No matter how famous one thinks they are it always comes as a shock when they discover that they can no longer perform whatever they did to make them famous in the first place.  The spirit is always willing it’s the aging flesh and vocal cords that hammer home that epiphany in the current production now treading the boards on the Sheryl and Harvey White Stage at the Old Globe in Balboa Park.

Playwright Ronald Harwood’s delightfully charming comedy “Quartet” is playfully and zestfully directed by Richard Seer. The play’s core story of four aging grand opera singers who now reside in an English country home for retired musicians, simply stated, must make a decision: one to get along with one another and two to perform for their fellow residents a concert they promised when they first arrived a year ago.

Harwood’s deliciously sly comedy features four meaty roles for actors of a “certain age”, and those roles are filled by four actors who perform as though they were born for their parts: Old Globe favorite Robert Foxworth plays shy and introverted Reginald Paget, a fussy, classically trained singer, of the old school who bristles at the suggestive shenanigans and randy language of Wilfred Bond, portrayed by Roger Forbes who fancies himself as the retirement home lothario.

Jill Tanner as Cecily Robson is oblivious to the sexual blandishments of Wilfred, mainly because she wears headsets while listening to the music of their old operas every time Wilfred’s randiness gets the better of him.  She is bubbly Miss Optimism, the rest of the time.  Elizabeth Franz portrays Jean Horton, the imperious grand dame of the opera world and the ex-wife of Reggie.  When these “Three Musketeers” learn that Jean will be moving in as a permanent resident, all eyes and attention turn toward Reggie, who refuses to talk about the situation.

Foxworth is a character actor with a wonderful range.  I fondly remember his Henry Drummond portrayal in “Inherit the Wind” at San Diego’s Old Globe, and his performances as Lyman Wyeth in “Other Desert Cities”, at the Taper and again at the Old Globe, among many others.

Roger Forbes makes his Old Globe debut with “Quartet”.  After a distinguished 40 year career performing on stages in England and America, he is more than ready for his Globe debut. I suspect he’s performed a zillion of Alan Ackybourn’s comedies along the way.  His Wilfred Bond portrayal is bawdy but harmless, much like like a favorite lap dog whose bark is worse than his bite (and most of the women residents know it).

Elizabeth Franz who plays the imperious Jean Horton is as regal-looking as one would expect of a Diva of the opera.  Demanding to a fault, even irritating to others, but if one looks a little deeper, one would find a very vulnerable and frightened lady who can’t come to grips with her retirement and thwarts all efforts of help.

The creative team led by director Seer has his A-team working on this production.  Set Design wizard Ralph Funicello places everyone in a proper-looking English retirement home.  The only element missing would be the presence of the late great character actor Joyce Grenfell as the kooky lady in charge of the home.  York Kennedy’s lighting and Christopher R. Walker’s sound design, along with costumes by Charlotte Devaux are first-rate contributors to a solid comedy production that has more than a few poignant messages to deliver along the way.  On leaving the theatre, I overheard two couples saying, “this was so much better than the movie.”  The decision to present the play in the round on the intimate White Stage was a wise choice.

Speculating that 90 percent of the opening night audience is receiving Social Security benefits, I feel safe in saying this comedy is definitely a lock when it comes to appealing to seniors. But I wouldn’t rule out the younger set from enjoying the state of affairs the characters find themselves in.  After all, retirement is a destination we’re heading toward, like it or not.

“Quartet” runs through August 24, 2014.

Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum’s current West Coast premiere production of “Buyer & Cellar” is just a few miles from Dodger Stadium, home to those lovable lugs and expats from Brooklyn who are now in their fifty-fifth year of being the LA Dodgers   It just seems appropriate to stretch the baseball metaphor of hitting one out of the park when it comes to presenting a solid, smash-hit, one man production cleverly written by Jonathan Tolins, crisply directed by Stephen Brackett, and sensationally performed by stage and television actor Michel Urie, of “Ugly Betty” fame.

The wacky 90 minute satire, is pure fiction when it comes to the narrative, however, celebrity super-stars like Barbra Streisand often become the subjects of faux stories, books and plays.  Also, female super-stars like Garland and Middler, and Streisand have always had a love affair following within the gay community. The sly, tongue-in-cheek, and, at times, touching “Buyer and Cellar” comedy is careful to avoid having Jonathan Tolins become the playwright who exposes the here-to-fore unknown idiosyncrasies of “Babs”, in a mean-spirited way.  Quite the contrary. But I doubt that many non-Hollywood people knew of her Malibu basement personal shopping mall, complete with a frozen yogurt machine.

Tolins’ pays his homage to Streisand throughout in a tender way but doesn’t let her off the hook completely. Yes, I know Tolins’ basic premise is farfetched as if we are staring through Alice’s looking glass but it does allow us to peek into the lifestyle, however briefly of one of America’s truly “rich and famous” people.  “Remember, this is the part that’s real,” Urie says with an insouciant wink to the audience before he slips into character.

Actor Urie, is charged with the tricky job of juggling the publicly known facts about Ms. Streisand, and the made up stuff that he and playwright Tolins, along with director Brackett, display on the Taper’s stage.  Tolins creates the character of Alex More, a gay unemployed actor, who in an effort to just pay his rent, accepts a job as caretaker of Barbra’s underground mall where the customer is always right.  As its only customer Ms. Streisand is usually right, but not always.  Alex and Ms. Streisand have a quite a gabfest covering a variety of subjects.

Urie is out there all alone for ninety laugh-filled minutes talking to Barry, his gay screenwriter boyfriend, to staff members of the Streisand household, including James Brolin and La Streisand herself.  It’s a nimble, true, tour-de-force performance by a very talented actor.

Director Brackett and his creative team have focused the on-stage action to take place on a spare stage and set designed by Andrew Boyce, with lighting by designer Eric Southern.  The video projection design by Alex Koch, and sound design by Stowe Nelson, plus the single costume, jeans and shirt and Reeboks worn by Urie, is designed Jessica Pabst.  All are all solid efforts.

“Buyer and Cellar” performs at The Mark Taper Forum through August 17, 2014.

Some stories are timeless.  The Chinese discovered the secret of telling good stories 2000 years before the Bard was born and both cultures are still thriving when it comes to telling and re-telling stories.

“The Orphan of Zhao”, at La Jolla Playholuse, is receiving an intelligent and intense revival of the classic Chinese legend that has roots in the fourth century BC.  The production is sensitively and deftly directed by Carey Perloff, and boasts onstage musical accompaniment in the form of a sensuously played cello by Jessica Ivry, and a series of violin interludes, performed by cast member Philip Estrera, that lends a nice ancient Chinese theatre quality to the overall production.

The legend/story is as old as mankind itself.  It’s an epic tale of self-sacrifice and revenge.  In one of China’s many political coups over the centuries, a country doctor is forced to sacrifice his own son in order to save the last heir of a noble and massacred clan. Program notes allude to the story being Hamlet-like in its telling.   It reminded me more of the Abraham/Isaac biblical passage: Genesis 22.5, where God orders Abraham to sacrifice his son as a way of testing his love and devotion.

Regardless of its origin, “Zhao” was the first Chinese play to be translated in the western world nearly 300 years ago and has inspired countless operas, plays, and movies. This production introduces a new adaptation from the pen of writer/author James Fenton.

One can only imagine the thoughts, fears, and decisions that must have gone racing through the corridors of the mind of country doctor Chen Ying, a retainer to the Royal family, when he is informed that he must sacrifice his own newborn son in order to save the Princess’ son.

Like all theatre, the dark side of human nature within its various cultures hold the most audience fascination when it comes to dramatic moments, and Chinese history is no exception.  The play is replete with enough murders, suicides, and mayhem to satisfy even the darkest of hearts and “Zhao” definitely has its share.

Director Perloff is fortunate to have a talented and dedicated cast to deliver her vision of the ancient legend/story with style and clarity. The anchor of the company is the acclaimed stage, TV and movie actor BD Wong (who can forget his Tony winning performance in ‘M. Butterfly’).  His poignant and insightful portrayal as Chen Ying is the glue that holds the rest of the company to his high professional standards.  Stan Egi as Tu’an Gu; Orville Mendoza as Wei Jiang; Brian Rivera as Han Jue; Julyana Soelistyo as Chen Ying’s wife; and Sab Shimono as Gongsun Chujiu also standout in solid support.

The creative team led by director Carey Perloff – the Artistic Director of San Francisco’s acclaimed American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) for twenty years – features a dominating 30 foot high, “Jungle-Jim like” scaffolding set piece designed by Daniel Ostling that some of the actors must navigate during the performance.  Lighting director Lap Chi Chu provides many mood enhancing shadows and shafts of light necessary to heighten the on-stage tension.  I still remember how he successfully met the challenge of lighting an all glass- walled set at the Geffen’s “Death of the Author” production earlier this year.  The costumes designed by Lind Cho are spot-on, and sound by Jake Rodriguez, with original music by Musical Director Byron Au Yong are first rate.

“The Orphan of Zhao” runs through August 3, 2014, at the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

Some stories are timeless.  The Chinese discovered the secret of telling good stories 2000 years before the Bard was born and both cultures are still thriving when it comes to telling and re-telling stories.

“The Orphan of Zhao”, at La Jolla Playholuse, is receiving an intelligent and intense revival of the classic Chinese legend that has roots in the fourth century BC.  The production is sensitively and deftly directed by Carey Perloff, and boasts onstage musical accompaniment in the form of a sensuously played cello by Jessica Ivry, and a series of violin interludes, performed by cast member Philip Estrera, that lends a nice ancient Chinese theatre quality to the overall production.

The legend/story is as old as mankind itself.  It’s an epic tale of self-sacrifice and revenge.  In one of China’s many political coups over the centuries, a country doctor is forced to sacrifice his own son in order to save the last heir of a noble and massacred clan. Program notes allude to the story being Hamlet-like in its telling.   It reminded me more of the Abraham/Isaac biblical passage: Genesis 22.5, where God orders Abraham to sacrifice his son as a way of testing his love and devotion.

Regardless of its origin, “Zhao” was the first Chinese play to be translated in the western world nearly 300 years ago and has inspired countless operas, plays, and movies. This production introduces a new adaptation from the pen of writer/author James Fenton.

One can only imagine the thoughts, fears, and decisions that must have gone racing through the corridors of the mind of country doctor Chen Ying, a retainer to the Royal family, when he is informed that he must sacrifice his own newborn son in order to save the Princess’ son.

Like all theatre, the dark side of human nature within its various cultures hold the most audience fascination when it comes to dramatic moments, and Chinese history is no exception.  The play is replete with enough murders, suicides, and mayhem to satisfy even the darkest of hearts and “Zhao” definitely has its share.

Director Perloff is fortunate to have a talented and dedicated cast to deliver her vision of the ancient legend/story with style and clarity. The anchor of the company is the acclaimed stage, TV and movie actor BD Wong (who can forget his Tony winning performance in ‘M. Butterfly’).  His poignant and insightful portrayal as Chen Ying is the glue that holds the rest of the company to his high professional standards.  Stan Egi as Tu’an Gu; Orville Mendoza as Wei Jiang; Brian Rivera as Han Jue; Julyana Soelistyo as Chen Ying’s wife; and Sab Shimono as Gongsun Chujiu also standout in solid support.

The creative team led by director Carey Perloff – the Artistic Director of San Francisco’s acclaimed American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) for twenty years – features a dominating 30 foot high, “Jungle-Jim like” scaffolding set piece designed by Daniel Ostling that some of the actors must navigate during the performance.  Lighting director Lap Chi Chu provides many mood enhancing shadows and shafts of light necessary to heighten the on-stage tension.  I still remember how he successfully met the challenge of lighting an all glass- walled set at the Geffen’s “Death of the Author” production earlier this year.  The costumes designed by Lind Cho are spot-on, and sound by Jake Rodriguez, with original music by Musical Director Byron Au Yong are first rate.

“The Orphan of Zhao” runs through August 3, 2014, at the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

When a new medical treatment promises to eradicate pain, a doctor and his student play out an epic battle between altruism and ambition (think big bucks).  Based on the true story of the discovery of ether as an anesthetic in 1846, “Ether Dome” written by Elizabeth Egloff, and directed by Michael Wilson, is a fascinating subject for exploration regarding the subject of pain and the quest of medicine to conquer a condition that has afflicted human beings since the dawn of time.

The premise of the play sounded quite intriguing.  I have often wondered how patients of dentists and surgeons tolerated the pain and the infections over the centuries especially in the case of wartime amputations of limbs. The truth is they didn’t tolerate the pain or infections.   Mainly they died.  If one wanted to live a long life in those days, one gave surgeons and dentists a wide berth, and avoided serving in the military, and hoped for the best.  Medicine, thankfully, has come a long way in the last 150 years or so.
Playwright Egloff’s thrust of the story she wants to tell, however, comes across as more didactic than theatrical in its execution.   As the story unfolds one gets a sense that the plotline and narrative components would be better served as a movie rather than as a play.

The play opens in 1846 Hartford, Connecticut, in the dental surgery of Dr. Horace Wells (Michael Bakkensen) where a tooth extraction procedure is taking place.  Watching scenes of actors performing grisly medical operations and crude procedures, and all that goes with it – reacting to pain and trauma – in the 19th century was existentially disturbing for some in the 21st century audience (gasps punctuated theses scenes depending on one’s tolerance for witnessing pain, blood and gore).

Apparently, entrepreneurs are immune to such vicissitudes of life.  When William Morton (Tom Patterson), a former student of Dr. Wells learn about out the strange power and effect of nitrous oxide – laughing gas – at a sideshow event they both attended, each reach a conclusion but not the same one. Wells is altruistic in his quest to relieve pain for society.  Morton sees a commercial application to the medical breakthrough (the seeds and beginning of the healthcare industry are thus born).

Then, as now, money and security are foremost.  Any new business needs capital to begin and to grow.  The staid and stuffy cream of Boston’s medical community are skeptical to all new medical discoveries unless it comes with a Bostonian accent. With such high stake ventures, come patent protections, trust and ownership issues that vie with fame and future riches.

“Boston Brahmin”, Dr. John Collins Warren (Richard Hoxie) founder and Head of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Professor of Anatomy and Surgery is cautious about new miracle treatments.  Dr. Charles Jackson (William Youmans) is a bright chemist and a former student of Warren’s who is secretly working on a new compound to suppress pain later to become known as ether.  These four characters become the focus of Egloff’s play; and how each clash in egos and goals as they interact with one another in their day to day professional worlds.

Compelling as the subject matter may be, the action of the piece comes off as sluggish; periodically engaging the audience, only later to “anesthetize” them (pun intended) by having the story wander to Paris, France, New York City, and then back to Boston.

The stealing of ideas, patents, business betrayals of one another’s trust, and behaving badly in general on the part of business is certainly not new material for examination by playwrights. One will never run out material of this type as long as there is one breath left in commerce and banking.  This time it’s Big Pharma, next time it will be Big Finance and the beat goes on.

Speaking technically, director Wilson’s creative team provides first rate support.  The costumes designed by David C. Woolard are spot on for the period, and Lighting by David Lander with sound design by John Gromada and Alex Neuman also make solid contributions.
“Ether Dome” runs at the La Jolla Playhouse, Weiss Forum, through August 10, 2014.

The 14th Annual Starkey Hearing Gala was held in St Paul MN on Sunday July 20th. Local Residents Pat and Joe Manhart were there with their daughter Tani Austin and her husband Bill Austin, Founders of the Starkey Hearing Foundation. Bill Austin is the CEO and Founder of Starkey Hearing Technologies. Bill Austin has a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.

This is the 14th annual So The World May Hear Gala. This year honorary speaker was former Secretary of State and former First Lady, Hillary Clinton. Clinton presented Archbishop Desmond Tutu with the 2014 honoree award for his Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. Tutu is regarded as an elder world statesman and leading moral voice.

Forest Whitaker was a 2014 honoree for the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative. Other honorees were Humanitarian Sandi Young, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho who founded Sentebale and four members of The Parents Circle-Families Forum. Master of Ceremonies was our own local Norm Crosby. Entertainers were John Legend, Lee Greenwood, Rob Thomas, Jessica Sanchez and Sammy Hagar.

Dozens of sports celebrities from the MLB, NBA and NFL from teams around the U.S. came to support this cause. NaVorro Bowman, Tyrone Carter, Chris Dollman, Carl Eller, Too Tall Jones, Adrian Peterson, Dave Winfield to name a few. Many celebrities also walked the Red Carpet to raise awareness for this effort. Actors Patrick Warburton, Verne Troyer <Mini-Me>, Quinton Aaron and James Denton were a few among this group that also included a Senator, Mayor, Heads of State and other leaders in the country.

The Starkey Hearing Foundation uses hearing to improve the lives of young and old in need around the world. They have held missions in over 100 countries and give 100,000 hearing aids away each year. The Foundations goal is to donate one million hearing aids this decade. Bill and Tani Austin founded this organization with the help of donors, sponsors, partners and many volunteers to accomplish this goal.