Signal Tribune Newspaper

(above) Kate Woodruff, Lisa Perez and Jim Felton bring the WWII era to life in Long Beach Playhouse’s production of The Voice of the Turtle.
by VICKI PARIS GOODMAN
A simple love story with a curious title, The Voice of the Turtle resonates with innocence and sweetness at a time when perhaps we need to be reminded […]

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By VICKI PARIS GOODMAN
Arts and Entertainment Editor
The Long Beach Playhouse kicks off the 80th anniversary season of its Mainstage with Auntie Mame, a big play with a big cast that takes, frankly, a big gamble.
This is the play, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, upon which the famous musical Mame is based. The music […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts and Entertainment Editor
La Vineria Italiana’s rather nondescript drive-by curb appeal doesn’t do it justice. The restaurant is quite attractive inside, with its minimalist architectural detail creating the perfect non-competing backdrop for some impressive features. For instance, a pristine metallic structure looms large in one corner of the wholly visible kitchen area- […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts and Entertainment Editor
I’m gonna come clean right up front- I hate buffets. I know, most people adore them. They love the variety and the fact that the more they eat, the better value they get for the price they paid. I, on the other hand, like to choose something from a […]

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BY VICKI PARIS GOODMAN
Arts and Entertainment Editor
Wasn’t there an old song about a Frankie and Johnny who were lovers? And in that song didn’t Frankie murder Johnny for his infidelity? I figured Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune would at least loosely follow the song’s tragic tale of jealousy and love gone wrong. […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts and Entertainment Editor
The Long Beach Playhouse’s new production of Noel Coward’s comedy Blithe Spirit is a chuckle a minute…at least. A scathing yet good-hearted spoof on the occult, and presumably those who attempt to mess around with it, the play pokes fun at the afterlife and makes no excuses to those […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts and Entertainment Editor
With his classic drama Of Mice and Men, playwright John Steinbeck certainly provided all the expressive power and explosive emotion any theater’s production staff could ask for. And the Long Beach Playhouse has pulled out all the stops.
On what is easily the most fantastic set of the season (by […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts and Entertainment Editor
Suddenly Bixby Knolls is the hot spot for new upscale Italian eateries. It’s really quite exciting.
Il Poggio, the trattoria and paninoteca which recently took over the seemingly ill-fated space where New Orleans Grille recently dwelled, has revamped its interior and made it attractive and comfortable. The once characterless room […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts and Entertainment Editor
The morning after I saw Gift of Murder I’m having trouble remembering its story. Come to think of it, I don’t really think it had much of a story. But I liked it. And since Gift of Murder has such a thin plot, how in the world could playwright […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Park Your Car in Harvard Yard is every bit as fine a dramatic two-actor play as The Gin Game or Visiting Mr. Green. I just wasn’t familiar with it. No matter, as I love a surprise. You know, the kind of wonderful surprise that comes from experiencing an evening […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts and Entertainment Editor
Sweet romance, soaring harmonies, and musical comedy so good your face will hurt from smiling ear to ear for two happy hours. That’s what you get with The Andrews Brothers, Musical Theatre West’s West Coast premiere production of Roger Bean’s new 1940s wartime musical.
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The Long Beach Playhouse has taken what could be both a giant leap and a swan dive with Bunbury, a flight of fancy that turns all of great literature on its ear.
Based on a nonexistent “character” from my favorite play, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Bunbury brings the device Bunbury to life in […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts & Entertainment Editor
It’s amazing how a random unforeseen element can render what was more-or-less tolerable yesterday completely unacceptable today.
In the case of William Inge’s classic drama Picnic, that element is a man who emits more pheromones than a pack of wolves in heat. Young, virile and utterly physical, Hal Carter (Eddie […]

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Trattoria: an informal restaurant or tavern.
Limone: lemon.
I assure you Trattoria Limone is no lemon. Far from it. In fact, with its location on Orange Avenue, and a few blocks west of Cherry, the charming new upscale eatery is fast becoming the apple of my eye.
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By Vicki Paris Goodman
As juicy as “The Importance of Being Earnest,” and just as politically incorrect, is “The Constant Wife,” W. Somerset Maugham’s brilliantly clever play about men and women, marriage and fidelity.
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By Vicki Paris Goodman
It turns out “Cabaret” is more than a Liza Minnelli song fest owing its intensity to the threat of fascism looming over pre-WWII Berlin. There are indeed wonderful, moving, romantic subtleties that I never imagined. That is, until I attended the opening of International City Theatre’s luminous production of the multi-layered musical […]

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Cold feet at the prospect of becoming a dad gets its airing every which way and then some in “Little Footsteps,” playwright Ted Tally’s cautious comedy about growing up, taking responsibility and choosing the right mate…or not.
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(L to R) Judy Jones, Jack Gilroy, Carmen Guo and Jerome Loeb toast to old friends in After-Play at the Long Beach Playhouse. Photo by Robert Craig Photography

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By Vicki Paris Goodman
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Although I really liked Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, they weren’t among my favorite groups way back when. Not even close.
But when the curtain opened on Jersey Boys, the musical memoir of the innovative band’s formation and rise to popularity, I never would have guessed I’d be in […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman,
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Given my utter devotion to British comedy and my profound impatience for most full-length farce, I am presented here with the usual dilemma as to just how positive or negative to come across. On the one hand, I absolutely loved the sweet characters, the terrific gags and the fabulous […]

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By Vicki Paris Goodman, Arts & Entertainment Editor,
When playwright Roy Battocchio wrote the pun-filled Dead Wrong, he must have been seeking a repository for the priceless one-liners that emerged as discards from his TV-writing career. After all, not every great joke suits the sitcom at hand. So why waste?
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In characterizing the event as “a tragic act of violence,” the press release for the World Premiere production of Calling Aphrodite suggests that the United States was responsible for the horrific injuries and deaths resulting from the bombing of Hiroshima in WWII. Never mind the truth that the bombing was absolutely necessary to end the […]

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