Celebration Theatre Opens Season With Audience Favorite, BUYER & CELLAR

Celebration Theatre is back. After a years-long hiatus of mainstage performances, the company is on a new road to creative change. Interim Artistic Director Ann James (she/they) made a successful case for the theater's first offering of the season: "At the center of Celebration shifting to a new era in its forty-year lifespan is the bold decision to produce a show that is sure to be a sell out in Los Angeles."

Buyer & Cellar is Jonathan Tolins' solo show about Alex More, an out-of-work LA actor who takes a mysterious job staffing a fake mall in a celebrity basement. Of course, he quickly realizes that the star is the one and only Barbra Streisand. Tolins based the play on Streisand's 2010 coffee-table book, "My Passion for Design" (she did the principal photography for it herself), in which the icon shared with her fans the impressive Potemkin shopping street, complete with an antique store, popcorn machine, and "Gift Shoppe," that she had built in her basement to show off her costumes and possessions to an audience of one: herself.

Longtime Los Angeles favorite Katie Lindsay (she/her, 2019 Foeller Fellow at Williamstown Theater Festival, 2021-2022 Geffen Writers' Room) directs this production. The role of "Alex More" will be played by New York native Mike Millan (he/him, "Jesús" in Broadway's Escape to Margaritaville, "Mikey D" in IAMA Theatre Company's Found, Ovation Award Nomination - Best Featured Actor in a Musical).

"It's such a pleasure to be back in the theater with this hilarious, clever, joyful love story between an LA theater actor and one of the world's most legendary stars," shared director Katie Lindsay. "Buyer & Cellar reminds us why we come to the theater in the first place-to share the collective experience of hearing a good story. Mike Millan is charming, delightful, and commanding as Alex More. Audiences will fall in love with Mike and with Barbra all over again."

Featuring the inspired designs of an award-winning team, with scenic design by Stephen Gifford (he/him), lighting design by R.S. Buck (they/them), sound design by Cricket S. Myers (she/her), projections design by David Murakami (he/him), and properties design by Director of Production Michael O'Hara (he/him). The cover/standby for the role of "Alex" will be played by Daniel Burns (he/him). The show is produced by Executive Director Christopher Maikish (he/him), with stage management by Courtney Rhodes (they/them), casting by resident Casting Director, Jami Rudofsky (she/her), and creative support by Associate Artistic Director Brittney S. Wheeler.

Buyer & Cellar begins previews Thursday, March 17th, opening Friday, March 25th. The show runs Fridays through Mondays through Sunday, April 17, 2022 with a dedicated ASL Performance Sunday, April 3rd, and "Pay What You Like" community nights Mondays, April 4th and 11th, 2022. Tickets and more info at CelebrationTheatre.org/BuyerCellar.