Gil Kaan - Page 13

Next up at The Getty Villa, Sophocles' classic play Oedipus adapted by Jenny Koons, Andrew Morrill and Alexandria Wailes opening September 7, 2022. Jenny also does double duty directing the cast of Treshelle Edmond, Russell Harvard, Ashlea Hayes, Amelia Hensley, Matthew Jaeger, Gregor Lopes, Andrew Morrill, On Shiu, Alexandria Wailes, Akia Takara and Jon Wolfe Nelson.

Producer/creator Jim Dooley reprises The Revue, his modern musical parody at The Bourbon Room September 17, 2022. In this edition, Rick Batalla takes over the directing reins from Matt Walker with the cast of Katie DeShan, Tiffany Daniels, Isaac Robinson-Smith and Philip McNiven. I had the chance to throw out a few questions to Katie on her history with The Revue and the Troubies.

When funny ladies Allison Dunbar and Emily Pendergrast decided to produce a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood September 16th, they simply picked up their phones and called their Sister Groundlings to participate. The roster for September 16th includes current main company members, as well as Groundlings alumni. Deanna Oliver directs Lauren Burns, Patty Guggenheim, Rachel Harris, Phyllis Katz, Lyric Lewis, Karen Maruyama, Laraine Newman, Cheri Oteri, Jessica Pohly, Ariane Price, Lisa Schurga, Annie Sertich, Cathy Shambley, Mindy Sterling, Christen Sussin and Michaela Watkins. I had the chance to catch the very busy Allison to respond to a few questions between her recent nuptials and the fundraiser.

The national touring company of The Prom lands at the Ahmanson August 10, 2022 (with a preview August 9th). The story of a group of Broadway divas meshing with a small-town high school results in hijinks and lots of fantastic dancing. Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw reprises his Broadway directing and choreographic duties on this tour. Got a chance to throw some questions out to Patrick Wetzel, who plays one of the Broadway superstars Barry Glickman.

Performance artist/comedian/ writer Kristina Wong (in partnership with API RISE) returns to East West Players with her new rendition of From Number To Name: Back To Life livestreaming August 5th through 7th. As Kristina described in her last interview with me: “From Number To Name is a devised theater piece created with formerly incarcerated Asian Pacific Islander Americans. The cast is formerly incarcerated APIs, folks with family on the inside and their supporters. It's storytelling we rarely see in our community, from the people who have experienced it.” I got Kristina to say a few words before turning this interview over to Kirn Kim, one of the formerly incarcerated featured in From Number To Name.

Next up at the Geffen Playhouse, the west coast premiere of playwright Fernanda Coppel’s King Liz opening July 21, 2022 (previews already begun). Jesca Prudencio directs the cast of Ray Abruzzo, Oscar Best, Nancy Linari, Evan Morris Reiser, Michelle Ortiz and Sabrina Sloan. I had the opportunity to throw out a few questions to Fernanda about King Liz, as well as her writing career.

Next up at the Fountain Theatre, the L.A. premiere of Tony Award-winner Steven Levenson’s If I Forget beginning July 23, 2022 (with previews starting July 20th). Jason Alexander (also a Tony Award-winner) directs the cast of Síle Bermingham, Caribay Franke, Matt Gottlieb, Samantha Klein, Leo Marks, Valerie Perri, Jerry Weil and Jacob Zelonky. I had the opportune occasion to throw out a few queries to Jason, the well-known TV actor and respected L.A. Theatre community denizen.

Playwright Peter Lefcourt’s Remembering the Future world premieres at the Odyssey Theatre July 16, 2022. Terri Hanauer directs the cast of Michael Corbett, Fatima El-Bashir, David Jahn, Andrew Neaves and Tarina Pouncy. I had a very enjoyable phoner with the multi-tasking, ever busy Michael.

The world premiere of The Streaming-verse of Madness: An Unauthorized Musical Parody has already opened at the Lyric Hyperion Theatre. This mash-up of pop song favorites doubles as the official re-opening of this Silverlake landmark. I had the opportunity to dig into the mind of Aidan Park, who essays the role of Dr. Strange in this Madness.

World-renown performance artists Acrobuffos will be making their Southern California debut at The Broad Stage with their show Air Play beginning July 21, 2022. The husband-and-wife team of Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone have travelled the world performing their wordless, highly visual shows. Seth and Christina both took some time from their “intense residency building a new show” to speak a few words for my queries.

The North American tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Moulin Rouge! The Musical has already begun its L.A. premiere at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre June 30, 2022. Tony Award winner Alex Timbers directs this touring cast led by Courtney Reed as Satine and Conor Ryan as Christian. I had the chance to throw out a few questions to Nicci Claspell who plays Arabia (one of the Lady Marmalades).

Playwright Carolene Joy Cabrera King’s TOO MUCH SKIN will debut as part of SheLA’s annual Summer Theatre Festival July 15, 2022, at the Zephyr Theater.  Carolene depicts the story of Filipino siblings navigating assimilation and battling stereotypes via the world of cosplay and videos. Carolene took some time from her rehearsals to answer a few of my SKIN queries.

The national tour of Freestyle Love Supreme lands at the Pasadena Playhouse July 12, 2022. This theatrical creation of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale’s received a Special Tony Award in 2020. I had a very delightful phoner with cast member Aneesa Folds.

The relaunched national touring company of Dear Evan Hansen returns to the Ahmanson June 26, 2022. Winner of six 2017 Tony Awards, a Grammy and a Olivier; this production stars Anthony Norman as the titular character.

Next up for Center Theatre Group’s fourth season of Block Party, D’Lo’s solo show To T, or Not To T? (A Comedic Trans Journey through (T)estosterone and Masculinity) beginning previews June 25, 2022 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. D’Lo hilariously takes us on his journey transitioning while bridging his traditional Tamil Sri Lankan family with his Queer/Trans chosen family. I had the chance to pick D’Los brain on his back story to To T, or Not To T?

Ovation Award-nominated director Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx will succeed Director of Cultural Arts Jon Imparato (set to retire June 30) as the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center’s new Artistic Director.  Besides overseeing the Center’s two live performance venues — the 200-seat Renberg Theatre and the 50-seat black box Davidson/Valentini Theatre, Jonathan’s other priorities are to engage communities through arts programming, bring emerging L.A. artists to the Center’s various locations, and to offer workshops and classes for free or at low cost. Jonathan opened up some from his final days at A Noise Within to address a few of my queries.

Already opened at the Ruskin Group Theatre, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner through July 17, 2022. Lita Gaithers Owens directs the cast of Paul Denk, Lee Garlington, Brad Greenquist, Dan Martin , Mary Pumper, Vickilyn Reynolds, Mouchette van Helsdingen, Vincent Washington and Renn Woods. Lita managed to make some time to answer a few of my inquiries.

The East West Players presents the rolling world premiere of Interstate, an Asian-American pop-rock poetry musical (opened last week). Jesca Prudencio directs the cast of Jupiter Lê, Kristian Espiritu, Jaya Joshi, Michelle Noh, Reuben Uy, Stefan Miller, Natalie Holt MacDonald and Krystle Simmons. Jesca took some time between her two productions to answer a few of my queries.

Will Geer’s Theatricum presents the world premiere of the “all new” revival of Oscar-winning playwright Ernest Thompson’s The West Side Waltz beginning June 25, 2022. Mary Jo DuPrey directs the cast of Ellen Geer, Melora Marshall, Willow Geer, Miguel Pérez and Charles Lin. I was most fortunate to have the playwright make some time to answer my queries.

The national tour of Pretty Woman: The Musical lands at the Dolby Theatre beginning June 15, 2022, for its Los Angeles Premiere, followed by a run at Segerstrom July 5th -July 17th. Jerry Mitchell directs the cast led by Adam Pascal and Olivia Valli. I got a chance to pepper Olivia with a few questions on her Pretty Woman journey.