Don Grigware - Page 86

Grease/book, lyrics and music by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey/directed by Michael Lopez/Encore Dinner Theatre, Tustin/through March 1

Why I Died, A Comedy/written & performed by Katie Rubin/directed by Victor Bumbalo/Echo Theatre at Atwater Village Theatre/remaining performances: Saturday: January 18; Friday: January 17/Thursdays: February 6, 13, 20

Beautiful actress/singer Laura Benanti, Tony Award winner for Gypsy, performed at 54 Below in New York during 2013, and the live concert was recorded on Broadway Records. To celebrate the release of the CD entitled In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention, Chris Isaacson Presents booked Benanti into the Catalina Bar & Grill on Thursday January 9, and the show immediately sold out. As a result, an additional concert was scheduled for Wednesday January 8, which also sold out. Why such a fuss over Laura Benanti, you may ask? The answer is simple. Apart from the fact that this is her Los Angeles debut, let's add that like Audra McDonald, Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, this lady is a sensational singer with an incomparable range, and as the title of the album suggests, she is totally worthy of the highest form of attention. In her 75-minute set, which included just about every song on the album, she also proved what a winning charm and sense of humor she possesses! Like Patti LuPone before her, Laura Benanti has a precious wit that can only be experienced to its fullest in this kind of environment, namely a cabaret setting. She let her hair down and she was...GREAT! Outstanding musicians Kevin Axt was on bass, Ray Brinker on drums, Andrew Synowiec on guitar and virtuoso musical arranger and director Todd Almond also dueted with Benanti a couple of times during the set on pieces he had arranged or composed.

An Evening with Danny Kaye/conceived, written & performed by Brian Childers/directed by Stephen Nachamie/musical direction by Jeff Biering/El Portal Mainstage, NoHo/New Year's Eve, December 31, at 4 pm and 9 pm

It's the most wonderful time of the year, especially for the Group Repertory Theatre Company, which for more than three decades has provided holiday cheer for children-in-need.

For the Record: Baz Luhrmann in Concert is the brainchild of Christopher Lloyd Bratten (musical director) and Shane Scheel (producer) who have previously produced concerts incorporating the music from the films of the Coen Brothers and also John Hughes and Quentin Tarantino, among others. The Luhrmann show is on its third extension - now through January - and it is easy to see why. The entire Rockwell Table and Stage is converted into a grande theatrical experience like no other, with playing areas for the 9 singers/actors in the round...complete 360 degree surround, including playing areas at and around the bar. Elevated stages are used, so there is little or no problem seeing the performers except if you are seated directly behind a pillar, offering partial obstruction.

The Best in LA Theatre for 2013

On Sunday December 22 the amazing Cortes Alexander presented his Thou Swell Noel to a packed house at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. Alexander has such frenetic energy and charm that, and I've said this before, you just want to wrap him up. What a joyous Christmas present...and with his two glorious backup singers, the Swell Girls Melissa Bailey and Julie Garnye, who could ask for anything more? Yes, a band! There was an electric four-piece band with musical director Norman Ludwin on bass, David Arana at the piano, Mark Converse on drums and Paul Landry on guitar.Paul's 10-year old son Zeut Landry was a very special guest who accompanied Alexander on a Cajon Drum Box during his beautiful composition 'Marguerite'. This 'Little Drummer Boy' is also big on talent!

On Monday December 16 Adam Wylie and Carly Bracco presented their cabaret evening Holiday Our Way at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal billed as A Night of Music, Magic and Madness....and literally turned the place upside down.

Aladdin and His Winter Wish/written by Kris Lythgoe/directed by Bonnie Lythgoe/Pasadena Playhouse/through December 29 For a few years the prolific Lythgoe family have been entertaining us at Christmastime, first at the El Portal in NoHo and now at the Pasadena Playhouse with a British style panto. A panto is an interactive entertainment that starts with a very contemporary retelling of a fairy tale such as Snow White, Cinderella, or in this case Aladdin and turns it into a fun imaginative show with music that will appeal to both children and their parents. There's usually an actor in drag (outrageous Bruce Vilanch as the Widow Twankey, Aladdin's mother), a villain (Josh Adamson as Abanazar) and audience are encouraged to root for the heroes and HISS loudly at the villains. Actors such as Adamson tease the audience with a Mel Brooks-like phrase 'It's fun to be evil!' after which kids and adults boo and boo some more and even raise up props such as swords and other toy weapons in defense of their favorite hero. It's all in amusement, of course, and this year's Aladdin and His Winter Wish is by far the best show to date with a superlative cast, great special effects, some spectacular dancing and singing and an overall jolly good script by Kris Lythgoe that flows along without the slightest snag.

A Little Night Music/book by Hugh Wheeler/music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim/directed by Jonathan Fox/Ensemble Theatre Company (etc) at the New Vic, Santa Barbara/through December 22 only

One of my very favorite Christmas stories of all time is A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote about his boyhood growing up with his eccentric cousin Sook Faulk. Geraldine Page played Sook in a 1966 telefilm, and it was later remade for television in the 80s with Patty Duke. It is the Page version that stays with me, having left a lasting impression of the woman, the era and its fierce impact on humanity. Now Duane Poole has fashioned a retelling of the story with music by Larry Grossman and lyrics by Carol Hall in a new musical version of A Christmas Memory making its Southern California premiere at Laguna Playhouse through December 29.

Thomas Dunne (Brian Dennehy) was historically speaking the Chief Superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) and a Catholic loyal to the British crown, responsible for maintaining the established order in a time of revolution....hardly an easy position for one to find himself in 1932 when radical change came to Ireland in the guise of the Irish Free State. There was independence but it came at a high cost as Irish nationalists raged against each other in a bloody civil war.

White Christmas, always a treat on film (1954), creates a unique and refreshing glow on stage. The touring and original Broadway productions, which played Los Angeles only once at the Pantages, in 2005 were gloriously directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Randy Skinner, who turned the second act opener 'I Love a Piano' into one of the most inventive & lively tap sequences ever. Now on stage at the Norris Theatre in Palos Verdes the local company has created a fresh sparkling production with even direction from Randy Brenner and zestful tap choreography from Kami Seymour. The sturdy acting company makes this production a pleasantly frothy confection playing through December 15 only - sadly, you only have one more weekend to catch it, so get your tickets immediately!

Actress Rebecca Ann Johnson recently played Elizabeth in MTW's Young Frankenstein and will play in Little Miss Scrooge at the Rubicon in Ventura for one week only beginning December 18.

Bette Midler and Sue Mengers. Two iconic Hollywood female personalities of the last fifty years. Midler scored with her first movie The Rose in 1979, after many successful years in New York, on and off-Broadway. She was and has remained an iconic performer for the Gay community, and with strong choices, hard work and perseverance has become a super star in every medium she has played from New York to LA to Las Vegas. Super agent Mengers came to Los Angeles from New York with a German background and from a poor family and worked her way to the top as one of the strongest, gutsiest, hard-working and caring agents Hollywood has ever seen. So, the two ladies have a lot in common; Midler certainly fits the bill to play Sue Mengers in John Logan's one-person play I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers, now at the Geffen through December 22 only.

On Tuesday December 3 sublime singer Spider Saloff appeared at Rockwell Table and Stage for an evening of Cool Yule accompanied by electric jazz pianist Richard Eames. I say sublime, as there are a rare few like Saloff who can really sing, wrapping their heart around the lyrics of a song and then delivering it as if they had never told the story before. It takes an actress to sing well, and Saloff has everything it takes. Like Garland, she's one of the best.

GCT's all new version of their annual holiday hit A Christmas Carol has Dickens' heartwarming classic story, incorporating the atmosphere, texture and mood of dingy, poverty-stricken London of the 19th century with great set pieces and costumes, music, dance and some pretty amazing special effects. This is a delightfully engaging Christmas present for one and all now through December 24.