Stan Jenson - Page 3

It feels so great to see theatre doors opening which were locked by the pandemic.  In March 2020, Desert Theatreworks had just opened one of their best musicals ever, The Producers, and were forced to close it after just one night.  Now they are kicking off their 2021-22 season with that show which so few people got to see.  In fact, the sets have sat on the stage for some 16 months.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) will present The Guys, a play by Anne Nelson.  The play is about the aftereffects of the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Joshua Tree's Summer Theatre Under the Stars is currently playing their third offering, Miles Gloriosus, and it's good enough that it makes me sad that there's only one more show in the season. I truly hope this becomes an annual event at the amazing Wind Walkers Medicine Wheel theatre-in-the-round.

So four playwrights walk into a bar and the first one says …. sound like the setup for a joke?  No, it’s actually the premise for Shakespeare in Revue, the delightful second presentation by Joshua Tree’s Theatre Under the Stars.

Palm Canyon Theatre is back, and I couldn't be happier! Rather than opening post-pandemic with a gigantic blockbuster, they decided on You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and the audiences are the winners from that decision.

The production was called The Wild West (Sh!t) Show, an original collaborative piece conceived and developed by Haley Kooyman.  It is the first of four productions being produced by JT Theatre Under the Stars, sponsored by Wind Walkers and Thought Theatre.

Palm Canyon Theatre is preparing their 25th Annual Kids Camp and it couldn’t come at a more welcome time! With Riverside County schools being limited to online classes for over a year, not only will the students receive theatrical training – they will also have a chance to interact with live teachers and other students!

Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT), like all theatres around the world, closed their auditorium to productions a year ago. However, starting in January of this year, they entered into a very interesting (and I daresay, brave) project. Starting in mid-January, a troupe of 22 young performers (12 – 21) began a two-month intensive training program, culminating in a fully staged concert.

Just when gloom and doom seems to be coming at us from all angles, Desert Theatreworks presents one of the funniest, finest works they have ever staged. Following its laugh filled opening night, the company has put the show on hiatus per government guidelines, but it certainly must resume its run as soon as allowed.

The finest moments of the evening for me were Arthur's speeches, notably his telling of the story of removing Excalibur from the stone and his soliloquy at the end of Act I when he tries to find how to deal with the two greatest loves of his life betraying him, as a man and as the king. Grant's handling of those speeches were a master class!

Let's be frank. A lot of us in the Coachella Valley remember the music of the 60's very, very well. Just the first few notes of familiar songs can ignite memories of young love, a memorable party, long ago friendships or a school dance. Indio's Desert Theatreworks is currently presenting Beehive: The 60's Musical, and as wonderful as the presentation on stage was, I was delighted to look around at the audience. Faces seemed to literally light up as various songs started, friends and couples nudged each other as they recognized each iconic song, and smiles abounded everywhere.

One of the most enjoyable treats of this holiday season is the Desert Theatreworks (DTW) production of Mary Poppins, wrapping up its successful run this weekend. As Mary herself would say, it's practically perfect in every way

Just in time for Pride, Palm Canyon Theatre has rolled out a new production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and she is firing on all cylinders! PCT did a knockout production of the show a few years ago and it was so good, I was concerned about the new staging, many new actors, new set, etc. I had no need for worry. The new production is probably even better than the first!

If you notice an inordinate number of smiles in the east end of the Valley, chances are that they're on people who have seen Desert Theatreworks newest show, Mama Mia! The musical includes 25 songs by the Swedish rock group Abba, and every one of them is so enjoyably recognizable that after the first measure or two, viewers think a?oeOh, yeah. That one!a?? You'll amaze yourself at how many of them you recognize, and what disco-ball memories they conjure forth!

Arthur Miller's American classic, The Crucible, is being presented this weekend by Palm Canyon Theatre, and it is relevant as more than just a precursor to Halloween's witches. Written in 1953 as a protest against Joseph McCarthy's persecution of anyone he decided was a Communist, it is a timely warning today to base decisions on fact and common sense, not hysteria.

COD student Katrina Dixon has set a performance level in local theatre that will be hard to surpass. In Encore Theatre's production of 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, close to 90% of the 70-minute show is her monologue, and she holds the audience's attention throughout, proving herself to be a deft storyteller.

Desert Theatreworks has kicked off their 2019/2020 season of community inspired theatre with a frothy toast of champagne: a laugh-a-minute comedy called The Savannah Sipping Society. A group of women of a certain age, each of whom is facing a new situation in their lives, meet almost coincidentally. Three of them have enrolled in a Hot Yoga class, thinking that the term a?oeHota?? meant it would be hot fun. We meet them as they escape the torturously overheated room, and they agree to meet later that week for drinks and nibbles. A fourth lady joins them for their drinks, and the stage is set for two thoroughly enjoyable hours.

When I hear the term "Summer Camp," I have an idyllic vision of canoes on a lake, arts and crafts (I was a whiz at braiding lanyards), and sappy songs around a campfire. That vision, as Margaret once said, is "gone with the wind." Today's youth want to have a good time exploring more relevant skills such as acting, singing and dancing. This month, the Valley's largest theatre camp, KidsWorks in Indio, will be performing three different shows. It looks like they are worthy of our attention.