Don Grigware - Page 69

Lovers of mystery find magic in the works of Agatha Christie, who not only knows how to weave together detailed clues to a juicy crime but more importantly how to make it into a sophisticated, classy entertainment. Like The Mousetrap, one of the longest running plays in UK theatre history and last season's Black Coffee at Theatre 40, Spider's Web is elaborately organized and amazingly enjoyable from start to finish, especially this production at Theatre 40, which puts director Bruce Gray and Christie together once more. Its large engaging ensemble simply sparkle.

Hardly an easy task to successfully mount Ernest Thompson's heartwarming and funny On Golden Pond with the 1980 film starring Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda still so vivid in the mind! Well, I'm here to say that the current mounting at the Colony Theatre is of 5 star calibre all the way and not to be missed.

Perhaps the best known musical of all time - and perhaps the best - Rodgers' and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music has remained a family favorite since the 50s. Number one, the score is to die for; secondly, the book is dramatically fulfilling with a real life family being torn asunder by the ravages of fascism. Touches of real intertwined humor add to the appeal. Cabrillo Music Theatre, under the skillful eye of Lewis Wilkenfeld, is once again reviving the show, and the production is thoroughly worth your while, if for no other reason than to catch Shannon Warne's superior performance as Maria, and for some truly glorious singing.

A couple of years ago a winning salute to Frank Sinatra called My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra by David Grapes and Todd Olson was on stage at the Laguna Playhouse. It has gone on successfully to hundreds of productions worldwide. Now the same duo Grapes and Olson present I Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett at the Laguna Playhouse through August 21. I liked the Sinatra piece a lot; I loved the latest one tributing Tony Bennett. Maybe because Sinatra has received many tributes and Tony Bennett, none - and as the boys say, 'It's high time. Long overdue!' Important to remember that this is not a Bennett impersonation nor are the arrangements necessarily exactly like Bennett's; it is a loving salute to his music. Ingenious Vince Di Mura is once again musical director of this stylish little theatrical concert featuring the talents of three terrific actors/singers, who make the show shine even brighter.

On Sunday July 24, actress/singer Kristin Towers-Rowles debuted her one-woman cabaret A Lovely Lineage at Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's to resounding success. The amazing singer, who is the grand daughter of legendary MGM musical star Katharine Grayson and Broadway veteran Johnnie Johnston, saluted them both as well as her musical comedy performing parents Patty and Robert Towers. Although the young descendant of American show business royalty has a stupendous background, her life has not been that rosy. Playing a role onstage in a show called Veggie Tales, Towers-Rowles popped a disc in her back from wearing a 50-pound costume and was told she would never appear on stage again. She made a near complete recovery and although she still is in pain, exclaims, 'If I have to hurt, I might as well hurt on stage.' It is this unsinkably brave spirit that is present in her beautiful singing voice, in her glowing personality and overall captivating aura. She has an infectious sense of humor as well.

In the Hollywood Bowl's production of Hairspray August 5, 6 and 7, directed by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell, John Stamos will play the super suave TV Host Corny Collins. Stamos starred on Broadway in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Cabaret, Nine and Bye Bye Birdie and is known for his television work on Full House and ER, and this season on Glee and Law & Order: SVU. In our chat, he talks about Corny and his favorite theatrical ventures.

There are singers...and then there are great singers, the best singers...like soul, R&B legend Freda Payne. This lady is not only a sensational vocalist but on top of that, intelligent, warm and beautiful. Her 'Band of Gold' was a # 1 Bestseller and gold record back in 1970, but what many do not realize is that Freda Payne can scat and sing Ella...Fitzgerald, that is, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington...and Lena Horne. Payne's a great pop vocalist, yes, but it is in these areas of jazz and the unforgettable standards of the Great American Songbook where she truly excels. In her hour, forty-five minute set at the Catalina Jazz Club on Sunday evening July 17, she payed a glowing tribute to Ella, Sarah and Lena, showing the way Freda is now, wisely leaving her own hit tunes as encores and memories of what she used to be.

Gal pals love/hate, hug/spar with equal measure...sometimes simultaneously. It's not a game we're talking about, but true friendship: being yourself in the presence of your best friend, sometimes stepping on toes, or other times, giving gifts... confiding deep desires, sharing secrets; at all costs, going beyond the call of duty...plus one further... in Kari Floren's Revisiting Wildfire now onstage as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre...(we must include) never abandoning your ideals and personal happiness for the sake of the other's. There's too much at stake and in the last analysis, you are number ONE. Some will not agree.

Never having seen any of the Shrek films, I come totally unbiased - green - to this material. One thing I can say for sure, I love fairy tales and any re-imagining of them, provided the characters remain true to form. In Shrek the Musical, the updating of traditional icons like Pinocchio, the Pied Piper, Wicked Witch, Sugar Plum Fairy, Three Pigs, and Three Blind Mice, to name but a few, is quite appealing stuff - and as to newly arrived Shrek, his sidekick the Donkey, Princess Fiona, Lord Farquaad... and Gingy Puppet ...they are sheer delight! Now at the Pantages through July 31, Shrek is a fun, inspirational and imaginative romp for children young and old.

Usually wild, unbridled and cutting edge, as with last year's Avalon outing L'Amour, GMCLA pulled back somewhat this year in TOTALLY...our 80s Show with more subdued, straightforward staging. Always vocally superior, the chorus sounded its usual best essaying the unforgettable hits of the 80s and showing the pop icons and news events of that time period on three screens throughout. Under the new executive direction of Thom Lynch and with guest conductor Andres Cladera, the 200 plus chorus were dress gaily in a mix of cowboy, indian, leather with appropriate headgear, including brightly colored wigs, that distinguished the late seventies and eighties. Vocal selections included those of Sting, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Paul Jabara, the Pointer Sisters, the Weather Girls, Annie Lenox, Cyndi Lauper, and Michael and Leslie Gore, among others.

Fans of the 1998 film The Wedding Singer, which proved an unqualified hit for its stars Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, will relish seeing the quirky story revisited on the big stage of the Carpenter Center in Long Beach. In 2006 The Wedding Singer was turned into a Broadway musical with the identical Ridgefield, New Jersey characters, but with some alterations in plotline. What counts most is the upbeat 80s humor, which the stage version retains in spades, as well as unlimited heart. MTW (Musical Theatre West)'s regional premiere does the show proud under Larry Raben's dynamite direction and sporting a rollicking cast.

On Wednesday July 6 Kritzerland at the Gardenia presented a salute to the lesser known music of Kander and Ebb - The Kander and Ebb Album - two of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. Think Chicago or Cabaret, and you need go no further. These two wildly popular shows still receive international mountings and provide us with some of the greatest Broadway pop tunes ever. Ahead of their time, Kander and Ebb produced shows with a substantially dark and biting edge not found in other composers' music and lyrics. Bruce Kimmel, whose Kritzerland recording company continues to enjoy enormous success worldwide, again served as narrator of the evening telling short, funny anecdotes about his encounters with John Kander and also detailing Kander and Ebb's failures as well as successes. Liza Minnelli's Broadway career soared because of K & E - it started with Flora the Red Menace in the 60s and continued through the next couple of decades with hits and flops such as The Rink and 1977's The Act, which began in LA as Shine It On. K & E certainly didn't fare too badly either with Liza's name on their bill. Think of what she did for the movie Cabaret with her Academy Award winning turn as Sally. However, such was not the case with their film New York, New York which received some pretty scathing reviews in the late 70s; the pair were none too pleased that a small musical The First Nudie Musical (Bruce Kimmel)fared far better than their multi-billion dollar disaster. It's always such fun for theatre lovers to hear about the down side of the business, and particularly via Kimmel's straight-forward, droll take on it.

Katie Polebaum has created an original piece of theatre that cleverly mixes the innocence of the past with the horrors of the future in D is for Dog now playing at Studio/Stage in Hollywood. What is most intriguing about Dog is its employment of video and puppetry along with the six actors in telling the bizarre sci-fi story.

Plays about the world of theatre are forever alluring. Such is the case with the world premiere of Kowalski that presents the initial meeting between Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando. Kowalski, of course, is Stanley's last name...Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire, that is, which offered the role of a lifetime to the actor who turned out to be... the icon of his generation. Now at the Two Roads Theatre, Kowalski is a rich and delicious theatrical dessert played to the hilt by a devilishly delightful cast.

Long before the term dysfunctional family took flight, there was Joe Orton. Long before crude and obscene behavior became the norm ... there was perpetrator Joe Orton. In 1964 Entertaining Mr. Sloane played in a small underground theatre in London, as its portrayal of sexually explicit and violent behavior was too radical, in fact, illicit for West Enders. All that changed quickly and Orton's dark, depraved views came to broader light, and the rest, as they say, is history. Now a thoroughly authentic production of the play puts the Actors Company in the forefront of top-notch LA theatre.

The world premiere presentation of Revisiting Wildfire, written by Kari Floren and directed by Eve Brandstein, will play a limited 4-week engagement as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles. Performances begin Friday, July 8 and continue through Sunday, July 31, 2011.

James Gray and his merry band of cuckoos led by Momma are back for a whole week this year in Firecracker Follies, the campy and irreverent salute to our nation's history. Eric Seppala - does some great meatless recipes, Kendall Rose, and Dena Drotar are joined by special guest tap dancer Rusty Frank @ the Cavern Club of Casita del Campo in Silverlake through Sunday July 3. There are sendups of Betsy Ross, Uncle Sam, Daniel Boone, Rosa Parks (guess who plays her?), Mrs. Lincoln, Wonder Woman (and no, Momma does NOT play her; you'll have to go and see the show to find out), Ben Franklin, Shirley Temple Black (well, she was an ambassador!), George Washington and his dancing cherries (see photo below), and a great Jackie O(nassis) with 60s fashion guru Oleg Cassini in tow, Davy Crockett, Marilyn Monroe (well, via the Kennedy boys she was almost patriotic), the Wright Brothers, FDR with Annie Warbucks, Amelia Earhart & Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan - SINGING! Momma does a patriotic sing-a-long, bakes cookies-and you'll get a chance to see the new classic 4th of July picnic fiasco (now on youtube) from last year. On opening night, there were tech problems that made the show even funnier, as Gray mimed all of Momma's crazed eating habits from the dvd. Dena Drotar does her great MM with 'Heatwave', Momma announces her candidacy for office with 'Motherhood' and there's even a fireworks display as the grand finale.

Since its premiere on Broadway in 1969, the musical 1776 has become as popular as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music; it seems that people cannot get enough of the show especially around the Fourth of July. After all, why read a history book when you can be entertained by a humorous retelling of our nation's conception? Giving in to the family fix for 1776, Glendale Centre Theatre is currently mounting a dutiful production with excellent direction and cast through August 13.

There have been several musical plays based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. The first and biggest hit was Lionel Bart's Oliver, which went on to a major film in 1968 and a multitude of Oscars. There has been a gay version as well, also titled Twist, that was nominated for Critics' prizes in New York, and now there's the interracially cast adaptation Twist in its West Coast premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse. From top to bottom the show is slick and a triumph for director/choreographer Debbie Allen. The cast is fine-tuned, and much of the music quite memorably singable. Its only flaw, for purists like me, is in the book, which does not include the charming Fagin, whose deliciously mischievous manipulation of everybody in Oliver Twist is a major highlight.

There are not enough superlatives to describe the magnificence of Les Miserables. The musical score and the scope of the storytelling - so grand - are nothing short of breathtaking. Now the 25th anniversary production triumphantly plays the Ahmanson Theatre through July 31 with top-notch direction from Laurence Connor and James Powell and a stunning ensemble. This production plays more realistically than past renderings but it serves to enhance rather than diminish.