Don Grigware - Page 7

An Evening of Classic Broadway returned to Upstairs at Vitello's for Mother's Day, where it launched 5 years ago. Headed by Brad Ellis and Dianne Fraser, this was a family show entitled A Classic Broadway Mother's Day, with performers appearing and performing with sons or daughters On tap were Nita Whitaker with her lovely daughter Skye LaFontaine, Tami Tappan Damiano with her son Dante Damiano, Karen Benjamin and her daughter Molly Chapman, Bill A. Jones, the only father, with his daughter Samantha A. Jones, and of course, individually and together, hosts Fraser and Ellis.

A veteran actor, writer and producer hailing from Colorado. Steven has credits in a slew of hit movies including Juno, Rebound, Blades of Glory and Little Miss Sunshine. He's also had substantial roles on primetime television shows such as ER, Rizzoli and Isles, Fish Hooks, 90210, and PBS's Mercy Street along with countless national commercials. Steven co-wrote and produced the highly successful theatre show Lost: The Musical. He had the pleasure of directing, co-writing and producing the Los Angeles, San Diego and Off-Broadway runs of ShameThe Musical. Currently Steven works as the managing director of the Whitefire Theatre's musical theatre company.  What challenges does it take to bring Shame of Thrones: The Musical to such a small space?to such a small space?

My Thing of Love is an off-center black comedy about the down side of marriage and the pain of love. Written by award winning playwright Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros and produced by the Steppenwolf Theatre in the 1990s, the play is a lesser known work and rarely produced. The Sixty-six Theater Co, has audaciously seized the moment and mounted a sterling presentation that will appeal to your twisted sense of humor now through May 18.

Director Thomas James O'Leary is delighted to be back at Actors Co-op after receiving the 2018 Ovation Award for Direction of a Play for 33 Variations. Other recent directing credits include Sunday in the Park with George (Musical Theatre Guild), Next to Normal (Pico Playhouse), Flim Flam: Houdini and the Hereafter (Malibu Playhouse), Dusty de los Santos andBloodletting (Skylight Theatre), Thoroughly Modern Millie, Carrie, Nine, How to Succeed in Business… (AMDA), Reserve Champion and A Horse with a View (Hollywood Fringe Festival), and The Escape Artist's Children (Celebration Theatre).  

Many singing artists honor their family with a CD project, but few genuinely enthuse an audience like Tiffany Bailey has just accomplished with her Jazz with Pop. Combining her intrinsic singing talents with that of her father Alan 'Buddy' Bailey, a glorious jazz trumpeteer, Jazz with Pop is a lovely laid back album including songs from the worlds of jazz, pop and beyond with fresh upbeat arrangements, making old songs totally new again. Bailey premiered her CD at Upstairs at Vitello's recently to a packed house who reveled in not only the music but in the gifted Bailey's bright unending charm and personality. When I interviewed her in March, I knew from her passionate sense of commitment to this CD that it was to be something quite special.

Paul Rush is the artistic director of Sixty-six Theater Co. located inside the Strasberg Institute in Hollywood. This past weekend April 26 - 28 he opened a new play in the Marilyn Monroe Theater of the Institute entitled My Thing of Love. In our chat Rush talks about the play, the Sixty-six Theater Co. and why he started it three years ago. Tell us about Sixty-six Theater Co. and its mission. It was founded by myself and two of my friends (Maggie Cleary and Coleman Kelly) while we, new to LA, were in that typical Hollywood routine of asking people to look at us, and we got kind of tired of just humbly asking to be looked at. We thought we weren't giving to the community. We wanted to really create thought-provoking theatre with an intention of giving to our audience. Do you always do first-run shows?

Actress/director.producer Odalys Nanin presented her award-winning Frida: Stroke of Passion at Casa 0101 in February of this year to great acclaim. The play bowed originally in 2017 at the Macha Theatre and ran for 3 months. The Casa 0101 engagement was made possible by a grant from the Eastside Arts Initiative. Kahlo wrote the play and directs, produces and stars in it as Frida Kahlo. She will have a fundraiser in August and September so she and her team can continue their programming in 2020 and hopefully acquire a new space. In our interview she talks about her success and points to the difficulty in mounting good theatre in Los Angeles. How did your run of Frida go at Casa 101?

The time is 1947. The place, England. Politics abound with the murder of an heir to a foreign throne, hunting a jewel thief. At the Chimneys Estate we find in residence Lord Caterham (Lloyd Pedersen), friend Lottie Lomax (Michelle Schultz), and visitor Virginia Revel (Stasha Surdyke), highly suspect...as is Cade (Lee Grober) who seems to be in love with Virginia. On the surface he's investigating a blackmail against her for scripting some mysterious letters.

In my mind Tiny Beautiful Things is a perfect radio play because of its content. Letters to online journalist Sugar (Nia Vardalos) and her responses make us focus intensely. Vardalos has adapted the novel by Cheryl Strayed into a stage play in which she, in her living space, approaches Letter Writer # 1 (Teddy Canez), # 2 (Natalie Woolams-Torres) and # 3 (Giovanni Adams) and addresses each, as if they were in  direct conversation. At times the concept works well; at other times, it becomes speechy and rambling. Currently onstage at the Pasadena Playhouse through May 5, the play will appeal most to those who visit online chat rooms looking for advice on how to deal with a myriad of problems.

Singer Tiffany Bailey took time out of a busy rehearsal schedule to talk about her concert at Upstairs at Vitello's on April 17, the release party for her first cd Jazz with Pop.

What an incredible week this has been! First Matilda the Musical and now Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, both based on Roald Dahl's books. It most definitely is a world of pure imagination for kids of all ages. Currently at the Hollywood Pantages through April 14, The Chocolate Factory is a uniquely mesmerizing tale of little Charlie Bucket, who, like Matilda, is a genius who can create something out of nothing. Willy Wonka (Noah Weisberg) desperately wants an heir to his Chocolate Factory, so

If you look closely at the photo above, you see a woman looking at an image of herself in the mirror. However, the two womern are decidedly different in dress and demeanor. The image wears a smile and is happy; perhaps the woman on the opposite side wishes she were living her life on the other side. Juliet Fischer-Schulein, a former Rockette and Broadway dancer/actress/singer brought her Midlife crisis, excuse me, Cabaret to Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal Sunday evening, March 24 to a packed house of admiring fans and colleagues. This lady is a one.of.a.kind, knock.'em. dead performer, who, in spite of her real life pain and depression, enjoys being onstage so much, she gains at least momentary happiness from the experience. And what do we receive as her audience? A whole lot of entertaining stories, songs and even dance....and, more urgently, a desire to put ourselves in the driver's seat and forge ahead to find some balance in our own existence.

Brushes by co-playwrights Cathy Hamilton and Carol Starr Schneider is set to open at the Whitefire Saturday March 30. These gals recently sat down and chatted about the play.

How often do you get the chance to see a musical engineered for the entire family...one that is both entertaining and illuminating? Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical is a sumptuous treat for the eyes, ears and mind. Imagination runs amok in choreography, staging and the casting of some amazingly talented children. To get a bevy of child actors to essay these little 'maggots' so incredibly well for two and a half hours is no minor feat. It's like the song claims: it's a 'miracle!' Currently in its regional theatre premiere at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, Kavli Theatre through March 31 only, the show is a big winner for 5 Star Theatricals.

ell me about the play. The Secret of Chimneys. How does it rate among Christie's masterpieces? Lost for thirty years, The Secret of Chimneys is one of Agatha Christie's least known plays and one of the most intriguing. While it does not have the sleek veneer and brilliant solution of a Murder on the Orient Express, it is a delightful comedy of manners with a very prestigious dead body. There is no Poirot or Miss Marple, but there is fun repartee between the leading could be lovers, Anthony and Virginia, as well as a sly game of cat and mouse with Anthony and the deceivingly pedestrian Superintendent Battle ('no flies on him' Anthony tells Virginia.) .And also the mystery humorously comments on itself ('Suspicious stranger, eh? So obvious you can hardly believe in it. A mysterious stranger with a beard': or, 'well, no handcuffs for one, Superintendent')

Tom Lowe is a pop singer/composer who recently released a short video entitled 'Polanco'. It's enchanting to watch this little miraculous film about a small Mexican city and what goes on in one of its popular bars. The story is based on a real life incident in which Lowe was robbed in the back of a taxi in Mexico City. His disgust of the people eventually turned to respect and love when many came forward, helped him to survive and to produce his video. The full story is at the next to last link at the bottom of our interview and is an exciting and humanely worthwhile read. Lowe, born in England and with a multi-cultural background both here and abroad, discusses 'Polanco'and also his fascinating career thus far as an international pop singer and musical theatre actor.

Actress/singer par excellence Rebecca Spencer has delighted audiences on Broadway in Jekyll & Hyde and played Madame Giry in Phantom in Las Vegas. Since 2014 when she moved to Los Angeles, she has performed her exquisite cabaret and done at least 3 shows for Musical Theatre West (MTW) in Long Beach: The Music Man, S'Wonderful, and Mary Poppins. She will open March 30th in their new production of Catch Me If You Can. Spencer took time out of a busy rehearsal schedule to talk about her role in the show and about her illustrious theatrical career thus far.

Director Cameron Watson is about to receive the Milton Katselas Award for distinguished achievement in direction from the LADCC for 2018. He is one busy director in LA theatre and recently sat down to discuss overseeing the new production of Steel Magnolias at Actors Co-op, set to open Friday March 22. Describe your association with Actors Co-op.

No No Nanette/book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel/adapted by Burt Shevelove/'music by Vincent Youmans; lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach/directed by John LaLonde/choreographed by John Vaughn/musical director: Douglas Austin/Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Claremont/through April 13 Based on Frank Mandel's 1919 play My Lady Friends, the musical version No No Nanette bowed on Broadway in 1925 and spawned many movies through the years. But it wasn't until 1971, in a rollicking revival adapted by Burt Shevelove, that the

Actress/singer/vocal coach Susan Edwards Martin, Lady Blues in Torch Song Trilogy on Broadway and star of many other musical shows, recently premiered her solo cabaret show at Upstairs at Vitello's. I reviewed the show and she was sensational.* She is taking the show to Feinstein's 54/Below in New York on March 23. Edwards Martin also has created an original show about the optimistic way she lives her life called, 'Unlimited! You'll Have the Time of Her Life!", that had a spectacular one night presentation and is currently waiting in the wings for a full production. Busy, busy, busy, Edwards also recently performed with Musical Theatre Guild as the lead in Minnie's Boys to rave reviews. Ms. Edwards Martin sat down and discussed her career thus far, and about the story behind Unlimited! You'll Have the Time of Her Life! and her latest cabaret show. Before we start to look back I always ask a few less relevant questions about musical theatre.