Stan Jenson - Page 4

It’s hard to imagine a more perfect holiday show than Sound of Music, and Palm Canyon Theatre’s current production of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical should come complete with a large gift bow!

Script2Stage2Screen is presenting their second production of the season, Crying on Trains by David Hansen. This beautifully written play tells the story of an evolving friendship between a patient and her nurse. It's truly a tender, touching story of courage, friendship, and love.

A very magical combination of excellence has just occurred in Palm Springs theatre, and even though it's only for one weekend, I wanted to tip you off to it. The show is Del Shores' newest play, This Side of Crazy. The magic occurs when this smart script is delivered by four of the Coachella Valley's finest actresses under the helm of one of the valley's top directors, Richard Marlow.

The show by actor/playwright Terry Ray is set in a motel room, and the first two years were actually performed at INNDulge in a motel room with an audience of 20 serving as flies on the wall, watching the action.  Fortunately, the show has transferred to Oscar’s dinner theatre in the middle of town which enables about triple the audience, comfortable tables and chairs, and some really terrific food!

The only problem with staging as big a hit as Desert Rose Playhouse had with their recent production of The Rocky Horror Show is that you have to follow it up with something. Wisely, Artistic Director Robbie Wayne lined up a killer artistic triumvirate in actors Nicholas Sloan and Jamie Leigh Walker, and the seasoned Chuck Yates as director. The show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, is a beloved title not only in the gay community, but for eccentrics and misfits of all shapes and sizes. It recently had a successful run on Broadway, and I certainly enjoyed the Desert Rose production much more than I did the touring company of the Broadway production, helmed by Darren Criss, which I walked out on about halfway through.

Playwright Del Shores and Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) have a long-lasting love affair with each other. The theatre recently presented their eighth production of Sordid Lives, and for the first time, ran the popular comedy for two weekends instead of one. There are two plaques for Palm Springs' Walk of Fame in the sidewalk in front of PCT. One is for the Layne Family, founders of the theatre company, and the other is for Del Shores!

If the creativity and excitement of live theatre have been dammed up these past two years, the dam has broken center stage with Palm Canyon Theatre’s current production of Shrek the Musical.  Rarely have I seen such energy, excitement, color and talent in a local production

In a normal year, Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) kicks their season off in September with a big, splashy musical - but 2021 has been anything but a normal year. They started off with The Boys, a 2-person play which paid homage to the 9/11 Heroes. Next up was a reprise the of cult hit Sordid Lives with a cast of around a dozen. Both shows were extremely well produced, but I suspect that the smaller casts were selected because no one knew for sure if audiences would be allowed indoors, or if so, they would have to allow for empty seats between parties, etc.

Script2Stage2Screen (S2S2S) kicks off their 2021-22 season with a staged reading of Auntie October 22 and 23.  The dramedy centers around Patrick Dennis’s Auntie Marion who claims that she was the inspiration for his most famous work, Auntie Mame, even though he consistently denies it.

Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) continues their gala 25th Anniversary Season with Del Shores’ beloved Sordid Lives.  I say “beloved” because this is the eighth time PCT has presented the outrageous comedy and audiences are snatching up tickets like they’re going to a long awaited family reunion.

It feels so great to see theatre doors opening which were locked by the pandemic.  In March 2020, Desert Theatreworks had just opened one of their best musicals ever, The Producers, and were forced to close it after just one night.  Now they are kicking off their 2021-22 season with that show which so few people got to see.  In fact, the sets have sat on the stage for some 16 months.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) will present The Guys, a play by Anne Nelson.  The play is about the aftereffects of the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Joshua Tree's Summer Theatre Under the Stars is currently playing their third offering, Miles Gloriosus, and it's good enough that it makes me sad that there's only one more show in the season. I truly hope this becomes an annual event at the amazing Wind Walkers Medicine Wheel theatre-in-the-round.

So four playwrights walk into a bar and the first one says …. sound like the setup for a joke?  No, it’s actually the premise for Shakespeare in Revue, the delightful second presentation by Joshua Tree’s Theatre Under the Stars.

Palm Canyon Theatre is back, and I couldn't be happier! Rather than opening post-pandemic with a gigantic blockbuster, they decided on You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and the audiences are the winners from that decision.

The production was called The Wild West (Sh!t) Show, an original collaborative piece conceived and developed by Haley Kooyman.  It is the first of four productions being produced by JT Theatre Under the Stars, sponsored by Wind Walkers and Thought Theatre.

Palm Canyon Theatre is preparing their 25th Annual Kids Camp and it couldn’t come at a more welcome time! With Riverside County schools being limited to online classes for over a year, not only will the students receive theatrical training – they will also have a chance to interact with live teachers and other students!

Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT), like all theatres around the world, closed their auditorium to productions a year ago. However, starting in January of this year, they entered into a very interesting (and I daresay, brave) project. Starting in mid-January, a troupe of 22 young performers (12 – 21) began a two-month intensive training program, culminating in a fully staged concert.

Just when gloom and doom seems to be coming at us from all angles, Desert Theatreworks presents one of the funniest, finest works they have ever staged. Following its laugh filled opening night, the company has put the show on hiatus per government guidelines, but it certainly must resume its run as soon as allowed.