Monday, November 15, 2021

ROCK MUSICAL ‘HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH" EXPLODES IN SIGHT AND SOUND AT DESERT ROSE PLAYHOUSE

Nicholas Sloan stars as the title character in "Hedwig and
the Angry Inch" at Desert Rose Playhouse

The opening weekend of the rock musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” knocked the socks off capacity audiences in the new home of the Desert Rose Playhouse, now firmly ensconced at 611 S. Palm Canyon Drive in the Palm Springs Fun Center. 

The Desert Rose Playhouse, founded by Paul Taylor and Jim Strait, served for eight years as the Valley’s only LGBTQ+ theatre company.  When Taylor and Strait answered the siren call of the Hawaiian Islands, the producing torch was passed to talented new and dedicated producer/actor Robbie Wayne.

Under Wayne’s auspicious stewardship, the production company has grown from a small venue of about 70 patrons to a glittering new theatre of some 120 seats, along with a technical team capable of mounting comedies, dramas, musicals; you name it, they will produce it.   

Savvy Desert Rose Playhouse artistic director Robbie Wayne was fortunate to nab award winning actor/director Chuck Yates (co-founder of the Equity theatre company Coyote StageWorks ) to helm this iconic musical favorite of the gay community.

Yates is an award winning actor/director and a writer for the TV shows “Caroline in the City” and “Dharma & Greg”. His directorial touches for this high energy production could easily light the entire Coachella Valley. It takes real talent and experience to gather all of the disparate components necessary for a successful musical production. It’s truly a collaborative effort in concert with the director’s choices to make musicals of this caliber soar.

The story, in short, is an oft told tale of the struggle of Hedwig, a gay young man seeking answers and a place where he can not only become his own person making his own choices in life, but shed those in his life who has always told him what do and say. His rebellion speaks to the youth of the world…but only in the music and the lyrics composed and written by Stephen Trask. The libretto by John Cameron Mitchell strings the scenes of Hedwig and his interaction with the audience as a way of keeping the audience fully engaged. It worked like a charm the night I attended.

The superb cast of Nicholas Sloan as Hedwig, and his real-life wife Jamie Leigh Walker as Yitzhak, deliver sensational performances that knock the socks off of Palm Springs audiences in what can only be described as an evening of highly amped sound, cascading light changes, and the toe-thumping musical beat of the Angry Inch Band, under the musical direction of Constance Gordy.

The band nicely blends into the production as integral characters as well as musicians providing the necessary musical accompaniment which allows stars Sloan and Walker to strut their stuff. Big shout outs go to Juan Espino on guitar, Sean McCune on drums, Miguel Arballo on bass, and Krystofer Do on keyboards.  High octane performances deserve high octane musical back-up.

No show as slickly and professionally produced as this show happens without inputs from a creative technical staff, in this case led by director Yates and executive producer Robbie Wayne that include Matthew McLean’s functional set design, creative lighting designs by Nick Wass, Mariah Pryor and Phil Murphy, and Audio/Video designs and special effects by Nick Wass. John Hamilton Palmer provides the costume designs. The production is stage managed by Nathan Cox.

With “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” Desert Rose Playhouse has a winning, must see production on its hands.  Don’t miss it.

For ticket information and dates and times call the box office at 760-202-3000.

Remember:  A great nation deserves great art.  Support all the arts.


Tuesday, November 9, 2021

OPINION: WHY ARE WE STILL MIRED IN THAT ALLEGORICALLY-INFAMOUS WASHINGTON D.C. SWAMP THAT WAS PROMISED TO BE DRAINED FIVE YEARS AGO?


Why are we still mired in, and being held captive like hostages, in that mythically infamous Washington, D.C. ‘swamp’ that was promised to be drained five years ago?

It’s been little over a year since November 2020 when Mr. Trump lost his presidential reelection bid but still refuses to accept his defeat.  And “the big lie’ theory continues to poison the political well-being of our nation.  Since then, the country has been in a constant state of fear, division and distrust.  Timing and choices that affect everything in our lives may also be influencing the almost uncontrollable events sent by Mother Nature in the form of two worldwide pandemics, which has been exacerbating our civil turmoil and political unrest for over twenty months.

Once again, the cult-like Red Hatted Maga party and its enablers are gearing up for the return of Trump in his 2024 presidential bid to dump democracy and replace it with an autocratic regime led by himself as its leader/autocrat/dictator, in the style of Putin’s Russia and China’s President and Prime Minister Xi Jinping.  It’s been a long- held childhood dream of his to become a king.

When We the People ask for answers and solutions to issues that are plaguing our democracy.  Instead we’re denied the full truth.  Instead, we’re handed even more obfuscation and finger pointing along with shifting the blame and stonewalling in the hope that we the people will tire of the issue.

And, if that wasn’t enough of a red flag warning to concern our elected officials, the country then had to deal with the ignominious January 6, 2021, insurrection.  The storming of the Capitol by a band of more than 600 self-proclaimed Trump loyalists and barbarians who breached the gates at his behest, gave life to the political slur from our allies and friends by now referring to the USA as a South American banana-style republic.

The beacon of democracy and hope has not only been dimmed, it’s literally been taken away from us inside our borders by our own countrymen.  All this was made crystal clear prior to January 6, 2021 in screenwriter and director Billy May’s powerful and provocative 2017 film “The Comey Rule”, that explored the Trump presidency prior to the first of his two impeachment trials.  It was a prescient moment and signal to America to be on guard to the possibility of losing our democracy from within by those who covet autocracy over democracy.  

May’s film highlights the lengths that then president Trump was willing to go in his war with the FBI and its director James Comey.   Their relationship was poisoned from moment the director was handed a loyalty oath to sign.  If signed, that would clear the way for the president to co-opt the FBI by allowing it to become politicized and weaponized for Trump’s personal war on his perceived enemies in violation of FBI rules and regulations.

The president’s revenge for Comey’s “disloyalty” was to fire the director and then continue his feud with the Agency by throwing certain FBI civil servant officials who worked for Comey out with Jim Comey’s bath water, despite the Agency’s 112 years of outstanding service, credibility, and loyalty to the Constitution and its reputation and effectiveness to the country.

Trump constantly demonized his own FBI agency at every opportunity in his vendetta to destroy it with a king-like edict of a loyalty oath he demanded from all his cabinet and department heads who were forced to sign it.  Comey, however, demurred when asked to sign the oath and his refusal cost him his job.

One of the main reasons the arts and the media are still available to us is due in part to the boldness and fearlessness of both communities.   It is a testament to their resolve in keeping our 2021 democracy and our citizens well informed.  The main underpinning of our democracy, after all, relies on free speech and the rule of law in America.  Both of these concepts have come under heavy attack over the last five years. 

Now is the time for using “better late than never” as a prudent rationale for reexamining why our current political leaders lately appear to be tired of living in our 245-year-old democracy.  I still feel the sting of the ominous words spoken by Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev who (paraphrasing) smugly said “… we will bury you from within without firing a single shot…”   Nonetheless, the threat of losing our democracy by any means is unacceptable, especially in today’s politically divided and angst-filled American society. 

Khrushchev’s chilling words spoken 55 years ago seem less chilling now but more perplexing in 2021 because of the head scratching actions on the part of what some of our elected officials are saying and doing these days.  They have all sworn an oath to protect the Constitution and by extension, we the people along with our democracy-based way of life.

Alas, it’s a pity but understandable why some Americans today feel the need to ask where one stands when it comes to politics and the nation’s future.  The autocrats of the world are popping champagne corks to celebrate our embarrassment and fall from grace, and in their eyes, the United States of America is no longer the world’s greatest democracy.

Also vexing is why some of our elected officials appear to be recanting or abandoning their original sworn oaths. We have been taught that the truth to power pushback from the people will set us free.  If so, why is our American way of life over the last five years beginning to look a little frayed around the edges?  

The arts and our media are the best pathways to reach the people who, allegedly and ultimately, are in charge of America via the power given them through our Constitution that guarantees all U.S. citizens the freedom and the right to vote.  Remember, Congress works for us not for the flawed legacy of a disgraced ex-president.

We owe it to all the people that we remain a refuge for free speech in these politically charged and perilous times.  Every day in America that brings more troubling new facts and/or news about a new scandal relating to our politicians makes my heart sink a little more and I begin to worry again for our future as a democracy.

Also, I believe that it’s safe to say that most Americans are familiar with the political term “drain the swamp.”  Five years ago, the incoming political players promised to drain that swamp and “Make America Great Again.”  Most of our countrymen are law abiding, God fearing, patient folks, who are still waiting…and waiting… and waiting for that change to take place.

As a country we have survived many ups and downs because we are a unique and special nation.  We have worked very hard in our 245 years of existence to become the envy of the world. We, however, are not perfect, but we continue in the pursuit of seeking perfection.  After all, life on planet earth is a complicated, on-going work in progress.

Personally, I find it more rewarding these days to be an optimist rather than a cynic.  So, this time let’s really “drain the swamp” for the right, noble, and honorable reasons.  For if we fail in this pursuit, dark and dangerous days and perhaps even years, are in store for the greatest democracy the world has ever known.

-- Jack Lyons