Anya Sebastian - Page 2

In an age of 30 second sound bites and attention deficit disorder, keeping an audience engaged and entertained for a non-stop 70 minutes is quite an achievement, And when a subject as dry as the US Constitution provokes regular gales of laughter throughout, the performer is clearly not your average, run-of-the-mill comedian.

Who would have thought that a cheap, black and white horror movie, shot in 1960 by Roger Corman in just two days, would resurface some 20 years later, to become an off-Broadway musical comedy smash hit? The show, in its new incarnation (created by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken) ran for over four years, before transferring to Broadway and from there to London's West End.

It was Mel Brooks' runaway success with his musical version of THE PRODUCERS,' that inspired him to do the same thing with YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Fans of the classic, black and white horror spoof, will no doubt recall the story. Frankenstein's grandson, a brain specialist and American college professor, is called back to Transylvania to sort out his infamous grandfather's estate and, in the process, is inspired to 'join the family business.' Since this is Mel Brooks we're talking about, there's also a wacky assortment of love and lust interest, scientific fantasy and delicious nonsense along the way.

Think Chekhov and the last thing that comes to mind is comedy. So to be inspired by Chekhov to come up with a play that's laugh-out-loud funny is, to say the least, quite an achievement.

The three comics who were inspired to condense all of Shakespeare's 37 plays into 97 minutes - and then went ahead and did it - had no idea where that whacky idea would lead. First performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1987, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, went on to become a runaway success, playing at the Criterion Theatre in London for over ten years. It has since been translated into dozens of different languages and has become a world-wide theatrical phenomenon. Whether you love Shakespeare, hate him or are completely indifferent, do yourself a favor and head over to Albuquerque Little Theatre, for an evening of guaranteed hilarity.

No single word can adequately sum up Kaye Ballard and Liliane Montevecchi's one night appearance at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on August 8th.Their performance was engaging, entertaining, inspiring and uplifting, with a pace that never faltered and an array of talents guaranteed to keep the audience glued to their seats all the way through. In other words, it was a dose of good, old-fashioned entertainment.

There is virtually nothing in the world of show business that Kaye Ballard and Liliane Montevecchi haven't left their mark on - acting, singing, story-telling, comedy, cabaret, dancing. . . in movies, on TV and performing live on stage - they've done it all. These legendary stars have over a century of artistic experience between them and, when I caught up with them between rehearsals for their upcoming show at the Lensic Performing Arts center in Santa Fe, it was abundantly clear that they show no signs of slowing down.

Since it began in 2003, Fusion Theatre Company's festival of short works, THE SEVEN, has acquired a reputation as one of the most notable events of its kind in the nation, and even beyond. . .

Duke City Rep is celebrating its first appearance at the Cell Theatre with a feisty production of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, a comedy by award- winning playwright, Alan Ball (American Beauty.) Set in Knoxville, Tennessee, the play features five, very different bridesmaids, all reluctant participants in a fancy, over-the-top, Southern wedding. Having survived the ceremony itself, they are now taking refuge in the upstairs bedroom of the bride's rebellious, pot-smoking younger sister, Meredith, as the reception proceeds on the lawn below.

I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the Fusion Theatre Company. Their productions are highly professional, well produced and consistently deliver good, solid theatrical entertainment. So it pains me considerably to have to say that HUMBLE BOY, which opened at the Cell Theatre on April 25, falls disappointingly short of the mark.

LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE, now playing at Aux Dog Theatre, deals with far more meaningful topics than the title may suggest. Written by Nora Ephron (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE…) and sister, Delia Ephron, this is definitely a theatrical experience by, for and about, women.

CLYBOURNE PARK is not an easy play on which to slap a label. Part drama, part social history, part cultural commentary, woven together with humor that, in turn, inspires laughter, makes you wince, or leaves you squirming uncomfortably in your seat, this is not your usual theatrical fare. Also well-crafted (it won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for drama) provocative and thought- provoking, Bruce Norris's play is an experience not to be missed.

ALL MY SONS is a classic Arthur Miller psychological drama about a family torn apart by the unraveling of its own dark secrets. First produced in 1947 and based on a true story, the play (which became Miller's first Broadway success) is a timely reminder of the devastating impact that misguided personal decisions can have on the world at large.

DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN, comedian Rob Becker's one-man show about the age-old battle of the sexes, first appeared in San Francisco in 1991. It went on to become the longest running solo show on Broadway and, since then, has been translated into 16 different languages and been produced in over 35 different countries. It was presented, last weekend, at the Kimo theater, featuring Cody Lyman as the classic 'every man' figure.

Tom Paxton is a genuine American icon. The legendary folk singer and songwriter has been performing, singing, writing and recording songs for over 50 years and, judging by his performance to a sold-out house at the Broadway Cultural Center, he shows no signs of slowing down.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION, the off-Broadway runaway hit by Mark St. Germain, is now playing at The Cell - home of the Fusion Theatre Company - and I urge you not to miss it!

The Acting Company launched its national tour at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, on October 17, with a solid production of John Steinbeck's OF MICE AND MEN. This grim tale, which follows the fortunes of two, itinerant, California farm workers during the Great Depression, is a timely reminder of issues still painfully relevant in American society today. . .

THE CAPITOL STEPS has been delighting audiences with political satire for over 30 years and is now something of a national institution. The group was born in December 1981 ('when Reagan was president and ketchup was a vegetable') when some Senate staffers got together to devise entertainment for their upcoming Christmas party. They came up with the novel idea of satirizing, to music, the very hands that fed them. And the rest, as they say, is history. . .

It's not easy to slap a label on OTHER DESERT CITIES. Jon Robin Baitz has created a play that is truly a hybrid, combining laugh-out-loud humor with pin-drop silence, mystery and mounting suspense. . .

The Santa Fe Playhouse is the oldest, continuously running community theater west of the Mississippi, and summer would not be complete without its production of the FIESTA MELODRAMA. Reinvented each year by an anonymous committee of local writers (whose identity wisely remains a well-guarded secret) the melodrama has established itself as a good-natured, satirical send-up of some of the most noteworthy personalities, eccentricities and scandalous happenings in the City Different during the previous 12 months...