Well, well, well. It’s time to congratulate the cast, crew and creative team on the rave reviews Priscilla’s Perfect Day has been getting.  We already feel proud just to have such a great, brand new piece of musical theater that the entire family can enjoy, that getting good reviews is very much the icing on the cake.  Or the syrup on your pancakes, if you will. 

If you haven’t checked out what this wonderful family musical is about, check out this interview with the show’s director, Jeremy Aldridge, on Broadway World LA!

We also have an interview with husband and wife writing team Diana Martin (book) and Richard Levinson (music) that’s also from Broadway World LA!

Here are some of what the reviewers are saying.  If you’d like to read the entire review, click on the link.

• It’s a creative romp with plenty of imaginative flights of fancy.

• It’s a giddy little adventure that will encourage children to be nicer to their siblings and not be so afraid of things that sound scary (but really aren’t).

• The acting, however, is engaging and it never hurts to be surrounded by the laughter of children.

Jackie Houchin, American Chronicle

Did we mention that there’s a pancake brunch backstage after the show for the little ones?!  What more can you ask for after a fun family musical?

Priscilla’s Perfect Day plays on Saturday mornings at 11AM through July 11th! Tickets are available here on the site or by phone at Call 818-700-4878.

Congratulations to Cate Caplin and our cast, crew and creative team of BABY, it’s their talent, hard work and commitment that’s earning these well deserved raves.

•”The Group Rep has a first-class production.”

•”Ultra-skilled director Caplin has thankfully provided a fast-paced and exceedingly active staging…”

•“Emily Thompson is a treasure as Lizzie, the best singer onstage and a bundle of energy and joy.”

•”Chorus members Klair Bybee, Lareen Faye, Becklett Arnold, Michael Cassano, Tonilyn Hornung and Jeremy M. Sage do remarkably well with a myriad of small roles. •Faye is particularly funny as a midwestern cowgirl type…”

•”The cast is terrific.” – - Broadway World.com

•”One of the most delightful elements of BAB is Cate Caplin’s staging.”

•”Pedersen is charming as Alan, playing the role with equal parts sincerity, sweetness and humor.”

•”…this show belongs to young leading lady Emily Thompson…who lights up the stage whenever she appears. ” – - MusicalsinLA blog.

•”In its West Coast premiere, this fun lovin’, ‘baby boomin’ musical delighted the audience from start to finish.”

•”Robert Allen is loveable effective as Danny, and Emily Thompson as Lizzie is sizzling showstopper!”

•”…Dana Abrams and Steve Rizzo, are heart touchingly hilarious”

•”Alan and Arlene, played with soulful sensitivity by Lloyd Pedersen and Luise Heath, share a touching duet…” – - Tolucan Times.

•”The GROUP rep has a first-class production on its hands that will surely

appeal to a wide audience, especially to marrieds and those planning

for the patter of little feet.” – Grigware

So come on down to meet our new arrival. You can even reserve tickets to BABY right here on our site! We play Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM, Sundays at 2PM.

Here at The Group Rep we’ve got another show opening!!!  On June 12, Catawba Club Productions in association with The Group Rep presents the Los Angeles Premiere of PRISCILLA’S PERFECT DAY – A Family Musical!!!  This special production plays on Saturday mornings at 11AM from June 12-July 17.  AND – after each performance, there is a Pancake Party and other activities!!!

Rain might ruin eleven-year-old budding artist Priscilla Penelope Periwinkle’s idyllic notion of a relaxing vacation in Maine, and her “bratty” little brother Billy and his pesky, pancake-lovin’ dog Roscoe are making their first day at the quaint old cottage anything but perfect; when she finds some very strange crayons that send them all to a magical sunny beach, things start looking up … at least until they meet one very big, and very hungry, lobster.  But thanks to Billy’s quick thinking, it could still end up being Priscilla’s Perfect Day!

What a wholesome show to take the entire family to!

The cast includes: Natascha Aldridge, Courtney DeCosky ,Stephen Simon, Matt Valle, Brian Wallis, Victor Isaac, Diana Martin, Kaylena Mann, Lily Donnelly, and Ben Freiberger.

PRISCILLA’S PERFECT DAY has a book by Diana Martin with songs by Richard Levinson, featuring direction by Jeremy Aldridge and choreography by Michele Bernath.  It is produced by Catawba Club Productions and Lisa McGee Mann.

Tickets are $12 and  BUT there is a terrific deal: tickets are $10 if you’re a group of five or more!!!  All tickets can be reserved here on our website or by phone at:  (818) 700-4878.  The Lonny Chapman Theatre is located at 10900 Burbank Boulevard, 91601 NoHo Arts District/N. Hollywood.

Our production is directed and choreographed by Cate Caplin, with musical direction by Jeffrey Rockwell!  Opening Night is Friday, June 4th at 8PM.  Performance are Friday & Saturday at  8PM, with Sunday matinees at 2PM.  It runs:  June 4 through July 11, 2010 at Lonny Chapman Theatre  10900 Burbank Blvd.  North Hollywood 91601.  For reservations:  www.thegrouprep.com or 818.700-4878

BABY tells the story of three couples as they deal with the painful, rewarding and agonizingly funny consequences of the experience of expecting a baby: college students in their twenties, barely at the beginning of their adult lives; thirty ‘somethings’, having trouble conceiving but willing to try; and middle-aged parents, looking forward to seeing their last child graduate from college when a night of unexpected passion lands them right back where they started.  BABY has a  book by Sybille Pearson, music by David Shire, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., based on a story developed with Susan Yankowitz.

The cast features Dana Abrams, Robert Allen, Beckett Arnold, Klair Bybee, Michael Cassano, Lareen Faye, Luise Heath, Tonilyn Hornung, Lloyd Pedersen, Steve Rizzo, Jeremy M. Sage, and Emily Thompson.

We’ve even got TALKBACK SESSIONS with the cast and director after the shows on  June 13 and June 27!!!

The Lonny Chapman Theatre is located at 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood 91601.  General Admission: $22     Seniors/Students:  $17     Group of 10 or more:  $15

Great Deal! Fathers Day is “Be Glad You Brought Dad” Day with special two for one ticket pricing!  Be glad you brought dad, indeed!  What a treat for the father in your life to take a sttroll down memory lane and remember what it was was like to start that chapter in his life! He’ll laugh, he’ll cry and most of all, he’ll be happy he didn’t get another awful tie!

Another Great Deal!!! In honor of our Nation’s own birthday:  July 4th is  Pay-What-You-Can!  Here at The Group Rep, we believe that people should be able to see great theater at an affordable price, and every once in a while we even drop our already affordable price for people to pay what they can! Great for students, seniors and anyone on a budget. We’re talking to you, new parents!

Come on down to The Group Rep for a beautiful and touching musical that will have you humming the songs as you leave.

Tickets:  www.thegrouprep.com        Reservation Line:  (818) 700-4878

By Malcolm Devine, a member of The Group Rep.

Family, heritage, duty, scorn.

The pull between City and Country. Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or small fish in a big pond? Why assume you’d be a small fish in the big pond?

Fathers, sons, mothers, daughters. Exceeding your parents, worrying about your children exceeding you…

Doors, secrets.

Society, money, position, ambition…

What will you give up to get what you want?  You’re never prepared for how deep the feelers will go to suss out what’s wrong with your family, then turn those stories around to make them about you and your character. What will your ambition tell you to do? Should you follow it? Will you lose everything if you don’t?

Politics, murder, scandal, intrigue.

When  the scandal couldn’t get any worse, it DOES.

These are just a few of the ideas that THE CITY (written by Clyde Fitch) tosses around and uses as a backdrop for its action. For a play that was originally written in 1909, it is surprisingly fresh. In fact, Clyde Fitch was indeed very modern when he was alive.  People took notice of him; his voice, his walk, his demeanor, his interests – were simply not like theirs and he was demeaned for it. But Fitch, ever the modern man, said “I would rather be misunderstood than lose my independence… I did not see why I should do things I hated to do merely to conform to public opinion.”

This was not normal behavior at the turn of the 20^th century.

But no matter, New York – which has always loved what is new and modern – loved Clyde Fitch. Often, Fitch would have four of his plays running at the same time. So modern was he, that when for the first production of THE CITY, the theatre hired an extra staff of maids and strong-armed ushers to look after the fainting women in the audience. What was it that Fitch was saying that got to everyone? The truth.

This is the play The Group Rep is mounting.  THE CITY opens January 22^nd. All I ask is for you to ask yourself: Where was the best in you brought out – The Country or THE CITY?

Tickets are available now.

[© MMX MD TOTAL in association with Soccerboy in LA]

Bumping your head.  Falling on your face.  Tripping over chairs.  Running into walls. Making entrances too early.  Tripping over people.  Making entrances too late. Stumbling around in the dark and somehow ending up outside the theater.  This is what it’s learn your way around a set that’s just been built.

All the while, you’re trying to remember your lines and blocking.

Finally being able to use the set is an exciting time in rehearsal. For one, it means that you’ve moved out of the rehearsal hall and into the theater.  That in and of itself has it’s own difficulties.  The rehearsal hall is a closed space where we can hear each other easily, especially when we’re singing.  The theater is designed so that the sound flows out into the audience. Onstage it can often feel like you’re out there all alone.  In a great way.  Feeling that exposed requires you to listen with your entire being and that makes everything you do onstage much more alive.  As does the throbbing pain that results from running into a wall.  But hey – anything that makes the show a more visceral experience for the audience is a good thing, right?

In all seriousness, our set is beautiful and fun and is a testament to the talent of our scenic designer, Trefoni Rizzi.  The kids are having a blast playing on it, as are (ahem) the adults.

I’ll see you at the theater!

[in conjunction with Soccerboy in LA © MMIX MD TOTAL  all rights reserved]

One of the best things about being an actor is you’ll get to work with people of all ages.  And the ages of the actors in A Christmas Carol span seven decades! From the smallest tweens to veteran actors, our cast has quite the breadth of experience.  The greatest aspect of working with actors of a certain age is not only their wisdom (which we all expect), but their personalities!  These artists are not the fuddy-duds of our society – they’re actors! They’ve lived their lives as performers and all bring such a spectacular energy to our lives, onstage and off.  Every stereotype is blown out of the door, with constant humor, brilliance and WIT!  Just the other day, we heard one of the best jokes about The Simpsons from a completely unexpected source, and it brought the entire cast to our knees!  Let me tell you, at a time when you’re getting used to the set and trying to remember your lines, some good humor goes a long way.

But the world of A Christmas Carol is not a world populated only by adults.  We all know the adage of showbiz is “never work with kids!”  And to be completely honest, whenever I’ve worked with children, that thought has crossed my mind.  Multiple times.  But not here.  The younger actors we are lucky enough to work with in this production blow that idea out of the water.  I have never seen more honest and less precocious performances from children than the ones our kids are bringing.  It’s more than merely refreshing, it’s exciting.  And they’re all pros!  I’ll admit, whenever someone gets confused as to where they’re supposed to be – they can just ask one of our kids, because they will know the answer.

Every day in rehearsal I feel truly blessed not only to witness and learn from everyone’s work ethic, but also because I get to spend time with such wonderful people.  I have not experienced such warmth in rehearsals in my entire life.  It’s a lovely thing to experience at all, much less during the holidays.

Come see the show and you’ll see what I mean!  Tickets are available now.

Happy Holidays!

[In conjunction with Soccerboy in LA © MMIX  MD TOTAL all rights reserved]

Hello all!  This is the first entry from the A Christmas Carol Rehearsal Blog.  The best part about this show is not only is it a brand new musical adaptation of the famous Dickens’ book, but it’s also the Los Angeles Premiere! All of us at The Group Rep are excited to put on the premiere and look forward to sharing this wonderful piece of theatre with the world.

I haven’t mentioned this before, but I joined rehearsals as an immediate replacement.  When I accepted the role, I was performing in another show and scheduling made it so that I couldn’t join rehearsals until they had already been in progress for a couple of weeks.  I’ve been an immediate replacement a few times before and it is very… real.  Immediately.  Everyone else had been working with and getting familiar with the material for weeks so there was quite a lot of catching up to do.  I was also dealing with the nerves of being the “new guy” who is introduced to everyone all at once.  The best thing to do in these situations is just dive in.  Be fearless.  Besides, I had a lot of work to do.

The first two days I was there were spent entirely on music – and the first song we worked on was “Fezziwig’s Carol” – my number.  Since this is a premiere, I have never heard or even read the music.  I kept saying to myself “Just dive in!  Just dive in!”  It was, to say the least, overwhelming. I was still performing in the other show – there were times when I was sure my head would explode from the alarming rate I was stuffing new information into it.  But – the music was wonderful and the arrangements were so lush!  How could I not forget how completely exhausted my body was and just let go?

It felt good.  It felt right.

[in conjunction with Soccerboy in LA: © MMIX MD TOTAL  all rights reserved]

Hello all!  My name is Malcolm Devine, and I’ll be one of the people blogging in this space from time to time.  You may know my work from Soccerboy in LA, or you may have seen me on stage at The Group Rep, on screen or at other theaters around the country.  I’m primarily an actor, but I also direct, write and produce.

There are a lot of exciting things going on at The Group Rep – and it all started with the fantastic Mr. Ernest Figeroa taking over as artistic director at the beginning of our 36^th season.  Thirty-six years of bringing excellence in theatre to North Hollywood!  The first production of the season was actually three different works performed in repertory, called a Rep-A-Trois.  It was a great success, and put the repertory back in The Group Rep.

Up next is a brand new musical adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  This stunning new adaptation goes back to the source material, and brings that to the forefront.  Let me tell you, it’s a much more fresh adaptation of this classic story than any other I’ve seen or read. It will feature dance, masks and puppets and the music is wonderful.  It will most surely remind you of what Christmas is really about.  I also happen to play Fezziwig…

As a special feature, I will blog periodically from rehearsals to give you an inside peek at the rehearsal process!  I look forward to writing more and I hope to see you at the theater!

Malcolm Devine