Michael Lamont News

It was announced today that Production Photographer and Broadway actor Michael Lamont died Sunday, May 21, 2023, in Los Angeles, California, after a battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 76.

Great Canadian Theatre Company's production of Donna-Michelle St. Bernard's The First Stone is unlike any other show I have seen presented at GCTC. Thanks to the creative direction (Yvette Nolan), set (Jackie Chau) and projection design (Cam Davis), the show has a very artistic and fluid feel to it, almost like it could be performed in a museum instead of a theatre.

To close out its 22-23 Season, Great Canadian Theatre Company will co-produce, with New Harlem Productions, The First Stone, an epic new play by three-time Governor General Literary Award-nominated playwright Donna-Michelle St. Bernard.

Opening its 44th season, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre will present an epic production of a new play by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, The First Stone. The production runs October 2-16.

Dixon Road, a new musical by Fatuma Adar produced by The Musical Stage Company and Obsidian Theatre in association with Canadian Stage, would not let the burst of rain drenching the High Park stage drown its opening night exuberance. DIXON ROAD ably balances despair and delight to create a show that’s a must-see.

The Musical Stage Company alongside production partners Obsidian Theatre Company are thrilled to announce that rehearsals are underway on Fatuma Adar's original musical DIXON ROAD, on stage June 1 – 19 at the High Park Amphitheatre as part of Canadian Stage's 2022 Dream in High Park.  The company is also excited to release a first look teaser video from the show.

This Spotlight focuses on Jennifer Chang, a director, actor and educator who helped found Chalk Repertory Theatre, a production company which matches plays to site-specific locations around Los Angeles. I first worked with Jennifer on Chalk Rep's production of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan which featured a multicultural cast, performed outdoors throughout the lawns and courtyards at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles where the pre-eminent collection of Oscar Wilde materials in the world is housed.

This Spotlight focuses on Kelly Brighton, an Actor, Singer, Composer/Lyricist, Producer/Arranger and Writer who has appeared in theatrical productions his entire life. As a member of DOMA Theatre, Kelly has received accolades for his roles in several company productions. He is also preparing to take a new musical he has written to the stage, and as a Recording Artist works with some of the finest producers and recording engineers in Hollywood. So what's this always-busy guy up to while quarantined at home?

It's very rare for a play to leave me in tears, the first to stand to applaud a cast during their curtain call. But this was the case when I attended the World Premiere of DOPE QUEENS, brilliantly written and directed by Grafton Doyle at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre, which takes us to real places inhabited by real characters inspired by real people, grappling with hardcore real-life problems tempered by the only practical survival strategies available to them on the gritty streets of the infamous Tenderloin District in San Francisco.

The Color Purple is beautiful, and it's here in Edmonton at the Citadel Theatre Sept. 21 through Oct. 13. THE COLOR PURPLE is an inspiring family saga that tells the unforgettable story of a woman who, through love, finds the strength to triumph over adversity and discover her unique voice in the world. This musical adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (and the popular 1985 Steven Spielberg film) spotlights Celie, a downtrodden young woman whose personal awakening over the course of 40 years forms the arc of this epic story.

TomorrowLand Productions & Pop Up Theater are thrilled to present a world premiere play, DOPE QUEENS, written and directed by Grafton Doyle. 

In celebration of what would have been Anne Frank's 90th birthday this June, the Simon Wiesenthal Center presents the U.S. premiere of Anne, A New Play, a unique play by Dutch playwrights Jessica Durlacher and Leon de Winter that reframes Anne's story through an unconventional lens.

there is an excellent staging of Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, directed by Jack Heller as a visiting production at the Odyssey Theatre, presented by Dance On Productions in association with Linda Toliver and Gary Guidinger, that will allow you to forget how much time passes due to the skill of its playwright, understanding by its director, the brilliance of its cast, and most importantly, Joel Daavid's incredible multi-level scenic design which fills every possible inch of the stage with not only the two-room Kowalski apartment but also several outdoor spaces including a winding New Orleans-style wrought iron staircase leading up to their neighbor's front-door balcony. And from the moment I walked in and sat down, it was easy to hear all the audience accolades rightly being thrown Daavid's way.

The team behind 2016's acclaimed production of Tennessee Williams' rarely-seen Kingdom of Earth, is back - this time, with Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire. 

In this two-person character study, Joey Brant (R. Emmett Lee, who more than adequately took on the challenge of learning to speak Hebrew for the part) is a Jewish divorce lawyer in his 60s who never had a bar mitzvah ceremony. For reasons which become clear in the story, Joey's bar mitzvah ceremony must take place at the synagogue he attended five decades ago where his grandson Ben Goldman will carry on the family tradition with his own bar mitzvah in a matter of months. Joey, a thoroughly secularized man, must now re-connect with the faith of his ancestors, but promptly alienates the synagogue's regular instructor. But when Joey goes to meet with the temple's new rabbi for his bar mitzvah lessons, he is shocked to find a woman is now in charge.

As with each passing season, 2018 proved to be another exceptional year for theater not only in Souther California in general but also in Orange County---my home base. This year, the OC finally welcomed the debut of what has become this century's most awarded and most renowned stage musical ever about the Founding Father etched regally on the 10 dollar bill. Meanwhile, So. Cal. enjoyed a powerful surge of new stage works that explored Asian-American experiences, a positive step forward in the presentation of diverse voices we seldom hear from on the stage. A pair of touring musicals---both opening in the O.C. in early 2019---made such an impact in their Los Angeles engagements for me personally that I had to include them in my list, even though I have not 'officially' reviewed the productions for print. With that said, here is my 'Best of 2018' from Orange County and adjacent locales nearby---a mixture of outstanding shows and brilliant performances that made a lasting, memorable imprint in my theatergoing experience this year.

In a Booth at Chasen's/The Real-Life Hollywood Romance of Ron and Nancy Reagan/book by Sam Bennett/music and lyrics by Al Kasha and Phil Swann/directed by Kay Cole/El Portal Theatre, Debbie Reynolds Mainstage/through December 16 Hollywood romances come and go, but certainly not that of Ron and Nancy Reagan. Those of us who witnessed Reagan's rise from movie actor in the 40s to president of SAG, then on to Governor of California and eventually to President of the United States where he served two terms from 1981 to 1989, know that he was not always the greatest politician...but certainly in comparison to today's standards, a good man...one who honestly loved his country. Nancy Davis had been a B actress in films and, it is often said, ran the White House for her husband during the 80s. We know the politics of those latter years and the rumors; what we do not know is how their relationship began...In a Booth at Chasen's restaurant in 1949. Now in a one-act musical that world premiered Sunday November 11 on the El Portal Mainstage, In a Booth at Chasen's plays on unti

Directed by Howard Teichman for the West Coast Jewish Theatre at the Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica on a beautifully detailed split-level set designed by Kurtis Bedford and lit by Ellen Monocroussos, Neil Simon's classic took on a more emotional dedication from the cast with Simon's passing on August 26, 2018 during the show's rehearsal process. But even though Teichman keeps the pace moving along at a steady pace, running at almost 3 hours with very little laughter, the play, though extremely well written and performed, does seem a bit long and drawn-out as there certainly were moments when it could have ended much sooner and still been as effective.

Somewhere between its opening of SWEET CHARITY in late June and the end of July, Reprise 2.0 postponed its second scheduled production of its inaugural season, VICTOR/VICTORIA. In its place, the company has mounted a revival of Kander & Ebb's musical revue, THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND, and, while it isn't a rarely revived book musical, which has always been Reprise's focus in the past, it does contain a score derived from some of the best songs in the classic Kander & Ebb catalogue (think CHICAGO and CABARET).

Directed and choreographed by musical theatre whiz Kathleen Marshall with Musical Direction by Gerald Sternbach who brilliantly directs a full orchestra seen onstage as part of the staircase set designed by Stephen Gillford, SWEET CHARITY stars Laura Bell Bundy who brings the joy and wonder of Charity Hope Valentine energetically to the Freud Playhouse stage. With her heart literally worn on her sleeve, the musical follows the dance hall hostess as she searches around the mean streets of New York City in 1966 in her attempt to be loved, not just for sex but for her generous heart and giving nature.