Gail Matthius

Pulling double duty as both playwright and star, Dan Castellaneta portrays Oscar Levant in his latest new work, FOR PIANO AND HARPO. Levant was a concert pianist, and contemporary of George Gershwin, whose genius gave him entree into the glittering worlds of classical music, Broadway, and Hollywood but whose private demons ultimately undermined his career. The play explores Levant's addictions and mental health issues while committed to a Mt. Sinai psych ward in 1956, on the Jack Paar Show in 1962, and during an extended stay at the home of his friend, Harpo Marx, in 1935.

When Violet first premiered off-Broadway in 1997, it created a stir winning two prizes for Best Musical but didn't make waves until 2014 when it transferred to Broadway in an all new production starring Sutton Foster. It heartfully tells the story of a disfigured girl from Spruce Pine, North Carolina Violet Karl who makes a journey to Tulsa, Oklahoma in the hopes of being physically transformed by a faith healer. An accident occurred when she was a teen - a blade that her father was using cut her face, leaving an ugly scar - and Violet always blamed her father proclaiming that he did not want her to be pretty. She would have no male prospects and be forced to stay on to live with him on their small farm. The scar runs deep - 'it reaches to your heart' new acquaintances tell her, so the journey to find a brand new 'glamorized' look means everything to Violet who will sacrifice just about anything to have it all.

Kelrik Production's upcoming production of the award-winning off-Broadway hit musical VIOLET, a powerful and heartwarming story of a vulnerable young woman's challenges, loves and emotional journey, will now be staged today, May 15 - 31st, 2015 at the Monroe Forum Theater @ El Portal in North Hollywood.

Kelrik Production's upcoming production of the award-winning off-Broadway hit musical VIOLET, a powerful and heartwarming story of a vulnerable young woman's challenges, loves and emotional journey, will now be staged May 15 - 31st, 2015 at the Monroe Forum Theater @ El Portal in North Hollywood. With a score by Jeanine Tesori (FUN HOME, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, SHREK THE MUSICAL, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE) and book and lyrics by Brian Crawley. VIOLET is directed by Joshua Finkel.

Certainly those of us who frequent any Jewish deli in Los Angeles will recognize these characters. Playwright Sam Bobrick admits some of the events in the play's 12 sketches actually happened to him, some to his friends, and some to people he just happened to be sitting next to at lunch. After working in the entertainment business for over 50 years, he's not sure which is which.

The opening night performance of L.A. Deli, a new comedy by Sam Bobrick, will benefit The Nancy Painter Home for Mothers with Children. L.A. Deli, helmed by award-winning director Walter Painter, will open Saturday, March 22 at 8pm at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre in West Hollywood. The limited engagement is set to run through April 27 only.

What a treat to see a brand new theatre company present such a fine opening show like A Man of No Importance! Winner of the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award in New York as Best Off-Broadway Musical, Man..., based on a 1994 film starring Albert Finney, tells a simple but rich story of an ordinary bus conductor in Dublin in 1964 who invests his poetic soul in the spirit of Oscar Wilde and comes up all the richer. Now onstage at the Lillian Theatre in Hollywood, A Man of No Importance is a triumph for Good People and director Janet Miller, who has assembled a fantastic cast.

The Spolin Players Improvisational troupe is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Viola Spolin (known as 'The High Priestess of Improv') by performing her theatre games at The Hollywood Fringe Festival. Each hour-long completely improvised show will be completely different and original. Bring your imagination and suggestions, and get ready to laugh a lot!

If you see only one Comedy Improv show during The Hollywood Fringe Festival, go to the source, The Spolin Players, touted by the LA Times as presenting 'Improv as pure and unpredictable as you will find it.'

The Spolin Players Improvisational troupe is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Viola Spolin (known as 'The High Priestess of Improv') by performing her theatre games at The Hollywood Fringe Festival. Each hour-long completely improvised show will be completely different and original. Bring your imagination and suggestions, and get ready to laugh a lot!

Here are photos from Sustaining Sound Theatre Company's champagne reception following the spectacular opening night performance of LITTLE WOMEN, THE BROADWAY MUSICAL at Stage 52 in Los Angeles on April 4, 2013.

I am a huge fan of Louisa May Alcott's story of the March sisters and both films of Little Women, the one from the early 30s starring Katharine Hepburn and Joan Bennett and then the 1949 revival starring June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh and Margaret O'Brien. I'm partial to the latter film, only because I love everyone in that cast, and it was in glorious technicolor. It also boasted Mary Astor as Marmee and Peter Lawford as Laurie.

Sustaining Sound Theatre Company, a new professional theater company that seeks to support local and global causes through the creation and presentation of meaningful theatrical experiences, proudly presents 'Little Women, the Broadway Musical' with a book by Allan Knee, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, and music by Jason Howland, from tomorrow, April 4 to April 21, 2013 on Thursday-Friday-Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm at Stage52, located at 5299 Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, Calif. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

Sustaining Sound Theatre Company proudly presents LITTLE WOMEN, THE BROADWAY MUSICAL from April 4 to April 21, 2013 on Thursday-Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm at Stage52LA, located at 5299 Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016. A champagne and appetizer reception will follow the opening night performance on Thursday, April 4.

Sustaining Sound Theatre Company, a new professional theater company, presents LITTLE WOMEN, THE BROADWAY MUSICAL from April 4 to April 21, 2013 on Thursday-Friday-Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm at Stage52LA, located at 5299 Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016.

Sustaining Sound Theatre Company, a new professional theater company that seeks to support local and global causes through the creation and presentation of meaningful theatrical experiences, proudly presents a benefit production of "Little Women, the Broadway Musical" from April 4 to April 21, 2013 on Thursday-Friday-Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm at Stage52LA, located at 5299 Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016