Two musicals top community theater productions in 2004

Tom Titus

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

reviewing the year 2004 in local theater.

A pair of 1960s-era musicals at two local playhouses set the pace

for community theater in 2004, with the grim and gritty prevailing

over the farcical and frenetic as the year’s top production in a

banner year for theater along the Orange Coast.

“Cabaret,” the raucous, hedonistic glimpse of pre-war Berlin in

the late 1930s as seen through an American tourist’s eye and

transformed into a dramatic musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb, was

a dark, compelling production at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse. It

ranks among the better shows of recent vintage on a local,

nonprofessional stage.

As this column said at the time, “director and co-choreographer

T.J. Dawson has scraped off any glamour that might have been

associated with the musical, rendering his chorines at the infamous

Kit Kat Klub as raunchy looking and unappealing as possible. (The

show) remains a jarring, thought-provoking production even as it

entertains with high comedic style. The Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse

spares no sensibilities in bringing this powerful project to the

stage.”

The other highly regarded musical was “A Funny Thing Happened on

the Way to the Forum” at the Newport Theater Arts Center. Directed by

Phyllis Gitlin, the Roman romp with lyrics by a young Stephen

Sondheim burst the seams of the Cliff Drive showplace in a crescendo

of talent and energy.

Director David Colley occupies third and fourth place with a pair

of deeply involving dramas at the theater arts center -- “Redwood

Curtain” and “The Subject Was Roses.” Both involved young people at

crisis points in their lives, and both were splendidly produced and

performed.

Speaking of young people and crisis points, the definitive play in

that regard is “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which rounds out the top

five community productions. This revival at the Costa Mesa Civic

Playhouse, directed by Terra Taylor Knudson, amplified the tragic

World War II tale of a young girl hiding with her family from the

Nazis with a fourth wall-breaking style of staging.

As for individual performances, two in particular stood out --

David Marchesano’s ominous emcee in Costa Mesa’s “Cabaret” and

Christie Sweeney’s conniving murderess in Newport’s “Something to

Hide.” These two were this column’s choice for the best of 2004.

They weren’t runaway winners, however. Two performers who also

delivered terrific portrayals were David Rousseve in “The Subject Was

Roses” at Newport and Jeanette Phillips in “Cabaret” at Costa Mesa.

All four deserve top billing in any year-end assessment.

Other actors and actresses who made their presence felt at the

Civic Playhouse were Michael Dale Brown and Barbara Brown in “Anne

Frank;” Marina Coffee in “Cabaret;” and a trio of thespians from

“Cinderella Waltz” -- Adriana Sanchez, Lynn Reinert and Ryan Holihan.

At Newport, there were a number of performers deserving of belated

curtain calls. Among the top actors were David Farkas in “The Subject

Was Roses;” Robert Kokol and Ken La Salle in “Something to Hide;”

Bradley Miller and David Colley in “Forum;” Scott Ratner and Darren

Held in “A Thousand Clowns;” and Howard Patterson in “Redwood

Curtain.”

Actresses who distinguished themselves at Newport included Julia

Cho in “Redwood Curtain;” Andrea La Vela in “The Subject Was Roses;”

and Amber Holley in “A Thousand Clowns.”

College theater comes in for an encore next Friday, with bouquets

to be handed out to the outstanding shows and performers at the three

local institutions of higher learning. Then, in two weeks comes the

unveiling of the Daily Pilot’s man and woman of the year in local

theater for 2004.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.