by Shirley Lorraine

Santa Paula Lets it Rip!

Santa Paula Theater Center has opened its 2024 season of all comedies with Ripcord by David Lindsay-Abaire. Directed by Taylor Kasch, the play takes place in Bristol Place, a senior living facility. If you have had any contact with people in such a setting, you will immediately see the humor and the pathos in familiar situations.

Abby (Cynthia Killion) has been living at the facility for some time and is quite set in her ways and preferences. For reasons that later become apparent, she has trouble making peace with having to have a roommate. Marilyn (Sindy McKay) is the newest assignee to the second bed in Abby’s domain. Abby’s grumpy, pessimistic nature clashes with Marilyn’s continually sunshine-esque countenance. The two are as different as oil and water.

Scott Blanchard plays the role of Scotty, the incredibly patient attendant, who tries to placate the two women, and still maintain facility standards.

The ladies eventually agree to disagree and make a bet of sorts. Marilyn attempts to get a smile out of Abby to “win” the right to stay in the room and move into the bed by the window. At the same time, Abby asserts that she can make Marilyn lose her cool, thus maintaining her coveted view and possibly gaining the room all to herself. It is a battle of wits and actions as the two try their best to force each other to concede. They both go to extraordinary lengths to gain the upper hand, to the utter exasperation of Scotty and others.

Ron Feltner and Karen Denny embody the roles of Derek and Colleen, Marilyn’s son-in-law and daughter, who assist in some of the shenanigans until they have just had enough and beg them to call a truce. Brooks Hope makes an appearance as Abby’s estranged son, adding another insight into her deeply rooted downer demeanor.

The play certainly has many moments of humor as the two ladies grapple with much more than the often-frustrating challenges of aging. There are also sentimental moments and realities of facility living that cause one to evaluate one’s own outlook.

The SPTC cast is a solid blend of talent and proficiency. However, I couldn’t help wondering if perhaps the material might be more humorous to persons with no personal contact with facility living. Because some of the irritations and complaints are all too real (personal experience with facility settings), I found it challenging to sympathize with both leading characters at times. Abby seemed to be not just grumpy, but mean, which did not win her any empathy points. The relentless positivity of McKay’s Marilyn was wearing as well.

There are countless areas of daily humor when dealing with foibles of the elderly. They can be inadvertently funny in mundane situations. Apparently, the author felt being outrageous in how the two ladies try to one-up each other would be funnier. I agree to disagree, and all bets are off.

Ripcord continues Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through March 3, 2024. www.santapaulatheatercenter.org

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
The Holdovers – Peacock & Rent or Buy

The Holdovers is set in winter 1970 at Barton Academy, an exclusive all-boys boarding school in New England where classics professor Paul Hunham (Palu Giamatti) was saddled with the responsibility of looking after the few students that have nowhere to go during the Christmas break. Originally Hunham thought he would be there with the school’s cafeteria manager and four boys, but as Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) waited on the steps with his bags packed ready to go he received a call from his mother that she and her new husband were taking their overdue honeymoon during the holidays and that he would have to remain at school during the break.

The other four boys didn’t know each other and were from various ages and backgrounds, but included Teddy Kountze (Brady Hepner), Angus’s enemy that he had just belittled about being left behind before finding himself in the same situation. Though the boys all thought they would be having a kick-back vacation, Hunham had other plans including regularly studying and exercising as if school was still in session. Also staying for the break was cafeteria manager Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) who recently lost her son Curtis who attended Barton and joined the military to pay for college, but was killed in the Vietnam War.

Hunham’s general attitude was that the students at Barton were very spoiled and entitled, and felt it was his responsibility to not only educate them, but to help shape their moral character to help them grow up to be men of worth in the world. Due to the fact that many of the boys came from rich families with few boundaries, this was a huge task Hunham sought to accomplish through a strict attitude, causing him to not be liked by basically everyone in the school. Though Angus did well with his grades in Hunham’s class, he was constantly trying Hunham’s will and patience and this bad attitude only grew now that Angus unexpectedly had to spend the break with Hunham.

After six days, the father of one of the boys arrived in his private helicopter, inviting the other four boys to join them on a ski trip for the break. Hunham contacted the headmaster for authorization and then contacted the parents for permission, but unfortunately he was unable to reach Angus’ parents. This left just Hunham, Mary and Angus at the school until after the new year which made Angus even more angry and rebellious. During an act of defiance, Angus injured his shoulder in the gym, requiring Hunham to take him to the hospital. Hunham was concerned for his job, but to his surprise Angus covered for him and they kept the situation just between the two “Barton men”.

Hunham had a heart-felt moment at their shared Christmas dinner and offered to do whatever he could to make Angus’ or Mary’s holiday break better. Angus asked to go to Boston and Hunham initially said no, but eventually agreed after clearing it as a field trip with the headmaster. Angus had always told everyone his father died, but he was actually in a mental hospital in Boston, which unknown to Hunham was the true reason for his request. They traveled to Boston and went to a theater where Angus tried to sneak out during the movie, but when Hunham caught him and discovered the truth, he agreed to go with Angus to visit his father. Neither knew what major future implications this would create, putting their credo of “Barton men” to the test again.

The perfectly timed, clever, comedic dialog between the main characters keeps viewers laughing throughout the film, while also at other times brilliantly lightens the burden of some difficult scenarios. The film has won two awards for Supporting Actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph at the Golden Globe and British Academy Film Awards. For the 96th Academy Awards, “The Holdovers” received five nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

Runtime: 2h 13m

by Shirley Lorraine

Meteor Shower Rains Existential Mischief

Now in its 85th year of entertaining audiences, the Ojai Art Center Theater presents its 2024 season “Doorways to Dramatic Worlds” which promises to be stirring.

The Ojai Arts Center Theater is currently presenting an unusual, mind-bending piece of theater. Written by the multi-talented Steve Martin, gifted author, writer, actor and musician, the OACT has staged Meteor Shower, an extended one-act play cleverly directed by Brian Robert Harris.

Set in our lovely town of Ojai in 1993, the audience is invited to ponder some rather esoteric musings of a new-age couple who are trying hard to be “hip” yet who are actually wallowing in their own mediocrity. The piece is classic Martin, who is prone to philosophical questions that neither ask for nor require answers and who challenges the audience’s intellect and ideals without apology.

I thoroughly enjoyed the no-holds barred performances of all four actors – Evan Austin, Kimberly Demmary, Anna Kotula and John Medeiros. The cast was primed and ready for the adventure, each playing their characters with abandon. They are captivating to watch as they grapple with the many quirks in the telling of the story.

A charming split set design by Bianca Rice is complete with its own dazzling meteor shower, which, along with the artistic and functional living room, makes one feel comfortable and peaceful right away. The essence of Ojai is palpable in the serene setting. There are also a few surprising and effective special effects.

Myriad opportunities for laughter as well as philosophical references present themselves, along with the couple’s repeated attempts to “be emotionally connected” via affirmations. Ultimately, the play uses the allegory of the meteor shower raining down as insight into the couple’s inner emotional turmoil. However, the story is, in my opinion, bogged down by repetition of absurdities (really funny the first time, less so as the action continues) in a “let’s rewind and try a different outcome” mode which I found challenging to follow.

The extended skit is well acted and staged although the play itself was not satisfying to me. As in many of Martin’s New Yorker essays and other literary works, the premise began to fray with the repetition, settling for an abrupt “aha” revelation in the last moments which I believe was meant to explain the previous work.

The material does cover a wide range of sensitive adult areas which may be uncomfortable for some, including language that seems to be required these days to drive a point home. Be prepared to expand your mind to embrace whatever comes. The piece will certainly be a conversation starter for many.

Parking is limited and the street is quite dark in the evenings so early arrival and flashlights are recommended.

Meteor Shower runs through February 18 with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. www.OjaiArtCenter.org. Not recommended for children.

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Dumb Money – Netflix

“Dumb Money” is based on a true story when millions of small investors led by a regular guy named Keith Gill (Paul Dano) took on Wall Street hedge funds by backing GameStop when hedge fund Melvin Capital Management was investing big that it would fail. Keith Gill also went by “Deep F*@k!ng Value” on Reddit in the Wall Street Bets (WSB) forum where he posted his daily balance sheets and also produced videos on YouTube as “Roaring Kitty” explaining his financial strategies.

In July 2020, Keith Gill invested $53,000 in GME (GameStop) at $4/share believing that the company was being shorted by Wall Street hedge funds to purposefully deflate the price until the company was destroyed. He shared this information on WSB and his Roaring Kitty YouTube channel, where he always wore a cat shirt and frequently a bright red bandana. Word spread about Roaring Kitty and GME, and thousands of everyday people started buying GME.

By September 2020, GME more than doubled to $10/share and kept rising due to a growing number of retail investors, who were referred to as “Dumb Money” by Wall Street professionals. Then Melvin Capital owner Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogin) shorted another 600,000 shares in GME, triggering a battle where Roar Kitty told his followers to hold, saying the situation was bigger than any personal gains – that it was their chance to rise up together and stick it to the Big Man.

WSB and GME hit the headlines, calling WSB a revolution and causing GME stock to rise to $25/share by December. Much of the trading was processed through the Robinhood app, which offered free trades with no commissions and gained 5 million users during the rise of GME. Robinhood was run by Co-CEOs Baiju Bhatt (Rushi Kota) and Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan) and though not made public information, was owned by Citadel Securities, a division of Citadel Corp owned by Wall Street tycoon and hedge fund mogul Ken Griffin (Ken Offerman).

By January 2021, GME soared to $100/share and Gabe Plotkin – Melvin Capital was losing billions daily and was actually considered bankrupt. GME rose to $150/share and after losing $6.8 billion, Melvin Capital received a $3 billion dollar bailout primarily from fellow investor Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio), CEO of hedge fund Point72, with a portion from Ken Griffin of Citadel. Keith Gill (Roaring Kitty) was up $23 million on GME but still wasn’t selling and told his followers to hold. An estimated eight million small investors all held and GME soared to $350/share.

Then WSB was shut down by Reddit for what they said was inappropriate content, and Keith Gill got a call from his boss at MassMutual and was let go from his job as a financial analyst due to all the media attention. When WSB was shut down and the small buyers didn’t have access to the Roaring Kitty balance sheet, many panicked and sold. When the stock got close to over $500/share a lot of people decided to sell and Robinhood shut down the buy option for stock on their app, though saying it was a technical issue it seemed to be to slow the buying frenzy.

The scare caused the stock to drop, but after WSB was back online and everybody saw that Roaring Kitty still held even though he was down to $17 billion, many small investors sparked an investment frenzy causing the stocks to go skyrocketing again. That’s when Roaring Kitty, Robinhood and Citadel received Congressional subpoenas regarding their involvement in market volatility which put a national spotlight on the institutional practices by Wall Street firms and demonstrated the enormous potential power of social media in the markets.

Runtime: 1h 45m

by Shirley Lorraine

Elite Spotlights Hidden History
Now playing on the main stage at the Elite Theater in Oxnard, is a new work well worth catching. Inspired by real events, the story offers a unique opportunity to explore motivations and methods to achieve societal change.

There is always more to any story – details clouded by the biases of those telling their side, information omitted from news reports, speculations that grow into pseudo-facts, and more. These concepts and others are investigated in a “suppositional” telling of the story of Mother Jones, an outspoken leader and first female organizer of the United Mine Workers Union.

The drama, written by Roger Holzberg and adapted for the Elite stage by Holzberg and director Angela Decicco, invites the audience to participate in pondering the outcome of a fictional trial.

Mary “Mother” Harris Jones (Lynn Van Emmerik), is brought before the venerable Clarence Darrow (Bill Walthall) and U.M.W. President John Mitchell (Don McGreevy) to explain and justify actions taken in 1914’s Colorado Coalfield War labor dispute in which the uprising for miner’s rights resulted in thousands of deaths.

Jones, at age 77, fought long and hard for coal miner’s rights – to be paid in U.S. dollars, to limit the extent of their workday to eight hours, and to “lifting the chains of industrial slavery” among other worthy pursuits. Jones was a champion of women’s rights to work outside the home for equal pay, access to health care and more. Sound familiar? It should, because this “war” is still being fought.

Accented by historical slides, subtle character changes to spotlight vignettes and a minimal, yet effective setting, the telling brings up questions relevant even today and asks the audience to judge actions taken. Valid points are brought up by each side. Based on information presented, was Mother Jones justified in asking workers to sacrifice themselves and their families for the cause?

Lynn Van Emmerick presents a persona of Mother Jones that is formidable and strong. She is imbued with an inner fire of conviction that, to her, justifies her retaliatory actions. Despite this passion, might she also be at fault in the eyes of the law?

Walthall and McGreevy, along with Logan Chase and Hana Moon, all present well portrayed characterizations to accentuate points presented in this fictional trial.

The piece is deeply researched and presents many openings for digging deeper to find answers. Mostly lost to history, the incident as spotlighted allows the audience an opportunity to use the context to examine similar actions in current issues.

Opening night held an additional bonus – a talk-back with the author following the presentation, giving audience members a forum to ask questions, express views and offer suggestions. Holzberg will be conducting another talk back at the Thursday performance and possibly a few others. Contact the theatre directly for additional dates.

The Trial of Mother Jones continues Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. with an 8 p.m. performance on Thursday, February 15. www.theElite.org, 805-483-5118.

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
True Detective: Night Country – MAX

“Night Country” is set in Ennis, Alaska,150 miles north of the Arctic Circle in mid December when they see the last sunset of the year. Local Police Chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) presided over the small town comprised of Alaskan natives and those who relocated to work in the town’s mine. The TSALAL arctic research station located just outside of town housed 8 scientists from around the globe investigating the scientific origins of life primarily through drilled ice cores.

The TSALAL scientific team was going about their usual daily activities when Clark appeared to have a mild seizure, then said looking fearfully “She’s awake” just before the lights went out. A delivery man came from town three days later to find everyone gone, as if they had left abruptly (uneaten sandwich on the kitchen counter, DVD movie playing over and over) but in dropping his keys on the floor discovered a severed tongue.

When Chief Danvers arrived, Captain Hank Prior (John Hawkes) and his son Officer Pete Prior (Finn Bennett) had arrived earlier and had done an initial search, not finding any sign of the scientists though no vehicles were missing and there would be no way they could survive outside. Chief Danvers determined the eight men had been gone for at least 48 hours and the tongue’s discoloration also seemed to indicate 48 hours, as well as indentations due to constantly repairing fishing nets confirming it was a native woman’s tongue. Chief Danvers also found the message scribbled on a whiteboard that said “WE ARE ALL DEAD”.

Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) was waiting when Chief Danvers returned to the office wanting to know about the native tongue that was found, believing it was related to the past murder case of Anne Mosu Kowtok that they both briefly worked on together. Annie was found on the outskirts of the villages stabbed 32 times with star-shaped wounds and her tongue cut out. The murder weapon was never recovered and the details regarding removing her tongue were kept from public knowledge.

Annie was an activist fighting the town’s mine who had a lot of haters, driving everybody nuts including locals and mine workers. Navarro worked on the police force as a detective at the time and wouldn’t let the case rest, bugging the wrong prominent people like Kate McKittrick specifically. Detective Navarro showed up at McKittrick’s house demanding answers and even got in a couple fights with mine workers, so was taken off the case and that’s when Danvers came to town to take on the police chief’s position.

The Annie Kowtok case happened several years prior, so Danvers felt there was no way the tongue could have been Annie’s due it medically appearing to only have been detached a couple of days before being discovered at TSALAL. Danvers believed there may be something related to Annie’s case to review but the files were at Captain Hank Prior’s place due to a previous fire at the station, so she asked him to return them though he seemed a bit put off by the request.

Meanwhile, outside of town Rose Aguineau (Fiona Shaw) received a ghostly visitation from her deceased friend Travis who guided her out into the night to a place near TSALAL where the scientists were all frozen together in the ice, naked and appeared terrified. When Chief Danvers arrived and asked Rose how she knew where they were, Rose said “Travis showed me” and though Danvers knew Travis was dead, no one else had been able to find the scientists until then.

Season 4: 6 – 60min episodes

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Equalizer 3 – Netflix

“Equalizer 3” is the final installment of The Equalizer trilogy where vigilante action hero Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) travels to a secluded winery in Sicily to recover a stolen pension and finds other criminal activities happening, ultimately ending up shot in the back. Robert fled but was weak and ended up being found by an off duty policeman named Gio Bonucci (Eugenio Mastrandrea) on the side of the road outside a small town in southern Italy. Gio took him to the town doctor Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone) who fixed Robert’s gunshot wound and encouraged him to stay to recover, telling him they would just tell others he fell.

As Robert gained his strength, he ventured out into the town where he began to befriend shop owners and cafe workers. Robert decided to call a secure CIA number to report the questionable criminal activities he discovered at the winery and suggested they check out what was happening at the scene. Due to the fact that Robert was able to provide key code words on the call, the analyst, Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) sent a team to investigate that found large amount of money and bags of fenethylline tablets hidden in wine bottles.

Robert liked the small town he had landed in and was becoming fond of the people who liked him as well and began to treat him like one of their own. He also witnessed a gang of thugs led by Marco Quaranta (Andrea Dodero) who appeared to be harassing a number of business owners in the small coastal community, but tried his best to not get involved and continued to just view from afar. Marco’s brother Vincent Quaranta (Andrea Scarduzio) was part of the Camorra (one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy) and Vincent was working to oust local business owners from the coastal town by any means to convert it to high priced resorts and casinos.

Aminah (Faia Scodellaro), who worked at the cafe, took Robert under her wing and encouraged him to get out and enjoy the many local activities. While having coffee he saw Emma Collins at a neighboring table and they had a conversation regarding what was discovered at the winery, which included multiple dead bodies. When questioning Robert if he killed them, he laughed it off and though Emma thought she would be controlling things, Robert was unphased.

Marco gladly did Vincent’s dirty work, setting shops on fire and beating Gio the police officer that dared to investigate, threatening to kill his wife and daughter if he got involved. When Marco decided to harass Gio in a cafe in front of Robert, Robert could not look away, catching Marco’s attention. Marco came over to threaten him, but Robert remained calm explaining to Marco that he liked the town and it’s people and politely asked Marco to do his business elsewhere. Marco smirked, so in the blink of an eye, Robert had Marco in an extremely painful hold telling him to tell his partners to leave and give up his gun, then pointed to the door for Marco to leave.

Robert knew that would enrage Marco, who was set out to murder him, so Robert decided to protect himself and kill Marco and his men. Gio found the same drugs in the back of the van that were at the winery and shared that with Robert, who tried to warn Emma when a car bomb exploded throwing her across the courtyard and ending up in the hospital.Vincent wanted revenge for Marco’s death and headed to the town square threating to kill Gio and shooting him in the ear. Robert gave himself up asking to be taken away but Vincent refused, then Enzo showed up with a gun and the town filmed Vincent for all to see. Vicent left vowing to kill Robert, but Robert again had no intention of waiting for them to come after him tipping the scales in true Equalizer fashion.

Runtime: 1h 49m

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Barbie – Max and Amazon Theater
4 out of 4 palm trees

All the Barbies and Kens lived together in Barbieland where everyday was perfect and every version of Barbie ever created lived, though the story centers around the first one in created 1959, known as “Stereotypical Barbie” (Margo Robbie). Other Barbies included were Lawyer Barbie, Dr. Barbie, Physicist Barbie, President Barbie and more representing all the Barbies throughout the years and the occupations and ethnicities of women around the world. The Kens also came in many variations, but Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling) was the one vying for Barbie’s love and attention.

While enjoying a dance party with all the other Barbies and Kens, Barbie asked the crowd saying outloud “Do you ever think about dying?’, a thought completely foreign to everyone living in Barbieland as everyday was perfect. They all froze in confusion so she blew it off with saying she was just dying to dance, but the next morning work up to a not perfect world where her shower was cold, her feet were flat and instead of floating off her roof to her car she fell to the ground.

The outcast discontiued dolls lived in Weird Barbie’s (Kate McKinnon) house including: Earing Magic Ken with bleach blond hair, a see-through purple mesh top, a lavender pleather vest, an unusual necklace, and a single earring; Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken dressed in a lime green damask blazer and crisp white pants, and he came with a dog named Sugar; Growing Up Kipper whose breasts enlarged when you rotated her arm and Video Girl Barbie that featured a tiny front camera capable of recording up to 30 minutes of video and a small video screen on her back.

Whenever any Barbie malfuntioned, she would have to go visit Weird Barbie, who was known to previously had been the most beautiful Barbie of all but someone played with her too hard in the real world cutting and burning her hair, coloring her face and dress and in Barbieland continued to fall into disrepair while helping other Barbie’s after malfunctioning. Weird Barbie explained that Barbie would have to go to the real world to find the human that was causing the disruption in Barbieland, otherwise Barbieland would continue to breakdown into nothingness.

Barbie set off for the real world in her little pink corvette, only to discover Ken had stow away in the back wanting to help Barbie on her mission to save Barbieland. The real world was very confusing for them, and Barbie and Ken were arrested several times for random things. Eventually, Barbie was able to find what was creating the problem which was a woman named Gloria (America Ferrerra) who was worked at Matel that was feeling depressed and was using her daughter Sasha’s (Arianna Greenblatt) Barbie to shift her sad feelings away from the real world.

In Barbieland Ken was merely an accessory, but learned about patriarchy in the real world and decided to bring the concept back to Barbieland, getting back before Barbie and changing it to Kendom covering everything with leather, books, pictures of horses and convincing all the other Ken’s to join him on his patriarchal quest to change Barbieland into a man’s world. Now it would be up to Barbie and her new friends Gloria and Sasha from the real world to save Barbieland.

Margo Robbie bought the rights to make a Barbie movie and had Gretta Gerwig and her husband Noah Baumbach write the movie. Gretta wrote the part of Ken for Ryan Gosling and directed the film as well. “Barbie” earned more than $1.38 billion worldwide to become the highest grossing film in Warner Bros. 100-year history; the highest grossing film ever from a female filmmaker at the domestic box office; and is the largest worldwide film release of 2023.

Runtime: 1h 54m

by Shirley Lorraine

Rubicon Strikes Gold in Silver Year

Twenty -Five years ago the Rubicon theater began as a dream. It has grown, evolved, and become a shining light in the arts community, proving that dreams can come true. In this 2023-2024 season of must-see, “real” theater, the Rubicon continues to be a shining beacon.

Opening night of The World Goes ‘Round, a musical revue of the over 40-year collaboration of the highly successful songwriting duo John Kander and Fred Ebb, held a huge surprise.

Former Senator Hannah Beth Jackson, as well as Senator Monique Limon and Assemblyman Steve Bennett were on hand to make a special presentation. Their heartfelt, passionate presentations highlighted many ways the Rubicon has enriched our community over the last 25 years by providing high quality artistic opportunities to the citizens of our beloved community, as well as continuing to thrive and grow during the extraordinary experience of the pandemic.

Karyl Lynn Burns, Rubicon Executive Director, was presented with a $1.5 Million governmental investment to recognize their importance as a professional regional theater of note (see separate article).

Burns and her husband James O’Neill have been on this journey for the last 25 years, becoming champions of the arts in the Ventura area and cultivating community support.

A recent production of In the Heights was taken to schools throughout the area, introducing over 52,000 students to the magic that involvement in the arts can provide. That’s quite an impressive outreach, especially in a time when arts budgets in the schools are cut routinely. The concept of arts as a whole being a necessary component to well-rounded living was soundly applauded.

Following the presentation, the audience was treated to another extraordinary theatrical experience with The World Goes ‘Round, featuring songs of Kander and Ebb who penned such familiar classics as the scores to Chicago, Cabaret, Zorba, 70, Girls, 70 and many more.

The Drama Desk Award-winning musical revue exuded high energy, humor and complexity. Many of the songs will be familiar -some less so. Each one is given treatment apart from the usual contextual rendering of its original use. In every case however, the lyrics beautifully illustrate the timelessness and impact of the sentiments..

The Revue has been around since the early 1990’s. I vividly recall owning a vinyl copy of the original cast album and playing it often. It was, and continues to be, inspiring. This performance simply stunned me with its depth, triggering so many memories, tears and laughter.

Powerhouse vocals by each cast member shook the rafters. Each shone individually and collectively with some impressive pieces weaving several songs sung simultaneously. Once again, the Rubicon has given our community a priceless gift with extraordinary talent. This is a holiday gift not to be missed.

Performances run through December 23. with multiple opportunities to catch this stirring compilation of well known and not-so-well-known (but equally moving) songs by the duo of John Kander and Fred Ebb. Performances are Wednesdays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (talkback with cast following the 7 p.m. show), Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Go. Enjoy.

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Leave the World Behind – Netflix & Theaters

In “Leave the World Behind” Amanda (Julia Roberts) and Clay (Ethan Hawke) Sanford were living a busy working life in New York City, so decided to take an unplanned vacation up north on the coast with their two children Archie (Charles Evans) and Rose (Farrah Mackenzie). They booked a vacation rental with the title “Leave the World Behind” that appeared the perfect location, though something seemed off when while they were at the beach later that day a huge oil tanker that was out of control ran up on the beach though no ports were anywhere near. The other troubling matter was that not only was the home WiFi not working, neither were any cell phones or tablets.

Back at the house the Sanford family shared a quiet night and after the kids had gone to bed Amanda and Clay shared some wine and time playing Jenga, when they heard a knock on the door. This immediately concerned Amanda due to the remote location of the rental, but Clay answered the door to find a finely dress man and young woman who apologized for the intrusion and shared it was their home. The man introduced himself as G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la Herrold) and said that they went to spend time in the city, but that there was a blackout and chose to return to their house.

The Scotts said that they needed to stay at their home, but would refund the Sanfords their money and that there was an apartment downstairs they could stay the night until morning when they could find out what was going on in the city. Amanda did not want to agree to them being in the house together, but Clay was more easy going and compassionate about the Scotts situation so agreed to work out everything in the morning. Amanda only agreed to let the Scotts stay because of Clay and felt the G.H was withholding information, though he said he shared all he knew.

Due to the television, internet and phones still being down, the next day they decided to venture out to see if anyone had any information. G.H. headed to the closest neighbors home, Clay left for town and Amanda stayed back at the house with everyone else. This is when they began to discover something very serious had happened. Clay got lost without GPS and was chased back to the house by a huge drone dropping thousands of flyers with Arabic text which Archie was able to decipher said “Death to America”.

When G.H. arrived at the neighbors house, there was metal debris, luggage and other forms of wreckage on the front lawn and throughout the house which was right on the coast. Out back he discovered plane wreckage and dead bodies on the beach, and hearing another plane approaching, rushed back to the house for cover as another plane crashed onto the coastline. He returned to the house covered in water and wet sand, but had difficulty explaining what happened as his wife was on a return flight and concerned her plane had suffered the same fate.

Though in different locations, they then all heard several sonic booms and then an ear-piercing sound coming from everywhere that made them drop to their knees in pain that lasted for a while. Other strange things were happening with the wildlife including hundreds of deer surrounding the house and flamingos landing in the pool. With each new situation, G.H. seemed to grow more uneasy, as if he knew something about what was happening, some of which he shared with his daughter but was not sharing with the Sanfords. G.H. later shared that in his line of work as an analyst he dealt with clients in the defense industry and had been privy to some hypothetical scenarios on destroying a country and believed unfortunately that this was what had begun.

Runtime: 2h 20m