DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Take a 1964 Marlon Brando-David Niven-Shirley Jones comedy (Bedtime Story), remake it in 1988 with a new title (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and an even funnier trio of leads (Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headley), turn it into a 2005 Broadway musical starring John Lithgow, Norman Leo Butz, and Sheri Rene Scott which scored eleven Tony nominations and one big win for Best Actor Butz, then assign director extraordinaire Richard Israel to downscale it to 99-seat dimensions and you’ve got Interact Theatre Company’s sensational L.A. Intimate Theater Premiere of the hit musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, just opened at the NoHo Arts Center.
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SIDHE
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
A hunky young Irishman and his pretty but droopy young wife arrive at a dark, dingy Chicago apartment for a “look-see.” Since they’ve come baggage in hand, clearly, they’re planning on staying. No matter that the “semi-furnished” flat has only a sofa and a floor lamp. No matter that Conall and Jackie have no references. “Give me some cash, I’ll give you the keys, and then I’ll be out of your way,” offers Louise, the dour 30something landlady, and when the Irishman insists that “I’m not putting this many dollars in your hand without some metal in mine,” the exchange of cash and keys brings Louise and her new renter flirtatiously close. Even without witnessing this, Jackie is not at all happy about Conall’s decision to rent Louise’s upstairs apartment. “She looked at us,” she cautions the Irishman, and again, “She looked at us!”
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THE COLUMBINE PROJECT
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Of all the Los Angeles theater success stories of 2009, perhaps none was greater than that of The Columbine Project, Paul Storiale’s meticulously researched docudrama about the Columbine High School massacre of 1999. World premiering last April at the 48-seat Avery Schreiber theater in North Hollywood, The Columbine Project was extended twice before transferring to off-Broadway with unprecedented swiftness (and with the entire L.A. cast intact). Its July through October New York run at the Actors Temple Theatre was praised by the prestigious New Yorker magazine as a production which “fills the tiny, funky theatre with talent and gravity.” In December, the original North Hollywood production was awarded five ADA (Artistic Director Achievement) Awards including a Best Director award for its creator/writer/director Paul Storiale.
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HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE
Friday, January 22nd, 2010Paula Vogel tackles pedophilia in her 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned To Drive, and if the sexual abuse of an eleven-(to seventeen)-year-old sounds like unpleasant subject matter for an evening of theater, you’re absolutely right. Told by its heroine Li’l Bit as a series of flashbacks, How I Learn To Drive is a play that had me squirming almost from its first moment. Notwithstanding, The Production Company’s current revival is as superbly performed, directed, and designed as they get.
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A VEGAS HOLIDAY! SONGS FROM “LIVE AT THE SAHARA”
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
Louis And Keely are back in town at NoHo’s El Portal Theatre with A Vegas Holiday! Songs From “Live At The Sahara,” an evening of the hits that made stars of Louis Prima and Keely Smith. They’re also the songs that made Louis And Keely: Live At The Sahara one of L.A. musical theater’s greatest success stories in recent years.
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HAMLET
Monday, December 14th, 2009
From its opening moments, it’s clear that this Hamlet will be quite unlike any you’ve seen before. Two young actors (Peter Weidman and Kirsten Kuiken) stand center stage in modern dress and begin reciting Hamlet’s instructions to the traveling players. You know the words. “Speak the speech I pray you as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue …” These oft-quoted acting tips will serve as advice to the cast of tonight’s performance of Hamlet, and the two actors are soon surrounded by the entire ensemble, joining voices till the final “Go make you ready.”
Lights down. Lights up. The Tragedy of the Prince of Denmark has begun.
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JUST IMAGINE
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
Just imagine you could turn back time and spend two hours with one of the most influential music superstars of the 20th Century. Just imagine that this pop music legend is John Lennon, a month or so before his tragic murder at the age of forty. Just imagine that during these two hours, you could hear Lennon perform live and in person several dozen of his greatest compositions, backed by some of the best rock musicians in the business. Just imagine that Lennon would, between songs, share stories about his life—from his childhood in working class Liverpool to his rise to superstardom in the mid-60s to the controversies which surrounded him during the turbulent Vietnam years to the happiness he eventually found as husband and father. Just imagine that all this could actually take place in an intimate setting, say in one of L.A.’s finest 99-seat theaters.
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A BIG GAY NORTH HOLLYWOOD WEDDING
Friday, November 6th, 2009
Run, don’t walk, to see A Big Gay North Hollywood Wedding!
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