Top theater of year goes to Vanguard
Tom Titus
That quaint little Scottish village, which only surfaces every 100
years, materialized at Costa Mesa’s Vanguard University long enough
to establish itself as the top collegiate theater production among
the three local institutions of higher learning in 2004.
“Brigadoon,” the Lerner-Loewe musical fantasy directed by Amick
Byram, was an ambitious choice for the limited dimensions of
Vanguard’s Lyceum Theater. It was, however, a choice fully realized.
As this column’s review observed, the show was “an intimate epic,
a full-blown production delivered almost into your very lap, a
wonderful, colorful and fully melodic revival of one of Broadway’s
most romantic musicals. The Vanguard University production
beautifully demonstrates how big things can happen on small stages.”
Big things also happen on big stages, as UC Irvine’s “Blood
Brothers” proved. Again quoting this column, “Director Myrona DeLaney
has mounted a steely, deeply involving production, and her
all-undergraduate cast responds with vigor and imagination,” making
the show No. 2 on this column’s year-end review.
Orange Coast College came up with the third-place show in the
student-directed drama, “Wit,” Linne Mosakewicz’s staging of a play
that had premiered a few blocks away at South Coast Repertory about a
decade ago. This column referred to it as “a gripping, involving and
challenging -- both emotionally and intellectually -- production.”
“The Lion in Winter,” a veritable feast for actors, proved a
banquet at Vanguard University and checks in at No. 4. Director
Marianne Savel brought the show into a modern setting without
sacrificing the edgy intensity of the conflict between King Henry II
of England and his captive queen Eleanor.
Fifth-place honors go to “Pippin,” Orange Coast’s colorful staging
of the musical centering on the son of Charlemagne, directed by Beth
Hansen, which narrowly edges out OCC’s dramatization of the epic
novel “Moby Dick,” adapted by the college’s David Scaglione.
Individual acting awards must be accorded by school, since there
were so many excellent performances during 2004. Heading the class
are the royal couple from Vanguard’s “Lion in Winter,” Richard Davies
and Susan Berkompas. True, neither is a student, but both set shining
examples of excellence for their charges to emulate.
At OCC, Jennifer Drake was hands-down the top actress for “Wit,”
while Teddy Spencer excelled as best actor in “Moby Dick.” UCI’s
premier performers were Zachary James Oldham in “Blood Brothers” and
Talia Thiesfield in “Romeo and Juliet.”
Other notable performances delivered during the year included, at
UCI, Christopher Trice, Justin Lujan and Michelle Cowin, all for
“Romeo and Juliet,” and the “Blood Brothers” duo of Katherine
McLaughlin and Kristen Brandt.
At Vanguard, special mention must be accorded Michael Mulligan,
Heaven Peabody, Rene Scheys and Caitlin Macy-Beckwith of “Brigadoon,”
Daren Kjeldsen and Amy Maier for “The Lion in Winter” and Darlene
Watson and Rick Arbuckle in “A Murder is Announced.”
At OCC, Michael Cavinder and David Marchesano excelled in
“Pippin,” while Brittany Keehn and James Grant were impressive in
“View of the Dome.”
* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews
appear Fridays.
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