OLLIE at ASU ~ Phoenix Theatre Series

 

Spotlight on

La Cage Aux Folles:A Little More Mascara!

Lecture and backstage "behind the scenes" visit

 
 The best part of turning 50 years old last July is now I am able to take courses with OLLIE at ASU.  When I saw they were offering as part of their Cultural Exploration Series this Spring a course with the Phoenix Theatre for an in-depth and exclusive look at their professional production of La Cage Aux Folles I was so excited.  Not only do I love live theatre, but I am one who likes to study-up on the productions I see beforehand.   So this course was perfect for me, even though I have seen La Cage twice before, the first time in New York City in June of 1985 with the original Albin, George Hearn, and Van Johnson playing Georges.  I'll blog more about that next month.

Today was the first day of this two day course and Dr. Jeffery Kennedy, ASU West's musical theatre scholar presented a lecture on the history of La Cage along with the importance and effect of La Cage and the "drag musical" on American musical theatre both past and present.  Then Zoni Award Winner Michael J. Eddy gave an insightful lecture with a backstage look at the set designing, lighting and costuming of La Cage.  Then Phoenix Theatre's Director of Production, Pasha Yamotahari talked about the casting process as well as how a theatre goes about getting a license to do a show...all very interesting. 

Next month is day two of this course where it's all put together with another lecture by Pasha Yamotahari and then a full theatre production of La Cage Aux Folles.  I can't wait!

Dr. Jeffery Kennedy speaking today at the Phoenix Theatre. 

You can see the back of my head in this picture.

 

 



Ballet Arizona ~ Romeo and Juliet

On Sunday evening I saw the last performance of Romeo and Juliet presented by Ballet Arizona.  I love the Ballet, especially when I know the story, and I don't need to be able to hear in order to understand what is going on.  Hubby came with me for this one.  As much as I like going to things by myself, some things are better shared.

Circus Vargas

On Saturday afternoon I went to see Circus Vargas.  I loved the authentic old-time circus...under the Big Top, and especially with no animal acts in the show.  Well, there were some cute bunnies in the show, but they were stuffed animals thankfully. 

This was a pure Artist Date...me and my inner child.  I did not invite anyone to go with me to the circus.  My inner child had a GREAT time even though I did not buy her any popcorn or cotton candy.

The Scottsdale Philharmonic

 

 After seeing The Elephant Man at Desert Stages Theatre on Sunday afternoon I made a beeline over to Saguaro High School to listen for the very first time to The Scottsdale Philharmonic.  First off I was shocked at how nice and how large Saguaro High School's auditorium is...they even had a balcony section.  Anyway, what a nice way to end a great weekend...listening to music.  I will definitely be going back to hear more concerts.

 

I had a wonderful weekend...looking at artist's artwork at art festivals, listening to beautiful voices singing in a musical, watching great acting in a play, then hearing musicians making beautiful music in a concert.  Obviously all these people LOVE what they do, and it showed.

The Elephant Man @ Desert Stages Theatre

Saturday I saw one of the last performances of Sunset Boulevard at Desert Stages Theatre, but on Sunday afternoon I saw one of the first performances of The Elephant Man.  I saw this play in August of 1980 at the Blackstone Theatre in Chicago with David Bowie playing John Merrick, the Elephant Man.  So I knew going into seeing this play once again they don't use prosthetic make-up on the actor playing John Merrick.  They show you on screen pictures of the real John Merrick, so you know the extent of his extreme deformity, and they explain how his deformity caused his physical limitations.  Then it's up to an incredible actor to carry off this deformity without the help of any prosthetic make-up, and keep the audience believing they are seeing in front of them a disfigured body with many physical limitations.  Not an easy task, but actor Jimmy Shoffman really made you feel you were looking at the Elephant Man.  He did a marvelous job as well as the other members of the cast.   BRAVO!

On a side note:  I'm not sure, but I think Michelle Hoffman, Drama Critic for the Arizona Republic was sitting next to me at this performance.  If it was not her, then some woman was taking notes throughout the play for whatever reason.

Sunset Boulevard @ Desert Stages Theatre

 

 I had the most entertaining weekend.  I went to two art festivals, a play, a concert and the fabulous musical Sunset Boulevard on Saturday afternoon at Desert Stages Theatre. Every time I see one of their musicals I always say it was my favorite until I see their next musical, then that one is my favorite.  Their productions just keep getting better and better.  The last musical I saw there was Into the Woods which was phenomenal thanks in part to all the amazing singers in the cast.  Luckily, many of those sensational singers were also in Sunset Boulevard, plus some outstanding newbies as well.  The whole cast really shined...they were all extraordinary.

 

 

The 39 Steps @ Fountain Hills Theater

Terry Gadaire and Deborah Ostreicher star in the

Fountain Hills Theater's production of "The 39 Steps."

Patty Torrilhon

On Sunday I saw the last performance of The 39 Steps at the Fountain Hills Theater.  I had never seen the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film before, so like always I obtained the DVD from the library and watched it before seeing this play.  I usually don't like old Hollywood movies, and The 39 Steps was no exception.  I thought the movie was pretty awful, really boring, and took itself way too seriously.  So it's PERFECT to spoof!  This hysterically funny play was Alfred Hitchcock meets Monty Python meets The Carol Burnett Show.  Even the lead actress, Deborah Ostrecher reminded me of comic actress Vicki Lawrence with her brilliant physical comedic performance. 

The play exactly follows the movie, but there are only four cast members playing all the characters.  Terry Gadaire plays only the lead character Richard Hannay and is on stage the entire time and he is hilarious, he cracked me up with all his comical facial expressions.  He is just so funny!  Deborah Ostreicher plays the three main female roles, and all extremely well.  All the other characters, both male and female are played by Clown 1, Roger Prenger, and Clown 2, Michael Stewart.  These two guys were fabulous, and had the hardest and the most physical job of all.  They had to constantly change costumes and dialects, and sometimes while on stage in the same scene too.  They both gave outstanding performances. 

This play was extremely well done and so wonderfully entertaining I only wish I had not seen it on the last day of its run, because I would definitely go see it again...it was that good. 

Over the River and Through the Woods @ Theatre Artists Studio

The show features the talents of Scott Hyder, Shana Rebilas Bousard,
Judy Rollings, Dolores D'Amore Goldsmith, Michael Fleck and Bob Barr
Photo by Mark Gluckman

On Sunday I saw at Theatre Artists Studio Over the River and Through the Woods -  to grandmother's house we go.  The play is about a single man, Nick, who lives in Hoboken, NJ and like every good Italian grandson he goes over to grandmother's house every Sunday for a great big Italian dinner.  But this time he has to tell his grandparents that he was offered a big promotion at work, and has to move to Seattle, so no more Sunday dinners at grandma's house.  The grandparents don't take this news so well, and that's where the play gets really funny when they set out to sabotage his moving plans.
 
Well, Nick does make the move to the West Coast despite his grandparent's efforts to keep him on the East Coast.  After three of his four grandparents pass on, he invites his only living grandmother to come live with him, but she declines to leave the only home she knows.   Now that could be another very funny play altogether...taking your grandmother to a new place.  I know this well...first hand.

I could relate very well to this play because my husband's Italian family would go every Sunday to grandma's house for the big afternoon Italian supper.  When my mother-in-law moved to Scottsdale from Chicago, she took her 81 year old mother with her.  Taking a woman who only left Chicago once in her entire life to another place to live can make for a real funny play.   I have tons of funny stories about grandma's new adventures living in Scottsdale.  One of my favorite stories is when my mother-in-law took her mom with her to one of her friend's house who lives in a guard gated community.  When they started to drive up to the guard gate, grandma shouted, "Look! How wonderful. Your friend has a vegetable stand in front of her neighborhood." 

Forever Plaid @ Hale Center Theatre

I went to a Wednesday afternoon performance of Forever Plaid at the Hale Center Theatre.  I had never seen this musical before, and really enjoyed the performances.  The four guys who played the Plaids were outstanding singers and exceptionally funny too. 

This is the second show I saw at the Hale Theatre...the first one was The Secret Garden.  Funny how  both musicals feature characters that are dead.  The four Plaids were unfortunately killed by a bus of parochical school virgins who were on their way to see The Beatles perform live on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.  But even physical death did not stop this group from putting on one amazing show...they were heavenly.

Man of La Mancha with Scottsdale Musical Theater Company

Over the weekend I went with some out-of-towns friends to see Man of La Mancha presented by Scottsdale Musical Theater Company.  I first became familiar with this company when they performed at the Herberger Festival of the Arts in October. This company produces only a couple of Broadway musicals a year, and now their new home is the Dorrance Auditorium at the Phoenix Country Day School in Paradise Valley. My out-of-town friend is a retired high school music teacher, and when I told her about this theater company doing Man of La Mancha, she begged me to get tickets. This is one of her favorite Broadway musicals and she has seen it several times. I have never seen this musical before, but like most everyone was familiar with the famous song, The Impossible Dream. I of course studied up on the storyline before seeing this production. My friend told be to skip seeing the 1972 movie which she said was not so good.
 
Anyway, I enjoyed the musical very much...happy I read what it was about before seeing it...helped me follow it much better. This company only performs four shows for the entire run, so the sets are minimal, but the voices from all their actors were enormous. Boy, could these people sing...and sing well. They were such gifted singers that you could have listened to them sing Happy Birthday for two hours and been thoroughly and completely entertained...they were that superb.  And the cherry on the cake is that they always perform these musicals with a live orchestra.

Hector Coris as Sancho, Aaron Jacobson as Cervantes/Quixote, and Alexus Poulette as Aldonza/Dulcinea 

The Wizard of Oz @ Don Bluth Front Row Theatre

Terry Gadaire as the Tin Man and Cord Nash as the Scarecrow

(Photo courtesty of Jamie Harper)

 

Bethany Lorentzen as Dorothy

(Photo coutesy of Jamie Harper)

Cord Nash as the Scarecrow and Gary Caswell as the Cowardly Lion

(Photo courtesy of Jamie Harper)

We had the most delightful weekend seeing yet another fabulous production at Don Bluth Front Row Theatre.  The past two times we were there we saw plays that had seven or less cast members.  But this time we saw The Wizard of Oz with a cast of about twenty.  It was absolutely amazing how they performed this huge show right in Don Bluth's family room.  The actors were perfectly cast, and they all did an outstanding job.   We brought some friends with us this time, and they could not of thanked us enough for inviting them to go along with us.  They said it was one of the most unique theatre experiences they have ever had...I completely agree.

December 21, 2012

According to the Mayan Calendar, December 21, 2012 marks the end of an era, while others say it marks the end of the world.  But it's really the End-of-Whatever...whatever YOU want to end in order for a new personal beginning.

 

Christmas Jukebox @ Fountain Hills Theater

Every December I try to do something Holiday-ish.  Over the past few years I have gone to see A Christmas Carol at the Herberger Theatre, The Nutcracker Ballet, A White Christmas at ASU Gammage, Las Noches de las Luminarias at the Desert Botanical Gardens, and The Phoenix Boys Choir.  I have always wanted to go and see Christmas Jukebox at the Fountain Hills Theater, but never had a free weekend during the busy month of December.  Well, this past summer I put Christmas Jukebox on my "must see" list, and I went this past Sunday afternoon.  I had a great time and this will also be on my "must see" list for December 2013.

Last of the Red Hot Lovers @ Desert Stages Theatre

Hubby and I had a very crappy, pukey week...literally.  We attended a party that had a very bad caterer and we got food poisoning.  Not the best way to shed a few pounds before the holidays.  Anyway, we already had tickets to go see Last of the Red Hot Lovers at Desert Stages Theatre for Friday, December 14th.  Even though we had just started feeling physically better, we were not at all in a good mood to go out on Friday night, and the energy in the car going to the theatre was let's say...sucky.  So I was grateful that we were at least seeing a comedy, and not a downer drama.  They say that laughter is the best cure for whatever is troubling you, and that is so true.  The energy on the car ride home was way better after laughing for 2-1/2 hours.  So thanks to the wonderful, entertaining, and laugh-out-loud performances of all the talented cast of Last of the Red Hot Lovers, you made our crappy, pukey, and sucky week a litter brighter.  Thanks.

Also, KUDOS to the prop people for filling the theatre with the smell of marijuana.     

 

 

Out of Africa

Since I did not host Thanksgiving at my house, I had a pretty free week, so hubby and I headed up to Out of Africa Wildlife Park on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  I use to go to Out of Africa all the time when it was located just outside of Fountain Hills.  I would take ALL my out-of-town guests there, regardless if you were 10 years old or 50 years old.  And it didn't matter if it were a cool 70 degrees or 110 degrees...if you stay with me...you are going to Out of Africa...period!  That was the rule of my Bed and Breakfast.  lol

I even went there on their very last day, before they had to abruptly move to their new site up north.  Even though I wish Out of Africa was closer to my home so I could go more often, I am so happy that they have such a phenomenal site up north.
 

Bush Safari

Lion has million dollar views

Tiger Splash