Gil Kaan - Page 37

From the moment the amazing James Conlon-conducted orchestra began their crisp, lively 'Overture' to 'Quartet Finale,' the close of Act One; this remarkable production of CANDIDE entranced the Dorothy Chandler audience. Then after a short intermission, these talented performers and musicians had the audience right back in the palms of their skilled hands, beyond the tears-inducing finale 'Make Our Garden Grow,' to the extended and most deserved standing ovation for the cast, orchestra, and creatives.

The west coast premiere of playwright Anna Ziegler's A DELICATE SHIP receives a sturdy launching by The Road Theatre Company. A DELICATE SHIP centers on a romantic Christmas Eve that Sam and Sarah anxiously plan to spend together alone. Right off the bat, Philip Orazio and Paris Perrault smoothly establish the magnetic chemistry between their characters Sam and Sarah. Josh Zuckerman's frenetic energy imbues this interloper with such intensity, one easily gets caught up in his storytelling of his and Sarah's teen years growing up together.

In FREUD'S LAST SESSION, playwright Mark St. Germain has written an intricate, very detailed script of what he imagines as a chance meeting between Dr. Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis. Set in 1939 London the day England entered World War II, the two very well-read men debate on the existence of God. Watching Martin Rayner as Freud and Martyn Stanbridge as Lewis butt heads in their reasonings of the existence/non-existence of God is much like watching a Wimbleton Tennis Final.

It's been too long since Los Angeles has had a world premiere of a Michael Kearns' creation. On January 13, 2018; Michael will open his latest dramatic composition, BLOODBOUND at Highways Performance Center. Michael has since been keeping busy with his theatrical commitments at Skylight Theatre, QueerWise, Michael Kearns & Other Outies, and Housing Works; while always doing what he does best in his HIV/AIDS activism, and raising his grown-up daughter Katherine.

A well-guarded, open secret of cinema aficionados, FilmStruck has been streaming their ever-expanding library of contemporary, art-house, indie, foreign and cult films to their subscribers for over a year now. FilmStruck also has the exclusive streaming service to the Criterion Collection library. We had the chance to interview FilmStruck interviewer Alicia Malone on the particulars of FilmStruck.

Kate Pazakis and her talented creative team once again incorporate their 'secret sauce' in concocting a most delicious holiday treat for Rockwell revelers - THE UNAUTHORIZED MUSICAL PARODY OF HOME ALONE. The 1990 John Hughes classic Home Alone receives Pazakis' UMPO treatment, resulting in a most side-splitting production with their clever choice of pop songs, re-worded to 'fit' the Home Alone narrative, and boosted by the always witty (and subtly topical) dialogue of Ray Wetmore and Pazakis.

This new and expanded edition of the 2015 FELIZ NAVIDIVA showcases the hilarious comic stylings and tight-knitted teamwork of Kay Sedia, with her fellow Chico's Angels, Frieda Laye and Chita Parol, as well as, sturdy support from their Boss Man. Director Kurt Koehler spoofs (with co-spoofer Kay Sedia's alter-ego Oscar Quintero) a number of songs, slickly weaving the tunes into a cohesive (and funny) behind-the-scenes, most entertaining battle of a Christmas drag revue.

Anyone who's had the pleasure of experiencing a Groundlings show will not only have tired hands from all the clapping and strained lungs from all the whooping and laughing, but also have worn-out toes from tapping along with the smoking hot Groundlings house band. Musical director Matthew Loren Cohen took a break from his many musical commitments and rehearsals to share some behind-the-scene Groundlings magic with BroadwayWorld.

This Skylight Theatre Company's production of playwright Jon Brittain's west coast premiere of ROTTERDAM receives a stunning mounting with a pitch-perfect aligning of talents supporting and complementing each other. Michael A. Shepperd deftly directs his spot-on cast of four bringing to life Brittain's detailed, sensitive, yet witty script on a person transitioning and its effects on those close to the day-to-day situations.

Conductor extraordinaire John Mauceri, at 72 years young, has the memory of a straight-A college kid vividly recalling detailed facts of incidents long ago right off the top of his head. The go-to expert on all subjects Leonard Bernstein, John will be conducting BERNSTEIN ON STAGE at the Valley Performing Arts Center (The Soraya) November 17, 2017. John most graciously chatted on the phone with me for an hour from his New York home after just returning from Mexico.

For a most wonderfully complete, immersive theatre/gallery experience; get yourself, and anyone you like, to Think Tank Gallery in Downtown L.A. to catch the Los Angeles premiere of Christopher Chen's Obie Award-winning CAUGHT. So easy to see why Chen won his 2016 Obie, with the substantial food for thought underneath all his witty observations.

The Robey Theatre Company has teamed up with East West Players to present an intriguing production of YOHEN directed by Ben Guillory. How generous an actor Danny Glover to cede the East West stage to June Angela's dominating performance of Sumi, the traditional, meek Japanese housewife finally coming into her own after 37 years of marriage to James (Glover's character).

One of New York City's preeminent directors of immersive theatre Ed Sylvanus Iskandar will be joining creative forces with playwright Christopher Chen in the Los Angeles premiere of Christopher's Obie Award-winning CAUGHT. In another first, CAUGHT will be presented in a non-theatre venue, an actual art gallery, the Think Tank Gallery in Downtown L.A.

The SRS Production Wing debuts its inaugural production with the fearless choice of playwright Sarah Treem's a feminine ending. Treem seamlessly and generously weaves music terminology into her descriptive expositions out of the mouth of her main character Amanda. Pilar Holland IS Amanda. The charismatic Holland imbues her charm and passion into Amanda, inviting the audience to accompany her on her bumpy road of life.

The world premiere of Robert Allan Ackerman's two-hander TOLSTOY IN SUFFOLK receives a strong mounting from Studio C Artists and Combined Artform. Ackerman's intricate, smart and very descriptive script depicts the meeting of theatre producer Greg and playwright Brendan at Brendan's remote cottage in Suffolk. Stephen Caffrey wows as Brendan. JD Cullum embodies his role of Greg.

LETTERS FROM HOME marks the most personal reveal/presentation that writer/actress/singer Kalean Ung has ever undertaken. Based on her family history in Cambodia, specifically during the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s, Kalean explores her relatives' struggles and eventual rescue, while also describing her own experiences of growing up bi-racial and first generation in Southern California. Kalean most graciously and quickly responded to my probing inquiries.

If you like your entertainment sprinkled with a generous dose of politics, The Actors' Gang's world premiere of Jack Pinter's CAPTAIN GREEDY'S CARNIVAL will definitely be right up your alley. Set in the 1930s, during the heyday of traveling carnival sideshows, Pinter uses the carney swindling Captain Greedy's Carnival as a direct analogy to the ensnaring market crash of 2008, as well as, the present day political arena.

Playwright Julia Lederer's WITH LOVE AND A MAJOR ORGAN focuses on the novel conceit of utilizing the actual organ of the heart in all references to the heart as love - actually breaking your heart, physically stealing your heart, a weak heart as the product of two broken-hearted parents, a heart made of yarn being caught on hooks and objects passing by. Lots of clever word play on 'heart.' Lederer smartly chooses to depict the aggressor as being a woman instead of a man.

The Groundlings never cease to rock your funny bones. Their current laugh-packed Friday & Saturday night show GROUNDLINGS OF THE CORN keeps the hilarity charging right at you. Groundlings' ever stalwart director Deanna Oliver's takes tight, confident directorial reins over her comically gifted ensemble of eight as they inhabit their seriously funny (sometimes just by being serious) characters in the evening of eighteen guffaw-filled sketches.

The last time Jane Kaczmarek acted on the Los Angeles stage, she transformed into the morphine-addicted Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT at the Geffen Playhouse. Jane returns to the L.A. boards, this time in the traditionally-male role of Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN, just opened at The Pasadena Playhouse, in a co-production with Deaf West Theatre.