February 8, 2008, Frankly my dear, it couldn’t be funnier!, By Christine Foster, The Love List romances San Miguel, By Jorge Luis Hernandez, Homage to the divas

Frankly my dear, it couldn’t be funnier!
By Christine Foster February 8, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Theater
Moonlight and Magnolias
Tues, Feb 19–Sat, Feb 23, 8pm
Sun, Feb 24, 4pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos

In February 1939, producer David O. Selznick was possibly the only man in Hollywood who believed Gone With the Wind could be a great film. But after six weeks of shooting even he was panicking. Director George Cukor’s footage was slow and “pansified” and Sydney Howard’s script was sounding downright limp.

So Selznick fired Cukor, shut down the set, and sent for two of Hollywood’s top guns. The first was rewrite genius Ben Hecht, and the second was director Victor Fleming, who was just finishing up The Wizard of Oz. In a stroke of brilliance, playwright Ron Hutchison has imagined what might have happened had Selznick then locked himself up in his office with these two unwilling collaborators for five days to completely rewrite GWTW, with nothing but brain nourishing bananas and peanuts for sustenance. The result is one of the fastest, funniest farces in years.

The madness begins with the discovery that Ben Hecht has never actually read the book. Well, he once read the first page and dismissed it as “moonlight and magnolias”—a second-rate, bodice-ripping soap opera. But even if he were motivated to give it another chance, there’s no time now. In desperation, Selznick and Fleming must act out the whole improbable plot while Hecht reluctantly conjures up dialogue and carps that “No Civil War movie ever made a dime.” It is as Selznick prods, threatens, cajoles and bullies his two prisoners into serving his monomaniacal vision that Moonlight and Magnolias reaches the heights of outrageous fun.

Playwright Ron Hutchinson (an Irishman whose dozen or more plays are better known on the other side of the pond) says this madcap satire was suggested by Hecht's memoir A Child of the Century. Hutchinson admits to condensing and re-imagining many elements (some say as many as 17 writers worked on the GWTW script), but has still managed to whip us up some magically authentic and hysterical Hollywood fare.

Director Lola Smith first gave us a glimpse of this wonderfully wacky piece when it was seen as an entry in Playreader’s last season. It left audiences begging for more. So now, by popular demand, it’s back, with the same dazzling and energetic cast: Michael Gottlieb plays Ben Hecht. Rudy Hornish appears as David O. Selznick, and Jim Newell is Victor Fleming, Nancy Kandal plays Miss Poppenguhl, Selznick’s long suffering secretarial assistant.

Come for the chaos, the clowning, and the wit, but don’t miss Moonlight and Magnolias opening at the Teatro Santa Ana on Tuesday, February 19. Shows are Tuesday through Saturday at 8pm and Sunday, February 24 at 4pm. The tickets are 150 pesos and all seats are reserved. Opening night with post-show reception including wine, coffee, and a selection of delicious desserts, 200 Pesos. Tickets are available in the Biblioteca patio 10:30am–1:30pm and the theater box office 4pm–8pm.

The Love List romances San Miguel
By Jorge Luis Hernandez

Theater
The Love List
Fri, Feb 8 thru Sat, Feb 23, 8pm
Wed, Sun matinees, 3pm
Villa Jacaranda
Aldama 53, 152-1015
200–400 pesos

Rehearsal shot from The Love List, with Robin Ward, Kirsten Dehner & Alan Jordan.

In their own words Marshall Dackert, Paola Juarez, Jill Gotlieb, Merle Howard

In Their Own Words (9/11).

Sex Lies 9 Sex, Lies & Quilting, Jill McClave and Goeff Hargreaves.

The first performance of The Love List has been a year-long journey by San Miguel’s Iguana Productions, which has already gained a reputation for offering quality, innovative and professional productions. The play brings Brenda Bazinet here from Canada to direct the Mexican premiere. Bazinet and Iguana director Alan Jordan have worked together as actors in prime-time miniseries as well as for the Actors Repertory Company. Robin Ward, a popular Canadian actor, who recently starred in The Love List, is also being brought to San Miguel. Together with Ward and Jordan, local actress Kirsten Dehner rounds out the cast.

The Love List is a brand new, hilarious adult romp by Norm Foster. What if you could create your perfect mate by writing down all the qualities you want in him or her? Be careful what you wish for! On Bill’s fiftieth birthday, his buddy Leon has bought him a humorous gift, a membership to a dating service run by an old gypsy woman who guarantees satisfaction, but won’t discuss her eccentric methods. She simply gives Leon a blank piece of parchment, “The Love List,” on which Bill is to write down the 10 qualities he wants most in a woman. Warning! Their argument over the 10 most desirable female qualities is alone worth the price of admission. You can expect a madcap ride when the blonde, Justine, arrives—and the list changes.

Norm Foster is Canada’s most produced playwright. About 100 theater companies in North America mounted productions of his plays last year. He has written 31 plays in the past 22 years and most have been popular comedies.

To answer the needs of tourists and the local theater-going audience, Iguana has added four matinees on Sundays and Wednesdays. Three Galas are offered on opening night, February 9, on Valentine’s Day, February 14 and a Norm Foster event on February 21. The Gala ticket offers a three-course gourmet dinner at Villa Jacaranda, a cocktail, the show, a champagne reception and hors d’oeuvres, with surprise entertainment after the performance with the cast.

Tickets for all performances are on sale at the Villa Jacaranda front desk. For information on The Love List and Iguana Productions, please see www.theatersanmiguel.com.

Jorge Luis Hernandez is president of Iguana Productions.

Homage to the divas

Theater
DIVAS
Mon–Thu, Feb 25–28, 7pm
Teatro Ángela Peralta
Mesones 82
250, 150, 100, 75 pesos

DIVAS pays homage to the ladies who became Broadway legends: Gertrude Lawrence, Mary Martin, Carol Channing, Barbara Cook, Gwen Verdon, Angela Lansbury, Julie Andrews and Ethel Merman. Audiences will relish the music in DIVAS, which is from some of the most famous Broadway shows.

Cast for this world premiere consists of some of the best actors, singers and dancers in San Miguel: Amy Chankin, Sharon Frantz, Clara Dunham, Martha Holmes, Judy Marzulli, Nancy Nugent, Peggy Powell and Michael Sudheer as the Narrator. Michael Whaley directs and Liz Stone is musical director, with choreography by Peggy Powell and Whaley, who conceived and wrote DIVAS.

Willowbend Productions will donate a portion of the proceeds to Casita Linda, the Mexican nonprofit organization that constructs simple, decent housing for the most disadvantaged families in the Municipality of San Miguel de Allende.

Tickets are 250 pesos for Box seats, 150 pesos for Orchestra seats, 100 pesos for Galeria and 75 pesos for Palcos. Tickets go on sale February 18 at the Peralta box office.