The Sound Of Music - (August 27 - November 1, 2009)
Fireside Dinner Theatre
Ed Flesch's strong production at The Fireside...is a joy to all, [and] takes advantage of the considerable talent of a fine cast...
Captain von Trapp's two houseguests are often played by secondary actors; but here they are both top notch performers.
...Georg's romantic interest, Baroness Schraeder, is handled with great care and loving wisdom by the vocally and physically beautiful Erika Amato, remembered for her perfect portrayal
of the boss' secretary in Fireside's "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."
--BILL BEARD, Walworth County Today (walworthcountytoday.com)
How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying - (August 21 - October 19, 2008)
Fireside Dinner Theatre
...Fireside Dinner Theatre resurrected this Pulitzer-Prize-winning musical and offers us a delightful, energetic rendition of it...Erika Amato as Miss Jones
literally makes her voice be heard in the scene with all the male employees as they sing "The Brotherhood of Man."
--JULIE McHALE, GMToday.com
Triumph Of Love- (April 25 - May 11,
2008)
Astoria Performing Arts Center
...Amato is hands-down the star of
this production. It helps that she has the best song, the heartbreaking ballad "Serenity," but she articulates every inch of her tightly laced character so persuasively that hers
is the fate you lament at the end of the production. Bewitched and bullied by the scheming Leonide, Hesione serves as the emotional anchor in this overwhelmingly silly story. In
fact, Amato’s elegant presence and velvety voice are the best reasons to revisit this show.
--AMY KRIVOHLAVEK, OffOffOnline.com
...Ms. Amato shows off a glorious
voice as Hesione- her song "Serenity" is a highlight of the evening (as it was for Tony- and Drama Desk-nominated Betty Buckley in the original cast).
--DUNCAN PFLASTER, BroadwayWorld.com
......As the philosophical Hesione,
Erika Amato steals the show. Originally a vehicle for Betty Buckley, Hesione is the most developed character in the adaptation. Amato steps up to the challenge well and sings
"Serenity" so powerfully that you forget what show you are in for a moment.
--DAVID STALLINGS, TheFabMarquee.com
......Lovely Erika Amato dazzles
as [Hermocrates'] spinster sister -- she is a musical knockout, stopping the show with her rendition of "Serenity."
--JOHN KENRICK, Musicals101.com
......Most impressive is
Ms. Amato, who brings an amalgamation of seemingly limitless chest voice and an agile lyric mezzo to Hesione's numbers. Her reading of "Serenity,"
Hesione's Act One showpiece, is among the best renditions I've ever heard. She's also the most comfortable actor of the bunch, soaring through a scene in which Leonide, disguised
as Phocion the student, attempts to seduce her. Her voice beautifully blends with Ms. Baum's raw but appealing belt.
--CAMERON KELSALL, Theater Talk's New Theater Corps (newtheatercorps.blogspot.com)
...Erika Amato
is good enough as [Hermocrates'] sister Hesione to make you mourn her character's prudishness...the performers sing their roles beautifully and have energy to spare...
--SAM THIELMAN, Backstage.com
Irving Berlin's White Christmas - (Nov. 8 - Dec. 30
2007)
Welk Resort Theatre
...Erika Amato has a wonderful voice, and she uses it to excellent effect in her big number ("Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me") in Act 2. Amato does right by all her assignments in
this lively show... Berlin's music still packs a punch, and so does this uplifting production of "White Christmas."
--EILEEN
SONDACK, MyLocalNews.com
...the Welk production is a triumph.
The show features the best ensemble dance numbers I've ever seen at the Welk
and the principal performers have big, beautiful singing voices...
Engstrom has put together a super-talented cast who can deliver Berlin's songs
with the same gusto as the film's original cast and are strong actors and dancers as well...
Erika Amato has a rich singing voice, a sensitive stage presence and smart comic timing as Betty Haynes.
--PAM
KRAGEN, North County Times
...
[John Racca] is a charismatic leading man, and he plays well opposite Erika Amato as his on-again off-again love interest. Her sultry, torchy "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" is an Act II highlight.
--FRANKIE
MORAN, SanDiego.com
Sleeping Beauty Wakes - (March 31 - May
13, 2007)
Kirk Douglas Theatre
...Director-choreographer
Jeff Calhoun creates worlds we are, at evening's end, reluctant to
leave.... Most mesmerizing is Deanne Bray, who plays the somewhat-stern
clinic director and the rubber-faced Bad Fairy richly and enchantingly.
So we are late in noticing that Bray never speaks. Her roles are voiced
by Erika Amato, whose singing instrument is astonishingly,
gloriously full-bodied and whose characterizations are crisp and witty;
they are two fine actors, magnificently paired here.
--DANY
MARGOLIES, Backstage West (Critic's Pick)
"Numerous
characters in "Sleeping Beauty Wakes," as per Deaf West
Theatre's company style, are acted and signed by one thesp while being
spoken and sung by another. The melding of performances is seamless…
All the Charles Perrault ingredients are here: princess's christening;
uninvited Bad Fairy (a sultry, understated turn by Faye Dunaway look-alike
Deanne Bray and superb singing partner Erika Amato); cursed
spindle; pricked finger; hundred-year snooze… Bray and Amato out-wicked "Wicked" in just
two menacing numbers, "Uninvited" and "Wheel Goes Round."
--BOB
VERINI, Variety
In
a production so relentlessly demanding of the highest levels of performing
virtuosity and producing coordination, there can be no single star
but only an entire galaxy...Erika Amato [is] beautiful
and silvery-voiced.
--LAURENCE VITTES, Hollywood Reporter
Sleeping
Beauty Wakes, the new co-production by Deaf West Theatre and the
Center Theatre Group, is neither a conventional play nor a musical.
It is however, a true theatrical experience -- a work of art, talent,
and humor in which the combination of deaf and speaking actors feels
completely organic. The book, by Tony Award winner Rachel Sheinkin,
is derived in part from the classic fairy tale. Princess Rose...
has been born with a curse over her head: A spiteful fairy (Deanne
Bray, voiced and sung by Erika Amato), furious that she had
not been deemed pretty enough to be invited to Rose's christening,
commands that a poisonous spindle will kill the princess. …Bray
and Amato work very well together, often to hilarious effect.
During their villainous number "Uninvited," you forget that
one woman is singing while the other is signing. Their most delectable
song, "The Wheel Goes Round," pretends to be an instruction
for the spinning wheel but is really a recipe for murder...
--JONAS SCHWARTZ, TheaterMania.com
[Deanne]
Bray dominates the stage in the Bad Fairy's rockin' evil number, "Uninvited";... Of course, it certainly doesn't hurt that Erika Amato is powering her way through the Bad Fairy's "Uninvited"
on the vocals... It is when Sleeping Beauty Wakes combines a solid character-driven
song with a stellar signed performance and a complementary vocal that
this show really hits the heights.
--SHARON PERLMUTTER, Talkin’ Broadway
There
is something magical afoot at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as a wondrously
imaginative collaboration between Deaf West Theatre and the Center
Theatre Group is making a World Premiere in the form of Sleeping
Beauty Wakes, a New Musical Fable. When last together,
both Deaf West and CTG delivered a multiple Tony Award-winning revival
of Big River, and if their current efforts make a well-deserved
move to Broadway, there is sure to be a wealth of accolades... Truly the diva of the show, Bray's
"voice" is further brought to life by the sinfully fun singing
of Erika Amato... [including] a rock-infused
bitchfest with the Bad Fairy's "Uninvited." If any musical
deserved a cast recording, Beauty Wakes is just the one to
be immortalized with an album pressing.
--JAMES
SIMS,
BroadwayWorld.com
Anything
Goes - (September 29 - November 12, 2006)
Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theater
From
the moment Erika Amato (playing the glamorous nightclub singer
Reno Sweeney) belted out her first song, I knew we were in for a great
show. Her commanding presence and angelically bold voice gripped the
audience, leaving them begging for more, which she obliged numerous
times throughout the two-hour performance... Amato sang like
she was singing to a packed crowd at one of the top theaters on Broadway.
Equally astonishing in his performance [was] newcomer Jason Webb (playing
the charming Billy Crocker)... Amato and Webb shone brightly
and definitely stole the show...
-- LA RUE NOVICK, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
The
Candlelight Pavilion's production of “Anything Goes” is
really well done. The Bollinger's do not skimp on the sets, which
are well-crafted and stylish. Nor do the people who run this theater
hire just anyone for their productions. In this current production,
directed by Douglas Austin, the role of Reno Sweeney is played by Erika Amato, who performs her role superbly. Her singing is
exceptionally strong.
-- MICHAEL QUIGLEY, Yucaipa News Mirror
[Director Douglas] Austin said he couldn't be happier and feels
blessed working with such a supportive production company, with his
friend and choreographer John Vaughan, and multitalented actors and
crew. However,
casting the part of Reno Sweeney took some searching. After an open
audition and hunting through piles of resumes, Austin found his Reno
in Erika Amato. 'We knew we needed someone with charisma and
star presence and must have a strong voice,' he said, noting she would
play a role previously filled by such respected thespians as Patti
LuPone and Ethel Merman, who originated the part. 'From the resumes
we invited back eight ladies, but as soon as Erika walked in and started
to sing I thought, 'That's it.'
-- DIANA SHOLLEY, San Bernardino Sun
42nd Street - (June 9 - August 28, 2005)
Welk Resort Theatre
Among
the female show-stoppers is Erika Amato as the aging ingenue,
Dorothy.... Amato's rich, low voice throbs with feeling...
-- CHARLENE BALDRIDGE, North County Times
Erika
Amato's big smoky voice makes her haughty diva Dorothy Brock a
standout in such songs as "Shadow Waltz."
--ROB STEVENS, Backstage West (Critic's Pick)
Rich-
and full-voiced Erika Amato is excellent as the egocentric
diva du jour, the star of the Broadway musical who falls, breaks her
ankle and is incapacitated just before the opening... If you haven’t
been to the Welk in some time, this is the one to watch. A delicious
treat from start to finish.
-- PAT LAUNER, San Diego Theatre
Scene
...some
fine casting makes for one of the Welk's better efforts in some time...Erika
Amato makes Dorothy Brock a dour diva adept at torchy laments...
-- JEFF SMITH, San Diego Weekly Reader
Paint Your Wagon
- (November 23, 2004 - January 9, 2005)
Geffen Playhouse
Outstanding
support is offered by David Jennings (as Ben's sidekick Ulysses),
Rob Kahn (as angry Bull), Steven Hack (as merchant Salem), Robert
Alan Clink (as saloonkeeper Jake), Erika Amato (as Madame Cherry),
and Sharon Lawrence as once actress Lily Smith.
-- ED KAUFMAN, Hollywood Reporter
The
Bungler - (May 28th through July 25th, 2004)
West Coast Ensemble
...this
company makes you believe the playwright wrote the script just to
let actors practice their comic timing without distraction from his
typical lessons about conscience and tolerance. It’s a gift this
cast deserves: Spencer’s Célie is sweet but never cloying;
her adversary, Hippolyte (Erika Amato), is biting but not shrewish;
and the standard effete old men, Anselme (Dan Alemshah), Lederman’s
Trufaldin and Marz’s Pandolfe, are the kind of perfectly tuned
caricatures of the pre-Revolutionary French elite that would thrill
the playwright himself.
-- JUDITH LEWIS, LA Weekly (Theater Pick of the Week)
...Along
the way we are entertained by the delightful cast, including the likeable
and effervescent Dan Alemshah as the foppish Anselme, beautifully
charming CB Spencer as Celie, and the inspired comedic performance of Erika Amato as the desperately lonely Hippolyte...
--KATE WEST, bluntreview.com
George
M! - (Feb. 19 through Mar. 7,
2004)
Fullerton Civic Light Opera
Erika
Amato makes the most of her amusing role as a haughty prima donna...When the cast members sang "I
Want to Hear a Yankee Doodle Tune," the thunderous applause confirmed
the crowd's wholehearted agreement.
--LES SPINDLE, Backstage
West
…Rogel is surrounded by many talented women: Mara Davi
as devoted sister Josie; Cynthia Ferrer as loving mom Nellie; Leslie
Trayer-Harvey, reminiscent of Angela Lansbury as Cohan's first wife,
Ethel; Tracy Warren, beaming with Irish-American warmth as Cohan's
second wife, Agnes; and Erika Amato, using florid speech and
overblown mannerisms for comic relief as temperamental Broadway diva
Fay Templeton... "George
M!" is ultimately as triumphant as Cohan was in life.
--ERIC MARCHESE, Orange County Regsiter
Madly
In Love - (Oct. 16 through Nov. 23, 2003)
Odyssey Theatre
Amy
Fritsche as Juliet, Mark W. Smith as Lancelot, and Erika Amato as Mrs. Simpson bring wonderful life to their roles...
--TRAVIS MICHAEL HOLDER, Backstage West
Walters
and Amato both bring style and charm to the endeavor, not to
mention lovely voices.
--TERRY MORGAN, LA Weekly
Of
this motley crew only the Windsors ring true. Modeled on real characters,
as opposed to fictional ones, Erika Amato and Bubba Dean Rambo
bring flesh and blood to these world-weary spirits. As Wallis Simpson,
Amato does a manic Charleston and bemoans the fact that she
"gave up freedom and youth" for "a present to grow
stale in." As her impeccably tailored consort, Rambo waits for
'something to happen.' In the meantime, they dance, very well indeed…The
smirking Duchess of Windsor (Amato) is especially adroit, and
her befuddled Duke is a likeable and believable partner…
-- CYNTHIA CITRON, Beverly Hills Outlook
Fiddler On The Roof -
(July 10 - 20, 2003)
Starlight Musical Theatre
Erika Amato stands out Hodel, the second-oldest of Tevye's
five unmarried daughters. She has the show's best voice (heard in
the beautifully sung "Far From the Home I Love"), and she's
a nice fit with Kurt Norby as Perchik, the young revolutionary whom
Hodel falls for and follows to Siberia.
-- PAM KRAGEN, North
County Times
Director Jeanette Thomas has cast a great group of singers... Tevye’s three lovely eldest daughters, Tzeitel
(Kelli Sides), Hodel (Erika Amato), and Chava (Adina Di Fede)
get it going with their beautiful and humorous performance of "Matchmaker."
Erika Amato returns for a gorgeous solo in the affecting "Far
From the Home I Love" when saying goodbye to her papa.
-- ROB HOPPER, San Diego Playbill
Nine - (June
21 through July 28, 2002)
The Chance Theater
Erika Amato brings a wealth of emotion to Luisa,
painting her loyalty, anger and pain as very real and lending a powerful
vocal style to her songs.
- - ERIC MARCHESE, Orange County
Register
The
female leads in this production are pitch-perfect. Amato, Lanzarone
and Ceporius capture the particular drives of their characters. Amato yearns for respect and honesty…the women surrounding this Guido
are complicated and believable. …This show features some great
female performances…and that's a win by any measure.
--
JOEL BEERS, Orange County Weekly
The
women in the cast appealingly bring their characters to life. Erika
Amato, as loyal, loving, disgusted wife Luisa, has a lovely voice
and an intense presence.
--JOSEPH
SIROTA,
curtainup.com
Space
prevents a full listing of all 'Nine's' treasures. But I must note
that the voices were fantastic [and] the acting showed depth…
Among my favorites: Amato, strong and at the same time vulnerable…
For all the talent, singing, sex, lies and vino bianco - I have just
one question: With a cast packed with perfect 10's, why do they still
insist on calling the show 'Nine?'
-- CHRIS CRESON, Fullerton
News Tribune
The Sound Of Music
- (August 1 - 18, 2002)
Saddleback Civic Light Opera
"'Music'
Has Seldom Sounded So Sweet
Maria
Rainer, the lead role of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Sound of
Music," has been played by everyone from Mary Martin to Debby
Boone - and, in the famed 1965 film version, Julie Andrews - so the
casting of this role is crucial to the success of any revival of the
1959 musical.
That's
why praise is due for Sheryl Donchey, director of Saddleback Civic
Light Opera's new staging at the McKinney Theatre in Mission Viejo,
and for Beth Hansen, the troupe's casting director. Their selection
of Erika Amato as Maria is a masterstroke.
Amato's
combination of textured vocal work and layered acting make this "Sound
of Music" a pleasing experience. Alongside the actress, Donchey
has cast fellow Equity actor Steven Connor as the imperious Captain
Georg von Trapp. His portrayal may not be equal to that of Amato,
but it doesn't have to be to succeed.
Throw
in distinctive work from the seven youngsters...a solid supporting
cast and Diane King Vann's sure-handed musical direction, and you've
got a "Sound of Music" for the memory books - definitely
one of the best SCLO productions in quite a few years.
...Maria's
philosophy is to throw herself into life headlong, show affection
for all in your path, and trust in fate. Amato takes this same
tack in portraying Maria, displaying the character's traits both overtly
and subtly. Her Maria isn't afraid to defy the captain's icy grip
on order. With admirable vocal control, she's commanding in signature
numbers such as "The Lonely Goatheard" and "Do Re Mi,"
only two songs in which Amato's style presents a welcome hint
of Andrews' more familiar inflections.
Amato's
soaring yet low soprano carries Maria's several numbers with the children..."
--
ERIC MARCHESE, Orange County Register
