Author Archive
MAYAKOVSKY AND STALIN
Sunday, July 22nd, 2018Some good actors attempt to breathe life into writer-director Murray Mednick’s talky, tedious Mayakovsky And Stalin, the longest two-and-a-half hours I’ve spent in a theater in years.
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DISNEY BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Saturday, July 21st, 2018
A luminous Susan Egan’s return to the role that made her a Broadway star is just one reason not to miss 5-Star Theatricals’ five-star revival of Disney Beauty And The Beast, though it is easily Egan’s incandescent star turn that gives the production’s two-weekend run at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza event status.
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MARY POPPINS
Friday, July 20th, 2018
In-the-round staging proves a perfect fit for Mary Poppins at Glendale Centre Theater, placing the emphasis firmly on P.L. Travers’ storytelling, the Sherman Brothers’ hum-along songs, a bunch of infectious dance numbers, and leading lady Deborah Robin, quite possibly the best of the seven Marys I’ve seen on stage.
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MUTT HOUSE
Thursday, July 19th, 2018
I defy anyone to resist the canine charmers of Mutt House, or their human companions, or the songs, or the laughter, or the romance, or the heart of this Kirk Douglas Theatre guest production, as gem-perfect an L.A. World Premiere musical as I’ve seen in at least a dog’s year.
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CRY IT OUT
Tuesday, July 17th, 2018
You don’t have to be a stay-at-home nursing mom to fall in love with Molly Smith Metzler’s Cry It Out, but if you are, this one’s especially for you, and it’s about time.
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BIG FISH
Tuesday, July 17th, 2018
Chance Theater takes full advantage of Big Fish The Musical’s newly revised “small cast edition” to transform an overblown Broadway flop into an intimate gem that could touch even a heart of stone.
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ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE
Monday, July 16th, 2018
A deaf New York film professor and a hearing-impaired bookkeeper fall head over heels into adulterous love in Arrival & Departure, playwright Stephen Sachs’ 21st-century updating of Noel Coward’s über-romantic cinematic classic Brief Encounter, a compelling, excitingly staged, terrifically acted Fountain Theatre World Premiere whose script could still use some work.
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THREE DAYS IN THE COUNTRY
Sunday, July 15th, 2018
Unrequited love has rarely been as delightful to witness as it is in Three Days In The Country, playwright Patrick Marber’s tasty new “version of” Ivan Turgenev’s considerably older (by about a hundred seventy years), longer (by an hour and a half), and stodgier (or so I’m told) A Month In The Country, and a glorious return to partner-cast form for L.A.’s crème-de-la-crème Antaeus Theatre Company.
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Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
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