Michael Lamont News

As many times as I see Man of La Mancha, I relish the music and high dramatic moments of this classic piece of theatre. Such is the case when the production is top notch, with the perfect actors and highly skilled direction. La Mirada's current revival is top of the line with director Glenn Casale leaving his usual stamp of excellence. The beauty of Man of La Mancha as a musical is that the story is never dated; it lives and breathes in the moment. When it premiered on Broadway in the 1960s it was a winner and now, almost 60 years later, it is just as engrossing. Madness is always fun to play with. What is madness? And...what is normality? There's a fine line between Quijote's crazy behavior and the deceptive politician, say, who defines himself as a seeker of equality. When we see things as they really are, it is too painful, intolerab

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT present the fifth show of its 2016-2017 season, Davis Gaines starring in his Ovation award-winning role as Don Quixote in MAN OF LA MANCHA, with book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion, music by Mitch Leigh, musical direction by Jeff Rizzo, choreography by Patti Colombo and directed by Glenn Casale. MAN OF LA MANCHA will preview on Friday, June 2, 2017 (with a press opening on Saturday, June 3) and run through Sunday, June 25, 2017 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.

To close out its historic 51st season, East West Players is presenting a bold and emotionally-packed production of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Broadway musical NEXT TO NORMAL, which continues performances at the David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts through June 11, 2017. Featuring a deeply connected, all-Asian-American cast led by a stirring, awards-worthy performance by Deedee Magno Hall, EWP's top-notch production of NEXT TO NORMAL is one of the most impressive and important regional productions of this notable musical you will ever experience. No matter what your racial or ethnic background, this production will sear its way into you.

Before Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty teamed up for iconic works like Ragtime, Once on this Island, and their current Broadway hit Anastasia,they wrote a crazy little musical called LUCKY STIFF. It was their first collaboration and, though it never made it to Broadway, it won the pair a Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre and launched a 30-year partnership that has helped shape the genre ever since.

Actors Co-op (Ovation Award-Winner 2014 Best Intimate Theatre Musical for 110 in the Shade) presents the fifth and final show in its celebratory 25th Silver Anniversary season, the killer musical from the writers of Ragtime and Once On This Island, LUCKY STIFF, book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty, choreography by Julie Hall, musical direction by Taylor Stephenson and directed by Stephen Van Dorn.  

The story of FUGU, a world premiere play written by Howard Teichman and Steven G. Simon which Teichman also directs and produces, takes place at a time just prior to the United States' entry into World War II. Suggested by true events, it recounts the efforts of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara who assisted in getting 6000 Lithuanian Jews rescued from the clutches of the Nazis and relocated to Kobe, Japan, and the choices which had to be made to ensure their safety.

Jason Robert Brown's THE LAST FIVE YEARS is the kind of musical you often find produced in small theaters and black boxes. Written for a cast of two, it can be done very simply without much in the way of a set or props making it a popular choice for those with a limited budget or other technical constraints.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts & McCoy Rigby Entertainment present the third show of its 2016-2017 season, Jason Robert Brown's THE LAST FIVE YEARS, starring Devin Archer and Natalie Storrs, with musical direction by Brent Crayon and directed by Ovation Award-winner Nick DeGruccio.  BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

When it comes to the theatrical art of farce, Ken Ludwig's hilarious 1986 stage play LEND ME A TENOR certainly qualifies as a perfect example of the genre. Amusingly cheeky throughout, the 9-time Tony Award nominated comedy has been revived locally with a posh new production under the direction of Art Manke that is now playing at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through November 13. Utilizing a laundry list of classic madcap set-ups, LEND ME A TENOR feels very much like a well-paced, meticulously crafted, old fashioned sitcom episode that has been super-sized into two gloriously funny acts.

Victor Hugo's monumental romantic/gothic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, published in 1831, centers in, around and on top of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. So does the new musical of the same name written by Peter Parnell, Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken, which received its U.S. premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in 2014 and is currently receiving its Los Angeles premiere at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. Stephen Gifford's set replete with stained glass windows, balcony and overhanging bells is scaled down from the original but still impressive and pulls you in effectively to another world, the ethereal realm of a higher power. Catholic boy that I am, every kyrie eleison exuded by the resounding chorus moved me to tears.

Check out photos from the Los Angeles premiere production of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Peter Parnell, musical direction by Dennis Castellano, choreography by Dana Solimando and directed by Glenn Casale. 

Following a critically acclaimed run earlier this year, Hershey Felder's The Pianist of Willesden Lane is playing again at the St. James Theatre for six weeks. To mark its return, a gala performance in aid of World Jewish Relief has taken place.

The stage version of THE EXORCIST, which first debuted at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles in 2012, will make its UK debut just in time for Halloween.

Tennessee Williams aficionados will have the chance to view one of his lesser-known works in a rare Los Angeles production this summer. Michael Arabian (Waiting for Godot) directs Susan Priver, Brian Burke and Daniel Felix de Weldon in Kingdom of Earth, a darkly comic psychodrama set to openJuly 15 as a guest production, presented by Dance On Productions in association with Linda Toliverand Gary Guidinger, at the Odyssey Theatre. BroadwayWorld has an inside look at the rare production below! Check it out!

Lovers of the era of Busby Berkeley movie musicals are getting a double whammy of Golden Age goodness this month with a pair of musicals playing only two blocks from each other in Hollywood. I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU is already running at the mid-sized Ricardo Montalban Theatre on Vine and, very shortly, 42ND STREET will open at the much larger Hollywood Pantages. Both are inescapably linked by their subject matter.  

The great musician Corky Hale needs no introduction. She and her husband composer Mike Stoller have worked with everyone in the music business including Sinatra and Steisand. She is currently producing a revue entitled I Only Have Eyes For You about the music of Al Dubin. It will open at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre Friday May 13. In our chat Hale talks about the show, Dubin and about her incomparable show business life.

I have long been a fan of plays that present an insider's look at what goes on behind-the-scenes at a theatrical production. A fine example of such a backstage farce is Sarah Ruhl's STAGE KISS, skillfully directed by Bart DeLorenzo who knows exactly how to make the most outrageous stage antics and romances seem not only probable but incredibly hysterical thanks to Sarah Ruhl's fast-paced script that leads us on-stage, back-stage and out the stage door as reality collides with fiction in this raucous and revealing relationship comedy.

If you were ever curious as to what would occur if you locked our third president of the United States, the author of A Christmas Carol, and the author of War and Peace in an exitless room, you'll need to make it down to the Temple of Music and Art before April 30th.

High finance, family dysfunction, death - and laughs. The world premiere of DINNER AT HOME BETWEEN DEATHS, a pitch-black comedy by Andrea Lepcio (Looking for the Pony), directed byStuart Ross (Forever Plaid) and presented by Indie Chi Productions, opens as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre on April 2. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

Now playing at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, the new McCoy/Rigby Entertainment production of the Tony Award-winning 1981 Broadway musical DREAMGIRLS is pretty much a faithful carbon-copy of the recent 2009 national touring production---which happens to also be directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom. La Mirada's offering---which continues through April 17---repurposes almost all of the visual and technical aspects of that tour, from the use of moving LED screens that set up different scenes and environments to William Ivey Long's lavishly exquisite costumes. It even taps that tour's original Effie played by the extraordinary Moya Angela, who has since matured wonderfully into the role. When your lead actress incites a boisterous standing ovation after slaying with an incredible performance of the musical's iconic 'And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)'---even as the show is still in the midst of that act one ending---you know you've got something great here.