Ed Krieg News

Gerald McCullouch CSI and Dan Via reprise the roles they created in the West Coast premiere of Via's Off Broadway hit play. When 'golden boy' Colin falls for a man half his age, his relationship with best friend Stew is put to the test. DADDY offers a provocative, humorous, and sometimes dark look at love, loyalty, and the consequences of living in a culture without marriage equality. 'Via has written a play that maps the human heart... McCullouch is a revelation!' - Show Business Weekly

KPFK, Pacifica Radio for Southern California, presents the Arts in Review Holiday Special, airing Wednesday, December 22 (2 to 3pm), hosted by arts journalist Julio Martinez. Presented annually since 1993, this special broadcast features Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales, read by Al Alu, and the premiere of the radio drama, The Nutcracker's Journey, featuring the Arts in Review Repertory Players. Musical artists include Mara Purl, Marilyn Harris and AnnaMaria Padilla.

KPFK, Pacifica Radio for Southern California, presents the Arts in Review Holiday Special, airing Wednesday, December 22 (2 to 3pm), hosted by arts journalist Julio Martinez. Presented annually since 1993, this special broadcast features Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales, read by Al Alu, and the premiere of the radio drama, The Nutcracker's Journey, featuring the Arts in Review Repertory Players. Musical artists include Mara Purl, Marilyn Harris and AnnaMaria Padilla.

Since 1985, The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles has been a vibrant hub of unique programs and events designed to make Shakespeare accessible and engaging in Los Angeles. At last April's annual "Simply Shakespeare" fundraiser, Helen Hunt read the role of Beatrice in "Much Ado About Nothing."

There was one memorably poignant line uttered towards the end of the new play I LOVED LUCY-now playing at the Laguna Playhouse through October 31-that sticks with you: 'Make someone laugh enough, and you will be loved forever.' Perhaps the line best explains why the opening night audience in attendance at the play's world premiere presentation was a bit more forgiving with this rather flawed production: the play's subject, Lucille Ball, truly was loved by many. Even two decades after her passing, this gigantic icon in the entertainment world remains a national treasure, thanks to the eponymous sitcom that showcased her unmistakable comic talents. Unfortunately, this well-meaning but ultimately one-note tribute to a shining star lacks a bit of polish.

Broadway Worlds brings you exclusive productions photos from the Fountain Theatre production of Athol Fugard's THE TRAIN DRIVER, starring Morlan Higgins and Aldolphus Ward.

Jason Alexander, Artistic Director of Reprise Theatre Company and Stephanie J. Block, Broadway star of '9 to 5: The Musical,' 'Wicked,' 'The Pirate Queen,' and 'The Boy From Oz,' will star in 'They're Playing Our Song,' the opening production of Reprise Theatre Company's 2010-2011 season, playing September 28 to October 10 (press opening September 29) at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

On the weekend of August 6-8, the infamous 17,000-seat Hollywood Bowl plays host to a forcibly-scaled-up version of Jonathan Larson's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical RENT, directed by none other than Neil Patrick Harris. Harris' challenge-besides honoring a beloved show as well as living up to his stunt casting choices-was to take a relatively-intimate rock musical about financially-strapped bohemians living in the less-than-luxurious Lower East Side enclave of New York City and expand it on the massive stage entrenched in the Hollywood Hills. The results-a mixed bag of technical gaffes, surprisingly excellent performances, and a few disappointments-prove to be admirably and genuinely entertaining overall.

RENT, written by Jonathan Larson, will be performed at the Hollywood Bowl for three performances only, Friday and Saturday August 6 and 7 at 8:30pm, and Sunday August 8 at 7:30pm. Neil Patrick Harris will direct the production, with musical direction by Tim Weil and choreography by Jamal Sims. The cast includes Skylar Astin, Wayne Brady, Vanessa Hudgens, Telly Leung, Collins Pennie, Nicole Scherzinger, Tracie Thoms, and Aaron Tveit.

It's safe to say that Roger Bean-the mind behind The Andrews Brothers, The Marvelous Wonderettes and its yuletide sequel Winter Wonderettes-has certainly become the most consistently successful purveyor of full-scale theatrical musicals that weave a simple story around a string of early to mid-20th Century pop hits. His latest of such offerings is LIFE COULD BE A DREAM, the crowd-pleasing jukebox musical that debuted last year at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood and is now performing an eight-week engagement at the Laguna Playhouse through August 29. The original production garnered the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award and Backstage's 2010 Garland Award for Best Production.

The Katselas Theatre Company presents The World Premiere of The 'Hook Up' Comedy Altar Ego by James Lyons and Directed by Audrey Moore and Leila Vatan. The show is produced by Gary Grossman and opens Saturday, April 10 at 8pm at The Beverly Hills Playhouse.

The Katselas Theatre Company launches its 2010 Season with the World Premiere of Shem Bitterman's dark comedy, Influence, directed by Steve Zuckerman. Producing is Gary Grossman. The production stars acclaimed film/television/stage actor, Alan Rosenberg. The production opens Saturday, March 6 at the Skylight Theatre.

The Ballad of Emmett Till - Part history, part mystery and part ghost story, IfaBayeza's lyrical integration of past, present, fact and legend turns the story of the 1955 murder of 14-year old Emmett Till, whose shocking death helped spark the nascent civil rights movement, into a soaring work of music, poetic language and riveting theatricality. The Fountain Theatre presents the West Coast premiere of this daring new work in celebration of Black History Month.

Performances began on Tuesday (January 12) for 'The Pee-wee Herman Show' at Club Nokia @ L.A. LIVE for a limited 4-week engagement, through February 7.

LAGUNA BEACH, CA-With the holidays upon us, the arrival of aptly-themed shows also permeate the theatrical landscape. And like tinsel, egg-nog and Santa, perennial traditions are still what most people crave, especially in these unknowing, unstable times. Hummable, familiar holiday tunes are always a crowd-pleaser, so it's no surprise that WINTER WONDERETTES (now playing at the Laguna Playhouse through December 30) delivers a pleasantly cheerful, though altogether a routine, by-the-numbers, jukebox musical. Tied neatly with a pretty bow, the show is packaged precisely to induce just the right amount of laughs and to entertain enough to fill its audience with yuletide giddiness, without bombarding us with pesky heavy themes or intrusive thought-provoking lessons. Much like the show that preceded it, the holiday-themed sequel to Roger Bean's off-Broadway hit The Marvelous Wonderettes is cute, adorable, cheery and exactly the kind of safe, holiday entertainment that is as tried and true as its music. It is by no means a groundbreaking piece of theater, but judging from the laughter and ovations bestowed by its opening night audience, this show certainly entertains.

The Katselas Theatre Company continues its landmark 2009-2010 Season with the World Premiere of Detention of the Dead by Robert Rinow, directed by Alex Craig Mann. Producing is Gary Grossman. The production opens Saturday, November 7 (10pm) at the Beverly Hills Playhouse Research Space.

The sophisticated cannibals of modern day Hollywood are comically ravaged when a self-serving movie deal morphs into a plethora of jaundiced shenanigans, including a slight-of-hand real estate negotiation, a sexually rapacious screenwriter, a litigious fitness instructor and much, much more.

Tickets for the Guthrie's presentation of Ella, the exhilarating musical about the First Lady of Song, go on sale to the general public on Sunday, June 14 at 11 a.m. Tina Fabrique stars in the title role of this summer theatrical event, weaving myth, memory and music to tell the uplifting and poignant story of one of the greatest jazz and pop vocalists of the 20th century.

The Fountain Theatre continues its unique relationship with one of the world's greatest living playwrights, Athol Fugard, with the West Coast premiere of Coming Home. Stephen Sachs directs Matthew Elam, Deidrie Henry, Noah Murtadha, Thomas Silcott, Timothy Taylor and Adolphus Ward in Fugard's newest work, which opened June 20 and continues through August 29.

The Fountain Theatre continues its unique relationship with one of the world's greatest living playwrights, Athol Fugard, with the West Coast premiere of Coming Home. Stephen Sachs directs Matthew Elam, Deidrie Henry, Noah Murtadha, Thomas Silcott, Timothy Taylor and Adolphus Ward in Fugard's newest work, which opens June 20 and continues through August 29. Low-priced previews begin June 13.