Friday, March 15, 2013
What's Happening Around Town for March 15, 2013
The Burger Palace Boys and the Pink Ladies are about to take you for a joyride back to 1959 in the Cabrillo Music Theatre premiere of the classic rock ‘n’ roll musical, Grease! The show opens Friday, April 12 and runs through April 21, at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. Directed by Barry Pearl, who toured in the original production of the show, and played Doody in the movie, choreographed by his cohort Kelly Ward (the movie’s Putzie) and with Southern California favorite David O. as musical director, it's sure to be a wop baba lu bop! Ah wop bam boom good time. The cast also feature Adrian Zmed as Teen Angel, who makes a memorable appearance singing “Beauty School Dropout.” Zmed, is a veteran of the original Broadway Grease and the film, Grease 2. A post-show discussion will follow the Saturday, April 13th, 2pm performance and a signed performance for the deaf and hard-of-hearing will take place on the Friday, April 19th performance. For tickets, visit www.cabrillomusictheatre.com or call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Photo by Ed Krieger.
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
The Norris Center for the Performing Arts presents the west coast premiere of Real Men Sing Show Tunes…and Play With Puppets, a new musical for guys who hate musicals, and the women who love them April 26 – May 12. This new adult musical comedy by Paul Louis and Nick Santa Maria is a madcap and hilarious romp through the all the many stages of manhood. It features 29 original songs that pay homage to all things male, lampooning such issues as fatherhood, mid-life crisis, dating, marriage, aging, and sex (or the lack of it). The hysterically funny show makes clever use of puppetry to fill out the cast of zany characters. Shows are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm at Norris Center for the Performing Arts, 27570 Norris Center Drive, Palos Verdes Peninsula. Tickets are $38 and available by calling (310) 544-0403 or online at www.norriscenter.com.
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
French Steward To Host LADCC Awards
French Stewart will host the 44th annual Los Angeles
Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Awards on Monday, March 18 at the Los Angeles
Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St. downtown. You can reserve tickets for the show and opening
reception, which starts at 6:30pm, by e-mailing
crixawards2013@gmail.com. All seats are $30. Top representatives of local
institutions – including Michael Ritchie of CTG; Sheldon Epps of The Pasadena
Playhouse; Barbara Beckley of The Colony Theatre; and Zombie Joe of Zombie
Joe’s Underground – will assist Circle members in presenting awards in 17
competitive categories as well as a host of special award plaques. Entertainment
will include almost two dozen performers reuniting to perform “The Rumble” from
Chance Theatre’s revival of West Side Story, the cast of Celebration Theatre’s Justin Love,
Cesili Williams from The Color Purple, Tim Cummings from The New Electric
Ballroom, and Bad Apples’ Kate Morgan Chadwick, accompanied by the show’s
composer/lyricists Beth Thornley and Rob Cairns. A cash bar with great food and
a silent auction (cash and checks only, please) will take place 6:30-7:30. For
more information, go to www.ladramacriticscircle.com.
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
What Does Professionalism Mean in the American Theatre?
LA STAGE Alliance has announced this year’s LA Stage
Talks, a series of panel discussions moderated by LA STAGE Alliance CEO Terence
McFarland, exploring various aspects of the creation of performing arts in
Southern California. The premiere event is What Does Professionalism Mean in
the American Theatre?, co-hosted by KPCC on Tuesday, March 19 from 7:00 - 8:30 pm,
at the Crawford Family Forum in Pasadena. The event is free, but space is
limited. RSVP is required at www.LASTAGEAlliance.com/talks.
Michael Bateman of Yale University will present the findings of this new study
and talk with leaders of the Los Angeles theatre community about its relevance
to the L.A. landscape. Audience members will be encouraged to lend their
thoughts to the discussion of what it means to be a professional, and how the
concept of professionalism is evolving in the arts.
In addition to Bateman, the panel will include Charles
Dillingham (Past Managing Director, Center Theatre Group), Elizabeth Doran
(Executive Director, Pasadena Playhouse; past Managing Director, Actor's Gang),
Jose Luis Valenzuela (Artistic Director, Latino Theatre Company), Debbie Devine
(24th Street Theatre), and Jenny Byrd (Brimmer Street Theatre Company). The
Crawford Family Forum is located at 474 S. Raymond Avenue in Pasadena. The talk
will also be livestreamed, and panelists will take questions from online
viewers during the events. Information on how to view and how to ask questions
will be posted at www.LASTAGEAlliance.com.
For more Musicals in LA news:
Labels: cabrillo music theatre, la stage alliance, ladcc, norris center
