By Steve ZALL and Sid FISH

March 2022

Concerns over COVID-19 are finally subsiding with new case numbers steadily declining. The Southern California theater scene is recovering too, with most theaters announcing the return of live productions with audiences inside the theater. Although COVID protocols are still being enforced, requiring proof of vaccination and face masks to be worn at all times during the performances in order to attend, the government mandates are changing almost every day now, so that could change at any time. The information presented in this column is the latest available at the time of printing; however, readers should check with the theater to confirm before making definite plans.

Here are the shows that have announced opening dates for this month or are already running at this time:

Opening

“The Play You Want” Fed-up by the theatre world’s desires to box him in, Mexican playwright Bernardo Cubría sarcastically pitches “Nar-Cocos,” a play about drug dealers on Dia de los Muertos. Much to his surprise, the Public Theatre picks it up. With financial pressures mounting and a newborn at home, this is his chance at a commercial success. But when Scott Rudin offers him a Broadway run on the condition he further exploit his identity and the headlines, he must decide just how much he’s willing to compromise in order to finally be accepted. World premiere!

Written by Bernardo Cubria and directed by Michael John Garcés, it runs through April 17 at the Road Theatre in North Hollywood. For tickets, call (818) 761-8838 or visit www.RoadTheatre.org.

“First Lady of Song: Alexis J Roston Sings Ella Fitzgerald” In a spellbinding concert performance, Alexis J Roston effortlessly emits the sultry swing and playful joy that made Ella an American treasure. Classic tunes include “Summertime,” “The Lady Is a Tramp” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing.”

Written by Angela Ingersoll and directed by William Kurk, it runs through March 20 at the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach. For tickets, call (949) 497-2787 or visit www.lagunaplayhouse.com.

“Daughter of the Wicked” tells the story of Shanit Keter Schwartz returning to her homeland in search of her missing sister. She looks back at her upbringing as a Yemenite Jewish girl in the newly formed country of Israel, paying special tribute to her Kabbalistic mystical rabbi father, as she comes to terms with her tumultuous past.

This riveting new play features an original soundscape of authentic Yemenite tin drums and flutes composed by Israeli composer Lilo Fedida to transport us from the sands of Yemen to the tin huts of the Israeli settlement camps to life in the projects. James Newton Howard’s cello composition will support the Kabbalistic texts that guide us through the story.

Written by Shanit Keter Schwartz and directed by Zeke Rettman, it runs through April 10 at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. For tickets, call (310) 477-2055 or visit www.OdysseyTheatre.com.

“Celestial Events” is a fun, feel-good comedy about friendship, love and shared experience in the city of LA. The paths of 12 Angelenos cross in mysterious ways on the eve of a once-in-a-millennia meteor shower.

Written by Deborah S. Craig, Christian Durso, (co-writing captains), Anna Rose Hopkins, John Lavelle and Adriana Santos, and directed by Tom Amandes and Adrian Gonzalez, it runs through March 14 at the Actors Company LA in Los Angeles. For tickets, visit www.iamatheatre.com.

“Trayf” Zalmy lives a double life. By day, he drives a Chabad “Mitzvah Tank” through 1990s New York City, performing good deeds with his best friend Shmuel. By night, he sneaks out of his orthodox community to roller skate and listen to rock and roll. But when a curious outsider offers him unfettered access to the secular world, is it worth jeopardizing everything he’s ever known? This road-trip bromance is a funny and heartwarming ode to the turbulence of youth, the universal suspicion that we don’t quite fit in and the faith and friends that see us through.

Written by Lindsay Joelle and directed by Maggie Burrows, it runs March 10 through April 10 at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. For tickets, call (310) 208-2028 or visit www.geffenplayhouse.org.

“Branwell (and the Other Brontës)” The Brontës (Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne) created such masterpieces as “Wuthering Heights” and “Jane Eyre.” However, it’s in their own private fantasy worlds, with clear rules invented when they were children, that they find their most inspired outlets. As Branwell lays on his deathbed, they escape often and with urgency and change the rules to avoid the inevitable and try to keep both him and these cherished worlds alive. The play explores the pain and necessity of creation in the face of destruction and loss, and how misogyny contributes to the downfall of a family.

Written by Stephen Kaplan, edited by Charlotte Brontë, and directed by Sarah Nilsen, it runs March 11 through March 26 at the Loft Ensemble in North Hollywood. For tickets, call (818) 452-3153 or visit www.loftensemble.org.

“Escape from the Garden” What happens when Tracy Greene, star of stage and television, bombs at the Ahmanson with her Blanche DuBois? Will her self-inflicted exile in a crappy apartment at “Two Palms Villa” in Van Nuys – frantically scribbling away at her play about Marie Antoinette – lead to total oblivion or to something better?

Written by Sarah Hunter and directed by Marianne Davis, it runs March 11 through March 27 at the Two Roads Theater in Studio City. For tickets, visit www.brownpapertickets,.com/event/5309270.

“Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A Solo Flight” Banished to the Far Cliffs by his flock for daring to break with tradition, Jonathan spends his life in pursuit of his unbound passion for flight, not to scrape and scrabble for food ­– but for the joy of flight itself. Join Jonathan on his journey through the here and now, and all of eternity, as he soars to the heights of perfection, freedom and love. Jonathan’s path from awkward beginner to passionate student and eventually to patient master is both wonderfully familiar and extraordinarily unique.

Written by Richard Bach, adapted by Andrew Thacher, and directed by Paul Millet, it runs March 11 through March 27 at the Atwater Village Theatre in Atwater Village. For tickets, visit www.tinyurl.com/JLS-ASoloFlight.

“Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies” Marquis and Tru are both 14-year-old Black boys, but they exist in two completely different worlds. Marquis is a book smart prep-schooler living in the affluent suburb of Achievement Heights, while Tru is a street savvy kid from deep within the inner city of Baltimore. Their worlds overlap one day in a holding cell. Tru decides that Marquis has lost his “blackness” and pens a how-to manual entitled “Being Black for Dummies.” He assumes the role of professor, but Marquis proves to be a reluctant pupil. They butt heads, debate, wrestle and ultimately prove that Nietzsche and 2pac were basically saying the same thing.

Written by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm and directed by Ahmed Best, it runs March 12 through April 18 at the Echo Theater Company Atwater Village Theatre in Atwater Village. For tickets, call (310) 307-3753 or visit www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.

“I Don’t Have To Show You No Stinking Badges!” is about a Chicano family in the 1980s that is steeped in show business: the parents make their living as Hollywood extras playing non-speaking stereotypical roles such as gardeners and maids. They have achieved their American dream with a suburban house and academically successful children. But they are shattered when their son announces that he dropped out of Harvard Law to become an actor. Valdez sets the action in a staged recreation of a traditional television sitcom. The result is a sharp comedy and biting satire, skewering media images of Hispanic culture and exploring issues of racism and stereotyping.

Written by Luis Valdez and directed by Drina Durazo, it runs March 12 through March 27 at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica. For tickets, visit www.morgan-wixson.org.

“Love, Actually Cabaret” Theatre West is presenting two free cabaret evenings featuring the talented members of its Musical Theatre Workshop, singing songs of love. The cast includes Sara Ballantine, Sandra Tucker, Paul Cady, Sara Shearer, Arden Teresa Lewis, Constance Mellors, Mimi Kmet, Anne Leyden, Michael Van Duzer, Heidi Appe, Rick Simone-Friedland, Tessa Bell and Robert W. Laur. Music by Paul Cady, with music by Paul Cady, it runs March 12 through March 19 at the Theatre West in Los Angeles. For tickets, call (323) 851-7977 or visit www.theatrewest.org.

“Muse/Ique & Rachel Worby: Sunrise on Sunset” features an ensemble of LA’s finest instrumentalists and singers in a night of fabulous music by artists reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, The Eagles and Duke Ellington, history, and a rediscovery of Los Angeles, the City of Angels. The performance spotlights Sunset Boulevard, birthplace of the music, the stars, the stories and the history of Los Angeles. No other street in Los Angeles can make that claim.

Stroll north one mile from The Wallis and find yourself on Sunset where Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents sat poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel dreaming up the Jets and the Sharks … where Pearl Bailey and Louis Bellson wowed the crowds at Ciro’s. From Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ renowned A&M Recording Studios to Berry Gordy’s earth-shattering Motown Records; from Wallich’s Music City to Tower Records and Amoeba Records to Frank Sinatra, Bob Marley and Jay-Z (not to mention the Beach Boys and the Byrds!). The music that comes to life along the gritty and glitzy 22-mile stretch called Sunset Boulevard inspires everyone.

Written and directed by Rachel Worby, it runs March 12 through March 13 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Bram Goldsmith Theater. For tickets, call (310) 746-4000 or visit www.TheWallis.org/sunset.

“Little Parts Hunts a Baby-Daddy” Little Parts is a clown. She is also pregnant and always has been. So she’s not really sure she’ll ever give birth. But despite this conundrum, she is determined to find a good father for her Maybe-Baby – she is certain that at least one of the six applicants who applied online will be the perfect fit.

Written and directed by Ann Noble, it runs March 15 through April 5 at the Atwater Village Theatre in Atwater Village. For tickets, call (310) 307-3753 or visit www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.

“Clue” Based on the iconic 1985 Paramount movie, which was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, “Clue” is a hilarious farce meets murder mystery. The tale begins at a remote mansion where six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party where blackmail and murder are on the menu! When their host turns up dead, they all become suspects. Led by Wadsworth (the butler), Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustard race to find the killer as the body count stacks up. “Clue” is the comedy whodunit that will leave audience members in stitches as they try to figure out… who did it, where, and with what!

Written by Sandy Rustin with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price, adapted from the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn, and directed by Daniel Kruger, it runs March 18 through April 9 at the Westchester Playhouse in Los Angeles. For tickets, call (310) 645-5156 or visit www.kentwoodplayers.org.

“In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play” Sarah Ruhl’s effervescent comedy about sex, intimacy and equality set in the 1880s ­– when enthusiasm for the electric light bulb gave rise to a handy new instrument to treat female hysteria.Written by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Lane Allison, it runs March 18 through April 23 at the Atwater Village Theatre in Atwater Village. For tickets, call (323) 882-6912 or visit www.openfist.org.

“S.O.S. – Signs of Strength” Combining contemporary dance with martial arts, acrobatics, gymnastics and hip-hop and using meticulously designed architectural structures as the central inspiration for its gravity-defying work, DIAVOLO incorporates storytelling and movement to create socially relevant productions that celebrate the diversity and complexities of humankind. DIAVOLO’s stylistically varied and intensely physical choreography has become the hallmark of this truly original world-class company, which earned a Top 10 place in the 12th season of “America’s Got Talent,” attracting more than 90 million television viewers. A talkback with the company will be held after each performance.

Written and directed by Jacques Heim, it runs March 18 through March 19 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Bram Goldsmith Theater in Beverly Hills. For tickets, call (310) 746-4000 or visit www.TheWallis.org/Diavolo.

“Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay!” Hungry and fed up by rising prices and stagnant wages, Antonia joins a revolt of women at the local supermarket. Determined to live with dignity and rejecting an austerity diet of dog food and birdseed, the women’s protest escalates and looting ensues. As police search door-to-door, Antonia and her friend Margherita frantically try to hide their ‘liberated’ goods from their husbands and the police. “Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay!” questions why, in a world of bailed-out banks and overpriced prescription drugs, theft is only a crime when it is committed by those truly in need.

Written by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, and directed by Bob Turton, it runs March 19 through April 30 at the Ivy Substation in Los Angeles. For tickets, call (310) 838-4264 Ext. 1 or visit www.TheActorsGang.com.

“Antiman” charts the course of one boy’s coming-of-age in St. Croix, the Virgin Islands. His mom is the black sheep of the family – a hippie dropout whose boyfriend is a drug runner fugitive from Georgia – and he’s the only White kid in his school. Sometimes he lives in the shack on the wharf and, other times, it’s the station wagon.

Written and directed by Sky Paley, it runs March 20 through April 10 at the Atwater Village Theatre in Atwater Village. For tickets, call (310) 307-3753 or visit www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.

“Ann” Tough as nails. Funny as hell. Emmy Award winner Holland Taylor (“The Practice,”
“Legally Blonde” and “Two and a Half Men”) brings the legendary Ann Richards to the stage in this dynamo Tony-nominated performance that captures the fire, heart and brains of Ann herself. Ann’s down home charm and passion for fair play fuel her uncanny leadership and capacity for caring. Always ready with a laugh out loud zinger or a telling observation, this superstar in Texas politics ultimately became a national figure. A vividly remembered force of nature, Ann continues to inspire us still.

Written by Holland Taylor and directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein, it runs March 22 through April 24 at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena. For tickets, call (626) 356-7529 or visit www.pasadenaplayhouse.org.

“Can’t Get Next to You – A Temptations Experience” Motown Records dominated music in the 1960s on the strength of vocal groups such as the Temptations. In their heyday, the quintet boasted dynamite choreography and soulful, elegant harmonies spanning the entire spectrum of vocal timbres: high and middle tenor, baritone and bass. “Can’t Get Next To You” brings the music of the Motown super group to the stage.

Written by Larry Johnson, Terry Horn, Michael White, Steve Wood and Greg Woods, it runs March 24 through March 27 at the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach. For tickets, call (949) 497-2787 or visit www.lagunaplayhouse.com.

“The Prisoner of Second Avenue” Mel Edison is a well-paid executive of a high-end Manhattan firm, which has suddenly hit the skids and he gets the ax. His wife Edna takes a job to tide them over, then she too is sacked. Compounded by the air-pollution killing his plants, and with the walls of the apartment being paper-thin (allowing him a constant earful of his neighbor’s private lives), things can’t seem to get any worse … then he’s robbed and his psychiatrist dies with $23,000 of his money. Mel does the only thing left for him to do: he has a nervous breakdown. And it’s the best thing that ever happened to him.

Written by Neil Simon and directed by Gail Bernardi, it runs March 25 through May 1 at the Theatre Palisades in Pacific Palisades. For tickets, call (310) 454-1970 or visit www.theatrepalisades.org.

“Anna in the Tropics” weaves the tale of a Cuban-American cigar factory in 1929 Florida where cigars are still rolled by hand and “lectors” are employed to transport and inspire the workers as they toil on the factory floor. As a handsome and debonair new lector, Juan Julian, reads the words of Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina,” the lives of the workers begin to parallel the novel. Old traditions and new ways collide while longing, love and betrayal spark a volatile flame that signals the end of an era.

 Written by Nilo Cruz and directed by Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx, it runs March 26 through April 17 at A Noise Within in Pasadena. For tickets, call (626) 356-3121 or visit www.anoisewithin.org.

Continuing

“Macbeth” In this story, we see everything a homecoming is not supposed to be. Macbeth comes home to his wife to begin plotting instead of embracing. Duncan is killed in his friend’s home where he should be his most secure. Macduff’s home is attacked, betraying war ethics. Even Burnham Wood seems to travel unnaturally toward Macbeth’s home. In seeing every way the concept of home is perverted, we see everything a home should be.

Written by William Shakespeare, it runs through March 19 at the Helen Borgers Theatre in Long Beach. For tickets, visit www.LBShakespeare.org.

Sincerely,

Steve Zall, Publisher

Sid Fish, Co-Publisher and Editor