Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 15, 2011

9

OUT ON THE TOWN

 Mountain Views News Saturday, January 15, 2011 

Cinderella

Join the fairy godmother and an audience full of friendly mice as they help Cinderella find 
her true love and a nifty pair of glass slippers. Square off against the evil stepmother and 
ugly stepsisters in the world premier of Cinderella, the Fairy tale Theatre’s new participation 
musical for kids.

It’s thrilling to see your wide-eyed kids or grandkids wear mouse ears and become Cinderella’s 
best friends, helping her clean the house and make Cinderella’s breakfast. They will also 
groom her for the ball, sing and dance with her, and hug her when she cries. All the young 
girls in the audience will be transformed into princesses and dance with Prince Charming at 
the ball. After the show kids will get to meet the characters, enjoy photo opportunities and 
sign autographs on their beautiful souvenir programs.

Local Sierra Madre singer songwriter Jane Fuller stars as Cinderella. Ms. Fuller also wrote 
the songs performed in this magical production. There will be 5 performances of Cinderella, 
running on Saturdays beginning January 22 through February 19. Show times are at 11:00 
am. As in our previous productions, young audience members will be invited to enter the 
world of make believe and participate throughout the 45-minute performance. 

The Fairy Tale Theatre adds “Cinderella” to its four successful interactive Children’s shows, 
“Treasure Island (March 12-April16),” “Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (April 30-May28),” 
“The Frog Prince,” and “Sleeping Beauty.” 

Come build lasting memories with your children as they share in the magical gift of Fairy 
Tale Theatre! 

Tickets are $18 for adults, and $12 for children 12 and under. Online ticketing at www.
sierramadreplayhouse.org. Reservations call (626) 355-4318. The Sierra Madre Playhouse is 
located at 87 West Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre, CA, 91024. There is ample free parking 
behind the theatre.

Photo by John Gibson

At The Fremont Centre Theatre - South Pasadena

TOPDOG / UNDERDOG 

A Review - by Despina Tsiknas-Arzouman

 

“Topdog/Underdog” a Pulitzer Prize winning play (2002) returns to the Fremont Centre 
Theatre on Saturday, January 29th, 2011. I saw this play last August, 2010, and because it 
was such a hit, it is returning for another run. The play was written by Suzan-Lori Parks 
who wove together some brilliant dialogue between two African-American brothers (named 
Lincoln and Booth - their dad’s idea of a joke) depicting the epitome of diametric internal 
confusions between the eternal polarities between basic human (natural) needs and what is 
real moral identity. While such confusion is a challenge every person is e’er faced with, at 
the heart of this confusion also lies the outrageous abandonment by their parents -- leaving 
these two young boys to fend for themselves while still juveniles at the respective ages of 16 
and 11 years of age. The playing-out of their predicament is situated and further exacerbated 
by their shared living space: a rented room in tenement -- no running water, with a 
shared toilet, outside and down the hall. So, the staging is simple - with no evidence of any 
“creature comforts” most of us Americans are used to. The brothers continually struggling 
for some semblance of clarity (through their sheer unguided survival). For two decades, 
the brothers’ banter vacillates between brotherly love, sibling rivalry, and absolute estrangement 
from with their outright impersonal hostility (obviously fed by the unacknowledged 
deep-rooted fears of not knowing or ever learning how to think, learn, love, or live rightly). 

At the heart this play is an irony (and metaphor) which comes from their names: Booth 
and Lincoln. The younger brother (Booth) wants to become a master of the con game of 
three card monte (which game is about duping the mark, or ‘sucker,’ through misdirection), 
something the older brother (Lincoln) had already mastered, but in an effort pursue 
legitimate employment, abandoned the con game years before. The irony is that their own 
parents (mistakenly) brought two children into the world and the only thing they “gave” to 
them the ultimate form misdirection; i.e. the misdirection between the psychologic principles 
of “down” and “up” (i.e. nature vs. morality, respectively). One comes to see that 
“down-and-up,” “dark-and-light,” “wrong-and-right,” “black-and-white,” “fear-and-love,” 
are qualities of mind and the eternal (and internal) battle we each are faced with every day.

“Topdog /Underdog” stars Jed Reynolds as Lincoln and Stephen Rider as Booth. Both men 
put their all into these performances which culminates into an explosive ending. This new 
production was directed by James Reynolds, known and loved by millions of fans for his 
role as Abe Carver through 28 seasons of the daytime TV drama “Days of Our Lives.” This 
play was produced by James and Lissa Reynolds and the California Performing Arts Center. 
“This is a tremendous play. I wish I could do it myself but I must tell you Stephen and Jed 
are wonderful. What great performances. People should see this.”----Denzel Washington

“Topdog/ Underdog” re-Opens on Saturday, January 29th 2011 at 8:00pm at the Fremont 
Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont Ave (at El Centro), South Pasadena 91030. Gala Opening 
night tickets are $35 (includes champagne & appetizers). For Reservations call toll-free (866) 
811-4111. There is also a Preview show on Friday, January 28 at 8:00pm; tickets are $12.50. 
Regular show times are Fridays & Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 3:00pm. It runs until 
Saturday, February 26th, 2011. Regular admission charges are $25; students and seniors $20. 
For Online Ticketing go to: www.fremontcentretheatre.com.