SACRED FOOLS | MAINSTAGE 2008 - A Mulholland Christmas Carol

CAST

Michael Oosterom

Dan Wiley

Matthew Valle

Aileen Marie Scott

Lucy Griffin

Marz Richards

Justin Brinsfield

Stephen Simon

Alyssa Preston

Gina Torrecilla

Kirsten Vangsness

Hiwa Bourne

Welton Thomas Pitchford

Zachary Barton

Alina Phelan

Jaime Robledo

Bill Robens

Megan Crockett

William Mulholland

Harvey Van Norman * Stafford Austin * Others

Wilfred Waterson * Peter Van Norman * Others

Charity Girl * Emiline Childs * Others

Boy * Reporter Lois * Melinda Van Norman * Others

Mayor Eaton * Others

John Wesley Powell * Ghost of Christmas Future * Others

Young Mulholland * Mayor Rose II * Others

Moses Sherman * Ellen Beach Yaw * Others

Mrs. Jenkins * Mayor Rose I * Others

Mrs. Aguilar * Mary Van Norman * Others

Woman in Rags * Nurse Jones * Others

Harrison Gray Otis * Governor Pardee * Others

Mary Austin * Mrs. Van Norman * Others

Lilly Mulholland * Martha Van Norman * Others

George K. Porter * Poquito Pablito * Others

JB Lippincott * Teddy Roosevelt * Others

Swing Female Understudy

THE SONGS

Opening Number

Mulholland's Theme

L.A. River

All Dams Leak

Our Owens Valley Song

Land Grab

Hail the Water

Bully! *

It's Christmas Time

This Fine Dam

I Envy the Dead

Finale

Ensemble

Mulholland with Van Norman & Ensemble

Young Mulholland

Mrs. Eunice Jenkins, Mrs. Corazon Concepcion Aguilar
& Mrs. Emeline Childs with Young Mulholland & Ensemble

Ensemble

Ellen Beach Yaw & Ensemble

Teddy Roosevelt with Old Mulholland

Ensemble

Old Mulholland

Ensemble

Music & Lyrics by Bill Robens

* Music by Gene Michael Barrera, Bill Newlin & Bill Robens

THE BAND

Lydia Veilleux

Bill Newlin

Kevin Tiernan

Richard McElroy

Mark Mora

Violin

Keyboards

Guitar

Bass & Kitchen Pipes

Drummer

Produced by

Choreographer

Lighting Design

Set Design

Sound Design

Costume Design

Props

Set Construction Captain

Stage Managers

Publicity

Brandon Clark & Lynn Odell with Jonathan Klein

Lindsay Martin

Matt Richter

David Campbell & Scott Siedman

Rob Oriol

Lois Tedrow

Amanda Street

Darrett Sanders

Stacy Benjamin & Kelly Egan

Rialto PR

FEATURE ARTICLE

TheaterMania.com

'Tis the season for every American theater from Bangor to San Diego to mount their seasonal production of A Christmas Carol. But in Los Angeles, Sacred Fools Theater Company, in collaboration with theater of NOTE, is offering an alternative version of the classic story with its annual remounting of Bill Robens' A Mulholland Christmas Carol!, an original musical that tells the story of turn-of-the-century L.A. water services engineer William Mulholland -- who designed the St. Francis Dam that collapsed in 1928 killing over 600 people -- through the lens of Charles Dickens' classic holiday tale.

"Mulholland had such a tragedy toward the end of his life, but unfortunately, unlike Scrooge, he was unable to avoid it," says director Kiff Scholl. "His dream of bringing fresh water to Los Angeles absolutely overshadowed anything else. And for the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future to show Mulholland the error of his ways and allow him to avoid this tragedy seemed like a wonderful juxtaposition of two stories."

In this work, the character of Bob Cratchit is replaced by Harvey van Norman, Mulholland's assistant and a resident of Owens Valley, which used to be a community by a lake until all of the water from the Owens Rivers was diverted by Mulholland to quench the thirst of a thriving Los Angeles. "The Owens Valley Lake is still a dry lake bed," says Scholl. "When we toured with this show two years ago to the Owens Valley, they booed Mulholland and saw him truly as a Scrooge. Relatives of the characters in our play still live there and they still feel it."

Unlike those audiences, Scholl still approaches the story with a great deal of ambivalence. "Mulholland had the best intentions... well, perhaps not the best intentions, but he thought he had the best intentions for the city of Los Angeles," he says. "The fact of the matter is L.A. didn't necessarily have to exist as it does today, but I couldn't imagine this country without it."

-- Zachary Stewart
�2008 TheaterMania.com

Reviews of the 2006 Production [ Go ]

Reviews of the Original Production [ Go ]