L.A. Stage Insider

Celebrating the Best in live Theater and Cabaret in the Greater Los Angeles Area

Written by Julio Martinez

March 26, 2025

NEWS

Want to join the Los Angeles theatre scene? Volunteer at the Hollywood Fringe Festival! HFF administration is seeking enthusiastic individuals to support artists and audiences during HFF25. Volunteers play a crucial role in the festival's success and enjoy perks like free/discounted tickets, professional development, and invites to special events. Want to learn more about volunteering for HFF? Attend a Volunteer Information Session!

AROUND TOWN

Long Beach Playhouse is reviving Neil Simon’s God’s Favorite, focusing on a successful businessman, Joe Benjamin, who has become exasperated with his wise-cracking and seemingly apathetic oldest son. Just when it seems things couldn’t get any worse, he is visited by A Messenger from God, whose mission is to test Joe’s faith and report back to “the Boss.” The cast includes Lee Samuel Tanng, Amanda Karr, Charlie Rodriguez, Jessica Plotin, Stephen Saatjian, Geraldine Fuentes,Samantha Cristol and Sean Farrell, directed by James Rice. The play runs Apr 5-May 3 (Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm). Tickets are available at www.lbplayhouse.org, or by calling 562-494-1014, option 1. Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, 90804.

Due to popular demand, the musical, “3 Summers of Lincoln,” having it premier engagement, has been extended twice, at La Jolla Playhouse, Mandel Weiss Theatre, 2910 La Jolla Village Dr, La Jolla, 92093. Now, additional performance dates have been released. Much of the success of this musical has been attributed to its choreography. To learn more about what choreographer Jon Rua and co-choreographer Daniel J. Watts aimed to achieve, see video at top. Must close April 6. To purchase tickets, go here.

SOLO MOJO

Ron Campbell

The Actors' Gang presents a World Premiere, “How to Fail,” written, directed and performed by Actors’ Gang co-founding Member Ron Campbell, runs Apr 17-May 3 (8pm). What kind of feelings does success engender...envy, jealousy, resentment? Failure, on the other hand, has the potential to elicit compassion, connection and perhaps...empathy. When we see someone fail, we know we are not alone. In his one person show, Campbell challenges the notion of perfection and celebrates the art of failing. This show offers an insightful, humorous, and deeply personal exploration of failure, success, and everything in between. The Actors’ Gang Theater, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. For Tickets, go to www.theactorsgang.com. For more information, call 310-838-4264.

REVIEW: ‘DRAT! THE CAT!

Alec Reusch Sydney DeMaria

The Group Rep is offering the West Coast Premiere of the Ira Levin (book and lyrics) and Milton Shafer (music) 1957 musical, that is set in turn-of-the-19^thcentury New York. “Drat! The Cat” did not fare well on Broadway in ’65, but Group Reps production, directed by Bruce Kimmel, with a keen observance of the Victorian style and manners of the 1890s, offers a charming journey back to the slapstick comedy of the Keystone Cops, haughty society matrons, greedy bankers, a hapless young cop and the lady he loves. The opening Overture sets the tone for the whole show beautifully executed by choreographer Cheryl Baxter, who introduces the locals, surrounded by a bevy of bumbling cops, while The Cat gleefully robs the townsfolk at will. Aiding the proceedings is Music Director/Pianist Gerald Sternbach and a first-rate five-piece pit band. At the center of this tale are Bob (Alec Reusch), a naive young cop who has been assigned to capture The Cat, and Alice (Sydney DeMaria), a society ingénue, who leads a double life. Their budding but slowly developing relationship is encapsulated by Bob in the first act ballad, “She Touched Me.” The seemingly ambivalent Alice finally responds in the second act with “I Like Him.” Another plus are the supporting performances of Lloyd Pedersen and Constance Meilors as Alice’s disapproving parents, Lucius and Matilda Van Gelder. April Audus is also a delight as Bob’s working-class Irish mother, Kate Purefoy. And Hisato Misuyama is perfectly cast as the always disdainfully superior Butler.

Drat! The Cat! will run on The Group Rep Theatre’s Main Stage (First Floor) through April 27. For tickets and information www.thegrouprep.com and (818) 763-5990. The Group Rep Theatre venue is located at 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood 91601.

Alex Lyras

Arts in Review, hosted by arts journalist Julio Martinez, celebrating the best in theater and cabaret in the Greater Los Angeles area, airs on KPFK90.7fm on Fridays (2-2:30pm), streamed live around the world in real time over KPFK.org. On March 28, Julio hosts Alex Lyras, writer/director of “Aristotle/Alexander,” opening Mar 29 at Company of Angels.

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