Courtney Symes - Page 11

Summer can officially begin in Sacramento! Broadway at Music Circus kicks off its new season on June 11 with Shrek the Musical. Shrek brings something for the entire family to enjoy and is the perfect accompaniment to PRIDE month with its message of inclusion. As one of the Fairytale Creatures says, 'It's time to stop the hiding. It's time to stand up tall.' Jennifer Leigh Warren, who plays Dragon, wholeheartedly agrees. She was last seen in multiple roles on television in 'Rent Live!' in January. She spoke to Broadway World Sacramento about the importance of the show, her role as a lonely puppet, and her impressive career.

When David Taylor Gomes and Kyle Holmes set out to write an original musical for their students at Granite Bay High School, they never could have foreseen the impact their work would have on high schools across the nation. Students are reacting to having their voices heard, and the effect is monumental. People are clamoring to see and produce Ranked: A New Musical, which deals with the pressures that teenagers face today in maintaining grades, social status, and their fight to get into the college of their choice. Due to the popularity of Ranked, they decided to bring the original cast together for one more night to perform the show in concert style at The Crest Theatre. Broadway World Sacramento spoke to Holmes and Gomes about the making of Ranked and what we can expect in the future.

According to Genie, 'Agrabah has more glitz and glamour than any other fictional city in the world.' He's not lying. Aladdin is a veritable dreamscape of color, light, and shimmering costumes. The animated movie has been brought to life on the stage by six-time Tony-winning lighting designer Natasha Katz and two-time Tony-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes. Familiar songs from Tony and Grammy-award winners Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Chad Beguelin feed the nostalgia from the highest grossing film of 1992 while adding new material to complement the transition to a live audience.

The anxiously-anticipated arrival of Aladdin is finally here! The national tour stops in Sacramento through June 2 and brings with it the songs that you know and love from the 1992 animated movie, along with new numbers written specifically for the stage musical. After its debut on Broadway in 2014, it was nominated for 5 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. Broadway World Sacramento was able to speak with Reggie DeLeon, who originated the role of Iago on the national tour and has returned after a brief hiatus. Reggie is well-known for his recurring role as Shep in the Pup Star films. He can also be seen on 'MOM' (Paul), 'Superior Donuts' (Zale), and 'Melissa & Joey' (Wyatt).

Sacramento Theatre Company is ending their 74th season of Love, Loss, & Laughter with an homage to the popular 'disaster' movies of the '70s. Disaster! follows closely along the lines of The Poseidon Adventure, with some Jaws and The Towering Inferno sprinkled in. After enjoying two runs Off-Broadway and a brief stint at the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway in 2016, Disaster! brings its wit and dance-in-your-seat soundtrack to Sacramento through May 12th.

Percy Jackson has come to life! Our favorite demigod from the best-selling Rick Riordan series hits the stage in Sacramento for his California premiere. The Lightning Thief was nominated for 3 Drama Desk Awards during its critically acclaimed New York run, including Outstanding Musical. It comes to Broadway Sacramento in a limited 5-performance engagement through this weekend only.

David Taylor-Gomes and Kyle Holmes have done it again. After collaborating on their 2017 musical comedy, Boxed Up: The Musical, they have joined forces at Granite Bay High School to present to you another original work. This time, in a shockingly serendipitous twist, Ranked, A New Musical debuted just weeks after news of the college admissions scandal broke. Ranked highlights the pressures that students today face to succeed.

CATS, the fourth longest-running show in Broadway history, has arrived in Sacramento on its fresh, new national tour. When it first opened on Broadway in 1982, it won 7 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score. Now it features exciting, updated choreography as well as new sound design and direction for a more modern take on a timeless treasure.

On the heels of Black History Month comes When We Were Colored: A Mother's Story, a play by Sacramento's own Ginger Rutland that is adapted from a memoir that her mother, Eva Rutland, wrote. The memoir was originally titled 'The Trouble With Being a Mama' and was first published in 1964. It highlighted the fact that all mothers are the same when it comes to their children-indeed, Eva wrote it to show white mothers that her children were 'just as precious and fragile' as theirs. What was not the same were the injustices that families like Eva's had to go through.

'Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!' Sir Walter Scott said it best, 170 years before Michael Jacobs' Cheaters was first produced on Broadway in 1978. Cheaters is an amusing look at three couples whose lives intertwine in the most awkward and unbelievable way. EMH Productions brings new life to this oft-criticized work in a fresh, entertaining take.

Two spectacular performers will be in Sacramento for one night only on March 19. Thomas Lauderdale, founder and bandleader of the Portland, Oregon-based Pink Martini and the vivacious cabaret songstress, Meow Meow, have combined their talents on one much-anticipated album. Sacramento will get to witness their special energy on Hotel Amour, which comes out on March 22. The duo was gracious enough to speak with BroadwayWorld Sacarmento about the album, new projects, and what we can expect to enjoy this week.

William Finn and James Lapine's Tony-nominated revival of Falsettos has embarked on its national tour and will be in Sacramento through March 17. It originally premiered on Broadway in 1992 and won Tonys for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. This tour of the revival boasts a cast of accomplished actors, including Max von Essen (Tony nominee for his role as Henri Baurel in An American in Paris) as Marvin.

The Tony Award-winning Falsettos is on the move after its phenomenally successful Broadway revival. After winning two Tonys in its original run, it was nominated for five more in 2017, including Best Revival of a Musical. Leading the talented pack is Max von Essen as Marvin, the married dad turned gay man who learns to navigate his new roles and relationships. Von Essen is, perhaps, best known for his Tony-nominated role as Henri Baurel in An American in Paris. He is also a successful film actor and solo recording artist. Fresh off of a run on Broadway as Greb Vaganov in Anastasia, he agreed to speak with BroadwayWorld Sacramento about his upcoming album release, past roles, and what we can expect from Falsettos.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, brings to us a night of frivolity and fun peppered with love. A favorite subject of the Bard, this work explores the staying power of true love and the measures that we will take to ensure that it happens. Although it is believed to have been written as entertainment for an upper-class wedding around the year 1600, the themes withstand the test of time and cross the boundaries of social status.

Boom! Swish. Crash! The percussive phenomenon that is Stomp has arrived in Sacramento, fittingly, in the arms of a storm. The explosive energy has been riveting audiences since its inception in 1991. Stomp currently has four productions running concurrently: the ongoing show at the Orpheum Theatre in New York, a permanent London company, and tours in North America and Europe.

Global music sensation and contemporary flamenco guitarist Ottmar Liebert is returning to Sacramento for one night only with his band, Luna Negra. Liebert has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and boasts multiple gold and platinum records. His debut album, Nouveau Flamenco, is the best-selling instrumental acoustic guitar album of all time.

Mix Vaudeville, Agatha Christie, and the board game Clue, and you come up with the hilariously clever Murder For Two. Written by award-winning duo Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, this show highlights just two actors who play ALL of the parts-10, to be exact. 90 minutes of zany comedy come to the shocking finale where we find out if Mrs. Whitney did it in the entryway with a knife or if the psychiatrist did it on the porch with a gun...or was it someone else entirely?

Waitress has finally made its way to Sacramento, bringing with it all the ingredients a pie should have-sugar, spice, fluff and substance-blended perfectly in a feel-good, empowering show. Nominated for 4 Tony Awards, Waitress is groundbreaking for boasting an all-female creative team: music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles (6-time Grammy nominee), book by screenwriter Jessie Nelson (I Am Sam), choreography by Lorin Latarro (Waiting for Godot), and direction by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus (Hair, Pippin, Finding Neverland). Based off of the 2007 indie film of the same name written by Adrienne Shelly, the themes in Waitress take on an even deeper meaning because of Shelly's death by violence.

The holiday season is a time when we all reflect upon the past year. The good, the bad, and everything in between comes up for dissection as we are influenced to improve in the new year. No tale conveys this idea more clearly than Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol. Sacramento Theatre Company presents an adaptation by Richard Hellesen and David DeBerry that is more enjoyable each subsequent year you see it.

We hear a lot about women tearing each other down-working mom vs. stay-at-home mom, breastfeeding vs. bottle-feeding, the way other women dress or style their hair. Steel Magnolias is a lesson in the opposite-the power of positive female relationships. A celebration of strong women and set in a beauty parlor in 1980's Louisiana, the story centers around six women who share laughter, conflict, and unimaginable grief.