Wednesday, September 15, 2010

It's (Almost) Showtime!

As I mentioned, Jason Alexander and Stephanie J. Block will be starring in a short-term production of They're Playing Our Song up at the Freud Playhouse at UCLA. This is the musical by Neil Simon, Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager and I expect it to be a fine evening (or matinee, if you prefer) in the theater. It's there for sixteen performances only starting September 28 and I have a special deal for you. Order here and enter the code SONIA to get $10 off any ticket for any performance.

The matinee on Saturday, October 2 will be preceded by a special lecture/program. At Noon, I will be speaking about the history of the show and interviewing some of the people involved in the design and staging of this production. Our presentation lasts around an hour and then the show starts at 2 PM. Last time I did this, some people brought picnic lunches to eat on the UCLA Quad lawn in the hour between. I hope that wasn't the best part of the afternoon.

• Posted at 11:08 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Fred Kaplan on the latest in Afghanistan. I'm glad he seems to understand this stuff because I sure don't.

• Posted at 10:50 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Cathy Rigby is about to embark on what must be her nine-thousandth tour with the musical, Peter Pan. I think some of those were billed as "farewell" tours but who cares? She's wonderful in the part. I grew up, as many of you did, with the Mary Martin version as an occasional TV spectacular. At the risk of committing heresy, I like the Rigby version better. They chucked a lot of the campier stuff and played Hook as a villainous pirate instead of as a hairdresser with a chemical imbalance...and though Ms. Rigby is getting on in years and is a woman, it's still possible to forget that and pretend for the duration of the play that she's an adolescent male who can really fly. (I'm sorry. Mary Martin was a legend of the theater but I could never see her as anything other than someone's grandma on a wire.) Cathy Rigby is also a better singer.

I found this video, which features scenes from an earlier staging, but I haven't been able to find out much about where this tour will be touring. It apparently commences in August of 2011 at the La Mirada Performing Arts Center (which Rigby and her husband book) here in Southern California, and then it'll be in New York for the holidays...but other than that, it looks like they're searching for venues to play. If anyone comes across additional info about where they'll be, lemme know...

• Posted at 12:12 AM · LINK

Recommended Reading

How does The Daily Show with Jon Stewart get written and produced each day? Here's an article that will tell you much about the process which starts with finding idiocy in the news. That's the easy part.

• Posted at 12:11 AM · LINK