Thespian Thoughts – Theatre Review – Von Bach at Fremont Centre Theatre
A Zany, Roller Coaster of Horror Movies, Pop Culture and their Consequences GO!!!!
Review By Cassie Jordan
Ask yourself this question, “What if Dr. Frankenstein, Dracula, Mary Shelly, & Bram Stoker were alive today, would they like what their books and reputations have become?” Well, Owen Hammer & Scott Rognlien’s brilliant production of Von Bach answers that question!
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Owen Hammer & Scott Rognlien’s hilarious Von Bach gives us a chance to see, through wonderfully written zingers and pop culture references, how one story can get so twisted and warped by Hollywood that no one is sure if the story was ever real. It also shows how the actor can become more famous that the character. My favorite quote by Dr. Von Bach was, “So, Movies are an inherently dishonest medium.” Hmmm… interesting!
Von Bach is the story of Mina, an inspiring Hollywood playwrite, desperate to get the Elsa Jaeger’s novel made into a credible movie. It also follows Connor Krupa, the great grandson of Inus Krupa, a lawyer out to protect and cash in on the family name anyway he can. The film itself is fraught with many obstacles: star actors dropping out, rewrites, a crazy Boba addicted Studio Head, a drug-recovering director, and green suited CGI actors filling in for real actors to name a few. But things really fall apart when the real undead, Dr. Von Bach, comes back to life and through violence and thc LA court system will stop at nothing to get the production shut down. He wants to protect his reputation as a brilliant scientific genius, not the bloodthirsty destructive monster so many of the films and TV shows that have gone before have portrayed him as.
Von Bach’s very talented cast of JONATHAN HOWARD, MAIA PETERS, JR REED, SUMMER HERRICK STEVENS, MATT TAYLOR, ANNIE TERRY and DAVID WILCOX
did an excellent and amazing job of seamlessly working together as an ensemble to play multiple characters that supported the story. Two actors even played 5 or 6 characters different characters. No one was upstaging each other or showboating which was a welcome change in LA Theatre. WELL DONE!!!!!
The Costumer did a great job of creating an array of costumes and versatile pieces that were functional for the actor’s very quick changes. Set Designer, Kurtis Bedford did an excellent job of portraying many varied locations and time periods through several multi-purpose and revolving set pieces. Lighting/ Projection Designer, Kate Leahy, and Sound Designer, Matt Richter, did an amazing job of showing us during the scene changes all the various evolutions and variations of the “Von Bach Opus,” as well as the effect Von Bach is having on Pop Culture from the Von Bach impersonators on Hollywood Blvd. to Bach Coms to TMZ.
All of the actors in the many film excerpts should be applauded as well, for they added a great deal of history, details and laughs to what a explosive legend VON BACH has become. So will Mina’s Von Bach ever reach the screen? Will anyone survive Von Bach to see it? Well, run, do not walk to Pasadena’s Freemont Centre Theatre to see! Bwahahahahahahahh!!!!
Cast list: JONATHAN HOWARD, MAIA PETERS, JR REED, SUMMER STEVENS,
MATT TAYLOR, LORI ANN EDWARDS and DAVID WILCOX
“VON BACH”
Written by OWEN HAMMER
Directed and produced by SCOTT ROGNLIEN
Presented by THE NEXT ARENA and CALIFORNIA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Runs from February 16-March 10 2013
Saturdays at 8:00pm
Sundays at 3:00pm
Location: FREMONT CENTRE THEATRE
1000 FREMONT AVENUE (at El Centro)
SOUTH PASADENA, CA 91030
Reservations (866) 811-4111
Online Ticketing Freemont Centre Theatre
Photos by Scott Rognlien.
Thespian Thoughts is a show on Actors Entertainment, a channel of the Actors Podcast Network, a Pepper Jay Production.