Don Grigware - Page 38

'Up, Up and Away' is not only the signature tune of the Fifth Dimension but it expressed the overall uplifting feeling Saturday night when the group made a rare Los Angeles concert appearance at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Their positive energy made the entire audience want to fly right along with them as they soared through a thrilling 90 minute odyssey of their hits as well as a bevy of Motown pop standards and other great tunes from the past. It was indeed a walk down memory lane, a dandy one, with gorgeous Florence LaRue, one the original founders of the Fifth Dimension, and her current partners Willie Williams, Patrice Morris, Leonard Tucker and Floyd Smith. Every one just oozed personality, charm, warmth and pizzaz and are still in super dynamic vocal form. LaRue sounds every bit as good as she did back in 1965 when the group started out, with an incredible range and sultry delivery that will not quit.

Neil LaBute is known for writing abrasive plays, in which aggression often leads to violence. And the characters are not criminals but ordinary people who find themselves reacting differently when placed in extreme circumstances. It could happen to anyone. Take Bash for example. In his latest work reasons to be pretty currently onstage at the Geffen Playhouse through August 31, LaBute examines ordinary people once again, but in ordinary, day to day life, in ordinary relationships. Directed meticulously by Randall Arney and with an outstanding cast, reasons to be pretty, in spite of its slow, realistic pacing and drawn out but believable dialogue exchanges, offers some pretty sage advice on how to treat others. And that is pretty welcome advice, indeed.

Chris Isaacson Presents has announced a one-night-only concert event at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday, August 16 at 8pm. Broadway Under the Stars will star Tony Award-winner Jennifer Holliday (Dreamgirls) and will also feature (in alphabetical order) Obba Babatunde (Dreamgirls), Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys, stage and film), Rogelio Douglas, Jr. (In the Heights), Danny Gurwin (Little Women) and Tony Award-nominee Chad Kimball (Memphis). David Galligan will direct, and the music director is Gerald Sternbach.

Say what you will about legends, myths and miracles, but Brigadoon has a charm and appeal that can turn a nonbeliever to...well, at least make you rethink your existence as you exult in the lavish musical score by Lerner & Loewe. Now in a lovely production at Sacramento's Music Circus in the Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento, this early L & L work is receiving a rare revival through this Sunday August 10 only.

Chris Isaacson Presents has announced a one-night-only concert event at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday, August 16 at 8pm. Broadway Under the Stars will star Tony Award-winner Jennifer Holliday and will also feature (in alphabetical order) Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys, stage and film), Rogelio Douglas, Jr. (In the Heights), Danny Gurwin (Little Women) and Tony Award-nominee Chad Kimball (Memphis) David Galligan will direct, and the music director is Gerald Sternbach.

Akin to a revue, Smokey Joe's Cafe is made up of songs, songs, and more songs without a single word of dialogue. Like the final tune says 'That Is Rock & Roll'; it's the music of Leiber and Stoller who gave us some of the biggest hits of the 50s like 'Hound Dog', 'Love Potion # 9' and 'Jailhouse Rock'. In a lively revival at Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, the smoke, the cafe and its music are ecstatically displayed by a cast of 9 thrilling vocalists.

Bob Randall's 6 RMS RIV VU is a charming look at 70s culture through the eyes of two marrieds about to engage in a tenuous extra-marital affair. Yes, it's dated, but still enjoyable summer fare in a rare revival currently onstage at the Sierra Madre Playhouse in Sierra Madre through September 6.

Chris Isaacson Presents has announced a one-night-only concert event at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday, August 16 at 8pm. Broadway Under the Stars will star Tony Award-winner Jennifer Holliday (Dreamgirls) and will also feature (in alphabetical order) Obba Babatunde (Dreamgirls), Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys, stage and film), Rogelio Douglas, Jr. (In the Heights), Danny Gurwin (Little Women) and Tony Award-nominee Chad Kimball (Memphis). David Galligan will direct, and the music director is Gerald Sternbach.

Chris Isaacson Presents has announced a one-night-only concert event at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday, August 16 at 8pm. Broadway Under the Stars will star Tony Award-winner Jennifer Holliday (Dreamgirls) and will also feature (in alphabetical order) Obba Babatunde (Dreamgirls), Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys, stage and film), Rogelio Douglas, Jr. (In the Heights), Danny Gurwin (Little Women) and Tony Award-nominee Chad Kimball (Memphis). David Galligan will direct, and the music director is Gerald Sternbach.

On Sunday July 27 powerhouse vocalist Jeanne Page made a stylish return to Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal for a marvelous evening of standards done her way, entitled Reboot. This lady has a unique brand of humor that is intoxicating and infuses every song she sings with the true colors they deserve. She is about to release a CD of her work, so Reboot was a preview of the album. Believe me, it's a knockout!

As part of their annual Summer at the Playhouse series in July, which this year also included Joey Luft and Mary Bridget Davies, Pasadena Playhouse hosted Henson Alternative's Puppet Up! Uncensored for 3 nights only. Music, Mayhem, Madness was promised and certainly delivered with six puppeteers, comic host Patrick Bristow - and at least 50 puppets centerstage. The show is audience friendly; in fact, in a couple of scenarios, audience members are invited on stage to participate in what appears to be a spontaneously imagined set.

Tennessee Williams' classic A Streetcar Named Desire is revered as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century with Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski, two of the most fascinating characters in theatrical history. Written in the 40s, the play does have many dated elements, but given a taut, well-honed production, its beautifully poetic passages still inspire...and its raw passions can ignite fireworks. Now onstage at the group rep in NoHo, Streetcar may be a daring choice for this company, but under L. Flint Esquerra's caring and detailed direction and with four actors perfectly cast in the lead roles, it is something to sing about.

Opening night of Doris and Me at the El Portal Theatre in NoHo hosted many celebrities including actors who costarred with Doris Day.

Actor/singer Scott Dreier is, by self-description, consumed with Doris Day. He has been a fan since a tender age, watching every Doris Day movie and listening to every Day album hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. We all love Day. Who doesn't? She symbolizes all that is sweet and good in life! Because of her genuine spirit, it became OK for actresses like Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper to have their own shows, representing ordinary yet intelligent young middle-class women and their problems. Because of her, four legged creatures have more organizations looking out for their total welfare. Because of her, our overall lives are a whole lot happier. Scott Dreier, like Day, is genuine, warm with a strong lilting vocal instrument and possessing an infectious charisma, with that famous 'sparkling smile' that will not quit on or off stage. He is the perfect entertainer to extol Doris Day and to sing her unforgettable music.

Playwright Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo as well as Leading Ladies) is one of a dying breed of American farceurs. How many presently exist? In the UK, yes, there are many. Farce is their specialty, but not in the US. So, that given, Leading Ladies is a uniquely special ode to the theatre, to Shakespeare and to that band of traveling actors who make little money but devote their lives to entertain us, and to comedy put forth at a breakneck pace. Thanks to Ken Ludwig and his Leading Ladies our lives are that much brighter. Now in an especially exhilarating production at GCT James Castle Stevens skillfully guides a fiercely talented cast through August 16.

Ah, the rhythms of the 50s/60s! Got 'A Lot of Livin' to Do'! Lee Adams and Charles Strouse wrote the music and lyrics of Bye Bye Birdie to honor a generation of fans who swooned and literally gave themselves over to the rock and roll of Elvis Presley. Conrad Birdie (Austin MacPhee) is an obvious play on Conway Twitty, a rock star of that era who later became a superstar in the world of country. When Elvis went into the army, he became a national hero. Female teens adored him and would give up their own boyfriends just to be near him. This is Bye Bye Birdie in a nutshell now in a rollicking revival at Cabrillo Music Theatre through July 27.

Once/book by Enda Walsh/music & lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova/directed by John Tiffany/Pantages Theatre/through August 10

Belting songstress Kate Pazakis was recently named executive producer of Rockwell Table and Stage in Hollywood. In our chat she talks about her past successes and gives us a glimpse of her big plans for Rockwell's immediate future. Kate, you have an amazing voice and have become known as one of the theatre's best kept secrets. How do you react to that? Tell me a few of the shows you have been involved with. I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than

To set the record straight, actor Michael Urie introduces Buyer & Cellar by stating quite emphatically that what we are about to see is a fiction. He then holds up a copy of Barbra Streisand's book My Passion for Design published in 2010. In it Streisand describes her dream house. This book fed playwright Jonathan Tolin's imagination to create a fictitious play about a mall in the cellar of the icon's home. Starring Urie as an out-of-work LA actor who takes a job running the stores in the mall and focusing on his dream relationship with his new boss, Buyer & Cellar is replete with deliriously campy humor and takes a moment or two to show - if indeed it were possible - the very personal side of the iconic superstar. Streisand fans, take note: the award-winning off-Broadway one-man show plays at the Mark Taper Forum through August 17 only!

Belonging to the Golden Age of Broadway musicals, Damn Yankees opened in New York in 1955, winning 7 Tony Awards and was made into a feature film in 1958, starring its original Tony winners Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon. In fact, Damn Yankees sparked the long-time fruitful collaboration between Verdon and choreographer Bob Fosse. Legendary stuff! Now in a dazzling revival at 3D Theatricals in Fullerton, America's number one sport baseball - well, in the 50s anyway - is given a finely honed treatment...the perfect summer entertainment.