Special Gal (LAArtsOnline.com)

Patti Lupone performs at The Wallis

Special Gal!

By Ken Werther

Three Sisters, The Robber Bridegroom, Evita, Les Misérables, The Cradle Will Rock, Anything Goes, Sunset Boulevard, Master Class, Sweeney Todd, Company, Gypsy, Noises Off, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown… this is Patti LuPone! And that’s just onstage. And not even a complete list. She is a two-time Tony Award-winner; a two-time Grammy Award-winner; and in 2006, LuPone was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. One would think there couldn’t be much more to say about this American entertainment icon’s prolific career. But one would be wrong.

There is also television (Life Goes On, The Song Spinner, Frasier, Touched by an Angel, Will & Grace, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, Glee, American Horror Story, Girls). There are also movies (Witness, Driving Miss Daisy, State and Main, Parker). And all of these lists are just a sampling. In 2007, she starred alongside Audra McDonald in the Los Angeles Opera production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. LuPone has been compared to international chanteuses like Lotte Lenya, Marlene Dietrich, and Edith Piaf.

And now, LuPone brings her new concert Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda… played that part to the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills for only two performances. I’ve had the privilege of experiencing this legend-in-her-own-time performer in action and I can sum it up in one word: Go!

Patti LuPone plays the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills, on February 12 and 13.

NEWS RELEASE — CAM CLARKE’S “STOP ME IF I TOLD YOU THIS” OPENS SAT 2/28 AT 8PM AT ODYSSEY THEATRE

C-Squared Productions
Presents

STOP ME IF I TOLD YOU THIS
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY CAM CLARKE
DIRECTED BY MARK L. TAYLOR

Performances Begin February 20
OPENS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 AT 8PM
A Guest Production at The Odyssey Theatre

C-Squared Productions has announced the world premiere of Stop Me If I Told You This, written and performed by Cam Clarke and directed by Mark L. Taylor. Performances begin February 20 with opening set for Saturday, February 28 at 8pm.

Stop Me If I Told You This is the touching, funny, off-beat multimedia musical memoir of prolific voice-over actor Cam Clarke. The show business progeny of glamorous Alyce King of The King Sisters and B-movie icon Robert Clarke, his childhood played out on TV screens across America as one of the youngest members of 60’s singing treasures, The King Family. In Clarke’s autobiographical show, he tells the tale of how a child born into Hollywood royalty struggled to find his own identity. With songs and nostalgia, the show traces Clarke’s uniquely profound journey.

Cam Clarke began his career in short pants and knee socks in 1965 as a member of TV’s The King Family Show. Since the early 80’s, Clarke has been working as a voice-over actor, particularly in animation, voicing such characters as Leonardo in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Clarke has voiced many other characters, including Snoopy, Simba in The Lion King, Der Fledermaus in The Tick, Mac on Clifford the Big Red Dog, He-Man in He-Man: Masters of the Universe, and Freddy the Ferret in Back at the Barnyard, and more, including several popular video games, most notably the Metal Gear Solid series as Liquid Snake.

Previously at the Odyssey, Mark L. Taylor has directed AfterMath and Heap of Liven, both by Elliot Shoenman. At Rogue Machine, he directed Uploaded and Where the Great Ones Run. Among his other numerous directing credits are productions of Concept of Remainders, Sunset Park, Breaking and Entering, Last Call at Moby Dick’s, and Return to Morality. As an actor, Taylor has appeared in several television shows and films and also enjoyed time behind the camera for Lifetime and The Disney Channel.

Set design is by Joel Daavid, lighting design is by Luke Moyer, sound design is by Cricket Myers, and projection design is by Nick Santiago. The stage manager is Ashley Henley and Kevin Bailey is General Manager for C-Squared Productions.

There will be two preview performances of Stop Me If I Told You This on Friday, February 20 at 8pm and Saturday, February 21 at 8pm. Opening is set for Saturday, February 28 at 8pm. The regular performance schedule will be Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm through March 29 only. Tickets are $30 and may be purchased online at www.odysseytheatre.com or via phone at (310) 477-2055, ext. 2.

The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles, 90025.

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01-30-15

NEWS RELEASE — LALGBT CENTER PRESENTS ‘CONVERSATIONS WITH COCO’ WITH SPECIAL GUEST ALLISON JANNEY — SAT 3/7 AT 8PM

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s
Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center
Presents

CONVERSATIONS WITH COCO
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
ALLISON JANNEY

A BENEFIT EVENT
AT THE LGBT CENTER’S RENBERG THEATRE
Saturday, March 7 at 8pm

For the ninth installment of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s ongoing series Conversations With Coco — Miss Coco Peru’s series of live, unscripted interviews with celebrated performing artists — the LA drag legend welcomes the multiple award-winning actress Allison Janney to the Center’s Renberg Theatre on Saturday, March 7, at 8pm. Miss Coco’s previous conversations have included those with Liza Minnelli, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Lainie Kazan, Charles Busch, Lesley Ann Warren, Karen Black, and Bea Arthur. Miss Coco has prepared a multimedia presentation featuring highlights of Ms. Janney’s brilliant career, as well as ample opportunity for the kind of casual yet in-depth conversation audiences have come to relish.

Allison Janney is a six-time Primetime Emmy Award-winner for her television work (The West Wing, Masters of Sex, Mom). She won the Outer Critics Circle and Clarence Derwent Awards for her performance in Present Laughter on Broadway and also received Tony Award nominations for her work in A View from the Bridge and 9 to 5. She is a multiple SAG Award-winner and has received countless other nominations and awards across all disciplines of entertainment.

Blending fascinating discussion, revealing stories, and a multimedia survey of her guests’ careers, Conversations With Coco has proven to be among the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center’s most popular offerings. “In case you are unaware,” says Miss Coco, “Conversations With Coco is similar to Inside The Actors Studio only it’s much more fun and I’m prettier than James Lipton — sort of.” For more information about Miss Coco Peru, visit www.misscoco.com.

General admission tickets for Conversations With Coco with Special Guest Allison Janney are $50. VIP tickets are available for $250 which include reserved orchestra seating, a pre-event cocktail hour, and a post-event reception with Miss Coco and Ms. Janney. Tickets may be purchased online at http://coco-allison-janney.eventbrite.com or by phone at (323) 860-7300. Net proceeds from ticket sales will support the full range of free and low-cost programs and services offered by the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre is located at the Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Place (one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard), in Hollywood. Free onsite parking is available.

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01-27-15