The terrific comedy production “The 39 Steps”, brilliantly directed by Ken Parks; produced and presented by Coyote StageWorks, of Palm Springs, and The Norris Theatre of Palos Verdes, CA, is often referred to as hilarious, zany, and an a inspired collision of comedy and parody at its finest.  Newspaper ads often bill the show as “Hitchcock meets Monty Python” wherever it plays, and rightly so.  The stage production owes it genesis to the 1935 British spy-thriller movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock that starred Robert Donat as Richard Hannay and Madeleine Carroll as Pamela.

When the current stage version of “The 39 Steps”, written by Patrick Barlow, opened on Broadway in 2005 following its West End run, no one could have foreseen its popularity and acceptance as a blockbuster parody/spoof.  The Broadway show ran for 771 performances.  I saw it in 2009 and was blown away by the sheer audacity and brilliance of its high concept story and play script.

The production, then as now, features just four actors:  One plays the lead role of Richard Hanny (the Robert Donat role) and one female actor plays the Madeleine Carroll part, plus two additional female roles.  The other two male actors portray the remaining 100 plus characters in a tour de force of split-second timing, and jaw dropping performances worthy of Chaplin and Keaton in their heyday.  It boggles the mind to see their efforts carried off so cleverly and so inventively.  It’s a production that is blessed with a talented and highly creative ensemble cast that continually amazes the audience with one hilarious scene after another; all the while being technically faithful to the movie and its core story.

So then, who are these fabulous actors who are breathing such life into their roles on the stage of the Annenberg Theatre, in Palm Springs?  Let’s start with Jeffery Cannata as Hannay, the handsome, dashing, visitor from Canada who is wrongly accused of murder and is on the run from Scotland Yard.  He must avoid capture and find a master spy somewhere in Scotland who is planning to escape to Germany with stolen plans for a secret weapon.  Sounds pretty thin plot-wise but in Cannata’s talented hands it’s all just a piece of cake. Can he and will he save the day, foil the spies and win the girl? You bet he will, and he does it with style, wry wit, and grace.

Lovely Karen Jean Olds plays Annabella a Marlene Dietrich-like German woman in the opening scenes, then Margaret, a Scottish lady who befriends Hannay as he escapes his German pursuers in the Highlands, and finally as Pamela, (the Madeleine Carroll role) the young woman handcuffed to Hannay for half of the play.   Olds is the possessor of wonderful comedy timing skills and a displays a specialty for farce.  As Pamela, she also steals Hannay’s heart in the bargain, lucky fellow.

Louis Lotorto as Clown # One, is a veritable gold mine of accents and characterizations.  English, Scottish, German.  Men and women, you name it, he plays them all and he does it with lightning-like speed just as he does with his costume changes, sometime playing two different characters in the same scene.  Don’t ask how he does it.  Just enjoy what can only be appreciated by seeing it.  It’s not accomplished with smoke and mirrors. It’s just sheer talent that gets the job done.

Kenny Landmon as Clown # Two, is an actor with the comedy and farce skills of Lotorto, with the exception that he is a head taller, but just as accomplished in the accent department, and he too plays both men and women roles.  The on-stage energy generated by Landmon and Lotorto is enough to light the entire Coachella Valley.

I had the opportunity to chat with the cast following the opening night performance.  Both Lotorto and Landmon both confessed to drinking a large bottle of Gatorade during the intermission at each performance as a way of restoring the fluids and energy that drains them in Act One and prepares them for the madcap antics of Act Two.

Behind every great production is a director.  They are individuals with the talent, skill, experience, and a personal vision of how best to bring the many disparate theatrical elements together that every show requires.  It’s magic time when the actors are in synch with the director, and when that happens audiences are treated to a memorable evening in the theatre.  “The 39 Steps” is fortunate to have Ken Parks helming this splendid production.  The evening is chock-full of his clever and inspired directorial touches.  And the audience roars its approval with howls of laughter throughout giving the cast a much deserved, standing ovation at the curtain call.

In the technical department the creative team led by Parks, benefits from the Set Design of James W. Gruessing, Jr; Phil Murphy’s skillful lighting plot; the clever sound design of Chris Warren Murry; Wardrobe Mistress Chaneen McCurdy, and her two dressers: DeLane Marianowits and Shari White (one can only imagine the world-wind of activity that takes place backstage at every performance).  And finally, Stage Manager Chris Warren Murry who keeps everything in order, and makes sure that no one misses an entrance amid the flurry of backstage activity.  It’s an impressive effort.

Coyote StageWorks, has been voted Best Live Theatre in the Coachella Valley by Desert Magazine two years running.  “The 39 Steps” runs at the Annenberg Theatre through March 9th.  Don’t Miss It.  Call the box office at 760-325-4490 for tickets and information.

Ernest Thompson’s bucolic and sentimental play “On Golden Pond” is almost bullet proof, but it still requires actors with talent, and a director with a personal vision in order to resonate with audiences.  The St. Joseph’s Players, of Yucca Valley, are fortunate to have both in this winning ensemble production.

Rebecca Havely, as Artistic Director of a new and vital theatre serving audiences of the hi-desert, fulfilled her dream of a theatrical group in the hi-desert with the founding the St. Joseph’s Players.  Her first two productions establish and strengthen the new theatre’s budding reputation of presenting excellent work, especially with her loving and tender direction of  ”On Golden Pond”, by Ernest Thompson.

The story in short, revolves around an aging couple, Norman Thayer (Lloyd Steel in a wonderfully nuanced performance) and his wife Ethel (Sue Kelly in another fine turn), who spend each summer at their cottage on a lake called Golden Pond. Their daughter Chelsea (Sadie Johannsson), who lives in California, is planning to visit them and introduce her new fiancé to Norman and Ethel.  Chelsea has always been somewhat estranged from her cantankerous father with the result being that their relationship has always been one of bickering and one-upsmanship, on the part of Norman over the years.

Chelsea introduces them to her dentist fiancé Bill (Ben Bees) and his young 13 year-old son Billy (Trevor Carpenter).  Also, she asks her parents to permit Billy to stay with them while she and Bill, Sr. spend some time to themselves on a vacation in Europe.  Billy is annoyed with the thought of being left with elderly strangers with no friends nearby, and nothing to do.  Rural Maine is miles apart in distance and culture from California. Additionally, he resents Norman’s off-putting remarks and abrupt manner.  But eventually, he comes to enjoy his Golden Pond experiences with the Thayer’s.

Chelsea and Bill return from their European vacation to find that Norman has bonded with Billy via fishing.  Chelsea becomes a little envious of the fact that Norman and Bill’s young son have come to appreciate one another in a way Norman never did with her.  Chelsea’s childhood friend Charlie the mailman (Ben Sasnett), who always had a bit of a crush on her, still delivers the mail and stops by to chat of the old days over a cup of coffee with her and Norman and Ethel.  Jannane Turner plays the business-like rural telephone exchange operator that Norman loves to bug about the telephone service.

The performances are affecting, reality-based, and poignant.  Lloyd Steel, an actor with a resume as long as your arm brings a freshness and professionalism to his Norman portrayal (one of his best).  The on-stage chemistry between Steel and Sue Kelly (also a pro actor of many years standing) is a delight to watch.  She keeps Norman on his toes.

Sadie Johannsson as Chelsea delivers a nicely nuanced and controlled emotional performance, blending comedy and reality in her scenes with Steel and Kelly.  Ben Bees,  brings his trained actor’s demeanor to the stage.  His scenes with Steel are a study in “on-stage discomfort”; especially when he asks for permission to sleep in the same bedroom with Chelsea.  Young Trevor Carpenter is a real find.  Most young actors lack the self-confidence he displays in his scenes with Steel.  Ben Sasnett as Charlie the mailman brings a genuine homespun charm to his performance.

The night I attended, the audience just lapped up every line and situation, filling the cozy 56-seat theatre with howls of laughter.  A great deal of the credit for this “family values” production being as successful as it is belongs to Desert Theatre League (DTL) award winning director Rebecca Havely, whose sharp eye filled the stage with props, emotions, and action with tender loving care. In the traffic management department, Havely’s functional set design includes a rustic home, a pier and wharf, and an unseen lake which comes alive in the audience’s imagination every time we hear the haunting sounds of the loons.  It’s quite a directorial coup.

“On Golden Pond” performs Saturday evenings at 7 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm through March 16th.

When it comes to the plays of Christopher Durang one thing one can count on is, that he isn’t going to be predictable, old school, or conservative in the traditional sense by a long shot.  Another thing one can rely on regarding Durang, is his penchant for gleefully poking his playwright fingers into the eyes of main stream America.  Just ask the Catholic Church who is always a potential target in Durang’s cross hairs.

Known for his absurd, and brilliant parodies, plus his out-of-the-box thinking in such plays as “Beyond Therapy”; “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You”; “Miss Witherspoon”; and “For Whom The Southern Bell Tolls” (a witty parody of Tennessee Williams’ iconic drama “The Glass Menagerie”), make his plays favorites with actors.  Actors in Durang plays can go over-the-top without fear.  In fact he encourages it if the actors feel so inclined.  As an actor himself, he’s simpatico when that urge to soar comes on.

Which brings us to the wildly zany current LA Mark Taper Forum production of “Vanya and Sonia Masha and Spike”.  Deftly directed by David Hyde Pierce (who also starred on Broadway in the 2013 Tony Award-winning show as Vanya), the Taper production stars a terrific ensemble cast that includes: Shalita Grant as Cassandra and Kristine Nielsen as Sonia, (holdovers from the Broadway production; lucky for LA audiences); the inspired casting selection of Christine Ebersole as Masha; veteran Mark Blum as Vanya; David Hull as Spike and Liesel Allen Yeager as Nina, both making their Center Theatre Group, Mark Taper Forum debuts.

The story in short, revolves two middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia (their parents were Chekhov fanatics) who share a home in Bucks County, PA, where they do nothing but continually wail, bicker, and complain about the circumstances of their very Chekhovian-like lives.  Suddenly, their movie star sister Masha drops in unexpectedly with her hunky, hot, young boy-toy Spike in tow, informing them that she’s selling the house.  The news of this announcement freaks out Vanya and Sonia who are not rocks of stability to begin with.  What will happen to us, they moan to Masha.  She’s tired of paying all of their bills to keep a house she rarely visits available just for them so she comforts them with a “you’ll think of something” zinger

Also, in this comedy mashup of Chekhovian- named characters are the wired and sassy Cassandra, the maid who claims she can predict the future, and a pretty, young aspiring actress named Nina, whose presence drives Masha up the wall.  Are we peeking into a Snow White/Evil Queen competition in reverse here?  Hmmm.

Durang, freely borrows characters and plotlines from Chekhov’s plays, then cleverly remixes and reinserts them into his highly entertaining comedy tale with the result being it’s one of the best ensemble casts to tread LA theatre boards in quite awhile. Within the ensemble, Durang and director Pierce allow each character a protracted comedy monologue that leaves the audience breathless, roaring with laughter, and wanting more.

As with most Durang plays, expect the unexpected, and simply let the good times roll.  The actors go over-the-top at times, but always with impeccable timing and with the blessing of director David Hyde Pierce, an actor himself and a person with impeccable comedy timing.  Timing is a gift.  It’s practically impossible to teach.  One either has it, or one doesn’t.  Lucky for us, these actors have it.

Pierce and his creative team really deliver the goods, as well, in this solidly performed production.  The set design by David Korins places us right into the family’s rustic country home in Bucks County, PA.  Lighting Designer David Weiner paints the stage with mood-enhancing lighting designs, and the costume of Gabriel Berry perfectly fit each character.

Fans of one of theatre’s gifted playwrights of the absurd and the outrageous will have a field day with “Vanya and Sonia Masha and Spike” at LA’s Mark Taper Forum.  The production runs through March 9, 2014.

It ‘s amazing how much emotional wallop can be packed into 18 minutes of creative and powerful filmmaking. The evidence, for example, is on screen at the ten-day, 24th Annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival in La Jolla, CA.

The unique film “Shoes”, written and directed by Ukrainian-born Costa Fam, is one of the fifteen ‘short films’ in the festival that is included in the Joyce Forum special section.  The Joyce Forum, founded by San Diego patroness of the arts Joyce Axelroad, is a platform exclusively for the short film format.  Short films employ all of the elements and technical skills required of full-length feature films, except that they must say and show what needs to be accomplished in a “shortened” time frame – usually under one hour.  It’s a creative, precise, and highly disciplined format within the motion picture genre, which, by the way, is expressly suited for today’s attention-span challenged younger audiences.

The story of the film “Shoes” is cleverly told without dialogue or seeing the faces of the actors.  This unique film approach immediately engages the viewer; drawing them deeper into the story that director Fam wants to tell.  “Shoes” is a powerful, yet tenderly crafted movie, that traces a pair of red shoes from their purchase by a young woman just beginning to enjoy the pleasures and dreams that life has to offer.  It follows her through her courtship, marriage, childbirth, and the rearing of her children, and ultimately, to the ovens of Auschwitz.

The musical score that underpins every frame of the film beautifully and emotionally composed by Egor Romanenko (director Fam’s nephew), is a major component in the film.  If one parses the on-screen images to the musical score, where each character is represented its own musical instrument or instruments, it becomes an easy way of following the on-screen, non-dialogue action.

For example: the light notes of the flute represent the young couple protagonists.  The heavy-handed low notes of the piano coupled with the bass drum, represent the evil villains – the Nazis and all that they imply.  The music the other instruments play, perfectly integrate the feelings and the emotions of all the characters.  It’s a mini primer on how effective and necessary music is to motion picture filmmaking.

Before the screening began, the audience was treated to a live performance of the film’s score by the 50- piece San Diego Chamber Orchestra under the baton, of Dr. Angela Yeung; Professor of Music, at University of San Diego.  She outlined in detail the role of each instrument and how it interacts with the screen images; thus enriching the overall motion picture performance of the film the audience was about to see.

The screening was followed by a Q & A session with director Costa Fam, with simultaneous translation from Russian to English by his wife Irina, a Russian born graduate of the University of San Diego.  Fam, admitted that, “every time I see “Shoes”, I see a different aspect of my film.” A question from the audience asked how is the audience to interpret the last scene where an elderly shoeless man is seen walking alone toward the gas chamber?  “I purposely left the ending to be one of ambiguity. It’s up to the viewer to read whatever he or she wants to read into the ending.” he responded.

He praised nephew-composer Romanenko for a brilliant musical score, and spoke of a new project that is related to the film, one in which, he is hopeful that one day a copy of this film will become a permanent addition in Holocaust museums all over the world.
If that project comes to fruition, it would truly underscore the oath and the resolve that “Never Again” embodies.