PCPA has a Winner, again.

If you’re of a certain age, the musical review, “Forever Plaid,” now playing at Santa Maria’s PCPA, will be a lovely, funny trip down memory lane. If you’re not of a certain age, but are familiar with the great American popular music songbook, it will also be a trip down a musical historical lane.  And a lot of laughs.

The plot is simple:  Four young guys  (think clean-cut nerds with pocket protectors and wonderful voices) form a close-harmony group (think The Four Aces, The Four Freshmen, all popular “guy groups” in the 1950’s). They are driving down the highway in their 1954 Mercury convertible on their way to pick up their plaid tuxedoes when they’re broadsided and killed by a school bus filled with Catholic girls on their way to see the first Beatles concert on the Ed Sullivan Show.  Yes.  Nice touch.
The show is all about their return from heaven to sing one last concert as The Plaids.  And sing they do, 29 classic 1950’s hits, from Day-O, Sixteen Tons, Three Coins in the Fountain, and the only finale possible with such a line-up – Love is a Many Splendid Thing. 

Plus a show stopper: A hilarious send-up of “The Ed Sullivan Show in Three Minutes, 27 Seconds” with “Lady of Spain” played on the accordion the whole time. That was worth the price of admission alone.

The cast, Jeff Parker, Richie Ferris, Kyle Smith and Nick Tubbs, are all part of the regular line  of PCPA players, and manage the very difficult task of being both ironic/comic and ‘50’s sentimental/sappy while singing gorgeous close harmony songs.  Not an easy challenge.

Well, I don’t think there’s much of anything the players at PCPA can’t do.  It’s an extraordinary theatre gem right here in our backyard.  Do yourself a favor if you want to have a genuinely entertaining afternoon:  Go see “Forever Plaid.”  But you’d better hurry.  It’s  closing this Sunday, June 29.  So call the box office at 922-8313 or order tickets on line at www.pcpa.org. 

Meanwhile, over at the SLO Little Theatre (slolittletheatre.org  (805) 786-2440) I had a chance to finally catch one of their “Ubu’s Other Shoe” performances.  These are described as “staged readings,” which brings to mind a bunch of actors sitting around a table reading from a script.  Not correct, though the actors do have their scripts with them and the theatre is pretty bare except for the  most limited props.  The notes in the program added this bit of information:  “Ubu’s Other Shoe” was created to present challenging, though-provoking plays, old and new, the content of which might make them unsuitable for main state production.  It also gives directors and actors and opportunity to work on challenging plays that would not otherwise be available.”

In short, “Ubu’s Other Shoe” is a win/win.  In order to practice and hone their craft, actors and directors need to act, they need a script and they need a place to do it all in.  But staging a full play – costumes, sets, takes time and money and if the play is a challenging one and unlikely to bring in enough paying customers to pay the bills, what do do? 

Well, Ubu’s what you do.  The plays can be quickly staged utilizing the playgoers’  imagination – the true magic of theatre (think “theatre of the mind” radio dramas ), the presentations can utilize dates when the theatre would otherwise be dark, the ticket price is cheaper (with a season ticket, it’s only $10 a show.) which means live theatre can fit into far more budgets.
 
I had a chance to go see Ubu’s presentation of “August: Osage County,” and was amazed.  Yes, the actors carried their scripts but they weren’t “reading,” they were full-bore acting.  So prepared and on target was the cast, the show was more like a dress rehearsal than just some walk-read-through.
And what a performance it was and quite a wonderful eye-opener to see how one play, same characters, same dialogue can be so transformed, depending on what interpretation the actor brings to the table.

I had seen the movie with Meryl Streep.  It was a Bataan Death March of a film – dark and grim.  And Streep’s gravitas and powerful presence moved her Violet Weston into the realm of Medea – a savage, relentless, genuinely awful woman in a drama with few laughs.

  In Ubu’s presentation, the play was listed as a “black comedy,” and Jill Turnbow’s wonderful performance turned Violet into a wounded woman whose malice is driven by her own pain and fear, her own dysfunction  and an inability to do or know any better. She is a woman both sinned against and sinning and Turnbow’s performance is both richly comic and touchingly tragic.  Instead of some grim Greek Drama, we get a picture of a family coping with secrets, old wounds and family legacies they’re not prepared or willing to deal honestly with. Medea was not in the room, but a lot of belly laughs were.

It was like seeing two different plays.  Again, the magic of theatre and the transformative power of an actor to shape a role, set a tone, and so shape an entire play.

SLO Little Theatre has also become one of our own theatre gems.  They’re starting their new season, including both Ubu’s Other Shoe’s line-up and a series of plays called “After Hours,” which presents both original plays and/or material suitable for adults.  Clearly, something for everyone.

There Goes December

Instead of St. Nick, this December is beginning to feel like one big White Rabbit -- I'm late, I'm late . .
Too much to do, so little time to do it in. So, here's a small list of upcoming, current Swell Stuff.

The Cambria Christmas Market (see previous posting.)  That's not to be missed.  Also, best hustle to get tickets to the SLO Little Theatre (http://slolittletheatre.org) for their wonderful production of, "Miracle on 34th St."  It's a great production, great cast, beautifully staged and directed, a great way to get in a holiday mood.

Ditto for the grand spectacle at the PCPA in Santa Maria for their production of "Mary Poppins."  (http://PCPA.ORG ) They've pulled out all the stops on this one.  Fabulous sets, costumes, dance numbers, and, being Mary Poppins, lots of flying overhead and acrobatic high-wire work. The high degree of professionalism at the PCPA never ceases to amaze and this production is no exception.

Both plays run until Dec. 22, so there's no time to lose.

And no time to lose since the Winter Concert by the Vocal Arts Ensemble choral group is coming up this Saturday, Dec. 7 in the SLO Mission (http://vocalarts.org ) Their Christmas Concert is always a high point of my holiday plans.

Also on Dec 7, from 12 - 4, SLO Roast Coffee is having another coffee-tasting  --sample different coffees paired with yummy, decadent desserts -- and watch a coffee roasting demonstration.  Plus a chance to buy some of their coffees which are a great addition to your Christmas list, especially for friends and family living out of state -- a little taste of our home town coffee roasters.

Also another local product to go on the list, the new "Banjo Babes 2014 Calendar and Compilation CD."  ( http://banjobabescalendar.com), for all your friends who are banjo fans.  This wonderful item was cooked up by talented musician, Erin Inglish (her dad's part of Cafe Musique). (You can also contact her via FaceBook as well). And, as long as you're making out a Christmas List, add Coalesce Bookstore (Morro Bay) and their second publishing venture, a book of poetry by four local poets, "Where our palms rest . . . Beverly Boyd, Carol Alma McPhee, Joann Rusch, Bonnie Young."

And, Sunday Dec 8, from 11-4, the Central Coast Glass Cottage will be holding an open house "Art Glass 2013 Holiday Glass Showcase" at 1279 2nd St. There'll be demonstrations of glass work, and a chance to see the beautiful work being created in the lovely workspace/gallery right here in downtown Baywood.  Also, a portion of all sales will be donated to Woods Humane Society and Soles4souls ("Changing the world 1 pair of shoes at a time.") And if you get peckish, Noi's (another Baywood treasure) is right across the street.)

And finally, don't forget our own loving-hands-at-home Los Osos Christmas Parade here in Los Osos, Saturday, December 14, 10 a.m.  This is followed, at the Community Center, by the 8th Annual "Needs 'N Wishes" Holiday Fundraiser", sponsored by South Bay Seniors People Helping People -- a fundraiser for the Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter (for the homeless), Transitional Food and Shelter (for homeless after leaving the hospital) and the SLO Noor Clinic (free health clinic for uninsured folk).

The Holiday Fundraiser at 2180 Palisades Ave, Los Osos, at the Community Center, runs from 10 a.m. to 7 pm. and features food, music, raffles, and most important of all, a chance to dump all your loose change (and more) into the big 5-gallon water jugs, all monies raised going to help people less fortunate.  Which is what a good deal of the Christmas Spirit is all about.

Too little December, too many wonderful things to do.  Yes, it's White Rabbit time . . . .


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And So Has The SLO Little Theatre

While you're theatre hopping, don't miss the new production of "Incorruptible, A Dark Comedy About the Dark Ages" at the SLO Little Theatre. ( http://www.slolittletheatre.org  ) It's playing weekends through Sept 29th (Friday night, two performances on Sat, one on Sunday afternoon.)

It's a deliciously snarky tale of a 13th century monastery that's in the relics biz but with one minor problem: their saint's bones seem to have lost their luster, miracle-wise, so paying pilgrims are taking their nice money and going to the next town over since that church's saintly bones are still curing sick cows and sick (paying) peasants alike.  Oh, what to do?

Well, an old bone's an old bone and our scheming band of monks soon discover two things: Churches all over Europe will pay good money for old bits of a saint that will attract paying pilgrims in need of miracles, and these sly monks have a graveyard full of old bones. Who's to know?

Before you know it, the monks are in business, their tattered homespun robes exchanged for silk, their sins multiplying like the coins in their coffers.

The cast  is splendid and up to the comedic game.  Keep and eye out for Rosh Wright as the" old peasant woman."  She's a talented, wickedly funny scene stealer if ever I've seen one.

The theatre's got their new season schedule posted.  It includes "Miracle on 34th St," in time for the Holidays (Nov/Dec), "Proof," "A Chorus Line," among others.  This theatre is one of SLOTown's gems.  They've come such a long way (a 60 year history) and are now drawing on a wonderfully wide pool of talent (PCPA, Cal Poly, Melodrama Theatre, retired theatre folks from L.A. who are lending their expertise and talent, our own homegrown talent), with a increasingly ambitious program.

Do yourself a favor.  Buy a ticket and head for the theatre.