Marc Ginsburg News

The Los Angeles City College (LACC) Theatre Academy and Kritzerland Entertainment present the world premiere of LEVI!, a classic fit new musical based on the life of Levi Strauss with a book by legendary cult Film Writer/Director Larry Cohen and Janelle Webb Cohen; and music and lyrics written by Disney's most celebrated Oscar-winning Composers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.

5-Star Theatricals (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) unveils its first production, an ambitious reworking of 'Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.' Did it work? Read our review to find out!

The Los Angeles City College (LACC) Theatre Academy and Kritzerland Entertainment present the world premiere of LEVI!, a classic fit new musical based on the life of Levi Strauss, with a book by legendary cult film writer/director Larry Cohen and Janelle Webb Cohen, and music and lyrics written by Disney's most celebrated Oscar-winning composers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman (Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang, Charlotte's Web, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and more).

Thanks to the magnificent performance of handsome and muscular Adam Hollick, there is an overwhelming Spiritual Presence that shines within Joseph, a power that allows him to overcome every obstacle in his way. He rises above being separated from his loved ones, sold to nomads traveling through the harsh desert, being thrown into a pit, sent to prison, and then elevated by a hard-rocking Elvis-impersonator Pharaoh (Patrick Cassidy living it up to the hilt in blue suede shoes and sequins) to a position of respect and authority after one of his visions proves to save the people of Egypt.

5-Star Theatricals (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) opens its 2017-2018 season with Patrick Cassidy starring as the Pharaoh in a fresh new look at an all-time family favorite, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice, musical direction by Dr. Cassie Nickols, choreography by 'So You Think You Can Dance' choreographer Dave Scott and directed by 5-Star Theatricals Managing Director Will North.

5-STAR THEATRICALS (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) opens its 2017-2018 season with Patrick Cassidy starring as the Pharaoh in a fresh new look at an all-time family favorite, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice, musical direction by Dr. Cassie Nickols, choreography by So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Dave Scott and directed by 5-Star Theatricals Managing Director Will North.

Back by popular demand, Contempo Productions brings Katharine McDonough's intimate re-staging of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL to the Chromolume Theatre in West LA for two weekends only. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

5-Star Theatricals (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) opens its 2017-2018 season with Patrick Cassidy starring as the Pharaoh in a fresh new look at an all-time family favorite, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice, musical direction by Dr. Cassie Nickols, choreography by 'So You Think You Can Dance' choreographer Dave Scott and directed by 5-Star Theatricals Managing Director Will North.

The Colony Theatre in Burbank has announced four performances of A Little Night Music In Concert from September 21 24. The concert presentation of this classic musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler will be directed by Laura Stribling and feature musical direction by Jennifer Lin. Sarah Jo Provost serves as assistant director.

A LITTLE NEW MUSIC returned to the historic Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood on Monday, August 21st with its fifteenth concert featuring emerging musical theatre artists. Co-hosts, Tony Award winner Marisa Jaret Winokur (HAIRSPRAY) and Ryan O'Connor ('BIG LITTLE LIES,' 'LADYWATCH' podcast), delighted the audience with context and humor between numbers. Gregory Nabours and the dynamic ALNM band (Eric McCann, Emily Rosenfield, and Greg Sadler) provided excellent backup to the singers performing the next generation of musical theatre songs. 

On Monday, August 21 at 8:30pm, A Little New Music will present its 15th concert collaboration with an eclectic array of artists performing original musical theatre songs at the historic Catalina Jazz Club. Those who attend A Little New Music will be some of the first to discover new pieces of musical theatre that could potentially become Broadway hits. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in rehearsal!

3-D Theatricals of Los Angeles County and Orange County is pleased to present Monty Python's Tony Award-winning musical comedy SPAMALOT August 4 - 13 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center (with an official press opening of August 5); and August 18 - 27, 2017 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

When Monty Python's Flying Circus first premiered on television in 1969, few could have imagined how influential the program would become thanks to the inventive minds of its six main collaborators Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Known for their surreal slapstick humor which satirized the over-politeness perceived to be the epitome of British culture, the series spawned multiple films, some stage performances, and the outrageously hysterical musical SPAMALOT, mostly based off the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and some of the television show's more memorable skits. The original 2005 Broadway production was nominated for 14 Tony Awards, including the scenery and costumes currently being used in the thoroughly entertaining 3-D Theatricals musical comedy extravaganza from August 4 - 13 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center and August 18 - 27, 2017 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

3-D Theatricals of Los Angeles County and Orange County is pleased to present Monty Python's Tony Award-winning musical comedy SPAMALOT August 4 – 13 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center (with an official press opening of August 5); and August 18 – 27, 2017 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

???????3-D Theatricals of Los Angeles County and Orange County is pleased to present Monty Python's Tony Award-winning musical comedy SPAMALOT August 4 - 13 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center (with an official press opening of August 5); and August 18 - 27, 2017 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

Contempo Productions presents THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, book by Nan Knighton and score by Knighton and Frank Wildhorn, as you've never seen it before!

Contempo Productions presents THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, book by Nan Knighton and score by Knighton and Frank Wildhorn, as you've never seen it before!

The last time I laughed, really laughed at something funny, I didn't stop to ask myself what made it funny. The various classifications of comedy through the ages have never seemed that significant to learn unless I were a professor of comedy or were looking for a few items of fun trivia to share at a cocktail party. Reed Martin and Justin Tichenor love to abridge as in their Reduced Shakespeare and the History of America, both of which seem to work just fine with audiences, but if you reduce comedy, doesn't it take the fun out of funny? For the first half of The Complete History of Comedy (abridged), currently onstage at the Falcon Theatre, I felt like I was in a classroom instead of the theatre. Lists and lists of the funniest people, funniest double acts, etc were thrown at us as if we were students preparing for a major exam on the subject. But by the time the first act came to an end, in a scene filled with strobe lights, a Mack Sennett chase replete with cream pies flying and cops falling down took center stage, and what he had been hearing about started to make sense. Comedy is the slap, the pratfall, the schtik, the slapstick produce the laugh-filled relief that we get from the pressures of everyday living. Under the fast paced direction of Jerry Kernion, three geniuses of physical comedy Marc Ginsburg, Mark Jacobson and last. but hardly least Zehra Fazal prove that they can put on a show and make us laugh.

For the 75th Kritzerland show we are thrilled to present the amazing songs of the amazing Rupert Holmes.

There are undoubtedly other productions worthy of merit in 2016 which I did not cover. This list is based only on what I saw and reviewed. (alphabetical listings; Equity, Equity-waiver & Non-Equity productions are mixed) (artists performing outside LA may be included in performance categories) No set, costume, technical awards. I leave that to the bigger awards and to the expertise of those who really know those fields inside out.