Don Grigware - Page 78

As part of their new Writers in Rep play series, Theatre West presents Kres Mersky's Flag Day, a totally irreverent look at a dysfunctional family celebrating Christmas in June. With an eleven-member solid cast and excellent staging from director Paul Gersten, Flag Day is best appreciated if you just sit and enjoy, letting the surprises and shocking events hit you across the face like a cream pie ... or over the head with a pail of cold water.

In the history of the Roman Catholic Church, one papal election curiously stood apart. After Pope Paul's death in 1978, a compromise pope was elected, Albino Luciani, who named himself Pope John Paul I. His reign lasted a mere 33 days when, in apparent good health, he died suddenly, creating the suspicion of murder. The Last Confession by Roger Crane explores this time period in Roman Catholic history with a keen eye for details and propelling fine dramatic exchanges. Headed by resourceful actor David Suchet as Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, the cast, mostly from England, is a sturdy lot, and most likely only those repulsed by religion and/or politics will find the action less than intriguing, through July 6 only.

Musician/composer/lyricist Michael Patrick Walker is world premiering a new musical Dog and Pony at the Old Globe in San Diego. Walker is best known as one of the composers of the hit musical Altar Boyz. He was nominated for a 2005 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and for two 2005 Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and for Best Lyrics for Altar Boyz. The show also won the 2005 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical. In our chat, Walker talks in depth about Dog and Pony and working with the cast and creative team at the Old Globe.

Bhutan is a country?' Almost no one knows the answer is 'yes'. Or, that it is firmly landlocked between India, Tibet, Nepal and China, perched high in the stormy Himalayan Mountains. Or, that it has that the only Capital in the world that bans traffic lights. Or, where everyone has the same birthday (officially, the day after New Years Day. This way, no one forgets anyone's birthday). Or, that it was the first country in the world to ban the production and sales of tobacco. Or, that it was the last country in the world to get television in 1999.

Bye Bye Birdie/book by Michael Stewart/music by Charles Strouse; lyrics by Lee Adams/directed by John LaLonde/choreographed by Hector Guerrero/Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Claremont/through July 13

Hot August Night/Neil Diamond tribute concert with Dean Colley/at Monroe Forum Theare, El Portal, NoHo/through June 15

The Fantasticks/book & lyrics by Tom Jones/music by Harvey Schmidt/directed by Janet Miller/Good People Theater Company/at The Lillian Theatre/through June 29

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat/lyrics by Tim Rice/ music by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber/directed & choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler/Pantages Theater/through June 22

On Sunday June 1 Joan Ryan brought her 2013 BWW award-winning show to the Catalina Jazz Club. The show was recently retitled On the Edge. The evening was a benefit for the Trevor Project and brought a special guest star to the stage Will and Grace's Eric McCormack.

Les Miserables/music by Claude-Michel Schonberg; lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer/original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel/directed by Brian Kite/La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts/through June 22

Dorian's Descent/World Premiere Musical/DOMA/book by Marco Gomez, Michael Gray, Chris Raymond/music by Chris Raymond; lyrics by Marco Gomez and Chris Raymond/choreographed by Tania Possick/directed by Marco Gomez/through July 20

On Sunday June 1 Joan Ryan brought her 2013 BWW award-winning show to the Catalina Jazz Club. The show was recently retitled On the Edge. The evening was a benefit for the Trevor Project and brought a special guest star to the stage Will and Grace's Eric McCormack.

Ghost, Pantages Theatre/June 27 -July13/www.hollywoodpantages.com/ The musical stage adaptation of the 1990 runaway hit film of the same title that starred Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Oscar-winning Whoopi Goldberg. Despite its mixed reviews, the show, which originated on the West End, received 3 Tony nominations for its Broadway engagement. With book/lyrics by Bruce Joel and music/lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, Ghost's musical score includes the ever-popular 'Unchained Melody' and is bound to be an audience grabber.

Actor French Stewart will repeat his role as Buster Keaton in Stoneface, written by his wife Vanessa Claire Stewart, at the Pasadena Playhouse beginning June 3. The play will costar Daisy Eagan. Stewart, best known to TV audiences for 3rd Rock from the Sun, the middle and other sitcoms is a wonderful dramatic actor, and as Buster Keaton in Stoneface, which sold out houses for months at Sacred Fools Theatre in 2012, he just shines.

When I first saw the film of Educating Rita in the early 80s I was captivated by Julie Walters. It made the Brit actress an international star. Now at Theatre 40 Willy Russell's play Educating Rita receives a handsome staging with another captivating beauty Murielle Zuker. It's a two-character play co-starring Adrian Neil and directed by Robert Mackenzie through June 23.

Despite some glitches in lighting and sound, which obviously irritated her, and some throat problems due to a cold, Neile Adams proved a great trouper once more as she adhered to the old adage ' the show must go on' and wholeheartedly essayed The Lives of Me at the Monroe Theatre of the El Portal Saturday evening May 24.

Back in the 50s, the era that was innocence personified, Broadway musicals were written to entertain first. Of course, Stephen Sondheim and other more serious composers were beginning to change the face of the American musical with the goal to enlighten, but shows like Li'l Abner, with book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, lyrics by Johnny Mercer & music by Gene De Paul and based on Al Capp's 1934 comic strip, showed us the wild hillbilly lifestyle to make us laugh rather than think. Underneath the surface, to be sure, there is political satire and an uplifting message about appreciating the worth of that lesser known patch of American culture, kind of like what 60sTV audiences found in The Beverly Hillbillies.

Eric McCormack is best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of Will Truman in NBC's hit sitcom Will and Grace and for his latest TNT crime drama Perception. He has also appeared on Broadway and is an avid musician. On June 1 he will join Joan Ryan in her new show On the Edge at Catalina Jazz Club. In our chat he talks about Joan Ryan, the show and his musical career.

The 30th Anniversary production, which featured an Emmy®, Grammy® and Tony® Award-winning cast, remains the world's longest-running annual benefit for HIV/AIDS funding