Crockett in Jersey, and More Entertainment Matters

The old adage “write what you know” pretty much has not applied to John Romano. The East Coast scribe holds a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Yale and spent the first years of his career teaching English at Columbia University, authoring a book on Charles Dickens Dickens and Reality and reviewing lit for The New York Times before heading west in his mid-30s. His first job in La La Land was member of the post-Steven Bochco staff of Hill Street Blues, hired by David Milch through their Yale connection.

Good move. 

Romano penned the Emmy-nominated script for the final episode of the legendary police procedural set on the gritty streets of New York, then went on to write for L.A. Law, Cop Rock, American Dreams, Party of Five, Third Watch and Monk, among others, and created three TV series that each lasted for a single season. In the movie biz, his screenwriting credits include The Lincoln Lawyer, the 2011 film that represented the first produced adaptation of a book by Michael Connelly, out a few years before Bosch, the long-running show that has spawned three spinoffs. 

With his new project this year, Romano is trying his hand at theater, as King Of The Wild Frontier is set to have its second-ever staged reading at the New Vic after a successful debut at Ventura’s Rubicon. The one-man show, which stars old friend Joe Spano, is set in both a country club and a Catholic school in New Jersey in the 1960s, and is meant as a meditation on family, faith, organized crime and the moral choices we make. The piece interweaves disparate stories about a gifted golfer who crosses a line in a desperate act and a student whose faith is transformed by an encounter with authority.

More importantly, King Of The Wild Frontier finds the writer finally fully embracing the old adage. He knows a lot about the characters in the play. 

“I was a caddy at the suburban golf club in New Brunswick, and I was also a student in a Catholic boys school in Metuchen,” Romano said. “The play is partly a recollection and rebuilding of events at the time in that world – the largely Italian American men who were self-made children of immigrants and their sons who went on to a private Catholic school. I drew very strongly on my own experiences.”

Everything has been fictionalized and dramatized, of course, in the new “memoirist fiction” genre, but, Romano assured, the world has been rendered accurately.

“This is what life was like, and above all what the people were like.”

King represents Romano returning to that world, partially to address some unresolved issues related to situations similar to those of the characters played by Spano. 

“Neither movies nor television allow you much autobiographical enthusiasm, so it’s a chance for me to revisit,” he said. “I was quite a nerdy kid with very different interests from people who often didn’t understand what I was talking about or where I was coming from. I felt like an outsider. And there was a turn I took in my own religious orientation that accounted for my apostasy from Catholicism, from which I’ve never recovered.”

Lest that sound heavy-handed, rest assured that King Of The Wild Frontier – the title comes from the theme song to the old Davy Crockett show but has nothing to do with the pioneer – is constructed to be richly layered, funny, suspenseful and deeply moving. 

Romano said he turned to playwriting because it was meant to be shared verbally, “as if one were sitting around with a couple of guys and a bottle of wine after dinner one night.”

Once the story emerged as a piece for performance, he thought immediately of Spano, the veteran actor who he first encountered at Hill Street Blues and decades later engaged to read one of his short theatrical pieces as part of the Speaking of Stories series here in Santa Barbara in 2018. Spano portrays eight different characters in King, and his performance wowed the author at its debut last earlier in August. 

“It was my first time with what they call the nervous-making process of theatrical rehearsals, when you struggle toward it actually coming off,” Romano said. “What happened on stage with Joe in Ventura was beyond my expectations. Everybody loved it. It suddenly came alive in a new place for me. It was a great experience I expect to be repeated in Santa Barbara.” 

Ensemble Theatre Company’s presentation of King Of The Wild Frontier starring Joe Spano and directed by longtime ETC/RTC veteran Jenny Sullivan takes place at 2 pm on Sunday, August 30. A post-show talk back with the audience features the entire creative team.

Visit www.etcsb.org.

Shake it Up: Lovers in the Great Outdoors 

Although Romeo and Juliet shared some of the steamiest (implied) teenage love scenes in theatrical history, the actors will keep their clothes on when the UCSB student cast perform William Shakespeare’s classic and still influential tale of star-crossed lovers in two different performance locations over the next fortnight as part of the Naked Shakes program. The company’s name comes from its choices to employ minimalist staging in favor of focusing on energetic, exciting, raw and vibrant renditions of Shakespeare’s plays using the power of the actors and the Bard’s immortal words. Shakespeare’s story of family rivalry, fierce devotion, and the fickle hand of fate (and hate) has been adapted for centuries, including in such works as West Side Story. The play will be performed first for free Tuesday-Thursday, September 1-3, at the Theater & Dance West Courtyard on the UCSB campus. Romeo and Juliet, directed by Irwin Appel, who founded Naked Shakes 20 years ago, then migrates to Eling’s Park Godric Grove for three more shows September 10-11 at 5 pm and September 12 at 3 pm. The production then goes on hiatus for five weeks before returning to the campus courtyard a few weeks after the student show for a final weekend of performances October 16-18.

Visit www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu and www.elingspark.org.

Supreme Talent 

Octogenarian Diana Ross hasn’t opted out of performing live and even going on tour, including the current one that arrives at the Santa Barbara Bowl on August 27. The Motown legend, who has opened recent shows with her disco smash “I’m Coming Out,” touches on all her eras, including a trilogy of Supremes “Love” songs (“Baby…,” “You Can’t Hurry…” and “Stop! In the Name of…,” but focuses more on solo material, pairing “Upside Down” and “Love Hangover,” “Ease on the Down the Road” from The Wiz, and a few choice covers, including, most appropriately “I Will Survive.” Lots of originally priced tickets remain available. ’Nuff said.

Sold Out Shows of the Week: Roger That

Roger Daltrey becomes the latest instance of a British Invasion original showing up at a venue way smaller than you’d imagine when the Who lead singer performs at the Lobero on September 1. Billed as a deeply personal show, the concert will mix Who classics, rare songs and some of his solo career favorites, with the vocalist backed by a semi-acoustic yet rock-driven band. Behind-the-scenes stories are also part of the attraction, but even at the inflated prices, no tickets remain.

The Grand on State, the jazz club that noticeably features a grand piano smack in the middle of the narrow store-front space that also serves upscale food, has continued to grow in popularity since opening late in the spring. Case in point: The August 29 show featuring jazz royalty drummer Peter Erskine, bassist Darek Oles and pianist Alan Pasqua is completely sold out, although it’s possible walk-ins might be able to grab a spot at the last moment, or if tables are variously occupied and spots available for the second set. Meanwhile, there’s still room for the other events this weekend, including 10 local luminaries split between Thursday’s Waymarkers Celtic Jazz featuring the Folk Orchestra of Santa Barbara’s Adam Phillips, and The Grand Band featuring saxist-singer Colin Richardson on Friday. Actually, it’s only nine different players, as Grand co-owner keyboardist Brian Mann is part of both.  

Visit www.thegrandonstate.com.