Rick Batalla

Review: DURAN DURANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA at Troubadour Theater At The COlony

The Bard is back and DURAN DURANTHONY & CLEOPATRA is up to snuff, zanily on point both in its concept and execution. When it comes to pop-Bard hybridization, Walker and his company know exactly what they’re doing.

Photos: First Look at Troubadour Theater Company's DURAN DURANTONY & CLEOPATRA

Troubadour Theater Company has released first look photos for their production of Duran DurAntony & Cleopatra, running through Sunday, June 16th.

DURAN DURANTONY & CLEOPATRA Opens At The Colony Theatre In June

Troubadour Theater Company is celebrating its 29th season with DURAN DURANTONY & CLEOPATRA this summer.

Review: THE WHITE (ALBUM) CHRISTMAS at Colony Theatre

The award-winning Troubadour Theater Company has been doing their beloved annual Christmas mashup shows for decades, with loyal fans who return year after year. The closest thing I can compare it to is live performances I have seen of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Photos: First Look at Troubadour Theater Company's Production of WHITE (ALBUM) CHRISTMAS at Colony Theatre

TROUBADOUR THEATER COMPANY is celebrating its 28th season by asking the question, “Why Don’t We Do It In The Snow?” with their latest world premiere musical comedy event, WHITE (ALBUM) CHRISTMAS, musical direction by Ryan Whyman, and adapted, & directed by Matt Walker. Check out the production photos here! 

Troubadour Theater Company Presents A World Premiere Holiday Musical Event WHITE (ALBUM) CHRISTMAS

Bundle up! TROUBADOUR THEATER COMPANY is celebrating its 28th season by asking the question, “Why Don't We Do It In The Snow?” with their latest world premiere musical comedy event, WHITE (ALBUM) CHRISTMAS, musical direction by Ryan Whyman, and adapted, & directed by Matt Walker. 

Review: DIE HEART at Troubadour Theater Co. At The Colony Theatre

Serving up a stage adaptation of DIE HARD featuring the music of Heart, the Troubies have once again given L.A. theatergoers a plum of a yuletide gift to unwrap and savor.

Troubadour Theater Company Presents World Premiere Holiday Event, DIE HEART

TROUBADOUR THEATER COMPANY is celebrating its 20th Anniversary season by blowing up the holidays with their latest world premiere musical comedy event, DIE HEART, musical direction by Ryan Whyman and adapted, choreographed & directed by Matt Walker.

Interview: Katie DeShan's Always Having Fun in THE REVUE

Producer/creator Jim Dooley reprises The Revue, his modern musical parody at The Bourbon Room September 17, 2022. In this edition, Rick Batalla takes over the directing reins from Matt Walker with the cast of Katie DeShan, Tiffany Daniels, Isaac Robinson-Smith and Philip McNiven. I had the chance to throw out a few questions to Katie on her history with The Revue and the Troubies.

THE REVUE Returns With Cabaret Edition At Hollywood's Legendary Bourbon Room, September 17

On September 17th, THE REVUE returns with a Special Cabaret Edition featuring All-New Songs based on favorite movies turned into musicals, including: Top Gun, Caddyshack, The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, Men in Black, The Princess Bride, There's Something About Mary, Pulp Fiction, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and many more.   The new edition will also feature a live band performing in the style of “Rock of Ages”. 

FROZEN, THE BAND'S VISIT, HAMILTON and More Nominated for Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle has announced the nominees for theatrical excellence for 2020 and 2021. This year's awards have been combined due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

BWW Review: Stop the Music! Misguided Musicalized Movies light up THE REVUE, at Colony Theatre

Suppose you took a really good movie – or a crowd-pleaser - and you loaded it down with bad music. Or maybe not with atrocious music, but wrong-headed ditties. Or maybe you assigned the wrong composer for this particular cinematic genre.

BWW Interview: Jim Dooley's THE REVUE Mashes Up Movies Into Musicals

Emmy-winning composer Jim Dooley teams up with Troubies’ founder Matt Walker to world premiere the ‘dynamic plot-concepted’ The Revue at the Colony Theater opening March 17, 2022. Matt directs the cast of himself with Rick Batalla, Katie DeShan, Tiffany Daniels, Isaac Robinson-Smith and Travis Leland. Jim carved some time from rehearsals to explain his novel dynamic plot concept and chat on some highlights of his varied career.

THE REVUE Comes to The Colony This Week

“THE REVUE”, a revolutionary new parody of cinema and theater classics that pokes fun at the very fact that “Not everything should be a musical,” will hit the famed Colony Theatre in Burbank, CA on March 17, 2021.   

THE REVUE Reinvents The Modern Musical By Blending Comedy With New Dynamic Plot Format

“THE REVUE”, a revolutionary new parody of cinema and theater classics that pokes fun at the very fact that “Not everything should be a musical,” will hit the famed Colony Theatre in Burbank, CA on March 17, 2021.  

THE REVUE Reinvents The Modern Musical By Blending Comedy With New Dynamic Plot Format

This spring, pandemic-fatigued audiences will return to the theater with a heightened appetite for farce, satire and whimsy.  

THE REVUE Comes to the Colony Theater in March

This Spring, pandemic-fatigued audiences will return to the theater with a heightened appetite for farce, satire and whimsy. 'THE REVUE', a revolutionary new parody of cinema and theater classics that pokes fun at the very fact that 'Not everything should be a musical,' will hit the famed Colony Theater in Burbank, CA on March 17, 2021.

BWW Interview: Troubies' Rick Batalla's Being Himself & Always Having Fun While SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO MOTOWN

The Troubies’ Holidaze show SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO MOTOWN will open at the Garry Marshall Theatre November 23, 2021. Troubies’ artistic director Matt Walker directs the talented cast of veteran Troubies with some Noubies. A hilarious mainstay of many a Troubie production Rick Batalla took some time from his daily antics to fill me in on some behind-the-scenes of his history with the Troubadour Theater Company.

BWW Interview: TICK, TICK… BOOM!'s Isaac Robinson-Smith On His BOOMing Career

Upnext Productions’ of Jonathan Larson’s TICK, TICK… BOOM! will open November 21st at The Atlas Space at Thymele Arts. Clint Foley directs the cast of Isaac Robinson-Smith, Mandie Hittleman and Christopher Fishburne. Isaac opened up to me about his history with Upnext Productions and his thriving career.

BWW Review: THE TROUBIES' LIZA-STRADA at Getty Villa

During the opening number, the Troubadour Theatre Company, affectionately known to all as the Troubies, comment how thrilled the troupe, and the audience by extension, is to have returned to live theatre. The audience responded with glorious applause, and both the occasion and the Troubies deserve that adulation. The Troubies, who have rocked Los Angeles for the last 25 years, are one of the most creative teams in the city. Their imagination and gumption has entertained with parodies of classical works infused with a musical motif such as Alice In One-Hit Wonderland, Much ADoobie Brothers About Nothing, and A Charlie James Brown Christmas. Their latest, Lizastrata, based on both the Greek Aristophanes comedy Lysistrata and the songs made popular by Liza Minnelli, could have been a dazzler, but with a gossamer plot, too many recycled jokes, and a venue ill-equipped to allow the cast to sing with heft, the latest production is uninspired.