By Lisa Lyons

I have been a musical theatre fan all my life yet I must be the only person in the country who has never seen a production of “The Fantasticks”. I knew some of the songs (I can’t hear “Try to Remember” without reaching for the tissues), but I had no idea of the plot or previous stagings.

This turned out to be a good thing for the current Pasadena Playhouse production, because I had nothing to compare to their lovely, lyrical version of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s modern day fairy-tale of love, loss and redemption. I knew the late great Jerry Orbach played the narrator and “bandit” El Gallo, but not much more than that.

For those who don’t know, “The Fantasticks” original off-Broadway production ran a total of 42 years and 17,162 performances, making it the world’s longest-running musical. Wisely, veteran director Seema Sueko doesn’t let that history hold her back from creating a revisionist version that works perfectly in 2016.

Loosely based on the play “Les Romanesques” by Edmond Rostand, the story is simple: It’s about a Boy, a Girl, two Fathers and a Wall, as troubadour El Gallo states in his introduction.

It tells the story of two neighboring fathers Bellomy (an endearing, blustery Regi Davis) and Hucklebee (the delightfully pixie-ish Gedde Watanabe) who trick their children, Luisa (played with bravado and beautifully sung by Ashley Park) and Matt (a sweetly winning Conor Guzman), into falling in love by pretending to feud and building a high wall between their houses.

The plan goes swimmingly, with the young couple virtually swooning into each other’s arms, until the fathers overplay their hand by deciding to seal the deal by hiring a slightly shady bandit-for-hire, El Gallo (solid, sensual Philip Anthony Rodriguez), to stage a mock “abduction” of Luisa so Matt can become her knight in shining armor and save the day. However, no good deed goes unpunished as they say, and the outcome is a botched affair that ends with both young lovers disillusioned and angry.

Assisting El Gallo in his masquerade are two veteran theatrical actors who have seen better days. As played by Broadway and TV veteran actor Hal Linden (The Rothschilds, Barney Miller), Henry is an Actor with a capital A who mixes up his Shakesperean roles, but still steals scenes like a pro. It’s wonderful to see Linden back on the stage, his charm and wonderful voice still intact. His hapless sidekick Mortimer, played with gusto and great physical humor, by Amir Talai, enacts his “death scenes” which will have you laughing out loud.

One very important character in the show never speaks, but makes her presence felt – Alyse Rockett as The Mute. She is Ariel to El Gallo’s Prospero, conjuring the magic required to turn simple pieces of fabric and metal into a wall and acting as a silent Greek chorus of one.

Act 1 is full of energetic set ups and memorable songs, including the poignant “Try to Remember” and the lovely ballad “Soon It’s Gonna Rain.” However, in Act 2 things take a darker turn as the two now-separated lovers eagerly set out to explore life outside their own backyards and come face to face with the treachery, evil and duplicity of the world at large. When they reunite, as you know they will, it is with a renewed depth of love and appreciation for their lives and each other. “Without a hurt, the heart is hollow,” sings El Gallo.

There are so many lovely moments in this production, which is staged much differently than previous versions. Instead of a small stage with a ladder, a blanket and few props, Scenic Designer David F. Weiner creates an abandoned theater complete with cobwebs, dripping water pipes and trunks full of old props that the actors use to create their illusions. The simple accompaniment, led by Music Director/Conductor David O, consists of piano and harpist Liesl Erman, enhances the fairy tale quality of the score and choreography by Kitty MacNamee is clever yet simple as befits the story. Costume Designer Shirley Pierson, Lighting Designer Josh Epstein, Sound Designer Joe Huppert and Fight Choreographer Tim Weske complete the outstanding technical team.

This is the first show of the 2016/2017 season, which will be the last for outgoing Artistic Director Sheldon Epps, who is moving on to work his magic in Houston theatre; however, he is passing the torch into the excellent hands of Executive Artistic Director Danny Feldman, who will join the Playhouse family in the next fe.

If you haven’t seen “The Fantasticks”, I highly recommend taking someone you love – a spouse, child or parent – to introduce them to the magic of theatre. If you have seen it, come prepared to re-discover its charm once again. It will call to you, and you must “Follow, follow, follow…”

The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. The performance schedule is Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

“The Fantasticks” plays through October 2.

When the Soviet Union launched their space probe named “Sputnik” into orbit around the earth on October 4, 1957, it was a wake-up call for America signaling that the ‘space race’ between Russia and the United States had begun.

That small, 180 pound metal ball, however launched more than a scientific experimental race for supremacy in the heavens. It inspired generations of young, eager, and gifted American students to view their world differently, encouraging them to dream about what limitless opportunities the event offered for mankind and for true dreamers.

“October Sky” now receiving its West Coast Premiere at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, is based on the 1999 movie of the same name, from a screenplay written by Lewis Colick based on a story by Homer Hickman, Jr.

This sparkling musical, brilliantly directed and choreographed by Rachel Rockwell, features 19 songs from the pen of Michael Mahler and a libretto by Brian Hill and Aaron Thielen that just blows the socks off the audience, thanks to the young energetic 24-member cast/ensemble who bring to life the story of the Hickam family and town folks of the fictional West Virginia coal mining town of Coalwood.

The story, set in 1957, explores the lives of the Hickam family who are steeped in the tradition and culture where pride of family, hard work, and loyalty to their community defines who they are.

John Hickam (Ron Bohmer) and his wife Elsie (Kerry O’Malley) are a family with two sons: Jim Hickam (Liam Quealy), the high school football team captain who is college bound on a scholarship, and younger son Homer, an earnest dreamer whose head is usually in the stars and dreams of building and sending rockets into the heavens, sensationally played by actor/singer/dancer Kyle Selig.

As the musical drama opens, the coal miners are seen descending into the mine singing the haunting song “To the Mine” led by Ken, their union representative and fellow miner, solidly played and sung by Kevyn Morrow. For those not old enough to know what coal miners and their families endured 60 years ago, before John L. Lewis and the union movement secured federal protection and safety rights, one could expect frequent mine disasters along with ‘black lung disease’ as a retirement reward. It was, and still is, a very tough job.

Homer and three of his high school classmates Austyn Myers as O’Dell, Patrick Rooney as Roy Lee, and Connor Russell as Quentin, portray their roles as budding rocketeers with an energy and exuberance that only comes with the confidence of youth. At home, however, Homer finds his father less enthusiastic about his science project with rockets and all that stuff. John, as the mine superintendent, reminds Homer that his destiny lies underground in the mines in the Hickam family tradition and not with rockets in the skies. Elsie Hickam’s secret feelings favor her son’s desire to make a better life for himself above ground has more than merit. It’s what has to take place. She has attended too many miners funerals and she’s determined that Homer will not follow the miner’s path.

Homer and his friends find a champion for their rocketry cause in their high school chemistry and physics teacher Miss Riley, winningly played by Sandra DeNise, who runs interference for the boys with school officials. Through her influence and assistance, Homer and the boys are allowed to build and launch the school-made rockets until they are ready to enter the State science fair, then to on the National levels, which they win.

“October Sky” is an uplifting, feel-good type of play that boasts 19 songs with such numbers as “Look to the Stars”, “We’re Gonna Build a Rocket”, “Stars Shine Down”, “The Man I Met”, and “The Last Kiss Goodbye”, the latter number being especially poignant as sung by the miners’ wives and girlfriends.

Ms. Rockwell, making her Old Globe directing debut, stages her production with intelligence and love of the story line. Her traffic management choices and skills are fluidly and seamlessly executed. With a cast of twenty-four it’s pretty easy to get a little crowded on stage. However, with Scenic Designer Kevin Depinet providing a stunning set and space that puts a coal mine entrance with a descending elevator, a school classroom, a family kitchen, a metal work shop garage, and rocket launching pad exteriors, the challenges of mounting this splendid production are a piece of cake. Big productions require big sets. I remember his visually stunning set design of “Sense and Sensibility” in July of this year.

Large casts make it difficult to list everyone, however in every production there are always stand-outs. In “October Sky” they include Kyle Selig, Ron Bohmer, Kerry O”Malley, Sandra DeNise, Kevin Morrow, Connor Russell, Patrick Rooney, and Austyn Myers.

The Old Globe has few equals when it comes to providing its directors a state-of-the-art technical arsenal from which to choose. I kept waiting to see how Ms. Rockwell and the technical wizards at the Old Globe would convincingly handle the firing of rockets from the stage. I need not have worried… they are flawlessly launched. As a side bar regarding the actual rocket launch in real life by Homer Hickam, the last one soared to over 30,000 feet!

Costume Designer Linda Cho gives that spot-on 1950s look for the young people and the adults. And her grimy, coal-dusted costumes for the miners are appropriately realistic. The lighting design by Japhy Weidman enhances the mood of the miners and highlights the exuberance and athleticism of the young dancer/singer/actors in the interior scenes. The orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin are under the baton of Music Director Charlie Alterman, and those wonderful rocket launch special effects come courtesy of Markus Maurette.

“October Sky” is a splendid musical production that performs at The Old Globe’s Donald and Darlene Shiley Theatre through October 23, 2016. Don’t miss it!

I can’t think of a better way to launch North Coast Repertory Theatre’s 35th Season of live theatre than to present a sophisticated comedy of manners written by A. R. Gurney, one of America’s finest playwrights and a play that is stylishly and deliciously staged by Rosina Reynolds, one of Southern California’s finest directors.

Gurney, is definitely a product that one would call ‘old school’. He was born into a wealthy up-state New York family, who knows whereof he speaks when it comes to telling the story of an upper class, stuff-shirted New England family of privilege who over-react to the newest play that their middle aged writer/publisher/playwright son has written using the family as somewhat unflattering characters.   Gurney is probably best known for this and earlier plays ‘The Dining Room’ and the huge mega- hit play still being produced that is a favorite of America’s over 60 set – ‘Love Letters’.

In ‘The Cocktail Hour’, he hits the vanishing cultural nail of privilege right on the proverbial head. In America of the 50s, 60, early 70s, however, the evening ritual of having a cocktail at the end of the work day (if one worked that is) with one’ spouse’ was the proper way to relax before the cook and maid announced that dinner was ready. Shades of Downton Abbey. In families of privilege where television was considered uncivilized and therefore beneath discussion, this nightly ritual would be where the news of the day, and family gossip would be discussed and digested in a civilized manner, usually presided over by the father as titular head of the family.

In ‘The Cocktail Hour’, Bradley (a terrific J. Michael Flynn) blusters and pontificates over a new play their son John (a solid Chris Petschler) has written. John drops by to get permission from his father Bradley before he publishes it, and his mother Ann (winningly played by Cristina Soria), and his sister Nina (nicely played by Shana Wride), who when she discovers she’s also a character in her brother’s play takes the sting out of her usual put-down retorts, asking John how many lines she has while thumbing through the script trying to count her scenes and words.

Does it have a plot? Bradley keeps asking John, only when John finally says ‘Yes’, then Bradley loses interest in John’s play and begins to chide him by saying you make a perfectly good living as an editor/publisher. Why write plays? Ann, on the other hand keeps asking John to write a book instead of a play. “One gets more lasting pleasure out a book dear” she purrs. During these family dialogue exchanges, the cocktails have been flowing freely and the inevitable recriminations begin to bubble up to the surface. And we’re off to the races. Filled with crackling dialogue, and witty counter-repostes the audience is in for a delightful evening of watching characters one will swear you know and see every day. Remember, we never see ourselves as others see us.

The beauty and enjoyment of this smart comedy ensemble lies in the situations the characters find themselves in along with witty, sharp, and clever dialogue provided by Gurney. Also, plays of this type, flavor, and tone are right in the wheelhouse of Ms. Reynolds. I still remember her gifted direction a couple seasons back of the outstanding production of Sir Noel Coward’s “Fallen Angels”.

Once again, North Coast Repertory Theatre (NCRT) has the dynamic duo of Set Designer Marty Burnett and Lighting Designer Matt Novotny delivering what they do best – quality work. Elisa Benzoni’s costumes give J. Michael Flynn a Charles Osgood look with a snappy bow tie (one doesn’t see bow ties anymore), Sound by Melanie Chen, and Hair and Wig design by Peter Herman, with Props by Andrea Gutierrez, complete the creative team.

Once again Artistic Director David Ellenstein scores with another stellar production. It’s a great way to raise the curtain on NCRT’s 35th

Season. “The Cocktail Hour” performs through October 2, 2016. Don’t miss it.

The language of Shakespeare is transformative and universal in its power to elevate or debase in its dramatic form. In its comedy form it is a delight that explores and exposes the folly of humans and their foibles, especially when the influence of that pesky addictive drug called love comes into play (no pun intended).

In Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labor’s Lost”, currently on stage in the Old Globe’s Lowell Davies Outdoor Festival Theatre, the beauty and enjoyment of the production lies in its language and in the execution of the text under the inspired direction of three-time Tony-winner Kathleen Marshall, who makes her Old Globe directing debut with this production.

The tale centers around young King Ferdinand of Navarre (Jonny Orsini) and his three schoolmate lords: Berowne (Kieran Campion), Longaville (Nathan Whitmer) and Dumaine (Amara James Aja), who vow to embrace their studies and not the young ladies at the suggestion of Ferdinand who requests that he and his lords take an oath to forego all amorous entanglements for three years. But the minute they take the vow and sign the pledge, the Princess of France arrives with her three beautiful attendants. All bets, oaths, and agreements, naturally are now forgotten and off.

Never doubt the power of love when it’s fortified by hefty doses of raging hormones. In that battle the hormones always win. Once in court, as bees to honey, the inevitable courting begins, despite the King’s reminding them of the oath that had each signed. When all meet for the first time natural attractions and selections take over including King Ferdinand for the Princess (Kristen Connolly), Rosaline (Pascale Armand), Maria (Amy Blackman, and Katherine (Talley Beth Desai).

Period comedy is a study in the persuasiveness of romantic love versus the strengths of attraction and hormones. It’s not rocket science to figure out which force usually wins. Actually, they both do.

There are some wonderful supporting-role performances in this production, but with a cast of twenty-two artists, space can’t accommodate listing them all. That being said, however, there are always standouts and they include: Triney Sandoval as the braggart Don Adriano de Amado in a nice high energy comic turn, Greg Hildreth as the sly clown Costard, the possessor of great comedy timing who is an in-the-moment actor, and Makha Mthembu as Jaquenetta the dairy maid girl friend of Costard livens the fleeting on stage comedy moments, and Kevin Cahoon as Boyet, the Princess’ gatekeeper/courtier and Patrick Kerr as the curate Sir Nathaniel both know how to milk a scene for maximum effect. Its great stuff and good fun.

Director Marshall nicely controls the on stage silliness that frothy, light Shakespearean rom-coms deliver to audiences while at the same time providing the actors the opportunity to enjoy themselves. When they have a good time we have a good time.

Director Marshall leads a creative team that has brought their A-Team skill sets to the production. Scenic Designer John Lee Beatty delivers a stunning set design that dominates the stage allowing the actors to perform their magic under a mood-inducing Lighting Design by Jason Lyons (no relation), which allow the beautiful costume designs of Michael Krass to be seen and fully appreciated. The Sound design by Sten Severson along with original music by Peter Golub,is under the baton of musical director Taylor Peckham, also are first rate.

“Love’s Labor’s Lost” is a splendid production to enjoy under the stars in the Globe’s Outdoor Festival Theatre.   The play performs through September 18, 2016.

In a full disclosure confession up front, I have been a fan of Allen Konigsberg, aka Woody Allen, since I saw him perform standup comedy routines in clubs in Chicago, and of course, on TV.

When he moved from standup to TV and film writing, to acting, and directing in the late 60s and 70s, I rarely missed a live comedy gig or a film he was connected with. For me, Woody is the quintessential New York comedy writer/performer and the standard bearer of East Coast humor. He has, let us say, always had a thorny relationship with LA, and West Coast culture, which he claimed never suited his lifestyle. He even passed up accepting one of his three writing/director Oscars at ceremonies held in Hollywood years ago. As an embedded New York playwright Allen, however, had to share the comedy crown with the King of comedy playwriting and movies, the nonpareil Neil Simon, eight years his senior.

Simon was more of a traditional linear writer who turned his life story into countless award-winning plays and movies. Allen was the newbie champion of the nebbish, nerdy, Jewish social misfit of the counter-culture 60s and 70s. His writing was fresh, funny, and resonated big time with a younger society who was enjoying the benefits of the sexual revolution and the freedom to explore every aspect of American life to its fullest.

“Café Society” written and directed by Allen, once again, takes us on a nostalgic journey backward in time to the 1930’s. Gorgeously photographed by Academy Award- winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro who makes the New York romantic sequences a picture-perfect post card truly ‘made for a boy and a girl’, as the lyrics say in Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers’ iconic song tribute to the Big Apple in “I’ll Take Manhattan”.

Although the movie is stacked with solid actors and solid performances along with trenchant Allen dialogue, dripping in self-deprecating zingers, some of which still have the bite of the Woody of old, just seem to be firing on just seven cylinders instead of the traditional eight. When Allen places his story in Europe, for example, the languid pace works, as in “Midnight in Paris” and “To Rome with Lo. But once back in the hustle and bustle of New York and L.A. the film slows down.

Allen is a sucker for romantic love stories. In “Café Society”, there are so many echoes of past Allen films: ‘Hannah and Her Sisters’, “To Rome with Love”, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”, the highly popular and successful “Midnight in Paris”, and now “Café Society”. Allen, at 80, is still relevant when he goes back in time to give us characters with which we can identify.

The story in short, revolves around a young New Yorker, (think Woody Allen in his mid -20’s) Bobby Dorfman, terrifically played by Jesse Eisenberg, Eisenberg has steadily grown as an actor since his “Social Network” days. Now he’s more confident and sure of himself as an actor. And he shines as Bobby, who is tired of working in his father’s Jewelry business and moves to Hollywood in the 1930’s to work for his uncle Phil (Steve Carell) a powerful and well-connected movie agent. He soon falls for Phil’s secretary Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), unaware that she is secretly having an affair with his uncle. Stewart and Eisenberg have worked together in three previous films and their on-screen chemistry is spot-on. Stewart’s ambition and vulnerability as Vonnie, are two character flaws that drive her performance making her interesting to watch on screen. Gone, thankfully, are her “Twilight” saga days.

Steve Carell keeps widening his range in the roles he tackles. His conflicted movie super-agent husband is a case study of infidelity in a middle-age man of power who feels his mortality and seeks to become younger by having a much younger woman as his partner – but not without the guilt pangs of leaving his wife and children in its wake. It’s a finely judged performance.

In time, a disillusioned Bobby returns home to New York to run a nightclub for his gangster brother Ben (Corey Stoll), where he meets and marries a beautiful divorcee Veronica (Blake Lively). Lively is a real stunner and captures the essence of the Hollywood of the 30’s. Despite her beauty and connections in Hollywood, she chooses Bobby to settle down with and raise a family. All is going well with Bobby and Veronika, until one evening when Phil and Vonnie walk into the now successful nightclub (echoes of “Casablanca”, an Allen film fave).

No one knows the New York milieu like Allen except, maybe for Martin Scorsese, when it comes to making movies about it. “Café Society” is vintage Allen replete with a team of technically gifted artists like production designer Santo Loquasto, and costume designer Suzy Benzinger.   However, a note to Allen is in order; At 80 years of age, the narrator’s voice either needs a shot of adrenaline before recording or hire a New York-raised voice-over actor to set the tone for one of the eight million stories in Allen’s ‘Naked City’.

“Café Society” is now playing on screens across the country.

It’s been said that there are only 36 plotlines for even the most brilliant and inspired playwrights to render. The progenitor and genius for English speakers in this regard is Shakespeare.  The master of plot, the conductor and orchestrator of emotions, the person most responsible for inspiring playwrights over the last 400 years.

There are four great tragedies from the pen of Shakespeare that are considered the bedrock of English literature: ‘Hamlet’, ‘King Lear’, “Othello’ and ‘Macbeth’.  All deal with flawed individuals who fall victim to their own ambitions and search for power in all its forms.

San Diego’s venerable Old Globe theatre complex (three venues), launched the 2016 Summer Shakespeare Season in the Lowell Davies Outdoor Festival Theatre with a stunning and powerful portrayal of ‘Macbeth’ by acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) actor Jonathan Cake in the title role. The production also stars Marsha Stephanie Blake as Lady Macbeth. Despite her petite stature this Lady Macbeth is a formidable schemer and partner in crime with her husband as both are driven by the intoxicating and lethal cocktail of ambition and power during the age of the Divine Right of Kings.

Hollywood over the years has glamorized the Middle Age period in history; taking a lot of dramatic license in the process.  In reality life was a harsh existence with a life expectancy of between thirty and fifty years of age. The driven and ambitious had to make their marks early to succeed.  Remember, Alexander the Great was just twenty-one when he sat down and wept because there were no more countries to conquer.

‘Macbeth’, in short, is a story of ambition on steroids, by a man who believes through prophecy, that he is destined to become the King of Scotland. To ensure that the prophecy becomes a reality, Macbeth together with his wife, hatch a plan that includes deceit, betrayal, and murder as a way of obtaining the ultimate adrenaline rush and power trip – becoming the King and Queen of Scotland.

Under the deft direction of Brian Kulick, this ‘Macbeth’ production has been updated to a visual setting more or less around the time of World War I.  However, the language, spirit, and the murderous intrigues that Shakespeare loved so dearly are still present.  It’s a clever way to update the core story that is familiar to all without sacrificing any dramatic elements or story points as conceived by the Bard.

Director Kulick also spices up his vision of ‘Macbeth’ with an outstanding and diverse company of players.  The company boasts twenty-one actors.  Standouts include: Timothy D. Stickney as a strong Banquo, Clifton Duncan as a grieving Macduff, Daniel Petzold as Malcolm, Jerome Preston Bates as Duncan, King of Scotland, Brian Keane as Ross, James Joseph O’Neil as Lennox, Ally Carey as Lady Macduff, Talley Beth Gale as Gentlewoman, and those three troublesome Nurse/Witches; Makha Mthembu, Amy Blackman, and Suzelle Palacios who deal in prophecy, mystery, and paranoia.

It’s a splendid ensemble cast that generates enough energy and on-stage chemistry to light half of San Diego. The potent performance of Ms. Blake and the towering performance of Mr. Cake is just the icing on this blood-soaked Scottish pastry that makes this dark and villainous tale so compelling.  And just as in Emile Zola’s ‘Therese Raquin’, the lovers are haunted by visions of their dead victims that prevent them from enjoying the fruits of their crimes.

The creative team for ‘Macbeth’, led by director Kulick has Scenic Designer Arnulfo Maldonaldo create a large space stage that encompasses a hospital setting, a large dinner party area and strategic spaces for other scenes that move the story along.  The Lighting Designer Jason Lyons (no relation) nicely paints Maldonaldo’s set in nuanced, mood-inducing lights, and Sound Designers Sten Severson and David Thomas supply the appropriate sound effects.

Costume Designer Oana Botze creates beautiful costumes for Lady Macbeth, Lady Macduff, and the other women, however I was struck by the blandness of the male military costumes created by a lot of designers of late.  They all appear to resemble the dark gray look of WW II German soldiers, and I’m perplexed as to why the style appears to be the standard for new designers.  All that is, except for that magnificent Field Marshall coat draping the shoulders of Jerome Preston Bates as King Duncan.  That costume had better be under lock and key every night. It’s a beauty.

‘Macbeth’ is one of Shakespeare’s masterpiece plays that is not mounted very often.  It would a pity to miss it.  This splendid production is performing in the Lowell Davies Outdoor Festival Theatre and runs through July 24, 2016.