(02/21/2020) - The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and Four Larks present their World Premiere production of FRANKENSTEIN, created by Four Larks after Mary Shelley's classic novel, from Wednesday, February 12 through Sunday, March 1, 2020, in The Wallis' Lovelace Studio Theater. This unusual Frankenstein, commissioned by The Wallis, is an exuberant amalgamation of dynamic physical theatre, live music and experiential design that brings the tale to life in a modern take that spotlights the dangers of unregulated technology. Sourced predominantly from Shelley's novel in conjunction with its 200th anniversary, the production awakens new questions about moral responsibility for each generation. That description drew me to see the show, but in all honesty, I found the storyline as presented completely incomprehensible. But yes, it was entertaining to watch the talented cast of twelve...
(02/21/2020) - Written over 200 years ago, Mary Shelley's Gothic masterpiece retains all of its power to horrify and fascinate. This original L.A. Theatre Works commission is adapted from Shelley's novel by the BBC's Kate McAll, who wowed audiences with last season's A Room with a View. Celebrated actor Stacy Keach stars in the role of “The Creature,' and Adhir Kalyan (Arrested Development, Rules of Engagement, LATW production of The Hard Problem) is Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
(02/21/2020) - Chance Theater, Anaheim's official resident theater company, presents “A Wrinkle in Time,” kicking off the company's TYA (Theater for Young Audiences) Family Series for its 2020 season. Playwright John Glore has created a wild, highly theatrical adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's acclaimed 1962 story about three teens who traverse the boundaries of time and space in search of a beloved parent, bringing it magically to life on the Chance's Fyda-Mar Stage.
(02/20/2020) - Loft Ensemble in North Hollywood has announced this season's third production in Sawyer's Playhouse (the company's second stage), the world premiere of Birthday Wish written and directed by Victoria Anne Greenwood. The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Adam Chambers, Sean Durrie, Charlie Daniell, Jana Hamblin, Marc Leclerc, Jenny Mitchell, Benjamin Rawls, Keaton Rogers, La'Vel Stacy, and Madylin Sweeten. There will be six performances only beginning Friday, February 21, at 8pm and continuing through Sunday, March 1.
(02/19/2020) - “Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall.” The fine lines between justice and mercy, lust and love, forgiveness and retribution are exposed when Antaeus Theatre Company presents William Shakespeare's dark comedy, Measure for Measure. Armin Shimerman and Elizabeth Swain co-direct for a Feb. 21 opening at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances continue through April 6. Low-priced previews begin Feb. 13.
(02/18/2020) - International City Theatre opens its 35th anniversary season with a madcap musical salute to the swinging '40s. Written and created by Roger Bean (The Marvelous Wondrettes, Life Could Be A Dream), and with director/choreographer Jamie Torcellini at the helm, The Andrews Brothers opens on Feb. 21 at ICT's home in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Performances will continue through March 8, with two low-priced previews set for Feb. 19 and Feb. 20.
(02/18/2020) - Cleverly and wittingly written, not only the book, but the intricate, explanatory and humorous lyrics to the ten musical numbers written for the show with wonderful vocal arrangements to match; Law and Order; The Musical, delivers the clues, the facts, the suspects, the crime and plenty of hilarity during this mock-up and laugh-a-minute parody spoofing the epic long-running TV drama. The spiffy and caricatured choreography was an added bonus to the already lively, full of energy cast of characters we meet. Being a long-time fan of the series, it was fun to mix and match the characters to the different actors you've seen playing those roles.
The woman behind all this creativity is Ilyse Mimoun, who plays one of the leads, and has written, directed and is executive producer of this brand new endeavor. Kudos to the entire cast for mastering the extensive dialogue, lyrics, musical staging, choreography, and some really great harmony!
(02/18/2020) - In the West Coast premiere engagement of ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING at Sierra Madre Playhouse, writer-performer Joanna Lipari presents 16 fast-paced scenes about her fully-lived life, overflowing with triumphs, mistakes, heartache, regrets and hopes. Directed by Beth Dunnington, Lipari's self-described a?oemostly autobiographicala?? solo show is accompanied by delightfully original animation created by Anna Bron, whose first foray into theatrical projection design is certainly not going to be her last, given how entertaining and heartfelt each of Lipari's episodes is presented to bring out the humor as well as the pathos of each situation.
(02/18/2020) - 3-D Theatricals continues its 2019-2020 season with Kinky Boots, winner of six 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical. The production, which will be directed by Tony Award nominee John Tartaglia (Broadway's Avenue Q and Shrek The Musical) and choreographed by Linda Love Simmons (3-D Theatricals' Once The Musical) with musical direction and conducting by Benet Braun (La Mirada Theatre's Grumpy Old Men: The Musical). Kinky Boots will play February 14-March 1 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos, CA). Opening night is Saturday, February 15.
(02/18/2020) - 3-D Theatricals continues its 2019-2020 season with Kinky Boots, winner of six 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical. The production, which will be directed by Tony Award nominee John Tartaglia (Broadway's Avenue Q and Shrek The Musical) and choreographed by Linda Love Simmons (3-D Theatricals' Once The Musical) with musical direction and conducting by Benet Braun (La Mirada Theatre's Grumpy Old Men: The Musical). Kinky Boots will play February 14-March 1 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos, CA).
(02/17/2020) - IAMA Theatre Company presents the West Coast premiere of Found, a new musical inspired by Davy Rothbart's popular Found Magazine, which features scores of actual discarded notes and letters that have been 'found' in the real world by everyday people.
(02/17/2020) - Perception is everything. Open Fist Theatre Company opens its 30th anniversary season with three programs of short works, performed in rotating repertory, by playwrights renowned for pushing the boundaries of theatrical invention. Rorschach Fest, featuring seminal work by John O'Keefe, Daniel MacIvor, Harold Pinter and Caryl Churchill, opened Feb. 14 at Atwater Village Theatre, where performances continue through April 5.
(02/17/2020) - The Fountain Theatre presents the world premiere of a timely new play, written and directed by Stephen Sachs (Arrival & Departure, Citizen: An American Lyric, Bakersfield Mist), about homelessness, celebrity worship and truth in American journalism. Human Interest Story opens at the Fountain on Feb. 15, where performances continue through April 5.
(02/17/2020) - HAMLET THE ROCK MUSICAL with book, music and lyrics by Cliff Jones, with additional music and lyrics by Craig Fair, has undergone a few incarnations since its Broadway run in the late 70s. The launch of a re-imagined 21st Century version, produced by David Carver Music, magnificently directed by Bill Castellino, with conductor Doug Oberhamer's music direction and choreography by Janet Roston, certainly proves there's something still rockin' in Denmark! And even those not familiar with the Shakespeare's classic tragedy will be able to understand the story, performed as a sung-through musical with enough heartfelt emotions on display to leave no doubt as to how and why the characters interact with one another to mostly bad results.
(02/15/2020) - Since the world premiere of Vietgone in 2015, Qui Nguyen has become one of the most lauded and sought-after contemporary American playwrights, as well as being a writer for Marvel and Disney. The world premiere of REVENGE SONG, his new rousing, romping, music-filled look at the real life of Julie d'Aubigny, a queer 17th century French swordswoman and opera singer, offers an exciting, entertaining, and rollicking theatrical experience, ingeniously directed by Robert Ross Parker that is sure to please rowdy fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show during the heroine's interactive journey toward self-discovery and acceptance. Adding to the fun are satirical references to more musicals than I could count, including Hamilton, Cabaret, Company, Avenue Q, Beauty and the Beast, and Bye Bye Birdie.
(02/15/2020) - Celebrity Autobiography returns to LA to the renowned Groundlings Theater direct from a successful limited run on Broadway. This is the critically acclaimed, international smash-hit comedy (London's West End to the Sydney Opera House) where jaw-dropping, outrageous, 'hard to believe they wrote them' celebrity memoirs are acted out live on-stage verbatim by other celebrities.
(02/14/2020) - Kentwood Players, one of the longest continuously operating Los Angeles theater groups, continues to celebrate its 70th Anniversary Year by presenting VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, a comedy by Christopher Durang, opening Friday, March 13 and continuing through Saturday, April 18, 2020 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm. Performances take place at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Los Angeles, CA 90045, home of the Kentwood Players, voted the #1 Live Theater Group on the Westside in 2019 by readers of the Argonaut newspaper.
(02/14/2020) - Sketch on the Rocks features a cast of local actors and comedians, many of whom are returning from last season. Included in the main event sketches this season are a political debate in Disney's Magic Kingdom, viruses falling in love, and a wizard hiking guide.
(02/14/2020) - Thaddeus Phillips, an internationally acclaimed Theater Director/Designer, and the Creator, Performer and Scenic Designer of his one-man show entitled '17 Border Crossings,' has created a vividly imaginative journey on stage, based on his own intercontinental travelings. Directed by Tatiana Mallarino, the California premiere, after playing in New York, Moscow and Hong Kong to sold out crowds, taxied in to Santa Monica at the Broad Stage, for a two-night run, January 24th and 25th, 2020.
(02/14/2020) - The Los Angeles Philharmonic's Weimar Republic: Germany 1918-1933, through two wide-ranging and dramatic programs led by Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen, explores the musical culture of Germany's politically charged Weimar era. These concerts are given context by Weimar Variations, a collection of ancillary events curated by Stephanie Barron and Nana Bahlmann.
(02/14/2020) - Philip Roger Roy and Playhouse Productions, Inc. have announced a limited engagement of the off Broadway hit Old Jews Telling Jokes at the Indian Wells Theater on the CSUSB campus in Palm Desert. The National Touring Production is now playing through Sunday, March 15.
(02/12/2020) - Ophelia's Jump Productions will begins their 2020 Season with Edward Albee's Tony Award winning masterpiece, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(02/12/2020) - HOLLYWOOD, CA JANUARY, 2020
There was quite the wild opening night going on at the fabulous Montalban Theatre, in Hollywood, this past month. And I have a feeling, every night since, until it closed it's two-week run, due mostly to cast members' former commitments, it felt much the same. The audience was treated to an embellished redux of the 1975 cult smash hit of the same name.
(02/10/2020) - Actors Co-op's production of Lee Blessing's “A Body of Water” with the world premiere of Blessing's new ending, directed by Nan McNamara, produced by Crystal Jackson, opened to a SOLD OUT house Friday night. The play runs now through March 15, at Actors Co-op Crossley Theatre in Hollywood, California.
(02/10/2020) - Geffen Playhouse presents its commissioned world premiere production of Revenge Song: A Vampire Cowboys Creation, written by Qui Nguyen (Vietgone, She Kills Monsters) and directed by Robert Ross Parker (Mothers, Disgraced). The production features original songs by Shane Rettig with lyrics by Qui Nguyen.
(02/08/2020) - Now celebrating its 18th year, the annual production of THE MANOR has become a Los Angeles/Beverly Hills institution with several performances selling out even before tickets go on sale to the public. Its popularity, no doubt, is due to the scandalous true story as told by the talented actors who each inhabit their characters to a tee, costumed to time-period perfection, as well as the chance to be inside the grand and glorious architectural landmark in which the events of 91 years ago actually took place, performed in two acts taking place 10 years apart. The names of all characters in the tragic Doheny family saga have been changed, of course, a?oeto protect the guiltya?? as we are told before the play begins by the mansion's loyal butler, James, portrayed this year by David Hunt Stafford who also produces the show for Theatre 40 in association with The City of Beverly Hills.
(02/07/2020) - ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the third show of its 2019-20 Season, with a musical adaptation of the gloriously romantic comedy, JANE AUSTEN'S EMMA, book, music and lyrics by Paul Gordon (Daddy Long Legs, Jane Eyre), adapted from the novel by Jane Austen, musical direction by Brent Schindele, choreography by Jean Michelle Sayeg and directed by Andrew Barnicle.
(02/07/2020) - THE 6th ACT presents a world premiere comedy, a heartfelt love letter to all things 99-seat theatre, THE $5 SHAKESPEARE COMPANY, written by Matthew Leavitt (The Boomerang Effect) and directed by Joel Zwick (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” Serrano The Musical). THE $5 SHAKESPEARE COMPANY will open on Friday, February 7 at 8pm and run through Sunday, March 8, 2020 at Theatre 68, 5112 Lankershim Blvd. in Hollywood.
(02/07/2020) - Pasadena Playhouse presents The Father, written by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Jessica Kubzansky, February 5 to March 1, 2020.
(02/04/2020) - Sam Shepard, who left this world in 2017, was an American playwright and actor whose plays adroitly blend images of the American West, pop motifs, science fiction, and other elements of popular and youth culture. His settings are often a kind of nowhere, notionally grounded in the dusty heart of the vast American Plains. His characters are typically loners, drifters caught between a mythical past and the mechanized present; his work often concerns deeply troubled families, lovers or friends. Two of his plays centering on loners at the end of their rope, THE UNSEEN HAND coupled with Shepard's gritty and audacious KILLER'S HEAD, joins Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's 50th Anniversary a?oeCirca '69a?? Season of significant and adventurous plays that premiered around the time of the company's inception.
(02/03/2020) - The venerated Los Angeles-based Lula Washington Dance Theatre returned to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts to celebrate its milestone 40th anniversary with a dynamic and powerful program exploring social and humanitarian issues from January 30 through February 1 in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. The program, which launched The Lula Washington Dance Theatre's year-long anniversary celebration, included three world premieres and a West Coast premiere, with new works from new voices, some of whom are a generation younger than co-founders Lula and Erwin Washington, which mixed jazz, hip-hop, African movement, ballet, modern, tap and other dance styles to perfection.
(02/01/2020) - Popular American film director and producer, television writer and producer, playwright and actor Del Shores is an expert at creating mid-twentieth century lowbrow female characters; the salt of the earth Southern women on the surface who bubble with peppery torment beneath the surface, just waiting to explode. And now in his latest play, THIS SIDE OF CRAZY which Shores also directs at the Zephyr Theatre for its Los Angeles premiere, carries on the same tradition of a strong-willed, highly religious mother who raised her three very different daughters, each of whom has rebelled against family traditions and society's expectations - until they are called upon to reunite in the family home for some higher purpose.
(02/01/2020) - Beard Collins Shores Productions is thrilled to present the Los Angeles premiere of Dale Dickey, Bobbie Eakes, Sharon Garrison and Rachel Sorsa starring in the Los Angeles premiere of THIS SIDE OF CRAZY, written and directed by Del Shores. THIS SIDE OF CRAZY opened on Friday, January 31 and will run through Sunday, March 8 at the Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave., in West Hollywood.
(01/30/2020) - MainStreet Theatre Company, the resident professional company at the Lewis Family Playhouse will present And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank for two weekends only, from February 1st – 9th, 2020.
(01/29/2020) - ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the third show of its 2019-20 Season, with a musical adaptation of the gloriously romantic comedy, JANE AUSTEN'S EMMA, book, music and lyrics by Paul Gordon (Daddy Long Legs, Jane Eyre), adapted from the novel by Jane Austen, musical direction by Brent Schindele, choreography by Jean Michelle Sayeg and directed by Andrew Barnicle. Jane Austen's Emma begins previews on Thursday, February 6, opens on Saturday, February 8 at 8:00pm, and runs through Sunday, February 23, 2020 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.
(01/29/2020) - As is true with almost every one of The Bard's plays, magic and mayhem, fops and fairies, mistaken identity, romance and humor abound in this tongue-firmly-in-cheek evening with elements of pantomime, Commedia dell'arte and conventions of classical theater woven together with DeCarlo and Rudie narrating the tale as the elvish mischief makers Orion and Talia. While there are quotes and references from several of The Bard's creations, LOVE IN BLOOM takes its biggest story line from a?oeA Midsummer Night's Dreama?? with three sets of lovers dealing with mistaken identities due to cross-dressing, who eventually get lost in the woods in order for the fairies' spell to be cast so that all ends well and love rules the day.
(01/29/2020) - Each month, Drama Desk Award winner and Emmy® nominee Eugene Pack and his roving band of actors “The Pack” perform staged readings of new original short comedies by the remarkable prize-winning playwright in a variety of venues in the Los Angeles vicinity.
(01/28/2020) - LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT are thrilled to present the third show of their 2019-2020 season, the hilariously dark comedy, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, written by Joseph Kesselring and directed by Casey Stangl. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE will preview on Friday, January 24, 2020 (with a press opening on Saturday, January 25 at 8pm) and run through Sunday, February 16, 2020 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.
