03.07.19

• ARTS •
PHOTO: Craig Schwartz
RIDING THE RAILS …
TO COVINA
BRAD COLERICK LEADS MUSICAL
RAIL TO THE FRET EXCURSION ON
METROLINK FROM UNION STATION TO
THE FRET HOUSE SATURDAY
P.19
BY CARL KOZLOWSKI
Family is a powerful force in the lives of most everyone, providing
either love and support or an oppressive source of negativity
and discouragement. That tenuous dynamic formed the heart of
legendary playwright Tennessee Williams’ classic play “The Glass
Menagerie” when it debuted to great acclaim in 1944, and has kept it
relevant all the way to the present.
A powerful new production of “Menagerie” is currently running
at A Noise Within theater through April 26, starring Deborah Strang
as Amanda Wingfield in a role she previously played with ANW in
1997 at its original Glendale location. Amanda is the eccentric and
addled matriarch of a family that’s been fading from earlier glories
ever since her husband abandoned her, son Tom and daughter Laura
FILM | THEATER | BOOKS | MUSIC | COMMUNITY | LISTINGS
CITY OF ART
ARTNIGHT PASADENA RETURNS
WITH 20 WAYS TO ENJOY
EXPRESSION
SHATTERED ‘GLASS’
A NOISE WITHIN PRESENTS TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’ DYSFUNCTIONAL
FAMILY CLASSIC ‘THE GLASS MENAGERIE’ THROUGH APRIL 26
P.21
Rafael Goldstein in The Glass Menagerie
16 years before, and their lives are shaken when a “gentleman caller”
named Jim O’Connor from Laura’s past shows up one night to woo
her as a favor to Tom.
According to actor Kasey Mahaffy, who plays the enigmatic Jim,
“Menagerie” has had a stirring effect on audiences young and old
already in this run — largely due to the passion Williams brought to
his writing, as the play was a key means of his ability to deal with
his own difficult upbringing. He feels that the play’s messages on
family and on how individuals deal with their dreams draws such
strongly universal reactions that the play could be presented in a
straightforward fashion close to its original 1937 design, rather than
radically reinvented in the vein of some other ANW productions.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
ALMOST
‘MARVEL’-OUS
‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’ PROVIDES SOME-
TIMES TOO MUCH FUN AS THE FIRST
FEMALE-LED MCU FILM
P.24
GET YOUR OWN...
BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER
ROUGH CUSTOMERS
Authors Bryan
Mealer (“The
Kings of Big
Spring”) and
Joshua Wheeler
(“Acid West”)
present a
discussion,
“Busted: Brash
New Stories from
Texas and New
Mexico,” about the hardscrabble times, places
and people in those areas, starting at 7:30 p.m.
tonight, Thursday, March 7 at the Huntington,
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Free; no
reservations required. Call (626) 405-2100 or
visit huntington.org.
RECENT FILM
Free films screen
at 1 p.m. on
select Fridays
at the Pasadena
Senior Center,
85 E. Holly
St., Pasadena.
Friday’s film is
“The Old Man and
the Gun” (2018)
starring Robert
Redford. Call (626) 795-4331 or visit
pasadenaseniorcenter.org.
CLASSICAL CONCERT
The Caltech
Orchestra,
conducted by
Allen Robert
Gross, performs,
featuring
Caltech graduate
students,
including flute
soloists Madison
Douglas and
Leah Sabbeth, starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday
and 3:30 p.m. Sunday in Caltech’s Ramo
Auditorium, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena.
Works include those by Doppler, Bartók and
Tchaikovsky. Free. Call (626) 395-3295 or visit
events.caltech.edu.
YOUTHFUL VOICES
The Los Angeles
Children’s Chorus
performs along
with Germany’s
Hamburg Girls’
Choir, singing
works by northern
European
composers at
7 p.m. Sunday
at Pasadena
Presbyterian Church, 585 E. Colorado Blvd.,
Pasadena. Free. Call (626) 793-4231 or visit
lachildrenschorus.org
03.07.19 | PASADENA WEEKLY 17