Cary Ginell - Page 7

Mariah Tobin and Dakota Heer play Corie and Paul Bratter, two newlyweds who are moving into a fifth floor Manhattan walkup, only to find the apartment has no furniture, no bathtub, and a gaping hole in the skylight. And it's February. Neil Simon's 1966 classic never had better players in Tobin and Heer, whose chemistry lights up the theater in this wonderful production.

Actress Anna Kotula reprises her sold-out performance as Emily Dickinson in William Luce's 'The Belle of Amherst' in a new production staged on August 31 at the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura. The show features a champagne reception in which Dickinson's famous 'black cake' recipe will be served to guests.

Patrick Ortiz, who plays Bernardo in 5-Star Theatricals' production of 'West Side Story,' comes into the show with experience, having played Chino in the Broadway revival and a Shark gang member on the national tour.

Led by stars Brandon Keith Rogers (Tony) and Giselle Torres (Maria), 5-Star Theatricals' production of 'West Side Story' features scintillating new choreography by Karl Warden, including some stunningly visual interpretations of the story. Dynamic performances all around, this is a MUST-SEE production! Plays through August 4 at the Kavli Theatre in Thousand Oaks.

Girl-next-door makes good! Calabasas High School graduate Sami Staitman, who is entering her sophomore year as a musical theatre student at Pace University in New York, has already landed her first Off-Broadway starring role in the theatre-themed musical, 'The Green Book,' which opens September 27. We caught up with Sami during her summer 'break' (Sami never takes time off from acting!)

'The Book of Mormon' came a-callin' to Thousand Oaks with its national tour - a fast-moving, crude but hilarious satire of those white-shirted, clean-cut missionaries. The clever score was written by the creators of 'South Park.' Audiences flocked to see the performance at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in a sold-out run.

An interview with director Larry Raben, who is utilizing new choreography (Karl Warden), ethnic-accurate casting, and a more athletic approach to the look of 'West Side Story' to bring it into the 21st century. 60 years after its debut, the Bernstein/Sondheim classic still packs relevant punch in today's gun and immigrant-conscious society.

Concepts of madness and racial prejudice cross paths in this tense trialogue drama by English playwright Joe Penhall about an incarcerated patient in a London psychiatric hospital and the tensions between his two doctors as to whether he should be released.

'Vanities' traces the lives of three Texas high school cheerleaders, as their personalities diverge in five-year increments, ending in 1974.

'Avenue Q' uses 'Sesame Street' as a framework to deliver hilarious lessons on friendship and identity, with actors/puppeteers manipulating Muppet-like characters.

Pacific Festival Ballet of Thousand Oaks will be premiering its new ballet version of Camelot, the original 'Game of Thrones' in two performances on May 18 at the Fred Kavli Theatre in the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Directed and choreographed by Kim Maselli and featuring new music by Eric Allaman.

A story about a murdered dog turns into a character study of a teenager with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), brilliantly portrayed by 19-year-old Benjamin Colby Wilson. This play will warm your heart as it shows Wilson's honest and sympathetic portrayal of a boy in search for comfort and acceptance by his separated mother and father.

Pasadena Playhouse's vibrant re-thinking of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's masterpiece, 'Ragtime' is a triumph of innovation and imagination. The show has been extended until March 7.

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.

Joe Spano and Ovation-Award nominee Faline England portray two lost souls who meet in a London Underground station and embark on an unlikely May-December romance. The story takes unexpected twists and turns that results in a life-affirmation display of how walls need to be broken down, and not built between people of different backgrounds and experiences.

Agoura High School senior Griffen Hamilton has gone all out in directing his first full-length production, the ABBA-driven jukebox musical 'Mamma Mia!' Utilizing the talents of 33 fellow students, Hamilton is putting on a world-class production in the school's black box theater. We talked with Hamilton about the process.

Shannon Warne (Mother) and Marc Baron Ginsburg (Tateh) talk about playing these 'kill for' roles in 'Ragtime,' a show that reflects as much about themes like racism, immigration, and vigilantism in today's society as it did at the time the story takes place.

In McCoy Rigby Entertainment's production of '1776,' director Glenn Casale utilizes a mixture of young and veteran performers. In the show, seasoned actors like James Barbour (Edward Rutledge) and Peter Van Norden (Benjamin Franklin) co-star with young newcomers like Jordan Schneider (Lyman Hall) and Nick McKenna (A Courier). We spoke with Schneider and Nick Santa Maria (John Hancock) in this enlightening interview about auditions, reacting, and listening as an actor.

A brilliant cast and production highlights McCoy Rigby Entertainment's '1776,' with bravura performances from Andy Umberger (John Adams), Peter Van Norden (Benjamin Franklin) and John Barbour (Edward Rutledge).

Tony Award nominee Sharon McNight stars as legendary vaudeville entertainer Sophie Tucker, 'the last of the red hot mamas' in 'Red Hot Mama: The Sophie Tucker Songbook,' a bravura performance of one of the great performers of the 20th century.