I'm on Vacation, Dammit

Youu-whoo, I'm over here. Really.

The big nonprofit was kind enough to give us this week off, so I'm off. And most shows are closing this week, so I haven't been to anything in like two weeks. Mostly because I didn't have time, mostly because I needed to shop and mostly because I've been sick. Now that's a great Christmas present. Stuck at Kaiser two days before Christmas. Fun.

So, due to lack of posts and reviews in general, I'm giving you one Karen on the Web fix: A little interview at SFist. Good thing it posted before I turned 32. Great photo, huh? Trev took it.

Anyway, before I head down to a cozy inn in the Monterey area for New Year's, let me wonder out loud about Lestat, the musical. I had a whole bunch of fun writing this one up for the day job because really, I was a little goth girl in high school and loved Anne Rice. Of course. How cliche. It wasn't until last week I realized that Dave McKean is the visual design consultant! Dave McKean, the one I loved most of all next to Anne Rice. And who I still love. I mean, Gaiman/McKean Sandman was the only comic I religiously collected, and I have a full set. And the Vertigo Tarot. So now I'm all set to see it.

But wait, what's this I hear about Bernie Taupin on KFOG mentioning that they're trying to trim 30 minutes off the piece? Because, if they saw they need to trim 30, they probably need to trim 45. And, over a week into previews the actor playing Armand leaves. Something about the creators wanting to take the character in a different direction. You know what that's code for. I mean, the understudy is taking over, so really. Ugh! I do hope January 8 press night will be good. I don't think I could take another Mambo Kings or Lennon. (OK, I admit, I actually didn't see Lennon because all my colleagues, who got free tickets to previews, trashed the thing so much I couldn't bear to give up precious hours for press night.)

Yeah, so that means don't expect any reviews here until after January 8, dammit.

Pick of the Weekend

I haven't been posting because all of the theatre I've been seeing I've had to review for the Guardian. They pay me. I don't pay me. So they get first dibs.

But, my pick of the weekend goes to Lunatique Fantastique's Nutcracker Nutz & Boltz. Hands down, no contest. In fact, each year I have my special holiday show, one where I make sure I go to a matinee with all the kids (clarification: someone else's kids). Several years ago Lun Fan's Wrapping Paper Caper was my holiday show, at il Teatro 450 (ah, remember il Teatro 450?), where they served cookies and milk to everyone who took a break from Union Square shopping, kids in tow, to see the show. I loved it! Well, now Lun Fan is at The Marsh, but I'm still fully expecting a good ratio of grown-ups to kids.

So, the talk about Nutz & Boltz is, apparently, Lun Fan is experimenting with losing the table! Really, this is a big step. The table was the objects' world. If the object was off the table, it was like it didn't exist, or it was backstage. The manipulators stood behind the table. Now it's all up in the air, literally. So, I can't wait to see it. I will, however, expect that they didn't do away with milk and cookies.

And no, I won't be reviewing it for the Guardian, though I expect someone else will. I want to really enjoy the show, dammit!

What's a Backyard?

So, a bunch of us at my day job got an e-mail from someone at HGTV who's new to the Bay Area and who's working on a show--I guess like their Curb Appeal--that re-landscapes people's backyards, and she's looking for some backyards to be featured on the show. She says they especially want actors, because actors are obviously better on camera.
And I'm like, Honey, actors can't afford backyards in the Bay Area!

Weird Shows

Every once in a while, a press release appears in my inbox or I otherwise hear about shows so strange they boggle my brain.

One of them is Emperor Norton: The Musical over at Dark Room Theatre (not the cool Vallejo people, the ones in SF). Of course, this is just perfect. I mean, you gotta figure the guy must have created a musical for himself back in the Gold Rush days. He certainly had enough of his own money to back it, ha ha. At the very least, he was a one-man show.

Also at Dark Room, tonight and tomorrow only, is Confessions of a Sitcom Nerd, starring Dan Frischman, who played Arvid on Head of the Class. I wasn't cool enough to watch such uncool shows back in the 1980s. So you'll have to tell me how it was.

But the one production, the one that made me shake my head from the moment the audition listing came to my day job months ago to now is, The Foreskin of Christ. Yes, that's the title. The company? Pullover Productions. Why does this make sense? The show is about a president running for re-election, so he clones Christ using, well, you can figure it out. Don't know how he gets his hands on it. But wait! I go to the site to grab the link, and the show's been postponed! Oh, surprise surprise! So, they're shooting for an Easter opening. Ahem.

Former Bay Area Fav on TV

Hey ya'll. Robert Wu, former SF actor who starred in Prince Gomolvilas's Bee at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre a few years back and has since moved to LA, is apparently making a guest appearance on the George Lopez Show tonight at 8PM.

More Sad News

Too soon on the heels of August Wilson's death, Playbill reports that Wendy Wasserstein is in a grave battle with leukemia.