*starts choking on cough drop* They destroyed it. This was probably the worst college production I’ve seen to date. Which is unfortunate when you actually know people in the cast….because at some point you know you’re going to have to talk to them. My biggest problem is that the show is supposed to be a radio broadcast in the 1940’s (gee, hence the title?)…and there is no way on God’s green earth that what we saw was capable of going over the air in any manner of acclaim. There was enough dead air to bring a corpse back to life, there were people 20 ft from a mike thinking they were being heard loud and clear, there was foley going on 30 ft from the mike…it was disastrous…absolutely nothing like the show I saw growing up. Mic troubles. I didn’t care about the main character’s arc. Johnny the singer was … Continue reading →

Delightful! Based on the short story Ninotchka by Melchior Lengyel, adapted into a film of the same name (with Greta Garbo) and later adapted to a Broadway musical with music by Cole Porter (his last Broadway musical) and later adapted to film with Cyd Charrise and Fred Astaire (in his last dancing role), this is actually a reworking of the movie musical placing it in the 60’s to capitalize on US/USSR relations at the height of the Cold War. Having seen the other film versions, it is still a delightful story that stays delightfully true to it’s source material while still being relevant and romantic. Starring Stuart Pankin as one of the Russian Arts Commisars. I didn’t recognize his name at first either, but his voice and face made me go wait a second….then I realized he was in Honey We Shrunk Ourselves as Wayne Szalinski’s brother Gordon and he … Continue reading →

Took the Metro up to Hollywood and Vine because the Pantages teamed up with Metro to offer discount tickets on Tuesday night performances. We stand in a line thinking it’s the box office line. I go forward to investigate while Laura saves our place in line, and I find out that there’s no line for the box office. When I get back, Laura had learned that the line was for the Wicked Lottery, which picked half a dozen names and sold front row tickets that you can’t buy any other way. After the lottery they offer half off tickets. Laura suggests that we wait and I reluctantly agree. We get all the way through the line and fill out one lottery ticket for each of us. They make an announcement that you need cash on hand if you win, so we ask where the nearest ATM is (there’s one in … Continue reading →

The musical adaptation of Federico Fellini’s “8 1/2” is wonderfully pulled off by the capable and talented cast and crew. Rarely produced it was a treat to be able to see it, especially when the understudy (Tony Torrico) gets his chance to shine as Guido Contini, a filmaker with as many lovers as creative ideas.