Author Archive
ANNE FRASER THOMAS
Monday, June 7th, 2010
Tall, dark-haired, and gorgeous, Anne Fraser Thomas is one of our finest, and most unique, musical theater talents—as Monday’s standing room only crowd at Hollywood’s Magic Castle can certainly attest to. Over the course of an eclectic hour of song and magic (of the musical sort), Anne took her devoted family, friends, and fans on a musical journey through her life from her early years as a multi-ethnic wunderkind (there wasn’t a lesson or class young Anne wasn’t taking) up through her present day bicoastal life.
(read more)
ALL MY SONS
Sunday, June 6th, 2010
There’s no greater work of 20th Century American theater than Arthur Miller’s now classic All My Sons. Debuting on Broadway less than two years after World War II ended with Japan’s surrender, Miller’s examination of personal responsibility in time of war remains every bit as powerful—and relevant—sixty-three years after its New York premiere.
(read more)
SKYLIGHT
Sunday, June 6th, 2010
30-year-old schoolteacher Kyra Hollis has scarcely gotten back to her East London flat, the evening’s groceries in tow, when recent high school grad Edward Sargeant arrives on her doorstep with a question and a request. Kyra, a former employee of Edward’s restaurateur father, had been living with the Sargeants for half a dozen years until suddenly vanishing from their lives a couple years back. Not long after, Edward’s mother was diagnosed with cancer, her death last year leaving Edward without the two most important women in his life, his real life Mum and the “older sister” Kyra had become to him. Edward wants to know why Kyra abandoned them. He also wants her to do something to help his father, Tom, who’s not been doing all that well since his wife’s death.
(read more)
DINNER WITH FRIENDS
Saturday, June 5th, 2010
There’s a moment in Donald Margulies’ Dinner With Friends when one of its characters comments, “The thing is, you never know what couples are like when they’re alone; you never do.”
(read more)
SUPERNOVA
Friday, June 4th, 2010
Mabel Davies is trying to make the most of her Midwest hell of a life in Timothy McNeil’s World Premiere drama Supernova—but it sure as hell isn’t easy. Her inattentive, loutish husband John spends his days plunked down in front of the tube before heading off to his graveyard-shift factory job, leaving Mabel alone at home to fend for herself. Son Kip used to be the apple of both his parents’ eyes, but as his eighteenth birthday approaches, the surly youth wastes his days and nights drinking, getting high, and spouting right wing militia catchphrases. (He’s also carrying on a secret sexual affair with the Davies’ recently separated next door neighbor Fran, twice his age.) No wonder Mabel finds solace in her nightly phone calls with Joe, a lonely watch salesman in far away California.
(read more)
LENNY BRUCE IS BACK (AND BOY IS HE PISSED)
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
Ask most people about Lenny Bruce and the first words that pop into their heads might be “comedian,” “arrested,” and “obscenity.” That and maybe “died young” and “drug overdose.”
(read more)
THE WILD PARTY
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Don’t expect to see Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party on any of our CLO stages any time soon. The adults-only nature of the 2000 off-Broadway hit make it an unlikely choice for family-friendly subscription-based CLO seasons. That’s why UC Irvine’s current big-stage, live-orchestra production has real event status. Unlike MTG’s memorable book-in-hand staged reading in 2004 or numerous fine intimate theater productions which have followed, UC Irvine’s staging is lushly staged and backed by a nine-piece pit orchestra. That it also features a cast every bit as talented as those performing in professional productions around town makes it a must-see for Wild Party lovers and newbies alike.
(read more)
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
You don’t have to be a Shakespeare lover to love the Hermosa Beach Playhouse production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Gorgeous to look at and sparklingly performed by a talented cast who make Elizabethan English sound refreshingly modern, this Stephanie A. Coltrin-directed Midsummer Night’s Dream enchants and tickles the funny bone in equal measure.
(read more)
Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
COPYRIGHT 2026 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY