Shari Barrett - Page 18

Some believe the history of humanity has been guided by a desire to come to terms with the unknown in our world to create order amidst the overwhelming flood of mystery which surrounds us. Perhaps it is our desire to know about the complexities and intricacies of being human, to understand that which we cannot explain, which have led magicians to create flocks of followers attempting to figure out exactly how reality seems to be bent in their presence. Such is the case for storyteller and master illusionist Helder Guimarães who has returned to the Geffen Playhouse to share his personal perspective on how important it is to experience mystery in today's world. And wonder you will at his mind-blowing illusions, impossible coincidences, and entirely new perspectives, leaving you with one overwhelming thought - just how did he do that?

I have to congratulate They Played Productions for their great marketing and promotion of their 6th immersive theater experience, CAPTIVATED: YOU, which they claim is specifically designed with over 45 DIFFERENT ENDINGS since the audience's actions will determine which happens at any given performance. And though I had not seen any of the previous, year-long series, I was assured I would be able to follow the story. That part is true, mostly thanks to the brilliant and spellbinding on site introduction to the evening performed by Katie Conrad as Emma G. Nation, who thanked us for being willing to assist her in finding her missing friend Mike Stone (Glenn David), and then escorted us around the corner to the warehouse where CAPTIVATED: YOU took place.

For many students, it is a requirement to read CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky. But, in my opinion, the much-too-long, repetitive text is difficult to follow as much of the action takes place within the mind of its protagonist, Raskolnikov, who admits he murdered two women and is trying to understand what lead him to do so. So, when I heard Working Barn Productions was presenting Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus's Jefferson Award-winning, three-person adaptation of the famous novel as a psychological inquiry into the troubled mind of a murderer, I thought perhaps this was the perfect way to re-visit the story.

FAMOUS re-opened in April after a successful run in 2018. I decided to speak with the show's Creator/Director Michael Leoni (ML) and producers Michelle Kaufer (MK) and Cassidy Pepper (CP), about how the new production uses stylized movements by the characters, enhanced lighting and sound designs, to bring the play flow so much more fluid than last year's version. The result grabs the audience's attention to the point of being able to hear a pin drop, making the entire experience even more stunning and breathtaking than before. And, of course, its relevance to the #MeToo movement is immediately recognizable as power players move in and out of Jason's life during the party.

Even if you have seen many productions of the totally entertaining Broadway musical-comedy HAIRSPRAY, do not miss the larger?than?life production, with its infectious music, show?stopping dance numbers and uplifting story, now at the Norris Theatre on the Palos Verdes Peninsula through May 12. With a talented cast of 28 local triple-threat performers, directed to perfection by Kari Hayter with some of the most demanding and athletic constant choreography by Christopher M. Albrecht, producer Chris Gilbert is to congratulated for bringing one of the best total packages to the stage!

I must admit that the entire production is so dynamically attention-grabbing that I failed to take many notes, as I did not want to miss a moment watching the incredibly athletic performers who often seemed to not have a bone in their bodies as they cavorted on high-flying trapezes and uneven parallel bars, especially a young woman who seemed to actually be a part of the high-flying hoop on which she entertained Miranda, finally getting her to join in to create some of the most spectacular hoop gymnastics I have ever seen.

Colorado born, independent artist Android Jones has become worldwide famous due to his impressive art installations at the Burning Man festival, the Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well Tour, as well as his interactive projections on the Sydney Opera House and Empire State Building in New York City. Best described as a 'digital painter,' his immense body of work has become well known for his many layered, psychedelic works and live performances using a custom-built digital set up which allows for his mystical art to spellbindingly move across two and three-dimensional platforms. Android has traveled the world exhibiting his work and has contributed to events on 6 continents. If you have never experienced his mind-blowing creations, now is your chance right here in Downtown Los Angeles during SAMSKARA at Wisdome.LA Immersive Art, a fully immersive four dome exhibition experience in the downtown LA Arts District.

At Broadway and 52nd Street in New York City, the nightclub Birdland was the legendary center of the jazz world, where the glitterati of Broadway, Hollywood and the sports world regularly filled its 500 seats. In August 1959, the biggest star in jazz was Miles Davis, who earlier that year recorded Kind of Blue, regarded then and now as the most innovative and best jazz album of all time. The Miles Davis Sextet, as constituted that summer, was regarded as the best jazz combo ever. Honoring his love of all things jazz, Randy Ross Ph.D., an accomplished saxophonist and member of the jazz group the Blue Morning Quintet, spent several years researching Miles Davis and the amazing musicians in his Sextet. After gathering enough information to paint a clear picture of these jazz greats, Ross wrote his world premiere play BIRDLAND BLUE, directed by Ben Guillory, Artistic Director and Co-Founder of The Robey Theatre Company, the group producing the show at LA Theatre Center through May 12.

OLD JEWS TELLING JOKES has garnered rave reviews across the country, and I can certainly understand why it's kosher for a Jew to be a ham after watching these five talented and energetic actor/comedians take over the stage. Sets of jokes are broken into categories, with the titles displayed on a large screen at the back of the stage, upon which we also see various settings where jokes are set. Starting with Birth and Childhood, they move through Dating and Courtship, Business and Money, Marriage, Religion, Assimilation, School., Doctors and Retirement, making fun of everyone while the audience roared with laughter.

CLYBOURNE PARK is a savagely funny, ferociously smart, and brilliantly written play by Bruce Norris which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play. Perhaps best known as a companion piece to Lorraine Hansberry's classic play A RAISIN IN THE RUN, an audience favorite that has been produced at theaters all over the world, Norris' play is set in the home purchased by Lena Younger in an all-white neighborhood of Chicago in Raisin although we never see the home during that play, However, in it we do meet Karl Linder, a representative from the Clybourne Park community association who attempted to convince the Youngers to NOT move into the home as he, as well as many others, believes racial integration would ruin property values for everyone else staying in the area. In CLYBOURNE PARK we meet the sellers, and then re-visit the house 50 years later during its next sale.

To celebrate the longstanding relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, BritWeek launched its annual event in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills on Wed, 4-24-19 with the World Premiere of the new 60th anniversary documentary film 'THE CAVERN CLUB: The Beat Goes On' which shares the story of a Club whose fortunes have ebbed and flowed in tandem with that of the city of Liverpool itself. Not just the launch pad for The Beatles, The Cavern is landmark place that has embraced the ever-changing music scene, enduring the highs and lows, the dramas, the battles, the heartache, but above all… the music.

NATIVE SON, a novel written in 1940 by Richard Wright, tells the story of 20-year of Bigger Thomas, an African American youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in 1939. While not apologizing for Bigger's crimes, Wright portrays a systemic inevitability behind them, making the case that there is no escape from his destiny since he is the inevitable product of the society in which he has lived since birth, faced by expectations imposed upon him by others tasked to teach him the proper way for a Black man to live in society. It is often said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. This is certainly the case in Wright's original story which could have been written today, given the similar news stories filling the airwaves right now involving police beatings of Black men and gun violence leading to senseless murders.

The much-anticipated touring Broadway production has finally landed at the Ahmanson! 'It is a great thrill to be bringing (our production) to theatre audiences across America and to be doing so with this exceptional cast of Broadway actors,” said James Lapine, director of the artistically beautiful touring company production, with mind-blowing choreography by Spencer Liff, and an astoundingly transformational set designed by David Rockwell lit to perfection by Jeff Croiter.

Even before it opened this month, La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment knew they had a hit production on their hands with SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, based on the greatest movie musical of all time with screenplay by Betty Comden & Adolph Green and songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. Adapted from the 1952 movie of the same name which starred Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen, the plot closely adheres to the original story set in 1920s Hollywood during the waning days of the Silent Screen era, focusing on romantic leading man, Don Lockwood, his tap dancing sidekick Cosmo Brown, aspiring actress Kathy Selden, and Lockwood's platinum blonde leading lady Lina Lamont, whose less-than-dulcet vocal tones make her an unlikely candidate for stardom in the new talking pictures.

CRE Outreach presents the World Premiere of Silent Torment, an original play written by U.S. Air Force MSgt, Daniel P. Ruffino, featuring Asia Davis, winner of California Idol, and starring nine military veterans from Veterans Empowerment Theatre (VET). VET presents a first-hand view of the military experience in its rawest form, unfiltered by press, politics, or military censorship, thus giving audiences greater insight into the difficulty facing veterans returning from deployment, exposing the inner turmoil of the lasting scars, both external and internal, endured from combat.

Women of a certain age. That used to be a death knell for excellent artistic opportunities for great actors in not only film but on stage as well. But thanks to playwright Cricket Daniel and compassionate director Kristin Towers-Rowles, that myth may as well fly out the window of a red convertible forever thanks to the Los Angeles premiere of THE LOST VIRGINITY TOUR at the intimate McCadden Theatre in Hollywood! Beginning in the Happy Trails Retirement Resort in Arizona as four friends meet for their monthly Baking Club get-together, pledging their devotion via kitchen utensils, each unique personality is brought to life with remarkable clarity by the talented actors Towers-Rowles was fortunate enough to trust with this funny, profound, provocative and adventurous road trip through their memories of 'the first time.'

Directed with finesse by Kimberly Senior, THE NICETIES features Lisa Banes as the liberal, white professor Janine, and Jordan Boatman as the ambitious young black student Zoe, who become involved in a polite clash of perspectives that quickly explodes into an urgent and dangerous debate threatening to ruin both their lives. We first meet the two opinionated and obviously brilliant women in Janine's somewhat cramped office, with its slanted ceiling (thanks to scenic designer Cameron Anderson) indicating her top floor status in the department. Posters of great political leaders from all sides, including George Washington, Lech Wa??sa, Nelson Mandela, Emiliano Zapata, and female Suffragettes, adorn her office walls with books about other leaders and revolutionaries scattered around the place. Certainly, all appearances indicate Jeanine is the type of open-minded teacher every student would want to instruct them about American History. Right?

According to Wikipedia, the Rashomon effect occurs when an event is given contradictory interpretations by the individuals involved. The effect is named after Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon, in which a murder is described in four contradictory ways by four witnesses. Such is the case in Irish playwright Brian Friel's uniquely structured FAITH HEALER which illustrates the healing power of faith over inner demons via four separate monologues performed by 3 characters travelling together through small towns in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. Their goal is to present small community meetings as best they can, in which they hope to occasionally prove that pure faith can heal even the darkest of maladies.

To hear Renee Taylor tell it, her life has been a series of unplanned and often surprisingly rewarding experiences, mostly centered around her struggle to lose weight to fulfill her dream of being a sexy starlet, calling herself a Diet Tramp, meaning she "eats around." Thankfully, the lessons she shares at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts during the Los Angeles Premiere of RENEE TAYLOR'S MY LIFE ON A DIET, prove to not only herself but every member in the audience that it is your heart on the inside that matters most, not what size you wear. Considered a comedy legend, she tells about her high and lows - on and off the scale - and shows audiences that the ability to laugh gets you through it all.

Albie Selznick, life-time member of the Magic Castle and creator/performer of the hit theatrical magic show Smoke and Mirrors, returns to the Santa Monica Playhouse with his trademark MAGIC MONDAY show, every Monday evening through the end of August. Each week will feature a new and different lineup of world-class, award-winning magicians and outstanding variety acts from The Magic Castle, America's Got Talent, Penn & Teller: Fool Us, Masters of Illusion, and Wizard Wars, promising an unforgettable season of show-stopping feats including sleight of hand, interactive parlor magic, and mind-blowing illusions.