Los Angeles, CA

I don’t know about you, but I am a HUGE Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan — MST3K, for those of you in the know. And if you’re a fan too, then you already know what the title of this post refers to. If you don’t, then I’ll clarify for you: a man is trapped on a bone-shaped satellite orbiting earth, forced to watch god-awful films with two robots he built for company. The point of these bizarre exercises is to try and drive him insane, because the mad scientist hidden deep underground that’s controlling this experiment seems to think bad movies are the key to world domination. At first it was the hapless Joel Robinson who was stuck in space with Crow, the snarky robot who looks vaguely like a giant gold spider, and Tom Servo, the pint-sized converted gumball machine with a voice like butter. Joel finally manages to escape the Satellite of Love (har har), and is quickly replaced by an unlucky temp named Mike Nelson. Mike is a little more with it than Joel, but still suffers through his fair share of awful films.

One of these hideous experiments happens to be Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. It’s about, yes, Martians, who are trying to figure out why their children are so lifeless and glued to their TV sets. Maybe it’s because the Martians have forgotten about love and basic affection? Pft, no! It’s because they don’t have Santa Claus to give them toys, as they see from an Earth broadcast. So the clueless Martians come to earth and kidnap Santa and force him to make their children happy. Also on board the Martian spaceship is an all-American brother and sister duo, and, together with Santa and a seriously stupid Martian outcast named Dropo, they show Mars what Christmas is really all about: toys and acting as stupidly childish as possible. It’s worth noting that this film also marked Pia Zadora’s debut as the little Martian girl Girmar.

What does this have to do with L.A., you may ask? Well, besides being a great film to watch during the holidays (please, only watch it under the guidance of Mike and the ‘bots through MST3K, do not attempt to watch it seriously), you can also see it live! The Maverick Theater in Fullerton is doing a live stage production of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, I kid you not. I can’t wait to see how they handle it, especially after the friend who told me about this production said he’d just seen the Maverick’s stage version of Night of the Living Dead and it involved a real truck smashing through the set and a real zombie attack. You know it’s going to be good. So if you can at any time between November 23 and December 30, try to catch this show. I’m sure you won’t regret it.

More information and tickets available here.

I know that Wicked has been at the Pantages for a little while now, but c’mon, it’s Wicked! The book is incredible and the musical is fantastic, and my friends and I spent about a year after it came out re-enacting the entire bleedin’ show. It’s great. The use of color is beautiful and the costumes and sets are elaborate and well-done, and it’s a strong, female-led cast. There’s even a pretty blonde, for the guys in the audience.

Anyway, I thought I’d try and encourage more people to go to the theatre once in a while, because there’s nothing quite like seeing a live show. While searching for some discounted tickets, I found a lot of ticket brokers willing to sell tickets to any showing of Wicked, but most were actually charging more than the box office prices. Um, isn’t that the whole point of shopping around, so you can find cheaper tickets? Anyway, after some digging I came across Ticket Liquidator, who actually offer a significant discount on Pantages tickets. (The link will take you directly to the Wicked L.A. tickets page). If you’re okay with seeing a show on a weeknight, preferably Tuesday through Thursday (because all theatres are dark Mondays), then you could actually save a pretty chunk of change. I remember my parents used to do a trick as well, where they would wait at the Will Call window and snatch up any last minute tickets that weren’t claimed, but I’m not sure if you save any money that way. That trick would probably work a lot better at a sold-out show, and if you didn’t mind possibly sitting apart from some members of your party.

And for those of you who have managed to miss hearing about Wicked until now, here’s a brief synopsis for you: Wicked is the story behind the popular Wizard of Oz series, focusing not on Dorothy, but on a hidden and unlikely friendship between a green-skinned girl named Elphaba, whom many considered to be a bad witch based on her skin color, and Galinda, a pretty farm girl with high aspirations. Galinda takes to Elphaba, despite the fact that Elphaba insists on shortening Galinda to Glinda, which everyone eventually does. Glinda tries to pretty up and feminize Elphaba, while Elphaba is busy figuring what is happening to the Animal (talking Animal people) population in Oz and what corruption lies in the Wizard’s government. Along the way both girls fall for handsome Fiyero, and this along with the volatile political scene culminate in tragedy.

It’s not your usual love triangle, that’s for sure! I’m usually very picky about my musicals, but I have fallen hard for Wicked and would highly recommend it to anyone. Just try it!

(l-r): Eden Espinosa portrays Elphaba, and Megan Hilty plays Glinda

Disclaimer: I am also partial to Wicked because my cousin, Erin Mackey, is currently playing Glinda in the Chicago production.

The Los Angeles opening of the theater adaption of Wait Until Dark, the 1967 suspense movie, is this Friday. But you have until September 2nd to get your nerve up.

Where: Raven Playhouse
5233 Lankershim Blvd
North Hollywood, CA 91601
323-960-5770

Time(s): Friday 8:00pm
Saturday 8:00pm
Sunday 7:00pm

Tickets: $20.00