The Underpants pokes fun at the sexes while highlighting the politics involving them.

Vicki Paris Goodman
Culture Writer

Steve Martin’s contribution to The Underpants was actually a 2002 adaptation of Carl Sternheim’s 1910 German expressionist play. And the Long Beach Playhouse has given the work a skosh more updating purportedly still honoring the spirit of the original. Hence, we have, technically speaking, the adaptation of an adaptation. And this latest is a worthy endeavor, to say the least.
Not having seen Sternheim’s nor Martin’s– their plays, not their shorts– I have no means of comparison. That’s a good thing, since audiences care far more about whether they are likely to enjoy the production than how closely it resembles its source material.
There is so much to like about The Underpants. (I’m now wondering if the play’s name was intended to confound critics by turning almost every sentence of a review into an awkward pun. A playwright’s sweet revenge?) Take Naomi Kasahava’s fabulous set, a high contrast vision of grayscale artistry. Or the honesty of raw emotion emanating from a sexually neglected young wife. Even the play’s succinct single-act duration makes its point and then finishes up without further adieu.
In turn-of-the-century Dusseldorf, the townspeople are out to watch the spectacle of the Kaiser’s parade. In struggling to get a better view, lovely Louise (Maranda Barskey) has a lingerie mishap wherein her panties fall to her feet. She adroitly picks up the unmentionables with the least possible fanfare. But the damage is done. Every man in the crowd has apparently witnessed Louise’s misfortune and has been “affected” by the event. Even Louise’s husband Theo (Mitchell Nunn) is upended, but not for the reasons one would think. Rather, he believes the calamity will reflect badly on his reputation and career.
Speaking of parades, men begin to show up at Theo and Louise’s apartment in rapid succession suddenly willing to pay above-market rent to lease the couple’s extra room. First is the fashionable, tall, dark, and handsome Versati (Brian Rohan), the poet who prefers the fantasy over the act itself. Soon after, the comical Cohen (Jeff Asch) appears. The prudish Klinglehoff (John Gilbert) inquires next for the actual purpose of renting a room – really. And just as we think we’re done with the men, the final admirer (Steven Biggs) tops all and changes everything.
Meanwhile, at least Louise has a friend – one who shamelessly encourages and attempts to facilitate the consummation of Louise’s frustrated desires. Admittedly living vicariously through Louise, neighbor Gertrude (Jane Nunn), an amiable busybody of the highest order, sews Louise a pair of fancy bloomers just for the occasion.
The Underpants is thankfully not the frantic farce one might expect. Shadowy melodramatic interludes set to inspiring Germanic music separate the scenes that set a relatively relaxed pace and lightness of mood. Exaggerated personalities blend with Theo’s oppressive environment to elicit an unusual balance between audience compassion and amusement.
Director Craig Fleming and his talented cast excel on every count. Barskey plays an enchanting Louise. Frequently evoking our sympathy to her marital subjugation, she also dramatizes the inter-scene segues to a tee. Asch is especially effective in his amusing and ultimately endearing role.
The Underpants pokes great fun at the sexes while highlighting the politics involving them. Men vs. women, fidelity vs. infidelity, sex vs. fantasy – all are examined in this sometimes ridiculous and always entertaining production.
The Underpants continues in the Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre through Sept. 10. General admission tickets are $24; $21 for seniors. Student tickets are $14 with valid student ID. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm, with matinees at 2pm on Sundays. The Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St. Call (562) 494-1014, option 1, for reservations and information. Tickets are also available online at lbplayhouse.org.

David Santana as Petruchio and Amber Bonasso as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew

By Stephanie Raygoza
Editorial Intern

Giving an Italian-themed, Shakespearean classic a Western twist could easily rustle up the spurs of any literary enthusiast. However, Gregory Cohen’s adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew at the Long Beach Playhouse delivers brazen performances partnered with witty, drawl-filled lines and a brilliantly brash shrew.
Flashback to Arizona in 1885, where this production is set, as guests are treated to a good, old-fashioned bar brawl for the opening scene, which not only succeeds in setting the wild nature of the play, but also in lassoing in the audience’s attention.
Taking the recognizable, action-packed play to the American Wild West appeared all too fitting for Cohen, who said, “The audience would be more inclined not to look at it as ‘a classic to be studied,’ but rather an entertainment to be enjoyed.”
With vintage, painted props resembling an Old West town hanging atop the stage, and interchangeable backdrops taking viewers from a local bar to a quaint country house in a matter of seconds, the set design simplistically complements the true stars of the show– the actors.
As Shakespeare’s play goes, three suitors are vying for the love of the fair Bianca, however her father refuses to marry her off unless her notoriously unruly sister Katherine weds first. Enter Petruchio, a man who couldn’t care less about whom he marries as long as she brings him wealth, and soon he convinces her father that he will indeed marry the shrew. Meanwhile, Lucentio is wooing Bianca over as Petruchio begins to take Katherine’s rude attitude and in turn direct it towards her.
Traditional Western dresses and getups suit the cast properly as they deliver often-tricky Shakespearean lines with a sharp drawl, all the while firing gunshots and attacking each other.
On occasion, some actors stumbled in delivering lines and drifted in and out of character, which may in part stem from opening-night jitters. However, this did not distract the viewer too much from following the play’s sequences.
Weaving in a Western theme provided the memorable delivery of key scenes, but most importantly helped decipher a language that in most cases may confuse the non-trained, Shakespearean ear.
Still, the heart of the play lies in the enigmatic courtship between Katherine and Petruchio, which, by the end of the play, blossoms into sincere and enviable marriage.
Wonderfully played by newcomer Amber Bonasso and the energy-driven David Santana, the two create cinematic charm, exuding a type of love-hate relationship that is rarely perfectly balanced and embraced.
The final scene sees all the couples come together to share their battles and joys and, in one last playful competition, the husbands propose a bet to see whose wife if more dutiful to him.
In a loving gesture, Katherine is the only one who answers to her husband’s call, which not only reflects the complete transformation of a bad-mannered shrew to a respectable wife, but also treats viewers to a conclusion that plays sincere homage to the universal appreciation of a hearty comedy.
The Taming of the Shrew will continue on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2pm through Saturday, May 28. Tickets are available at lbplayhouse.org, or by calling (562) 494-1014, ext. 550. Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St.

More Information
nhsmta.com

Anthony B. Cohen and Karl Schott are waiting for Godot.

By Vicki Paris Goodman
Culture Writer

There was a time when, upon seeing Waiting for Godot, I would have been awed by the cryptic nature of the play. I guess I was once duly impressed with what I didn’t understand. As if to say, if I don’t “get it,” it must be awesome.
Well, I don’t quite go there anymore. And, unlike some other productions of the play, the Long Beach Playhouse’s Godotmakes no attempt to take the audience in any particular interpretive direction. The blank-slate concept is freeing, on the one hand. But it can also leave one begging for a little guidance.
In any event, Samuel Beckett’s highly venerated play fares well in the hands of director Carl daSilva and his five-member cast. They are, in a word, outstanding. They are funny and tragic, sometimes moving abruptly from one to the other on a dime. That’s appropriate, I think, for what has been portrayed as an allegorical “tragicomedy.”
The play has also been described as “absurdist,” and it is certainly that.
In Waiting for Godot, Vladimir (Anthony B. Cohen) and Estragon (Karl Schott) wait in a nondescript setting characterized only by the presence of a single tree and some crudely defined uneven landscape. Andrew Vonderschmitt’s spare, stylized set design perfectly evokes the surreal nature of the play.
The two men are waiting for a character named Godot, with whom they appear to be barely acquainted. The play spans two days, during which the promised appearance never materializes.
In the meantime, “Di Di” and “Go Go” (Vladimir and Estragon) conjure up various trivial activities with which to pass the time. They talk, eat, sing, dance, complain, argue, get angry, make up, tease each other, and contemplate suicide. They also receive a bizarre visit from what appears to be slave owner Pozzo (Steven Biggs) and his servant Lucky (Kyle Bryan Hall), as well as a local boy (Terren Mueller) who reports on the intentions of Godot. Beckett’s choice of names is particularly puzzling. Remember, though, the play is meant to be absurd.
Furthermore, when we consider the nature of the dependency between Di Di and Go Go, and the entirely different dependency between Pozzo and Lucky, a pattern seems to emerge. And sure enough, I later found an online reference to Beckett having stated that the play was all about symbiosis. Well, now we’re getting somewhere…I think.
I noticed something else, as well. There were several instances in which the dialogue referred to one character’s loss being another’s gain. Or in one segment, a character gave his hat to another. The character who gave up the hat became profoundly weak, almost dead. He who had received the hat gained an almost invincible strength. Apart from his commentary on interpersonal dependency, was Beckett promoting the notion that life is some sort of zero-sum game? Are there political overtones in the play? Are there religious ones, suggesting that the men are waiting, not for a man named Godot, but, for God?
I only indulge in conjecture here to point out some possibilities among many.
Waiting for Godot is not for the theater-goer who merely wishes to be entertained. And it is not for the one who can’t be bothered with the loosely defined. The play requires patience and the bearing of a good bit of “auditory annoyance.” (Pozzo screams at Lucky a lot.) So if you like to figure out the undecipherable, Beckett’s rather self-indulgent stream-of-consciousness play (or work of genius– take your pick) may be for you. You certainly couldn’t ask for a better-executed production.
Waiting for Godot continues in the Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre through May 7. General admission tickets are $22; $20 for seniors. Student tickets are $12 with valid student ID. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. The Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St. Call (562) 494-1014 for reservations and information. Tickets are also available online at lbplayhouse.org.

Granville Van Dusen and Michael Learned in the uncomplicated but effective Southern Comforts

By Vicki Paris Goodman
Culture Writer

Sappy? A little. Predictable? To a great extent. Simplistic? That, too.
All of the above describe Southern Comforts, a play depicting the romance between two 70-somethings who steal our hearts as well each other’s. It just goes to show that an uncomplicated, even conventional, love story can still win over an audience.
Playwright Kathleen Clark asks far more of the play’s two actors than she asks of its audience. We get to sit back and enjoy a play that doesn’t require much thought or emotional discomfort. On the other hand, actress Michael Learned (yes, of Waltons fame) and fellow veteran actor Granville Van Dusen wield a deceptively tricky script.
With such a sparsely populated cast, straightforward dialogue, and no distractions, timing and expression receive all of our attention. The seasoned duo of Learned and Van Dusen never miss a beat and don’t disappoint. As such, director Jules Aaron may have had an easier task with this production than most others.
In Southern Comforts, Tennessee widow Amanda (Learned) is visiting her married daughter and grandchildren in a New Jersey town. She calls on Gus (Van Dusen), himself a widower, while seeking donations for the local church. That’s the simple truth of the plot. See what I mean?
At Gus’s place, one comment leads to another, which leads to a conversation, which leads to the two finding out they both love baseball, and it goes on from there.
Once committed to a relationship, Amanda and Gus, who are both set in their ways (nothing unusual here), squabble over everything from household clutter to whether each should be buried next to the deceased spouse or each other. All the while, personality clashes and past marital disappointments muddy the waters. But it’s all real, even universally so. And that is why this down-to-earth, unsurprising, even unsophisticated play succeeds so well. We can all see ourselves, or someone we know, in these characters. And Learned and Van Dusen, through their masterful and easy performances, merely bring it all home.
Oh, one could pick over the rather abrupt change in tone during the second act. One might even object to the fact that Amanda is quite a bit more likable than Gus, and wonder what she sees in him. But that would make light of the surprising degree to which the play holds our attention start to finish.
Southern Comforts is honest and good-natured– an immensely satisfying evening of theater.
Southern Comforts continues at International City Theatre through April 10. Tickets are $44 for Friday and Saturday evening performances and for Sunday matinees; tickets are $37 for Thursday evening performances. Evening performances are at 8pm; Sunday matinees are at 2pm. ICT is located in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center at 300 East Ocean Blvd. Call (562) 436-4610 for reservations and information. Tickets are also available online at InternationalCityTheatre.org.

Crystal Hoskins as Ginette and Jeff Cheezum as Pete in Long Beach Playhouse’s Almost, Maine

By Vicki Paris Goodman
Culture Writer

The dozen or so vignettes included in Almost, Maine possess a common thread. Each begins with an unsettling, even bizarre, human predicament and resolves in a lightly comical tug at the heartstrings. Notwithstanding the annoying repetition inherent in each segment’s opening dialogue, it is amazing how quickly playwright John Cariani convinces us to buy in, but only if we are hopeless romantics like him. If not, we might tire of the simplicity and want something more or something else.
To this extent, Almost, Maine probably has limited appeal. After all, how can a writer sufficiently develop two or three characters, establish a viable story line, and appeal to our emotions in eight or ten minutes– the length of one of Cariani’s oddly romantic segments? The answer is that he can’t. Instead Cariani cuts to the chase and focuses like a laser beam on the circumstance at hand, abandoning the usual background information that would otherwise inform the audience on complexities of character and surroundings. And somehow it all works. At least, it did for me.
Think allegorical simplicity and you’ll start to see what I mean. Cariani’s are composite characters in a symbolic town. They are characterized by an almost childlike unsophistication but display adult wants and needs. In a nutshell, they possess universal hopes and dreams. They want to love and be loved.
In surreal, almost O. Henry-like twists on reality, six actors play nineteen different characters who, more than anything else, help each other through acts of kindness. Awkward romantic encounters expose human fallibility that sometimes borders on the ridiculous. But in every case, director Phyllis Gitlin and her perceptive cast cut deep and successfully project the emotion that becomes ours, as well.
Cariani’s characters have consciences, an attribute which goes a long way toward making us care for them, even given the paltry few minutes we are given to get to know them. On the eve of her wedding to another man, a woman finds a way to let her ex-boyfriend down easy. Out of a desire to make amends, a woman travels a good distance to answer a long forgotten marriage proposal to which she never said yes or no. A man unable to feel physical pain has his senses awakened in a chance encounter with a neighbor lady who would rather not take the time. A man who blows his chances for love out of sheer ineptitude gets a second chance when things literally and figuratively come full circle. Those are just a few.
Cariani masterfully manipulates our emotions throughout his unusual play. He stirs us up with a few opening lines of irritating dialogue, perhaps intending to maximize the swing of emotion when we are charmed and moved by his quirky turns of fate and human redemption.
I found Almost, Maine most uplifting.
Almost, Maine continues on the Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage through April 16. General admission tickets are $22; $20 for seniors. Student tickets are $12 with valid student ID. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, with Sunday matinees at 2pm. The Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St. Call (562) 494-1014 for reservations and information. Tickets are also available online at lbplayhouse.org.

Folk singer Phil Ochs wrote hundreds of songs that became anthems for anti-war, Civil Rights, and labor movements.

Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune is a timely tribute to an unlikely American hero whose music is as relevant today as it was in the 1960s, when he rose to fame at the height of the folk- and protest-song movement. As prolific as he was passionate, Ochs released seven acclaimed albums and wrote hundreds of songs that became anthems for the anti-war, Civil Rights, and labor movements.
In the film, Joan Baez, Tom Hayden, Pete Seeger, Sean Penn, Peter Yarrow, Christopher Hitchens, and others who knew or were inspired by Ochs tell stories of political passions that were equal parts idealism, conviction and fantasy mixed together with a big ego and often wild disorganization. Throughout the film, Ochs’s humorous and haunting songs, “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” “Crucifixion,” “Draft Dodger Rag,” “Love Me, I’m A Liberal,” “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends,” and, of course, “There But For Fortune,” play the role of narrator, giving contextual depth to the unfolding saga of his complex political and personal life, which ended in 1976, at the age of 35, when he took his own life.
The Found Theatre recently hosted a live music tribute to Ochs on what would have been his 70th birthday.
Showtimes for the film will be: Saturday, March 26 at 7pm and 9pm; and Sunday, March 27 at 2pm and 4pm. Tickets are $8.

More Information
firstrunfeatures.com

Kailee Castlen, Olivia Wheeler and Sara Letourneau, who participated in Long Beach Playhouse’s 2010 summer youth theatre session

The Long Beach Playhouse has announced that the next session of its Youth Theatre School will begin Saturday, March 5. Children in grades three through five will meet from 10am to 11am. Classes for grades six through eight are 11:30am through 1pm and high-school students will meet from 1:30pm to 3pm.
In addition to the Saturday classes, Long Beach Playhouse also offers a summer youth theatre program. Lysa Fox, an experienced actress, director, teacher and recent MA graduate of Cal State Long Beach, will coordinate and teach the Long Beach Acting Entourage. The final session for the spring will begin Saturday, April 16. 
Parents and youth interested in attending the new session beginning March 5 should contact the Long Beach Playhouse at (562) 494-1014.

More Information
lbplayhouse.org
Photo courtesy Long Beach Playhouse

Jenn Aedo and Terra C. Macleod in Musical Theatre West’s Cats.

By Vicki Paris Goodman
Culture Writer

Cats is a show that’s been around a long time now. And audiences have either loved it for its ingenious choreography that transforms humans into virtual feline impersonators, or they have wondered what all the fuss is about.
Personally, I’ve always liked the show for its uniqueness and its dramatic, if a bit simplistic and sappy, story line. I’m a sucker for anything that tugs at the heartstrings.
To create Cats, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber basically took the poems from t.s. eliot’s (sic) Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and set them to music. Webber and lyricist Trevor Nunn wrote an additional original song for the show– that memorable chart-topper “Memory.” With lots of added choreography, they had a Broadway show that became one of the biggest hits of all time.
Within the various musical numbers, the show’s roster of cats is introduced by the distinctive names given each cat by the poet. Names like Rum Tum Tugger, Bustopher Jones, Mr. Mistoffelees, Rumpleteazer, and Macavity are a few goodies. Of course, each cat has its story, and I suppose we can’t help picking our favorites. As for me, I’m partial to Jennieanydots, the pleasantly plump and lazy but sweet-tempered “gumby cat” who sits and sits and sits and sits…
The show establishes a kind of pecking order, with the venerable Old Deuteronomy as top cat. On the magical night of the “jellicle” (eliot’s term for anything kitty cat) ball, Old Deuteronomy will choose the elderly cat– a feline prom queen, of sorts– honored as the designee who will be sent that night to the heavyside layer (kitty heaven, I’ve always assumed).
If the chosen one has succeeded in melting our hearts, or at least appealing to our sympathy, this moment in the show can be the satisfying payoff it is meant to be. This production gets us most of the way there. If only director/choreographer Dana Solimando had directed the actor to emphasize dynamics and emotion rather than pop vocal timbre in singing the climactic number, the effect might have been a home run.
Musical Theatre West’s production confines the show almost exclusively to the stage, which is further separated from the audience by the orchestra pit. It’s a shame the production team didn’t create greater cast-to-audience connection, as the show would certainly benefit.
Lyrics that were almost impossible to discern were a greater problem in the first half than the second. This is one show where the audience needs to hear the words being sung.
Still, there’s lots to like about Musical Theatre West’s Cats. The feline movement of the 22 cast members is something to behold. Costumes will wow you. An excellent live orchestra performs Webber’s outstanding score throughout the performance. And the quality of the dancing and singing are all first rate.
Musical Theatre West’s production of Cats continues at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, located on the campus of Cal State Long Beach, through Sunday, Feb. 27. Performances are Thursday (2/24) at 8pm, Fridays (2/18, 2/25) at 8pm, Saturdays (2/19, 2/26) at 2pm and 8pm, Sunday (2/20) at 2pm and 7pm, and Sunday (2/27) at 2pm. Tickets start at $30 and can be purchased through the MTW Box Office at (562) 856-1999 ext. 4 or online at musical.org.

Photo courtesy MTW

More Information
musical.org
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