Shari Barrett - Page 49

This month, Pacific Opera Project (POP) is presenting its most ambitious production to date: the first ever true-to-story bilingual Madama Butterfly with a new libretto written by POP Artistic Director Josh Shaw, interviewed for this story, and Opera in the Heights Artistic Director Eiki Isomura. The production presents Puccini's story as if it actually happened and attempts to answer the question of how would Butterfly and Pinkerton have really communicated if neither spoke the other's native language?

When the initial cast announcement was made for LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at the Morgan Wixson in Santa Monica, controversy erupted on social media about the miscasting of the trio of Skid Row urchins as the scripts calls for the roles to be played by African-Americans. Certainly the names of the characters (Ronette, Crystal and Chiffon) pay tribute to 50s rock and roll girl groups these three characters represent through their song stylings. And fortunately, the show's producer Spencer Johnson listened and set about to make things right, hiring a new director, D'Shaun A. Booker, who set out to find the perfect trio of gifted singers to breathe life back into the show. And boy did she succeed!

Similar to David Bowie's awe-inspiring physical transformation in the title role on Broadway, the current production of Bernard Pomerance's THE ELEPHANT MAN, a classic true-life tale and heart-wrenching story that depicts the best and the worst of humanity, presented by Thursday Night Theatre Club at the El Portal in NoHo, features an amazing performance by Tom Vitorino in the title role. His first appearance occurs with Merrick completely covered by filthy rags and laying in the dirt at a travelling Freak Show. But it is Vitorino's physical transformation, dressed only in Victorian-era underwear, as his deformities are described by his friend and savoir, Dr. Frederick Treves (John Ralston Craig), that sets the stage for the incredible production which follows that scene.

Perhaps one of the most influential artistic figures of the 20th century, Yoko Ono's work as a performance artist and musician is conceptually bold and politically confrontational. In fact, her career can broadly be understood as a lifelong performance poem, with her early art and music pieces created in New York City a compelling opening line in her always positive narrative. On Friday, March 22, the LA Phil presented BREATHEWATCHLISTENTOUCH: The Work and Music of Yoko Ono at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the LA Phil's season-long Fluxus Festival, produced in partnership with the Getty Research Institute and Girlschool who named the concert after Ono's Dance Piece X which includes a Fluxus score that is a fitting summation of the grace, love, and sense of peace that permeates her career.

History comes alive at Woodlawn Cemetery, Mausoleum & Mortuary in Santa Monica during their Living History Tour in which costumed actors portraying noted personalities interred there share their stories and contributions to history and society. And although I had heard about the tours in previous years, last weekend was the first time I actually spent two hours on a wonderfully brilliant Saturday afternoon walking among the many souls who chose this peaceful spot as their final resting place. This year's tour featured 14 notable characters more than willing to share their life stories, often adding in many details not widely known about them.

THE SOUND OF MURDER by William Fairchild premiered in London in 1959, making the plot somewhat predictable now, given the abundance of murder mysteries written and being produced on local stages. But this one set play is exactly the kind of British murder mystery that Theatre 40 audiences enjoy, especially with the company's designers onboard who always create a visually stunning production. Skillfully directed by Adrian Cohen to keep the action interesting and a lot more than just a lot of talking heads with British accents, the cast of THE SOUND OF MURDER includes Roslyn Cohn, Gabriel Olivas, David Hunt Stafford, Peter Trencher, David Westbay and Kate Whitney. And why that title? There's some audio equipment involved that turns out to be a pivotal prop in the investigation!

Kimberly Hebert Gregory literally shines as bright as the Sun as she battles to find the Entity to show her the way to find inner peace, as her comic book battle as superhero Maasai Angel is child's play compared to the heartbreaking emotional pain in her real life. And her journey contains some of the most stunning visual displays ever seen in the smaller Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse! Playwright Inda Craig-Galvan and director Robert O'Hara have brilliantly brought modern-day issues such as race-motivated police shootings, gun control, personal responsibility, ratings-motivated media reporting, and parenting styles to the forefront in this world premiere, sure to go on to great fame worldwide following the Geffen run.

The Battle of the Sexes rages on during the Los Angeles premiere of FIFTY: WORDS by Michael Weller at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood, featuring the remarkable actors Olga Konstantulakis and Eric Larson, directed to perfection by Shane Stevens. Perhaps because the two characters' verbal and emotional interactions with each other so honestly reflect exactly what goes on in my own relationship that I felt completely drawn in, often nodding with the realization that often two such differing outlooks on life cannot possibly find a central meeting ground that works for both people. And yet, we keep trying.

There is something special about the magic which is created during a live theater performance that cannot be duplicated on television or film as the interaction with an audience allows well-written and directed stories, starring incredibly talented actors, to soar into the history books as an event not to miss. Such is the case in LACKAWANNA BLUES, Tony Award-winning actor and talented stage director Ruben Santiago-Hudson's theatrical memoir in which he returns to his roots in a tour-de-force performance accompanied throughout by Grammy-winning blues guitarist, composer and actor Chris Thomas King.

Theatre of NOTE's production of 'For The Love Of (or, the roller derby play)' written by Gina Femia, which Center Theatre Group has remounted at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of their third annual Block Party: Celebrating Los Angeles Theatre, blasted into Culver City with a barrage of brilliant direction, choreography, artistic style and acting. And after seeing the original production in its super-small space, I can tell you the new production soars by encompassing ever possible inch of space, thanks to scenic designer Eli Smith, with enough impressive roller derby action to make you forget not one pair of skates ever touches the floor! That marvel of perfect direction and choreography can be credited to Rhonda Kohl who has created almost constant roller derby action utilizing the movement and acting skills of her talented cast

Gianfranco Terrin, a native of Naples who trained in Los Angeles at the Lee Strasberg Institute, is the director of the new Hollywood production. and is probably best known for his work on The Disney Channel's 'Movie Surfers' as well as in other Italian and American films. But his decision to present caricatures rather than believable characters takes this seemingly under-rehearsed comedy into the realm of farce.

Last year when I attended a show at Three Clubs in Hollywood, I was seated next to a young man who was dressed as if he was the Mad Hatter. My curiosity led me to ask him about his costume, and he then introduced himself as designer Bobby Love and shared some photos of his various fantasy designs with me. I was so impressed, when I found out he was going to be a part of the Sanctuary Style, Art & Music event during LA Fashion Week, I knew I had to be there. But nothing prepared me for the delightful evening of fashion I was about to experience.

Kentwood Players proudly presents the musical SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine. Performances take place at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester, CA 90045 from March 15th through April 20th on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm. The production is directed by Susan Goldman Weisbarth, music direction by Mike Walker and produced by Margie Bates and Gail Bernardi.

Discussions proliferate about immigration reform, whether it be the building of a wall to protect our border or deporting those who enter our country illegally to milk the system for everything they can get for free thanks to American taxpayer dollars. But while our focus seems to be on our Southern border, what about all of the other people from around the world that manage to come here illegally seeking a better life for themselves or, more importantly, their children? Is there really one correct answer or solution to the problem? Boni B. Alvarez, a Los Angeles-based writer-actor, addresses the question head-on in his world premiere play AMERICA ADJACENT.

I had several reasons for wanting to see the West Coast Premiere of Jireh Breon Holder's TOO HEAVY FOR MY POCKET, produced by Scott Golden for Sacred Fools Theater Company, brilliantly directed by the talented Michael A. Shepperd, Artistic Director of Los Angeles' award-winning Celebration Theatre. I knew he would honor this delicate story of aspiration and familial love centering on two African-American couples struggling to find their way in a year filled with the promise of a better future for everyone, taking place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement when Freedom Fighters took to the road in buses to battle justice in the Deep South, firmly believing that equal rights for all people deserved to be the law of the land. And that boys will be boys and women will always forgive them their trespasses when babies are part of the equation by speaking out for equality in their own lives and homes.

The Actors' Gang is presenting ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST by Dario Fo, directed at an incredibly fast and mind-boggling pace by Will Thomas McFadden, on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, through March 9th. Fo's works are characterized by criticisms of organized crime, political corruption, political murders, Catholic Church doctrine and have employed topics from current news. In this piece of classic international theatre from 1970, Fo writes of a madman who invades a police station interrogation room where an anarchist accused of bombing a railway station has recently 'accidentally' fallen out of a window. Donning various disguises and voices, the madman manipulates policemen into a truth-inducing hysteria in his attempt to discover what really happened.

Musical Theatre Guild was founded 21 years ago by a dedicated group of professional musical artists who were interested in exploring and preserving works from the musical theater repertoire that were either forgotten, neglected or unfairly dismissed. Working under a special Actors' Equity Concert Staged Reading code, the entire MINNIE'S BOYS production was put together in 25 hours, focusing on the script and score with actors holding book during the performance, including while singing and dancing their way through the 14 numbers in the show, with a wonderfully talented 6-piece band backing them up.

Luckily for us, after a 10-year hiatus raising her adopted daughter Mulan ("Yes, that was her given name in China," she shared with embarrassment) with her Eastern European Jewish husband in suburban Chicago, the Irish Catholic comic recently moved back to Los Angeles to resume her career as a writer and performer. While currently filming a recurring role in the upcoming Hulu series Shrill, opposite Aidy Bryant, she decided it was time to get back on the stage and grab the spotlight again now that her daughter has moved out as a college freshman. In her new solo show, JULIA SWEENEY: OLDER & WIDER, she offers hilarious takes on parenting, religion, cancer, feminism and even her iconic SNL characters' place in today's modern landscape. And though she shared this was the first time she performed using a handheld microphone in front of an audience, Sweeney appeared to be totally at ease and enjoying the accolades from her many fans in attendance on opening night.

A LOVELY LINEAGE, based on an original concept by Michael Sterling, captures the historic Broadway and Hollywood lineage of Kristin Towers-Rowles starting with her grandmother, the legendary Kathryn Grayson who was an MGM darling and a Hollywood pioneer having starred in some of the most beloved movie musicals of the 1950s including Kiss Me, Kate and Show Boat. Her famous lineage does not stop there - Kristin's grandfather was the dashing and talented Broadway leading man Johnnie Johnston; her mother, Patricia Towers, was a Las Vegas headliner; and her father is the prolific character actor Robert Towers.

A mysterious traveler, a horny barkeep, and a sensuous woman are trapped in a dive bar with an abundant supply of bourbon, yet all three are strangers in a place hundreds of miles from anywhere else during a windstorm that keeps them trapped together in the only shelter. Sure, anything could happen, especially when the mystery of who they are begins to unravel and it becomes apparent one of them is after someone else there. But who is it and what do they really want? And what does a recurring nightmare have to do with it? Whatever happens, one thing is certain: There will be hell to pay.