David Murakami News

East West Players, the nation's longest-running Asian American theatre and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works, is proud to announce the resuming of in person production with the award-winning Broadway musical Assassins from February 17 through March 20, 2022.

Shows presented throughout 2022 feature the long awaited EWP premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s darkly comic Tony-Award winning musical Assassins, Interstate, Melissa Li and Kit Yan’s Asian-American pop-rock poetry musical, the world premiere of Inda Craig-Galván’s The Great Jheri Curl Debate, and Prince Gomolvilas’ The Brothers Paranormal.

Opera Parallèle's (OP) General and Artistic Director Nicole Paiement, today announced the 2021-22 season repertoire, casting and creative teams for the company's 12th anniversary.

Mixed Asian Media (Formerly known as Hapa Mag) will present their first annual Mixed Asian Media Fest (MAMF) September 18th-19th, 2021. In light of COVID-19, MAM Fest will be a virtual celebration of mixed Asian & Pacific Islanders, who express themselves through creative art forms.

The Presidio Theatre presents a bright new addition to the Bay Area holiday entertainment landscape this December 2-31 with the world premiere of the panto, The Magic Lamp, that reframes the classic tale of Aladdin.

Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer's acclaimed opera Everest will be given a bold new theatrical treatment reimagined as a graphic novel opera film, a concept where the singers are integrated into an animated environment creating a one-of-a-kind operatic experience.

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, America’s longest-running festival of new orchestral music, premieres its second-ever virtual season, July 31 – August 8, 2021. Led by Grammy Award-winning Music Director and Conductor Cristian Măcelaru, the Festival’s season offers themes of resiliency, hope and realism, in response to the profound crises of climate change, wildfires, and the persistence of human oppression. 

SFJAZZ, in collaboration with San Francisco's Opera Parallèle, will present a special online-only broadcast of the 2016 production of Champion - An Opera in Jazz by Terence Blanchard on Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 6:00pm PDT.

A new, dark, comedy about race and class. With a hostile takeover of a neighborhood block party and bouncy houses, Penelope Lowder's newest play set in historic West Adams takes an uncomfortable look at altruistic gentrification gone wrong. Perhaps reshaping a newly adopted neighborhood in your image isn't as lofty as one might think. Opening February 1, 2020.

East West Players (EWP), the nation's longest-running professional theater of color and the largest producing organization of Asian American artistic work, is proud to announce the cast and creative team for Spring 2020 production of the award-winning Broadway musical Assassins. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by John Weidman, Assassins will be directed by East West Players' Producing Artistic Director Snehal Desai, with musical direction by Marc Macalintal. Assassins begins performances on March 12th and runs through April 5th, 2020, with opening night on March 19, 2020.

The theater company/production house/incubator EnActe Arts segues into the second half of their 2019/20 season with three productionsa?"including one world and one west coast premierea?"during the first six months of 2020.

The Minnesota Opera (MN OPERA) christened their new season at St. Paul's Ordway Center with Richard Strauss' 1909 score of ELEKTRA combined with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. After a century, Strauss' Elektra, a tragic Greek myth, confronts the wrath of God on men, and the revenge of families on their own parents and siblings to disastrous results. A stellar creative team, which inhabits all the MN Opera productions, provides a modern twist to the ancient myth, where the action has been forwarded to the early 1900's. At that time, Austrian filmmaker and producer, Fritz Lang (1890-1976), made history directing silent film noira?"when melodramas were a consistent source of entertainment. 

The 2019 Stage Raw Theater Awards celebrate excellence on the Los Angeles stages in venues of 99-seats or under. This fifth annual celebration included productions that opened between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019. Stage Raw is a community funded professional journalism website that was created in response to the decline of arts coverage in local mainstream and alternative media.The Awards ceremony was held Monday night, September 9, at Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, and was co-hosted by IAMA Theatre Company and Ammunition Theatre Company (a?oeAmmoa??).

Digital arts journal Stage Raw announces the nominees for its fifth annual Stage Raw Theater Awards, to be held Monday night September 9, 2019, at Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday August 7, 2019. The Stage Raw Theater Awards honor the finest work performed on Los Angeles area stages of 99-seats or fewer, and are selected by a jury of Stage Raw critics. This year's awards celebrate work performed between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019.

I cannot offer enough superlative-laden adjectives to describe the brilliance of the cast, beginning with Eric B. Anthony as Bronco Billy, who channels one of the most famous African American cowboys, Nathan 'Deadwood Dick' Lane, with his effervescent personality making me believe he could easily be one of the great, rodeo-winning cowboy's descendants! His partnership onstage with Amanda Leigh Jerry as Antoinette/Miss Lilly, is beautifully realistic and dreamlike at the same time as they tear up the stage singing catchy tunes while executing athletic choreography to perfection.

Even before it opened this month, La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment knew they had a hit production on their hands with SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, based on the greatest movie musical of all time with screenplay by Betty Comden & Adolph Green and songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. Adapted from the 1952 movie of the same name which starred Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen, the plot closely adheres to the original story set in 1920s Hollywood during the waning days of the Silent Screen era, focusing on romantic leading man, Don Lockwood, his tap dancing sidekick Cosmo Brown, aspiring actress Kathy Selden, and Lockwood's platinum blonde leading lady Lina Lamont, whose less-than-dulcet vocal tones make her an unlikely candidate for stardom in the new talking pictures.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment (celebrating its 25th Silver Anniversary at the theatre) are thrilled to present SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, based on the greatest movie musical of all time with screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. The fresh new production will be directed & choreographed by Spencer Liff (Emmy nominee for TV's So You Think You Can Dance and Broadway's Head Over Heels, Hedwig and the Angry Inch & Falsettos). The Associate Director is Cynthia Ferrer (original Kathy Selden in first National Tour of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN) with musical direction by Keith Harrison.

Skylight Theatre Company (Producing Artistic Director, Gary Grossman and Co-Artistic Director Tony Abatemarco) announced today the world premiere of BRONCO BILLY - THE MUSICAL, It marks the organization's first world premiere musical production. The new musical, based on the Warner Bros. film Bronco Billy, features a book by Dennis Hackin, lyrics and music by Chip Rosenbloom and John Torres, with additional lyrics by Michele Brourman. Hunter Bird will direct. Preview performances begin on May 10, with the official press opening on Saturday, May 18, 2019. The limited engagement plays through June 30 at the Skylight Theatre, located at 1816 ½ North Vermont in Los Feliz, Ca. Tickets are now on sale now at http://www.SkylightTix.com.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment (celebrating its 25th Silver Anniversary at the theatre) are thrilled to present SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, based on the greatest movie musical of all time with screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. The fresh new production will be directed & choreographed by Spencer Liff (Emmy nominee for TV's So You Think You Can Dance and Broadway's Head Over Heels, Hedwig and the Angry Inch & Falsettos). The Associate Director is Cynthia Ferrer (original Kathy Selden in first National Tour of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN) with musical direction by Keith Harrison.