Fairy Tale

Going to Sakana Japanese Sushi Bar & Grill is a little like walking into a fairy tale. You step through the big wooden doors of an ogre's house, walk over the bridge of the three billy goats Gruff, and end up in a room filled with red chandeliers amid a chorus of welcomes. The similarites don't stop there. A happy attitude pervades the place that is true to its published motto, "fabulous, friendly service from the heart. " The 2-month-old Sakana has taken the place of the short-lived Love Sushi.

Brenna O'Neal, Weekend Brenna O'Neal, 11, of Burbank is a sixth-grader at Salem Lutheran School in Glendale. She recently saw "Snow White" at The Falcon Theatre in Burbank with her father, play reviewer Dink O'Neal. I entered the Falcon Theatre to find the walls lit with green to look like a forest. A narrator, John C. Brown, dressed in Old-English clothing sang and played his guitar while setting up the story of "Snow White." The set included the Queen's revolving throne, her magic mirror and a giant storybook that opened to show the dwarf's cottage.

Imagine a summer adventure that takes some to a fairy tale world while others explore colorful art world where butterflies fly through raindrops and rivers run deep blue. Since late June Crescenta Valley students have been on this educational adventure, otherwise known as summer school. In this last week of the Summer Enrichment Program 2005 at Fremont Elementary students are performing plays in drama and making works of art out of paint and torn paper in art class. "The students are performing "Once Upon 100 years, Now," said drama teacher Elizabeth Neskovska.

Mary Mardirosian, Enjoy! BURBANK -- There seems to be nothing more appealing than spending a Sunday afternoon at the theater. A wonderful play for the whole family to see is "Rumpelstiltskin," continuing weekends until Dec. 3 at the Falcon Theatre. Not only does it have charming and enthusiastic actors, but the theater itself also is a delight. It is absolutely the perfect size, ensuring that every seat is a good one. Comfort is an important factor, especially for a play aimed at a younger audience.

Mary Burkin "The King Stag" is an amazingly apt fairy tale for our time, considering it was written in the 18th century. Back in the days of commedia dell'arte, when author Carlo Gozzi was alive, children's fables were genuinely scary. The villain or villainess was capable of every cruelty -- poisoning, dismemberment, torture -- leaving the hero or heroine defenseless, save for the guaranteed but improbable intervention of a completely unexpected event.

If you're a fan of the "Shrek" movies, the latest installment may be a departure from what you're expecting. Before going, I asked my 10-year-old why he wanted to see "Shrek the Third" and his answer was "funniness." Isn't that what everyone has come to expect from these films? We went with every intention to laugh at a constant stream of gags and one-liners. In fact, we were armed with a pencil and paper to make a mark every time we laughed out loud. His tally was eight, mine was four.

 After so many digital animated movies, it is good to finally see the return of the traditional animated feature again, if only for part of a film. "Enchanted," distributed by Disney Pictures, opened to the #1 box office slot with almost $50 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend. Amy Adams stars as Giselle, an animated soon-to-be princess who is on her way to marry Prince Edward (James Marsden) when Edward’s evil stepmother, the Queen (Susan Sarandon)

A red doorknob. A red flower. A red shirt on a fleeing thief. Shades of red for danger, death and disaster. That's the color palette of director M. Night Shyamalan. Ever since the release of 'The Sixth Sense' in 1999, Shyamalan's name on a film as producer, writer and director has guaranteed tales of terror and fables of fear, always served with a twist. His heroes are grim men up against forces they can barely imagine. Bruce Willis wanders lost in a ghost story in which he is unwittingly the star.

The Glendale Centre Theatre?s latest children?s show, ?Snow White,? isn?t at all the frightening tale of vanity, jealously and murder first created by the Brothers Grimm. As befitting its target audience ? children who leave home dressed as princesses and superheroes before noon Saturdays ? GCT?s ?Snow White? is a story about the redeeming power of love, even for the cruelest of the cruel. It?s a kinder, gentler, sillier fairy tale, delightfully told by a cast made up of the very young, and the very-young-at-heart with a lot of professional training and experience.

Send DATEBOOK items to Glendale News-Press, 221 N. Brand Blvd., 2nd Floor, Glendale, CA 91203 or fax to (818) 241-1975. Submissions must be received two weeks before publication. ? TODAY Descanso Gardens will host an art exhibition from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Carriage House Gallery next to the Boddy House, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. Artists Dory Grade, Gilly Shaeffer and Theresa Arrison will be featured. Admission is $8, seniors and students is $6 and children are $3. For more information, call (818)

Going to Sakana Japanese Sushi Bar & Grill is a little like walking into a fairy tale. You step through the big wooden doors of an ogre's house, walk over the bridge of the three billy goats Gruff, and end up in a room filled with red chandeliers amid a chorus of welcomes. The similarites don't stop there. A happy attitude pervades the place that is true to its published motto, "fabulous, friendly service from the heart. " The 2-month-old Sakana has taken the place of the short-lived Love Sushi.

The Glendale Centre Theatre?s latest children?s show, ?Snow White,? isn?t at all the frightening tale of vanity, jealously and murder first created by the Brothers Grimm. As befitting its target audience ? children who leave home dressed as princesses and superheroes before noon Saturdays ? GCT?s ?Snow White? is a story about the redeeming power of love, even for the cruelest of the cruel. It?s a kinder, gentler, sillier fairy tale, delightfully told by a cast made up of the very young, and the very-young-at-heart with a lot of professional training and experience.

Forty students from six schools took to the stage Thursday as part of a collaborative drama performance. The group was part of the Keppel-Toll-Hoover Youth Ensemble, made up of Glendale Unified School District students from kindergarten through 12th grade. They performed ?Into the Woods junior,? a musical that incorporated the characters of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and Cinderella. Jeremy Lucas, a former cultural envoy for the U.S. State Department and an award-winning choreographer, directed the musical.

Send DATEBOOK items to Glendale News-Press, 221 N. Brand Blvd., 2nd Floor, Glendale, CA 91203 or fax to (818) 241-1975. Submissions must be received two weeks before publication. ? TODAY Descanso Gardens will host an art exhibition from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Carriage House Gallery next to the Boddy House, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. Artists Dory Grade, Gilly Shaeffer and Theresa Arrison will be featured. Admission is $8, seniors and students is $6 and children are $3. For more information, call (818)

By now, the 18 4- and 5-year-olds in Mary Williams’ preschool class at the La Crescenta Presbyterian Church Center for Children are experts on Sergei Prokofiev’s musical fairy tale “Peter and the Wolf.” The classic tale, in which a young boy finds himself in a precarious bind after disobeying his grandfather, is the focus of the class throughout January. Williams and other preschool teachers at the center hand-picked the story as a vehicle for teaching the instruments in an orchestra to the children, she said.

 After so many digital animated movies, it is good to finally see the return of the traditional animated feature again, if only for part of a film. "Enchanted," distributed by Disney Pictures, opened to the #1 box office slot with almost $50 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend. Amy Adams stars as Giselle, an animated soon-to-be princess who is on her way to marry Prince Edward (James Marsden) when Edward’s evil stepmother, the Queen (Susan Sarandon)

On Saturday night the Crescenta Valley Arts Council sponsored Southern California Lyric Theater’s production of Fairy Tales and Fantasy, a vocal selection of operetta and musical theater numbers sung by students of the theater company. Sharon Hales, director of the Crescenta Valley Arts Council, approached Allison Kalmus, founder and artistic director of the Southern California Lyric Theater, several months ago about combining forces to bring the arts back to the Crescenta Valley.

Senior day, a brand-new capacity-filled stadium, his team trailing by three runs, no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. It's a scene normally reserved for a fairy tale, not a collegiate showdown in the northwest in early May. A night he calls the "most fun game" of his career and a night his coach deemed as "a neat moment." For Aaron McGuinness it wasn't a dream, it was about to be his most memorable game of an impressive four-year baseball career at Gonzaga University.

If you're a fan of the "Shrek" movies, the latest installment may be a departure from what you're expecting. Before going, I asked my 10-year-old why he wanted to see "Shrek the Third" and his answer was "funniness." Isn't that what everyone has come to expect from these films? We went with every intention to laugh at a constant stream of gags and one-liners. In fact, we were armed with a pencil and paper to make a mark every time we laughed out loud. His tally was eight, mine was four.