BWW Review: DINNER AT FIVE at Indian Wells Theatre
Writer Lloyd J. Schwarz, a veteran of such television comedies as The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island, has scribed a new stage comedy called Dinner at Five which has just commenced a five-week run in Palm Desert. Starring four familiar faces from 70's and 80's television, experiencing the play is a bit of a time warp, but much like Televisionland, it wafts us back to a gentler time, and provides an enjoyable evening out.
SUPERMARKET SWEEP Returns to TV on BUZZR, 1/15
Remember the days without self-checkout? When grocery bags were free and cyber purchased produce was a figment of the imagination. Well, you will soon be able to relive those days on BUZZR with the return of SUPERMARKET SWEEP.
BWW Review: Cabrillo Presents the Quintessential FORUM
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum/book by Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart/ music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim/Cabrillo Music Theatre, Thousand Oaks/directed by Lewis Wilkenfeld/choreographed by John Charron/through February 14
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum is silliness personified from its zany characters and inane plot contrivances to its corny yet witty dialogue. It is clever farce set to music. Mistaken identities, zippity fast exits and entrances...it has no rhyme or reason but is terribly, terribly funny with belly laughs about every two seconds. Cabrillo's current revival is astonishingly good with a delicious cast and superlative direction from Lewis Wilkenfeld. It's a practically flawless production.
Photo Flash: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM at Cabrillo Music Theatre
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM makes its Civic Arts Plaza debut. The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED… has enjoyed two successful Broadway revivals, and has showcased generations of comic actors from Zero Mostel and Phil Silvers to Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg. Check out photos from the show below!
BWW Reviews: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM at Cabrillo Music Theatre
Laurel and Hardy must be smiling in the comedy Valhalla. Cabrillo Music Theatre's near-perfect production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which opened last night at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza's Scherr Forum, brings back the classic, broad humor from vaudeville, performed by an inspired cast of crazies who not only aren't afraid of anything going wrong, but are probably HOPING for mishaps that would destroy any other show. This is, of course, because Forum is one of those shows where spontaneity and the unexpected is almost as obligatory as Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart's uproarious script and Stephen Sondheim's witty lyrics.
Cabrillo Music Theatre to Present A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM
It might just be the funniest musical ever written! A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM makes its Civic Arts Plaza debut! This hilarious mixture of slapstick, farce, mistaken identity, music and dance has to be seen live to be believed! The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED... has enjoyed two successful Broadway revivals, and has showcased generations of comic actors from Zero Mostel and Phil Silvers to Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg. Cabrillo Music Theatre's brand-new production opens on Friday, January 29th, 2016 playing until Sunday, February 14th, at the 396-seat Scherr Forum at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.
BWW Interviews: MSMT Talks FOOTLOOSE and 2014 Season
In the last of its 'Peek Behind the Curtain' series, Maine State Music Theatre presented a lively talkback which highlighted the company's final production of Footloose, as well as touching on the intern program, a review of the 2014 season and a preview of the coming 2015 lineup. Broadway World local editor Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold interviewed Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark, Audience Services Manager Susie Sharp, Resident Sound Designer Colin Whitely, Footloose principal David Ruprecht, and MSMT 'Angels' Judie Lemons and Bill Heaphy.
STAGE TUBE: First Look at Highlights of MSMT's FOOTLOOSE
Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT)'s 2014 season is 'still rockin' with their remarkable season closing production of the high-energy dance musical, FOOTLOOSE, running August 6 - 23. Check out a first look at highlights below!
BWW Reviews: Can't Sit Still at FOOTLOOSE
Early in the first act of the Tom Snow - Dean Pitchford 1998 musical Footloose, Ren declares his passion for dancing - 'I can't sit still' - and, indeed, by the end of the evening at the Pickard Theatre, the audience for Maine State Music Theatre echoes his mantra. They are cheering, swaying, and shouting to the music, and embracing the exuberant, touching message of this show. Directed and choreographed brilliantly by Patti Colombo (assisted by Karl Warden) and performed by a dynamic cast, this fourth and final production of MSMT's 2014 season dazzles and delights.
Maine State Music Theatre's FOOTLOOSE Opens Tonight
Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT)'s 2014 season is 'still rockin' with their remarkable season closing production of the high-energy dance musical, FOOTLOOSE, beginning tonight, August 6, and continuing through August 23.
BWW Interviews: The Preacher's Son Plays Reverend Shaw Moore - David Ruprecht
'So here I am, a preacher's son, playing the preacher!' smiles David Ruprecht. The renowned star of television, film, and stage muses about his latest gig playing the Reverend Shaw Moore in Maine State Music Theatre's production of Footloose, which runs from August 6-23.
Ruprecht's affinities for the part and this production are numerous. It is, first of all, directed and choreographed by his wife, Patti Colombo, an experience he says he finds 'very interesting because I never have worked with her as a director before, only once long ago as a choreographer.' Then there is the role of the charismatic and troubled Texas preacher who forbids dancing to the townsfolk of Bomont. 'My dad was a preacher [a Lutheran minister] in Florida, where I grew up, and he was very, very charismatic. Naturally, he wanted his son to become a preacher, too. I had all the talents, but not the calling, so I did the next best thing and became an actor. After all, both actors and preachers put on costumes and speak to large groups or people, and both have a little wine after the show,' he jokes mischievously.
Photo Flash: First Look at Noah Racey and Anne Horak Onstage in Music Circus' CRAZY FOR YOU
Combine more than 20 unforgettable Gershwin songs like "I Got Rhythm" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" with lots of fabulous dancing and a comical boy-meets-girl love story and you get Crazy for You, the rousing, Tony Award-winning musical that closes the 2012 Music Circus Season, at Wells Fargo Pavilion from August 28 - September 2. Check out production photos, featuring Noah Racey as Bobby Child and Anne Horak as Polly Baker, below!
Shirley Jones, Patrick Cassidy, Adrienne Barbeau and More Set for Music Circus' 2012 Summer Season
After auditioning performers in New York City, Los Angeles and Sacramento, California Musical Theatre Artistic Director Glenn Casale has announced casting for the 62nd Music Circus season, including celebrated stage and screen stars as well as audience favorites from previous Music Circus seasons. The five-show season at the Wells Fargo Pavilion includes Grease, Disney's The Little Mermaid, The Music Man, Fiddler on the Roof and Crazy for You.