John Todd

EYEING AMNERIS  IN AIDA In this well-loved 150-year-old Guiseppe Verdi classic of Grand Opera, it may be heretical to question the relationship of the principle characters and their so-called “love triangle.” But in the San Diego Opera production it is Amneris, the Pharoah’s love-sick daughter, who seems more the protagonist. After all, it is Amneris’ world…

WASTED TIME In Marisa Wegrzyn’s Hickorydickory, all humans are born with a mortal clock encoded with the date and time of their death.   This mortal clock takes the form of an actual pocket watch.   For most people, it goes unnoticed because it is hidden behind their heart.   But for the “unfortunate few” the watch is…

A FEW PROTESTS… Todd Salovey’s revue of mostly American songs of protest is buoyed by a fiercely energetic, multi-talented quartet of singers and musicians: Dave Crossland, Jim Mooney, Vaughn Armstrong, and the redoubtable Lisa Payton.   When Payton hits the money notes it’s enough to pop your sternum from its rib cage.   But the narrative, the…

ADAPTATION NEEDS TO MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT Jules Verne channeled 19th century technological progress into wondrous stories that fueled the world’s imagination.   He took us to the center of the earth, to the bottom of the sea, to the moon and, in perhaps his most popular adventure, around the world in 80 days.   Even in…

A PLAY THAT GROPES FOR AN EXIT William Missouri Downs’ The Exit Interview is a jumble of a play whose myriad directions are made more difficult to track by  its opening pronouncement:   Two exuberant cheerleaders (JoAnne Glover and Lisel Gorell-Getz), uniformed and pom-pommed, lead the audience in a spirited:   “Give me an “O”!   Give me an…

NEW MUSICAL TOO LUKEWARM TO PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO IT Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing “exclusion zones” which effectively allowed for the forced evacuation of persons of Japanese ancestry in California, Washington and Oregon. Two-thirds of the 120,000 internees were American citizens, and since it was indiscernible as…