Amber Cassell - Page 2

Show at Barre is proud to host yet another all-star lineup of Broadway, film, and TV stars for February 2nd's edition of The Christopher Show. The Christopher Show is a live, comedic American talk show that interviews established Hollywood as well as new Hollywood and the Broadway community. Funny man and Broadway star Christopher Youngsman (Grease) hosts. This week in the interview chair will be rocker and Tony nominee Adam Pascal (RENT), and comedy masters Fred Willard (A Mighty Wind) & Tim Bagley (Will & Grace, Ovation-winning play Four Places). The show, which recurs Wednesday evenings at the beginning of each month at Barre, VT, will be live on February 2nd at 8pm.

here are only two chances left to catch the latest installment of Show at Barre's sell-out For the Record series: Sincerely, John Hughes. Recapture your favorite 80's movie moments with Bender, Ducky, The Griswolds, and more as Show at Barre pays tribute to the remarkable films and soundtracks of film director icon John Hughes in this one-of-a-kind live concert experience. Barrett Foa, star of the hit TV series NCIS: Los Angeles and American Idol contestants Von Smith and Jackie Tohn lead the exceptional lineup of performers. The show, which runs Friday and Saturday evening at Los Angeles' Barre, VT, will play its final performance on January 29th.

OWN - The Oprah Winfrey Network - star and YouTube celebrity Ryan O'Connor performs his one-man show. It is a dynamic, hilarious and oddly touching musical journey through his experiences as a compulsive overeater. Featuring songs by Ani DiFranco, Katie Thompson, Scott Alan, and more, it is a one-of-a-kind, out-of-the-ordinary, honest, self-effacing, non-traditional cabaret and a guaranteed crowd pleaser!

On September 18th and 25th at 9PM Show At Barre proudly presents MELORA HARDIN with special guest BILLY RAY CYRUS.

LOS ANGELES, CA - July 12, 2010 - The Fountain Theatre has extended the Los Angeles premiere of Opus by Michael Hollinger through August 29th. Opus is a smart, funny and insightful portrait of the fictional Lazara String Quartet. As the foursome prepares for a high profile performance at the White House, tensions mount and personalities clash. When their brilliant, but unstable, violist disappears, the others must seek someone new to perform with them. Will the talented young woman they select fit into a group of men with a complex history? With only days left to prepare, the musicians must navigate the creative, yet often disharmonious, path of creating a masterpiece. Violist-turned playwright Michael Hollinger skillfully establishes how four very distinct personalities must, in the pursuit of artistic excellence, synthesize with one another to create one seamless sound.

Last Monday night the touring cast of IN THE HEIGHTS performed two benefit concerts to raise funds for a Puerto Rican hospital. The concert, entitled 'Guilty Pleasures', featured over 20 members of the cast performing their guilty pleasure songs.

Quite simply put, there aren't enough good things to say about the La Mirada Theatre's recently-opened production of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. This show rocks, rolls, and leaves the audiences dancing in the aisles to a soundtrack that it's hard to believe was written over 40 years ago.

Ladies, I have wonderful news! If you've ever had to put up with the struggle of pulling teeth to get your man suited up and sit with you in the theater, take heart and take him to $trip the Play. Housed in Venice's Good Hurt bar, with a mandatory 2-drink minimum, he has the chance to get good and liquored up before the show begins. And once he sees the pole in the center of the stage, any complaints are guaranteed to cease immediately. As the title suggests, the play is about-you guess it-strippers! And it is, indeed, a play, not a boobie show. And a darn fun play at that!

Ah, Acting. Is there any more noble artform? To mimic, portray, and create life itself. It is the 'birth of the soul', as espoused by veteran screen actor Beau Bridges in his latest play Acting: The First Six Lessons. Adapted from Richard Boleslavsky's how-to book of principles on the craft of acting by Bridges and his daughter Emily, and starring them as well, the play chronicles a five-year relationship between an acting teacher and his developing young protégé. Since this play deals primarily with deconstructing the methodology behind a performance, it seems only fitting to review said performance piece in a similar manner. So here goes: the six essential principles of theatrical critiquing, as applied to Theatre West's production of Acting: The First Six Lessons.

However, in the case of The Children Theatre Group of Southern California's current production of The Pajama Game, housed in North Hollywood's Electic Company Theatre, this critic has as much enthusiasm and adoration for this troupe of child actors as any adulating relative. This production of Pajama Game is as good, and in several cases BETTER, than any other put on by a "fully grown" theatre group. To say that it is as good as one on the professional level would not be accurate, because this is professional. Everything from the costumes, to the choreography, to the caliber of talent is top-notch.

You heard it here, folks. The Fountain Theatre is by the far the best and the brightest that Los Angeles has to offer. Local and tourist alike will be hard-pressed to find a more inviting, entertaining, or all-around enjoyable experience anywhere else in the City of Angels. First timers, it is highly recommended that you get to the theatre early and go upstairs to the charming little café and grab a table, relax, and settle in for a fantastic night (or afternoon) of entertainment.

It's about time there was a stage show about Ginger Rogers, the name that has become synonymous with dancing on the silver screen. Though her films, particularly those partnered with Fred Astaire have become iconic, most people tend to forget that she got her start and ultimately built her career treading the boards on the vaudeville circuit and on Broadway. Rogers was a lady of the stage, with a catalogue of standards attached to her name from the Gershwins, Jerome & Kern, and Irving Berlin just to name a few. If the biographies of Patsy Cline and Buddy Holly have the makings of a hit Broadway musical, surely a tribute to Ginger Rogers would glide right past them. Unfortunately, Backwards in High Heels is rather unfitting, possibly even embarrassing tribute to a one of America's greatest stage and screen legends.

We all love the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Because, really, what's not to love? The seasoned, elegant, upscale, and rather dashing con man Lawrence Jameson (played flawlessly by the sleek and sophisticated Michael Caine) takes a crude, grubby, aspiring con artist Freddie Benson under his wing (Steve Martin in one of his most brilliant and memorable roles). When the master and the protégé become competitors for the heart (and the fortune) of a naive ingénue, hilarity ensues. Unscrupulous leading characters, sexcapades, a hint of romance, a beautiful French Riviera setting, and lots of lying, cheating, dirty rotten deeds. Again, what's not to love about this story? But does the adaptation of the film work as a stage musical? Well...yes and no.