Goldstar Member Reviews

Goldstar Member

Vicki Juditz shines as an individualistic woman who forms a friendship for the first time in her life, and has to navigate the social customs of her newly wed, newly immigrated Chinese friend's restrictive family. She also gives voice to the Chinese friend.

Jay Leonhart's crazy performance on what it's like to board airplanes carrying a full size bass.

Jordanian "Sultan of Satire" & "Peter the Persian" do their spot-on immitations of other American's with accents. They absolutely nail the Puerto Rican, Tagalog & Russian vocal qualities.

Stephanie Satie's touching & funny Iranian woman's divorce process begins the evening.

Written on May 20 2008

report as inappropriate

• 0 Good To Know
• 0 I Like Your Writing
• 0 I Went And I Agree

More Information About Parlor Performances' 2008 Parlor-Palooza

Description

This mega-showcase features eight short performances each night by comedians, cabaret artists, musical satirists, solo and historical shows -- all addressing themes of immigration, globalization and/or the environment. These evenings are being presented as a showcase for performing arts presenters as well as for special event and nonprofit program directors -- and the public!

Scheduled performers to date include the following:*

Sultans of Satire
Sultans of Satire features an impressive rotating line-up of some of today's most talented comedians of Middle Eastern descent -- more than a dozen funny men and women of Arab, Israeli, Iranian, Armenian, Greek and Turkish heritage. Sultans shows can range from three to eight comedians.

World's Wittiest Bass Player/Singer-Songwriter Jay Leonhart
The Los Angeles Times says: "Add Jay Leonhart to the small, very exclusive list of jazz humorists... Oscar Brown Jr., Dave Frishberg and Bob Dorough...." The show begins with Leonhart attempting to give the audience a bass lesson, but sensing that maybe the audience is not so devoted to bass viol studies, his "lesson" quickly and skillfully turns into a series of funny and touching songs and vignettes about life, with or without a bass in tow.

Award-Winning Monologist Jude Narita
Excerpts from Jude Narita's award-winning dramatic and humorous one-woman plays about Asian and Asian American women celebrating our differences, while illuminating the universal similarities of us all. Narita's women are breaking stereotypes, creating true identity, surviving war, surviving internment, cherishing family, and holding onto their dreams for the future.

Fred Blanco's Stories of Cesar Chavez
This one man theatrical presentation depicts the life and times of Cesar E. Chavez, one of the most inspirational and influential civil rights leaders of our time. The play offers a compelling look at the man and his struggle for equality through the eight various characters brought to life on stage.

Storyteller Vicki Juditz
The Los Angeles Times calls her "a born storyteller... what sets her writing, and her performance, apart is her sense of humor, and an eye for the incongruous and ridiculous." Frequently compared to Sarah Vowell and David Sedaris, Vicki Juditz is an Ovation Award winner. "Juditz employs empathy and a self-deprecating humor that lay bare the foibles and tragedy of the human condition, causing us to reflect on our own moral choices," says LA Weekly. Her new works feature hilarious and poignant pieces on "going green" and gun control.

Stephanie Satie's Coming to America; Refugees
Coming to America presents a portrait gallery of 8 women whose lives have been transformed first, by extraordinary events in their country of birth, and then by their response to America. This piece includes women from Afghanistan, Iraq, Armenia, Cambodia, El Salvador, India, Iran, Russia and the former Yugoslavia. The Los Angeles Times calls it "an intimate, affecting solo meditation on political and cultural persecution."

*Not all acts will perform both nights.