Shari Barrett - Page 37

On Friday, March 11, Kentwood Players welcomed the multiple Tony Award winning musical "MAN OF LA MANCHA" with Book by Dale Wasserman, Music by Mitch Leigh and Lyrics by Joe Darion to the Westchester Playhouse where performances will continue through April 16. The production is directed by Susan Goldman Weisbarth with Musical Director Mike Walker and Choreographer Drew Fitzsimmons, produced by Margie Bates and Gail Bernardi by special arrangement with Tams Witmark Music Library. Here's your first look at onstage photos by Shari Barrett.

The battle between the sexes has always been a favorite topic for all types of literary works. With the onslaught in today's media of how women should look to attract men rather than being true to who they really are, playwright Sheila Callaghan has taken a very personal stand in her madcap new play WOMEN LAUGHING ALONE WITH SALAD, now presented in its West Coast premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Directed by Neel Keller, with musical staging by Ken Roht, performances continue through April 3. The gender-bending cast includes Lisa Banes, Nora Kirkpatrick, David Clayton Rogers and Dinora Z. Walcott, all of whom plays both female and male characters!

The iconic music of Elvis Presley inspired writer Joe Dipietro to create ALL SHOOK UP, a musical set in 1955 utilizing the rock 'n roll star's songs. The bottom line with Elvis's music is that it makes a lot of people very happy, even 50 years after it was recorded. And Dipietro thought, what other type of entertainment form does that? And that's when he came up with the Shakespeare comedies, which are very much about love and finding your joy, marriage, passion, and all the good stuff of life. And of course, frequent cases of mistaken identity!

In Shaw's controversial attack on society's hypocrisy, Young Vivie Warren is intelligent and self-sufficient, but astounded to learn how her mother rose from poverty to riches through the world's oldest profession. Mrs. Warren ably justifies her past, attacking a hypocritical society that rewards vice and oppresses virtue, stating that poverty and the society that fosters poverty are the real villains. Certainly her profession is preferable to life in a 19th century factory!

A recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, THE BLESSING OF A BROKEN HEART arrives precisely at the time when it is most needed to help heal our communities in the wake of a deluge of local and national tragedies involving innocent children. It is a story about resilience and the power of faith to assist in overcoming whatever confronts your spirit in life. This story about hope, purpose, and recovery recounts the events that changed Sherri Mandell's family forever.

On Friday, February 26, City Players enjoyed a spectacular opening night of the World Premiere drama UTOPIA written by and starring David Douglas and Martin Head, directed by Katherine Whitney. Opening night festivities were attended by Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey and members of the Royal Palms Recovery Center who provided rehearsal space for the production.The SOLD OUT audience awarded the production with a well-deserved standing ovation.

DON QUIXOTE is a fantastic Los Angeles Ballet production, filled with the dreams of the Don (Adam Luders), the love of Kitri and Basilio (technically perfect and emotionally evocative dancers Julie Cinquemani and Kenta Shimizu) and the adventures that follow them during this epic tale. There is something for everyone: humor, love, adventure and lots of beauty performed by a lively cast of characters from village folk to gypsies to flamenco dancers who will enthrall audiences of all ages.

With music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown, THE WIZ is an urban retelling of the classic fantasy story based on the children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Filled with beloved songs, incredible dance numbers, tornadoes, munchkins, and skateboarding monkeys, the enthusiasm of the cast as directed and choreographed by Chelsea Field and magnificent student rock orchestra conducted by Stephen McDonough under the Musical Direction of Kelci Hahn, will transport you in believing this is a professional company of triple threat actors at the top of their game.

Kentwood Players proudly presents the multiple Tony Award winning musical "MAN OF LA MANCHA" with Book by Dale Wasserman, Music by Mitch Leigh and Lyrics by Joe Darion opening Friday, March 11 through Saturday, April 16, 2016 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm, with three Thursday night performances on March 31, April 7 and 14 at 8:00pm, at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Los Angeles, CA 90045. The production is directed by Susan Goldman Weisbarth with Musical Director Mike Walker and Choreographer Drew Fitzsimmons, produced by Margie Bates and Gail Bernardi by special arrangement with Tams Witmark Music Library.

Be prepared to be entertained by April Showers, the current reigning Miss Hollywood Burlesque at BOOBS, BOOKS AND BURLESQUE on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, at the Culver Hotel in downtown Culver City. Showers is the recipient of several awards including Most Classic and Best Singer. Funny, glamorous and classy, she is noted to be one of the best burlesque performers in Los Angeles. Also entertaining will be Maxi Millions, a multi-award winning burlesque performer known for her classic bump 'n grind style and high glamour taste. She is co-producer of Spellbound Burlesque and has performed on stages all over the U.S.

Utopia is defined as an imaginary place where everything is perfect. But what does it take to achieve perfection in just two days within the art world? City Players is proud to present the World Premiere of 'UTOPIA' by David Douglas and Martin Head on February 26, 27, March 3, 4, 5 at 7:30pm and Sunday, February 28 at 2pm at the Bootleg Theater, located at 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057. The production is directed by Katherine Whitney.

How often have you wondered what it would be like to go back in time and talk to an historical icon? Katori Hall's THE MOUNTAINTOP is a gripping and often humorous re-imagining of events the night before the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that won London's 2010 Olivier Award for best new play. It's one of the best ways imaginable to honor Dr. King, Black History Month and the Black Lives Matter movement by experiencing its Los Angeles premiere at the Matrix Theatre, directed by Obie Award-winner Roger Guenveur Smith and starring Larry Bates and Danielle Truitt. I cannot imagine any two actors more suited to step into the shoes of these two characters, having worked together in a previous production of the play at San Diego Rep, also directed by Smith.

Written, directed and choreographed by three-time Emmy Award-winner Debbie Allen, Freeze Frame takes audiences on a rollercoaster ride through some of LA's toughest streets where gangs, poverty, violence, and drugs are an everyday reality. Originally commissioned by the Brisbane Arts Festival, Freeze Frame is a dynamic mix of street-tough characters sharing their stories through a series of high-powered scenes of dance, song and drama featuring more than thirty Debbie Allen Dance Academy proteges and professional guest artists.

To those of us called Baby Boomers, we grew up being entertained by television shows everyone in the family could enjoy together. There was the Ed Sullivan Show, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and many others too numerous to name. I remember watching To Tell the Truth and attempting to guess along with the panelists, one of whom was Orson Bean, who added his own humorous stamp to the show for eight years. So when I heard that his one-man show "Safe at Home, An Evening with Orson Bean" was being presented at Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice (where he has been a long-time member), I knew the stories he was going to share would be extremely humorous. And, as it turns out, deeply insightful into how he survived and thrived in the entertainment industry for so many years.

Now onstage by the Aerospace Players through February 6, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN tells the story of sharpshooter Annie Oakley (Julie Hinton, a natural comedienne who perfectly inhabits the role) and her romance with Frank Butler (Stephen Cathers). Unfortunately, Cathers has no chemistry whatsoever with Hinton, and try as she might to entice him, their romance seems implausible and totally unbelievable. Without two solid leads who really appear to be in love, or at least attracted to each other physically, the musical lacks the spark needed to fuel the plot.

'Talking to Terrorists' is a verbatim, word for word journey into the inner workings of the motivations of what makes a terrorist tick and why they do what they do. By going directly to the source, this unflinching play seeks to answer two of the most important questions of our time: why does this keep happening, and how can we stop it?

Nothing is ever quite what it seems. Matthew's wife, Lisa, is having an affair with Adrian, a British theatre director. Or perhaps the affair is part of the play being rehearsed. Or perhaps Matthew has imagined all of it simply to have something to report to Frank, his therapist. Finally, there is Cory-the mysterious woman who seems to shadow the others-who brings the story to its surprising conclusion. Or does she? The audience itself plays the role of detective in this hilarious "relationship thriller" about love, lust and the power of deception. But unfortunately, the PRIVATE EYES story is impossible to follow as it is so non-linear that you never know who to believe when.

Celebrated stars of stage, screen and television Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss star in Dearest Friend, as the famed couple perform a reading of the actual love letters of second U.S. President John Adams and his First Lady, Abigail Adams. These powerful and moving letters, written as our nation was being formed, by one of America's founders and his wife are extraordinary, moving and deeply insightful into their love for each other and for our great country.

It's been said the bond between sisters goes beyond what words can express. Thank goodness British playwright Gail Louw has managed to overcome any restrictions to that rule and written an exquisite play called TWO SISTERS now enjoying its U.S. Premiere at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. It centers on Jewish sisters Edith and Rika who are celebrating Edith's 75th birthday on the Israeli kibbutz where she has lived since age 18, one of the early pioneering kibbutznik collective farmers who became a Socialist and stayed.

"The Manor" is by now a Los Angeles/Beverly Hills institution, now in its 14th year and having surpassed its 200th performance in 2014. The show is a roman a clef, a fictionalization based on real events with the actual historical characters given new names. "The names have been changed to protect the guilty," is shared during the show's introduction to the audience. To lend authenticity to the tale, the show is presented in the grand and glorious architectural landmark in which the events of 87 years ago actually took place. Audience members are led from room to room in the lovingly restored marvelous Greystone Mansion as different scenes of the narrative are portrayed, leading up to a shocking and apparent murder and suicide.