Ralph Lee News

Medwish International hosts Music for Medwish an intimate evening featuring some of Broadway's best in Los Angeles on Monday, April 15th at 8pm at the Rockwell Table and Stage (1714 N Vermont Ave). Produced by Broadway actress and producer Betsy Werbel (Wicked) the event raises funds for Medwish, a not-for-profit organization that repurposes discarded medical supplies and equipment to provide humanitarian aid around the world saving lives - and the environment.

LA MAMA announces its Puppet Festival, (November 1 - 25, 2018), featuring the New York and World premiere of works by artists from around the world including Germany, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Colombia, China, Belgium, and the USA taking place at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre and The Downstairs (66 E. 4 St.), in the East Village throughout the month of November.

LA MAMA announces its Puppet Festival, (November 1 - 25, 2018), featuring the New York and World premiere of works by artists from around the world including Germany, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Colombia, China, Belgium, and the USA taking place at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre and The Downstairs (66 E. 4 St.), in the East Village throughout the month of November.

Theater for the New City's award-winning Street Theater Company will open its 42nd annual tour August 4 with 'SHAME! Or The Doomsday Machine,' a rip-roaring musical in which the Theory of Relativity explains modern politics. Free performances will tour closed-off streets, parks and playgrounds throughout the five boroughs until September 16. Book, lyrics and direction are by Crystal Field; the musical score is composed and arranged by Joseph Vernon Banks. (Schedule follows at bottom of this document.)

Hosted by actress, singer, author, activist and Tony Award nominee Sheryl Lee Ralph, Freedom - The Jazz Groove Special celebrates America's core values and their expression in American jazz. Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Diana Krall and many other artists tell the story of American freedom in the exuberant, utterly unique language of jazz. It's an indispensable, insightful and tuneful contribution to the July Fourth holiday.

Deadline is reporting that Tony Award-winning actors Brian Stokes Mitchell and Sheryl Lee Ralph have signed on as series regulars on the CBS comedy, Fam.

From March 1 to 18, La MaMa will present Theater Three Collaborative in a new production of 'Extreme Whether,' a 'Cli-Fi' play written and directed by Karen Malpede. The piece juxtaposes psychological and magical realism in a tale of a courageous climate researcher who is defamed by special interests, including his own family. Obie-winner Rocco Sisto heads a cast of six.

Sheryl Lee Ralph And The D.i.v.a. Foundation Celebrates 27 Years Of Divas: Simply Singing

DIVAS Simply Singing!, the longest consecutive running musical AIDS benefit in the United States, hosts its 27th annual fundraiser for The D.I.V.A. Foundation at the Taglyan Cultural Center in Hollywood California Saturday, December 9.

Sheryl Lee Ralph And The D.i.v.a. Foundation Celebrates 27 Years Of Divas: Simply Singing

DIVAS Simply Singing!, the longest consecutive running musical AIDS benefit in the United States, hosts its 27th annual fundraiser for The D.I.V.A. Foundation at the Taglyan Cultural Center in Hollywood California Saturday, December 9.

DIVAS Simply Singing!, the longest consecutive running musical AIDS benefit in the United States, hosts its 27th annual fundraiser for The D.I.V.A. Foundation at the Taglyan Cultural Center in Hollywood California Saturday, December 9.

This simple folk tale focuses on falling in love, taking on responsibility, and learning how to fly. Told through fantastic music, a clever use of masks, and puppetry, BEFORE THE SUN AND MOON casts a spell of enchantment across the entire audience.

Before the Sun and Moon is drawn from an ancient Korean folktale, a magical story in which a young husband and wife discover the power of love and devotion through unexpected challenges and wild adventures.

Before the Sun and Moon is drawn from an ancient Korean folktale, a magical story in which a young husband and wife discover the power of love and devotion through unexpected challenges and wild adventures. As always in a Mettawee production, the show will incorporate ?masks, puppets and other visual elements. The company of actors includes Mettawee veterans Andrew Butler, Tanya Dougherty, Rob McFadyen, Jan-Peter Pedross and newcomer Claire Moodey. Assistant director Jon Riddleberger will join the cast as puppeteer. Playwright Kristine Haruna Lee wrote the script. The production is directed and designed by Ralph Lee, with costumes by Casey Compton.  

PBS today announced DIANA - HER STORY, a new documentary featuring rare video of Diana, Princess of Wales, speaking openly and candidly about her life and troubled marriage, along with new revealing interviews with some of her closest confidants.

Renowned puppet and mask maker RALPH LEE presents his METTAWEE RIVER THEATRE COMPANY in the New York Premiere of Before the Sun and Moon, September 8-10, 7:30 PM, in the lovely outdoor garden of St. John the Divine, where the company is in residence.

This year, the American theater has been responding to the change in national politics with infuriation, vexation, and distrust.  Satires abound. Classics are widely being reinterpreted into a modern context. There will likely be a wave of modernist plays on the 'new human condition' -- witnessing the downfall of the civil society but being powerless to do anything about it. 

Follow the journey of a single mother and her genius 11-year old son in the powerful film THE BOOK OF HENRY, available on Digital on September 19, 2017 and on Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand on October 3, 2017 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

PBS today announced DIANA - HER STORY, a new documentary featuring rare video of Diana, Princess of Wales, speaking openly and candidly about her life and troubled marriage, along with new revealing interviews with some of her closest confidants.