Email Author Robrt L. Pela

2000 Stories by Robrt L. Pela

• The Pound of Music

  published December 21, 2000

  A recent decision to stop using mechanized music instead of live musicians in some theater productions has temporarily healed a rift between... More >>

• Double Your Pleasure

  published December 14, 2000

  It's no wonder that actress Cathy Dresbach looked disappointed during her second night curtain call for In Mixed Company's The Mineola... More >>

• Schlocking Stuffer

  published December 7, 2000

  Children of Eden More >>

• Hidden Performances

  published November 30, 2000

  Despite the recent collapse of several small theaters, new playhouses are springing up like Christmas tree lots. Would that these companies were... More >>

• Table's Tops

  published November 16, 2000

  Crumbs From the Table of Joy is far more insightful and entertaining than the archetypal African-American history play. I expected a... More >>

• High-Profile Vehicle

  published November 9, 2000

  It's 1942, the final year of John Barrymore's life, and we've joined the once-great actor in a tiny playhouse, where he's come to recapture his... More >>

• Maim Your Poison

  published November 2, 2000

  I stopped attending certain of our "little" theaters some years back. After seeing my share of creaky standards wrecked by bad acting and inept... More >>

• God-awful

  published October 26, 2000

  Maybe it's because I'm an atheist. Or perhaps I'm tired of cheap, humorless rehashes of last year's big moneymaker. Then again, it might have been... More >>

• Coup de Grace

  published October 19, 2000

  Grace and Glorie More >>

• The Art of the Blank Canvas

  published October 12, 2000

  A few years ago, I visited the home of a local museum curator. He took me on a tour of his private collection, a series of dreary sculptures and... More >>

• One Is Enough

  published October 5, 2000

  Mention Betty Buckley to a half-dozen people and you'll hear about six different performers. When I told a colleague that Buckley was bringing her... More >>

• A Guide to Cultural Crudity

  published September 28, 2000

  As yet another theater season gets under way, publicists are doing their annual best to tempt us with their ticketed entertainments. But no one is... More >>

• La Mancha for All Seasons

  published September 21, 2000

  Phoenix Theatre is celebrating its 80th anniversary by resuscitating a lot of tried-and-true favorites -- the sort of popular fare normally... More >>

• Not Quite Cloud Nine

  published September 14, 2000

  A half-hour before the opening-night curtain rises on Dale Wasserman's new show, the man himself is nowhere to be found. The producer of the show... More >>

• Far-Flung Planet

  published September 7, 2000

  The title of Planet Earth Theatre's most recent show proved to be prophetic. Only a few days after the final performance of In Heat, the... More >>

• Pointe Counterpart

  published August 24, 2000

  No more dancing around the issue: Kinga Nijinsky Gaspers wants to set the record straight about her grandmother, Romola Flavia Ludowika Polyxena... More >>

• Some Like It Not

  published August 17, 2000

  The hottest thing about In Heat is the theater in which it's playing. Sweatbox conditions prevail at Planet Earth, a fusty warehouse with... More >>

• de Sade State of Affairs

  published August 10, 2000

  John Sankovich hasn't once raised his voice, yet it booms above the clank and roar of the crowded restaurant where he's dining. He's discussing... More >>

• My Spare Lady

  published July 13, 2000

  There's an old story, perhaps apocryphal, about the original 1914 production of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Apparently, Mrs. Patrick... More >>

• Blood Simpletons

  published July 6, 2000

  Vampire Lesbians of Sodom More >>

• Swish Cheese

  published June 29, 2000

  In the imaginary world of Howard Crabtree, the reprimands of a mean-spirited guidance counselor can lead to a full-blown musical comedy revue. In... More >>

• Wish You Were Here

  published June 22, 2000

  You have to practically leave town to find anything resembling summer stock this season. Way out west, just this side of Sun City, tiny Theater... More >>

• Swan Dive

  published June 15, 2000

  Elizabeth Egloff's The Swan is a terrible play. Poorly written and stuffed with repetitive dialogue, it stands stock-still, flapping its... More >>

• Romance Is Gone

  published June 8, 2000

  First it was competition from the new sports arena downtown. Then it was the general lack of cultural sophistication that reportedly plagues all... More >>

• The Rat Pack

  published May 25, 2000

  The Boomer-inspired version of entertainment, in which a portion of pop culture is regurgitated in two tidy hours, has run amok. This scary... More >>