{"id":236395,"date":"2013-08-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/theater-review-fruity-appeal-and-bitter-aftertaste\/"},"modified":"2013-08-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-04T07:00:00","slug":"theater-review-fruity-appeal-and-bitter-aftertaste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/theater-review-fruity-appeal-and-bitter-aftertaste\/","title":{"rendered":"Theater Review: Fruity appeal and bitter aftertaste"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlene Baldridge | Noticias del Centro<\/p>\n

Designed to tickle oenophiles and the overly romantic, Rex Pickett\u2019s \u201cSideways\u201d is now a play. Based on his own wildly popular 2004 novel and Oscar-winning film and directed by former Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff, the piece had its critical opening July 21 at La Jolla Playhouse\u2019s Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre and continues in an extended run through Sept 1. Let\u2019s say it\u2019s light and appealing summer entertainment with a fruity appeal and a bitter aftertaste.<\/p>\n

\"(l-r)<\/a>
(l-r) Sean Allan Krill, Zoe Chao, Nadia Bowers and Patrick Breen in “Sideways” at La Jolla Playhouse. (Photo by Kevin Berne)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bitter aftertaste is due to the cavalier treatment a wine-country beauty named Terra (lovely, likeable Zo\u00eb Chao) receives from Jack (tall, appealingly awkward Sean Alan Krill) in a somewhat mutual seduction \u2013 like the old saw, he was only poking fun but she took it seriously.<\/p>\n

The freewheeling Jack, a film director who knows nothing of wine and little of women, is having a last fling in California wine country prior to settling down as a married man. One wonders if such men ever settle down even after submitting to the nuptial ceremony.<\/p>\n

Jack\u2019s friend, a depressed novelist named Miles (Patrick Breen), is the protagonist, oenophile and tour guide. Miles becomes involved with Maya (Nadia Bowers) in a relationship that may go the distance, or at least the novelist\/playwright leaves us with that hope in the play.<\/p>\n

The trip through Santa Ynez Valley vines, loins, restaurants and wineries is memory lane for some, and though a working knowledge of grape varieties and their qualities is helpful, it is not necessary. The tale is largely autobiographical in nature, based on a similar trip involving Pickett (a graduate of UCSD) and a friend. Pickett has self-published a sequel titled \u201cVertical,\u201d which depicts another Miles and Jack road trip.<\/p>\n

\"(l-r)<\/a>
(l-r) Patrick Breen and Sean Allan Krill in “Sideways.” (Photo by Kevin Berne)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those who loved the dark comedy of the film may find the play\u2019s male characters less likeable and therefore less forgivable than the movie\u2019s. One of the play\u2019s best scenes involves a wacky, self-appointed lawman named Brad (Tom Patterson) who instead of killing local varmints turns his shotgun on Miles and Jack.<\/p>\n

Overall, the play\u2019s emphasis on comedy brings it a brittleness and lack of profundity when it comes to human insight into depression\u2019s despair and palpable pain. It\u2019s lightness as opposed to the terror of darkness. Terra\u2019s rejection and pain are given short shrift as well. Perhaps after Jack marries and Miles sells his book, she and Maya will start the winery of which they dream.<\/p>\n

The Playhouse production is enhanced with original music by Michael Roth, performed by guitarist Peter Sprague and recorded at Encinitas\u2019 Spragueland Studios. Robert Brill\u2019s scenic design lends itself well to quick scene changes. Paul Tazewell is costume designer, Michael Walton the lighting designer, Cricket S. Myers the sound designer, and Sean Nieuwenhuis the video and projection designer. The choreographer is Lisa Shriver and fight director is Steve Rankin. lajollaplayhouse.org<\/a> or 858-550-1010.<\/p>\n

Charlene Baldridge se mud\u00f3 a San Diego desde el \u00e1rea de Chicago en 1962. Ha estado escribiendo sobre las artes desde 1979 y desde entonces sus art\u00edculos, cr\u00edticas, encuestas y entrevistas han sido incluidas en varias publicaciones. Su libro San Diego, Jewel of the California Coast (Northland Publishing) est\u00e1 actualmente disponible en las librer\u00edas. Puede comunicarse con ella en charb81@gmail.com.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlene Baldridge | Downtown News Designed to tickle oenophiles and the overly romantic, Rex Pickett\u2019s \u201cSideways\u201d is now a play. Based on his own wildly popular 2004 novel and Oscar-winning film and directed by former Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff, the piece had its critical opening July 21 at La Jolla Playhouse\u2019s Sheila and Hughes […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":731,"featured_media":236396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Theater Review: Fruity appeal and bitter aftertaste","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/731"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}