Monday, November 02, 2009

The Old Globe, Shakespeare, and our Dino

Hey pallies, here's great new from the San Diego Union-Tribune's blogg "Sins On San Diego" 'bout the debut of "a Broadway-bound, world-premiere adaptation of the movie musical 'Robin and the 7 Hoods.'"

And likes when and where is this Dinomusical gonna premeire...... next sumnmer at none other then the Old Globe Theatre when Shakespeare is the norm. Likes how cool is that....acknowledgin' our Dino as a true classic!!!!!

If you clicks on the tagg of this Dinogram you will be able to read this in it's original format in an article tagged "Rats and royals in Old Globe's plan" by James Hebert. Hows I would loves to travel likes to the land of the Brits next summer to see this Dinoproduction.

Gotta wonder who they will chose to play the Dinopart in this stage adaptation. Sures it will be a huge hit and better start makin' planns now to gets the bread together to goes to the big apple with it hits the great white way!

This is so great pallies, just 'nother way of spreadin' the Dinomessage and gettin' millions of more pallies to know, love, and honor our Dino!!!! Dinodelightedly, DMP




Rats and royals in Old Globe's plan

By James Hebert

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Old Globe will square off with a couple of kings and circle back to the Rat Pack in the theater’s just-announced summer season, which includes the annual three-play Summer Shakespeare Festival and two other productions – one a world-premiere musical.

Adrian Noble, the artistic director of the 2010 Shakespeare fest, will direct the Bard’s sweeping “King Lear” as well as “The Madness of George III,” Alan Bennett’s play about the long-reigning British monarch. The Shakespeare lineup also will include the much-loved comedy “The Taming of the Shrew” (with no director announced yet).

Outside the festival, locally bred director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw (Tony-nominated for “The Drowsy Chaperone” and “Spamalot”) will direct a Broadway-bound, world-premiere adaptation of the movie musical “Robin and the 7 Hoods.”

The 1964 film, a gangster takeoff on the Robin Hood legend, starred Rat Pack mainstays Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. – whose life is the subject of the currently running Globe show “Sammy.” The stage version will include “My Kind of Town” and other songs written for the movie by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen.

The adaptation is by Rupert Holmes, the veteran composer-writer who penned the book to another Globe movie-based musical, last summer’s “The First Wives Club.”

Rounding out the summer season is “The Last Romance,” a romantic comedy that will star Marion Ross, the Globe associate artist, SDSU grad and longtime local resident perhaps best known for her role on TV’s “Happy Days.”

The playwright is Joe DiPietro, who also wrote the off-Broadway hit “I Love You,You’re Perfect, Now Change” and the current Broadway show “Memphis” (directed by La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley).

“Robin and the 7 Hoods” stands to be the season’s most attention-getting show. It’ll come to the Globe, which celebrates its 75th birthday in 2010, with producers already in place for a (presumed) Broadway transfer.

“I’m excited about the music, the songbook of Sammy Cahn,” said Louis G. Spisto, the Globe’s CEO/executive producer. “And it’s a great treat to work with Casey Nicholaw, who’s one of the hottest talents on Broadway.

“He’s perfect for this piece. And I wanted to have people join us for our 75th-anniversary celebration, particularly for the summer season, who had some connection to us and San Diego. (Nicholaw choreographed “Lucky Duck” for the Globe in 2005.)

Spisto described “The Last Romance,” to be directed by Richard Seer, as “a wonderful showcase for Marion and Paul (Michael, her partner in life). It’s a terrific piece about love in an older stage of one’s life – the transformative power of love.

“It fits us, and I wanted Marion to come to the new theater” – the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, the Globe second stage that opens in January. “She’s a marvelous part of the Old Globe and San Diego.”

As for the Shakespeare fest, Noble – who takes over from the former artistic director, Darko Tresnjak – will follow his predecessor’s lead in staging one non-Shakespeare work. “The Madness of George III” was a success in England when it premiered in 1991, but most Americans are more familiar with the 1994 film adaptation.

Noble, who headed Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company for 13 years, said when the Globe announced his appointment earlier this year that he was strongly considering a production of “King Lear.” Spisto said he proposed “George III” to Noble because “it pairs beautifully with ‘Lear.’ Both plays are about powerful monarchs who are ill, who have emotional and psychological issues, They’re grappling with their power and their families. They’re very interesting bookends, these two plays.”

The always-popular “Shrew,” Spisto says, is “in some ways a foil to the other two plays. It’s a lighter piece, very accessible.”

He adds that Noble and designer Ralph Funicello plan to re-conceive the scenic approach to the festival, whose three plays run in repertory on the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Stage.

The Shakespeare festival runs June 12 to Sept. 26. “Robin and the 7 Hoods,” July 14 to Aug. 22; and “The Last Romance,” July 30 to Sept. 5. Tickets are available now by season subscription only; for more details, call (619) 234-5623, or visit TheOldGlobe.org.

Union-Tribune

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