dianec42

And with the flipping of the page, the Lusty Month of May is over. What lusty thing did you do in May? Me, I went to St. Louis. But more on that later. We’re also near the end of the primary political season here in California. If you want to see my deep-dive ballot analysis and recommendations, you can find the posts here. Feel free to disagree with me and to comment on the posts, but note I’ve already cast my ballot. You might convince someone else, tho…

Going back to St. Louis. During the election season, I’ve seen loads of folks (especially on Nextdoor) complaining about the conditions of our city streets here in Los Angeles. Having driven in St. Louis for a week, we have it great in Los Angeles. Trotting down Gravois or Market or Grand or other streets within the city, we were rattling so much I thought I would lose a filling. No city is perfect, but LA streets are great compared to places that have freeze cycles.

Turning to the California Highways: Route by Route podcast: Tom and I are finishing up recording Season 4 (we have 2 episodes yet to record), and are planning the inter-season bonus episodes. I particularly like ep 4.12, which covers the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley, using the first segment of Route 14 as the starting point. I’m continuing the research for Season 5, which in may has meant looking into US 91, US 95, Sign Route 195, and some digressions into US 399 and US 466. Zencaster is working well for recording the podcast, although Tom had some microphone trouble in the last episode. As a reminder: You can help our listening audience grow. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episodes have been posted this month:

• May | CA RxR 4.11: Route 13: Oakland and Berkeley. With Episode 4.11, our attention turns to Route 13. In this episode, we look at LRN 13, Sign Route 13, and Route 13. LRN 13 was the Sonora and Mono Wagon Road, which became today’s Route 219 and Route 108. Sign Route 13 was short-lived, quickly being renumbered as Sign Route 17 and Route 17, and is today’s Route 17, I-880, and I-580 N of the Bay Bridge. The post-1964 Route 13 of today runs from Route 61 to Route 61 through Oakland and Berkeley, and is best known as the Warren Freeway and Ashby Blvd. As for Route 61, you’ll just have to listen to the episode. Next time: In Ep 4.12, we’ll look at Route 14 and the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley. Lastly, note that in this episode Tom was having microphone trouble, so his sound is a bit off (and I don’t know Audacity well enough to fix it). (Spotify for Creators)

As a reminder: One of the sources for the highway page updates (and the raison d’etre for for this post) are headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. I collect them in this post, which serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, and so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my highway-obsessed highway-interested readers.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for May 2026, which was a pretty light much for highway headlines of interest.

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. ＄＄ paywalls require the use of archive.ph. ☊ indicates an primarily audio article. 🎥 indicates a primarily video article. 🎩 indicates hat/tip to someone for finding this article. ]

Highway Headlines

• State Route 41 Expressway Project (FB/Caltrans District 6). Caltrans was honored to be part of Madera County’s official groundbreaking ceremony today on their new State Route 41 Expressway Project! The project will widen State Route 41, in both directions, from a two-lane highway to a four-lane expressway. The project is scheduled to be completed in May of 2028
• ＄ Highway 101 offramp closure planned in San Rafael (Marin I-J). The northbound Highway 101 offramp onto Manuel T. Freitas Parkway in San Rafael will be closed from 11 p.m. Monday through 5 a.m. Friday. The closure will allow Caltrans to perform drainage improvements related to the construction of an $11.5 million traffic roundabout at the intersection of Freitas Parkway at Civic Center Drive and Redwood Highway on the east side of the highway. The intersection, which closed in February, will remain closed through June for construction. The project is expected to be completed this fall.
• Embarcadero road improvements in Palo Alto scheduled for summer (San José Spotlight). Amid concerns about traffic congestion and emergency response times, one glaring issue that could arise if Palo Alto leaders decide to close the Churchill Avenue train crossing is the lack of an adequate detour for cyclists and pedestrians. For Palo Alto High School students trying to get to class, their most likely route would follow Embarcadero Road to get on the other side of the Caltrain tracks. But as students and residents have testified, walking or biking along the street feels dangerous due to the lack of pedestrian infrastructure and the speed of passing vehicles. Some residents have suggested that closing Churchill in an attempt to prevent youth suicides could have the unintended effect of causing injury or death to rerouted high schoolers attempting to traverse Embarcadero on the way to school.
• Half Moon Bay to host workshops on Highway 1 traffic, safety (Local News Matters). Half Moon Bay city officials are inviting residents to share feedback on traffic and safety concerns along Highway 1 during a series of community workshops this week.  The city will host a public “Discovery Workshop” and multiple open studio sessions to gather input on daily travel experiences and potential improvements to the highway corridor, according to city officials.  An in-person workshop is scheduled for May 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Half Moon Bay Library, along with a drop-in session earlier that day from 3 to 7 p.m. at the same location. Additional open studio sessions will be held May 7 and May 8 at the city’s Emergency Operations Center.
• $3M secured for ‘deck park’ over Interstate 5 in downtown Sacramento. How much more is needed? (Fox 40 Sacramento). More than $3 million in federal funding has been secured to help kickstart a long-discussed project aimed at reconnecting downtown Sacramento with the riverfront. But is it enough? The $3.15 million in funding would support planning for a proposed “deck park” over Interstate 5 between Capitol Mall and O Street, near the Crocker Art Museum. City leaders said the project would help address the divide created when Interstate 5 was built through Sacramento, separating downtown from the riverfront and displacing what was once part of the city’s Japantown.
• How this new ‘crisscross’ interchange will improve Vallejo traffic (KTVU FOX 2). More than $3 million in federal funding has been secured to help kickstart a long-discussed project aimed at reconnecting downtown Sacramento with the riverfront. But is it  enough? The $3.15 million in funding would support planning for a proposed “deck park” over Interstate 5 between Capitol Mall and O Street, near the Crocker Art Museum. City leaders said the project would help address the divide created when Interstate 5 was built through Sacramento, separating downtown from the riverfront and displacing what was once part of the city’s Japantown.

Just because we’re out of town doesn’t mean that the desire to see live performance goes away. While we were visiting our daughter in St. Louis, we were able to squeeze in two show. I’ll talk about them out of order, becauwe these writeups tend to focus more on theatre than concerts.

Roasted Ham

While in St. Louis, we had the opportunity to see the Black Repertory Theatre production of Fat Ham, which we last saw a little over two years ago at the Geffen, in a production starring The Neighborhood‘s Marcel Spears as Juicy. Here’s the synopsis of the play as I wrote it then:

Fat Ham transposes the story [of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet] to one about a black family, somewhere in the south, sometime in the near past. The program states that is is North Carolina or Virginia or Maryland or Tennessee, but not Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida. The time is sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, based on dress and hairstyles and such. It is a blue-collar level (but not poor) house, in a rural area, where the family business is a barbeque restaurant run by Pap and Rev, two brothers. Pap went to prison for gutting a customer like a pig, and while in prison, was shafted. It turns out that Rev, Pap’s brother, had arranged the shafting … and not a week after the funeral, Rev married Pap’s widow, Tedra. The play takes place in the backyard of Tedra’s house, where there is to be a celebration of the wedding.

The focus of the story is Juicy, Tedra’s son. After Juicy’s friend Tio sees Pap’s ghost, the ghost comes to Juicy and asks him to avenge his death. Juicy is conflicted. Story beats of the traditional Hamlet story play out in the backyard, as Rev’s friend, Rabby comes to visit with her two children, Larry (who is in the Marines) and Opal. There are both rough and obvious correspondences: Juicy/Hamlet, Rev/Claudius, Tedra/Gertrude, Tio/Horatio, Rabby/Polonius, Larry/Laertes, Opal/Ophelia. But not all of the character beats are the same, especially as the story goes on and the relationships get … shall we say more contemporary.

There are also some key changes in the characters, beyond the obvious transposition from the Court of Denmark to the rural south, with the “Kings” becoming owners of a BBQ Joint. Juicy is a bit of a schlubsy student, attending the University of Phoenix. His friend, Tio, is a stoner addicted to porn. Rabby is a high church lady, her son Larry is on leave from the Marines, and her daughter Opal wants to go to the Marines, although her mom wants her to be a debutant. Relationships are not traditional.

The production in Los Angeles was (essentially) the Broadway cast. The production of Black Rep was a regional production; essentially at the level of a Colony Theatre production: a 644 seat thrust stage, with three Equity actor positions and the rest cast regionally from the local non-Equity pool. The Geffen Playhouse production was in a 512 seat proscenium stage with a mostly Equity cast. How did the two productions compare?

Let’s start with the performances. The lead, Marshall W. Mabry IV Juicy brought a much darker energy to the role;  this isn’t a surprise as he wasn’t carrying the sitcom baggage of Marcel Spears. Mabry was a truly believable pseudo-Hamlet: brooding and angry. Enoch King was strong as Rev/Pap, bringing out two distinctly characterizations. Angela Wildflower was good as Tedra, although at times she spoke so fast it was hard to make out her words. To, ummm, amplify that last point: This production was not amplified (unlike most mid-sized productions in Los Angeles), and it was a bit harder to hear folks. Amplification isn’t required (witness our recent outing to Falstaff); however a bit more projection or volume would be good.

In the smaller roles: Brian McKinley was good as Larry, although on his initial entrance he was missing one button, which a Marine would never do. Raevyn Ferguson was strong as Opal—an interesting character who is almost as conflicted as Juicy. Margery Handy brought the right church-lady vibes to Rabby, and Olajuwon Davis captured Tio’s personality (although he also was hard to hear at times).

One additional note on the characters… and the audience. It was interesting to watch the interactions of the performers and the audience, and contrasting that with what I recall of the audience reaction at the Geffen. Here in St. Louis, we’re much closer to the Southern-style churchgoers than in Los Angeles. As such, there was more audience reaction as the tropes referenced in the play were recognized. The audience also didn’t have the complexion problem I see in Los Angeles: one of my major complaints with black-themed plays in Los Angeles is that the non-white audience often seems to stay away. When the Pasadena Playhouse does a black-themed production (common when Sheldon Epps was the artistic director), the audience seems to be 80% black; the pendulum would swing the other way for less diverse stagings. This would bother me quite a bit as I believe theatre is for all, and that theatre provides us the opportunity to learn about and gain insights into milieus different than our own. Alas in Los Angeles, despite its progressivism, audiences seem to self-segregate based on the show. That’s bad. The Edison audience, although far too small, was much more mixed. That’s a good thing. I just wish it was larger. We had, perhaps, only a quarter of the theatre filled. This was an excellent show with excellent performances. Why wasn’t the audience there? Memorial day weekend? Publicity problems? St. Louisians (if that’s a word): This is an excellent show. You should be going out to see it!

The set was remarkably similar to the one at the Geffen. The major difference was the treatment of Pap. At the Geffen, I remember him rising out of the smoker and rising out of the cooler. Here he generally came in from the side. Thankfully, the Black Rep production didn’t use a glitter cannon or balloon drop like the Geffen for the last scenes. I abhor such things for the waste of plastic that goes straight into the waste stream, and they have become far too common in theatre today. Black Rep found a way to bring the fun without the plastic.

There were a few minor production problems: at times, characters walked to the edge of the stage or came in from the edge of the stage and didn’t have the lighting they needed. There were also problems with the amplification of the Karaoke machine.

One other last complaint: Black Rep handed out a postcard Playbill, with a QR code linking to the actual playbill. I recognize this saves the production money, but at what costs. Most folks won’t go to the code and learn about the actors and production team. It won’t serve the advertisers that support the theatre. It won’t provide a physical record that lasts. Digital link rot is real. Websites get reorganized. Try to go to this link 10 years down the road, and there is a 95% chance the link won’t work anymore. Yet with a printed playbill it lasts. Last weekend, I filed playbills from about the last 20 or so years of theatre. I saw playbills in my files from the 1980s and 1990s. I couldn’t do that with the digital QR code playbills; I don’t get a memory that lasts. Digital playbills are a false economy. Give your playgoers a physical playbill, or at least have them available at the show. Print at a level of 50%, but print them. Color isn’t required.

Fat Ham continues at The Black Rep at the Edison Theatre on the grounds of Washington University, St. Louis, until June 7, 2026. Tickets are available through OvationTix. The Black Rep has announced their upcoming season, and it is a good one. Were they closer to Los Angeles, I might even subscribe. The 2026-2027 season is: The Color Purple—The Musical (Sep 9-27, 2026); The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe (Jan 6-24 2027); Purpose by Braden Jacob-Jenkens (Feb 3-21 2027); For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf  by Ntozake Shange (Mar 3-28 2027); and August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean May 12-30 2027. I’ve always heard about For Colored Girls; I can’t recall a recent production in Los Angeles. I wonder if anyone will ever remount a production of Your Arms Are Too Short to Box with God?

Hasenpfeffer

“Hasenpfeffer” refers to the live concert we saw: Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, which is a touring production nearing the end of its 35^th Anniversary tour, celebrating Bugs Bunny’s 85^th birthday. We saw the production at Powell Hall, which is just coming off a multi-year renovation, accompanied by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Surprisingly, although the production has been a regular at the Hollywood Bowl, we’ve never seen it there. My wife loves the WB cartoon library, so this was a perfect fit. The music was outstanding, and the production presented five “new” cartoons (with live music) as part of the production:

• “Skyscraper Scrap“, a new Bugs Bunny cartoon, with score adapted by Carl Johnson from La gazza ladra by Gioachino Rossini. This was a Sylvester and Tweety Bird cartoon set of the ledge of a skyscraper.
• The “Coyote Suite”, a set of three new Road-Runner cartoons (3D animation):
  • “Rabid Rider“, a 2010 short involving the Coyote on an Acme Segway-equivalent, with predictable results.
  • “Coyote Falls“, another 2010 short using an Acme bungee cord
  • “Fur of Flying“, another 2010 short with an Acme flying helmet
• “Dynamite Dance“, a 2019 Elmer/Bugs romp with lots of dynamite to Dance of the Hours.

The Coyote/Road Runner cartoons made me think of the supposed rules for Road Runner/Coyote cartoons.

The music was very enjoyable, and the cartoons were delightful. A lovely evening.

Credits

Fat Ham. Written by James Ijames. Directed by Geovanday Jones.

Cast (^æ indicates members of Actors Equity): Marshall W Mabry IV^æ Juicy; Angela Wildflower^æ Tedra; Enoch King^æ Rev/Pap; Brian McKinley Larry; Raevyn Ferguson Opal; Margery Handy Rabby; Olajuwon Davis Tio.

Production and Creative (^æ indicates members of Actors Equity): Geovonday Jones Director; Heather Beal Choreographer; Patrick Huber Scenic and Lighting Design; Andre Harrington Costume Design; Tre’von Griffith (TreG) Sound Design; Courtnee Rouse^æ Stage Manager; Joyous Celestine 1^st Asst Stage Manager; Stanley Powell 2^nd Asst Stage Manager; Marissa Perry Costume Shop Supervisor; Taina Bantu Wardrobe Head; Mikhail Lynn Props Designer; Alan Phillips Sound Board Operator; Trenton Ames Light Board Operator; Mikhail Lynn Shop Foreman; Victor Malmgren Scenic Charge; Mondis Doyle, Alan Phillips, Mikhail Lynn, Stanley Powell Carpenters.

🐇🐤

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony. Starring Bugs Bunny. Conducted by George Daugherty. Created and produced by George Daugherty & David Ka Lik Wong.

Orchestra: Too large to type, but they should be available through the program notes on the SLSO website.

Production and Creative: See the production website.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; BIH/Pantages; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

There were some interesting theatre and theatre-related announcements recently. First, the Pasadena Playhouse announced their 2026-2027 season. It’s pretty spectacular. The season begins with a new production of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s tragicomedy The Visit, directed by Tony Award winner Darko Tresnjak and starring Jefferson Mays. The Visit was later turned into a musical by Fred Kander and John Ebb; but this is the play version. Next up is the long-awaited L.A. premiere of Passing Strange, the Tony-winning musical based on the life of L.A.-born musician Stew, directed by Tony nominee Zhailon Levingston. Passing Strange never toured after winning the 2009 Tony, so this is its LA debut. There is then a TBA winter production (hopefully better than last year’s Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha, which was horrible). That is followed by Real Women Have Curves: The Musical, the musical version of the play we saw two weeks ago. This was on Broadway but did poorly and thus never toured; it is its LA premiere. Lastly, a revival of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, with Alfred Molina. We’ve already renewed our membership.

Also announcing recently was the Soraya, previously known as the Valley Performing Arts Center on the campus of Cal State Northridge. Can’t you just hear Vin Sculley saying “Isn’t it beautiful”. They have announced their 2026-2027 season. There is loads of good stuff this season. Notable for theatre folks is the opening show, Sutton Foster; in April, Audra McDonald will grace the stage. Along the way, there are shows such as Snarky Puppy with the CSUN “A” Jazz Band, Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves celebrating John Coltraine; a tribute to Gershwin and the Golden Age with the LA Jewish Symphony; the Dance Theatre of Harlem; Terence Blanchard and Ravi Coltraine; A tribute to Frank Sinatra with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra; the Emmet Cohen Trio; and much more. Music of all varieties, jazz, dance, pop, classical, and loads more. Those are just the shows we’re interested in. Memberships are also on sale.

Lastly, May saw the opening of ticket sales for the Hollywood Fringe Festival. There are over 2,150 performances; there are 439 shows listed in the show catalog. These all occur during the month of June, with multiple shows throughout the day. 20 minutes to move in; then the show; 20 minutes to move out. Ticket prices are low. The shows run the gamut, from totally strange to one person shows to full on short plays to musical reviews. You’re sure to find something you’ll like.

Watch This Space. We’ve had more and more shows announcing their 2027 tours; enough so that I can pretty well guess that 2027-2028 seasons for Broadway in Hollywood, and for some of the CTG slots (they also do some local productions, not tours). I’ll share those guesses after our next show.

Upcoming

Key: ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• May: ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
• June: ♦ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson.
• July: ♦ Mexodus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ The Wizard of Oz at 5-Star Theatricals; ♦ If/Then at Chromolume Theatre.
• August: ♦ Beauty and the Beast at BIH/Pantages;
• September: ♦ Water for Elephants at BIH/Pantages; ♦⊕ The Visit at Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ The Turning at Taper/CTG; ♣⊕ Sutton Foster at The Soraya; ♦⊕ Catch Me If You Can at The Colony Theatre; ♦⊕ Every Brilliant Thing at The Main

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 Roasted Ham and Hasenpfeffer | "Fat Ham" @ Black Rep ... and Bugs Bunny by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.