Shari Barrett - Page 19

NATIVE SON, a novel written in 1940 by Richard Wright, tells the story of 20-year of Bigger Thomas, an African American youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in 1939. While not apologizing for Bigger's crimes, Wright portrays a systemic inevitability behind them, making the case that there is no escape from his destiny since he is the inevitable product of the society in which he has lived since birth, faced by expectations imposed upon him by others tasked to teach him the proper way for a Black man to live in society. It is often said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. This is certainly the case in Wright's original story which could have been written today, given the similar news stories filling the airwaves right now involving police beatings of Black men and gun violence leading to senseless murders.

The much-anticipated touring Broadway production has finally landed at the Ahmanson! 'It is a great thrill to be bringing (our production) to theatre audiences across America and to be doing so with this exceptional cast of Broadway actors,” said James Lapine, director of the artistically beautiful touring company production, with mind-blowing choreography by Spencer Liff, and an astoundingly transformational set designed by David Rockwell lit to perfection by Jeff Croiter.

Even before it opened this month, La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment knew they had a hit production on their hands with SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, based on the greatest movie musical of all time with screenplay by Betty Comden & Adolph Green and songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. Adapted from the 1952 movie of the same name which starred Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen, the plot closely adheres to the original story set in 1920s Hollywood during the waning days of the Silent Screen era, focusing on romantic leading man, Don Lockwood, his tap dancing sidekick Cosmo Brown, aspiring actress Kathy Selden, and Lockwood's platinum blonde leading lady Lina Lamont, whose less-than-dulcet vocal tones make her an unlikely candidate for stardom in the new talking pictures.

CRE Outreach presents the World Premiere of Silent Torment, an original play written by U.S. Air Force MSgt, Daniel P. Ruffino, featuring Asia Davis, winner of California Idol, and starring nine military veterans from Veterans Empowerment Theatre (VET). VET presents a first-hand view of the military experience in its rawest form, unfiltered by press, politics, or military censorship, thus giving audiences greater insight into the difficulty facing veterans returning from deployment, exposing the inner turmoil of the lasting scars, both external and internal, endured from combat.

Women of a certain age. That used to be a death knell for excellent artistic opportunities for great actors in not only film but on stage as well. But thanks to playwright Cricket Daniel and compassionate director Kristin Towers-Rowles, that myth may as well fly out the window of a red convertible forever thanks to the Los Angeles premiere of THE LOST VIRGINITY TOUR at the intimate McCadden Theatre in Hollywood! Beginning in the Happy Trails Retirement Resort in Arizona as four friends meet for their monthly Baking Club get-together, pledging their devotion via kitchen utensils, each unique personality is brought to life with remarkable clarity by the talented actors Towers-Rowles was fortunate enough to trust with this funny, profound, provocative and adventurous road trip through their memories of 'the first time.'

Directed with finesse by Kimberly Senior, THE NICETIES features Lisa Banes as the liberal, white professor Janine, and Jordan Boatman as the ambitious young black student Zoe, who become involved in a polite clash of perspectives that quickly explodes into an urgent and dangerous debate threatening to ruin both their lives. We first meet the two opinionated and obviously brilliant women in Janine's somewhat cramped office, with its slanted ceiling (thanks to scenic designer Cameron Anderson) indicating her top floor status in the department. Posters of great political leaders from all sides, including George Washington, Lech Wa??sa, Nelson Mandela, Emiliano Zapata, and female Suffragettes, adorn her office walls with books about other leaders and revolutionaries scattered around the place. Certainly, all appearances indicate Jeanine is the type of open-minded teacher every student would want to instruct them about American History. Right?

According to Wikipedia, the Rashomon effect occurs when an event is given contradictory interpretations by the individuals involved. The effect is named after Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon, in which a murder is described in four contradictory ways by four witnesses. Such is the case in Irish playwright Brian Friel's uniquely structured FAITH HEALER which illustrates the healing power of faith over inner demons via four separate monologues performed by 3 characters travelling together through small towns in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. Their goal is to present small community meetings as best they can, in which they hope to occasionally prove that pure faith can heal even the darkest of maladies.

To hear Renee Taylor tell it, her life has been a series of unplanned and often surprisingly rewarding experiences, mostly centered around her struggle to lose weight to fulfill her dream of being a sexy starlet, calling herself a Diet Tramp, meaning she "eats around." Thankfully, the lessons she shares at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts during the Los Angeles Premiere of RENEE TAYLOR'S MY LIFE ON A DIET, prove to not only herself but every member in the audience that it is your heart on the inside that matters most, not what size you wear. Considered a comedy legend, she tells about her high and lows - on and off the scale - and shows audiences that the ability to laugh gets you through it all.

Albie Selznick, life-time member of the Magic Castle and creator/performer of the hit theatrical magic show Smoke and Mirrors, returns to the Santa Monica Playhouse with his trademark MAGIC MONDAY show, every Monday evening through the end of August. Each week will feature a new and different lineup of world-class, award-winning magicians and outstanding variety acts from The Magic Castle, America's Got Talent, Penn & Teller: Fool Us, Masters of Illusion, and Wizard Wars, promising an unforgettable season of show-stopping feats including sleight of hand, interactive parlor magic, and mind-blowing illusions.

In this two-person character study, Joey Brant (R. Emmett Lee, who more than adequately took on the challenge of learning to speak Hebrew for the part) is a Jewish divorce lawyer in his 60s who never had a bar mitzvah ceremony. For reasons which become clear in the story, Joey's bar mitzvah ceremony must take place at the synagogue he attended five decades ago where his grandson Ben Goldman will carry on the family tradition with his own bar mitzvah in a matter of months. Joey, a thoroughly secularized man, must now re-connect with the faith of his ancestors, but promptly alienates the synagogue's regular instructor. But when Joey goes to meet with the temple's new rabbi for his bar mitzvah lessons, he is shocked to find a woman is now in charge.

As I walked into the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City to see ROTTERDAM, the second play of Center Theatre Group's 2019 Block Party, I was drawn to a display asking audience members questions about relationship deal breakers. A few of the questions about relationship deal breakers included if one person in a couple changes into a religious zealot for beliefs you do not share or takes a job requiring a cross country move to a small town where you know no one, would that end the relationship for you. What I realized in answering the questions is that real and abiding love of who a person really is down to their soul, not their superficial appearance or belief system, is what is necessary for a relationship to survive real challenges. But what if one person in a couple decides he/she is transgender and decides to transition to the opposite sex? Is that a deal breaker, especially if you are no longer physically attracted to that person?

This month, Pacific Opera Project (POP) is presenting its most ambitious production to date: the first ever true-to-story bilingual Madama Butterfly with a new libretto written by POP Artistic Director Josh Shaw, interviewed for this story, and Opera in the Heights Artistic Director Eiki Isomura. The production presents Puccini's story as if it actually happened and attempts to answer the question of how would Butterfly and Pinkerton have really communicated if neither spoke the other's native language?

When the initial cast announcement was made for LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at the Morgan Wixson in Santa Monica, controversy erupted on social media about the miscasting of the trio of Skid Row urchins as the scripts calls for the roles to be played by African-Americans. Certainly the names of the characters (Ronette, Crystal and Chiffon) pay tribute to 50s rock and roll girl groups these three characters represent through their song stylings. And fortunately, the show's producer Spencer Johnson listened and set about to make things right, hiring a new director, D'Shaun A. Booker, who set out to find the perfect trio of gifted singers to breathe life back into the show. And boy did she succeed!

Similar to David Bowie's awe-inspiring physical transformation in the title role on Broadway, the current production of Bernard Pomerance's THE ELEPHANT MAN, a classic true-life tale and heart-wrenching story that depicts the best and the worst of humanity, presented by Thursday Night Theatre Club at the El Portal in NoHo, features an amazing performance by Tom Vitorino in the title role. His first appearance occurs with Merrick completely covered by filthy rags and laying in the dirt at a travelling Freak Show. But it is Vitorino's physical transformation, dressed only in Victorian-era underwear, as his deformities are described by his friend and savoir, Dr. Frederick Treves (John Ralston Craig), that sets the stage for the incredible production which follows that scene.

Perhaps one of the most influential artistic figures of the 20th century, Yoko Ono's work as a performance artist and musician is conceptually bold and politically confrontational. In fact, her career can broadly be understood as a lifelong performance poem, with her early art and music pieces created in New York City a compelling opening line in her always positive narrative. On Friday, March 22, the LA Phil presented BREATHEWATCHLISTENTOUCH: The Work and Music of Yoko Ono at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the LA Phil's season-long Fluxus Festival, produced in partnership with the Getty Research Institute and Girlschool who named the concert after Ono's Dance Piece X which includes a Fluxus score that is a fitting summation of the grace, love, and sense of peace that permeates her career.

History comes alive at Woodlawn Cemetery, Mausoleum & Mortuary in Santa Monica during their Living History Tour in which costumed actors portraying noted personalities interred there share their stories and contributions to history and society. And although I had heard about the tours in previous years, last weekend was the first time I actually spent two hours on a wonderfully brilliant Saturday afternoon walking among the many souls who chose this peaceful spot as their final resting place. This year's tour featured 14 notable characters more than willing to share their life stories, often adding in many details not widely known about them.

THE SOUND OF MURDER by William Fairchild premiered in London in 1959, making the plot somewhat predictable now, given the abundance of murder mysteries written and being produced on local stages. But this one set play is exactly the kind of British murder mystery that Theatre 40 audiences enjoy, especially with the company's designers onboard who always create a visually stunning production. Skillfully directed by Adrian Cohen to keep the action interesting and a lot more than just a lot of talking heads with British accents, the cast of THE SOUND OF MURDER includes Roslyn Cohn, Gabriel Olivas, David Hunt Stafford, Peter Trencher, David Westbay and Kate Whitney. And why that title? There's some audio equipment involved that turns out to be a pivotal prop in the investigation!

Kimberly Hebert Gregory literally shines as bright as the Sun as she battles to find the Entity to show her the way to find inner peace, as her comic book battle as superhero Maasai Angel is child's play compared to the heartbreaking emotional pain in her real life. And her journey contains some of the most stunning visual displays ever seen in the smaller Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse! Playwright Inda Craig-Galvan and director Robert O'Hara have brilliantly brought modern-day issues such as race-motivated police shootings, gun control, personal responsibility, ratings-motivated media reporting, and parenting styles to the forefront in this world premiere, sure to go on to great fame worldwide following the Geffen run.

The Battle of the Sexes rages on during the Los Angeles premiere of FIFTY: WORDS by Michael Weller at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood, featuring the remarkable actors Olga Konstantulakis and Eric Larson, directed to perfection by Shane Stevens. Perhaps because the two characters' verbal and emotional interactions with each other so honestly reflect exactly what goes on in my own relationship that I felt completely drawn in, often nodding with the realization that often two such differing outlooks on life cannot possibly find a central meeting ground that works for both people. And yet, we keep trying.

There is something special about the magic which is created during a live theater performance that cannot be duplicated on television or film as the interaction with an audience allows well-written and directed stories, starring incredibly talented actors, to soar into the history books as an event not to miss. Such is the case in LACKAWANNA BLUES, Tony Award-winning actor and talented stage director Ruben Santiago-Hudson's theatrical memoir in which he returns to his roots in a tour-de-force performance accompanied throughout by Grammy-winning blues guitarist, composer and actor Chris Thomas King.