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Home  ACE Stories Comic Mask, Tragic Mask
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Comic Mask, Tragic Mask |
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Friday, 25 July 2008 |
Which will you take? How’s about both?
Rose at Odyssey
Naomi Newman plays a woman who lived through pogroms in a Ukraine shtetl and slaughter in the Warsaw Ghetto. She flirts with Israel but finds herself in an up and down hotel world in Miami.
There is sympathy and admiration for sturdy will power and a talent for survival.
Playwright Martin Sherman ends with a concocted anecdote of settler brutality, perhaps to balance the score, which falls as flat as a matzoh. But Newman, endlessly resourceful and colorful, triumphs.
Through Aug. 15 at 2055 S. Sepulveda in West LA. Call (310) 477-2055 or browse OdysseyTheatre. com.
Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare Festival/LA
Staged by Ben Donenberg as a hip bundle of LA life at Venice Beach or, say, Pt. Fermin we start with a whizz about by the cast on skate boards, straight blade skates, bikes. and even in a golf cart. iPhones abound, texting is endemic.
The tamer (Geoffrey Lower) is a smug wag who travels with an acrobatic madcap servant (Anthony Manough). The tamee (Sabra Williams) is an independent cuss who takes no muss. They are a bit short on chemistry, but there is plenty of combative one-upmanship.
Little sister (Amy Handelman) is a SAP (suburban American Princess) from the moment she prances on with long gams flashing and a mean girl cheerleader pout. Lanky, soft-spoken Deseann Terry plays at being a pedant to l’il sis, opposing foppish, thilly Michael Manuel and gruff worldly old man Lance Davis for her hand.
Brent Jennings capitalizes on his extravagantly graceful bow. John Apicella lords it as a, genial businessman who thinks he rules his daughters, He doesn’t. Slick projections and music keep up the jaunty mood.
Through July 26 in South Coast Botanic Garden at 26300 Crenshaw in Palos Verdes Tickets and info at ShakespeareFestivaLA.org.or (213) 975-9891.
Beyond Retirement at Found
There goes the Found again with their stewardesses on that crummy airline whose employees have to work until age 85. A feisty bunch they are, full of wisecracks and desperation. There is a surprise celebrity, I would never reveal she of the pointed boobs. A junior Miss (Heather Zavala) wanders into the crew. She has her own hyper style and is delightful.
Director Lauren Nave has her own brand of tart irony which blends with the Found tradition, and ’splains it all to us as a voluble fellow passenger. They even have snakes (sort of). It is a loony hoot with some serious slants up its generously cut sleeves.
Through Aug. 30 at 599 Long Beach Blvd. in Long Beach. Call (562) 433-3363 or browse FoundTheatre.org.
Accomplices at Fountain
FDR was a hero to American Jews, including my parents, but if they had known how shallow and cavalier his response to the Holocaust was, they would have hated him. Brian Carpenter plays an inane, smarmy WASP, a State Department anti-semite. Steven Schub smolders and explodes as a passionately engaged advocate for the doomed Jews of Europe.
Charismatic FDR (James Harper) is torn between politics and humanity. If onlyEleanor had been reached. Morlan Higgins plays the tragically misguided Rabbi Stephen Wise, who goes along to get along and betrays his conscience and his fellow Jews.
Harsh, But FDR could have allowed hundreds of thousands of Jews to pass through the US if only on temporary visas on their way elsewhere. Later he could have bombed Auschwitz s. Instead he dodged perceived political bullets.
A uniformly gripping cast. directed at white heat by Deborah LaVine bites into Bernard Weintraub’s unremitting dramatization of a painful chapter in American history.
Through Aug. 24 at 5060 Fountain in Hollywood. Call (323) 663-1525 or browse FountainTheatre.com.
Byplay
Relevant Stage opens Urinetown, The Musical (that’s what it’s about) on July 31 at Warner Grand Theatre - 478 W. 6th St in San Pedro. Info at 310-929-8129 or TheRelevantStage.com
Unbeatable Harold at the Ruskin is a sweetly sad he says/she says play. He (Henry Sterling) practices positive thinking and models himself after Elvis. He is just bright enough to tailor his ambitions to his abilities. She (Austin Highsmith) is not sure of her gifts or goals. She could learn from him, but hasn’t the guts to commit to anything beyond sex.
Through Aug. 3 at 3000 Airport Rd. in Santa Monica, call (310) 397-3244.
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