by Terrance McArthur
I first saw Camille Gaston on my computer, laughing a lot as Brandon Delsid’s sidekick on the Basically Brandon webcast. Then, I started noticing her onstage in supporting parts that attracted attention. She was Scuttle the Seagull in The Little Mermaid, the Witch in Big Fish in Selma, and the Acid Queen in The Who’s Tommy. Now, she takes center stage as Deloris Van Cartier in the Good Company Players production of Sister Act, and she commands attention in the role. Give it to her. She deserves it.
by Terrance McArthur
It all started with Solomon Naumovich Rabinowich (1859-1916), who wrote as Sholem Aleichem, a Yiddish phrase meaning “Peace be unto you.” He was known as “the Jewish Mark Twain,” but Mark Twain claimed to be “the American Sholem Aleichem.” Some of his stories were about a Russian Jewish milkman named Tevye, who had five daughters. In 1964, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick wrote songs for a script by Joseph Stein, and Fiddler on the Roof became a Broadway hit and a staple of community theatres. CenterStage Clovis Community Theatre presents it at the Mercedes Edwards Theater through July 22.
by Terrence McArthur
Have you ever turned on the TV and found a movie you always wanted to see, but it’s more than halfway through, and you don’t have the “View From Beginning” option? Who are these people? Why are they doing these things? That’s what it’s like to read the last book of a trilogy when you haven’t read the first two.
by Terrance McArthur
In 2001, Mel Brooks turned his 1968 movie The Producers into a Broadway musical. It was a smash hit. In 2007, Brooks worked the same magic on 1974’s Young Frankenstein with the same writing partner, Thomas Meehan, and it ran on Broadway for two years. And now…..the River City Theatre Company brings Young Frankenstein to life on the Reedley Opera House stage through July 30.
by Terrance McArthur
When people think of Bye Bye Birdie, the Blossom Trail Players musical playing at the Sanger High School Multi-Purpose Room through July 1, they think of Dick Van Dyke, who starred on Broadway and in the movie. The 1963 film version also starred Janet Leigh because the studio didn’t think Chita Rivera was a box-office draw, and propelled Ann-Margret to sex-kitten stardom. BTP found a worthy successor to Rivera in Marissa Sanchez.
by Terrance McArthur
It’s summertime in Fresno, and that means Shakespeare in the Park. The Woodward Shakespeare Festival is back for its thirteenth season of free Shakespeare performances, but don’t get superstitious. WSF opens with a lively, modern-dress version of Twelfth Night on the Festival Stage that deserves to be seen.
by Terrence McArthur
Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock is tough. She’s a Cherokee skinwalker with Beast, a mountain lion, sharing her soulspace. She killed a man when she was five years old. She’s over a hundred years old, but she looks good. She’s a vampire hunter employed by Leo Pellesier, the vampire Master of New Orleans. Her ex-boyfriend is a werepanther. There’s a vampire calling her Master living under her stairs like a Harry Potter with fangs, and she has a wreath/crown in her closet, glowing. Jane is no Plain Jane.
by Terrance Mc Arthur
Restaurants are risky businesses. They cost a lot to start, it’s hard to keep them going, and they can disappear overnight.
For decades in Sanger, Tea Garden was “that Chinese restaurant on 10th Street.” It’s gone. In its place at 1335 10th Street is Sun China. Gone are the boxing pictures of Muhammed Ali in the ring.
by Terrance McArthur
You know how, once in a while, you come across a book that makes you think, “What a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that?”
You know how, once in a while, you come across a writer who makes you think, “This is so good! Why can’t I put ideas together that well?”
by Terrance McArthur
Some families say “I love you.” Some families don’t. Some say it, but without words. In Joe DiPietro’s Over the River and Through the Woods, now playing at the Reedley Opera House, love is expressed in food. You feed the ones you love. Lasagna or a sandwich, it’s all love.
by Terrance Mc Arthur
Sometimes, it’s new. Sometimes, it’s been there a while, and you just haven’t had a good reason to go there. Sometimes, you never noticed it, before, and you wonder if it popped up overnight, and will magically disappear tomorrow. I tried some of those, lately. Here’s what happened.
by Terrance McArthur
Sometimes, a fantasy is too good to look at from only one viewpoint. It cries out to be viewed from another angle.
Marshall Ryan Maresca created the otherworldly city of Maradaine for The Thorn of Dentonhill, a novel about a schoolboy/mage/superhero/avenger, a character followed in The Alchemy of Chaos. That academia/magic/underworld blend wasn’t enough, so Maresca took another look at the city, creating a male/female police detective duo with paranormal aspects for A Murder of Mages and An Import of Intrigue.
by Terrance McArthur
Did you ever wonder how Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and Tinkerbell got to be what they were, and how they all got to Neverland? Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson did, and they wrote Peter and the Starcatcher. Rick Elice adapted it, with music by Wayne Barker, for the stage as Peter and the Starcatcher, and it now sails into Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theatre as a Good Company Players production, helmed by Emily Pessano as director.
by Terrance McArthur
Mari, of a wandering clan, can turn feline. She wants revenge on the man who unleashed ghosts that killed her family and kinfolk. He is known as the Dead’s Man.
Tris was born dead, but lived. Now, he can battle and banish ghosts. He is known as the Dead’s Man.
Tris and Mari were made for each other.
