Tag: camille bounds

From producer Cameron Mackintosh of Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables fame, along with original music and lyricists Claude-Michel Schonberg, Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil, Miss Saigon came in as the costliest of all his productions at $12 million.

When four old buddies from high school get together 40 years later for weddings and other emergency, there is happy chaos and laughs with almost every line in this delightful 51st Pintello’s Comedy Theatre offering.

Broadway By The Bay does nothing half way. "Kiss Me Kate" delvers a strong cast and orchestra that brings this musical into the present. When the first notes of Cole Porter’s music hit the audience the spell is cast and you are in for a special ride.

“Next To Normal” brought lyricist Brian Yorkey the 2009 Tony Award for Best Score and Tom Kitt two Tonys for Best New Score and Best Orchestration. Both won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for “Next To Normal”, rare for a musical.

What motivates groups of people to spend their free time memorizing lines and building sets and rehearsing for hours—for no pay?

Taken from the Harold Gray comic strip character "Little Orphan Annie," the story takes place in the 1930s during the depression with "its centerpiece, Annie displaying her optimism and heart under dire circumstances. With some memorable music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin, the show is easy to listen to and enjoy.

Limelight Actors’ Theatre brings in “The 39 Steps” for its 23rd production in its fifth season to entertain the folks in the South Valley.Director JoAnna Evans lets loose four kooky, talented characters to play over 100 roles in this Hitchcock murder-spy spoof.Kevin Heath, Roberta Vinkhuyzen, Jason Harris and Bruce Pember with Michael Perry and Brennan Perry as the ever energetic stage hands that keep the show glued together. Everyone’s hysterical timing and delivery is almost flawless.Evans uses a broad brush, painting the four characters and their images of over 100 characters with more than 50 costume changes that transform their persona with a flick of a hat, jacket or wig before your eyes. The timing is intricate and tricky but this nutty group use minimum props and is at times ingenious and adds to the hilarity of the production. Example: Four large trunks double as seats on a train and also act as the roof of the train that the characters use to do a typical Hitchcock chase scene, flapping their coats with flashing lights to give the effect of wind and rain. A bunch of mismatched chairs and a podium create a getaway car, a moveable door, a mock-up window and picture frames become ingenious props that tickle the funny-bone and create a mental picture of what could be next in this off-the-wall adventure that is done completely tongue-in-cheek with a homage to Hitchcock.Evans directs this whacked-out talented group like a conductor performing Fantasia’s "Sorcerer’s Apprentice" in triple time. The energy expended by this entire goofy group is seductive and over the top and leaves the audience pleasantly exhausted.For anyone who is a Hitchcock fan this might be the ticket to lighten up a bit. To those who aren’t familiar with his genius, time to get acquainted. Go and rent the movie then see this show. You will definitely have an interesting experience.Come early around 7 pm, bring your dinner and wine if you like, for an enjoyable evening of fun and tons of laughs.Camille Bounds is the theatre and arts columnist for the Morgan Hill Times, Gilroy Dispatch and the Hollister Freelance. She can be reached at [email protected] “The 39 Steps”Where: The Gilroy Center For The ArtsThrough: May 2Runs: 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermissionTickets: $20Reservations and information call (408) 472-3292 or visitwww.LimeLightActors’Theater.com  

More than 60 years since its original opening on Broadway, director Kenneth Kelleher presents a strong, fresh, moving production of “The Death of a Salesman” with a superb cast. He wrings every bit of emotion from his actors, impacting the audience by making them feel like they’re part playwright Arthur Miller's story.

Pintello Comedy Theater pros Jayson Stebbins and Denee Lewis Bohnsack get together to bring in playwright Jack Neary’s gentle and funny “First Night,” an amusing bit of witty theater. The two carry the production under the deft direction of Whitney Pintello.

Think Hawaii and images of romance, blue skies and glorious weather float by the conjured thoughts. Midway across the warm Pacific lies a chain of islands called Hawaii, 2,000 miles of ocean from our mainland with no continental coast between. These small bits of land appear offered to the sky by water and pressed to the earth by stars. Here civilizations of Occident and Orient merge under the tropical influence of the Polynesian culture.