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This is a popular argument that many writers have when deciding whether or not to make their work available for the public.  So many think, “Oh.  My work is not good enough.”  I myself found myself contemplating that.  I would even give parts of my stories to friends to have them critique, which is not all that bad.  What is bad is when writers say, I’ll perfect my work until there is absolutely no reason for the audience not to like it.  I mean, sure everyone wants people to like our work, otherwise why write.

I’ll tell you why we write Or why I write.  I write because I was born to write and we publish to share meaningful stories with the world, to evoke some type of meaningful discussion about you book and to make people think.

No to get back to the question of whether to publish something or not.  I think one should look critically at their work.  If it makes people think and keeps them on the edge of their seats from page one to page 549 or however long the book is, well that is one damn good book and it should be published.

People say that there is no truly original idea.  While that may be true, let me tell you something.  A truly exceptional writer can turn any idea into something original, just by opening their minds and using their imaginations.

Here I am… sitting in my favorite old resting spot.  Thinking about what has happened and what is about to happen and little things in between…  It’s been a long while since I’ve blogged on this site and I think its time to start again.  There is so much I can and should be talking about.  From what I see in movies, TV to what I experience at the largest most popular entertainment capital of LA.  So that’s what I’m going to start to do.  I will make a habit on this site, just like on my other (jmwhite21@blogspot.com) and I will keep on blogging because I have something to say.  I have a voice and I want to make it known to the world so that it means something.

 

The CSUN Production of Anything Goes on Friday, April 24, 2009, proved to be a hit as far as the audience was concerned.  It is a musical by Cole Porter with smashing hits like “I Get A Kick Out Of You” and “It’s De-Lovely” that anyone would be singing along to in their seats.   There was an 11 member pit band to provide underground music to the actor’s singing and I am very pleased to say that the entire cast had a decent singing voice.

There were lots of comedic elements that made it very appealing to watch, yet no one at least not entirely stole the show.  The entire cast was fairly balanced and only those who were supposed to stole specific parts. 

The only downside to seeing this play is that I saw it right after I saw a professional production and so a lot of my criticism comes from judging professional against nonprofessional, which is why I will try to hold down some of my criticism.

Anything Goes is the work of the great Cole Porter who is also responsible for many other great plays Like Kiss Me Kate, which by coincidence is a modern day musical based on Shakespeare’s Taming of The Shrew. 

For the CSUN Production of Anything Goes the casting director made a good effort of matching each character to their professional alter egos.  Reno Sweeney played by Mary Lynn Deagon had the spotlight for most of the play and definitely worked for her spot with lots of laughs and gorgeous singing and dance numbers.  Deagon portrayed what she thought Reno was supposed to be as an evangelical night club singer and there were very very few parts where I thought it was unbelievable.

Looking back at when the original production of Anything Goes was put on, it was first in November of 1934.  That having been said for this recent production, the director had an easier time, especially with the reference of the shipwreck.  I think, people in 1934 would have been more sensitive to this reference especially since a major sea disaster had just happened right around this same time.  Society today for the most knows that references in plays are just that so there isn’t as much of a panic.  In fact in CSUN’s production people took that as comedy which I think was much different than what the playwright had in mind for the intension of the play.

One other thing that I found appealing and I would say has to be the director’s call is the portrayal of Billy and Moonface.  Maybe it is just me and my fetish for comparing movies but it seemed to me that they resembled Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.  I’m not saying just appearance but their mannerisms as well, especially in the jail, which by the way the setting was genius with the raising and lowering of set piece so that the audience saw the transitions.  But Billy Crocker, played by Addison Goss really had the same mannerisms as Broderick did in the producers.  He was that simple guy that had to have everything a certain way and didn’t like to break any rules.  When Moonface Martin played by George A.V. Ackles met him, he started changing him and in some ways creating a new “Snake Eyes” out of Billy.  There was a really camaraderie displayed between these two characters which I think also made the play very entertaining to watch.

Overall, Anything Goes is a play on life and how being on an ocean liner, anything can happen and to steal the title anything goes.  When Billy is discovered as holding the ticket of one of the crooks known as Enemy Number 1, instead of being courted of to jail, there is a big celebration and it is only when they realize that he is not Snake Eyes that he along with Moonface is put in the ocean liner’s jail.  It is a comedy about things that happen that shouldn’t be happening and the reactions add to the comedy of the play because they are just not what normal society would do.

For the last play of the theater department’s and the last play of this class, it is definitely one that all should see because it’s a play with no real deep meaning and is one that is just meant for people to have a good time watching it.  I certain did enjoy it and I think anyone will.  It’s one that not too many people would be disappointed with.  The music alone is worth going to in order to see just how the actors respond too in singing and dancing.

 

 

 

William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is a story about an older daughter who does not want to adhere to society’s standards and in fact is abhorred by all the men in the village.  She makes people hate her with her mean qualities.  Her younger sister is clearly the favorite and has multiple suitors but their father will not give her up until the older is wed.  The men make a deal with a stranger who loves money to court this Shrew and what ends up happening is that both are changed and end up being more in love than any of the other couples.

The production seen in Glendale at an old Messianic Temple portrayed all of this and more in a gorgeous way.  It coincided with the 445 birthday of Shakespeare himself and was a nice present to him; he would’ve been proud.

The production was set in the fifties Neapolitan setting and it portrayed a lot of the feministic qualities that were around in this era and later.  The main character, Kate, played by Allegria Fulton put a lot of femininity into her portrayal and really brought the anger out enough to make the audience not like her in the beginning and love her by the end of the play.  During the talk back that followed the production, the audience learned more about these feministic qualities that Fulton drew on for the anger.  Those include being forced to wed in an arrange marriage, not being the favorite, etc which gave her plenty of cause to be angry.

The overall production of the play had a very fast feel moving through the plot with very little explanation.  It wasn’t needed though because the audience could understand what was going on.  They knew being Shakespeare that a lot would have to be left out lest they watch a four and a half hour production. 

Of course being Shakespeare, not everyone would be able to understand it, which I think is one of the main reasons why a third of the audience left at intermission, but being Shakespeare, there is so much going on within the play that one almost needs to stay to the end in order to truly appreciate the play.  A lot that wasn’t clear in the beginning of the play was flushed out toward the end.

One thing that is very typical of Shakespeare is the switching of characters for a cause.  We see this often times in Shakespeare’s work and he even wrote an entire play on this whole notion in “Comedy Of Errors”.  In the switching of Lecentio and Tranio, the portrayal by the actors was very realistic because while I knew that they had switched places, the actors resembled each other so closely that it was rather difficult to tell them apart, which I would have to give credit to the casting director on this on.  He did excellent job of casting these two characters so closely.

Another typical Shakespearean style is the role of Gremio played by Tom Fitzpatrick.  This is a classic Shakespeare stock character of the village idiot and in some ways Fitzpatrick was so comical and believable that he stole the show away from the other actors.  A lot of the time when he was on stage, I found myself looking at him to see what sort of funny thing he was going to do to add to the production. 

The entire play was jam packed with social farce.  Laughter filled the room with characters riding on and off stage on bikes and the lead male Petruchio adding so much to the scene.  Petruchio played by Steve Weingartner added a lot of laughter and provided a complementary appeal to Fulton’s character.  Throughout the play, he used various ways of “Taming” Kate by showing her what she looked like.  The temper that he threw when she argued with him about the moon was, I think, the turning point for her being more cooperative and the end proved to be a true display of their love that grew out of a hate relationship.

Overall, Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew was very intriguing to watch.  Of course it is not for everyone because it takes an audience that is educated in Shakespeare to get the full feel of the play.  However it still works for someone that isn’t as versed but it takes more to get into the play.  Shakespeare being the master playwright incorporated a lot from other plays into this play and the production of his play should his true work.

Well, after along day of looking for guests and information for my show, I finally spoke with one that is disabled and although the cat is not a service animal, it is still the most well behaved “trained” cats you have ever seen.  I put the word train is quotes because according to this source you can’t train a cat.  Instead you have to teach it, in the same way you teach a child.  It takes work but when it’s done it’s worth it.

It takes a specific type of cat to be able to follow commands, but typically the types used for service animals are siamese or asian type cats.  Tomorrow, I will have a video of this very well behaved cat to show to the viewers so stay tuned.

Stressed out, trying to find information and guests for a show about service animals.

Currently I have one person from the National Association of Service Animals, who says she would be happy to come to Northridge to discuss the proper registration of service animals.  Her son is disabled and also has a psychiatric sercice dog which fits nicely into the second guest that I am speaking with.  She has a psychiatric service dog that assists not just her but also patients in the hospital which is an interesting element. 

I am still looking for someone that either trains service animals or someone that works with other types of animals.  Does anyone have any suggestions of were I could contact in Southern California?

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