The Malibu Stage Company’s fourth annual fundraiser last Sunday evening, “No Applause—Just Throw Money,” delivered laughs, tears, music and even magic, as well as dinner, dessert and drinks. It also delivered a much needed jolt of about $5,000 in cash to our local theater group. The event was produced by Gigi Goyette and directed by Claudia Zahn, Diane Carroll and Richard Johnson.
The evening began with dinner and ended several hours later after a potpourri of performances, dramatic, comical, musical and magical. Included were Malibu’s Trish Van Devere reciting Hamlet’s famous actors’ directions, an enchanting rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Catharine Dao, a touching Billie Holliday personification by Jaqui Hylton and a mystifying magic act by Malibu High graduate Kristin Lambert.
The evening’s concluding sketch, “Wanda’s Visit” by Christopher Durang, brought down the house. Tommie Trudeau, in full drag, evoked peals of laughter as Wanda, a coarse, blowsy, full-bodied former high school girlfriend intruding into the life of a happily married former boyfriend, played cringingly by Richard Johnson and his wondering wife portrayed by Gigi Goyette.
If the performances at this fundraiser are an indication of the quality of MSC’s upcoming 2012-13 season, Malibu is in for a treat. The season commences September 7 with “Art,” the Tony Award-winning play by Yamina Riza. Tickets can be purchased online at brownpapertickets.com or by calling MSC at 310.589.1998.
The a capella quartet of Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix will perform a benefit for MSC at the Smothers Theater at Pepperdine University on September 12. Tickets can by ordered at the Smothers Theater box office, 310.506.4522, or at MSC, 310.589.1998.