MUCH better than Fullerton’s debacle (http://www.bullfrog117.com/unfiltered/2008/11/11/noises-off-csu-fullerton/). It was essentially a black box/cabaret theatre so seeing the set rotate was very mesmerizing (they chopped the set into three pieces so that they could play one of those sliding tile games and get things rotated around). The acting was superb, the set was beautiful, the costumes were wonderfully 70s and the pace was PERFECT!
DICK VAN DYKE SINGS BARBERSHOP!
I mean aside from that, sure I had a good time.
Moonie as broon and broon as moonie
Straightjacket escape – 1st time in 5 years or so
Bed of nails used the spotlights to an amusing end
Guitar and Saw Jam Session
Quiz
Illinois
Talulah
Can operate his cell phone
Regular Coke
Lucky Brand
Diet Coke
Mother often calls him Jeff/Geoff
Leaky basement
I staring at you right now
Said “Hey, Tom” to Tom Cruise
Squirrel infested garage
Has shrapnel in his chest
Secretly thinks he’s more talented than the other
Sadie
Wrangler
California
Thought this quiz was a stupid idea
Nicknamed “Doobie” as a boy
Never been to Alabama
Brain swelled up once
Has mad ice sculpting skillz
Woke up once in a tent in a river
Delightful straight play about an African American family that moves to California after the Japanese internment of the 1940′s, allowing them possession of an interred family’s house with one caveat…a young American man from that Japanese family has evaded internment by hiding in the attic! Now this family must adjust to this new surrogate family member in a situation akin to the plight their culture found itself in before Emancipation…a desperate struggle for freedom against an oppressive government.
Meet the Goodwins:
Patriarch Jodie, leading his family West from Mississippi to Los Angeles;
His grandmother Janie, the aging matriarch and reigning chef of the house;
His brother Felix who won’t be forced into the military just because the family has a history of fighting for a country that doesn’t recognize their rights…he just wants to play jazz;
….
Ain’t nothing Romantic about la
Start it up, start it up
Honking and a-screaming (with karl hunter)
There’s a villain in every fairy tale
Calloway Boogie
Hey Now Hey Now
Mr. Pinstripe Suit
??? Modern song
(Moondance riff solo by Dirk)
1931 Cotton Club Intro
Reefer Man
Minnie the Moocher
??? (Calloway song)
Zig-Zaggity-Woop-Woop
You Know You Wrong
Big time operator
Jumpin’ Jack
I wanna be like you
Go daddy-O
Dirty old man of the mountain
Popeye hour
Betty boop clip, dirty old man chasing betty, unknown song
Band director recognized whistled tune
Cab Calloway’s old man of the mountain
So long, farewell, goodbye
Smells like teen spirit tag
Wait, what? Debby Boone doesn’t have enough material for two acts so we get the Pops Symphony Orchestra doing a hoedown? This is just weird….enjoyable, but weird
Trinity River Rambling Breakdown Style Fiddle Playing
Ashoken
For Ken Burns’ Civil War
Scottish lament by a Jewish guy from the Bronx
Orange
A classical piece of music studied all over the world
1973 film, Faye Dunaway, George C. Scott, directed by Stanley Kramer
Brilliant versatility by Henri Mancini
Fiddlin’ Around skipped?
Old Timey Medley
A sailor’s life is the life for me
Puddle prance!!!
Intermission
Concentrate on you
Cole Porter
I’ll Go My Way
Nelson Riddle
More Than you Know
Vincent Yoman
Moon River
6 years since we lost Rosemary
She bequeathed all her arrangements to Debby…and this dress
Edith Head designed it
Singer’s salute to the songwriters at the dorothy chandler pavillion
Written for her the year the tribute was for Johnny Mercer
Blue Skies
John Otto worked with Rosemary
Beverly Hilton tribute to Rosemary
Rosemary sang it all the time and even recorded it acapella for first grandson Jordan so he could play it on his Playskool recorder
Big finish
Come rain or come shine
Great arrangement…nice and up-tempo
So lonesome I could cry
Concord Records (worked a lot with Rosemary) asked Debby to do a tribute CD
Not a history – Bette Midler already did that
Important to bring up country music
1951 Beautiful Brown Eyes
Hank Williams tune Have It Your Way
Red Foley was her maternal grandfather
Half As Much duet with Rosemary
On a Saturday night
Another Red Foley piece
That’s When The Old Grey Cloud Burst
Joined Rosemary Clooney’s White Christmas Party
Gabriel stage managed and lost all his hair
Rosemary never warmed up…bah dah and one good cough and here we go
Let Me start again
Drums Dave Raticheck
Bass Chuck Berghoffer
Home photo montage
Never entered my mind
They both had a crush on Frank Sinatra
Opened for him in Atlantic City
Frank and Rosemary could both expertly interpret a song and shared a love for Nelson Riddle
From this moment on (Finale)
You Light Up My Life (Encore 1)
Might As Well Be Spring (Encore 2)
I begin this review with the caveat of what I expect from CSUF: incredible stagecraft and better than average college acting.
The reason I state that first is because only one of those expectations was met for the closing matinée performance…the stagecraft. The characters were well developed and their delivery was very much enjoyed, but their pace was ABYSSMAL! They were dragging out pauses because apparently a previous (pre-dominantly high school) audience laughed at adult situations that are only amusing to virgin pre-pubescent boys, so the actors fell into the habit of pausing unnecessarily. This is a trap that I personally have been warned of in past performances, and it is inexplicable that the director (or stage manager) neglected to warn the actors to keep the pace of the show moving.
Thus there were many amusing moments in the show, but the overall performance was marred by an additional half hour of dead air. C’mon Fullerton!
A very enjoyable show which is more like the Mark Twain show, where you just get to spend a couple of hours with the legendary figure than a biography, although there are biographical elements to the show.Frank Ferrante has been portraying Groucho for many years and does a very excellent job. He was the original portrayer of Groucho in the biographical play written by Arthur Marx, Groucho’s son. Plenty of audience interaction, lots of song and prancing about stage and generally a really great time.
Some of the highlights?
Featuring Richard Thomas (who?) as Juror Eight. Fascinating 90 minute courtroom drama with no intermission that takes apart individual beliefs while exposing public schools of thought for their shoddiness and hypocrisy. And it’s only a first degree murder charge.
After the performance, a panel featuring 3 professors of law and 3 of the actors was conducted by somebody from the educational department at the OCPA (Yeah, they changed their name by schmooshing Arts and Center into one big, hard-to-say word, Artscenter!). Unfortunately at least 3 questions were wasted by older folk who chose to voice their opinion that yes, it is incorrect form to stab downward with a switchblade knife and that they know because they were trained in the usage of switchblade knifes by their parents or by the military. Oy!
Starring Scott Coutler & Debbie Gravitte accompanied by John Boswell
Act 1
Act 2