Pasadena Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman announced the most recent news for the theater’s upcoming six-month-long celebration of the works and impact of Stephen Sondheim January 26 through June 11, 2023.
“We wish our celebration of Stephen Sondheim to be for everybody,” Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman said. “Two grand productions, amongst essentially the most ambitious in our history, anchor our celebration but that is really just the beginning. At the center of our celebration are student productions, live shows by two rising stars and the final word Broadway icon, a community choral event, and more. We’re bringing together skilled theatermakers, community organizations and students of all ages to create a special celebration. Whether you’re a Sondheim lover, have never experienced his work, or are perhaps somewhere in between, our festival has something for everybody. Our goal is to create a chance for all of our Los Angeles community to return together and have a good time the lifetime of one of the essential figures in theater history. A fitting tribute for a legend who has touched so many and can proceed to for generations to return.”
Pasadena Playhouse has announced the administrators for the previously announced Sondheim productions. Sarna Lapine, who helmed essentially the most recent Broadway revival of the show, will direct the Playhouse’s upcoming production of Sunday within the Park with George. Playhouse favorite David Lee (Ragtime, Casa Valentina) returns to direct A Little Night Music, commemorating the show’s fiftieth anniversary.
The Celebration includes the newly announced student production of Company performed by students of the USC School of Dramatic Arts and special events including Larry Owens’ Sondheimia Presented by Jeremy O. Harris, Eleri Ward: Acoustic Sondheim, and Impro Theater’s Sondheim UnScripted. Song by Song by Sondheim a special musical presentation of Sondheim’s work, featuring the Gay Men’s Chorus of LA, Pasadena Chorale, VOX Femina LA, and ACABELLA (Academy of Music for the Blind), can be held on the First United Methodist Church Pasadena.
As previously announced, The State Theater of California’s Sondheim Celebration will include two special events on the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. In January 2023 Into The Woods can be presented in a landmark partnership with Pasadena Unified School District, directed by Fran de Leon. Bringing highschool students along with theater professionals, the team will create a full production from the imaginations of the scholars This project will culminate in two student matinee performances and one free public performance, making it possible for 1000’s of student and community members to see Sondheim’s fairytale-inspired musical for free of charge. And in June, Sondheim muse Bernadette Peters will take the stage and perform on the Pasadena Civic Auditorium for 2 performances.
Within the spirit of exploring Sondheim’s work through other mediums, world-renowned graphic designer Paula Scher (pentagram.com) was commissioned to create the artwork for the Sondheim Celebration.
Pasadena Playhouse’s Sondheim Celebration is made possible through the generous support of Pasadena-based East West Bank and the Helen and Will Webster Foundation.
Ticketing and on-sale information, including access to the Celebration Series Package, could be found online at pasadenaplayhouse.org, or by calling 626-356-7529.
A SONDHEIM CELEBRATION (January 26 – June 11, 2023)
Into the Woods (January 26 – 27, 2023)
Book by James Lapine, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Directed by Fran de Leon.
Presented by Students of the Pasadena Unified School District
Into the Woods is a lyrically wealthy retelling of classic Brothers Grimm fables, with Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine bringing the cockeyed fairytales to life on stage featuring your entire favorite characters – Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (and his beanstalk) and the Witch. In a landmark partnership, the Playhouse will collaborate with the highschool students and teachers of Pasadena Unified School District to present Into The Woods with students working alongside theater professionals in creating their very own special production.
Sunday within the Park with George (February 14 – March 19, 2023, Press Opening Sunday, February 19) Book by James Lapine, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Directed by Sarna Lapine.
One of the vital acclaimed musicals of all time, Sondheim’s most progressive and groundbreaking musical has rarely been produced in Los Angeles with the full-scale production it deserves-until now. Inventive, insightful, and in a category of its own, this ravishing, charming masterpiece encapsulates the complexity of life-and the art of understanding it.
Recipient of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “Sunday stays a masterpiece that affirms the painful, isolating joys of creation, and the necessity to learn recent lessons. Like a densely plotted canvas, it’s value seeing, regardless of where or the way it’s hung.” – Time Out Latest York
Larry Owens’ Sondheimia Presented by Jeremy O. Harris (February 27 & March 6, 2023, Playhouse Mainstage)
this curated concert, multi-award-winning musical theater actor Larry Owens explores time, love, and ambition through the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim, with Josh Kight on piano.
Eleri Ward: Acoustic Sondheim (March 31 & April 1, 2023, Playhouse Courtyard)
Latest York City-based actor, singer, and musician Eleri Ward brings her “harmonious marriage of musical theater and indie folk music” (Forbes) to the Playhouse, highlighting her swirling harmonies and original perspective.
Company (April 20 – 26, 2023)
Book by George Furth, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Directed by Richard Israel.
Phone rings, door chimes, in comes Company. Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s groundbreaking musical comedy is essentially considered a trailblazer of the modern-musical genre and is the winner of six Tony Awards – including Best Musical, Best Rating, Best Lyrics and Best Book. The habitually single birthday celebrant is forced to query their adamant retention of singlehood during a darkly comic array of interactions with their diverse group of friends on this musical featuring a brilliantly brisk and energetic rating containing lots of Sondheim’s best-known songs.
Song by Song by Sondheim (April 22, 2023, First United Methodist Church Pasadena)
Gay Men’s Chorus of LA, Pasadena Chorale, VOX Femina LA, and ACABELLA (Academy of Music for the Blind) and extra community Choirs from throughout LA come together to sing Sondheim.
A Little Night Music (April 25 – May 21, 2023, Press Opening Sunday, April 30)
Book by Hugh Wheeler, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Suggested by a movie by Ingmar Bergman, Directed by David Lee.
In honor of its fiftieth Anniversary, the Playhouse is proud to present this unsung sensation in its full, original, and soaring orchestration. Boasting one of the singular and opulent scores in Broadway history, Sondheim’s enchanting, hilarious romantic farce is a bona-fide classic of American musical theater.
Recipient of three Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Rating, A Little Night Music is “heady, civilized, sophisticated and enchanting.” – Latest York Times
Sondheim UnScripted (May 5 – 7, 2023, Carrie Hamilton Theatre)
Impro Theatre’s Sondheim UnScripted is a totally improvised “musical revue” within the variety of one in all Broadway’s most acclaimed artists, Stephen Sondheim. The on stage forged and improvising piano virtuoso work together as an ensemble to create songs with the intricate rhymes, soaring counter melodies, and sophisticated themes which can be all hallmarks of Sondheim’s work, creating an entirely original, thrilling musical revue so closely resembling Sondheim’s work, you’d swear you knew the songs despite the fact that they’re completely made-up on the spot for each performance.
Bernadette Peters in Concert (June 10 – 11, 2023)
Bernadette Peters, Broadway’s brightest star and Sondheim’s most stunning muse, in an unforgettable evening of song from the Broadway shows she’s received accolades for, in addition to from all her Grammy Award winning and nominated albums. A glamorous evening as only Bernadette Peters can do.
ABOUT PASADENA PLAYHOUSE
Pasadena Playhouse has been bringing people together for greater than 100 years to experience daring and essential theater. It’s one of the prolific theaters in American history with a legacy of profound theatrical impact and courageous recent work. In 1937, the Playhouse was officially recognized because the State Theater of California for its contribution and commitment to the dramatic arts. Today it continues that tradition of excellence under the helm of manufacturing artistic director Danny Feldman. Dedicated to enriching lives through theater, community programs and learning initiatives, Pasadena Playhouse is a living force in the neighborhood.
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for Saturday Night (1954), A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), The Frogs (1974), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday In The Park With George (1984), Into The Woods (1987), Assassins (1991), Passion (1994) and Road Show (2008) in addition to lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959) and Do I Hear A Waltz? (1965) and extra lyrics for Candide (1973). Anthologies of his work include Side By Side By Sondheim (1976), Marry Me A Little (1981), You are Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983), Putting It Together (1993/99) and Sondheim On Sondheim (2010). He composed the scores of the movies Stavisky (1974) and Reds (1981) and songs for Dick Tracy (1990) and the tv production Evening Primrose (1966). His collected lyrics with attendant essays have been published in two volumes: “Ending the Hat” (2010) and “Look, I Made A Hat” (2011). In 2010 Broadway’s Henry Miller’s Theatre was renamed The Stephen Sondheim Theatre in his honour; in 2019, London’s Queens Theatre was also renamed the Sondheim.
James Lapine
James Lapine is a playwright and director. On Broadway he has worked with Stephen Sondheim on Sunday within the Park with George; Into the Woods; and Passion. He also conceived and directed the musical revue Sondheim on Sondheim. With William Finn he created Falsettos, recently revived by Lincoln Center Theater; Little Miss Sunshine; Muscle; and directed Finn’s The twenty fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Other Broadway credits include his play based on Moss Hart’s memoir Act One (also LCT), Amour, The Diary of Anne Frank, Golden Child, and Dirty Blonde. He has written the plays Table Settings, Twelve Dreams, The Moment When, Fran’s Bed and Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing. Lapine has been nominated for eleven Tony Awards, winning on three occasions. He has also been the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, SDC’s Mr. Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement within the Theater, and inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.
Hugh Wheeler
Hugh Wheeler was a novelist, playwright and screenwriter. He wrote greater than thirty mystery novels under the pseudonyms Q. Patrick and Patrick Quentin, and 4 of his novels were transformed into movies: Black Widow, Man within the Net, The Green-Eyed Monster and The Man with Two Wives. For movies he wrote the screenplays for Travels with My Aunt, Something for Everyone, A Little Night Music and Nijinsky. His plays include Big Fish, Little Fish (1961), Look: We have Come Through (1961) and We Have All the time Lived within the Castle (1966, adapted from the Shirley Jackson novel), he co-authored with Joseph Stein the book for a recent production of the 1919 musical Irene (1973), wrote the books for A Little Night Music (1973), a recent production of Candide (1973), Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979, based on a version of the play by Christopher Bond), and Meet Me in St. Louis (adapted from the 1949 MGM musical), contributed additional material for the musical Pacific Overtures (1976), and wrote a recent adaptation of the Kurt Weill opera Silverlake, which was directed by Harold Prince on the Latest York Opera. He received Tony and Drama Desk Awards for A Little Night Music, Candide and Sweeney Todd. Prior to his death in 1987 Mr. Wheeler was working on two recent musicals, Bodo and Fu Manchu, and a recent adaptation of The Merry Widow.
Sarna Lapine
Sarna Lapine is a Latest York-based director of musicals, operas, and plays. She is currently focused on developing recent work in addition to radically re-imagined revivals.
Recent credits include Fiddler on the Roof performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra; Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine (Highlight on Plays); the world premiere of Kate Hamill’s Dracula (Classic Stage Company); the Latest York premiere of Kate Hamill’s Little Women (Primary Stages); in addition to The Rape of Lucretia (Boston Lyric Opera), named Best Opera of 2019 by the Boston Globe.
Lapine directed the critically-acclaimed Broadway revival of Sunday within the Park with George starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford, which reopened the Hudson Theatre on Broadway.
Along with working on Broadway, Lapine has worked regionally, Off-Broadway and internationally, including the Japanese premiere of Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51. Touring productions include: the North American tour and Japanese premiere of The National Theatre’s WarHorse; Dirty Dancing North American tour; and the second national tour of Lincoln Center Theater’s Tony Award winning revival, South Pacific. Live shows include: 4-Stars in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan; two Sondheim live shows with the Boston Pops starring Ruthie Ann Miles, Carmen Cusack and Phillip Boykin; in addition to Sondheim on Sondheim at The Hollywood Bowl, starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jonathan Groff and Vanessa Williams.
Lapine has been a guest artist at Juilliard, Fordham University, the Hartt School at University of Hartford, and BMI. She has been a guest speaker at Rutgers University, CalArts, and Mountview Academy, and has taught on the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Latest York. She holds an MFA in film from Columbia University.
Her first documentary short film My Saraab, a couple of political refugee from Iraq, won best short film on the Northwest Film Forum in 2005 and was accepted on the Big Sky Documentary film festival, Beverly Hills Shorts Festival, Arab & Iranian Film Festival, and Northwest Folklife.
Lapine served as Bartlett Sher’s assistant and associate director on Lincoln Center Theater’s Broadway productions of The Light within the Piazza; South Pacific; Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown; and Awake and Sing!.
Before a profession in theater, Lapine worked in arts and outdoor education in Seattle, WA. She was a mountaineering and rock-climbing guide for the Pacific Northwest Outward Certain School, in addition to Program Director for a nonprofit called Powerful Voices, designed to show sex education to women within the juvenile justice system. Lapine transformed the latter program through a recent curriculum promoting self-expression through the humanities. At the side of a researcher on the University of Washington, she helped address teen motherhood, addiction, and sexual assault issues.
David Lee
David was born and raised in Claremont, California. He graduated from the University of Redlands with a level in Theater and Music. In 1978 he began an extended profession writing, directing and producing television comedy. With writing partner Peter Casey, he wrote and produced The Jeffersons (six years) and Cheers (4 years). In 1989 they added a 3rd partner, the late David Angell. The primary series they created, Wings, ran for eight seasons on NBC. Their second, Frasier, ran eleven seasons and made television history by winning more Emmy awards than every other sitcom… ever. Besides directing many episodes of his own series, David has directed several pilots and was a repeating guest director for Everybody Loves Raymond. He has won many and various awards for his work in television including nine Emmys (nineteen nominations) for writing, directing and producing, a Golden Globe, the People’s Alternative (twice), the Directors Guild Award, the Television Critics Award (thrice), the British Comedy Award, the Humanitas Prize (twice), and the celebrated Peabody Award. He can be an achieved theater director, staging critically acclaimed revivals of Light Up the Sky, Do I Hear A Waltz?, 110 within the Shade, Diva, Can-Can (featuring a recent book he co-authored; Ovation award: best director), his 8-person version of Camelot (now licensed by MTI), Art, the West Coast premiere of Casa Valentina, and Ragtime (Ovation Award; Best Director’ Best Musical) at Pasadena Playhouse. He directed the world premiere of How I Fell In Loveat the Williamstown Theater Festival, Present Laughter and Camelot at the two River Theater in Latest Jersey, and On the Twentieth Century, Assassins, Company, A Latest Brain, Applause!, Working, Elegies, Two By Two, A Funny Thing Happened on the Solution to the Forum, Gigi and Zorba (Ovation nomination; best director) for Reprise! In 2007 he directed the acclaimed production of South Pacificat the Hollywood Bowl starring Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell. In 2014 he again directed his Can-Can on the Papermill Playhouse in its pre-Broad-way tryout. Shortly after he directed Wonderful Town for LA Opera and Dear World starring Tyne Daly on the Soraya Theater.
Larry Owens
Larry Owens is the winner of each a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor and a Lucille Lortel Award for starring because the alter ego of author/composer/lyricist Michael R. Jackson within the Pulitzer prize-winning musical A Strange Loop at Playwrights Horizons. Larry can most recently be seen on Abbott Elementary (ABC), Life & Beth (HULU), High Maintenance (HBO), Betty (HBO), Search Party (HBO Max), in Craig Gillespie’s film, Dumb Money, and the upcoming Miramax feature, Silent Retreat, directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson. He has also just wrapped a job in Julio Torres untitled feature for A24 alongside Tilda Swinton, with Emma Stone’s Fruit Tree producing.
Larry studied drama and improvisation on the School at Steppenwolf. Recently, Owens starred within the curated concert Sondheimia at Carnegie Hall, where he explored time, love, and ambition through the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. Larry is currently developing his original television series Folly at FX, with Bryan Fuller and Barry Sonnenfeld executive producing. Moreover, Larry has a feature in development at Netflix with Jonah Hill’s Strong Baby Productions attached to supply.
Bernadette Peters
Throughout her illustrious profession, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics along with her performances on stage, film and tv, in concert, and on recordings. She has garnered quite a few accolades including three Tony Awards, a Golden Globe, three Emmy and 4 Grammy Award nominations and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Best known for her work on stage and one in all Broadway’s most critically acclaimed performers, Bernadette recently starred on Broadway as Dolly Gallagher Levi within the hit musical, Hello, Dolly!. Prior to that, she starred in City Center’s Encores! Production, A Bed and a Chair: A Latest York Love Affair featuring the music of Stephen Sondheim and orchestrations by Wynton Marsalis and on Broadway, in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music and Follies.
Peters garnered each the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for her performance within the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Song and Dance. She also won a Tony Award for her performance in Annie Get Your Gun. She received Tony nominations for her outstanding performances in Sam Mendes’ critically acclaimed revival of Gypsy, in Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl, Stephen Sondheim’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday within the Park with George, the Jerry Herman/Gower Champion ode to the films, Mack and Mabel, and the Leonard Bernstein/Comden and Green musical On The Town. Along with these honors, Peters earned a Drama Desk nomination for her unforgettable portrayal of the Witch in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.
She also enjoys a profession which boasts a formidable list of television credits, including guest-starring on the NBC-TV series, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist for which she earned an Emmy nomination. The favored series was made right into a TV movie musical titled Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas for The Roku Channel. Other recent TV appearances include The CW’s Katy Keene; CBS All Access’ The Good Fight; and Amazon Prime’s Golden Globe winning series, Mozart within the Jungle. She recently accomplished production on the brand new Apple TV series, High Desert, scheduled to be released this Summer.
Other television credits include NBC-TV’s Smash, ABC-TV’s Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty. Along with starring within the Lifetime TV movie Living Proof, Peters has lit up the silver screen in over 30 movies throughout her distinguished profession. She received a Golden Globe Award for her memorable performance in Pennies From Heaven. Other film credits include The Jerk, The Longest Yard, Silent Movie, Annie, Pink Cadillac, Slaves of Latest York, Woody Allen’s Alice, Impromptu, It Runs within the Family, Coming Up Roses, The Broken Hearts Gallery and most recently, a surprise appearance in the favored Jonathan Larson biopic, tick, tick…BOOM!
Bernadette has recorded six solo albums, including the Grammy-nominated I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, Sondheim, Etc.: Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall, and Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein, along with quite a few original Broadway forged recordings.
Peters devotes her time and skills to quite a few events that profit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Her “pet project” Broadway Barks, co-founded with Mary Tyler Moore, is an annual, star-studded dog and cat adoption event that advantages shelter animals within the Latest York City area. She is a Latest York Times best-selling writer who has penned three kid’s books: Broadway Barks, Stella is a Star, and Stella and Charlie: Friends Without end. All of her proceeds from the sale of those books profit Broadway Barks. Peters resides in Latest York and Los Angeles along with her rescue dogs, Charlie and Rosalia.
Paula Scher
Paula Scher is one of the acclaimed graphic designers on this planet. She began her profession as an art director within the Nineteen Seventies and early Eighties, when her eclectic approach to typography became highly influential. In 1991 she became a partner within the Latest York office of the distinguished international design consultancy Pentagram, where she develops brand identities, signage, packaging and publications for a big selection of clients.
The fearless simplicity of her work makes brands iconic. Her identity systems for organizations similar to the Public Theater, the Museum of Modern Art, Shake Shack, Citibank, Microsoft, Tiffany & Co., and the High Line have change into landmarks of contemporary branding. Along along with her work for the Public, her identities for the Atlantic Theater, the Metropolitan Opera, Latest York City Ballet, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Pasadena Playhouse and Berkeley Rep have transformed the visual landscape of graphic design for the performing arts.
Scher has been the recipient of a whole bunch of industry honors including the National Design Award and the AIGA Medal. Her designs are within the everlasting collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, the Library of Congress, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and other institutions. A documentary on Scher and her work could be seen within the Netflix series Abstract: The Art of Design.
Eleri Ward
Eleri Ward is a Latest York City-based actor, singer, and musician. In 2021, she recorded and produced her full-length indie-folk Sondheim album, A Perfect Little Death, in her closet. After gaining a viral TikTok following, it was released by Ghostlight Records and has been hailed as “a harmonious marriage of musical theater and indie folk music, with hauntingly beautiful arrangements” by Forbes and “an incandescent recent record, something genuinely recent” from American Theater Magazine. Her original pop music has been called “soaring” (Nexus Music Blog), “astonishing” (Rising Artists), and “dreamy” (Neon Music). Her most up-to-date pop EP, Friction, was released in 2021. Eleri has been singing and acting since she was eight years old and has all the time strived to carve out her own space with the distinctiveness she brings to the theater. She studied songwriting at Berklee College of Music before transferring and graduating from The Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Musical Theater and an emphasis in Songwriting, which shows itself clearly in the way in which she has taken on the Sondheim canon. www.eleriward.com @eleriward
USC School of Dramatic Arts
The USC School of Dramatic Arts fosters the abilities of artist-scholars who’re dramatically different – who’re willing to assume the longer term of the entertainment industry and produce it to life. Through an interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial education students develop the abilities mandatory to find their unique voice and are exposed to diverse styles and multiple media. Students and up to date alumni are supported by the School’s unique Skilled Development Center which offers profession services and professionalization opportunities to assist students establish and sustain successful careers as creators, performers and cultural innovators.
ACABELLA (Academy of Music for the Blind)
ACABELLA is an acapella vocal quartet of three blind girls from the non-profit Academy of Music for the Blind (AMB) in Los Angeles. Ranging in ages from 12 to fifteen, each of the women has perfect pitch and is a multi-instrumentalist. ACABELLA ‘s repertoire includes classical, jazz, R&B, country, pop and ethnic music.
ACABELLA has been performing everywhere in the greater Los Angeles area for other non-profit service organizations in addition to in live shows with well-known music organizations just like the Pasadena Master Chorale, Pasadena’s MUSE/IQUE, and the Los Angeles Opera.
ACABELLA is directed by David Pinto, Founding father of AMB, who also does all the unique composing and arranging for ACABELLA.
Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles
GMCLA, under the leadership of Executive Director & Producer Lou Spisto and Music Director & Conductor Ernest H. Harrison, has continued to garner approval for artistic excellence while remaining deeply rooted in service to the Los Angeles community and beyond by promoting civil rights, tolerance, and acceptance through music. Founded in 1979 in the course of the emergence of the gay rights movement, GMCLA has spread its message of affection and acceptance with live shows across the globe and has raised its collective voice within the struggle for equality, social justice, the fight against the AIDS crisis, the fight for marriage equality and all those searching for to seek out their very own voice. GMCLA’s free ticket program has provided access to live shows for 1000’s of low-income families over the many years, and research-based teaching programs have served over 70,000 young people throughout the Los Angeles region. In 2019 GMCLA performed at Carnegie Hall and The Hollywood Bowl (with Hugh Jackman), and in February 2020 GMCLA’s performance on the Film Independent Spirit Awards was viewed greater than 7 million times online. Throughout the pandemic GMCLA presented a full virtual season of live shows, special events and faculty programs reaching 1000’s of longtime and recent fans. From Los Angeles to Ireland, Brazil and Latest Zealand, GMCLA’s streaming live shows were incredibly well received. Critics have proclaimed the Chorus “inspired” and “expressive, progressive and utterly moving,” and hailed GMCLA for presenting “meaningful entertainment.”
Pasadena Chorale
Founded by Jeffrey Bernstein in 2009, the Pasadena Chorale is an auditioned community chorus presenting reasonably priced high-quality choral live shows and academic programs to the greater Pasadena Community.
During its dozen years of service to the community, the Chorale has presented over 100 performances and enjoyed collaborations with Pasadena Playhouse, MUSE/IQUE, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Gamble House. In 2017 the Pasadena Chorale was awarded second place within the American Prize in Choral Performance.
The Chorale also offers a strong education program for free of charge to participating students. Every year, through its unique Listening To The Future project, the Chorale pairs local highschool composers with knowledgeable composer mentor for a yr of study. At the tip of the yr the Chorale presents a concert of the music composed by these students.
The Pasadena Chorale is the proud recipient of support from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The Pasadena Community Foundation and the City of Pasadena. All of PMC’s regular live shows are offered on a “Listen First, Then Give” basis, ensuring that every one are capable of attend, and inspiring the generous support of those that are able.
Vox Femina
Founded in January 1997, VOX Femina Los Angeles gives women voice through the performance of quality choral literature. Diverse in culture, age, race, belief, and sexual identity, we’re dedicated to commissioning recent works and raising awareness about issues that affect us as a family of ladies. Through our music, we seek to create a world which affirms the price and dignity of all and sundry.
Since our debut, VOX has performed a listing of music exemplifying diverse musical styles and repertoire. Consistent with our mission, VOX has commissioned over 50 recent works for girls’s voices and collaborated with over 35 contemporary composers. Along with our season schedule, which incorporates three subscription live shows, three free community live shows, and a cabaret night, VOX has been energetic in community outreach, performing and participating in over 200 community events and collaborating with other arts organizations similar to the LA Philharmonic, LA Master Chorale, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, and VOX Dance Theatre. In 2016, VOX was named District Nonprofit of the 12 months by then-State Senator Holly Mitchell; in 2017, VOX participated within the international Golden State Choral Trophy competition, winning the ladies’s category and the 2nd highest rating overall; in 2018, VOX was chosen to take part in the Tapestry International Festival in Vancouver, Canada. VOX was awarded the San Francisco Classical Voice Audience Alternative Award for the Best Choral Performance of the 2019-2020 season within the LA area. In 2022, VOX was invited to perform as a Featured Ensemble on the ACDA Western Region Conference in Long Beach.
Impro Theatre
Impro Theatre’s Major Company creates completely improvised, full-length plays within the varieties of the world’s best playwrights, authors and composers. With no pre-planning or prepared scenarios, the performers mix verbal dexterity and robust physicality to bring character and plot to life immediately, making each Impro Theatre show unique and in contrast to every other theatrical experience. Founded as Los Angeles Theatresports in 1988, Impro Theatre has evolved from a successful short form improv troupe right into a critically acclaimed improvisational theater company. In southern California, Impro has performed sold-out shows at South Coast Repertory, The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, North Coast Repertory in San Diego, Falcon Theatre in Burbank, and Pasadena Playhouse, in addition to venues around the globe including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, The Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago, The Melbourne Fringe in Australia and Theatre Adyar in Paris. Impro Theatre’s Major Company has received multiple Critics’ Picks within the Los Angeles Times, Backstage West, and L.A. Weekly, and lots of shows have been Ovation Advisable. The Los Angeles Times calls them, “Amazing! Considered one of the funniest evenings on the town. The troupe spins a whole play into comedy gold right before your eyes.” Stage & Cinema says, “As high a level of general excellence in writing, acting, and direction as I even have seen in any theater company in America.”