‘Fair Lady’ fairest of college shows

Tom Titus

* EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a series of columns

reviewing the year 2002 in local theater in Costa Mesa, Newport Beach

and at UC Irvine.

Theater programs at the three colleges in the Daily Pilot’s back

yard turned in industrious, ambitious results during 2002, but none

shone any brighter than “My Fair Lady” at UC Irvine.

This renowned musical version of George Bernard Shaw’s

“Pygmalion,” under the direction of Robert Cohen and musically helmed

by Dennis Castellano, inaugurated the refurbished UCI showplace

formerly known as the Village Theater and now resplendent as the

Claire Trevor Theater -- honoring the late Oscar-winning actress’

contributions to its remodeling.

It was a show in which, quite simply, all the elements fell

blissfully into place and this certified near-antique of a musical

(it was born on Broadway back in 1956) glowed with a professional

luster.

Runner-up for collegiate theater honors is director Carey Smith’s

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at Vanguard

University. Orange Coast College’s “North Shore Fish,” directed by

John Ferzacca, ranks third, and his production of “Side Man” is a

close fourth.

There were two college productions with “Fortinbras” (a minor

character from the final scene of “Hamlet”) in the title. OCC’s

“Fortinbras” was infinitely more enjoyable than “Fortinbras Gets

Drunk” at UCI, though both were broadly satiric.

Keith Fowler’s production of “The Skin of Our Teeth” at UCI ranked

high in retrospect, as did Cohen’s “The Good Person of Szechuan.”

“North Shore Fish” was a terrific catch at OCC. Vanguard had a

rollicking “Charley’s Aunt,” and two OCC students excelled in a

Repertory Theater staging of “Jack and Jill.” Also at OCC, Alex

Golson’s production of the Civil War epic “John Brown’s Body” proved

memorable.

As for top individual honors in collegiate theater, they must be

accorded to Michael Morgan as Henry Higgins in UCI’s “My Fair Lady”

and Joni Ross as the alcoholic wife of a trumpeter in “Side Man” at

OCC (not to mention for her fine comic turn in the college’s “Anton

in Show Business”).

Other significant performances by collegiate actors were Angel

Correa for “Jack and Jill” at OCC; Glen Kalison in “Fortinbras Gets

Drunk” at UCI; Greg McClure in OCC’s “North Shore Fish”; Matt

Grandpre in Vanguard’s “Joseph”; Chris Wolfe in “The Skin of Our

Teeth” at UCI; and Cary Smith in Vanguard’s “Charley’s Aunt.”

Actresses excelling in college productions were Blossom Benedict

in UCI’s “My Fair Lady”; Angela Lopez in “Jack and Jill” and

“References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot” at OCC; Lisa Clayton in

UCI’s “The Skin of Our Teeth”; Maria Hall Brown in OCC’s “North Shore

Fish”; Donnetta Lavinia Grays as UCI’s “Good Person of Szechuan”; and

Tammy Joelle Coffin in “The Mousetrap” at Vanguard.

This winds up our annual recap of the great and the near-great in

local theater for the year just ending. Next Thursday will see two

persons who had indelible effects on the local stage scene in 2002

become the Daily Pilot’s man and woman of the year in theater.

* TOM TITUS writes about and reviews local theater for the Daily

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.