John Iacovelli News

“We are not alone.” The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) Film Society's 2019 Screening Series will present the Oscar®-winning classic CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) and pay tribute to its Oscar-nominated Production Designer Joe Alves, ADG, at the Egyptian Theatre on Sunday, June 23 at 5:30 pm. Following the screening, Mr. Alves will explore the making of Close Encounters and behind-the-scenes challenges including creating the massive alien ships, moderated by Thomas A. Walsh, ADG, Production Designer and ADG Film Society Co-chair.  The annual 2019 Screening Series “Production Design: Designers On Design,” highlighting the work of renowned Production Designers and their creative collaborations, is in association with American Cinematheque.   

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.

Jack Stehlin's critically acclaimed The New American Theatre celebrates one year in its new home on Wilton Place in Hollywood with the world premiere of Boxing Lessons, a ferociously dark, savagely funny new comedy by John Bunzel (63 Trillion, Death of a Buick). Stehlin directs a top-flight cast for an April 26 opening on NAT's main stage in the company's newly refurbished space. Together, they put the capital "D" in family Dysfunction through June 2. Low-priced previews begin April 19.

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.

Film Society's 2019 Screening Series will launch with the original Oscar-winning Disney masterpiece MARY POPPINS (1964), at the Egyptian Theatre on Sunday, April 28th at 5:30 pm. The annual 2019 Screening Series 'Production Design: Designers On Design,' highlighting the work of renowned Production Designers and their creative collaborations, is in association with American Cinematheque and sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter.

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.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle announced the recipients of its 50th annual awards for distinguished achievement in theatre last night, Monday, April 8, 2019, at Pasadena Playhouse. Wenzel Jones presided over the festivities, and Christopher Raymond served as music director.

The long awaited West End run of the musical adaptation of Sleepless in Seattle may be coming sooner than we think.

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.

Once again, the NAACP Beverly Hills/Hollywood Branch's Theatre Viewing Committee has spoken, and the nominations are in for the 28th Annual NAACP Theatre Awards. This year's pedigreed list of nominees collectively represents a rich, extensive dossier of legacies and accolades for both stage and screen. These nominees include members of a legendary 'gospel royal family' as well as a Legend whose part of an elite group of artists in the EGOT winners circle. These, along with all their fellow nominees, will be honored for their excellence on the small and large stages during our annual awards dinner, slated to be held on Monday, June 17, 2019, 6:00 p.m.at the prestigious Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

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.

Jack Stehlin's critically acclaimed The New American Theatre celebrates one year in its new home on Wilton Place in Hollywood with the world premiere of Boxing Lessons, a ferociously dark, savagely funny new comedy by John Bunzel (63 Trillion, Death of a Buick). Stehlin directs a top-flight cast for an April 26 opening on NAT's main stage in the company's newly refurbished space. Together, they put the capital 'D' in family Dysfunction through June 2. Low-priced previews begin April 19.

GOOD MORNING TO YOU! LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & 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 & Adolph Green and songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed.

The Art Directors Guild (ADG) Film Society and the American Cinematheque are co-hosting the annual 2019 Screening Series “Production Design: Designers On Design” highlighting the work of renowned Production Designers and their creative collaborations. The monthly series will run from April through August at the Egyptian (6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood) with all screenings starting at 5:30 pm.  Moderating the screenings are Production Designers THOMAS A. WALSH ADG, JOHN MUTOADG, and JOHN IACOVELLI ADG. The screening series is sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter. For tickets, go to: www.americancinematheque.com

San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) announced today the cast and creative team for Lynn Nottage's Sweat, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Best Play. Directed by REP artistic director Sam Woodhouse, Sweat will be the final show in The REP's 43rd season. Sweat will run April 18 - May 12, 2019, at San Diego REP's Lyceum Stage Theatre, with previews April 18 - 23, and press opening on Wednesday, April 24 at 7:00 p.m.

Playwright Ian McRae's THE JOY WHEEL kicks offs with one of the most effective opening, introductory scenes I've seen in a while. Jason Alexander smoothly and sure-handedly directs his two top-notch actors, Dann Florek and Gina Hecht as husband and wife Frank and Stella Conlin, as they vividly describe their relationship (40 years married) and back stories leading up to their present situation - preparing for Frank's retirement party that evening. McRae has written a most witty, descriptive dialogue for Florek and Hecht to sink their talented teeth into, ...

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC), which presented its first awards for excellence in Los Angeles, Orange County, and Ventura County a half-century ago, has begun the gala celebration of its 50th anniversary by announcing its nominations for the year 2018 (Dec. 1, 2017 - Nov. 30, 2018).

Admittedly, after experiencing South Coast Repertory's potent and captivating new production of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, I'm hard pressed to remember the last time I was both this deeply moved and this excitedly riveted by Stephen Sondheim's macabre tale of a murderous barber hell-bent on exacting revenge. A curiously odd but strangely engrossing show peppered generously with dark humor, tragically-romanticized notions, and contrasting serious overtones, SWEENEY TODD's latest iteration in Orange County---now on stage in Costa Mesa through February 16, 2019---is a thrilling, quite distinctive new reinvention, that feels like a fresh pop-up play put on by a traveling Vaudevillian troupe that time-travelled from the past to give us modern audiences a live cautionary reenactment of a Penny Dreadful story that may just be too strange not to be true.

Add Martin McDonagh's THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN to the already lengthy resume of stellar productions that the always dependable Antaeus Theatre Company manages to assemble on their stage. Steven Robman sure-handedly directs his talented Irish-brogued ensemble of seven (The Fripple Frapples cast of the double castings) at a quick, smooth pace; vividly illustrating McDonagh's smart, witty and brutal tale based on the real-life filming of the 1934 documentary Man of Aran. Buried in the 'news' the town gossip Johnnypateenmike spreads, the arrival of a film crew from America looking to make a movie on the neighboring Inishmore piques everyone's interest.

Life is changing for Frank and Stella. On the day of Frank's retirement party, this once loving and simple couple find themselves pulled in different directions as the winds of change blow through Joy, Illinois.