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What the Critics Said About My Shows
Some actors should never read their reviews!
Level Ground Arts scored the regional premiere of the musical Xanadu and I found myself doing more than double duty, as co-director, co-choreographer, set designer, prop designer and playing my dream role of Calliope. Our hard work and roller skating paid off with nothing but rave reviews and sold-out houses for my sister muses and the show.
My love of great-bad movies (see my Institute of Film Cheddarology page) led to me adapting the awful film Santa Claus Conquers the Martians for the stage as the Level Ground Arts incarnation Santa Claus vs. the Martians. While remaining true to the rancidness of the original, I added and tweaked the dreadful screenplay to turn it into a true Andi-fied original. The show got raves and I loved my Martians.
I turned my obsession for Bollywood movies into a stage show by adapting Aristophane's Greek comedy into A Bollywood Lysistrata. It was icing on the cake that the show earned good reviews and brought in the biggest audiences ever for a Level Ground Arts show. I even got to dance Bollywood-style in my show, choreographing all the dance numbers.
I had been dying to play the Stella Stevens role in Poseidon! An Upside Down Musical ever since I connected with its creator, David Cerda on the web years ago. Level Ground Arts finally fulfilled my dream and the reviews I earned added to the fun of spoofing Stella.
As a huge fan of the Worst Movie Ever Made, Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space, I had a blast imitating the original stars in the world premiere of the Level Ground Arts live stage version. Ironically, I earned a Column Award nomination as Best Actress, some of the best reviews of my acting career and even made the TheaterJones.com Best Performances of 2009 list for appearing in this homage to bad acting. I think that's a compliment.
In 2003, Ruthless! was the hit of the summer. I was a proud director, with my talented cast earning great reviews. We're celebrating a fab opening night in this picture to right. Later on, we celebrated Critics Forum awards for best actor and best director, and Rabin nominations for Best Actress (Musical), Best Musical and Best Director (Musical). In 2009, I finally had the chance to perform in the show playing the theater critic who hates musicals, Lita Encore (on the left), which earned me another great review and a Column Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. Ruthless rules!
When I finally had the chance to play Gooch in Mame, it was a dream come true. Audiences loved the show, plue the show helped set new season box office records for Garland Summer Musicals, and earned a great review.
2009 started off with a bang, and great reviews for Uptown's annual revue Broadway Our Way, which I once again wrote and directed. I played Sarah Palin performing the tongue-twisting patter song "Tschaikovsky".
Legends! had been a legendary flop as a comeback vehicle for Mary Martin and Carol Channing in the mid-80s and still failed to impress critics when revived 2 decades later starring Joan Collins and Linda Evans (neither exactly known for their comic timing, so the show tanked a second time). But when Uptown Players decided I should direct the show with two men playing the divas in drag, Legends got rave reviews for the first time in its notorious history with our new spin on it.
NINE opened to raves from audiences and the reviews seconded those thoughts. As La Fleur, I performed a show-stopping musical number which included dancing with a forty foot feather boa. Tres bien!
The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode was a huge success with audiences and critics, earning an extended run for Uptown Players and The Rose Room. It also thoroughly delighted its playwright, who attended our opening weekend.
Broadway Our Way: Valley of the Divas was proclaimed the "best one yet" by the Dallas Voice reviewer. I even earned praise and laughs for my solo dressed as Glinda the Good Witch singing a campy operatic song.
The regional premiere of Charles Busch's Die Mommie Die! which I directed earned well-deserved raves, even from playwright and original Die Mommie star, Charles Busch, and the original Lance, Carl Andress. They posed for pics with our cast after the show. Cameron, our Tony Parker, earned a DFW Critics Forum award for his performance and Coy received a Rabin nomination for playing the "leading lady", as if having Charles love our show wasn't already enough of an award for me.
Valhalla turned out to be a magical experience for me as director. I had a great cast and this extraordinary comic fantasy earned solid raves from critics and audiences alike. The magic continued at award time, with B.J. winning his first DFW Critics Forum award for his funny and touching performance. The incredible costumes for the show also earned a Rabin nomination. The play also garnered Kelly a Column Award for her performance and one for me for sound design.
Although Nunsense suffered a tragic loss right before we were to open, when the show finally did go on, we got a good reveiw and I earned praise (and a Column Award nomination) playing one of my all-time dream roles, Sister Mary Amnesia, in ICT MainStage's production.

John and Linda in Mr. Bojangles (photo by Mark Oristano)		 My third year of writing, directing and choreographying "Broadway Our Way" for Uptown Players earned the best reviews yet for the annual fundraiser- and I was finally able to appear in the show, too, thanks to the assistance of my best friend John, who earned well-deserved praise for his dancing.
Stephanie and I sing from Phantom (photo by Mark Oristano)
The world premiere of my original comedy High School Hellcats in Heels was a sell-out hit and earned great reviews. And this script is available for performance at a theater near you!


Photo by George Wada

 Sordid Lives gets anything but sordid reviews (plus more reviews of yet another unplanned emergency appearance by yours truly the director on opening night!) This show became a sold-out hit and an award winner, too, receiving a Critics Forum award, a Rabin award and many Column Awards!