Upcoming Shows

Upcoming Shows

Well apparently the theater gods of Brecht and Shakespeare decided that Ionescopade was enough theater for me for two weeks, cause I got sick with a gnarly head cold, and thus didn't go out to see a show last weekend. But I didn't want to totally lag on my TheaterPulseLA duties, so I decided to compile a short list of upcoming shows that look interesting to me. I probably won't be able to see everything on this list, but I wanted to get the word out there, and encourage you all to see these shows.

• The Miss Julie Dream Project - I must admit that I have a good friend in the cast of this production, so I am a little biased in my excitement for it. I will say that I find the concept of the play very interesting, as it explores ideas from two of August Strindberg's most notable plays, "Miss Julie" and "Dream Play." "The Miss Julie Dream Project" is a collaboration of playwrights from Fell Swoop Playwrights, a group that strives to provide its members with support and opportunity from other playwrights. The reviews of the play are quite good so far, and I hope to be there this coming Wednesday.                                            For more info, check out http://fellswoopplaywrights.org. 

• The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) - Since I've started seeing so much theater, I've had friends, even ones who don't know much about plays or theater, start coming with me. They are now looking for new shows to see, and suggesting plays that I might enjoy and blog about. One of my friends was really excited about this show, "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)," a show that condenses Shakespeare's entire canon into just over 97 minutes. It's been around since the late 80's, and I've heard that it's some of the most creative and hilarious theater out there. The reviews on this are positive as well, but it closes this weekend and I don't think I will be able to make it to the show.                                                                                                                                         For more info, check out http://www.santamonicarep.org.

• A Midsummer Saturday Night's Fever Dream - I live in the Valley area of the good ole LA, and I drive through Toluca Lake a lot. I love the small town feel of the area, and the warm community that lives there. There's also a couple theaters there, along the main drag of Riverside Dr, one of them being the large and slightly intimidating Falcon Theater. Founded by the ever charming Gary Marshall, the Falcon Theater produces some really interesting works, especially the mash ups of classical theater plays with current pop-culture genres and movies. And as you can see by their current production, they're mashing up the classical comedy by the Bard, with the excess of the disco era. Something like this really fascinates me, and I wouldn't mind taking a stroll down Riverside to catch this show before it closes July 7.                                                                                                                   For more info, check out  http://www.falcontheatre.com.

• Perennial - If you walk a little further east down Riverside Dr, you will see an adorable theater on the right, the Sidewalk Studio Theater, ready for your patronage, and currently showing "Perennial." I heard about this show through several actor friends of mine, each raving about the performances of the actors. The show is an exploration of love and finding oneself through the stories of two couples. One couple, who's relationship is fresh, new and exciting, is compared to the other who's relationship is established and sometime monotonously routine. This show runs through July 6.                                                                                               For more info, check out http://perennial.brownpapertickets.com.

And note that we are in the midst of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, so there is an abundance of interesting, different and modern pieces to be seen. While not all of it is high quality per se, it's going to be different than what's produced at other times of the year here in LA. Check out more info about HFF here, and read this really interesting article about the festival from a professional reviewers point of view here. 

"Ionescopade" at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble

Ionescopade

  

After World War 2, European citizens grappled with how to rebuild their lives and regain a sense of normalcy and also still understand the terrible atrocities of the Holocaust and the Great Purge. How could people do such terrible things to other people? Modern Literature and Art began to question human morality and the purpose of existence. Theater, also, sought to represent this new shift in sensibilities. In particular, the Theater of the Absurd used the stage to address human futility and meaninglessness.

Eugene Ionesco was a notable playwright of Theater of the Absurd, and he only wrote about a dozen plays in the latter part of his life. Much of his work focused not on traditional storytelling (i.e. character development and a plot) but on metaphors and cyclical conversations between one-dimensional characters. I had the privilege of being in one of his pieces, “The Lesson,” and I enjoyed the challenge of bringing a one-dimensional character to life. His work left an impression on me, and thus I was excited to see The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s presentation of “Ionescopade.”

Robert Allan Ackerman’s concept of “Ionesocopade” takes bits of Ionesco’s best-known plays and poems and couples them with vaudevillian style dance, music, and comic bits, revolving around the ideas of existence, fulfillment, and absurdity. There isn’t a story or main character, but simply a group of actors playing different roles from different iconic plays, outlining ideas and exploring philosophical thoughts, all while being entirely farcical and absurd.

Directed and choreographed by William Castellino, “Ionescopade” is a group of sketches and songs, beautifully performed by a talented group of seven. Castellino does a great job of utilizing the colorful set (designed by David Potts) and creating different play spaces all around the stage, even using the wings and the aisles as entrances. The talented band, which consisted of just a piano, drums, and reeds, was upstage center, and was as much of a part of the show as the actors were.

Alan Abelew, as The Writer, wanders throughout the scenes, writing his characters and watching them act out their parts for him. The Writer is silent throughout the show, merely observing and sometimes encouraging his characters to follow his storylines. Abelew does a tremendous job, keeping the audience’s attention without his voice, and even adeptly using magic to transition us from scene to scene. I really enjoyed his simplicity of movement, and the fact that he trusted his body to tell the story. In a space like that of the Odyssey, where the house is small, and relatively close to the actors, huge movements and exaggerated facial features are not necessary. It was delightful to watch Abelew's efficient and effective work.

Tom Lowe, who played several characters throughout the show, equally blew me away. From his wonderful singing voice, to his effortless dancing, Lowe is a wonderful performer. He was equally believable as the handsome lounge singer, the little boy Bobby Watson, and the vaudeville-style comic. His passion for performing just poured out of him. He reminded me a lot of Patrick Swayze, a strong yet vulnerable actor. Every time he was on stage, he just grabbed my attention, and I was excited to watch his sketches and short pieces.

The numerous sketches and play-lettes that make up “Ionescopade” vary in theme and style, so I bet many audience members connected with some and not with others. Personally, I really enjoyed the short play Voyage, a story of two lovers as they discuss the happenings to the body as we turn into ash after our deaths. Regardless of what we do on this earth, we all die. And after our bodies are lowered into the earth, we will eventually turn into dirt.

Wipe out Games was another notable play-lette for me, as it hinged on the idea of a group of people chatting, and they die, over the top, one by one. After the first person’s death, everyone is shocked and scared, and then angry, turning on one another, accusing the other of killing. By the end of the sketch, one of the characters notices that there are only two of them left, and that death is no longer shocking to them. They’ve become used to the concept of death. And after another one dies, the final character embraces the idea that death is inevitable and unavoidable, and of course, she dies.

My favorite of the little plays was called The Leader, a piece with an announcer, who spots the leader off in the distance during a rally in the city. Through the minutes long piece, the actors run throughout the stage, out the back aisles, through the front door, off the stage at the back, all running and searching to get a glimpse of, and hopefully interact with, the leader. the announcer guides the group of citizens, and stops them every once in awhile, and describes the scene he sees in the distance: The leader hugging children, shaking hands, eating a bite of soup etc. And finally, it happens, the leader appears on stage, and the citizens and the announcer stand agog as the leader (a puppet strung from the ceiling and manipulated by a puppeteer all in black) stands at attention on stage left. But the leader has no head, and one of the citizens notices that, and tells the others. The announcer scoffs, and responds that it shouldn’t matter because “[The Leader’s] got genius!” I loved the underlying message of the piece, and think it still has political resonance today.

Again, I’m reminded that writings from many years ago, like those seen throughout “Ionescopade,” still resonate in our current society. Ionesco wrote during a post World War II era, and now we live in a post 9-11 world. The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble recognizes our current world’s issue with paranoia and identity, along with a divided, overly partisan political landscape.  They used the works of a 20^th century artist to find 21^st century significance.  And in this, they created a timely, thoughtful, but most importantly, entertaining production. 

The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s production of Ionescopade 

 runs Fridays at Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm through August 11 with some Wednesday performances 

at the Odyssey Theatre at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., 

West Los Angeles, CA 90025. 

Call (310) 477 – 2055 for more information, 

and visit The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble at www.odysseytheatre.com.

"The Matchmaker" by Thornton Wilder at the Actors Co-op

The Matchmaker

Seeing theater in big theater cities like New York, London and Los Angeles can be a scary experience. Los Angeles itself has hundreds of shows a year to choose from, and so much theater is produced, you are bound to wander into the audience of a terrible show from time to time. So how do you choose between Show A and Show B on a Friday night? One way is to look for the classics that have stood the test of time.

Last Friday night, I finally saw a classic: “The Matchmaker” by the amazing Thornton Wilder. Although he is most known for “Our Town,” and “The Skin of Our Teeth,” for which he won a Pulitzer, Wilder wrote many more critically acclaimed plays. And he is considered to be one of the first modern-esque playwrights since he broke away from many theater conventions throughout his writing.

“The Matchmaker” was produced by the Actors Co-op, and based on their upcoming season, they focus on well-known classic pieces of theater. I was really excited to see a show that I knew I would enjoy, due to the exemplary writing of Wilder.  “The Matchmaker” is about an old rich man named Horace Vandergelder (played by Dimitri Christy) who wants to marry again. He is set up on a date in New York by a charismatic widow, Mrs. Dolly Levi (played by Lori Berg), who actually wants to marry Vandergelder herself. Meanwhile, Vandergelder’s two employees decide to go to New York for a little vacation (against their boss’s wishes), and end up meeting two women and take them out on a night on the town. Many hijinks ensue, but it all works out in the end, with the old man and the beautiful matchmaker deciding to marry. The play is wonderfully written and plotted, almost to the extent it would be a challenge to make it not succeed.

While the production was a little uneven in places, I was really pleased to have seen great character actors making great choices. I especially loved Jeff Fazakerley, who played one of Vandergelder’s employees Cornelius Hackl. Fazakerly is a pleasure to watch in this production. He was perfectly cast, and had great comedic timing and command with the language. I remember just laughing the moment he walked on stage, because he was so specific with his walk, his voice, and his demeanor. Such a perfectly composed nervous energy that fit the character of Cornelius Hackl, a man who had never taken a day to himself. And when he finally does, he falls in love with a woman who appreciates his sincerity.

Another actor that I really enjoyed was Lori Berg. Based on her resume and her presence, she is a seasoned professional, and a wonderful woman to helm a show like this one. She was big when necessary, while also being appropriately vulnerable to show her character’s desire to live her life to the fullest. While this character could be deemed unlikable due to her conniving and lying, Berg did a great job bringing the audience onto her side, showing that her heart was genuine.

The team at the Actor’s Co-op was talented, especially the designers of the show. The relatively large stage was set as a wooden paneled room designed by Stephen Gifford, which easily changed between the different rooms featured in the play based on the furniture within it. The director, Heather Chesley, used the space well, and created some great physical comedic bits that needed the extra square footage to facilitate. A really unconventional choice made by the director that I loved was using the foot of the stage for action to distract from the scene changes. She used the actors to continue their characters story, as they moved from the first house to New York, etc etc. And at one point in the show, Cornelius and his cohort, Barnaby, get kidnapped offstage (it is only mentioned in the script), and Chesley actually showed this little scene to us during a set change. What a creative use of the stage, and an amazing way to distract from the choreographed chaos upstage!

The ultimate theme of the play, as told multiple times by characters breaking the fourth wall, is getting out and enjoying life. I find it very interesting that that subject, which is a big part of writing and social commentary today, was being told to Americans post World War II. Even then Wilder recognized the importance of an active mind, of getting out and talking to people, of actually getting your hands dirty by doing and living. And that was a society before technology that all by eliminates the need for face-to-face contact. Even then, artists and philosophers were encouraging humanity to get out, see the world, and do something with their lives. Much like the dying art of live theater, I worry that the art of conversation in person is slowly dying. Technology should be used in moderation, in conjunction with face-to-face meetings with friends, or quality time with family. But how exciting to be reminded that truly good and influential art, is good and influential for many decades beyond it’s inception. And thanks to the Actor’s Co-op production, I could be encouraged to live my life a little fuller by a play they produced, written over 50 years ago.

The Actor’s Co-Op Theater Company’s production of The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 pm through June 16 at the David Schall Theatre at 1760 N Gower St., Los Angeles, CA 90028. Call (323) 462 – 8460 for more information, and visit the Actors Co-op online at www.actorsco-op.org.

"The Great Gatsby" written by F. Scott Fitzgerland, directed by Baz Luhrmann

The Great Gatsby

Due to work and other social obligations, this last week was crazy for me, and I was unable to see a theater show, which did make me sad. But I am excited to blog about my thoughts on a different type of artistic experience I had: The Great Gatsby. Within the last week, I read the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald and watched the Baz Luhrmann directed film. And while the film is not perfect, I thought that it was a beautiful homage to the book.

I spent a lot of this past week considering Gatsby, and the themes of the story. The process of reading the book during the lead up to the movie kept so much of the story at the forefront of my mind that I kept building up my expectations for the film. It is amazing how something written so long ago can still have such poignant themes in today’s American society. And it’s amazing that one of the premier American novels by a premiere American writer is still so controversial and relevant. It’s themes the pursuit of wealth, love, sex, happiness, without regard to those around you, continue to plague American society today. Luhrmann’s task to create a film of this beloved story is doomed from the start, since the source material is so well regarded and so well loved by professors, critics and readers alike. Not everyone will like his interpretation and many will say he failed at capturing the themes Fitzgerald attempted to convey. And yet some (including myself) will say it’s a suitable version of the story.

The main failure of the film in my eyes was to justify our narrator’s narration of the story of his friend Jay Gatsby. From the start, we see Nick Carraway at an asylum, disheveled and unable to live life due to the instances that happened to him while in New York (and specifically surrounding his relationship with Gatsby). This is not a part of the novel. The novel merely begins with Nick telling us about his life, and ultimately his time with his friend Gatsby. But the movie starts at the asylum, and checks back in with Nick Carraway as he tells his story (first orally and then through a typewriter) to his doctor. And it ends with him putting the final touches on his new novel “The Great Gatsby.” We as a viewer are constantly reminded that a man who may not be a trustworthy narrator is telling this story. (And it is oddly similar in tone, color, and composition to shots of Ewen McGregor as Christian in one of Luhrmann’s other notable film, “Moulin Rouge”). This device is unnecessary and takes away from the powerful storytelling of the rest of the film.

The best parts of film version of “The Great Gatsby” revolve around Leonardo DiCaprio himself. This isn’t the first time the actor was paired with Baz Luhrmann, as they worked together on “Romeo and Juliet.” He plays Gatsby, and he does a beautiful job. He performance is perfection, and the moment he is on screen, the movie really gets interesting. Gatsby is a complicated character, a man who must be loved by both women and men, and must be very confident and appropriately insecure. I was moved by DiCaprio’s vulnerability. There is a lot of mythos around Leonardo DiCaprio himself, similar in many ways to Jay Gatsby. They are wealthy men who are both intensely private. And there isn’t much known about DiCaprio’s day to day life, or his relationships, and I think in many ways, he was able to show a boyish, romantic side of him, not really seen since he was a young actor in James Cameron’s “Titanic”.

Another part of Luhrmann’s film that really succeeds, is his method of creating a mood. He is an over the top director, and his film of  “The Great Gatsby” can be appropriately described as such. He truly captured the images I’d imagined while reading about the wild parties at the Gatsby household, from the saturated colors of women’s dresses, to the loud music pumping through guests’ ears. And all the excess and gaudiness of the film slowly fades as we move along the story, and Luhrmann adeptly pulls back his fantastical style to show the changing attitude of Gatsby once Daisy is in his life. The second half of the movie is so calm, simple, and respectful of the subject matter it’s been dealt. It even remains eerily calm at Gatsby’s death. 

Symbolically, the loss of Gatsby is Fitzgerald commenting on the loss of the American dream. How the dream is rooted in misguided hopes, and how even if the dream is attained, it is hollow, not what was expected. Much of literature and TV and film deal with America’s pursuit for success and happiness. And much of it discusses the pitfalls that come when these hopes are rooted in desires fueled by humanity’s greed. The message hasn’t changed in over one hundred years, and yet, humanity hasn’t changed either. Every day I hear about another greedy choice made by someone attempting to get ahead in life. It saddens me. Humanity is so focused on work and money, success and fame. It ruins our empathy for others and our relationships.

“There are only the pursued, the pursuing, 

the busy and the tired.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald “The Great Gatsby”