There is “Magic to Do” at the Selma Arts Center, where the most-unusual musical Pippin is playing through October 22.
Sister Act returns to Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater, with important parts and people from the 2017 Good Company Players production still intact. Camille Gaston is Doloris Van Cartier again, Ethel Birrell returns as a bubbly nun, and Laurie Pessano re-directs with style and strength. All of this against a background of Covid cancellations, substitutions, and understudies that underscore the depth and strength of the GCP casting pool.
Have you ever tried to write a musical based on 150 single-panel cartoons?
That was the job faced by playwrights Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and songsmith Andrew Lippa, fifteen years ago, and it turned into The Addams Family. Now, the quirky musical is on the equally-quirky Reedley Opera House stage in a River City Theatre Company production through July 24.
This Friday The SpongeBob Musical opens at the Selma Arts Center after having been postponed earlier due to the pandemic. We took a moment to chat about the show with the show’s director Dominic Grijalva, and the actor playing SpongeBob, Jonathan Padilla.
Theatre during a pandemic can be a challenge. Both of Good Company Players’ current shows have seen cancelations of performances due to cast members getting Covid, and there has been a shuffling around of casts on some nights. But one thing you can count on with GCP is that when you see a show, it will be the best show they can give you and you won’t be disappointed.
Having just produced the valley premiere of Sarah Ruhl's brilliant work, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, to rave reviews, we've returned with another valley premiere, Bare: a Pop Opera. This beautiful, poignant and ultimately timely piece follows a group of high school seniors at a Catholic boarding school facing issues of sexuality and personal identity.
On May 6 the musical Rent will be opening on stage at Fresno State. Recently we chatted with the show’s director, J. Daniel Herring, about the show.
Spelling bees—some people love them; some people hate them. It all depends on how well you did. But no matter how you finished in your school’s event—win or lose—you’ll find a moment that resonates in the Good Company Players’ musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, at Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater through May 15.
Remember the Whoopie Goldberg movie “Sister Act?” You know, the one where a Vegas club singer witnesses a murder, and has to go into witness protection in a convent full of nuns? They made a musical out of it, and Sister Act is currently playing at the Reedley Opera House as a River City Theatre Company production through December 19.
The stage version, transplanted to a Philadelphia setting, sports music by Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid), lyrics by Glenn Slater (School of Rock), and a script by Cheri Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner, and Douglas Carter Beane.
Theatre is back in varying degrees and this weekend the Selma Arts Center will be presenting Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez. We took a moment to interview the show’s director and Vice-Chairman of the Selma Arts Council, Juan Luis Guzman, about the show.
