ANTAEUS bursts the walls with Tennessee Williams’ CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

Harry Groener and Ross Philips
Photo by Steven C. Kemp

 “There is nothing so motivated as a cat on a hot tin roof,”  the playwright reminds us through his character of Margret/Maggie the Cat (Rebecca Mozo).  There are layers of exploration that Williams creates for us to peel away; thick with the mores of the 1950s, Cold War Era, and McCarthyism that defined American society in a time when conformity was all about toeing the line and delivering what was expected of one’s self.     

That Williams drank heavily, used drugs and was gay probably meant that he had to deal with discrimination, both overt and subtle that permeated the world sixty years ago, Certainly, this made catering to theatre audiences of the 1950s a challenge.  Thus, examination of some of the ambiguous relationships in this wonderfully complex piece has waffled over the years.   Antaeus has adapted the 1974 version of the play restored by Williams from the version that was originally softened to coax Elia Kazan to direct the Broadway production in 1955. We must keep in mind that in the sixty years since this play was first mounted, though some of our society may still struggle with the fear of women’s power and the success of homosexuals that still plague world society, that those times were especially difficult times for women and gays around the world.   Layer upon layer of the characters’ motivation that emerge are fodder for intense discussion and debate.    

Cameron Watson’s direction of “The Buttered Biscuits” cast mostly attends to the same careful detail as Steven C. Kemp’s out of balance scenic design: a bed-sitting room in the mansion on Big Daddy’s 28,000 acre plantation where all of the action takes place.  When a serious theatre company leaps full on into any Tennessee Williams project, the coordination of all aspects of the play must find harmony.  Interestingly, in the three hour production, after each intermission, the set becomes more unbalanced and the story crumbles into a condemnation of ‘mendacity’… the fabric of lies and avoided truths that   creates the matrix of the play.

 Brick (Ross Philips) has broken his ankle while attempting to run the hurdles at the local high school track.  Having taken to ‘drink’ he realizes that he couldn’t  have cleared them even when sober.  One scholar defined this character as “caught in the amber of his adolescence.”    Brick’s failure as a husband and as a sports announcer must turn on the loss of his ‘true friend’ Skipper and using alcohol to bridge the gap.  Drinking heavily throughout the play Philips seems in and out of his inebriation, waiting for the ‘click’ that will bring him peace.  Rebecca Mozo as Maggie dominates the first act, ranting from first light, not really giving her character an opportunity to much build.  The inner fire that is impossible not to remember from Elizabeth Taylor’s film version of the character is an unfair comparison, but it is important for fire and nuance to build from within.  The woman is an enchantress, not a harpie.

Sex and sexuality are part and parcel of the message and it is brought to the fore with expert strokes by long time Antaeus actor, Harry Groener as Big Daddy.  The underlying issue of mortality and power burst with intrigue as the patriarch and his favorite son battle for understanding. Nuance is the key here and Groener’s performance delights.  There is stage magic in the ability of this actor to move from moment to moment with such agility.

As Big Mama, Dawn Didawick is a put upon and dismissed spouse as many submissive wives of the times were forced to be.  Her time to shine arrives at the climax of the play where forty years of frustration come to a head.

Patrick Wenk-Wolff as Gooper and Jocelyn Towne as Mae are mordant for the scrambling greed that permeates the piece.  Gooper is Big Daddy’s rejected son though he and Mae have prospered heartily with a brood of children. Maggie wonders why they were named for dogs… and a parrot: Trixie, Dixie and Polly!

It is unfortunate that the ‘no neck monsters’ necessary to the production have been included.  Many children on stage are ‘acting’ while seasoned actors do their best to maintain character.  These are moments that, sad to say, distract.

Terri A. Lewis’s costumes brilliantly reflect the times, coordinating fluidly with the whole production.   Some shadows stage left were distracting, with dramatic side lighting from time to time. 

The layers of discovery in the plot of this Williams classic emerge beautifully, in spite of any criticism here.  Opening a brand new theatre space is a challenge and I recommend that patrons come prepared with some knowledge of the play for full enjoyment.  We welcome Antaeus to Glendale and know that their arrival is now another brilliant jewel in the crown of our Jewel City.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

By Tennessee Williams

Antaeus Theatre

Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center
110 East Broadway
Glendale, CA 91205
(between N. Brand Blvd. and Maryland Ave.)

Previews: March 16-22
Performances: March 23 – May 7
• Tuesday at 8 p.m.: March 21 ONLY (preview)
• Wednesday at 8 p.m.: March 22 ONLY (preview)
• Thursdays at 8 p.m.: March 16 (preview), 23 (opening), 30; April 6, 13, 20, 27; May 4
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: March 17 (preview), 24 (opening), 31; April 7, 14, 21, 28; May 5
• Saturdays at 2 p.m.: April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; May 6 (no 2 p.m. perf. on March 18 or March 25)
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: March 18 (preview), 25; April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; May 6
• Sundays at 2 p.m.: March 19 (preview), 26; April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; May 7, 2017

Tickets and Information:

818 506 1983

www.Antaeus.org

33 VARIATIONS! YOU MUST SEE THIS PLAY!

Why? 

Why Theatre?  

In LA..  it’s about many things that include looking for work, but there are actors who, when they come together with exceptional writing and actually get the play; get the characters and the characters’ lives and loves and stories and a director gets the script and there’s music and talent and love of the moment.. the moment before the lighting booth brings the house to half, the curtain speech is spoken and then, house to dark and the stage manager calls “Places” and the cast is ready and the play is ready and the audience is ready, probably not knowing what it’s in for and that moment of breath before it all begins .. and then.. something happens.  It’s not the text or the actors or the effects, it’s some synergy that brings the people in their seats and the crew and the actors all together in an unspoken agreement that we are all here for one purpose: we abandon our disbelief and let the play begin.  Let the magic happen. This one unique moment when we leave the outside world to do what it will still be doing later..  the blinking off thank god of all the little screens.. of all the after thoughts of future to attain the moment of the play.. That time ..when it really works.. not only as the lights come up and the story unfolds and the criticism of a gait or voice or other things that critics like me enjoy or find some fault with.. it all becomes The Play.  It all becomes this time. It all becomes.

Bruce Ladd and Nan McNamara  PHOTO CREDIT:  Lindsay Schnebly

Invited as a guest to see 33 Variations by a dear pal, I had not intended to write a word.  I’d sit and let the play just be the play and the actors (with an understudy, no less) do the work and just allow it all to wash over me and the guy who attends to make a report would be well absent, down the block or back at home.  But, moments after Dylan Price strode boldly across the stage to become the heart of Moises Kaufman’s  33 Variations settled at the grand piano, the story emerged: we meet the characters who arrive from the present time and from a time long ago now and the actors disappeared as their characters came to life with focused care and individual presence that simply ascended them into our lives.

It’s rare to become so involved in a play that the deep feelings that permeate the lives of the characters truly lift the audience to the moment.  “The Moment” is what every actor strives for and in this play the moments unfold with passion and if there is a shred of ‘acting’ going on, it totally eluded me.  These lovely characters: in the present becoming echoes of the past and brilliantly melding in harmonies that flow from Ludwig Von to his champion, Katherine B., and back again explore their paradigm with dignity and humor and love in such a way we seldom see in two hours time away from where we live.

33 Variations is a must see.  Extended for only one more week (or longer if Los Angeles is lucky), it’s a play so well crafted and so well directed and so well acted that for human beings who truly love The Theatre to not find a way to First Presbyterian to become immersed in what the Art of Theatre is truly about… Well, that could be a real shame. 

I have deliberately left the stuff of reviews out of this because the real review will be the one you leave the theater with in your heart. 

Please quickly make a reservation and go. Just go.
     

33 VARIATIONS

 by Moises Kaufman

Actors Co-Op

David Schall Theatre

First Presbyterian Church

1760 N. Gower St.

Los Angeles, CA 90028

Through March 26, 2017

Tickets and Information:

Phone (323) 462-8460
http://actorsco-op.org/wp3/ticket-info/

BEHIND THE ORANGE CURTAIN AT SCR

 ​Karthik Srinivasan, Pia Shah and Anjali Bhimani in South Coast Repertory's 201​6 ​production of ​Orange by Aditi Brennan Kapil. Photo by ​Debora Robinson/SCR

ORANGE,  a play about Orange County, California currently at the lovely Julianne Argyros Stage at South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, directs us to the sights and sounds that locals and tourists have marveled at for years.  Leela (Pia Shah) arrives from India with her mother (Anjali Bhimani and all of the other females in the show) to attend a local wedding. Leela is 'on the spectrum' which means that autism or Asperger's Syndrome is a factor in the way she interprets and responds to the world.  Like a child, Leela is very literal.  Unlike a child, she is often monosyllabic and under stress filled with angst ..  Her father (Karthik Srinivasan who also plays a variety of roles as the only male member of the cast) is a very busy businessman who shunts off responsibility for 'watching' his adult.. or nearly adult, daughter to a hip and rebellious Americanized cousin.. again the quite versitile Anjali Bhimani. 

Discussion of 'adventure' and what it means factors well into the subsequent events that are aided and abetted by gorgeous scenic design  created by Michael B. Raiford and equally impressive projections by Mike Tutaj  which virtually become additional characters in the play.  It's not great when the most outstanding memory of this ninety minute production turns out to be the scenery.  Not that the 'adventure' of a young Hindu woman who prays to a pantheon of gods goes begging.. the energy (in spite of the choices made by Ms Shah  and/ her director Jessica Kubzansky to remain stiff and presentational... even when attacked on an Orange County beach) never lags.  This is a slice of life featuring a segment of the OC population that is at once, traditional to its Indian roots (barely) and a window into the way most folks behave when given an opportunity to slip the bonds of convention and head into the night. 

Tech credits practically overcome the stage work. All three actors turn in presumably what director Jessica Kubzansky required.  

The opportunity for more is waiting.  

ORANGE
by ​​​Aditi Brennan Kapil
​directed by ​​​​Jessica Kubzansky

​Julianne Argyros Stage

South Coast Repertory Theatre

South Coast Plaza

655 Town Center Dr

Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Through ​March 5-26, 201​7

Tickets and Information:

www.scr.org

 (714) 708-5555

FOR PIANO AND HARPO by Dan Castelleneta // A World Premiere

The Falcon Theatre finds that interesting line between the happy crowd pleaser and the avant garde that makes Garry Marshall’s comfortable venue the ideal space for this Laugh Then Think World Premiere that shall be remembered. 

Dan Castellaneta, Gail Matthius, Phil Proctor, Jonathan Stark, JD McCollum and Deb Lacusta 

Photo by Sasha A. Venola

In his own play, Dan Castellaneta, well known for famous television characters who shall remain nameless, D’oh!, plays the ever troubled and troubling Oscar Levant: the frequent guest on the 1950’s The Tonight Show with Jack Parr, where we begin our journey. The play opens with the excellent Jonathan Stark as Parr. ‘On The Air’ signs flash to draw the audience into the show.  Applause!   Levant, well known for his outrageous insults and quick wit mashed up with his virtuosity as a concert pianist, didn’t have it easy.  As an addict and a neurotic with components of genius, Castelleneta’s survey of Levant’s life and friendship with fellow virtuoso, Harpo Marx, spills onto Stephen Gifford’s simple set with speed and skill thanks to the adept direction of Stefan Novinski.  We often forget that it’s the artist at the helm who brings the actors and the script and the music (musical director David O on the grand piano and harpist Jillian Risigarsi-Gai behind the upstage scrim) together.  The ensemble creates a myriad of characters with quick changes, often presenting as ghosts from Levant’s memories. It all blends well together.

In 1935, Oscar shows up at Harpo’s rented Beverly Hills mansion to crash a dinner party and stays for a year. As Harpo (also appropriately presented as Charlie, the mute, a patient at the Mount Sinai Psych Ward where Levant finds himself) JD Cullum, transitions without a hitch. From time to time Harpo and Oscar play harp and piano together, via mime with piano and harp live upstage. 

As Harpo’s Butler (and sundry others) Phil Proctor’s diversity brings his characters to life.  Traversing time and space easily, Proctor brings pathos through the psych patient, Sidney,  as well as with his brusque portrayal of Oscar’s difficult and demanding father.

Deb Lacusta limns both June Levant, Oscar’s put upon wife, as well as another psych patient, Barbara, who, interestingly, resembles June and adds to Oscar’s state of perpetual disruption in his life.

Protean Gail Matthius, stretches from Fanny Brice to the hot to trot psych ward patient, Shirley,

Shirley

and then as Oscar’s mother, whom we learn may be at the root of many of Oscar’s issues. 

Leaps of time and space sometimes work and sometimes don’t in theatre and in film.  The easy transitions from 1962 to 1956 to 1935 in and out worked for me with Castellaneta best as the robust and acerbic pal of Harpo in the early years.  With no self censor, Levant was acknowledged as an amazing concert pianist and somehow tolerated as a drugged out nutcase rambling to a somewhat early death at the age of sixty-five.

Partnered with Laugh Then Think, the tradition of Garry Marshall’s pet project, The Falcon Theatre, will not disappoint.  Highly recommended but only for those who are active in the Laughing and Thinking Departments.

FOR PIANO AND HARPO  A World Premiere

by Dan Castellaneta

THE FALCON THEATRE

4252 Riverside Drive

Burbank, California 91505

Through March 5, 2017

Tickets and Information

www  .  falcontheatre.com

818 955 8101

KOAN UNIT: BECKETT 5: YES

BECKETT 5

The Odyssey Theatre’s Koan Unit brings the existential angst of Samuel Beckett to life.  That’s it.  Life in the face of the inevitable that scholars and actors and others will debate for a long time.  The essence of Theatre of the Absurd is the process,  perhaps.. or maybe, like an abstract piece of art or a conceptual piece that fails to immediately announce itself as Comedy, Tragedy, Drama, Satire?  It leaves the audience to its own devices to figure it out, if, indeed, there is something to figure out. 

Having seen spectacular performances of Waiting for Godot, Beckett’s signature piece, along with a well done Happy Days and interesting takes on Endgame and Play, it’s a treat to be exposed to Koan Unit’s take on Beckett 5.  This is all prologue to warm myself up to comment. The essential comment is that as troublesome as Samuel Beckett may be with his making the audience do the work, this dedicated company of actors comes together as an ensemble to share his work with a passion. Ron Sossi's experienced hand brings it all together.

Alan Abelew and Beth Hogan
Photo by Ron Sossi

In Act Without Words II  two large white bags are discovered on the stage.  A little ding is heard as Koan’s Norbert Weisser, all in black with a long prod pokes the bag stage left.     Alan Abelew abruptly awakens!  The bag is tossed. He prays silently “Help Me!!”  and attacks his miserable day. His ‘work’ consists of laboring to move the other bag slightly across the stage.  Back in the bag, the goad awakens Beth Hogan who blossoms to her awakening.. loves every minute of life; dresses in the same suit, does the same ‘work’ as Alan has done. Retires.  Repeat.  Whatever Beckett is telling us, the focus is laser sharp.  Is life a drudgery of work or the joy of life?

In Come and Go,

Beth Hogan, Diana Cignoni and Sheelagh Cullen
Photo by Enci Box

we meet three pastel clad ladies, Diana Cignoni, Sheelagh Cullen and Beth Hogan all seated comfortably in their fashion on a park bench.  Again, the pace and focus are slow and exacting.  Each of these biddies has a secret to share with another.  They are old friends. Cordial. Gossips. Ron Sossi’s crystal clear direction in this and each of the pieces is what choreographs the precision of the movements and the secrets that they share…  or do they?  

Catastrophe features Hogan and Abelew again tending to a stationary statue, Weisser: a mannequin.

Alan Abelew and Norbert Weisser
Photo by Enci Box

Weisser, as with each member of the Koan Unit is appropriately focused, only allowing to be adjusted by the sycophant, Abelew, under the impatient thumb of Hogan whose demands include infinitesimal adjustments.  Hogan is a demanding director. She and her nervous assistant create Art. It is uncomfortable and may be familiar to folks who may have encountered the demands of an impatient perfectionist.

Footfalls is stark and melancholy.  

Diana Cignoni Photo by Enci Box

As May, the elegant and statuesque Diana Cignoni paces before an open door in dialogue with her dying mother (Sheelagh Cullen’s off stage voice). She paces precisely nine steps from right to left and left to right again and again. The floor boards creak with each step. It’s a death watch:  obscure and still completely absorbing as Ms Cignoni’s, dedication to the work repeats and repeats itself: light fading and fading from stanza to stanza. Understanding May’s transformations here is a challenge. We hear Mother, but is she real? Seeing this work cold will not deliver the same reaction as when one takes time to read up a bit.  Beckett’s stage directions are often precise to create the pace and atmosphere that he insists on. He often repeats lines and situations.  I found myself counting May’s steps again and again as she walked her pathway: nine steps right, nine steps left.   Interestingly, the tone and physical changes with the actress’s dedication kept the piece mysterious and absorbing.

Norbert Weisser Photo by Ron Sossi

Batting cleanup in Krapp’s Last Tape, we discover a cluttered desk with drawers that lock and boxes and books and the detritus of a life recorded on magnetic tape twenty nine years earlier by Krapp (Norbert Weisser). It’s a life examined.  On his birthday, Krapp is alone with bananas and his memories, played again and again rewinding.. listening, rewinding..  we hear him lament the loss of the desire of his youth that stoked the life he was living years ago.. introspection and examination all deftly presented by Weisser, give pause to everyone whose life may cry out for examination.  The actor’s physical exhaustion reaches into the audience as we hear that he now may be ready to just “be gone.” Is this current recording the Last Tape that Krapp recorded? Or was it the last one that he has listened to from Box 3 Spoooooooooooooooooooool 5? Krapp relishes the word: spool.  

A friend has called the Beckett Experience a ‘slog.’  Indeed, one must have patience and come prepared to do some work to begin to find the way. The playwright never makes it an easy road to travel down.  Sossi and the Koan Unit (an apt name) bring this important work to life.

BECKETT 5

By Samuel Beckett

Produced by the Koan Unit

Directed by Ron Sossi

The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble

2055 South Sepulveda

Los Angeles, CA 90025

Through March 5, 2017

Tickets and Information: (310) 477 2055 Ex 2

LITTLE DRUMMER BOWIE AT THE FALCON

 Katie Kitani, Rick Batalla, Lisa Valenzuela, Joseph Leo Bwarie,Niles Rivers, Katie DeShan, Cloie Wyatt Taylor
Photo by Sasha A. Venola

Where have I been all these peoples’  lives?  Really?  If Broadway ever came to Burbank, it’s been there for years and I’ve just blithely driven by not understanding that more fun was being had in ninety minutes on the Falcon stage with this bunch of actors, musicians and creators of some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen.  To rave about the Troubadour Company is almost silly.  Now and then we may read a ‘rave’ and know that it’s just an opinion of another writer trying to sound like he knows what he’s doing.. In fact that’s what I try to do with ever review I write. Most of the time it’s to be at least kind to whatever the production might have been that I’ve agreed to review.  Of course there are many well done shows going up every night here in L.A.  and some are worth a trip to the box office.  Many times they are more than worthy efforts, but… a rave?  A show that is so well done that it’s undeniable and one would pay to see it again?  That's a rave! Well.  Garry Marshall’s Falcon Theatre is pretty consistent with fine productions that I’ve reported  here.  But.. last night’s Opening Night of LITTLE DRUMMER BOWIE conceived and presented by The Troubador Theater Company, The Troubies, as they are known to their pals, is a hoot from the moment that the house lights dim and the live on stage band begins to play. We are greeted by Christopher Scott Murillo’s simple, functional set and the band conducted by Eric Heinly on drums with Kevin McCourt, B.J. Johnson, Mike Abraham, Kirsten Edkins and amazing Ashley Jarmack on sax and clarinet.  I mention the band because they are not just the vendors of the score, but share the energy of the production enjoying every moment as much as the hammified cast does. 

The exceptionally relaxed presentation turns on the mashup of NBC’s holiday treat, The Little Drummer Boy with a sincere tribute to the great David Bowie.  Essentially, this is the tale of the kid who could only give his talents to the Christ Child by playing his drum..  a rump pa pa pumm... turning on the story of  Ziggy (Joseph Leo Bwarie) who strays from his mom and pop (whose names will be listed elsewhere because I got so into the show that I neglected to note who was whom in the cast of nine players who all played many, many parts.  Each member of the cast reflects the talent of each of their company partners and they all stand out and are having as much of a good time as the audience.  We meet Ali, the kid who is the catalyst for much of the action, Beth Kennedy,  who is too cute for words.. (she’s a guy!).. and then Ziggy and the mix of Bowie tunes tempered to fit the story of a drum (a major Tom!) and incorporating Bowie tunes into the wonderful trip of how shy Ziggy is not so sure he wants to become a star and then, how stardom changes him and then changes him again. We roll through sight gags and puns and audience interaction.  Imagine a modern take on the arrival of the Three Kings!  Arrive late if you’d like to be part of the show!

Timing and restarts and silliness all become an evening that ends in a Standing O  leaving the audience, along with the cast, almost out of breath.  At the beginning of the show the characters ARE introduced .. in a way... and they include along with Bwarie and Kennedy, the following talented performers:  Riccardo Berdini, Lisa Valenzuela, Rick Batalla, Katie DeShan, Niles Rivers, Katie Kitani and Cloie Wayatt Taylor along with Matt Walker’s Voice from Above.  

One liners and puns and great production numbers rival anything you’ll see on Broadway and the tickets are not going for four figures.  The 130 seat house is perfect for full enjoyment of an evening that won’t soon be forgotten.  Co-directed by Matt Walker and Bwarie, it’s clear that everyone had some input. The respect and care that these Troubies have for one another creating  this tight production shines from each actor one to another...  and the band! 

This is a high rave. It's so much fun.. and we all know how important a little fun is right this minute! Really!  My directive? Get to the Falcon Theatre and experience this show!  It’s more than just good theatre. It’s an Experience that will mean even more to Bowie fans who miss our icon who left us way too soon. 

LITTLE DRUMMER BOWIE

Falcon Theatre

4252 Riverside

Burbank, CA 91505

Through January 15, 2017

Tickets and Information:

818 955 8101

www.falcontheatre.com

24TH STREET THEATRE'S HANSEL AND GRETEL BLUEGRASS!

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HANSEL AND GRETEL BLUEGRASS

By Bryan Davidson

The creative team at the 24^th Street Theatre near USC is an embedded member of their community.  Their community outreach may bring in ten thousand kids  in a year’s time to learn about what the magic of theatre can do for us.  This week, in light of the tragic events that may create frightening changes in our country, they have invited all audiences to attend the performances of Hansel and Gretel Blue Grass free of charge. 

The play, in development for three years, turns on the familiar Grimm’s fairy tale, but has been updated to the sad 1930s in Depression Era Kentucky.  We learn that Butcher’s Hollar is a small coal mining community where the mines have become “dead ground.”  Narrated in a clever video appearance, Bradley Whitford as radio personality The Duke brings the story to life as The Get Down Boys blue grass band underscores the story in music and projections.

Angela Giarratana and Caleb Foote
with Bradley Whitford on video
Photo by Cooper Bates

Whitford becomes the voice of the father of Hansel (excellent Caleb Foote) and Gretel (equally excellent Angela Girratana) who declares that all a man needs in this world is a “cord, a blade and an iron.”  Shades of Survivor, the kids are left alone in the woods to fend for themselves.  At first we think that their dad might return for them, but we know the story and right on cue the Mountain Woman (frightening Sarah Zinsser)

Angela Giarratana, Sarah Zinsser, Caleb Foote
Photo by Cooper Bates

hampered by poor eyesight and endowed with magical powers, gathers the children in and proceeds to fatten them up.

Mountain Woman exacts songs from Gretel and familiar tunes emerge: Amazing Grace, Will the Circle Be Unbroken and I’ll Fly Away, with occasional accompaniment by the Get Down Boys.   Keith Mitchell’s scenic design enhanced with video by Matthew G. Hill and Dan Weingarten’s lights become almost like an additional character in the production.

The three year development of this World Premiere production and how it came to the playwright, Bryan Davidson, and the producers emerged slowly. The sad business of children being sent away as in the fairy tale is happening even today as parents, unable to take care of their kids in countries south of our borders are putting them on trains unaccompanied with the hope they find help as they travel north.

Director Debbie Devine runs the actors through their paces: three excellent performances: in and out of the audience through drops depicting depleted coal mines that, with projections, become the forest and the enchanted home of Mountain Woman as well as a window into The Duke’s ten thousand watts of radio power narration.

24^th Street has a long reputation for excellence and trying new things, especially to the benefit of the neighborhood and theatre aimed at children, but with an eye to have a story for adults at the same time.  This is a show for the entire family and deserves an audience. I am unsure how long free admission will be offered, but donations to the theatre are always welcome.

HANSEL AND GRETEL BLUEGRASS

The 24^th Street Theatre

1117 W 24th St, Los Angeles, CA 90007

Tickets and Information:

 (213) 745-6516

www.24thstreet.org