NEWS! NEWS! NEWS! The ragingly successful big-band tuner Hoboken to Hollywood, featuring adept retro crooner Luca Ellis, backed by the sublime 12-piece band led by trumpeter/music director Paul Litteral, which looks as if it could run forever at Santa Monica’s Edgemar Center for the Arts, is definitely closing on Apr. 23. It has run smack dab up against the brick wall of booking priorities known as producer Henry Jaglom who is transplanting and re-mounting the Sierra Madre Playhouse staging of the A.R. Gurney 1995 comedy, Sylvia, to Edgemar, helmed by Gary Imhoff with a spanking new production design by Joel Daavid, scheduled to open May 20. Starring in the title role is Tanna Frederick, who headlined Jaglam’s previous Edgemar successful outing, 45 Minutes From Broadway. The displaced Hoboken would love to move up to a larger house (i.e. Pasadena Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, El Portal, La Mirada, Laguna Playhouse). This is a proven cash cow. Any takers?…The Troubies are self-replecating! Ever-recurring Troubadour Theater Co. has found a way to offer its madness in three locations this summer. Aristophanes’ The Birds gets Troubie-slapped June 9-12 at the site-appropriate Getty Villa in Malibu. Returning to Toluca Lake’s Falcon Theatre is the classic Fleetwood Macbeth, with tunes of Fleetwood Mac infusing themselves within the underbelly of The Scottish Play, July 1-Aug. 14, except for July 15-17. That’s when kilt-clad artistic director Matt Walker marches his motley crew along with Birnam Wood into the quiet southeast LA County village of La Mirada, taking refuge in the local Theatre for the Performing Arts…
LATC BOUNDS INTO SPRING…The action gets impressive at downtown LA-based Los Angeles Theatre Center, the four-stage live performance complex, a facility of the City of LA, which is operated by the Latino Theatre Company (LTC). Playwrights’ Arena, “the only theater dedicated to discovering, nurturing and producing original works written exclusively by LA playwrights,” and LTC are presenting the premiere of Donald Jolly’s bonded, set in 1820s Virginia, “where four slaves must cope with the vicissitudes of life while attempting to understand themselves and the world they are born into,” helmed by Jon Lawrence Rivera, opening Mar. 18. The complete spring season at LATC includes: La Quinta Pared/The Fifth Wall by Maykol Hernández, helmed by Luis O’Malley, produced by 2Rc Teatro, Compañía de Repertorio and LTC, opening Mar. 17; the U.S. preem of The Devil’s Advocate by Donald Freed, staged by Jose Luis Valenzuela, produced by LTC, opening Mar. 25; the West Coast premiere of Houston-based Alley Theatre’s A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, scripted and performed by Herbert Siguenza (Culture Clash), opening Apr. 23; The Good Boy, scripted and performed by Michael Bonnabel, director TBA, co-produced by Menander Theatre Company and Ken Werther, opening Apr. 23; Still Life (a workshop), conceived and scripted by Harry Clark, helmed by Dan Guerrero, featuring Beth Grant as Georgia O’Keeffe and Zilah Mendoza as Frida Kahlo, opening Apr. 29; Fun in Limbo, conceived and performed by Invertigo Dance Theater, May 14 & 15; and part of Radar LA Festival, an international theater festival, June 14-26, including a revival of Evelina Fernandez‘s Solitude… And guesting at LATC, Gay Men’s Chorus of LA (GMCLA), “noted for its versatile repertoire and commitment to promoting civil rights, tolerance and acceptance through music,” showcases A Mighty Voice, featuring a range of classical works by such composers as Felix Mendelssohn, Francis Poulenc, Franz Schubert, led by guest conductor Cristian Grases, Mar. 26 and 27…
SERVING THE YOUTH…Southern California Edison, the City of LA Dept. of Cultural Affairs and the California Community Foundation are funding the Little Tokyo-based East West Players (EWP) Theatre for Youth touring production of Allos: The Story of Carlos Bulosan, by Giovanni Ortega, helmed by Dom Magwili, chronicling efforts of Phillipines-born Buloson, whose 1946 semi-autobiographical novel, America is in the Heart, became the voice of the Filipino immigrant experience…La Mirada Theatre is presenting ArtsPower’s Madeline and the Bad Hat, the national touring musical based on the children’s book by Ludwig Bemelmans, Mar. 13. The third in the Madeline series, adapted and staged by ArtPower’s artistic director Greg Gunning, with music by Richard DeRosa, the production focuses “on the unbreakable bonds of friendship and family.” Since its founding in 1985, ArtsPower has performed to youth audiences in 47 states…Plácido Domingo-led LA Opera is presenting 25 Recitals for 25 Seasons: LA Opera’s Young Artist Celebration, a series of community recitals featuring members of the Company’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program, taking place Apr. 4-May 15, honoring LA Opera’s 25th Anniversary Season…Finally, Actors’ Repertory Theatre at Santa Monica Playhouse announced the extension of the all-new version of the all-singing, all-dancing, 40s-style country n’ western tuner, Barnyard Madness with the Three Little Pigs, on the boards at the Playhouse weekend afternoons, through May 22…
PREMIERES…The Lounge in Hollywood is hosting Rogue Machine Theatre’s West Coast preem of Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath, “a revealing and absurd look at the legendary poet’s life in the moments before her death,” scripted by Edward Anthony, helmed by Matthew McCray, opening Mar. 11…The final production of Hollywood-based Blank Theatre Company’s 20th anniversary season is the West Coast premiere of The Temperamentals, “an eminently likable docudrama about gay identity in the age of Eisenhower” (NY Times), scripted by Jon Marans, helmed by Michael Matthews, opening Apr. 16 at 2nd Stage. Cast includes Erich Bergen, Dennis Christopher, Patrick Scott Lewis, Mark Shunock and John Tartaglia…Still in the midst of its 20th season, NoHo-based Road Theatre Co. is offering the premiere of Pursued by Happiness, comedically perusing the question, “Are we pursuing happiness or is happiness, biologically speaking, pursuing us?” Scripted by Keith Huff (Broadway’s A Steady Rain, The Bird and Mr. Banks), helmed by Robin Larsen, the production opens Mar. 25… Westwood’s Geffen Playhouse is offering the West Coast premiere of Pulitzer Prize- winner Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts, originally produced in 2008 by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Co., opening June 8, helmed by Geffen artistic director Randall Arney. Cast includes Steppenwolf ensemble members Gary Cole and Edi Gathegi (Vampire Laurent of the Twilight saga)… Meanwhile, acclaimed thesp Salome Jens joins Bud Cort (Harold and Maude) in the premiere of The Birthday Present 2050, scripted by Tania Wisbar, helmed by noted film producer Jonathan Sanger (The Producers), opening Mar. 19 at the Skylight Theatre in Hollywood…Streetlamp Studio debuts Erin Gaw’s Crooked Road, “set against the framework of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, shifting the perspective of the story onto a modern-day African-American family in LA.” Helmed by Noisa Wong, featuring original music by indie singer- songwriters Thena & Ted Beam, it opens Mar. 18 at the Lost Studio in Hollywood…Ovation Award-winning Chalk Repertory Theatre opens its 2011 season with the premiere of Hell Money, scripted by Chalk Rep founding member Ruth McKee, performed site-specific style at the new Agenda Loft in downtown LA, opening Apr. 1. McKee’s comedic stagework explores “the plight of two young women who have graduated from the foster care system trying to make a life for themselves in LA,” hoping to beat the very real odds that 50% of emancipated foster youth will be homeless within six months…Projecting far ahead, the elegant downtown LA Ahmanson Theatre is hosting the West Coast premiere of the 2010 Broadway hit American Idiot, the tuner manifistation of the music of Berkeley-based punk rockers Green Day, with a book by band’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer, helmed by Tony-winner Mayer (Spring Awakening), opening Mar. 14, 2012.
FYI…Katharine Ross (The Graduate) and Drake Hegestun (Days of Our Lives) are featured in Abby Mann’s 2001 stage adaptation of his 1961 screenplay for the courtroom drama Judgment at Nuremberg, helmed by Diane Namm, a guest production at Santa Monica Playhouse, opening Mar. 11…Fresh from garnering “Top Honors” at the 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival, Aaron Kozak’s The Birthday Boys, “a gritty and terrifying dark comedy, set in 2006 Iraq, tracking three US Marines who have been taken hostage, bound and blindfolded, doing whatever’s necessary to keep their sanity and stay alive,” helmed by Jacob Smith, has opened the 2011 Theatre Unleashed season, running through Mar. 27 at NoHo Stages…Venice-based Pacific Resident Theatre (PRT) is extending (through Apr. 10) the premiere of Julia, “a comic, touching and tender examination of a 50 year old love – lost and reclaimed,” scripted by Vince Melocchi, helmed by Guillermo Cienfuegos. Melocchi’s previous Lions (2009), was the first published play (Samuel French) to come out of PRT’s playwrights unit…The indefatigable Hershey Felder is going global with his one-hander bio tuner, George Gershwin Alone, opening Apr. 17 at Pasadena Playhouse. A worldwide live radio broadcast of the production on the WFMT Radio Network will take place on May 2… Pepperdine University Center for the Arts is hosting a career-perusing evening with multi-award winning composer/conductor and pianist Marvin Hamlisch, joined by Helen Hayes Award-winning tenor/thesp J. Mark McVey (Les Miserables), Apr. 11 at the campus-based Smothers Theatre…And venturing out into the desert, six-time Ovation winner David Engel is taking on the 39-character onehander Fully Committed, scripted by Becky Mode, helmed by Joel Bishoff, opening Mar. 10 at the Palm Springs Woman’s Club, presented by Coyote StageWorks…
Carole Nussbaum
THE THING IS…“I thank the Board for the high honor of being named President Emeritus. I will wear that title proudly. Cabrillo is a happy, healthy company positioned for a galaxy of more success. I wish the newly elected Interim Chair Gerald Olesker all the best. He is an outstanding individual who has my full support. There are those who have remarked endearingly that I’ve had a love affair with Cabrillo. They are correct. For the past seven years, Cabrillo has been the love of my life and will forever own a piece of my heart. As for me, I’m off to slay more dragons.”
– The conclusion of Carole Nussbaum’s March 3 departure letter as President of Thousand Oaks-based Cabrillo Music Theatre. There has been no further statement as to the reason for Ms. Nussbaum’s departure, who will replace her, or what dragons she plans to slay…
INSIDE LA STAGE HISTORY…The Burbank Theatre Guild was founded in 1985, taking up residence in the Burbank Little Theatre (built in 1957, located in bucolic George Izay Park), led by then recent Boston transplant Gary Blumsack (later the co-founder/artistic director of the Hayworth Theatre). The operation dissolved in 1990 but, along the way, managed to produce some noteworthy stageworks including the premiere of Names by Mark Kemble, the LA premiere of Independence (featuring Marion Ross and Lauren Tewes) by Lee Blessing, the premiere of Sympathy by Dana Coen and others. But the most memorable production was the Guild’s 1986 staging of Frederick Knott’s Wait Until Dark, which preemed on Broadway in 1966, starring Lee Remick as recently blinded protagonist Susy Hendrix who must outwit a determined killer in her darkened apartment. The subsequent 1967 feature starred Audrey Hepburn. The BTG’s production, directed by noted TV writer/producer Michael Sloan, starred two stage and TV vets, Greg Mullavey and Doug McClure. But for the role of Susy, Sloan cast blind-since-birth stage neophyte Cheryl McMannis, whose incredible life story had been chronicled in the 1986 TV film, Can You Feel Me Dancing? starring Justine Bateman. The Guild production got a lot of media attention. One week before opening, Entertainment Tonight (ET) brought a camera crew to the theater to tape a rehearsal. The set pieces were newly in place. While Mullavey, McClure and other cast members stumbled around the newly placed pieces on the small stage, McMannis whisked about as if nothing were there. An ET cameraman whispered, “She’s not blind.” McMannis heard him. “I memorized the set. It’s all in my head. If you want to see me bump into things, just move something an inch out of place.” McMannis guest-starred on a number of TV projects before moving on to other life adventures. Wait Until Dark is having a revival at Group Rep in NoHo. Helmed by David Colwell, it opens at the Lonny Chapman Theatre, Apr. 1…
The Julio Martinez-hosted ARTS IN REVIEW, broadcast Wednesdays (2 to 2:30 pm) on KPFK (90.7FM), spotlights the best in live theater and cabaret in the Greater LA area. Upcoming on Mar. 16, a spotlight on the Pasadena Playhouse production of the world premiere tuner, Dangerous Beauty…
