Southern California Guide

by Valerie Summers Final Interview, now playing at the intimate Pico Playhouse, is by far the best drama I have seen in a very long time.   Featuring two main characters, a big shot head of a large company and an interviewee, an apparently bumbling, insecure guy who is not making a very good impression. […]

by Valerie Summers Six exceptionally multi- talented performers, both singers and musicians, brought the house down with their renditions of the songs of stars of Rock and Roll as well as some of their own compositions. The energy flowing between the stage and the audience was palpable as the musicians encouraged participation with singing along […]

by Valerie Summers Just opened, one of the funniest comedies of the year…Screwball Comedy, at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills.  The packed house was roaring with laughter as the tale of a wanna be reporter who  is assigned to interview the newspaper’s owner’s son regarding his pending marriage gets her chance.  Set in the 1930’s, […]

by Valerie Summers The Los Angeles premiere of Honkey Tonk Laundry at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre makes for an evening bursting with the talent of its two stars, Bets Malone and Misty Cotton.  Displaying the kind of friendship like Thelma and Louise, these two women get back at the men who done them wrong supporting […]

by Valerie Summers The Old West burst into life capturing the story of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance now playing at the Rubicon Theatre. Written by Jethro Compton and adapted from the short story by Dorothy Marie Johnson, the action packed play follows the short story much more closely than did John Ford’s legendary […]

by Valerie Summers Although the Valley Performing Arts Center opened three years ago, my first visit occurred recently when I headed over to the San Fernando Valley for a performance featuring the great jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis.   Situated on the southeast corner of  the California State University, Northridge campus, the stunning  glass walled landmark […]

by Valerie Summers Multi-talented does not begin to describe  Daniel Beaty, star of The Tallest Tree in the Forest which just opened at the Mark Taper Forum at the Los Angeles Music Center.  In this one-man show, Beaty artfully and believably portrays the life story Paul Robeson but embellishes the tale with more than a […]

A human cast of more than 40 in addition to a cast of amazing life-sized equine puppets brought what was originally described as a children’s book to life on the Ahmanson stage of the Los Angeles Music Center.  The author, Michael Morpurgo disagrees.  He feels that the tale set during World War I in England […]

Shades of Gray — no not that book — it’s a new one man play written and performed by Tom Dugan — Robert E. Lee- Shades of Gray at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills.  Mr. Dugan, whose critically acclaimed one-man play, Nazi-Hunter — Simon Wiesenthal, is back bringing to life another perhaps misunderstood historical figure […]

Five very talented actresses, well chosen not only for their voices but also their persona, make the story, Having It All,  that much more believable.   The scene is the waiting room at JFK airport where five strangers from various walks of life initially trapped together due to delay after delay, become intimate friends.  A […]

Every seat in the casual, intimate Celebration Theatre in Hollywood was filled to capacity for the opening night (July 16) of the Los Angeles premiere of a new musical, “title of show.”  Fresh from Broadway, this unique musical is a show about making a musical created by and for people who love musicals, and the […]

One of my favorite summer outings is enjoying theatrical entertainment in the rustic Will Geer Theatre Botanicum in Topanga.  Over the weekend I viewed a fascinating play about the famous opera diva Maria Callas in Master Class which I enjoyed at the Los Angeles Music Center more than a decade ago.  This was more a […]

Last night I attended the opening of a strikingly original black comedy, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, a blistering graphic satire with a moral message about violence, which closed with a standing ovation followed by a private party honoring the actors.  The play is set on a rocky Irish island where a hard-boiled terrorist considered too […]