Theatre, Film & Broadcast

By Carol Davis LA JOLLA, California—Some might call director David Schweitzer’s adaptation if Henrik Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt” entertaining and they would be right. Some will agree that’s it’s pretty weird and they would be right as well. Some might look for a hidden meaning under it all and they may find that exercise well worth […]

By Carol Davis CORONADO, California — The very first time I heard the sound track from the original album of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man was back in the good old days before surround sound, digital sound, discs, iPods, iPads, 3 D, and color TV (kinda /sorta). It was all on vinyl. A friend of ours

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO—San Diego Musical Theatre has just launched its third and final show of its second season with a fine production of the dance tribute to end all dance tributes to all dancers, A Chorus Line. In 1975 the Marvin Hamlisch (music), Edward Kleban (lyrics), James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante (book) and

By Carol Davis LA JOLLA, California—-When Arthur Kopit gets an idea, you can pretty much count on it being a little off the charts. Take for example his 1963 movie Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad based on the 1962 Off Broadway play that lasted 454

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO— Calvin Manson founding father and artistic producing director of the Ira Aldridge Repertory Players is mounting his latest in a series of musicals bringing African American voices to the fore; most recently Raisin’ The Rent is now in production at the Lafayette Hotel downstairs in the Mississippi Room and it

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO — On the way out of the Old Globe Theatre during the second intermission of Tracy Letts’s 3 1/2 hour family drama, August: Osage County, the woman sitting next to me remarked that the Weston family of Letts’s drama made her family look good! My guess is, many in the

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO– This year the North Coast Repertory Theatre is mounting Aaron Posner’s adaptation of Chaim Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev on Sunday, June 26 as part of the Jewish Art Festival’s program. The show will officially open on June 4 and the final performance is June 26  at the North Coast

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO—Okay, the cat’s out of the bag! George Riley, beloved teacher, friend and past lover of beloved friends has only six months to live. How do I know? This is how it all went down: absent-minded Colin (Colin McPhillamy), who is a physician, is perplexed (he’s always in a state of

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO — Anna Deavere Smith’s latest commentary on the status of our health care system is one of the topics covered in her latest set of interviews, or as she calls them, “Assemblage of stories,” in Let Me Down Easy. It is now in a stellar showing at the San Diego Repertory

By Carol Davis     CARLSBAD, California—Toward the end of Scott Hudson’s new play, Sweet Storm now in a heartwarming production at New Village Arts Theatre, when Bo (Adam Brick) is holding Ruthie (Kelly Iversen) and they are swaying to the lulling sounds of “Sleep Walking”, your heart wants to beam and break at the same time.

By Carol Davis SOLANA BEACH, California—-What a different a decade makes. In Tom Dudzick’s Over the Tavern that took place in 1959 the age of innocence was on the wane, drive in movies, Dairy Queen (we still have one in my neighborhood) and the Ed Sullivan Show were the ‘talk of the town.’ Martin and

By Carol Davis ESCONDIDO, California—Frank, Sammy, Dino, Joey; The Rat Pack! Those were the days, my friend; we thought they’d never end! Well, if you want another dose of ‘those days’, straight from the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, you can catch a glimpse of what used to be called the ‘Golden Days of entertainment’,