Don Grigware - Page 83

Robert Mollohan's play Jesse Boy, now receiving its world premiere at Ruskin, is a potent mix of reality and fantasy.

See What I Wanna See words and music by Michael John La Chiusa suggested by the stories of Rynosuke Akutagawa as translated by Takashi Kojima directed by Daniel Henning The Blank Theatre Company through May 30

Ser o no ser. Esta es la cuestion. Spanish Shakespeare consumes actor Rene Rivera. Throughout his stimulating one man show, The King of the Desert, autobiographical and penned by his wife Stacey Martino, Rivera quotes Hamlet more than once to describe his passion and to help sustain his dream of one day becoming a great actor. Like Hamlet, the young TexMex Rivera had difficulty assessing his self-worth amidst a life of constant struggle and turmoil.

American pop music has a plethora of songs with French titles. Take, for example, Rodgers' & Hammerstein's 'Dites-moi', and Lerner and Loewe's 'C'est moi' from the world of Broadway. And, legendary French pop singers of the past like Chevalier, Piaf, Brel and Aznavour are almost as well known in the US as Dylan, Presley and Sinatra. So, we should not take for granted the effects of French culture on American music. International singer Lee Lessack concurs as he presents an outstanding cabaret of mixed French and American tunes with a French flavor called Chanteur, vibrantly conceived by director Brian Lane Green.

Hitchcock is known as the Master of Suspense. This creative team have taken a suspenseful Hitchcock film (1935) and gone a giant step further to fashion a thoroughly entertaining, high comedy cinematic suspense yarn for the stage.

Editor/acting teacher Lola Cohen has compiled a priceless book about acting from one of the greatest teachers of our time Lee Strasberg. Strasberg, who advocated Stanislavski and The Method, began his illustrious acting career with the Group Theater and is best remembered for his work on film in The Godfather.

On Sunday evening April 25 Bobby Bennett brought his inimitable sounds of A Night of Love to Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's. This was his cabaret debut here, although he competed in this past season's LA's Next Great Stage Star 2010. A former finalist on American Idol, Bobby Bennett is so vocally smooth and possesses an easy listening style that makes him the perfect pop recording artist. He infuses his audience, in his very own special way, with a desire to really listen to his music. So, I am naming him the Michael Feinstein of the coming decade.

Character actress/singer Vicki Lewis is a favorite with TV and theatraudiences alike, perhaps most recognized as Larry David's producing partner from Cable's hilarious Curb Your Enthusiasm. When we spoke, she was starting rehearsals with Reprise for their next production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opening May 11 at the Freud @ UCLA.

Where's the nightmare? Not nearly as dark as it needs to be or musically enticing enough, Nightmare Alley at the Geffen, by its very nature should be diabolically thrilling like a Kander and Ebb musical but it doesn't cut the mustard, even with its exceptional cast including James Barbour, Larry Cedar and Mary Gordon Murray.

Singing coach Marge Rivingston has written Do You Hear What I Hear? a practice guide for the singing student. With over 40 years in the business, she knows a thing or two about how to prepare yourself for the craft and how to preserve the health of your voice. In our talk, she presents an optimism that resonates with those students who have been lucky enough to put her vast knowledge to profitable use.

Actress/ singer Michele Lee will appear in S.T.A.G.E. benefit's Original Cast on May 1 at the Luckman Theatre. Star of stage, screen and TV, Lee starred on Broadway with Robert Morse in How to Succeed in Businees Without Really Trying (1961-65) and then repeated the role of Rosemary on film in 1967, Bravo Giovanni in 1962, Seesaw in 1973, winning a Drama Desk Award as Best Actress and a Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Musical and in Charles Busch's comedy The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2000-2002), receiving a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Play.

Prolific musical stage director David Galligan helms another S.T.A.G.E. benefit this year for one night only on Saturday, May 1 at the Luckman Theatre entitled Original Cast, featuring stars who originated their roles on Broadway or in LA. Galligan has been interviewed many times over during the past several years, so I was hard put to think of a question that has not been asked of him. Therefore, we got right to the bottom line of what makes this year's different from all the other S.T.A.G.E. shows.

It is difficult not to be engaged in a well-written comedy with Jewish humor. Take Woody Allen's many plays or, for example, Jewtopia, which was such a gigantic hit a few years ago. Jewish people are not afraid to admit who they are and are the first to poke fun at their own family traditions and religious practices.

In Lenny's Back, a vibrant one-person play about the late controversial comic Lenny Bruce, Sam Bobrick and wife Julie Stein penned an unpredictably exhilarating look at a man that for many fans was the king of comedy. In Bobrick's latest comedy The Psychic, he does not choose anyone famous; on the contrary, he creates a fictitious struggling writer and five ordinary people with quite extraordinary ambitions and goals. Bigger than life, not unlike cartoons, the sextet create one unforgettably entertaining evening of theatre at the Falcon.

Singer Mary Wilson is the guest star with the current Palm Springs Follies show Let the Good Times Roll through May 16. At 66 this lady is beautiful and has as much dynamic energy as she did when she performed with The Supremes in the 60s , so she fits right into the Follies. All these folks look and act like they are at least 20-30 years younger - take Dorothy Kloss, the oldest living showgirl according to the Guinness Book of World Records. At 86 she has gorgeous legs like Juliet Prowse and can still tap dance at electric speed.

Actress/playwright Kres Mersky's solo plays include Isadora Duncan: A Unique Recital (currently touring the West Coast and Canada) and At The Codfish Ball. Her full-length, full-cast plays include Algerian Romance and Flag Day. She has also written numerous one acts. She has appeared extensively on stage, screen and television, and is a member of the prestigious stage company Theatre West. Mersky's newly revised solo play The Life and Times of A. Einstein will open at Theatre West on April 10. In our talk, she discusses the play and what drew her to Einstein among other theatrical interests.