Shari Barrett
Shari Barrett, a Los Angeles native, has been active in the theater world since the age of six - acting, singing, and dancing her way across the boards all over town. After teaching in secondary schools, working in marketing for several studios, writing, directing, producing, and performing in productions for several non-profit theaters, Shari now dedicates her time and focuses her skills as a theater reviewer, entertainment columnist, and publicist to "get the word out" about theaters of all sizes throughout the Los Angeles area. As a founding member of the LA Stage Alliance Leadership Council Task Force, she and reps from theaters throughout the city worked together to articulate a vision for the theater community of Greater Los Angeles.
Shari is a member of the Board of Directors for Kentwood Players at the Westchester Playhouse, one of the thriving community theater groups in Los Angeles, and the Publicist for CRE Outreach at The Blue Door, a theater group dedicated to providing artistic expression for those with all disabilities, military veterans, and at-risk youth.
Along with being on the dedicated team of Broadway World theater reviewers in Los Angeles, Shari writes a weekly "Stage Page" column in the Culver City News featuring local theater news and reviews.
Shari has received recognition from the City of Los Angeles for her dedication of heart and hand to the needs of friends, neighbors and fellow members of society for her devotion of service to the people of Los Angeles, and is honored to serve the theater world in her hometown.
Review: Michael Arden Directs ANNIE with Creative Ingenuity at the Hollywood Bowl
BWW Review: THE BLADE OF JEALOUSY Cuts Deeply Into the Superficial Life We Lead in Los Angeles
BWW Review: HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS Musical Comedy Satirizes the Brotherhood of Backstabbing Men in the 1960s Corporate World
BWW Review: Spend a Day Filled with Artistic Delights at Art Festivals and THE PAGEANT OF THE MASTERS in Laguna Beach
Review: Barra Grant Shares Personal Tales of Growing Up as MISS AMERICA'S UGLY DAUGHTER
Review: U.S. Premiere of Norm Foster's SCREWBALL COMEDY Generates Laughs at Theatre 40
Review: MAMMA MIA! Celebrates the Power of Family, Friendship and the Universal Need for Love and Acceptance
Review: JOSEPH Proves to be Musical of Biblical Proportions Performed in Fabulous Broadway Style by 5-STAR THEATRICALS
Review: SELL/BUY/DATE Highlighted by Sarah Jones' Masterful, Multiple, Multicultural Characterizations
Review: DEAR JOHN, WHY YOKO? Musically Celebrates the Love that Survived Despite Overwhelming Odds
Review: INTO THE WOODS Honored by Cupcake Studios on the 30th Anniversary of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Tony Award Winning Musical
BWW Review: ENCORE Entertains Audiences with Fun-Filled MARY POPPINS Musical
Review: It's Easy to See Your Own Crazy Family in IN-LAWS, OUTLAWS AND OTHER PEOPLE (That Should Be Shot)
Review: PIZZA MAN Delivers the Message That Rape is Never OK Under Any CircumstancesAugust 17, 2018
In the wake of recent #MeToo headline events redefining gender roles (particularly for women) and issues of consent, PIZZA MAN by Darlene Craviotto, which debuted in 1982, seems timelier than ever. While statistics are only quoted once in the play with Newsweek saying 'a rape is committed every 7 seconds,' the United States Department of Justice research claims about 20 million out of 112 million women (18.0%) in the United States have been raped during their lifetime, with only 16% of all rapes reported to law enforcement. No doubt these rapes were committed almost exclusively by men. But is it possible for a woman to rape a man? Such is the question asked during PIZZA MAN.
BWW Review: HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS Musical Comedy Satirizes the Brotherhood of Backstabbing Men in the 1960s Corporate WorldAugust 13, 2018
Climbing the corporate ladder has always been easy for some and difficult for others. This somewhat-dated story, given how the 'Me Too' movement has changed the male-female office environment these days, follows the rise of J. Pierrepont Finch, who uses a little handbook called 'How To Succeed In Business' to climb the corporate ladder from lowly window washer to high-powered executive, tackling such familiar but potent dangers as the company 'Yes' men, backstabbing co-workers who want to succeed by causing you to fail, sexy secretaries looking for love and marriage, high-level executives who use their power to seduce sexy secretaries in private offices and at office parties, office-wide caffeine addiction, and, of course, true love.
BWW Review: THE BLADE OF JEALOUSY Cuts Deeply Into the Superficial Life We Lead in Los AngelesAugust 10, 2018
Playwright Henry Ong admits that when he stumbled upon Tirso de Molina's "La celosa de si misma" (Jealous of Herself) during the Playwrights' Arena (PA) for the Golden Tongues series to introduce audiences to the treasures of the Golden Age of Spanish theater between 1590 to 1681, a PA-partnership with UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, he discovered an ingenious tale of deceit and deception with fascinating characters and relentless wit. The tale of self-image, identity, and the idea of physical perfection as hoisted upon us in the media immediately presented Ong with the opportunity to set his modern adaptation THE BLADE OF JEALOUSY in Los Angeles, a place where so many of us become dissatisfied with what nature has given us and how the media says we should look causes people to continually crave and seek to attain idealized versions of our physical selves in order to gain love.
BWW Review: OUTLAW George Christie Offers Audiences an Insider's Look at Hells AngelsAugust 9, 2018
In the minds of many people, the name Hells Angels brings up images of outlaws in black leather, riding on loud motorcycles and always being up to no good just like Marlon Brando in "The Wild One." Never having met any members of that "social club" before, when I heard former Hells Angels leader George Christie was bringing his new one-man, autobiographical show OUTLAW, written and directed by Richard La Plante, to the Whitefire Theatre (after enjoying packed performances in Ventura, Santa Barbara, Palm Desert, Las Vegas and St. Louis), I figured it was about time to find out more about the much-feared riding enthusiasts from someone on the inside.
Review: Barra Grant Shares Personal Tales of Growing Up as MISS AMERICA'S UGLY DAUGHTERAugust 7, 2018
Now an award-winning writer and director, Barra Grant has created one of the most entertaining, informative, and hysterically funny solo shows I have ever seen. With her marvelous writing style and self-effacing humor, along with the brilliant direction of Eve Brandstein (who worked with Barra for 16 months to create MISS AMERICA'S UGLY DAUGHTER), this behind-the-scenes story will totally envelop you from start to finish. As she answers the many ongoing calls, beginning at two in the morning and continuing until dawn, we are taken on the journey of Barra's life, with Bess ever-present, fixated on 'improving' her daughter by attempting to mold her into a younger version of herself.
Review: MAMMA MIA! Celebrates the Power of Family, Friendship and the Universal Need for Love and AcceptanceAugust 6, 2018
Somewhere in the world tonight there are 7 performances of the hit musical MAMMA MIA! onstage entertaining audiences. In fact, the show based on the music by Swedish pop group ABBA, has become so popular that the only continent where a regional or touring production has not occurred is Antarctica, and the show has set the record for premiering in more cities faster than any other musical in history. And after seeing the current 3-D Theatricals production, it's easy to see why audiences continue to fill theaters to experience the fun, spectacle, great music, and overall happy atmosphere generated by this feel-good musical.
Review: THE MOTHERF**KER WITH THE HAT Inaugurates the Gloria Gifford Conservatory in HollywoodAugust 2, 2018
Gloria Gifford is a stage-trained actress from New York City, giving her the necessary background to understand the intricacies of people caught up in a place where the traffic is loud and people live in close proximity to each other, yet still think it's necessary to always be screaming at one another to get the upper hand. Such is the case with the five characters in Stephen Adly Guirgis' 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning THE MOTHF**CKER WITH THE HAT, an urban comedy now being presented as the inaugural production at the Gloria Gifford Conservatory for the Performing Arts new location on Theater Row in Hollywood.
BWW Review: Spend a Day Filled with Artistic Delights at Art Festivals and THE PAGEANT OF THE MASTERS in Laguna BeachJuly 31, 2018
For the past several summers, I have attended the Festival of Arts and The Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. But this year, I also decided to also visit two other art festivals along Laguna Canyon Road rather than spend any time cruising the town as I had done before. The full-day of exploring all the artistic delights on display this year at all three locations left me dazzled by all the talent on display, while wishing I had lot of extra income to purchase and bring home many of the awe-inspiring items that caught my fancy. But the real highlight of the day was viewing the abundance of 'local color' on display in this summer's 'Under the Sun' themed Pageant of the Masters.
Review: Michael Arden Directs ANNIE with Creative Ingenuity at the Hollywood BowlJuly 29, 2018
Even if you have seen it before, I cannot stress enough how miraculous the current production of ANNIE is at the Hollywood Bowl, directed with creative ingenuity by Michael Arden. Featured in the cast of incredibly talented triple-threat (acting, singing, dancing) performers are Ana Gasteyer as the ruthless headmistress Miss Agatha Hannigan, David Alan Grier as the refined, generous billionaire Oliver 'Daddy' Warbucks, Lea Salonga as his dedicated and caring assistant Grace Farrell, with newcomer Kaylin Hedges as Annie, who won the role over hundreds of other young girls from across the country who submitted video auditions to win role. Miss Hedges is the cornerstone of the production and her soaring, pitch-perfect voice and effervescent stage presence setting the jubilant tone for the entire ensemble.
Review: Thoroughly Entertaining THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Captivates Audiences at the Maverick TheaterJuly 26, 2018
A major theme running throughout THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW musical is transvestism which, according to O'Brien, was not originally meant to be as prominent as it ended up being after its original London production starring the cross-dressing, incredibly sexy Tim Curry as Frank-n-Furter. Brilliantly continuing in that tradition since the Maverick Theater's first production in 2007 is Dennis Tong, who absolutely inhabits the iconic role with every ounce of his being. From the moment he appears atop the bar in the theater and throws back his cape to reveal Frank-n-Furter's scantily dressed sexy self, you know this is going to be a night of theater you will never forget. In fact, the entire cast creates each and every character purely from their hearts.
Review: U.S. Premiere of Norm Foster's SCREWBALL COMEDY Generates Laughs at Theatre 40July 23, 2018
Norm Foster has written over sixty plays which have been produced all over the world. Selections from this most-produced Canadian playwright have been included at Theatre 40 for many years, but this time the group is excited to present the U.S. Premiere of his appropriately titled new play SCREWBALL COMEDY which pays homage to this classic genre of entertainment. Emerging in the 1930s, screwball comedies were a wild new strain of fast-talking farces involving battles of the sexes and a world forever on the brink of chaos. The elements included a male and female who may be adversarial at first but are ultimately ideal for each other. Think of the classic films It Happened One Night, His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby and My Man Godfrey during which some farcical or slapstick action occurs, including snappy patter and crackling dialogue with bits of off-color humor thrown in, with the plot ultimately leading to the female gaining the upper hand in the relationship.
BWW Review: A Great Evening of DARK & DIRTY Ditties by Bucket List Cabaret at Three ClubsJuly 21, 2018
Featuring an eclectic mix of sexy, DARK & DIRTY show tunes and comedy songs, Bucket List Cabaret, the brain-child of Theatre 40 member Amanda Conlon and her husband Peter Flanigan, invaded Three Clubs on July 19, 2018 with an explosively entertaining evening of musical fun that kept its audience laughing from start to finish. I am not exactly sure how Ms. Conlon found (or perhaps created) such an amazing mix of naughty tunes, I can say each one kept me laughing at the unexpected language and subject matter throughout the entire show.
BWW Review: THE JACKIE WILSON STORY Brings Mr. Excitement Back to Life Using Cutting Edge Holographic 3D TechnologyJuly 18, 2018
Due to Wilson's fervor when performing, with his dynamic dance moves, impassioned singing and impeccable dress, he was soon christened 'Mr. Excitement,' a title Wilson would keep for the remainder of his career. His live performances consisted of knee-drops, splits, spins, back-flips, one-footed across-the-floor slides, removing his tie and jacket and throwing them off the stage, and a great deal of basic boxing steps, advance and retreat shuffling, and one of his favorite routines, getting women in the audience to come up to the stage and kiss him. In fact, the only thing Wilson loved more than music, it seems, was women, many of whom you will meet during several interviews about his life included in THE JACKIE WILSON STORY.
Review: THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARY JO KOPECHNE Gives Voice to the Woman Who Inadvertently Changed American Political HistoryJuly 17, 2018
Perhaps, as suggested by playwright Peter Lefcourt in his world premiere play THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARY JO KOPECHNE, she had also been drinking and could not say no to a man of considerable power and influence, a man who could help advance her career, a man she also may have admired after the death of his brother Robert the previous year. Certainly, this dilemma has become particularly prominent in the #MeToo era in which we are now living where men of power are being taken to task for making unwanted sexual advances on those working for them who go along with it for career gain. What we do know is that Kennedy survived and she did not. But who was Mary Jo Kopechne?
Review: MUTT HOUSE: THE MUSICAL Celebrates Acceptance and Unconditional LoveJuly 16, 2018
Featuring 18 original songs and a cast of ten (6 dogs and 4 humans), the world premiere of MUTT HOUSE: THE MUSICAL at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City recounts the story of quirky outsider Eddie Corbin (Ryan McCartan) who has managed to find a place to call home in a neglected downtown animal shelter. But when the city threatens to close the shelter, Eddie must do something he's never done before - stand up for himself and fight for what's right. With the help of six zany mutts, he faces his fears and makes an unexpected human connection in the process. It's a fun and furry musical tale for animal lovers of all ages!
Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM by Independent Shakespeare Co. Opens the 15th Anniversary Season of Free Shakespeare in Los Angeles City ParksJuly 12, 2018
Summer would not be complete without seeing at least one Shakespeare play outdoors somewhere in Los Angeles. This year I decided to spend a bewitching night in Griffith Park, selecting to see my favorite Bard comedy, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, presented by the Independent Shakespeare Company (ISC) celebrating the 15th anniversary season of free Shakespeare in Los Angeles City Parks. In 2010, ISC moved free Shakespeare in Barnsdall Park to Griffith Park, the second largest city park in California. The growth in attendance has been extraordinary, certainly due in part to the quality of the productions. So grab a blanket or a lawn chair, pack a picnic, and take a short hike into Griffith Park to a land of wonder and imagination thanks to the Independent Shakespeare Company's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM - and bring the kids!
BWW Review: MARY POPPINS The Broadway Musical Proves Anything Can Happen When You Let ItJuly 3, 2018
When Santa Monica's Morgan-Wixson Theatre decided to present MARY POPPINS The Broadway Musical as the final production of their 2017-18 Mainstage season, the group had no idea how the old theater adage "The Show Must Go On" would prove the title character's belief that "anything can happen when you let it." You see, the original directing team deserted the production a month before it was due to open, with an incomplete cast in place and tickets already having been sold. How could the challenge be met on time? Let me assure you, thanks to its new directors Kristie Mattsson and Aric Martin, musical directors Andrew Lederman and Daniel Koh, choreographers Lauren Blair and Holly Weber, and producers Anne & Larry Gesling, Spencer Johnson, and Meredith Wright, I would never have known such an additional challenge had been in place given the incredible quality of the production I saw!
Review: Larry Shue's Comedy THE FOREIGNER Still Relevant as Social Commentary to our Political Scene TodayJuly 1, 2018
Anyone following today's ever-present and socially-challenging political scene via news outlets will certainly appreciate the humor and biting commentary in Larry Shue's comedy THE FOREIGNER. From its setting in rural Georgia with individuals who appear to be living in a social world hundreds of years in the past, to the danger of racial and religious prejudice those people promote as being the right way for people to live, there may be times now when many can just shake their head at the nonsense - or, hopefully, admit it is time to take a different message out in the world ourselves.
Review: YOU IN MIDAIR Shares a Mother's Elegy for her Daughter Lost to Gun ViolenceJune 30, 2018
This solo show, written and performed with amazing emotional insight by her mother Danna Schaeffer, begins with stories from her only child's childhood during which she worried if little Rebecca was out of her sight for a few minutes. So imagine how this proud mother, who spoke daily with her daughter when she moved from Oregon to Los Angeles to pursue her acting dreams after landing the lead role in My Sister Sam and then visited with her in Rome and Venice while filming a movie, reacted with disbelief when a call from a police officer in Los Angeles informed her that Rebecca had been gunned down and died.
BWW Review: OUR VERY OWN CARLIN McCULLOUGH Looks at Whose Dream a Parent Should be PursuingJune 29, 2018
Amanda Peet may be best known as an actress, having appeared in films such as 'The Whole Nine Yards' and 'Syriana' and in TV shows, including the Duplass brothers' family dramedy, 'Togetherness.' But she's also a serious writer, with her second play, OUR VERY OWN CARLIN McCULLOUGH, now making its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. Peet says that for the Geffen production, with a cast that includes Mamie Gummer, Abigail Dylan Harrison, Caroline Heffernan, Tyee Tilghman and Joe Tippett, she was most interested in examining the mother-daughter relationship and 'the idea of how to parent and to what degree you can keep your narcissism in check.'
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