Shari Barrett - Page 44

The Pirates of Penzance with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert is an hilarious and hopeful farce concerning Frederic (Chris Yeschenko), who, having completed his 21st year, is released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates led by the hot-shot Pirate King (the ultimate pirate Drew Fitzsimmons, who co-directed and choreographed the production with Michael-Anthony Nozzi). Performances continue through December 21 at the San Pedro Theatre Club.

Kentwood Players presents the Tony Award winning musical "Into the Woods" with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine, from Friday, November 14 to Saturday, December 20 with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm, with two Thursday night performances at 8pm on December 11 and 18 at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue, Westchester, CA 90045. The production is directed by Shawn K. Summerer with musical direction by Catherine Rahm, produced by Lori Marple-Pereslete and Tony Pereslete by special arrangement with Music Theatre International.

American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is known for his immense contributions to musical theatre for over 50 years. He is the winner of an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards (more than any other composer) including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and the Laurence Olivier Award. Sondheim fans are in for a treat this holiday season with two Sondheim shows playing within just a few miles of each other: Kentwood Players at the Westchester Playhouse is presenting 'Into the Woods' and Chromolume at the Attic Theatre is presenting 'Putting it Together' with both productions opening on November 14, 2014.

The several intertwined stories about characters motivated by the seven deadly sins and shocking scenes of excessive cruelty and suffering (especially the violent blinding of Gloucester, Lear's descent into madness, the raging storm, and the tragic death of Cordelia), make KING LEAR a profound exploration of the human condition in all its extremes and complexities. And when well performed by actors who fully comprehend the psyche of their character as well as the meaning of Shakespeare's vocabulary, brilliance happens.

Get ready all you "Rocky Horror" fans! There's a new show in town that is begging for you to join in the fun, just as long as you don't mind being splattered with blood, breaking pencils, or waving pompoms. Due to robust ticket sales and an ever-increasing dedicated fan base, RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL has added nine additional performances at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood through November 23. The blood flows so freely during the show that the first 3 rows are designated as a "splash zone." So bring your raincoat or accept a plastic trash bag from the stage manager for protection.

WAIT UNTIL DARK centers on a missing doll carried into the United States by photographer Sam Hendrix (Linden East) for a woman named Lisa he meets at a Canadian airport. When the doll goes missing in Sam and Susy's apartment, three ruthless thugs show up to try and find it, terrorizing Susy in the process. Many will remember the 1966 Broadway play starring Lee Remick and Robert Duvall, or the 1967 film starting Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin, But seeing it in an intimate 99 seat theater brings spine-tingling chills galore.

TRAIN TO ZAKOPANE: A true story of hate and love, by Henry Jaglom, will have its World Premiere at the Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica beginning November 14. The play is based upon true events that occurred in the life of Henry Jaglom's father as he crossed Poland on a train in 1928 when anti-Semitism was rife in much of Europe, especially Poland. It is a compelling love story that explores the human condition in its darkest and most exquisite moments, laying bare how compassion and intolerance can, even in the most unusual of circumstances, be one and the same.

FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUSICAL is based on the original novel by Mary Shelley and has music by Mark Baron, lyrics by Jeffrey Jackson, and a book by Jackson and Gary P. Cohen. The story follows Shelley's novel quite closely, and is ultimately about man reaching for the power of God, while battling the two deadly sins of greed and pride. Victor is a tragic character who means well. He simply wants to learn the secrets that would allow him to bring back to life someone he lost when he was young - his much-beloved mother.

Set in Appalachia and written entirely in verse, Biguenet's charming and mesmerizing solo play introduces us to a wacky, bizarre old woman living in an odd little shack deep in the woods… who just happens to be a witch. Creepily funny and frightening, Jenny O'Hara takes us back to our childhoods when, in our innocence, we first wrestled with good and evil. As she unveils her life, we journey with her down a shadowy path somewhere between our material world and the realm of fantasy. But we soon find out this is no Hansel and Gretel fairytale; in BROOMSTICK, justice has been meted out swiftly and harshly by the Witch during her entire lifetime.

Each Halloween season, Unbound Productions presents adaptations of classic horror literature as an immersive theatre event that takes place at Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery in Altadena, California. Yes, that's right - you spend the evening surrounded by dead people with much reverence and respect paid to each vault and tombstone, especially those lucky enough to become part of the show. No doubt, as they have in the past, the shows will sell out this year so order your tickets soon.

INTO THE WOODS is tied together by an original story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family, their dealings with a Witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey. Join Cinderella, Little Red Ridinghood, Rapunzel, Jack the Giant Slayer, and many other famous storybook characters as they each venture into the foreboding woods in search of magical items, love, money, or simply a purpose in life. This classic mash-up of Grimm's fairy tales teaches all of us the true consequences of what it means to "get your wish."

The Kirk Douglas Theatre was originally an historic 1940s Streamlined Moderne-style movie house called the Culver Theater, and it is believed that Kirk Douglas' movie "Spartacus" played there in the early 1960s. In 2003 it was transformed into an intimate 317-seat live theatre venue and named for the theatre's initial major donor: Kirk Douglas. On Tuesday, October 14, 2014, CTG's Kirk Douglas Theatre celebrated its 10th birthday with Anne and Kirk Douglas in attendance.

Culver City residents and married couple Jack Stehlin and Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin are getting ready to open Shakespeare's OTHELLO, a co-production between the Odyssey Theatre and The New American Theatre, on Friday, October 24 at the Odyssey Theatre. Jeannine, Managing Director of The New American Theatre, is producing OTHELLO together with Ron Sossi, Artistic Director of the Odyssey Theatre, with Jack starring as the villainous Iago. With his strong physical presence and background as part Mexican and part Native American, A Martinez is playing Othello, the Moor. The production is directed by John Perrin Flynn, Artistic Director of Rogue Machine Theatre.

DISCORD brings three great thinkers together in a room which appears to be a holding cell for heaven. They enter according to the time period in which they lived: first Thomas Jefferson, then Charles Dickens, and finally Count Leo Tolstoy. When each enters through the only door, it closes and locks, blocking the only way out. Thus begins their examination of why they have been brought together, what they could possibly have in common, and how can they possibly escape? It's a blistering battle of wits for the ages.

Collaborative Artists Ensemble presents the West Coast Premiere of the modern romantic comedy HOW I FELL IN LOVE by Joel Fields, the producer/writer of the immensely popular and critically acclaimed television series 'The Americans,' from today, October 17 through November 16, 2014.

Collaborative Artists Ensemble presents the West Coast Premiere of the modern romantic comedy HOW I FELL IN LOVE by Joel Fields, the producer/writer of the immensely popular and critically acclaimed television series "The Americans," from October 17 through November 16, 2014 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 7:00pm at the Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, located at 5636 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038. The production is directed by Steve Jarrard by special arrangement with the author. Featured in the cast are Austin Iredale, Kenny Leu, Desire Noel, and Meg Wallace.

Directed by Caitlin Hart, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? is meant to be a poignant saga chronicling the life of Nadine's children, Birdie (Lisa Jai), Charlie (Marc Pelina), Rainbow (Alex Marshall-Brown) and Ray (Thaddeus Shafer), the son she gave away. As they traverse the moral and financial bankruptcy that is poverty, we witness the choices they make to survive and how their paths cross during the 60-year journey where estranged family and friends entwine and collide in poetic stories of love, impoverishment, and dreams.

ON THE RAZZLE is an older British term for what we in the colonies would translate as 'partying down.' Playwright Tom Stoppard has stated that his 'primary concern is to make the tale as comic an entertainment as possible.' Stoppard's farce consists of two hours of slapstick shenanigans, mistaken identities, misdirected orders, malapropisms, double entendres, and romantic complications. There is no great earthshaking social message here, just impossible situations, incredible physicality, and loads of laughs.

Starting with the imaginative small space staging by director Cate Caplin, musical direction by Jeff Bonhiver, and choreography by Samantha Whidby who also stage manages the production, each of the actors lovingly brings all our favorite Peanuts comic strip characters to life. Set to music in a series of vignettes, "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" chronicles an average day in the life of Charlie Brown (Holland Noel) and his friends Linus (Richie Ferris), Lucy (Dorothy Dillingham Blue), Schroeder (John Devereaux), along with his sister Sally (Kristin Towers-Rowles), and of course his loyal dog Snoopy (Matt Steele). This little show is packed with heart and humor, expressed in the pure and honest simple truths of children, performed by a fun-loving and super energetic cast.

Collaborative Artists Ensemble presents the West Coast Premiere of HOW I FELL IN LOVE by Joel Fields, the producer/writer of the immensely popular and critically acclaimed television series "The Americans," from October 17 through November 16, 2014 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 7:00pm at the Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, located at 5636 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038. According to D.H. Lawrence, "We have made a great mess of love since we made an ideal of it." HOW I FELL IN LOVE centers on two lost souls, Nessa and Todd, each haplessly seeking their ideal romantic partner as they stumble into adulthood alone in the City of the Angels.