Chad Doreck News

Musical Theatre Guild was founded 21 years ago by a dedicated group of professional musical artists who were interested in exploring and preserving works from the musical theater repertoire that were either forgotten, neglected or unfairly dismissed. Working under a special Actors' Equity Concert Staged Reading code, the entire MINNIE'S BOYS production was put together in 25 hours, focusing on the script and score with actors holding book during the performance, including while singing and dancing their way through the 14 numbers in the show, with a wonderfully talented 6-piece band backing them up.

Musical Theatre Guild revived an oldie but not so goodie last Sunday at the Alex Theatre. 'Minnie's Boys' purported to be modeled on 'Gypsy,' using a meddlesome, domineering mother to get her progeny, the four Marx Brothers, into show business. Unfortunately, a tepid book and uneven score made this a flop in 1970 and it doesn't fare much better today, despite the valiant efforts of the MTG cast.

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, will continue their 23rd Anniversary season with MINNIE'S BOYS, the rarely produced musical about the start of the famous Marx Brothers. The one-night-only concert will take place at Glendale's historic Alex Theatre on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 7:00 PM.

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, will continue their 23rd Anniversary season with MINNIE'S BOYS, the rarely produced musical about the start of the famous Marx Brothers.  The one-night-only concert will take place at Glendale's historic Alex Theatre on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 7:00 PM.

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, will continue their 23rd Anniversary season with MINNIE'S BOYS, the rarely produced musical about the start of the famous Marx Brothers.  The one-night-only concert will take place at Glendale's historic Alex Theatre on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 7:00 PM. 

Gloria Gifford is a stage-trained actress from New York City, giving her the necessary background to understand the intricacies of people caught up in a place where the traffic is loud and people live in close proximity to each other, yet still think it's necessary to always be screaming at one another to get the upper hand. Such is the case with the five characters in Stephen Adly Guirgis' 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning THE MOTHF**CKER WITH THE HAT, an urban comedy now being presented as the inaugural production at the Gloria Gifford Conservatory for the Performing Arts new location on Theater Row in Hollywood.

Thanks to director Gloria Gifford, who retains Shakespeare's text while augmenting the proceedings with a contemporary and very soulful song score in the current production at Grey Studios in NoHo, the overall addition of the much-needed modern sensibility through music makes the complicated plot easily understood, even while adding in moments of sheer levity. Just imagine Anthony and his troops starting off the show by lining up and singing Super Freak by Rick James, as their way to describe Cleopatra and you get the idea.

BroadwayWorld has an inside look at the opening night of AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' at La Mirada Theatre!

Comprised of 10 short plays in 2 acts about the follies and foibles of love and lovers, LOVE ALLWAYS addresses the subjects of love and romance which have long provided great source material for comedy, created from the pens of two proven masters of American comedy. With busy careers in film, television and Broadway, Taylor and Bologna have defied the Hollywood odds with a marriage that's lasted 51 years (so far). And no doubt, many of the relationship stories shared must be of a very personal nature to them, or perhaps some of their closest friends!

This production of Shakespeare's popular romantic comedy is enhanced by a rock-and-roll score. Much Ado About Nothing is set in Messina, Sicily. Beatrice, niece of the local governor Leonato, and Benedick, a gentleman and friend of the powerful Prince of Aragon Don Pedro, are seeming adversaries, engaging in much verbal jousting and argument. The antagonistic remarks fool neither the men nor the women in Don Pedro's court; Beatrice and Benedick are obviously meant for each other, even if their love isn't instantly apparent. Their friends conspire to trick them into confessing their love for each other.

Following the success of August's ROAD TRIP, (mostly)musicals will return to the E Spot Lounge on Monday, September 19 with UP FOR DEBATE, the company's 19th entry in a series of themed cabarets. 'It's nearly time for the big election in November, but we wanted to put together a party people could really get behind!' explains producer Amy Francis Schott.

Director Gloria Gifford takes her job of inspiring upcoming stars in proper stage presentation, and above all, I must commend her for making sure each actor in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at TU Studios understood exactly what they were saying so audience members could not only understand the words but also what was being said in terms of the dialogue's meaning. It is the first production of the play in which I could get the meaning of each line, even though the words as written were foreign to modern English. Some of the actors shared with me that Gloria demanded their line presentation and stage movements make perfect sense, and the actors responded with great care.

There are undoubtedly other productions worthy of merit in 2015 which I did not cover. This list is based only on what I saw and reviewed. (alphabetical listings; Equity, Equity-waiver & Non-Equity productions are mixed) (artists performing outside LA may be included in performance categories) No set, costume, or technical awards. I leave that to the bigger awards and to the expertise of those who really know those fields inside out.

A LITTLE NEW MUSIC 7 was held on Tuesday, March 10th at Rockwell: Table and Stage in Los Angeles, with Jordan Kai Burnett as host/emcee and Bryan Blaskie as music director.

Keeping with their successful tradition of premiering new and unpublished material, A LITTLE NEW MUSIC returns to Rockwell: Table & Stage in Los Feliz with a highly inventive program featuring Broadway and local talent. Returning as hostess and chanteuse is the spicy Jordan Kai Burnett (SEUSSICAL), joined by music director Bryan Blaskie (VICTORIAN COURTING AND ZOMBIES) and band.

Keeping with their successful tradition of premiering new and unpublished material, A LITTLE NEW MUSIC returns to Rockwell: Table & Stage in Los Feliz with a highly inventive program featuring Broadway and local talent. Returning as hostess and chanteuse is the spicy Jordan Kai Burnett (SEUSSICAL), joined by music director Bryan Blaskie (VICTORIAN COURTING AND ZOMBIES) and band.

Serrano NY, LLC presents the World Premiere of SERRANO THE MUSICAL, book and lyrics by Madeline Sunshine, music by Robert Tepper, musical direction by Jeff Rizzo (Sunset Blvd. The Wizard of Oz), choreography by Peggy Hickey (A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder) and directed by Tony nominee Joel Zwick (Dance With Me, 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'). SERRANO THE MUSICAL opens tonight, January 16, and runs through Sunday, March 29 at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the stage door, featuring the creative team, below!

A perfect combination of talents winningly converges in the world premiere of Serrano The Musical, a non-stop, jaw-dropping two-hour-plus of entertainment at the Matrix Theatre.

Serrano NY, LLC presents the World Premiere of SERRANO THE MUSICAL, book and lyrics by Madeline Sunshine, music by Robert Tepper, musical direction by Jeff Rizzo (Sunset Blvd. The Wizard of Oz), choreography by Peggy Hickey (A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder) and directed by Tony nominee Joel Zwick (Dance With Me, 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'). SERRANO THE MUSICAL opens tonight, January 16, and runs through Sunday, March 29 at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Serrano NY, LLC is thrilled to present the World Premiere of SERRANO THE MUSICAL, book and lyrics by Madeline Sunshine, music by Robert Tepper, musical direction by Jeff Rizzo (Sunset Blvd. The Wizard of Oz), choreography by Peggy Hickey (A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder) and directed by Tony nominee Joel Zwick (Dance With Me, 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'). SERRANO THE MUSICAL will begin previews on Thursday, January 8, 2015 and will open tonight, January 16 at 8pm and run through Sunday, March 29 at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood.