Photo Flash: CITY OF ANGELS Plays the Hillbarn Theatre, Opens 9/1

The Tony winning Best Musical City of Angels by Cy Coleman makes a rare appearance at the opening of Hillbarn Theatre's 71st Season in Foster City September 1st through 25th. Friday, September 2, opening night, will feature a Gala champagne reception provided by Chef Bill Chow after the show. For tickets or information, call 650.349.6411 or visit www.HillbarnTheatre.org.

Set in the glamorous, seductive Hollywood of the 1940s the world of film studios and filmy negligees, the show is two stories occurring simultaneously: a Hollywood comedy and a detective drama. The "real-life" scenes are in color and the "reel-life" scenes in black and white. City of Angels chronicles the misadventures of Hollywood author Stine and we meet Stone, Stine's alter-ego detective who sidles through a Hollywood netherworld of vicious thugs and femmes fatales.

The cast of City of Angels features Equity member David Sattler from New York as Stone, David Martin from San Mateo as Stine, Patti Appel from Half Moon Bay as Carla/Alaura, Gina DiRado from San Francisco as Avril/Mallory, Vicki Morgan from San Mateo as Bobbi/Gabby, Corrie Borris from Pleasanton as Donna/Oolie, Michael Carey, San Jose, as Buddy Fiddler, Tyler Bennett from Burlingame as Manny Munoz, David Navaro from San Francisco as Jimmy, plus Amanda Andrews, Adrienne Tiffany Herro, Rich Matlin, Joey Montes, and Doug Stoveland as the hard working ensemble. The jazz quartet, the Angel City 4, is an existing group called Sing Theory and features Juliet Green, Dave Duran, Zach "Yahoo" Yaholkosky, and Michelle Hawkins.

Sing Theory is a modern vocal quartet, dedicated to uniquely interpreting jazz and pop standards, and preserving and developing the art of vocalese. The quartet is a configuration of familiar faces from the Bay Area vocal jazz scene. Members of the group originally met through the De Anza College jazz ensemble Vocal Flight, and have sung together in several variations since the mid 1990s, including +4db, Vocalese Inc., Moodswing, and Clockwork.

City of Angles, with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel, and book by Larry Gelbart, is directed by Brad Friedman, San Mateo High School's highly regarded drama teacher with choreography by Jayne Zaban, of Dance Arts Center in San Carlos, and featuring musical direction of the 15-piece live orchestra by Hillbarn's resident musical director Greg Sudmeier. Memorable songs from the show include You Can Always Count on Me, With Every Breath I Take, and You're Nothing Without Me. Angel City 4 highlights, with featured vocalist David Navarro as Jimmy, will sing Stay With Me and Look Out For Yourself. David Sattler will also join them the quartet in the swingin' Everybody's Gotta Be Somewhere.

City of Angels performs at Hillbarn Theatre September 1-25. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 2 pm. For tickets and information, please call 650.349.6411 extension 2 or visit www.HillbarnTheatre.org

Photo Credit: Nancy Fitzgerald-Metzler