Gil Kaan - Page 28

After a most successful run last December, For The Record's LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE encores at The Wallis beginning November 27, 2019. FTR pairs the actual screening of the 2003 perennial holiday hit film Love Actually with live singers and a 15-piece orchestra on stage complementing the movie's soundtrack. I got the chance to grab a few minutes and some behind-the-scenes with the prolific, ever busy, For The Record Live executive producer Shane Scheel.

The world premiere adaptation of KEY LARGO, already in previews, will open tonight, November 14, 2019 at the Geffen Playhouse. Packed with award winners all around, Oscar nominated actor Andy Garcia stars as Johnny Rocco in his co-adaptation with Jeffrey Hatcher (based on the play by Maxwell Anderson and the screenplay by Richard Brooks and John Huston). I had the wonderful opportunity to grill Johnny Rocco's moll Gaye Dawn, or rather, to ask a few questions of the wonderful actress who plays her - Joely Fisher.

Former music creative and fifth-generation farmer Tim Alderson's first initial foray into playwriting SALVAGE opens Saturday, November 16, 2019 at The Lounge Theatre. With music from his long-time cohorts Mark Heard, Pat Terry, and Randy VanWarmer, SALVAGE revolves around struggling singer-songwriter Harley's decision to pawn his guitar and look for some means of stable income for his wife and soon-to-come newborn. Damian D. Lewis directs the ensemble of David Atkinson, Christopher Fordinal, Nina Herzog and Leonard Earl Howze. Tim was gracious enough to make some time to answer my queries.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's classic THE MAGIC FLUTE opens this week at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Saturday November 16, 2019; under the baton of James Conlon (with Grant Gershon conducting on December 1, 12 and 15). This will be the third LA Opera mounting of 1927 and Barrie Kosky's avant-garde THE MAGIC FLUTE merging animation with live performance. I had the chance to present a few questions to Bodgan Volkov, who's making his Los Angeles Opera debut as Tamino, the prince and current bearer of the magic flute.

Antaeus Theatre Company's stunning world premiere of Jennifer Maisel's EIGHT NIGHTS vividly details the life of Holocaust survivor Rebecca Blum from the day she arrives to New York City at age 19, through significant life milestones, to becoming a great-grandmother at age 86. And all this accomplished rather smoothly with increasing intensity and gravitas in less than two hours without an intermission! Developed in Antaeus Playwrights Lab, the play's title EIGHT NIGHTS, I believe, refers to the eight individual nights/scenes during Chanukah over a period of 67 years, spanning four generations. Or, more literally, the eight-day, Jewish wintertime festival of lights.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, winner of both a Tony and an Olivier for Best Play, has already begun previews at the Greenway Court Theatre, with opening night set for November 8, 2019. Kate Jopson directs an ensemble led by newcomer Iain Kohn in the pivotal role of Christopher, a boy who exhibits signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder. I had the chance to pitch a few questions to Iain.

In his Broadway debut in 1988, BD Wong won his Tony Award (Best Featured Actor in a Play) for his ground-breaking role of Song Liling in David Henry Hwang's M. BUTTERFLY. Over the last year, in between shooting his two television series (as Whiterose on Mr. Robot, and as Awkwafina's father in Comedy Central's Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens), BD has managed to star in two theatrical productions of Lauren Yee's THE GREAT LEAP (in New York and in San Francisco), and now will be directing THE GREAT LEAP at the Pasadena Playhouse, which begins previews today November 6, 2019.

Gore Vidal's THE BEST MAN originally written in 1960 (and updated in 1976) about two presidential candidates vying for their party's nomination could have seem much more relevant to present day politics if the set and costumes didn't so vividly remind of the 1970s. Gary Lee Reed directs a committed, but uneven cast. Curious interpretation having the opposing candidates running for president as polar opposites, flip sides of a coin. Mark Belnick's Governor William Russell is everything John Ruby's Senator Joseph Cantwell isn't.

The Mark Taper Forum will be the site of August Wilson's JITNEY's Los Angeles stop on its national tour, beginning November 22, 2019. Ruben Santiago-Hudson directs this 2017 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Play. I grabbed the chance to pose a few questions to Nija Okoro, who plays Rena in JITNEY.

Playwright Larissa FastHorse is having one hell of a year. Her THE THANKSGIVING PLAY has already been produced in various cities across the United States this year, with her next production already in previews at the Geffen Playhouse, and opening November 5, 2019. Michael John Garcés directs Larissa's humorous and woke take on Thanksgiving traditions featuring Noah Bean, Alexandra Henrikson, Jeff Marlow and Samantha Sloyan. After a full day of PLAY's rehearsals, I had the opportunity to chat with Larissa on her South Dakota, Sicangu-Lakota heritage.

Art, as a rule, is subjective. It can be appreciated or not, liked or not. At opening weekend's Sunday performance, playwright Tina Howe's THE ART OF DINING had its own built-in laugh gallery, who loved this ART, as this one large portion of the house frequently led all others in laughter. Set in a home-converted restaurant - The Golden Carrousel - at the Jersey Shore in the late 70s, ART covers one evening of this newly opened, two-man operation fraughtly run by husband Cal and chef Ellen. Gloria Gifford directs her enthusiastic cast through slapstick, overprojecting and over-the-top acting in lightning-fast dialogue, often overlapping, often two separate monologues simultaneously.

A most limber cast of ten acrobat/dancers from the internationally-acclaimed Australia's Circa Contemporary Circus will be performing CIRCA: HUMANS for two nights only November 1 & 2 at The Wallis. This Wallis engagement marks their southern California debut after a world tour that began 2017 in Sydney, Australia. HUMANS explores the physical limits of the human bodies morphing elements of dance, theatre and circus. I had the chance to present a few questions of Martin Evans, one of the HUMANS ensemble.

Mike Bartlett's COCK presents an unsympathetic take on a man questioning his sexuality as he cheats on his male lover with a woman he keeps running into on his morning route to work. John vacillates between being turned on by M, his hunky, but very mean lover, and being brought to sexual ecstasy by W, a needy woman, possibly his first.

Justin Sayre's camp-horror-soap-opera, twelve-episode serial RAVENSWOOD MANOR will take the Celebration Theatre stage beginning October 17, 2019 for a six-week run. Novelist/playwright/TV scripter/performer/host Justin took some time to answer a few of my questioning queries on his various functions as novelist/playwright/TV scripter/performer/host.

A well-acted ensemble gives THE ABUELAS its relatable humanity. Stephanie Alison Walker has written a unflinching look at realistic, flawed relationships under the most atypical circumstances. THE ABUELAS (THE GRANDMOTHERS) - a follow-up of Walker's THE MADRES (THE MOTHERS) also deals with the Dirty War in Argentina in the mid-1970s.

A limited 'sneak peek' run of Gentleman-George Production's ORRY will begin November 1, 2019 at The Lee Strasberg Theatre. Writer/performer Nick Hardcastle has adapted Oscar-winning costume designer Orry-Kelly's memoirs Women I've Dressed for a ninety-minute stage production (directed by Wayne Harrison) incorporating music, dance, vaudeville, puppetry, special effects and some of Orry-Kelly's award--winning creations. I had the chance to ask a few questions of Nick, in between his many, many responsibilities - theatrical and otherwise.

With STEPHEN KING'S IT - A MUSICAL PARODY, Rockwell Musical Parodies assumes the lofty mantle of UNAUTHORIZED MUSICAL PARODY OF... in presenting a well-oiled selection of amazing vocalists singing hit pop songs that cleverly advance the narrative of cult, non-musical films. Familiar Rockwell Table & Stage talents on and off stage populate this re-imagining of Stephen King's horror flick It.

The IAMA Theatre Company's west coast premiere of playwright Daniel Pearle's A KID LIKE JAKE is very blessed to have the sturdy acting talents of Sharon Lawrence, Tim Peper and Sarah Utterback. Jennifer Chambers ably directs the naturalistic, every-day dialogues, explosive arguments and confrontations between Peper and Utterback as Jake's liberal and excepting parents Greg and Alex.

The Groundlings, as always, bring the hilarity and the latest news-worthy topics to their current Friday and Saturday night show ALL THE LEAVES ARE GROUNDLINGS. Michael Naughton quite ably directs his very talented cast of eight (Matt Cook, Josh Duvendeck, Ryan Gaul, Patty Guggenheim, Kiel Kennedy, Lisa Schurga, Eliot Schwartz and Greg Worswick) in a fast-moving evening of fifteen laugh and/or groan-inducing skits.

Just ending its very successful, unprecedented fourteen-month run this past Sunday, Michael Leoni's FAMOUS will be looking to conquer another medium - film. Michael Leoni, a multi-media writer/director, has always envisioned his creations to be presented in both mediums of stage and film. Got to catch up with Michael again after my initial interview with him on his ELEVATOR, and reviewing FAMOUS last year.