Theatre Cambrian takes you back to rockin' and swingin' 60s

BY VICKI GILHULA

Theatre Cambrian (TC) recently had a huge success with its presentation of the 1972 musical Grease, which takes a nostalgic look at the 1950s. Its next two productions are hilarious and silly stories from the 1960s.

Not Now Darling, which opens this weekend, is a British farce, set in Swingin' London of the late 1960s. In May TC presents Bye Bye Birdie, a musical about a rock 'n' roll idol that premiered on Broadway in 1960.

Not Now Darling was written in the late 1960s by Ray Cooney and John Chapman. Cooney is considered a master at bawdy English farce.

Community actor Spider Allan Asher makes his TC debut this Friday night at the Jubilee Centre. Asher, who is well known as a social activist, is also a pretty good actor, said Mark Mannisto, TC's executive director. Asher has appeared in several productions at Thorneloe University.

Asher plays Gilbert Bodley, a partner at a posh London fur shop. Bodley is having an affair with the wife of his best customer. The wife convinces her lover to give her husband a deal on a mink coat. The husband seizes the bargain coat as the perfect gift for his mistress. The complications become hilarious.

The Theatre Cambrian production of Not Now, Darling also stars Sean Sullivan, Kelsie Carroll and Vanessa Brissanti.

Not Now, Darling runs April 18, 19 and 25, 26 at the Jubilee Centre on Applegrove Street. Tickets are $40 and include a catered meal by Diana's Catering. Tickets can be reserved over the telephone with a credit card at 524-7317. Tickets are also available at Records on Wheels.

Mannisto is currently in auditions for Bye, Bye Birdie, which will run from May 1 to 25 at Fraser Auditorium.

"Bye Bye Birdie is one of the most captivating musical shows of our time. It is a satire of Elvis Presley's induction into the army, told with the fondest affection," said Mannisto.

It opened on Broadway in 1960 and was made into a movie in 1963. It won an Emmy for the 1997 television remake.

The Broadway play, which won numerous Tony Awards, starred Dick Van Dyke and Paul Lynde. The hit from the show was Kids. "Kids! I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!"

Tickets for Bye Bye Birdie are $26.50 for adults, $21.50 for students/seniors and $16 for children 13 and under.

Tickets can be reserved by telephone at 524-7317 or purchased at Records on Wheels, Jett Landry Music, or the Four Corners Independent Grocer in the South End.