Don Grigware - Page 26

What a rare treat to see a play based on true events that is simultaneously informative as well as entertaining! The Cape and the Klan by Tin Penavic and Ted Ryan is such a play. Now onstage at the Group Rep Theatre Upstairs, the play tells the story of how one newspaper writer infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan and attempted to put an end to bigotry and violence via the Superman radio show on WOR radio. The time is 1951, when the Klan continued to rear its ugly head in the South, l

Guys and Dolls/music & lyrics by Frank Loesser/book by Joe Swerling and Abe Burrows/based on stories by Damon Runyon/directed by Mark Martino/musical director: Benet Braun/choreographer: Daniel Smith/Musical Theatre West (MTW),Long Beach/through March 4 My first association with musical composer Frank Loesser was as an actor in the 70s in a revue of his music. I played Sky Masterson of Guys and Dolls and sang a duet of 'I've Never Been In Love Before'. I came to realize quite rapidly how lovely his music is and how well he manages to capture the moment of genuine emotion within a song. Upon seeing Guys and Dolls several times since, I have been awestruck as well by Abe Burrows' and Joe Swerling's ability to take Damon Runyon's New York Broadway characters from the 20s and 30s and blow them up into something overwhelmingly moving and appealing. The two worlds of sin and redemption have never been connect

'The mega-popular 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert delivered miles and miles of heart. Priscilla Queen of the Desert the musical remains loyal to the movie  and is delightfully extravagant and colorful with perhaps the most dazzling array of costumes, amazing sets and brilliant lighting design in theatrical history. Over the last few years it has become almost as popular as the film with touring companies in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Sweden as well as in the US'. This was my opening quote when the tour bowed at the Pantages in 2012. Now onstage at the small Celebration Theatre in Hollywood, the show is much scaled down but with an incredible cast of 11, under the amazing direction of Jessica Hanna, it is more bright and alive than ever. Audiences will fall in love with this brand new Priscilla... and come away exhilarated...and wanting more.

Playwright Phil Olson is best known for his popular, hilarious DON'T HUG ME musical plays written with brother Paul Olson, that are crowd favorites wherever they are performed.  His comedy, A NICE FAMILY GATHERING, played at Group Rep Lonny Chapman Theatre in 2016, has been nominated for an NAACP LA Local Award for Best Ensemble.   Phil shares with us some details about his life as a writer and how "Don't Hug Me, We're Family" came about.

Each time I attend An Evening of Classic Broadway at Rockwell Table and Stage, I leave refreshed and revel in the tunes I just heard. Monday February 12's show, a salute to Valentine's Day, was certainly no exception. On the bill were incredible talents musical director Brad Ellis and producer Dianne Fraser, Diane Vincent, Julie Garnye, David Burnham, Caitlin Gallogly, Terron Brooks, Stanton Kane Morales and Autumn Reeser.

New York critics gave many unfavorable reviews to Million Dollar Quartet for what they called a dearth of dramatic tension onstage, but it went on to receive a Tony nomination for Book of a Musical in 2010 anyway, and based on the overly passionate delivery of the sizzling artists recreating the show for 3-D Theatricals, there's enough fervor to bring audiences to their feet and shakin' in Redondo through February 18 and then in Cerritos until March 4. On opening night there was indeed an extra long standing - and swaying - ovation to 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On'.  

The Road Theatre on Magnolia is proud to present the West Coast premiere of Anna Ziegler's exciting A Delicate Ship. The play opened officially Friday January 19 and runs through March 11. Over the course of the run we will spotlight the director and members of the cast. This week the light shines doubly on director Andre Barron and playwright Anna Ziegler, as we present an interview that Barron recently conducted with Miss Ziegler. Director Barron won BWW LA 2016 'Best Direction" for Edward Albee's "The Play About The Baby" at The Road Theatre Company.

Playwright Edward Albee is a master of fact vs. illusion. Think of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? or the later The Play About the Baby, where the plot and characters' game playing baffle the audience from beginning to end.The storyline of his much later play Occupant, now onstage in its West Coast premiere at the Garry Marshall Theatre through March 4, concerns a Man (James Liebman) conducting an interview with famous dead sculptress Louise Nevelson (Martha Hackett). This interview cannot possibly be taking place. Nevelson is dead (April 17, 1988). Yet, when you accept the premise - how can you avoid it except by walking out? - within this framework there are perhaps more real facts than in other Albee plays. The point of this real perspective of an artist? Nevelson and Albee had been close friends; he is paying homage to her and her hard-earned success.

I have seen Ragtime the Musical a half dozen times since it premiered in LA in 1997 prior to Broadway and...have never tired of it. Why? First, its simply gorgeous almost opera-like musical score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens moves me to tears. Secondly, it presents elements of pop culture mixed in with the meaningful historical content of America at the turn of the 20th century, making it the most relevant show in the last 25 years. Now by means of Candlelight's revival production, onstage in Claremont through February 24, Ragtime continues to enlighten and enchant simultaneously.

The Chinese Wall/by Max Frisch/translated by James L. Rosenberg/Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre, NoHo/directed by Larry Eisenberg/through March 11 Suffice to say, The Chinese Wall by Max Frisch, written in 1946, after Hitler and World War II, is a cluttered play about facism and those who revolt against it. Its message is repetitious, and the play goes on much too long, but Group Rep's vibrantly colorful production boasts a wonderful cast of 20 actors under the superb direction of Larry Eisenberg through March 11.

Triple threat performer Jeffrey Scott Parsons made his LA Solo Cabaret debut Monday January 22 at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal with a sold out house. The show was entitled Comfy and took us back through the years beginning with a six-year old Parsons in Utah - yes, he was a farmboy and ... a Mormon, still is - who hated uncomfortable shirts and pants, calling them 'frickly', but had an early passion for sequins. We were treated to a home movie of his performance of 'Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer' with his older sister and brother, two younger sisters scrambling around and his mother at the piano, referring to them all as the Mormon Von Trapp family. Indeed, this lad has a sense of humor and made an otherwise seriously reflective evening exceedingly enjoyable to watch, as he broke into tap at regular intervals.

Larry Eisenberg is the winner of this year's BroadwayWorld Award for Best Director of a Local Play, Lost in Yonkers, at Group Rep. He earned his MFA from CalArts, received a DramaLogue Award for the world premiere adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's Stories for Children and has directed numerous productions at GRT. His favorites include Lost in Yonkers, Poor of New York, Trip to Bountiful, Over the River and Through the Woods and his original play, Nautilus, which was later turned into a feature film. He currently serves as one of the two Co-artistic Directors at The Group Rep. He is at present directing/rehearsing The Chinese Wall set to open January 26. Tell us about the background for the play.

Pasadena Playhouse, the State Theatre of California, reinvents its theatre to present Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, as reimagined by the Chicago theatre hooligans The Hypocrites. This wacky beach party with flying beach balls, rubber duckies, ukuleles, banjos, plastic swimming pools, and a tiki bar brings the audience on stage for a night they won't forget. Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan is presented by Pasadena Playhouse in association with The Hypocrites. It is adapted and directed by Sean Graney; co-adapted by Kevin O'Donnell and with music direction by Andra Velis Simon. Cast member Dana Omar answers my questions belo

If you have ever gone on retreat or participated in a silent workshop like EST, the detail of Small Mouth Sounds will be of particular interest. If you have not, not to worry. The moment to moment dramedy makes total sense and is most definitely worth your time and money. Bess Wohl who wrote the successful Barcelona a couple of years back, has done it again. Small Mouth Sounds is at the core about people, the pain they experience and the efforts they make to deal with it. Now onstage for a mere three weeks at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Small Mouth Sounds doesn't say a heck of a lot, yet simultaneously says it all. Watching the six actors play off each other is one of the best features of this play. Each creates a character with a different problem. Some issues we recognize right away, others don't become obvious until later in the 110 minute piece performed without an intermission. Take Judy and Joan, for example. Judy (Charene Snow) and Joan (Socorro Santiago) are lesbian lovers. Judy h

If Aladdin is not really a Prince, how can he capture the Princess's heart? Well, he can suspend and float a magic carpet in mid-air and take her for a ride on it twice each evening - and that's a pretty tall order for a commoner - through March 31 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. Based on the 1992 Disney animated film, Aladdin the Musical features a street urchin Aladdin (Adam Jacobs) in the fabricated Mideastern city of Agrabah, who hangs out with his buddies Babkak, Omar and Kassim (Zach Bencal, Philippe Arroyo, Mike Longo, respectively) and wastes his time in a life of crime by robbing from the rich in the marketplace, but ... ultima

Park (1963) was such a tremendous hit. Corie Banks Bratter (Stephanie Skewes) and Paul Bratter (Joshua Evans) are the adorable young newlyweds next-door, that everyone can relate to. Typical as well, they have day vs.night personalities.She is as sparkling, fun-loving and open-minded as he is sedate, serious and closed-in.They are different, but in the long run it does not get in the way.Today, sadly, they might actually divorce and never reconcile. After all, in this advanced technological age, a dissatisfied young couple may take their hopes and dreams and go shopping online for new, readily accessible partners. Round and round it goes. So, it is nice to look back and see two lovers really try to change or at least compromise in order to work things out. Simon's crisp dialogue and funny offbeat situations are certainly as timely as ever, and in GCT's sturdy production, the look and feel of the 60s are kept vibrantly alive thanks to a great cast and George Strattan's meticulous direction.

Playwright Bess Wohl whose Barcelona proved so controversial during its engagement at the Geffen Playhouse in 2016 has a new play Small Mouth Sounds opening at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica January 11. In our conversation Wohl discusses her play in depth. Tell us about Small Mouth Sounds and what stimulated you to write the play. What is its message?

Lythgoe means talent and for several years the family have been entertaining us at Christmastime, with a British panto, American style. A panto is an interactive entertainment that starts with a very contemporary retelling of a fairy tale such as this year's treat Beauty and the Beast: A Christmas Rose and turns it into a highly imaginative show with pop music that will appeal to both children and their parents...but primarily to expose kids to an engaging theatrical experience. There's usually an actor or two in drag, and a villain ... and audience are encouraged to root for the heroes and BOO loudly at the villains. It begins first and foremost with an upbeat script by Kris Lythgoe, replete with silly lines and a lot of play.on.words. To put the younger audience into the spirit, apart from the screaming and booing, Beast masks are on sale and for the adult ladies, long-stemmed roses. This family show plays at the Pasadena Civic through December 24.

Mexican born and bred Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a painter of enormous reknown, but more than that...actually, a true renaissance woman, as she left her mark on art. politics. and other aspects of humanity. Most of her painting emanated from Mexican folk art, and her very best are self-portraits in which she remarkably conveys a profound sense of female suffering. Onstage at the Macha Theatre from September 9 with two extensions through December 10, Odalys Nanin's riveting tribute to Kahlo entitled Frida: Stroke of Passion played to sold-out houses and proved a captivating piece of artistry due to its fine acting as well as outstanding writing and direction. Most fans of Frida Kahlo (Nanin) have read abou

Actor Jonah Platt is a young man of many talents that include acting, singing, writing and directing. He is currently preparing to play the Lythgoe Family Panto of Beauty and the Beast to open Decmeber 13 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Tell us about the role you are playing in the Panto of Beauty and the Beast. I'm playing the Beast! He's the angry, hairy one. How are rehearsals going? Have you ever done Panto before? We haven't started yet, but I'm excited to get going. I've never done Panto before, but I've done a ton of improv so I'm excited to get to interact with our terrific audiences. What do you think makes Pa