Don Grigware - Page 31

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical has finally arrived at the Ahmanson Theatre, and it is a sumptuous treat for the eyes, ears and mind. Imagination runs amok in choreography, staging and in reproducing a feast of visual pleasures via ultra riveting set pieces - with scrabble-like words and phrases jutting out on all sides - and vibrant costumes. And to get a bevy of child actors to essay these little 'maggots' in such a dynamically professional manner for two and a half hours is no minor feat. It's like the song claims: it's a 'miracle!'

Dysfunctional families provide delicious humor for stage and film, because most everyone can identify with one or more of the characters. And if they plan a mercy killing? The irreverent humor quadruples. In Howard Skora's new world premiere comedy Miserable with an Ocean View, we come face to face with a Jewish family on Long Island - a mother, who is wheelchair-bound and dying, two sons - one gay and one super macho straight - and one daughter, a horrible interior designer whose long-term marriage is on the rocks. Now for a limited run through July 18 at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks, Miserable is laugh.out.loud funny with fluid direction from Jim Fall and a marvelous cast headed by Patty McCormack as grandma Rhoda.

No surprise that the little musical comedy with a big bang, Murder for Two by Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair took off-Broadway by storm in 2013! Described as 'a musical comedy with a dash of Agatha Christie', it actually defies classification. Yes, it has music and a murder mystery plot and is screamingly funny, but it's a whole lot more. Only two performers provide as much or more entertainment than a big over-produced, full cast Broadway show. It covers a lot of ground in 100 minutes and with Jeff Blumenkrantz playing a bevy of suspects, both male and female, Brett Ryback essaying officer Marcus Moskowitz, who is determined to be promoted to detective by the end of the play - both of whom play the piano with a feverish passion - and guided by director Scott Schwartz's super-fast pace and frenetic staging, it's like a colossal roller coaster ride that while barreling along could at any second lose control, but never does. Now onstage at the Geffen Playhouse, audiences will be thrilled and bedazzled through August 2.

The play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind, which was written in Germany in the late 19th century was censored for a time due to its frank portrayal of masturbation, abortion, homosexuality, rape, child abuse and suicide. Exposing the rocky sexual coming of age of a group of teenagers, its helter-skelter but life-affirming journey is again explored in the 2006 Tony Award winning musical of the same name Spring Awakening through folk based and alternative rock, and boasts some expertly staged storytelling, singing, choreography and exuberant performances at the Wallis Annenberg through June 7 only. This is a brief return of Deaf West's critically-acclaimed production from last fall 2014 directed by Michael Arden.

There's a fascinating mix of familiar and not- so-familiar plays and musicals that will grace Los Angeles stages this summer. LA editors Don Grigware, Ellen Dostal, Shari Barrett and Gil Kaan have chosen their favorites in the list below. Enjoy!

On Saturday May 23 actor/singer Bill A. Jones, known to thousands of cheering fans as Rod Remington of Fox TV's Glee, brought his one-man show Frank, Bobby & Me to the E-Spot Lounge at Vitello's in Studio City. This man is not only handsome with an affable charm onstage, but can truly sing these old standards with a smooth delivery and the fine easy-going style that they deserve. The packed SRO crowd would surely agree. Backed by three stellar musicians, musical director Paul McDonald at the keys, Steve Pemberton on drums and Kurt Smith on bass - known as Paul McDonald the A Players - for 90 minutes the 'joint was really jumpin' '.

When Violet first premiered off-Broadway in 1997, it created a stir winning two prizes for Best Musical but didn't make waves until 2014 when it transferred to Broadway in an all new production starring Sutton Foster. It heartfully tells the story of a disfigured girl from Spruce Pine, North Carolina Violet Karl who makes a journey to Tulsa, Oklahoma in the hopes of being physically transformed by a faith healer. An accident occurred when she was a teen - a blade that her father was using cut her face, leaving an ugly scar - and Violet always blamed her father proclaiming that he did not want her to be pretty. She would have no male prospects and be forced to stay on to live with him on their small farm. The scar runs deep - 'it reaches to your heart' new acquaintances tell her, so the journey to find a brand new 'glamorized' look means everything to Violet who will sacrifice just about anything to have it all.

Explain briefly about the musical.  Murder for Two is a two person murder mystery, where one guy plays the wanna-be detective, and the other guy plays all the suspects, and the both play the piano. How did it get started? If I remember correctly, you first started off-Broadway, ran a while and then returned after a brief absence due to overwhelming popularity? That's correct. We began at Second Stage Uptown, had an extended, sold-out run, and then transferred after a brief hiatus to New World Stages for a commercial run. All told, the show ran about a year in New York, before hitting the road in a tour.

It is refreshing in this day and age to see an attempt to create a new musical. With few exceptions, it appears to be a dying art. If not, we would not be witnessing a raft of old steady revivals on Broadway, off-Broadway and in regional venues across the globe. Doug Haverty and Adryan Russ, no strangers to successful musical ventures, have taken the topic of love and have created Love Again, a bold effort at showing the intermingling of different aspects of love with a semi-large cast. Under the steady hand of Kay Cole all manage to shine in one form or another and a lot of it works delightfully. There's much potential with some more work and readjustments to the book. Many of the songs are quite lovely, and love, in all of its shades and colors, is always a treat to experience. Love Again has its niche at Group rep in NoHo through June 28.

On Sunday May 17 at Catalina Jazz Club renowned actress/singer Michele Lee made her Los Angeles cabaret debut. Why has it taken this long? She takes her one-woman show Catch the Light on the road regularly and recently played 54 Below in NYC, but has never played a club in her hometown of LA. Well, it's high time, and the packed house agreed as the four-piece orchestra played the Beatles' 'Michelle, my belle...' as Lee was introduced to thunderous applause. She made her way through the audience singing the powerhouse 'Feeling Good', and with a combination of incredible drive and energy, an uber strong vocal style and sheer sauciness and personal sass, Lee's conquest of the room was guaranteed. Looking fabulous in black satin and sequins, she next essayed 'Nobody Does It Like Me' from her Broadway hit Seesaw. In the show she playe

For many, Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie remains his finest play. Semi-autobiographical, the play takes place in St. Louis during the Depression and depicts the relationships between a restless alcoholic factory worker, wannabe writer, his overbearing mother and his psychologically deficient sister - all of which stems from Williams' actual background. Williams finds his voice in Tom. (Brian Foyster)

Tim Rice's & Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita has had a thirty-seven year international love affair with the public since it premiered in 1978 in London and in 1979 on Broadway. The latest local reincarnation currently at Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Claremont until June 28 is lovingly directed by Chuck Ketter and excellently choreographed by Roger Castellano.

production of A Chorus Line, which garnered the Tony, Pulitzer Prize, Drama Desk, and Theatre World awards -among others.  Other credits include:  director/choreographer: 22%, Love Songs, Spelling Bee, Rose Bowl Queens, Bark! No Strings, Desperate Writers (Off-B'way/LA), Flunky, The Dining Room, Nuncrackers, Judy's Scary Little Christmas, Frog & Toad, A Chorus Line, choreographer: Hunger, Nightmare Alley, Atlanta, Great Expectations, Triumph of Love, Dancing at Lughnasa. Pasadena Playhouse: 110 in the Shade, Do I Hear A Waltz. Hollywood Bowl: Mame, Bernstein's Mass, My Fair Lady, Music Man, Camelot, Reprise!, Three Penny Opera, City of Angels, Company, 20th Century, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Most Happy Fella. Other Los Angeles: Atlanta, Paint Your Wagon (Geffen); Grave White Way (Hudson Theatre); Dogeaters, Gaytino (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Six Dance Lessons (Falcon, Geffen, B'way); Snoopy, Blockheads (London West End). Film/TV: Country Rules, Santa Clause 3, Six Dance Lessons…  Website: www.kaycole.net

Actress/producer/motivational speaker/champion of senior causes Jackie Goldberg, known more popularly as the Pink Lady and 'Pink' o her friends, has come up with yet another fantastic idea to help promote permanent senior entertainment in greater Los Angeles. The event is appropriately entitled Senior Star Search, a senior competition that will be held on Sunday July 12 at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre at Barnsdall Park, Hollywood. Co-producing the event will be actress/singer/humanitarian Barbara Van Orden, known for her outrageous Las Vegas night club act as well as her close involvement in producing LA's Next Great Stage Star held annually at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal in North Hollywood. Goldberg and Van Orden as co-producers of Senior Star Search wish to bring active, motivated seniors into local live entertainment. They are hopeful that more than 200 interested entertainers 55 or older will come forth to audition for the event on May 23rd and 24th.

It's been 50 years since Neil Simon wrote The Odd Couple, perhaps the most famous of his early plays. March, 1965. I was a freshman in college, and little did I know that one day I would play Felix Unger in a local production onstage. Needless to say, I was certainly smitten with the crazed character and his neurotic mannerisms and with Simon's terribly funny comedic lines, whenever I watched the film with Jack Lemmon and the TV series with Tony Randall. Not so easy to essay...this character - as I found out first hand - for this play with all its laugh.a.minute jokes is really a very serious drama about the frailty of relationships and how we suffer through them. Now onstage in a wonderfully grounded and real portrait, The Odd Couple still holds up; the Sierra Madre Playhouse production, under the meticulous direction of Alan Brooks, does the classic proud.

It is rich yet rare to find a new American play that is at once terribly funny, terribly real and utterly demanding of one's attention. Immediate Family is such a play; it's fiercely original way at looking at an American black dysfunctional family is both heartwarming and completely enjoyable. In fact, I found myself looking at this black family and listening to playwright Paul Oakley Stovall's jokes about being from a black family and found myself, although white, identifying thoroughly with the issues at play. The family is black - and much of the humor is unmistakably black - but the conflicts are universal. Under Phylicia Rashad's steady hand, Immediate Family in its West Coast premiere at the Taper is one great big hit.

The creation of Arthur Miller's now classic The Crucible about the Salem witch trials of 1692 was influenced by the McCarthy era of the 50s. It provided an intensely ferocious perspective on the unjust distortion and destruction of human life. In Salem, Massachusetts it was a religious issue - did you believe in God or the Devil Incarnate? McCarthyism was about Americans and their supposed involvement with the Communist Party. Religion and politics should be private issues, but in a community riddled with guilt about morality, there is no such thing as personal. Your way of life is an open book for all to judge and condemn. Roberto Aguirre-Acasa has penned an imagined sequel to The Crucible entitled Abigail/1702 about protagonist/witch namer Abigail Williams (Jennifer Cannon), who escapes Salem and tries to find salvation after her crimes. The action picks up ten years later in 1702, and as a thought-provoking piece now onstage at ICT, Long Beach, it works quite well under the expert guidance of director Caryn Dasai and with the help of five outstanding performances.

The musical Side Show played Broadway in 1997 for 91 performances and was Tony nominated but never got the recognition it deserved. A revamped version went to Broadway in 2014, but it, too, closed early. Like Jason Robert Brown's Parade, another noteworthy Broadway miss, it's worth the attention, but its dark grotesque presentation of carnival freak shows is not the most appealing fare for commercial theatre audiences. Many are repelled by the sight of a man with three legs, a bearded lady, a half-man, half-woman or in the case of Daisy and Violet Hilton, by the appearance of twins who are conjoined. The girls hated the term Siamese twins, for they were not Siamese, and also if people asked them if they wanted to be normal. What is normal? Now in a revival production of the original - not the 2013 revamped production, which played La Jolla and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. before Broadway - by 3-D Theatricals at Plummer Auditorium, Fullerton, Side Show comes out as winning and memorable as when it first appeared.

David Mamet's curious one-act The Anarchist, which bombed on Broadway in 2012 after a mere 17 performances, was called by critics 'a slip of a play'. True, it does come in at 70 minutes, but who cannot be riveted by Mamet's intriguing exploration of salvation? Yes, religious salvation that erupts during a prison interrogation serving as a final appeal for prisoner Cathy (Felicity Huffman), convicted some 35 years previous for the murders of two guards. Cathy was a young revolutionary at the time in Algeria; when we see her she describes herself as 'an old lady', perhaps somewhere in her 50s. Ann (Rebecca Pidgeon), the warden of the prison or psychologist working in direct connection with the prison authorities, performs the interrogation with one goal in mind: to break down Cathy, to make her confess the whereabouts of her accomplice, whom she hasn't seen or had contact with since the crime. Far-fetched, you say? But Cathy's release depends on this piece of information. Despite some dissatisfying results, Mamet's fiercely engrossing dialogue, crisp direction from Marja-Lewis Ryan and superior performances from both Huffman and Pidgeon make the one-act worthy of note.

Everybody's favorite character actress/singer/ comedienne from stage, TV and film Mary Jo Catlett will appear in S.T.A.G.E on May 9 at 7: 30 at the Saban in Beverly Hills. This year's show is entitled To Broadway from Hollywood...with Love. What are you doing in the show this year?