WINTER

Just saying the word WINTER cools one off in this really hot weather we're having, doesn't it?
I find it so inspiring to go see theatre, especially if one of my friends is associate producing and directing, as in the case of WINTER and Janne Halleskov Kindberg.

This play, by internationally acclaimed Norwegian playwright, Jon Fosse, seemed to be dialogue challenged, as the same phrases were used over and over, eventually with different meanings. It made one listen and watch more intently. It was quite the opposite of David Mamet's works with his clever, terse dialogue, using arcane stylized phrasing.

A lot of talent went into this show besides the Norwegian lead actors, Terje Skonseng Naudeer and Lene Pedersen. Show design by Ray Woodbury (Backstreet Boys, Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson), Lighting Programmer Andy Figueroa (Neil Young, Stevie Wonder), featuring music composed by Gabrial McNair (Green Day, No Doubt) all added to the interesting, innovative elements, which made me happy I came to see this play, even if the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics were going on simultaneously. Janne had a nice crowd despite the competition.

And the locale, The Culver Studios, has such a great history, it makes one feel invigorated just walking through it...or on late nights, golf-carting through it. Gone With The Wind (my favorite movie of all time) was filmed there when it was the David O. Selznick Studios. Throughout the years, sets have been used and reused, from the days of Cecil B. DeMille's enormous stages for King of Kings, later used in King Kong, before they were burned down for the Atlanta sequence in GWTW.

RKO controlled it for 30 years bringing stardom to Bette Davis, Robert Mitchum, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and those wonderful hoofers, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Desilu Productions took over in 1956, where television emerged as the primary business at the studio, where Andy Griffith, the Nelson boys, David and Ricky, with their parents, Ozzie & Harriet, and Lassie all could be seen on the lot.

Thanks to the $26 million renovation in the mid-80's by Grant Tinker and Gannett, much of the original luster and beauty was restored. So successful was the restoration that it has served as a model for other studio projects.

In 1991 Sony Corporation bought the studio and sold it in 2004 to PCCP Studio City Los Angeles. Numerous feature films (Rush Hour 3, State of Play) and television projects, such as Deal or No Deal, America's Next Top Model, and The Bonnie Hunt Show are all home to the studio.

Ghostly sightings, i.e., Gloria Swanson roaming the halls of the mansion as she did years earlier, have been unsubstantiated, but eerily similar reports occur year after year