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ARTICLE
by Joel Beers, OC Weekly
[ Link
to OC Weekly ]
January 5, 2012
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Side Story will play at the Chance from July 6 - August 12 |
If the Mayan long-form calendar is right (and,
obviously, any civilization that hit its peak 1,000 years ago was right about
everything . . .) the world ends Dec. 21. Good thing we've got sexualized puppets,
Orson Welles, Richard M. Nixon, a homoerotic Abe Lincoln and the guillotine on
local stages to get us through the next 350 days.
BOOM
A dark comedy set at the end of civilization,
as white people have long known it, featuring a journalism student and a gay
scientist as the last two people on the face of the planet.
At the Chance Theater,
www.chancetheater.com.
Sept. 21-Oct. 21.
WEST SIDE STORY
No, the world isn't pleading for yet another production of this groundbreaking
(for 1950) musical, but the Chance has demonstrated an undeniable ability to
make musicals sing in recent years. (Honorable mention at the Chance: Reborning,
a creepy-sounding dark comedy about a guy who sculpts baby dolls, April 20-May
20.) Chance Theater, www.chancetheater.com. June 29-Aug. 5.
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ARTICLE
by Les Spindle, Back Stage
[ Link
to Back Stage ]
January 30, 2012
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A scene from Jerry Springer: The Opera,
which received eight LADCC nominations |
The nominees and special award recipients for the 43rd annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, honoring distinguished achievements in L.A. theater during 2011, were announced on Monday. Ebony Repertory Theatre Company's revival of Lorraine Hansbury's classic drama " A Raisin in the Sun," currently restaged at the Kirk Douglas Theatre with one lead role recast, and the Chance Theater's Southern California premiere of "Jerry Springer: The Opera" both lead the nominations with a total of eight each.
Other shows receiving several nominations are the Odyssey Theatre-Evidence Room co-production of Len Jenkin's noir-inspired "Margo Veil" with five, and the zany world premiere tuner "Re-Animator the Musical" with four. Leading production companies were Center Theatre Group, which netted 10 nods, for shows at its Ahmanson and Kirk Douglas Theatres and the Mark Taper Forum. Eight nominations each went to Ebony Repertory Theatre, Chance Theater, and Rogue Machine. Geffen Playhouse received seven.
The awards ceremony is set for Monday, March 19, 2012 at A Noise Within (3352 East Foothill Blvd., Pasadena), the classical repertory theatre company.
The show will be hosted by actor-singer Jason Graae, who received LADCC's 2007 Joel Hirschhorn Award for outstanding achievement in musical theater, and actor Lesli Margherita, a nominee this year for "Kiss Me, Kate." Additional performers and presenters will be announced soon.
Production
“9 Circles,” Alicia Adams and Jessica Hanna, Bootleg Theater
“Blackbird,” Rogue Machine, Theatre/Theater
“House of the Rising Son,” Ensemble Studio Theatre—LA, Atwater Village Theatre
“Jerry Springer: The Opera,” Chance Theater
“Margo Veil,” The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and Evidence Room, Odyssey Theatre
“Re-Animator: The Musical,” Dean Schramm & Stuart Gordon, Steve Allen Theater
“Small Engine Repair,” Rogue Machine, Theatre/Theater
“The Cripple of Inishmaan,” Center Theatre Group and Druid and Atlantic Theater Company, Kirk Douglas Theatre
“Way to Heaven, Ron Sossi, Odyssey Theatre
Direction
Trevor Biship, “Jerry Springer: The Opera,” Chance Theater
Andrew Block, “Small Engine Repair,” Rogue Machine at Theatre/Theater
Sean Branney, “The Crucible,” Theatre Banshee
Bart DeLorenzo, “Margo Veil,” The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and Evidence Room at the Odyssey Theatre
Phylicia Rashad, “A Raisin in the Sun,” Ebony Repertory Theatre at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center
Music Direction
Gregory Nabours, “Falsettos,” Third Street Theatre
Michael Paternostro, “Kiss Me, Kate,” Reprise Theatre Company at Freud Playhouse
Gerald Sternbach, “The Robber Bridegroom,” International City Theatre
Mike Wilkins, “Jerry Springer: The Opera,” Chance Theater
Choreography
Karole Armitage, “Hair,” Broadway/L.A. at the Pantages Theatre
Andy Blankenbuehler, “Bring It On: The Musical,” Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre
Todd Nielsen, “The Robber Bridegroom,” International City Theatre
Kelly Todd, “Jerry Springer: The Opera,” Chance Theater
Musical Score
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Amanda Green, and Tom Kitt, “Bring It On: The Musical,” Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre
Mark Nutter, “Re-Animator: The Musical,” Steve Allen Theater
Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire, “Shrek the Musical,” DreamWorks Theatricals, Neal Street Productions, and Broadway/L.A. at the Pantages Theatre
Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, “Jerry Springer: The Opera,” Chance Theater
Ensemble Performance
“A Raisin in the Sun,” Ebony Repertory Theatre at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center
“Jerry Springer: The Opera,” Chance Theater
“Margo Veil,” The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and Evidence Room at the Odyssey Theatre
“The Cripple of Inishmaan,” Center Theatre Group and Druid and Atlantic Theater Company at the Kirk Douglas Theatre
“The Crucible,” Theatre Banshee
Lighting Design
Patrice Besombes, “Iris,” Cirque du Soleil at Kodak Theatre
Paule Constable, “Les Misérables,” Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre
Jeremy Pivnick, “House of the Rising Son,” Ensemble Studio Theatre—LA at the Atwater Village Theatre
Brian S. Shevelenko, “Jerry Springer: The Opera,” Chance Theater
Sound Design
Mikhail Fiksel, “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” Geffen Playhouse
Casey Long, “Jerry Springer: The Opera,” Chance Theater
Adam Phalen, “9 Circles,” Bootleg Theater
John Zalewski, “Margo Veil,” The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and Evidence Room at the Odyssey Theatre
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ARTICLE
by Back Stage
[ Link
to Back Stage ]
March 1, 2012
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A
scene from Jerry Springer: The Opera,
which received five Garland Awards |
In 1998, Back Stage for the first time honored Southern California’s best theater actors, directors, writers, and designers. Fourteen years later, the Los Angeles–area theater scene is the nation’s most prolific—and Back Stage continues its tradition of singling out the best of the best. Among the 15th annual Garland Award winners are artists who are well-known to theatergoers across the country and others who have just begun to make their mark on Southland stages. Back Stage is proud to present the full list of Garland recipients here and to introduce our readers to one winner who epitomizes everything that’s great about the world of 99-Seat theater in L.A.: actor-playwright John Pollono, whose play “Small Engine Repair” has earned three Garlands.
This year’s recipients were chosen by our devoted L.A. theater critics—Jeff Favre, Hoyt Hilsman, Travis Michael Holder, Amy Lyons, Eric Marchese, Dink O’Neal, David C. Nichols, Neal Weaver, and Jennie Webb. The selection process was overseen by Les Spindle, Back Stage Editorial Associate, L.A. Theater.
Back Stage congratulates the winners and looks
forward to continuing the tradition of celebrating all the important work that
takes place night after night in one of the world’s greatest theater towns.
Production
“The Cripple of Inishmaan," Center Theatre Group and Druid
and Atlantic Theater Company at the Kirk Douglas Theatre
“God of Carnage," Center
Theatre Group, Robert Fox, David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, Stuart Thompson, Scott
Rudin, Jon B. Platt, the Weinstein Company, and the Shubert Organization at the
Ahmanson Theatre
“Jerry Springer: The Opera," The Chance Theater
“Small
Engine Repair," Rogue Machine at Theatre/Theater
Musical Score
Amanda Green (lyrics),Tom Kitt (music), and Lin-Manuel Miranda (music and lyrics), “Bring
It On: The Musical," Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre
Stewart
Lee (lyrics) and Richard Thomas(music and lyrics), “Jerry Springer: The
Opera," The Chance Theater
David Lindsay-Abaire (lyrics) and Jeannine Tesori
(music), “Shrek the Musical," DreamWorks Theatricals, Neal Street
Productions, and Broadway/LA at the Pantages Theatre
Direction
Trevor Biship, “Jerry Springer: The Opera," The Chance Theater
Sean
Branney, “The Crucible," Theatre Banshee at The Banshee
Gates McFadden, “House
of Gold," Ensemble Studio Theatre–Los Angeles at the Atwater Village
Theatre
Michael Michetti, “House of the Rising Son," Ensemble Studio
Theatre–Los Angeles at the Atwater Village Theatre
Matthew Warchus, “God
of Carnage," Center Theatre Group, Robert Fox, David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers,
Stuart Thompson, Scott Rudin, Jon B. Platt, the Weinstein Company, and the Shubert
Organization at the Ahmanson Theatre
Musical Direction
Christy Crowl, “Cabaret," Reprise Theatre Company at the Freud Playhouse
Eric Heinly, “A Christmas Westside Story," Troubadour Theater Company
at the Falcon Theatre
David O, “The Cradle Will Rock," Blank Theatre
Company at the Stella Adler Theatre
Dave Pepin, “Bring It On: The Musical," Center
Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre
Mike Wilkins, “Jerry Springer: The
Opera," The Chance Theater
Sound Design
Mikhail Fiksel, “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity," Geffen Playhouse
Casey Long, “Jerry Springer: The Opera," The Chance Theater
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