Del Shores (Sordid Lives) Has A New Play

[+ Lucky]

Now onstage at the Coast Playhouse in Los Angeles is the new Del Shores play Yellow.

Shores is a big hit with the gay element (inside joke) and the bf loved Sordid Lives, so we plan to see Yellow soon.

 

http://www.yellowbydelshores.com/YELLOW_BY_DEL_SHORES/Home_files/Modern_S_B_2.png

http://www.yellowbydelshores.com/YELLOW_BY_DEL_SHORES/Home_files/ReviewCard5x7.jpg

[+ Lucky]

And, in Palm Springs, the Palm Canyon Theater is rehearsing for the production of High School Musical, and,

over at The Thorny Theater, Love, Valour, and Compassion is playing.

 

http://www.palmcanyontheatre.org

http://www.thornytheater.com

[body2body]

I am a big fan of Del Shores' plays. I live only 2 blocks from the Coast Playhouse (and even performed there in 1980). However, If you are going to see this expecting the hysterics of "Sordid Lives" or "Southern Baptist Sissies" you may be disappointed. This play has gotten good reviews, but it more along the lines of "Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife", which had some very funny moments but was a very serious play about an abused woman. I plan on going this weekend (if I can get a ticket, it is a small theater).

[+ Lucky]

b2b, Friday night is sold out. But go to their website. They have 2 shows Sunday and are offering a discount price.

[body2body]

Lucky-Thanks for the heads up on tickets, as the royal blue disk by your name indicates you really are a Prince.

[+ Lucky]

[+ purplekow]

Okay body2body one of use needs his eyes checked. I see the disk next to Lucky's name and a princely purple not a royal blue. I have been posting like a demon to get to purple and now I am wondering whether it really is blue. Which one of us needs a color blindness check?

[MsGuy]

Looks blue to me, so it's probably purple. My 2nd grade teacher wouldn't put my poster on the wall 'cause I used a violet crayon to color in the sky. :o The unfairness of it all still pisses me off when I think about it.

[+ purplekow]

Looks blue to me, so it's probably purple. My 2nd grade teacher wouldn't put my poster on the wall 'cause I used a violet crayon to color in the sky. :o The unfairness of it all still pisses me off when I think about it.

It is amazing how with carry these slights with us through our lives. I am sure that Greatness will soon be here to compliment you on your artistic eye as a seven year old and at that point you can probably let that particular injury go.

[MsGuy]

Kids can cope better than we give them credit for.

 

I solved the problem by memorizing which Crayola labels meant "blue" and which meant "purple," but the old bat went and died on me before I was old enough to exact a proper revenge. Life is so unfair.

[body2body]

While I have made my career for the last 35 years in the field of Design, color is always subjective. It is especially so when viewed on a computer monitor, or television screen. However, whether the disc is Princely Purple or Royal Blue, we can all agree that Lucky is truly deserving of his Noble status.

[+ Lucky]

Thanks, b2b. I saw Yellow on Friday night, but will wait to post my comments until after you have seen it. I am traveling and computers are the last thing on my mind! (In general, we liked Yellow, just so you know that!)

[body2body]

I saw "Yellow" tonight and I liked it very much. Thanks to Lucky's information on the discount tickets it only cost me $24 to see it! I am curious to hear what Lucky thought. I had a very nice (and very moving at times) evening at the Theater.

[+ Lucky]

Yellow

 

Well,we liked it, but I think Mr. Shores aspired to a higher level of theater than he accomplished. The actors did not seem to find the depth that would have enabled them to communicate to the audience the true angst which the play called for.

The cute son was adorable, and I liked seeing him in his boxer shorts. All in all, it felt more like a movie of the week than real theater, but then, movies of the week can be enjoyable.

Now I am in SF to see the Yankees play Oakland. That shuld be real theater!

[+ sf westcoaster]

No question - it is purple!

[body2body]

I think the Play had more depth than a "Movie of the Week" but not by much. However, that being said, I really liked it. I found the performances of the Jock son and Gay kid to be very good, the moment they shared had a good many men in the audience in tears at the performance I attended (including me). The woman in the role of the Mother was also quite good. Robert Lewis Stevenson, an alumnist of several of Mr. Shores earlier plays (especially memorable in "Southern Baptist Sissies") had assumed the role of the Father at the performance I attended and I found him believeable (and very easy on the eyes). Ibsen it is not, but it is a very engaging way to spend a summer evening. If you come to LA give it a look, and because the Coast Playhouse is in West Hollywood, after the play you can go next door to Basix or around the corner to Marix for Dinner and then walk down Santa Monica Blvd. and hit the Bars.

[+ Lucky]

We're not far apart on Yellow. I do recommend it. But the Yankees have had my attention these last few days.

With Broadway in a lull, let's think of some summer theater or other arts to bring up the forum.

[+ Lucky]

Here's a mini-review of Yellow from the LA Times:

 

Whether writing about gay men ("Sordid Lives") or battered women ("The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife"), Del Shores has advocated being true to -- and standing up for -- oneself. With "Yellow," he too will have to live by that advice. At the Coast Playhouse, his new play, the first in seven years, is likely to knock fans off of their bearings, even if they've been paying attention to his gradual shift toward drama. Laughs, once so abundant, mingle more than ever with tears. Will his crowd stick with him?

"Yellow" is set in Vicksburg, Miss., where a high school football coach (David Cowgill) tends to go misty-eyed with happiness when in the midst of his family. He and his good-humored therapist wife (Kristen McCullough) are parents to a football golden boy (Luke McClure). Their daughter (Evie Louise Thompson) can be a pill, but her drama-queen tantrums are fairly entertaining. She pals around with a sweet kid (Matthew Scott Montgomery) who's almost always in residence, escaping a fundamentalist mother (Susan Leslie) he can never seem to please.

This cozy existence -- nicely symbolized in the suburban affluence of Robert Steinberg's set and warmth of Kathi O'Donohue's lighting -- is about to be shattered and the family's faith, in several senses of that word, tested.

Too much of the story is dictated more by the tenets of play construction than by in-the-moment honesty. But Shores, serving as his own director, reveals heart-tugging moments between the lines. Surprises abound, and the power is irresistible. We root for these people because we know them. They are our neighbors, our families, ourselves.

-- Daryl H. Miller