With “I Do! I Do!” Music Circus takes a different tack from what audiences usually expect from them. Gone are the ensembles and large production numbers. Also, gone are multiple flashy costumes and intricate sets. “I Do! I Do!” is a two character musical with just one set which is the couple’s bedroom dominated by a large fourposter bed. The play is a musical adaptation of an 1951 play “The Fourposter” by Dutch playwright and novelist Jan de Hartog who won a Tony Award for the play. Given the tight budgets and difficulty of finding financial resources that all theater companies face in these economic times, Music Circus is smart to work with a smaller scale production this year. Yet they

Music Circus opened its third show of the season, “Anything Goes,” Tuesday evening to much audience approval. Clearly the stars of the show were the songs of one of America’s most beloved composers, Cole Porter. “Anything Goes” has numerous songs that are included in what is known as The Great American Song Book. This includes "You're the Top," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "It's De-Lovely" and the title song “Anything Goes.” Several other songs in the show are also well known, and the rest are above average. Along with all the great music, there is a fun plot with book by English writer P.G. Woodhouse (“Jeeves and Wooster”) and his theatrical collaborator, Guy Bolton. Most of the action ta

 America is in the depths of the Great Depression. Audiences flock to movies where they can forget their troubles enjoying a couple of hours of singing and dancing paying a mere dime for a ticket. The musical “42nd Street” is based on the 1933 movie of the same name. The basic plot is that Broadway producer Julian Marsh is producing a big new Broadway show called “Pretty Lady.” He is worried that his big star, Dorothy Brock, doesn’t have it anymore, but he has to cast her since her sugar daddy is putting up the money. Competition for the chorus is very tight, especially since it’s the Great Depression and jobs are scarce. Newly arrived from Allentown, PA, (pronounced P. A.) Peggy Sawye

Sophisticated, debonair Lawrence Jamison conspiring with local Chief of Police Andre Thibalult fleeces wealthy vacationing American women of their fortunes. The location is an exclusive French Riviera beach town. Jamison runs into a brash American swindler, Freddy on a train returning from Switzerland where he has banked his latest loot. Freddy blackmails Jamison and Thibault into taking him on as an apprentice. Much humor ensues. The musical "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" is based on the 1988 movie of the same name starring Michael Caine as Lawrence Jamison and Steve Martin as Freddy. The movie itself is based on a 1964 movie, "Bedtime Story." "Bedtime Story" was written by Stanley Shapiro,

 Monty Python’s Spamalot opened the 60th season of the California Musical Theater Music Circus on Friday. This, the 500th show produced by Music Circus, makes it is easy to see why the theater has not only survived but thrived for 60 years. The book and lyrics by Eric Idle take the best of the popular Monty Python movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail to another level. While much of Spamalot spoofs the Broadway Musical genre, Idle has created a great Broadway Musical. The Music by John Du Prez and Idle is classic Broadway Musical style and in this case it is a very good thing. Everything in this Music Circus production shines, starting with Glenn Casale’s direction. Much is made in theat