With Book by Michael Stewart. Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman, HELLO DOLLY presented by 3D Theatricals ended its run on Sunday, Aug. 7 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical based on the play “The Matchmaker” by Thornton Wilder premiered in 1964 starring Carol Channing in the title role, and has gone on to become one of the best loved and often performed musicals of all time.
In 1890s New York City, well before dating apps and online matches, the bold and enchanting widow Dolly Levi (joyfully portrayed by Valerie Perri), is an outspoken socialite-turned-matchmaker. Her latest clients seeking assistance are the cantankerous “half-a-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder (silver fox Robert Yacko) and a young artist named Ambrose (Bradley Cashman), who is in love with Horace’s niece, Ermengarde (Tasha Tormey). Dolly’s scheming soon involves Horace’s employees Cornelius Hackl (Gary Patent) and Barnaby Tucker (Chris Villain) as well as New York hatmaker Irene Molloy (Afton Quast) and her assistant Minnie Fay (Grace Woo), culminating with the enchanting foursome looking for love and some nighttime excitement at the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant.
All the while, Dolly tries to cover up her own secret romantic designs to win Horace for herself. As her machinations play out at the restaurant, her drive to get what she wants will no doubt lead to her own living happily ever after.
With an ensemble of 22 complementing the production directed by Ken Sawyer with clever choreography by Leslie Stevens, musicians provided by Los Angeles Musicians Collective led by Musical Director/Conductor Diane King Vann, as well as the intricate, moveable set design by John Iavocelli lit by Jean-Yves Tessier, the stage was set to amaze and dazzle musical theater lovers of all ages!
And while you may have missed the latest 3D Theatricals magnificent musical production this time around, mark your calendars now and be sure to catch “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” from Sept. 30 to Oct. 9 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center or Oct 14-23 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, featuring, as always, a talented local cast. For more information and tickets, visit www.3Dshows.com
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‘Blueprint for Paradise’ now at
the Hollywood Hudson Theatres
The ruins of an abandoned WWII Nazi compound in Pacific Palisades, known today as the ‘Murphy Ranch,’ are the inspiration for the world premiere play BLUEPRINT FOR PARADISE by Laurel M. Wetzork, presented by The Athena Cats at the Hudson Theatres in Hollywood.
Directed by Laura Steinroeder with great intensity so vital to the storytelling, the cast includes Alex Best, Regi Davis, Ann Hu, David Jahn, Steve Marvel, Peter McGlynn and Meredith Thomas, each of whom delivers a stunning characterization proving how misguided some Americans were about Germany and the Nazi Party during its rise to power.
Inspired by true events in 1941 during the weeks leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Wetzork imagines the relationship between African-American architect Paul Revere Williams (designer of landmark L.A. buildings including Saks Fifth Ave and the Los Angeles County Courthouse, as well as private residences for Bert Lahr, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and Frank Sinatra) and a wealthy American couple who employed him to design a compound and training ground for Nazi sympathizers in Rustic Canyon adjacent to the Will Rogers Estate.
The play centers on Clara (Meredith Thomas, a lovely blonde elegantly costumed by Michael Mullen), the born-into-wealth wife of Nazi sympathizer Herbert Taylor (shifty-eyed David Jahn) who uses his wife’s fortune (usually without her knowledge) to purchase land and supplies for the compound, convinced that assisting the Germans will prove a financial windfall for him when they win the war. When the original architect hired to build the complex fails to do his job, Herbert asks Clara to find a new architect since she has great style and a real flare for decorating.
Of course Clara has no idea when she calls the well-respected architect Paul Revere Williams that he is African-American, and the look on her face when he arrives for their first meeting is priceless – not to mention the reactions of her trusted Chinese maid and confidante Fenny (Ann Hu) and her Italian Butler/Driver Alex (handsome Alex Best), who soon reveals the reason he sought employment with the Taylors.
As Clara struggles to nicely get rid of this “undesirable” person from her home, Williams (Regi Davis in an award-worthy performance) proceeds to convince Clara to look at his portfolio, which so impresses her that she agrees to recommend him to her husband and their German “guests” as the best person for the job. The fact that Williams recognizes Clara’s talent for designing and decorating provides her with the only intellectual support she has ever received and she revels in it. It’s really simple, yet shocking as imagined by Wetzork, why the Germans agreed to hire such an “undesirable.”
The German guests, of course, are Nazi spies. Peter McGlynn with his perfect Aryan looks plays Wolfgang Schreiber to chilling perfection, making it easy to see how people could be persuaded with good looks and incredible charm to follow without questioning motives.Steve Marvel is just that as the nervous Ludwig Gottschalk, whose temper when it explodes will have you jumping out of your seat. What I found especially frightening was how familiar the arguments being presented for following them are so similar to news reports now, such as the discussions about building a wall to keep undocumented immigrants who cannot speak English from entering the country, the sterilization of “undesirables” to improve the quality of life, and how easy it is to get foreign nationals into positions of power in the US government. Certainly you will walk out thinking about current political rhetoric in this year’s Presidential election. Deciding who will be in power should never to be taken lightly.
BLUEPRINT FOR PARADISE runs through Sept. 4, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. All tickets are $25. The Hudson Theatres are located at 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038. For information and to purchase tickets, call 323-960-4412 or go to www.BlueprintForParadise.com.
