Jules Aaron News

The 2010 Utah Shakespearean Festival summer season will feature an electrifying world premiere musical, 'Great Expectations.' Based on the novel by Charles Dickens, the musical will run from July 1 to August 28 in repertory with five other productions.

Broadway veterans Ivonne Coll (Tony-nominated Chronicle of Death Foretold), June Gable (Tony nominee for Candide), Leslie Easterbrook (original Broadway production of California Suite), and Barbara Niles (Jesus Christ Superstar) are four ladies of 'a certain age' in a sparkling new musical with book by Jennie Fahn and toe-tapping music and lyrics by Joe Symon that will end its run on April 4th.

Two new musicals celebrating Hollywood legends will bookend International City Theatre's 25th Anniversary Season in 2010.

Meet the 'broads' of Millennium Manor. Broadway veterans Ivonne Coll (Tony-nominated Chronicle of Death Foretold), June Gable (Tony nominee for Candide), Leslie Easterbrook (original Broadway production of California Suite), and Barbara Niles (Jesus Christ Superstar) are four ladies of 'a certain age' in a sparkling new musical with book by Jennie Fahn and toe-tapping music and lyrics by Joe Symon.

I loved the four gals playing the Broads - all talented - but the show needs a major overhaul. Too many jokes are tired old cliches - and singing about side effects from medications? Audiences do not find that entertaining as many experience these very problems on a daily basis. No one was laughing the night I attended, because most of it wasn't funny! And death? Who wants to be reminded that funerals are like weddings, but at least at weddings you can smell your own flowers? Also not funny, guys! Especially for the majority of the audience - over 65!

Meet the 'broads' of Millennium Manor. Broadway veterans Ivonne Coll (Tony-nominated Chronicle of Death Foretold), June Gable (Tony nominee for Candide), Leslie Easterbrook (original Broadway production of California Suite), and Barbara Niles (Jesus Christ Superstar) are four ladies of 'a certain age' in a sparkling new musical with book by Jennie Fahn and toe-tapping music and lyrics by Joe Symon.

Meet the 'broads' of Millennium Manor. Broadway veterans Ivonne Coll (Tony-nominated Chronicle of Death Foretold), June Gable (Tony nominee for Candide), Leslie Easterbrook (original Broadway production of California Suite), and Barbara Niles (Jesus Christ Superstar) are four ladies of 'a certain age' in a sparkling new musical with book by Jennie Fahn and toe-tapping music and lyrics by Joe Symon.

With the 2009 Summer Classical Repertory Season at a close, The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum broadens its scope to focus on activities such as its year-round educational programs and ongoing development series for playwrights, 'Botanicum Seedlings.' The program's Fall Playreadings are Laura Shamas' Trapper Joan on Sunday, November 15 and Twigs and Bone by Tiffany Antone on Sunday, November 22. Readings begin at 1 pm, and admission is free.

With the 2009 Summer Classical Repertory Season at a close, The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum broadens its scope to focus on activities such as its year-round educational programs and ongoing development series for playwrights, 'Botanicum Seedlings.' The program's Fall Playreadings are Laura Shamas' Trapper Joan on Sunday, November 15 and Twigs and Bone by Tiffany Antone on Sunday, November 22. Readings begin at 1 pm, and admission is free.

With the 2009 Summer Classical Repertory Season at a close, The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum broadens its scope to focus on activities such as its year-round educational programs and ongoing development series for playwrights, 'Botanicum Seedlings.' The program's Fall Playreadings are Laura Shamas' Trapper Joan on Sunday, November 15 and Twigs and Bone by Tiffany Antone on Sunday, November 22. Readings begin at 1 pm, and admission is free.

International City Theatre's 2009 Season finale is a show-stopping collection of transformational stories by one of musical theater's brightest composers.

International City Theatre's 2009 Season finale is a show-stopping collection of transformational stories by one of musical theater's brightest composers.

Two new musicals celebrating Hollywood legends will bookend International City Theatre's 25th Anniversary Season in 2010.

Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts presents Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott, Directed by Jules Aaron Rolling Hills Estates, California: Jules Aaron directs this Broadway hit mystery drama by Frederick Knott, a masterfully constructed thriller moving from one moment of suspense to another as it builds toward an electrifying, breath-stopping final scene

Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts presents Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott, Directed by Jules Aaron Rolling Hills Estates, California: Jules Aaron directs this Broadway hit mystery drama by Frederick Knott, a masterfully constructed thriller moving from one moment of suspense to another as it builds toward an electrifying, breath-stopping final scene

East West Players (EWP), the Nation's Premier Asian American Theatre, brings its 43rd Anniversary Season, Beyond Presence, to a close with an evening of two one-act musicals, MARRY ME A LITTLE by Stephen Sondheim, directed by Jules Aaron and THE LAST FIVE YEARS by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera. The cast will feature some of Asian America's top musical theatre artists, Mike Dalager, Jennifer Hubilla, Michael K. Lee and Jennifer Paz.

Filled with colorful criminals, biting social satire and a brilliant score, The Threepenny Opera opens International City Theatre's 2009 Season at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Jules Aaron directs Michael Feingold's translation of the trailblazing musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill that became one of the most influential plays of the 20th Century. Darryl Archibald is musical director and Kay Cole choreographs the five-week run February 20 through March 22; low-priced previews begin February 17. First performed in 1928, Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera was a revolutionary musical theater masterpiece that mocked the bourgeois political movement of pre-Hitler Germany. Brecht's brittle, sardonic tale of beggars, thieves and prostitutes, adapted from the 1728 play The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, was a fierce social and political critique, and Weill's innovative score that fused American jazz with German cabaret captured the ironic tone of the lyrics. Part acid social criticism, part bittersweet romance, the now eighty-year old saga of 'Mack the Knife' and his entourage of criminals and whores has never lost its theatrical punch. 'It's a satire on capitalism and corruption told from the viewpoint of the 'little people',' notes Aaron. 'If there was ever time to revive this show, it's now. Michael [Feingold]'s translation is earthy, gritty and very funny. I think it's going to strike a chord with audiences.'

West Coast Ensemble presents the first show of their 2009 season, THE GRADUATE, adapted by Terry Johnson, based on the novel by Charles Webb, and the motion picture screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, THE GRADUATE will be directed by Jules Aaron (Great Expectations). THE GRADUATE will preview on Wednesday, February 11 and Thursday, February 12 at 8:00pm and will open on Friday, February 13 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, April 5 at the new home of West Coast Ensemble - The El Centro Theatre, 800 N. El Centro Ave. in Hollywood.

Filled with colorful criminals, biting social satire and a brilliant score, The Threepenny Opera opens International City Theatre's 2009 Season at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Jules Aaron directs Michael Feingold's translation of the trailblazing musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill that became one of the most influential plays of the 20th Century. Darryl Archibald is musical director and Kay Cole choreographs the five-week run February 20 through March 22; low-priced previews begin February 17. First performed in 1928, Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera was a revolutionary musical theater masterpiece that mocked the bourgeois political movement of pre-Hitler Germany. Brecht's brittle, sardonic tale of beggars, thieves and prostitutes, adapted from the 1728 play The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, was a fierce social and political critique, and Weill's innovative score that fused American jazz with German cabaret captured the ironic tone of the lyrics. Part acid social criticism, part bittersweet romance, the now eighty-year old saga of 'Mack the Knife' and his entourage of criminals and whores has never lost its theatrical punch. 'It's a satire on capitalism and corruption told from the viewpoint of the 'little people',' notes Aaron. 'If there was ever time to revive this show, it's now. Michael [Feingold]'s translation is earthy, gritty and very funny. I think it's going to strike a chord with audiences.'

West Coast Ensemble presents the first show of their 2009 season, THE GRADUATE, adapted by Terry Johnson, based on the novel by Charles Webb, and the motion picture screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, THE GRADUATE will be directed by Jules Aaron (Great Expectations). THE GRADUATE will preview on Wednesday, February 11 and Thursday, February 12 at 8:00pm and will open on Friday, February 13 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, April 5 at the new home of West Coast Ensemble - The El Centro Theatre, 800 N. El Centro Ave. in Hollywood.