| SANTA
BARBARA, CA
The Ensemble Theatre Company has announced its 22nd anniversary season. Kicking off things (Oct. 5-Nov. 4) will be SIDE MAN, the jazz play by Warren Leight which won a 1999 Tony Award. "This is a tender, deeply personal memory play about the family of a jazz musician at the dawn of the age of Rock-And-Roll," said the New York Times. Alfred Uhry's THE LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO will follow Nov. 30-Dec. 30. Another Tony Award-winner (in 1997), the play takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, circa 1939, and deals with the assimilation problems faced by a Jewish family in the deep south. THE COUNTESS by Gregory Murphy will be presented Feb. 8-March 10, 2002. Based on one of the most notorious scandals of the Victorian Age, the play is based on the menage a trois between art critic John Ruskin, his wife Effie, and his friend and protege, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Mills. CLOUD TECTONICS, a love story by Jose Rivera, has been set for April 19-May 19, 2002. For tickets and information call (805) 962-8606. LOS ANGELESEast West Players will kick off its 36th anniversary season Oct. 3 with the Los Angeles premiere of Chay Yew's RED, a play dealing with Chairman Mao's cultural revolution, when the ancient, glorious art of Beijing Opera became a pawn in Mao's political chess game. For an established star and his young female protege, the revolutionary upheaval has tragic consequences. Through Oct. 28th. Other shows in EWP's 2001-2002 season include Sisters Matsumoto by Philip Kan Gotanda (Jan. 23-Feb. 17, 2001); the world premiere of Monster by Derek Nguyen (April 17-May 12); and The World Goes Round, a musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb (June 5-30). |
| EWP Players, David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts, 120 Judge Aliso St. Call (213) 625-7000. The Geffen Playhouse recently kicked off its 2001-2002 season with the L.A. premiere of Yasmina (Art) Reza's The Unexpected Man, starring Christopher Lloyd and Holland Taylor, with Maria Mileaf directing. The play, which dips into two strangers' deepest thoughts and desires, runs through Oct. 21. A free symposium on The Unexpected Man will be held Mon. Oct 15 at 7.30 PM at the Geffen. A panel of experts will be on hand, and the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the issues raised by the play. The 2001-2002 season
also includes DO JUMP!, ANTI-GRAVITATIONAL THEATER (Nov. 6-Dec. 16); David
Rambo's GOD'S MAN IN TEXAS (Feb. 5-March 17, 20002); HE HUNTS, a new translation
by Philip Littell of Georges Feydeau's Mounsieur Chasse! (April 17-May
19, 2002); and a fifth production TBA, the world premiere of a new play,
directed by Gilbert Cates (June 11-July 21, 2002). Broadway/LA has announced its 2001-2002 season. The Who's Tommy, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Proof and South Pacific head the list of attractions, with subscribers having the option to purchase tickets to three special presentations: Copenhagen, Penn & Teller and Cats. Because Broadway/LA's
flagship venue, the Pantages Theatre, is hosting the open-ended run of
Disney's The Lion King, subscription events will take place at the Wilshire
Theatre in Beverly Hills, with the exception of The Who's Tommy, pegged
for the Shubert Theatre in Century City. |
| The cast has been set for the updated version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's FLOWER DRUM SONG, opening Oct. 14 at the Mark Taper Forum and continuing through Dec. 2. Lea Salonga (Kim in Miss Saigon) heads the cast as Mei Li, the refugee from Communist China who steps ashore in San Francisco seeking a better life in that city's Chinatown. Others in the cast include Sandra Allen, Charlene Carabeo, Rich Ceraulo, Eric Chan, Marcus Choi, Michael Dow, Vivien Eng, Alvin Ing, Thomas C. Kouo, Keri Lee, Allen Liu, Jose Llana, Jodi Long, Tzi Ma, Blythe Matsui, Marc Oka, Robert Pendilla, Chloe Stewart, Kim Varhola and Christine Yasunaga. This is the musical's first major revival since it was produced on Broadway in 1958. David Henry Hwang has contributed a new book, replacing Hammerstein and Joseph Fields' original, which was based on the novel by C.Y. Lee. Robert Longbottom is the director and choreographer. Mark Taper Forum is located at 135 N. Grand Ave. Call (213) 628-2772 or visit www.TaperAhmanson.com Stomp meets Crouching Tiger in COOKIN', the Korean revue which has become an international hit, with four companies touring the globe and a permanent company selling out regularly in Seoul. Los Angeles will have a chance to see the show when, as part of its North American tour, it checks into the Wadsworth Theatre for an Oct. 9-21 run. "Cookin' starts with traditional frenzied Korean percussion, then mixes in dance, circus and these quick-slicing chefs at a teppanyaki restaurant. They slice cabbage and onions, throw dishes and act out a comic love triangle--including a spectacular kung-fu battle. As the craziness fills the theatre, audience members start dancing along," said Newsweek. |
| Cookin' is directed by Chui Ki Choi, a student of Bong San Tai Choom, a traditional form of Korean mask dance. He has also directed productions of Hamlet and Porgy and Bess. The music is composed by Dong Jun Lee. Two Americans are involved in the North American production: director Marcia Milgrom Dodge and Circus & Comedy consultant Lawrewnce F. Pisoni. Wadsworth Theatre is located at 11301 Wilshire Blvd. in Brentwood. Call Ticketmaster at (213) 365-3500 or visit Ticketmaster.com SAN JOSE, CAEthan McSweeny will direct the world premiere of CTRL+ALT+DELETE, opening Oct. 26 at San Jose Repertory Theatre. Written by San Francisco native Anthony Clarvoe, the comedy satirizes the "new economy" world of high-tech, high-risk, venture capital start-up. It will run through Nov. 18. McSweeny made his Broadway directing debut with last season's critically acclaimed revival of Gore Vidal's The Best Man, starring Charles Durning, Elizabeth Ashley, Chris Noth and Michael Learned. He also directed the Off-Broadway production of John Logan's Never the Sinner, which dealt with the Leopold and Loeb trial. He is Resident Director of the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey. There will be a free "Ghostlight Forum" discussion of Ctrl+Alt+Delete on Mon. Oct 1 at 7 PM. Clarvoe and McSweeny will be on hand to meet the public. San Jose Rep is located in the Sobrato Auditorium, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, downtown San Jose. Call (408) 367-7232. |
| COSTA MESA, CA South Coast Repertory will present on its Second Stage the world premiere of Lucinda Coxon's NOSTALGIA, directed by Loretta Greco. Set in South Wales, the play deals with two brothers who are drawn into the past by a mysterious woman who is loved by one and scorned by the other. Amid echoes of "mythical sirens," long hidden secrets are revealed when Arthur Conan Doyle appears in search of the spirit of his dead son. Oct. 20-Dec. 2. On SCR's mainstage
Harold Pinter's The Homecoming will be revived Oct. 12-Nov. 18, directed
by Martin Benson. PASADENA, CA Pasadena Playhouse's 2002 season is topped by the L.A. premiere of David Hare's The Blue Room and the world premiere of a new thriller by Richard Matheson, Now You See It. Other attractions include The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan, Blue by Charles Randolph-Wright, and a Broadway musical, either House of Flowers by Truman Capote and Harold Arlen, or A Class Act by Ed Kleban, Linda Kline & Lonny Price. There will also be a special holiday production Nov. 1-Dec. 15. For further information
visit www.pasadenaplayhouse.org or call (626) 356-7529. Tom Hewitt will play the title role in La Jolla Playhouse's world premiere of DRACULA, THE MUSICAL, which opens Oct. 21, directed by Des McAnuff. The musical has book & lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, music by Frank Wildhorn. Hewitt recently starred
on Broadway as Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. He was also
seen on Broadway in The Lion King and in The School For Scandal, among
others. La Jolla Playhouse, Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA. Call (858) 550-1010 or visit www.lajollaplayhouse.com |
| News for September 2001 |