Don Grigware - Page 70

Jennifer Leigh Warren and Dame Shirley Bassey have two things in common, according to Warren. They are both short at 5'3', and they both divorced their first husbands. I'll add one more: they can both sell a song, sending it soaring to the heavens. Now @ the Renberg Theatre of the Gay and Lesbian Center, through this Sunday only, June 19, sublime and sassy Jennifer Leigh Warren is singing the songs of the one and only sexy sensation Dame Shirley Bassey in Diamonds Are Forever: The Songs of Dame Shirley Bassey. This must be the rapture they've been talking about. Did I die and go to heaven?

With a title that is bound to peek interest - Is it porn? Is there nudity? - if not dubious expectations, Lissa Levin's West coast premiere Sex and Education turns out to be a far more refreshing and substantial play than one might imagine. Well structured and laugh-filled, the play is currently receiving an excellent production at the Victory Theatre.

If you love ethnic comedies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding or more specifically comedies about Italians such as Buon Natale or Moonstruck, you will love Moose on the Loose, now getting a world premiere engagement at Theatre West. It boasts comedically keen direction and a cast as tightly knit as the Italian clan they are portraying. Adding to the appeal is the setting. These Italians live smack dab in the hinterlands of Canada, so if the Italian jokes aren't enough to whet your appetite, the Canadian jabs surely will. Politically correct? Hardly! Hysterically funny? You bet!

Fun, fun, fun! Think the zaniness of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and Brandon Thomas' Charlie's Aunt and then those crazy American stage musical parodies like Little Mary Sunshine and The Boy Friend, and you've nailed the nonstop comical antics of I'm Just Wild About Harry adapted by Gary Lamb and William A. Reilly at Crown City Theatre in NoHo. With slick direction from Joanne McGee and a super energetic cast, this musical is the perfect summer concoction.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts (August: Osage County) is heralded for sprinkling a very gritty situation with crisply funny dialogue and peppering it all with an unexpected twist or two. Prepare to be moved, entertained, exhilarated and maybe a little frightened with his West coast premiere of Superior Donuts now @ the Geffen Playhouse. Like a fine confection, the play is diligently prepared, ardently packaged, and turns out, in every way, superior.

Triple Grammy Award winner Debby Boone will appear at the Welk Resort in Escondido from June 22 to 25. In 1977 she skyrocketed to fame with 'You Light Up My Life' and has never stopped recording since. In the 80s it was gospel and Broadway into the 90s and more recently Reflections of Rosemary, a CD that honors her late mother-in-law all time great singer Rosemary Clooney. Boone has had a varied career, running the gamut from country to Christian to pop - Broadway and standards - and will soon record a Big Band Swing album. In our chat, this talented gal talks about her music and her childrens' books, which she wrote with her husband illustrator, Gabriel Ferrer.

On Sunday June 5 LA's Next Great Stage Star 2011 Judy Mora debuted her cabaret show @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's. Looking glamorous in a sleeveless pink evening dress the beautiful Mora presented her uplifting journey through life thus far with candor, brevity and elegance. The daughter of a preacher and a missionary, Mora learned to sing as a tiny child and her great vocal prowess and sturdy technique serve as testimony to her tenacity and optimism for living.

In a rare revival, the first in 17 years, DCLO (Downey Civic Light Opera) is now presenting the 60s' mega Broadway smash Funny Girl. What made Barbra Streisand a household name due largely to her overwhelming vocal range and to the huge success of 'People' is now in the capable hands of talented Karen Volpe under the skilled direction of Marsha Moode.

Sometimes plays from the distant past are better left where they belong, or if revisited and given a fresh look, it is wise to make sure the pieces fit securely. Larry Eisenberg, a diligent and resourceful actor and director, ordinarily, has unwisely chosen to take Dion Boucicault's The Poor of New York, a melodrama in five acts, which was last seen on Broadway in 1857, and put a more realistic spin on it. It sounded interesting on paper, and especially with the promo that it would not be done for laughs but with a straightforward approach for pure dramatic effect. Despite some splendid staging and energetic cast contributions, the production, now onstage @ Group rep at Lonny Chapman is like a malfunctioning railroad car trying to catch up to the rest of the train.

Rare indeed is the immigrant play with magnetic universal appeal. Year Zero is such a play. In Micahel Golamco's view of Cambodian Americans searching for identity in America we see the struggle not only through the eyes of a Cambodian American teenager Vuthy (David Huynh), but also via the older generation. Although his mother is deceased, she becomes the fifth character in the play. From all that is said about this strong woman, we come to know just how much she endured with ferocity, tenacity and grace. Now at the Colony this West Coast premiere Year Zero is evocative and thought provoking in its humor packed exposition with electric direction and a remarkable cast.

Triple threat Jennifer Leigh Warren will sing the songs of Dame Shirley Bassey in Diamonds Are Forever: the songs of Dame Shirley Bassey at the Renberg Theatre of the Gay and Lesbian Center in Hollywood beginning June 16. Known for her incredible performances on stage including most recently in NoHo the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella Panto and the extraordinary new ensemble musical Having It All, this lady is going places. In our chat she defines the Bassey show, emphasizing quite clearly that she is NOT impersonating Shirley Bassey.

Politically active playwright Jeff Goode is attempting to stir up further reaction against Prop 8 and the ban on gay marriage in his new world premiere play The Emancipation of Alabaster McGill by presenting homosexuality in a completely different context. He takes us back in time to 1863 and the eve of 'The Emancipation Proclamation', whereby Lincoln freed the slaves. In a little border town in Kentucky, there's a lot more going on than anyone would possibly expect. This is the South, where Lincoln was hated, and if abolition was favored, it was hidden. Abolitionists had underground railroads that took slaves to the North, but they denied their existence. No one wanted to see a black man receive equality. Just like no one wanted to admit to some sexual hanky-panky between men, but it went on in the confines of the barn. Full-fledged hypocrisy was rampant and is now on display at Theatre Unlimited (T.U.) in NoHo in Goode's funny but overdone The Emancipation of Alabaster McGill.

Some thirty+ years ago, a young playwright Jim Leonard, Jr. composed a very odd play entitled The Diviners, which has become somewhat of a minor classic. Diviners means prophets or soothsayers, as well as in this context representing those who seek water. It's Indiana during the Great Depression circa 1930 when folks needed not only rain, but an ample supply of hope/faith. In this production of the play, inaugurating the HumanArts Theatre Company, an outstanding cast and superb staging make The Diviners the little theatrical gem that sets it apart.

What starts out as a playful show with and about Four Clowns, ends up being a tiny masterpiece about the obscenities and atrocities of humanity. It's not without joy, though, as there is much physical comedy with tumbles and pratfalls, but the emphasis seems to veer in the direction of violence and crude behavior. Its mission is clearly to make a life-affirming statement. As children play and start to hit one another innocently, a simple slap turns into a slug or punch and that punch encompasses bullying and abuse of others; aggression in its earliest stages can lead to all-out hostility and war. And it does with chaotic consequences. Like a caricature of life, Four Clowns leaves an indelible impression.

Fathers and sons, whether a fit or a mismatch, forever struggle in some manner, opening up endless dramatic possibilities. Robert Anderson's memorable play I Never Sang For My Father (1968) depicts an iron-willed, unyielding patriarch in his declining years. Tom Garrison (Philip Baker Hall), a former mayor and member of the Rotary Club, was a pillar of the community and, sadly enough, revered as a model of male perfection. Not unlike many men of his era, he was a self-made man, who rose out of poverty and was proud of it, but quick to judge others' faults particularly those of his own father and his children, causing a rift and, in one case, permanent alienation. With senility setting in, Garrison prefers to stand alone rather than accept the support and care of his son Gene (John Sloan), who tries desperately to love him. The New American Theatre's current production may stand the test of time as the quintessential representation of this classic tragedy of a father/son relationship.

An actor's actor Gary Cole, who made a big splash as Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald in TV's Mow Fatal Vision in 1984 and has never stopped working since, will soon open at the Geffen in Tracy Letts' new play Superior Donuts. Whether it be drama like In the Line of Fire on screen, the TV series Midnight Caller (1988-91) or Letts' August Osage County on stage, or comedy as in the theatrical film The Brady Bunch, Cole is comfortable in every medium and makes the work look easy. Usually cast as a psycho or abusive husband, in Donuts he plays the aging Chicago shop owner, a role which brings him closer to his roots there. He was an original member of the Steppenwolf Theatre, along with John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf and Gary Sinise. In our chat, Cole talks about the play, his favorite roles and the process of acting.

If you enjoy the flavor of an intelligently written literary work translated skillfully into a stage musical, like The Secret Garden or more recently The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, iGhost will simultaneously stimulate your mind and tug at your heart, especially if you're a hopeless romantic.This production now onstage @ the Lyric Theatre in Hollywood is not without flaws, but is certainly engaging with some beautifully written tunes and a mostly outstanding cast.

On Sunday May 22 Irish tenor Dennis McNeil made a spectacular debut into the world of cabaret @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's. A former opera singer, McNeil has sung for Presidents and in concert venues, including stadiums, around the world, but never in an intimate setting. With the unfailing confidence that marks a true Irishman and with just enough humility to ingratiate himself, McNeil held his audience spellbound with his magnificent vocal range, wide variety of selections and warm anecdotes about his association with such luminaries as composer Sammy Cahn and musician Lalo Schifrin. Backed by stellar pianist Ed Martel as musical director and Bob Marino on drums and Bill Dixon on bass, whom he affectionately referred to as the Killer Bs, McNeil was a huge success in his show entitled Me and My Big Mouth, under the guidance of fine consulting director Joe Giamalva.

Writer Elliot Shoenman's book Nobody's Business depicts the pain felt by a family whose father committed suicide. It was his very own father. Now in his stage play entitled AfterMath in a return engagement at the Matrix Theatre, Shoenman returns to the topic of suicide showing in great emotional detail the hurt experienced by the victim's wife, her two children and a close male friend. What results is theatre at its very best, a real, raw, up-close look at a tortured family. Shoenman realizes quite wisely, however, that there is laughter through tears and incorporates ample comic exchanges.