Broadway Stars Thrill L.A. Audiences in "City of Angels"--Don't Miss It!

City of Angels has opened in L.A., presented by Reprise! at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. So far Variety seems to be the only publication to review it, giving it an out and out rave. Scroll down for the review.
The cast is filled with Broadway and West Coast talent!
It's a must see!

Stephen Bogardus as Stine
Burke Moses as Stone
Vicki Lewis as Donna/Oolie
Tami Tappan Damiano as Gabby/Bobbi
Alli Mauzey as Mallory/Avril
Kevin Earley as Jimmy,
Daniel Guzman as Munoz
Marguerite McIntyre as Alaura/Carla
Michael Lerner as Buddy
along with Stephen Briethaupt, Randy Brenner, Eric Leviton, Wes Ramsey, Teresa Marie Sanchez, Brent Schindele, Joe Souza, Herschel Sparber, Anne Fraser Thomas, and Freyda Thomas.

What a cast!!! They've even got lead actors in supporting and ensemble roles.
Kevin Earley had the lead in Applause and starred on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie
Wes Ramsey was one of the stars of the gay indie hit Latter Days.
Brett Schindele recently starred in The Musical of Musicals The Musical in Laguna Beach.
Joe Souza is fantastic in Bark (the Musical)
Just to name a few of the big names in small roles.

And Tami Tappan Damiano keeps scoring one great show after another. This fits right between her star turn in The Grand Tour, and the upcoming Never Gonna Dance, in Long Beach. This woman is unstoppable!

By the way, Vicki Lewis (of News Radio) is an amazing singer, if you didn't already know.


Directed by Joe Leonardo, with choreography by Kay Cole, the show will run January 24-February 5 at U.C.L.A.'s Freud Playhouse.

www.reprise.org

Updated On: 1/29/06 at 02:46 PM

I see Herschel Sparber is reprising his role of "big thug". Borgadus will be great, no doubt. Plus, he's already tackled this role before. I am curious to see Vicki Lewis as Donna/Oolie as well. She's definitely got the brass and sass for the role.

Exciting news for us West Coasters!

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Yay for Kevin! I saw him as Enjorlas on the tour ages ago. I'll be looking forward to seeing the show!

Sorry, I was so excited about the casting announcement that I forgot to mention that I'd seen Burke Moses, Tami, and Kevin in those roles before (three years ago in Palm Desert) and they were fabulous! Great cast!

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Updated On: 12/22/05 at 01:36 AM

I am just thrilled that anyone is working with, IMO, is one of Cy Coleman's best scores.

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Back to City of Angels, I didn't know that several of the cast did it in Palm Desert a few years back.

It was at the McCallum Theatre in 2002 (I believe). R.F. Daley was Stine, Hal Linden was Buddy... Great production. I'm very excited about this.

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Updated On: 12/22/05 at 02:18 AM

You got that right, it would be too much to ask Tami to be in L5Y AND City of Angels.

Very true! Though Tami did play Queenie in The Wild Party, which was on a Monday when she was still playing Sarah Brown in Guys & Dolls... Admittedly, Cathy is a MUCH bigger role than Queenie (with MUCH more singing!) but I've always thought Tami was incredible and would've loved to have seen her in L5Y...

I'm really looking forward to seeing both shows. :)

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Wasn't Marguerite McIntyre in the original broadway production of City of Angels?

Sheri, I didn't know you'll see L5Y too, yay! We can see each other (if we don't hook up in NYC ! I got the ticket right after it was on sale, so I'm sitting pretty close to the stage I think. I haven't gotten City of Angels ticket yet. I'm hoping for goldstar event

Caught the show last night - fantastic! You won't be disappointed - as pointed out above, the whole cast is stellar, with luxury casting in supporting roles. That's one of the great things about Reprise - since it's only a 2 week run and the exposure is great, they are able to get wonderful talent.

Looking forward to LAST 5 YEARS, which I understand is sold out.

Saw it last night. Except for minor quibbles, I had a great time. The cast is uniformly wonderful and the orchestra swings! I definitely recommend it.

I'm still trying to find ONE ticket to L5Y with JRB. I will gladly pay up to $120 per ticket at this point. I'm desperate. If anybody wants to SCALP me a ticket, I'll buy it. Please help.

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To answer a question posed above, yes, Marguerite MacIntyre was in the original Broadway production of City of Angels as Mallory/Avril. I presume she either understudied or followed Rachel York in the role.

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I certainly agree with the Variety reviewer but the chief pleasure for me was that fabulous on-stage orchestra having a ball with Coleman's amazing jazz score. I've seen a few productions of City of Angels but I've never heard it PLAYED like this. Sheer bliss!

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