Don Grigware - Page 65

On Wednesday December 7 Kritzerland presented its yearly Christmas show A Broadway/Hollywood Christmas at the Gardenia celebrating both popular and lesser known Christmas songs from the world of film and Broadway. It was a delightfully fun evening as usual with some terrific singing, some amusing anecdotes from Bruce Kimmel, Kritzerland's founder, and a few surprises from Santa Claus.

Back in the 50s and 60s when it was hardly kosher to even mention homosexuality, there existed a raft of pulp fiction novels along with popular physique magazines in the underground that kept gay men somewhat pleased and happy while they had to hide their sexual preferences from public view. Playwright Michael Van Duzer has created a campy, silly play that exhibits the man-to-man appeal of that time period entitled Posing Strap Pirates now onstage at the Eclectic Company Theatre through December 10.

Brought up on The Carol Burnett Show and Saturday Night Live, I love sketch comedy. It makes its point rather fast, and if it's really, really funny, you don't have to be hit over the head more than once to buy into it. Zombie Joe's Underground (ZJU) Theatre Group in NoHo is specializing in some off-the-wall, upbeat sketches in their Christmas Thrills and High Adventure, now onstage Fridays at 11 pm through December 30.

At Christmas I do my best to avoid seeing Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Bah, humbug! I've seen so many theatre and film productions of it and even played parts in it as an actor, and as timeless and wonderful as it is, people forget that there are other rarely done Christmas plays and musicals just begging to be mounted. I made an exception this year, went to Mrs. Scrooge The Musical in Santa Monica, and am so glad I did. There is something about Diane Namm's script and the imaginative execution of it that creates a thoroughly captivating experience - its tunes, the actors, twists in the story... and the overall contemporary upbeat ambiance. It's a joyful, tuneful ride.

As familiar and beloved asThe Wizard of Oz? Not quite, but getting there, slowly but surely, Wicked has an international fan following to boggle the mind. And it has sold more t-shirts than any show in Broadway history. Now in a return engagement at the Pantages, this scaled down tour of Wicked still catches fire, due mostly to a gifted cast.

On Sunday December 4 Las Vegas' popular female trio Dangerous Curves performed @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's. Lisa Smith, Karen Michaels & Margaret Menzies, who comprise Dangerous Curves sang solo and together in a 75 minute varied set that just about blew their audience away. All three are distinctly different beauties in talent, personality and looks, and when they come together, what voices and what beautiful harmony! Not that easy to find nowadays amongst vocalists who strive to overdo style, and scream and screech to grab instant recognition. These gals can really sing and harmonize, and indeed they did with fabulous musical director Dan Ellis at the piano throughout.

In the tradition of the British Panto, brought so successfully to the Los Angeles stage in 2010 via Cinderella, the Lythgoe family return this year with A Snow White Christmas. British Panto, short for Pantomime, is an interactive show with music for the entire family and based on a fairytale. The music incorporated is the latest craze, and the jokes used are always relevant to current cultural trends. The main goal is to bring the family unit together for entertainment.

Actor/playwright Doug Haverty has had a very busy 2011 both on stage and off. He discusses the local productions given his musicaliGhost and play Next Window, Please and his acting roles in two GRT productions: the recently closed Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and the upcoming My Three Angels, set to open December 9.

'Rise above it!' was a phrase used throughout Rose Kennedy's long life (1890-1995) to get her past the personal turmoil and tragedies that beset her and her large Irish clan. One question overheard by many in the audience on the opening night at Theatre 40 of Kathrine Bates' The Color of Rose was 'How could she stay with such an awful man for so many years?' Joe Kennedy had a reputation as a womanizer; he was also a manipulator of money and corporations, and an alcoholic to boot. But he was Irish Catholic. Rose Fitzgerald was also Irish Catholic, and Irish Catholic people in those days remained loyal to one another and by and large did not divorce. Divorce was rare. Rose's life was hardly a bed of roses, but she contented herself with her children's achievements and never said an unkind word in public about Joe's wrongdoings. That's the way it was, and in Bates' new play, Rose Kennedy receives a pure but totally human rendering as the icon of motherhood. She does regret never having attended Wellesley College, and of course, her rejection of daughter Kathleen who rebelled and married a Protestant, living her life in England until her untimely death in a plane crash. If only they had reconciled: it's not difficult to comprehend how a mother would feel about that or about poor daughter Rosemary, who had undergone a labotomy at the insistence of father Joe, who took medical advice as the best recourse. Again, it's Rose defending Joe's decisions and standing behind him 100%. It was her job as a dutiful wife, and she remained stalwart, as was expected of her.

Tribute artist Peter Mac, nominated for 4 BWW Awards 2011, left his dresses in the closet November 25 and 26 to present an intimate evening of song at the Gardenia in honor of his favorite composers.Potpourri was almost the title of the show, Mac explained, because the composers as diverse as Harold Arlen and Bobby Darin, who composed the opener and title song 'As Long As I'm Singing', created tunes with a mix of styles. Very few impressionists can strip away the makeup and perform as themselves. Jim Bailey did it on occasion, and Peter Mac is following gloriously in his footsteps. Mac has a terrific vocal range, and much, much more... he's sexy and has an aura, a charismatic spirit that never lets down. Anecdote follows anecdote, and he keeps his audience on their toes as they are asked to take commemorative journeys with him. Such TV programs as Dark Shadows and everyone's fav vampire Barnabas Collins played into a couple of his songs. Remember? Those who did not live through the 60s had either collected those delightful Shadows videos like Mac himself or had found themselves entertained by the gothic soap's actors, such as David Selby or Lara Parker, at yearly conventions/festivals. If none of the preceding, you can look forward to the new film starring Johnny Depp as Collins. Mac essayed 'If I Can't Love Her' from Beauty and the Beast and really delved into this in depth love that he compared to that of Barnabas and his beloved Josette Dupres.

On Sunday November 27, vivacious Lyn Stanley made her much anticipated cabaret debut @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's to an enthusiastic crowd. Stanley is a champion ballroom dancer, who at the advice of musician Paul T. Smith, made a dynamic transition to singing. Stanley has just the right style for night club work. Not unlike Peggy Lee, she is sensuously alluring, and when she performs numbers like 'Fever' or 'Do Right', Lee's first big hit, she really hits the mark. It's her emphasis on the lyrics that truly gives her delivery its flair.

Actress Juliet Landau, best known to television audiences for her portrayal of Drusilla in 17 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) is currently co-starring onstage in John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea @ Crown City Theatre through December 18. In our chat the actress, who is a member of the Actors Studio, talks about what it was like growing up the daughter of famous parents, actors Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, her favorite plays and what drew her to playwright John Patrick Shanley in the first place.

Singer Lyn Stanley will appear at Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's on Sunday November 27. She has an amazingly diversified background to share with us. Tell me about your background, which, I understand has taken a shift twice in totally divergent directions, from businesswoman to pro champion dancer to singer.

From the top Riverdance is defined as journey...that takes us from land to water and back, or from sky to land and back, from one land to another, even... from one life to the next... oh, what awesome journeys Riverdance enfolds! Incorporating dance, song and music, both traditional and contemporary, the show began in 1994 as a salute to these art forms but not without an abundance of variety. According to director John McColgan, it would be impossible to represent Irish dance without presenting ballet or Spanish flamenco, and so the Irish Dance Troupe includes dancers from Australia, Great Britain and Spain. One great highlight of Act I is the Firedance with Flamenco soloist Marita Martinez-Rey, who stops the show with her dazzling display of fast, graceful footwork and inspired beauty. Footwork of the flamenco style certainly has a lot in common with the steadily heavy footwork of Irish dancing, but you must see both to appreciate how one may have influenced the other.

For those who like their theatre, like their literature, deliciously different, look no further than Travels with My Aunt, adapted by Giles Havergal from Graham Greene's novel, now onstage at the Colony Theatre. Packed with internationally political intrigue and perilous crime-laden adventures, ...Aunt follows Aunt Augusta (Mark Capri) as she seizes an opportunity to rescue her former bank teller, now bored florist nephew Henry (Thomas James O'Leary) from his humdrum life after the death of his mother. If it sounds akin to Auntie Mame, you're not far off track. Mame marches to the tune of her own drummer, and so does Augusta. It takes Henry longer to loosen up than Patrick in Mame, but eventually he does lose his tourist status through the journeys to Paris, Rome, Istanbul as well as to Paraguay and other places in South America. All the characters are played by four actors: the aforementioned Capri and O'Leary, as well as Larry Cedar and Sybyl Walker. A major treat in the proceedings is playfulness through transgender and also across racial lines. Meaning in simple terms that the men play women as well as men, the female actress essays male characters as well as female; a white man plays a black man and a black woman a mesh of white people. Sound interesting? It is. Yet somehow, in spite of all this fun, I found myself enjoying the play less than I thought I should. Why?

To my knowledge this is the West Coast premiere of Hollywood Arms by Carol Burnett and her daughter the late Carrie Hamilton, based on Burnett's well written best-selling memoir One More Time. There was a reading at the now Carrie Hamilton Theatre of the Pasadena Playhouse a few years back when the theatre switched names, but not a full-fledged production. The Kentwood Players do quite well in bringing the slice-of-life dramedy to life, now onstage at the Westchester Playhouse through December 17.

Within the cycle of film to stage projects few have been really meritorious. One of the more appealing stories about an underdog is the exception Legally Blonde. It's far from perfect but its look at women's issues with charm, savvy, and good-natured fun pleases a wide cross section. Now from the musical team Lin-Manuel Miranda of In the Heights and Tom Kitt of Next to Normal fame comes Bring It On. Although not my kind of musical with its overly fast, adrenaline-flowing, high tech approach that screams gloss and flare, I cannot deny that Bring It On is slick. Maybe not substantial enough for Broadway, but slick nonetheless. On its cross-country tour, now at the Ahmanson Theatre, Bring It On is the perfect entertainment for those family-oriented, TV addicted folks who cannot get enough of ambitious teenage girls and their competitive back-stabbing nature, this time around in the field of cheerleading. And the cast like the whole production is also super slick. This, the kids will love... there's not an adult authority figure in sight.

Peace in Our Time by Noel Coward new adaptation by Barry Creyton directed by Casey Stangl through December 11 @ Antaeus Company

Bound to create a plethora of discussion and lots of positive and negative opinions, Geoffrey Nauffts' Next Fall, now onstage at the Geffen Playhouse, despite its heavy handed religious themes, boasts a marvelous cast.

With the title Vigil what should one expect? And its graphic with Olympia Dukakis framed by the parameters of a coffin? Death, most assuredly. But will it be funny? Vigil... Waiting For Godot comes to mind. Well, if it weren't for its two actors cavorting and acting silly, that play's tediousness might turn its audience to stone. As it turns out, Vigil's first act goes on and on as well... with Grace (Olympia Dukakis) saying nothing and Kemp (Marco Barricelli) waiting super impatiently for her to die. He's her nephew and hasn't seen her for thirty years. He's come back to care for her unwillingly at her request, and he's left his job with no money and is very unhappy. Once he starts talking about himself, we learn that he has always been unhappy... since childhood. He considers life stupid and pointless. What doesn't appear negative to him? As he looks from Grace's loft apartment window, he sees a crippled man with a wooden leg and makes fun of his zest for living, as he hops along. Sad fellow, this Kemp. As in most black comedies, there's a normal situation which somehow turns abnormal and very, very sour. If it's already sour, than more so. Events, usually queer, occur, as if out of the blue, that provoke tremendous over-the-top laughs. Being a black comedy, Vigil is no exception. It's dark humor is infectious, but as playwright Panych questions how long Kemp will last, he puts his audience at the mercy of this whole scenario as well, and that does create some painstaking anxiety. Will she die? Or more agonizingly when will she say something? Vigil is not an easy pill to digest.