‘Treasures’ Tales Pay a Loving Tribute to Dad

In the world of stories, nothing is lost . . . and no one is really gone as long as their story is remembered.

--Joel Ben Izzy, storyteller

*

In his recent audio recording, “Buried Treasures--A Storyteller’s Journey,” Northern California-based professional storyteller Joel Ben Izzy weaves a warm remembrance of his father into a collection of international tales, from Eastern Europe to L.A.

In Ben Izzy’s masterfully crafted, comfortably conversational presentation, Hershel the Trickster gets the better of a stingy innkeeper and a robber, a Haitian boy’s theft of the Elephant King’s giant drum explains why there are no elephants there today and a tailor wishes for a miracle and finds riches of the heart.

Throughout the comical and soulful tale-spinning journey, Ben Izzy’s love for his father, who “taught me how to laugh” and who was “a very rich man” if only “in the world of dreams,” is the connecting thread.

* “Buried Treasures--A Storyteller’s Journey,” Joel Ben Izzy, Old City Press, CD: $17, audiocassette: $12; plus shipping. (510) 883-0883; fax, (510) 883-0888.

You Can Fly: Louis Nye as Captain Hook, Roddy McDowall as James M. Barrie, Samantha Eggar as Wendy, William Windom as Smee. . . . California Artists Radio Theatre (C.A.R.T.), a group of veteran stage, screen and radio actors, celebrates two years of live shows at the Cinegrill in Hollywood with four performances of a star-studded family production of “Peter Pan” on Saturday and Wednesday.

“It’s true to the original book by J.M. Barrie,” said Peggy Webber, the company’s artistic director and the show’s producer-director-adapter. (A radio theater veteran herself, Webber also plays Peter.)

“It is not the play version, but Barrie’s book called ‘Peter and Wendy,’ that later he turned into the play.

“It has all the whimsy and the beauty of James Barrie,” she added, “and a lot of funny and acerbic comments, so I think it will appeal to adults as well as children.”

Webber said the production, which is being taped for a Christmas season airing on National Public Radio, is appropriate for adults and for children ages 7 and up.

NPR has already aired 27 C.A.R.T. shows. Audiences at the live performances, however, get a firsthand look at how shows of radio’s Golden Age (the pre- and early TV era, that is) were staged, with talented actors performing from scripts and a sound effects artist--who’s a big part of the show--providing atmosphere.

* “Peter Pan,” Cinegrill, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Saturday and Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., $10 for adults; $7.50 for children, plus refreshment minimum. (213) 683-3422; (800) 200-8868.