Don Grigware - Page 15

Alfred Uhry's 1987 Pulitzer-Prize winning play Driving Miss Daisy is receiving a rare and outstanding revival at the Colony Theatre starring Donna Mills. It originally played off-Broadway and was filmed in 1989 with Jessica Tandy. The play recounts the relationship between Daisy Werthan (Mills) a white Southern Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur Hoke Colburn (Arthur Richardson). This current production plays the Colony through December 10 only.

Kaufman and Hart's broad satire on the bizarre world of internationally famous critic Alexander Woollcott, here called Sheridan Whiteside (Greg Martin), when his egocentric life collides with the day to day humdrum lives of the Stanley family of Mesalia, Ohio in 1936 is rarely produced due to its large cast of wildly divergent characters and dated humor. Funny it is, exceedingly funny, but only to those who understand the references to the events and people of the 30s. Now, in a finely staged production at Actors Co-op, The Man Who Came to Dinner, like the playwrights' other smash hit You Can't Take It With You, shows just how dull life would be without flagrant eccentricity and staunch individuality.

Actor/director Marc Singer was a household name in the 80s with his big screen role as the Beastmaster in a series of theatrical films. He was also popular on the small screen in the series V, among others. Today he is still a working actor in demand and is a member of Group rep Theatre in NoHo where he is currently rehearsing their next production of A Midsummer Night's Dream to open November 17. Singer will play Oberon and also direct the piece. He took time out of his busy schedule to sit down and talk about his love of Shakespeare, Midsummer and some of his career highlights.

Known for his rich baritone voice on LA stages for the past several years, Robert Yacko made his solo concert debut entitled Opening Doors at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal Sunday October 29. In spite of the Dodger game, he attracted a good sized audience who hung on very note and lyric. Skillfully directed by Bruce Kimmel, who is no stranger to Yacko, as he has appeared in many Kritzerland shows, the concert/cabaret explored the highlights of Yacko's life and career from South Philly to New York and on to LA.

Linda Kerns has a made a name for herself as both an actress and director. As an actress: Broadway: NINE (Original Cast), Big River, National Tours: Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast (LA), Wicked (LA). The movie TITANIC, LAWeekly Award (Best Musical Performance) for Into the Woods at Actors Co-op. As a director: World Premiere Matthew Goldsby's Makin' Hay, Pride and Prejudice, I Do, I Do!, And Then There Were None, Going to St. Ives, among others. She is currently directing the classic The Man Who Came to Dinner at Actors Co-op to open Friday November 3.

It baffles me when singers have a CD release party and then sing everything except the contents of the album. Even worse is not bothering to share with the audience the deep need to record it. And then they expect you to buy it! Go figure! Such was not the case at the Federal in NoHo for the solo concert debut of beautiful singer/actress Jean Louisa Kelly who literally sang the entire CD minus one song* and devoted the concert to her parents, husband and two children. Kelly is a joy to look at and has a wonderfully full and powerful vocal instrument that she uses to perfection. It doesn't hurt that all of your arrangements are composed by the brilliant Todd Schroeder who also served as musical director at the piano for the show that ran just under an hour at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal Sunday night October 22 to a packed house of adoring fans.

Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony and Grammy Award-winning show In the Heights had a lot to shout about when it played Broadway in 2008...in fact, it still does. First of all, it's a musical with and about Latinos - way overdue -plus it has a terrific book with a heartwarming storyline about a closely knit community. That's right, a real community, one that boasts a bevy of exceedingly real and likeable characters. Miranda also created a varied score with ballads & traditional pop melodies and salsa meshed together with rap. MTW brings In the Heights to The Carpenter Center with a dynamite cast and slick direction by Benjamin Perez . It's full-out, enjoyable fare!

Steve Martin's and Edie Brickell's Bright Star played Broadway in 2016, garnering a Tony nomination for Carmen Cusack. The show fared somewhat well, but did not seem to be an overall critics' choice. On the minus side, it is an all too familiar story about a backwoods pregnant girl and parental abuse in the 1920s, with far-fetched resolutions and a sweet, but for many, saccharine ending. In spite of this, I was delighted with the bluegrass music by Martin and Brickell, with Walter Bobbie's fluid staging and with the performances. It's most definitely uplifting and an entertaining evening at the Ahmanson through November 19.

Is He Dead?/by Mark Twain/adapted by David Ives/Glendale Center Theatre (GCT)/directed by Todd Nielsen/through November 18 GCT loves doing seasonal shows. Since it's only weeks away from Halloween, what could be more fun than a melodramatic and satirical romp that focuses on a nasty villain and a man in a dress? Mark Twain wrote Is He Dead? in 1898 but the incredible fact is it wasn't published until 2003. Adapted by David Ives it received a production on Broadway in 2007 starring Norbert Leo Butz.

CHRISTINE DUNFORD made her directorial debut with last year's production of Good People at the Hudson Guild. She trained as an actor at Juilliard, making her debut in Joe Papp's Two Gentlemen of Verona. Broadway: Serious Money. Off-Broadway: Love's Labors Lost (Public Theater);Serious Money (Public Theater);Tamara; Infidelities (Primary Stages.) LA: I Carry Your Heart (BootlegTheater);The Cryptogram; Old Neighborhood (Geffen Playhouse);7Blow Jobs; Erotic Curtsies (Bottom's Dream Theater Company); Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike (Edgemar Theater.) Film: Ulee's Gold Love & Basketball American Dream Bandit Hound Hello Herman August Creek and award-winning shorts Dos Corazones and Lost People of Mountain Village. Ms. Dunford has appeared in over 100 episodes of television. Series Regular: Good Sports Bob Hudson Street Something So Right and Secret Lives of Men . Guest Star: The Gifted, Longmire, The Mentalist, Bones: & many others. Solo Performance: HBO Aspen Comedy Festival. She is currently directing a production of Donald Margulies' Collected Stories to open at the Dorie Theater at the Complex Friday October 13.

Bobby Moresco is an Academy Award-winning writer, director and producer, hailing from Hell's Kitchen, New York. In 2007, Moresco received an Oscar for co-writing the feature film CRASH . Other features include, Academy Award-winner MILLION DOLLAR BABY and 10TH & WOLF , starring James Marsden, which was his directorial debut. Moresco's TV credits include EZ Streets , Falcone , and The Black Donnellys . He is currently producing WORKING at the Whitefire Theatre to play Thursdays October 12-November 9. by Steve Peterson

It's quite rare and a sheer delight when an original bio hits the mark bigtime onstage. There have been many shows over the years about iconic stars like Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Charlie Chaplin, John Barrymore among others. but only Barrymore stands apart as memorable. CAGNEY currently playing the El Portal through October 29 goes a giant step beyond; not only is it a genuinely intelligent biography, but also has great drama, romance and musical entertainment for one and all. Opening off-Broadway in 2016, the show was nominated for several Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and witnessing the terrifically dynamic ensemble of six actors headed by Robert Creighton as James Cagney, it's easy to see why. Creighton not only looks like Cagney, but possesses a similar Irish personality and tough yet tender charm that made the original talent such an icon. The other five actors surrounding him Danette Holden, Josh Walden, Jeremy Benton, Ellen Z. Wright and Bruce Sabath are triple threat performers who brilliantly play a myriad of characters each.

Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actress Susan Sullivan has been delighting audiences onstage and on television for many years. She is currently a part of LA Theatre Works production of Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine. In our chat she talks about her role and others that she has played in her varied career. Tell us about your role in Watch on the Rhine. This character really makes a great sacrifice. Talk about that.

Young Frankenstein/book by Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan/music & lyrics by Mel Brooks/original direction recreated by David Lamoureux/original choreography recreated by Daniel Smith/musical director: Corey Hirsch/3-D Theatricals at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center/through October 15/October 20-29 at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts I revert to childhood when I see a Mel Brooks movie or show. The sillier the better: the sight gags, the double entendres, the more the merrier. The New Mel Brooks Musical, Young Frankenstein is a real rip-roaring hoot of a show from start to finish as produced by 3-D Theatricals with a great cast and zippy fast-paced direction and fine staging from David Lamoureux, recreating the original of Susan Stroman and Daniel Smith recreating her choreography.

Does everyone believe in God? Obviously, some do and some do not. For those that do, how deep does that faith go? Shelah (Phylicia Rashad) lives in her old decaying homestead in Head of Passes, where the Mississipi River meets the Gulf of Mexico. The time is now. She is dying but will not be treated by a doctor, even though Doctor Anderson (James Carpenter) is a family friend. She believes in the power of the Lord, and when the play begins, she has called a family gathering to bring her sons and daughter together to discuss sharing the property she is about to will them. Currently at MTF, Tarell Alvin McCraney has created a powerful play Head of Passes with the brilliant Rashad heading an outstanding cast of eight, directed meticulously by Tina Landau, through October 22.

Belle R ve Theatre Company (Executive Producer Michelle M. N ez, Producers Suzanne Warren and Tanya Cohen) presents their inaugural production of Time Alone a World Premiere by Alessandro Camon (Academy Award nominee The Messenger ) starring Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins (Jelly's Last Jam, Caroline or Change, ABC Scandal) and Alex Hernandez (Peter and the Starcatcher, Richard III NYC Public Theatre Mobile Unit), at Theatre 2, Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S Spring Street Los Angeles, September 30 to October 29 .

Who can top the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock? His stamp on any work makes it eternally the best. Book adaptor Patrick Barlow takes a suspenseful Hitchcock film (1935) of the same name The 39 Steps and fashions a thoroughly entertaining, highly comedic and cinematically monumental suspense yarn for the stage. Director Kevin Chesley and the fine 4-member cast at Actors Co-op make it work as good as it can get anywhere, anytime.

KEVIN CHESLEY has directed, written and performed sketch comedy for stages like Upright Citizens Brigade (LA and NYC), The iO (Chicago and West), and the Vancouver Comedy Festival. He is a co-founder of TROOP! and The Riot Act, troupes that have performed in venues like The Comedy Central Stage, The HBO Workspace, and The Chicago Improv Festival. For ten years he has directed The Apple Sisters, a staged 1943 radio show that very much helped prepare him to dive into the 1935 world of The 39 Steps. He was also a director for The Hampstead Players Theater Company. A screenwriter, Kevin has written for The Onion, National Lampoon, and MTV's The Hard Times of RJ Berger, as well as screenplays for Warner Brothers, Paramount, Bad Robot, Happy Madison, and 20th Century Fox. He has Executive Produced pilots for both NBC and Cartoon Network. Training: Act One Hollywood, BFA Emerson College. He is currently directing The 39 Steps for Actors Co-op about to open Friday September 22.

Matthew Bourne and his New Adventures Company spell electricity from the getgo. When critics, actors and other fans heard that Bourne was bringing the premiere US production of The Red Shoes to the Ahmanson for two weeks only, it instantly became a hot ticket. Why? What he produces and directs supercedesballet; even wordless, it's as theatrical as you can get with visual images and musical sounds that are super exciting to watch and listen to...and the music of Bernard Herrmann accompanying this piece is one of the greatest treats imaginable.

Upon entering the Rubicon opening night, I first remarked the bare stage with four chairs against a solid color background that would serve as a sort of screen for projections (Mike Billings-set, lighting, projection designer). This kind of setup usually indicates that there is no set for the play and that the actors will sit and move about to create the scenarios. This can be a good thing or bad depending on the content and framework of the play. In this case Incognito, a west coast premiere by British playwright Nick Payne presents on the surface quite a bit to swallow. The message beneath, however, is much more simplistic and the ensemble of actors under the supremely intelligent direction of Katharine Farmer make the play worth a trip to Ventura to the Rubicon Theatre now through October 1.