Author Archive
PATTERNS
Friday, August 14th, 2015RECOMMENDED
Topnotch lead performances and a “plus ça change” fascination make James Reach’s Patterns, the stage adaptation of a Rod Serling screenplay set in the dog-eat-dog world of 1950s American big business, worth a look-see at Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40 despite an overlong running time and a so-so supporting cast.
UP HERE
Thursday, August 13th, 2015RECOMMENDED
The voices inside a neurotic computer whiz’s head take on decidedly human form in the latest from the La Jolla Playhouse, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez’s tuneful if overly ambitious musical romcom Up Here, a show that earns high points for the Oscar-winning couple’s score (and the talents who bring its World Premiere to life in La Jolla) but could prove too Out There for future mainstream success.
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LOMBARDI
Monday, August 10th, 2015
Vince Lombardi—coach, husband, father, man—comes to emotionally resonant life in Lombardi, Eric Simonson’s powerful 2010 Broadway biodrama whose terrific West Coast Premiere at North Hollywood’s The Group Rep might turn even sports-hating theatergoers into football buffs. It certainly made a Lombardi fan out of me.
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GREEN GROW THE LILACS
Sunday, August 9th, 2015
Theatricum Botanicum revives a Golden-Era theatrical gem in a production worth a whole heap of whoopin’ and hollerin’ … but before I go ahead and name it, here’s a question for all you theater lovers out there.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Saturday, August 8th, 2015
The longest-running show in Broadway history is back in town, exciting news indeed for Phantom Of The Opera fans who’ve been waiting years for its return, particularly since this North American Tour’s fresh new scenic/lighting designs and choreography give this Phantom a look unlike any other.
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THE DRAGON PLAY
Friday, August 7th, 2015RECOMMENDED
Interspecies love fuels Jenny Connell Davis’ The Dragon Play, a gorgeously designed Chance Theater production most likely to enchant those willing and able to buy into its boy-meets-dragon, boy-loses-dragon conceit.
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GHOST LIGHT
Thursday, August 6th, 2015NOT RECOMMENDED
Deborah Puette is luminous, but the four vignettes that comprise Tommy Smith’s Ghost Light add up to a rather low-wattage half-hour solo show.
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NO HOMO
Monday, August 3rd, 2015RECOMMENDED
The 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival hit NO HOMO now gets the fully-staged production I put on my wish list when writing about Brandon Baruch’s hilarious bromcom last year. It also gets a new ending likely to disappoint if not downright infuriate those like this reviewer who fell unreservedly in love with NO HOMO 1.0.
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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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