Phillip McBride

The glamorous passenger train Twentieth Century Limited, which ran between New York and Chicago between 1902 and 1967, is the main setting for the musical screwball comedy ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY now playing through August 27 at the Pan-Andreas Theatre, 5119 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038. Based partly on the 1930s film and play of the same name, the musical, with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman, is part operetta, part farce, and part screwball comedy telling the story of the behind-the-scenes relationship between Lily, a temperamental actress and Oscar, a bankrupt theatre producer. The duo, played with great skill and comedic timing by Alena Bernardi and Wade Kelley, recount the tale of their adventure traveling from Chicago to New York in the 1930s as Oscar tries to cajole the glamorous Hollywood star into playing the lead in his new, but not-yet-written drama, and perhaps to rekindle their romance.

I'm sorry if you missed Art-In-Relation's production of IT'S ONLY LIFE this past weekend because you missed hearing a remarkable musician play his own magnificent songs in a tiny 50-seat theater. To have that luxury is a rare occurrence, even for a city like Los Angeles. It was a breathtaking evening with the composer at the piano expressing, as only one who has written a song truly can, the most intimate nuances of a piece. For a lover of music, it was transcendent.