Sandi Masori

The show is similar to the original 1960 novel and 1962 movie, with a few differences.  Whereas Atticus Finch was the big hero in the original book and movie, in the play he has some flaws.  His big one is his belief that everyone deserves respect, even if, as his housekeeper Calpurnia (played by Jacqueline Williams) says, respecting them disrespects someone else.   [Sandi Masori]

The stand-out actors were Timon and Pumba (played by Tony Freeman and John E Brady), the three hyenas (played by Martina Sykes, Forest VanDyke, and Robbie Swift), and Rafiki the medicine woman baboon (played by Gugwana Dlamini, who also added some powerful African vocals and can be heard on the original movie soundtrack as well).  Judging by the audience’s roars at curtain call, there was consensus on these stand-out performances.  [Sandi Masori]

I Hate Hamlet seems like a silly name for a play, but it’s playing at the Scripps Ranch Theatre through June 12 all the same.  Silly name notwithstanding, the comedy is worth the watch and will entertain and delight you, with many laugh-out-loud moments.  [Sandi Masori]

My son and I got a chance to see the opening night performance.  As with every other show I’ve seen at the Civic Theatre, we ran into people that I knew as soon as we walked in.  This time it was Bar Mitzvah planner Lydia Krasner and her husband Ron.  I am not a “Renthead,” having never seen the musical in the quarter century between the time it started touring at the La Jolla Playhouse to this final touring performance.  It was fortunate that we ran into Lydia and Krasner, because Lydia is really knowledgeable about the show and was able to explain some of the plot points that we found confusing.   [Sandi Masori]

If you haven’t seen the show, it’s based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and is the story of a professor (Henry Higgens, played by Laird Mackintosh) who takes in a young woman who sells flowers in the street, (Eliza Doolittle, played by Shereen Ahmed) and makes a bet with his friend (Col Pickering, played by Kevin Pariseau), that he can turn her from a gutter rat into a duchess by teaching her to speak proper English instead of Cockney.  [Sandi Masori]