Leslie Stevens and Savannah Mortenson deliver matching star turns as Margo Channing and Eve Harrington in the Group Rep’s Summer of 2026 revival of Applause, but the stage adaptation of the Hollywood classic All About Eve pales in comparison to its fellow 1970s Best Musical Tony winners Company, A Little Night Music, A Chorus Line, and Sweeney Todd.

That’s not to say that the Bruce Kimmel-directed revival isn’t without additional pluses, beginning with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green that’s been updated two decades from 1950 to the first year of the Psychedelic Seventies.

Movie buffs will recall Anne Baxter’s Eve, the seemingly innocent young thing who insinuates herself into the lives of not only Bette Davis’s Broadway legend Margo but also her best chums Karen and Buzz Richards (the latter of whom wrote the play in which Margo is currently starring) and Margo’s finance Bill Sampson, the play’s director.

And though times have changed since the turn of the 1950s (and Margo’s sassy gay hairdresser Duane has replaced the film’s acerbic theater critic Addison DeWitt), the movie’s central conceits (be wary of fawning fans, aging is an actress’s worst friend, theater is life) remain the same, though this time round over a dozen songs (music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Lee Adams) have been inserted into Comden and Green’s book to help tell the story.

And to quote William Shakespeare, therein lies the rub, because aside from the title tune and maybe one or two others, you’d never guess that Applause’s unmemorable score was written by the same duo that jam-packed Bye Bye Birdie with hummable songs less than ten years earlier, which means that no matter how much talent there is on display at the Group Rep, nothing can be done about how instantly forgettable Applause’s songs are, or the fact that Margo doesn’t get the title song, or that the closest Margo and Eve get to duetting is joining Duane and the entire ensemble in “But Alive,” or that Tony winner Lauren Bacall’s limited vocal range meant that the songs allotted to triple-threat Stevens are particularly blah.

Fortunately, Comden and Green’s book is strong enough, and the performances Kimmel has elicited from the show’s major players charismatic enough, that the Group Rep revival is far from a bust.

Stevens commands the stage with Broadway-caliber star quality, straight play-honed acting chops, and a dance virtuoso’s pizzazz, and she is matched every step of the way by velvet-voiced redheaded stunner Mortenson, who so convinces us of Eve’s sweetness and sincerity in Act One that her post-intermission backstabbing duplicity is all the more chilling.

It’s also a pleasure to welcome back Kirsche and his gorgeous pipes to our stages as Margo’s devoted paramour, no matter that he comes across more Miss Channing’s contemporary than the younger lover Bill is frequently described as.

Doug Haverty and Constance Mellors provide entertaining support as Margo’s sidekicks Buzz and Karen in a featured class that also includes Lee Gober as opportunistic producer Howard Benedict, Lloyd Pedersen as Margo’s theatrical agent Peter, Ken Patton as stage manager Bert, and Tom Allen as Broadway gossip columnist Stan Harding.

Most impressive among supporting players are the Group Rep newbie Darrell Mondaine as Margo’s sharp-tongued hair stylist and confidant, and Angie Lin, whose “Angie” sells the musical’s title tune with the same blend of vivacity and verve that turned Bonnie Franklin’s “Bonnie” into an overnight Broadway star.

Ensemble members Mia Catalano (Miss Casswell, Joan), Devin Dimitri Dominguez, Zak Herman (Danny, Orrin), Allison Jakubowski (Carol), Hisato Masuyama (Mike), Judy Rosenfeld (Operator, Script Girl, Waitress), Avan Seals (Debi), Jennifer Skiffington (Gene), and Melissa Strauss (Director) not only play multiple cameo roles but as Applause’s “Gypsies” (back when it was acceptable to refer to Broadway dancers as such), they execute Becca Sweitzer’s choreography with panache while vocalizing to prerecorded tracks under Gerald Sternbach’s expert music direction.

Carter Vickers’ scenic design morphs ingeniously into over half a dozen different locales in one niftily staged set change after another and Shon LeBlanc’s vast array of costumes take us back in time to the polyester ‘70s, though a technical glitch meant that opening night audiences didn’t get to see Devin Harris’s lighting design the way it was intended to look in Act Two. (Act One looked great, though.)

Applause is produced for the Group Rep by Straus. John Harvey is sound manager, Krys Fehervari is wig designer, Cathy D. Tomlin is sound mixer and stage manager, Wendy Dale Young is properties designer and set dresser, and Nick Foran is co-tech director. Shelby Hopkins is assistant director. Cynthia Payo is assistant costumer. Nora Feldman is publicist.

In a decade that saw not only the Best Musical Tony recipients mentioned earlier in this review but also fellow winners Annie, The Wiz, and Ain’t Misbehavin’ go on to classic status, Applause (like Two Gentlemen of Verona and Raisin) has achieved only obscurity, making the Group Rep staging one that Broadway buffs will want to catch if only to see for themselves why it is almost never revived.

The Broadway musical that Tony voters deemed best 46 years ago may not merit tumultuous applause in 2026, but one thing is certain. Leslie Stevens and Savannah Mortenson’s incandescent star turns most definitely do.

The Lonnie Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood. Through August 30. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 2:00.
www.thegrouprep.com

–Steven Stanley
July 24, 2026
Note: I have included only two publicity shots by Doug Engalla since actual production stills were not made available to the press.

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Tags: Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Charles Strouse, Lee Adams, Los Angeles Theater Review, The Group Rep