Don Grigware - Page 52

Consummate theatre director David Galligan will be directing Broadway, My Way for this year's S.T.A.G.E. event benefiting AIDS on Saturday April 6 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Galligan has given tirelessly to this project since it started back in 1984. Just about every composer has been honored with maybe the exception of Noel Coward and the last 3 years have been devoted to Original Casts of Broadway musicals. This year Broadway, My Way offers something different.

This is the third production of The World Goes 'Round in and around Los Angeles in the last six months...and another best bet! Sure, it's hard to beat the joyous music of Kander & Ebb, in whatever way it's presented. But this production at DCLO has a style all its own. Though in some ways more traditional than the other two I've seen recently - it plays much like an old-fashioned TV variety show - it has a greatness and a flair... with not only singing and dancing but blending bright anecdotes about the composers - that include delicious personal stories from cast members... and a splendid, splendid cast of 37 actors/singers/dancers, one of the largest casts to do a revue - and it works beautifully thanks to the splendid use of the broad stage by director Marsha Moode and choreographer Nathan Wise!

In its 1970 Broadway incarnation Company with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth reinvented the Broadway musical. Based on a series of short plays, it was the first time a musical could boast a nonlinear plot interweaving the stories of 5 distinctive married couples, all friends of a central character named Bobby, still a bachelor at 35 and incapable of a relationship. Now at Crown City Theatre in NoHo, the rarely revived Company is receiving a handsomely mounted production through March 31.

When Oklahoma! was first produced on Broadway in 1943 it became the first smash hit for newly formed collaborating team Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and also the first real book musical, preceded only by Showboat. It was a breakthrough musical, which when given a first-class production, is still, some 70 years later, without question, one of the greatest American musicals ever written. 'The Farmer and the Cowman' truly represents the philosophy of what America is all about, a unity and pride that is unmistakably individual. MTW's newest production is exceptional - by far one of the best to be staged in a very long time. Director Davis Gaines - his first direction - magnificently brings together an astoundingly talented cast now in Long Beach through March 3 only.

How do you stage the performance of an amateur tap class believably? Should the big contest production number be like the finale of A Chorus Line, the way I have seen it done on the Equity stage, or should it be shown less professional, somewhat flawed, in a more play it as it comes fashion? The thing to remember about the script of Stepping Out is that it's not a musical, but a play with music and it's about a community tap class for adults - which means that most are amateurs who will learn to tap but not so well that they will go on to have a dance career! Director Stan Mazin has wisely chosen the more realistic approach, keeping his actors focused on the play and on characterization in Group rep's current production of Stepping Out onstage through March 24. For all its worth, great tapping is always fun to watch - and it's not bad here when you stop and consider that most of the actors have never tapped before their prep for this show. Urgent to keep in mind: in Stepping Out, the play's the thing, about problematic people and how they support one another. It's an ode to friendship, to community living, warts and all, and to the joy a little once-a-week evening class can bring into people's lives. Group rep's production certainly gives us all of this, while displaying miles of heart.

What a glorious night of singing at the Disney Concert Hall on Grammy Award Sunday February 10! Singular singing sensation Ann Hampton Callaway presented the Streisand Songbook in honor of her mentor. On stage with Callaway was Alan Bergman, one half of the Alan and Marilyn Bergman composing team who have written 64 songs for Barbra over the years.

If you like spooky ghost thrillers with lots of creepy sound and visual effects, Peter Colley's I'll Be Back Before Midnight is an old-fashioned treat. Think of Deathtrap, Sleuth and others in that genre, and it's a pretty darn good match with enough plot twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. Now at the Colony through March 3 ...Midnight boasts taut direction and a fine cast.

Many will be vehemently opposed to the theme of Joanna Murray-Smith's The Gift, for it concerns undoing primary parental obligation. It is forgivable when an artist sometimes allows his livelihood to take precedence over his parental duties, but to negate them is nothing short of immoral/criminal. Murray-Smith toys with where an artist's loyalties should lie in an unpredictable comedy/drama that will leave audience discussing the subject matter long after they leave the theatre. Isn't that what good theatre is meant to do? In its US premiere at the Geffen, The Gift cannot, should not be dismissed.

On Sunday, February 10 LA's Next Great Stage Star 2013 came to a thrilling conclusion atSterling's Upstairs at the Federal. Sadly, one contestant, Matthew Bohrer, was stranded at Logan Airport, Boston due to the East coast blizzard of the past several days. Host Michael Sterling contacted Bohrer by cell at the top of the show, and what followed was a bittersweet exchange. Bohrer expressed his happiness to have been part of the competition for five weeks, and his sorrow for not being able to be there for the finale, as he wished his fellow contestants all the best of luck. His points for the preceding weeks were still counted in the final tally.

To quote one of Steven Schwartz' most famous songs, it seems like Kritzerland monthy concerts are getting pretty darn 'Popular'. On Monday, February 4, an off night for Kritzerland - Bruce Kimmel wisely did not wish to compete with Super Bowl Sunday on the 3rd - Kritzerland Records presented a jubilant evening of Schwartz music, some tunes lesser known than others, with a stupendous cast including guest stars Karen Morrow and Adrian Zmed at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. Other singers included: Kim Huber, Lisa Livesay, Dennis Kyle, Dan Callaway, Chelsea Emma Franko, Jenna Rosen and Sarah and Sami Staitman. Trouper Franko stepped in as a replacement soloist at the eleventh hour. This was perhaps one the most enjoyable Kritzerland evenings, not only because of Schwartz' delightful music, but every single performer gave 150% to the material. It rocked!

And the World Goes Round by Kander & Ebb is a revue incorporating a compilation of their greatest hits and is often performed straight out with no frills or dramatic re-imaginings of any kind. Performers stand and sing center stage , and that's it. There have been two inventive productions within the last six months, one at the Actors co-op directed by Robert Marra and now this newest production at NoHo Arts directed by Gary Lee Reed, which is truly a labor of love from top to bottom.

The terribly witty genius Noel Coward was a poet, playwright, screen writer and music composer extraordinaire whose theatrical hits in the 30s and 40s were unparalleled successes in both the UK and elsewhere abroad... and in the United States. His farce Fallen Angels is rarely if ever produced and it gives 6 actors, especially the 3 women a field day, in which they can go as far over the top as their hearts desire all the while keeping the audience eating out of their hands. Actors love to act and Art Manke's cast at the Pasadena Playhouse are certainly no exception. They are deliciously campy, irreverent and full of the dickens... or should I say Coward?

Based on the 1994 film, the Glasgow/UK stage version of Backbeat is making its US premiere at the Ahmanson with all the fire, guts and gusto that engender a genuinely moving dramatic story. This is not a musical, but a drama with music. Let's face it: the Beatles more than any other musical group in history changed our outlook ...and our entire culture. We not only listened to their music, but copied their haircuts, their dress, their attitude and came into sync with every move they made, some good, some bad. For those unfamiliar with how they got started, it was not really in Liverpool, but in a sleazy underground club in Hamburg. Germany in the early 60s. Backbeat fills in these background details, but much more than a docudrama, relates a powerful story about John, Paul, George, Pete Best - drummer before Ringo (Adam Sopp) - and more importantly Stu Sutcliffe (Nick Blood). Stu was an intimate artist friend of John. John literally forced Stu into the group in the early days and so his story rightfully commands as much attention in Backbeat as the legendary boys themselves. Stu's story is sad. He, unlike the others, got cheated of fame and glory.

On Sunday January 27 singer/TV executive producer Joe Lupariello brought his musical show Where or When to Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. Lupariello has had a background in musical comedy, but chose a mix of contemporary and traditional pop standards for Where or When, some of which worked better than others. Backed by great versatile Brian Graden at the piano, Lupariello worked like a charm with his SRO crowd, bringing the set in at under 60 minutes.

I don't make a habit of reading a press release up front, because I like to be surprised. If someone had told me that I was going to see a one-woman show about an actress' life, my first comment would have been, 'Oh, please! What did she overcome? Alcoholism, drug abuse, rape, paternal or spousal abuse?' Such is the content of many one-person shows nowadays, to the point where you just do not wish to be bored to death as you listen to another depressing story. Well, much of Annie Abbott's life has surely not been a bed of roses, but what she did with lemons - she actually did convert them into roses - is not only amazing, but hysterically funny and thoroughly worth experiencing.

Kathryn Graf's world premiere The Snake Can assuredly offers nothing new, but its moment to moment confrontations and gripping dialogue make it completely engrossing from start to finish. With an expert ensemble and sturdy direction from Steven Robman, who really understands women's issues, the play is bound to entertain and hit the spot, especially with middle-aged people savvy about internet dating.

Dan Goggin's latest installment in the Nunsense series is Nunset Boulevard, which world premiered in 2009. It is a delicious musical ode to old Hollywood. And yes, Norma Desmond does make a brief appearance. Continuing on its first national tour, the show stopped at the Norris Theatre Saturday for two performances. The matinee I attended was close to SRO, and most everyone just ate up the silly humor and 5 infectious characterizations - the Little Sisters of Hoboken - who find themselves stuck, not where they were led to believe at the Hollywood Bowl, but... at at the Hollywood Bowl A-Rama. Low on plot - there's even a song this time to spell it out - it's high on energy and sheer fun, with some great audience participation including real live bowling on a TV game show takeoff The Price Is Righteous.

Freud's Last Session/by Mark St. Germain/directed by Tyler Marchant/The Broad Stage, Santa Monica/through February 10

Peter Pan/a musical production of the play by Sir James Barrie/lyrics by Carolyn Leigh & music by Moose Charlap/additional lyrics by Betty Comden & Adolph Green; additional music by Jule Styne/directed by Glenn Casale/Pantages Theatre/through January 27

On Saturday January 12 and Sunday January 13 internationally renowned Cabaret pianist/singer Steve Ross, who has been called the 'Crown Prince of Cabaret', brought one of his many evenings of song The Music of Fred Astaire called Puttin' On the Ritz to Vitello's Upstairs in Studio City. Ross began his career, some forty years ago, primarily as a pianist, at Ted Hook's Backstage in New York. With no singing experience, he thrust himself into the spotlight singing at the piano, developing his unmatched, uncanny style of song and repartee... and the rest is history.