Ellen Dostal - Page 15

An Idaho film festival reunites a pair of estranged screenwriters in the new musical DOG AND PONY by Rick Elise (Peter and the Starcatcher, Jersey Boys) and Michael Patrick Walker (Altar Boyz). As Mags (Nicole Parker) and Andy (Jon Patrick Walker) rehash memories from their 13-year partnership, we quickly see that this dysfunctional relationship was doomed from the start. We also know from the beginning how this musical is going to end.

It was only natural that former Los Angeles Times writer and current Deadline|Hollywood contributor Diane Haithman would one day turn the tables on the town she has covered with such precision for the last 25+ years. A writer after my own heart, she also knows her Shakespeare Ps and Qs.

Adult fans of the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, otherwise known as bronies, are the subject of a new musical from the award-winning creative team of last year's Fringe favorite, The Real Housekeepers of Studio City. Featuring music by Joe Greene, book & lyrics by Heidi Powers & Tom Moore, and directed by Ryan Bergmann, Bronies: The Musical is the story of three outsiders who find purpose, meaning, love - and each other - all thanks to cartoon ponies.

To some, Romeo & Juliet is a story of two teenagers blinded by lust and driven to unspeakable acts, yet at its heart, it is a love story that transcends age and time. In Half Shadow Players' production of STAR CROSS'D, directors Lizzy Ferdinandi and Jessica Gaupel (who also co-founded the company) combine haunting contemporary music with Shakespeare's text to create a 50-minute movement-oriented retelling of the classic love story.

Here's a Fringe production with a pretty 'out there' spin on its Shakespeare source material. From the company's description: 'Better than Shakespeare! presents a revisionist Much Ado About Nothing. New music, new intrigues, twists and turns… and aliens. Because we think The Bard could use a little help. Don't you? We're calling it, Much Ado About Something. The Something is Aliens.

Here are Summer Stages Picks from Broadwayworld's Ellen Dostal for what to see in Los Angeles and San Diego.

DOMA Theatre Company will present the world premiere of a new musical based on Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray during this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival. DORIAN'S DESCENT opens May 30, prior to the beginning of the Fringe, and will continue through July 20 for an extended run.

You heard that right… SCAR FACE: THE MUSICAL. Producer Nick Howell and writer/director Chris O'Neill take a flying leap into the Fringe with a new musical that uses the film Scarface as its springboard. Check out this description:

Are you ready for some good old fashioned singing and dancing, and a big dose of British silliness? Then The Translucent Frogs of Quuup is one for your theatre schedule at the Fringe. Set in 1922 London, Anthony Marigold-Bentley (Larry Mura), bank clerk third-class, meets Edith (Anna Kate Mohler), a very modern woman, with ideas. Swept up into a world of romantic ideals, they throw caution to the wind and decide to take a trip up the Amazon in search of the legendary Translucent Frogs of Quuup with the help of a witty narrator, a pianist and a canoe.

Love and Pizza…and Shakespeare! That's what authors Kim Askew and Amy Helmes have cooked up Chicago-style in ANYONE BUT YOU, book three of their popular Twisted Lit series for young adults. Each of the stand-alone books takes a classic Shakespearean story and spins it into a modern tale that is fresh and fun for today's teens (or anyone in the mood for an entertaining, light summer read).

Sketch comedy morphs into musical comedy when VICTORIAN COURTING & ZOMBIES hits this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival. Set in the Regency Period, the show follows the hapless and ill-fated Funktard sisters who have been left destitute and must marry off Elizabeth to a wealthy suitor. If only one of the suitors could look past the sisters' facial defects, extra limbs, and miniscule dowry and love them for their brains.

From the wild world of Michael Shaw Fisher who brought you previous Fringe hits Exorcistic: The Rock Musical Parody Experiment and Doomsday Cabaret, comes The Werewolves of Hollywood Boulevard, A Damnable Rock Musical.

In I AM ROMEO & JULIET, Joel Isaac Rivas recounts a queer young individual's journey of self-discovery using the story of Romeo and Juliet. As Shakespeare's play unfolds we begin to realize that his/her genderqueer identity carries the spirit of both Romeo and Juliet. The family feud and disapproval of the two star-crossed lovers compares to his/her divided 'families:' the straight and LGBTQ communities.

A Cuppa Tea Theatre Company will make its debut at the Hollywood Fringe Festival with the beautiful SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD directed by Christopher Maikish and starring Scott Weston, Keith Montanez, Sherry Mandujano and Emily Morris, with percussionist Indigo Smith

Inspired by John Lennon's controversial love for Yoko Ono, ROCK & ROLL'S GREATEST LOVERS tells the Romeo and Juliet story of two rebels from opposite ends of the world who stood together in the name of love only to face every kind of hate possible.

The Visceral Company is about to prove you can't keep a good zombie down when they bring ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND, a family-friendly musical comedy celebration of American ideals and foibles set in the Eisenhower era, to this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival. The musical debuted Off-Broadway in 1995 to unanimous acclaim and has had several regional productions but hasn't been produced in LA…until now.

Jaeger Christian examines the effect a decade of overseas wars have had on today's twenty somethings in his new musical WE CAN BE ONE: A Musical About Coming Home which will premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June. It is the story of two couples, each with its own set of unique challenges, who must confront the promise and heavy burden of 'coming home.'

Super-Gay-Asian comedian Kevin Yee and Filipina diva J.Elaine Marcos combine their unique style of comedy/music/sketch/standup, and promise audiences plenty of sparkle, dim sum, and unicorn magic at this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Jon Peterson brings his new one man show HE WROTE GOOD SONGS to the Hollywood Fringe Festival beginning June 8. Here Jon tells us why he loves this story and why it's perfect for the Fringe.

In January 2014, Mine is Yours Theatre Company produced Twelfth Night, or What You, guerilla-style, in a local wedding chapel; a decision producer Hannah Pell says seemed especially appropriate. 'More than any other Shakespeare comedy, this one seemed to specifically look at how life and death exist side by side, and the chapel was perfect for that.'