Mistaken identities and musketeers make ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ a rousing success

‘Twelfth Night’

Shakespeare Santa Cruz continues to brighten up our foggy coastal summers with imaginative live theater. The company launches its 31st season with “Twelfth Night,” one of Shakespeare's most enjoyable and accessible romantic comedies. Directed by SSC Artistic Director Marco Barricelli, this lively production floods the stage with knockabout farce, yet leaves enough breathing room for moments of poignant reflection on the ways romantic love can be found—and lost.

Cabrillo Stage hits a homerun with ‘Anything Goes’

There are pros and cons to producing one of Broadway’s most adored musical comedies, littered with hits by one of the most quoted American Songbook composers of the 20th century. Among the pros? Everyone knows the songs. The cons? Everyone knows the songs. Fortunately for Santa Cruz theater fans, Cabrillo Stage deftly avoids the pitfalls of familiarity and presents Cole Porter’s endearing vehicle, “Anything Goes,” to great success.

SSC’s star composer elevates the drama of ‘Henry IV Part II’ with music

When Rody Ortega is not composing music for Shakespeare Santa Cruz, he works as a commercial airline pilot. The sky is an important source of inspiration for Ortega, but he believes he can reach people on a deeper level through the arts. “Art can take you places an airplane can’t,” he says.

For the fourth summer in a row, Ortega has returned to UC Santa Cruz, where he will help elevate Shakespeare’s “The Man in the Iron Mask” and “Henry IV Part II” with music. The latter—which runs Aug. 7-26 at the Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen at UCSC, and stars Charles Pasternak, V Craig Heidenreich and Richard Ziman—is the second segment of Shakespeare’s “Making of a King” trilogy.

Mark Bryan’s paintings address the (sometimes ugly) state of the union

In Mark Bryan's oil painting, “Ship of State,” a massive vessel reminiscent of the Titanic, but with The U.S. Capitol building for a super structure, angles downward, slipping into a calm sea strewn with icebergs. Amidst the flailing arms of the passengers struggling to stay afloat, two lifeboats occupied by self-satisfied men in top hats, with bags of money, have their henchmen row them away from the scene.

Big, bold and drenched in fun, ‘Anything Goes’ sets sail at Cabrillo Stage

Part Two of Cabrillo Stage’s triple summer threat promises to be a show-stopping voyage. The creative ship that is “Anything Goes” opens this week as part of Cabrillo’s plan to take a bite out of the Big Apple this season—“A Chorus Line” opened recently to rave reviews; “Escaping Queens,” written by local Joe Ortiz, opens in August.

Salsa by the Sea celebrates 10 years

The sun is setting as a crowd gathers around a makeshift dance floor next to the Santa Cruz Wharf. At the center of the circle, a diverse group of beaming locals appears liberated as they writhe to the sensual sounds pouring out of the speakers.

The energy is infectious.

Program gives teens access to Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s ‘Twelfth Night’

Chances are you’ve encountered the work of William Shakespeare at some point during your academic career, perhaps as required reading in high school; he is, after all, the most famous writer in the English language. But for every student who is hooked at “To be or not to be,” there is another for whom the words on the page are no more comprehensible than a foreign language.

With that in mind, Shakespeare Santa Cruz is working to make his plays accessible to the community with the STAT (Shakespeare Teen Access Tickets) program, which is designed to get teens to experience live Shakespeare performances, including the company’s upcoming production of “Twelfth Night.”

Cabrillo Stage delivers a vivid, heartfelt 'Chorus Line'

Talk about a singular sensation. When “A Chorus Line” debuted in 1975, it broke all the rules for what a Broadway musical is supposed to be. There are no elaborate sets or scene changes; it all takes place on a bare rehearsal stage with one mirrored wall. Playing out in more or less real time, with no intermission, the storyline—you couldn’t call it a plot, exactly—concerns a score of young dancers auditioning for the chorus of a Broadway show. Costumes? The kind of practice clothes every dancer has in his or her wardrobe. It also presents various gay and ethnically diverse characters in frankly sympathetic terms.

Behind SSC’s ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’

Los Angeles-based actor Charles Pasternak describes his role in Scott Wentworth’s new play as schizophrenic. Not only does he play the part of King Louis XIV, but he also plays the part of Louis’ identical twin brother, Phillipe, the title character in “The Man in the Iron Mask.”

‘A Chorus Line’ kicks off Cabrillo Stage season with a bang

The 1970s contributed much to our common slang, the vernacular we use to tell a story or set a mood. Musically, we were bequeathed the ominous repeating bass notes that could only mean a shark attack (Jaws), and on the other end of the spectrum we inherited the also-repeating two-note refrain that could only mean a chorus line, which, oddly enough, came from “A Chorus Line.” Theater fans—start rehearsing your unison bravos now, because Cabrillo Stage is opening its 2012 summer season with a production of this Tony Award-winning musical under the capable hands (and feet) of director and choreographer Janie Scott.