Fellowship extended *AGAIN* - New Venue - The MET
EXTENDED and MOVED to NEW VENUE after POPULAR DEMAND!

A hilarious musical parody of the movie "The Fellowship of the Ring". Featuring 12 original songs. You'll see barefooted tap dancing Hobbits, an elf and human singing an 80's power ballad, and a terrifying creature of shadow and flame performing his sequined studded cabaret number. If you are a fan of "The Lord of the Rings", a fan of musicals, or a fan of laughing till it hurts, Fellowship! is too much fun to miss.

Look to the LEFT side menu and under PICK A PLAY- Select Fellowship - The MET


https://www.plays411.com/website/htmlconsumer/play_info.asp

Opens
Thursday, February 3, 2005

Closes
Saturday, March 19, 2005

Runs
Thurs, Fri, Sat 8 pm


Reservations
(323) 960-7774

Tickets
$15 Thurs, Fri, $20 Sat

MET Theatre
Multiple Stages
1089 N. Oxford Ave
Hollywood, CA 90029

LV Summary [We Will Rock You / Mamma Mia / Society of Seven 1/24-26/05]
We Will Rock You - Paris Hilton (no relation...) Las Vegas - Queen tribute - strong voiced, though the male lead (playing Galileo Figaro) was straining his highs. Scaramouche was played by a clonette of Les Miz's Cosette - nice delicate touch. Story drives the musical - songs fit in where they can. Lots of set decor in a future-trash ghetto setting. Lots of US pop references. A little bit overly staged, but musically sound.

Mamma Mia - Mandalay Bay LV - ABBA tribute. Power voiced, female lead playing Donna performed her best during The Winner Takes it All. Light sets with great lighting and stage disco subflooring. Good reason for the continued success here. Strong comedic improv work by the cast.

Society of Seven with Lani Misalucha - the filipina has a strong voice, good air, and tends to over-belt (ala Whitney Houston) and delay her starts (Liza Minelli does this, whereas Melissa Manchester and Bette Midler do not) - strongest impressions she did were Celine Dion and Barbara Streisand. But this act is all about Tony, Bert, Gary, Wayne, Hoku, Roy and Randy - they've been at this for over 30 years and the talent shows. Along with the usual Vegas Rat Pack skits, the foreshortened Lion King and Phantom of the Opera acts made for another solid showing. Schedule updates on the SOS website - met with the fellows, who let me know that Bert's wife is doing the official website (which is 20MB worth of flash-enabled graphics.)

Acme Day Players at the ACME Comedy Theatre [1/22/05]
Interesting stuff - 4 acts of single act comedic plays written, rehearsed and staged within 24-hours of the performance. This evening: solid writing, some very talented comedic acting, and premise development that was quite daring and provocative. Cool stuff - currently scheduled to play for the next 5 Saturdays at 10 p.m. www.acmecomedy.com

Love Tapes at the Sacred Fools Theatre [1/21/05]
Nicely performed comedy penned by Steven Banks and Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller). Starring Julie Mullen and Dean Cameron. Interesting format - 2 audience-participation monologues followed by the team scenes. Lots of set intricacy and prop work. www.sacredfools.org

The Phantom of the Sunday Show - Acme Theatre 1/9/05
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: www.acmecomedy.com
Topic: Comedy
A sketch comedy in progress, opening end of January 2005.

Personally, I consider it misleading advertising because it has nothing whatsoever to do with "Phantom" - and probably is more appropriately entitled "Scary Sketch Comedy" since it begins with some parodies of horror movie scenes.

I guess I'm more into Groundling's sketch work than ACME's at the moment. These seem to be lacking conclusion - good opening and premise, but no ending. Kind of weird.

The Liquid Radio Theatre at the ACME Theatre
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: ACME Theatre - www.acmecomedy.com
Topic: Improv
Ep. 413: Barley From Beyond! (Sci-Fi) starred - Travis Oates, Dave Cox, Craig Tollifson, Jesse Mackey, Jeannie Roshar, Kimberly Lewis, Gary Rae (foley), and Jonathan Green (music)! A wonderfully improvised 40's radio show format performance. www.liquidradioplayers.com

Improvising Clown-style with Rob Rodgers
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: Impro Theater - www.improtheatre.com
Courtesy of Impro Theatre (www.improtheatre.com) - we had a blast last night learning all about the ins- and outs- of the classic forms of Clown work.

Not the Bozo, or Hobo Joe-type, this is more artistically the kind we knew Red Skelton and Carol Burnett for performing. Or historically, the objective of the clown was to exaggerate the poorer elements of the rich and powerful to socially shape bad behaviors into more desireable forms, as well as provide the emergency valve of support in case of crisis (e.g. in Cirque du Soleil, when an accident occurs, the clowns enter the performance, not only to rescue the downed performer, but to do so in a way that allows the audience to perceive the action as part of the whole show - and not become overly distracted by it.)

Pretty much the most physically-demanding workshop to-date combining yoga with performing dance and movement, with some acrobatic stunt work. Best part was doing specific exercises to reveal the "inner clown" in us all - and how that relates to building character and expressing emotions.

We're getting closer...
Mood:  sharp
Now Playing: Gardner Stages #3 - The New School of Acting
Topic: Training
4 weeks into A Doll's House by Ibsen - now nailing conversational reality - sweet! One really has to witness what a 20th century translation of a 19th century classic looks like when done well.

Suzie's down to a short sniffle after class - we're slowly improving.

Clean House taping down the street...
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Style Network
Topic: Comments
Per her website: Linda Koopersmith along with two other experts, Michael Moloney, the designer and Alan Lee Haff, the yard sale guy, team up to make make-over magic. Niecy Nash, also the star of Reno 911, is the hysterically funny host of Clean House.

They're taping an episode down the street - odd thing, the stuff they have in their pre-show yard sale looks like 1/2 the stuff we have in our house!

I might be in a few background shots during the yard sale as I was fascinated at some of the finds (a complete 12-line PBX system? A full-size Sanyo business copier with 5000-sheet input system? An original LiteBrite(tm)!) It's weird how these reality shows work...

Acme Love Machine
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Acme Comedy Theatre - www.acmecomedy.com
Topic: Comedy
Saw Wil Wheaton (aka STNG Wesley Crusher) and company doing the Love Machine thing - it's Acme's traditional sketch comedy format. Sort of like seeing a live version of SNL or SCTV. Some blasted funny scenes, and some, well...

Fellowship - Impro Theatre
Mood:  special
Now Playing: El Portal Theatre - through Dec 18
Topic: Comedy
Lord of The Rings as a Musical Comedy!

Cory Rouse (as an excellent voiced Frodo), Lisa Fredrickson, Edi Patterson, Brian Bradley, Peter Allen Vogt, Kelly Holden, Ryan Smith, Matthew Young, Steve Purnick and Allen Simpson on Keyboards.

A 1 hr 45 min masterpiece! Choreography by Michele Spears (tap-dancing Hobbits and Orcs!) Some of the best set and design work this side of no-budget available productions - this one cries for not only an extension, but the secondary and tertiary sequels to be produced, as well.

Standup at My Company Xmas Party
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Glendale Hilton
Topic: Comedy
165 in attendance, 7 min. set - and it all worked quite nicely. [addendum] Someone complained about something - had to publish a division-wide letter of apology to "anyone offended." Just gotta love corporate environments!

The Improv Performance - 2004/11/14
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: On-line
Topic: Comedy
View the video (Windows Media Format - 12MB). Or if you're having difficulties, open up Windows Media Player (or whatever you have that plays WMV's and open the URL in that). https://www.angelfire.com/ca2/jlui/images/jhl_showcase_improv_high.wmv

Bobby Gould in Hell - Gardner Stages
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Gardner Stages by The New School of Acting
Topic: Drama
Great work, especially with the understudy talent in-place! Jose Element stars as Satan the Inquisitioner, Hugh Fitzgerald as Bobby, George Brunk as the Court Reporter, and Kelly Thomas as the Girl. Directed by Dan Cotreau, this was a 100% NSA production.

Fakin' it - in the can.
Mood:  silly
Now Playing: tlc.com - The Discovery Channel
Topic: Comedy
http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/fakingit/fakingit.html - Season 3 episode is wrapped. Taping was great - celebrity judges included Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers), Bobby Lee (MadTV), and Paul Hughes. Our boy did good. I ended up sitting just to the side of Paul, so there might be camera time.

Comedy Workshop's Showcase at the Improv
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: The Improv - Hollywood
Topic: Comedy
Ok - bottom-line: I **RULE** stand-up! On the other hand, the pay stinks, so it's just another tool in the kit bag. 220-seats filled (out of 230), and lots of neat compliments from complete strangers after the other 23 comics finished. (2-1/2 hour show) Extra kudos to LA Theatresports' Michele Spears for beating into my head "...MOVE before you open your mouth!" Works wonders for act-outs. Also, Thank You to Samsung for making a cheap MiniDV camcorder so I could practice my brains out at an affordable cost and find out how much of a difference that movement makes during scenes. And finally to Judy Carter - you are incomparably great at bringing out the best in people - especially me!

VATS/LATS Fundraiser Weekend - Ventura Theatresports
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Impro Theatre - LA TheatreSports
Topic: Improv
Very cool - Michele Spears, Dan O'Connor, Edi Patterson, Lauren Pritchard, Katharine Mills, Doreen Remo, Floyd VanBuskirk, Mike McShane did Shakespeare Unscripted. I was a familiar tree stump! Then LATS (Dan O'Connor, Edi Patterson, Lauren Pritchard, Seth Brown)won the Xtreme Theatresports event 58/49 afters. VATS put up a valiant fight, with a challenge of the notorious "Reverse Scene", after being taunted by a "Questions Only" slap. Floyd refereed. Mike kept score. I laughed my a** off! Hosted by The Livery Theatre, Ventura CA.

Center for Inquiry - 3 for All
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: 3forall.com
Topic: Improv
Best Impro team viewed in a LONG while - laser-sharp, telepathic, and simply marvelous! Only were at a 2-day gig hosted at the Steve Allen Theatre at the Center for Inquiry West in Hollywood - rabbits and TimeWarp were the theme for a rockin' 90-min show that blew the roof off!

Generic Update - How things are going!
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: All 3 locations at once!
Topic: Training
StandUp - pretty damned good considering I just weathered the crash and bomb of a lifetime (one fellow comic is on the show Faking It going from firefighter to stand-up comic with Judy as Pro Mentor, but perhaps fighting forest fires is actually a little less scary than doing an act at The Improv) - our showcase is on Sunday, November 14th, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. Improv II - doing quite nicely. Got an A+ for an excellent rendition of the Duchess of Alba - still gotta work on not concentrating so much on correcting details of characterization for technical characters though. Meisner - now steam-rolling right ahead, with special thanks to Susie Heckendorn for great inspiration to work through a few psych blocks I was hitting on repetition exercises.

Capital - Globe Theater Center
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: Globe Theater Center - Burbank and Garden Grove
Topic: Comedy
A light and refreshing comedy presented by the Globe Theatre Group, Capital is a smart and funny political satire of shenanigans at the State Capital building of no particular state. Cast includes Vince Cefalu, Frank Simons, Terri Homberg-Olsen, Jeana Blackman - as America (yes, as in "the nation"), Anthony Palermo, Meleney Humphrey, and Rick Batalla. Playing next in GTC's Garden Grove location.