The Lion in Winter

Director Scenic Design Costume Design Lighting Design Sound Design Properties Design & Set Dressing Production Stage Manager Public Relations Technical Director Set Construction Scenic Artist Production Crew Light Board Operator Sound Board Operator Stage Crew Key Art Production Photography

Stephanie Vlahos David Potts Kate Bergh Jared A. Sayeg Drew Dalzell John McElveney Dale Alan Cooke David Elzer/Demand PR Robert T. Kyle Red Colegrove/Grove Scenery Orlando de la Paz Watson Bradshaw, Karen Forest, Cuyler Perry, Christopher Rivera, Genetra Tull Kathryn Horan Brian Cordoba Brie Quinn, Genetra Tull BuddhaCowboy.com Michael Lamont

Alais Capet Henry II, King of England John Geoffrey, Count of Brittany Richard Lionheart Eleanor of Aquitaine Philip Capet, King of France		Justine Hartley Ian Buchanan Doug Plaut Paul Turbiak Brendon Ford Mariette Hartley Paul David Story
Servants of Chinon Castle Desa Julia Ilic   Shannon O'Hara   Nick Vogels

Henry II was great grandson of William the Conqueror and, as such, was amongst the Norman lineage of kings of England. He was also grandson to Henry I and the first of the Plantagenets – a lineage of kings through which England became a nation. During his reign, Henry amassed large quantities of land, the most prized property being Aquitaine – one of the richest provinces in Europe – via his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, arguably the greatest woman of his time. Henry and Eleanor lived in a period of growth through arranged marriages, strange bedfellows, and belligerent self-aggrandizing. Brides and strategic points on the map were the bargaining chips of the Middle Ages.

In the meantime, music was the voice of the period, developing out of the repeated notes of Gregorian chant to tuneful dances and songs. The great Troubadour tradition made militant Lords accomplished poets and composers of love songs (Eleanor's Aquitaine was the center of troubadour culture in the West) whilst countries expanded and contracted through battle and vassals swearing fealty to a liege and lord – the greatest lord, in 1183, being King Henry II. To be amongst the emerging class of Royals was to suffer endless infighting within families for right of inheritance.

Extrapolate this idea as a larger metaphor for a dysfunctional family’s Christmas homecoming and you have The Lion in Winter – a 12th century, modern story.

We cannot touch 1183 but we can feel it through music.

1. Rokatanc – Vox Vulgaris, The Shape of Medieval Music to Come

2.Gaudete Christus est natus – I Castellani Umbri - Natale Medievale

3. The Court: Volez Vous Que Je Vous Chant – Strada, Grantjole: Music of the Trouveres

4. Cantiga 213 – Vox Vulgaris, The Shape of Medieval Music to Come

5. O Madalena ch’andasti al sepolcra – Joglaresa, Magdalena

6. Sitot me soit – Rene Clemensic and Consort – Early Music Masterpieces

7. E Semina Rosa – English Medieval Wind Ensemble and Pro Cantione Antiqua, A Medieval     Christmas Feast

8. Generous Palmstroke – Bjork, Hidden Place

9. The Wexford Carol – The Ecclesium Choir, A Christmas Blessing

10. Tant m’abellis – Michael Posch, Music of the Troubadours

11. This Place is Haunted – Devotchka, How It Ends

12. All Tomorrow’s Parties – Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground

All Tomorrow’s Parties

And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrow's parties
A hand-me-down dress from who knows where
To all tomorrow's parties

And where will she go and what shall she do
When midnight comes around
She'll turn once more to Sunday's clown
And cry behind the door

And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrow's parties
Why silks and linens of yesterday's gowns
To all tomorrow's parties

And what will she do with Thursday's rags
When Monday comes around
She'll turn once more to Sunday's clown
And cry behind the door

And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrow's parties
For Thursday's child is Sunday's clown
For whom none will go mourning

A blackened shroud, a hand-me-down gown
Of rags and silks, a costume
Fit for one who sits and cries
For all tomorrow's parties




A while ago, a Colony subscriber sent me an article from the Financial Times denouncing the practice of non-profit arts organizations (like The Colony) offering “naming” opportunities in exchange for large donations.

It made me mad.

The article spoke of “non-profits that have adopted the bottom line as their operating credo,” and “institutions willing to do anything to bring in money,” and called “unforgivable” the “crass willingness of non-profit boards…to sell their institutional tradition, integrity and, sometimes, their souls.”

Here’s the kicker: the author of the article is an academic at a major university who has never run a non-profit arts organization.

He has never had to call a donor for an emergency loan to make payroll. He has never sat in a board meeting trying to figure out where the money is coming from to open the next show. He has never had to contemplate (as we did last year) the very real possibility that his institution might not survive.

And yes, it’s true that many of the buildings housing non-profit arts institutions in this country bear the names of the people who have given them money. The article referred to these buildings as “monuments to donors in search of public acclaim or ego gratification.”

Oh please.

Could we possibly think of our wonderful cultural monuments in Los Angeles as anything other than The Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, The Mark Taper Forum, The Ahmanson, or The Getty? And looking beyond LA, could the greatest concert hall in the world ever be anything other than Carnegie Hall?

These institutions, and countless others, would not exist without the generous support of visionary philanthropists, men and women who have had an incalculable impact on our culture. Their names deserve to live forever.

Barbara Beckley
Artistic Director