BWW Reviews: Kritzerland Releases AND THE WORLD GOES ROUND
by Don Grigware
- Oct 10, 2014
With the arrival of a two-disc studio recording of the complete Kander & Ebb score of And The World Goes Round from Kritzerland Records, there's reason to shout and sing out loud.Starring powerhouse vocalists Brent Barrett, Jason Graae, Christiane Noll, Kristin Towers-Rowles, Kyra DaCosta and musical director Joshua Eli Kranz, the discs offer more than two hours of simply sensational music.
BWW Reviews: KRITZERLAND 4th Anniversary Show Is a Winner
by Don Grigware
- Sep 9, 2014
On Sunday September 7, at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal, due to an advance sell-out crowd for the 7 pm show, an additional matinee show was performed for the Fourth Anniversary of Kritzerland. Needless to say, both matinee and evening performances were sold out, making the monthly Kritzerland tributes the most popular shows at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. The anniversary party was entitled They're Playing Our Song: The Songs That Got Away III and along with special guests Kerry O'Malley and Bruce Vilanch, the big cast also included Robert Yacko, Evan Harris, Madison Claire Parks, Sami Staitman, Jenna Lea Rosen, and also little Hadley Miller, and in chorus numbers of What If?: Kimberly Hessler, Travis Leland, Bruce Merkle, and Adrienne Visnic, all under the baton of super musical director John Boswell. This marked the 49th Kritzerland show since its inception at the Gardenia in 2010, and its host Bruce Kimmel, founder of Kritzerland Records, was in rare form, doling out trivia-worthy anecdotes about every number presented, as well as singing a song himself, due to the absence of Guy Haines.
BWW Reviews: August's KRITZERLAND at Sterling's Upstairs Celebrates Some Great Female Lyricists
by Shari Barrett
- Aug 4, 2014
On the first Sunday of each month, Bruce Kimmel hosts the KRITZERLAND show at Sterling's at The Federal in the heart of the NoHo Arts District. The evening starts with a variety of dinner selections, full bar service, and lots of time to mingle and chat with old and new friends. Starting at 7pm, each revue has its own theme, with a variety of performers taking to the stage to entertain the enthusiastic crowd who loves show tunes. The 48th KRITZERLAND show on 8-3-14 presented a salute to some incredible female lyricists of the musical theatre
Kritzerland at Sterling's Upstairs at The Federal presents THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG: A TRIBUTE TO SOME GREAT FEMALE LYRICISTS!, 8/3
by Jillian Gaier
- Jul 18, 2014
For our 48th Kritzerland show we're proud to present a salute to some incredible female lyricists of the musical theatre, mostly Carolyn Leigh, the brilliant lyricist of such Broadway shows as Little Me, Wildcat, Peter Pan and others, as well as such classic pop songs as 'Witchcraft' and 'The Best Is Yet to Come,' as well as other great female lyricists like Lynn Ahrens (Once on this Island, Ragtime, Seussical), Carol Hall (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), Marsha Norman (The Secret Garden), Gretchen Cryer (I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road), Fran Landesman (The Nervous Set, 'Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most'), Amanda McBroom ('The Rose', Heartbeats) and Carole Bayer Sager (They're Playing Our Song). Kritzerland's Bruce Kimmel has recorded many of the lyricists above and has chosen the usual Kritzerland colorful and eclectic program, a mix of the well- known and the unknown. As always, we've assembled a stellar cast. So, come join us for some amazing songs by some amazing women.
BWW Reviews: Kritzerland Goes Off-Broadway at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal
by Don Grigware
- Jul 7, 2014
It was a pleasure to return to Kritzerland Sunday July 6 for its 47th show saluting Off-Broadway shows: Kritzerland Goes Off-Broadway. Featured were stalwart hits: Hair, Ruthless!, Little Mary Sunshine, Dames at Sea, Falsettos, The Fantasticks and more recent hits such as Floyd Collins, Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years and Dogfight. With Bruce Kimmel as host, in dandy form as usual with his amazing trivia notes in between numbers, and sensational musical director John Boswell at the piano, the show got off to a rousing start with young Brennley Brown belting out 'Born to Entertain' from Ruthless! Also on the bill for the evening were the wonderful: Robert Yacko, Madison Claire Parks, Kim Huber, young folks Jenna Lee Rosen, Sami Staitman and special guest stars Jason Graae and Rita McKenzie.
Sterling's Upstairs to Celebrate 8th Anniversary this Month
by Tyler Peterson
- Jun 7, 2014
Sterling's Upstairs - housed at popular LA hot spot The Federal in North Hollywood's NoHo Arts District - has not only been described by the Los Angeles Times as "LA's cabaret destination;" but was just cited by LA Weekly as one of Los Angeles's top five supper clubs, With an arsenal of similar accolades from LA based media, Sterling's Upstairs celebrates its eight-year anniversary this month with Broadway performers Maura Hanlon Smith (June 9), Sandy Bainum (June 22) and Bernard Dotson (June 29-June 30). Kritzerland Records' Nobody Does it Better... The songs of Dorothy Fields kicked off the month-long celebration on June 1st featuring Tara Browne, Cynthia Ferrer, Zachary Ford, Kim Huber, Jenna Lea Rosen, Sami Staitman, Sarah Staitman, Robert Yacko and Special Guest... Broadway's Kerry O'Malley.
BWW Reviews: Kritzerland at Sterling's Upstairs at The Federal Salutes Songwriter Dorothy Fields
by Shari Barrett
- Jun 2, 2014
The 46th Kritzerland show on Sunday, June 1 featured one of the most influential female lyricists of all time, the great Dorothy Fields. In a time when Tin Pan Alley was almost exclusively a male-dominated club, Dorothy Fields rose to the top, first writing hit after hit with Jimmy McHugh, and later becoming one of the first female lyricists on Broadway and in film. Fields created some of the cleverest and most beautiful lyrics ever written, and was a master of the craft who forged the way for so many other talented female lyricists. There was no one like Dorothy Fields.
BWW Reviews: Bruce Kimmel's Dynomite L'IL ABNER Lights Up LACC Stage Through Tomorrow Only
by Don Grigware
- May 23, 2014
Back in the 50s, the era that was innocence personified, Broadway musicals were written to entertain first. Of course, Stephen Sondheim and other more serious composers were beginning to change the face of the American musical with the goal to enlighten, but shows like Li'l Abner, with book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, lyrics by Johnny Mercer & music by Gene De Paul and based on Al Capp's 1934 comic strip, showed us the wild hillbilly lifestyle to make us laugh rather than think. Underneath the surface, to be sure, there is political satire and an uplifting message about appreciating the worth of that lesser known patch of American culture, kind of like what 60sTV audiences found in The Beverly Hillbillies.
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