Curtain Call
By Jordan Ikeda
Rafu Staff Writer
Sunday, May 17, 2009

East West Players closes out season with two one-act musicals.

Michael Lamont/East West Players
Mike Dalagar, left, and Jennifer Hubilla star in Stephen Sondheim’s “Marry Me a Little” set to premiere at EWP Wednesday night.

Paz and Lee start in “The Last Five Years.”

As East West Players’ (EWP) 43rd Anniversary Season comes to a close next month, evidence of striving to live up to this year’s title, “Beyond Presence,” can be found in every disco kick, each mother-daughter bridge crossed and nearly every moment of self-reflexive Asian levity.

Closing out the season are two one-act plays focused on the total range of emotions involved with relationships: “Marry Me a Little” by Stephen Sondheim, directed by Jules Aaron and “The Last Five Years” by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera will open Wednesday, May 13 at the David Henry Hwang Theatre in Little Tokyo.

“Marry Me a Little” is a compi­lation of Sondheim songs that did not make it into any of his other Broadway musicals, woven into a simple tale of two lonely people during one evening in their small, one-bedroom apartments.

“It’s a rarely done piece,” Mike Dalagar, who co-stars in the play, told the Rafu Shimpo. “It’s sort of overshadowed by [Sondheim’s] more popular works. The way I approach theater, because there is so much out there, any opportunity to do a rarely done show, is a great way to discover it.”

The piece features songs that were cut from “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum,” “Anyone Can Whistle,” and “Company,” “Follies” and “A Little Night of Music.”

“It’s two sides of two separate love stories,” said Jennifer Hubilla who stars opposite Dalagar. “It’s a journey of their own memories and things that have gone on in their lives and also are going on in their lives. And it’s something that people can really relate to.”
Brown’s piece, “The Last Five Years,” starring Michael K. Lee and Jennifer Paz, is about a 5-year relationship that ends in divorce told from two different perspec­tives. The woman’s perspective moves from the end of the marriage back towards the beginning, while the man’s perspective is from the beginning forward. The two stories meet somewhere in the middle.

“I think what is exciting about this show ending the season is that we are the first Asian American company to do this piece,” said Paz. “Robert Brown is kind of like our generation’s Stephen Sond­heim, the current hot Broadway composer.”

“With this play, you see the disintegration and the creation of a relationship all at the same time.” said Lee. “What do you expect? You expect life. And in life you have comedy and drama both.”

All performances of “Marry Me a Little” and “The Last Five Years” will be staged at the David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts is located at 120 Judge John Aiso St. Performances are Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The last performance will be Sunday, June 21.

General ticket prices are $50 in the orchestra and $45 in the balcony. Opening night tickets are $70 for all seats. Tickets are currently on sale. For ticket pur­chases or more information, call EWP at (213) 625-7000 or visit www.eastwestplayers.org. Senior, student and group discounts are available. Dates and details are subject to change.