My husband is always telling me how lucky I am to have my closest friends. Women have friends for life, don’t we? I know I do. And although I didn’t grow up with them, at least not all the way, we are lifelong, end-of-the-line kind of friends. Always on your side, a phone call away, even if it’s that “You get one phone call ma’m”…it will probably be to them.

The Secret Comedy of Women is about those special kinds of friends, and with an audience almost entirely filled with women, every single person in the theatre could relate. Some of them even brought their significant ‘others’ with them.

Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein didn’t grow up together. In fact, they grew up in different countries, USA and Canada. But they met as adults and knew pretty much right away that they would always be in each other’s lives. 

The Secret Comedy of Women is a delightful retelling of some of their stories. As kids and as adults…but mostly as kids. The set is a typical teenage girl’s bedroom in the 80s. Pop posters, soft toys and bad makeup. A bedroom for everyone, twin beds and lots of pink. As the audience takes their seats, Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein are hanging out on stage, in their undies, waiting for the play to begin. So we know right off the bat we are in for something spectacular. No one who is comfortable lounging in their knickers and bra is going to be shy about comedy…And they are certainly not shy! The show takes us way back, to sleepovers and awkward first crushes. To high school and pantyhose and secrets and even menopause. All with side-splitting candor and profound empathy. 

Oh, and they also sing! The songs are hilarious and brutally honest. Songs about everything from hot flashes to hot dates. They are an absolutely brilliant and incredibly talented couple of women.

I’m not sure what possessed them to create this show, but boy am I glad they did. Not afraid of their wobbly bits, they dress in some wonderful and ridiculous outfits, like kids and teenagers often do. They embrace the eye-rolls of our youth. Toss their hair in the general direction of convention and make us laugh out loud for the entire length of the play. 

Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein are absolute geniuses. They drew warm and loving pictures of their lives, silly bits and all, and remind us how bad it could be back then. No cellphones, no smart TVs. No wifi, no Google, no late-night TV. No Amazon! How ever did we survive!?

Well, I’m certainly thrilled that Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein survived their childhoods and brought us to their crossroads. Reminding us of our patchy humanity and forcing us to reflect on the reason we remain close to those we remain close to. Is it love or is it the fear that they will spill all your secrets, and does it really matter which as long as it makes us laugh? Laugh at them and ultimately laugh at ourselves. Which is always the point, I think. Life is short and times are crazy. We all need something unique and entertaining as The Secret Comedy of Women. I absolutely loved it and my husband learned a lot!

The Secret Comedy of Women runs through May 18 at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. Bring your sisters, bring your best friends, bring some men! Let’s hope you are able to get tickets to see this utterly magnificent show written and performed by these truly incredible women! I love, love, love this show!! Highly recommended!!!

Tickets:

https://www.etix.com/ticket/e/1049499/the-secret-comedy-of-women-phoenix-playhouse-productions-the-colony-theater

Where: 

The Colony Theatre
555 N 3rd St, Burbank, CA 91502

When: 

April 24-May 18
Thursday and Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2:30pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 2:30pm and 7:30pm.
Additional performance on Thursday, May 1, at 2:30pm

****
To see what shows are playing, check out our theatre guide>>

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.

Everyone, it seems, is on edge. America feels like it is bracing for impact. THE TOTALITY OF ALL THINGS is the perfect expression of that. Set in a high school in the Midwest, a teacher, Judith, a very good and very dedicated teacher, fills her class notice board with PRIDE info to support Pride month. When she comes in the next morning, she discovers a large, vivid red swastika spray-painted across her work. She is understandably devastated. But she is also very angry and demands to know who is responsible. The school principal, her ex-husband, is trying to contain the situation, hoping it won’t explode. But, of course, it does, how could it not? Something like this was bound to create a firestorm in an already combustible climate. 

THE TOTALITY OF ALL THINGS is a searing examination of small-town anxiety and the kind of very human presumptions we all have about each other.

It’s set during Obama’s second term, which held its own stressors for us all. The world was changing and things we took for granted, such as fairness and tolerance and grace, were beginning to look like unsteady mirages rather than the towering edifices of hope we all thought them to be. 

This disturbing event rattles teachers and students alike, and when Judith’s school newspaper, one of the most honored in the country, needs the story to be told, the boy assigned to it has his own personal motivation to get it right. The play begins as a lecture as well and morphs into the retelling of history. This has the wonderful effect of bringing you back to the classroom. We are all students and bring with us what that meant to us individually at that time in our lives. Our insecurities, our foibles, our burdens, our whimsical ever ever-changing brains. Connecting us this way is a stroke of genius. We can instantly relate, especially to whoever painted the board. Teenage brains are notoriously ridiculous, I’m sure we can all remember that truth.

THE TOTALITY OF ALL THINGS is beautifully and thoughtfully written. The characters are flawed and also utterly perfect. Their myriad of motivations are achingly realistic and true. How would any of us react to something as personally brutalising as this? 

Judith’s classroom was a sacred space for her. She created what she considered to be the securest of environments for those few who helped her tell truths in her fabled paper. This event tears through the school, separating friends and family alike. Judith is a lone liberal in a town full of conservatives, and we can all relate to how hard it can be to feel understood when those around us seem to be speaking an entirely different language. 

THE TOTALITY OF ALL THINGS is another phenomenal play in a long line of exceptional work at The Road Theatre. Peopled by the sublime acting skills of these fine actors, this play could never be anything but brilliant. 

Now, more than ever, we need understanding and empathy. We need to see each other and not to judge. Which is nearly impossible, I know. Perhaps this play is showing us that sometimes the most shocking event can be a catalyst for change, and sometimes it can show us that what we can no longer tolerate is a big part of who we are and who we wish to be.

Tickets: 

https://ci.ovationtix.com/35065/production/1231275

When: 

April 18 – June 7
Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm.
There will be two captioned performances for the deaf and hard of hearing communities on Sunday, May 4 and Saturday, May 10

Where:

The Road Theatre
10747 Magnolia Blvd., NoHo Arts District, 91601

THE TOTALITY OF ALL THINGS Cast

Christina Carlisi as “Judith,” Meeghan Holaway as “DeeAnn,” Gloria Ines as “Ms. Carter,” Carlos Lacamara as “Principal Benson.” Gabriel Palma as “Gregg,” and Victor Kallett as “Micah.”

The Design Team

Scenic Design by Mia Okada; Lighting Design by Derrick McDaniel; Projection Design by Ben Rock; Sound Design by David B. Marling; Costume Design by Jenna Bergstraesser; Properties Design by Scottie Nevil.  The Production Stage Manager is Maurie Gonzalez.

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Tuesdays with Morrie is a classic American book, play and of course, film starring Jack Lemon and Hank Azaria. Over the years, it has become a much-loved play, so I was thrilled to see that CASA 0101 had decided to host a production. The story is this: a successful sports journalist, Mitch Albom, hears his college mentor and professor of sociology, Morrie Schwartz, has Lou Gehrig’s Disease and rushes to see him before it’s too late. 

But what began as a quick trip to say goodbye becomes regular weekly visits and a deep, meaningful friendship that changes both of them. It’s sentimental, sure. However, there’s much more to this play than just heartbreak. These men love each other. Their connection when Mitch was at college was deep. But even though they haven’t seen each other for 16 years, they pick right up where they left off. There’s a kind of muscle memory we have with certain people in our lives, isn’t there? No matter how long it’s been. The heart is a muscle, after all. 

Tuesdays with Morrie is a story about love and also trying to understand one another, forgive one another, even if we disagree. Something particularly important for us all right now. 

Two men who are at totally different stages in their lives reconnect not because one of them is dying, although that was Mitch’s initial motivation, of course. But because the dying man is able to live his life with more authenticity than the living one. Mitch has become trapped by his own ambition. Afraid to be even a morsel of the musician he once was. As if becoming who he longed to be would overwhelm him. It is for Morrie to remind him that we have no time…literally.

At one point in the play, Mitch laments that there is no point in loving. “Loving is the point,” says Morrie. Quite right! The lesson is pertinent at any time, but it feels more so now with our collective angst. The actual Mitch and his Morrie were Jewish and Boyle Heights used to be full of predominantly Jewish families. So, perhaps it is fitting that these Tuesdays with Morrie roles are now played by Hispanic actors since the neighborhood is now mostly Hispanic. 

However you look at it, these wonderful actors take this simple story and fill it with pathos and truth. Masterful and nuanced performances give the story new life. Which is all that any playwright can wish for, surely.

Stripped back and subtle staging is all these engaging actors require to create the world they occupy for the time it takes for a man to die. As I looked around at my fellow audience, I could see they were captivated by this truly lovely production. While Morrie was dying, he was busy living…perhaps we can all take a page from his book. Bravo to CASA 0101 for bringing this play back to a new and hopefully thoroughly inspired audience! Bravo!

Tickets: 

https://casa0101.org/?shows=tuesdays-with-morrie

When: 

April 18 – May 11
Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM, Sundays at 3PM

Where: 

CASA 0101
2102 E 1st St Los Angeles, CA 90033

The Cast of Tuesdays with Morrie

Vance Valencia (Morrie Schwartz) and Gilbert Reynoso (Mitch Albom).

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The Body is a really excellent concept. Four short plays all centred around one grim tragedy. A mysterious body falls from a tall building. In each of the stories, the characters are affected by this event in a multitude of different ways. Some only slightly, some profoundly, and all these people are intricately connected. Some unknowingly so, some by choice, some by chance. It reminds me of a group of witnesses to a crime. Everyone has their own perspective. Everyone has their own reason to either get involved or to walk away. But in this case, the crime itself is never solved, and in some of the plays, barely even wondered about.  The body, it seems, isn’t the point…

You can tell these actors know each other well. They work together perfectly. They understand each other and play off that familiarity brilliantly. The characters are both wild and real. The storylines are believable as well as a little outrageous. 

The Body is a collection of four plays with very clever, funny and interesting premises. Couples in love, couples all too familiar but only just meeting in the flesh. Work colleagues and lovers. Party goers and best friends. The characters themselves mean far more than the reasons they are together. These plays highlight how who we are can hold far more fascination than why. Most of the time, we hardly know ourselves, do we? So they bounce off each other in delightful and relatable ways. All of them stumbling through their lives, just like the rest of us. Nothing earth shattering, nothing life changing. Just a group of people trying to be real. 

The plays are dark, but not so dark that they don’t entertain. Even in the falling apart of friendships and relationships, there is humor and poignancy and a little wisdom. It’s a showcase for a fine group of actors and some burgeoning playwrights with some very interesting things to say.

The Body is well worth your time and The Sherry Theater the perfect venue for breakout creatives in NoHo. 

It only runs through this weekend, so don’t dawdle! Support our local NoHo theatre!!!

Tickets: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/signin/pre-auth?referrer=https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-body-tickets-1256904658669?aff=ebdsshcopyurl

When: 

April 18, 19, 20 and April 25, 26, 27
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 7:30 pm.

Where: 

The Sherry Theater
11052 Magnolia Blvd., NoHo Arts District, CA 91601

The Body Cast:

Allen Barstow, Alyssa Berkowitz, Theodore Coonradt, Kore Murphy, Genah Redding and Peter Schiavelli.

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Gritty crime dramas are a gift to theatre. I don’t understand why there are not more in fact. Atmosphere, stress, betrayal, anger and ultimate disaster are so perfect for dark theatres and sitting with strangers to discover something. New together. 

To Each Their Own is a brand new play written by the rather wonderful Travis Williams, told with a tenderness that belies the subject matter. 

Three old friends are drawn together to rob banks. They are all struggling, all feeling abandoned by the world and in need of their piece of some kind of pie. Doug and Benny own a dive bar, Doug and Bailey are old flames and haven’t seen each other for years, since Doug had to skip town after crossing the wrong gang. So they decide to trust each other, even though for two of them, who used to be lovers, trust is hard to find. It’s kind of a risk it all or die trying scenario. They had nothing to lose, or so they all believed. 

There’s a lot of intrigue and subterfuge. A lot of twists and turns and an awful lot of lies…which makes for an intense, and very funny story with characters as big as you would imagine them to be! 

The dialogue is snappy, but not as edgy as it could have been, which I really liked. This is not a story about people who hate each other. It’s a story about regret and lost chances. Wrong turns and heartbreaking consequences. These three have known each other since they were kids. They know who they are and why. Which makes for a deeper melancholy. Truer, higher risks taken, and a fall that means all the more.

To Each Their Own is a brilliant play. The characters and performances are brutally real and effortlessly played by some very fine actors indeed. 

I believed them, which is always the point, isn’t it? I believed they were willing to risk everything to have the hope of something more, and when inevitably they lost, the loss was poetically catastrophic. 

I have to mention the set. A bar. Simple enough, you might imagine. However, when I walked into the theatre, it felt like any dirty bar in any small town. You could smell the smoke and the beer and taste the defeat and sadness. Brilliant! 

Brooklyn Sample directs with what felt like a feather, but I am certain it was not. Invisible direction is always the mark of a master…bravo!!

I highly recommend To Each Their Own. Atwater Village Theatre is the perfect setting for this lonely, funny, poignant play about a group of people just trying to get by, hoping for more, even if the hope of it is all they know they might ever get…and who can blame them. The world’s insane and rapidly imploding. I’m not certain I wouldn’t take the chances they do myself. To Each Their Own in the zeitgeist, that’s for sure!

The Team:

Jason Madera, James Lemire, Tabitha Trosen, Travis Williams and William Wilson. 

Produced by Blind Toe Productions and Erin Coleman.

Tickets: 

https://www.artcrush.la/event-list

Where: 

Atwater Village Theatre
3269 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039

When:

April 16 (Preview) – 8 p.m.
April 17 (Opening Night) – 8 p.m.
April 18, 19 – 8 p.m.
April 25, 26 – 8 p.m.
April 27 – 6 p.m.
May 2, 3 – 8 p.m.
May 4 – 6 p.m.

www.artcrush.la | blindtoe.com

NoHo Arts To Each Their Own listing

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To see what shows are playing, check out our theatre guide>>

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This is one of Tennessee Williams’s later plays and not one I am familiar with. Set in a hotel bar in Tokyo, the wife of a famous and fading artist has her own sad falling apart, as her husband in their hotel room wallows in his own psychotic break. Miriam, the wife, is played with excruciating nuance by the wonderful Susan Priver. She is older, overdressed and bored, trying her best to seduce the barman who is repulsed. Her husband Mark, played brilliantly by the utterly phenomenal Rene Rivers, makes the occasional staggering and brutal appearance and it is clear he is losing his mind. Does Miriam care? If she does, she hides it well beneath her annoyance and frustration with him. But in the end, I think there is a little more than that, some fear perhaps, and some loneliness, but a sense of loss as well. Age can make us all a little more generous with our illusionary memories of love. 

This is a strange and sorrowful play. Miriam is almost desperate to be free of her husband, and yet she is there with him. Traveling from New York at his request. Dolled up in a bar on the other side of the world from anything remotely familiar. Her husband abandoned to his delusion and his fragmented mind, plastered in the paint that once made him great. 

She writes his agent, asking him to come and either take him home or stay with him so she can leave. He comes as called. Mark was once a big earner for him, but it’s all too late for any destiny to be changed.

Everyone in this play is really wonderful. Paul Coates plays the agent, glib and unrepentant and Remington Hoffman is the stoic barman – handsome, young, and struggling with his instinct to comply and his instinct to run. The dialogue is classic Williams, the setting not so much. But the sadness, the melancholy and the resignation to deterioration and eventual collapse is sweetly and tragically true.

Why stage such a deeply forlorn play? Perhaps we need something sadder than what is all around us? Perhaps these characters, Miriam and her salivating over the barman, and Mark and his unravelling, are a distraction from the waste we see every day. Whatever the reason, this is a remarkable play. It stays with you. And these truly fine actors seem born to play their roles. There’s a coldness to it all. A separation of all these people by time, by distance, by language, by need. What we see is a collection of disparate souls who will never connect. The performances are absolute perfection. No one touches anyone unless it’s an assault. There is no contact emotionally or even physically until the end of a life. And that is a touch of brilliance by director Jack Heller. It’s not until I thought again of the play that I even noticed it, so subtle is it. 

You should never need an excuse to see a play by Tennessee Williams. But I can absolutely provide you with one…this is a wonderful production with actors that know these roles so well they become them. Bravo!

Where: 

The Hudson Theatre
6359 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles

When: 

April 9-May 18
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm

Tickets: 

https://www.onstage411.com/newsite/show/play_info.asp?show_id=7352

In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel Cast

The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Paul Coates, Remington Hoffman, Susan Priver, and Rene Rivera.

The Team

Set design is by Joel Daavid, lighting and sound design are by Matthew Richter, costume design is by Shon LeBlanc and graphic design is by Sharon March. Brian Foyster serves as producer for Dance On Productions.

*****

Enjoy the NoHo Arts District even more, see what shows are playing and check out our theatre guide>>

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Inspired by the brilliant Billy Wilder film from 1945, The Lost Weekend, about a man struggling with alcoholism, Lost Cellphone Weekend takes on the addiction we all have with our digital screens and pocket communication devices…cellphones. Some might say it’s just as destructive and probably almost as addictive. A silent threat. Namely, it keeps us all from speaking to each other!

The story revolves around two musical theatre writers determined to meet a tight deadline for entry into the musical theatre competition. They must write an entire musical in under two weeks, and it has to be absolutely brilliant. No pressure then!

One of them has the bright idea, inspired by his mopey teenage daughter, to create a musical about the worldwide addiction to cellphones and base it on one of his favorite movies, in a film noir style. 

As they work on this opus together, we see it all unfolding onstage beside them. It’s a wonderful concept and it works flawlessly. The writers also become characters in the show, now set in a remote village in Maine, purposefully bereft of cell towers and wifi. A young couple is on a weekend break, from work and from cell phones! Hilariously noire-ish characters sing their way around the difficulties of no contact, no uploading, no online presence of any kind. She’s fine with it, he is having a breakdown…

The Lost Cellphone Weekend songs are wonderful and very, very funny, and the cast absolutely blew me away!! How lucky we are to have such talent in the tiny characterful Brickhouse Theatre in NoHo!

The show has so many delightful twists and turns, crazy characters and insightful old Hollywood-style montages, I really can’t list them. 

This musical is brand new, and highly original, with songs that are wonderful and memorable and so well performed by this absolutely fantastic cast! 

I really cannot recommend Lost Cellphone Weekend enough! It has only two more weekends sadly…but you can make it a part of your Easter celebrations and support new NoHo theatre!! It would make a great Hollywood Fringe show!!! Just a suggestion!

Where: 

The Brickhouse Theatre
10950 Peach Grove St, NoHo Arts District, CA 91601

When:

April 5-27
Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30pm, and Sunday matinees at 2pm. (No shows Easter Sunday April 20)

Tickets: 

The Lost Cellphone Weekend Cast

Lance Bagley, Birdie, Scott Di Lorenzo, Lauren Faulkner, Trevor Murphy, Courtney South and Jess Spruiell.

The Creative Team

Produced by John Lant and Tamra Pica
Written and Composed by Stephen Gilbane
Directed by Darrin Yalacki
Choreographed by Misty West
Casting by Tamra Pica Casting
Music Direction by Daniel Pietruska
Accompanist by Grace Balint
Lighting and Set Design by Zad Potter
Associate Producer Jonathan Harrison
Stage Manager – Abigail Westman
Percussion – Nancy Guzman
Additional Music Recording – Erich Rausch
Costumes – Susan Eiden and Darrin Yalacki
Publicity – Sandra Kuker-Franco of Sandra Kuker PR

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Gilda Radner and Gene Wilder, two of the most loved comedic actors of our time. Both gone, but far, far from forgotten. BIG HAIR: A Rad and Wild Love Affair is Maegan Mandarino’s sweetly funny biopic of their love affair, narrated by Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein and Gilda Radner as Roseanne Roseannadanna. Both are wonderfully portrayed by the phenomenally talented Maegan Mandarino.

There’s nothing traditional about Gilda Radner and Gene Wilder’s love affair. Nothing. And this solo show, while somewhat confined by the structure of a theatre, a stage and one performer, is just as genre defining. Is it a documentary? Is it a satire? Is it a clever, intimately drawn impersonation? Is it a drama? Is it a comedy?

The answer is, of course, yes…and. BIG HAIR: A Rad and Wild Love Affair really defies all of the above while also being absolutely all of them at once. There are a lot of really wonderful film and TV interview clips to make us smile and laugh and sigh in our missing of them. All are related to their relationship, along with some wonderful outtakes and clips from SNL and Young Frankenstein, and that is at the heart of the show. But because these two people were so extraordinary and are such a huge part of the American culture still, I found myself so mesmerized by just how good they were, that their love affair took second place, just a little. Although, of course, it is love that is the lens through which Ms Mandarino explores who they were. The love we have for them, as well as the love they had for each other. 

In these desperate and turbulent times, I find such comfort in the exquisitely unique and profoundly talented Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner. There was such an innocence to them, a buoyancy, a joyful oddness that truly transcended language and country and even time. I saw Young Frankenstein at the Ford last Halloween. It’s still as good as ever. And Roseanne Roseannadanna is and always will be one of the most iconic SNL characters. 

What made this show all the more moving was how charmingly Maegan Mandarino performs as Radner and Wilder. Switching crazy wigs, clothing and voices, she mimics them but endearingly, subtly, if that’s a word one might use to define either of these incredible artists. But with this thoughtful, loving interpretation of who she believes them to be, Maegan Mandarino doesn’t impersonate them. She allows them to speak through her. Covering herself with their vivid colors and textures and irony and heart. She carries them with her, like memories or inspiration. And that flows through her, forming a strange kind of version of them. But one that somehow feels utterly genuine and true. I can’t explain it really. I think you just have to experience this show and allow the nuance and the craft, and the heart of her performance to reach you. And it does, by reaching right through your chest to your heart, making your throat tighten a little as you laugh and cry and feel so many emotions all at once. It’s quite extraordinary. I came away feeling blessed to have been there, honestly.

These two people will always be a couple in our memories, although their relationship was on and off and Gilda’s life was sadly far too short. Maegan Mandarino reminds us how precious some humans are to our collective consciousness. How pivotal their lives were in our lifetime. How transcendent their influence and how permanent their echo. 

If you have the chance to see this wonderful wonderful show, BIG HAIR: A Rad and Wild Love Affair, I highly recommend that you do. If you want to feel as happy as these two people made us feel over and over again. If you want to be reminded of gentler times in your life, or a moment when everyone watched the same shows and talked about them the following day. That kind of deep connection through performance art doesn’t happen in the same way anymore. Although it does still happen. But Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner were something else, something very very special, something magical…and they will always be.

https://www.bighairmusical.com

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What you may not know about Fritz is that he started out as a stand-up comedian. In fact, he was actually discovered by KNBC while performing at The Comedy Store in Hollywood.  They asked him if he would be interested in covering the weekend shift as the weatherman and the rest is history!

I caught up with Fritz and had a chat about this new chapter in his career…and this is what I discovered.

In 1982, the news director of Chanel 4 watched his set at The Comedy store, which included an anecdote about him being forced to report on the weather on the Armed Forces Radio while he was in the Navy. So they offered him a weekend slot, covering for the regular and, since he was a broke comedian, he took it. Forty years later…

Climate change was a big reason why he retired…in his words, “nowadays you really need to know what you are talking about.” But there is much more to Fritz’s career than just the weather. He has also been a part of other KNBC shows – “It’s Fritz” and “What a Week.”  Notably he received the 2004 EMA Community Service Award for his involvement with KNBC’s wonderful children’s program, “4 Our Planet.”

Fritz’s first one-person show was 30 years ago, “It’s Me Dad!” and was work-shopped at the Actors Forum when it was still located on Magnolia Blvd in NoHo. He then moved it to The Victory Theatre and it was so successful it was purchased by Public Television and KCET who aired it every Father’s Day for many years. He then workshopped his last two shows at The NoHo Arts Center.  

As he says, “All of my shows have been born and raised in NoHo. It’s my hood!”

This is Fritz Colman’s third solo show. The first two “The Reception” and “It’s Me! Dad!” have also been performed at The El Portal, which for Fritz’s, has really become his local theatre, since he lives in the neighborhood. Over the years Fritz has worked out much of his comedy at various theatres in NoHo, some sadly long gone.  But he has a real love for the El Portal, reveling in its history and feeling right at home. The El Portal started life in the 20s as a vaudeville house before becoming a movie palace. The Monroe Theatre, the smaller of the two spaces in El Portal, is a perfect space for this intimate show for “woke boomers.” 

“Unassisted Residency LIVE!” runs through November, once a month, at 3pm “which is a perfect time for my demographic!” he says. Fritz has also just launched the precursor to “Unassisted Residency,”  “Unassisted Living”  on Tubi, which is exciting! As long as boomers can figure out what the heck Tubi actually is. I’m not sure I even know yet, but I’m now determined to find out! Maybe Fritz is actually doing some community service outreach…dragging us all out of the dark ages and into the Tubi light!

Fritz is thoroughly enjoying his retirement. He’s on the board of three nonprofits and spends a lot of time with his grandchildren. However, this still leaves him plenty of time for his own projects, his timetable magically unlocked by his absence from his daily weather slot. As much as we all miss his smiling face on our screens,  It is, however, wonderful to know that we can see him in the flesh, so to speak, at our brilliant NoHo El Portal Theatre for the next few months at least. 

Fresh off a gig in Idyllwild, opening for the US Marine Band from Camp Pendleton, Fritz is thrilled to be back at The El Portal with this hilarious show all about the vagaries of life post middle aged. The Monroe Theatre is the perfect match for his unambiguously thoughtful comedic diatribes on navigating the world as a boomer. He can stand happily in the almost round of the Monroe, surrounded by his ‘people,’ able to see the whites of their eyes in this wonderful space, as he joins them in the fun that comes with aging. When you get to the age when you no longer give the two hoots you used to give and can become the wise and invisible observer of the mania all around us. I really can’t wait to see this show!!!

Fritz Coleman has been a huge part of my Los Angeles experience since I arrived here 35 years ago. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to chat to someone so many of us looked forward to seeing each day, bringing his own unique sense of joy to what used to be our never-changing weather.  Thank you for everything, Fritz!

So head on over to the El Portal on January 26, February 23, March 30, and April 27 at 3pm and reminisce with the very clever and absolutely hilarious Fritz Coleman.

Tickets:

https://ci.ovationtix.com/371/production/1170728

When:

Sundays at 3PM
January 26
February 23
March 30
April 27

https://www.instagram.com/realfritzcoleman | https://www.youtube.com/@fritzcolemancomedian5371/videos

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Deborah Unger has been a storyteller most of her life. Growing up, she found refuge from life as an Army brat in the arts, as many of us do. But for Deborah, it became a lifelong pursuit. As an actress ,her credits are long. On TV and in film and in the threatre, her longest love.

So creating a solo show about her life seems like a bit of a no brainer. But life complicates everything…and the wonderful The Longer My Mother is Dead the More I Like Her took her 15 years to complete. Changing in form and focus time and time again. Reinventing itself, as Deborah had spent years of her childhood doing, moving from place to place, always being the new kid in school.

In the end, it was her relationship with her mother that became the story she tried to avoid. But we are all products of our surroundings, and the recurring voices in our heads are as uncontrollable as the ones outside of them. So Deborah is finally listening to her mother’s voice, after their tumultuous relationship and long periods of silence. And what she hears now is finally making sense.

The Longer My Mother is Dead the More I Like Her is a very funny and deeply insightful show. Yes, it’s about her mother and her. And yes, the mother is present on stage as a truly brilliant sidekick and constant, sometimes unwelcome companion. But this is far more intricate than most solo narratives. 

Deborah seeks to understand her mother. To ‘know’ her more now in death than she ever did in life. Perhaps it’s easier to give in to the love while accepting the difficult details once the other person isn’t around to keep upping the ante. I know my own relationship with my adult daughter, now a mother of her own, is sometimes more than a bit fraught, but is often improved upon by the occasional absence. It’s the stubbornness and the all-knowing intimacy of mother-daughter relationships that can make or break them. Some people can just know just too much about us to give us even the smallest break. Deborah is a genius at unwrapping the difficult bond of parent and child. The “I’m only trying to help you,” and the “it’s for your own good” and the infamous classic, “you’ll thank me someday.” She creates a story around it, in fact, and as the deepening frustration between them deepens still more into brutal understanding, Deborah begins to see her own reflection in the memories she unfolds. Which is a shock, to say the least. But also a comfort.

The Longer My Mother is Dead the More I Like Her is a wonderful, candid and often hilarious glimpse into what for Deborah became an unbreakable bond with her mother. 

Even though at time is was pushed to the limits. Solo shows are the perfect place for this kind of familial fun and also the very best place to find yourself as an artist. Deborah Unger is an artist and a beautifully written and brilliantly performed opus. A tribute to her mother, a “thank you” for everything. I did weep a little, and I laughed an awful lot more! Bravo!

You can find out more about Deborah and her show, The Longer My Mother is Dead the More I Like Her on her website.

https://www.deborah-unger.com

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