Pippin Musical

BLYTHE MATSUI holds her arm straight out, hand flat, palm up, while rotating her body. Dressed in a white lace tank top cropped above her navel and camouflage cargo pants rolled up to reveal high-heeled leather boots, the dancer-choreographer and former Laker Girl turns to Mike Moh, an extreme martial arts specialist, and says: "Blade open."

The entertainer outside the Mark Taper Forum wearing a black fedora and a black Barack Obama T-shirt Sunday night beamed, simultaneously celebrating the country's future while embracing his own past. "Can't you feel it?" said Ben Vereen, fingering the white scarf draped around his Obama shirt. "It's like an out-of-body experience. You can feel the universe shift. I'm just so proud of President Obama and this country." While Vereen was still ebullient after attending Obama's inauguration, it was nostalgia that brought him to the Taper for the opening of a new production of "Pippin," one of the musicals that helped launched his multifaceted career almost 40 years ago. Vereen, 62, who had first scored on Broadway in 1972 as Judas in Tom O'Horgan's controversial staging of "Jesus Christ Superstar," won a Tony Award a year later for best actor in a musical for his role as Leading Player in the Stephen Schwartz musical.

The entertainer outside the Mark Taper Forum wearing a black fedora and a black Barack Obama T-shirt Sunday night beamed, simultaneously celebrating the country's future while embracing his own past. "Can't you feel it?" said Ben Vereen, fingering the white scarf draped around his Obama shirt. "It's like an out-of-body experience. You can feel the universe shift. I'm just so proud of President Obama and this country." While Vereen was still ebullient after attending Obama's inauguration, it was nostalgia that brought him to the Taper for the opening of a new production of "Pippin," one of the musicals that helped launched his multifaceted career almost 40 years ago. Vereen, 62, who had first scored on Broadway in 1972 as Judas in Tom O'Horgan's controversial staging of "Jesus Christ Superstar," won a Tony Award a year later for best actor in a musical for his role as Leading Player in the Stephen Schwartz musical.

BLYTHE MATSUI holds her arm straight out, hand flat, palm up, while rotating her body. Dressed in a white lace tank top cropped above her navel and camouflage cargo pants rolled up to reveal high-heeled leather boots, the dancer-choreographer and former Laker Girl turns to Mike Moh, an extreme martial arts specialist, and says: "Blade open."

Oh, glorious, glamorous, glittery gowns--"La Cage aux Folles" is in our midst. We're talking serious musical comedy here, not the ordinary kind found on summer nights. This is the real thing, the Broadway-bedazzled, sequin-draped extravaganza that has enthralled audiences from coast to coast, from stage to film and back again. You want tender love stories? "La Cage" has two. You like million-dollar costumes and scenery that oozes financial folly?

The Burbank Civic Light Opera is probably local theater's best-kept secret. Well, it's about to stretch its muscles and and make itself better known. Founded 45 years ago, the company has been plying its trade all these years at Burbank's Starlight Bowl as a nonunion venue. That's changing this year as the company embarks on its first season with an Equity contract. This is also the first year that Burbank light opera has a contract with the Musicians Union.