Put a Little Drama in your Life
KPBS AIRDATE: March 8, 1995 Everyone’s got a right to sing the blues. But maybe Sylvie more than most. A third runner-up blonde bombshell beauty queen (“Near Miss Texas”) abandoned by her father, hooked on alcohol and Mexicans, her Latino husband is shipped off to prison for a robbery he didn’t commit, and he leaves her in Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: November 1, 1995 (MUSIC: “Phantom” organ chord opener) Oh, those famous “Phantom” chords. Ominous. Portentous. Repetitive. Nothing has done more to promote the sound of an organ since the roller skating rink. And now, at long last, the masked man is close enough Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: September 4, 1996 If you’re a lover of language, listen up. You only have a little more time to catch two plays that make a ritual of the spoken word, that invigorate and elevate the cliché of everyday speech to an art form. First, “Happy Days,” by the Nobel Prize-winning Samuel Beckett, whose plays have a long-standing reputation Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: May 7, 1997 Four years ago, local writer-director Tom Vegh staged his first play, “Friday Night Refugees,” at the Ruse/Marquis Theatre. He’s still obsessed with addiction and recovery, homosexuality and hope, but he’s come a long way, Baby. While his earlier work was long and overly on-the-nose, his latest creation, “Cafe Depresso: Where Prozac, Caffeine Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: December 10, 1997 Two decades of holiday entertainment; two San Diego theaters. One keeps reworking a show that’s been a seasonal perennial for 150 years; the other is offering a world premiere that, with a little fixing, could become a new holiday tradition. “A Christmas Carol” and “Festival of Christmas.” Don’t leave the season without ‘em. Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: AUGUST 26, 1998 Before I begin, I’ve gotta come clean. I must confess to certain biases: 1) I love old musicals. And 2) I hate soap operas. You need to know that before I tell you about “South Pacific” and “The Gays of Our Lives.” Needless to say, if 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