It’s not just love at first sight, it’s kismet
L-r., Mark Eggert (the Wazir), Rose Kreider (Ayah), Tamarah Ashton (Lalume), Bob Minnichelli (the Poet), Michael Thorpe (the Caliph), and Liana Wopschall (Marsinah). Photo by Stephan CooperMagic carpet ride The golden age of Islam: now playing in a church near you It’s not often that we stop into a church, only to discover Moorish architecture and a muezzin calling us to morning prayers. However, it could happen this weekend. That’s when “Kismet” opens at the Manhattan Beach Community Church Theatre. And so, once inside, you may look around and wonder: “Where am I?” Well, Toto, we’re not in the South Bay anymore. “This is 1071, during the golden age of Islam,” says the show’s director, Steve Norris, “where there’s medicine and scientific stuff going on, there’s all this art going on, and it’s just this tremendous time and Baghdad is the crossroads for everything. It is the religious and political capital of the whole area. “And from that,” he continues, “is where I built the story, trying to embrace the Islamic view and to show that Baghdad was a beautiful city like other cities in the Middle East that are now, if you look at the evening news, completely destroyed and have lost…
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