Tom Titus
Eighty-four seasons. How many local theaters, amateur or
professional, can say that?
The Laguna Playhouse has just revealed five of the seven
productions it will showcase in season number 84, beginning in July
with the upbeat (even though its characters are all dead) musical,
"Forever Plaid."
"The Laguna Playhouse has attained a reputation for producing some
of the best small to mid-sized musicals around," declares the
theater's executive director, Richard Stein, "including the recent
West Coast premieres of 'The Last Five Years' and 'The Spitfire
Grill.' It now adds this popular show to its canon as a perfect
summertime offering."
It's the only show of the five thus announced that won't be a
local premiere (it's already played Orange Coast College and the
Orange County Performing Arts Center), but it's doubtful that'll put
a dent in the box office tally. "Forever Plaid" is one delicious,
cotton-candy musical confection with special meaning to those who
grew up in the 1950s.
This comedic concert -- by a quartet of male singers who were
wiped out in an auto accident on their way to their first big
concert, but are given the mother of all comeback opportunities --
will play from July 6 through Aug. 29, and audiences who successfully
conquer the Festival of Arts traffic should find it a rewarding
experience.
Next up at the playhouse, opening Sept. 7, will be the West Coast
premiere of "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch
Albom. The latter was Professor Morrie Schwartz's only student in his
final class, held at the teacher's home, and the subject was the
meaning of life, taught from experience.
Albom's assignment became the best-selling book, movie (with Jack
Lemmon) and play called "Tuesdays With Morrie." The show will run
through Oct. 10.
Following a third slot still unfilled (Nov. 2 to Dec. 5), the
playhouse will offer another West Coast premiere, "Vincent in
Brixton" by Nicholas Wright. The "Vincent" of the title is the artist
Van Gogh and the play details the painter's early life in 1873
Britain.
Winner of London's 2003 Olivier Award for "best new play," and
later produced on Broadway, "Vincent in Brixton" will be staged at
the playhouse from Dec. 28 through Jan. 30, 2005.
"Bright Ideas," yet another West Coast premiere, will arrive Feb.
15. This madcap comedy is the story of parents who will stop at
nothing to get their child into the best preschool. It was described
by one critic as "a stomach-churning, belly-laughing roller-coaster
