Mask
The world premiere musical, Mask, playing at the Pasadena Playhouse, has the makings of a show that should go to Broadway. Based on a true story, the book is written by award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Anna Hamilton Phelan, who also wrote the screenplay that was made in 1985. The movie won an Oscar for best make-up and garnered six more nominations in other categories. If you saw the film or know the story, it would seem an unusual subject for a musical. But forget the movie if you saw it; this musical is a fantastic and creative production with ideal music and lyrics by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, with a phenomenal twenty-member cast directed by Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby, Jr..
The story is about Rocky (Allen E. Read), a 16-year old boy with an unusual physical problem that has caused his face to become disfigured. His Mother Rusty (Michelle Duffy) is a member of a group of bikers who have taken Rocky under their wings. When doctors tell her that Rocky has just a short time to live, she shuns their prediction and raises Rocky as if he has no malady. She succeeds in making him into a wonderful young boy. He has one major desire, to ride a bike alone, but is told that he is still too young. Since Rusty’s husband abandoned them, she has her own inner problems to face as she tries to give Rocky a normal life. She becomes a drug addict which creates tension between them. After an argument with Rusty over her drug addiction, Rocky decides to accept a job as junior counselor at a summer camp for blind students. He has never been away from Rusty or her biker friends and his leaving breaks her down until her boyfriend Gar (Greg Evigan) helps her to give up the drugs and recover. Life often deals Rocky disappointments that bring him back to the reality that he isn’t a normal boy. For instance, he becomes captivated with for a girl in high school and when he asks her for a date, she spurns his attentions. However, while at the camp, he meets a blind girl, Diana (Sarah Glendening), who reciprocates his feelings of infatuation. Rocky comes back home feeling uplifted, particularly when he finds out that Rusty has stopped taking drugs, that she and Gar plan to marry (on his birthday), that Gar has built him the most beautiful bike he could desire and he will be able to take that ride he has longed to do. He goes off to bed feeling that life couldn’t be better. But life has a way of changing for everyone, and in the end, Rocky leaves the world for his ride to heaven.
Others in the cast include Michael Lanning, Alec Barnes, Brad Blaisdell, Katy Blake, Ryan Castellino, Diane Delano, Chris Fore, Krysten Leigh Jones, Mark Luna, Heather Marie Marsden, Sharon Mari Mills, Suzanne Petrela, Ethan Le Phong, Jolene Purdy, James Leo Ryan and Matthew Stocke, top-notch performances by everyone in the production. Music Direction by Joseph Church and Scenic Design by Robert Brill, are first-rate. Highly recommended.
Pasadena Playhouse
39 South El Molino Ave.
Pasadena, CA
Continues through April 20, 2008
Tickets: Call (626) 356-PLAY, at the Pasadena Playhouse box office, or online at