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STAR W E E K L Y
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID Desert Hot Springs, CA
Southern Gothic Horror Play “The Sugar Witch” see review on page 4
PERMIT NO 00005
Friday, October 26, 2018 Vol. 12 No. 86
“Dear Evan Hansen”
L-R: Ben Levi Ross as Evan Hansen, Aaron Lazar as Larry Murphy, Christiane Noll as Cynthia Murphy, and Maggie McKenna as their daughter Zoe. Photo by: Matthew Murphy.
A Spellbinding “Dear Evan Hansen” on Stage at the Ahmanson Theatre By Lady Beverly Cohn When the National Touring Company of a play that won six Tony Awards last year goes on the road, one invariably wonders if the Los Angeles production will get the same caliber of performances as those presented on Broadway.
Please don’t worry as this production of “Dear Evan Hansen,” with book by Tony Award-winner Steven Levenson, 15 songs with music and lyrics by the awardwinning team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who won an Oscar for “La La Land,” has
travelled exceedingly well. Although you might not walk out of the theatre humming any of the music, each of the songs is relevant to the immediate action and drives the narrative forward. Tying all the complex elements together is the impeccable
direction of Michael Greif, four-time Tony Award nominee for his direction in “Rent,” and “Next to Normal”. What’s fascinating about the strong book is if you removed the musical components, it could be a stand-along riveting drama, but that said, the
By Desert Star Staff PHOENIX – As midterm elections approach, health care is proving to be a major issue on the minds of voters in Arizona and around the country. Americans are especially concerned about the rights of people with preexisting conditions. About 27 percent of Americans ages 18-to-64 have some kind of pre-existing health condition, such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Polling suggests voters don’t want insurance companies to be able to deny coverage to those people. Jim Ratcliff, CEO of
Rowpar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., says before the Affordable Care Act, nine of his 12 employees were found to have pre-existing conditions, but the ACA has given him more options to insure all of his workers. “We need to step back and think about how we can help everybody be healthier, because it’s a benefit to all of us,” he states. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 75 percent of Americans say it’s very important that the ACA provision preventing insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions remains law. Ratcliff says not only did the ACA ensure that
his employees with preexisting conditions would be covered, but the law helped his business offer benefits to stay competitive with larger companies. “The claims that are made in the political debates about being unaffordable and killing small business, that just has not been our experience,” he stresses. “It just didn’t correspond to any of our reality at all. “ Kaiser polling shows Americans across the political spectrum support preexisting condition protections. That includes 86 percent of Democrats, 75 percent of independents and 58 percent of Republicans.
Kaiser Family Foundation polling shows health care is among voters’ top concerns this election season. (agilemktg1/Flickr)
music certainly supports the compelling narrative. The sometimesheartbreaking story revolves around 17-year-old Evan Hansen, played to perfection by Ben Levi Ross who was Continues on Page 5
Health Care, Pre-Existing Conditions Very Important to Voters