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This looks really good - I'm getting tickets.
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Posted: |
May 17, 2016 - 12:01 PM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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At first this musical had so many specific references I asked myself who but us oldsters from Los Angeles would get it? Then it immediately hit me, since the Neanderthal cave paintings, artists had only one thing to do, vividly evoke a specific time and experience that happened to them personally (with exaggeration for the sake of “artistic license”). This bright broad tapestry of LA then and now is just that, and as Nancy my wife from Oregon told me, the memories have equivalents everywhere in the world. Despite ten other contributors (including guitarist for the evening Grant Geissman) it really is the vision of our own Kritzerland man Bruce Kimmel. His memories and experiences predominate. He also wrote 9 songs on everything from the 60s scene on the sunset strip to ice cream’s movie star hangout -C.C. Brown’s. But the side visits to the early Disney studios by (appropriately) Richard Sherman, Uber drivers by writer for the Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, Grammys, SAG and every award show you can imagine - Bruce Vilanch, the Beach Boys era by Paul Gordon and Lanny Myers “Hullabaloo” take-off, all add up to an extraordinary musical cornucopia. Certainly FSMers will relate to “Once Upon A Time” about picture palaces of days of old (many of which are still around today) or Adyan Russ’s “Spinning In My Mind” about record store supreme Wallach’s Music City (did you know they came up with the Polyethylene inner LP sleeve?).
The students who make the core of this piece come from the LACC Academy which has a rich history. Standout is Alexis Jackson doing a darker Donna Summer turn in “Midnight at the Roxy”. Elle Willigues, a wonderfully cheerful blonde dancer/singer who all of a sudden becomes the dark sexy and sad “Black Dahlia”. Kole Martin stands out as both a disco fanatic and real wrestling “ballet” icon Ricki Star. The latter is part of an outrageous act 1 finale, a recreation of a wednesday night of wrestling at the Olympic auditorium. Featuring Ricki and another real life wrestler Freddie Blassie creator of “the pencil neck geek” phrase (played by Kasper Svendsen).
Amongst all these fantastic students there are two vets that hold the center and give the show it’s real gravitas. April Audia makes your Helms bakery truck, the Pan Pacific Auditorium and the night life of the 60s come alive. And last, but not least, Robert Yacko does quadruple duty playing wrestling’s Dick Lane, channeling the Sherman Brother’s for “The Whimsey Works”, turning a fudge sundae into a haunting dream in “C.C. Browns”, making today’s head of a studio “sound” reasonable, bringing heart to a harsh history of the gay struggle and creating the most “Hollywood” uber driver you could ever meet.
There is still a tiny sense this is still a work in progress with a song reprise when once will do and a blackout sketch that would work much better if it didn’t blackout. But this is like a hiccup happening in a magnificent clock. The last shows of this are Thursday, Friday and Saturday so hurry if you want to see this.
Bruce and his team have created a whole wide world that is the Los Angeles of the mind. My close friend, who is allergic to most musicals, was won over by this one. Of course, like me, he is from LA.
P.S. Oh yeah the film music connection? Besides the ones at the top of the thread the first 9 notes of this is the DRAGNET theme by Walter Schumann and Miklos Rosza. Just telling the facts here.
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These reviews are so great I'm going to all five shows this weekend. My real question is why doesn't Schiffy, who certainly toils in the same business as I, get off his butt cheeks and come see the damn show. Morricone, perhaps you can light a fire under him - I just don't get it, actually. Happily Jon Burlingame and Marilee are seeing it tomorrow. Nick Redman and Julie were with us opening night.
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Posted: |
May 19, 2016 - 11:54 AM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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These reviews are so great I'm going to all five shows this weekend. My real question is why doesn't Schiffy, who certainly toils in the same business as I, get off his butt cheeks and come see the damn show. Morricone, perhaps you can light a fire under him - I just don't get it, actually. Happily Jon Burlingame and Marilee are seeing it tomorrow. Nick Redman and Julie were with us opening night.
Well if you know what Schiffy does for a living then you know more about him than I do.
To be honest I have something like .005 influence on this board.
SO all I can do is give a sense that this musical speaks to this group more than OKLAHOMA, MY FAIR LADY, GREASE or CABARET. Bruce come from love and obsession with films, music, records, nostalghia and a sense things were cooler back then. THIS piece of musical theater they probably would relate to more than any other out there. Unlike going to just another "nice entertaining night at the theater" they will actually miss out on something - something special. At the same time being drop dead funny. Haineshisway has done a lot of musical theater (including last year's LIL ABNER) that I have not bothered to bring here because this is not the audience for that. But this, THIS is an opportunity for the FSMer.
Add to that they can see it dirt cheap without intruding on their collecting budget:
https://www.goldstar.com/events/los-angeles-ca/la-now-and-then-tickets#_=_
The only down side is they have to see it this weekend or forever hold their peace.
Oh yeah another thing I can add is that you have this knack of taking a $1.99 budget and creating a glorious world that bursts out the sides of the theater!
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