Dates, Times + The Inside Scoop!

Rock Odyssey

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 10:15:32 -0400

September 20th - October 1st
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami
(formerly the Carnival Center)
1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami FL 33132

ROCK ODYSSEY is a new theatrical spectacle combining the drama of ancient Greece with the flair of Broadway to create a rip-roaring adventure.

It’s the classic tale we all read in school about Odysseus' epic journey, but this version comes with a decidedly modern, funny, rock 'n roll twist! The artistic team includes award-winning theater and music innovators, Carbonell Award winners Eric Alsford (musical director) and Ellis Tillman (costume designer), and a cast of professional South Florida actors,

In addition to direction/choreography by Douglas Love, ROCK ODYSSEY also features an original rock-inspired score created by Emmy Award-winning musician Billy Straus; book by Kleban Award winner Stephen Cole; puppet design by Heather Asch; and set by Emmy Award-winning set designer Laura Brock.

ROCK ODYSSEY marks the launch of a groundbreaking collaboration between the Arsht Center, the Miami-Dade Public School System, World Book, and Emmy- and Parent's Choice Award-winning entertainment pioneer Douglas Love, the show’s director and choreographer.

Thousands of Miami-Dade County public schoolchildren will attend the show, experiencing live theater in Miami's premier performing arts center at no cost to them or their schools. This is the first partnership of its kind between a performing arts center and a school system to provide live theater + an accompanying curriculum.

"ROCK ODYSSEY symbolizes the very essence of our mission and vision coming to life," said M. John Richard, President and CEO of the Adrienne Arsht Center.

The Adrienne Arsht Center plans to expand its Learning Through The Arts program. The goal is to eventually provide arts adventures for over 75,000 young people each year, enriching their studies, enhancing their exposure to the arts, and cultivating their creativity.

It’s work any rock goddess would approve.

The Drowsy Chaperone

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:00:35 -0400

June 11th - July 4th
Stage Door Theatre
Coral Springs FL

To see the reviews, click HERE!

To see photos from the show, click HERE!

The lights go up on the living room of a lonely shut-in who chases the blues away by playing old records of his favorite musical theatre shows. And he tells the audience his favorite show of all is the 1928 musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone.

This fellow, known simply as 'Man in Chair', drops the needle on his favorite LP, and the musical magically bursts to life inside his home. It’s the tale of a Broadway starlet who wants to give up show biz to get married, the producer determined to sabotage the nuptials, her “drowsy” (a.k.a. “tipsy”) chaperone, and a zany cast of lovers, gangsters and high-flyers. 
Eileen plays The Drowsy Chaperone and sings the show’s rousing anthem, As We Stumble Along, apropos of nothing at all except for the fact that she senses the starlet is stealing the spotlight. The song is, in fact, an inspirational tribute to alcoholism. This is an even funnier role when you consider Eileen has actually been “tipsy” all of twice in her lifetime.

This marks Eileen’s third production at Stage Door Theatre. Back in the 2008-2009 season, she starred in the enormously successful comedy The Convertible Girl as the title character and in the enchanting Jerry Herman musical review Showtune.

Shows run eight times per week, Wednesday thru Sunday.

Denial! Time to Face the Musical

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:00:25 -0400

April 15th-May 2nd
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Streets) NY, NY 10003

APRES SHOW UPDATE: View photos from the premier production HERE. And keep watching this space. Video coming soon!
^^^
This daring new musical satire introduces us to Mandi, a wealthy New York socialite who doesn't know she's Black! In the words of the show’s villainess (that’s me!): “How is that even possible?”

While Mandi goes about life as a highly-sheltered ersatz white woman, the story’s comic villainess, Margarita Torres (still me!), makes it her personal mission to destroy Mandi’s blonde illusion.

After getting a workshop and a staged reading in New York, this marks the first full production of Denial! and packed audiences are greeting it with howls of laughter.

Are you ready to face the music(al)?

Shows are Thursdays-Saturdays @ 8pm, Sundays @ 3pm
For Tickets: (212) 254-1109

Play reading of Love Letters

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:00:57 -0500

February 14th @ 3pm
Andrews Living Arts Studio - NEW THEATRE!
23 NW 5th St., Ft. Lauderdale FL 33301

It’s a Gala Opening for a new black box theatre in South Florida, and Eileen was asked to be part of its debut!

So, if you’re opening a new theatre on Valentines Day, what better play to read than A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters. It’s the simple story of boy meets girl, boy writes to girl, girl writes back to boy, sharing their hopes, ambitions, ups and downs and on and on... for the rest of their lives.

In this Valentines afternoon play reading, Eileen will read the role of Melissa Gardner, the volatile rich girl with a talent for art, men & self-destruction. Actor Chris de Paula will read the role of Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, her brilliant & sensitive childhood friend-turned-Senator. Through their letters to each other emerges a complex portrait of a (mostly) long distance love affair between two people who started in the same place and took very different paths in life.

Because this is a Grand Opening and Valentines Day, not only do you get to enjoy the play reading at no charge, you’ll also enjoy complimentary wine + roses for the ladies in the audience.

Samantha Brown’s Fanathon

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:00:57 -0500

February 10th @ 8pm on The Travel Channel

WHAT?!?!?! You missed the show? Unforgivable! Unless you click HERE to see a whopping 1-minute clip highlighting our moments with Sam.

I heart The Travel Channel and have always been a fan of Samantha Brown, the perky, funny host of shows like Great Hotels and Passport to Europe. Something else I heart? Walt Disney World! (I’d live there if they’d just say the word). So imagine my delight when I ran across an ad looking for fans of Samantha and of Disney World to participate in a show taping!

I replied with an email that must’ve said all the right things because my husband Jorge and I were immediately invited to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom to cavort with Samantha Brown as part of her “Fanathon” special celebrating her 10 years with the Travel Channel.

Not only did we get to hang out with Samantha (who is as lovely in person as she is on camera), and eat a $2000 cake (not all of it and not for lack of trying), I got to spend some serious quality time with the “other man” in my life.... Mister Mickey Mouse.

Snow White...A New Musical

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:00:32 -0500

Miramar Cultural Center
2400 Civic Center Place
January 21, 22, 23

Broward Center for the Performing Arts
201 SW 5th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312
January 25, 26, 27

APRES SHOW UPDATE: Check out photos from the show HERE!

Take a famous fairy tale, mix in a new millennium attitude, a dash of irreverence, quick wit, cool puppets, moody music...and you’ve got Snow White, A New Musical.

Eileen is originating the deliciously evil role of the Queen!

The script is witty and sophisticated, one of those great pieces that speak to adults and children on different levels simultaneously. So bring children or don’t bring children. It promises to be a wickedly funny show.

The premier of Snow White will run for a limited number of performances for two weeks only, with morning and afternoon performances, and shows are beginning to fill up. Call the number above for show times/tickets or visit BrowardCenter.org and search for Snow White.

REHEARSAL UPDATE: Now that we’re in rehearsals, the energy and talent level of the cast is exciting to behold. The show is funny, dramatic, complex and fresh. It’s like witnessing the birth of a show because this is only the beginning. Snow White is already garnering interest for a possible tour in the 2010/2011 season. It feels wonderful to be part of something so fabulous from the ground level and to know you are the first one to create that character. I hope you can make it to the show!

For tickets: 954-462-0222 or 877-311-SHOW

A Christmas Carol

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 21:28:33 -0500

December 1st - 6th
Broward Center for the Performing Arts
201 SW 5th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312
For tickets: 954-462-0222

AFTER SHOW UPDATE: Click HERE to see video of the spirit in action!

The famously classic holiday tale by Charles Dickens about the infamous Scrooge (Ebenezer, not McDuck), the workaholic evil-doer turned turkey-gifting do-gooder. But Scrooge cannot see the error of his cold, un-Christmasy ways until he gets a good ghostly intervention. Enter moi!

In the immortal words of Disney’s Haunted Mansion: I am your ghost. Your Ghost Host!

In this musicalized version of A Christmas Carol, I am thrilled to be playing The Ghost of Christmas Past! This bookends nicely with my stint as The Wicked Witch in Oz. Yes, the Witch was wild, scary and wicked, and the Ghost is wild, scary and good, but you see the theme here, right?
Or is that just me?

This is my first time on stage at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, and I am excited to be in a new theatre and working with director Nina Felice (who, not incidentally, also wrote this adaptation!) In a case of six degrees of theatrical separation, I worked with Nina Felice’s daughter in Les Miserables last Spring when she played young Cosette.

Located in Ft. Lauderdale’s Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment district, A Christmas Carol will play matinee and evening shows for one week only. For tickets/times/seating charts, visit: http://www.browardcenter.org/achristmascarol. And if you want to make a day of it on the Riverwalk, follow this link and/or this link to find all the things you can do around the theatre before or after the show!

Now back to the role, which is the one I was hoping for when I auditioned for two different parts in the show. My Ghost is particularly enjoyable to play in that she is.... unconventional. To reveal more could spoil the surprise, but suffice it to say she does not sound/speak/behave the way you might expect a dignified or terrifying ghost to sound/speak/behave....

How hauntalicious.

The Golden Game

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:24:34 -0400

June 27th-July 25th
7pm-8pm
Univision Network

UPDATE: Alas! You missed the riveting series? Or feel the need to relive the guts & glory? Check out the highlights from one of the episodes right HERE.

Ever wondered what would happen if you pretended to be a human arrow slithering across a soapy mat trying to hit a bulleye with your head?

Yeah, me neither. But for reasons I can’t fully elucidate on these pages, my husband and I agreed to be contestants on Univisions wacky, Japanese-like game show EL JUEGO DE ORO.

Did we win? Did we lose? Did we lose our lives? Ohhhh the DRAMA! Tune in this Saturday night and discover the depths of goofiness to which I will apparently descend.

I Do Not Know

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:53:06 -0400

Playing Now - Summer 2009?

So now what?
After continuous theatre work since last August, I am “without show”, to coin my own peculiar phrase. Nothing to rehearse, nowhere to perform, no dozen songs to learn by next week. So it is back to heavy-duty auditioning and the actor’s perennial search for The Next Job.

Just a few years ago, the thought of going independent and not knowing where my next check would come from was a thing of horror to be studiously avoided. Now, never-knowing is the life I embrace. I laugh in the face of uncertainty. Sure, it’s a nervous laugh. But I’m laughing, aren’t I?

After floundering for a spell (having easily forgotten what life was like before 8-show weeks and 10-hour rehearsal days)...I’ve regained my footing, if not my employment, and am now A Woman With A Mission or at least A Woman With A Long To Do List to Take Her Through The Summer and Beyond if Necessary.

I’ve got a TV pilot to write, a musical to complete, and a large closet packed with my father’s belongings to sort & catalog. There are fitness goals to be sweatily met, songs to record, a motley assortment of habits to habituate myself with (sing a high F, floss nightly, learn tap dancing?). And let’s not forget, all this will be done while I continue searching for...wait for it.... yes... The Next Job.

After Les Miserables, I immediately got booked on a cruise commercial with Daisy Fuentes. I was thinking, “Oh yeah, I’ll just do commercials and television now that I’m done with theatre for the season.” Again, seems my undiagnosed intermittent amnesia struck and conveniently let me forget how hard it is to book commercials... especially when you’re a redhead and absolutely no one’s idea of what a typical Latina or Caucasian woman looks like, which helps you get cast in commercials about -17%.

But this is where we embrace the uncertainty! Squeeze it tight. OK, you’re choking the uncertainty now. Just let go.... That’s it, let it go.... So! I’ve now got time to do what a Woman On A Mission has to do. Make lists, set goals, feel the thrill of accomplishment as I check off items, maneuver the reins of my personal destiny, yada-yada-yada.

And hey, how bad can it really be if your idea of a small gig while you wait for The Next Job includes working as a background actor in a movie called Up In The Air while George Clooney is in the same room? Yeap. That George Clooney. I’m telling you, there’s no business like show business.

Les Misérables

Wed, 4 Mar 2009 20:00:13 -0500

March 4th - April 5th 2009
Actors’ Playhouse
280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables FL
For tickets: 305-444-9293

Wow, wow and triple-wow! To be cast in Les Misérables is a musical actor’s dream come true. Specifically, my dream come true. Ever since I learned Actors’ Playhouse would be staging the first-ever Florida production, I wanted to be part of it. “Wanted”, however, may be too gentle a descriptive. More like “Insanely Obsessed Over” it.

Allow me to put it another way: The late, great Peter Jennings is the reason many, many of my contemporaries went into television news. Les Misérables is the reason many of my contemporaries went into musical theatre. Both examples apply to this writer.

Just before Thanksgiving, I got the call to come in for an audition, and just after the New Year, I was offered a part in the ensemble. Forgive me if I sound like a cheeseball, but I can already imagine the thrill I’ll feel every night as I get the privilege of hearing and singing these amazing songs and immersing myself in this epic saga. This will also mark my first time working with the Artistic Director of Actors’ Playhouse, David Arisco.

But enough about me.... here’s a link to the Theatre’s website for more show information: http://www.actorsplayhouse.org/lesmiserables.htm
Shows run Wednesday-Sunday, and here’s the page that tells you about the ticket options: http://www.actorsplayhouse.org/tickets.html

Showtune

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:59:35 -0500

December 27th - February 15th 2009
Stage Door Theatre
8036 W. Sample Rd, Coral Springs FL

NEW! Photos added HERE!

Eileen is starting 2009 starring in this fabulous review celebrating the music & lyrics of Jerry Herman, the musical genius behind Broadway hits like Hello Dolly, La Cage Aux Folles, Mame and more. With one hit song after another, this popular musical is a favorite with audiences who will recognize one Broadway Anthem after another!

Eileen is particularly thrilled to be working with Director Michael Leeds for the first time, a successful Broadway writer and director known as “The Actor Whisperer”!

Eileen’s Insider Info: For the 3rd production in a row, I will be playing opposite Joey Zangardi. It’s not unusual for actors to work together more than once, but it’s very unusual to get cast together back-to-back-to-back like this! He played my Rabbi in The Convertible Girl and the Tin Man to my Witch in The Wizard of Oz. I’m also psyched because some of the songs I’ll be singing were prominently featured in Wall*E, my favorite movie of 2008.

Visit my blog to read the two reviews!

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! The Wizard of Oz

Wed, 8 Oct 2008 15:02:48 -0400

October 15th - November 8th
Actors Playhouse
280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables FL
For tickets: 305-444-9293

Eileen returns to Oz to reprise her role as the Wicked Witch of the West, complete with green skin and long black hair! This time, the production packs a bigger wallop with totally new special effects! (But we won’t spoil the surprises here)

The show plays to schools on weekdays and to the public on Saturdays @ 2pm. The show sells out every weekend so buy tickets early.

For more info: http://www.actorsplayhouse.org/wizardofoz.htm

THE CONVERTIBLE GIRL

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:32:00 -0400

August 15th - October 12th
Stage Door Theatre
8036 W. Sample Rd, Coral Springs FL
For Tickets: 954-344-7765

Eileen stars as Christina Fernandez, a young latina madly in love with Ron Greenstein, an older Jewish man, who loves her but can’t overcome his fear of marriage. When he claims he cannot marry her because she’s not jewish, Christina decides to embark on the clumsiest, most screwball conversion in the history of the world...

This show was directed by Hugh Murphy, a genius at mining “Comedy Gold” out of thin air and creating a play so vigorous and dynamic Eileen lost five pounds during rehearsals from running around so much!

Here’s what the Sun Sentinel reviewer wrote:

“Eileen Faxas plays the lead in great style. Her star quality grabs the audience from her opening line and never lets go through two hilarious acts.  The entire cast is excellent and provokes lots of laughs. Faxas' expressive accent is dead on target, but she's fully comprehensible. You'll be entranced and delighted with this comedy under Hugh Murphy's insightful direction.”

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!

Thu, 22 May 2008 16:03:35 -0400

May 22nd - June 1st
Miami Stage Company
11155 SW 112 Ave, Miami FL
For tickets: 305-274-3597

Eileen stars as Woman #1 in this popular off-Broadway musical, which takes on the hilarity and reality of the mating game, from dating to marriage to family car trips to geriatric pick-up techniques. The location is Alper JCC’s Robert Russell Theater, just two blocks from the Kendall campus of Miami Dade college.

There’s probably no place more fascinating in any theatre than the Costume Department, and Miami Stage Company has an amazing floor to double-high ceiling array of racks of clothes. Need a fairy? No problem! How about a Ninja? Got it! But do you know what else theatre costume departments have? Layer upon layer of thick dust dating back at least two millenia. Eileen found this cute black dress she’s wearing above for the photo shoot but also picked up a massive allergy attack! Ahhhh! The glamorous theatrical life....

BORDERS BOOKSTORE OPENING PARTY

Fri, 8 Feb 2008 19:00:07 -0500

The Village at Merrick Park
358 San Lorenzo Ave.
Coral Gables, Florida 33146

Eileen kicks off the musical celebration at the grand opening weekend of the new Borders Bookstore in Coral Gables at the Village at Merrick Park. She’ll perform for an hour at the bookstore’s expansive cafe starting @ 7pm.
It’ll be an intimate, witty, bilingual concert where you’ll get to know the singer and her style. Come kick off your weekend in a beautiful place with beautiful music. Plus, it’s a grand opening weekend, so expect lots of activities, giveaways and special stuff!