Once upon in Brooklyn, two elderly sisters rented out a room in their house. They welcomed lonely bachelors into their home . . . and the men were never seen again.
The Brewster sisters are at it again in Arsenic and Old Lace, a River City Theatre Company production at the Reedley Opera House through October 2.
Put a pin in a map of Sanger on the intersection of Bethel and Jensen Avenues. Make it the center of a circle with a 1/4 mile radius. Inside that circle, you will find at least fourteen restaurants and places to eat. I have reviewed many of them in other Great Food Search articles. A few places are new, or ones I’ve missed in the past. Therefore, let me introduce…
Take a time machine to the time of King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More. It is cleverly disguised as the Good Company Players’ 2nd Space Theatre production of Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons. The time machine is only available through October 16.
The typical Great Food Search of the month features a theme (Salads, Hot Dogs, The Tower District, et cetera) or a single restaurant (Mi Linda Tierra, Sunnyside Delicatessen). This month, it’s a little different: places I went to about the time I was reviewing something else, or it didn’t fit the theme for the month, or—"Hey! I haven’t been there in a Covid’s age!” Some of the pictures have been sitting in my photo file for a long time, so...it’s about time!
Sister Act returns to Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater, with important parts and people from the 2017 Good Company Players production still intact. Camille Gaston is Doloris Van Cartier again, Ethel Birrell returns as a bubbly nun, and Laurie Pessano re-directs with style and strength. All of this against a background of Covid cancellations, substitutions, and understudies that underscore the depth and strength of the GCP casting pool.
Have you ever tried to write a musical based on 150 single-panel cartoons?
That was the job faced by playwrights Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and songsmith Andrew Lippa, fifteen years ago, and it turned into The Addams Family. Now, the quirky musical is on the equally-quirky Reedley Opera House stage in a River City Theatre Company production through July 24.
It’s 1957—A lavish New York penthouse apartment. She’s a world-famous opera singer. He’s a revered orchestra conductor. Life should be perfect, right? It isn’t, but it’s very funny in Living on Love, playing through August 14 at Good Company Players’ 2nd Space Theatre.
In April, the Great Food Search took a look at restaurants in Fresno’s Tower District while I rehearsed for a production of I Remember Mama at the Good Company Players’ 2nd Space Theatre. The run of the play has ended, but those weeks of performances gave me time to continue my quest of eating my way through the Tower District.
Theatre during a pandemic can be a challenge. Both of Good Company Players’ current shows have seen cancelations of performances due to cast members getting Covid, and there has been a shuffling around of casts on some nights. But one thing you can count on with GCP is that when you see a show, it will be the best show they can give you and you won’t be disappointed.
The Great Food Search seeks out good food wherever it may be found, and sometimes it’s closer than we expect. Less than one mile from my home in Sanger, I found Mi Linda Tierra. It started out in the southeast of the town, but it recently moved to 1330 7th Street in the heart of the little city’s downtown blocks.
