played by Angela Paton), begins to talk to her granddaughter Clara (Grace Kaufman), about her growing up years in Coney Island, Brooklyn.  The story then flashes backward in time to December 1935, where we meet young, eleven year-old Shirley (a confident Isabella Acres), and Shirley’s mother (Annabelle Gurwitch) and her father (Arye Gross).  The Abramowitz’s are European Jewish immigrants in a new country, where the ways and customs of America bump heads with the traditions and customs of the old world they left behind.  As proprietors of a small market, the store is a magnet for shoppers who miss their familiar and traditional favorite food.  The finicky Mrs. Kornbloom (Eileen T’Kaye), for example, never misses an opportunity to kvetch about the prices or the quality.

In secular 1935 America, Christmas is a holiday celebrated in its public schools with Nativity-themed Christmas pageants and religious-themed school plays.  Naturally, Shirley’s school has one as well.  The school’s drama teacher Mr. Hilton (a patient and understanding John Sloan) who has eyes for his young assistant Miss Glace (Lily Holleman), has made a decision to cast Shirley as Jesus Christ, in the school Christmas play.  Shirley is thrilled, however, her strict mother is mortified.  A young Jewish girl playing … Jesus?  Oy Vey…quickly followed by a definite, no way!

Papa, wisely and understandingly played by Gross, makes a secret pact with Shirley.  You can be in the school play, he tells her, as long as it doesn’t interfere with your home life and your chores… but don’t tell your mother.  Between the play rehearsals, and home life, Shirley manages to a point, until that is, when Mama finds out.  Unfortunately for Shirley, it’s on the play’s opening night and Mama forbids Shirley to perform.  Of course Papa intervenes, Shirley performs, and the rest, as they say, is history.

One of the most entertaining aspects of “Coney Island Christmas” are the scenes involving the group of adult actors portraying Shirley’s classmates as children.  The “children ensemble” is absolutely spot-on when it comes to their stage business and mannerisms.  It’s one of the best examples of adult actors portraying self-conscious youngsters performing in a school play that I’ve seen in a long, long, time – even to the nose picking and blank stares at the audience.

The production directed by De Lorenzo, is a show that has great audience appeal, because it’s so well done. De Lorenzo and his creative team, led by Scenic Designer Takeshi Kata, provide the actors with a wonderful space, along with the look and feel of Coney Island in the 30s.  Lighting Designer Lap Chi Chu, paints the stage with a variety of lights and muted shadows, but always has enough lights onstage to compliment the period-perfect costume designs of Ann Closs-Farley.

In the program notes, references are made to the longtime and warm friendship enjoyed by the late founder and producing director of the Geffen Gilbert Cates, and Donald Margulies.  Cates, who was keen on presenting a holiday show at the Geffen, asked Margulies to write a Christmas show for the playhouse.  Margulies, jokingly replied that if he did write one, it will be a Jewish Christmas show, to which Cates replied “perfect”.  Sadly, Cates passed away before the production opened.  In a wonderful gesture, Margulies dedicated the play to his long time friend Cates.  And that dear reader is how “Coney Island Christmas” became the 2012 Geffen Playhouse Christmas show.  It’s an entertaining a most enjoyable evening in the theatre.  Don’t Miss It!  The production runs through December 30, 2012.

New legislation in Washington state went into effect this week that legalizes for the first time in ages the possession of marijuana. Federal law still says otherwise, though, setting up the Justice Department to make some serious determinations.

Even as smoking up became protected by state law in Washington starting Thursday, coast-to-coast prohibition as provided by a long-standing federal ruling remains on the books. For marijuana advocates in the Pacific Northwest, the lifting of the ban is a pretty big victory. That doesn’t mean that the Justice Department has ruled out an intervention, though.

Since voters in Washington and Colorado opted on Election Day to legalize small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, the Department of Justice has been relatively quiet over how it will handle what is likely to become a heated debate regarding states’ rights. In an article published by The New York Times this week, reporter Charlie Savage says senior White House and Justice Department officials are already attempting to tackle how to handle the new marijuana laws, and are amid deliberations right now that will determine when, where and how national law enforcement can intervene.

Savage cites anonymous sources familiar with the discussions in DC, whom he says are considering plans for legal action against the states of Colorado and Washington. Meanwhile this week the Obama administration once again chimed in on the topic, but as with earlier abbreviated statements, the only words out of the nation’s capital forecast an ominous battle likely to brew for some time.

When the results of the legislations up for vote in both states trickled through on the evening of Election Day, the Justice Department dispatched a short statement clarifying the federal classification of marijuana as an illegal substance. This week, the United States attorney for Seattle, WA once again warned that federal law is still on the books.

“In enacting the Controlled Substances Act, Congress determined that marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance,” state attorney Jenny A. Durkan announced in a statement. “Regardless of any changes in state law, including the change that will go into effect on December 6 in Washington State, growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law.”

Additionally, the New York Times quotes Durkan as saying the Justice Department maintains that its“responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged,” meaning federal law enforcement isn’t necessarily interested in adhering to local rules.

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