Coming Clean Photos - West End

The Public Theater announced complete casting today for the world premiere of CULLUD WATTAH, written by 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner Erika Dickerson-Despenza and directed by Candis C. Jones.

Murder can be such a Drag…! This brand new killer comedy, Death Drop, opening at the Garrick Theatre on 4 December 2020 is an historic West End first. Starring RuPaul’s Drag Race superstars Courtney Act and Monét X Change, along with a full drag cast in this new hilarious murder mystery - this show is like nothing you’ve seen before!

Since it first opened in London in June 1973 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show has become the world's favourite Rock 'N' Roll musical, having been performed worldwide for 45 years in more than 30 countries and translated into over 20 languages.

November 22, 2019 Astonishing in their choice of repertoire, their innovative choreography, their elaborate and colorfully creative costuming and their commanding performance of the choreography. Don't let this first photo confuse you. This Company is so many things, and the picture represents but one facet of their dance works ~ I just had to use it for the beauty and uniqueness of it. The evening commenced with a sextet of pieces that were entitled The Heritage of the Great Steppe, following the history and traditions of the Kazakhstan people. Beautifully executed and visually stunning, each one was unique.

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE presents a gripping insight into Irish life with Martin McDonagh's trademark dark humour. 

There's a new Dance Movie, which opened nationwide Friday, October 11th, that's sure to advance the genre in popularity.  In the last few decades “Dirty Dancing,” “Footloose,” “Flashdance,” “Saturday Night Fever,” “Staying Alive” and more recently “La La Land” all caused quite a stir when they hit theatres, and many of them are still quite popular today.   “High Strung Free Dance” and it's predecessor “High Strung' (2016) has everything you could want to see and hear in a film about dance, music and dancers. Written and produced by professional dancer Janine Best Damian “Solid Gold” and numerous film and television appearances, and her talented actor/singer/director/composer/husband Michael Damian (Joseph in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”/Broadway; 18 years appearing on “The Young and the Restless,” among many other credits for directing, as a vocalist and creating soundtracks for films he's also directed). This latest film is one out of 13 films he has written and produced with Janeen, as well as directed; ”Marley and Me: The Puppy Years,' the “Flicka” franchise, and more.

July 25, 2019 The best and most satisfying way to beat the heat and be delightfully entertained on a boiling hot summer day in the San Fernando Valley is to head to Marina del Rey, to Burton Chase Park on a designated Thursday to see and hear an exciting orchestra play, take in the lovely surroundings, breathe in the gentle breeze and watch dancers bring alive the superb orchestral offerings. The L A County Supervisor Janice Hahn and The Department of Beaches and Harbors has been presenting these wonderful concert gatherings for many years now, and each year they top themselves. With the amazing and animated Frank Fetta as Artistic Director and Conductor, the fabulous Marina del Rey Orchestra and Nancy Dobbs Owen, who provided the breathtaking choreography for the evening we were treated to an incredible program of music and dance. The program began as the sun began to set in these beautiful surroundings with Igor Stravinsky's (A Russian immigrant who lived in Los Angeles most of his years) Firebird Suite. Before the downbeat, Mr. Fetta recounted his own working experience with Stravinsky here in Los Angeles.

Luminario Ballet of Los Angeles is a very unique and valuable, strong and powerful Dance Company. They offered up two fantastic evenings of Dance, Song, Music and a Q&A, last weekend at Club Fais Do Do, and this past weekend at the Skirball Center, in conjunction with a Fashion Exhibit of Rudy Gernreich's '60s fashions that tied in perfectly with the 2nd dance piece presented that evening. The costumes used in 'Inscape,' were originally created by Rudi Gernreich at the same time the piece was set, in 1976. 'Choose Your Identity' June 16, 2019 The evening began with singer Tawny Ellis and her band, performing several selections from her new upcoming album release 'Love Life.' Dressed in a beautiful, flowing, lacy white dress, she looked like an angel and sang like one, playing her matching white Lap Steel and omni chord instruments with a passionate, down-to-earth country sound that was soothingly sultry, with lyrics that commanded your attention. She and her talented band played selections from her upcoming release; one of them being 'Pretend Love,' which was accompanied by a beautiful dance, choreographed by the Artistic Director, Judith FLEX Helle, performed by the incredible Kelly Vittetoe, an extraordinary soloist, en pointe, accompanied by David Tai Kim and Cory Goel. The strongest ballerina I have ever seen, (Ms. Vittetoe) that up-close; performing magnificently, with one of the most beautiful bodies, face and feet, ever. She is exquisite, and her two partners were also equally impressive. The exactness of technique performed by all three dancers was just heavenly. Up close and personal. What a treat!

This week I got to chat with Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Dance Captain for BEAUTIFUL- THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, playing in Dallas from June 18-23.

Starring a most accomplished set of Flamenco dancers, singers and musicians. Each has their own style, rhythms, history and persona. I did not find out until later that these particular performers had never worked as a group together; they all came together for this one special evening to perform Forever Flamenco, May 26, 2019, at The Fountain Theatre. These are some of the most world-renown Flamenco artists performing today. We are talking authentic carriers of the Art of Flamenco, dedicated and absorbed by their culture and this Art. All stem from an early background of exposure to Flamenco in many forms. They are fascinating, exciting, exact, mesmerizing, intense, passionate, convicted and ignited during the performance. It was a visual treat to be sitting “ringside” and witnessing the thrill of being immersed in the performance.

Everything seems perfect at first for the famous actress Myra Marlowe (Diana Angelina) who has leased a fully-furnished "country living" style house so she can settle down to write her autobiography. But it's not so ideal for her long-time agent Tom Lamont (David Datz) who wants nothing more than to get the headstrong actress back to Hollywood to star in a new television series, even though both of them know how badly it is written. Myra waivers but sticks to her guns, fed up with the pressures and demands of her acting career and longing for some peace and quiet and well as a much simpler life. But dealing with her nosy, omnipresent neighbors is a different matter.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st "Coming of Age" season with the World Premiere of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a play inspired by and loosely based on the remarkable journey of Lorraine Serena and a dynamic group of California-based artists who founded the non-profit Women Beyond Borders (WBB). Determined to "make art as if the world matters," Serena and her friends fell upon the idea of box as metaphor: hope chest, treasure chest, womb, coffin, etc. They replicated a miniature wooden box no bigger than the size of a human heart and sent the boxes to curators and friends in other countries with the goal of encouraging dialogue, collaboration and community among women and honoring creativity. The founders of WBB were astonished at what came back to them - eloquent expressions of the enormous depth and variety, but also the universality, of women's experiences throughout the world. The boxes were accompanied by equally astonishing artists' statements, in the form of letters, poems and stories asking about transcending barriers: geographical, social, racial, economic, emotional, gender-related, spiritual, etc.

Drawing parallels with particle physics, Lucy Kirkwood's latest play MOSQUITOES considers human behavior and family dynamics.