Author Archive
THE LAST FIVE YEARS
Saturday, September 17th, 2011
One of the most exciting things about live theater is being able to see favorite plays and musicals revived with new actors tackling iconic roles, new directors putting their stamp on familiar material, and new design teams giving old shows new looks.
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CABARET
Friday, September 16th, 2011
It takes chutzpah to fiddle with a classic and heaps of talent to pull it off, both of which Tony-nominated director-choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge does to breathtaking effect in her brilliant revisal of Joe Masterhoff, John Kander, and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret for Reprise Theatre Company.
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FALSETTOS
Monday, September 12th, 2011
William Finn’s Falsettos has made a rare return visit to Los Angeles in an absolutely splendid production at the brand new Third Street Theatre. To paraphrase one of its songs, “What More Need I Say?”
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GOOD NEWS
Sunday, September 11th, 2011RECOMMENDED
For the past ninety years, Whittier Community Theatre has been offering amateur thespians the opportunity to trod the boards while still maintaining their day jobs—to the delight of these eager and often very talented performers and of the audiences who get to see friends and family showing off their triple threats.
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WHAT’S WRONG WITH ANGRY?
Saturday, September 10th, 2011
Celebration Theatre opens its 29th season, and its first with John Michael Beck as its Artistic Director, with an all-around sensational revival of Patrick Wilde’s What’s Wrong With Angry?, brilliantly directed by Michael Matthews, impeccably performed by a cast of ten, and stunningly designed by some of L.A.’s finest creative talents. Need I say more?
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THE WAR CYCLE: GOSPEL ACCORDING TO FIRST SQUAD
Friday, September 9th, 2011
Let’s say you want to tell a gripping, “ripped from today’s headlines” war story—and you’re operating on a tight budget. You can spend $11,000,000 as Kathryn Bigelow did for The Hurt Locker (and that’s cheap for a Hollywood flick). Or how about this for a suggestion? For maybe one-tenth of one percent of that budget, you can produce The War Cycle: Gospel According to First Squad, currently generating equivalent sparks at The Powerhouse Theatre. Talk about a no-brainer!
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WEST SIDE STORY
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
As any Broadway buff will tell you, there’s Broadway pre-West Side Story, and everything else since then.
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KOWALSKI
Monday, September 5th, 2011
The year was 1947 and Tennessee Williams, still basking in the success of his New York Drama Critics Circle Award-winning The Glass Menagerie, was hoping to avoid a sophomore jinx with his upcoming A Streetcar Named Desire. Elia Kazan was set to direct, and Jessica Tandy to star as Blanche DuBois, but as yet no one had been cast in the pivotal role of Stanley Kowalski. Producer Irene Selznick was batting for John Garfield, but Williams had his doubts that the film star was right for the part. Then, according to Wikipedia, a virtually unknown actor named Marlon Brando “was given car fare to Tennessee Williams’ home in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he not only gave a sensational reading, but did some house repairs as well.” Oh, and he got the part.
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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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