The current show of Little Theatre of Fall River is Neil Simon's "Star Spangled Girl". Written in the mid 1960's, this comedy shows 2 young men writing a newspaper about the wrong's of LBJ's society and their beautiful neighbor who is a true blue patriot. The play is set in San Francisco and concerns three characters:Andy, Norman and Sophie. The story is a love triangle, mixed with politics. Andy and Norman are radicals who barely make a living working on their magazine, "Fallout" which is dedicated to fighting "the system" in America. Sophie, a former Olympic swimmer, is an all-American, Southern girl who moves into the apartment next door. it's love at first sight or as the play has it, first smell from Norman, but his feelings aren't reciprocated. Norman's obsession with Sophie makes Andy hire her just to keep the magazine going. Then Sophie falls for Andy, though they are at odds politically, threatening to destroy the magazine and the men's friendship. Happily this situation is resolved, as love and politics blend delightfully in a bubbling series of funny happenings, set forth with the skill and inventiveness of Neil Simon.

The second show of 2nd Story's summer season is Larry Shue's delightful farce, "The Foreigner". The show takes place in the early 1980's and is in a fishing lodge resort in rural Georgia where Froggy LeSueur, a British demolition expert occasionally runs training sessions at a nearby airbase. This time Froggy brings along a friend, Charlie Baker who is pathologically shy and is overcome with fear at the thought of meeting strangers due to the fact his wife continually berates him for being "Boring" because he is a proofreader for a science fiction magazine. So Froggy creates a perfect ruse and tells Betty Meeks, the owner of the lodge that Charlie is from an exotic foreign country who doesn't understand a word of English. This is to cheer Betty up because her place might be condemned. Once Froggy leaves, the visiting guests some good and some not so good, freely reveal their secrets in front of the "foreigner".Through his careful disguise, Charlie discovers that a plot is afoot and becomes the hero of the day, foiling the evil doers' plan in a side-splitting rescue effort, overcoming his shyness and helping to change his and three other peoples lives for the better.

The current show at the Newport Playhouse is the French farce, "Don't Dress for Dinner". This show is about Bernard planning an intimate evening with his mistress and packs his wife off to her mother's. Unfortunately his wife, Jacqueline, stays in town and his best friend is to be used as his alibi but their is a secret hidden there. Throw in two cooks, mistaken identities and some fantastic slapstick routines and you have the makings for the madcap romp that ensues

The closing show of Theatre by the Sea's 77th Season is the smash musical hit from 2000, "The Full Monty" which is based on the 1997 Oscar-nominated film. With a book by Tony Award winner Terrance McNally ("Ragtime" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman") and music and lyrics by pop composer David Yazbek ("Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"), the show changes locale from England in the movie to Buffalo, NY and is the raucous, heartfelt story of six unemployed steelworkers who go to great lengths to make some cash and help out a friend in trouble who might lose joint custody of his son. When a local male strip show, whose dancers venture down to G-strings, is a hit with the local women, the cash-strapped factory workers figure they can really cash in if they go "the full Monty." The buddies, desperate for self-respect, must overcome their fears, their nerves, and their clothes for a shot at success. Director Russell Garrett casts this show beautifully while Andrew Smithson as musical director brings out the best in his vocalists and orchestra as does choreographer Chris Saunders with his high energy dances in his inventive choreography. Throw in wonderful, colorful costumes by Marcia Zammarelli and topnotch intricate set design by Peter Barbieri Jr. and scenic artist Kathryne Hecht and you have the ingredients of comic and poignant moments to create a sensational musical treat for their very appreciative audience who reward them with a standing ovation.

Berkshire based playwright Daniel Klein has collaborated with Emile Fallaux, who directs, on the the world premiere of "Mengelberg and Mahler", a one person play, at Shakespeare & Company. It stars company veteran Robert Lohbauer. While Mahler fans may find much to like about this intimate performance, it left us unmoved. The script while well crafted was not adequately conveyed by the actor. On opening night, however, Lohbauer was given a standing ovation by some of the audience.

Journey back about 350 years ago when Blackbeard was the scourge of the Atlantic coast and when "booty" had an entirely different meaning, when men were men and so were some of the women. Blackbeard amassed a fortune in his lifetime, but now he is dead and the audience must elect a new king, which pirate will become Pirate King. "Blackbeard's Booty" is a new form of dinner theatre that is interactive and improvised. The show is loosely written and directed by Frank O'Donnell who stars as Sir Francis Drake where he leads his cast of some of the funniest and fiercest pirates to plunder the Seven Seas. This show is bawdy and naughty as well as being a fun evening of entertainment with a delicious dinner served with it.

When I came up out of the subway in the heart of Harvard Square, there were two guys --- a drummer with a shaved head and shades and a maybe younger sax man --- over by the kiosk, and they were good. The sax had a hint of Paul Desmond in it, but after a while I recognized that they were well along into variations on Gerschwin's "Summertime". I dropped a buck into a yawning bass-drum-cover, apologising for my penury, and mentioned that it seemed to me that they'd reversed roles with the sax doing melodic rhythm and the drum-set almost carrying the melody itself. The drummer complimented my ear and admitted, with only two of them, there were a lot of holes to fill.

I had nearly an hour, so I retreated up against a pole, my back to the traffic, when they launched into the next tune where they shared the work more equally, and I noticed that a series of at least half a dozen passing toddlers each in turn stopped and stared in hypnotized fascination at the source of live music, some with appreciative murmurs from their parents. I don't dance, but my body swayed in rhythm to the chord-changes and the beat liking what it heard, so before I pushed on I fished out another buck and as I dropped it in admitted "Hell, it's only money man" and as they played we three smiled.

It was still early so I stopped off at The Harvard Book Store's underground second-hand shop hoping some new book would nip me in the pinkie, but it didn't happen, and neither of the books I hoped might turn up --- Russell Hoban's "PILGERMAN" nor Thornton Wilder's "THE CABALA" --- were there nor upstairs in the new-books Fiction section. (The Harvard Bookstore was my first real job, after coming to Cambridge from New Jersey. Once, on a dare from fellow book-pushers, I answered the phone "Harvard Boo Store, may I scare you?"; the patron merely replied "Yes, I'm looking for..." responding to my politely professional tone rather than my words.)

The foyer of Zero Arrow was repainted and hung in blacks as an entrance corridor; at the entry was a box-office table, above it an enormous glass-beads chandelier. I was four minutes early so I retreated to a neutral corner and read to the end of a tale in "AUCASSIN & NICOLETTE AND OTHER MEDIEVAL ROMANCES AND LEGENDS" until ten-of curtain-time, then inquired whether my partner in crime had picked up our tickets. I left his, took my own ("We'll be letting people in at eight") and joined a line stretching nearly a block toward Central Square. A bouncer-ish guy came along affixing paper ribbons around everyone's left wrist ("And when will the doctor see me?" I quipped), and eventually the line edged by dribs and drabs into the black tunnel from which boringly regular ear-blasting base-notes erupted. Apparently Disco is, unfortunately, not yet dead.

Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:05:08 -0500
From: Christine Connor
Subject: Your book

Hi Larry,
Just finished your book. It is amazing how the world has changed since '82! Not just typewriters/computers but the liaison between professor and nineteen year old, which once would scarcely raise an eyebrow, no longer!

The desire to create and share art remains timeless however.... and that impulse is very much alive in your story .

Two suggestions,first,I think there also might be a play in here. Secondly, don't know if you are aware but you can send a copy of a self published book to Amazon, set your price and they will list and sell it for you. You get 30% I believe, better than most royalties I think . Anyway, a thought.
. Thanks for the copy and keep writing!
C

"ARTIST IN RESIDENCE" (144 pp. PerfectBound Paperback $20.00)

Available at HARVARD BOOK STORE's

Espresso-Books Machine

1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Harvard Square, CAMBRIDGE

1 (617) 661-1515 [Toll Free: 1 (800) 542-READ]

"Shear Madness --- 25th Anniversary Season" (31 January 1980-….)

Carl A Rossi reviews "Shear Madness --- 25th Anniversary Season"

The Charles Playhouse Stage II, 74 Warrenton Street, BOSTON, MA

1 (617) 426-5225

"The King's Feast" ( open-ended run on Friday and Saturday evenings)

Tony Annicone's review

KING'S FEAST. INC.

Hose Company No. 6, 636 Central Avenue, PAWTUCKET R I

1 (401) 722-7220

Collected Friday, 23 July

Palace Theatre Manchester NH
" We are committed to achieving our mission through preserving the historic facilities of the theatre, responding creatively to the cultural and entertainment needs of the community and governing in a fiscally responsible and strategic manner. "

Collected Friday, 16 July

KREATIVE KIDZ THEATRE Carver MA
" The camp day is spent in mixed age groups (ages 5-16). We have found during our experience that when children are taken out of their exclusive peer group they often thrive and make huge creative leaps. "

A tiny crew of dedicated fans huddle together in raked seats watching a show, and the first words out of their mouths are "Why does God hate us?"
They're watching a traditional duel between the New York visitors and the Home Team.
Why do I think of this as a metaphor for the rivalry between local Boston [i.e.: "fringe"] theatres versus the big-barn New York shows?

Well, for one thing I know that "the curse" was actually the raw fact that for years the bigger-budget Yankees could Buy a pennant when the Red Sox really couldn't --- and even today when New York sends up yet another National Tour of a Big Apple warhorse, the producers buy so much ink and air- and tube-time that people with big money enough to pay the prices think the visiting team is the only one in town. So the metaphor fits there.

For another, I looked through the cast-list and out of 14 excellent performers, only THREE include any New England appearances (except maybe an occasional National Tour). One of them worked once at "North Shore" and another in Newburyport. Only one (admittedly a "co-star" in a beautifully integrated, excellent ensemble) has a Boston credit --- she's a Conservatory graduate --- but her roles in two SpeakEasy shows are lumped, late in her bio, under "Other Theater:"
[Further evidence: the show rehearsed In New York City!]

Why the prejudice against Boston theater?
Well, to push the metaphor one step further, the original cause for "the curse" in most people's minds was Harry Frazee selling Babe Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees. And the rumor is that he needed the money to back a musical called "No, No Nanette"! And there's your real answer:
The baseball-crazed Boston GLOBE has never forgiven Boston Theater for the loss of the second-best hitter (after Ted Williams) the game has produced, and the paper has hated and degraded all local theatrical companies ever since. (The only local company the GLOBE uncritically adores in actually across the river in Cambridge. Call That "The curse" whydon'cha!)

That's about as true as any other theory I've heard.

So go see the show; I won't review it because I had to see a preview and, though I saw nothing wrong with it, there might still be changes before press-night. It's a good show well produced and performed --- and it might even think of itself as in "an out-of-town try-out" before a Braodway bid.

But remember: it's not about Baseball...
And it Could be about theater...

Break a leg all!
Love,
===Anon.
( a k a larry stark )

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

[Automatic removal after ONE week]

10:16 p m Wednesday 24 June '09

Who WAS it gave her the tip, Joanna wondered, carefully scraping the age-lines off her cheeks, staring into the dressing-room mirror. Was it Ted Kazanoff? "If you've got to think about a performance, spend as much time taking off your make-up as you did putting it on. Don't become yourself again until your character is completely gone." Would Ted have said that? Probably not. He was always insistent on Being the character, In the moment, REacting not Acting. Don't THINK before you Act.

Well, I blew that tonight, didn't I? And not ON stage but Backstage! Damn it, why did I listen to Meggan again, that damned air-head! "Where's my purse!" she said, "I've got to find my cell-phone in it, and it's not here!" And I was scouring the damn props-table when she ran on-stage, and of course there it was on her night-table, where it Always Is every ghoddamned night! And so I missed MY final entrance --- AGAIN!

Anita will kill me, she knew, as she re-applied a great gob of cold-cream to her forehead and grabbed up a handfull of kleenex. Or no. No, Madame La Stage Manageress just calls the show from the light-booth --- and keeps notes of every little mistake. She uses her Assistants as her hatchet-men --- and How many ASMs have we had, just since I joined the show alone? Three? Two? They're so eager to show they're ready to move up they just Love to draw blood with "notes" and leave at the drop of a hat whenever an SM slot opens anywhere. But damn it it's true! I lurched on-stage After my cue like a deer in the Leko's, and Harry gave me My line and answered with his. It was a nice cover --- you'd have to be one of those adoring idiot-fans who've seen the show half a dozen times to spot it. But Anita did, I'm sure, and noted it down with a pen-full of poison.

Meggan is Always dithering about her props, and they're Always right where they should be. The ASMs see to that; why can't she trust them? Why can't she trust Herself??

And why do I have to drop concentration to help her, when it's my own damn entrances I ought to be worried about. Joanna scrubbed at her eyes, which had spoiled her bows leaking tears of shame and anger, staining her cheeks, and damnit her costume, with mascara. This is the second --- no by Ghod the Third time something's thrown me off before that same damn entrance. Last time was Months ago, but it happened my first week in the show. I remember everyone was So supportive of the silly Newby: "We've All had a lapse or three over the years dear. Let us tell a few War-Stories on ourselves. You'll be Fine once it's Routine. Relax!"

Yes, routine. They all have routines. Like Harry rolling in drunk out of his mind for two nights right after payday, and so hung next night he can hardly see. Never loses a line though --- but so wooden it's like talking to a brick wall all night. And so sheepishly apologetic to everyone the rest of the week it's embarrassing even to talk to him. So he talks about A A, but never does anything about it, and next month Whoopsie! Off the wagon again. Routine.

We all adjust to everyone else's routines, don't we? I mean, at first I thought it was just I was the New Kid on the Block when Andre put the moves on me. Want a ride home in my Porsche? Want to stop for a little night-cap before hitting the sack? How'bout running lines at my place before the show? Need help with that zipper, gorgeous? Jeez! Come to find out he's that way with everyone in the cast --- even Meggan, who's old enough to be his Gradmother almost! Oh, I felt a little flattered at first --- I'm that insecure when it comes to men --- but "Don't shit where you eat." Who said that? Lenny Bruce? And Andre Never scores! First, he's so damn Obvious --- and I'll bet if any of us took him seriously he'd run screaming for the door.

Then there's Lori and Don, both of them leaping at every damn audition comes along, embarrassed to tell their friends they're Still in this pitiful commercial warhorse instead of doing anything Serious. They Hate the show, and the subtext in their every line is that We must be dunces or second-rate no-talents to stick with it as long as we have. Oh it's a good credit when you're young --- a few months in the longest-running show in town --- but it's not a Career, darlings, it's more a Sinecure! We're just here for the beer.

Well, maybe that's a little more realitsic than poor Myra. She's Method to the Eyelids, and always searching in herself for a new clue to her role, a new through-line to experiment with, a bit of backstory she's just discovered or found a new way to explore. It isn't Just a murder-mystery to her, there are motivations on motivations on sub-sub-subtextual nuances yet to try. It'd be a little easer to take if she wouldn't insist on talking them all to death with everyone else.

Joanna finally ran out of face. Even her ears emerged pale and pure and hiding not a fleck of obstinate greesepaint. She dabbed on a puff of powder and, before facing the outer-world, picked up her lipstick and made a mouth to smile at it with.

Of course (she sat back and contemplated her real face a moment) the true problem isn't the play --- it's trying to live with the other people in the cast! I mean, Gregory's gay, and Andre is Probably gay or would be if he'd admit it, and there are cat-fights and spats and insults and gangings-up and offense- takings and tears, and in a backstage this small it's easy to see all the invisible bloodstains on the walls. Didn't Sartre say "Hell is Other Actors!"? Or was it Hell is a Long Run? Are we all damned to stay in this show for all Eternity? What were our sins, I wonder...

Well, she sniffed, flinging on a coat and finding her Charlie-Card, if this is Hell, at least it pays Equity Minimum!

--30--

12:21 a m "Wednesday, 24 June, '09"

Any reaction?
larry@theatermirror.com

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"Lea DeLaria"

with
Lea DeLaria

Piano and Musical Direction … Janette Mason
Bass … Kendell Eddy
Drums … Austin McMann

Singer-comedienne Lea DeLaria brought her jazz and hilarity to the BCA’s Deane Hall for three evenings, kicking off the Huntington’s new cabaret series, “Upstairs at the Calderwood” --- the Old Girl, of all companies, is out to prove to Beantowners that, yes, there is life at an hour when most local theatergoers head home after applauding a curtain call and how wise, good and clever to begin with Ms. DeLaria who makes me laugh heartily as no one else can, onstage or off, and whose every note of scat is a well-hammered nail on the musical line. Twice have I seen Ms. DeLaria perform in Provincetown where she alternated in-your-face monologues with clear, sparkling vocals --- “Chords of steel!” she proclaimed to me, afterwards --- but Boston is not Provincetown and I wondered how this bull(dyke) would fare in our china shop. Happily, Ms. DeLaria is so layered an artist that, like a starfish cut in half, she could regenerate herself into a jolly big sister that the whole family could love, with just enough naughtiness to make her audience squirm with delight (i.e. walking amongst the women, with mistletoe, while singing “Christmas Kisses”) --- in Provincetown, Ms. DeLaria is a comedienne who sings; here, she was a singer who made us laugh which is comforting to know for not only will Boston always be Boston but the political winds are shifting to more hopeful, optimistic ones and Ms. Delaria, like many a stand-up comic, may find herself passing from Old Comedy to New (a year from now, who would want to be reminded of our outgoing President?). But even a Lea-Lite is better than no Lea, at all, and may Ms. DeLaria always find time for Boston within her busy-busy schedule and, of course, there is always Provincetown in the summer should you want to experience her in full, unleashed merriment.