Musicals – Page 2

What the Dickens! – Rubicon Theatre’s Musical version of Scrooge changes ages and genders

December 14, 2012January 7, 2016 tedmills Leave a comment

Rebecca Johnson as Estelle Scrooge Jeanne Tanner photo — Rebecca Johnson as Estelle Scrooge
Jeanne Tanner photo

“Christmas Carol” often introduces kids to the world of Charles Dickens. It’s a structured classic, not too long, and primes readers to jump into the longer works, their hundreds of characters with crazy names, love of description, and heartstring-tugging plots. And the play version remains a favorite from community to community. With Rubicon wanting to try something a little bit different this year, but still giving the people a “Carol” for the holidays, it presents “Little Miss Scrooge,” which opened this past Wednesday and runs until Dec. 23.

“Little Miss Scrooge” acts as half modern update and half mash-up with the rest of Dickens’ oeuvre, and the more novels you know, the more obscure references will tickle you.

The Chill Is On – ‘Cabaret’ comes to Ojai ACT

June 25, 2010May 27, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

A nameless emcee (Cecil Sutton, left) facilitates the entertainment inside the Kit Kat Klub, which includes the sultry Sally Bowles (Holly Ferguson) in 1930s Berlin, but a growing Nazi party might have something to say about such a place. Photo by Dean Zatkowsky — A nameless emcee (Cecil Sutton, left) facilitates the entertainment inside the Kit Kat Klub, which includes the sultry Sally Bowles (Holly Ferguson) in 1930s Berlin, but a growing Nazi party might have something to say about such a place.
Photo by Dean Zatkowsky

“I saw the film version and … I wasn’t that impressed with it,” says Tracey Williams-Sutton, director of Ojai ACT’s production of “Cabaret.” Because it’s celluloid-centered, then video, Bob Fosse’s version of “Cabaret” with Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli has been most people’s introductory to the world that Christopher Isherwood created all those decades previous. But it also doesn’t take much to find the original source materials — Isherwood’s short stories, Josh Van Druten’s play based on the stories, and the musical with a book by Joe Masteroff (music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb) — have many more delights available. And that Williams-Sutton’s opinion is not rare.

The setting, for those who have be wilkommen’d to the Cabaret, old chum, is the Kit Kat Klub in 1931 Berlin. The Nazis are rising to power. Sally Bowles is young, British and a performer at the club. Cliff Bradshaw is young, American, a writer in search of inspiration, and soon to fall in love with Sally. And then there is the Emcee, who introduces us both to the club and to the society around them, which is becoming increasingly deadly.

Neil Berg’s Home Run – Five singers help legendary writer/composer celebrate 101 years of Broadway, this weekend at The Granada

April 23, 2010May 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

For those who might imagine that baseball and Broadway exist on opposite sides of the spectrum, meet Neil Berg. A college all-star in his 20s, this East Coast boy has since gone on to pen numerous musicals. Best-known for “The Prince and the Pauper” and the upcoming “Grumpy Old Men” he comes to The Granada with a musical revue bearing his name, “Neil Berg’s 101 Years of Broadway.”

Really, Berg says, the distance from the lessons learned on the baseball diamond and what one needs to succeed on the Great White Way is not far. “Because I had a regular-guy perspective,” he says. “Not a theater world perspective, I wanted to make a show that people like my mom would appreciate.”

A Night with the Opera — Portland’s Vagabond Opera comes to SOhO

February 19, 2010May 8, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

What is it about Portland that has made it such an incubator of great music? The scene is thriving, not just on a national stage (The Shins, Pink Martini) but on a local one, with a live scene that makes Santa Barbara’s look like an elementary school talent show and jumble sale. One reason, suggests Eric Stern, leader of the Vagabond Opera: money and time.

“Things are cheap,” he says. “Unlike California, the people have a lot of time to sit around and play music and play together. Portland is a great crossroads for that, it’s a musical laboratory.” Stern adds that the community is small — he attends school functions for his kid and runs into members of The Decemberists.

THE FIFTH ELEMENT: Sir George Martin premieres new work at a special Beatles evening at The Granada

February 13, 2010May 10, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Above, George Martin speaks before Friday evening's "Love, Love, Love" rehearsal at the Granada Theatre. Below, Sir Martin talks to guests at the event. MATT WIER / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS — Above, George Martin speaks before Friday evening’s “Love, Love, Love” rehearsal at the Granada Theatre. Below, Sir Martin talks to guests at the event.
MATT WIER / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS

Sir George Martin, the “Fifth Beatle,” the producer of nearly all of the Beatles songs, as well as a composer and musician in his own right, made a rare visit to Santa Barbara on Friday.

Mr. Martin was at The Granada to promote the world premiere of his own “The Mission Chorales” with the Santa Barbara Choral Society and Orchestra. He conducts the orchestra on both Saturday and Sunday.