Shari Barrett - Page 13

In a first for Ballet BC, the new full-length work delves into a thought-provoking retelling of the classic that resonates today, capturing audiences with its deeply human story and enduring themes of love and family. a?oeThe vision of love that Shakespeare gave us in this master work is very precious. It is like holding a jewel in your hand that needs to be protected,a?? according to choreographer Medhi Walerski. And he certainly has succeeded.

After performing in over 100 sold out casinos throughout the United States and touring worldwide, The Clairvoyants are kicking off 2020 with a brand new interactive live show in which audiences will be involved throughout the show and will experience the magic in their minds and hands. In addition to never before seen tricks, The Clairvoyants Experience will feature the duo's dog, Mr. Koni Hundini, as part of the show taking place on Saturday, March 14 at 8:00 pm at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd. in La Mirada. To prepare myself for The Clairvoyants Experience, I wanted to find out more about Thommy Ten and Amelie van Tass, the two extraordinary clairvoyants who are taking the world by storm.

The Industry is presenting its site-specific world premiere of SWEET LAND at the LA State Historic Park near downtown Los Angeles, with the city's skyline seen prominently during the outdoor production. With Music by Du Yun and Raven Chacon, Libretto by Douglas Kearney and Aja Couchois Duncan, the production directed by Cannupa Hanska Luger and Yuval Sharon, unravels narratives surrounding American identity on the site when a new Arrivals ship runs aground on the shore and they encounter a community of The Hosts, those natives to the land. The story is an important one to be told about the history of invaders who have taken over land where indigenous people live, even in our own backyard, and destroyed not only the land but the people who loved it.

THE ANDREWS BROTHERS sung-through musical is sure to please those who remember the 1940s first-hand, or those of us who appreciate the song stylings of those bygone days. According to Bean, a?oeHere we create the atmosphere of a rag-tag USO team a?' a very real organization with an important and impressive history a?' sing songs familiar to many in the audience, and try to live up to the memory of a legendary singing group.a?? And thanks to the talented, triple-threat performers, Kelley Dorney, Michael D'Elia, Max DeLorch and Grant Hodges, no matter what goes wrong, the show must go on!

This thought-provoking testament to the universal struggle of living day-to-day in a society whose apathy seems to know no bounds for the down-and-out will grab your attention and keep you at the edge of your seat as Jane Doe's story unfolds. Tanya Alexander's magnificent ability to morph herself from a homeless woman in dirty clothing, sitting on a park bench holding a sign stating a?oeI am NOT Invisiblea?? allows us to see where she has been and how much she really desires to pick herself up by her bootstraps and do whatever is necessary to survive. As she achieves celebrity status, Alexander opens to heart and soul and lets us see into Jane Doe's guilt of having survived when others have not. And as Jane Doe's fortunes rise, Alexander is costumed to perfection in lovely, form-fitting dresses designed by Shon LeBlanc that would allow Jane Doe to shine anywhere.

This wildly funny satirical farce questions why, in a world of bailed-out banks and overpriced prescription drugs, theft is only a crime when it is committed by those truly in need, centering on humble housewife Antonia (Kaili Hollister) who joins a revolt of women at the local supermarket as they are all hungry and fed up by rising prices and stagnant wages. Determined to live with dignity and rejecting an austere diet of dog food and birdseed which is about all Antonia can afford to buy on her husband Giovvanni's (Jeremie Loncka) wages working on the production line at a local factory, the women's protest escalates and looting ensues.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and Four Larks present their World Premiere production of FRANKENSTEIN, created by Four Larks after Mary Shelley's classic novel, from Wednesday, February 12 through Sunday, March 1, 2020, in The Wallis' Lovelace Studio Theater. This unusual Frankenstein, commissioned by The Wallis, is an exuberant amalgamation of dynamic physical theatre, live music and experiential design that brings the tale to life in a modern take that spotlights the dangers of unregulated technology. Sourced predominantly from Shelley's novel in conjunction with its 200th anniversary, the production awakens new questions about moral responsibility for each generation. That description drew me to see the show, but in all honesty, I found the storyline as presented completely incomprehensible. But yes, it was entertaining to watch the talented cast of twelve...

In the West Coast premiere engagement of ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING at Sierra Madre Playhouse, writer-performer Joanna Lipari presents 16 fast-paced scenes about her fully-lived life, overflowing with triumphs, mistakes, heartache, regrets and hopes. Directed by Beth Dunnington, Lipari's self-described a?oemostly autobiographicala?? solo show is accompanied by delightfully original animation created by Anna Bron, whose first foray into theatrical projection design is certainly not going to be her last, given how entertaining and heartfelt each of Lipari's episodes is presented to bring out the humor as well as the pathos of each situation.

HAMLET THE ROCK MUSICAL with book, music and lyrics by Cliff Jones, with additional music and lyrics by Craig Fair, has undergone a few incarnations since its Broadway run in the late 70s. The launch of a re-imagined 21st Century version, produced by David Carver Music, magnificently directed by Bill Castellino, with conductor Doug Oberhamer's music direction and choreography by Janet Roston, certainly proves there's something still rockin' in Denmark! And even those not familiar with the Shakespeare's classic tragedy will be able to understand the story, performed as a sung-through musical with enough heartfelt emotions on display to leave no doubt as to how and why the characters interact with one another to mostly bad results.

Since the world premiere of Vietgone in 2015, Qui Nguyen has become one of the most lauded and sought-after contemporary American playwrights, as well as being a writer for Marvel and Disney. The world premiere of REVENGE SONG, his new rousing, romping, music-filled look at the real life of Julie d'Aubigny, a queer 17th century French swordswoman and opera singer, offers an exciting, entertaining, and rollicking theatrical experience, ingeniously directed by Robert Ross Parker that is sure to please rowdy fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show during the heroine's interactive journey toward self-discovery and acceptance. Adding to the fun are satirical references to more musicals than I could count, including Hamilton, Cabaret, Company, Avenue Q, Beauty and the Beast, and Bye Bye Birdie.

mance in 1841 at the Paris Opera.

Now celebrating its 18th year, the annual production of THE MANOR has become a Los Angeles/Beverly Hills institution with several performances selling out even before tickets go on sale to the public. Its popularity, no doubt, is due to the scandalous true story as told by the talented actors who each inhabit their characters to a tee, costumed to time-period perfection, as well as the chance to be inside the grand and glorious architectural landmark in which the events of 91 years ago actually took place, performed in two acts taking place 10 years apart. The names of all characters in the tragic Doheny family saga have been changed, of course, a?oeto protect the guiltya?? as we are told before the play begins by the mansion's loyal butler, James, portrayed this year by David Hunt Stafford who also produces the show for Theatre 40 in association with The City of Beverly Hills.

Sam Shepard, who left this world in 2017, was an American playwright and actor whose plays adroitly blend images of the American West, pop motifs, science fiction, and other elements of popular and youth culture. His settings are often a kind of nowhere, notionally grounded in the dusty heart of the vast American Plains. His characters are typically loners, drifters caught between a mythical past and the mechanized present; his work often concerns deeply troubled families, lovers or friends. Two of his plays centering on loners at the end of their rope, THE UNSEEN HAND coupled with Shepard's gritty and audacious KILLER'S HEAD, joins Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's 50th Anniversary a?oeCirca '69a?? Season of significant and adventurous plays that premiered around the time of the company's inception.

The venerated Los Angeles-based Lula Washington Dance Theatre returned to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts to celebrate its milestone 40th anniversary with a dynamic and powerful program exploring social and humanitarian issues from January 30 through February 1 in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. The program, which launched The Lula Washington Dance Theatre's year-long anniversary celebration, included three world premieres and a West Coast premiere, with new works from new voices, some of whom are a generation younger than co-founders Lula and Erwin Washington, which mixed jazz, hip-hop, African movement, ballet, modern, tap and other dance styles to perfection.

Popular American film director and producer, television writer and producer, playwright and actor Del Shores is an expert at creating mid-twentieth century lowbrow female characters; the salt of the earth Southern women on the surface who bubble with peppery torment beneath the surface, just waiting to explode. And now in his latest play, THIS SIDE OF CRAZY which Shores also directs at the Zephyr Theatre for its Los Angeles premiere, carries on the same tradition of a strong-willed, highly religious mother who raised her three very different daughters, each of whom has rebelled against family traditions and society's expectations - until they are called upon to reunite in the family home for some higher purpose.

Five and a half years ago, the town of Ferguson, Missouri, became the focus of national attention following shooting of teenager Michael Brown on August 9, 2014. The unarmed, black 18-year-old was shot dead by Darren Wilson, a 28-year-old white police officer, for allegedly robbing a convenience store on Canfield Drive, the same street on which Brown lived. Protests and media attention focused on the town for a year, while the community of Ferguson was left in turmoil.

As is true with almost every one of The Bard's plays, magic and mayhem, fops and fairies, mistaken identity, romance and humor abound in this tongue-firmly-in-cheek evening with elements of pantomime, Commedia dell'arte and conventions of classical theater woven together with DeCarlo and Rudie narrating the tale as the elvish mischief makers Orion and Talia. While there are quotes and references from several of The Bard's creations, LOVE IN BLOOM takes its biggest story line from a?oeA Midsummer Night's Dreama?? with three sets of lovers dealing with mistaken identities due to cross-dressing, who eventually get lost in the woods in order for the fairies' spell to be cast so that all ends well and love rules the day.

Playwright Stanley Brown directs the world premiere of his play HUCKLEBERRY TOWERS through February 9, 2020, at the ELATE Theatre Company's Lincoln Stegman Theatre in North Hollywood. With a cast of 18, most of whom are seniors who just might be real residents of the retirement home named in the title, this poignant comedy about their so-called golden years speaks to the importance of friendship even when you have trouble remembering their names or hearing conversations around you.

At the center of his play is the Matera family, soon to get together for a very special SUNDAY DINNER in that their son Michael (James Tabeek), a young priest in the Chicago Archdiocese, is returning to his parents' home in the Bronx after his grandfather dies. And just as Jewish mother would “qvell” about her son being a doctor, no doubt a Catholic mother would love to brag about her son being a priest. So of course when we first meet the family's matriarch Rose (Sharron Shayne) and her sister Margaret (Michele Schultz) as they are preparing the table for what they expect will be an interesting gathering, we soon learn because so many family members will be there with lots of past history, emotional reactions are bound to be ignited.

The real star of the show is its designed-to-travel, multi-level scenic design by 59 Productions, enhanced by sound designer Sebastian Front and lighting designer Matt Daw, which includes some of the most amazing projections I have ever witnessed that completely transform into the many scenes required, from the shipyard, inside homes, the local beer pub, to an extraordinary church interior that generated gasps from the audience, as well as the appearance of waves crashing on the docks and snow falling. But it is the final scene when the Utopia, the last ship to be built, launches from the soon-to-close shipyard that will take your breath away. It's just a shame it takes almost 3 hours to get to it.