Don Grigware - Page 70

Long before the term dysfunctional family took flight, there was Joe Orton. Long before crude and obscene behavior became the norm ... there was perpetrator Joe Orton. In 1964 Entertaining Mr. Sloane played in a small underground theatre in London, as its portrayal of sexually explicit and violent behavior was too radical, in fact, illicit for West Enders. All that changed quickly and Orton's dark, depraved views came to broader light, and the rest, as they say, is history. Now a thoroughly authentic production of the play puts the Actors Company in the forefront of top-notch LA theatre.

The world premiere presentation of Revisiting Wildfire, written by Kari Floren and directed by Eve Brandstein, will play a limited 4-week engagement as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles. Performances begin Friday, July 8 and continue through Sunday, July 31, 2011.

James Gray and his merry band of cuckoos led by Momma are back for a whole week this year in Firecracker Follies, the campy and irreverent salute to our nation's history. Eric Seppala - does some great meatless recipes, Kendall Rose, and Dena Drotar are joined by special guest tap dancer Rusty Frank @ the Cavern Club of Casita del Campo in Silverlake through Sunday July 3. There are sendups of Betsy Ross, Uncle Sam, Daniel Boone, Rosa Parks (guess who plays her?), Mrs. Lincoln, Wonder Woman (and no, Momma does NOT play her; you'll have to go and see the show to find out), Ben Franklin, Shirley Temple Black (well, she was an ambassador!), George Washington and his dancing cherries (see photo below), and a great Jackie O(nassis) with 60s fashion guru Oleg Cassini in tow, Davy Crockett, Marilyn Monroe (well, via the Kennedy boys she was almost patriotic), the Wright Brothers, FDR with Annie Warbucks, Amelia Earhart & Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan - SINGING! Momma does a patriotic sing-a-long, bakes cookies-and you'll get a chance to see the new classic 4th of July picnic fiasco (now on youtube) from last year. On opening night, there were tech problems that made the show even funnier, as Gray mimed all of Momma's crazed eating habits from the dvd. Dena Drotar does her great MM with 'Heatwave', Momma announces her candidacy for office with 'Motherhood' and there's even a fireworks display as the grand finale.

Since its premiere on Broadway in 1969, the musical 1776 has become as popular as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music; it seems that people cannot get enough of the show especially around the Fourth of July. After all, why read a history book when you can be entertained by a humorous retelling of our nation's conception? Giving in to the family fix for 1776, Glendale Centre Theatre is currently mounting a dutiful production with excellent direction and cast through August 13.

There have been several musical plays based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. The first and biggest hit was Lionel Bart's Oliver, which went on to a major film in 1968 and a multitude of Oscars. There has been a gay version as well, also titled Twist, that was nominated for Critics' prizes in New York, and now there's the interracially cast adaptation Twist in its West Coast premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse. From top to bottom the show is slick and a triumph for director/choreographer Debbie Allen. The cast is fine-tuned, and much of the music quite memorably singable. Its only flaw, for purists like me, is in the book, which does not include the charming Fagin, whose deliciously mischievous manipulation of everybody in Oliver Twist is a major highlight.

There are not enough superlatives to describe the magnificence of Les Miserables. The musical score and the scope of the storytelling - so grand - are nothing short of breathtaking. Now the 25th anniversary production triumphantly plays the Ahmanson Theatre through July 31 with top-notch direction from Laurence Connor and James Powell and a stunning ensemble. This production plays more realistically than past renderings but it serves to enhance rather than diminish.

Jennifer Leigh Warren and Dame Shirley Bassey have two things in common, according to Warren. They are both short at 5'3', and they both divorced their first husbands. I'll add one more: they can both sell a song, sending it soaring to the heavens. Now @ the Renberg Theatre of the Gay and Lesbian Center, through this Sunday only, June 19, sublime and sassy Jennifer Leigh Warren is singing the songs of the one and only sexy sensation Dame Shirley Bassey in Diamonds Are Forever: The Songs of Dame Shirley Bassey. This must be the rapture they've been talking about. Did I die and go to heaven?

With a title that is bound to peek interest - Is it porn? Is there nudity? - if not dubious expectations, Lissa Levin's West coast premiere Sex and Education turns out to be a far more refreshing and substantial play than one might imagine. Well structured and laugh-filled, the play is currently receiving an excellent production at the Victory Theatre.

If you love ethnic comedies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding or more specifically comedies about Italians such as Buon Natale or Moonstruck, you will love Moose on the Loose, now getting a world premiere engagement at Theatre West. It boasts comedically keen direction and a cast as tightly knit as the Italian clan they are portraying. Adding to the appeal is the setting. These Italians live smack dab in the hinterlands of Canada, so if the Italian jokes aren't enough to whet your appetite, the Canadian jabs surely will. Politically correct? Hardly! Hysterically funny? You bet!

Fun, fun, fun! Think the zaniness of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and Brandon Thomas' Charlie's Aunt and then those crazy American stage musical parodies like Little Mary Sunshine and The Boy Friend, and you've nailed the nonstop comical antics of I'm Just Wild About Harry adapted by Gary Lamb and William A. Reilly at Crown City Theatre in NoHo. With slick direction from Joanne McGee and a super energetic cast, this musical is the perfect summer concoction.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts (August: Osage County) is heralded for sprinkling a very gritty situation with crisply funny dialogue and peppering it all with an unexpected twist or two. Prepare to be moved, entertained, exhilarated and maybe a little frightened with his West coast premiere of Superior Donuts now @ the Geffen Playhouse. Like a fine confection, the play is diligently prepared, ardently packaged, and turns out, in every way, superior.

Triple Grammy Award winner Debby Boone will appear at the Welk Resort in Escondido from June 22 to 25. In 1977 she skyrocketed to fame with 'You Light Up My Life' and has never stopped recording since. In the 80s it was gospel and Broadway into the 90s and more recently Reflections of Rosemary, a CD that honors her late mother-in-law all time great singer Rosemary Clooney. Boone has had a varied career, running the gamut from country to Christian to pop - Broadway and standards - and will soon record a Big Band Swing album. In our chat, this talented gal talks about her music and her childrens' books, which she wrote with her husband illustrator, Gabriel Ferrer.

On Sunday June 5 LA's Next Great Stage Star 2011 Judy Mora debuted her cabaret show @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's. Looking glamorous in a sleeveless pink evening dress the beautiful Mora presented her uplifting journey through life thus far with candor, brevity and elegance. The daughter of a preacher and a missionary, Mora learned to sing as a tiny child and her great vocal prowess and sturdy technique serve as testimony to her tenacity and optimism for living.

In a rare revival, the first in 17 years, DCLO (Downey Civic Light Opera) is now presenting the 60s' mega Broadway smash Funny Girl. What made Barbra Streisand a household name due largely to her overwhelming vocal range and to the huge success of 'People' is now in the capable hands of talented Karen Volpe under the skilled direction of Marsha Moode.

Sometimes plays from the distant past are better left where they belong, or if revisited and given a fresh look, it is wise to make sure the pieces fit securely. Larry Eisenberg, a diligent and resourceful actor and director, ordinarily, has unwisely chosen to take Dion Boucicault's The Poor of New York, a melodrama in five acts, which was last seen on Broadway in 1857, and put a more realistic spin on it. It sounded interesting on paper, and especially with the promo that it would not be done for laughs but with a straightforward approach for pure dramatic effect. Despite some splendid staging and energetic cast contributions, the production, now onstage @ Group rep at Lonny Chapman is like a malfunctioning railroad car trying to catch up to the rest of the train.

Rare indeed is the immigrant play with magnetic universal appeal. Year Zero is such a play. In Micahel Golamco's view of Cambodian Americans searching for identity in America we see the struggle not only through the eyes of a Cambodian American teenager Vuthy (David Huynh), but also via the older generation. Although his mother is deceased, she becomes the fifth character in the play. From all that is said about this strong woman, we come to know just how much she endured with ferocity, tenacity and grace. Now at the Colony this West Coast premiere Year Zero is evocative and thought provoking in its humor packed exposition with electric direction and a remarkable cast.

Triple threat Jennifer Leigh Warren will sing the songs of Dame Shirley Bassey in Diamonds Are Forever: the songs of Dame Shirley Bassey at the Renberg Theatre of the Gay and Lesbian Center in Hollywood beginning June 16. Known for her incredible performances on stage including most recently in NoHo the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella Panto and the extraordinary new ensemble musical Having It All, this lady is going places. In our chat she defines the Bassey show, emphasizing quite clearly that she is NOT impersonating Shirley Bassey.

Politically active playwright Jeff Goode is attempting to stir up further reaction against Prop 8 and the ban on gay marriage in his new world premiere play The Emancipation of Alabaster McGill by presenting homosexuality in a completely different context. He takes us back in time to 1863 and the eve of 'The Emancipation Proclamation', whereby Lincoln freed the slaves. In a little border town in Kentucky, there's a lot more going on than anyone would possibly expect. This is the South, where Lincoln was hated, and if abolition was favored, it was hidden. Abolitionists had underground railroads that took slaves to the North, but they denied their existence. No one wanted to see a black man receive equality. Just like no one wanted to admit to some sexual hanky-panky between men, but it went on in the confines of the barn. Full-fledged hypocrisy was rampant and is now on display at Theatre Unlimited (T.U.) in NoHo in Goode's funny but overdone The Emancipation of Alabaster McGill.

Some thirty+ years ago, a young playwright Jim Leonard, Jr. composed a very odd play entitled The Diviners, which has become somewhat of a minor classic. Diviners means prophets or soothsayers, as well as in this context representing those who seek water. It's Indiana during the Great Depression circa 1930 when folks needed not only rain, but an ample supply of hope/faith. In this production of the play, inaugurating the HumanArts Theatre Company, an outstanding cast and superb staging make The Diviners the little theatrical gem that sets it apart.