Shari Barrett - Page 24

When Santa Monica's Morgan-Wixson Theatre decided to present MARY POPPINS The Broadway Musical as the final production of their 2017-18 Mainstage season, the group had no idea how the old theater adage "The Show Must Go On" would prove the title character's belief that "anything can happen when you let it." You see, the original directing team deserted the production a month before it was due to open, with an incomplete cast in place and tickets already having been sold. How could the challenge be met on time? Let me assure you, thanks to its new directors Kristie Mattsson and Aric Martin, musical directors Andrew Lederman and Daniel Koh, choreographers Lauren Blair and Holly Weber, and producers Anne & Larry Gesling, Spencer Johnson, and Meredith Wright, I would never have known such an additional challenge had been in place given the incredible quality of the production I saw!

Anyone following today's ever-present and socially-challenging political scene via news outlets will certainly appreciate the humor and biting commentary in Larry Shue's comedy THE FOREIGNER. From its setting in rural Georgia with individuals who appear to be living in a social world hundreds of years in the past, to the danger of racial and religious prejudice those people promote as being the right way for people to live, there may be times now when many can just shake their head at the nonsense - or, hopefully, admit it is time to take a different message out in the world ourselves.

This solo show, written and performed with amazing emotional insight by her mother Danna Schaeffer, begins with stories from her only child's childhood during which she worried if little Rebecca was out of her sight for a few minutes. So imagine how this proud mother, who spoke daily with her daughter when she moved from Oregon to Los Angeles to pursue her acting dreams after landing the lead role in My Sister Sam and then visited with her in Rome and Venice while filming a movie, reacted with disbelief when a call from a police officer in Los Angeles informed her that Rebecca had been gunned down and died.

Amanda Peet may be best known as an actress, having appeared in films such as 'The Whole Nine Yards' and 'Syriana' and in TV shows, including the Duplass brothers' family dramedy, 'Togetherness.' But she's also a serious writer, with her second play, OUR VERY OWN CARLIN McCULLOUGH, now making its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. Peet says that for the Geffen production, with a cast that includes Mamie Gummer, Abigail Dylan Harrison, Caroline Heffernan, Tyee Tilghman and Joe Tippett, she was most interested in examining the mother-daughter relationship and 'the idea of how to parent and to what degree you can keep your narcissism in check.'

English playwright and screenwriter Frederick Knott, though a reluctant writer, is known for his ingeniously complex, crime-related plots even though he only completed three plays in his career. Two have become classics: the London-based stage thriller Dial M for Murder, which was later filmed in Hollywood by Alfred Hitchcock, and the chilling 1966 play Wait Until Dark, which also became a Hollywood film starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman terrorized by thugs in her basement apartment. His third play, WRITE ME A MURDER, has never achieved the same acclaim nor been performed nearly as much as his other two hit plays. See it now at Theatre Palisades, directed with attention-grabbing skill by Michael-Anthony Nozzi.

ALEICHEM SHOLOM! The Wit and Wisdom of Sholom Aleichem, a new musical written by the internationally acclaimed team of Chris DeCarlo and Evelyn Rudie with lilting songs by Ben Weisman, is now playing at the Santa Monica Playhouse. It follows the life of the beloved Yiddish story-teller and everyone is his entourage, especially his wife, spinning tales of his loves and losses, his fame and his failures, his travels, his travails and the tremendous joy and optimism that kept him going against all odds.

Directed and choreographed by musical theatre whiz Kathleen Marshall with Musical Direction by Gerald Sternbach who brilliantly directs a full orchestra seen onstage as part of the staircase set designed by Stephen Gillford, SWEET CHARITY stars Laura Bell Bundy who brings the joy and wonder of Charity Hope Valentine energetically to the Freud Playhouse stage. With her heart literally worn on her sleeve, the musical follows the dance hall hostess as she searches around the mean streets of New York City in 1966 in her attempt to be loved, not just for sex but for her generous heart and giving nature.

The process of acquiring government grants is intended to spread public dollars across electoral districts and across a variety of art forms and projects. Even more importantly, the focus of the grants is on increasing cultural equity-the notion that our arts organizations need to reflect our diverse communities and that grant dollars need to help increase the access to high quality arts experiences for underserved populations. CRE Outreach is proud to have received recognition of our mission via these funding streams, as we tirelessly work to provide a dedicated performing space for the voices and stories of people historically marginalized by society. Next production, the world premiere of MARCHING ON, is written and performed by military veterans.

Directed by Patricia McGregor at the Geffen Playhouse, this emotionally-charged play looks deep into the hearts and souls of its four characters, with all four actors brilliantly commanding the stage from start to finish. Caroline Stefanie Clay portrays Faye, the factor's UAW union rep who finds herself caught between a rock and a hard place when her supervisor Reggie (DB Woodside) informs her privately that the factory will soon be closing, throwing everyone out of work. Asking her to keep the information confidential to insure his own employment to the end, puts Faye, his mother's former lover who first got him a job at the factory, in a difficult position with her co-workers.

After our intake interview with the Asylum's Dr. Spivey (Trent Mills), we were invited through the loading dock door into the showers where two asylum staff members required us to don our patient wear. Once we learned the rules for the evening's entertainment, double doors opened to reveal the Psych Ward, marvelously realistic with wired cage doors opening into the space where patients sat playing games at the tables around the center stage area. Nurses walked around handing out 'medication' while new patients interacted with the actor-patients playing cards or other games at tables, after which we were directed to look for clues to discover the secrets around the 'ward' which would lead us to our reward. No - I am not going to tell you what that reward was nor how to solve the clues. That is part of the fun!

Many baby boomers whose parents married quickly and inexpensively after World War II will identify with the premise in A CATERED AFFAIR, taking place in the Bronx in 1953. At the beginning of the play, we meet young lovers Janey Hurley (bubbly blonde Alison Boettcher) and Ralph Halloran (handsome Christopher Tiernan) as they awake in bed after spending the night together who then decide to get married. But rather than spend too much money and time planning a big wedding, Janey decides the best way to go about it is to get married in a couple of day at City Hall, after which the two newlyweds can drive a friend's car across the country to California, while getting paid and put up at motels along the way. Seems like an easy plan, no? Not according to their parents...

CRE Outreach presents the World Premiere of MARCHING ON, an original play written by and starring eight military veterans from Veterans Empowerment Theatre (VET), a group dedicated to presenting a first-hand view of the soldiers' experiences in their rawest form, unfiltered by press, political, or military censorship. This artistic journey brings veterans' personal stories to life from boot camp to returning home, highlighting the difficulty of transitioning back into society, exposing the inner turmoil of the lasting scars, both external and internal, endured from combat. For one veteran, her transition unlocks memories that have been hidden away for years, another feels rejected because of the color of his skin, while others realize that, above all, family matters most. Though alone in their stories, these heroes come together as a unit as they search for the strength to keep marching on.

WIESENTHAL tells the powerful true story of Simon Wiesenthal, often called the "Jewish James Bond," a Holocaust survivor who, after cheating death at the hands of Hitler's S.S., spent his life bringing to justice the most notorious war criminals in human history. This provocative solo performance, written and performed by Tom Dugan and directed by Jenny Sullivan, is an uplifting and highly entertaining one-man show that unfolds like a gripping spy thriller, telling how Wiesenthal devoted his life to bringing more than 1,100 Nazi war criminals to justice after WW II.

Mae West was definitely a woman who played by her own rules in all aspects of her life. She dismissed barriers, boundaries, fears, judgements and prejudices and always believed women needed to be in charge of their own lives. Her play SEX was both outrageous and pornographic in 1926, full of playfulness and lots of camp as well as topical storytelling about the battle of the sexes. As the show's director Sirena Irwin shares, "SEX is a story of survival, imprisonment, fear, revenge, transformation, freedom, and love. It is a feminist perspective from nearly 100 years ago that invites us to reflect on where we've progressed and where we've stagnated. Mae West, in her wisdom, tried to open minds with humor and heart."

In our town full of struggling actors and others from all aspects of show business, it's no wonder so many solo shows about the Industry make their way into local theaters. And any of us who have endured that backstage moment when overwhelming fear makes us forget every single line we were about to speak, or when a spotlight hits your face and makes you freeze will certainly understand many of the familiar moments shared by Steven Shaw in LOST & FOUND: A GUILT TRIP THROUGH SHOW BUSINESS, returning to Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills after a sold out run in January 2017.

MR. PIM PASSES BY debuted on the stage in 1919, written by A.A. Milne (1882-1956) Although he will be known forever for his children's literature as the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne also wrote numerous plays and screenplays, books of poetry, and seven novels. This comedy for grown-ups tells a tale of mistaken identity and the lives it affects after a mysterious stranger pops up at a Woodbury, Connecticut home. It's never explained why Mr. Pim is in the neighborhood, although it's very apparent he does not live in the area nor is he visiting anyone else who does. And as the story builds, you might decide he is a character much like Clarence the Angel in "It's a Wonderful Life," there to simply make sure that love rules the day.

Sharing scenes and memories with her younger self during the entire musical is 25-year old Violet, portrayed with both great innocence and insightful common sense by Claire Adams, whom we meet as she is setting off on a journey of hope and discovery aboard a Greyhound bus bound for Tulsa, Oklahoma ('On My Way') where she hopes a TV evangelist can create a miracle and cure her disfigurement. And just how disfigured is Violet that people react to her appearance with so much shock? That is left to your imagination since her scar is often described but never seen, almost as if the real scar is unseen on her soul rather than a physical deformity on her face.

DIE, MOMMIE, DIE! is a campy noir classic that follows the devious actions of fading Hollywood star Angela Arden, played to the hilt by Drew Droege in drag. Think of Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard" and throw in a bit of Joan Crawford's attitude and you get the idea of who Angela Arden is. And let me tell you, Droege is a wonder running across the stage in high heels, always dressed to feminine perfection by costumer Allison Dillard. But Angela is trapped in an unhappy marriage and plots to kill her husband, Hollywood producer Sol Sussman (Pat Towne) in order to be with her young, and very well-hung lover Tony Parker (Andrew Carter). His endowment is a running gag throughout the play, aimed at almost every other character at some point, a bit too suggestive and sexy for young audiences.

Perhaps the best way to start writing about Elizabeth Gregory Wilder's play PROVENANCE is to share its definition, as it pertains to the history of ownership of a valued object or work of art or literature, not the capital of Rhode Island. Now being performed at Little Fish Theatre in San Pedro's Arts District, directed with loving reverence by Holly Baker-Kreiswirth and produced by Tara Donovan, the play centers on a rare book search which leads to an isolated library, and librarian, on the top of a hill in an identified area. Perhaps the best guess, according to the director and cast, would be the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

In the years before computers and cell phones to assist Bernard with scheduling, he uses a datebook and the world globe sitting on his desk to keep track of where each of the three stewardesses he plans to marry will be travelling, and has managed to keep 'one up, one down and one pending.' But Bernard's life is about to get incredibly bumpy when his friend, Robert (pratfall expert Brian O'Sullivan), comes to stay and unexpected schedule changes bring all three women to Paris and Bernard's apartment at the same time. And with Robert meeting all these lovely ladies for the first time on the same day, he soon forgets which lies to tell to whom to keep Bernard out of the doghouse. Hilarity ensues!