Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Ghosts and Ghouls and Gore, Oh My
Southern California theatres are offering some great shows for early Halloween entertainment right now. You can find everything from lighthearted family fare to the truly macabre (for adults only) around town. Here are some fun ones to check out...plus a look at GLEE's upcoming Rocky Horror Tribute.
The Phantom of the Opera, playing at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, will close on Halloween. This is the final Los Angeles engagement of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s tragic love story of a beautiful opera singer and a young composer shamed by his physical appearance into a shadowy existence beneath the majestic Paris Opera House. It’s adapted from Gaston Leroux’s classic novel of mystery and suspense, and features some of the most lavish sets, costumes and special effects ever to have been created for the stage. http://bit.ly/9dnesu
Head: The Brain That Wouldn’t Die Musical is a new rock musical adaptation of the 1962 B-movie, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, now playing Friday and Saturday late nights at the MET Theatre through November 2. It’s the story of a doctor who keeps his girlfriend’s head alive after a fatal car crash and desperately searches for a replacement body, complete with singing and dancing. For adults only. Mature content. http://bit.ly/aroh5H
Into The Woods: Lucid By Proxy’s darker take on the familiar fairy tale mash-up strips away the lavish, brightly-colored fairy-tale sets and costumes and focuses on the relationships, the storytelling and Sondheim's amazing music. Directed by Calvin Remsberg and starring Anthony Geary, this is Into the Woods in a way you've never seen it before. www.lucidbyproxy.com
Spider Baby The Musical playing at the Lyric Hyperian Theatre Café is an authorized adaptation of Jack Hill's classic horror film. Spider Baby the Musical tells the story of the Merrye family, whose members all suffer from a degenerative mental disorder which causes a loss of impulse control. Their distant relatives want to institutionalize the Merrye children and sell their land and the show deals with the extreme measures the family takes to stay together. www.spiderbabythemusical.com
Zombie Love The Musical: “How do you woo the girl of your dreams when she should be your next meal?” That’s the question this cleverly-twisted musical tale asks. Adapted from the award-winning film of the same name, Zombie Love is a deliciously biting new comedy about desire, dissent, danger ...and dismembered delicacies of the undead. Playing at the Maverick Theater in Fullerton. Student discounts available. http://bit.ly/c44sLH
FAMILY THEATRE FUN
Absolutely Halloween is the heartwarming tale of “Candy,” a sweet young girl who learns about life, love, laughter and sugar, from a colorful array of characters who take her on a magical All Hallow’s Eve adventure, enlisting the audience’s aid to help save Halloween for one more year. This delightful holiday tradition is back by popular demand for the sixth year in a row at Santa Monica Playhouse. Halloween Special: Come in costume, and get two-for-one tickets for any future Family Theatre show. Free face-painting before both performances on October 30 & 31. http://bit.ly/9tmjMz
Scary Poppins: The All-American Melodrama invites you to Long Beach for some fun for the whole family. A lonely inventor, Crappoticus Plops gets more than he bargained for when new nanny Scary Poppins comes to care for his children in this hilarious adventure spoof of those wonderful children's fantasy films of the 1960's. www.allamericanmelodrama.com
Scary Poppins: The All-American Melodrama invites you to Long Beach for some fun for the whole family. A lonely inventor, Crappoticus Plops gets more than he bargained for when new nanny Scary Poppins comes to care for his children in this hilarious adventure spoof of those wonderful children's fantasy films of the 1960's. www.allamericanmelodrama.com
THEATRE / COMEDY
Bell, Book and Candle, directed by Richard Israel, opens October 20 at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. Gillian (Willow Geer) is a beautiful witch living in 1950s New York City who is smitten with her handsome upstairs neighbor (Michael Newcomer), but if she falls in love with him, she might lose her magical powers forever. This spellbinding romantic comedy shows that love might be the most bewitching spell of all. Featuring Mary Jo Catlett as Aunt Queenie. www.colonytheatre.org
Blithe Spirit, Noel Coward’s timeless comedy is currently playing at A Noise Within in Glendale. Charles Condomine and his wife Ruth get more than they bargained for when an after-dinner seance led by local spiritualist/eccentric Madame Arcati produces an uninvited guest from the great beyond to crash the party, prompting a delightfully cosmic clash of personalities both worldly and otherwise. www.anoisewithin.org
A Midsummer Night’s Scream: Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Orange County uses Shakespeare's original text and twists this classic romantic comedy for Halloween. Four love-struck teenagers wander into a deserted cemetery and find themselves caught in the crossfire of a feuding pair of regal ghouls and their zombie subjects. www.hungerartists.com
Kidnapped by Craigslist: The Graveyard Shift is an eerie and risqué new comedy that explores the carnivalesque, cult-like phenomenon that is Craigslist, bringing actual postings to life from the website with scripted material and music. The unique one-hour play explores the true stories that are locked inside the online community, just in time for the Halloween season. Elephant Space Theatre in Hollywood. www.thespyants.com
Blithe Spirit, Noel Coward’s timeless comedy is currently playing at A Noise Within in Glendale. Charles Condomine and his wife Ruth get more than they bargained for when an after-dinner seance led by local spiritualist/eccentric Madame Arcati produces an uninvited guest from the great beyond to crash the party, prompting a delightfully cosmic clash of personalities both worldly and otherwise. www.anoisewithin.org
A Midsummer Night’s Scream: Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Orange County uses Shakespeare's original text and twists this classic romantic comedy for Halloween. Four love-struck teenagers wander into a deserted cemetery and find themselves caught in the crossfire of a feuding pair of regal ghouls and their zombie subjects. www.hungerartists.com
Kidnapped by Craigslist: The Graveyard Shift is an eerie and risqué new comedy that explores the carnivalesque, cult-like phenomenon that is Craigslist, bringing actual postings to life from the website with scripted material and music. The unique one-hour play explores the true stories that are locked inside the online community, just in time for the Halloween season. Elephant Space Theatre in Hollywood. www.thespyants.com
GLEE HALLOWEEN EPISODE
And finally, here’s a sneak peak from GLEE’s Rocky Horror Picture Show episode, airing Tuesday, October 26 at 8/7C. http://bit.ly/bvOhfp
Rachel and Finn’s roles should be pretty obvious but the rest of the cast has a few surprises in store. Kurt will be playing Riff-Raff, Mercedes is Frank-N-Furter, Quinn and Santana are both playing Magenta, Tina is Columbia, Mike is Eddie and Artie is Dr. Scott....and that doesn’t include the guest stars. When Puck drops out of the show, John Stamos (Dr. Carl) fills in, crashing his motorcycle through a stage wall, and a shirtless Chord Overstreet will be wearing the gold lamé shorts.
Songs featured in the episode include:
"Science Fiction Double Feature”
"Damn It, Janet”
“Whatever Happened To Saturday Night?”
“Sweet Transvestite”
“Touch-A Touch-A Touch-A Touch Me”
“There's A Light (Over At The Frankenstein Place)”
“Time Warp”
