My reputation is at stake
By Cleo Stevens Kamelhar July 4, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Theater
It Had to Be You
Mon–Sat, July 7–12, 8pm
Sun, July 13, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Reloj 50A

Neil Simon is funny. Mel Brooks is funny. Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna are at least as funny, so it’s hard to understand why they are not famous. The first thing they wrote, Lovers and Other Strangers, was nominated for a best screenplay Oscar. Acts of Love and Other Comedies was nominated for an Emmy. The play If You Ever Leave Me, I’m Going with You should have been nominated for a Tony, but 9/11 reduced attendance and forced the production to close. I would have awarded it, sight unseen, “Funniest Title.”

It’s all right that you don’t know them. I didn’t know them either, though I had their play, It Had to Be You, in my possession for almost 30 years. Setting up house in San Miguel 13 years ago, I came across the playbook. I was going to ignore it once again, for I’m the kind of snob who insists that theater subjects must be, at least, profound. I must have been in a sloppy state of mind, for I stopped working and went to the couch with that play.

Eight months later Murray and I did a reading of It Had to Be You, on a river ship going from St. Petersburg to Moscow, with some 90 fellow retirees from San Miguel. The response was awesome. They were desperate for laughter. They insisted we do it as a full production here. We did (with Don Connolly) to a full house, turning people away. We did it again the next summer. Again, sold-out. What I thought was, “a sloppy state of mind” is very good theater.

It Had to Be You was written for a man and woman in their thirties. The woman is desperate for a career and a man to love. The man sleeps around a lot and in meeting this eccentric woman discovers that, maybe, there are other things you can do with a woman besides...

The desperate woman holds the man hostage through the evening and night of one day. It is resolved amicably and unbelievably. Can you believe it?

One of their most successful collaborations, the play opened on Broadway in 1981 and traveled to every state in the union and still travels the world. It recently was a big hit in Greece.

Jim Newell, who played Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons last year and the equally talented Judy Newell will play the two major characters. Dick Avery, a new talent to San Miguel and music reviewer for Atención, completes the cast.

Reserved seating tickets are on sale in the Biblioteca patio, 11am–3pm, and at the theater, 3–7:30 pm.

Join us for Hot July Nights!
By Keith Wall

Theater
Hot July Nights
Tue–Fri, July 15–18
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
250/150 pesos

Jóvenes Adelante’s Jane Casa is producing four evening of groans, hilarity, music and old-fashioned vaudeville entertainment. Proceeds will help fund university scholarships for the organization’s 25 prospective recipients.

The fun begins with a heart-wrenching melodrama, “The Inventor’s Daughter,” in which a despicable landlord seeks the favors of an innocent daughter in exchange for overdue rent, but larceny overcomes lust when he discovers her father’s secret invention. With the assistance of a fraudulent “Patent Officer,” he tries to steal it, but finds that the improbably glamorous imposter has her own agenda. Not to give too much away, rest assured that in the end not only do the villains get their due but daughter and mother find riches and true love. Lauren Osornio is the guest director. The production stars Judith Turner as the daughter, Susie Beere as the mother, William Mendenhall as the villain, Susan “Gypsy” Neubeck as the villainess, David Stea as the banker and local discovery heartthrob Juan Vincourt as the young suitor.


Intermission on Tuesday’s opening night includes an appropriately corny (but good!) meal—chili, gorditas, beer and punch. Wednesday through Friday nights, beer, punch and pretzels will be served

The second half is a variety show of local talent including a surprise comedy performance by the Biblioteca’s own José Luis Mendoza and a comedy-magic routine by his son Leon Filipe and partner Rita Subirats. Other troupers are a belly dancer, guitar and accordion players, and a stand-up comedian. Talented Jóvenes Adelante students offer a hilarious pantomime, a dancing duo and a Mexican musical quartet. The curtain will open, Tuesday night only, to a rousing introductory number by Doris Rogers.

Opening night tickets, including dinner, are 250 pesos. Beer and pretzel nights, Wednesday through Friday, are 150 pesos. Tickets go on sale Saturday, July 5, at La Conexión and Casa de Papel. Tickets also will be available the following week in the Jardín, 11am–1pm.

Come and enjoy this very different kind of fundraiser, guaranteed to be high-energy and full of laughs and good cheer, all for a good cause. For more information, contact jovenesadelante@gmail.com.