Another Op'nin', Another Show
Los Angeles is enjoying such wonderful theatre right now. There are so many good things to see, I feel overwhelmed trying to get to everything. I am considering becoming that guy standing in front of Rogue Machine Theater on Melrose with a sign that says, ‘Looking for ONE ticket’.
I am not an opening night person, I prefer to see a play on a weekday night during a run that has settled into itself, or a matinee with the regular folks, but this week I just happened to be invited to two openings and went.
Where have I been (well, teaching, caretaking, and writing on deadline, actually), but the energy at these events was amazing. I am usually out of body at my own, so probably why I don’t go to these things normally. But it was a joy to be in community, inspiring to see so many local artists in one fell swoop, and to experience a piece in such heightened expectation, is like, wow, okay, I am into this.
Last Thursday, the rain gods kindly did their thing and stopped before the All-Sondheim extravaganza, ‘Old Friends’, at the Ahmanson Theatre. As I was arriving, I saw the playwright Bridget Carpenter and I knew I was going to have a great time. I was audience understudy for my bestie who was in tech, and was assigned to a celebrity heavy row, which was fun.
The opening was celebrity heavy, and at one point, Jesse Tyler Ferguson stood next to me in line, and I thought to myself, “Do I know him?” (I have never met him in my life). Openings do that to you. I could swear Lea Salonga was singing just to me.
That was a lot of Sondheim, and like any retrospective of a great artist, one finds themselves in the artist, and one’s own, timeline.
I had the opportunity to chat with the actual Sondheim fellow when we produced ‘Putting It Together’ at the Taper, with among others, Carol Burnett, who was also a warm presence to meet. So, I could say I knew the composer.
As the evening moved along, I started to realize that I might be a Sondheim-phile. As an usher, I saw ‘Sweeny Todd’ with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn at least twenty times. I also saw it on Broadway with Len Cariou. Every time Bernadette Peters sang, I remember seeing her on Broadway in ‘Into the Woods’, ‘Sunday in the Park with George’, ‘Song and Dance’, ‘Gypsy’, ‘A Little Night Music’, and ‘Follies’. I also saw ‘Company’ and ‘Assassins’. My very first musical experience was the first national touring company of ‘Pacific Overtures’ with Mako.
I was song exhausted by evening’s end. Randall Friesen and I went off post-show to Pho2000 to warm up on broth and noodles, and then against our better judgement, did a California Donuts nightcap.
On Sunday, I went to the early evening opening of Lauren Yee’s powerful play, ‘Cambodian Rock Band’ at East West Players in downtown’s Little Tokyo. Beautifully directed by my mean much older sister, Chay Yew, the production looks wonderful in this converted former church space.
Celebrating its 60th season as the nation’s longest-running Asian American theater and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works, I had a lovely chat with the new artistic director, Lily Tung Crystal, a former Bay Area artist, coming to L.A. by way of six years in Minneapolis. Lily is a wonderful personality with a vision that I hope everyone will support this season, and onward.
This is at least my fourth production witnessing of this play, and Lauren (a great wonderful theatrical soul herself) has managed to write a deeply felt father/daughter tale, a play about the Khmer Rouge/Cambodian genocide, while offering a kick-ass concert musical as well. Incorporating the music of much-loved L.A. band, Dengue Fever, which combine Cambodian 1960’s/70’s pop & psychedelic rock music, the original band members showed up to opening and joined the actors on stage for an encore! So, that’s another reason to try and get to openings.
The play is anchored by a charming, disturbing, and heartbreaking portrayal crafted by the actor Daisuke Tsuji, who manages to bring irony, warmth, humor and a bunch of terrifying qualities to his portrayal. It’s a galvanizing performance.
I wonder if Lauren realized how timely her play would be now. The current government shitshow came to mind every time the play dissected how a country and civilization could divide and destroy its own people.
Go see this play, L.A. it’s a good one, like so many others playing in town right now.