Holiday Theater in LA: from the sacred to the profane.

Here's quick guide to the big Holiday theater in LA.

Let's start downtown with the sacred.  The Latino Theatre Company is back at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles with their massive holiday pageant: La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin. This one is a spectacle and worth a trip. It's in Spanish with English subtitles with over 100 actors, singers, and dancers. If you've never been, it's worth the trip. 

Next, a couple of takes on classic movies: right next door to the cathedral, The Ahmanson has "A Christmas Story - The Musical." A pretty straightforward take on the holiday classic but good for the whole family.

Bouncing all the way over to Beverly Hills, The Wallis has "Love Actually, Live." This one is more of a mashup with the film projected alongside a live orchestra and live singers.  This one has a bit of nudity so not good for the little ones.

It wouldn't be Christmas without "A Christmas Carol." Here are three different takes on the classic depending on your speed.  If you're a purist, no question, South Coast Rep's "A Christmas Carol" is for you. This one is meat and potatoes down in Orange County. Over in Pasadena, A Noise Within is still traditional but a little bit hipper (think Brussel sprouts but with bacon).  Again, it's a long running classic.  Now if you're a little more adventurous and open to a touch of the profane, head to the valley.  Zombie Joe's Underground. If you imagined Dickens in a shoebox size theater in the valley with an emphasis on the haunting ghosts rather than the holiday cheer - you'd be on the right track.  This one is not for the little ones (unless they are goth little ones).

And to round it out, that valley holiday classic - The Troubadour Theater Company's holiday mashup.  This year it's the "White (Album) Christmas" taking the music of the Beatles and laying it over the 1954 film White Christmas. It's irreverent, it's usually bawdy and it's a valley ritual.

Happy Holidays.

This is Anthony Byrnes Opening the Curtain on LA Theater for KCRW.

CTG:FWD? Or time to rewind?

What's going on at the Taper?

Okay, you might remember back in June that Center Theatre Group announced that the Taper was going dark this season.

Then...Center Theatre Group announced CTG:FWD a series of special events at the Taper and the Kirk Douglas.

There's a one-man show at the Taper right now, Alex Edelman's Just For Us.

Confused? You're probably not alone.

Center Theatre Group is basically 'presenting' rather than 'producing' this show. It's an out-of-town rental. A show from New York that's basically using the Taper a bit like a theatrical AirBnB.

Does any of this matter? Haven't a bunch of the Taper's recent shows all been New York transfers? Yes. And yes.

As Center Theatre Group gets its fiscal and artistic house in order, what happens at the Taper makes a big difference. As I wrote in my very first KCRW piece (see the final segment), locally produced theater makes a difference artistically, economically, and civically in the same way where your food is grown matters or where you spend your money matters. 

Center Theatre Group decided the only way forward was to take a pause on producing. Now as they hit the "CTG:FWD" button, let's hope they don't forget Los Angeles and the importance of producing, rehearsing, and casting shows here in LA. Otherwise, they are just another roadhouse.

Could Mid-Century Modern Theater become a thing?

If you have a teenager in your life, hop online and buy tickets to see Inherit the Wind at the Pasadena Playhouse.

You might remember Inherit the Wind from the 60s film with Spencer Tracey based on the 1955 original play. 

Pasadena Playhouse's production is a stripped-down bare stage affair — think the aesthetic of Our Town (particularly David Cromer's 2009 modern production). While they haven't changed a word of the text, director Michael Michetti has provided modern dress and surrounded the central cast with townsfolk who double as a religious choir. The tone of the piece manages to capture the simplicity and clarity of the original text without feeling overly nostalgic or dated.

The original play used the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial that pitted Creationism against Darwinism as a parable for McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. As is either fitting or terrifying, depending on your politics, the play speaks to our time just as strongly. While our politicians have done the work of making this work relevant, the restraint and 1950s clarity of the play are what make it vital. It's a bit like the best of mid-century modern: stripped down to the essential lines and just distant enough to allow us to truly see it.

Structurally, the script casts our hero in the court room drama as the lawyer Henry Drummond, the supposed atheist brought in from out of town to defend a school teacher who dared to teach the students the On the Origin of Species, as the more reserved character. We spend most of our time, and almost all of the initial drama, observing and engaging with the antagonists, the community of faith in this town we hear is the buckle of the Bible Belt. Alfred Molino plays Drummond with a quiet, reserved intensity that's perfect for the role contrasting John Douglas Thompson's larger-than-life blustery Matthew Harrison Brady. It's hard not to appreciate the confidence of the 1950s, where the play trusts that the power of the idea will triumph over the fervor. I can't help but wonder if a modern playwright wouldn't feel the need to overplay the hand.

It's part of what makes it a fantastic play for the teenager in your life. The play offers a clean contained examination of the dangers of mixing religion with government and especially our laws. It's a play that's powerful on its own, but a great way into the difficult questions of our moment.

Don't miss it (whether you take a teenager or just yourself)! This is a good one to plan on a drink or a late-night meal afterward to mull the lessons of the play and how they match up with our moment.

Inherit the Wind plays at Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena through November 26th.

This is Anthony Byrnes Opening the Curtain on LA Theater for KCRW.