Don Grigware - Page 44

Aladdin and His Winter Wish/written by Kris Lythgoe/directed by Bonnie Lythgoe/Pasadena Playhouse/through December 29 For a few years the prolific Lythgoe family have been entertaining us at Christmastime, first at the El Portal in NoHo and now at the Pasadena Playhouse with a British style panto. A panto is an interactive entertainment that starts with a very contemporary retelling of a fairy tale such as Snow White, Cinderella, or in this case Aladdin and turns it into a fun imaginative show with music that will appeal to both children and their parents. There's usually an actor in drag (outrageous Bruce Vilanch as the Widow Twankey, Aladdin's mother), a villain (Josh Adamson as Abanazar) and audience are encouraged to root for the heroes and HISS loudly at the villains. Actors such as Adamson tease the audience with a Mel Brooks-like phrase 'It's fun to be evil!' after which kids and adults boo and boo some more and even raise up props such as swords and other toy weapons in defense of their favorite hero. It's all in amusement, of course, and this year's Aladdin and His Winter Wish is by far the best show to date with a superlative cast, great special effects, some spectacular dancing and singing and an overall jolly good script by Kris Lythgoe that flows along without the slightest snag.

A Little Night Music/book by Hugh Wheeler/music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim/directed by Jonathan Fox/Ensemble Theatre Company (etc) at the New Vic, Santa Barbara/through December 22 only

One of my very favorite Christmas stories of all time is A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote about his boyhood growing up with his eccentric cousin Sook Faulk. Geraldine Page played Sook in a 1966 telefilm, and it was later remade for television in the 80s with Patty Duke. It is the Page version that stays with me, having left a lasting impression of the woman, the era and its fierce impact on humanity. Now Duane Poole has fashioned a retelling of the story with music by Larry Grossman and lyrics by Carol Hall in a new musical version of A Christmas Memory making its Southern California premiere at Laguna Playhouse through December 29.

Thomas Dunne (Brian Dennehy) was historically speaking the Chief Superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) and a Catholic loyal to the British crown, responsible for maintaining the established order in a time of revolution....hardly an easy position for one to find himself in 1932 when radical change came to Ireland in the guise of the Irish Free State. There was independence but it came at a high cost as Irish nationalists raged against each other in a bloody civil war.

White Christmas, always a treat on film (1954), creates a unique and refreshing glow on stage. The touring and original Broadway productions, which played Los Angeles only once at the Pantages, in 2005 were gloriously directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Randy Skinner, who turned the second act opener 'I Love a Piano' into one of the most inventive & lively tap sequences ever. Now on stage at the Norris Theatre in Palos Verdes the local company has created a fresh sparkling production with even direction from Randy Brenner and zestful tap choreography from Kami Seymour. The sturdy acting company makes this production a pleasantly frothy confection playing through December 15 only - sadly, you only have one more weekend to catch it, so get your tickets immediately!

Actress Rebecca Ann Johnson recently played Elizabeth in MTW's Young Frankenstein and will play in Little Miss Scrooge at the Rubicon in Ventura for one week only beginning December 18.

Bette Midler and Sue Mengers. Two iconic Hollywood female personalities of the last fifty years. Midler scored with her first movie The Rose in 1979, after many successful years in New York, on and off-Broadway. She was and has remained an iconic performer for the Gay community, and with strong choices, hard work and perseverance has become a super star in every medium she has played from New York to LA to Las Vegas. Super agent Mengers came to Los Angeles from New York with a German background and from a poor family and worked her way to the top as one of the strongest, gutsiest, hard-working and caring agents Hollywood has ever seen. So, the two ladies have a lot in common; Midler certainly fits the bill to play Sue Mengers in John Logan's one-person play I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers, now at the Geffen through December 22 only.

On Tuesday December 3 sublime singer Spider Saloff appeared at Rockwell Table and Stage for an evening of Cool Yule accompanied by electric jazz pianist Richard Eames. I say sublime, as there are a rare few like Saloff who can really sing, wrapping their heart around the lyrics of a song and then delivering it as if they had never told the story before. It takes an actress to sing well, and Saloff has everything it takes. Like Garland, she's one of the best.

GCT's all new version of their annual holiday hit A Christmas Carol has Dickens' heartwarming classic story, incorporating the atmosphere, texture and mood of dingy, poverty-stricken London of the 19th century with great set pieces and costumes, music, dance and some pretty amazing special effects. This is a delightfully engaging Christmas present for one and all now through December 24.

Singer Henry Prego wanted to produce a staged Christmas show that is reminiscent of the nostalgic 60s TV specials at the Hollywood Palace with himself as host singing Frank Sinatra holiday favorites and introducing some talented guest star acts. Well, that he has achieved with A Sinatra Christmas currently onstage at Encore Dinner Theatre in Tustin through December 29 only. It's an overall fun entertainment replete with dancers and kids - what's Christmas without kids! It may be missing a beat or two here and there, but fun just the same.

Todd Robbins classifies Play Dead as a spooky entertainment; it may or may not scare you. I am vulnerable and open, but not that readily frightened and certainly not squeamish at the sight of blood; many are, however. And...Play Dead's stylish theatricality, off-color and fun stories, great intense magic, which includes some very exciting visuals... and a disarming performance by genuine showman Todd Robbins make for a truly enjoyable evening.

On Sunday, December 1 Kritzerland Records presented its 40th show and annual Christmas presentation entitled A Kritzerland Christmas III at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal with special guest star Terri White. It was a beautiful evening of mostly familiar Christmas music with a few lesser known but still great tunes. This is the whole point of Kritzerland to spotlight those songs that somehow got away without becoming hits. On hand as well as dynamic Terri White were songsters Dan Callaway, Robert Yacko, Ashley Fox Linton, Lisa Livesay, Jenna Lea Rosen, Sarah Staitman, Kelsey Scott and nine year-old Hadley Belle Miller, under the super musical direction of Richard Allan.

ust having completed her stint as Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein at MTW in Long Beach at the Carpenter Center, versatile actress/singer/dancer Tracy Lore is in rehearsal to assume a strong featured role in the new musical based on Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory at Laguna Playhouse, Laguna opening December 7. In our chat, Lore talks about the role and others she has played.

Tom Dudzick's Miracle on South Division Street is an eclectically funny holiday comedy whose characters could easily be your next door neighbors, if you live in a small city like Buffalo, NY on the East Coast, where in a cockeyed way it seems almost politically correct to be ethnic, intolerant, and behind the times. Locked into their religious beliefs, the Nowaks are Roman Catholics, and their barber grandfather built a shrine in honor of the Virgin Mary. In fact, he had a statue sculpted of her, having claimed that she appeared to him on the spot. That was 1943. Grandpa has passed on -so has grandma, and the barber shop is now a soup kitchen where the needy of the community are fed twice a week.

The Lion King/book by Roger Allers & Irene Mecchi/music & lyrics by Elton John & Tim Rice/additional music & lyrics by Hans Zimmer, Lebo M. Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, and Julie Taymor/directed by Julie Taymor/Pantages Theatre/through January 12, 2014

No matter how you feel about the vast number of liberties Matthew Bourne takes in creating his scenario for The Sleeping Beauty, you must admit the end result is vibrantly imaginative, magical and fascinating to watch. Now at the Ahmanson Theatre for two weeks only through December 1, Sleeping Beauty does indeed have beauty in more ways than one.

Actress/singer Spider Saloff will appear at Rockwell in Hollywood December 3 with her award-winning Cool Yule Christmas show. A big hit artist on the jazz/cabaret scene in Chicago, Saloff is considered one of the greatest song interpreters of Ella Fitzgerald. In our talk, she discusses her roots and her love of music.

Side Show/book & lyrics by Bill Russell/music by Henry Krieger/directed by Bill Condon/La Jolla Playhouse/through December 15

Barrymore/by William Luce/directed by Janet Miller/Good People Theatre Company (GPTC)/Greenway Court Alliance Theatre/through December 1