Gil Kaan - Page 43

In JACKSON-LAFITTE: A VAUDEVILLE, Four Clowns cleverly re-envisions a probable pre-war encounter leading up to the historical 1814 Battle of New Orleans as a vaudeville skit, possibly and unintentionally drawing parallels to today's political climate. Funt as General Andrew Jackson and Carroll as Captain Jean Lafitte play off each other like in a championship tennis match between Federer and Nadel.

The Groundlings' current laugh-packed Friday & Saturday night show WOLFGANG AMADEUS GROUNDLING had their sold-out house howling at their collective expertise in mining comedy gold from the most un-amusing of situations - divorce, alcoholism, being laid off, impotence, embarrassing parents. The talented Groundling members pretty much play everything straight with few punchlines, with but loads of truthfully funny circumstances.

The world premiere of PLASTICITY, a one-man show featuring Alex Lyras as an entire cast of characters, has the great fortune of a multi-talented performer in Lyras interpreting a very detailed script written by Lyras and Robert McCaskill. McCaskill ably directs his sole actor at a quick pace, with Lyras sometimes acting against himself as different characters.  

Boy Band-er, Broadway hoofer, now out comedian; Kevin Yee has already experienced a number of lifetimes in this performing career. Kevin's currently involved in capturing his stand-up routine for inclusion in the six-episode series, most cleverly titled Comedy InvAsian.

The heart-wrenching, audience-inclusive comedy on depression EVERY BRILLIANT THING arrives at The Edye at The Broad Stage February 2nd.  These ten performances culminate a four-year international tour, which included a taped version of the show premiering on HBO last December. BRILLIANT star and co-writer Jonny Donahoe made time to chat with BroadwayWorld and myself.

The Echo Theatre Company's world premiere of playwright Dominic Finocchiaro's THE FOUND DOG RIBBON DANCE succeeds in all its combined creative elements - clever, thought-provoking dialogue from Finocchiaro, emoted via a uniformly talented cast, and directed in a quick and smooth pace by Alana Dietze.

A long-time Los Angeles Theatre contributor, Jeanie Hackett has acted, directed and overseen two theatre companies (so far) - Antaeus and The Classical Theatre Lab. Before her latest directorial project LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT opens January 31 at The Geffen Playhouse, Jeanie took some time out of rehearsals to chat with BroadwayWorld and myself.

Chromolume Theatre at the Attic has produced Tim Acito's very cleverly written  ZANNA, DON'T! with very mixed results. Major sound glitches opening night marred the ability to clearly hear all of Acito's very witty lyrics set in a fictional high school where gayness is the norm and heteros are shunned.

Actress/LA theatre inaugurator, Penny Fuller has embarked on a new leg of her career as a cabaret artiste. Ms. Fuller will be bringing her solo musical play 13 THINGS ABOUT ED CARPOLOTTI to the Broad Stage beginning January 11. I had the most delightful opportunity to chat with the vibrant, vivacious Ms. Fuller. She possesses a memory of an elephant, effortlessly listing off names of cast compatriots and retelling intriguing incidents of her theatre highlights.

???????A very fun, irreverent spoof on a Christmastime charity fundraiser, A HARMONY BOYS' CHRISTMAS: LIVE IN CONCERT!, features the harmonious quartet with their mellow four-piece, back-up band and supporting cast hilariously performing at their annual 'Force Feed The World' charity concert. Cleverly written and smoothly directed by Aaron Matijasic, AHBC:LIC easily shows, unfortunately, that political times haven't improved as much as we would like to think.

Singer/songwriter Benjamin Scheuer has been sharing his most recent creation - his autobiographical, one-man show THE LION playing in various cities in the US (and the UK) the last two-plus years. Benjamin will be completing his current tour with his Los Angeles premiere performances at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse.

Humorist David Sedaris' Christmas classic THE SANTALAND DIARIES receives a successfully fun mounting by the Santa Monica Playhouse. Sedaris fills his one-man show with loads of different characters, which a charismatic Patrick Censoplano effortlessly handles. Censoplano seamlessly morphs and delineates into dozens of characters.

The world premiere of playwright John R. Lacey's GARDEL'S TANGO serves as a unabashed showcase for Anibal Silveyra, who's allowed complete free rein in his portrayal of real-life, turn-of-the-century, international film star Carlos Gardel. Silveyra easily commands centerstage in this cast of six with his heightened silent movies/early talkies methodology of theatrics.

Now at the beginnings of the DISNEY ON ICE PRESENTS WORLDS OF ENCHANTMENT national tour, Performance Director Bryan Santiago took some time from his polishing rehearsals to answer a few ICE-y questions for BroadwayWorld and myself.

The Los Angeles premiere of THRONES! THE MUSICAL PARODY receives a full-throttled, laugh-filled mounting from a very talented cast and its off-stage creatives. John Flynn nimbly directs his committed performers at a smooth, swift pace from laugh to laugh to even more laughs. The combined comic geniuses of Grace, Reino, Samuels, Semar & Wessels must be lauded for this clever, witty script; both spoken and sung.

Skylight Theatre's Artistic Director Gary Grossman will be honored at Skylight's SALUTE 2016 December 4 at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. Gary has been the driving common denominator of the Skylight Theatre Company and its previous incarnations: the Katselas Theatre company and the Camelot Artists Productions before.  

The revival of playwright Stephen Sach's BAKERSFIELD MIST features two stunning performances from Jenny O'Hara & Nick Ullett. O'Hara whole-heartedly grabs her role of the manic, desperate Maude. Ullett imbues his Lionel with a haughty air of condescension upon entering Maude's trailer home. Ullett's very calm demeanor perfectly balances the high energy antics of O'Hara.

Aficionados of jazz, blues, or just good music; RUN, don't walk, to experience the world premiere of playwright Carol Eglash-Kosoff's WHEN JAZZ HAD THE BLUES. A stunning combination of musical talents converge to sing, dance and emote the hell out of Eglash-Kosoff's story of jazz pianist/lyricist/arranger/composer Billy Strayhorn.

The East West Players' West Coast premiere of playwright Leah Nanako Winkler's KENTUCKY stuns and enthralls with its highly dramatic, polarizing emotions emoted by its almost perfect cast. Winkler has written a most involving piece of theatre that walks a razor-thin tightrope between knee-slapping comedy and heartstring-tugging drama. Very nice!

The world premiere of playwright Alena Smith's latest comedy ICEBERGS begins November 8, 2016 at the Geffen Playhouse. Alena's writing resume encompasses a number of entertainment disciplines; including: Showtime's The Affair, HBO's The Newsroom, her play turned into film The Bad Guys, and her 2014 novel Tween Hobo: Off The Rails.