A Chorus Line – Music by Marvin Hamlisch, Lyrics by Edward Kleban, Book by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante

By Joe Straw

In the late seventies, right after finishing college in Tennessee, I came to Hollywood and found work as the doorman at the Pantages Theatre.   How I got there, I’m not quite sure.   

One of the first shows playing at The Pantages was “A Chorus Line” and, on most nights, I watched from the wings, always watching.  Now that I look back on that time, well, I have great memories. Wanda Richert, Tony Teague, Scott Plank, and others - good memories - a flood of memories and one can’t help but get emotional at the sound of:

Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...Again!

Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...Again!

Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...Again!

Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...Right!

That connects with...

Turn, turn, out, in, jump, step,

Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch.

Got it?... Going on. And...

Turn, turn, touch, down, back, step,

Pivot, step, walk, walk, walk.

Right! Let's do the whole combination,

Facing away from the mirror.

From the top.

A-Five, six, seven, eight! – Zach

I have not seen a high school production of  “A Chorus Line”.  

My college professor scoffed when someone suggested we perform it, possibly because of the inherent rigorous demands of this show.  Such a production needed trained dancers, actors, and an orchestra working very hard to get this show on its feet, and he didn’t think we had the chops.  

Well, Culver City High School does a terrific job of satisfying those of us who want to relive “A Chorus Line” and get emotional. This is an excellent production with a lot of heart, exceptional performances, and that one that will have you feeling good all over again.

Culver City High School Academy of Visual & Performing Arts (AVPA) presents A Chorus Line, Music by Marvin Hamlisch, Lyrics by Edward Kleban, Book by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, directed by Jill Novick, March 6, 7, 13, 14 at 7:00 pm and March 8 at 1:00 pm at the Robert Frost Auditorium in Culver City, California.

A Chorus Line, if you are new to the planet, is about a group of hungry dancers vying for eight positions in the chorus of a major Broadway show.  The dancers chosen will be the backing the star or the leads of the show.   

A white line stretching across the stage is there to remind the dancers of their objective, to get a place on the line no matter what, using charm, voice, legs, and other accouterments.   

But Zach (Simon Johnson) isn’t going to make it easy for these dancers. He’s going to put them through the mill to see which one fits the bill.

“A, five, six, seven, eight!!!” – Zach

And so, as Zach is weeding out the dancers, everyone is giving it their all.  Through the course of the audition we get to find the dancers strengths and weaknesses. 

“Any Broadway shows?” - Zach

The weak are weeded out. The answer to that question is the death knell for a dancer trying to make it. 

Zach calls the numbers to the first dancers who have made the cut, and instructs them to get their pictures and resume out and stand on the white line.   

“Who am I anyway?

Am I my resume?

That is a picture of a person I don’t know.

What does he want from me?

What should I try to be?

So many faces all around, and here we go.

I need this job, oh God, I need this show.” - Paul

One doesn’t expect an orchestra in a high school production, but Tony Spano, Jr. the Music Director and Conductor does a remarkable job using students and a few professional musicians playing the music and making the night a glorious event.

Singular, or the collective whole one might call this group of thespians who worked well together.

Sensation is a term describing the night.

And while we’re on the subject, one initial observation is the young women have had more dance training than the high school young men. But what the men lacked in skills made up for it in character development and “personal flair”.

Emma deZarn does a fantastic job as Cassie.  Her acting is superb and her dancing is first rate.  To quote someone after the show “Emma deZarn nailed it!” “The Music and the Mirror” dance is wonderful.

Adriana Romero is tremendous as Diana and gives a lot of life to the song “Nothing”.  The song is moving in many ways and Romero is up to the task of finding a character that is fully developed.

Khamiya Terrell towers over the rest of the cast giving us the idea that she is much older as Sheila is supposed to be. She is funny and sassy all in the same breath.   “At the Ballet” is one of the highlights of the show and Terrell, Claire Skelly as Maggie, the product of an unhappy marriage, and Isabel Parra as Bebe, the unattractive daughter - all have wonderful and strong singing voices, creating a sense of being at ballet classes and dealing with their parents.   

Carly Shiever plays Val who sings Dance: 10; Looks: 3 is another highlight of the show. Shiever has a very strong voice and a nice stage presence.

Elisa Spear plays Judy one of the toughest roles of this musical to get just right.  She is kind of clumsy, forgetful, and sometimes scatterbrained, but a gifted dancer.  Spear is exquisite in the role.

Sonya Broner and Angel Salas play the husband and wife team Kristine and Al respectively as they form a duet to sing “Sing”.  Salas does a great job with the relationship and has a very nice presence on stage. Broner does well singing off key but could go even farther off key.

Courtney Lundy plays Connie to perfection and has a very nice way about her on stage.

Raegan Harris has a superior voice playing Reggie, usually the character is reserved for a male dancer Ritchie, but Harris did a fantastic job and it worked perfectly.

Others rounding out the outstanding female cast were Sarah Toutounchain as Vicki, Mikaela Barocio as Tricia, Rachel Gonzales as Rachel, Paxton Amor as a dancer, and Katy Engel as Lois who has a very nice presence and lovely dance skills.

Samuel Petersen plays Mike Costa and has a great tap number in “I Can Do That”.  I always thought this number was too short in the musical and way too long in the movie.  Still Petersen gives it the right amount of time it deserved.

Oliver Berliner is Don Kerr from Kansas City.  Berliner has a wonder face for theatre and manages his role with aplomb.

Ryan Gacula does a respectable job as Paul and manages to convince us that he has done all that he has done in his young life.

Reno Behnken is Gregory Gardener.  Reno is another actor with a great character face and appeal.  

Andrew Alvarenga is Bobby Mills a dancer from upstate New York who believes committing suicide in Buffalo is redundant.  Alvarenga is extremely amusing in the role and has a natural ability on stage.  

Ben Hilsberg is Mark Anthony, a first timer who will work very hard to get on the line.   

Simon Johnson is wonderful as Zach.  His voice is strong and he could give more emotional life to “A – five, six, seven, eight!”

Henry Farfan is Tom, Owen Jones plays Butch, Gabe Lobet is Frank and Nicholas Freeson is Roy.  

Jill Novick, the director, did a great job of getting this musical onto The Robert Frost Auditorium stage.  There is a rich history with Novick and this show and the love just comes pouring through in every singular moment. This is a tremendous job and Culver City High School is lucky to have her.  

Julie Carson, The Choreographer, also did a tremendous job with the look of the show.

Jacky Jung did a marvelous job with the Chorus Line costumes – not sure where she got them, of if they were tailored made, but they just looked fabulous in the closing number, “One”!

Members of the orchestra, and I especially love the trombones were:

Judy Gottesman – accompanist

Peter Marcus – keyboards

Patrick Gardner – bass

Josh Zucker – percussion

Bella Rivera – flute

Sadushi De Silva – flute

Alberto Cruz – clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax

Kent Seeberger – clarinet

Niko Vlahakis – flute, alto sax

Milo Bechtloff Weising – bari sax, clarinet

Paul Witt – trumpet

Mikael Nida – trumpet

June Satton - trombone

James Tingle – trombone

Other members of the creative team are as follows:

Lighting & set design – Kristen Opstad

Sound design – Will Schuessler

Stage Manager – Cricket Cary-Green

Relive the dream once again and take someone who has seen it a number of times.

finding Nick by Nicholas Guest

Nicholas Guest - Photo Ed Kreiger

By Joe Straw

I told my 11-year-old daughter that I met an actor who was in “Frozen”.  Her face turned a bright pink, her eyes got really big, her mouth formed a circular “O” shape before she uttered the words “Who? Who? Who?  Who? Who!?, Who!!!!?” – Narrator

An actor travels many places, lives many lives, and absorbs what the creator sends their way. Coming into the hallowed halls of the Zephyr theatre on this night were Francis Fisher, Ed Begley, Jr., Fred Willard, and, I believe, Alan Rachins, all working actors venturing out this night finding Nicholas Guest finding himself in his new play “finding Nick”.

The Zephyr Theatre, currently owned by Lee Sankowich, also the director of “finding Nick”, is one of my favorite theatres for several reasons.

Upon entering the theatre, there is a little ramp that forces one gingerly onto the stage before finding a seat.  Looking around, one notices little in the way of set design, but there is enough here to accompany the storyteller for a one-man show.  Certainly the coat rack upstage right plays an important part.  There is a small desk littered with songbooks and a French book.  A chair sits comfortably near the desk and guitar stand begs for center stage.  Upstage center are screens for projections that will later project the beautiful images in Nick’s life.  And upstage left are two chairs, music stands, a place for two professional musicians, the stunning cellist (Hillary Smith) and guitarist (Tony Carafone) who employs a full head of curly hair and a wry smile.

One sees Nick, offstage, before the play begins, holding a guitar and standing behind the curtain, in the wings, ready to come on.  A theatre patron pulls back the curtain and waves.  Nick gives her a thumbs up sign before venturing onto the stage singing “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream” by Ed McCurdy and, as funny as it may seem, Nick takes us back into his past, starting in New York City 1967, and off we go into the story of his young life as though it were a dream, relived, replayed, rewound, all for the purpose of giving us a sample of a moment, played back in his precise humanistic details.

The Zephyr Theatre presents “finding Nick” written and performed by Nicholas Guest, directed by Lee Sankowich, and Produced by Racquel Lehrman, Theatre Planners through March 28, 2015

“finding Nick” is an exceptional one-man show about a young man who is lost as he tries to find his way in the world.  The music is fabulous; the impersonations genuine, and the passionate moments will lift you out of your seat craving for more.  Certainly, and especially for fathers with daughters, the night ends on a very emotional high note.  

The play starts in 1967 and ends, one might say, at the end of the performance 2015 because in reality Nick is still finding Nick.

There are people who say, or maybe I saw it in a movie, maybe “City Slickers”, that life is about finding that “one thing”.  I guess the trick is knowing the moment when that “one thing” is discovered.  But, the one thing we discover in the play is that Nick, as a young man, is adrift, the product of an abiding faith in his immature youth. 

And as the play begins, we find that Nick is a bad student. Geometry is not his strong suit. That seems to make little difference in this private progressive school in the upper west side of New York City. 

“That’s okay. Write poetry.”

Nick is in high school and not having a grand time.  But dressed in his corduroy jacket, without the elbow patches and protesting the war, he watches beautiful girls marching along side him and really gets into the make love not war theme without having experienced the love part, or the war part for that matter.

But Nick’s urbane father, creating an inviolable sanctuary for his son, tells Nick they are moving to Switzerland and politely orders Nick to brush up on his French.  Nick, in protest, shoves the French book with his fingertips and says he knows French.  (Typical teenager.)

But when in Switzerland, Nick finds himself at the Ecole Internationale de Geneve under the tutelage of a Russian history teacher, with a very thick accent, who is aware of his spotty transcript.

“Nicholai, tell me about the Russian Revolution.”

The best Nick can do is to tell him about the French Revolution using the modern day vernacular of it was “heavy” and a “trip”.

At school, Nick meets Isabelle who takes him to the park and sings him a song and about not leaving him.

Ne me quitte pas

Il faut oublier

Tout peut s’oublier

Qui s’enfuit deja

Oublier le temps

Des malentendus

Et le temps perdu

A savoir comment

Oublier ces heures

Qui tuaient parfois

A coups de porquoi

Le coeur du bonheur

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quit pas – Jacques Brel

And then she leaves him. Infatuated, Nick tries to find her again but only gets as far as Isabelle’s father and only on the phone. Ultimately it is a project lost in its futility.

There is more to be learned from an American teacher with a crew cut who wants to discuss America’s involvement in Vietnam but thinks that Nick should write poetry. 

(One detects a theme here.)

Now Nick’s time in Switzerland takes another dramatic turn when his family moves back to New York, Greenwich Village, and MacDougal St., next door to Bob Dylan. 

Nick, still doing terribly in school, gets a glimmer of the acting world.

His counselor, Carol, looking at Nick’s record, see no math, no science, ergo no hope, but does recommend two colleges, one in St. Louis, and the other in Paris, France.

Nick chooses Paris, where his French instructor notices something about this peculiar student.

“You are lost.” – Teacher

Nick, as a young man, was lost and every moment from then on was an awakening of sorts.  And as the play progresses, the moments find their sweet spot, and the production soars.

Guest has a strong voice and a special knack for mimicry and imitation.  He creates strong characters of the people from his past especially his father, the Russian Teacher, The French Teacher and Bill Hickey to name only a few. The imitation of Eldridge Cleaver had the hair standing on the back of my neck. His objective here is very simple, finding Nick, the conflict is mostly an inner conflict, and the other characters are there to help Nick find the way. So how does Nick find Nick? Simply by osmosis, which is absorbing the lessons learned from the instrumental people in his life, the ones who have focused a great deal of their time turning Nick’s life around.  The trick here, or with any actor in the theatre, is having the character engage in the lesson, taking that extraordinary piece and creating a change in the relationship, at that moment, that instant, in that time, and then carrying that forward. If there is one thing learned here is that finding Nick is a lifetime event but, in the immediate world of theatre, one would like to see all of that play out on stage as the younger Nick matures.

All right that said, there is something to be said about one-man shows and Lee Sankowich, the director, gives a lot inspiration to this play.  One quibbles about a moment, a stamp from both the director and the actor. The wonderful imitation of Nick’s father needs a reaction from Nick. Isabella’s relationship with Nick is a sexual awakening without the intense hormones begging for her to come back. And the scene in the villa, the Jimi Hendricks scene, needs further exploration, between the older son, the father, and Nick that I didn’t quite get. But these are little things to add to an exceptional body of work.

The music by Guest, Tony Carafone and Hillary Smith will bring you to tears. Other songs not mentioned are “Tomorrow is a Long Time” by Bob Dylan, “Le Plat Pays” by Jacques Brel, “Song of Automne” by author unknown, “Ma Liberte” by Georges Moustaki, “L’Internationale” Lyrics by Eugene Pottier (1871) and Music by Pierre Degeyter (1888), “Bandiera Rosa” Lyrics by Carlo Tuzzi (1908), “Le Temps De Vivre” by Georges Moustaki, “A Rainy Night in Paris” by Nicholas Guest, and “The Hobo Song” by Woody Guthrie.

Also, making a special appearance on this night was Elizabeth Guest putting an exclamation point on “finding Nick.”

Racquel Lehrman, Theatre Planners was the Producer of the show and Victoria Watson, Theatre Planner was the Associate Producer.  

Other members of the production crew are as follows:

Donny Jackson – Lighting Designer

Norman Kern – Projection Design

Davidson & Choy Publicity – Press Representatives

Kiff Scholl, AFK Design – Graphic Design

Angelica Estevez – Stage Manager

Pamela Guest – Muse

Run! Run! Run!  Bring someone you lost but recently found.

Reservations:  323-960-4420  www.plays411.com/nick

Thursday & Fridays at 8 p.m.

Added shows: Saturdays on March 21 and March 28th. 

Zephyr Theatre

7456 Melrose Ave

Los Angeles, CA