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ELTON JOHN AND TIM RICE’S AIDA

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Posted at TimesofSanDiego.com on 6/17/17 RUN DATES: 6/14/17 - 7/1/17 VENUE: Moonlight Stage Productions Okay, first let’s tackle the elephant in the room. Not a random metaphor, since the first time I saw the beloved Verdi opera, “Aida” (at age 12) was at the 2000-year old Baths of Caracalla in Rome. During the Triumphal March, there were actual live elephants onstage. It was magical, majestic, awe-inspiring. “Elton John and Time Rice’s Aida” is a horse of a different color (there Read More →

“ON THE 20TH CENTURY” at Cygnet Theatre

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Aired on KSDS-FM on 3/24/17 RUN DATES: 3/9/17 - 4/30/17 VENUE: Cygnet Theatre In times of stress and distress, what you need is a diversion, maybe even a change of scenery. How about a nice train ride? Hop “On the 20th Century” at Cygnet Theatre, and prepare yourself for an evening of unalloyed bliss. This trip is engineered by some of the best, with book and lyrics by the legendary Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Cy Coleman, directed by Read More →

“AT THIS EVENING’S PERFORMANCE” at North Coast Repertory Theatre

Views:1050

Posted at TimesofSanDiego.com on 7/17/17 RUN DATES: 7/12/17 - 8/6/17 VENUE: North Coast Repertory Theatre “Comparisons are odorous,” Shakespeare’s malaprop-spewing Dogberry famously declaimed. Comparing Nagle Jackson’s 1978 trifle, “At This Evening’s Performance,” to Michael Frayn’s hilarious and brilliant “Noises Off” (as occurred in some promotional material) is both odorous and odious. (For the record, Frayn’s farce premiered after Jackson’s, in 1982, but he wrote an earlier, one-act version in 1977). The only thing these two theater works have in Read More →

“CLYBOURNE PARK” at Trinity Theatre Company

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Posted at TimesofSanDiego.com on 3/3/20 RUN DATES: 2/14/20 - 3/8/20 VENUE: Tenth Avenue Arts Some plays with a socio-political edge speak to their time. Some get edgier over time. “Clybourne Park” was written in 2010 as a spinoff, or sequel, to “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 classic. Playwright Bruce Norris attempted to continue the racial discussion about integrated housing, white flight and gentrification by setting his play in the same house, over two time periods: 1959 (when Read More →

“KILL LOCAL” at the La Jolla Playhouse

Views:891

Posted at TimesofSanDiego.com on 8/8/17 RUN DATES: 8/1/17 - 8/27/17 VENUE: La Jolla Playhouse It’s a small family business, established by a close-knit mother and her two daughters, after the untimely death of their beloved father. Everyone’s gotta make a living, right? Their gig is Murder for Hire. In some twisted way, they believe they’re doing what’s right (though the mother does admit to having no morality). In the end, though, what goes around comes around. I won’t say Read More →

“SOUTH PACIFIC” at San Diego Musical Theatre

Views:725

Aired on KSDS-FM on 5/11/18 RUN DATES: 4/27/18 - 5/27/18 VENUE: San Diego Musical Theatre San Diego Musical Theatre’s “South Pacific” is somewhat less than “101 pounds of fun.” Though it’s a big production -- high energy and enjoyable -- there’s virtually no dancing in what should be a dance-happy musical. Numbers like “Bloody Mary” and “There is Nothing Like a Dame” should be choreographic show-stoppers. Here, there’s only the most basic of movement throughout. The 1949 musical certainly retains Read More →