Don Grigware - Page 25

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at the Ahmanson Theatre. He chats with us about the challenges of playing the role and other theatrical interests. What is the biggest challenge in playing Monty 8 times a week? Staying hydrated!  I have to make sure I drink enough water during the day. I hardly have a chance to drink any water during the course of the show, because I am onstage 99% of the time!  

Following in the footsteps of La Cage Aux Folles, Billy Elliott and Priscilla Queen of the Desert, all foreign films turned into Broadway musicals, Kinky Boots, the 2013 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, brings its spirited message of 'Just Be Who You Wanna Be' in a return to the Pantages for two weeks through April 24. Replete with splashy direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell and a splendid cast, it's top.of.the.line entertainment fare.

On Tuesday April 12 I eagerly returned to Rockwell Table and Stage for the third time to see An Evening of Classic Broadway. The show comes to Rockwell for one evening every couple of months. Why do I keep coming back? Produced by Dianne Fraser and musically directed by extraordinarily talented Brad Ellis ... and with a bevy of great singers on board, it's guaranteed fun, extra high on entertainment, and it incorporates Broadway standards both classic and contemporary. If that isn't enough, the structure is laid back and spontaneous, allowing one to sit back, relax and just savor the sounds.

Sister Act the Musical started out in 2006 at the Pasadena Playhouse, premiered in London's West End in 2009 and then underwent serious revisions before coming to Broadway in 2011. I remember liking the first mounting in 2006 with many reservations. Since I loved the 1992 film so much, I didn't feel that the stage version was particularly faithful...no pun intended. Well, with all the 2011 changes, MTW's revival of the Broadway version is tops, a joyful, tuneful, splashy romp that never lets down, with a tremendous cast, stellar direction from Michael Matthews and soulful choreography from Daniel Smith. Douglas Carter Beane, who penned the screenplay To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar and the Tony nominated play The Little Dog Laughed, added new book material for the national tour, included here, and this contributes substantially to molding a sleek and unforgettable show.

About eight months ago, actress/singer Kathleen Wilhoite began performing the first Monday of every month at the E-Spot Lounge, formerly Upstairs at Vitello's, with a show entitled Wilhoite's Living Room. It is described as an evening of music, poetry reading, guest stars and comedy. I was curious. I had long been a fan of Wilhoite from her TV appearances on ER and in several MOWs. She is a helluva character actress, edgy, quirky and always an engaging standout. When you see her onscreen, regardless of the size of the role, you remember her long afterwards. What I did not realize was that she is also a fine musician... until I googled and read about her background growing up in Santa Barbara and singing in choirs. She eventually produced two CDs and several of her original songs have been recorded for movie soundtracks. So, exceedingly interested in hearing her, I decided to check out Wilhoite's Living Room on Monday, April 4 at 7: 30 pm. What a fun and exciting surprise was in store!

You cannot beat the Old Globe Theatre for its audacity in mounting the challenging musical Rain, based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham. Rain was made into three separate films, a silent in 1928 starring Gloria Swanson, and then in 1932 starring Joan Crawford as Miss Sadie Thompson, and finally in 1953 Rita Hayworth assumed the role of the prostitute stranded on the South Pacific Island of Pago, Pago in 1924. This much anticipated musical version with book by Sybille Pearson and music by Michael John LaChiusa is the second time Rain has been performed onstage, the first being a play in 1922. For the entire cast and creative team in San Diego this enterprise has been enormous. It is truly an outstanding ensemble headed by Eden Espinosa as Sadie, and the set designed by Mark Wendland is by itself worth the price of admission.

Irish actress Lisa Dwan, the premier interpreter of Samuel Beckett, is about to step down from the position this spring, but before she does, she will make  an appearance with the Beckett Trilogy at the The Broad Stage in Santa Monica in April. Why is this the first time that all 3 plays have been performed together? Well I guess one reason is that Not I is rarely performed and Footfalls has never been performed by one actress playing both roles of Mother (off stage) and May (on stage), and to my knowledge no other actress has tried to perform all three roles in one evening. Up until I tried it, I didn't even think it was possible. 

Playwrights Phil Scarpaci and T.L. Shannon are from opposite sides of the pond. Scarpaci is American and Shannon, British. When they wrote Baby Oh Baby, they decided to leave the setting England, as the British are expert farceurs and know a thing or two about delivering comedy. Surprisingly, the play projects a very contemporary perspective on artificial insemination...and becomes quite serious midway through its 80 minute playing time. Not to say that a serious topic cannot be funny. Of course, we must laugh at everything, but sometimes the topic deserves a bit more exploration at the core, and frivolity is not always the best way to handle it. Now onstage on Saturdays only, at 8 pm through June 4, Baby Oh Baby has a terrific cast who make the material rise off the printed page with a nice entertainment high.

Winner of 4 Tony Awards in 2014, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is a devilishly clever musical sendup of the British aristocracy circa 1909. Production-wise it's a class act all the way, and for its adult audiences, it's a delicious odyssey of. nonstop laughter. Now at the Ahmanson through May 1, the infectiously broad satire will have you on the edge of your seat throughout its two and a half hours. Skillfully executed by director Darko Tresnjak and his awe-inspiring cast, it's a surefire knock 'em dead hit.

On Tuesday, March 22 Alexis Gershwin brought her cabaret show to the Catalina Jazz Club for one night only to a sold out audience. The show entitled Gershwin Sings Gershwin was a delightful evening of many of the priceless standards that made George and Ira Gershwin two of the best composers of all time. Alexis is the niece of the brothers, so, as a member of the family, she knows a thing or two about their music and how to sing it. Petite and gracious, Alexis Gershwin captivates with her charm and wonderful phrasing. She really calls attention to the lyrics and makes you understand the meaning of a Gershwin tune. For a female singer past middle age, it is not always easy to hit the high notes with alacrity; we accept that and look for other attributes that make the performance worthy of attention. In Alexis' case, it's her delivery that consists of full, almost sensual whispers that are simultaneously attractive and effective in pulling you into the songs. When she sings 'I've Got a Crush on You' almost every male member of the audience can feel her seduction or in 'A Foggy Day (in London town)' her expressive intonations truly set the ambiance and mood for the piece

Harvey Fierstein's Casa Valentina won a deserved four Tony nominations in 2014 when it played on Broadway. This is a fine example of an unusual play, one of surprising depth, that goes out of its way to hit a nerve or two. Although comical, Casa Valentina is a drama at the core, with some shades of kitchen-sink reality. Currently onstage at the Pasadena Playhouse, Fierstein's latest opus takes a long look at yet another minority with fortitude and alacrity. Directed with finesse by David Lee, the cast is nothing short of luminous. Casa Valentina is set in a hotel in the Catskills, circa 1962, where a sorority club of straight men, who dress

Musical geniuses of yesteryear like Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart or Bach ... ah, a chosen few who left an unparalleled legacy...but not without bitter resentment and treachery from rivals, some talented, some not... Remember Amadeus by Peter Schaeffer? Salieri stopped at nothing to thwart Mozart's success. Well, now Itamar Moses pits not one, but seven musicians against one another for the coveted position of choirmaster/organist after Johann Kunau dies literally at the organ at Thomaskirche, Leipzig in 1722. There's a flurry of fanciful farce amongst the competitiveness currently onstage in Moses's Bach at Leipzig at Group rep, directed by the brilliant Calvin Remsberg and boasting a devilishly versatile cast, through May 1.

AMY TOLSKY is a popular character actress currently working in theatre, film and television. Her credits include Regional Theatre: South Coast Repertory. L.A.Theatre: Mud Blue Sky (The Road), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Banshee); Table Manners, Nicholas Nickleby (Theatre 40); I Love Lucy Live Onstage; City of Angels; Theatre@Boston Court; Antaeus; The Odyssey; PRT.  Film:"Please Stand By"; "Fishes 'n Loaves:Heaven Sent"; "The Tiger Hunter", "Eat With Me".  Television: "Crowded"; "Shameless"; "Code Black"; "Married"; "Castle"; "2 Broke Girls"; "Parks and Recreation"; "Big Bang Theory"; "Jeeves and Wooster". Internet: "You've Probably Dated My Mom".   

How often do you see an American western onstage? Especially one that was a famous John Ford film in 1952 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Both the film and the stage play are adapted from a short story by Dorothy Johnson about the American west in 1890-1910. The names of the characters in the film are slightly different from those in the play, but the plot is basically the same. What seem to matter more than plot are the historical, cultural, political themes that the story exudes. Now onstage at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, in its American premiere, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is helmed by uber skilled director Jenny Sullivan and boasts a stellar cast, but you only have one more week to catch it, through March 20.

On Friday March 11 Kirk Frederick's new book Write That Down! The Comedy of Male Actress Charles Pierce was launched at ONE the Gay and Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries on North Adams in downtown Los Angeles. The sellout event was a benefit for ONE Archives. There were scrumptious hors d'oeuvres, followed by a presentation, which included a video slide montage, a 5 minute film clip from Pierce's appearance, in the early 80s, on The Dick Cavett Show, and then an interview with Kirk Frederick by moderator/ USC professor of English Chris Freeman. Then came a Q and A with the audience and a book signing.

alvin Remsberg is well known as both actor and director on both coasts. Favorite stage credits: Sweeney Todd (First National, and Television productions), CATS, the acclaimed Los Angeles' Phantom of the Opera, Man of La Mancha, and Oliver!  Favorite film credits: 'Pretty Woman,' 'Shrek,' 'The X-Files,' 'Twilight of the Golds,' 'Silk Stalkings.' Favorite Directing credits: The Medium,  Educating Rita, Chapter Two, Dracula,  Triumph of Love, The Sound of Music, Urinetown, Sunday in the Park with George (Ovation Nomination), Into the Woods, Hello, Dolly!, The Last Five Years, Glory Days, F**king Men (American premiere), and Sweeney Todd (Ovation nomination), and ten musicals for The Musical Theatre Guild. This is his directing debut at The Group Rep. by Steve Peterson

Tennessee Williams published Summer and Smoke in 1948 and revised and rewrote it in 1964 as The Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Summer and Smoke is the popular, much revived version despite the fact Tennessee himself among many critics considered the second version to be the most lyrical representation of Miss Alma, the Spanish word for soul. In both plays singer/music teacher Alma Winemiller (Tara Battani), daughter of an Episcopalean minister (Jeffrey Markle), is passionately in love with her neighbor young Dr. John Buchanan (Gregory James) and when that love is gradually unrequited rather than become a miserable spinster, after a long struggle of illness and isolation, she turns to prostitution. In a handsome production of Summer and Smoke at Actors co-op, Williams' debate between the flesh and the spirit, body vs. soul, is still burning with poetic truth after almost 70 years.

Internationally known biologist and writer Dr. Ana Isabel O is constantly embarking on new projects. Educated in Europe and a self-taught Victorian patchwork maker since the early 90s, Ordonez has presented her work in France and Luxembourg. As a scientist she holds Masters and PhDs in Genetics, Forestry and Animal Biology and has lectured extensively throughout Europe, Africa, Japan, China, New Zealand and South America on insect-plant pathology and biological control research. She has also written several articles on the value of nature. Ordonez, however, has not confined her interests to the world of science. A true Renaissance woman, she is also a reputed jazz editor, independent filmmaker, music/art promoter and producer. In 2012 she contributed tirelessly to the Dizzy Gillespie Memorial tribute with Christopher Kennedy Lawford, because she believes in her heart that true valuable art of any kind must never be forgotten. 

'Tale as old as time' nails the complex simplicity of Beauty and the Beast the quintessential story of true love, the most difficult to obtain and sustain.  Disney's adaptation of the fairy tale with its sweepingly imaginative spectacle won over even the hardest of hearts. The animated film was such a tremendous hit in 1991 that it was adapted for the stage in 1994 with new songs by Tim Rice added to the Academy Award-winning movie score by deceased Howard Ashman. It ran worldwide until 2007 and proves undoubtedly that fairy tales retain a popularity that never dies... and that the story  translates beautifully to the stage with vibrant actors recreating all the animated figures.. This new production by 3-D Theatricals of Beauty and the Beast, which closed Sunday at the Redondo Performing Arts Center, was every bit as joyful and elegant as the original. I cannot say enough about T. J. Dawson's fabulous direction and casting and Mela Hoyt-Heydon's spectacular costumes that were built completely from scratch by 3-D Theatricals.

It is refreshing to watch family dysfunction where family members, striving to make thing better, do honestly care about one another. In Bathsheba Doran's The Mystery of Love & Sex we are presented with quite a divergent platter at first glance, but as time progresses and with so many transformations in plot and character, reconnection never ceases to be a top priority. Helmed by Robert Egan, the play, though taking a tad too long to reach its resolutions, boasts some witty dialogue and substantially engrossing scenes by playwright Doran and an outstanding cast of five at the Mark Taper Forum through March 20.