Eric B. Anthony News

Following the enormous success and critical acclaim of their season opener, Venus in Fur and in keeping with this year's theme of 'Romance: Real or Imagined, The Coachella Valley Repertory (CVRep) has announced it will present Romance/Romance, a delightfully savvy and tuneful musical comedy as the second production of its 2017-18 season.

Following the enormous success and critical acclaim of their season opener, Venus in Fur and in keeping with this year's theme of 'Romance: Real or Imagined, The Coachella Valley Repertory (CVRep) has announced it will present Romance/Romance, a delightfully savvy and tuneful musical comedy as the second production of its 2017-18 season.

The temptation to take a film classic and turn it into a Broadway musical is a road fraught with peril. How do you take something perfect and make it better? This was the question posed in 1972 when producer David Merrick decided to musicalize the uproarious 1959 farce Some Like It Hot. The result was Sugar, which enjoyed a respectable 14-month run on Broadway (505 performances) and received four Tony nominations, including one for lead actor Robert Morse, who played Jerry/Daphne. The 86-year-old Morse was on hand at the Alex Theatre in Glendale Sunday night as Musical Theatre Guild presented a rousing staged reading of the musical. Morse and the audience clearly enjoyed the show (he could be seen doing a virtual karaoke act of the score from his seat), but most of what works for the show is what worked for the film, with little new of substance added to the musical.

Witness Uganda - a documentary musical that follows co-creator Griffin Matthews' transformative story establishing UgandaProject, an organization that sponsors the education of ten Ugandan orphans - was the focus of a closed new work reading presented by The ASCAP Foundation at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) in Beverly Hills on Monday, September 11. The show, also from co-creator Matt Gould, explores the complexity of race, sexuality and aid work. BroadwayWorld has photos from the reading below!

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, will open their 22nd Anniversary season with SUGAR, the stage musical version of the classic Hollywood film "Some Like It Hot."  This is the first of four musicals chosen in a season celebrating musical stage adaptions of films.  The one-night-only concert will take place at Glendale's historic Alex Theatre on Sunday, September 24, 2017 at 7:00 PM.

ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa is releasing a second cast album of his show 'Mad About the Boy' today. The new album - which follows on the heels of the cast album of his recently released 13th Street Theater production - mixes performances by stars of Deffaa's original festival production, plus some very special surprise guests.

FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its successful Broadway run in an out-and-out stellar revival at Ebony Repertory Theatre in Los Angeles. It's the summer party you don't want to miss!

(mostly)musicals returned to the E Spot Lounge last night at for its 23nd edition, *in dreams*!

Actor/singer/writer/director Clarke Peters first debuted FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE in the United Kingdom in 1990. Two years later it premiered on Broadway and ran for 445 performances. Over the last several years, FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE has been produced across the United States and the United Kingdom. On May 19, a refreshed version of FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE premiered at the Ebony Repertory Theatre in Los Angeles. I caught up with Peters to talk about the production, Louis Jordan and whether LA will ever become a "theatre city."

Ebony Repertory Theatre (ERT - Producing Artistic Director, Wren T. Brown) presents FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE starring Emmy Award-winner Obba Babatunde (Dreamgirls - Tony Award nomination, Broadway's Chicago, CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful) as 'Nomax.'

(mostly)musicals returns to the E Spot Lounge on Monday, May 22nd at 7:30pm for its 23rd edition, *in dreams*.

Ebony Repertory Theatre announced today the full casting and the creative team of FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE. Acclaimed veteran actor Reginald VelJohnson (ABC/CBS's Family Matters, Die Hard, Die Hard 2) will co-star as 'Big Moe' with the previously announced Emmy Award-winner Obba Babbatunde (Dreamgirls - Tony Award nomination, Broadway's Chicago, CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful) as 'Nomax.'

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, will celebrate Black History Month with the rarely produced HALLELUJAH, BABY!. The one-night-only concert event took place at Glendale's historic Alex Theatre yesterday, February 12, 2017 at 7:00 PM with original cast members Frieda Payne and Robert Hooks in attendance. Scroll down for photos!

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, will celebrate Black History Month with the rarely produced HALLELUJAH, BABY!. The one-night-only concert event will take place at Glendale's historic Alex Theatre on Sunday, February 12, 2017 at 7:00 PM with original cast members Frieda Payne and Robert Hooks scheduled to be in attendance.

(mostly)musicals kicked off their 4th season in style with songsforaHAPPYnewyear at the E Spot Lounge on Monday, January 16. This was the company's 21st entry in a series of themed cabarets, and set a new attendance record. 'We were thrilled that so many people came out to Studio City to get HAPPY with us!' explains producer amy francis schott. Scroll down for pictures of the memorable night!

Kicking off their 4th season in style, (mostly)musicals will return to the E Spot Lounge on Monday, January 16 (at the new time of 7:30pm) with songsforaHAPPYnewYEAR -- the company's 21st entry in a series of themed cabarets. 'We are excited to move into a new year and a new season of (mostly)musicals -- and we want to get it off to a HAPPY start! There are no sad songs allowed at *this* show,' explains producer amy francis schott.

Kicking off their 4th season in style, (mostly)musicals will return to the E Spot Lounge on Monday, January 16 (at the new time of 7:30pm) with songsforaHAPPYnewYEAR -- the company's 21st entry in a series of themed cabarets.

There are undoubtedly other productions worthy of merit in 2016 which I did not cover. This list is based only on what I saw and reviewed. (alphabetical listings; Equity, Equity-waiver & Non-Equity productions are mixed) (artists performing outside LA may be included in performance categories) No set, costume, technical awards. I leave that to the bigger awards and to the expertise of those who really know those fields inside out.

Tonight's the night for a HOLIDAY! (mostly)musicals takes a detour downtown for their first show in the beautiful, intimate Bar Fedora at Au Lac - will it be (mostly)naughty or (mostly)nice?

These two unassuming understudies got the roles of a lifetime right before opening night.