BWW Review: To the Genius of Oscar Levant - FOR PIANO AND HARPO at Falcon Theatre
Pulling double duty as both playwright and star, Dan Castellaneta portrays Oscar Levant in his latest new work, FOR PIANO AND HARPO. Levant was a concert pianist, and contemporary of George Gershwin, whose genius gave him entree into the glittering worlds of classical music, Broadway, and Hollywood but whose private demons ultimately undermined his career. The play explores Levant's addictions and mental health issues while committed to a Mt. Sinai psych ward in 1956, on the Jack Paar Show in 1962, and during an extended stay at the home of his friend, Harpo Marx, in 1935.
BWW Reviews: Los Angeles Premiere of VIOLET Provides an Unparalleled Spiritual Journey of Great Depth by Kelrik Productions
When Violet first premiered off-Broadway in 1997, it created a stir winning two prizes for Best Musical but didn't make waves until 2014 when it transferred to Broadway in an all new production starring Sutton Foster. It heartfully tells the story of a disfigured girl from Spruce Pine, North Carolina Violet Karl who makes a journey to Tulsa, Oklahoma in the hopes of being physically transformed by a faith healer. An accident occurred when she was a teen - a blade that her father was using cut her face, leaving an ugly scar - and Violet always blamed her father proclaiming that he did not want her to be pretty. She would have no male prospects and be forced to stay on to live with him on their small farm. The scar runs deep - 'it reaches to your heart' new acquaintances tell her, so the journey to find a brand new 'glamorized' look means everything to Violet who will sacrifice just about anything to have it all.
Kelrik Productions Presents VIOLET, Now thru 5/31
Kelrik Production's upcoming production of the award-winning off-Broadway hit musical VIOLET, a powerful and heartwarming story of a vulnerable young woman's challenges, loves and emotional journey, will now be staged today, May 15 - 31st, 2015 at the Monroe Forum Theater @ El Portal in North Hollywood.
Kelrik Production to Present VIOLET, 5/15-31
Kelrik Production's upcoming production of the award-winning off-Broadway hit musical VIOLET, a powerful and heartwarming story of a vulnerable young woman's challenges, loves and emotional journey, will now be staged May 15 - 31st, 2015 at the Monroe Forum Theater @ El Portal in North Hollywood. With a score by Jeanine Tesori (FUN HOME, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, SHREK THE MUSICAL, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE) and book and lyrics by Brian Crawley. VIOLET is directed by Joshua Finkel.
BWW Reviews: Recognizable Local Characters Inhabit L.A. DELI, A New Comedy by Sam Bobrick
Certainly those of us who frequent any Jewish deli in Los Angeles will recognize these characters. Playwright Sam Bobrick admits some of the events in the play's 12 sketches actually happened to him, some to his friends, and some to people he just happened to be sitting next to at lunch. After working in the entertainment business for over 50 years, he's not sure which is which.
BWW Reviews: Good People Theatre Company Produce an Astounding Inaugural A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE
What a treat to see a brand new theatre company present such a fine opening show like A Man of No Importance! Winner of the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award in New York as Best Off-Broadway Musical, Man..., based on a 1994 film starring Albert Finney, tells a simple but rich story of an ordinary bus conductor in Dublin in 1964 who invests his poetic soul in the spirit of Oscar Wilde and comes up all the richer. Now onstage at the Lillian Theatre in Hollywood, A Man of No Importance is a triumph for Good People and director Janet Miller, who has assembled a fantastic cast.
BWW Reviews: Stunning Opening for Sustaining Sound Theatre Company
I am a huge fan of Louisa May Alcott's story of the March sisters and both films of Little Women, the one from the early 30s starring Katharine Hepburn and Joan Bennett and then the 1949 revival starring June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh and Margaret O'Brien. I'm partial to the latter film, only because I love everyone in that cast, and it was in glorious technicolor. It also boasted Mary Astor as Marmee and Peter Lawford as Laurie.
Photo Flash: First Look at Sustaining Sound Theatre's LITTLE WOMEN, THE BROADWAY MUSICAL
Sustaining Sound Theatre Company, a new professional theater company that seeks to support local and global causes through the creation and presentation of meaningful theatrical experiences, proudly presents 'Little Women, the Broadway Musical' with a book by Allan Knee, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, and music by Jason Howland, from tomorrow, April 4 to April 21, 2013 on Thursday-Friday-Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm at Stage52, located at 5299 Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, Calif. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!