Ed Krieg News

KPFK Radio's Arts in Review, Los Angeles's longest-running radio showcase on live theater and cabaret, presents its annual Holiday Drama Marathon, featuring the AIR Repertory Players under the direction of Irene Arranga, highlighted by the premiere of Christmas in Tinseltown by Julio Martinez, the encores of To All a Good Night: The History of Santa Claus, Dreidels and Donuts & The Christmas Eve Truce and the 13th annual concert presentation of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, featuring actor Al Alu. Also featured is the holiday music of Al Jarreau.

Director John DiFusco, himself a Vietnam Veteran, opened the world premiere of Rebecca Stahl's EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN on Veteran's Day 11-11-16 at the Hollywood American Legion Post 43, produced by Karl Risinger and Liberty Theater. The play tells the interrelated tale of four generations of vets, each dealing with their own difficulties, who collaborate to help a Lance Porter, a young veteran coming home from the war in Afghanistan. who is haunted by the loss and experiences that followed him back and are destroying his personal relationships and life as he knew it.

Theatre Planners presents the world premiere of WAITING FOR GRACE, an award-winning comedy by Sharon Sharth, as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre, directed by Lee Costello. Centering on a woman who wants to have it all, a great career, marriage and children with the perfect husband, but just seems to waste her life with men who don't want what she does. And when she finally meets the right man, what if her fear of abandonment prevents her from ever accepting she has finally found the right man?

What if true love never happens? Or worse… what if it does? Theatre Planners presents the world premiere of an award-winning comedy by Sharon Sharth. Waiting for Graceopens as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre on November 12, directed by Lee Costello.

Given the uproar in our society today, it's the perfect time to get to the Ruskin Group Theatre for the World Premiere of IT'S TIME written and performed by Paul Linke and directed with great insight into personal acceptance and growth by Edward Edwards. I walked out of the theater in tears, convinced the way to celebrate and live my life in celebration is to look to the future with love and hope, and not live convinced the way to more forward is by focusing on the disappointments seen in rear-view mirror of my life.

CASA 0101 Theater, Josefina Lopez, Artistic Director and the newly formed production company, Angel City Theater Ensemble (ACTE), Vance Valencia, Founder, will present the Los Angeles Premiere of the critically acclaimed play, MARIELA IN THE DESERT, written by Karen Zacarias, directed by Robert Beltran (Star Trek:  Voyager; Zoot Suit; Eating Raoul).  The production will be presented for a five-week run on the theater's Main Stage located at 2102 East First Street (at St. Louis Street), Boyle Heights, CA  90033 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and on Sundays at 5:00 p.m., November 4 - December 11, 2016.  There will be no performances on Thanksgiving Weekend, November 25th, 26th and 27th.

The West Coast premiere of Cathy Lind Hayes' award-winning autobiographical show 'The Beauty, The Banshee & Me' has extended through November 6 at Whitefire Theatre.

Tim Rice's & Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita has had a thirty-eight year international love affair with the public since it  premiered in 1978 in London and in 1979 on Broadway. The newest revival in regional theatre is currently at Cabrillo in Thousand Oaks until October 23 only. An operetta based on Eva Duarte Peron and husband Juan Peron of Argentina, the story documents the rise to power of a simple peasant girl to the rank - almost - of Vice-President of her country. I say almost because she became too ill to accept the nomination in 1951 and passed into immortality in 1952 after a seven year reign as First Lady of Argentina, which began in 1946. Evita: criminal or saint? has been the topic of books and documentaries. Eva

In Cabrillo Music Theatre's new production of Evita, the role of Che, the narrator figure based on Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, is played by Marc Baron Ginsburg. A Philadelphia native, Ginsburg has enjoyed a varied career on both coasts prior to coming to Cabrillo. His favorite roles include Aaron (First Date,) Lord Farquaad (Shrek), Lawrence Jameson (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), and Quixote/Cervantes (Man of La Mancha), among many others. He also played Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh's First National Tour of Oliver! Marc and his wife Liza, who is also a performer, are recent parents of a son, Phoenix, who was born in June. We talked to Marc about his career and his approach to the key role he is playing in Evita.

The beloved book about a mouse named Stuart who is born into an ordinary New York family comes delightfully to life in this charming adaptation. Follow Stuart's many adventures in this classic tale about loyalty and friendship. For ages 4+

Our universal need to be remembered is the underlying theme of a behind-the-scenes baseball comedy by Ken Levine, an Emmy Award-winning writer (Cheers, M*A*S*H, The Simpsons), acclaimed sportscaster and former host of Dodger Talk. Andrew Barnicle directs the world premiere of Going... Going... GONE! for an Oct. 1 opening at the Hudson Guild Theatre in Hollywood.

The heart of the story in Wendy Graf's world premiere play PLEASE DON'T ASK ABOUT BECKET centers on a young woman's journey to self-awareness as she learns to separate herself from her identity as the twin of a young man who should have been able to achieve greatness due to his social standing and upbringing as the "star" of his close-knit Jewish family. Seen through the lens of upper middle-class privilege where a favored son is seen as perfect in every way, we are taken on the journey through his life and how his presence affects each of his family members, both uniting and dividing them as they struggle to reconcile their relationships.

What makes the current production at the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica so special is its Tony Award winning director Lita Gaithers Owens cast Tony Award nominee Starletta DuPois as Lena "Mama" Younger. DuPois has a long history with A RAISIN IN THE SUN having first been cast as Beneatha, then became known for her role as Ruth in the acclaimed American Playhouse film version, and now Mama. "A true gift at this point in my career is having experienced the life of this play through three extraordinary women characters that the playwright created," DuPois shared. In fact, her emotional and physical understanding of the role so central to the play was thrilling to experience as her entire physical presence totally embodied Mama right down to every moment of her joys, heartbreak, anger, and love for her children, as if DuPois was channeling Mama from her very soul.

I cannot think of a better way to spend a hot summer night than to watch a sizzling stage production of a Tennessee Williams film. Baby Doll, when it first arrived in 1956, was condemned by the Catholic Church for indecency, and because of its lewd poster-sized ad depicting Carroll Baker lying in a crib, sucking her thumb, was one of the most controversial films across America. Now, almost 70 years later, the West Coast premiere stage adaptation by Pierre Laville and Emily Mann of Williams' Baby Doll is a practically flawless production at the Fountain Theatre, directed with stunning clarity by Simon Levy...and boasting an unforgettably ingenious cast of five.

The ruins of an abandoned WWII Nazi compound in Pacific Palisades, known today as the 'Murphy Ranch,' are the inspiration for a new play. The Athena Cats presents the world premiere of Blueprint for Paradise by Laurel M. Wetzork, opening July 30 at the Hudson Theatres in Hollywood. Laura Steinroeder directs a cast that includes Alex Best, Regi Davis, Ann Hu, David Jahn, Steve Marvel, Peter McGlynn and Meredith Thomas.

With lead actress Lindsay LaVanchy currently in New Orleans shooting an episode of Scream: The TV Series for MTV, the Fountain Theatre has announced a revised running schedule for the West Coast premiere of Baby Doll, adapted by Pierre Laville and Emily Mann from the 1956 Academy Award-nominated film by Tennessee Williams. The new opening date will be July 29, and performances will continue through Sept. 25.

Veteran Broadway actor Stu James (Benny in RENT, national tour of The Color Purple) will reprise the role of black entrepreneur and music mogul John Dolphin when last season's smash hit musical RECORDED IN HOLLYWOOD gets an all-new production at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Previews began July 8, with the press opening was held on July 16. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

When The Little Mermaid was released in 1989, it not only became one of the most popular Disney films to date, it was also the very first animated musical to use Broadway composers for its music - changing the direction of animated movies forever. Now Cabrillo Music Theatre brings this amazing story to life with The Little Mermaid, live on stage! This is not simply a children's show - it's a brand-new fully-developed Broadway musical, in the spirit of Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Mary Poppins, and Cabrillo Music Theatre's production will be the first in the region!

Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID opens today, July 15th, 2016, playing until Sunday, July 24th, 2016 at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the stars in costume below!

Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID opens on Friday, July 15th, 2016, playing until Sunday, July 24th, 2016 at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the stars in costume below!