The Last Laugh - Articles Page 2

Brimming with ideas, Richard Harris's play never forgets that its first obligation is to entertain

Theatre At The Tabard Presents THE LAST LAUGH By Richard Harris, the first in-house production in their relaunch season, following a short closure and return to the Tabard name.

WestFest 2022 will present two full weekends of shows, a different presentation each week, to entice the loyal audiences who have returned for WestFest every year, as well as to introduce new audiences to the richly varied work of the city's longest-running, continuously operating professional company. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8, Sundays at 2. Each week's program runs two hours, plus intermission.

If a hilarious night of songs, jokes and stories is on your to-do list, let The Boomer Boys check it off! In this hilarious musical revue, a fun-loving “fat pack” of middle-aged men realizes the best way to deal with getting older is to laugh about it with your friends.

New York theatre critics got their first taste of Funny Girl when it opened on Broadway this past spring, starring Beanie Feldstein. Now the show has a new Fanny Brice in Lea Michele and a new Mrs. Brice in Tovah Feldshuh, and the critics are weighing in once more. 

Award-winning Scottish comedian Hannah Fairweather (writer on Mock The Week and The Now Show) is the Taylor Swift of comedy, joking about everyone who has wronged her in the past.

A roster of Broadway performers and top jazz artists will join Michael Feinstein as professional mentors at this year’s Songbook Academy summer intensive, the nation’s leading youth music program focused on the timeless standards of jazz, pop, Broadway and Hollywood.

A roster of Broadway performers and top jazz artists will join Michael Feinstein as professional mentors at this year’s Songbook Academy summer intensive, the nation’s leading youth music program focused on the timeless standards of jazz, pop, Broadway and Hollywood.

On Sunday May 1st of the Gold Standard Arts Festival, a week-long celebration of emerging and established artists over 50, will host a panel called: Can't Spell Gold W/out Old: How to Succeed, with stories targeted to an older demographic.

The Old Vic just celebrated opening night of the world premiere production of Mike Bartlett's viciously funny The 47th, directed by Rupert Goold and co-produced with Sonia Friedman Productions and Annapurna Theatre.

The inaugural Gold Standard Arts Festival celebrating emerging and established artists 50+, is the week of April 24 - May 1.

The Season opens with a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto, directed by Oliver Mears – his first as Director of The Royal Opera. This production sees Verdi’s masterpiece as a modern morality play that pits power against innocence, beauty against ugliness, in a pitiless world of luxurious decadence, corruption and social decay.

The re-imagined version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA! is dark and twisting. It's controversial to say the least, and it makes its national tour stop now through January 30th at the Civic Center. OKC University alum Sasha Hutchings leads the dynamic and diverse cast in this modernized take on a musical theatre staple.

2020 was the year that wasn't for pantomimes.  Hundreds of live shows up and down the land were cancelled because of the COVID pandemic, and many were only performed to online audiences.  This Christmas, panto is back with a vengeance!

The Royal Opera's 2021/22 Season opens with a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto, directed by Oliver Mears – his first as Director of The Royal Opera.

Penny Fuller may have had the quote of the evening when she and Anita Gillette unveiled the new version of their show SIN TWISTERS. She was quoting the great Barbara Cook, who said 'I wish someone had told me I was working in The Golden Age. I would have paid attention.' That is a mouthful. Anita Gillette (Carnival, All-American, Mr. President, They're Playing Our Song, Chapter Two) and Penny Fuller (Applause, Rex, A New Brain, The Dinner Party, Anastasia) brought a bit of The Golden Age to the stage of Feinstein's 54 Below. And the audience paid attention. In fact, the audience was spellbound.

Urban dwellers know that a fox swaggering the streets like she owns them is nothing unusual these days. The merging of town and country, and the question of whether the fox is invading human territory (or is it the other way round with humans claiming zones that really belong to foxes?) are particularly relevant themes in Opera Holland Park’s homes site in verdant and semi-feral parkland.

Actor-writer-lawyer Mark McGoldrick is someone with an unusually compelling life story. A self-described former “f**kup” whose youth was largely spent in a haze of drug use and delinquency, McGoldrick was involved in a horrifying accident that could have cost him his life and did leave him paralyzed. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, McGoldrick used this tragedy as an opportunity to reset his life. He went to Harvard Law School and became a public defender for Alameda County, representing people, mostly of color, charged with the same offenses of his earlier days. A number of years ago, he felt the compulsion to start putting his riveting stories onstage by writing and performing solo shows. McGoldrick is now chronicling his story over four monthly episodes in Countercoup, The Marsh’s first broadcast series. Countercoup will be presented the first weekend of each month, May 1 – August 8, 2021 with a new installment performed each weekend at 7:30pm (PDT), Saturdays and 5:00pm (PDT), Sundays. BroadwayWorld recently spoke with McGoldrick while he was on a break from his day job as a public defender in downtown Oakland. We discussed how he was able to recover from personal tragedy and to harness his innate mouthiness to use it for the greater good, how his stage work can affect his loved ones, ongoing issues with our justice system, and some unanticipated benefits from the Covid pandemic for folks with disabilities. As expected, he was fascinating to talk to – keenly intelligent and brutally honest with a sly sense of humor, but also deeply thoughtful, considerate and ultimately quite hopeful. He has a propensity to speak in long, complex sentences that manifest his experience as a public defender.

Lane starred in director Mike Nichols' 'The Birdcage' opposite Robin Williams. Though both Nichols and Williams have since passed, Lane believes there's merit to a sequel idea that originated on the podcast.

The Avenel Performing Arts Center will present Anthony Nunziata: From Broadway to Italy March 12th and 13th, 2021. Tenor Anthony Nunziata is the Brooklyn-born, Nashville-based singer and songwriter who brings his soulful voice to classic jazz, pop standards, classical-crossover, and his timeless original music.

Earlier this year, Elm Street Cultural Arts Village debuted a new monthly stand-up comedy series for audiences in-person and online - “The Lasting Laugh.”

Gamut Theatre Group is thrilled to present our annual New Year's Eve special event Last Laughs of 2020 LIVE! Online, December 31, 2020. This year, Last Laughs will be performed virtually over Zoom and will consist of short and long form improvisation by the entire TMI team! Last Laughs of 2020 LIVE! Online starts at 9:00 p.m. and will conclude at 10:00 p.m.

This Giving Tuesday, Glendale Arts is giving people a reason to laugh with its 2nd Annual Laugh It Off Comedy Night, which will be streamed live from the historic Alex Theatre on Tuesday, December 1, 2020 at 7:00pm.

Roost. It's a short opera about an expectant couple (for the first time) in lockdown who would be happy, and sexually active, if not for the fact that the air conditioning isn't working and it's a long, hot summer. Also hovering via FaceTime is Kat's overbearing mother.

'Howerd's End' will get its world premiere at the new Golden Goose Theatre. This brand new play by Mark Farrelly ('Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope') takes you to the heart of Frankie and Dennis' clandestine relationship, which lasted from the 1950s until Frankie's death in 1992. It also affords a glorious opportunity to encounter Frankie in full-flight stand up mode.