Shari Barrett - Page 20

Theatre of NOTE's production of 'For The Love Of (or, the roller derby play)' written by Gina Femia, which Center Theatre Group has remounted at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of their third annual Block Party: Celebrating Los Angeles Theatre, blasted into Culver City with a barrage of brilliant direction, choreography, artistic style and acting. And after seeing the original production in its super-small space, I can tell you the new production soars by encompassing ever possible inch of space, thanks to scenic designer Eli Smith, with enough impressive roller derby action to make you forget not one pair of skates ever touches the floor! That marvel of perfect direction and choreography can be credited to Rhonda Kohl who has created almost constant roller derby action utilizing the movement and acting skills of her talented cast

Gianfranco Terrin, a native of Naples who trained in Los Angeles at the Lee Strasberg Institute, is the director of the new Hollywood production. and is probably best known for his work on The Disney Channel's 'Movie Surfers' as well as in other Italian and American films. But his decision to present caricatures rather than believable characters takes this seemingly under-rehearsed comedy into the realm of farce.

Last year when I attended a show at Three Clubs in Hollywood, I was seated next to a young man who was dressed as if he was the Mad Hatter. My curiosity led me to ask him about his costume, and he then introduced himself as designer Bobby Love and shared some photos of his various fantasy designs with me. I was so impressed, when I found out he was going to be a part of the Sanctuary Style, Art & Music event during LA Fashion Week, I knew I had to be there. But nothing prepared me for the delightful evening of fashion I was about to experience.

Kentwood Players proudly presents the musical SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine. Performances take place at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester, CA 90045 from March 15th through April 20th on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm. The production is directed by Susan Goldman Weisbarth, music direction by Mike Walker and produced by Margie Bates and Gail Bernardi.

Discussions proliferate about immigration reform, whether it be the building of a wall to protect our border or deporting those who enter our country illegally to milk the system for everything they can get for free thanks to American taxpayer dollars. But while our focus seems to be on our Southern border, what about all of the other people from around the world that manage to come here illegally seeking a better life for themselves or, more importantly, their children? Is there really one correct answer or solution to the problem? Boni B. Alvarez, a Los Angeles-based writer-actor, addresses the question head-on in his world premiere play AMERICA ADJACENT.

I had several reasons for wanting to see the West Coast Premiere of Jireh Breon Holder's TOO HEAVY FOR MY POCKET, produced by Scott Golden for Sacred Fools Theater Company, brilliantly directed by the talented Michael A. Shepperd, Artistic Director of Los Angeles' award-winning Celebration Theatre. I knew he would honor this delicate story of aspiration and familial love centering on two African-American couples struggling to find their way in a year filled with the promise of a better future for everyone, taking place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement when Freedom Fighters took to the road in buses to battle justice in the Deep South, firmly believing that equal rights for all people deserved to be the law of the land. And that boys will be boys and women will always forgive them their trespasses when babies are part of the equation by speaking out for equality in their own lives and homes.

The Actors' Gang is presenting ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST by Dario Fo, directed at an incredibly fast and mind-boggling pace by Will Thomas McFadden, on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, through March 9th. Fo's works are characterized by criticisms of organized crime, political corruption, political murders, Catholic Church doctrine and have employed topics from current news. In this piece of classic international theatre from 1970, Fo writes of a madman who invades a police station interrogation room where an anarchist accused of bombing a railway station has recently 'accidentally' fallen out of a window. Donning various disguises and voices, the madman manipulates policemen into a truth-inducing hysteria in his attempt to discover what really happened.

Musical Theatre Guild was founded 21 years ago by a dedicated group of professional musical artists who were interested in exploring and preserving works from the musical theater repertoire that were either forgotten, neglected or unfairly dismissed. Working under a special Actors' Equity Concert Staged Reading code, the entire MINNIE'S BOYS production was put together in 25 hours, focusing on the script and score with actors holding book during the performance, including while singing and dancing their way through the 14 numbers in the show, with a wonderfully talented 6-piece band backing them up.

Luckily for us, after a 10-year hiatus raising her adopted daughter Mulan ("Yes, that was her given name in China," she shared with embarrassment) with her Eastern European Jewish husband in suburban Chicago, the Irish Catholic comic recently moved back to Los Angeles to resume her career as a writer and performer. While currently filming a recurring role in the upcoming Hulu series Shrill, opposite Aidy Bryant, she decided it was time to get back on the stage and grab the spotlight again now that her daughter has moved out as a college freshman. In her new solo show, JULIA SWEENEY: OLDER & WIDER, she offers hilarious takes on parenting, religion, cancer, feminism and even her iconic SNL characters' place in today's modern landscape. And though she shared this was the first time she performed using a handheld microphone in front of an audience, Sweeney appeared to be totally at ease and enjoying the accolades from her many fans in attendance on opening night.

A LOVELY LINEAGE, based on an original concept by Michael Sterling, captures the historic Broadway and Hollywood lineage of Kristin Towers-Rowles starting with her grandmother, the legendary Kathryn Grayson who was an MGM darling and a Hollywood pioneer having starred in some of the most beloved movie musicals of the 1950s including Kiss Me, Kate and Show Boat. Her famous lineage does not stop there - Kristin's grandfather was the dashing and talented Broadway leading man Johnnie Johnston; her mother, Patricia Towers, was a Las Vegas headliner; and her father is the prolific character actor Robert Towers.

A mysterious traveler, a horny barkeep, and a sensuous woman are trapped in a dive bar with an abundant supply of bourbon, yet all three are strangers in a place hundreds of miles from anywhere else during a windstorm that keeps them trapped together in the only shelter. Sure, anything could happen, especially when the mystery of who they are begins to unravel and it becomes apparent one of them is after someone else there. But who is it and what do they really want? And what does a recurring nightmare have to do with it? Whatever happens, one thing is certain: There will be hell to pay.

Having seen the musical HAMILTON when it was in Los Angeles, like many others I learned more important details about the founding fathers while watching it than I felt I had ever learned in school. Lin-Manuel Miranda who created that uber-successful musical in 2015, has said that 1776 THE MUSICAL, written in 1969, during another time of political and social unrest in the United States, has 'one of the best books-if not the best-ever written for musical theatre.' And now I can say I certainly agree with him. In fact, The perfect way to prove the arts can teach valuable history lessons to its audiences is by encouraging everyone to see 1776 THE MUSICAL, presented by La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment with musical direction by Jeff Rizzo and impeccably directed & staged by Glenn Casale through Sunday, February 3, 2019 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts or at The Soraya at CSUN from Friday, February 8 through Sunday, February 10.

AN INSPECTOR CALLS has been described in the Washington Post as, 'an episode of 'The Twilight Zone' wrapped in an Agatha Christie mystery,' and after seeing the show at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, I must say that about sums up the play for me. Running at almost two hours without an intermission, at first it seemed to be just a bunch of talking heads yelling loudly with strong British accents – that is until the end when a Rod Serling-like phone call delivers a twist that sets the whole thing into the realm of “what just really happened?”

Every January I look forward to attending THE MANOR by Katherine Bates, presented by Theatre 40 inside the historic Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills where the story upon which it is based actually took place. Now celebrating its 17th year, the annual production 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, costumed to time-period perfection, as well as the chance to be inside the grand and glorious architectural landmark in which the events of 90 years ago actually took place, performed in two acts taking place 10 years apart. The names of all characters in the Doheny saga have been changed, of course, "to protect the guilty" as we are told before the play begins by the mansion's loyal butler, James (Daniel Lench who has masterfully played the part for 6 years).

Rod Serling's television anthology series The Twilight Zone was a popular and critical success when it ran on CBS for five seasons from 1959 to 1964, shot entirely in black and white. The series introduced many Americans to appreciate stories in various genres including fantasy, science fiction, suspense, horror and psychological thrillers, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist, usually ending with a moral explained by the writer himself. It has remained so popular that you can often find The Twilight Zone marathons running on various television stations, especially on holidays. As a fan of the show, I often watch episodes when they are shown, keeping my The Twilight Zone Companion handbook close by to check on facts and cast information from each episode. So I made plans to attend when I heard Theatre 40 was going to be presenting ROD SERLING'S STORIES FROM THE ZONE adapted and co-directed by multiple Ovation Award winning set designer Jeff G. Rack and Charlie Mount.

The Ghost Road Company is one of Los Angeles' premiere theatre ensembles dedicated to the creation of new work for the stage. The company is unique in its approach, having developed its own methods of collaborative development over many years. So when I heard they were reimagining the story of Oedipus, calling it JOCASTA: A MOTHERF**ING TRAGEDY conceived and directed by Brian Weir, I was intrigued to say the least. But after seeing the show, I am not quite sure how to write about it other than to say it was visually stunning to watch but confusing to the point of distraction.

Now being presented by Center Theatre Group at the Mark Taper Forum, directed by Dexter Bullard who also helmed the Steppenwolf production, LINDA VISTA features actor Ian Barford who has originated four roles in Letts' canon of plays, and has remained friends with the playwright for 30 years. But no doubt Letts' very contemporary and biting social commentary on the immaturity of men when it comes to dealing with women and adult life will no doubt upset many in the audience when it becomes apparent Wheeler will never be ready to grow up. After all, it seems the older he gets, the younger he wants to become even when his body won't go along with the idea. It's comically unsettling and all too real when it comes to the contemporary dating scene.

Those of us old enough to remember the excitement of buying a new vinyl record album and devouring every song's liner notes shared on the back or inner sleeve will certainly understand the appeal of RITA WILSON'S LINER NOTES, which enjoyed its fourth tour at the Geffen's Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater in Westwood from January 10-13 as part of the Geffen Playhouse Spotlight Entertainment Series. The evening offered not only great entertainment but lots of insider information on what went into the creation of many favorite songs from the actual songwriters themselves.

Born and raised in Suburban Philadelphia, playwright Mark Wesley Curran admits he has only been to Brooklyn once in his life while driving through the town to get somewhere else. And yet he chose to write the World Premiere play FOREVER BROOKLYN! about Melvin Kaplofkis, a young Jewish man growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950s who, as a kid, entertained his family and friends by telling jokes and stories, longing for success as a comic in the 1960s. Fans of Neil Simon will point to Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound, two plays which I assume Mr. Curran used as source material, along with a few early films by Woody Allen, to develop the play's characters and setting rather than writing from his own personal experience.

The month marks the start of my 7th year as a reviewer for Broadway World Los Angeles. With awards season in full bloom each January, many people ask me what my favorite shows were for the previous year. Since I see 3-5 shows per week, that is a difficult and time-consuming task for me to accomplish. But for 2018, I decided to go back through all the 188 reviews/articles I wrote for every show I saw and selected my top shows month-by-month. And what fun it was to go back and select one photo from each of the top 39 shows I selected.