Don Grigware - Page 40

Les Miserables/music by Claude-Michel Schonberg; lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer/original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel/directed by Brian Kite/La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts/through June 22

Dorian's Descent/World Premiere Musical/DOMA/book by Marco Gomez, Michael Gray, Chris Raymond/music by Chris Raymond; lyrics by Marco Gomez and Chris Raymond/choreographed by Tania Possick/directed by Marco Gomez/through July 20

On Sunday June 1 Joan Ryan brought her 2013 BWW award-winning show to the Catalina Jazz Club. The show was recently retitled On the Edge. The evening was a benefit for the Trevor Project and brought a special guest star to the stage Will and Grace's Eric McCormack.

Ghost, Pantages Theatre/June 27 -July13/www.hollywoodpantages.com/ The musical stage adaptation of the 1990 runaway hit film of the same title that starred Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Oscar-winning Whoopi Goldberg. Despite its mixed reviews, the show, which originated on the West End, received 3 Tony nominations for its Broadway engagement. With book/lyrics by Bruce Joel and music/lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, Ghost's musical score includes the ever-popular 'Unchained Melody' and is bound to be an audience grabber.

Actor French Stewart will repeat his role as Buster Keaton in Stoneface, written by his wife Vanessa Claire Stewart, at the Pasadena Playhouse beginning June 3. The play will costar Daisy Eagan. Stewart, best known to TV audiences for 3rd Rock from the Sun, the middle and other sitcoms is a wonderful dramatic actor, and as Buster Keaton in Stoneface, which sold out houses for months at Sacred Fools Theatre in 2012, he just shines.

When I first saw the film of Educating Rita in the early 80s I was captivated by Julie Walters. It made the Brit actress an international star. Now at Theatre 40 Willy Russell's play Educating Rita receives a handsome staging with another captivating beauty Murielle Zuker. It's a two-character play co-starring Adrian Neil and directed by Robert Mackenzie through June 23.

Despite some glitches in lighting and sound, which obviously irritated her, and some throat problems due to a cold, Neile Adams proved a great trouper once more as she adhered to the old adage ' the show must go on' and wholeheartedly essayed The Lives of Me at the Monroe Theatre of the El Portal Saturday evening May 24.

Back in the 50s, the era that was innocence personified, Broadway musicals were written to entertain first. Of course, Stephen Sondheim and other more serious composers were beginning to change the face of the American musical with the goal to enlighten, but shows like Li'l Abner, with book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, lyrics by Johnny Mercer & music by Gene De Paul and based on Al Capp's 1934 comic strip, showed us the wild hillbilly lifestyle to make us laugh rather than think. Underneath the surface, to be sure, there is political satire and an uplifting message about appreciating the worth of that lesser known patch of American culture, kind of like what 60sTV audiences found in The Beverly Hillbillies.

Eric McCormack is best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of Will Truman in NBC's hit sitcom Will and Grace and for his latest TNT crime drama Perception. He has also appeared on Broadway and is an avid musician. On June 1 he will join Joan Ryan in her new show On the Edge at Catalina Jazz Club. In our chat he talks about Joan Ryan, the show and his musical career.

The 30th Anniversary production, which featured an Emmy®, Grammy® and Tony® Award-winning cast, remains the world's longest-running annual benefit for HIV/AIDS funding

2013 BWW Award winner for Best Female Cabaret Artist, Joan Ryan will perform her acclaimed night club show On the Edge on Sunday June 1 at Catalina Jazz Club with special guest star Eric McCormack. The show will benefit The Trevor Project. In our chat, Ryan discusses the show, her music and theatrical career.

What do the 1950s have in common with 1912? Ages of innocence, both. When Meredith Willson wrote his story with Franklin Lacey about a con artist bamboozling an Iowa town in 1912, which formed the substance of his musical The Music Man (1957), the effect became like that of N. Richard Nash's The Rainmaker. People were jubilant, ecstatic and welcomed Professor Harold Hill, as they craved a good old-fashioned love story coated with ironic excitement. He was a charmer, and they saw way past his bad side. Now in a jubilant new production at GCT, the company pulls out all the stops and yet presents a delightfully down.to.earth show that keeps the flavor of Meredith Willson in tact. With fast-paced direction from Valerie Rachelle and a terrific cast led by Brent Schindele, The Music Man offers a refreshing look at the way life should be.

It's always nice to revisit a show and see a 100% improvement. Such is the case with the rewritten spoof A Big Gay North Hollywood Wedding at Crown City Theatre, which opened May 15 for an extended run, at least throughout the summer. The first time around - 2009 - (review below) I noticed a lot of missed opportunities for big laughs. With an exceedingly strong cast and a really sturdy ending which puts the whole issue of being gay centerstage in a totally positive way, this new version hits the top.

On Sunday May 18 at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal phenomenal Broadway singer Terri White brought down the house with her all new cabaret show Two Score with musical direction by the incomparable Bryan Miller. The slightly under one hour set marked the second appearance, by popular demand, of the singer, whose versatility, powerhouse vocal instrument, striking sense of humor and unbeatable warmth place her among the great night club performers of all time. There isn't anything she can't do. She's acted, sung, danced...played an instrument? Well, she gives even that her very best shot in Two Score.

Think Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Move the action ahead a century or so, adding Asian Americans and Mexican-Americans to the Anglo-Saxon mix and you come out with a very contemporary perspective of a small American town in Kimber Lee's different words for the same thing, beautifully staged by director Neel Keller. In fact, the entire staging with set pieces moved or carried on and off by the 12-member cast to make the houses, stores, school playground, church, cemetery and other interiors/exteriors of the Idaho town come to life in the vast space is what first brought Our Town to mind. I could see/feel the big picture before getting into the smaller ones. These are highly personal scenarios, some quiet/passive, others volatile. Some scenes are practically blackouts with little or no dialogue... but the all-encompassing thread keeping them connected bristles with furrows of emotional tension. Very cinematic! The effect is overwhelming, almost like divine intervention. Now onstage at the Kirk Douglas Theatre through June 1, this world-premiere play cries out to be experienced.

Night club entertainer extraordinaire Neile Adams will appear May 24 and 25 for two performances only at the El Portal in her acclaimed night club show, fresh from Paris, France. In our chat she talks about her fascinating background, marriage to Steve McQueen and her passion for music.

Unorganized Crime/by Kenny D'Aquila/directed by David Fofi/Elephant Theatre/through May 31

The Ghost of Gershwin/A New Old-Fashioned Musical/book by Doug Haverty/music by Wayland Pickard/lyrics by Wayland Pickard & Laura Manning/directed by Jules Aaron/Group rep at Lonny Chapman Theatre, NoHo/through June 22

The Ghost of Gershwin, a new old-fashioned musical, will open Friday, May 9th at the Lonny Chapman Theatre located on the edge of the NoHo Arts District.