Don Grigware - Page 50

It is easy to understand why Betty Buckley has been called the 'Voice of Broadway'. To begin, she has an astounding instrument with an incredible range. She can belt out the lyrics from 'Come Back to Me' from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and then in the next breath bring her voice down to almost a whisper, like a prayer, in essaying 'Maria' from West Side Story. Secondly, she is a dynamic actress who feels the story the song is telling. Most of all, through living this material, there's great soul, a deep sense of humanity lurking beneath. I have always said it takes a great actress to be a great singer. Betty Buckley is most definitely among the small group of Broadway divas who consistently hit the mark. Her unique contribution is an unparalleled grace and class which emanate from every phrase she utters.

In 1998 when Jason Robert Brown won a Tony Award for the score of this unusually provocative musical Parade, the opulent Broadway production closed to critical acclaim, but due to excessive costs, the show remained inaccessible until the Donmar Warehouse resurrected it and produced a tight - minus the frills - mounting at the Mark Taper Forum in 2009. 3-D Theatricals, who are becoming increasingly known for their superlative skill with producing big musicals, have decided to put back many of the frills of the original and double the cast to its original size - 36, in order to enhance and give the musical the big, full-voiced chorus sound it deserves. And, in my mind, this bigger hybrid version surpasses the Taper's for its grande musical elegance and the presence of a perfectly cast lead actor in the role of Leo Frank, Jeff Skowron.

Clare Boothe Luce's satirical classic The Women was a big grossing box-office hit at the movies in 1939.

Chicago/book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse/music by John Kander; lyrics by Fred Ebb/directed & choreographed by Ray Limon/Welk Theatre, San Diego/through June 2

Opening this week in Fullerton at Plummer Auditorium is 3-D Theatricals' (3DT) production of Jason Robert Brown's Tony winning musical Parade, a show that is rarely if ever revived due to its dark and controversial subject matter. Recently one of its stars, actor/singer Robert Yacko, who did the show at the Mark Taper Forum in 2009, contributed thoughts about the challenges he's facing in Parade.

I can't help but borrow from the genius of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse when I affirm it was The Roar of Kritzerland, The Smell of the burgers at the Federal on Sunday May 5 - Cinco de Mayo, no less - as Kritzerland presented its 33rd show in its current home at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal, entitled Once in a Lifetime: The Songs of Anthony Newley & Leslie Bricusse. And it was a lollapalooza of an evening!

The world premiere adaptation by LaBute of Miss Julie is moment.to.moment chillingly riveting theatre with a brilliant cast of three under the expert direction of Jo Bonney currently at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater of the Geffen through June 2.

On Sunday April 28 at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal, Matt Zarley debuted his new show Broadway to Billboard, celebrating his latest album Change Begins With Me. It won the 2012 OutMusic Award as Best Single and Album of the Year. This guy with his powerhouse voice and delicious, down-to-earth charm had his audience swooning from the top. First up, a colorful video montage followed by his opening number, a medley of tunes representing all the Broadway roles he has played so far. Entitled My Great White Way, he included 'What I Did For Love', 'Pinball Wizard' from The Who's Tommy, 'Memory' from Cats, 'Kiss of the Spider Woman', 'All That Jazz' from Chicago, a triumphant march from Les Mis, and closing with another round of 'What I Did For Love' from A Chorus Line, which was his first Broadway show in 1988. When Zarley sings, it's an ecstatic, full-throttle experience. This opening provided all that...and... this was just the beginning.

The latest incarnation of the J. M. Barrie classic Peter Pan by Michael Lluberes entitled Peter Pan The Boy Who Hated Mothers, now onstage at the Blank Theatre Company, has stellar production values, including imaginative staging by prolific director Michael Matthews and a delightfully versatile cast of actors, but bottom line - what's the point of Lluberes' adaptation? Promoted as a dark retelling, for me, it isn't dark enough. What is different is having the woman's point of view - that of Mrs. Darling and female Captain Hook (captivating Trisha LaFache) with their diametrically opposed yet brooding feelings about children - take center spotlight. It may pique some interest but in the final analysis its purpose is rather unfulfilling. It's the innovative, workshop-like execution of the primary action that entertains.

Playwright Dale Griffiths Stamos is unafraid to delve into the human psyche to search for answers that will perhaps never be found; it makes for a brave new work One White Crow whose deeply human characters with divergent opinions on faith vs. skepticism make us prick up our ears and really listen. Now onstage at the Edgemar Center for the Arts, One White Crow, labeled a work in progress, is intelligent, stimulating theatre with superb direction form Deborah LaVine and a trio of fine actors.

Annapurna is one of the highest mountain peaks of the Himalayas, considered the most dangerous. Yet that does not stop climbers from risking their lives. Theirs is an extreme form of commitment. Sharr White uses scaling the mountain range as a symbol in his new play Annapurna now at the Odyssey through June 9. Megan Mullally and husband Nick Offerman under Bart DeLorenzo's steady hand work a sometimes pleasurable, oft times painful but worthwhile 90-minute encounter that puts a whole new spin on marital fidelity.

On Sunday evening April 21 singer/actor Ramin Karimloo best known to UK audiences for his stellar performances as the Phantom in both The Phantom of the Opera and its sequel Love Never Dies, made his Los Angeles cabaret debut at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal in Broadway to Bluegrass. Since this concert was sold out from the onset, two more performances were added, Sunday matinee of the 21st and tonight, Monday evening April 22. With such growing popularity from his theatre work and recordings, it seems obvious that Karimloo will be a household name before too long in the US as well in Europe. Personable, warm and deeply grounded, the performer loves country music, rock and pop as well as Broadway and conceived Broadway to Bluegrass as a means of displaying all of his musical tastes. He also told me that a cabaret concert should have more to offer than just the songs from roles you've played. He wants his audience to get to know, not the Phantom or Valjean, but Ramin Karimloo.

Boasting slick staging by director Garry Marshall and a stalwart ensemble of four, Billy & Ray, to quote a Wilder (Kevin Blake) phrase from the play, sparks and sparkles with entertainment value.

Sweet Charity/book by Neil Simon/music by Cy Coleman; lyrics by Dorothy Fields/directed by Neil Dale/choreographed by Janet Renslow/Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Claremont/through May 5

When the original West Side Story opened on Broadway in 1957, it changed in many ways the concept of what constitutes a Broadway musical. Its creative team-writer Arthur Laurents, director Jerome Robbins, composer Leonard Bernstein, and lyricist Stephen Sondheim-took Romeo and Juliet and turned it into a pulsing, kinetic opera about rival gangs of Puerto Ricans and Poles on Manhattan's west side, and the tragic consequences of their violent hatred for each other to Tony and Maria (Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence), who have fallen in love.

On Sunday April 7 Kritzerland presented its monthly tribute to great composers, this time around in honor ofthe incomparable lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green, entitled Just in Time: The Songs of Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

I am a huge fan of Louisa May Alcott's story of the March sisters and both films of Little Women, the one from the early 30s starring Katharine Hepburn and Joan Bennett and then the 1949 revival starring June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh and Margaret O'Brien. I'm partial to the latter film, only because I love everyone in that cast, and it was in glorious technicolor. It also boasted Mary Astor as Marmee and Peter Lawford as Laurie.

Olivier nominated for Love Never Dies, Canadian born actor/singer Ramin Karimloo will perform his cabaret act at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal April 21-22. This will mark his cabaret debut in Los Angeles, and all three performances are already sold out. Renowned on the UK stage for every role in Les Mis including that of Jean Valjean and also for the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies, Karimloo performed on the Oscar telecast in February singing 'One More Day' alongside Hugh Jackman, Ann Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks and others from the cast of the film Les Mis. In our chat, Karimloo talks about career past and present as well as his love of music that includes bluegrass as well as Broadway.

Two months from today Marilyn Monroe fans will celebrate what would have been her eighty-seventh birthday. It's hard to imagine her at such an advanced age, considering her beauty, vivacity, and girlish manner. Her death was indeed tragic, but it has left us with an image of Marilyn with her charms undiluted by advanced age.