Tony Cai and Michael Scotto offer Freeconvo (free conversation) at Palisades Park on Sunday, December 8, 2013. Free conversation is a social engagement project, which aims to get people to drop their facades, connect with real people in real life, build a community and have a ton of fun doing it #FreeConvo
Santa Claus rides in a red convertible on Wilshire Blvd during the Santa Monica Firefighters' & Police Officers' Association annual 'Candy Cane Drive' on Saturday, December 7, 2013.
The cast of "Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel," Megan Rippey, Sol Mason, Paul Sand and Shay Astar perform during dress rehearsal at the West End theatre on the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday, December 5, 2013.
Tony Award-winning actor/director Paul Sand is creating a limited-run show at what will be called the West End Theatre, transforming an enclosed observation deck at the end of the Santa Monica Pier into what will be a cabaret-style performing space.
Inaugurating the theatre will be “Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel” – a performance of a collection of the famed German composer’s songs – that will open Friday, Dec. 6.
“I was taking a walk on the pier recently when I suddenly thought, ‘Wouldn’t this be a perfect place to have a theater and present a vivid production of Kurt Weill’s dark, theatrical waterfront songs all about revenge, murder and broken hearts?’” said Sand, who lives near the pier. “And Kurt himself walked this pier, sometimes with his friend and collaborator Bertolt Brecht, who had a house not far away in Santa Monica.”
Sand contacted Jim Harris, deputy director of the Santa Monica Pier Corp., who welcomed the idea enthusiastically.
“For years the pier has been trying to expand its programming to include a variety of arts, and the one area that’s been lacking is theatre,” Harris said. “Cabaret will work wonderfully in that space.”
Currently an enclosed observation deck that sits above Mariasol Restaurant, the space has been underutilized, Harris said. But Sand already knows how he will transform the room into an atmosphere-soaked cabaret, complete with special lighting, commissioned murals on canvas, and musicians welcoming visitors as they enter the space. (The cabaret will be a “pop-up” theatre on Friday and Saturday nights but will otherwise continue to be open to the public as an observation deck.)
Director and performer in the show, Sand enlisted Michael Roth, a Weill expert who lives just a block away from Brecht’s former house in Santa Monica, to be his music director. His fellow cast members are Megan Rippey, Shay Astar and Sol Mason, who plays the narrator.
Songs to be performed include some of Weill’s best-known songs: “Mack the Knife,” “Pirate Jenny” and “Barbara Song” from “Threepenny Opera,” which Weill penned with Brecht; “Surabaya Johnny” from “Happy End;” and “Luck Song,” also known as “The Insufficiency of Human Behavior.” The finale will be “The Alabama Song” from “Mahagonny,” also written with Brecht, performed by the entire company.
Sand, who was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Santa Monica (at one time he actually lived on the pier, above the carousel) and Silverlake, has had a long and impressive career on stage and in film and television. At a young age he studied with Marcel Marceau in Paris and at Chicago’s Second City.
His first job was singing and dancing with Judy Garland in her classic, “We’re a Couple of Swells,” that toured the west coast.
In 1966 he co-starred with Linda Lavin and Jo Ann Worley in the off-Broadway hit production, “The Mad Show,” inspired by Mad Magazine.
Five years later, he received a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his work on Broadway in “Paul Sill’s Story Theatre.”
In 1974 he was the star of the CBS sitcom, “Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers.” “After that I spent years being everybody’s boyfriend, from Mary Tyler Moore to Carol Burnett to all the brilliant funny ladies,” he said.
He has appeared in dozens of television shows dating back to the 1960s, including “Taxi,” St. Elsewhere,” “The X Files” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
The West End Theatre is expected to have 50 to 60 seats, depending on whether tables are included in the space.
“Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel” will open for one performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6. Beginning Dec. 13, performances will Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. The show will run through Dec. 21, with the possibility of extension.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased athttp://www.eventbrite.com/event/8804429285. Parking is available on the pier and at beach level, just north of the pier.
Sand has clear ideas of the ambience he wants to create in the new theater. He has hired well-known artist Marie Lalanne to paint murals on canvas that will be hung behind the stage. There will be a hotel sign outside featuring a red cuttlefish, and a musician playing on the deck just outside the theater will lead the audience – drinks in hand, if they so wish – into the cabaret.
“I want to make it a hypnotic show,” he said. “I want to get them under my spell and keep them there.”
Paul Sand Presents Kurt Weill at The Cuttlefish Hotel The cast of "Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel," Megan Rippey, Sol Mason, Paul Sand and Shay Astar perform during dress rehearsal at the West End theatre on the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday, December 5, 2013.
Tony Award-winning actor/director Paul Sand is creating a limited-run show at what will be called the West End Theatre, transforming an enclosed observation deck at the end of the Santa Monica Pier into what will be a cabaret-style performing space.
Inaugurating the theatre will be “Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel” – a performance of a collection of the famed German composer’s songs – that will open Friday, Dec. 6.
“I was taking a walk on the pier recently when I suddenly thought, ‘Wouldn’t this be a perfect place to have a theater and present a vivid production of Kurt Weill’s dark, theatrical waterfront songs all about revenge, murder and broken hearts?’” said Sand, who lives near the pier. “And Kurt himself walked this pier, sometimes with his friend and collaborator Bertolt Brecht, who had a house not far away in Santa Monica.”
Sand contacted Jim Harris, deputy director of the Santa Monica Pier Corp., who welcomed the idea enthusiastically.
“For years the pier has been trying to expand its programming to include a variety of arts, and the one area that’s been lacking is theatre,” Harris said. “Cabaret will work wonderfully in that space.”
Currently an enclosed observation deck that sits above Mariasol Restaurant, the space has been underutilized, Harris said. But Sand already knows how he will transform the room into an atmosphere-soaked cabaret, complete with special lighting, commissioned murals on canvas, and musicians welcoming visitors as they enter the space. (The cabaret will be a “pop-up” theatre on Friday and Saturday nights but will otherwise continue to be open to the public as an observation deck.)
Director and performer in the show, Sand enlisted Michael Roth, a Weill expert who lives just a block away from Brecht’s former house in Santa Monica, to be his music director. His fellow cast members are Megan Rippey, Shay Astar and Sol Mason, who plays the narrator.
Songs to be performed include some of Weill’s best-known songs: “Mack the Knife,” “Pirate Jenny” and “Barbara Song” from “Threepenny Opera,” which Weill penned with Brecht; “Surabaya Johnny” from “Happy End;” and “Luck Song,” also known as “The Insufficiency of Human Behavior.” The finale will be “The Alabama Song” from “Mahagonny,” also written with Brecht, performed by the entire company.
Sand, who was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Santa Monica (at one time he actually lived on the pier, above the carousel) and Silverlake, has had a long and impressive career on stage and in film and television. At a young age he studied with Marcel Marceau in Paris and at Chicago’s Second City.
His first job was singing and dancing with Judy Garland in her classic, “We’re a Couple of Swells,” that toured the west coast.
In 1966 he co-starred with Linda Lavin and Jo Ann Worley in the off-Broadway hit production, “The Mad Show,” inspired by Mad Magazine.
Five years later, he received a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his work on Broadway in “Paul Sill’s Story Theatre.”
In 1974 he was the star of the CBS sitcom, “Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers.” “After that I spent years being everybody’s boyfriend, from Mary Tyler Moore to Carol Burnett to all the brilliant funny ladies,” he said.
He has appeared in dozens of television shows dating back to the 1960s, including “Taxi,” St. Elsewhere,” “The X Files” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
The West End Theatre is expected to have 50 to 60 seats, depending on whether tables are included in the space.
“Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel” will open for one performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6. Beginning Dec. 13, performances will Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. The show will run through Dec. 21, with the possibility of extension.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased athttp://www.eventbrite.com/event/8804429285. Parking is available on the pier and at beach level, just north of the pier.
Sand has clear ideas of the ambience he wants to create in the new theater. He has hired well-known artist Marie Lalanne to paint murals on canvas that will be hung behind the stage. There will be a hotel sign outside featuring a red cuttlefish, and a musician playing on the deck just outside the theater will lead the audience – drinks in hand, if they so wish – into the cabaret.
“I want to make it a hypnotic show,” he said. “I want to get them under my spell and keep them there.”
Paul Sand Presents Kurt Weill at The Cuttlefish Hotel
Jews celebrate the fourth night of Chanukah at the Third Street Promenade on Saturday, November 30, 2013. The Menorah lighting ceremony was presented by Chabad House Lubavitch of Santa Monica.
Each year the American Red Cross collect cards between October and early December and then distribute them at military installations, veterans hospitals, and in other locations. The Red Cross has received and distributed more than 6.5 million cards for members of the U.S. Armed Forces, veterans and their families since the program began in 2006. The cards and personal messages, sent by tens of thousands of Americans, provide a welcome “touch of home” for our troops during the holiday season. Over 1.5 million troops serve our great nation. Many of them will be overseas, in harm’s way and away from their families this holiday season. You can help the Red Cross send a thank you card to every American Hero. For more information, please click on the link below or follow the American Red Cross "Holiday Mail for Heroes." page.
The Holiday Mail for Heroes mailbox is open from now through Friday, December 6. The Red Cross invites the public to send messages of thanks and holiday cheer by mailing them to:
A woman puts on her stache at Hotel Erwinduring the inaugural Venice Beach Stouts n Staches Fest on Saturday, November 23, 2013. Local businesses and members of the Venice community came together to celebrate the culture and history of great moustaches and to raise awareness for men's health issues and funds for the Movember Foundation.
Fabian Lewkowicz
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