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| The Ensemble Photo by Jenny Graham |
Open Fist in Atwater is full of surprises, not the least of which is this sparkly Broadway Musical: Starmites! It's a 35 year old sort of high school show with broad characters and some sort of a message that is basically, good overcoming evil and all shall be well.
The audience loved it on opening night.
Scott Peterman directs (and designed the expensive and impressive and workable set housing live musicians and glorious projections that keep the ball in the air.) The energy for the good guys (The Starmites!) and the bad girls with dangerous hair and jungle talons (The Banshees) has an air of effort that I think the director may intend. We all know that this is a pretty good show with a pretty good score and some cute numbers. Clearly cut good guys and bad girls are sort of tongue in cheek and the audience is in on the joke.
Eleanor (Talia Gloster who also plays Bizarbara and Milady) is addicted to grahic novels: comic books. Her mom Cat Davis (wicked also as Diva, the powerful witch), is fed up with Eleanor's apparent obsession and puts her library collection up on EBay! There's a bidding war! Eleanor should be doing more with her life. Because of an SOS sent out from Innerspace by the Starmites, Eleanor is drawn to this Other World as a Super Hero to aid the Starmites in their quest to defeat the Shak Graa (the resident villain and, darn it whom we don't know plays the part!) to seek out the The Cruelty (a powerful floating guitar) and all shall be well. It's almost classic Joseph Campbell, heavy on the Camp.
There's a lot of exposition in the musical numbers. We meet the mostly lizardly Gollum, Trinkulus (Brendan Mulally), who signs on to guide the gang into a dark scary forest that I forgot the name of to find The Cruelty. Trink's headgear was an issue but no one seemed to mind.
Thanks to music director Jan Roper on keyboards in front of huge projection screens that delineate the settings, the live music carries the day.
Lines like the Banshees singing, "We're workin' up our juices for your tender young cabooses! " and the broad presentational aspect set the tone for some Broadway fun.
Cast of Characters
Eleanor/Bizarbara...Talia Gloster
Mother/Diva ...Cat Davis*
Space Punk ...Bradley Sharper
S’up S’up Sensaboi ...Alex Hogy
Ack Ack Hackerax ...Rieves Bowers
Diggety Razzledazzle ...Jasper Wong
Trinkulus ...Brendan Mulally
Shotzi ...Sophie Oda*
Balbraka ...Lindsey Moore Ford
Canibelle ...Elle Engelman
Hollaback ... Sarah Martellaro
Banshee Swing ... Emily Rafala
Shak Graa ... ???
Droids ...Jack David Sharpe
The Band
Keys ... Jan Roper
Drums / percussion ... Andrew Crawford
STARMITES
• Music and Lyrics by Barry Keating
• Book by Stuart Ross and Barry Keating
• Directed by Scott Peterman
• Music Direction by Jan Roper
• Choreography by Becca Sweitzer
• Fight Choreography by Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum
3269 Casitas Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039
• FREE parking in the ATX (Atwater Crossing) lot one block south of the theater.
Performances: June 2–July 8
• Thursday at 8 p.m.: June 1 (preview)
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: June 2 (opening); June 9; June 16; June 23; June 30; July 7
• Saturdays at 3 p.m.: June 3 and June 24
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: May 27 (preview); June 10; June 17; July 1; July 8 (no evening performance on June 3 or June 24)
• Sundays at 3 p.m.: May 28 (preview); June 18; June 25; July 2 (no matinee on June 4 or June 11)
• Sundays at 7 p.m.: June 4 (Gala Performance with pre-show reception at 6 p.m.) and June 11
• FREE parking in the ATX (Atwater Crossing) lot one block south of the theater.
TICKET PRICES:
- All performances except Sunday, June 4 and previews:
- General Admission: $35
- Seniors: $30
- Students/Children: $25
- Family Pack (2 adults and 2 children): $100
- Opening Weekend Gala Performance (Sunday, June 4): $50 (includes pre-show reception)
- Previews: Pay-What-You-Want (minimum $10)
www.openfist.org
(323) 882-6912
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