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Victoria Monét
Music and Entertaiment
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Linda can speak with the dead. Hilda wants to. The Echo Theater Company presents a spine-tingling new play that questions the things we don’t know and can’t understand. Abigail Deser directs the California premiere of The Thin Place by Obie Award-winning playwright Lucas Hnath (Broadway’s A Doll's House, Part 2; Hillary and Clinton; Dana H), running March 18 through April 24 at Atwater Village Theatre. Three Pay-What-You-Previews are set for March 15, 16 and 17.
Can we talk with the departed? Communicate with loved ones we’ve lost? In The Thin Place, Hnath toys with perceptions of reality and the omnipresence of death. Are psychic abilities real, or merely a cunning illusion that awakens our deepest desires?
Linda promises that if you listen — really listen — she can take you to the “thin place,” the fragile boundary between our world and the next. Hilda is grappling with loss and seeking answers. She is listening — hard.
“Grief and loss can propel us into this unfamiliar, unrecognizable and often alarming territory where our questions ring loudly and answers are elusive,” says Deser. “Our varied religious and scientific structures that we hold true cannot fully explain where the anima, the soul of our loved ones, has disappeared to when their corporeal expression has been shed, left lifeless.”
The Thin Place opens on Saturday, March 18, with performances continuing on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. through April 24. Three preview performances are set for Wednesday, March 15; Thursday, March 16; and Friday, March 17, each at 8 p.m. Tickets are $34 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. All Monday night performances, as well as previews, are pay-what-you-want. Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039.
For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 307-3753 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.
Can we talk with the departed? Communicate with loved ones we’ve lost? In The Thin Place, Hnath toys with perceptions of reality and the omnipresence of death. Are psychic abilities real, or merely a cunning illusion that awakens our deepest desires?
Linda promises that if you listen — really listen — she can take you to the “thin place,” the fragile boundary between our world and the next. Hilda is grappling with loss and seeking answers. She is listening — hard.
“Grief and loss can propel us into this unfamiliar, unrecognizable and often alarming territory where our questions ring loudly and answers are elusive,” says Deser. “Our varied religious and scientific structures that we hold true cannot fully explain where the anima, the soul of our loved ones, has disappeared to when their corporeal expression has been shed, left lifeless.”
The Thin Place opens on Saturday, March 18, with performances continuing on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. through April 24. Three preview performances are set for Wednesday, March 15; Thursday, March 16; and Friday, March 17, each at 8 p.m. Tickets are $34 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. All Monday night performances, as well as previews, are pay-what-you-want. Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039.
For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 307-3753 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.
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Nemo would like to be able to think of himself as a modern-day cowboy. Actually, he’s a moving company employee originally from Minneapolis. In the course of his work, he meets a pretty lady named Lily whom he thinks can tutor him in the cowboy lifestyle. Lily would rather turn him into a Southern gentleman. It seems the cowboy ways include hard drinking, and Lily will have none of that. She enlists her pastor and his wife to try and save Nemo from his personal demons. Will Nemo find the heavenly country within Lily’s loving arms, or will Nemo go to hell at the bottom of a whiskey bottle?
Heavenly Country is a jukebox musical, and that means while the love story of Nemo and Lily plays out, you’ll hear the cast perform 22 of the best-loved hits of Country and related genres including blues, rockabilly, bluegrass and gospel. You’ll hear #1 chart-topping hits like All My Ex’s Live in Texas, Good Hearted Woman, Should’ve Been a Cowboy, Could I Have This Dance? and many more. There will be old-time favorites like Put Your Hand in the Hand, The Bottle Let Me Down, Orange Blossom Special, A Little Bit in Love, and still more. Included are the African-American spirituals I Know That Prayer Changes Things and We’ll Understand It Better Bye and Bye.
Written by Joel Russell. Directed by L. Flint Esquerra. Music director: Paul Cady. Presented by Russell Media.
Heavenly Country is a jukebox musical, and that means while the love story of Nemo and Lily plays out, you’ll hear the cast perform 22 of the best-loved hits of Country and related genres including blues, rockabilly, bluegrass and gospel. You’ll hear #1 chart-topping hits like All My Ex’s Live in Texas, Good Hearted Woman, Should’ve Been a Cowboy, Could I Have This Dance? and many more. There will be old-time favorites like Put Your Hand in the Hand, The Bottle Let Me Down, Orange Blossom Special, A Little Bit in Love, and still more. Included are the African-American spirituals I Know That Prayer Changes Things and We’ll Understand It Better Bye and Bye.
Written by Joel Russell. Directed by L. Flint Esquerra. Music director: Paul Cady. Presented by Russell Media.
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Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents a revival of the sensual, passionate and delightfully funny Pulitzer Prize winning play by William Inge. Set in small town Kansas, this is a sexy world, dangerous and cruel, where residents keep each other in their place while longing to break free. When a handsome young drifter named Hal arrives on the eve of the annual Labor Day picnic, his combination of uncouth manners and titillating charm sends the women reeling — especially the beautiful Madge. Friendships are pushed to the limit and the fragile line between restraint and desire is stretched thin. Winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025; $25-$40 / Pay-What-You-Will at Monday evening performances; (310) 477-2055; OdysseyTheatre.com.
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Dirt Monkey & Jantsen
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TayTay DJ Party - Taylor Swift Night
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5-STAR theatricals
is proud to announce the First Show of its 2023-2024 Season!
The Tony Award Winning
RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL
Book by Terrence McNally
Music by Lynn Ahrens
Lyrics by Steven Flaherty
Musical Direction & Conductor: Tom Griffin
Choreography by Michelle Elkin
Directed by Jeffrey Polk
Make Them Hear You Beginning March 24
at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center!
5-STAR THEATRICALS is proud to announce the first show of its 2023-2024 season, the Tony Award winning, RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL, book by Terrence McNally, music by Lynn Ahrens, lyrics by Steven Flaherty, conductor and musical direction by Tom Griffin, choreography by Michelle Elkin and directed by Jeffrey Polk. RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL opens on Friday, March 24, 2023 and runs through Sunday, April 2, 2023 at the Kavli Theatre at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center (formerly the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza), 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.
Based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, this musical tapestry depicts an African-American family, a Jewish immigrant family, and a wealthy white suburban family in turn-of-the-century America, who collide in pursuit of the American Dream. Nominated for 13 Tony Awards® including “Best Musical,” and winning for “Best Original Score” and “Best Book of a Musical,” Ragtime is a powerful portrait of life during the turn-of-the-century, exploring America’s timeless contradictions of freedom and prejudice, wealth and poverty, hope and despair.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST
JEFFREY POLK (Director) Directed and Choreographed: The Color Purple, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Memphis (The Musical), Ain’t Misbehavin’. Choreographed: Dreamgirls, (TUTS, Houston with Sheldon Epps, Director), Kiss Me, Kate, (Pasadena Playhouse, Sheldon Epps, Director), Blues In The Night, (The Wallis, Beverly Hills, Sheldon Epps, Director). Guest Director with “The Young Americans” and “Heartglobal Outreach World Tours.” Mr. Polk has performed on Broadway, national tours, TV and film.
MICHELLE ELKIN (Choreography) Select credits include: “Sutton Foster Live” with Jonathan Groff (PBS), “Young Sheldon” resident choreographer (CBS), “Younger” (TV Land), “The Wonderful Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon), “Me And My Grandma” with Rhea Perlman, “Baby Daddy” (ABC Family), TNT pilot “Dawn” directed by Sam Raimi, Lifetime’s reality show “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” “Kristin” starring Kristin Chenoweth, and tap sequences in ABC Family's “Bunheads.” Theater: Live musical numbers featuring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster with special guest Joshua Henry for the NSO at Kennedy Center, New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and the Houston Symphony. Theater: Something Rotten (Broadway World Nominee) Sister Act The Musical (Broadway World Nominee), Hunchback Of Notre Dame (Broadway World Nominee) Children Of Eden (Broadway World Nominee); Little Shop Of Horrors (Straz Center), The Goodbye Girl (MTG). Feature films: Wild Hogs, What Just Happened. Associate Choreographer credits include; “Dancing With The Stars,” Sister Act at Pasadena Playhouse, “Emmy Awards” with Jane Lynch, “Academy Awards” with Hugh Jackman and the Broadway show, Wonderland (Marquis Theater).
TOM GRIFFIN (Musical Director/Conductor) is a nationally recognized musical director and conductor for professional musical theater. Tom was musical director for the Los Angeles productions of Disney’s Beauty and The Beast, The Music Man, Annie, “13” The Musical, Bye Bye Birdie, Sweet Charity, West Side Story, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the national tour of My Fair Lady for Theatre Of The Stars, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s productions of A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee, Disney’s Mary Poppins, the East Coast Premiere & New York Workshop of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory and The Pioneer Theatre Company’s productions of Once, A Christmas Carol, Elf, The Musical, Peter & The Starcatcher, Oliver, Newsies and Once On This Island.
Tom has received awards for his musical direction of shows including the Broadway revival of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (Los Angeles premiere), for which he received a Garland Award for Best Musical Direction, and Side Show (Los Angeles premiere), for which he received a Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Musical Direction, as well as eight Theatre LA Ovation Award nominations. Tom was the musical conductor of Disney’s Beauty and The Beast on two national tours and served again as musical director for the show’s run at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Tom’s other productions include Grease, The Mystery of Edmond Drood, the West Coast premiere of My Way, A Connecticut Yankee, Honk! The Musical, the West Coast & Los Angeles premieres of The Last Five Years, the West Coast premiere of The Spitfire Grill, 70 Girls 70, Baby, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jungle Book, Aladdin, Fatty, Oklahoma, The Wizard of Oz, Inside the Music and Club Indigo, for which he also won a DramaLogue award for Best Musical Direction.
The Cast of RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL will feature Marty Austin Lamar as “Coalhouse,” Brittany Anderson as “Sarah,” Misty Cotton as “Mother,” Michael Scott Harris as “Father,” Hank Jacobs as “Tateh,” Samantha Wynn-Greenstone as “Emma Goldman,” Ceron Jones as “Booker T,” Monica Ricketts as “Evelyn Nesbit,” Jeremy Ingraham as “Younger Brother,” Steven Perren as “Grandfather,” Jacob Hoff as “ Harry Houdini,” Josh Christoff as “JP Morgan,” Davis Hamilton as “Henry Ford,” Lila Dunham as “Little Girl,” Daxton Bethoney as “Little Boy (Edgar)” and Jordan Jackson as “Sarah’s Friend/Ensemble.” The Ensemble will feature (in alphabetical order): Christopher D. Baker, Emily Cochrane, Domo D’DAnte, BK Dawson, Julia Feeley, Glen Hall, Tyler Marshall, Almand Martin, Jr., Donovan Mendelovitz, Kristen O’Connell, Will Riddle, Zara Saje, Leasa Shukiar, Kumari Small, Tania Pasano Storrs and Dekontee Tucrkile. The Youth Ensemble will feature (In alphabetical order): Delilah Bank, Tanner Cox, Camryn Daniels, Madelyn Freidman, Harley Grey, Harrington Gwin, Madison North, Calulla Sawyer, Weston Walker-Pardee , Poppi Wilbur-McDaniels and Olivia Zenetzis.
The Design Team of RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL features: Lighting Design by Brandon Baruch; Costume Design by Shon LeBlanc; Sound Design by Jonathan Burke; Props Design by Alex Choate; Hair and Wig Design by Luis Ramirez. The Production Stage Manager is Erin Nicole Eggers.
ABOUT THE PRICING AND SCHEDULE
RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL opens on Friday, March 24 and runs through Sunday, April 2, 2023 at the Kavli Theatre at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center (formerly the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza), 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.
Performances are Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm; Sunday, March 26 at 2pm and Sunday, April 2 at 1pm; with an added performance on Thursday, March 30 at 7:30pm.
Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center Box Office located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks, or through www.5startheatricals.com, or by phone at (800) 745-3000. For groups of 10 or more, please call Group Sales, 5-STAR THEATRICALS at (805) 497-8613 x 1.
Ticket prices range from $35 – $90. For ticket and theatre information, call (805) 449-ARTS (2787). RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL performs exclusively at the Kavli Theatre, Bank of America Performing Arts Center, at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. For
membership and ticket information, call 805-497-8613 x 6 or visit www.5startheatricals.com.
COVID PROTOCOLS for RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL at the KAVLI THEATRE
There will no longer be any COVID vaccination requirements for The Bank of America Performing Arts Center. In compliance with the Ventura County Public Health Order masks or face coverings are highly recommended for all persons, regardless of vaccination status.
# # #
To schedule press interviews, photos, press comps, or for additional information, please contact David Elzer/DEMAND PR at (818) 508-1754 or by e-mail at davidelzer@me.com.
is proud to announce the First Show of its 2023-2024 Season!
The Tony Award Winning
RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL
Book by Terrence McNally
Music by Lynn Ahrens
Lyrics by Steven Flaherty
Musical Direction & Conductor: Tom Griffin
Choreography by Michelle Elkin
Directed by Jeffrey Polk
Make Them Hear You Beginning March 24
at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center!
5-STAR THEATRICALS is proud to announce the first show of its 2023-2024 season, the Tony Award winning, RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL, book by Terrence McNally, music by Lynn Ahrens, lyrics by Steven Flaherty, conductor and musical direction by Tom Griffin, choreography by Michelle Elkin and directed by Jeffrey Polk. RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL opens on Friday, March 24, 2023 and runs through Sunday, April 2, 2023 at the Kavli Theatre at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center (formerly the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza), 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.
Based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, this musical tapestry depicts an African-American family, a Jewish immigrant family, and a wealthy white suburban family in turn-of-the-century America, who collide in pursuit of the American Dream. Nominated for 13 Tony Awards® including “Best Musical,” and winning for “Best Original Score” and “Best Book of a Musical,” Ragtime is a powerful portrait of life during the turn-of-the-century, exploring America’s timeless contradictions of freedom and prejudice, wealth and poverty, hope and despair.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST
JEFFREY POLK (Director) Directed and Choreographed: The Color Purple, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Memphis (The Musical), Ain’t Misbehavin’. Choreographed: Dreamgirls, (TUTS, Houston with Sheldon Epps, Director), Kiss Me, Kate, (Pasadena Playhouse, Sheldon Epps, Director), Blues In The Night, (The Wallis, Beverly Hills, Sheldon Epps, Director). Guest Director with “The Young Americans” and “Heartglobal Outreach World Tours.” Mr. Polk has performed on Broadway, national tours, TV and film.
MICHELLE ELKIN (Choreography) Select credits include: “Sutton Foster Live” with Jonathan Groff (PBS), “Young Sheldon” resident choreographer (CBS), “Younger” (TV Land), “The Wonderful Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon), “Me And My Grandma” with Rhea Perlman, “Baby Daddy” (ABC Family), TNT pilot “Dawn” directed by Sam Raimi, Lifetime’s reality show “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” “Kristin” starring Kristin Chenoweth, and tap sequences in ABC Family's “Bunheads.” Theater: Live musical numbers featuring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster with special guest Joshua Henry for the NSO at Kennedy Center, New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and the Houston Symphony. Theater: Something Rotten (Broadway World Nominee) Sister Act The Musical (Broadway World Nominee), Hunchback Of Notre Dame (Broadway World Nominee) Children Of Eden (Broadway World Nominee); Little Shop Of Horrors (Straz Center), The Goodbye Girl (MTG). Feature films: Wild Hogs, What Just Happened. Associate Choreographer credits include; “Dancing With The Stars,” Sister Act at Pasadena Playhouse, “Emmy Awards” with Jane Lynch, “Academy Awards” with Hugh Jackman and the Broadway show, Wonderland (Marquis Theater).
TOM GRIFFIN (Musical Director/Conductor) is a nationally recognized musical director and conductor for professional musical theater. Tom was musical director for the Los Angeles productions of Disney’s Beauty and The Beast, The Music Man, Annie, “13” The Musical, Bye Bye Birdie, Sweet Charity, West Side Story, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the national tour of My Fair Lady for Theatre Of The Stars, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s productions of A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee, Disney’s Mary Poppins, the East Coast Premiere & New York Workshop of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory and The Pioneer Theatre Company’s productions of Once, A Christmas Carol, Elf, The Musical, Peter & The Starcatcher, Oliver, Newsies and Once On This Island.
Tom has received awards for his musical direction of shows including the Broadway revival of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (Los Angeles premiere), for which he received a Garland Award for Best Musical Direction, and Side Show (Los Angeles premiere), for which he received a Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Musical Direction, as well as eight Theatre LA Ovation Award nominations. Tom was the musical conductor of Disney’s Beauty and The Beast on two national tours and served again as musical director for the show’s run at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Tom’s other productions include Grease, The Mystery of Edmond Drood, the West Coast premiere of My Way, A Connecticut Yankee, Honk! The Musical, the West Coast & Los Angeles premieres of The Last Five Years, the West Coast premiere of The Spitfire Grill, 70 Girls 70, Baby, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jungle Book, Aladdin, Fatty, Oklahoma, The Wizard of Oz, Inside the Music and Club Indigo, for which he also won a DramaLogue award for Best Musical Direction.
The Cast of RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL will feature Marty Austin Lamar as “Coalhouse,” Brittany Anderson as “Sarah,” Misty Cotton as “Mother,” Michael Scott Harris as “Father,” Hank Jacobs as “Tateh,” Samantha Wynn-Greenstone as “Emma Goldman,” Ceron Jones as “Booker T,” Monica Ricketts as “Evelyn Nesbit,” Jeremy Ingraham as “Younger Brother,” Steven Perren as “Grandfather,” Jacob Hoff as “ Harry Houdini,” Josh Christoff as “JP Morgan,” Davis Hamilton as “Henry Ford,” Lila Dunham as “Little Girl,” Daxton Bethoney as “Little Boy (Edgar)” and Jordan Jackson as “Sarah’s Friend/Ensemble.” The Ensemble will feature (in alphabetical order): Christopher D. Baker, Emily Cochrane, Domo D’DAnte, BK Dawson, Julia Feeley, Glen Hall, Tyler Marshall, Almand Martin, Jr., Donovan Mendelovitz, Kristen O’Connell, Will Riddle, Zara Saje, Leasa Shukiar, Kumari Small, Tania Pasano Storrs and Dekontee Tucrkile. The Youth Ensemble will feature (In alphabetical order): Delilah Bank, Tanner Cox, Camryn Daniels, Madelyn Freidman, Harley Grey, Harrington Gwin, Madison North, Calulla Sawyer, Weston Walker-Pardee , Poppi Wilbur-McDaniels and Olivia Zenetzis.
The Design Team of RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL features: Lighting Design by Brandon Baruch; Costume Design by Shon LeBlanc; Sound Design by Jonathan Burke; Props Design by Alex Choate; Hair and Wig Design by Luis Ramirez. The Production Stage Manager is Erin Nicole Eggers.
ABOUT THE PRICING AND SCHEDULE
RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL opens on Friday, March 24 and runs through Sunday, April 2, 2023 at the Kavli Theatre at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center (formerly the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza), 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.
Performances are Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm; Sunday, March 26 at 2pm and Sunday, April 2 at 1pm; with an added performance on Thursday, March 30 at 7:30pm.
Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center Box Office located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks, or through www.5startheatricals.com, or by phone at (800) 745-3000. For groups of 10 or more, please call Group Sales, 5-STAR THEATRICALS at (805) 497-8613 x 1.
Ticket prices range from $35 – $90. For ticket and theatre information, call (805) 449-ARTS (2787). RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL performs exclusively at the Kavli Theatre, Bank of America Performing Arts Center, at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. For
membership and ticket information, call 805-497-8613 x 6 or visit www.5startheatricals.com.
COVID PROTOCOLS for RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL at the KAVLI THEATRE
There will no longer be any COVID vaccination requirements for The Bank of America Performing Arts Center. In compliance with the Ventura County Public Health Order masks or face coverings are highly recommended for all persons, regardless of vaccination status.
# # #
To schedule press interviews, photos, press comps, or for additional information, please contact David Elzer/DEMAND PR at (818) 508-1754 or by e-mail at davidelzer@me.com.
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Description
Mexican Slum Rats with Wayword, and Widowdusk
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Colony House
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Tchaikovsky’s timeless Violin Concerto in the hands of Randall Goosby; Sibelius’ forceful Second Symphony from Dalia Stasevska.