Author Archive
THE GOOD BOOK OF PEDANTRY AND WONDER
Sunday, August 1st, 2010
In 1879, British lexicographer James Murray was hired by Oxford University Press to edit a new dictionary of the English language, a task expected to take about ten years and result in a 7,000-page tome. Holed up in a corrugated-iron garden shed on the grounds of Mill Hill School, Murray began the monumental undertaking with the help of a small team of assistants. Neither the linguist nor the dons of Oxford could have imagined that it would take until 1928 for the dictionary to be completed (nearly a decade after Murray’s death) and that the final product would end up a twelve-volume tome instead of the initially planned four volumes.
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WEST SIDE STORY
Saturday, July 31st, 2010
If ever a Broadway musical deserved to be called a classic, that musical is West Side Story. What must Broadway audiences have felt as they first discovered it back in 1957? This was, after all, a Broadway whose most recent Tony-winners were My Fair Lady, Damn Yankees, and The Pajama Game. What must audiences who were accustomed to this sunny fare have thought about a show whose leading man and leading lady didn’t have the proverbial happy ending, and whose characters lived dismal lives in the worst parts of Manhattan and hated anyone whose differences threatened their go-nowhere existences? What must they have thought about Leonard Bernstein’s jazzy, operatic score, about Stephen Sondheim’s poetic lyrics, about Arthur Laurents’ Romeo and Juliet inspired book, and above all about Jerome Robbins’ truly revolutionary choreography? How must West Side Story have rocked the world of those Eisenhower-era 1950s New Yorkers and, even more so, of the out-of-towners who make up so much of a Broadway show’s audience?
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THE EXISTENTS
Friday, July 30th, 2010
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to witness the coming together—and ultimate breakup—of a superstar rock band like, say, Fleetwood Mac, you won’t want to miss The Existents, the new rock musical by Ty Taylor, Douglas Crawford, and Jason Wooten.
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BEDROOM FARCE
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Alan Ayckbourn is back at the Odyssey Theatre, the British playwright’s West Los Angeles “home away from home,” with his 1975 smash Bedroom Farce, While not exactly a farce per se (there are no slamming doors or mistaken identities), Bedroom Farce nonetheless provides two hours of frothy fun, particularly in its wild-and-crazy second act.
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HAIRSPRAY
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
Following over six years (and a grand total of 2642 performances) on Broadway and several Equity and non-Equity National Tours, the smash hit musical Hairspray has at last been made available to theaters across the country, and San Diego Repertory Theatre has scored big in getting the rights to its Southern California Regional Theater Premiere, making for a delightful, often outstanding production directed with assurance and flair by Sam Woodhouse and featuring actors who put their own stamp on John Waters’ memorable characters and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s tuneful songs.
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NEVERWONDERLAND
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
Imagine a world in which Peter Pan and Alice are brother and sister, he off to his Neverland, she into her Wonderland, the entire tale imagined in dance—and you have some idea of Boom Kat Dance Theatre’s NeverWonderLand, as gorgeous an evening of music and visual imagery as I’ve seen since Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands.
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RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN’S CINDERELLA
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
Following its couldn’t-be-better production of Little Shop Of Horrors, Cabrillo Music Theatre now stages a show for children and parents alike in Rodgers And Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Kids will love seeing one of their favorite fairy tales brought to musical comedy life, and those above the age of ten will relish R&H’s music and lyrics, the cast’s all-around terrific performances, and seeing 1970s TV icons Marcia Wallace as Cinderella’s stepmother and Sally Struthers as her fairy Godmother. Though Rodgers And Hammerstein’s Cinderella may lack the sophistication and unified tone of Disney’s Beauty And The Beast, a great cast and Lewis Wilkenfeld’s savvy direction make for an enjoyable two hours of family entertainment.
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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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