Areas We Cover
Categories
Palm Springs
(Coachella Valley)
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Highly Recommended Cabaret: MARVELOUS: AN EVENING WITH MARILYN MAYE (Hollywood’s Catalina Bar & Grill, Palm Springs’ The Purple Room, NYC’s Birdland)
Adore, adore, adore her. You have to believe me — at 95, the great Marilyn Maye simply enchants, and holds the room in the palm of her hand. Very, very few cabaret performers have this ability (my top three are Eartha Kitt, Elaine Stritch and Ms. Maye). She recently had a sold-out show at Carnegie…
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Theater Interview: CATHY MORIARTY (appearing in “I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers” – The Bent in Palm Springs)
A RAGING CAREER — NO BULL Palm Springs’ The Bent is presenting John Logan’s one-woman play I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers starring Academy Award-nominee Cathy Moriarty as the ruthless Hollywood powerhouse talent agent Sue Mengers. Fans, theatregoers, entertainment industry peers, and critics alike will be treated to another of Moriarty’s stellar performances,…
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Theater Review: HILLARY AND CLINTON (Dezart Performs in Palm Springs)
THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE OF POLITICS When you hear the name Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton there are three visceral reactions that may occur. The first is deep respect for a woman who gave her entire life to making American local and federal government better for everyone. The second is patriarchal hatred for a woman stepping out…
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Theater Review: LOOT (Desert Ensemble Theatre, Palm Springs)
LOOT IS A HOOT Loot is Joe Orton’s darkly comic masterpiece that eviscerates societal norms and exposes the hypocrisies of authority figures with razor-sharp wit. Two young men, Hal and Dennis, rob a bank next to a funeral parlor and attempt to stash their ill-gotten gains in the coffin of Hal’s recently deceased mother, Mrs….
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Theater Review: NEXT TO NORMAL (CV Rep in Cathedral City)
ABNORMALLY REAL CV Rep opened it’s 24/25 season this past week with a triumphant production of the rock musical Next to Normal, ably directed by CV Rep’s Artistic Director Adam Karsten. Groundbreaking in its exploration of mental illness, grief, and the impact these issues have on a family, the show won the Pulitzer Prize for…
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Cabaret Review: JOEY ROSS (Pianist at “The Palms at Indian Head” — Borrego Springs, CA)
SOMETHING WILD BLOOMS ON A DESERT PIANO When one thinks of small desert towns, images come to mind like dive bars, a little grill stop for burgers, and maybe a trinket shop for passersby. What certainly doesn’t come to mind right off is an outstanding cabaret act in the lobby of a lovely hotel with…
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Theater Review: LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (Palm Canyon Theater)
OOH LA LA FOR LA CAGE AUX FOLLES With songs by the incomparable Jerry Herman, bookwriter Harvey Fierstein once again broke ground after his Torch Song Trilogy with La Cage aux Folles. It was groundbreaking as the first Broadway musical to prominently feature a gay couple as main characters along with an ensemble of drag queens,…
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Upcoming Theater: UNWANTED LAUGHTER (Staged Reading Fundraiser at Temple Isaiah Lieberman Chapel in Palm Springs)
TALLULAH BANKHEAD AND TENNESSEE WILLIAMS RETURN TO PALM SPRINGS Unwanted Laughter by Marty Martin plays for one night only, November 9, 2024, at 7pm, as a fundraiser for Temple Isaiah’s LGBTQ+ Twice Blessed Program, the Museum of Ancient Wonders relocation fund, and the LGBTQ+ World History Museum. Directed by Randy Brenner, this three-character, two-act play,…
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Theater Review: I DO! I DO! (Revolution in Palm Springs)
IT DOES AND IT DOESN’T A moving exploration of one couple’s life together, I Do! I Do! is an intimate two-character Broadway musical that spans half a century as it focuses on the ups and downs of spouses Agnes and Michael — home life, childbearing, emotional quarrels, and empty-nesting. I wonder that many people have…
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Theater Review: FUCKING MEN (The Bent in Palm Springs)
THE BOYS IN THE BEDROOM Now in its third season, The Bent is presenting Fucking Men by Joe DiPietro at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. Based on 19th-century Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler’s much-imitated 1897 Der Reigen (in French, La Ronde), the play is a roundelay of ten couples, in which the one encountered in the first scene…
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Highly Recommended Theater: RANDY RAINBOW FOR PRESIDENT (McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert)
A RAINBOW COMES TO PALM DESERT If you’re looking for a truly iconic evening of laugh-out-loud comedy, you’re in luck. This Friday and Saturday, October 11 and 12 at 7:30, internet sensation Randy Rainbow is headed to the McCallum Theatre, a perfect venue for Rainbow’s hilarious brand of entertainment. With election season quickly approaching (let’s…
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Cabaret Review: MOSTLY BROADWAY (David Burnham, CV Rep)
On July 25, CV Rep concluded its terrific 2024 Summer Cabaret Series with American singer-songwriter-actor David Burnham’s delightful cabaret, Mostly Broadway. Burnham, a Broadway vet, joyfully told anecdotes and masterfully delivered songs from his prolific career in iconic Broadway shows and beyond, aided by music director Nick Petrillo. With charm and modesty, Burnham shared a…
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Theater Review: BYE BYE BIRDIE (Palm Canyon Theatre)
HELLO HELLO BIRDIE! Waxing nostalgic about the 1950s is never out of style as Palm Canyon Theatre ably proves with their current production of Bye Bye Birdie running through July 14. Bye Bye Birdie is a classic musical, famous for its satirical take on rock ‘n’ roll and its takeover of pop culture in America…
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Cabaret Review: KEN PAGE (Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre)
HE HAD US ALL ON THE SAME PAGE Ken Page is a marvel. It would be reasonable to start and finish this review with that sentence. He has been a powerful presence in stage, film, and cabaret for well over five decades. If you think you don’t know him, you do. If for no other…
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Cabaret Review: THE LIFE AND LOVES OF A BROADWAY BABY (Melissa Errico at CV Rep in Cathedral City)
WE LOVE YA, BROADWAY BABY Enchantress Melissa Errico mesmerized in her new cabaret, The Life & Loves of a Broadway Baby. presented by CV Rep. Errico sets her life to the Broadway songs that she was raised on, has sung, and owned. Melissa says jokingly that her show resembles a “bollito misto,” which is an…
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Theater Review: STRAIGHT TO THE HEART — A TRIBUTE TO THE LEGACY OF RODGERS & HART
A REVUE THAT GOES STRAIGHT TO THE HEART AND SOUL This past weekend, one of our boldest theater companies in the Coachella Valley, Dezart Performs (Dezart), launched a new program called Cabaret at the Pearl with the revue Straight to the Heart – A Tribute to the Legacy of Rodgers & Hart at the Pearl…
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Theater Interview: JASON GRAAE (Appearing in His New Cabaret “Graavitas” at CVRep on June 20, 2024)
Jason Graae is a frisky clown. — The New York Times What can be said about musical comedy actor and funny man Jason Graae? Well, first, his last name is pronounced “Grah.” Second, third, and fourth, he has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and on over 65 CDs (“over”? no one has counted?). But Graae especially shines…
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Theater Interview: WAYNE BRYAN (Co-Creator, Director and Host of “Straight to the Heart, A Tribute to the Legacy of Rodgers & Hart” at Dezart Performs in Palm Springs)
STRAIGHT FROM HIS HEART Dezart Performs has always been one of the most ambitious, bold and successful theater companies in the Coachella Valley. Now the company is planning a new state-of-the-art home in Cathedral City, which is slated to be ready by the 25/26 season (donate here). As part of the company’s “Next Stage Campaign”…
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Jazz Concert: SAMARA JOY (McCallum Theatre in Palm Springs)
A JOY TO BEHOLD COMES TO MCCALLUM ONE NIGHT ONLY, SATURDAY JUNE 15 AT 8 The jazz world has been abuzz about the 24-year-old New Yorker Samara Joy since she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2019, and rightfully so. After releasing her eponymous debut album and then her first album with Verve…
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Highly Recommended Cabaret: WILL HE LIKE ME? (Phillip Chaffin at Coachella Valley Repertory in Palm Springs)
PHILLIP CHAFFIN’S 2018 ALBUM WILL HE LIKE ME? BECOMES A FULL-LENGTH STAGE SHOW Philip Chaffin, who has the perfect honeyed baritone for those swanky musicals of the 20s and 30s, embarked on an adventure that was rather trailblazing when his 2018 album Will He Like Me? came out (so to speak). (See my review.) It’s…
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