Summer Stages: BWW's Top Summer Theatre Picks in Los Angeles

Summer Stages

compiled by Don Grigware and Ellen Dostal

A Man of No Importance/Good People Theater Company at the Lillian Theatre
Producing Artistic Director, Janet Miller launches her New Theatre Company, the Good People Theater Company, with A Man of No Importance, offered as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival June 7 - 30. Direction and musical staging will be done by Miller, with musical direction by Corey Hirsch. www.hff13.org/1093.

A Midsummer Saturday Night's Fever Dream/The Troubadour Theatre Company
All bets are off when Matt Walker's Troubies return to the Falcon Theatre May 31 - July 7th with another musical mash-up full of zany comedy, hilarious audience interaction, and acrobatic mayhem. This time The Bee Gees and the Bard come together in a re-imagined take on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream featuring an ensemble of young lovers, faeries, and actors who shake it up in the woods to a reinvented disco soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever. www.FalconTheatre.com

Dead Man's Cell Phone/International City Theatre
An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café, a stranger at the next table who has had enough, and a dead man with a lot of loose ends become the set-up for Sarah Ruhl's oddball odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world. Richard Israel directs Ruhl's off-center romantic comedy playing June 5 - 30 at ICT. http://ictlongbeach.org/

She Stoops To Conquer/Independent Shakespeare Co.
One of the true joys of the summer returns when the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival opens its 2013 season on June 27th. In addition to Shakespeare's Macbeth and As You Like It, the company will also present Oliver Goldsmith's 18th century comedy, She Stoops To Conquer al fresco in the park. All you need is a blanket, a picnic basket, and your family and friends. www.iscla.org

Watson and the Dark Art of Harry Houdini/Sacred Fools
This world premiere, written & directed by Jaime Robledo, with an original score by Ryan Johnson, made its debut in the company's popular late night Serial Killers series. After a string of brutal murders, Watson and Holmes travel to New York on the trail of the killer where the mysterious Harry Houdini seems to know more than he's telling. Nothing is as it seems in this sequel to Watson, as our heroes encounter murder, mystery, magic... and a heartbreak that is almost too much to bear. June 21 - July 27, http://sacredfools.org/

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Priscilla Queen of the Desert/Pantages Theatre (pictured)

A cult film became a big hit musical on the London Stage. Broadway soon followed. Priscilla Queen of the Desert concerns the escapades of three gay men - all with very different backgrounds and stories - who cross the Aussie desert as drag queens on just about the sexiest tour bus you may ever hope to see. Awarded for its outrageous sets and costumes, this is one to see! Opens May 28 and plays through June 16. http://www.broadwayla.org/

The Scottsboro Boys/Ahmanson Theatre Kander and Ebb's last collaboration about the infamous trials of the Scottsboro boys has the framework of a minstrel show but sticks to the details of the case. The satirical show will move and entertain like no other. It closed early on Broadway, yet garnered a record 12 Tony nominations and no wins. Plays the Ahmanson May 21- June 30.http://www.centertheatregroup.org/

Sleepless in Seattle/Pasadena Playhouse The much anticipated world premiere musical with book by Jeff Arch, music by Ben Toth and lyrics by Sam Forman and direction by The Playhouse's artistic director Sheldon Epps, based on the popular Tri Star film of the same name, will play May 24 - June 16 at the Pasadena Playhouse. It concerns a boy and his dad who have sadly lost wife/mother...and their search for the one gal who will bring both of them true love.http://www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/box-office/mainstage/sleepless-in-seattle-the-musical.html

Sunset Boulevard/Musical Theatre West (MTW) Andrew Lloyd Webber - music and Don Black and Christopher Hampton - book & lyrics - composed the musical play based on the classic Oscar nominated 1950 film of the same title directed by Billy Wilder. It gave the world the bizarre faded movie queen Norma Desmond and boasted such hit songs as "With One Look" and "As If We Never Said Goodbye". The show is rarely mounted by a local theatre company due to its size in cast and scope. MTW is up to the challenges and will present the extravaganza July 12 - 28 under the direction of Larry Raben. http://www.musical.org/MusicalTheatreWest/sunsetboulevard2013.html

I Do! I Do! /Laguna Playhouse Laguna Playhouse will open its 2013/2014 season with Harvey Schmidt's (book) and Tom Jones' (music and lyrics) classic marriage musical from July 9 to August 11 starring Davis Gaines and Vicki Lewis. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/176816-I-Do-I-Do-Starring-Davis-Gaines-and-Vicki-Lewis-Among-Laguna-Playhouses-2013-14-Season