By Carolyn W.Gaines

Desert Hot Springs young alternative-rock group called; ‘The BrosQuitos’ visited the Desert Star Weekly Newspaper at their new location on Palm Drive. We wanted to interview the band to deliver a good message for the youth of today. They are on the move, and they are followed on the social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and becoming quickly known international, while touring and recording cd’s for major record labels.

Let’s Chat with the BrosQuitos:
I asked the Lead Guitarist, Vocalist James a 12th grader a few questions:
How Long has your band ‘The BrosQuitos’ been together? He said,”One-Year and a Half.”
I asked James: How much time does your band share practicing weekly? He said,” The BrosQuitos practice three Days a week until we feel like each song is perfect.
Do all of your band members like to practice, James? Yes, even our neighbors like to listen to ‘The BrosQuitos’ Rehearsals.”

How did BrosQuitos Band come together? He said,”by performing at Desert Hot Springs High School Talent Show.’
The BrosQuitos won 1st place. The DHSHS students went crazy.”
How long have you been playing the guitar, James? He said, “Five-Years.”
Who is your guitar idol? He said,”George Harrison.”
Have you all been gigging? James said,” We try to have a show every week. The BosQuitos Band has performed at Pappy and Harriet’s and the Hard-Rock Café.” We seek all the gigs we can get”

I asked the Second lead guitarist named Hamilton a few Questions?
How long have you been playing the guitar? He said,” Two to Three Years.”
What made you began playing the guitar? He said,”Playing at the Church.”
Who is your guitar idol? He said,”George Harrison.”
Where did you learn how to read music? Hamilton said,” In the School Band.”

Few Questions to Max the Base Player.
How long have you been playing the Base? He said,” For 5 years, plus I have been in the School Band for seven years. I do know how to read music.”
Who is your Base player idol? He said,”Jaco Pastorious a legend.”

My Questions to Oscar the BrosQuitos Rhythm guitar player.
How long have you been playing the guitar? He said, “One to Two years and I learned really fast how to play the guitar.”
What do you like about the Band? He said,”I always like music, and the Band played at the Homecoming, and James contact me via Facebook to play in the BrosQuitos Band, I immediately said, “Yes!”

My last questions went to Hugo the Drummer; he is the time and beat keeper for the band.
How many years have you been playing the drums? He said,” Four years.”
Who is your Drummer idol? He said, “Benny Thompson, who is a world-class drummer.”
Do you like to practice? Hugo said,”Yes, It’s like a mini-concert? He smiles.”
Have you all gone into the studio, yet? His answer, “Yes, and we recorded our first CD in an hour to save money on studio time.”
What are the names of your Hit Songs? Hugo said,” Limelight, Leaving Me at Night, Break Time, Let’s Go See, and we have a new Single out called, “See Right Through.”
Can you tell all the teenagers what kind of music the BrosQuitos play? He said,”It’s called Modern Alternative, Indie, Rock.”

I asked, The BrosQuitos Band’s Classmate Clarissa a 12th grader at Desert Hot Springs High School.

Have you ever seen The BroQuitos Band Perform?
She said, “I have seen them perform live for the first time. They were outstanding. I thought it was amazing to see them because those are people. I go to school with and to see them reach this far. It’s incredible.”

What do you think of The BrosQuitos Band for the future?
She said, ”I believe they will get far. I mean everyone at school supports and is helping them out in any way possible.
I think they have a great shot on becoming successful in the long run. I’m glad to see them achieve their dreams.”

Finally, what message can you all send to the teenagers around the World, in the United States, Desert Hot Springs, and Europe?
The BrosQuitos said,” If you are not willing to practice, this is not or might not be the thing for you, and you are not committed to your craft. Our Desert Hot Springs Middle School Band Teacher Mr.Garry Cobles taught all of us perfect practice makes perfect.”

Many are called to become piano virtuosos, but few, very few, are chosen.  Fortunately for audiences of LA’s Geffen Playhouse, Hershey Felder likes the intimate confines of the Gil Cates theatre.

Hershey Felder, the brilliant and creative concert pianist also had theatrical ambitions to go along with his life as a world class entertainer. Fifteen years ago, Felder created a series of bio-concerts which he labeled his “Composers Sonata.”  He researched the lives of history’s great composers, selected the pieces that were to be played on his gleaming grand piano, and then assumed the identity of the composer, morphing into and becoming the actual character, all the while dazzling his audience with amazing anecdotes about his characters, as well as, displaying his technical skill as a world class concert pianist.

“Monsieur Chopin” (2005), became the first in the sonata series, followed by “Franz List in Musik”, then “Beethoven, As I Knew Him”(2008), “George Gershwin Alone”, then “Leonard Bernstein: Maestro” (2010) and now “Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin”, in 2014.

Felder is uncanny in capturing the persona of each composer.   He convinces the audience not only through acting, and piano performance and song, but in strategically placed projections that help sweep the audience along, with photos, newspaper headlines, and clippings that punctuate Felder’s performances.  It may not be unique now, but fifteen years ago when he embraced his new technique, it blew audiences away.

In addition to his “Composers Sonata”, Felder performed his “Abe Lincoln’s Piano” show at the Geffen this January.  Also, Felder was the co-creator/writer and director of classical pianist Mona Golabeck’s one woman tribute to her mother Lisa Jura (also a classical pianist), with “The Pianist of Willesden Lane” performed on the Geffen’s Audry Skirball Kenis stage in 2012.

In “Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin”, directed by Trevor Hay, now on the boards of the Gil Cates Main stage theatre,  the genius of Berlin, is not only his longevity (he lived to be 101 years-old), but the prodigious output of his canon.  We’re talking over one thousand songs over his career, many becoming major hits, which made him a household legend before he turned thirty.

Twenty-five of his songs went to the top of the music charts and are still re-recorded to this day.  His music forms a great part of what we call today “The Great American Songbook”.  Irving Berlin penned scores for nineteen Broadway shows and eighteen Hollywood films.  His most famous song “White Christmas”, crooned by Bing Crosby, is the most recorded and best-selling song of all time.

George Gershwin, a contemporary of Berlin, called him “the greatest songwriter that ever lived.”  High praise from a pretty fair composer himself.  The great Jerome Kern concluded that “Irving Berlin has no place in American music – he is American music.”  High praise, indeed, from the Pantheon of American composers.

The technical credits for this splendid production featuring the piano artistry and performance of Felder and insightful direction of Trevor Hay, benefit from the mood-enhancing lighting by designer Julian Pike, and the projection designs by Andrew Wilder.

Hershey Felder’s loving tribute to one of America’s musical legends is performed without an intermission, in 110 minutes, which fly by all too quickly but will remain with you for years.  “Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin” runs through January 4, 2015.

The La Jolla Playhouse, one of the country’s leading Tony Award Regional Theatres, is a recognized leader in the art of transferring its productions from La Jolla to Broadway, and they have a genuine, bona fide candidate with the Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz, Peter Parnell production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”.
The libretto by Parnell is based on the 1831 Victor Hugo epic novel (it seems he only wrote epic novels) should not be confused with the 1996 Disney animated movie.  That movie was for the kiddies.

This magnificent production now on stage at the Mandell Weiss Theatre, is for grown- ups.  Under the inspired direction of Scott Schwartz (son of Stephen Schwartz) the production soars both literally and figuratively.  The astonishing set design by Alexander Dodge is breathtaking in its attention to detail in recreating a 30 foot-tall Notre Dame Cathedral for the actors to perform their magic, complete with gigantic bells and ringing ropes, choir stalls, and street scenes of 1482 Paris.  When one walks into the Weiss auditorium it becomes immediately apparent that everyone is in for a very special evening of theatre.

The story revolves around Quasimodo, the deformed hunchbacked Notre Dame Cathedral bell-ringer (Julian Decker the night I attended), the beautiful gypsy girl Esmerelda (Ciara Renee), the obsessively enthralled and conflicted Dom Claude Frollo, the archdeacon of Notre Dame Cathedral (a superb and mesmerizing Patrick Page), who falls under the spell of Esmeralda and the young handsome Captain of the Cathedral Guard, Phoebus de Martin (Andrew Samonsky) who also has fallen for the young gypsy beauty.

Victor Hugo’s poignant tale allows us to peer into the lives and the emotions of society’s outcasts during the Middle Ages: the poor, the disenfranchised, people of color; those with no hope or chance of escaping their destinies in their search of a better life in the Paris of 1482. The character of Clopin, King of the Gypsies, is symbolic and represents the “outcasts”  Erik Liberman’s sly, wry, and inventive gypsy king portrayal shines in the lively “Topsy/Turvy” number in Act I, and in Act II with “The Court of Miracles” number.

Hugo’s story of religious men in positions of power taking advantage of women have been the basis for many Hollywood films and plays over the last eighty-years From “Rain” (1932) with Joan Crawford as Sadie Thompson, to Rita Hayworth’s Miss Sadie Thompson” (1953), both playing alluring social outcasts to hypocritical religious men and pillars of society. In “Elmer Gantry” Shirley Jones won a Best Supporting Oscar playing a prostitute who brings down the slick talking tent revivalist/preacher Burt Lancaster, who also won the Best Lead Actor Oscar for his portrayal.    The appeal of stories that feature men and women grappling with their personal morality and the concepts of good and evil is a favorite subject matter for playwrights and screenwriters to this day.  To date, that dynamic hasn’t been resolved but it sure does make for compelling theatre.

The masterful staging and direction of Scott Schwartz, who combines new orchestrations for this production from Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz’s 1996 original score, is blessed not only with a solid cast of supporting players and ensemble performers, but benefits from the local San Diego area SACRA/PROFANA choir whose singing and Gregorian chanting enriches all of the musical aspects of this impressive production.

When the production opens inside the Cathedral, the company of players, singers and choir fill the Weiss Theatre with a glorious sound that shakes the building as a cast of twenty-five plus performers fill the stage in full throated song with “The Bells of Notre Dame” number.   What a splendid way to introduce your cast to the audience.

Leading the cast of principal performers is Julian Decker as Quasimodo.  His strong tenor voice is all the more outstanding as it soars out of the deformed body which he twists and turns in his portrayal of a deprived from birth individual who has lived his entire life inside the great cathedral; hidden from the outside world.   One can feel his pain and his yearning, with his poignant rendition of “Out There”. Ciara Renee’s Esmeralda performance speaks volumes with her beautiful soprano rendition of “God Help the Outcasts”. As Lincoln once said, “God must dearly love poor people because he made so many of them”.  The Middle-Ages was not a compassionate time period to be alive if one was not part of the upper classes.

Anchoring this splendid production is the performance of Patrick Page as Dom Claude Frollo. Page is widely recognized as one of America’s leading classic actors and is an Artist in Residence at San Diego’s Old Globe.  His deep Bass-Baritone voice grabs the audience, and never lets go. His “Sanctuary” duet with Decker is haunting and spellbinding.  The “Hellfire” number with Esmeralda and the congregation is spectacular with the burning of Esmeralda who has been declared a witch by Page. His conflicted archdeacon passes sentence on her while still secretly desiring her.

The creative team led by Schwartz delivers a spectacular set design by the aforementioned Alexander Dodge, with mood inducing lighting by Howell Binkley, along with a powerful sound design by Gareth Owen.  The costumes of Alejo Vietti provide the ring of authenticity for the period.  Special mention goes to the Music Supervision/Arranger Michael Kosarin, Music Director Brent-Alan Huffman, and Orchestrator Michael Starobin.  All the technical elements are first rate.

Under the Artistic Directorship of Chris Ashley, the playhouse is, once again, well positioned to send another of Ashley’s selections east to Broadway in search of yet another Tony win.

“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” runs at the La Jolla Playhouse in the Mandell Weiss Theatre through December 14, 2014.

If you’re old enough to remember the old “Carry On” series of British movie farces of the 1960’s and 70’s (more than 30 plus films) and the more recent nuttiness of the Monty Python TV shows, then you’re going to love the current production now on the boards of the Mark Taper Forum.

“What the Butler Saw” written by English playwright and ‘infant terrible’ Joe Orton, is classic English farce performed with stiff upper lip by a cast of clueless characters that looked as if they just stepped out of a West End theatre production to find themselves on the stage of the Mark Taper Forum, bewildered as ever, but supremely confident in the correctness of their decisions.

Orton was a star-crossed performer/playwright that enjoyed brief success on the British stage before an early and tragic death took him at age 34. For three years in the early 1960’s he penned 10 plays of varying quality. “Entertaining Mr. Sloane” and “Loot”, two of his earlier efforts were popular but his most successful play was “What the Butler Saw”.

Directed by John Tillinger with flair and style, the improbable story revolves around Dr. Prentice, a London psychiatrist played by Charles Shaughnessy who runs a private medical clinic during the 1960’s. Prentice has a penchant for seducing his pretty female patients. As the play opens, Prentice is interviewing perky and cute Geraldine Barclay (Sarah Manton) who has applied for the position of the doctor’s secretary. During the interview, Prentice convinces Geraldine that it’s perfectly proper for him to conduct a complete medical examination as well the employment interview, and asks her to undress. Just as he begins the faux medical exam, his wife Mrs. Prentice enters the room and he hastily covers up his activity telling Geraldine to hide behind the medical curtain.

Mrs. Prentice (Frances Barber), however, has her own problems and is being blackmailed for her sexual indiscretion by Nicholas Beckett (Angus McEwan), and she offers the position of the clinic secretary to her husband, which ads further confusion, including Nicholas and Geraldine dressing as the opposite sex. Are you still with me to this point? Good. It’s a British farce, remember? But I digress.

Dr. Prentice’s clinic is then faced with a government inspection. The inspection is conducted by Doctor Rance (a delightfully clueless Paxton Whitehead), a product of the old boy, fuzzy-thinking network, who reveals that the chaos and odd situations going on in the clinic will make for interesting case-study entries in his new book “The final chapters are coming together very nicely” he says, “incest, buggery, outrageous women, and strange love cults catering to depraved appetites” rubbing his hands together in gleeful anticipation of publishing day.

In most British farces, the police constabulary is somehow always involved in the plot. It’s a staple of the genre becoming the comedy icing on top of the farce genre cake that’s offered to the audience. The convention allows one Sergeant Match (yes that’s his name) played with ferocious authenticity and commitment by Rod McLachlan to burst through the clinic’s door in search of suspects and clues to shenanigans going on at the clinic, whereby he immediately begins interrogating everyone in the room. The dialogue is delivered at warp speed, along with impeccably timed pauses by this splendid ensemble cast of farceurs. It’s the stuff and silliness that made the Monty Python comedy group famous.

One of the character traits I admire most in the English culture is their ability to laugh at themselves as a people. This manifests itself mainly in their comedies. Alas, we Americans on the other hand, never seem to understand parody, satire, or jokes about our country or our idiosyncrasies. Hey America, it’s really okay and even healthy to poke our collective fingers into our culture’s eyes from time to time.

The technical credits under the watchful eye of director Tillinger and his creative team: scenic designer James Noone, Costume designer Laurie Churba Kohn. Lighting designers Ken Billington and John McKernon, sound designer John Gromada are all first rate.

“What the Butler Saw” runs at the Mark Taper Forum through December 21, 2014.

“Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche”, written by Evan Linder and Andrew Hobgood, and cleverly directed by Michael Shaw is a difficult property to label. Is it a drama? Definitely Not! Is it a comedy? Definitely Yes! And, it’s also a satire with elements of farce thrown into the mix for good measure, and what an intriguing title for a play written by two men for five women.

The story of five self-proclaimed lesbians, who are attending the Annual Quiche Breakfast meeting of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein, is set in 1956. It’s a period in America’s past that only those old enough to remember the Russia vs. America cold war and the A-bomb scare and paranoia that ruled the hearts and minds of the American public can appreciate. Sounds pretty frightening doesn’t it? Well, in the hands of the ensemble cast led by a radiant Yo Younger, all that underlying fear is turned into a squealing comedy/farce about Quiche and “the egg”.

It’s really not that important to understand what the characters are saying, it’s more rewarding to see and enjoy what the actors are doing on-stage (although it would be nice if the squealing could come down a notch). There is a wink to the audience here, as well as direct dialogue to the audience during the show along with double-takes, and includes an over-the-top moment by Phylicia Mason during one of the scenes. Suffice it to say Kristine Water as Wren the Events Chairwoman; Adino Lawson as Vern the Building and Grounds Chairwoman; Phylicia Mason as Ginny the group secretary; and the aforementioned Yo Younger as the Society President, stay in the moment, despite all the on-stage silliness. If they believe it. We believe it too. I have never attended a meeting of the Susan B, Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein (if there even is such a group), however, if I do, I doubt I’ll find those ladies as lively as the members on stage at the Pearl McManus theatre in Palm Springs.

The technical team for this production led by Producer/Sound designer Clark Dugger; Set designer J.W. Layne; Lighting designer Phil Murphy; and Costume designer Joyce Jenkins, who produced colorful eye-popping costumes right out of the 1950’s is first rate. I almost expected to see a cameo appearance by Doris Day, complete with Pill Box hat.

“5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche” runs through November 23, 2014 at the Pearl McManus Theatre, Palm Springs, CA. Call the Box Office at 760-322-0179 for reservations and ticket information.