Always You Photos - Broadway

You don’t have to knock on the door and identify yourself to the bouncer looking through the peephole by saying “Joe sent me” the way revelers did during prohibition.  That was how to gain entry to the nightclubs of the day serving alcohol and jazz music during the 1920’s.

Winter Opera has presented a truly gorgeous production of Puccini's La Rondine (The Swallow). Puccini is the supreme master of romantic melody, and in Rondine he outdoes himself. I love this opera, my heart having been beguiled early by one lilting, gently syncopated romantic waltz refrain that recurs again and again like the memory of a distant sweet infatuation.

I first discovered the Dollface Dames troupe of high-class, Burlesque entertainers in 2017 and have enjoyed their show-stopping style of entertainment at several venues around town since then. But 2020 brought on major changes for all in-person entertainment, so how have the Dollface Dames been keeping their unique brand of Burlesque available to audiences during the shutdown and what's next for them? To find out, I spoke with Lola Boutée who founded the group in 2008.

​Director Caitlin Lopez, the Associate Artistic Director of Ophelia's Jump Productions (OJP) who also serves as Improv Director for the company elaborates, 'Twelfth Night tells the story of Viola who has washed up on the shores of the vibrant and uninhibited Illyria after a shipwreck. In this modern queer fairytale, she and a cast of colorful characters all must discover what it means to truly love and embrace their heart's desires.' I decided to speak with Caitlin about both her directing and appearing in the production, as well as her background with the history of OJP.  ​

With a lovely intro by Janet Roston, the Director, Choreographer and Artistic Director of Mixed eMotions Theatrix, standing outside on a beautiful California sunny day atop the Glendale Library and Arts Center grounds in Glendale, we are given a verbal road map about what we are about to see. The setting alone makes me want to take the trip already. Such a beautiful location to watch dancers experience the freeing and exhilarating feeling of dancing or flying through the air with the freedom of no walls, barriers or roadblocks in and around natural surroundings with beautiful architecture and sculptured landscaping to form patterns around.

When thinking of the great composers and playwrights whose works have graced Arena Stage, these are the names that come to mind. So when Disney's Newsies was announced for this season, it is understandable why some were shaking their head quizzically.

If Jayne Atkinson were looking for a tour-de-force, then she found one as the late Texas governor holding court at Arena Stage in Ann. Written by Holland Taylor, Ann is a one woman play about the late Texas Governor Ann Richards that is part reflective autobiography, part homage to public service, and always entertaining.

INDECENT now onstage at Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre in a co-production with Huntington Theatre Company, magnificently directed by Rebecca Taichman, is as close to a Broadway-quality production as you will ever see in the City of Angels, with incredibly entertaining, stylized movement performed by triple-threat performers, guaranteed to draw you into not only the story but the necessity of its truth being brought to the stage now.

Mason Holdings new site-specific production of Consumption, opened at the Beverly Social Club in Kensington Brooklyn last week. The play was conceived and developed by Mason Holdings Founder and Artistic Director, Tracy Weller. Consumption was written by Devin Burnam. Kristjan Thor serves as director.

'Hey Nonny Nonny!' 'Sigh No More!' Shakespeare's classic, playful comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, is this year's rip-roaring Season 5 opener for the vibrant, 30 by Ninety Theatre in Mandeville, Louisiana. This suburban playhouse, positioned just across the lake from New Orleans, is named for its' common latitude and longitude, but doesn't hold back on big city ambitions to invigorate, entertain, and challenge local audiences to grow from shared experiences through the stage. It is an idea not lost on Shakespeare himself nearly five millennials ago.

On Thursday, July 12th, Hollywood maven and powerhouse, Donelle Dadigan, (Co-Founder of the Jose Iturbi Foundation/President & Founder of The Hollywood Museum, Chairman of The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce) invited a select group of VIPs for an evening of dinner and a concert at The Hollywood Bowl as the Los Angeles Philharmonic presented an evening of Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.2 under the stars with Behzod Abduraimov on piano and conductor, Gustavo Dudamel.

With curtains billowing so gently our eyes almost felt tricked, Forever Yours, Julita lured a small but enthusiastic audience into the story of Puerto Rican poets Luis Llor?ns Torres and Julia de Burgos at the play's Tallahassee premiere on January 25.

Philadelphia chanteuse Julie Charnet brings her blend of jazz and swing to the Ethical Society of Philadelphia and other venues.

As the opening night of The Belmont Theater's 'Side Show' quickly approaches, the activity in the black box studio has increased ten-fold. The set is becoming more elaborate, the swell of music from the orchestra now fills the air, and the costumes are coming together piece by piece. Tech week has begun, and it can both an exciting and somewhat stressful time for any production. As an actor, it can sometimes be difficult to lose sight of your character and even the meaning behind the show itself among the bustle and flurry of tech week. That is why I felt that the time had come to interview some of the actors in our show, in order to provide a bit of insight into their characters and to explain from their perspective the importance of a musical such as 'Side Show.' And for Nik Olson, this was no small task.

One of the most eagerly awaited new shows of this year's New York Musical Festival (NYMF) is the special event 'Midnight at the Never Get' which will be presented at 42WEST (514 West 42nd Street) for three (3) performances: Thursday, July 28 @ 9pm; Sunday, July 31 @ 9pm; Monday, August 1 @ 8pm. Produced by Michael Chase Gosselin, the musical is conceived by and starring Sam Bolen and Mark Sonnenblick, with musical direction and arrangements by Adam Podd, choreography by Andrew Palermo and directed by Max Friedman. Audiences will be transformed back to 1965 when they enter the venue to the back room of The Never Get.  Featuring a sultry score fashioned after the American Songbook, 'Midnight at The Never Get' imagines two men who never existed at a time that very much did.

Next week the Memphis Orpheum will teem with gun-toting lugs in pinstripes and leggy Jazz Age chorines as BULLETS OVER BROADWAY takes the stage. This roaring twenties crime comedy, based on Woody Allen's 1994 film by the same title was transformed for the stage with Susan Stroman's guidance. In Allen's film, the lead character, David Shayne, was played by John Cusack. In this stage version, a young actor named Michael Williams inhabits the role.