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CMT's 2010 SEASON: Here's the schedule for Children's Musical Theaterworks:

• "Hair" (Musical Theaterworks Fresno) - March 19-27
• "Disney's Aristocats" July 23-31 (6-10 yrs)
• "Fame" August 6-14 (5-20 yrs)
• "13:The Musical" August 20-28 (11-14 yrs)
• "White Christmas" (Musical Theaterworks Fresno) December 3-18

Now before anyone makes any jokes about a children's theater doing "Hair" -- and I have to admit that the much-replayed Jane Lynch line from a "Glee" promo in which she says "That was the most offensive thing I've seen in twenty years of teaching, and that includes an elementary school production of 'Hair' " did pop into my mind -- rest assured that CMT also has a community-theater wing, Musical Theaterworks Fresno and that more adult-dominated group will be tackling the '70s rock musical.

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READER FEEDBACK: In my review of Fresno State's production of "Picnic," I had several readers take me to task for not giving a complimentary notice to Amanda Valdez, who played the role of Millie. Commenter Michael K. wrote:

I was very disappointed that you failed to recognize some great performances in favor of other, mediocre ones. For example, your review failed to sufficiently mention the performance of the actress who played Millie Owens. I attended last Sunday's performance and was impressed enough to deem her as "stellar" and "totally professional". Other parts deserving recognition at the very least were Flo Owens and even the smaller role of "Bomber".

A caller had this to say:

I'm not sure if we saw the same play ... You made no mention of the young actress who played Millie Owens. To me, she and Mrs. Potts carried the show, honestly.

My response: Unless a cast is small (and uniformly exceptional) enough, I very rarely mention all the actors in the show. There just isn't room, and a long list can make a review very clunky. (Believe me, I recently cited a whole bunch of folks by name in "Hairspray," which has an excellent ensemble cast, and, sure enough, I got a good-natured complaint from someone who hadn't been mentioned.) In the case of Valdez's performance, it didn't impress me like it did these particular readers. To me it was just a shade too mannered, too broadly drawn. Does that mean I'm right and they're wrong, or vice versa? Nope. I can completely understand that others were better able to connect to Valdez's interpretation. Theatergoing is a subjective experience, and quite often people have different reactions to the very same performance. I'm always happy when someone feels strongly enough about some facet of a show that I write -- or don't write -- about to let me know.

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A NEW GORDON: Many in the theater community remember Gordon Goede, who moved to Florida after leading Theatre 3 for many years. I'm on his emailing list, and he sent this recent picture showing him at 180 pounds, down from 325 pounds just 19 months ago. Way to go, Gordon!