Tag archives: Ensemble Theatre

Sure, Christmas is almost a month in the rear-view mirror. Yes, Estella Scrooge, which takes place on a present-day December 24-25, is absolutely meant to be a Yuletide holiday story. But if you have yet to see this clever mashup of A Christmas Carol with several of Charles Dickens’ other books, now would be a […]

Just like redemption doesn’t come easy, recovering from the wounds of 2020 from the COVID pandemic and other tough situations this year will likely take significant time. But perhaps a local take on a legendary allegory can go a short way toward helping the healing, or at least create a satisfying enough diversion to bring […]

British TV talk show star James Corden, who has hosted both the Tonys and Grammys, has given the ultimate accolade to Santa Barbara Youth Ensemble Theatre founder Janet Adderley. Bubbly Janet, whom I have known for 12 years, is a Broadway veteran and starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express in 1978 before founding her […]

The Riven Rock estate Prince Harry and Meghan Markle bought for $14.5 million had been listed for rent on the website Giggster. The listing, which was taken down on Sunday after media reports, advertised the nine-bedroom, 16-bath property on 5.4 acres for $700 an hour. The listing said the lush estate could be used as […]

Santa Barbara documentary filmmaker/journalist Kevin McKiernan was a rookie NPR reporter in 1973 when he was embedded at Wounded Knee during the famous armed American Indian Movement (AIM) occupation in South Dakota that left two dead and scores arrested. Embedded himself, actually, as McKiernan had to circumvent government roadblocks surrounding the village and resort to […]

World Dance for Humanity was dead on time when the Ensemble Theatre Company hosted its 4th annual Ghost Light Night, starting at the venerable Santa Barbara Club and concluding at the New Vic two blocks away. The dancers, wonderfully made-up as zombies, kicked off their artfully crafted show with “Monster Mash,” the 1962 novelty song […]

William Shakespeare was clearly ahead of his time with his play Measure for Measure, which has just opened the new season of the Ensemble Theatre Company at the New Vic. Creatively directed by Jonathan Fox, the production is considered one of the bard’s most beguiling plays, dramatizing one of his more infamous bargains – a […]

Ensemble Theatre Company closed out its 40th anniversary season with a special birthday cabaret, preceded by a fun fête, chaired by Gwen Baker, on the New Vic’s stage for VIP donors. Culinary whiz Michael Hutchings‘ catering company provided the comestibles for the 150 guests prior to the entertaining show, which featured appearances from past ETC […]

Echo In The Canyon, Andrew Slater’s documentary about the 1964-68 era in Laurel Canyon when folk-rock bands formed in the neighborhood that offered both seclusion and proximity to Hollywood studios before giving way to the psychedelic and singer-songwriter movements, may well prove to be the most commercially successful movie to have emerged from this year’s […]

It was kid’s play when Poppy Marché, a high-end children’s clothing emporium that just opened in the Montecito Country Mart, showcased its colorful wares at a pop-up Coral Casino bash. The founders – Heather Rosenfield and Jennifer Belushi, wife of actor Jim – joined young fans noshing on the grilled cheese bites and yogurt fruit […]

It was pores for thought when the Sense Spa at the Rosewood Miramar hosted a sunshine-drenched rooftop soirée when it introduced Anda, a new line of organic vegan products developed by Swedish Los Angeles-based cosmetologist Kerstin Florian and named after her late daughter. “We are the first ones to have it, which is quite a […]

Saundra McClain would seem to be an inspired choice to direct Ensemble Theatre Company’s area debut of Dancing Lessons even if she hadn’t already helmed several successful prior productions for ETC, including Intimate Apparel, In The Continuum, The Fantasticks, and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. While McClain found her earlier ETC efforts […]

Karen Zacarías’ theatrical adaptation of Into the Beautiful North, which gets its area debut in six performances over 10 days beginning Friday by UCSB Theater Department, is based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize finalist Luís Alberto Urrea – which served as the selection for UCSB Reads back in 2017. Urrea was inspired by the […]

Montecito Rotary Club has awarded ten $1,250 scholarships to high-performing City College vocational and career technology students. “For more than 25 years, the club has made scholarships available, with the total amount of support provided during this time exceeding $120,000,” says club foundation president, the aptly named Cathy Cash. “The club membership believes in the […]

Billionaire Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso nearly came a cropper at the final hurdle when developing the Rosewood Miramar, he has revealed. Rick was at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the oh-so tony five star resort and recounted he was in our Eden by the Beach for the final hearing on his $200 million development, […]

The mad social whirl was at full throttle when UCSB Arts & Lectures hosted parties for guest speakers at the Granada and Campbell Hall. The first was held at the charming Montecito residence of Audrey and Tim Fisher, the former home of actor James Brolin, for global photographer James Balog, who spoke about his new […]

Montecito animal activist Gretchen Lieff and Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner‘s luxury beachside club, the Coral Casino, hosted a boffo bash for the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network, which last year helped 3,297 animals in distress. The event, Love Our Wildlife, was a “friend raiser” to also help garner funds for the 31-year-old organization’s busiest […]

Santa Barbara Revels, presenting its 11th anniversary production at the Lobero, moved to Ireland this year after its Alta California Rancho period piece in 2017. “We wanted to honor the strength and courage of the intrepid Irish emigrants who left their homeland in the early 1900s, specially those who might have traveled on the S.S. […]

Long time Southern California and frequent Ensemble Theatre Company director Jenny Sullivan doesn’t want people to make same mistake she did, which was to wait until the last performance of The Legend of Georgia McBride when it ran at the Geffen Theater in LA in spring 2017. “It was so funny and so moving. I […]

Ensemble Theatre Company’s third annual Ghost Light Night was a real thriller! The 175-guest fête, which was expected to raise around $225,000, kicked off in the gardens of the Santa Barbara Club, when a local group of wonderfully costumed and choreographed players performed the late Michael Jackson’s hit “Thriller,” and then led supporters two blocks […]