Don Grigware - Page 16

Frequently described as a cross between steel and gossamer, Kander and Ebb's musical of Manuel Puig's mind-boggling novel Kiss of the Spider Woman is nothing short of breathtaking when properly produced. Dealing with reality versus illusion (steel, for prison bars and gossamer, the feminine side of Molina's mind), the play adapts perfectly to musical form, where Molina (Jeffrey Scott Parsons) and his troupe play out Aurora's (Natalie Nucci) screen life through song and dance. In fact, I've always found the musical more intriguing than Hector Babenco's 1985 film also because of the omnipresent operatic themes of romance, love, passion, violence and betrayal.

Plays about religion are most difficult to digest, but Somewhere in the middle, a world premiere by Gary Lamb at Crown City Theatre, is overall a nice surprise. Presenting a contemporary middle class family from the midwest with crisp funny dialogue and relatable family issues that involve precocious children and a somewhat overbearing live-in grandma, the play is simultaneously thought-provoking and entertaining. Sarah (Julie Lancho

Neil Simon's Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy Lost in Yonkers followed his autobiographical trio Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound. Critics started to take him seriously as a playwright with these plays for he was writing about his own family's life experiences. Lost in Yonkers is set in 1942 in Yonkers, New York where Grandma Kurnitz (Loraine Shields) and her daughter Bella (Roslyn Cohn) run the family confectionery store and live in a modest apartment upstairs. Now in a stunning production at the GROUP rep, Larry Eisenberg directs a perfectly cast ensemble who make the play shine brightly through October 22. Humor is Simon's best suit. This is drama, but... there is plenty of comedy emanating

1993's rarely produced Sunset Boulevard is a somewhat flawed musical play that satisfies best with the casting of an actress of great star quality as Norma Desmond, one whose face could have convincingly lit up a silent film screen. Moonlight Amphitheatre has its star in Valerie Perri, and under Larry Raben's resourcefully skilled staging, Sunset Boulevard is a hit.

A small town Tennessee Southern Baptist sissy Levi Kreis has taken LA, New York and the world by storm within this millenium. When he performs not only gays flock to see him. He has many, many straight fans as well. Why? Because this phenomenon is one enormous talent who, as my mom used to say, can make a piano TALK. He won a Tony for playing Jerry Lee Lewis in Million Dollar Quartet and has developed a fast-paced, heart-pounding style like no other singer of this generation. He is mesmerizing to watch and a dynamite pleasure to listen to.  On Saturday August 19 Kreis (pronounced like Christ without the t by his own admission) performed his solo show at LGBT in Hollywood . He is on tour to promote his latest CD Broadway at the Keys. To say the show was a hit with the audience is an understatement, as most lined up in the lobby following the 80-minute set to purchase the CD and to meet the charismatic singing/songwriting star for a selfie and a signature.

What can I say about HAMILTON that hasn't already been said one hundred times over? I was excited to attend opening night at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. I haven't seen so much over.the.top yet genuine enthusiasm for a show since the original Dreamgirls with Jennifer Holliday in the 1980s. Audience screamed and cheered the entrances of every major character. At the top, I was so propelled into the setting and the action of the American Revolution in 1776 that I forgot I was watching an historical show...and that says a lot because I am not a fan of rap music. However, for those of you like me, you are in for a treat, because its heart-pounding beats drive the show with a thrilling nonstop execution like no other.

Remember The Marvelous Wonderettes and Life Could Be a Dream? Creator Roger Bean had two tremendous musical hits in these shows. The Marvelous Wonderettes featured four FBF, and Life... four guy pals. They both focused on living your dream to the fullest, and featured young teens aspiring to the max. Both had great background pop songs of the 50s, 60 and beyond. Wonderettes went beyond the teen years with two sequels Winter Wonderettes and Caps and Gowns, in which we saw the gals grow up and meet life's struggles head on. On the shelf since about 2005, Honky Tonk Laundry is Bean's two character musical a la Always Patsy Cline, where he took pop country music and let two ladies have their way with it. They become best friends in the process, compared to Thelma and Louise. Currently onstage at the Hudson in Hollywood, Honky Tonk Laundry is a big audience winner due to its dynamic stars Bets Malone and Misty Cotton, who sing and act the bejesus out of it. Some might call it overkill with anyone else, but these two uber talents keep the audience begging for more. In Roger Bean musicals, the plot is slight and overshadowed by the fun musical numbers and silly dia

What a deliciously exciting and provocative evening in the theatre! The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted by Simon Stephens from Mark Haddon's novel, comes to vivid life as a play within a play with a fascinating array of visual effects, a dynamite ensemble and a remarkable performance by Adam Langdon under the skilled direction of Marianne Elliott. It graces the Ahmanson stage through September 10 only.

Barbara Minkus is a dynamically talented singer/actress who commands the stage in I'm Not Famous, her latest and most complete autobiographical show. She just finished a sold-out run at the Santa Monica Playhouse where she got extended twice. I believe the show is slated to travel across country and on to New York. It definitely should, as this story is so well honed,  and has universal appeal and great meaning for anyone who has ever gotten stuck along the way to fulfilling one's dreams. Minkus goes back to age 3 when she sang for the first time in Chicago. Her father owned a famous department store. She called her mother a shoplifter because they had a room in their house named the Instant Gift Room. Mom would fill it with toys, clothes and anything else she could find at the store and keep them on hand for family birthdays, bar

Actor/singer James Snyder premiered his touring cabaret show Soliloquy at the Catalina Jazz Club under the prolific banner Chris Isaacson Presents Thursday July 20. Snyder is one of those handsome Broadway leading men whose magnetic appeal is greatly assisted not only by boyish charm but more importantly by an infectiously off beat sense of humor, unpredictability...and... he has one of the most beautifully powerhouse tenor/baritone voices onstage anywhere. I can only think of one or two others who fill the bill as completely well as Snyder.

Actress/singer Carmen Cusack has graced stages across the country with her beautiful singing voice in the latest revival of South Pacific and more recently in LA at the Wallis Annenberg in Scorsese: Requiem for an American Dream. She took time out of her busy schedule to talk with us about Sondheim on Sondheim a brand new concert, of which she is a part, to be presented at the Hollywood Bowl this Sunday July 23.

Actress/singer Tracy Nicole Chapman is best known for originating the role of Shenzi in the Broadway production of The Lion King. She also appeared on Broadway in The Who's Tommy, Caroline, or Change and Cy Coleman's The Life. Other theatre credits include the Broadway revivals of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Music Man, and Into the Woods. She also toured with Jelly's Last Jam, Dreamgirls and Once on This Island. She is about to star in a world premiere musical Shout, Sister, Shout! about the life of gospel singer Rosetta Tharpe. Chapman took time out of her busy schedule to chat with us about the musical and playing Rosetta Tharpe.

This year's festival will include a 50/50 parity of male and female playwrights and runs Sunday, July 3Oth through Sunday, August 6th at The Road on Lankershim, in the Historic Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood at 5108 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood  and at The Road on Magnolia at 10747 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood  at the NoHo Arts Colony!  We will feature spotlights on all the playwrights of full length and one act plays over the next few weeks. This week the spotlight shines on Brian James Polak, author of the full-length play Henry and the Hippocampus*.

It is great to see an artist of Kay Cole's caliber perform her very first solo cabaret at a later stage of life. This woman has done TV, film, Broadway, national tours; she has directed both musicals and plays, choreographed...and now has released Souvenir, her very first solo CD and achieved a glorious cabaret debut at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal on Sunday July 16. The show also called Souvenir, which ran under an hour, was directed by Cole's long-time friend the wonderful Bruce Kimmel and musically directed by the fabulous John Boswell, who accompanied her on the piano throughout. Kay Cole has a lot to tell about her life and care

Cabrillo, Thousand Oaks/directed by Yvette Lawrence/choreographed by Cheryl Baxter/through July 23 Peter Pan is a story filled with wonderment, and a total joy to behold onstage. Children of all ages love the idea of being able to fly and to live freely, without attachments or responsibilities. With the right casting, the show is pure magic. Now onstage through July 23 at Cabrillo Music Theatre, soon to be renamed 5 Star Theatricals, Peter Pan will never grow up, thank heavens! In this case there is not a famous star attached to the role. Carly Bracco is an immmensely talented singer, dancer, and actress who toured extensively with Cathy Rigby and played Wendy. She brings so much of herself to the role and is so much fun to watch, that nothing is lacking, making this Peter Pan a first class production.

This year's festival will include a 50/50 parity of male and female playwrights and runs Sunday, July 3Oth through Sunday, August 6th at The Road on Lankershim, in the Historic Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood at 5108 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood  and at The Road on Magnolia at 10747 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood  at the NoHo Arts Colony! We will feature spotlights on all the playwrights of full length and one act plays over the next few weeks. This week the spotlight shines on Ann Hearn, author of the one act Requiem for Stuart*.

Remember the 1981 film of Christina Crawford's book Mommie Dearest? Do you remember the actress who played Crawford's invaluable and devoted assistant Carol Ann? It was Rutanya Alda, and she's written a day by day diary of the filming of this cult classic. How delicious! All the gossipy dirt about Faye Dunaway and everyone else connected to the movie like Diana Scarwid, Mara Hobel, Steve Forrest, Howard Da Silva and director Frank Perry. Alda is honest and tells it like it was. If Dunaway was pleasant, she says so; if she was in a bitchy mood, she paints that as well.

International jazz vocalist Lyn Stanley has done it again. Her newest project The Moonlight Sessions Volume One is a knockout with some of the finest orchestrations and vocal arrangements to be heard anywhere  ... period. This is her fourth major album in five years, with Volume Two to be released in August. Stanley puts a lot of love into the enterprise; this goes without saying. Especially with ths project which had its beginning on FB with a secret society of members who helped with the promotion. She generated interest by letting FB members join and then make decisions about the choice of songs and the recording and engineering processes. Their d

After a successful run in New York, off and on Broadway, Simon Stephens' curiously captivating Heisenberg takes a bow at the MTF through August 6 with its two stars Denis Arndt and Mary-Louise Parker still on board. The time is the present. Alex Priest (Arndt) and Georgie Burns (Parker) meet by accident - or do they? - in a train station in London. She starts chatting a mile a minute as he listens practically in complete silence. Both are terribly lonely souls, as it turns out. At first glance, Georgie tells Alex that she is an assassin and laughs if off claiming to be a waitress. Later she confesses to being a receptionist in a school. He truthfully tells her he's a butcher. She had a brief unhappy marriage to a philanderer and had a son by

Fans of the unforgettable Debbie Reynolds and members of the Thalians, an organization she helped found, flocked to the El Portal Friday June 30 for a dedication of the mainstage and grand party to celebrate her life and career. It was an SRO event, with celebrity guests, whose proceeds benefited the great charity work of the Thalians - 'Hollywood for Mental Health', to which Reynolds devoted tirelessly of herself since its inception in 1955. Debbie had history with the El Portal. It was one of her favorite venues, as she used to ride her bicycle there to go to the movies as a young girl living in Burbank...and she performed there with her fabulous night blub act and the play Love Letters 46 times between 2003 and 2015 So, it is totally apropo to name the mainstage in honor of this great star and humanitarian.