The Westchester Playhouse, home of L.A.’s Kentwood Players, celebrates sixty-five years of continuous production; making it one of the oldest community theatre venues in Southern California, launches its 2015/2016 season with “4000 Miles” by Amy Herzog.

Herzog is a 2012 Obie winning playwright for Best New American Play “4000 Miles. She has been listed as a promising new playwright to watch by New York Theatre Critics, and is the recipient of the Whiting Writers Award and the 2008 Helen Merrill Award for Aspiring Playwrights.

Herzog’s play, poignant at times, contentiously edgy, at times and always sprinkled throughout with sharp, insightful humor, is wonderfully directed by award-winning director/actor Gail Bernardi.

The story, set in New York City in September 2014, centers around the relationship of 21 year-old Leo Joseph Oconnell (Dan Fagan) and his 91 year-old grandmother Vera Joseph (Michelle Rosen). Leo suffered a major loss with the death of his closest friend while he and others were on a cross-country

biking trip. Leo returns to NYC to collect himself, grieve, and attempts to get his life back in some positive direction. He needs to see his old girlfriend Bec (Alexandra Johnston). Bec and Leo once an item, have distanced themselves from one another. Now with the death of Micah their situation has changed once again.

The play opens in the middle of the night with a door bell ringing. Vera doesn’t hear it at first because she doesn’t have her hearing aids in, and the person on the other side of her door (Leo) can’t understand Vera because she forgot to put her teeth in. That’s how Leo and Vera begin their family relationship, which intermittently infuriates one and bewilders the other.

Now bunked- in with Vera in her spacious, rent-controlled Greenwich Village apartment that hasn’t been redecorated since 1968, Leo just hangs out, reading books, seemingly not doing much of anything. The age chasm between feisty Vera and millennial Leo, slowly comes together as these two unlikely

roommates begin to share their histories. Vera was an old card- carrying communist and activist in the late forties and early 50’s. She’s mellowed a bit over the years.   Leo, however, doesn’t have much of an adult history but he’s fascinated by his grandmother’s Bohemian past. He is also not shy about meeting new women, One afternoon Vera comes in from shopping to find Amanda (Zoe Kim) chatting up Leo. Amanda is a bit of a free-thinker with a healthy libido who is not shy about asking Leo why he’s not immediately hitting on her.

Michelle Rosen as Vera delivers an astonishingly rich and layered performance. Her energy and experience over a 50 year career as an actor just jumps off the stage and into the laps of the adorning audience. Dan Fagan, the tall, dark, and handsome Leo is an actor who is not only giving and generous in his scenes with his cast mates, he brings a deep emotional sense of a young man coming to grips with a world that isn’t always fair which comes through in his always in-the-moment performance. Alexandra Johnston and Zoe Kim are talented actors of beauty and Kim’s comedy timing is pitch perfect.

Set Designer Jim Crawford and his crew provide this impressive ensemble cast the creative space needed along with John Beckwith’s lighting to perform their magic. Susan Stangl’s evocative sounds of the city in the opening sets the tone for this wonderfully entertaining 95 minute, no intermission production.

The personal vision of Kentwood’s premiere director Gail Lombardi comes through once again in a splendidly nuanced production produced by Susan Goldman Weisbarth. “4000 Miles” performs at the Westchester Playhouse through June 20, 2015.

Last weekend, a rare phenomenon occurred at the Palm Canyon Theatre in Palm Springs (PCT). It’s a case where the technical aspects and the ensemble performers of a production are unintentionally upstaging or are shining brighter than the principal actors in the show. In the Palm Canyon Theatre production of “La Cage Aux Folles”, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, and a libretto by Harvey Fierstein, director Steve Fisher is working overtime to bring all the disparate elements of staging a large cast (twenty-seven performers) musical farce together for his audience.

Let’s just chalk up last Sunday’s rough show to opening weekend jitters. The usually solid staging of past shows by Fisher, an award-winning performer and director, is not up to his usual high standards.

The musical based on a French play of the same name and the movie “The Birdcage”, starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, is not about plot, it’s about character, and the absurd logic of screwball comedy. For those unfamiliar with the story it focuses on a gay couple: Georges (Timm McBride) manager of a St. Tropez drag entertainment night club and Albin, (Kam Sisco) Georges’ romantic life partner and star performer Zaza.

Farcical adventures ensue when Georges’ son Jean-Michel (Sebastian Smith) brings home his fiancée Anne (Alllegra Angelo) and her ultra conservative parents to meet Georges and his “wife”. It’s all silliness along with over-the-top performances, but, if one goes with the flow, one will walk out of the theatre humming a few clever lyrics from the musical’s signature song “I Am What I Am” sung by Albin.

The ensemble cast is full of energy and score in all their numbers as the “ladies” of the chorus and include: Larry Martin, Ben Reece, Matthew Ryan, Giancarlo Molina, Jose Esparza, and Robbie Wayne.

The set design by Bruce Weber is colorful and glitzy-looking, and his costume designs sparkle for Zaza and are spot-on for the sequined chorus and ensemble performers. Musical Direction by Don Kelley, however, is disappointing in his choice of a tinny-sounding synthesizer to carry the music load. But the choreography of Daryl J. Roth shines. It is both showy and clever and well executed by the dancers. The sound and music by James Hiyashi, however, is played too loud and competes with instead of complementing the singers, and it also appears that the “sound bugs” have returned with this production (sound-popping mikes along with late light cues and stage curtains getting caught up are signs of not enough rehearsal time). But all that happened last weekend.

“La Cage Aux Folles” performs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Palm Canyon Theatre through May 24, 2015. Call 760-323-5023 for ticket information.

Neil Simon is America’s most prolific and successful comedy playwright. He had over thirty hit plays produced on Broadway – three running at the same time – in his heyday. He’s retired now but his comedy genius is still, thankfully, with us.

The St. Joseph’s Players of Yucca Valley under the artistic directorship of founder Rebecca Havely is presenting Simon’s “Biloxi Blues”, his semi-autobiographical comedy of young draftees coming of age in World War II.

The comedy sharply directed by Rebecca Havely features a cast of veteran actors working alongside talented newcomers with the result being an engaging and entertaining evening of comedy and drama that resonates with audiences of all ages; especially for those military families and those active duty Marines in the hi-desert community of 29 Palms which is also known as “Marine country”.

The story centers on a clash of wills between private Arnold Epstein (Ryan Fleischman) and Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey (played by Bob Noble, who stepped into the role with one night’s notice as a result of a family emergency by actor Abe Daniels), the NCO in charge of a group of WW II draftees stationed at Biloxi, Miss.in 1943.

The play is narrated by Eugene Morris Jerome (Jericho McWilliams) – the alter ego of Simon – who also plays one of the characters. There is both comedy and drama in Simon’s recalling of his early days as a young soldier; underscoring Eugene’s persistent pursuit and determination to lose his virginity while in the army. He keeps a diary which is full of his observations concerning his fellow recruits, and the many situations they get into. Sgt. Toomey on the other hand is not amused by the attitude of his green, boot-camp recruits, and is determined to shape them into soldiers.

It’s not all barracks humor. There are females in the play who portray young ladies of St. Mary’s High School at the local USO dance: Bianca Stoker, who plays Rowena, a young lady of the night who has captured the imagination of all the recruits on their first liberty pass into Biloxi, also plays a USO dance partner; Liyan Lagevardi as Daisy, Eugene’s innocent love interest; Kaylin Moffitt as a dance partner at the USO dance; K.J. Smith as a USO dance partner and Cathy Inscore as Sister Marissa, a chaperone at the Dance. Joe Turner plays Father Turner the priest who likes to nip from his flask.

Director Havely can take pride in her solid cast of recruits led by McWilliams as Eugene; all of whom have individual moments in which they shine. Nice performances are turned in by Jared Phillips as Joseph Wykowski, the bully, Kory Fleischman as a nerdy soldier; Beau Stoker as Roy Selridge, and Adam Redmon as James Hennessey. The aforementioned Ryan Fleischman as Arnold Epstein, Bob Noble as Sgt. Toomey complete a wonderful ensemble company of players.

The Set Design by director Havely is tight but her personal vision cleverly solves the traffic management issues of a lot of people occupying a very small performing space. Perhaps a couple of instrumental musical numbers during scene changes might help muffle the sound when striking set pieces. Also, tennis shoes help muffle the sounds when worn by backstage crew members.

“Biloxi Blues is an entertaining evening in the theatre and performs at St. Joseph’s of Arimathea Church in Yucca Valley through June 7th. For tickets and reservation information call 760-362- 9319.

George Bernard Shaw was a word provocateur extraordinaire when it came to illuminating the hypocrisy of war and its practitioners. Rather than rail as in a polemic, he chose comedy to expose the pomp and folly of war by those who glorify it as well as profit from it.

San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre is currently presenting a first class revival of Shaw’s wonderfully funny and entertaining play “Arms and the Man” on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Main Stage in their Balboa Park theatre complex.

War + Love = Comedy. The elements of war, love, and comedy when spoken under normal conditions during public discourse become an oxymoron. However, under the withering, biting wit and pen of Shaw, the three subjects merely become one more weapon in the irascible Irish playwright’s arsenal; illuminating the glorification and folly of war and its practitioners. He also throws in for good luck his disdain for members of the female sex for their idealistic views on war and love, thus enabling their testosterone-fueled male partners and society.

The story is set during the brief Serbian – Bulgarian war of 1885. Raina Petkoff (Wrenn Schmidt) is engaged to the preening peacock, Bulgarian Major Sergius Saranoff (Enver Gjokaj). Serbian mercenary Captain Bluntschli (Zach Appleman) bursts into Raina’s bedroom one night while trying to escape during a battle, and threatens to shoot her if she cries out. Once over her initial fear of the young, handsome, enemy officer, the two agree to some form a truce and the game of attraction between strangers begins. Raina’s mother Catherine (played by Marsha Mason) and her servants Louka (Sofiya Akilova), and Nicola (Greg Hildreth) become confidantes in keeping Major Saranoff and Raina’s father Major Paul Petkoff (Conrad John Schuck) in the dark about Captain Bluntschili’s involvement with Raina.

From there the story – remember it’s a farce – goes over the top. This includes: duels, romantic scenes between lovers like Raina and Bluntschili, and Louka and her paramour Saranoff, with additional offers of romance from Nicola, as well as musical interludes throughout by the local village fiddler (Ernest Sauceda). The only thing missing is an entrance by the Marx Brothers.

“Arms and the Man”, crisply directed by Jessica Stone is blessed with cast of talented and seasoned performers who when they find themselves on a stage in a sharply and insightfully written farce/satire, know exactly how to handle their characters and the situations. Also it’s a real treat to see exciting displays of individual brilliance within a team format, like the high octane turn of Enver Gjokaj’s Major Sergius Saranoff’s comedy performance. I’m quite sure, however, that the steady hand of director Stone was ever present.

The Old Globe has few equals when it comes to first-rate technical credits, and this production is no exception. The Set Design by scenic design wizard Ralph Funnicello is a delight for the eyes; as is the mood lighting designed by Austin R. Smith. David Israel Reynoso’s costumes are colorful and evocative of the period. The gorgeous dressing gown worn by Ms. Schmidt I hope has a large insurance policy to deter people from pinching it. It’s so large she can literally disappear into it.

Under the solid direction of Jessica Stone, and a splendid ensemble cast of farceurs who excel in exquisite timing and precise movements, “Arms and the Man” becomes a highly entertaining comedy romp of the old school that blows gently across the Shiley Stage like a breath of fresh air.

Artistic Director Barry Edelstein is definitely on a roll giving San Diego theatre patrons another winning season. Laissez le bon temps rouler!

“Arms and the Man” performs at the Old Globe’s Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage through June 24, 2015.

For-profit telemarketing companies based in New York retained 52 percent of the funds they raised on behalf of charities in 2013, according to a new report released by the state’s attorney general.

Of the $302 million raised in 2013 for charitable causes — the most ever reported in New York’s history — $146.5 million actually went to the fundraising missions of the organizations, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman concluded in his office’s 12th annual ‘Pennies for Charity’ report.

“New Yorkers who are generous enough to donate their hard-earned money to charity deserve to know how that money is really spent, including how much is used to pay for-profit telemarketers,” Schneiderman said in a statement.

The 48-percent share of donations that went to 573 charitable fundraising campaigns in 2013 was a boost from 2012, when only 37 percent of funds raised by telemarketers ended up with the charities to which supporters donated.

The attorney general’s office said that in 75 percent of the 573 campaigns it analyzed, charities kept less than 50 percent of fundraising totals. In nearly half of those 573 campaigns, the charitable organizations kept less than 30 percent of the funds raised, “or expenses exceeded contributions.”

The report flagged some frequent violators of fundraising accountability policies “who continue to secure fundraising contracts, seemingly with little board oversight or involvement.”

“For example, InfoCision, Inc., which has voluntary assurance agreements with multiple states arising out of their improper conduct, and recently settled a class action misrepresentation suit, had 41 contracts filed with the Office of the Attorney General, and kept 66% of the proceeds of its fundraising activity,” the report found.