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Senior strategic plan information meeting held at City Hall

Teresa Penbrooke led the meeting as GreenPlay’s project manager.

by Richard Lieberman

A public information gathering, and engagement meeting was held recently at City Hall. The meeting conducted by GreenPlay, an organization specializing in parks, recreation and open space consulting has contracted with the city to create a strategic plan for providing senior services now and in the future.

Teresa Penbrooke, Phd, CRPE led the meeting as GreenPlay’s project manager along with Emily Fox Community Partnerships Manager for Ventura.

The meetings goals were to assess the key programs, facilities, and services for seniors in the city. Discussions centered on the senior services and programs related to the eight domains of quality of life identified by the World Health Organization and AARP.

Participants in the discussion focused on the City’s capacity for providing the senior services and recommendations for improvement, realistic short and medium-term goals and a 5-year action plan for Ventura seniors.

Public input is strongly desired and , if you were unable to attend the meeting there are additional ways to provide the desired input. You can fill out a senior needs assessment survey which is available on the city’s website. You can also get a hard copy of the Assessment Form at City Hall, Room 226, and the Ventura Avenue Adult Center, 550 N. Ventura Ave.

The public is also invited to contact the consultant directly, Teresa L. Pembroke CEO and Founder of GreenPlay can be reached by email [email protected].

The next meeting is scheduled for December 9 and 10th in the Public Meeting Room, second floor City Hall, 501 Poli St. A draft presentation will also be held at City Hall on January 27 & 28, 2020. Final adaption of the plan is scheduled for February, 2020.

The Ojai Film Festival celebrates twenty years

Sergio Aragones will present the newly christened Sergio Aragones Award.

Opening weekend features a throwback tribute to the days of big studios and contract players.

The Ojai Film Festival celebrates twenty years of bringing film to Ojai. This year the festival runs October 31 through November 10 and pays tribute to vintage Hollywood with Lifetime Achievement Awards honoring actors Pat Boone and Eva Marie Saint.

Opening weekend features a throwback tribute to the days of big studios and contract players. Pat Boone will attend the screening of his 1962 movie State Fair on Saturday November 2, at 7 pm, followed by a reception at 9 pm. On Sunday, November 3, at 4 pm, veteran director/producer Hawk Koch will screen his 1973 classic movie The Way We Were, starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, with a Q&A and signing for his new book following.

Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Eva Marie Saint will screen her Academy Award nominated 1959 film North by Northwest on Sunday, November 3, at 7 pm, followed by a reception in the Ojai Art Center Gallery.

Sunday morning’s Awards Brunch on November 3 at 10 am honors Lifetime Achievement recipients, and awards filmmakers of the top films screened at the festival, as well as best screenplay.

For the first time the festival added a Gold Coast Award for the winning local film to the program this year. Local Ojai artist and legendary Mad Magazine illustrator Sergio Aragones will present the newly christened Sergio Aragones Award for Best Animation.

After the brunch, professional actors perform a Live Table Read of the winning screenplay at 1 pm. This year’s winner is a quirky journey of discovery titled A Place Called Knock, written by Colleen Craig of Los Osos, CA. Actor-director Will Wallace will helm the live read.

“We added a screenplay competition to the festival in order to celebrate the very starting point of the creative process — the story,” said Bruce Novotny, Screenplay Competition chairman

The Gold Coast Film Series on November 4, 1 to 10 pm, features films and shorts from local filmmakers in the Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties.

Women in Film presents their Legacy Series on Saturday, November 9 at 4 pm, highlighting the career and legacy of women in film. This year they will present a retrospective on the career of the late, great, Penny Marshall.

The kickoff of the twentieth annual festival falls on Halloween this year, and will screen a sing-a- long version of Tim Burton’s cult classic The Nightmare Before Christmas.

A Halloween Fun Faire and Pre-Show dubbed “Carnivale!” precedes the movie.

Admission to the Faire is free and includes fun for all ages with face painting, pumpkin art, fortunetelling, and a wheel of fortune to win prizes and free tickets to the film festival.

A second free community screening offers The Red Turtle on Wednesday, November 6. https://ojaifilmfestival.com

Neurosurgeon offers new, cutting-edge spinal implant to treat chronic pain

Dr. Dorsi continues to advance the field of neurosurgery.

Millions of Americans experience chronic pain, which is a key reason so many people take medications and why addiction to painkillers and opioids is a major problem nationwide. Treatments include over the counter or prescription medications, injections and invasive spinal surgery, but many patients say these options don’t bring adequate long-term relief. Opioids are commonly used to manage chronic pain but can lead to abuse and addiction. Some choose to buy magic mushrooms online, and have success with this, but stocks can fluctuate due to growth seasons.

For some people, they go against using opioids and go for a more natural route, this can come in the form of herbal supplements, ingesting consumable oils/drinks, or using medical marijuana. There are varying types of marijuana that can be used from CBD to shatter, it all depends on the level of pain and the patient’s issues. Doctors can discuss this with their patients to see if they are eligible to be put on a course of marijuana until they are able to receive surgery on this level, to help stop chronic pain. Many are already able to Buy weed Canada online in some areas, after all.

Spinal cord stimulation implants as a treatment option have been greatly improved in recent years. The newest and most successful is the Nevro HF10, a spinal cord stimulation treatment that gives substantial relief for patients suffering from chronic back and leg pain without risking drug addiction. This advanced treatment is being adopted around the globe and is now available at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura with Dr. Michael Dorsi, a pioneering neurosurgeon who is among the first neurosurgeons to implant the HF10.

“HF10 offers new hope for people suffering with chronic pain,” Dr. Dorsi said.

Common candidates are those with chronic pain who previously had spinal surgery and didn’t get relief, people with back or leg pain that lacks a surgical fix, or people who can’t have back surgery due to other health conditions, Dr. Dorsi said. HF10 has been shown to treat back, leg, neck and arm pain as well as peripheral neuropathy. This, alongside some keyy vape products, can greatly improve the quality of life for the patients.

Unlike traditional spinal cord stimulation devices which deliver low-frequency electrical pulses to mask chronic pain (and which patients often say delivers annoying tingling or vibrating sensations), HF10 delivers pain relief by altering how pain in processed in the spinal cord without producing these sensations. HF10 does not require drugs or major surgery, just a minimally invasive procedure. An electric current from the device alters pain pathways and changes the way patients perceive pain.

Patients can try HF10 in a temporary trial, typically for 5-7 days, to see if it’s right for them. HF10 can be left on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The battery lasts about 10 years and then is easily replaced. HF10 isn’t addictive, doesn’t cloud thoughts, and doesn’t cause drowsiness or constipation like pain medications. Patients have no driving or sleep restrictions. HF10 is covered by Medicare and most private insurers.

Dr. Dorsi continues to advance the field of neurosurgery by developing and pioneering new surgical technologies and bringing them to Ventura County. A resident of Newbury Park, Dr. Dorsi received his medical degree and residency training from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore and completed minimally invasive spine fellowship training at UCLA. In medical school, Dr. Dorsi conducted neuropathic pain and stem cell research and was recognized with several national awards. Dr. Dorsi specializes in minimally invasive surgery to treat conditions of the spine, brain and peripheral nerves. He has been in practice in Ventura County for seven years and is accepting new patients in his offices in Ventura and Thousand Oaks.

October is National Community Planning Month

“Planning ensures that we’re envisioning and permitting the best for the future generations of Ventura.”

City of Ventura Planner Maruja Clensay lost her own home during the Thomas Fire. The tragic experience allowed her to relate to other Thomas Fire victims going through the planning process. She has been a planner for more than 13 years and is celebrated during National Community Planning Month.

What do you do from your job as a planner?

Planners are regulators and facilitators. We take someone’s vision and fit it into a box of code and regulations to reach the desired result. We’re balancing everything from code requirements, potential environmental or social concerns, state law, environmental regulations, and possible public improvements for the benefit of the community. Planning involves the balancing and managing of these different regulatory hurdles to project fruition and reach the desired milestone – whether it’s a single family wanting a new house or an addition for their aging mother or father, or a commercial business owner wanting to expand a profitable business. With such heavy regulatory language, we’re tasked with communicating these requirements in a common sense, regular language to the general public. Planners often say our language is “plannerese” because no one else really understands it (and there are so many acronyms!). Essentially, planners are the bridge that link the “pie in the sky” idea with physical development or other improvements on the ground.

What do you like about your job?

While all development projects involve physical changes, every project is different. Every project offers new challenges and unique approaches within the required regulatory setting. I like that. I don’t get stagnant. Every day is different in that sense. Planners are helpers. My focus in graduate school was community organizing; I really like working with the community and enabling them to utilize existing regulations to work for them, not against them. My motto is “it’s not ‘No, because..’, it’s “YES, if…” There IS a path forward – and let’s find it together. With that, one of the best things I like about planning is Public Workshops – I love that level of engagement. Informal discussions are had, rough sketches are made, ideas are shared, concerns are vetted and addressed in a transparent process. The local community is the best resource in determining how to move forward with future evolutions of code and regulations; they are the city. As project managers, Planning collaborates with various City Departments and outside agencies; Public works, Parks, Ventura Water, Building and safety, County of Ventura, etc. It’s a team effort – citywide (and even County wide!). In the end, what we do is for the benefit of the city; and that’s a really cool thing.

How does Planning make a difference for our city

While it may seem arduous and can be difficult to get through, Planning ensures that we’re envisioning and permitting the best for the future generations of Ventura. Planning is the Gatekeeper – along with other City Departments, planning is tasked to look at everything; to make sure we have proper infrastructure in place; that we have sidewalks that meet accessibility requirements; that we engage with the public when they call us with concerns about a project coming online in their neighborhood. Planning helps realize the future as envisioned by the Community via our General Plan in a sound, regulated format. Many regulations that are in place are because of a prior vision, because of a prior idea, because someone at a public workshop said, “I want to do this. I think this should happen in our city.” As such, Planning facilitates projects through the regulatory environment as previously determined by past Councils, the state, and the public. Planning brings something that’s lasting in our community; and that feels good.

Seaside Highland Games at Ventura Fairgrounds Oct. 12-13

Dance to the music at the Highland Games.

Highland Festival must have a good representation of Scottish Clans and Societies

The Seaside Highland Games, Ventura’s very own Scottish/Celtic Festival, will return to their home on California’s Central Coast October 12 & 13. The Ventura County Fairgrounds is the ideal spot for this many-faceted Festival. Every Games activity from bagpipe bands to sheepdog demos is within easy access of the Fairgrounds’ Main Street—our “Clan Row.”

Beginning in 2002, the Organizers have held that a proper Highland Festival must have as its backbone a good representation of Scottish Clans and Societies. True to this day, you will find over seventy (70) such Societies ready and able to discuss their wee foothold on the true Scottish soil. And to welcome you as either a newcomer or old friend—or direct you to someone best able to help you trace your family lineage.

Perhaps you just came for the music. Well, do not dismay my friend. We are so pleased to offer a fine array of artists starting with the internationally renowned “Seven Nations” making a rare West Coast appearance and the always fine music of Sligo Rags–taking a break from Disneyland appearances. Highland Way lead artists Paul Castellanos and Brian Caldwell will keep your toes tapping as will newcomers Cockswain and fine tunes from Nerea, the Fiddler. All for the price of your admission ticket!

Dancing has always been a huge part of Seaside’s stage presentations from youthful Scottish Highland Dance to the more mature Scottish Country Dance (and, yes, you can most certainly join in)! And did I mention the lively Ventucky Cloggers who will amaze you with their rapid-fire heel and toe moves?!

But no Festival is complete without the amazing Scottish Heavy Athletes. Look to Morgan Arena for these talented fellas and gals tossing, throwing, heaving impossibly heavy implements to new height and distance records! And, yes, the long pole-like cabers are there to be turned as well. That event, like the stage shows, continues nonstop throughout the weekend.

If you can’t do without bagpipes—and which of us can—you are in the right place! Plan your weekend to arrive at Saturday’s Noon Grand Parade and Opening Ceremonies which will dazzle your eyes, ears and cellphone cameras!!

If you don’t have your very own kilt or tartan garb, look no further than the many high-quality vendors to find exactly what you need. And while there, why not sample some delicious Welsh Cakes or the wonderful Scottish meat pies or fish & chips and so much more…perhaps a Scottish Cerveza??!!

Many of these young folks will be competing for prize money and honors in dance, piping & drumming and athletics. Be there to cheer them on as we grant them well-earned prizes!

Classes in genealogy, Gaelic speaking, Scottish history and Scotch! So much to be learnt!

Friday night before the big weekend is a lively evening you are welcome to enjoy including a great Single Malt Tasting followed by a fine buffet supper and Scottish Fashion Show! These events—A Scottish Evening—kick off the weekend at the beautiful Four Points Sheraton and are not to be missed!

Fun in the Sun at the 34th Annual C Street Classic Surf Contest

Melina Seider is all smiles after competing in her heat.

by Amy Brown

Ventura is known for its beautiful beaches, its active lifestyle, and its sense of community. These attributes were wonderfully combined in the recent 34th Annual C Street Classic surf contest. The weather was perfect, the waves were good, and 146 competitors participated in 15 different divisions, for both bragging rights and prizes. It was all for a great cause, as approximately $5,000 was raised in the event, and will be donated to local surf, marine and environmental non-profit organizations.

The contest has become the longest running officially organized longboard contest in the country, according to the Ventura Surf Club, host of the event. Andy Sassen has been a member of the Ventura Surf Club for 11 years and has served as its President for nine. “The contest is a fun way to raise money for local ocean related charities. I’ve been doing it for a lot of years and never even surfed it. It‘s great just volunteering at a nice day at the beach, and watching really good surfers,” said Sassen, who shared that, of course, the contest can be greatly influenced by the quality of the surf conditions. “We’re at the mercy of Mother Nature, but we do the best we can. The contest was great success, the waves and weather cooperated, and the best part was all the smiles!”

The competition began at 6:30 am and went through the late afternoon, and included a wide range of ages, with divisions aligned with the standard gender and age groups of the Coalition of Surfing Clubs, according to Bruce Douglass, a founding member of the Ventura Surf Club, and the announcer for the event. Melina Seider, an 11-year-old, competed in the shortboard finals for girls ages 15 and under. The event was her first official surf contest, although she started participating in the sport at the tender age of three, riding on the front of her dad’s board. “I was pretty excited to paddle out today, although I was almost more nervous about the rocks than the competition,” she shared. Her parents and brother were in the audience, cheering her on. “I could hear my parents, telling me to go out further if there was a set coming in, and that helped, too.”

Ming Hui Brown has been surfing since she was 9 years old, and, like Seider, started competing at age 11. The C Street Classic was one of the events that started her competitive surfing career. She now competes in women’s longboard divisions (ages 18-35), and placed first in her division for the third year in a row at the C Street Classic. She also served as a judge for the other divisions at the event. The competition featured 15-minute heats, with each surfer allowed a total of six waves judged—on style, wave selection, length of ride and controlled functional maneuvers. To keep things safer, the event had “Predator Patrols” out on jet skis beyond the break, to be on the lookout for any aquatic animal friends that might interfere with the competition going as smoothly as possible.

“It is an honor to be able to judge my peers in the surfing community, and seeing them perform is extremely entertaining,” said Brown. “Having to judge multiple surfers on different waves and in different areas is another challenging part of judging a surf competition. Having fluidity and grace when transitioning through tricks on a wave is an important aspect I keep in mind when judging.”

Any relevant non-profits interested in being considered for a grant from the Ventura Surf Club’s funds raised by the event can contact the club at [email protected].

Balboa Middle School launches new composting program

With support from Ventura Unified School District and the Green Schools Program, Balboa Middle School is launching a new composting program using fruit and vegetable scraps collected from the cafeteria and from student lunches. Students from Mr. Roth’s Horticulture class will help manage the program and feed scraps to the worms located in the school garden.

Local elementary schools already divert over 150 tons of food waste from the landfill each year with the Green Schools’ Lunchtime Recycling Program.

Vol. 13, No. 1 – Oct 9 – Oct 22, 2019 – Mailbox

Breeze:

My Opinion on gas prices and taxes is that we are getting screwed…again, and the roads are not getting any better. Folks should pay better attention during midterm elections and not bow down to the promise of road and highway fixes and hope for the best, the last gas tax vote was a huge sham and now we as voters don’t have any recourse, they can now raise the price anytime they want without any say or vote from the consumer. Never mind the refineries. which we have the most of many states. Anytime one has an incident whether in our state or not gas prices go up, troubles in the mideast or just the hint of it sends the price soaring high yet we are the largest exporter? This stupidity is our reality……my opinion of the day.

John Murchison

Editor;

As I stagger through the twilight years of my life, one of my few remaining pleasures was the cornmeal hotcake available exclusively through the Vagabond Coffee Shop here in Ventura. Imagine my shock and horror when I found out they were closing! “Fear not, grumpy old dude,” I was told. “They’ll be back in no time and better than ever.”

Ten months later and…nothing.

As Ventura’s only actual and true local newspaper, I expect the Breeze to get to the bottom of this travesty.

Hungrily,
Alfred J. Lewis

Alfred: Hey, you work for the Breeze you go find out why and inform our readers.
Editor Sheldon

Dear Editor:

How much more direct evidence do we need to accept the facts?

Trump thinks the miscounting of votes, and interference of a foreign power, into our last election, giving him the presidency by mistake, means that he, Trump, has been awarded the United States of America as a gift. One, he can run, and rule, to please himself, and contribute to the wealth, and welfare, of his immediate family.

 It’s like Putin owning Russia. It’s like Saudi Arabia having a house of royalty. Trump counted the votes and decided he had won the lottery. The ownership of the United States.

If other dictators can own countries, then he, Trump, being the best dictator of all, should have control of the U.S. of A.

I’m convinced he believes all this. He is royalty. He is a dictator. He need ask no one, for permission to do anything he wants to do, and no one can challenge his authority.

And his sycophantic followers are letting him get away with all this malarkey.

When does this country wake up and say “enough?” When do we stop letting this nightmare rule the country?

When do we revive our Constitution, and make it work like the founders wrote it?  When do we put down this bratty temper tantrum, and send him to bed without the pacifier he thinks belongs to him.

When?

Es Cole
Ventura, Ca.

The demise of language and manners

Over the last decade or so, there has been a noticeable decline in the use of the English language. It seems that we, as a whole, have gotten lazier, using more slang than appropriate words, and much more language that should not be used in public.

Recently I was at a local restaurant for a quick meal. In the booth between me and a family with two children were two late-teen young men. Throughout the meal their discussion was peppered with impolite language. Not one sentence was uttered that did not contain the F-word or S-word, or both. So unnecessary.

Across the restaurant was a group of six young people who were so loud they were a public nuisance. Half of them were carrying on conversations on their phones in addition, raising their voices to be heard. Not a relaxing meal. I am all for people enjoying each other’s company, but when behavior impacts the entire restaurant, it is simply rude and uncalled for. Everyone deserves the right to enjoy their meal, not just a few.

Maybe it’s just me, but I believe telephone conversations should be in private, not public. Pay attention to those around you and act appropriately. Say please and thank you. Leave the colorful language at home. We all have our issues. We don’t need to add yours.

Whatever happened to polite manners and appropriate language? Apparently, these skills aren’t being made a focus of early learning. Why do we have to accept the sheer laziness and rudeness of others? Don’t they realize it makes them look uneducated and trashy? As much as I fear our present course as a country, I fear our future more, knowing that these young people will someday be our leaders.

Shirley Lorraine
Shirley: Like our President saying B- – -S- – -?

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
~ Alan Wilson Watts

Joshua Bell and “The Huberman Violin”

Experience Joshua Bell playing his glorious Huberman Violin. Photo by Phillip Knott

Joshua Bell’s violin is believed to be one of very few made in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Italy. While it has belonged to many, its connection to Bronislaw Huberman is what Bell finds fascinating. Huberman was a Jewish Polish violinist who lived from 1882-1947: a child prodigy who by 11 was already touring Europe as a virtuoso. At 13, he performed Brahms violin concerto in the presence of the composer himself. According to Brahms’ biographer: “As soon as Brahms heard the Andante, he wiped his eyes, and after the Finale he went into the green room, embraced the young violinist and stroked his cheeks. When Huberman complained that the public applauded after the cadenza, breaking into the lovely Cantilena, Brahms replied, “You should not have played the cadenza so beautifully.”

Huberman became one of the most celebrated musicians of his time and in 1929 began an effort that would add “humanitarian” to his accomplishments. He dreamed of forming a Palestinian Orchestra and began auditioning Jewish musicians throughout Europe, with those selected receiving contracts and impossible-to-get exit visas. To raise money for this new orchestra, Huberman partnered with Albert Einstein on a U.S. fundraising tour featuring Huberman and sixty top-rate players.

Though a great success financially, Huberman suffered a major setback in 1936 when his beloved Stradivarius was stolen from Carnegie Hall. While the heartbroken Huberman would never see his Strad again, his Palestine Orchestra debuted in December 1936 with the legendary Toscanini conducting. Of this special evening, Joshua Bell writes: “I like to imagine my own relatives might have been in the audience, as my grandfather was born there and my great grandfather was part of the first ‘Aliyah’ of Russian Jewish immigrants to Palestine in 1882.”

As to the stolen violin, it was in the hands of young violinist Julian Altman for over fifty years until he made a deathbed confession to his wife in 1985 and she eventually returned it to Lloyd’s of London.

Fast forward to 2001. The Huberman Violin is in the hands of the preeminent London business

J & A Beare Ltd when Joshua Bell enters to buy strings. They place the Stradivarius in his hands where it has pretty much stayed ever since. “ I fell in love with it,” he says, “and when I perform with the Israel Philharmonic, I think how many of the orchestra and audience members are direct descendants of the musicians Huberman saved from the Holocaust – with funds raised by concerts performed on the very same instrument I play every day.”

The Ventura Music Festival and New West Symphony invite you to experience Joshua Bell playing his glorious Huberman Violin on Sunday, November 3rd, 3pm in the Oxnard Performing Arts Center. Ticket prices $30 to $96. A VIP ticket option at $225 features premium seating along with a meet and greet with Mr. Bell, and catered dinner. Tickets online: NewWestSymphony.org/Joshua-bell – or call the NWS box office at 866-776-8400.

Vol. 13, No. 1 – Oct 9 – Oct 22, 2019 – A View from House Seats

by Shirley Lorraine

Ruddigore Right for the Season

Apropos for the month of October, the Ventura County Gilbert & Sullivan Repertoire Company brings a production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operetta, Ruddigore, or The Witche’s Curse to the stage at the Hillcrest Center for the Arts in Thousand Oaks through October 20.

Generations of titled gentlemen, a long-standing family curse, ghosts, mad woman and eerie goings-on, the fast-paced actions give many opportunities for the actors to overact with studied sincerity.

The VCGCRC has offered all the famous pair’s works over the past decade plus and they are always a delight to behold. Under the expert tutelage of the dynamic duo of John and Rebecca Pillsbury, singers and actors take on the vocal challenges provided by the operettas.

As in all G&S’ works, the plot is highly stylized, great fun is made of many stereotypes, and all comes out well in the end, usually in unexpected ways.

The rich Murgatroyd family have been cursed by a witch whereby the current heir must commit a crime a day or endure a death by torture. A legion of ancestors have all befallen the same fate. The eldest son, Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, decides to fake his death and reinvent himself as a peasant, leaving his unfortunate brother, Sir Despard, to carry the curse.
Sir Ruthven, now known as Robin Oakapple, falls in love with a lovely maiden, Rose Maybud, but cannot reveal his true identity. With a cadre of professional bridesmaids ever at the ready for some nuptials, Rosebud turns to her trusty etiquette book for advice.

Meanwhile, Robin engages the services of his foster brother recently back from maritime service, to approach the fair maiden on his behalf. The two fall instantly and madly in love.
Misunderstandings prevail and a wedding is planned. Sir Despard is apprised that his brother lives, and Sir Ruthven must once again assume the role of the cursed Murgatroyd. Despard is then free to marry his long-time love, Mad Margaret.

Much haunting ensues when ancestors come to life from portraits on the wall in the second act. The ghosts help resolve the family’s plight and in the end all is well. And there is more to the plot to complicate, delight and confuse.

The lead role of Sir Ruthven is ably carried by company regular Gary Saxer, who has perfected the art of rapid-fire vocal patter required in a G&S production. A trio of Saxer, Emma Hall as Mad Margaret and Mark Goldstein as Despard is a highlight of the second act. Laura Barrows handles the role of the sweet Rose with a beautiful voice. Perhaps because of the vocal range, I found the men’s singing easier to understand throughout while still enjoying the purity of the women’s voices. Perusing the general plotline beforehand is highly recommended as there are continual twists and turns to follow.

A fine setting and outstanding musical accompaniment set this show apart. Do yourself a favor and go enjoy this delightfully different production.

Ruddigore, Theatre on the Hill, Hillcrest Center for the Arts, 403 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. (805) 381-1246, www.hillcrestarts.com. Tickets are $25 adults, $19 children/students/seniors. Friday and Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m.