21
Nov
2007
BEOWULF
In 1977's Annie Hall, there's a scene between Woody Allen's Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton's Annie in which the title character mulls over her adult-education options:
ANNIE: Does this sound like a good course - "Modern American Poetry"? Or, let's see now ... maybe I should take "Introduction to the Novel."
ALVY: Just don't take any course where they make you read Beowulf.
Thirty years later, I'm not sure I'd want to take a course where they make you see it, either.
"Mr. Scrooge?"
Among those I spoke with during the show's subsequent opening-night party, the prevailing opinion seemed to be that the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's new production of Irving Berlin's White Christmas was superior to the 2006 production, and I guess that maybe, in several respects, it was.
At last Monday's well-attended preview performance of the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas, most of the mostly senior audience seemed delighted by the show.
Offhand, I can think of no theatrical climax this year that has been simpler, sweeter, or more subtly moving than the one in Black Hawk College's Going Underground. All it consists of is actress Miranda Lipes standing center-stage, offering a beatific, tranquil smile while Judy Garland sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," yet the impact of the moment is stronger than you might be prepared for.
FRED CLAUS
There's an oft-repeated piece of advice given to fledgling writers: Write what you know. So, for his first original play, Christopher Morgan - a group psychotherapist living in the Ealing Broadway suburb of west London - did exactly that, fashioning the tragic-comic one-act Going Underground out of his own experiences and acquaintanceships. And it only took 6,875 hours of research to complete it.
"The fact that people actually get offended at a joke is unbelievable to me," says Carlos Mencia, host of Comedy Central's sketch-comedy series Mind of Mencia. "Especially one coming from a comedian. Our intent is to make people laugh, and even if we miss, what a noble thing to do - to try to put a smile on somebody's face. And to take that and turn it into something bad? That's just ridiculous.
INTO THE WILD
