Feb. 12, 2017 - HALLELUJAH, BABY! at the Alex Theatre

HALLELUJAH, BABY!
Sunday, February 12, 2017 at 7 PM

at the ALEX THEATRE

216 N Brand Ave • Glendale, CA 91203

Musical Theatre Guild continues its 2016-17 season with 1968's HALLELUJAH, BABY!, written Broadway luminaries Jule Styne, Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Arthur Laurents. This one-night staged concert reading plays Sunday night at Glendale’s Historic Alex Theatre at 7:00 pm. 

HALLELUJAH, BABY! follows the struggles of a black woman in America over a 60-year period of changing race relations. The show won five 1968 Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Presented by the Musical Theatre Guild of Los Angeles, the performance will star Sharon Catherine Brown as Georgina and Carol Dennis as Momma, Damon Kirsche as Harvey and Trevon Davis as Clem, supported by MTG members Jimmy Gleason, Kelly Lester, and Natalie Wachen, and guest artists Eric B. Anthony, and Anthony Manough.

The 7 PM performance will be directed and choreographed by Gerry McIntyre with musical direction by Gerald Sternbach.

The Alex Theatre is located at 216 N. Brand Blvd in downtown Glendale, CA. Season and single tickets are available by visiting www.alextheatre.org or by calling 818-243-ALEX. Additional information on MTG can be found at www.musicaltheatreguild.com.

Alex Theatre • Musical Theatre Guild

TICKETS: $45
email: tickets@musicaltheatreguild.com,

or call (818) 848-6844.

11/17: WONDERFUL TOWN at Musical Theatre Guild

On November 17, I'll join fellow Musical Theatre Guild members as we present Bernstein, Comden and Green's WONDERFUL TOWN, the first show of our 2013-14 season, now on LA's West Side at the Moss Theater.

Eileen is a beautiful innocent from Ohio seeking fame as an actress on Broadway.  Ruth is Eileen’s older sister, who wants to be a writer, but must protect Eileen from the unspeakable evils and dangers they’re sure they’ll find in New York City in 1935.  In their basement apartment in Greenwich Village they fend off the former tenant’s “dance students”, are kept awake all night by underground dynamite blasts from the subway construction, hide their All-American football playing neighbor from his live-in girlfriend’s mother, both fall for the same guy, host a really uncomfortable dinner party, and teach a raucous group of Brazilian Naval Cadets how to conga, which leads to Eileen being hauled off to jail for creating a disturbance.  And that’s just Act One!  Wonderful Town won five 1953 Tony® Awards, including Best Musical and Best Actress.  With a score that includes ”A Little Bit in Love,” “One Hundred Easy Ways (To Lose a Man),” “Wrong Note Rag,” and “Ohio,” why, oh why, oh why-oh? Why would you miss the first Leonard Bernstein show that MTG has ever presented?

WONDERFUL TOWN

Music by Leonard Bernstein

Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green 

Book by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov

Based on their play "My Sister Eileen," which is itself based on the collection of short stories by Ruth McKenney.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

at the MOSS THEATER
at New Roads School

3131 Olympic Boulevard 

Santa Monica, CA 90404

TICKETS: $45

Visit musicaltheatreguild.com,

email: tickets@musicaltheatreguild.com,

or call (818) 848-6844.

8/24: APACF's Great Gatsby Weekend

I'll be presenting songs written for the Leading Men of Broadway's Golden Era by Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green this Saturday as I join David Burnham (Broadway: "Wicked," "The Light in the Piazza") and Eden Espinosa (Broadway: "Wicked," "Flora, The Red Menace") as the line-up of live entertainment at the Anaheim Performing Arts Center Foundation's Great Gatsby Weekend.

GREAT GATSBY WEEKEND

Anaheim Performing Arts Center Foundation
Saturday, August 24 at 5:30 PM

Tickets available at 714.554.2711 or gigi@apacf.org.

4/7: Just in Time: The Songs of Comden & Green

Kritzerland at Sterling’s Upstairs at The Federal presents

Just in Time:

The Songs of Comden and Green

SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013 — 7:00 pm

Starring (in alphabetical order):

UPDATE: Read Don Grigware's review at BroadwayWorld.com.

Cynthia Ferrer (Happy Days, Goodspeed; Kathy, Singin’ in the Rain, 1st nat’l tour; Blood Brothers, Li’l Abner, MTG) 
Damon Kirsche (Duke/Carrasco: Man of La Mancha, Musical Theatre West; 9 To 5, Musical Theatre Wichita)
Lisa Livesay (Nat’l Tour, Wicked, Glinda; Monteen, Parade, Center Theatre Group; Tribute to Alan Menken, NY) 
Madison Claire Parks (Laurey, Musical Theatre West, Oklahoma!; Full Circle Opera, Christine, Phantom of the Opera)
Jenna Rosen (Disney’s Sofia the First, Carpenter Performing Arts Center; Outside The Box’s The Exorcist, The Musical)
Robert Yacko (Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof. Company with Carol Burnett; Sunday in the Park with George)

and Special Guest:

Jason Graae (Broadway: A Grand Night for Singing, Falsettos, Stardust, Snoopy! Off-Broadway: Forever Plaid, Olympus on My Mind, All in the Timing, Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (Drama Desk Nomination, Best Actor in a Musical. PBS: Guest soloist with the Boston Pops and once with Marvin Hamlisch and the National Symphony, his voice appears on more than 40 CDs). Movies, TV, Los Angeles Opera, he does it all.)

Music Director: Lloyd Cooper

     "Our April 2013 Kritzerland at Sterling’s, our 32nd show, features the songs of the legendary Comden and Green, or Betty and Adolph as they liked to be called. Producer Bruce Kimmel recorded and released a lot of their music, from a Sally Mayes solo album, devoted to them, to the revival cast recording of Bells Are Ringing, to reissues of A Doll’s Life and Subways are for Sleeping.
     Comden and Green burst on the Broadway scene with On The Town and after that auspicious debut they wrote an amazing array of Broadway musicals, including Wonderful Town, Peter Pan, Bells Are Ringing, Subways are for Sleeping, Do Re Mi, Fade Out - Fade In, Hallelujah, Baby, On the Twentieth Century, and The Will Rogers Follies. They also wrote the MGM musical, It’s Always Fair Weather, and provided the screenplays for some pretty amazing MGM musicals, including Good News, The Barkleys of Broadway, The Band Wagon and, of course, perhaps the greatest MGM musical of them all – Singin’ in the Rain. They worked with amazing composers – Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne, Andre Previn, and Cy Coleman, and gave the world such incredible standards as “New York, New York,” “The Party’s Over,” “Just in Time,” “Make Someone Happy,” “I Can Cook, Too,” “Never Never Land,” “Long Before I Knew You,” and many, many others.
     We have a great cast for this show, along with the always-amazing Jason Graae, our guest star. There’s even a rumor that Guy Haines may make an appearance. So, join us for a celebration of Comden and Green and some of their most beloved songs – as always with a Kritzerland show, you’ll get the classics along with some lesser-known gems."

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Reservations: 818 754-8700

Your phone reservation will be confirmed. Dinner reservations: From 5:30 pm – 6:00 pm.

Cover charge $15 + $10 food minimum + $3 facility charge.

Sterling’s at The Federal

5303 Lankershim Blvd., 
North Hollywood, CA 91601

The Federal Bar is adjacent to the El Portal Theatre.

The North Hollywood Stations for the Metrolink Red Line and Orange Line are directly across the street, north of Chandler on Lankershim. Parking is available – entrance for Federal lot is on Weddington Street (directly behind the building) at $3.50. There is also available street parking.

For more information visit Sterling’s Upstairs at The Federal.

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“Bruce Kimmel’s winning Kritzerland formula: talented singers, special guest stars and entertaining narration by Kimmel himself.” — Les Traub, Cabaret Scenes

“If you have never experienced a Kritzerland show, you do not know what you are missing. Forever humorous Bruce Kimmel presents a dazzling array of talent singing some very precious material. And there are always surprises.” — Don Grigware, Broadway World

“Once again the inimitable Bruce Kimmel has brought together a group of superior singers to present an informative, delightful, musically satisfying evening of song.” — Robert Machray, Stage Happenings 

5/20: BELLS ARE RINGING - Reiner Reading Series

This Sunday, I'll appear as Jeffrey Moss in Styne, Comden and Green's BELLS ARE RINGING as part of the Reiner Reading Series at Musical Theatre West.

Ella Peterson, telephone operator at 'Susanswerphone,' is in love with the voice at PLaza 0-4433. Come and remember a time before cell phones and voice mail, where operators were standing by to take messages and maybe even change lives. This classic show originally starred Judy Holliday features the standards “Just In Time” and “The Party’s Over.”

Beth Malone

BELLS ARE RINGING

May 20, 2012, 7 PM

UNIVERSITY THEATRE

California State University

1250 Bellflower Boulevard

Long Beach, California 90840

Tickets: $25 in advance / $30 day of – General Admission seating

Box office: 562.856.1999 x4, Tues – Sat 12:00-6:00

Damon Kirsche

BETH MALONE* (Ella)

DAMON KIRSCHE* (Jeff)

NICK SANTA MARIA* (Sandor)

SUSAN PEAHL* (Sue)

LOUIS PARDO* (Kitchell)

NEIL QUINN (Barnes)

TRACY COX PEDRETTI (Gwynne)

ADAM TRENT (Barton)

BRAD FITZGERALD (Hastings)

JEFFREY SCOTT PARSONS* (Carl)

with

JILL MARIE BURKE*

JULIE CARRILLO

JACKIE COX

PARNELL DAMONE*

WILLIAM MARTINEZ*

KAREN SCHNURR*

CLAY STEFANKI

JENNIFER STRATTAN

ALLIE ROY (Stage Manager)

JULIE FERRIN (Sound Design)

MICHAEL BETTS (Director)

MATTHEW SMEDAL (Musical Director)

JOHN J. TODD (Choreographer)

Produced by Michael Betts and David Lamoureux

as part of Musical Theatre West's Reiner Reading Series

*denotes member of Actor’s Equity Association