Gil Kaan - Page 45

Comedian/actress/jazz musician Lea DeLaria will be performing the Los Angeles premiere of LEA DeLARIA: HOUSE OF DAVID, her jazz-inspired David Bowie cabaret show to benefit Grand Performances' 30th Anniversary on September 17, 2016. Lea has been entertaining since the early 1980s, either performing stand-up, singing jazz, acting in film and TV, or gracing the Broadway stage.

The latest production of the classic THE FANTASTICKS arrived at The Pasadena Playhouse September 6, 2016, directed by Seema Sueko. With the book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt, THE FANTASTICKS was awarded the Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre in 1991, in its 33rd year of its 42-year Off-Broadway run (17,162 performances!).

A Broadway Baby, Jai Rodriguez gained national prominence with the successful debut of the ground-breaking Bravo-TV's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Jonathan Tolins' BUYER & CELLAR brings Jai back to the boards, this time on the West Coast at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank.

The thoroughly involving world premiere of playwright Carla Ching's THE TWO KIDS THAT BLOW SHIT UP combines the potent mixture of a witty script with two totally dynamic actors directed in a steady, flowing, non-stop pace of a brisk 90 minutes.  Jeremy Lelliott deftly directs his two brilliantly believable actors as they portray two people brought together by not any of their own doings. 

Playwright/actor John Copeland's latest theatrical project ANITA BRYANT'S PLAYBOY INTERVIEW recounts a specific incident in the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction saga of the former Miss Oklahoma and runner-up to Miss America whose 'Save Our Children' campaign fought to repeal gay rights in Dale County, Florida in 1977. 

Playwright Peter Lefcourt manages to cram every current political hot topic into DRAMA QUEENS FROM HELL, his two-act dramedy on the proposed re-make of the classic Sunset Boulevard. DRAMA QUEENS FROM HELL's chronicling the beginnings of Gerard, an indie director's quest to cast his remake of the Gloria Swanson-starrer, has the benefit of the frequent witty one-liners, biting disses and smarting comebacks.

Director/Writer/Actor Peter Marc Jacobson's latest directorial project MOUNT VERNON re-opens August 26, 2016 at the Hudson Guild after its successful world premiere in this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Director Jenny Sullivan has made her birthright name her own; acting and directing since her early twenties. The daughter of actor Barry Sullivan, Jenny's latest project finds her directing Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy's comic piece PARALLEL LIVES at the Falcon Theater.

Kurt Koehler and Oscar Quintero partnered up in 2003 to give birth to the outrageous, laugh-inducing comedy troupe of Chico's Angels, a most loving homage to TV's crime-fighting Charlie's Angels. Kurt found some time readying CHICO'S ANGELS FIVE-O: WAIKIKI CHICAS! between juggling wigs, sequins and demanding divas to chat with BroadwayWorld and myself.

Prolific playwright Tom Jacobson will have the world premiere of his latest theatrical work CAPTAIN OF THE BIBLE QUIZ TEAM opening August 27, 2016  (weekends only) through October 3, 2016.  This immersive piece (with the audience as the congregation) will be presented at venues to include the Lutheran Church of the Master, St. Matthew's Lutheran Church and Hollywood Lutheran Church.  

In the program notes, playwright Laurel M. Wetzork states one of her primary reasons for writing BLUEPRINT FOR PARADISE as, 'It's important that we don't make the same mistakes we've made in the past.' As well-intentioned of Ms. Wetzork to fictionalize the 1941 construction of a Nazi compound in the Pacific Palisades, her well-meaning 'message' does not come soon enough in the almost two-and-a-half-hour show.

To any A CHORUS LINE aficionado, the mere mention of Baayork Lee will conjure up vivid memories of the original Connie Wong - the youthful-looking, 4'10' Asian-American, perky dynamo who repeatedly evaded revealing her biological age to Zach, the interviewing choreographer. Now in 2016, Baayork will be choreographing and directing her most recent production of A CHORUS LINE at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Prospect Theatre's inaugural production, Bradley Bredeweg's ingenious rock musical  ROMEO & JULIET: LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD, VOLUME 2, simply WOWS with its cast of triple-threat performers singing the hell out of cleverly-chosen pop songs while many times dancing up a storm. Creator Bredeweg tightly directs his high-energy troupe with a fast, smooth pace.

Prospect Theatre, a combination restaurant/bar/cabaret/theatre has just recently opened up in the heart of Hollywood. A substantially sized venue seating 150+, Prospect Theatre plans to complement immersive entertainment (from full-production live theatre to jazz quartets to more intimate cabarets) with fine dining, overseen by Executive Chef Kyle Schutte.

The west coast premiere of playwright David Greenspan's GO BACK TO WHERE YOU ARE has the pleasing benefit of having a strong cast, witty lines and a cleanly gorgeous set. Director Bart DeLorenzo firmly guides his seven-person ensemble in non-chronological, fourth-wall breaking vignettes set in the Long Island beach house of actress Claire.

The Echo Theatre Company's world premiere of playwright Erik Patterson's ONE OF THE NICE ONES showcases Patterson's brilliantly witty and detailed script with very capable actors directed in a swift and smooth clip. How unfortunate that ONE OF THE NICE ONES spends so much time focused on the most abrasive, unsympathetic, duplicitous, conniving bitch ever to walk, no, roll in, in her wheelchair. Whoa!

Tennessee Williams' KINGDOM OF EARTH receives a visually arresting mounting with a strong cast at the Odyssey Theatre. Director Michael Arabian keeps the tensions steady amongst his able trio of performers.

We had a chance to chat with Rye Mullis, the director of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® latest extravaganza OUT OF THIS WORLD world premiering on the west coast at The STAPLES Center July 14, 2016. Rye's entertainment resume, besides directing, includes acting, casting and professional wrestling.

Four Clowns' founder and former artistic director Jeremy Aluma has deftly infused his Four Clowns magic directing his contemporary version of the classic HAMLET just finishing its run at the Lyceum Theater. Eschewing Shakespeare's couplets and metrics, this normal-speak HAMLET could be in any time period where fedora-ed men wear three-piece suits and ties while women can wear baggy pastel-colored pants and a beret.

Exec. Producer Kate Pazakis has assembled another Ri-Dic-U-lously talented troupe of singer/comedians to totally WOW their Rockwell audience in THE UNAUTHORIZED MUSICAL PARODY OF TROOP BEVERLY HILLS. Pazakis & company have a talented knack for picking appropriate movies (Devil Wears Prada, Big Lebowski) & spoofing them, using covers of familiar pop tunes to advance the original plotlines.