Music and Entertaiment

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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.
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Written by A.R. Gurney. Directed by Wendy-Marie Martin. Executive producer: Grey DeLisle. Starring April Stewart and Courtney R. Hall.
Sometimes it takes a lifetime to spell out love. In Love Letters, we meet Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, two childhood friends who share a lifetime of correspondence, beginning with birthday party thank-you notes and summer camp postcards and ending in one last heartfelt goodbye. Join April Stewart and Courtney R. Hall for this funny and poignant portrait of love and friendship. Called an “exquisite jewel of a play” by Time magazine, Love Letters is a profound theatrical exploration of the powerful, and sometimes painful, connection of love.
A.R. Gurney (1930-2017) is the playwright. The author of 61 plays was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2004. His shows for Broadway include Love Letters, Sylvia, Sweet Sue and The Golden Age. Love Letters debuted on Broadway in 1989.
April Stewart plays Melissa. April is a star in the world of voiceover, having portrayed over 100 characters on the Comedy Central series South Park, as well as people on other series including Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Winx Club, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera and others. A member of Actors Equity, her many stage credits include roles on Falsettos, Chess, Crimes of the Heart, Prelude to a Kiss, Hot L Baltimore, Hay Fever and more.
Courtney R. Hall plays Andy. His previous stage credits include roles in The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), Dandelion Wine, Fiddler on the Roof, Fifth of July, The Importance of Being Earnest, Beyond Therapy, The Comedy of Eroors, and many more. He is also a writer, director and producer.
Wendy-Marie Martin directs. The recipient of a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Arts and Theatre from Ohio University, she is Department Chair of the Undergraduate Theatre program at Hollins University. She is a director, dramaturg, actor and playwright (The New Wife) in a long career that has taken her across the U.S. and Europe.
Grey Delisle is the Executive Producer. A legendary figure in the world of animation voiceover, hers is the voice you hear when you watch animated versions of over 1500 of your favorite characters, among them Lois Lane, Robin, Wonder Woman, Petunia Pig, Captain Marvel, Betty Brant, Anakin Skywalker, Pepper Potts, Daphne Blake, Black Canary, Betty Rubble, Psylocke and more. She is a Grammy® winning singer and songwriter.
Stewart, Hall, Martin and Delisle all trained at Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts back in the 90’s.
Wardrobe/Hair/Make-up for the show is by international guest designer Suellen Da Costa Coelho.
This production is an Equity Approved Showcase. The presenters of this production are also pleased to highlight their official support for the Greater LA County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a non-profit organization that promotes wellness, recovery, equality, and dignity for individuals and families affected by mental illness and the community at large. Net proceeds from this production of Love Letters are being proudly donated to NAMI GLAC to support these worthy efforts.
Love Letters is a story of a love that never went away. If you haven’t experienced Love Letters before, prepare to fall in love, too.
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Written by Terrence McNally. Directed by Larry Eisenberg. Produced by David Hunt Stafford for Theatre 40.

It's the opening night of The Golden Egg on Broadway, and the wealthy producer Julia Budder is throwing a lavish party in her lavish Manhattan townhouse. Downstairs the celebrities are pouring in, but the real action is upstairs in the bedroom, where a group of insiders have staked themselves out to await the reviews. The group includes the excitable playwright; the possibly unstable wunderkind director; the pill-popping leading lady, treading the boards after becoming infamous in Hollywood; and the playwright's best friend, for whom the play was written but who passed up this production for a television series. Add to this a drama critic who's panned the playwright in the past and a new-in-town aspiring singer, and you have a prime recipe for the narcissism, ambition, childishness, and just plain irrationality that infuse the theatre—and for comedy. But don't worry: This play is sure to be the hit they have all been hoping for.
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Chris Botti
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The Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts (HB APA) will present “The Drowsy Chaperone,” a love letter to the Jazz Age musical that features one show-stopping song and dance number after another.
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Chris Botti