Put a Little Drama in your Life
PAT LAUNER TIMES OF SAN DIEGO 7/21/14 Three guys walk into an operating room: a drug-addled dentist, a surgeon who faints at the sight of blood, and a hustler who’ll do anything for a buck – and a little fame. These are the point-men in the development of ether as a surgical anesthetic. It’s a hair-raising story that has fascinated Read More →
PAT LAUNER TIMES OF SAN DIEGO 7/16/14 Ah, the vagaries of love. Or, as the musical “Romance/Romance” would have it, “the little comedy of life.” The costumes may change, but the character and conflict remain the same, even across centuries. The 1988 show is set in the 1890s and the 1980s. For his North Coast Repertory Theatre Read More →
PAT LAUNER TIMES OF SAN DIEGO 7/15/14 The shocking , incendiary -- and frequently banned – Frank Wedekind play, “Spring Awakening,” was written in 1890. Its Tony Award-winning musical adaptation debuted on Broadway in 2006. Between the two, premiering Off Broadway in 2000, is “bare: a pop opera.” All three penetrating Read More →
PAT LAUNER TIMES OF SAN DIEGO 7/1/14 Who could possibly hate Hamlet? You might be annoyed with him for being such an indecisive wimp. But hate him? Only a TV star being pressured into the iconic role could have that kind of negative passion for the black-clad Dane. And so it is, in Read More →
PAT LAUNER TIMES OF SAN DIEGO Posted 6/18/14 Among many other nasty epithets, he was called “Bitter Bierce,” “purveyor of morbidities.” He disdained capitalism, religion, politics and humans in general. But when you hear the life story of Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), maybe you can understand the origin of his cynicism. He abandoned the wife he adored Read More →
PAT LAUNER TIMES OF SAN DIEGO Posted 6/17/14 You know about Lewis and Clark the explorers. But are you familiar with Lewis and Clark the comedians? For 43 years, they antagonized each other as a topnotch vaudeville team. Then, in 1961, after their sixth appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” Lewis called it quits. Eleven years later, Read More →
“San Diego is a hotbed of theater. Every year, I see 200-250 productions. This is fertile ground for new work. In addition to the prodigious local talent, theatermakers from around the country come here to premiere their latest creations. San Diego sends more shows to Broadway than nearly any other city in the U.S.”
-Pat Launer