Musical Theatre Guild, winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence, has announced an eclectic quintet of shows to celebrate its sixteenth season of Broadway in Concert musicals. The company of professional performers present concert-staged readings of seldom seen musicals.
This writer first experienced MTG with the 5th show of their 2nd season in 1997. 110 In the Shade, the musical version of The Rainmaker, featured Earl Holliman from the classic Katharine Hepburn/Burt Lancaster film in the role of the Father. Taking Holliman’s role as the youngest son was the show-stopping, Robby Award winning performance of David Engel, while Michael G. Hawkins and Karen Culliver played the star-crossed lovers. Among the many shows I did see, the best were Stephen Sondheim’s Passion and Jason Robert Brown’s Parade, both of which were L.A. premieres.
My most recent MTG outing was a really rare staging of the 1943 One Touch of Venus in February. The reason usually given as to why most of these musicals are rarely staged is the book. That was definitely the case here with the script by S.J. Perelman and Ogden Nash which dealt with a barber putting the engagement ring he intended to give his girlfriend on a long lost statue of Venus recently purchased by a wealthy art collector instead. The statue comes to life and creates mischief for everyone. The 1948 film script by Harry Kurnitz and Frank Tashlin made a bit more sense. A window dresser (Robert Walker) impulsively kisses the statue of Venus as he is setting up a display in a department store bringing it to life in the heavenly form of Ava Gardner. All but two of the Kurt Weill/Ogden Nash songs were cut from the film, but thankfully that is where MTG excelled. The cast was in great voice headed by Will Collyer as the barber and Jennifer Shelton as Venus. “Speak Low,” “I’m a Stranger Here Myself,” and “Foolish Heart” were some of the gems heard. MTG’s production was nearly stolen by Diane Vincent as the wise-cracking Molly, just as Eve Arden stole the film in the same role.
Bat Boy The Musical, which started life at L.A.’s Actors’ Gang before finding success off-Broadway in 2001 with Kaitlin Hopkins and Deven May, will be MTG’s next offering at Glendale’s Alex Theatre on June 13.
The shows for 2011-12 are High Fidelity, based more on Nick Hornby’s novel than on the film that starred John Cusack concerning a record shop owner who, after his girlfriend leaves him, goes through a painful re-evaluation of his life and lost loves. The Broadway production closed after only 14 performances, but L.A. audiences will get a chance to see it September 19 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.
Fanny, with a haunting score by Harold Rome (which was used as underscoring in the 1961 film with Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier), is the bittersweet story of love, secrets, and star-crossed young lovers on the Marseilles waterfront. The 1954 Broadway production starred Florence Henderson and Ezio Pinza. It plays November 14 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.
Little Women from 2005 sets the classic story of the March sisters and their beloved Marmee in Civil War Massachusetts to a heartfelt, lyrical score. It will play February 13, 2012 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale and February 19 at the Scherr Forum at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.
A New Brain, by William Finn and James Lapine, is Finn’s semi-autobiographical account of how he made the most out of life in the face of a harrowing major illness. It is smart, often funny, and always uplifting. It appears April 16, 2012 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.
Shenandoah, with a passionate Country & Western score, is the rousing, moving story of Charlie Anderson, a pacifist Southerner who is forced to take action when his youngest son is taken prisoner during the war. It is on Monday, June 11, 2011 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale and June 17 at the Scherr Forum at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.
Season tickets to the complete season at the Alex Theatre are on sale now directly through the Alex Theatre Box Office or by calling 818-243-ALEX. A two show mini-season to the shows at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is available by calling 805-449-2775.
For single tickets to the Alex Theatre, call the Alex Theatre Box Office at 818-243-ALEX. Single tickets to the Scherr Forum are available by calling Ticketmaster at 805-538-8700 or at the Civic Arts Plaza box office. Visit www.musicaltheatreguild.
