Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 6, 2016

12

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mountain Views-News Saturday, February 6, 2016 

On the Marquee: Notes from the Sierra Madre Playhouse


SEAN’S SHAMELESS 

REVIEWS:

AMERICAN CRIME STORY: 

THE PEOPLE VS. O.J. SIMPSON

By Sean Kayden


THE 
GREMLINS

By Artistic Director, 
Christian Lebano

On Friday night the gremlins 
attacked the Playhouse. 
They were stealthy and quiet 
and caught us completely 
unawares. The actors coped 
as well as they could, while 
all I could do was cover my 
eyes and take deep breaths. 
The gremlins are those nasty 
little creatures who cause 
things to go wrong – things 
that have never gone wrong 
before. 

That night there was a 
malfunction with one of the 
crucial pieces of hardware 
that is used in the show – I 
won’t name it because this 
thriller only thrills when it is 
a surprise, so let me just say 
this crucial bit of hardware 
failed. The actors added 
dialogue (this is called ad libbing) to cover the malfunction and the actor in charge of the moment 
actually got the hardware fixed. I know these performers well enough by now to be able to read their 
eyes (maybe I am just imagining that – but I’ve been in their shoes so I knew what they were thinking!) 
and I could see them trying to figure out how to keep the play going and to account for the failure and 
then the relief when it was fixed. The scene got back on track and then zing – the gremlins struck again 
and the hardware failed AGAIN. But now there was no saving the moment, the actors soldiered on as 
best they could and covered for the malfunction and played the scene out. And in the next scene those 
nasty little guys had one more trick in store – when an actor tried to move a chair by its back rail it came 
off in his hands. There was no covering this one – the audience laughed and the actor fixed the chair as 
best he could – and went on with the scene.

 At intermission the audience was in good spirits, several patrons came up to me to comment about the 
chair and how well the actor handled the moment and how unpredictable live theater was. Not a person 
who hadn’t seen the show before made any comment about the hardware. When I specifically asked 
about it they were all surprised that anything had gone wrong!

 I was reminded that an audience will accept what happens on stage as part of the show – that anything 
that happens MUST be meant to happen – unless is clearly isn’t. That may be part of the appeal of live 
theater – the knowledge that at any moment something unexpected, unplanned, and unwelcomed may 
happen and the hapless actors just have to deal with it. Oh boy. Sometimes I ask myself why we put 
ourselves through this. And then I think about the joy of creating something that makes the audience 
laugh and shriek and hold their breaths from the suspense as this play does – and I’ll battle the gremlins 
for the stage any day. 

 Deathtrap continues to sellout, it runs through February 20 so you still have a chance to see it. This one 
is great fun - don’t miss it. Reviews have been glowing! Please visit our website at SierraMadrePlayhouse.
org or call Mary at 626.355.4318 to arrange your purchase. 

I was in third grade when the O.J. Simpson trial swept 
this nation and people of all ages, classes, and races 
were captivated by the televised case. Back then, I knew 
what was going on, but obviously wasn’t fascinated by 
it at my young age. Now in 2016, FX and Ryan Murphy 
(“Glee,” “American Horror Story,” “Scream Queens”) 
has developed a true crime anthology television series 
called “American Crime Story” and the first one up is 
The People vs. O.J. Simpson. My first reaction nearly 
a year ago to when it was announced is why are they 
doing this? Will anyone even care about a case that 
was 20 years ago? On Tuesday night, FX premiered 
the highly anticipated show and all thoughts of me 
questioning why this was created were thrown to the 
wayside. “ACS: The People vs. O.J. Simpson,” based 
on Jeffrey Toobin’s “The Run of His Life: The People 
v. O. J. Simpson,” is the best show Ryan Murphy’s 
been associate with since the early days of “Nip/
Tuck.” The season debut was enthralling, engrossing, 
and downright fascinating. In many ways, the show 
couldn’t be more relevant in the periodically hostile 
times we live in.

 The show wastes no time in getting you right into the 
tragic night of June 14th, 1994 of the slaughtered bodies 
of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were 
found at the entrance of Brown’s Brentwood condo. 
Her ex-husband, former NFL superstar and actor O.J. 
Simpson, departs L.A. for Chicago on the same night. 
Things escalate quickly and the viewer is magnetically 
drawn in. Every scene, every beat is well crafted and 
those who followed the trial back in 1995 will be 
reminded of such key moments and conversations 
amongst these now infamous individuals. The 
80-minute premiere was briskly paced with the difficult 
task of introducing many key characters such as 
Christopher Darden, William Hodgman, Gil Garcetti, 
Marcia Clark, Robert Kardashian, Robert Shapiro, 
Johnnie Cochran, Mark Furhman, and O.J. Simpson 
himself. Other key players will come into place as the 
season unfolds. As for the actors portraying these real-
life people, the casting was absolutely impeccable. 

 Cuba Gooding, Jr plays Simpson and based on 
just the first episode it is a witness the resurrection 
of Cuba Gooding, Jr sort of moment. The guy shows 
he’s still a strong actor, displaying tons of emotion 
(and sometimes lack of emotion given the character). 
David Schwimmer plays O.J.’s friend and one of 
his laywers, Robert Kardashian I could never take 
Schwimmer as a serious actor before, but I must 
say, he proved he can do much more than simply 
his Ross character from his former heyday in the 
TV series “Friends”. While he wasn’t involved with 
the O.J. defense team in the first episode of he show, 
actor Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran appears 
deeply promising in his brief appearance on the first 
episode. However, the one who stole the show in the 
first episode (and most likely for the entire season) 
is “American Horror Story” alumni Sarah Paulson, 
who portrays the tenacious Marcia Clark. Paulson 
not only acts like Clark by mastering her cadence and 
idiosyncrasies, but also looks nearly identical to her (a 
solid 9 out of 10 on the lookalike meter). She’s nothing 
shy of brilliant in this multifaceted and well-written 
role. The first episode ends on a significant moment, 
one where we all (even me) remember that day as if 
it wasn’t 20 plus years ago. The one I am referring 
to is O.J. skipping out on his arrest by fleeing with 
his friend AC Cowlings in the famously notorious 
white Ford Bronco chase. The actual pursuit will 
segue into the beginning of the second season. And 
just like the real life pulsating chase, the mini series 
itself is running at 100 miles and hour on all levels. Do 
yourself a favor and watch what very well may turn 
out to be the best show of 2016.

American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson

Release Date: 

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016 at 10pm on FX

Created By: Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski

Shaw Purnell plays Myra Bruhl in Deathtrap. 

Photo by John Dluglolecki”

Jeff’s Book Pics By Jeff Brown

THE ALIENIST by Caleb Carr 

The year is 1896, the place, 
New York City. On a cold 
March night New York Times 
reporter John Schuyler Moore is 
summoned to the East River by 
his friend and former Harvard 
classmate Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a 
psychologist, or “alienist.” On 
the unfinished Williamsburg 
Bridge, they view the body of an 
adolescent boy, a prostitute from 
one of Manhattan’s infamous 
brothels.The newly appointed 
police commissioner, Theodore 
Roosevelt, in a highly unorthodox 
move, enlists the two men in the 
murder investigation, counting 
on the reserved Kreizler’s intellect 
and Moore’s knowledge of New 
York’s vast criminal underworld. 
They are joined by Sara Howard, a 
brave and determined woman who 
works as a secretary in the police 
department. Laboring in secret 
(for alienists, and the emerging 
discipline of psychology, are viewed 
by the public with skepticism at 
best), the unlikely team embarks 
on what is a revolutionary effort 
in criminology-- amassing a 
psychological profile of the man 
they’re looking for based on 
the details of his crimes. Their 
dangerous quest takes them into 
the tortured past and twisted 
mind of a murderer who has killed 
before. and will kill again before 
the hunt is over.Fast-paced and 
gripping, infused with a historian’s 
exactitude, The Alienist conjures up 
the Gilded Age and its untarnished 
underside: verminous tenements 
and opulent mansions, corrupt cops and flamboyant 
gangsters, shining opera houses and seamy gin mills. 
Here is a New York during an age when questioning 
society’s belief that all killers are born, not made, 
could have unexpected and mortal consequences.


THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 
by Klaus Schwab

Ubiquitous, mobile supercomputing. 
Artificially-intelligent robots. Self-driving cars. 
Neuro-technological brain 
enhancements. Genetic editing. 
The evidence of dramatic change 
is all around us and it’s happening 
at exponential speed. Professor 
Klaus Schwab, Founder and 
Executive Chairman of the World 
Economic Forum, has been at the 
centre of global affairs for over 
four decades. He is convinced 
that the period of change we are 
living through is more significant, 
and the ramifications of the latest 
technological revolution more 
profound than any prior period 
of human history. He has dubbed 
this era the fourth industrial 
revolution. Crowdsourcing ideas, 
insights and wisdom from the 
World Economic Forum’s global 
network of business, government, 
civil society and youth leaders, 
this book looks deeply at the 
future that is unfolding today 
and how we might take collective 
responsibility to ensure it is 
a positive one for all of us.
But I Came by Ambulance!: 
Real Stories from a Small-
Town ER by Kerry Hamm 
Back for the fourth time, a 
registration clerk for a small-
town hospital in Ohio recounts 
stories from emergency room 
happenings. This collection of 
stories recalls outrageous tales 
of criminals running from the 
police, patients arriving in the ER 
with one foot over the threshold of 
death’s door, stupid ways patients 
have injured themselves, and a 
variety of recollections of patients 
penetrating themselves with household objects. But 
not every case is funny. Some of the stories recounted 
are filled with crippling grief, can offer a glimpse of 
the fear ER workers feel, and detail that sometimes 
nurses and doctors simply can’t win against the power 
fighting against them. But I Came by Ambulance is a 
perfect read for a lazy afternoon, when you’re stuck 
inside due to the weather, or when you’re in between 
caring for the same types of patients described within 
these pages.


Jeff’s History Corner By Jeff Brown

1.The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is managed 
by Caltech for NASA. The laboratory’s primary 
function is the construction and operation of
planetary robotic spacecraft, though it also 
conducts Earth-orbit and astronomy missions. 
It is also responsible for operating NASA’s Deep
Space Network.As of 2013, it has found 95% of 
asteroids that are a kilometer or more in diameter 
that cross Earth’s orbit.There arev approximately 
5,000 full-time Caltech employees, and typically 
a few thousand additional contractors working 
on any given day. NASA also has a resident office 
at the facility staffed by federal managers who
oversee JPL’s activities and work for NASA. There 
are also some Caltech graduate students, college 
student interns and co-op students.JPL traces
its beginnings to 1936 in the Guggenheim 
Aeronautical Laboratory at Caltech when the first 
set of rocket experiments were carried out in the
Arroyo Seco.In 1943, it formally became an Army 
facility.During JPL’s Army years, the laboratory 
developed some weapon systems.JPL was transferred 
to NASA in 1958, becoming the agency’s primary 
planetary spacecraft center.


2.Marina Del Rey is the world’s largest man-made 
small craft harbor with 19 marinas with capacity 
for 5,300 boats and is home port to approximately 
6,500 boats. In 1953, the Los Angeles County Board 
of Supervisors authorized a $2 million loan for 
construction of the marina. Since the loan only 
covered about half the cost, the U.S. Congress
passed and President Dwight D. Eisenhower 
signed Public Law 780 making construction 
possible. Ground breaking began shortly after.With 
construction almost complete, the marina was put 
in danger in 1962–1963 due to a winter storm. The 
storm caused millions of dollars in damage to the 
marina and the few small boats . A plan was put 
into effect to build a breakwater at the mouth of the 
marina, and the Board of Supervisors appropriated 
$2.1 million to build it. On April 10, 1965 Marina 
del Rey was formally dedicated. The total cost of the 
marina was $36.25 million for land, construction, 
and initial operation.


3.Pasadena was founded in 1874 by Thomas B. Elliott 
as Indiana Colony; the name Pasadena, a Chippewa 
word meaning “crown of the valley,” was adopted in 
1875.


4.Altadena is derived from the Spanish word alta 
meaning “upper” and dena which is short for the 
word Pasadena.


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