Don Grigware - Page 50

Harvey Fierstein's Casa Valentina won a deserved four Tony nominations in 2014 when it played on Broadway. This is a fine example of an unusual play, one of surprising depth, that goes out of its way to hit a nerve or two. Although comical, Casa Valentina is a drama at the core, with some shades of kitchen-sink reality. Currently onstage at the Pasadena Playhouse, Fierstein's latest opus takes a long look at yet another minority with fortitude and alacrity. Directed with finesse by David Lee, the cast is nothing short of luminous. Casa Valentina is set in a hotel in the Catskills, circa 1962, where a sorority club of straight men, who dress

Musical geniuses of yesteryear like Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart or Bach ... ah, a chosen few who left an unparalleled legacy...but not without bitter resentment and treachery from rivals, some talented, some not... Remember Amadeus by Peter Schaeffer? Salieri stopped at nothing to thwart Mozart's success. Well, now Itamar Moses pits not one, but seven musicians against one another for the coveted position of choirmaster/organist after Johann Kunau dies literally at the organ at Thomaskirche, Leipzig in 1722. There's a flurry of fanciful farce amongst the competitiveness currently onstage in Moses's Bach at Leipzig at Group rep, directed by the brilliant Calvin Remsberg and boasting a devilishly versatile cast, through May 1.

AMY TOLSKY is a popular character actress currently working in theatre, film and television. Her credits include Regional Theatre: South Coast Repertory. L.A.Theatre: Mud Blue Sky (The Road), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Banshee); Table Manners, Nicholas Nickleby (Theatre 40); I Love Lucy Live Onstage; City of Angels; Theatre@Boston Court; Antaeus; The Odyssey; PRT.  Film:"Please Stand By"; "Fishes 'n Loaves:Heaven Sent"; "The Tiger Hunter", "Eat With Me".  Television: "Crowded"; "Shameless"; "Code Black"; "Married"; "Castle"; "2 Broke Girls"; "Parks and Recreation"; "Big Bang Theory"; "Jeeves and Wooster". Internet: "You've Probably Dated My Mom".   

How often do you see an American western onstage? Especially one that was a famous John Ford film in 1952 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Both the film and the stage play are adapted from a short story by Dorothy Johnson about the American west in 1890-1910. The names of the characters in the film are slightly different from those in the play, but the plot is basically the same. What seem to matter more than plot are the historical, cultural, political themes that the story exudes. Now onstage at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, in its American premiere, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is helmed by uber skilled director Jenny Sullivan and boasts a stellar cast, but you only have one more week to catch it, through March 20.

On Friday March 11 Kirk Frederick's new book Write That Down! The Comedy of Male Actress Charles Pierce was launched at ONE the Gay and Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries on North Adams in downtown Los Angeles. The sellout event was a benefit for ONE Archives. There were scrumptious hors d'oeuvres, followed by a presentation, which included a video slide montage, a 5 minute film clip from Pierce's appearance, in the early 80s, on The Dick Cavett Show, and then an interview with Kirk Frederick by moderator/ USC professor of English Chris Freeman. Then came a Q and A with the audience and a book signing.

alvin Remsberg is well known as both actor and director on both coasts. Favorite stage credits: Sweeney Todd (First National, and Television productions), CATS, the acclaimed Los Angeles' Phantom of the Opera, Man of La Mancha, and Oliver!  Favorite film credits: 'Pretty Woman,' 'Shrek,' 'The X-Files,' 'Twilight of the Golds,' 'Silk Stalkings.' Favorite Directing credits: The Medium,  Educating Rita, Chapter Two, Dracula,  Triumph of Love, The Sound of Music, Urinetown, Sunday in the Park with George (Ovation Nomination), Into the Woods, Hello, Dolly!, The Last Five Years, Glory Days, F**king Men (American premiere), and Sweeney Todd (Ovation nomination), and ten musicals for The Musical Theatre Guild. This is his directing debut at The Group Rep. by Steve Peterson

Tennessee Williams published Summer and Smoke in 1948 and revised and rewrote it in 1964 as The Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Summer and Smoke is the popular, much revived version despite the fact Tennessee himself among many critics considered the second version to be the most lyrical representation of Miss Alma, the Spanish word for soul. In both plays singer/music teacher Alma Winemiller (Tara Battani), daughter of an Episcopalean minister (Jeffrey Markle), is passionately in love with her neighbor young Dr. John Buchanan (Gregory James) and when that love is gradually unrequited rather than become a miserable spinster, after a long struggle of illness and isolation, she turns to prostitution. In a handsome production of Summer and Smoke at Actors co-op, Williams' debate between the flesh and the spirit, body vs. soul, is still burning with poetic truth after almost 70 years.

Internationally known biologist and writer Dr. Ana Isabel O is constantly embarking on new projects. Educated in Europe and a self-taught Victorian patchwork maker since the early 90s, Ordonez has presented her work in France and Luxembourg. As a scientist she holds Masters and PhDs in Genetics, Forestry and Animal Biology and has lectured extensively throughout Europe, Africa, Japan, China, New Zealand and South America on insect-plant pathology and biological control research. She has also written several articles on the value of nature. Ordonez, however, has not confined her interests to the world of science. A true Renaissance woman, she is also a reputed jazz editor, independent filmmaker, music/art promoter and producer. In 2012 she contributed tirelessly to the Dizzy Gillespie Memorial tribute with Christopher Kennedy Lawford, because she believes in her heart that true valuable art of any kind must never be forgotten. 

'Tale as old as time' nails the complex simplicity of Beauty and the Beast the quintessential story of true love, the most difficult to obtain and sustain.  Disney's adaptation of the fairy tale with its sweepingly imaginative spectacle won over even the hardest of hearts. The animated film was such a tremendous hit in 1991 that it was adapted for the stage in 1994 with new songs by Tim Rice added to the Academy Award-winning movie score by deceased Howard Ashman. It ran worldwide until 2007 and proves undoubtedly that fairy tales retain a popularity that never dies... and that the story  translates beautifully to the stage with vibrant actors recreating all the animated figures.. This new production by 3-D Theatricals of Beauty and the Beast, which closed Sunday at the Redondo Performing Arts Center, was every bit as joyful and elegant as the original. I cannot say enough about T. J. Dawson's fabulous direction and casting and Mela Hoyt-Heydon's spectacular costumes that were built completely from scratch by 3-D Theatricals.

It is refreshing to watch family dysfunction where family members, striving to make thing better, do honestly care about one another. In Bathsheba Doran's The Mystery of Love & Sex we are presented with quite a divergent platter at first glance, but as time progresses and with so many transformations in plot and character, reconnection never ceases to be a top priority. Helmed by Robert Egan, the play, though taking a tad too long to reach its resolutions, boasts some witty dialogue and substantially engrossing scenes by playwright Doran and an outstanding cast of five at the Mark Taper Forum through March 20.

After a series of breakthrough plays such as Stoneface and Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara, which went on to larger venues and are still waiting in the wings for Broadway, the  brilliantly innovative Sacred Fools Theatre has moved into the remodeled Lillian Theatre on Santa Monica Boulevard. With the opening of this brand new space comes the world premiere of Padraic Duffy's Past Time, a wildly funny comedy about finding happiness and the beauty missing in one's life. The five-character ensemble are a marvel to watch under Jeremy Aldridge's smooth direction through March 26.

I cannot remember when a play has touched me as strongly as the West Coast premiere of Barcelona by Bess Wohl, currently onstage at the Geffen through March 5. From the moment I entered the Gil Cates Theater and looked onstage at the attic apartment in Barcelona, with its dark, haunting, discombobulated appearance, I was thrillingly manipulated to examine it more fully... and I couldn't wait for the action of the play to begin. When it did, on the darkly lit set, two people (Carlos Leal, Betty Gilpin) entered the room fumbling to get each

Autobiographical one-man shows are out there in abundance; audience interest and overall success of each depends totally on the appeal of the individual performer. When you have a super talented man like James Mellon, who with his partner of 25 years Kevin Bailey has brilliantly run the NoHo Arts Center since 2004 and has also been a successful minister with the Global Truth Center, how can you come up any less than a winner? SissyBoy now playing at the NoHo Arts Center starts with Jim at age 7 and takes him all the way through his life to his current age, a youthful 61. It is simultaneously a coming.of.age story and at the end a celebration of surviving incredible odds and...embracing one' true identity.

Only one more night tonight Monday February 15 to catch celebrated stars of stage, screen and television Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss in Dearest Friend, a reading of the actual love letters of second U.S. President John Adams and his First Lady, Abigail Adams. These powerful and moving letters, written as our nation was being formed, by one of America's founders and his wife are extraordinary, moving and deeply insightful into their love for each other and for our great country.

Ask musical actors/actresses what is their favorite Broadway musical of all time and they most often concur, West Side Story. Why? It has phenomenal music by Leonard Bernstein, with concise poetic lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a tight and gripping book by Arthur Laurents, and brilliant choreography established in 1957 by Jerome Robbins. It is one of the most powerful love stories ever, next to Romeo and Juliet. With all these elements complementing one another, from the first downbeat of the orchestra and the appearance of the Jets creeping in one by one on a half-lit stage, the show pulls you in and doesn't let go of you for its two and a half hours ... and its message and images of love linger long after the curtain falls.

Years ago, comedian extraordinaire George Burns inhabited God on film; when he spoke, we listened. The world was in love with Burns, so who presently has the charisma, that same unmistakable appeal? Why, Sean Hayes, of course! Everybody loved him as rambunctious but likable Jack McFarland in TV's Will & Grace. He's the man. Even the voice of God admits up front in An Act of God, currently onstage at the Ahmanson Theatre through March 13, that if he is going to come down and meet the people, there are certain things that He lacks, which Hayes possesses. 'He acts, he sings, he dances, not exceedingly well; he just does them, but in the end we find ourselves rooting for him, don't we? The funny thing is, he has no idea he's here. My depthless profundities will be aided by his offbeat charm.'

On Monday, February 8 LA's Next Great Stage Star 2016 Presented by Princess Cruises came to an exciting conclusion on the mainstage of the NoHo Arts Center. After an amazing 90-minute program in which the 20 contestants gave 150% to their uptempo songs from Broadway shows, fifteen contestants were eliminated and the top five finalists selected during the first intermision. It was decided, like last year from the consensus of the judges, to add a sixth contestant. But when judges' votes were tabulated, there emerged a three-way tie between contestants James Padilla, Bethany Baderdeen and Edward Anderson. Each of these three presented a song and Edward Anderson was announced as the sixth finalist. Then each of the six proceeded to perform a second number after which the distinguished panel of 15 judges made the final decision during the second intermission. Musical director par excellence James Lent accompanied at the piano throughout the three hour show.

In Jack & Jill, playwright Jane Martin introduces us to a fictitious contemporary couple, both from previous failed marriages, who meet, have a reluctant affair, replete with doubts and insecurities, and eventually tackle marriage. At the very top they are skeptical about love and commitment - at least she is - so like a modern day George Bernard Shaw, Martin predicts unhappiness, a great deal of it. What makes this two-character comedy work especially well is the finite chemistry between its two stars Tanna Frederick and Robert Standley, two dynamite actors who are a joy to watch, under the expert direction of Jack Heller at the Santa Monica Playhouse through March 27.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum/book by Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart/ music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim/Cabrillo Music Theatre, Thousand Oaks/directed by Lewis Wilkenfeld/choreographed by John Charron/through February 14 A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum is silliness personified from its zany characters and inane plot contrivances to its corny yet witty dialogue. It is clever farce set to music. Mistaken identities, zippity fast exits and entrances...it has no rhyme or reason but is terribly, terribly funny with belly laughs about every two seconds. Cabrillo's current revival is astonishingly good with a delicious cast and superlative direction from Lewis Wilkenfeld. It's a practically flawless production.

Veteran actor/producer Rudy Ramos shares with us his reasons for giving life to the Apache leader Geronimo who has been portrayed as a savage in the court of public opinion; that 'savage' image of the man that is often  reflected in literature, film, and TV.  The more Rudy Ramos looked into the life of the man and the warrior - - Geronimo's humanity took center stage.  In this play, we witness his resiliency, humor and genius as he cleverly evolves from a POW into a celebrity and entrepreneur.  The well-received solo show GERONIMO Life on the Reservation written by Janelle Meraz Hooper, directed by award-winning actor/director Steve Railsback, has toured the U.S. and now enjoys encore performances through February 20th at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks.