Out & About / Ventura County; Theater Notes; Parody Route;
Moorpark troupe does nice job in its return to style that meant success.
The Los Angeles Times / Los Angeles, Calif. / Jan 21, 1999 / TODD EVERETT
With last year's production of the long-running off-Broadway musical "The Fantasticks" more of an artistic than a
commercial success, the Moorpark Playhouse is returning to its former format of genre parodies, with the space
between filled by one- or two-night stands by guest artists, like pop-folk trio the Limeliters, who will appear Feb. 20.
The current production is "47th Street," an adaptation of a show called "Give My Regards to Broadway" that is a
parody of backstage musicals from the '30s and '40s and features several talented veterans of the former Moorpark
Melodrama.
Producer Linda Bredemann and director Kevin P. Kern have taken the original Shubert Fendrich, buttressed it with
topical and local jokes, and added to its several vintage George M. Cohen songs a few numbers from "Guys and Dolls"
by the great Frank Loesser.
It seems like an odd juxtaposition with "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" in the
same show, but it works. As for the rewritten Fendrich, he isn't even credited on the printed program. Nor, for that
matter, are Cohen and Loesser.
Moorpark regular Jim Harlow plays Dick Foster, a Broadway director (or producer, it's hard to tell) whose show is on
the verge of collapse, he's run out of money, one of the actors is in the hospital and his leading lady (Carla Jimenez)
seems to be basing her attitude on Miss Piggy. His pianist (John Gaston) is being pressured into marriage by his longtime
fiancée (Kathi Janca Gravino), and in a plot development that's more than a little reminiscent of the film "Some Like It
Hot"--a hood (Ron Kewish) is hiding among the cast, avoiding gangsters The Boss (Damian Gravino) and Mugsy (Chris
Carnicelli). Highjinks, naturally, ensue.
The singing is above average for a Moorpark Playhouse production, and the chorus often manages to stay in step with
Leigh Sandness' choreography. Richard Berent is the musical director.
The Playhouse's remaining spring schedule includes two more parodies: "E.R. With Dastardly Doctor Devereaux" (Feb.
26-March 21) and "Harry Mason, Perry Mason's Inept Younger Brother" (May 7-30); and concerts by the Limeliters
(featuring original member Alex Hassilev) on Feb. 20 and Papa Doo Run Run, an oldies group specializing in the music
of Jan & Dean (with whom they worked for several years), and the Beach Boys on May 1.
Each musical group will perform matinée and evening shows; call 529-1212 for further information.
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