David Green - Page 21

The McCallum Theatre is proud to announce that the U.S. National Tour of ANNIE, now in its third smash year, will play three performances - Tuesday, January 10, at 8:00pm and Wednesday, January 11, at 2:00pm and 8:00pm. Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin for the 19th time, this production of ANNIE is a brand new incarnation of the iconic Tony Award®-winning original. ANNIE has a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. All three authors received 1977 Tony Awards® for their work.  Choreography is by Liza Gennaro, who has incorporated selections from her father Peter Gennaro's 1977 Tony Award®-winning choreography.  

The McCallum Theatre presents Asleep at the Wheel and "Merry Texas Christmas, Y'all!" on Sunday, December 18, at 7:00pm.Asleep at the Wheel has recorded two albums of Texas-centric holiday music through its four-decade history, but it was just a few years ago that the group launched this first-ever western swing holiday concert. Expect a wonderful evening that combines Asleep at the Wheel's most popular songs, new material, and holiday favorites such as "Christmas in Jail," "Merry Texas Christmas, Y'all," "Mele Kalikimaka," "Swingin' Silent Night" and many more.

Coyote StageWorks, the Coachella Valley- based award-winning Actors' Equity professional theater company continues it 2016-2017 theatrical season with a production of 'Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,' a popular two-character comedy/drama that will feature Loretta Swit and David Engel. The production will run from February 3 through 12, 2017 with eight performances at the Annenberg Theater in the Palm Springs Art Museum.The fully staged play will star Loretta Swit (best known for her role of Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan on the beloved television show 'M*A*S*H') and actor and Coyote StageWorks Founding Board and Company Member David Engel.

The Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway, where Elvis and Priscilla spent their honeymoon, invites you to a unique holiday celebration of 'The King'. Well, the other one. A ROCK A HOLLY CHRISTMAS SHOW lands at the unique Palm Springs getaway on Saturday, December 10th. Guests will have the chance to tour Elvis' private desert home and enjoy a special Holiday Concert with famed Elvis Impersonator Peter Alden in the hideaway's living room.

The McCallum Theatre presents Johnny Mathis and "60th Anniversary Tour Christmas Concert" with special guest Gary Mule Deer on Friday, December 16, and Saturday, December 17, with both performances at 8:00pm. A Johnny Mathis Christmas showcases the legendary, award-winning vocalist and performer with his quartet and a 31-piece orchestra. The concert features favorites from Mathis' many beloved and best-selling holiday albums, plus a selection of Mathis' pop music hits. You'll hear such yuletide classics as 'It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas,' 'Winter Wonderland' and 'White Christmas' delivered with the inimitable Mathis styling. Joining Johnny is the hilarious comedian Gary Mule Deer, a McCallum favorite.

The McCallum Theatre presents "Christmas with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain" on Sunday, December 11, at 7:00pm. For more than 30 years, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain has been the premier group of all-singing, all-strumming ukulele players who believe that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation (as long as they are played on the ukulele). Going from Tchaikovsky to Nirvana, via Otis Redding to Spaghetti Western soundtracks, the Orchestra takes the audience on a world tour. 

On the heels of 'Casa Valentina,' its enormously successful first production of the season, Dezart Performs will present the uproariously funny black comedy, Clybourne Park, a play written as a spin-off to Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 classic play A Raisin in the Sun which focuses on cultural and racial issues in a Chicago community. As described by The Washington Post during the 2011-12 season of the Seattle Repertory production, the play 'applies a modern twist to the issues of race and housing and aspirations for a better life….and is one of its feistiest, funniest evenings in years.' Clybourne Park has received multiple prestigious awards including the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Everyone deserves to see a great production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC in their lifetime. For those who attended the Jack O'Brien production last night at The McCallum, who have never seen one before, they are still waiting. It is a gorgeous, lavish production. The sets and costumes are beyond incredible. The voices are incredible as well. And, if you were just looking at photo stills form the production, or perhaps listening to the cast recording, you might think you had reached Rodgers and Hammerstein Nirvana. However, this production lacked the two things essential to this beautiful story - honesty and any real sense of emotion. It was as cold as the Alps!! (I though long and hard about writing a negative review over Thanksgiving break - because, in particular, I didn't want to do any damage to The McCallum box office! However, I was assured the musical is sold out for the balance of the run - so no damage done - just calling it like I see it!)

The McCallum Theatre presents The Irish Tenors in their Christmas performance on Tuesday, December 6, at 8:00pm. Enjoy the boisterous charm of The Irish Tenors Finbar Wright, Anthony Kearns and Ronan Tynan in this special holiday concert featuring traditional carols and classic Irish ballads, accompanied by a full orchestra. The Irish Tenors' Holiday Celebration Concert has become, over the past sixteen years, a firm family tradition, bringing together children, parents and grandparents into one audience to hear the hauntingly beautiful music of Ireland and the glorious Christmas music that warms our hearts, gets our feet tapping, and lifts our spirits high.  The Irish Tenors, as honorary ambassadors of Ireland and its legendary music, invite you to come along and indulge yourself, family and friends with a richly orchestrated performance of the greatest music of all time with three of the finest tenors of all time.

Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus' Mamma Mia!, the smash hit musical based on the songs of ABBA, plays the McCallum Theatre for five performances as a part of its final farewell tour. Performances begin on Friday, December 2, and run through Sunday, December 4. Mamma Mia! is one of the most successful musicals of all time, the eighth longest running show in Broadway history and one of only five musicals to have run for more than ten years on Broadway. The West End production is now in its eighteenth year. To date, Mamma Mia! has been seen by more than 60 million people worldwide in 50 productions in 16 different languages.  

I had the absolute pleasure of seeing two things last night that I had never seen before. A production of Harvey Fierstein's CASA VALENTINA and a sold out, standing room only crowd at The Pearl McManus Theatre. Brava to Dezart Performs on both counts!! CASA VALENTINA is the premiere performance of Dezart's ninth season in Palm Springs and sets a high barre for the season to come. Based on real events, Casa Valentina (or The Chevalier d'Eon) is a resort in The Catskills in the early 1960's whose guests are heterosexual men who dress and act as women. It is the story of gender identity and self acceptance and a close-knit group of men who never feel more "themselves" than when dressed as the women who live somewhere deep inside them. 

The McCallum Theatre presents the new national touring production of The Sound of Music, directed by three-time Tony Award® winner Jack O'Brien, for 8 performances, Tuesday, November 22, through Sunday, November 27. BEN DAVIS (Broadway's Violet, A Little Night Music, La Boheme)will play Captain Georg von Trapp and MELODY BETTS will play The Mother Abbess with MERWIN FOARD as Max Detweiler, TERI HANSEN as Elsa Schraeder, AUSTIN COLBY as Rolf and PAIGE SILVESTER as Liesl. The production introduces Jack O'Brien's brand new discovery, KERSTIN ANDERSON as Maria Rainer.  A current student at Pace University, Ms. Anderson won the coveted role from hundreds who auditioned. 

You can capsulize most pop music acts by reciting how many hits they've had and how many millions of albums they've sold.  But these conventional measurements fall short when you're assessing the impact of The Beach Boys.  To be sure, this band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by the tens of millions.  But its greater significance is the fact that it changed the musical landscape so profoundly that every pop act since has been in its debt. Happily for us all, The Beach Boys continue to create and perform with the same bold imagination and style that marked their explosive debut over 50 years ago.The McCallum Theatre presents The Beach Boys on Sunday, November 20, at 3:00pm. 

The McCallum Theatre presents An Evening with George Takei on Saturday, November 19, at 8:00pm. With a career spanning five decades, George Takei is known around the world for his founding role in the acclaimed television series "Star Trek," in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the Starship Enterprise. But George Takei's story goes where few stories have gone before. From a childhood spent with his family imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp during WWII, to becoming one of the country's leading figures in the fight for social justice, LGBTQ rights, and marriage equality, George Takei remains a powerful voice on issues from politics to pop culture.

The McCallum Theatre welcomes the return of Olivia Newton-John on Friday, November 18, at 8:00pm. With more than 100 million albums sold, Olivia Newton-John's successes include four Grammy Awards, numerous Country Music Association (CMA) awards, American Music Awards and People's Choice Awards, an Emmy, ten #1 hits and more than fifteen Top 10 singles. In 1978, her co-starring role with John Travolta in Grease catapulted Olivia into super-stardom, and to date, Grease remains the most successful movie musical of all time. With a career spanning more than five decades, she is a vibrant, creative individual adored by fans around the world. 

Through the generosity of Brooke and Dan Koehler, the McCallum Theatre presents Celtic Thunder on Friday, November 4, at 8:00pm. Celtic Thunder is an Irish singing group and stage show known for its eclectic, theatrical style show. In 2007, producer Sharon Browne filmed the first Celtic Thunder show in Dublin. The concept featured men from Ireland and Scotland, and songs celebrating a common Celtic heritage, from the traditional to international hits and original pieces. Accompanied by the Celtic Concert Orchestra, Celtic Thunder has become a household name around the world, with recent ventures into Australia and South Africa. With the airing of their first Public Television special in 2008, Celtic Thunder consistently remains one of the most popular musical shows for stations throughout the U.S. 

Coyote StageWorks, the Coachella Valley-based award-winning Actors' Equity professional theater company, will begin its 2016-2017 'Legendary Ladies' season on November 26, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. with a staged reading benefit gala performance of the beloved production 'Steel Magnolias,' by playwright Robert Harling. It will feature performances by well-known actresses Florence Henderson, Sally Struthers, Carole Cooke, Mo Gaffney, Yo Younger and Elaine Hayhurst and will be held at the Annenberg Theater at the Palm Springs Art Museum. 

To kick-off its 9th season, DEZART PERFORMS will present Casa Valentina, a thoroughly entertaining Tony Award-nominated "dramedy" written by Harvey Fierstein, the multiple Tony Award-winning actor/playwright and American Theatre Hall of Famer. Fierstein's raucous dramedy, CASA VALENTINA, is a hugely entertaining production that will have audiences buzzing. This 2014-nominated Tony Award production for Best Play, is based on a factual Catskills resort that catered to heterosexual men who delighted in dressing and acting as women. The period piece returns us to the land of dirty dancing and borscht belt comedy, circa 1962. The play transports the audience to an inconspicuous bungalow colony that caters to this very special clientele -- white-collar professionals who discreetly escape their families to spend their weekends safely inhabiting their chosen female alter-egos.

Coyote StageWorks, the Coachella Valley-based award-winning Actors' Equity professional theater company, announced its eighth season that will run throughout 2016-2017. Dubbed "Legendary Ladies," the schedule of performances will include the Company's signature one-night-only benefit and productions of two beloved stage plays, all presented at the Annenberg Theater, located inside the Palm Springs Art Museum. The season celebrates "Legendary Ladies" and will feature renown actresses Florence Henderson, Sally Struthers, Mo Gaffney, Loretta Swit and Gloria Loring in productions of 'Steel Magnolias," "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks," and "The Lady With All the Answers."

The McCallum Theatre announced today that the international sensation and Valley audience favorite band  Pink Martini will headline its annual fundraising gala to be held on Wednesday, November 30th,  with a special appearance by the "global gigastar," Dame Edna. Pink Martini returns to the McCallum for this special evening following a sold-out run of five performances in the 2015-2016 season.  Drawing inspiration from music from all over the world - brilliantly combining elements of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop - Pink Martini's diverse repertoire is a blend influenced by Cole Porter and Duke Ellington, Tito Puente and Xavier Cugat, as well as Argentine tango, Brazilian samba, Italian folk, Asian and romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and '50s. According to bandleader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale, "If the United Nations had a house band in 1962, Pink Martini would be that band."