Romeo And Juliet

Molly Shore If William Shakespeare were alive today, he might be told, "get thee to Burbank." The city has become the locale for several Shakespeare programs, with others ready to come to town. Olivia Negron is teaching "The Hamlet Class," a six-week summer course at the Olive Recreation Center. In her class, every family member assumes the role of the melancholy Dane. "I have this theory that every actor should study the role of Hamlet.

L.A. 48 HOURS Exuberant dancers will seem to fly above the stage in the Split: Dance In and Out of L.A. performance beginning at 8 tonight at The Alex Theatre in Glendale. This installment of the quarterly dance series showcases Jean Isaacs' critically acclaimed San Diego Dance Theater and two local companies, Tongue of Los Angeles and Brockus Project Dance Company of Long Beach. Also on the program is Los Angeles-based choreographer Lisa K. Lock.

Thursday's unveiling of Burbank Center Stage, replete with a top-notch in-house company, the award-winning troupe, The Colony Theatre, promises to be a boon for culture-hungry residents and business-hungry merchants alike. It's a great partnership and wonderful reuse of the building that once displayed historical artifacts and animal exhibits as an annex of the L.A. County Natural History Museum. The Colony will bring with it some 4,000 steady subscribers to Burbank, many of whom will be dining at local restaurants before and after productions, as well as strolling into shops in Burbank Village and at the mall, which is just a few steps from the theater's threshold.

Joyce Rudolph, Weekend BURBANK -- When The Colony Studio Theatre moves to Burbank, its inaugural production will be a revival of Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine," which won numerous awards for the company when it produced it in 1981. And The Colony's founding artistic director, Terrence Shank, is returning to direct the musical. It is scheduled to open Aug. 26 for a 12-week run at the new venue, Burbank Center Stage -- Home of The Colony Theatre Co. Shank, company officials say, established The Colony's reputation with landmark productions of "The Royal Hunt of the Sun," "Look Homeward, Angel" and the Bradbury shows "The Martian Chronicles," "Fahrenheit 451" and "Dandelion Wine."

Just the thought that there is such a thing as a Thai western brings a smile to my face. The idea itself seems absurd and when you see "Tears of the Black Tiger," you might agree, though with some reservations. Despite the obvious daffy nature of the movie's conceit, writer/director Wisit Sasanatieng has delivered an eye-popping, candy-colored piece of stylized cinema the likes of which you most certainly have not seen before. "Tears of the Black Tiger" is set in Thailand during what appears to be the 1950s, so to call it a western is not quite right.

As more families share meals with the wide-screen TV or spend quality time in crowded movie theaters, the Burbank Public Library Shakespeare Summer Festival offers an outdoor alternative that adults, children, English buffs and even hip-hop lovers can enjoy. The festival features nonprofit performing arts group Shakespeare at Play, which will perform "Much Ado About Nothing" on Aug. 5 and "As You Like It" on Aug. 12 on the lawn outside the Buena Vista Library Branch in Burbank.

I need to express myself to Mike Delbarian and his comment (“Play shouldn’t be such an issue,” Community Commentary, June 25). Delbarian says he has a son who was in the controversial Burroughs High School play “Romeo and Juliet.” Congratulations to your son. His participation in the play was a salute to his acting skills. Please see that. I have kids too, and they attend schools in the Burbank Unified School District. Like Delbarian, I also like to go to their after-school activities.

Mary Mallory, Enjoy! GLENDALE -- Created more than 40 years ago by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, "West Side Story's" tragic tale of star-crossed love and fiery passion still grabs hearts. But while Glendale Centre Theatre's production entertains, it never fully sizzles as in other productions that better illustrate the characters' pent-up passions and rage. Adapted from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," "West Side Story" develops the tender, tragic love story of Tony and Maria around the antagonism of rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks.

James Petrillo If there's a silver lining in the disturbingly endless parade of celebrities finding themselves in the court room, it has to be that it's open season on them in the court of public theater. In Grove Theater Center Burbank's latest production, Robert Blake's in the limelight. Thoroughly hilarious from start to finish, "Blake ... da Musical" revisits that fateful night Blake's wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, was shot to death behind Vitello's in Studio City.