Audrey Liebross - Page 10

College student Gordon Hirabayashi refused to obey the curfew and evacuation order imposed on Japanese citizens and Americans of Japanese descent during World War II and served time in prison as a result. HOLD THESE TRUTHS, at CVRep, brilliantly describes his ordeal and ultimate legal triumph, more than 40 years later. This is a must-see production.

Desert Theatreworks is presenting Charles Busch's PSYCHO BEACH PARTY as its last production of the 2014-15 season. Broadway World sat in on a recent rehearsal, in which director Lance Phillips-Martinez emphasized teaching the cast how to do physical comedy. The production will premiere April 10, 2015, at the Arthur Newman Theatre, in Palm Desert, and will run through April 19th.

Coyote StageWorks' BUYER & CELLAR is howlingly funny, brilliantly acted, and cleverly staged. Playwright Jonathan Tolins alternatively skewers Barbra Streisand and sympathizes with her through Alex More, the main character -- all characters are played by Emerson Collins -- after Alex takes a job in Streisand's cellar taking care of her possessions, which are stored in a fake shopping mall.

Dezart Performs' 7th Annual Play Reading Festival on the weekends of April 3rd and April 10th in downtown Palm Springs. The festival consists of actors reading works that have not yet been produced in the Coachella Valley. The audiences' numerical ratings determine the festival's winner, which Dezart will produce during its 2015-16 season.

RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES ON BROADWAY will appear in Riverside at Fox PACE at 7:30 p.m. on March 25th and March 26th, 2015. The members of the band Rain have studied the Beatles for twenty years and tour in concert, playing only Beatles music, and emulating the Beatles' style, key, rhythm, and harmonies, note for note. Rain has a repertoire of over 200 Beatle songs that they rotate at their concerts. Some of these pieces are so complex that the Beatles never performed them live, and included them only on their albums, where they could correct mistakes in a recording studio. The members of Rain do everything possible to replicate the look of their particular Beatle, even, for righties portraying Paul McCartney, learning to play the bass and guitar left-handed.

Charles Busch's one-act comedy, THE DIVINE SISTER, appearing at the Desert Rose Playhouse, in Rancho Mirage, is a divine parody of nun movies and a zany comedy. It is almost impossible to describe the over-the-top story, but the production is hilarious and well worth seeing.

CVRep's new production of LA GRINGA is brilliantly acted and brilliantly directed. The set design and other technical aspects of the production are also superb. However, Carmen Rivera's script is mediocre, because this 'comedy' is not funny.

Desert Theatreworks (DTW), one of the Coachella Valley's nonprofit theatre companies, is presenting the hilarious musical comedy, NUNSENSE: THE MEGA-MUSICAL. Dan Goggin's musical farce contains clever wordplay and groaner puns. The show as DTW presents it is silly, irreverent, and highly enjoyable.

The national tour of MEMPHIS features superb choreography and musical direction, as well as top-notch singing, dancing, and acting by the supporting case. However, despite the show's considerable strengths, the lead actors turn in mediocre performances, reducing the touring version's overall appeal.

The Fox Performing Arts Center (Fox PAC), in Riverside, will host the rollicking musical MEMPHIS, winner of the 2010 Best Musical Tony Award. The show features a Tony winning score by Bon Jovi's founding member and keyboardist David Bryan, lyrics by Bryan and Joe DiPietro, and book by Joe DiPietro. MEMPHIS will play three performances at Fox PAC, on Friday and Saturday, February 13th and 14th. The story focuses on the music scene in the 1950's south as Huey Calhoun, a white, illiterate DJ, struggles to introduce musical styles previously enjoyed only by black people to his white radio audience.

The national tour of MAMMA MIA! is coming to the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside for two shows only, tonight and tomorrow, February 4th and 5th

The Coachella Valley Reportory Theatre has scored a coup with HAVING OUR SAY. The top-notch acting of H. Chris Brown and Regina Randolph, the brilliant set design by Jimmy Cuomo, the imaginative props by Doug Morris, and the professionalism of the entire crew make Emily Mann's script sparkle.

The national tour of MAMMA MIA! will appear at the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside, CA on February 4th and 5th. The rollicking musical was written by Catherine Johnson, with music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, former ABBA members who based the show's songs on the group's hits.

The Desert Rose Playhouse's production of Terrence McNally's LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! is moving and absorbing. This gay heritage production follows eight men who gather at a lake house over holiday weekends in the summer of 1994.

Hal Holbrook presented his iconic one-man show, MARK TWAIN TONIGHT! , appeared at Riverside's Fox Performing Arts Center for one show on Saturday, January 17th. Mr. Holbrook delighted the audience with Twain's words skewering Congress, misuse of religion, guns, and people's refusal to think before speaking. Mr. Holbrook has been performing as Twain for 60 years.

Desert Theatreworks, a nonprofit theatre company in Palm Desert, has served up a delectable production of Neil Simon's LOST IN YONKERS, at the Joslyn Center's Arthur Newman Theatre. LOST IN YONKERS will be presented on January 23 and 24, 2015, at 7 p.m. and on January 24th and 25th at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at www.dtworks.org or by calling 760-980-1455. Tickets are also available in person in the Joslyn Center lobby, at 73-750 Catalina Way, in Palm Desert.

Tony and Emmy award winner Hal Holbrook is bringing MARK TWAIN TONIGHT to Riverside's Fox Performing Arts Center for one performance, on Saturday evening, January 17, 2015. BroadwayWorld interviewed him by email.

December 31st is the end of the tax year for most taxpayers as well as the date on which many nonprofits close their books. Local 501(c)(3) nonprofit theaters are engaging in December fundraising to improve their bottom lines.

The Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre (CVRep) presented a second round of staged readings of George Eastman's 'HAPPY HOUR.' Gavin MacLeod and Michael Shaw reprised their roles from an earlier version. Director Ron Celona hopes to have a full production ready for CVRep's 2015-16 season.

The 2014 Western tour of ELF: THE MUSICAL stopped for two performances at Riverside's Fox Performing Arts Center before leaving Southern California. The show is fun, but it has flaws.