REVIEWS
Tennyson E Stead
Writer, Director & Producer
"[Alysha] is a crafts-person of the highest order...
There is no one working today that [she] cant step up to and work with... one of the greatest actors of [her] generation"
~ The Loudmouth Report.
Maddy Lewis
Easy Tiger Productions
"Alysha is a great actress.
I directed and produced shows with Alysha in the cast. She's adaptable, reliable, and prepared to get her hands dirty. She's good fun and a great asset to any team. Alysha works well under pressure and has a great way of keeping things calm.
I'd highly recommend working with Alysha."
Mary Jane Wells
Voiceover Artist & Actress
"Alysha is a super professional and highly motivated, reliable and creative team player."
I won a Scenie!
Im incredibly proud and humbled to say I won a Scenie for
Outstanding Performance by a Featured Actress in a Comedy
for my performance as Will Scarlet in the production I helped produce for NOTE Marian or the True Tale of Robin Hood
You can see our wonderful reviews below
Thank you Stage Scene LA.
ROOTS Review
"The third show was Rand! by Bill Robens, and was the most complex and dynamic, and eerily similar to an opera, with Canale leading the charge as Peter the Great. This was the showpiece of the four shorts, and featured Cat Chengery in the title role, with dynamic support from Alysha Brady as Natasha, DeCarlo as Vlad/Keynes, Kelby Jo McClellan as Rhodia/Hopkins and Jaxy Boyd as Anna/FDR.
Tying it all together were Boyd, Brady, Flack, Light, McClellan and Wingard as the Suitcase People, a dynamic chorus that were stunning to hear. and also contributed some hilarious transitions between the stories."
"...these four shows were so different yet similar, and each one featured a stellar cast"
"All in all, it was a wonderful show that had what we truly encapsulated what we call “the NOTE experience.” The entire show is about 90 minutes long with no intermission. RECOMMENDATION: Don’t miss this show."
Read Full Review HERE
MARIAN, Or the True Tale of Robin Hood
LA Times:
"Vangsness deftly pivots between Marian’s feminine wiles and Robin’s alpha dog leadership as her dual personas pilot the unsuspecting outlaw band of Merry Men in a spirited crusade against class and gender inequality."
"As one of the surviving professional membership companies from the 99-Seat Equity waiver heyday, Theatre of Note sports a deep bench of skilled performers put to good ensemble use"
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-marian-robin-hood-review-20180901-story.html
Stage Raw:
Stage Raw Top Ten Recommended
“It’s a fast-paced, ... 99-minute ride that includes many comical turns, a few “naughty” bits, and a hefty display of sword play and quarterstaff clashes”
“ entertaining and fun. The ensemble is solidly engaging, “
http://stageraw.com/2018/08/ 28/marian-or-the-true-tale-of- robin-hood-theater-review/
Discover Hollywood:
“... "Will" Scarlett played with conviction by Alysha Brady is very endearing.”
“Kirsten Vangsness' Maid Marian is played with puckish vigour.”
Stage Scene LA:
“one of Theatre Of NOTE’s most exhilarating hits in years”
“Under Christopher Johnson’s effervescent direction, there’s not a weak link in the cast of Theatre Of NOTErs”
“Most memorable of all are Vangsness’s splendidly spunky Marian/Robin/Old Man, Scher’s flamboyant, greedy, unexpectedly opposite-sex-oriented Prince John, Brady’s engagingly manly/womanly Will, and above all Marcks’s fabulously feisty, utterly adorable Alanna, whose pivotal scene opposite Brady earns best-of-show.”
“From his first literary appearance in the 1370s to 2010’s Russell Crowe big-screen starrer, Robin Hood has kept audiences captivated for centuries. Adam Szymkowicz’s gender-bending latest may well be the most entertaining of the lot.”
http://www.stagescenela.com/ 2018/08/marian-or-the-true- tale-of-robin-hood
...with Alysha Brady as a headstrong daughter trying to explain her job --- to her surprised mother (Sarah Lilly). Both performances are excellent under Kathleen O’ Grady’s direction
- Lovell Estell III, STAGE RAW
BANSHEE
"Director James R. Carey and his cast ... attack their material with considerable craft and sincerity. Brady's bluff matter-of-factness is particularly refreshing, and Voorhees charts his character's mental disintegration with unsettling specificity."
-F. Kathleen Foley, LA Times
"Cara (Alysha Brady), ...Jerry’s ego-boosting, too-good-to-be-true and unconditionally loving girlfriend"
"The question of whether the real banshee is Cara, Kit or a more pathological kind of entity inside Jerry himself is enlivened by strong performances from Odell, whose Una O’Connor-ish cartoon of a brogue-spouting harridan turns decidedly sinister in Act 2; and Brady, who hints at something more grotesque and unseemly beneath Cara’s brightly nurturing façade."
"... a first-rate production "
-Bill Raden, Stage Raw
"The West Coast premiere of Brian C. Petti's Banshee at Theatre of NOTE looks like an old play — it's an Irish fable, but set in New York, in 1981. Sad sack Junior (Bill Voorhees), now 40, unemployed and recovering from a nervous breakdown, lives with his Irish mother, Kit (Lynn Odell). Junior's cop brother, Neil (Joe Mahon), gets him a new job on the docks, and introduces him to a lonely, beautiful divorcée-with-child, Cara (Alysha Brady), who, like his mum, speaks in Celtic brogue.
...It's a bit like The Glass Menagerie with actual nightmares. This is no play of ideas, but it's an amazing, sentimental thrill ride under James R. Carey's spot-on direction of this terrific ensemble."
-Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly
HEARTS LIKE FISTS
LA TIMES -CRITIC'S CHOICE -
"'Hearts Like Fists' is the perfect summer date show: exhilarating, nerdy-sexy, and silly-smart."-Charlotte Stoudt- LA Times
LA WEEKLY
-PICK OF THE WEEK-
"Fun well done... brazenly silly and irresistibly funny show. In a show where timing is essential, the performers are consistently spot-on...."
-Deborah Klugman, LA WEEKLY
ARTS BEAT LA
"Pussy power! 'Hearts Like Fists' at Theatre of NOTE... A chop-socky cartoon on stage, Hearts Like Fists, written by Adam Szymkowicz, is an action-packed adventure romance set in the surreal world of female crime-fighting superheroes...While a trio of crime fighters (played well by Alysha Brady, Alina Phelan and Jennifer Lee Weaver) are eluded by the murderous night stalker Dr. X, a new recruit Lisa (Lauren Dobbins Webb) is torn between pursuing a new romance with dreamy doctor Peter (Rick Steadman) and answering her calling to be superhero. Can she be in a relationship as well as saving lives? Meanwhile, Peter has his own obsession…... Robledo brings his usual ingenuity to the fluid staging of numerous brief scenes, coaxing some hilarious line readings and reactions from his talented cast... Donít miss this show!"
-Pauline Adamek, ARTS BEAT LA
STAGE SCENE LA
The entire cast hit just the right notes...terrific dry humor to Brady, Phelan, and Weaver’s three irresistible superheroes.
As for those fight sequences, expertly choreographed by Andrew Amani, they are as high-energy and precision as they come, and executed to comic book perfection by good girls and bad guy alike...
The gifted young playwright could not have picked a better team to give Hearts Like Fists its World Premiere than Robledo and his topnotch team of L.A.’s best." -Stephen Stanley- StageScene LA
100% SWEET LA BITTER LEMONS
Fun well done neatly sums up this brazenly silly and irresistibly funny show.
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly
Don’t miss this show!
Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA
Director Jaime Robledo, fresh from his Sacred Fools smashes Watson and Stoneface, now pops over to Theatre Of NOTE to stage Szymkowicz’s latest, a collaboration that leads to one of this summer’s most exciting thrill ride-like treats.
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA
Staged for what is surely less than Christopher Nolan’s weekly tea budget, “Hearts Like Fists” is the perfect summer date show: exhilarating, nerdy-sexy, and silly-smart. Try finding that on Fandango.
Charlotte Stoudt – LA Times
Pow! Hearts Like Fists connects. Adam Szymkowicz’s crowd-pleaser is a smashingly funny mash-up of action comics and rom-coms. ...Jaime Robledo’s sure-footed production is a chop-socky kick in the butt.
Jon Magaril – CurtainUp
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" at the Edgemar Center for the Arts features disabled and able-bodied actors in a rousing show.
...Bob Cratchit (actor Gerard Marzilli)
and his wife (actress Alysha Brady)
were authentic in their emotions as they mourned the loss of Tiny Tim...
Traditional to the period piece, Scrooge finds his future in the cemetery and faces a dramatic transformation. Looking around the theatre as Scrooge became enlightened, boxes of tissues were worthy of this performance.
A group of fabulous actors, the audience was transported into a story that reminds us to find a mission and make a positive difference in this world before it's too late.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/85576
Dedicated to Corey Allen
Directed by Tom Ardavany
Produced by Destin Rayes Productions, Friends of Californians with Disabilities, The Media Access Office & Scott Krantz
At the end of the opening night performance, an emotionally moving presentation was held to honor Director Corey Allen, who has a long history as an advocate for performers with disabilities. When his home was destroyed by recent fires, Allen's Emmy for Best Direction of a "Hill Street Blues" episode was destroyed. The cast proudly presented Allen with a new Emmy as he received a standing ovation for his work in the entertainment industry.
Casting Director David Zimmerman was extremely pleased to honor Corey Allen.
ECSTASY
Ecstasy Hits the Stage
by Dave B for Bodytonicmusic.com (2008-07-28)
Irvine Welsh’s book “Ecstasy- Three Tales of Chemical Romance is set to hit the stage in Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The novel was crowned by The Face magazine as “the poet laureate of the chemical generation”. The main story of the book, “Undefeated” centres around the relationship between Lloyd and Heather and the different effect drugs have on their lives. It is a story that has proved to transition well onto the stage as first reviews of the show claim that the play has done the book justice.
Maddy Lewis who plays Heather in the performance says, 'Ecstasy is Irvine Welsh's twist on the classic love story and I am thrilled to stage it in Edinburgh, the city which it is set in.'
“Ecstasy” follows on from Welsh’s groundbreaking novel and subsequent film Trainspotting which is now a permanent fixture in pop culture history with a prequel to the novel due to be published in 2009.
Review by unknown author for threeweeks.co.uk (2008-08-22)
RATING: (5 / 5)
Scottish voices tell stories about Scottish drug culture and relationships in an old Scottish cellar; who would have thought of it at Festival time? A brave, engaging cast have done justice to Irvine Welsh's 'Ecstasy'. Jack McGowan as Lloyd is commanding as we follow his rollercoaster relationship with MDMA and eventual encounter with dissatisfied housewife Heather. There are believable sex scenes, drug highs, and some emotional moments throughout, whilst the heavy themes are lightened by vulgarity and a soup-demanding granny. This is smutty, powerful theatre that just works as a whole package, the direction allowing Lloyd and Heather to remain the focus amongst fluorescent lighting, club beats, and background dancing. Just go see 'Ecstasy' before popping another.
Review by unknown author for one4review.com (2008-08-24)
RATING: (4 / 5)
This play based on the best selling book by Irvine Welsh is stages by Easy Tiger Productions for the first week and a half of the Fringe this year.
As in other Welsh books the drug and club culture of Edinburgh is the setting for this Keith Wyatt adaptation.
Majoring on Lloyd, Jack McGown, and the people that inhabit his world, and Heather, Maddy Lewis trapped in a love less marriage and how circumstances conspire to alter their lives.
The rest of the characters are played by Jamie Morris, Alysha Brady, Mark Philip Compton, Lisa Sheerin, Pip Swallow and Nicci and this gritty, chemical fuelled production plays out.
The impression is that Lloyd is a ne’er do well, but is this the whole story? He may take a substance or two, but why does he make soup for his elderly neighbours? He may indulge in casual sex, but he is looking for more and not a chemical romance.
The whole cast are well drilled, act well and the inventive set and lighting melded with the direction of Maddy Lewis made this an excellent afternoon production and for me an eye opener as someone who has never been involved in this scene.