Paul Crewes News

Hailed as an icon of style, grace and strength, Jacqueline Jackie Kennedy Onassis was known for her alluring mystery and piercing sensuality. Much has been written and said about America's most famous First Lady. However, one detail usually omitted from the story is that she was human. Award-winning playwright Tom Dugan's one-woman drama Jackie Unveiled starring Saffron Burrows (Amazon's Mozart in the Jungle ) dares to peek behind the fa ade of America's most private public figure.

The 2017/18 season of world-class dance, music and theater continues as the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) presents its third annual Winter @ The Wallis series. This year, Winter @ The Wallis programming grows to eighteen events to be performed in the Bram Goldsmith Theater and the intimate Lovelace Studio Theater, beginning on Saturday, January 6 with the classical music duo, violinist Sarah Chang and pianist Julio Elizalde. Other highlights include: The Wallis debut of the L.A.-based dance company Lula Washington Dance Theatre; a weekend celebrating the great jazz legend Arturo Sandoval along with other local jazz artists; the modern music collective wild Up under the baton of founder Christopher Rountree; the return of the innovative United Kingdom-based theater company Kneehigh with The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk; and the world premiere of Tom Dugan's Jackie Unveiled.

Following the successful inaugural launch last season that featured several sold-out performances, the popular intimate nightclub, The Sorting Room, kicks off tonight at The Wallis with two intimate evening concerts featuring acclaimed Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown performing an eclectic mix of both classic and new music. The Sorting Room temporarily transforms the Lovelace Studio Theater into a 140-seat custom built nightclub space that offers Los Angeles audiences a rare opportunity to experience some of the best and emerging talent in cabaret, live contemporary music, spoken word, and more. This season, The Sorting Room returns to The Wallis delivering two sessions of live performances in winter from December 7 21, 2017 and summer from June 22 July 29, 2018. The Sorting Room Winter and Summer sessions are sponsored by Delta Air Lines. The Sorting Room Winter session is sponsored by Meridith Baer Home.

The Heart of Robin Hood, a heart-pounding, eye-popping new adventure directed by Gisli rn Gardarsson and Selma Bj rnsd ttir from Iceland's innovative theater company Vesturport and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) starts first performance previews tonight, November 29, with an opening night set for Friday, December 1, and continues through Sunday, December 17.

The classic tale of the world's most infamous outlaw goes rogue in The Heart of Robin Hood, a heart-pounding, eye-popping new adventure directed by Gisli rn Gardarsson and Selma Bj rnsd ttir from Iceland's innovative theater company Vesturport and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis). Robin Hood and his unmerry gang of cutthroats steal from the rich, but it never occurs to them to give back.

After bringing his groundbreaking arrangements of the Burt Bacharach catalogue to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) last season, Kyle Riabko returns to Beverly Hills for the West Coast debut of his new program Richard Rodgers Reimagined.

Following the successful inaugural launch last season that featured several sold-out performances, the popular intimate nightclub, The Sorting Room, returns next month to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

After bringing his groundbreaking arrangements of the Burt Bacharach catalogue to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) last season, Kyle Riabko returns to Beverly Hills for the West Coast debut of his new program Richard Rodgers Reimagined.

When Benjamin Millepied launched L.A. Dance Project (LADP) in 2012, he brought a new energy to the vibrant and growing Los Angeles dance community. Now, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) welcomes L.A. Dance Project as its first Company-in-Residence during the 2017/18 Season.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) announces the second extension of the West Coast premiere of the Off-Broadway hit Turn Me Loose - a comedic drama by Gretchen Law, produced by John Legend and Mike Jackson, about the life of trailblazing comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory who passed away in August at the age of 84. The first performance of the limited engagement begins tonight and now runs Thursdays through Sundays until November 19.

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!

HEADLESS - a modern gothic rock-opera ghost story that revisits author Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from co-writers Bradley Bredeweg (Freeform's 'The Fosters,' Showtime's 'Intersection,' Bill Condon's Side Show on Broadway) and Brad Hooks (Freeform's 'The Fosters') - will be the focus of a new work development lab that will explore the score, story and new stage technology over the course of two and a half weeks at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) in Beverly Hills. The lab will launch on Thursday, July 6 and will culminate with closed presentations today, July 22 and Sunday, July 23 (presentations by private invitation only).

Mike Shepherd is an actor, director, teacher and the Artistic Director of Kneehigh. He started Kneehigh in 1980 and has worked almost exclusively for the company ever since. He is currently playing King Mark in their acclaimed production of Tristan & Yseult and is about to direct a new production of The Tin Drum. We met in the surrounds of the Bristol Old Vic Backstage Bar to talk.

HEADLESS - a modern gothic rock-opera ghost story that revisits author Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from co-writers Bradley Bredeweg (Freeform's 'The Fosters,' Showtime's 'Intersection,' Bill Condon's Side Show on Broadway) and Brad Hooks (Freeform's 'The Fosters') - will be the focus of a new work development lab that will explore the score, story and new stage technology over the course of two and a half weeks at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) in Beverly Hills. The lab will launch on Thursday, July 6 and will culminate with closed presentations on Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23 (presentations by private invitation only).

Actor and pianist Hershey Felder returns to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) for the Los Angeles premiere of Our Great Tchaikovsky, beginning Wednesday, July 19 through Sunday, August 6. Directed by Felder collaborator Trevor Hay, Hershey Felder's Our Great Tchaikovsky is a time-bending tale of music, politics and one of the world's most beloved composers.

Actor and pianist Hershey Felder returns to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) for the Los Angeles premiere ofOUR GREAT TCHAIKOVSKY, beginning Wednesday, July 19 through Sunday, August 6.

Yellow Earth Theatre Company's ACADEMY is now in its 8th year and will run from July 17th to July 28th at ALRA in a bid to inspire the next generation of British East Asian* actors. This intensive, two week, fully funded course led by professionals working in the industry will give students a taste of drama school training, some vital skills and a host of insiders' tips on how to become a professional actor in theatre, TV, film or radio.

Under the auspices of GRoW @ The Wallis, The Wallis Youth Theater Company presents its second theater production of the 2016-17 season, playwright Gareth Jandrell's Thebes, which makes its North American premiere on Saturday, June 10 at 8pm and Sunday, June 11 at 6pm at The Wallis in Beverly Hills. Ravaged by climate change and shaken by political turmoil, the citizens of Thebes must unite in order to revolutionize their democracy. From Oedipus to Antigone, the story of Thebes  remains a fascinating exploration of fate, morality and power, two and a half thousand years after the saga was originally written. Thebes is directed by Madeleine Dahm, with lighting design by Bosco Flanagan, recently named Lighting Designer of the Year by Los Angeles' Stage Raw. The cast includes young actors: Trecey Dory, Malakai Jones, Jayde Kief, Samantha Marino, Kelvin Morales, Jordan Rodriguez, Alexander Sheldon and Clementine Turner.

Businessman and philanthropist Michael A. Nemeroff will take the helm as Chairman of the Board of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts effective September 27, 2017.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) announced today the 2017/18 season, which features 250 performances delivering groundbreaking produced and presented works in dance, music and theater from locally, nationally and internationally renowned artists and companies.