Ed Begley, Jr. Pens and Directs New Musical Cesar and Ruben in CA
By Ernio Hernandez

11 Feb 2003

Actor Ed Begley, Jr. directs the world premiere of his musical celebration Cesar and Ruben at North Hollywood's El Portal Theatre. The debut will play at the California venue March 7-April 6.

Cesar and Ruben celebrates the life and work of labor leader Cesar Chavez and the award-winning Los Angeles Times columnist Ruben Salazar, who wrote about him. Chavez was he founder of the United Farm Workers union in 1962.

The musical features songs by Ruben Blades, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, Carlos Santana, Enrigue Iglesias, David Crosby and Carmen Moreno. Steven Orich acts as musical director for the production. Erik Sterling, Jason Winters and Jon Carrasco executive produce with producer Stephen Roseberry.

The cast of 15 features Robert Alcazar and Tony D'Arc in the title roles as well as Marta Dubois, Danielle Barbosa and Edward Albert.

The world premiere, endorsed by the Chaves family and the Cesar Chavez Foundation is presented in conjunction with Cesar Chavez Day (March 31) and the U.S. Postal Service's release of a Cesar Chavez Stamp on April 23.

Tickets to Cesar and Ruben at El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood, CA, can be purchased through Ticketmaster at (213) 480-3232 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Just got back from seeing a play called "Collected Stories", about a young student/writer who learns from and then begins to surpass her mentor.

Anyway, towards the end, she's reading an excerpt from her soon-to-be-published novel, and when she mentions her first book of short stories, there's some applause, to which she responds...

"I feel like it's a Joni Mitchell concert...Play Circle Game!"

Click here for more.

I went to see a play here in London at the Royal Court last week called Forty Winks. To my surprise it featured a little Joni: lights go down and out from the speakers we hear Joni singing ACOY, the whole of the song no less. A little later, after some dialogue we again hear ACOY this time playing backwards to signify a flashback in time. There was also a mention of her when one of the cast members enquires about the music playing, he is told "we don't have any Joni Mitchel I'm afraid". He was a tortured love soul, so it was only fitting he was a Joni fan.

Read the BBC News review.

As it celebrates the achievements of female singer/songwriters, the musical revue "Guitar Girls" also explores the way women's roles have changed in America.

"The earliest songs in the show are about home and family and spirituality," said Dennis Courtney, who is directing the Florida Studio Theatre Cabaret production that opens Thursday.

"The women were defined by their men, and how they felt about them. The later songs reflect the breakup of the nuclear family, and the changing relationships between men and women. Then, there's a real shift of consciousness, with women beginning to own their individuality and power for the first time."

Works by the Carter Family, the Weavers, Carol King, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, the Dixie Chicks and Mary Chapin Carpenter are featured in the show.

The song list includes "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," "If I Had a Hammer," "You've Got a Friend," "Jolene," "Mercedes Benz," and, naturally, Carpenter's "Girls with Guitars."

This 'Hedda' isn't for theater purists
Thursday, September 23, 2004

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS
Star-Ledger Staff

NEW YORK -- "Hedda Gabler" gets slapped around by Ivo van Hove and at times the repressed Norwegian vixen really seems to like it.

The Flemish director strips away the heroine's customary Victorian bustles and lets her loose in a candy-pink nightie. Hedda's bookish husband, George, is now a slim, moody slacker. They reside within a vast white box of raw drywall, sparsely furnished with battered furniture. Aunt Julia visits them, smartly dressed in leopard-print silk.

It's all looks very cool. Then everybody starts to seethe. Soon they rage.

An arty but often intriguing revival, "Hedda Gabler" opened Tuesday at New York Theatre Workshop.

Newcomers to Henrik Ibsen's 1890 evergreen drama probably won't have the faintest idea of what all the occasional shouting is about, but anyone conversant with the play can appreciate van Hove's bold treatment -- if not always go along with its excesses.

A few seasons ago at NYTW, this director staged a radical deconstruction of "A Streetcar Named Desire" that kept Blanche stewing in a bathtub. The guy really likes to play fast and loose with the classics.

The abstract expanse of designer Jan Versweyeld's setting likely represents the emptiness of Hedda's unfulfilled inner being. There she prowls about, bored to distraction, fingering the same refrain on a gutted piano and sardonically snapping at George and the maid.

The production's talk is stylized with sudden spasms of anger and marked by accelerations or slow-downs. Much of the play's final scene happens in darkness, the characters barely silhouetted against the enveloping gloom of Hedda's despair.

Purists will yelp, but there's no denying that van Hove's approach interestingly points up the various psychological forces that drive both heroine and play. Still, the action doesn't always compute.

At one point midway, Hedda trashes the place in an extended tantrum, angrily hurling armfuls of wilting flowers against the walls. It's highly dramatic, of course, but the play concerns a soul who fatally can never vent her emotions, so such an outburst seems improbable.

Still, the tangible fury and scorn and utter self-absorption that Elizabeth Marvel radiates as Hedda is liable to blind viewers to contradictions. As Joni Mitchell's "Blue" moans away in a recurrent theme, Marvel's hollow-voiced, vacant-eyed Hedda is revealed as an impulsive creature who meddles with others more from sheer, aimless whim than bad intentions.

In excellent contrast, John Douglas Thompson's jaunty Judge Brack is in complete control of his actions. True, Brack slams Hedda against a wall and later strong-arms her to the floor, but unlike Hedda, it's obvious he knows exactly what he's doing.

Ana Reeder portrays the usually clingy Mrs. Elvsted as a pussycat certain of her charms. As Hedda's former flame, Glenn Fitzgerald's Eilert Lovborg is clearly a man aware that he is barely able to suppress his worst urges. Jason Butler Harner's snarky, whining George and Mary Beth Peil's none-so-sweet Aunt Julia discover unexpected nuances in their characters.

These revelations come somewhat at the expense of the play's coherence as a story, however. So here, a prior acquaintance with "Hedda Gabler" is necessary to enjoy this visit with her.

With the exception of the prison cell scene that opens the play, all the vignettes take place at a long banquet table in an otherwise empty black box. It’s a clean palate for the presentation of the author’s poetic jeremiads, which are helped, for the most part, by some vivid lighting effects by Russell H. Champa and the music of – who else? – Joni Mitchell.

Famous Door Theatre production history web page

Joining Joni's River
Shawn Conner

October 5, 2004

As a writer, Joni Mitchell has been responsible for some of the most vivid, lasting and impressionistic pop songs of the last 30 years. Consider a catalogue that includes "Both Sides Now," "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris." So it's only natural that some canny theatre type would eventually bring the Saskatchewan-raised songwriter's vision to the stage.

Originally performed in Winnipeg at the Prairie Theatre Exchange in 2002, Joni Mitchell: River (at the Vancouver Playhouse Oct. 9-30) is a theatrical presentation of a number of Mitchell compositions. Accompanied by a four-piece band, three vocalists take turns on songs tracing the arc of love, from the giddy first moments to the ensuing power struggles to the insight that follows.

For Rebecca Shoichet, one of the principal singers, the production has been an introduction to the many facets of Mitchell's talent. "I was slightly familiar with [the 1971 Mitchell album] Blue, but I grew up in a generation that wasn't saturated with her," says the 29-year-old while one of her bands, Soulstream, soundchecks at a Yaletown nightclub. "She's an incredible songwriter and I knew that already, but you don't often get a chance to do an intense study of a specific songwriter, and as a writer myself it's been a huge learning experience. She's so prolific it's amazing."

As a member of the 10-piece Soulstream, a cover-band-for-hire, the Ottawa-born, Victoria-raised performer belts out Michael Jackson and Chaka Khan hits, while as front woman for original act Mimosa, she sings a blend of bossa nova, jazz and pop. Shoichet also does voices for anime and, when time permits, gives teaching lessons. But when her piano teacher told her about River, she couldn't resist auditioning. John Mann, of Vancouver folk act Spirit of the West, and Loretta Bailey, a performer from Toronto, were the other two successful applicants. "I hadn't met them before, so there was some of that first-day-of-school kind of nervousness on the first day of rehearsals," says Shoichet.

Now, the bubbly, diminutive singer has nothing but nice things to say about the two "incredible" co-stars who take solo turns on some songs and join in on others. "Generally, I'm singing in between the two of them, harmony-wise," says Shoichet. "We blend really well for the three-part stuff. But we're also three individuals as characters in the show."

Shoichet makes it clear that, despite how it might seem, Joni Mitchell: River -- directed by its creator, Allen MacInnis -- is not about a love triangle. "It's more like there are these three people sharing their own experiences with each other and with the audience," she says. "We're not connected. We have individual relationships we're talking about."

Nor does River trace the journey of a talented Canadian from Saskatoon-raised small-town girl to internationally respected songwriter and musician. That production will have to wait.

"It's about the music," says Shoichet. "You really get to listen. This is going to be a listener's dream, just to hear transitions from song to song. The flow of one song into another is poetic. It's kind of like a river, which is the idea."

Joni Noodles

(A thankfully brief 4-noodle play about Joni Mitchell's initial foray into music, and what went wrong)

Cast

Walberta Joan Anderbreen, Hereafter "J", a blond 7-year old girl from the prairies of Canada, who seems to love music and has been sent up the street to take piano lessons.

The Teacher, Hereafter "T", a stern and bitter old woman.

Intro

J walks on-stage. S/he looks as unlike a seven-year-old blond girl as is physically possible (while remaining nominally within the human species).

J: Good evening, and welcome to an evening of speculative theatre. Tonight, we'll be asking the question, What really happened during those fateful first piano lessons for Joni Mitchell?

First of all, I want you to know that we had the budget for me to do these brief biographical skits entirely in authentic early-50s little-girl drag -- yes, in my size -- remember, I live in San Francisco, where such things can be found. But since for whatever reason, I always get my carry-on luggage searched whenever I fly, I decided not to risk having to explain what I was doing with nail clippers hidden in shiny black leather Mary Janes the size of gunboats.

Instead, I'll have to ask you to use yore imagination a little bit. [Optional: J shouts "Wardrobe!" and someone walks out with a really decrepit blond wig, or even just a newspaper colored yellow and taped or stapled to look like a wig; J takes it disdainfully and puts it on.]

So now picture me as a seven-year-old blond girl from North Battleford, Saskatchewan. [Looks himself up and down]. That shouldn't be so hard, eh? Okay, now excuse me while I go into character. [Covers face with hands and appears to be concentrating, for about 3 seconds; drops hands] Actually, I just realized that emotionally, I am a seven-year-old girl from North Battleford, Saskatchewan, so we might as well get started.

The setting is the front parlor of an embittered, regimental old piano teacher...[Walks off, stage right]

Noodle 1

J [Enters stage right, walks up and knocks on imaginary front door] Hello? [louder] Hello?! [Walks in and closes door behind her.] Hello?! [Spots piano.] Oh. [Walks over and sits down. Starts playing a mishmash of familiar intros and themes from JM's music.]

T [Storms in, ruler in hand, and slams it down on or near J's fingers]

J [Shrieks and pulls her fingers away.] Ow! Why did you do that?!

T [Booming] Young lady, do you usually go into strangers' homes and start playing nonsense on their pianos without permission?

J Sorry! I'm Walberta Joan Anderbreen, my friends call me Joan, and I--

T I know who you are, young lady, I keep a tight schedule, and you are [checking watch] two minutes late.

J Well, you weren't here either, so what difference does it make if I was late?

T [in full umbrage] I... BEG... YOUR...

J [calmly continuing] And that wasn't nonsense I was playing, that was part of a song I wrote called "Robin Walk".

T [getting control] Young lady, why on earth would you want to play by ear when you could have [theatrically:] the masters at your fingertips?

J [looking doubtfully at fingers] Really?

T We'll start with the key of C. Right there [gestures with ruler, which makes Joni flinch slightly]

J [puts fingers on keyboard and dutifully starts playing exercises in the key of C]

Blackout/Curtain

Noodle 2 (a.k.a the Yankee Doodle Noodle)

J [Knocking on door and letting herself in] Hello? Hello?! Where the heck does that mean old lady go after each lesson? [snickers] She probably goes out back and swats flies with that awful ruler. [J thinks that over, and then looks suddenly down at her fingers and gasps] Eeeuuuw! [Eyes piano, looks nervously over her shoulder, sits down at piano and starts to play Yankee Doodle, sort of.]

T [Enters stage left and creeps up slowly, this time; once again, she slams the ruler on or near J's hands]

J [flinches and yelps]

T What on earth do you think you were doing?

J I was playing Yankee Doodle!

T You... most... certainly... were... NOT!!! And what did we say about attempting songs before we have mastered the scales and chords?

J Well, "we" didn't say anything, but you said not to.

T Well, then, let's hear your scales in F and Bb.

J [Plays quite a bit of the exercise in F; during this time, T at first waves the ruler in the air to keep time, but gradually she moves to the left, and eventually disappears offstage. J switches to Bb and starts again, but noticing T has left the room, she slips into the intro from "See You Sometime".]

T [from offstage] I can hear you!!

J [Sighs, and switches back to just doing regular scales.]

Blackout/Curtain

Noodle 3

As usual, T is not in evidence when J knocks and enters.

J [goes over to the piano and sits down. It's obviously hard for her not to just start playing, but she is very nervous. She looks over her shoulder several times, looks at her watch, and then finally shrugs and starts to play the intro to "Blonde In The Bleachers.]

T [appears stage left, but doesn't immediately rush up with ruler as per usual. Instead, she keeps silent and lets J play for a little while. Gradually, she makes her way to the piano and then says in a normal tone of voice] What is that? Is that Stravinsky?

J [nearly jumps out of her skin] God, you make me so nervous, my mom took me to the doctor, and he said I should take up smoking to calm my nerves.

T [back to business again] Well, young lady, that's the most sensible thing I've ever heard you say. I hope you've taken his advice.

J Oh, yes, ma'am, I'm at a pack a day, two on piano lesson days.

T Hmmph. Well, let's see whether you've been practicing your G, D and A scales.

J [Sighs, and starts the scales.] God, I need a cigarette...

Blackout/Curtain

Noodle 4

J [knocks and enters as usual. Calls out several times -- no response. She looks balefully at the keyboard, and then, after one more look over her shoulder, she begins playing "Ludwig's Tune"...]

T [predictably, creeps up as J begins playing, hesitates briefly when J starts to sing; then she continues to sneak up on her until she SLAMS DOWN the ruler just after J finishes the line, "That don't seem like much"]

J [SCREAMS outright]

T [stonily] What... was... that, young lady?

J [panting] Oh my god. [Checks hands, to see if all the parts still work] My doctor said that if I break -- [looks up meaningfully] -- if you break just one more of my metacarpals, I won't be able to write, dial a phone, or hold a cigarette. He gave me some pills [digs into pocket and pulls out a vial, looks at bottle and sounds out the name] VAL-LI-UM, and he told me I should give up smoking and take these instead.

T Well, perhaps you should give up smoking --

J [sotto voce] That'll be the day...

T Your voice does sound a bit low for your age. Now you didn't answer my question -- what was that nonsense you were playing? It sounded a bit like Stravinsky again [getting agitated] -- or even that evil jazz music I heard once by accident on a radio.

J It wasn't nonsense! I learned in school how Beethoven--

T [interrupting] It's pronounced "BEE-though-ven", dear.

J [ignoring her] how Beethoven lost his hearing but still went on writing music even though he'd never be able to hear it again except in his head, and that made me kinda sad, so I started writing this song about him...

T Young lady, what have I told you about all this silly noodling around?

J [defiantly, standing to full height] No! I don't have to listen to you anymore!

T [obviously frightened] Jesus, you're big for 7!!

J I'm not taking any more piano lessons! When I grow up--

T [looking her up and down] Grow "up"?

J [on a roll now] When I grow up I'm gonna be an artist. I'll go to art school, where no one ever tries to force to paint any one way! [Storms off stage right, slamming imaginary door]

T [Shakes head and cackles evilly] Art school, eh? [shouting at door] I'll see you there! [continues to cackle as she walks offstage left]

Final Curtain

Mike writes:

This is from a friend of mine who works at ACT (a repertory theater in SF). I don't know much about it other than what is on the web page, but I will be going!
-----------------------------------

This link has a nice photo of Mitchell I've not seen before.

And finally, a press release describing the show:

For Immediate Release

A.C.T. Young Conservatory Presents World Premiere Musical Theater Piece Ladies of the Canyon: The Music of Joni Mitchell

World Premiere Musical Theater Piece at Zeum Theater June 4–19

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 30, 2004 – American Conservatory Theater’s Young Conservatory (YC) presents Ladies of the Canyon: The Music of Joni Mitchell, created and directed by YC Director Craig Slaight, with musical direction by Krista Wigle and musical arrangements by Naomi Sanchez. Ladies of the Canyon is made possible by a major grant from the SBC Foundation. This world premiere production will open June 5 at 7:30 p.m. and run through June 19, with two preview performances June 4 at 7:30 p.m. and June 5 at 2 p.m. All performances will be held at Zeum Theater at Yerba Buena Gardens, located at the corner of Fourth and Howard streets in San Francisco (parking is available at the Fifth and Mission garage). Tickets are $7.50–$15, and are available by calling 415.749.2228, online at www.act-sf.org, or at the door.

Ladies of the Canyon features an all-female cast performing 24 classic Joni Mitchell songs, including “Both Sides Now,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Help Me,” “Woodstock,” “Free Man in Paris,” and “The Circle Game.” Singing solo and in full ensemble, the cast will address some of Mitchell’s most emotionally complex work. The piece contains no spoken text, and each song constitutes its own dramatic scene.

"I was drawn to Joni Mitchell by her immense skills as a musician and poet,” says Slaight. “She takes her listeners on a youthful journey of exploration and reflection, all the while infusing her songs with an intense, compact emotional life. Her music is universal, ageless, and the perfect source for dramatic interpretation.”

Slaight and Wigle developed Ladies of the Canyon with special permission from Joni Mitchell as part of the YC’s New Plays Program. This program has focused on creating theatrical explorations of the works of contemporary composers with the goal of creating pieces that look at the world through youthful eyes. Prior works created for this series include Dangling Conversations: The Music of Simon and Garfunkel and last season’s Forever Young: The Music of Bob Dylan, which was staged at Zeum Theater and at London’s prestigious National Theatre.

Joni Mitchell has remained at the forefront of singer/songwriters since the 1960s. Born in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada, she taught herself the guitar and became a favorite on the regional folk scene. After marrying Chuck Mitchell in 1965, Mitchell moved to Detroit, Michigan. There her marriage soon fell apart, but her career took a giant leap forward, taking her to New York City and the top of the Greenwich Village folk scene, along with her contemporary, Bob Dylan. In 1967 she recorded her self-titled debut album, produced by David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. She followed this up with Clouds, Ladies of the Canyon, and her landmark album Blue. Commercial success eluded her until the 1970s when she recorded her first hit single, “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio.” A string of successful albums followed, including Court and Spark, Miles of Aisles, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, and Hejira, considered by many to be her masterpiece. The next stage in her career found Mitchell developing a style that included not only folk but also jazz, rock, and world music. While many fans disapproved of her migration away from her folk roots, she won a new generation of admirers with her 1994 GRAMMY®-winning album, Turbulent Indigo. Mitchell has won a total of five GRAMMY® awards, was the recipient of the 2002 Recording Academy® Lifetime Achievement and the Billboard Century awards, and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A multi-talented artist, Mitchell has focused increasingly in recent years on her painting.

The ensemble of Ladies of the Canyon features both seasoned Young Conservatory performers and those making their Zeum Theater debut. The cast includes Dillan Arrick of San Francisco, a freshman at San Francisco University High School; Adde Bigelow of San Francisco, a junior at French American International High School; Hannah Finnie of Berkeley, a sophomore in the Berkeley Independent Studies program; Lucia Grahamjones of Berkeley, a junior at Berkeley High School; Sarah Grandin of San Francisco, a sophomore at San Francisco University High School; Emily Iscoff-Daigian of San Francisco, a junior at The Urban School; Scout Katovich of Oakland, a freshman at College Preparatory School; Julia Mattison of San Francisco, a freshman at San Francisco University High School; Rachel Rubenstein of San Francisco, a sophomore at Lick-Wilmerding High School; and Charlotte Ubben of San Francisco, a freshman at Drew College Preparatory School. The set design is by Dean Shibuya; the lighting design is by A.C.T. Lighting Design Associate Kimberly J. Scott. Charles Filipov is the assistant director.

The A.C.T. Young Conservatory offers a broad range of theater training for young people aged 8 to 19. The four sessions offered throughout the year are designed to develop talent and creativity, as well as communication and cooperation skills for young people with all levels of theater background. Working professional actors and directors lead students in a spectrum of classes, including acting, directing, voice and speech, musical theater, audition, and improvisation. Call 415.439.2444 for applications and information.

A.C.T.’s second stage at Zeum Theater, a venue distinct from the Geary Theater, is dedicated to the development of new works, new forms, and new artists. A.C.T.@Zeum was launched in October 2001 with the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) Program’s first-ever staging of Marc Blitzstein’s No for an Answer, directed by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. This unprecedented community partnership gives A.C.T. an additional stage for readings, workshops, rehearsals, and other aspects of new play and production development and is the current home for the Young Conservatory New Plays Program.

PHOTO EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE: New images of Joni Mitchell are now available on the A.C.T. Web site, www.act-sf.org. Thank you.

CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

THE A.C.T. YOUNG CONSERVATORY PRESENTS

Ladies of the Canyon: The Music of Joni Mitchell
Created and directed by Craig Slaight
Musical direction by Krista Wigle
Music adaptation by Naomi Sanchez

Previews:
June 4 at 7:30 p.m. and June 5 at 2 p.m.

Opening:
June 5 at 7:30 p.m.

Performances:
June 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, and 19 at 7:30 p.m.
June 6, 12, 13, and 19 at 2 p.m.

Audience exchange to follow all matinees.

Location: Zeum Theater at Yerba Buena Gardens, at the corner of Howard and Fourth streets. (Parking is available at the Fifth and Mission garage.)

Tickets: $15 general admission; $12 A.C.T. subscribers; $10 students, full-time teachers, and seniors, with valid ID; $7.50 for student rush tickets, available at the door on the night of the performance. Tickets can be purchased in advance through the Geary Theater Box Office, 405 Geary Street, 415.749.2228, or online at www.act-sf.org (no discounts available online). Cash-only tickets can also be purchased at the door on the night of the performance.

CONTACT:
Scott Walton (415) 439-2362; swalton@act-sf.org
Jon Wolanske (415) 439-2418; jwolanske@act-sf.org

Copyright © 2004 American Conservatory Theater. All rights reserved.

Got in the car after a game of tennis at about 10.50 this morning. BBC Radio 4 was tuned in and the program was Woman's Hour, half way through a serialised drama it seemed. Apart from the fact it had some nice guitar instrumental in it , I wasn't really paying any attention until I heard the line "As Joni Mitchell wrote in her 197? hit - you don't always know what you've got til it's gone." Then 2 of the characters started singing it. On getting home I checked the web site and found that the play was Making Hay by Sue Teddern. I don't know anything about her I'm afraid. You'll be able to listen to it at the website soon (it's episode 2). BBC - Radio 4 - Woman's Hour - Drama

Jacky later added:

Making Hay follows five characters linked by marriage or friendship as they walk the 52 miles along Offa's Dyke from Chepstow to Hay on Wye. As they cover a new stretch each day they also discover previously uncharted aspects of their relationships.

This is a radio play by Sue Teddern serialised on BBC Radio 4's Womans Hour week beginning Feb 9th, 04. It has a mention of Joni Mitchell having written "You don't know what you've got til it's gone."

Dennis: That's me.

Pauline: Who?

Dennis: Us. You're the figure skater and I'm Richard.

Pauline: But you're Dennis.

Dennis: And Richard. Richard, That's ME.

Pauline: Dennis, I don't know what you're on about. But if you're going to change your name it's not going to be Richard. I'm not having people rushing around this bungalow shouting out "Dick."

"Celebrating its 40th anniversary season, (Trinity Rep) the Providence-based troupe will introduce a new musical revue, Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, featuring the work of Stephen Sondheim, Joni Mitchell, Gershwin, John Prine and others. Amanda Dehnert handles direction and musical direction for the project. "

The Trinity Rep web site listed above, however, doesn't mention whether Joni's music was actually used in show.

Entertainment - AP Other
Little New in '70s Flashback Musical
Wed May 7, 8:50 AM ET
By JUSTIN GLANVILLE

NEW YORK - In the good-natured but completely unnecessary "Streakin': A Musical Flashback to the 1970s," the fashions and pop culture of the Me Decade come in for yet another satirical beating.

If polyester, The Village People and "The Brady Bunch" still make you snicker, this show is for you. If not, it could be a long night in the Land of Travolta.

The main problem with "Streakin'" is that it doesn't find much new material to skewer. Instead, writer-director Jamie Rocco lazily takes passing shots at the decade's most familiar cultural phenomena, without developing a new take on them. A paraphrase of the script might run like this: "Remember disco? Remember pet rocks? Ha!"

Occasionally, a freshly observed detail adds much-needed bite. During a sitcom send-up called "27 Bubblegum Lane," for example, canned applause greets the entrance of each cast member, in the style of "Happy Days." And in a game show skit called "Scream That Theme," Christi Moore-Leslie is spot-on as a model who compulsively hails everything on stage with a florid gesture. (Incidentally, the show gets its name from a nude streaker who runs across the stage during this scene.)

The musical numbers -- the show's real reason for existence -- suffer from the same shallowness that hampers the skits. Almost 40 songs rush by, most in abridged form, so you never get a chance to sink your teeth into anything before it's on to the next. A chorus and a verse are all you'll hear, for example, of Joni Mitchell's classic "Help Me."

Still, you can hardly fault the song selection, a survey that covers both the decade's highest highs (Don McLean's "American Pie," Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side") and lowest lows (The Village People's "YMCA," The Captain & Tennille's "Muskrat Love").

And although the cheesier songs hardly cry out for virtuosity or nuance, the ensemble cast of six handles everything with verve. They all have beautiful voices that easily fill Babalu, the Theater District nightclub where the show is playing Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays after a five-month run in Wichita, Kan.

Moore-Leslie is one of the brightest spots in the uniformly enthusiastic and talented cast. Besides her turn as the game show model, she plays the title character in a spoof of "Carrie," the 1976 Stephen King horror flick, zapping innocent patrons in a disco club. It's the night's funniest moment.

Almost as impressive is Monte Wheeler, who does a fine "American Pie" and scores plenty of laughs in a variety of roles -- everything from a perky nerd to a slick disco king.

Essentially, though, you could replicate most of the laughs in this show by renting "Saturday Night Fever," digging out your old Olivia Newton-John records, and ruminating on the following thought: People once believed pet rocks were cool.

When the cast stops talking and starts singing, which, thank goodness, is often, then this little musical can be a genuine treat for devotees of the popular music of a generation ago. After all, the composers and lyricists have names like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Country Joe McDonald, Joni Mitchell, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Pete Seegar and Grace Slick. And the songs include "Summer in the City,’ The Times They Are a-Changin’," "White Rabbit," "With a Little Help From My Friends," and "Turn, Turn, Turn." The principal characters, wearing headbands and funky hats, remain stubbornly superficial. But under the direction of Bruce Lumpkin, the cast of eight, playing multiple roles and accompanied by a fine six-member band, delivers plenty of musical pleasure.

Tales of Joni: The Storefront Sings Mitchell

Presented April 23 & 30

by BWW News Desk

The Storefront has announced plans for its second production of 2006. Tales of Joni: The Storefront Sings Mitchell will be presented on Sundays, April 23rd and 30th at 7pm at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre (61 Christopher St., in the heart of New Yorks West Village).

Tales of Joni follows on the success of We Miss Nancy: The Storefront Sings LaMott, which was presented in both 2005 and 2006. A stellar array of theatre and cabaret performers will present Mitchells work over the course of the two evenings. Included in the cast will be: Todd Almond, Lisa Asher, Bobby Belfry, Jeff Blumenkrantz (Broadways Urban Cowboy), Pamela Bob, Jarrod Cafaro (Naked Boys Singing), Nick Cearley, Brandon Cutrell, Sarajean Devenport, Baby Jane Dexter, Tim DiPasqua, Suzanne Fiore, Michael Holland, Karen Mack, Liz McCartney (Broadways Taboo), Brian Nash, Kate Pazakis, Ricky Ritzel, Gabrielle Stravelli and Rachel Ulanet. Tales of Joni will be produced and directed by Phil Geoffrey Bond, with Musical Direction by Ray Fellman.

"When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century. Uncompromising and iconoclastic, Mitchell confounded expectations at every turn; restlessly innovative, her music evolved from deeply personal folk stylings into pop, jazz, avant-garde and even world music, presaging the multicultural experimentation of the 1980s and 1990s by over a decade," state press notes.

Mitchell began her rise to acclaim as singer of folk-rock music beginning in the mid-sixties. In addition, she also found success writing songs for other singers--"Both Sides Now" was a hit for Judy Collins, "Eastern Rain" for Fairport Convention" and "The Circle Game" for Tom Rush. Earning a cult following, her 1969 sophomore effort, "Clouds," reached the Top 40, while 1970's "Ladies of the Canyon" sold even better on the strength of the single "Big Yellow Taxi." It also included her anthemic composition, "Woodstock," a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. She reached her apex of commercial and critical approval with her landmark 1971 record Blue. Stylistic experimentation would mark follow-up albums such as "For the Roses," "Court and Spark," "Miles of Aisles," "The Hissing of Summer Lawns," "Hejira" and "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter," among others.

Mitchell returned to pop territory for 1982's "Wild Things Run Fast," the first single, a cover of the Elvis Presley hit "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care," became her first chart single in eight years. Mitchell made a move into electronic sounds with 1988's "Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm," featuring guests Peter Gabriel, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty and Billy Idol. Albums since include "Night Ride Home," "Taming the Tiger" and "Both Sides Now." Mitchell has announced that 2002's "Travelogue" will be her last album, as she intended to retire. Fortunately, she later renounced those plans.

There is a $12 cover charge ($10 for members of MAC and Cabaret Hotline Online), as well as a two-drink minimum. Credit cards are accepted, and no one under 21 will be permitted. For reservations, please call 212.255.5438.

If you have any idea what this play is, or if you know of any other Joni mentions in other plays, please let us know.

"When All the Slaves Are Free: The Words and Music of Joni Mitchell finished a critically acclaimed and well-attended run at Ottawa's Great Canadian Theatre Company earlier this month. The revue was created and directed by Bryden Macdonald, who also wrote and directed similar productions based on the work of Leonard Cohen and Carole Pope. Backed by jazz piano, percussion and bass, singers Elizabeth Beeler, Susan Henley and Mary Kelly took audiences on a theatrical journey through Joni's three-plus decades of work, performing 13 of her songs including The Circle Game, Big Yellow Taxi, Both Sides Now , Passion Play (When All the Slaves Are Free), Cherokee Louise and Hejira. The show ran from September 12 until October 5, and was sold out nearly every night."

Great Canadian Theatre Company holdover announcement