Stan Jenson - Page 4

It's a shame that our lack of summer population will limit the houses at Palm Canyon Theatre's current production of Spring Awakening because it is one of the most inventive and exciting musicals to be presented this season. The story of adolescents in late 19th century Germany discovering and dealing with their blossoming sexuality is combined with folk music and some very angry rock to deliver a still-relevant story.

Palm Canyon Theatre is taking an exuberant romp on the Mississippi in their current musical, Big River. The 1985 Broadway hit, with songs by Roger ("King of the Road") Miller, is a stage adaptation of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In the capable hands of director Se Layne, it shows energy, style, and a fair bit of heart.

Desert Theatreworks, the Valley's fastest-growing theatre company, has stepped outside of their pattern of familiar Broadway hits with their current production of Real Women Have Curves. The audience is the winner! Director Rebecca Havely has taken five dynamite actresses, a 1987 script, and presented a production that is as relevant as this morning's headlines. Fortunately, it is delivered with so many laughs and so much love that any messages and societal observations are secondary. It's a genuine feel-good evening in the theatre.

My first visit to Desert Ensemble Theatre proved to be a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Their presentation of two one-act plays -- Graceland and Asleep on the Wind - harkened back to a purity of theatre which was so exciting to me in my college days. By stripping away full sets in favor of a few strategic prop pieces in front of black drapes, all of the focus was on the actors and the words they were speaking, and director Rosemary Mallett certainly found actors who skillfully rose to the challenge.

In producing 12 shows per season, sometimes Palm Canyon Theatre's productions become a blur, but their current offering, Grand Hotel, is one that will stay in viewers' memories for a long time. It is one of their most beautiful productions, combining top talent, design, direction, and choreography with a terrific show and score. It finishes its short run this weekend, and I suggest you run, not walk, to pick up tickets.

Palm Canyon Theatre presents SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, a delightful adaptation of the 1998 film, for one weekend only. Not to be missed!

If you hear an explosion of energy coming from the east end of the valley over the next couple of weekends, it is almost certainly the production of Hairspray at Indio's Desert Theatreworks. I enjoyed virtually every detail of the production so much that it's hard to know where to start. The performers, the sets, the singing, the dancing, and above all, the exuberance grab us from our chilly winter evenings and whisk us away to a truly happy place!

Palm Canyon Theatre's current production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas breathes plenty of energy - and a fair bit of sexuality - into the 1978 musical. Although it is not the first musical to be based on a factual event, it has certainly chosen one of the stranger events to revisit: the closing of a Texas brothel called The Chicken Ranch.

Guys and Dolls is possibly the most frequently produced musical in the world. Since its Broadway debut in 1950, it has had numerous revivals on Broadway and the West End, and it has been tackled by just about every high school, college, and community theatre in the world. Fortunately, its popularity is justified, and it might become just a bit more popular in Palm Springs because of the production currently playing at the Palm Canyon Theatre. It has filled the house and been greeted with a standing ovation almost every performance in its first two weeks.

Indio's Desert Theatreworks has scored another bullseye with their current production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs. Simon's semi-autobiographical memory piece about his early teenage years in a crowded Brooklyn tenement is delivered in a finely-nuanced performance by a dream cast in the capable hands of director Rebecca Havely. As a result, the tale of a young teen's personal growth and exploration, set against a house full of family conflict and financial strife, takes the audience on a ride which they all seemed to greatly enjoy on the evening I viewed the show.

Indio's Desert Theatreworks continues their strong 2018/19 season with a stylish production of Agatha Christie's MURDER ON THE NILE. Smartly dressed characters with distinct, larger-than-life personalities, come together in the early 1940's onboard an Egyptian riverboat. One of them gets shot through the head, and the remainder of the show deals with the characters figuring out whodunnit.

AVENUE Q is the funniest, warmest, most talented musical production I have seen in a very long time. I urge you to run, not walk, to the box office to make sure you get tickets!

Fittingly, Palm Canyon Theatre has opened their 2018/2019 season with the classic Oklahoma!, deemed by many to be the foundation of the modern musical theatre. Originally appearing on Broadway in 1943, it is the first collaboration of Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II, was a blockbuster hit in its original run, and has been filmed, revived, toured, and produced time and again in schools and theatres around the world. However, it's been quite a spell since it has been available to local theatregoers. PCT's production, under the direction of Derik Shopinski, is reverent to the original work, blessed with some amazing voices, boisterously staged, and absolutely delighted the audience on its opening weekend.

Summer is the time for light, fun entertainment, and Palm Canyon Theatre has always selected their brightest, breeziest show as their summer offering. This year's choice is The Wedding Singer, a musical firmly set in the 80's which is based on the 1998 movie with the same title. Director Anthony Nannini has assembled a blue-ribbon cast, and directed and choreographed them through two hours of high energy singing, dancing and acting. They are accompanied by a live four-piece rock band on stage, led by musical director Jaci Davis. The results are sure to put a big smile on even the most heat-weary viewers!

Desert Rose Playhouse, the Coachella Valley's LGBT theatre company, always picks something light and enjoyable as their season finale, the slot they refer to as 'Hot summer nights.' To balance out the fact that the last two summers had an all-male show, this year's choice is Women Behind Bars with a mostly female cast. They pulled out all the stops to assemble some of the Valley's top actresses for this side-splitting send up of the tawdry prison dame B-features of the 50's. They are joined by one man and a couple of dolls who arrive at the theatre as men. The results are hilarious, and this show should be on your 'Must See List!'

Summer in the Coachella Valley certainly has a dearth of theatrical choices. However, the companies that do produce shows recognize that hot summer nights call for big, brash comedies. Desert Theatreworks' current offering, The 39 Steps, more than qualifies. The company's Artistic Director, Lance Phillips-Martinez, is the valley's best director of physical comedy, and The 39 Steps is physical comedy on steroids!

Since its Broadway debut in 1959, Gypsy has been revered as one of the finest American musicals ever written. The touching - and sometimes horrifying - story of the quintessential stage mother bulldozing her two daughters into Vaudeville is based on Gypsy Rose Lee's autobiography, but focuses on Rose, her mother. The show either succeeds or fails based on the performance of Rose, and Palm Canyon Theatre's current production succeeds in trumps with the powerhouse delivery of Jaci Davis. Her voice fills every ounce of the theatre, and her energy in speaking, moving and singing never flags during an almost-three-hour performance!

Hitchcock has never been funnier! This summer, Desert Theatreworks is presenting a stage adaptation of Hitchcock's film classic, The 39 Steps, but the suspenseful drama becomes a side-splitting comedy when the entire story involving dozens of characters is presented with only four actors, a handful of chairs, and couple of boxes. The mix of melodrama, action and lots of quick-change costuming all takes place in just 100 minutes. The results are hilarious!

Who says lightning can't strike twice? Last summer, Palm Canyon Theatre staged In the Heights, the first Broadway smash hit by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton). Their houses were filled, their audiences thrilled, and young viewers arrived in droves to hear music that actually spoke to them. College of the Desert had a brainstorm and asked the same artistic team to re-stage the show as COD's spring musical, supplying them with a professional orchestra, the Valley's finest performing arts center, and professional stage technicians. The resulting new production of In the Heights, appearing this weekend only at The McCallum Theatre, is hands-down the most energetic and talented production I have ever seen a college deliver! It felt like a regional workshop of a production had been moved to Broadway, and the resulting production was a thrill!

Coachella Valley Repertory's 2017-2018 season theme is "Romance: Real or Imagined." As with a fine meal, they are wrapping up their season with a frothy dessert, 2 Across. This charming comedy about two people who meet on a train is as light as a souffle, and just as delicious. Like any fine dish, it relies on top ingredients and the cast, direction, and technical details all are delivered at that highly professional level we have grown to expect from CV Rep.