Michael Lamont News

DOMA Theatre Company has struck gold with its final production of the 2012 season, a tightly crafted, well-played AVENUE Q directed by one of L.A.'s favorite local theatre directors, Richard Israel.

Tony Award nominee Cathy Rigby takes flight in an all-new production of PETER PAN. Discover the magic all over again of this two-time Emmy award-winning and two-time Tony award-nominated production.

Very few new shows, especially musicals, have that extra special spark, that je ne sais quoi that makes them a surefire success. For starters, there must be a good book - with a story that's credible...and funny - and a pleasant score that keeps your fingers and toes tapping, at least while you are in your seats. Justin Love, based on a story by David Elzer and Bret Calder, is one such musical, that , in spite of its excess, is guaranteed to make you laugh nonstop and with a cast and crew to die for.

A new block of tickets through Sunday, November 18, is now on sale for SILENCE! The Musical at the Hayworth Theatre.

Stage and screen star Sanaa Lathan (A Raisin in the Sun, Contagion) returns to the title role in Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark for its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. Lathan, who originated the character of Vera Stark in the critically acclaimed New York run, will once again take the stage as the 1930's era maid turned movie star, reunited with original cast member Kimberly Hebert Gregory (Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer) reprising her role as fellow aspiring African American actress Lottie. Get a first look at the stars onstage below!

Celebration Theatre in association with DEMAND PRoductions and Peter Schneider have announced the first show of its celebratory 30th Anniversary Season, the world premiere musical, JUSTIN LOVE, with book by Patricia Cotter and David Elzer, story by David Elzer and Bret Calder, music by Lori Scarlett and David Manning and lyrics by Lori Scarlett. The show will be directed by Michael Matthews with choreography by Janet Roston and musical direction by Gregory Nabours. JUSTIN LOVE is currently running through Sunday, November 18, 2012, at Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood.

Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan! Filled with tunes including "Neverland" and "I Won't Grow Up," the young and young-at-heart will relive the wonder of one of the most beloved family musicals on December 11th to 23rd, 2012 at TUTS.

Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) presents PETER PAN, December 11 - 23, 2012 at the Hobby Center for Performing Arts. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the production below.

Fall head over heels in love with a rollicking Broadway parody starring Greek goddesses on roller skates. DOMA Theatre Company goes retro with Xanadu, the musical based on the 1980 cult film. The show opens tonight, September 7, and runs through October 7, 2012. Get a first look at the production in the photos below!

Winner of the 2012 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical, SILENCE! The Musical the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, with book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli, opened a Los Angeles company with performances beginning August 31, at the Hayworth Theatre. This engagement marks the West Coast Premiere of the Off-Broadway hit. The press opening is scheduled for Saturday, September 8, 2012. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.

DOMA Theatre Company unleashes the third offering in an ambitious season of musicals with book/lyricist Leslie Bricusse and composer Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll & Hyde, the Musical. The Tony-nominated Broadway sensation is set for a limited run, July 6-29, at the intimate MET Theatrein Hollywood with DOMA artistic director Marco Gomez at the helm,Angela Todaro choreographing, and musical direction by 21-year-old prodigy Chris Raymond, a protege of Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production photos below.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: LA welcomes THE EXORCIST, DOGFIGHT hits Second Stage, Christian leaves STARCATCHER, and so much more!

The Geffen Playhouse's world premiere stage adaptation of The Exorcist features Brooke Shields and Richard Chamberlain in the iconic roles of Chris MacNeil and Father Merrin, respectively, as well as Broadway actor David Wilson Barnes as the troubled young priest Father Damien Karras, Tony Award nominee Harry Groener takes on the role of Chris' charismatic director Burke Dennings and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television graduate Emily Yetter plays the young Regan MacNeil. The world premiere cast also includes Stephen Bogardus, Manoel Felciano, Tom Nelis and Roslyn Ruff. The play is written by John Pielmeier adapted from the novel by William Peter Blatty, and is directed by John Doyle. The Exorcist just began previews and opens in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse on July 11, 2012 and runs through August, 12, 2012. Get a first look at the production in the photos below!

East West Players (EWP), the nation's largest producing organization of Asian American artistic work and the longest-running professional theatre of color in the country, has joined in community partnership with Academy for New Musical Theatre (ANMT) and the LA Opera Education and Community Programs. "We are very excited to partner with ANMT and the LA Opera for this production," says EWP producing artistic director Tim Dang. "The goal of this community partnership is to bring greater awareness of the missions of our respective organizations, all of which are connected to promoting the performing arts, and what better way than through musical theatre."

If you're looking for a good example of what great hidden gems are being produced at Southern California regional theaters these days, then look (and listen) no further than the enjoyable revival of the smash musical MISS SAIGON currently playing at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through May 6 (with three additional shows at the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside, CA starting May 11). Produced by McCoy Rigby Entertainment, this surprisingly full-scale production of the West End/Broadway hit is not only a feast for those with a penchant for big, grandiose theatrics, it will also please those seeking to hear a lovely, euphoric score performed by a talented ensemble.

The Geffen Playhouse presents David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People, starring Jane Kaczmarek (Broadway's Lost in Yonkers and television's Malcolm in the Middle), and acclaimed stage and screen actor Jon Tenney, last seen at the Geffen Playhouse in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow. Presented by One West Bank, Good People began previews yesterday, April 3, 2012 and officially opens in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse on April 11, 2012. BroadwayWord brings you production shots below!

High school is never easy and, as Truman High's head cheerleader Campbell (the perfectly blonde Taylor Louderman) finds out, it's especially hard when last minute redistricting means you now have to attend inner-city Jackson High where there is no cheerleading! With a book by Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) and music by Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) and Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), Bring It On: The Musical is bubbly, choreographed and, except for the occasional "biotch" to remind us that it's high school, clean, G-rated fun.

Kate Rockwell is blissfully excited about coming to San Francisco as part of the musical comedy cast of 'Bring It On.' She plays Skylar, whom she describes as "the sexy, sassy cheerleader you love to hate." In her interview with BroadwayWorld's Linda Hodges Kate talks about her love of SF and her new show - as well as what it's like to be living her Broadway dreams.

In her second commission for the Geffen Playhouse, Jane Anderson combines the two oldest professions: theater and prostitution. The Escort follows the relationship between Charlotte, a high-class call girl played by Maggie Siff (Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy) and Rhona, her upper West side female gynecologist, played by Polly Draper (thirtysomething, Broadway's Closer). James Eckhouse (CTG's The Goat, Beverly Hills 90210) doubles as Rhona's self-righteous liberal ex-husband and one of Charlotte's johns, and LAtheater newcomer Gabriel Sunday (My Suicide, Taking Woodstock) doubles as Rhona's manipulative teenage son and a seductive male escort. Helmed by Lisa Peterson, The Escort opens at the Geffen Playhouse on April 6 and runs through May 8.

The subtitle of the world premiere musical Having It All - Take Flight - speaks volumes. Five women, from totally different walks of life, are in the waiting area of a New York airport, each with a problem that needs attention. What happens to them over the course of 100 minutes gives this introspective a la Sondheim or Jason Robert Brown musical its punch and substance. With five stellar singers/actresses and fluid direction from Richard Israel Having It All has hit written all over it. It truly soars.