Theater

A group of us were shocked at the positive review of the schlock the Mark Taper Forum is offering audiences this month ("Likable 'Jazz' Gets in the Swing of Things," by Reed Johnson, Dec. 5). We were attracted to the show by the famous names of composer Cy Coleman, writer Larry Gelbart, lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman, choreographer Patricia Birch and director Gordon Davidson. What a waste of good talent. "Like Jazz" is a bland cabaret act -- not theater. Why pay major dollars for a Broadway show that should have been presented in an intimate club?

Regarding the July 15 Comment ("Thanks for the Theaters, Magic, but Why Such Nasty Security?") by Earl Ofari Hutchinson, this was the third consecutive weekend I went to Magic's theaters and I continue to be awestruck by the sheer volume of foot traffic and activity they have brought to that community. As you enter the parking lot you struggle to find a parking space, something all to common at most malls but never a problem at the Baldwin Hills center. Then as you enter the theater, you can't help from feeling a powerful sense of pride from the beautiful first class lobby to the people who are employed there, anywhere from 35 to 50 mostly young African Americans from the neighborhood are working concession stands, ticket booths, security detail, theater admittance, selling magic souvenirs and providing general information in a very polite way. You can't help but notice the "code of conduct" sign that is prominently displayed near the entrance, but everyone who reads it nods approvingly.

While I agree with Keith Evans that the new Performing Arts Center at Cal State Northridge is a "magnificent state-of-the-art theater" (Letters to the Valley Edition, Sept. 28), it is not correct that the university has given no thought to using the theater as a learning opportunity for students. On the contrary, this year some 50 students are working in the theater, some for money and some for academic credit. Students staff Evans' "Show of the Month" series. Further, the university currently enrolls about 300 students each year in internship projects involving different entertainment industry companies.

I know it is screamingly incorrect politically, but my reaction to seeing August Wilson's "Jitney" at the Mark Taper Forum was to wish that I was black . . . er . . . African American. If theater is a reflection of culture, the black culture represented in Wilson's play is alive and vital. In contrast, the white culture, if it is represented in Taper plays like "The Dinner Party," "Tongue of a Bird" and "How I Learned to Drive," is whiny, small-minded and anemic. At the conclusion of the latter plays, the audience applauded politely and wandered lethargically away, leaving those of us who love the theater to bewail its imminent demise.

On Thursday, Stephen Barton and his friend Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent had pedaled their bikes 80 exhausting miles as part of a cross-country tour. They met up with a friend in Aurora and decided to go to a midnight showing of the new Batman movie. The 12:01 show was sold out. So they went to the 12:05 screening, sitting halfway up in the stadium seating. Ten, maybe 20 minutes passed. On screen, Bruce Wayne and his butler, Alfred, were sharing a solemn moment. Suddenly, something arced across the screen, from right to left.

The final presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney takes place Monday evening in Boca Raton, Fla., and if the concluding round is anything like the other two, the theatrical presentation of the candidates will be more closely scrutinized and squabbled over than their platforms and positions. To determine the outcome, an army of talking heads will attempt to turn the study of body language, intonation and facial expressions into a science on par with handwriting analysis and horoscopes.

AURORA, Colo. - The first big gun battle in “The Dark Knight Rises” was underway and Batman fan Eric Hunter heard three pops and saw thick black smoke coming into the theater. Startled, he jumped up but then sat back down, assuming it was a publicity stunt for the movie. Hunter was in Theater 8 at the Century 16 multiplex. Next door in Theater 9, a gunman had just opened fire on the audience. As Hunter recalled the scene Friday morning, he then heard about eight more pops. This was no stunt.

DENVER, Colo. - Three people injured in the Aurora theater shootings filed lawsuits Friday against the parent company of the theater, alleging that it failed to protect moviegoers. Two lawsuits, one on behalf of Brandon Axelrod and his wife, Denise Traynom, both of Denver, and one on behalf of Joshua Nowlan of Aurora were filed in U.S. District Court in Denver asking for unspecified damages in excess of $75,000. All three were attending the midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” when a gunman opened fire inside the theater not long after the movie began.

The word "decline" has cast a dark shadow over more than just America's prosperity. The theater has been in a downward slope since the recession, and only those with their head in the sand could overlook the plummeting number of theatrical offerings, the fall off in institutional ambition, the degeneration of book musicals and the eroded ability of the art form to mirror its own contemporary moment. Was there a drama as revealing of the zeitgeist as the film "The Social Network" or as expansively ruminative about what led us to this current hole as Jonathan Franzen's novel "Freedom"?