Don Grigware - Page 32

Actress/singer Carmen Cusack has graced stages across the country with her beautiful singing voice in the latest revival of South Pacific and more recently in LA at the Wallis Annenberg in Scorsese: Requiem for an American Dream. She took time out of her busy schedule to talk with us about Sondheim on Sondheim a brand new concert, of which she is a part, to be presented at the Hollywood Bowl this Sunday July 23.

Actress/singer Tracy Nicole Chapman is best known for originating the role of Shenzi in the Broadway production of The Lion King. She also appeared on Broadway in The Who's Tommy, Caroline, or Change and Cy Coleman's The Life. Other theatre credits include the Broadway revivals of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Music Man, and Into the Woods. She also toured with Jelly's Last Jam, Dreamgirls and Once on This Island. She is about to star in a world premiere musical Shout, Sister, Shout! about the life of gospel singer Rosetta Tharpe. Chapman took time out of her busy schedule to chat with us about the musical and playing Rosetta Tharpe.

This year's festival will include a 50/50 parity of male and female playwrights and runs Sunday, July 3Oth through Sunday, August 6th at The Road on Lankershim, in the Historic Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood at 5108 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood  and at The Road on Magnolia at 10747 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood  at the NoHo Arts Colony!  We will feature spotlights on all the playwrights of full length and one act plays over the next few weeks. This week the spotlight shines on Brian James Polak, author of the full-length play Henry and the Hippocampus*.

It is great to see an artist of Kay Cole's caliber perform her very first solo cabaret at a later stage of life. This woman has done TV, film, Broadway, national tours; she has directed both musicals and plays, choreographed...and now has released Souvenir, her very first solo CD and achieved a glorious cabaret debut at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal on Sunday July 16. The show also called Souvenir, which ran under an hour, was directed by Cole's long-time friend the wonderful Bruce Kimmel and musically directed by the fabulous John Boswell, who accompanied her on the piano throughout. Kay Cole has a lot to tell about her life and care

Cabrillo, Thousand Oaks/directed by Yvette Lawrence/choreographed by Cheryl Baxter/through July 23 Peter Pan is a story filled with wonderment, and a total joy to behold onstage. Children of all ages love the idea of being able to fly and to live freely, without attachments or responsibilities. With the right casting, the show is pure magic. Now onstage through July 23 at Cabrillo Music Theatre, soon to be renamed 5 Star Theatricals, Peter Pan will never grow up, thank heavens! In this case there is not a famous star attached to the role. Carly Bracco is an immmensely talented singer, dancer, and actress who toured extensively with Cathy Rigby and played Wendy. She brings so much of herself to the role and is so much fun to watch, that nothing is lacking, making this Peter Pan a first class production.

This year's festival will include a 50/50 parity of male and female playwrights and runs Sunday, July 3Oth through Sunday, August 6th at The Road on Lankershim, in the Historic Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood at 5108 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood  and at The Road on Magnolia at 10747 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood  at the NoHo Arts Colony! We will feature spotlights on all the playwrights of full length and one act plays over the next few weeks. This week the spotlight shines on Ann Hearn, author of the one act Requiem for Stuart*.

Remember the 1981 film of Christina Crawford's book Mommie Dearest? Do you remember the actress who played Crawford's invaluable and devoted assistant Carol Ann? It was Rutanya Alda, and she's written a day by day diary of the filming of this cult classic. How delicious! All the gossipy dirt about Faye Dunaway and everyone else connected to the movie like Diana Scarwid, Mara Hobel, Steve Forrest, Howard Da Silva and director Frank Perry. Alda is honest and tells it like it was. If Dunaway was pleasant, she says so; if she was in a bitchy mood, she paints that as well.

International jazz vocalist Lyn Stanley has done it again. Her newest project The Moonlight Sessions Volume One is a knockout with some of the finest orchestrations and vocal arrangements to be heard anywhere  ... period. This is her fourth major album in five years, with Volume Two to be released in August. Stanley puts a lot of love into the enterprise; this goes without saying. Especially with ths project which had its beginning on FB with a secret society of members who helped with the promotion. She generated interest by letting FB members join and then make decisions about the choice of songs and the recording and engineering processes. Their d

After a successful run in New York, off and on Broadway, Simon Stephens' curiously captivating Heisenberg takes a bow at the MTF through August 6 with its two stars Denis Arndt and Mary-Louise Parker still on board. The time is the present. Alex Priest (Arndt) and Georgie Burns (Parker) meet by accident - or do they? - in a train station in London. She starts chatting a mile a minute as he listens practically in complete silence. Both are terribly lonely souls, as it turns out. At first glance, Georgie tells Alex that she is an assassin and laughs if off claiming to be a waitress. Later she confesses to being a receptionist in a school. He truthfully tells her he's a butcher. She had a brief unhappy marriage to a philanderer and had a son by

Fans of the unforgettable Debbie Reynolds and members of the Thalians, an organization she helped found, flocked to the El Portal Friday June 30 for a dedication of the mainstage and grand party to celebrate her life and career. It was an SRO event, with celebrity guests, whose proceeds benefited the great charity work of the Thalians - 'Hollywood for Mental Health', to which Reynolds devoted tirelessly of herself since its inception in 1955. Debbie had history with the El Portal. It was one of her favorite venues, as she used to ride her bicycle there to go to the movies as a young girl living in Burbank...and she performed there with her fabulous night blub act and the play Love Letters 46 times between 2003 and 2015 So, it is totally apropo to name the mainstage in honor of this great star and humanitarian.

Benjamin, 'BeBe' Winans, six-time Grammy Award winner, is the seventh child and youngest male of the the Detroit based first family of gospel music. BeBe is known as an inspirational, R&B, and popular vocalist, songwriter, and producer as well as an Executive Music Producer for the OWN Network's latest scripted series, 'Greenleaf'; host of his own radio show on the Heart & Soul Channel (68) on Sirius/XM Radio Networks on Sunday Mornings (9am ET/7am PT); renowned as the breakthrough artist to bridge the language of his roots in the church with a chart-topping, Award-winning career spanning audiences universally throughout all genres; author; Actor in motion pictures including friend Denzel Washington's,'The Manchurian Candidate'; and star of productions like Broadway's Oprah Winfrey Presents The Color Purple with Chaka Khan amongst his credits. Teaming with his younger sister, Priscilla 'CeCe', the duo first began crossing lines as 'adopted children' of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker on the PTL television show. Their first tour, on which Whitney Houston proclaimed herself their 'sister' and sang background for the siblings, set the tone for a very special career. 

It's always a pleasure to come to a cabaret debut and have a far greater experience than expected. Such was the case when I attended Jordan Goodsell: Into Love on Monday June 26 at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. I had seen Goodsell in 3-D Theatricals' The Addams Family a few years back, but, frankly, it was an ensemble role, and not enough to give me an indication of his exorbitant talent. He is currently a big hit in Frozen: The Musical Live at the Hyperion for Disney Theatrical Productions at Disney Resort in Anaheim. It's no wonder as this handsome six foot 24 year-old has a magnetic appeal. And then when he opens his mouth to sing, what comes out of his baritone/tenor range is a powerhouse voice that commands atention.

Described as 'an evening of song, dance and holiday cheer in support of the 'Force Feed the World' charity fund', A Harmony Boys Christmas as a musical satire revels in being politically incorrect. It concentrates on traditions like Santa Claus coming down the chimney, crackers - fun toys that are popular with the Brits - and even the birth of the 'Sweet Little Jesus Boy' and tears them all to shreds.

When Oklahoma! was first produced on Broadway in 1943 it became the first smash hit for  the newly formed collaborating team Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and was also the first real book musical, preceded only by Showboat. It was a breakthrough musical, which when given a first-class production, is still, some 74 years later, without question, one of the greatest American musicals ever written. 'The Farmer and the Cowman' truly represents the philosophy of what America is all about, a unity and pride that is unmistakable. Oklahoma! is currently onstage in Redondo Beach, directed byT.J. Dawson, artistic director of 3-D Theatricals. He has beautifully succeeded in reimagining Oklahoma! for the 21st century. In the 40s it was not appropriate to portray racism onstage the way it clearly existed. Modern audiences, however, demand that musicals go a giant step further and explore life in all its complexities. I can thruthfully state that this Oklahoma! is quite unlike any production you have ever seen....and that means you should put it at the top of your must-see list. Our country has always been referred to as a melting pot culture. The expression rings in this produciton of Oklahoma! There's Ali Hakim (Drew Boudreau), the traveling pedlar, who sets his eyes on Ado Annie (Kelley Dorney). He is Persian. And in this production Jud Fry is African American (played by Rufus Bonds, Jr.). His hidden affections for Laurey (Julia Aks) are not only difficult for her to accept because of his low class, rough and cruel behavior, but being black in 1906 made you ... intolerable. Casting Fry as black adds a whole other dimension to the story. Fry seems beleaguered by previous war inju

Bruce Kimmel wrote, directed and starred in the cult movie hit, "The First Nudie Musical."  He also co-created the story for the hit film, "The Faculty," directed by Robert Rodriguez.  As an actor, Mr. Kimmel guest-starred on most of the long-running television shows of the 1970s.    Mr. Kimmel is a legendary Grammy-nominated producer of theatre music on CD, having produced over 180 albums. Most recently he has directed the shows L.A. Now and Then, Hit Song, The Musical, Welcome to My World, Li'l Abner, and Inside Out.  Mr. Kimmel is the author of seventeen books, many musicals, and is an award-winning songwriter. Bruce Kimmel serves as director on the Group Rep's upcoming production of Frederick Knott's mystery thriller Dial "M" for Murder which opens on the Main Stage, June 30th, at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in North Hollywood at the edge of the NoHo Arts District.  Written by Steve Peterson

Hello Again! The Songs of Allan Sherman/conceived, written & produced by Linden Waddell/musical direction and accompaniment by Marjorie Poe/directed and choreographed by Janet Miller/Asylum @ Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre/remaining performances in June: Sunday 6/18 at 4 pm; Thursday 6/22 at 7 pm; and Saturday 6/24 at 11:30 am Sherman (below)

As many times as I see Man of La Mancha, I relish the music and high dramatic moments of this classic piece of theatre. Such is the case when the production is top notch, with the perfect actors and highly skilled direction. La Mirada's current revival is top of the line with director Glenn Casale leaving his usual stamp of excellence. The beauty of Man of La Mancha as a musical is that the story is never dated; it lives and breathes in the moment. When it premiered on Broadway in the 1960s it was a winner and now, almost 60 years later, it is just as engrossing. Madness is always fun to play with. What is madness? And...what is normality? There's a fine line between Quijote's crazy behavior and the deceptive politician, say, who defines himself as a seeker of equality. When we see things as they really are, it is too painful, intolerab

Someone once asked me what the key is to a good cabaret performance. My answer? First, the performer should be an experienced actor and really know him or herself in depth. He must separate his own personality from every role played on stage. Cabaret audiences want to see something special, a glow from the inside that makes the person take hold of the moment and run with it. Nobody does this better than Donna McKechnie, Tony Award winner for A Chorus Line, whose vibrant persona adds warmth to every moment that she is in our presence. To me she is practically the same off stage as on; maybe that's the key, just being your true joyful self.

Dated? Most definitely. Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables is about 1950s morality as it was experienced in Great Britain. Things have changed over 60 years; let's hope first and foremost that women are treated more humanely by men, and secondly, one's social class - does it even exist today? - is much less a priority.  On another level, it's fascinating to witness the desperate loneliness that existed - and still may- among both young and older couples, particularly when they're encumbered with one addiction or another. That's Rattigan's Separate Tables with two completely different lead couples in each act who try to uncover or rediscover the meaning of love. With expert direction from Jules Aaron and a superb ensemble of players, Theatre 40's Separate Tables is quite a handsome and emotionally charged production.

Playwright Rajiv Joseph, best known for his critically acclaimed Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo has done it again with his world premiere play Archduke now onstage at the MTF through June 4. Based on fact and meticulously researched in Sarajevo where Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914 by Joseph and his director Giovanna Sardelli, the play has the ring of truth, but what catapults it into the sphere of brilliance is its dark humor that masks the gravity beneath.