Another Great Review!

Stage Scene LA.com gave us a swell review. Thanks!

"With a pulsating background score by Anthony Bollas performed at rock concert volume by a live band, several songs, fights, and dances, and a cast that plays it dead serious, Stranger isn’t quite a musical, isn’t quite a comedy, isn’t quite a drama. What it is is entirely its own genre, and great entertainment as well. "

¡Viva STRANGER!

From Daily Variety:

Stranger," a Spaghetti Western with songs, has the visceral kick and grungy, lived-in feel of a Sergio Leone classic. It would be easy to parody the genre, but co-writers Eva Anderson and Keythe Farley play it straight and manage to pull it off with a story that's genuinely surprising and compelling. The world premiere production at the Bootleg Theater rocks, from Farley's inspired direction to Anthony Bollas' appropriately thunderous music to skilled actors who tear into their roles with violent gusto.

And that's just the first paragraph. It gets better! Read it here:

And the LA Weekly gave us a GO (the review, reprinted below, has been slightly altered to remove spoilers)!

Keythe Farley and Eva Anderson's world premiere musical (or more accurately a play with music) is set in the Nevada town of San Lorenzo in 1847. A bandit named Lagarto (Michael Dunn) has murdered the town sheriff and kidnapped his daughter Lucinda (Molly O'Neill).  Lucinda's mother Miranda (Ann Closs-Farley, who also creates the beautiful costumes) owns the local saloon and takes in The Stranger (Cameron Dye) who wanders into town one day, running from his own dark past.  Lagarto is after treasure that Miranda has hidden away, but she refuses to give it up without a fight, rallying the townspeople behind her, including The Padre (Joe Hernandez-Kolski), a morally ambiguous figure.  The ambiguity of the priest's motives as well as the style of the piece evoke, and simultaneously parody, the "Spaghetti Westerns" of the 1960s.  Composer Anthony Bollas' blues licks mixed with Western rock and Spanish guitar perfectly set the mood, along with Rebecca Kessin's desert soundscape. Francois-Pierre Couture's wood-slat backdrops that appear branded with a hot iron are wonderfully evocative of The Ponderosa as well.  Keythe Farley, who also directs the piece, masterfully shifts between scenes and creates arresting tableaus, using the set to its full capacity.  Dunn charismatically embodies a larger-than-life outlaw, delivering lines full of humor and irony, and the rest of the cast shines as well, from Dye's tough-as-nails demeanor, to O'Neill's ferocity, to Closs-Farley's Mae West-like spunk, to Hernandez-Kolski's sliver-tongued [Padre].

The Hair of San Lorenzo

STRANGER is a big show. We've worked hard to incorporate singing, dancing and fight choreography to the usual rehearsal disciplines of staging and acting. We're using guns and whips in the show. We've got moving lights (actually, only one) and haze hanging in the air; tables, chairs and real meat come and go. And we mustn't forget the blood. Gotta have blood. 

Today, though, we thought it would be nice to focus on an often overlooked stage craft: the hair. 

First, let's admire Dylan Kenin-- he's the real deal-- no spirit gum required to apply those chops. Truth be told, the hair is not his, but he wears it well.

And here's Michael Dunn, also sporting a healthy beard, and a fancy wig. Since this picture was taken, Michael has shaped and formed his facial hair to glorious effect. He also has an amazing new wig.

Here's David! He wears a few wigs in the show-- in addition to a fabulous hat or two-- but in this picture you can revel in the shaggy glory of those massive burns, unadorned.

And, finally, the pinnacle of hair magic, Richard Azurdia as Bandolero #3, or Yosemite Samuel, as he has come to be known. There is not a follicle of real hair on this fellow. Check him out!

Do You Know Ann?

If you work in the LA Theatre scene, chances are, you've worked with Ann Closs-Farley. But unless you're in church with her on Sunday mornings, chances are, you haven't heard her sing. That's about to change. Ann plays Miranda Coolidge, owner and proprietor of the San Lorenzo Saloon. She pours with a heavy hand and shoots her mouth off when she's not shooting her Winchester. And boy does she sing!

Congratulations Bradley!

The Lester Horton Awards for Dance were held on Monday night, and our choreographer, Bradley Michaud won awards for Outstanding Achievement in Long Form Choreography, and his company Method Dance was honored for Outstanding Acheievement in Performance by a Dance Troupe. "It's like winning Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars," says Bradley, "except without the money and glamour." 

Michael Dunn

Michael plays Lagarto. He's the villain. Michael brings a real joie de mort to his portrayal. He's also a mean cook, and he'll be grilling up box dinners pre-show, so come early and get some tasty vittles before we blow your mind.

Hello, Joe.

Joe Hernandez-Kolski plays Padre Chavez, the priest of San Lorenzo. You can see how pious and holy he is. But don't be fooled, he's a fighter! Joe is a magnificent performance artist and a lover of all things 80s (Van Halen, Break Dancing and Mullets).