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 The best recipe for fun filled holiday entertainment calls for a mixture of Charles Dickens’ traditional and beloved A Christmas Carol spiced with contemporary comments about the world we live in. Mix in the musical genius of Carole King.  Stir thoroughly with a colorful, talented group of actors, singers and dancers who […]

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, […]

Josh Grisetti and Rob McClure with the cast of Something Rotten! Photo: Jeremy Daniel by Valerie Summers In all my years of attending theatrical productions, last night, at the opening of Something Rotten! at the Ahmanson Theatre, I witnessed a first…a standing ovation in the midst of the performance.  Multi-award winning brothers Karey Kirkpatrick and […]

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   Kinky Boots exploded onto the stage of the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood to a packed house and did not disappoint.  The colorful, high energy performers introduced the audience to some unusual characters in the unlikely setting of a gentlemen’s shoe factory in England about to go out of business.  Winner of […]

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 Expertly choreographed to reflect the title of this high energy recreation of the 1987 film, Dirty Dancing exploded onto the stage of Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre.  The story takes place during the summer of 1963 in a Catskill Mountain resort where 17-year old “Baby” Houseman, her older sister and parents are vacationing for […]

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 […]

In the charming, rustic open-air Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, I was deeply touched by the story of the aftermath of the 1988 crash of Pam Am 103 over Lockerbie Scotland, the first of what would become many senseless acts of terrorism.  Inspired by a true story, The Women of Lockerbie, by Deborah Brevoort, […]

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 […]

The ten enormously talented and versatile men and women of Diavolo  had members of the audience holding our collective breath as we viewed their unique performance at the 2011 season opening of The Broad Stage.  The show combines  ballet, modern dance, gymnastics, martial arts and acrobatics enhanced by a dramatic musical score. Founded in Los […]