The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 155

LOS ANGELES TIMES F10 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1994 Cornerstone Makes 'Everyman' a Ball at the Mall Vegas LAS Laughlin Comedy rules at Catch A Rising Star The Santa Monica-based Cornerstone Theater Company has revived this creaky chestnut with a bold leap into environmental theater. In "Everyman in the Mall," the troupe leads the audience past vending carts and through service corridors as the hapless Everyman journeys toward his spiritual reckoning. The result is some of the most engaging and visually exciting theater in town. In truth, "Everyman" is no great shakes as a play. We read (and, on very rare occasions, perform) it less on account of its crude dramaturgy than its historic role as a bridge between medieval church performance and the secular theater of Shakespeare, Marlowe and others.

Yet directors Shishir Kurup and Bill Rauch have creatively employed the mall's shops and public spaces to mine the essential drama out of the title character's quest for redemption. While often adopting a tongue-in-cheek tone and playfully updating and revising numerous passages the production remains as true to the humanistic spirit of the text as its nameless author could have hoped. The performance begins in a small second-level auditorium, where audience members and the multiethnic cast mingle in a make-believe "convention of gods and goddesses." A door prize is ed a plastic canteen, on review night just as Death (Page Leong) suddenly appears amid swirling fog in front of a toy store. From there, the imaginations of Kurup, Rauch and company seldom flag. The six principal cast members rotate through the role of Everyman, who rushes to prepare for Death by consulting such trusted mall personages as Fellowship (here played by Ashby Semple as a rich mall shopper), and Goods (Leong, as a blond-wigged mannequin in a window display).

The sheer technical demands, including the use of follow-spots and wireless mikes in the cavernous spaces, are daunting. But the show saves its most impressive strokes for the mall's familiar conveyances. Death, astride a staircase landing, issues her initial warning to Please see Fll By SCOTT COLLINS SPECIAL TO THE TIMES How surprised shoppers at Santa Monica Place must be when Death chases Everyman in the shadows of Victoria's Secret. It's certainly not your typical day at the mall. And yet what more fitting place to stage "Everyman," the anonymous 15th-century morality play and bane of English literature students everywhere, than in a temple to materialism? The text reminds us, after all, that "all earthly things are but vanity" and that includes frilly lingerie.

AM OPENINGS Comedian Ray Wold performs Monday through Sept. 25 at Catch a Rising Star at the MGM Grand. Also performing at the comedy club are stand-up comics Mike Dugan and Hiram Kasten. At the age of 18. Wold joined Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus.

In his current act, the former circus performer does tricks with fire and performs juggling and balancing routines. Dugan, who has performed on "The Tonight Show," offers such suggestions as "Liposuction would be a non-murderous way to harvest whale blubber." Kastom was an actor in New York City and also a cab driver, a waiter, an ambulance dispatcher and a bill collector. He auditioned as a comedian at the Comic Strip in 1978 and has since appeared on "Saturday Night Live," "Night Line," "The joe Franklin Show" and "Comedy JACKSON: Singer Appears Ready to Put Focus on Music Orange County openings can JAZZ SONNY ROLLINS, GROVER WASHINGTON ARTURO SANDOVAL (Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland 213 480-3232). A brass fantasy is promised when tenor giant Rollins and his band share the bill with sax man Washington and the Cuban expatriate trumpet player.

7:30 p.m. STAGE "MAJOR BARBARA" (Radisson Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood New kids' rides added at Circus Circus "A DEVILISHLY FINE FAUST. engrossing, provoking, moving evening in the opera house. Veronica Villarroel performed with superb dramatic conviction. of the memorable performances of the L.A.

Opera's past few seasons." -Scott Duncan, Orange County Register "FAUST mm to wonderous The Grand Slam Canyon attraction at Circus Circus HotelCasino has added several rides especially designed for children. Among the new children's rides are Thunderbirds, which are miniature fighter planes controlled by their pint-sized pilots; Miner Mike, a miniature roller coaster for children not yet big enough to go onto other rides like the Canyon Blaster, and the whirling Road Runner ride, where riders travel around and around. The Canyon Blaster is the nation's only indoor double-loop, double-corkscrew roller coaster. It travels through 140-foot-high sandstone cliffs and tunnels, and goes behind a waterfall. The Rim Runner plummets down the canyon's wild-water trail to a big splashdown, and the Hot Shots laser tag ride attraction is designed to challenge would-be warriors to do combat in a futuristic black-lit arena.

be found in What Goes On, F2. 213 683-3422). Samantha Eggar, Norman Lloyd, John Astin, Jeanette Nolan and Kathleen Freeman perform a live radio dramatization of George Bernard Shaw's classic. Presented by California Artists Radio Theatre. 1 :30 p.m.

Also Saturday. ART "TRANSITIONS" (L.A. Harbor College Art Gallery, 1111 Figueroa Place, Wilmington, 310 522-8474). Works by Sunglee Lee, Joelle Petit Adkins, Annie Malone and Bea Nettles. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Wednesday, 6-9 p.m.

Ends Oct. 13. 9149Clt4Knn music center atm. BARGAIN MATINEES IN I IKirTImTiSiiorl I AT THE WORID TRADE CENTER I FIGUEftOA OR FLOWER ST ENTRANCES I Thumbs Upl" -Slskel Ebert FRESH nm i-in nnii GRANDE JL Fkjueroa at 3rd St. 213617-0268 Harrison Ford CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER NOSTRADAMUS JJf Barseg Tumanyan as 'P'jfifi 1 Mephistophtlit in Faust ii Flrthlan Holm THE ADVOCATE and amazing Director Frank Corsaro filled the stage with action, nicely deployed crowds and dazzling solo rich and Alan Rich, Variety high prices $100 and more commanded this year by such acts as Barbra Streisand and the Eagles.

"This is not a hew basis for ticket prices," says Denver-based concert promoter Barry Fey. "Even Michael Jackson will not be viewed the same as Streisand, Pink Floyd or the Eagles. But Michael has never been inclined to charge an outrageous ticket price." Jackson made his first public U.S. appearance since the surprise May wedding when he and his wife opened Thursday's MTV Video Music Awards in New York with a kiss. Though the couple was warmly applauded, industry observers say the real test of the last year's impact on Jackson's popu-, larity won't be known until the album goes on sale.

Other observers feel the tour will be an even bigger measure of Jackson's fan support. One reason for going on the road in February, Bongiovanni said, is that the market won't be as competitive as it is normally in the summer. Jackson's first public performance since last year could come on Oct. 8 for an Elvis Presley tribute concert in Memphis. He and Presley-Jackson are rumored to be part of the performing lineup for the show, which also will be televised as a pay-per-view special.

marked by "an overwhelmingly positive response," Kaye said. "We've received numerous letters and phone calls supporting the new policy." Monday afternoon, Neal declared that the policy would be permanent. Told of his victory by a reporter, Dreesman pronounced himself "absolutely elated. I've been studying Martin Luther King and Gandhi all my life. This is the first time I've had the chance to apply what I've learned." SHOVVriMEsToRloDAY I maun i ROYAL JL 3 11523 SanUVa" MUSIC 9036 Witshin Winner 40 Int'l Awards) fsj GOUNOD v.

22 Ray Wold The show runs from 8 to 10:30 nightly. Tickets are $12.50 per person. For more information, call (702) 891-7777. Some of the other rides for all ages include the Canyon Cars bumper cars; the airborne B.C. Bus; Sand Pirates, a swinging shop of the desert, and Drifters, which is a balloon Ferris wheel that soars high into the sky.

Passage of Time features eight animated, life-sized dinosaurs and hand-painted murals that depict the evolution of the behemoths that once ruled Earth. Also at this exhibit, "bleached bones" ot prehistoric monsters emerge from a giant sand pit, and children are allowed to dig as much as they want. The pit is surrounded by "ancient rock" that bears replicas of fossils. Circus Circus also offers the Mystic Magic Theatre and the Sega Arcade, the latter featuring state-of-the-art video games. On the mezzanine level, circus acts are performed free of charge from 11 a.m.

to midnight. For more information, call (702) 734-0410. mmmmmmmm Office (310) 458-7773 6 A.M. TO 8 P.M. or more and school performances (514) 522-9272.

480 3232 (714) 740-2000 essr KOSTK33.SFM Cirque du Soleil Merchandising dept. 1217, rue Notre-Dame Est Montreal (Quebec) Canada H2L2R3 FAX: (514) 522-2188 or call 1-800-678-5440 Zip Code: mm OPERA i Tickets at Music Center Box Office and through si(BiocKDtJiiefMUiicKODinwns'Mayiowri Please check curtain times: no late seating. Artists wf www PAV I LI subject to change. No refunds or exchanges. For information call 213 972-721 1.

Disabled access: 213 972-0777. Continued from Fl 1993 when allegations were made that he had sexually molested a teen-age boy. Numerous shows were subsequently either post-. poned or canceled before the tour was ultimately scrapped in No- vember when the singer said he needed treatment for an addiction to a painkiller. the time- there was mucn public speculation about whether the allegations would permanently damage Jackson's image as an entertainer.

But with a settlement hv that case and his recent mar- riage, there's a perception that the time is ripe for Jackson to try to i reclaim his self -proclaimed status i as the "King of Pop." i V'Michael needs to reconnect wjth his audience," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert industry trade magazine Pollstar. "And he really needs to do it in North America." i But Bongiovanni and others in the concert industry warned that Jackson should not assume that his 1 drawing power is unlimited. "He should certainly not play stadiums," says Bongiovanni, re- ferring to the strategy of the 1984 stadium tour that he did with his brothers. "That's too risky." v- 'The consensus also is that should not be tempted by the RADIO lfcbntinued from F4 nd were against station policy Unless the dedication was made initials or a nickname, such -as'Toochie." V. told Dreesman about 4 Jthe station's refusal, and Dreesman jrote KOST a six-page letter.

I remained gay after being bombarded all my life exclusively with heterosexual images, what are the chances that a small amount of homosexual images will change the Children who are heterosexual?" he wrote. The ban, he said, is "socially destructive and morally Avrong. You are hurting those who are gay by depriving them of urgently needed role models and a place in society." Kaye found the letter "passionate and convincing," and discussed it with his staff. In early August, he wrote Dreesman that KOST was tentatively lifting the ban to "see what kind of reaction we receive. We trust it will be positive." Dreesman soon called to dedicate a song to Caudillo.

"The deejay asked me about Raul. She asked what I liked about him and why. She asked how long we had been together. I told her we'd been together for a year, and how much liked his good heart and courage. Tf seemed like we were talking on air an extra long time." The weeks since that and similar dedications went out have been Final 15 perfs.

Ends Sept. 25! Mark Taper Forum Music Cento of lot Amta Cow IttHortnGrandAw.LMAnoUg MARIETTE CAROLINE CHARLES HARTLEY AARON CIOFFI WENDY WASSERSTEIN DIRECTED BY DANIEL SULLIVAN Ends Sunday, Sept 18! iHiiaiiouil ol liie uuumiie 1615 N. Win Street, Hollywood HALL 310274-6869 Monica Bl. 310477-5581 HACE IK THE WOULD "Two Thumbs Upt" -Slskel Ebert SUNDAY'S CHILDREN No Shows Today 5UNSET-5 Wis- "Two 213848-3500 Starts Fri Hong Kong Showcase AmyYtpin EROTIC OHOST STORY A New EAT DRIHK Colin 1332 2nd SI. 310394-9741 Rim by Ang Lee MAN WOMAN Woody Harrelson in Oliver Stone's NATURAL IORN RULERS Tom Hanks FORREST GUMP THE MONKEY CIAO.PROKSSOHB SPANKING "Two Thumbs Ebert IMSH Eric VIDA L0Cfc MY CRAZY LIFE (2:15) ZOE (4:40) Sep.

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