FYI.…The previously announced West Coast premiere of Tennessee and Anna, scripted by Franco D’Alessandro, helmed by Anthony Caldarella, has been canceled. It would have been a visiting production at West LA’s Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, scheduled for Apr. 9. The two-hander, starring Morlan Higgins and Karen Kondazian as the tempestuous duo, Tennessee Williams and Anna Magnani, did not achieve its creative objective in time for its scheduled opening, according to the producer, Phoenix Rising Productions…Planning for more positive fates, Santa Monica Airport-based Ruskin Group Theatre is developing two new intriguing stage works, due to premiere later this year. Film/TV scripter Ed Horowitz (La Femme Nikita) has taken a 10-minute two-person play concept he originally scripted for the Ruskin’s monthly LA Café Plays and expanded it into the two-act tuner Sugar, with music by noted TV composer Marc Lichtman (Touched by an Angel, Promised Land), scheduled to premiere in September. And for all you theatergoing wine aficionados, writer Rex Pickett has adapted his novel Sideways into a play that will feature a nightly audience participation wine-tasting, contributed by an array of local wineries, scheduled for an early winter staging…Mad Men heartthrob Jon Hamm is using his hiatus time to participate in LA Theatre Works production of Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters, recorded before a live audience, Apr. 13-17, at the Skirball Cultural Center, helmed by Jenny Sullivan. Hamm is featured as Vershanin, who yearns for Masha, portrayed by Hamm’s longtime gal friend, thesp/scripter Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein, Tony nominated for Wonderful Town). LATW productions are broadcast in LA over KPCC-FM…Finally, literary legend Gore Vidal is scheduled to appear at Los Angeles Theatre Center on Apr. 2, participating in an after-show discussion of the play, The Devil’s Advocate, with the show’s scripter Donald Freed and Damien Cruden, director of the Olivier Award-winning York Theatre Royal in England…
PREMIERES…Making its way west from the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the local premiere of the five-hander stage comedy, Super Sunday, scripted by Stephen Collins, helmed by Jamie Wollrab, opens Apr. 14 at the Moth Theatre in LA. Collins, also a novelist, is better known as a thesp, appearing on Broadway (Spamalot, The Ritz), off-Broadway (Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy), film (All the President’s Men), currently holding down a series regular spot on the ABC series No Ordinary Family…The premiere of Mutant Olive, scripted and performed by Mitch Hara, preems at Beverly Hills Playhouse Research space, opening Apr. 1, produced by Katselas Theatre Company. Hara peruses an actor’s exploration of “childhood, speed, alcohol, sex, crashed cars, jails, DUIs, death, rehab, an out of body experience and a black cape”…Anaheim Hills-based Chance Theater is offering the premiere of a tuner, The Boy in the Bathroom, on Apr. 23, helmed by company artistic director Oanh Nguyen, featuring book and lyrics by Michael Lluberes with music and additional lyrics by Joe Maloney. This excursion into one boy’s solitary year-long residence amid toiletries is certainly not short on development, having been workshopped at New York Musical Theatre Festival, ASCAP/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop with Stephen Schwartz, New World Stages Workshop, Festival of New American Musicals and a May 2010 On the Radar workshop…There is no premiere like the presentation of a full-length play improvised on the spot. UnScripted Rep, hosted by the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, in association with Page One Productions, is offering instantly created works in the styles of William Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams and Stephen Sondheim, created by Impro Theatre (formerly LA Theatresports), “inspired by the essence of the authors’ work and audience suggestions.” This excursion into immediate theater debuts Apr. 8…
ONE TIME ONLY…That pulchritudinous 1962 Broadway tuner Little Me (book by Neil Simon, score by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, based on the novel by Patrick Dennis) is having a one-night stand at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, Apr. 18, helmed and choreographed by Todd Nielsen, produced by Musical Theatre Guild. Jason Graae assumes the mantle of comically adroit Noble, originally portrayed by Sid Caesar, followed by the revival turns of Victor Garber (1982) and Martin Short (1998)…Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner are presenting Carlie & Doni Help Save the Theatre, a 60-minute tuner comedy extravaganza fundraiser event, hosted by Tomlin at the Santa Monica Playhouse, Apr. 8. Billing themselves as a “straight girl/lesbian musical duo,” they play two LA community college theater academy dropouts who have found greater success on the comedy club circuit…
REVIVALS…A Noise Within concludes its 19th and last regular season in Glendale with absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs, opening Apr. 9, helmed by company co-founder Julia Rodriguez-Elliott. The production features that other co-founder Geoff Elliott and long-time company member Deborah Strang. The Chairs, first staged in 1952, “synthesizes the distorted perceptions that surround the acts of living and dying through a vision unique and dazzling in its profundity.” Of course!… Hollywood-based Actors Co-op is reviving Horton Foote’s well-traveled The Traveling Lady as the final salvo of its 19th anniversary season, helmed by Linda Kerns, opening May 6 at the Crossley Theatre. Founding company member Brenda Ballard returns, having trod the boards in the Co-op’s 1990 production of this work, which was originally scripted in 1954…Aforementioned Ruskin Group Theatre is presenting Arthur Miller’s 1955 memoir play, A Memory of Two Mondays, helmed by thesp Amelia Mulkey, opening June 4…Projecting ahead, Reprise Theatre Company has announced the third revival production of its next season, to be presented next year at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse. The 1966 episodic tuner, The Apple Tree, based on stories by Mark Twain, Frank R. Stockton and Jules Feiffer, wrought by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, opens Apr. 17, 2012. By the way, Tony-nominated Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime) has been tabbed to helm and choreograph Reprise’s season opener Cabaret, debuting Sep. 13…
Mackenzie Astin
THE THING IS… “Original actor Corey Brill left the play to join the cast of Broadway’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo opposite Robin Williams. Fortunately, I saw about 10 performances of this play with him in it before I began rehearsing. That was very helpful. I’ll be honest. I am stealing quite a bit from his performance. This show has such a realistic feel to it. And the shape of the stage space in the theater makes you feel like you’re in this couple’s actual living room. My character goes through some intense situations with his family and his partner that are very serious and at times hilariously funny. The theme of the play, same-sex marriage, is very current and yet so controversial. My character has come out to his friends but much less so to his family who are extremely fundamental Southern Christians. So, when his sister and her daughter come out to visit him with some strong agendas of their own, the situation gets quite volatile, forcing my character to face his past. The first performance I did, I knew I was working with a cast that had been used to a different voice, a different dynamic and rhythm from my character. They were so helpful and supportive. Now that I’ve been in the flow of it for a few weeks, I definitely feel like I am part of a seamless ensemble.” – Mackenzie Astin (son of John Astin and Patty Duke) continues in the role of Kenneth in the world premiere of Caught by David L. Roy, helmed by Nick DeGruccio, extended at Zephyr Theatre till May 15…
2007 production of Cinderella. Photo credit Erlinda Olivera
INSIDE LA STAGE HISTORY…During the last decade of the 19th century the population of Los Angeles doubled from 50,395 (1890) to 102,479 (1900), rising from a national ranking of 57th to 36th largest city in the US. Unfortunately, the sustainability of the community did not match its population surge, resulting in a great portion of the populace living in destitute circumstances. In 1894, socialite Ann Banning (daughter-in-law of LA pioneer Phineas Banning) spearheaded an informal local charitable group of like-minded ladies, calling themselves the Assistance League. In 1919, the organization, led by Banning, was officially sanctioned as the Assistance League of Southern California. Ten years later, the Nine O’clock Players was formed by a group of ALSC members, the League’s first fundraising auxiliary. The Players performed at such venues as the Wilshire Ebell, the Biltmore and Ambassador theaters (always beginning at 9 pm). Subsequently, the Theatre for Children Nine O’clock Players Auxiliary was initiated with a desire to feed the creative souls of the children in the community as well as their bodies. In 1938, the 330-seat Assistance League Playhouse was built with a spacious adjoining outdoor patio for events, located at 1367 N. St. Andrews Place in Hollywood. Now in its 77th year, the Players continue to present two fully mounted productions of plays each year (in the fall and spring) chosen from classic children’s literature, seen by approximately 13,000 children annually (a third of whom are disadvantaged). Proceeds from the performances support the ongoing outreach efforts of the ALSC. “What is not as well known is the Playhouse can be rented for independent theatrical events,” says ALSC representative Janet Harrison. “A company or production could actually use the space for up to six months (Apr. to Sep.). The ASLC certainly could use the revenue.” In 2004, the Playhouse hosted Culture Clash in AmeriCCa, featuring that trio of zany Latinos Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza. At the post opening night reception, Siguenza stood in the patio of this beautifully maintained facility, exclaiming, “This place is exquisite. There should be live theater happening here all the time.” Meanwhile, Nine O’clock Players has mounted its spring show, Velveteen Rabbit…
The Julio Martinez-hosted ARTS IN REVIEW, broadcast Fridays (2 to 2:30 pm) on KPFK (90.7FM), spotlights the best in live theater and cabaret in the Greater LA area. Upcoming on Apr. 1, a showcase of the stage tuner, Re-Animator the Musical, premiering at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood…
