Shari Barrett - Page 23

Have you ever wished for one more chance to say something to someone who has passed away suddenly? What if there was an organization that could arrange for messages to be delivered to those who have died by pairing you up with someone terminally ill who agrees to deliver that message once they have passed on? Would you do it? And what if it was extraordinarily expensive with no way of knowing if your message was ever received? That is the simple magical premise of THE UNTRANSLATABLE SECRETS OF NIKKI CORONA, a new play written by Obie Award-winning playwright Jose Rivera, premiering at the Geffen Playhouse through October 7.

Anyone who has had a loving dog as their companion will certainly understand the glory of waking up next to the best friend you could possibly ever have. No doubt among those people are the men who created BARK! The Musical, composer David Troy Francis; book by Mark Winkler and Gavin Geoffrey Dillard, with lyrics by Gavin Geoffrey Dillard, Mark Winkler, Robert Schlock, Jonathan Heath and Danny Lukic, when they created such a fabulous, episodic song fest to the glory of dog, musically communicated from six very different types of pooches as each awaits a happy reunion with their master at the end of the day.

Any teenage girl enrolled in any secondary school around the world can tell you how they were tormented or teased by other girls for some reason, be it their weight, height, hair, or lack of the latest hip clothing to wear. Based only on physical appearance, little regard was paid by the most popular Queen Bee to the real circumstances of others' lives which prevented others from living up to her unrealistic expectations of those she was willing to call 'friends' in her inner circle. I can certainly remember being excluded from the more popular groups of friends in high school, not only for my weight but for my lack of interest in boys and obsession with The Beatles. Think back and I bet you can remember similar experiences you lived through or how you made fun of others you perceived as not being worthy of your inner circle friendship.

CRE Outreach is pleased to present THE BOYS NEXT DOOR by Tom Griffin, a comedy-drama centering on a caring social worker who supervises four disabled men (portrayed by actors with disabilities) living together in an apartment while learning to face their daily challenges together. We all fight with filters and obstacles in our lives, but the actors and characters in this production face challenges steeper than most. It is the experience and living truth of the actors that will fill these disabled characters' stories with physical and emotional authenticity.

It has often been said that the work-a-day world is made up of blood, sweat and tears. Perhaps that is most true for blue collar workers who find themselves laboring with their hands, especially in factories where those on the line are required to stand for hours on end doing repetitive work with little hope of any real recognition or promotion into management. Such is the case of the characters in Center Theatre Group's production of SWEAT, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Lynn Nottage, now at the Mark Taper Forum through October 7, 2018.

Struggling to pay the rent, Adam (Brian Patrick Roach) has put up a sign offering "Psychic Readings $25" to save himself from being thrown out on the street. And even though he has never had any psychic abilities nor done any type of reading before, several interesting characters show up, each offering decorating tips before paying the fee, expecting to find out something about themselves. From the beginning, it was pretty clear to me that the visitors would turn out to be characters being born in Adam's laptop, very stereotypical of the types of people they were playing. But it was easy to play along and watch the story in his mind play out onstage.

For those too young to remember the vaudevillian style lounge shows popular in the 50s and 60s in Las Vegas, where an iconic and often talented performer in their own right hosted other acts to keep gamblers entertained as they visited the lounge bar for a drink, looked for a companion for the night, or needed time to recover from a huge loss at the tables, you can now experience a little bit of old Vegas, right here in Hollywood. And I can tell you, I don't remember laughing as hard as I did the night I attended THE TONY MARTINI VARIETY HOUR at Three Clubs Cocktail Lounge, rumored to be the exact same place where Frank Sinatra would hang out with his assorted Rat Pack buddies, friends, and lovers during their own Las Vegas heyday. And that vibe still exists in the room where those great entertainers wowed the crowds so many years ago.

Subtitled 'A Light Comedy About Dark Jews,' we meet Bubby as she prepares a much-too-salty matzo ball soup for Rosh Hashana dinner in a period-perfect kitchen as the center piece of a realistic two-story set designed by Joel Daavid in anticipation of her entire family gathering to celebrate the holiday. Even her son and grandson will be there, a special evening (she hopes) as the two have not spoken to each other in years. But after continuously forgetting to bring home the chicken for dinner, Joey's alcoholic father David finally shows up at the table, causing alliances to be challenged and hopefully, new beginnings to be forged. And leave it to Zayda to show up at just the right moments to forward the story and add his own insights into his family's history and character. Oy vey!

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to re-invent yourself and completely start over as someone else? Perhaps, like me, you spent a lot of time in another country, speaking another language and watching yourself become more like the citizens who live there, totally comfortable in your new skin and personality. It's a journey of self-discovery and re-invention during which your true inner self is allowed out for perhaps the first time, one in which you can create a more fully free persona and spirit to guide you through the transition. Perhaps the easiest way to let such a thing happen to you occurs when you move to another place where no one knows your name or past, allowing you to live fully in the present and create an entirely new future for yourself as the person you always wanted to be. Such is the tale written and performed by Corinne Shor in I AM SOPHIE.

SILENCE! The Musical is an award-winning, unauthorized parody of the hit movie 'The Silence of the Lambs' with Music & Lyrics by Jon Kaplan & Al Kaplan, Book by Hunter Bell, presented by Bucket List Theatre from October 11 to November 3, 2018 at the Let Live Theatre (at The Actors Company) in Hollywood, directed and choreographed by Amanda Conlon with musical direction by Edgar Cardoso, presented under the auspices of the Actors' Equity Association Los Angeles Self-Produced Project Code. Featured in the cast are Jesse Merlin (Dr. Hannibal Lecter), Amanda Conlon (Clarice Starling), Nick Dothee (Buffalo Bill), Sherry Mandujano (Catherine Martin), Brian Dyer (Jack Crawford), Kevin Michael Moran (Dr. Chilton), Courtney Bruce (Ardelia, Lamb), Philip McBride (Papa Starling, Lamb), Suzanne Slade (Senator Martin, Lamb), Jesse Gavin (Stone Rockbrockmanrock, Lamb), Jeff LaGreca (Bimmel, Lamb), Michael C. Silva (Miggs, Lamb), Patrick Pizzolorusso (Jack Crawford understudy).

This satirical musical hoedown about living the American Dream tells the tale of what happens when the town gets convinced by the new Preacher as their "For Profit Prophet" and the son of a reality TV producer from Hollywood, Peter Martinez (Jamie Daniels), that the way to its salvation, fame and fortune is through being the subject of a new "Reality TV" show so the Preacher can raise funds to build a new "Mega-Church" in town to spread the gospel and bring more citizens into his flock. After all, he claims, "If they believe 'The Bachelor' is real, they'll believe anything."

In the wake of recent #MeToo headline events redefining gender roles (particularly for women) and issues of consent, PIZZA MAN by Darlene Craviotto, which debuted in 1982, seems timelier than ever. While statistics are only quoted once in the play with Newsweek saying 'a rape is committed every 7 seconds,' the United States Department of Justice research claims about 20 million out of 112 million women (18.0%) in the United States have been raped during their lifetime, with only 16% of all rapes reported to law enforcement. No doubt these rapes were committed almost exclusively by men. But is it possible for a woman to rape a man? Such is the question asked during PIZZA MAN.

Climbing the corporate ladder has always been easy for some and difficult for others. This somewhat-dated story, given how the 'Me Too' movement has changed the male-female office environment these days, follows the rise of J. Pierrepont Finch, who uses a little handbook called 'How To Succeed In Business' to climb the corporate ladder from lowly window washer to high-powered executive, tackling such familiar but potent dangers as the company 'Yes' men, backstabbing co-workers who want to succeed by causing you to fail, sexy secretaries looking for love and marriage, high-level executives who use their power to seduce sexy secretaries in private offices and at office parties, office-wide caffeine addiction, and, of course, true love.

Playwright Henry Ong admits that when he stumbled upon Tirso de Molina's "La celosa de si misma" (Jealous of Herself) during the Playwrights' Arena (PA) for the Golden Tongues series to introduce audiences to the treasures of the Golden Age of Spanish theater between 1590 to 1681, a PA-partnership with UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, he discovered an ingenious tale of deceit and deception with fascinating characters and relentless wit. The tale of self-image, identity, and the idea of physical perfection as hoisted upon us in the media immediately presented Ong with the opportunity to set his modern adaptation THE BLADE OF JEALOUSY in Los Angeles, a place where so many of us become dissatisfied with what nature has given us and how the media says we should look causes people to continually crave and seek to attain idealized versions of our physical selves in order to gain love.

In the minds of many people, the name Hells Angels brings up images of outlaws in black leather, riding on loud motorcycles and always being up to no good just like Marlon Brando in "The Wild One." Never having met any members of that "social club" before, when I heard former Hells Angels leader George Christie was bringing his new one-man, autobiographical show OUTLAW, written and directed by Richard La Plante, to the Whitefire Theatre (after enjoying packed performances in Ventura, Santa Barbara, Palm Desert, Las Vegas and St. Louis), I figured it was about time to find out more about the much-feared riding enthusiasts from someone on the inside.

Now an award-winning writer and director, Barra Grant has created one of the most entertaining, informative, and hysterically funny solo shows I have ever seen. With her marvelous writing style and self-effacing humor, along with the brilliant direction of Eve Brandstein (who worked with Barra for 16 months to create MISS AMERICA'S UGLY DAUGHTER), this behind-the-scenes story will totally envelop you from start to finish. As she answers the many ongoing calls, beginning at two in the morning and continuing until dawn, we are taken on the journey of Barra's life, with Bess ever-present, fixated on 'improving' her daughter by attempting to mold her into a younger version of herself.

Somewhere in the world tonight there are 7 performances of the hit musical MAMMA MIA! onstage entertaining audiences. In fact, the show based on the music by Swedish pop group ABBA, has become so popular that the only continent where a regional or touring production has not occurred is Antarctica, and the show has set the record for premiering in more cities faster than any other musical in history. And after seeing the current 3-D Theatricals production, it's easy to see why audiences continue to fill theaters to experience the fun, spectacle, great music, and overall happy atmosphere generated by this feel-good musical.

Gloria Gifford is a stage-trained actress from New York City, giving her the necessary background to understand the intricacies of people caught up in a place where the traffic is loud and people live in close proximity to each other, yet still think it's necessary to always be screaming at one another to get the upper hand. Such is the case with the five characters in Stephen Adly Guirgis' 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning THE MOTHF**CKER WITH THE HAT, an urban comedy now being presented as the inaugural production at the Gloria Gifford Conservatory for the Performing Arts new location on Theater Row in Hollywood.

For the past several summers, I have attended the Festival of Arts and The Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. But this year, I also decided to also visit two other art festivals along Laguna Canyon Road rather than spend any time cruising the town as I had done before. The full-day of exploring all the artistic delights on display this year at all three locations left me dazzled by all the talent on display, while wishing I had lot of extra income to purchase and bring home many of the awe-inspiring items that caught my fancy. But the real highlight of the day was viewing the abundance of 'local color' on display in this summer's 'Under the Sun' themed Pageant of the Masters.

Even if you have seen it before, I cannot stress enough how miraculous the current production of ANNIE is at the Hollywood Bowl, directed with creative ingenuity by Michael Arden. Featured in the cast of incredibly talented triple-threat (acting, singing, dancing) performers are Ana Gasteyer as the ruthless headmistress Miss Agatha Hannigan, David Alan Grier as the refined, generous billionaire Oliver 'Daddy' Warbucks, Lea Salonga as his dedicated and caring assistant Grace Farrell, with newcomer Kaylin Hedges as Annie, who won the role over hundreds of other young girls from across the country who submitted video auditions to win role. Miss Hedges is the cornerstone of the production and her soaring, pitch-perfect voice and effervescent stage presence setting the jubilant tone for the entire ensemble.