Los Angeles Spotlight: August 2005
The big news in August happens to be August Wilson — with the opening of Radio Golf at the Mark Taper Forum (opening Aug. 11). This is the 10th and final play in Wilson’s series chronicling the black experience in America, capping an ambitious longtime effort for the acclaimed playwright. Set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District during the 1990s, this new work involves political power plays and historical preservation. Kenny Leon, who directed Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean on Broadway, is at the helm.
A trio of world premieres also debut in the City of Angels. The gay-focused Celebration Theatre presents writer/director Scott Smith’s Buddies (opening Aug. 12), based on the beloved novels of Ethan Mordden. This is the first time Mordden’s groundbreaking and highly popular works, charting the lives of gay male friends in Manhattan from 1960 through the 1990s, has been adapted into dramatic form. Feliz Pere, winner of a New York Outer Critics Circle Award, heads the cast.
The second world premiere is Marisa Wegrzyn’s Psalms of a Questionable Nature (opening Aug. 12), presented by Lucid by Proxy and directed by Trevor Bishop. When stepsisters begin sorting through the belongings in their dead parents’ decrepit house, they discover a bombshell. Rounding out the new threesome is West Liang’s The Legend of Jane & Joe (Ricardo Montalban Theatre, opening Aug. 4), which takes a look at a romantic relationship between two artists in contemporary L.A.
Some former Broadway entries also arrive this month. Two-time Emmy winner Susan Sullivan and noted stage and film star Robert Foxworth once played husband and wife on Falcon Crest — and they’re at it again in the L.A. premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith’s Honour (West Hollywood’s Matrix Theatre, opening Aug. 27). This scathing drama explores what happens when a marriage of 32 years is derailed by a young and seductive female journalist. Tom Kempinski’s now-topical 1980 play Duet For One (Hollywood’s Hudson Guild Theatre, opening Aug. 5), is about an extraordinary world-class concert violinist who contacts Multiple Sclerosis at the pinnacle of her career.
(The late Anne Bancroft starred on Broadway; Julie Andrews did the film version.)
On the musical front is Little Shop of Horrors (Costa Mesa’s Orange County Performing Arts Center, opening Aug. 16), a touring production of the evergreen Howard Ashman/Alan Menken hit, based on the vintage campy thriller. The original creative team of the recent Broadway revival is still at the helm: director Jerry Zaks and choreographer Kathleen Marshall. And composer Harvey Schmidt and lyricist Tom Jones’ two-person musical I Do ! I Do! (Beverly Hills’ Rueben Cordova Theatre, opening Aug. 14), based on the play The Fourposter, is a tuneful tale about the joys and perils of married life.
Shakespeare, both in a spoofy mode and more-or-less straight, are also on tap. Shakespeare Orange County stages Measure for Measure (Garden Grove’s Festival Amphitheatre, opening Aug. 4), directed by founding company member Carl Reggiardo. Frightening political movements for having the government increasingly invade the privacy of citizens’ bedrooms suggest the timing is ideal for this revival. In a zanier vein, the iconoclastic Troubadour Theatre Company presents Hamlet, the Artist Formerly Known as PRINCE of Denmark (Santa Monica’s Miles Playhouse, opening Aug. 4). Troubadour always fashions hilarious send-ups of classics to the tune of different pop or rock music icons. Expect a torrent of purple rain this go-round.
A couple of theatrical offerings for smaller fry highlight the late-summer family fare. Straight from the beloved Saturday morning cartoon series comes Schoolhouse Rock, Live! Junior (Newport Theatre Arts Center, opening Aug. 14) Meanwhile, former child star (and current voiceover artist ) Moosie Drier directs Carol Mendelson’s children’s musical Precious Piglet and Her Pals (Sherman Oak’s Whitefire Theatre, through December 17). The titular character and her “pen” pals plan a surprise party for her younger brother. Porky and Babe, eat your hearts out.
