2008 Woodie Awards
Twilight Zone blends fantasy with horror, enters parallel universe
By: Jesse Seilhan
Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: Entertainment
What: "Twilight Zone Live!"
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday
Where: Blue Room Theatre
For one night, downtown entered a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity.
The classic "Twilight Zone" series, which ran for five years in the early '60s, was brought to the Blue Room Theatre on Friday night in "Twilight Zone Live!" Tales of suicide, fascism, tragedy and horror were given a fantastic treatment with personality.
Rod Serling's "The Obsolete Man" and Earl Hamner Jr.'s "The Ring-a-Ding Girl" were the highlight of the show. "The Obsolete Man" is the tale of a dystopian society ruled with an iron law, where books, thoughts and individuality are rendered obsolete. "The Ring-a-Ding Girl" tells a traditional small-town-girl-goes-to-Hollywood story but pushes the horror high with near anarchy at the end of the performance.
The two plays are based on lesser-known episodes, co-director Cheryl Battles said.
"They aren't ones that everybody knows, yet they still have that classic 'Twilight Zone' feel," she said.
Littering the walls of the Blue Room are framed posters of past productions, written by stage legends such as David Mamet and Martin McDonogh. Friday, however, it was Craig Blamer who had his cast and crew assembled to bring Serling's radio and television show to life.
"It's a Chico tradition," said Quentin St. George, who starred in the first two acts of "The Obsolete Man."
The cast ranged from veteran actors to nervous newcomers, but the acting was superb. Actors kept true to the source material's tone, rather than focusing on making sure every punctuation mark was identical to Serling and Hamner's scripts.
The audience had a great time getting into each story and impromptu participation during the first show's finale added excitement.
The start of the night was a two-man show between St. George and Jesse Mills, playing ideological opposites, librarian Romney Wordsworth and the maniacal chancellor. Duffy's co-owner Roger Montalbano shined as the grizzled family physician, Doctor Floyd.
Halfway into the first act of "The Obsolete Man," the audience was treated to a live commercial, plugging Sacred Art Tattoo and Body Piercing. A Larry King-style call-in show during "Ring-a-Ding Girl" helped promote Chico's DUI King.
That got the audience laughing, as did the call for "15 minutes to get a beer!" in between the two performances.
Blamer said, "We like to intersperse humor throughout the show."
Much of the enjoyment should be attributed to Vance Lynch, who not only voiced offscreen characters in both a mini-commercial and the first performance, but his use of authentic sounds and creepy visuals, put the audience in the mood.
The audience enjoyed the nostalgia of the production.
"The classic look gave it that authenticity that made the original series so intriguing," said audience member Alicia Baijounas.
Opening night for "Twilight Zone Live!" was a success. The audience members left happy, the cast knew the material and the effort put into the performances shined through.
Jesse Seilhan can be reached at
jseilhan@theorion.com
Related links
Blue Room Theatre Web site
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday
Where: Blue Room Theatre
For one night, downtown entered a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity.
The classic "Twilight Zone" series, which ran for five years in the early '60s, was brought to the Blue Room Theatre on Friday night in "Twilight Zone Live!" Tales of suicide, fascism, tragedy and horror were given a fantastic treatment with personality.
Rod Serling's "The Obsolete Man" and Earl Hamner Jr.'s "The Ring-a-Ding Girl" were the highlight of the show. "The Obsolete Man" is the tale of a dystopian society ruled with an iron law, where books, thoughts and individuality are rendered obsolete. "The Ring-a-Ding Girl" tells a traditional small-town-girl-goes-to-Hollywood story but pushes the horror high with near anarchy at the end of the performance.
The two plays are based on lesser-known episodes, co-director Cheryl Battles said.
"They aren't ones that everybody knows, yet they still have that classic 'Twilight Zone' feel," she said.
Littering the walls of the Blue Room are framed posters of past productions, written by stage legends such as David Mamet and Martin McDonogh. Friday, however, it was Craig Blamer who had his cast and crew assembled to bring Serling's radio and television show to life.
"It's a Chico tradition," said Quentin St. George, who starred in the first two acts of "The Obsolete Man."
The cast ranged from veteran actors to nervous newcomers, but the acting was superb. Actors kept true to the source material's tone, rather than focusing on making sure every punctuation mark was identical to Serling and Hamner's scripts.
The audience had a great time getting into each story and impromptu participation during the first show's finale added excitement.
The start of the night was a two-man show between St. George and Jesse Mills, playing ideological opposites, librarian Romney Wordsworth and the maniacal chancellor. Duffy's co-owner Roger Montalbano shined as the grizzled family physician, Doctor Floyd.
Halfway into the first act of "The Obsolete Man," the audience was treated to a live commercial, plugging Sacred Art Tattoo and Body Piercing. A Larry King-style call-in show during "Ring-a-Ding Girl" helped promote Chico's DUI King.
That got the audience laughing, as did the call for "15 minutes to get a beer!" in between the two performances.
Blamer said, "We like to intersperse humor throughout the show."
Much of the enjoyment should be attributed to Vance Lynch, who not only voiced offscreen characters in both a mini-commercial and the first performance, but his use of authentic sounds and creepy visuals, put the audience in the mood.
The audience enjoyed the nostalgia of the production.
"The classic look gave it that authenticity that made the original series so intriguing," said audience member Alicia Baijounas.
Opening night for "Twilight Zone Live!" was a success. The audience members left happy, the cast knew the material and the effort put into the performances shined through.
Jesse Seilhan can be reached at
jseilhan@theorion.com
Related links
Blue Room Theatre Web site
Be the first to comment on this story