By John Farrell
If you say “musical” you are probably thinking about, say,Jersey Boysplaying up at the Pantages, with cheap seats running $40 or so.
Or, maybe you are planning to visit Las Vegas, where you will include a stage show on your itinerary — say, oh,Jersey Boys — with tickets even pricier (but maybe, just maybe, you’ll win big on the slots).
Then there’sPhantom, orMary Poppins orThe Book of Mormon — all spectacular and pricey. Seeing a musical is a once-a-year treat at those prices.
But, if you are interested in musicals that are as good, or even better, than those big-ticket events, and you are willing to park your own car and forgo cocktails beforehand (hey, you could always visit a local tavern before or afterward) there are musicals around Southern California every week that are attractive, tuneful, professionally performed, don’t cost an arm and a leg, or even just a leg, and are as exciting as anything in more expensive venues.
Two that are recommended here are at different ends of the musical time-line.Scary Musical the Musicalis brand new. It continues throughNov. 9 at the NoHo Arts Center in North Hollywood. Much older but still lovely is You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,originally written in 1967, in a revival at the Attic Theatre throughNov. 2that is so effective, so well-performed, that you won’t even be aware that it is in a theater that must have once been a garage.
From the opening ofScary Musical, when Laurel Carlson as Drew Campbell, the lead in the high school production sings “Killer in the House” and promptly dies (along with her understudy —Who would kill an understudy?) to the ending, which is changeable depending on audience votes, this is musical comedy as it should be. There are lots of songs, played by a foursome on a balcony, (Brent Crayon, musical director and keyboard, drummer Brian Royce, guitarist Jen Trani and bass guitarist Jeff Novack) but never so loud that you can’t hear, understand and laugh at the very funny lyrics. The principles: Jason Cravin (Keir Kirkegaard,) Carrie Beige (Leigh Golden,) Norman Hates (the very funny and over-the top August Emerson,) Freddy Louissier (Frank Authello Andrus, Jr.) and Jamie Lee Leigh (the very talented and very sexy Jane Papageorge) all have names that sound strangely like characters in horror movies of recent vintage, and have in some cases, strange powers. Add to them Mr. MacGuffin, the wrestling coach and drama teacher (Matthew Tyler) and the news team of Leeza Courtney Fox, (Candi Milo) who thinks she can make her career around the story of the murders and her camerawoman Teena Louise (Jennifer Bennett) and you’ve got a terrific comedic mix.
The principles are students at Hidden Secrets, U.S.A. High School, which is partially run down, partially being built, and very ably represented by the set designed by Desma Murphy. It’s lit with great skill by Luke Moyer with gray dirty windows with platforms and spaces that are used for everything from a bedroom to a basement in an unfinished building.
After the double murder that begins the play, Jamie Leigh Lee arrives fresh from a rehab hospital in Africa to join her classmates. She is a virgin (of course) and immediately attracts the attention of Jason, who is more interested in his pecs than anything else. Norman is obsessed with his dead (or is she) mother, and wants to star in Freddie’s new musical. Carrie always has a Bible with her, and wants to get to know Jason better. In this high school, which seems a little normal, anyway (all the students hate getting up, as they express in “High School Can be Murder”) and more than a little abnormal (Norman’s song “Mother” expresses that) all the students are competing for the lead roll, and Mr. MacGuffin has his own personal agenda.
All this action unfolds with delicious and satiric songs, and more than clever, simple and direct choreography. The students dance on a rolling platform. Jamie and Jason don’t get together because of a wall that is rolled out in between them. There is plenty of action from the school’s lockers and at the end from the door above.
And, the lyrics, — oh, those lyrics: clever and comic, deliciously pointed — yes. And, they help develop the characters as well. These are caricatures, yes, but with enough reality to them to make them fully fleshed as well. “High School Can be Murder” is a delight and Jamie’s “Out of Africa” is a brilliant combination of Disney’s “Lion King” and a plaintive depiction of her life in an African asylum, or, er, health club. The show is a delight and, at the end, you can vote for one of three endings.
Charlie Brownis one of those musicals that have never been out of style. It is still every bit as delightful as it was more than forty years ago when it opened on Broadway. Co-producer Robert Towers was Snoopy in the original Los Angeles production. His daughter Kristin Towers-Rowles is Sally Brown in the show and her husband Ryan Rowles is the other producer. Its a family affair.
Holland Noel is Charlie. He embodies everything you know about his character: helpless and philosophical, in a big yellow t-shirt and a continually bemused expression. He is at the center of a world that includes Lucy van Pelt (the wonderful Dorothy Blue) the piano-playing Schroeder (John Devereaux,) Linus van Pelt (Richie Ferris) and, of course, Snoopy (Matt Steele). That they, for the most part, don’t look quite like Schulz originals doesn’t matter. The show isn’t about physical resemblance but about how these characters we have all grown up with interact with each other. There’s baseball, for instance, Charlie Brown’s always unsuccessful fight with his kite and Snoopy’s delicious (in both senses of the word) song “Suppertime,” about food.
Snoopy does nothing dog-like, but you know who he is when he climbs onto the roof of his house to fight “The Red Baron.” He is deliberate, wryly funny, always watching the others and commenting on their foibles. (He, of course, is perfect.) Undoubtedly he got some direction from Robert Towers.
Towers-Rowles, the newest member of the cast, chronologically (her role was created when the show was revised in 1999) is a delight as always. (She played Kate inKiss Me, Katein San Pedro several years ago). As Charlie’s sister she is as lively as he is philosophical.
Blue is the highlight of the piece, a cranky, moody termagant (if a six-year-old can attain to termagant-hood). She dominates everyone around her but Schroeder, who she is in love with. You can believe Blue is cranky all the time, but she is charmingly cranky.
Ferris’s Linus is wise for his years (six or seven) but he doesn’t make a big deal over his blanket. And Devereaux’s Schroeder lives for his art, even if he thinks Beethoven is from Minnesota.
The live musical accompaniment is provided by music director Jeff Bonhiver on keyboard and drummer Tyler Smith, and they are worth listening to when they play after the production has ended.
Surprisingly, perhaps, whenCharlie Brownfirst opened in New York some critics felt it was too small for a big theater. Whether that was true here is firs perfectly, with director Cate Caplin getting solid performances from her likeable cast and Samantha Whidby’s choreography perfectly executed.
Tickets forScary Musicalare $35. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at8 p.m., Sundays at2 p.m.throughNov. 9.
Venue: NoHo Arts Center
Location: 11136 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood
Details:(818) 508-7101;www.nonoace.com
Tickets forYou’re a Good Man, Charlie Brownare $28, $20 for seniors, and students and children. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at8 p.m., Sundays at2 p.m. through Nov. 2.
Details:(323) 205-1617;www.chromolume-theatre.com
Venue: Chromolume at the Attic Theatre
Location: 5429 West Washington Blvd, Los Angeles