54 San Diego Reader March 30, 2017


ANTI-REVIEW THEATER


reaching his goals. On the Twentieth Century is


as goofy as Mrs. Primrose. But that’s its charm. Its allergic to profundity, could care less about moral gravitas. The closer the train comes to New York, the more the show speeds up and farce reigns. What feels odd, at first, but


makes more and more sense: Cy Coleman didn’t write a zippy Jazz Age score with stac- cato syncopations. Instead, the characters sing operetta-tinged numbers. As when — best of show — Oscar and Lily duet the beautiful “Our Private World” and add an oasis of elegance to the shenanigans. Sean Murray (Oscar) and


Eileen Bowman (Lily) may have been as good, but rarely better. Murray’s bold choices and excel- lent vocals command the stage. And Bowman’s his match, doing brisk licks on the one hand, and high-wire vocals on the other, often within seconds of each other.


Bowman’s entrance is for


the ages. In a flashback, Oscar’s auditioning a singer. Mildred Plotka — the future Lily Gar- land — plays piano. She’s dressed as frumpy-brown as Mama Rose in Gypsy (Jeanne Reith’s expert costumes combine period with personality). With Oscar-like audacity she criticizes the singer. Then demonstrates the correct way with soprano leaps like moonshots. On the Twentieth Century


has slow spots and lumpy pas- sages — Comden and Green were much better at lyrics than plot — but Murray and Bowman make Cygnet’s show a must-see. So does a supporting cast


with Craig Noel Award win- ners Steve Gunderson (Owen, a faithful sheepdog), Melissa Fer- nandes (faithful, albeit smoth- ered Olive), and Melinda Gilb (lunatic Mrs. Primrose with an occasional serrated edge). Michael Cusimano has what


seems a thankless role, at first. He’s Bruce Granit, Lily’s latest hunky stud, whom she’d much rather see than hear. By play’s end he’s a one-person Keystone Kop, slamming into door after door on Sean Fanning’s stylish, Art Deco set.


IAN PIKE Badass as Cincinnatiworld might be...


AT SOME POINT, while I’m sitting there immersed in Backyard Renaissance’s production of Abun- dance, I start thinking about Westworld. I know it’s wrong of me to be distracted from this harrowing, heartbreaking tale; but I can’t help it. Partly, I dig Westworld as much as I love a good play; partly I just like to let the play take me to weird places, if that’s what’s going to happen, which it usually does; and partly I had a super concrete reason for going there in my head, but I won’t spoil it for anybody. So, anyways, I was


thinking about Westworld and the West. I was thinking about


that makes Westworld so popular with the ficti- tious people who go there on fictitious vacations, is that you can be whomever you want to be in Westworld — killer or hero, sinner or saint, the choice is yours. And where better to play out that elaborate fantasy than in the West? It is no coin- cidence that a world of limitless fantasy unfolds on the backdrop against which the titanic ambi- tions of Manifest Des- tiny and the closely held dreams of real-life Macon Hills and Bess Johnsons played out. Sure, maybe people


"Manifest Destiny, brushstroke by overzealous brushstroke."


why Westworld (the fictional place, not the show) is Westworld, not Ancient Greeceworld, or 1970s Cincinnattiworld (although, who wouldn’t want to go there for some of that chocolatey chili on spaghetti?!). I was thinking that surely it has something to


do with “going to see the elephant,” as one of the characters in Abundance puts it. You see, the thing


The three sisters may never


make it to Moscow. Somehow Oscar, Lily, and their chastened menagerie make it to New York. The musical shuffles loose ends together — well, most of them. But the ending’s so fragile it begs for a sequel: In the Big Apple: The Further Adventures of Oscar and Lily. Hold it: that could be the show Oscar failed to write along the way!


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THEATER LISTINGS


Theater listings and commentary are by Jeff Smith unless otherwise noted. Information is accurate according to material given us, but it is always wise to phone the theater for any last-minute changes and to inquire about ticket availability. Many theaters offer discounts to students, senior citizens, and the military. Ask at the box office.


The 39 Steps Coronado Playhouse presents a staged version of Alfred Hitchcock’s “murderous classic.” Four actors play 139 characters in 100 minutes in "a journey back to 1930’s Britain where “painfully handsome” Richard Han- nay “finds himself in the clutches of a beautiful woman” and goes on a suspense-filled odyssey to Scotland.


Desha Crownover directs. CORONADO PLAYHOUSE, 1835 STRAND WAY, CORONADO. 619-435-4856. 8PM THURSDAYS, FRIDAYS, & SATURDAYS.


Awake & Sing New Village Arts stages what many call Clifford Odets’s best play. The Bergers, a lower middle class, three- generation Jewish family in the


figured out a long time ago that there wasn’t any elephant to see, but the


enduring myth of the West and its promise to make life new persists today. Muted though it be, it still reaches out to us from stage, as Macon and Bess wait at the station in act one, scene one, and deliberate on just how wide open their futures are. Badass as Cincinnatiworld might be, I doubt it could raise the same spectres of endless promises long dead but not forgotten.


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Bronx, fight to survive during the Depression. Odets called it “a strug-


gle for life amid petty conditions.” NEW VILLAGE ARTS THEATRE, 2787 B STATE ST., CARLSBAD. 760-433-3245. 8PM THURSDAYS & FRIDAYS, 3PM & 8PM SATURDAYS, 2PM SUNDAYS.


Bedrooms and Boyfriends 2 Compulsion Dance & Theatre presents a sequel to its very popu- lar comedy of short plays with new works by Michael Mizraney My Life as a Sitcom, Jonathan Hammond, Delivery, and Samantha Ginn Pigs in a Blanket. Each takes a “bold,


unapologetic look at relationships.” DIVERSIONARY THEATRE, 4545 PARK BL., UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS. 619-220- 0097. 8PM THURSDAY, FRIDAY, & SATURDAY, 2PM SUNDAY.


The Dresser Lamplighters Community Theatre stages Ronald Harwood’s tribute to a bygone era. Backstage at a Brit- ish theater during World War II, Sir, the last of the great breed of English actor/managers, is in a bad way tonight, as his dresser Norman tries valiantly to prepare him to go on stage as King Lear. Steve Mur- dock directs.


LAMPLIGHTERS COMMUNITY THEATRE, 5915 SEVERIN DR., LA MESA. 619-303- 5092. 8PM FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS, 2PM SUNDAYS.


First Date San Diego Musical Theatre stages the musical comedy — by Alan Zachary, Michael Weiner, and Ashtofn Winsberg — that ajsks: “You go on a blind date organized by your sister’s husband or a work colleague, and you meet a complete stranger in a busy, inner-city café; What could possibly go wrong –


apart from everything?” HORTON GRAND THEATRE, 444 FOURTH AVE., DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO. 619- 234-9583. 8PM FRIDAY, 4PM & 8PM SATURDAY, 2PM SUNDAY.


Flemming (An American Thriller) Scripps Ranch Theatre stages Sam


Bobrick’s spoof of film noir thrill- ers of the 1940’s and 50’s. Bored by his privileged and mundane life, Henry Flemming sells his lucrative brokerage firm to become a detec- tive. Next thing he knows, his liv- ing room fills up with dead bodies.


Robert May directs. SCRIPPS RANCH THEATRE, 9783 AVENUE OF NATIONS, SCRIPPS RANCH. 858-578-7728. 8PM SATURDAYS, 2PM SUNDAYS.


The Geeze & Me Rag Lady Productions presents a humorous, irreverent musical pro- duction about “the wild side of life’s later years, addressing the good, the bad, and the ugly of aging.” Songs range from pop to blues to corner street doo-wop. “Think Hair after it’s gone.” Original music by Hedges Capers, book by Hedges and Nancy


Locke Capers. 858-232-9696. TENTH AVENUE ARTS CENTER, 930 TENTH AVE., EAST VILLAGE. 619-920- 8503. 8PM FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS, 2PM SUNDAYS.


Halo-Halo Asian Story Theater presents “mixed-together stories” from San Diego’s Filipino American commu- nity. Based on historical research and personal interviews. Halo-Halo is a co-production by the Filipino Amer- ican National Historical Society and the Honorary Consul General of


the Philippines. LYCEUM THEATRE, 79 HORTON PLAZA, DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO. 619-544- 1000. 7:30PM FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS, 2PM SUNDAYS.


Into the Beautiful North As part of the National New Play Network World Premiere, where a play opens around the country at the same time, the San Diego Rep pres- ents Karen Zacharias’s comedy based on Luis Alberto Urrea’s novel. When thugs taake over her tiny Mexican village, teenaged Naveli and three friends head north to find a mod- ern equivalent for the Magnificent


Seven. Sam Woodhouse directs. SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE,


79 HORTON PLAZA, DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO. 619-544-1000. 7PM WEDNESDAYS.


Jane Austen’s Emma, English High Tea and Dinner Theater The 413 Project presents a play based on Jane Austen’s beloved story and performed with “an immersive opportunity for audiences to feel a part of the story on stage. Your experience will be made complete by a full English high tea including savories, salad, scones, dessert con-


fections, and unlimited tea.” GRAND TEA ROOM, 145 W. GRAND AVE., ESCONDIDO. 760-233-9500. 7PM FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS.


Love Letters The Julian Theatre Company pres- ents a “dinner and show” with A.R. Gurney Jr’s popular piece about the 50-year friendship between Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner, told entirely thorugh their


letters. 760-765-1587. JEREMY’S ON THE HILL, 4354 HIGHWAY 78, JULIAN. 760-765-1587. 6:30PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY.


My Brooklyn Hamlet For three performances only, Lamp- lighters Community Theatre hosts Brenda Adelman’s one woman show about “family, murder, love, betrayal, and the awesome power of forgive- ness.” In 1995 her father shot her mother, then married her aunt. Can


she “forgive the unforgivable”? LAMPLIGHTERS COMMUNITY THEATRE, 5915 SEVERIN DR., LA MESA. 619-303- 5092. 7PM SUNDAY.


My Fair Lady Director Kathy Brombacher has assembled an outstanding cast, overflowing with both Cockney and British upper class charm and energy. Lance Arthur Smith gives a fully real- ized performance as Professor Hig- gins, the elocution expert bent on transforming the flower girl into a lady. Shaina Knox provides a lively turn as Eliza, his hapless student. Full of innocence and verve, her believ- able transition to a lady of substance is impressive. Randall Hickman gives a powerful performance as Alfred


P. Doolittle, her father. Worth a try. WELK RESORT THEATRE, 8860 LAWRENCE WELK DR., ESCONDIDO. 888-802-7469. 1PM & 8PM THURSDAYS & SATURDAYS.


On the Twentieth Century


Reviewed this issue. Critic’s Pick. CYGNET THEATRE, 4040 TWIGGS ST., OLD TOWN. 619-337-1525. 7:30PM THURSDAYS, 8PM FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS, 2PM & 7PM SUNDAYS, 7:30PM WEDNESDAYS.


Over the Tavern PowPAC presents Tom Dudzick’s comedy about the Pazinskis family, and their 12-year-old son Rudy. The precocious kid has begun to ques- tion family values and the Roman Catholic Church. Rudy believes that “God put us on earth to have fun.” So why is his family not having any?


Annette Alliano directs. POWPAC, 13250 POWAY RD., POWAY. 858-679-8085. 8PM FRIDAYS & SATUR- DAYS, 2PM SUNDAYS.


Red Velvet The Old Globe Theatre presents Lolita Chakrabarti’s backstage drama set at London’s Theatre Royal in the early 1800s. The great Edmund Kean cannot go on as Othello. A young American actor, Ira Aldridge, could do it, but he’s a black man, and no black man has ever played Othello on the English stage. Stafford Arima


directs.29.00 OLD GLOBE THEATRE, 1363 OLD GLOBE


WAY, BALBOA PARK. 619-234-5623. 8PM THURSDAYS & FRIDAYS, 2PM & 8PM SATURDAYS, 2PM & 7PM SUNDAYS, 7PM TUESDAYS & WEDNESDAYS.


Shadowlands William Nicholson’s drama follows renowned novelist and Christian scholar, C.S. Lewis, who fell in love late in life with Joy Davidman, an American Poet. Their happiness is short-lived as Davidman learns she has cancer. Real life husband and wife Robert and Deborah Gilmour Smyth bring subtle nuances and gentle longing to the characters’ emotional journey. On an elegant and sparse stage, with lighting lit- erally rising from shadowlands, the Lamb’s cast brings to life a little known story of love, faith, and let-


ting go. Worth a try. LAMB’S PLAYERS THEATRE, 1142 OR- ANGE AVE., CORONADO. 619-437-0600. 7:30PM THURSDAYS, 8PM FRIDAYS, 4PM & 8PM SATURDAYS, 2PM SUNDAYS, 7:30PM TUESDAYS & WEDNESDAYS.


She Kills Monsters Canyon Crest Academy stages Qui Nguyen’s dramatic comedy about Agnes Evans. When she finds her late sister’s Dungeons and Dragons notebook, Agnes goes on a journey of discovery, “laden with homicidal fairies, nasty ogres, and 90’s pop cul-


ture. Jeannine Marquie directs. CANYON CREST ACADEMY, 5951 VIL- LAGE CENTER LOOP RD., CARMEL VAL- LEY. 858-350-0253. 7PM FRIDAY.


South of the 8 The City Heights Performance Annex hosts three performances of the La Playhouse’s group-devised work that “explores issues of culture and identity in a specific local com- munity, breaking down stereotypes by sharing the rich and diverse the stories of the people who live there.” Five individuals from neighborhoods south of the I-8 were selected to work with Ping Chong + Company and the Playhouse to create and perform an “opera for the spoken word,” based


on their own narratives. CITY HEIGHTS PERFORMANCE ANNEX, 3791 FAIRMOUNT AVE., CITY HEIGHTS. 619-641-6103. 7:30PM FRIDAY, 2:30PM & 7:30PM SATURDAY.


The Merchant Of Venice Open Reading The Barnes and Noble/Bookstar Theatre presents “an informal time with the Bard, starring you! All welcome. Free. Anyone can join in the reading or just come along to listen. Parts are re-assigned before each scene so everyone who wants to can read.”


BARNES AND NOBLE - BOOKSTAR/ LOMA THEATRE, 3150 ROSECRANS PL., POINT LOMA. 619-225-0465. 6:30PM TUESDAY, APR. 4.


The Prince and the Pauper Passion For The Arts Drama Club, featuring homeschooling students from around the county, presents a theatrical adaptation of Mark Twain’s popular tale of a flip-flop of social


class. Caryl Lipnick directs. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF LEMON GROVE, 2910 MAIN ST., LEMON GROVE. 6PM FRIDAY, 1PM & 6PM SATURDAY, 5PM SUNDAY.


The Third Wave Patio Playhouse Youth Theatre stages Joseph Robinette and Ron Jones’s drama based on a true story. In Palo Alto during the Vietnam War, a high-school experiment in


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