Author Archive
GROSS INDECENCY
Friday, September 4th, 2009RECOMMENDED
When contemporary theatergoers hear the name Oscar Wilde, probably the first thing that pops into most of their heads is Wilde’s oft-performed classic comedy The Importance Of Being Earnest, or perhaps one of his many famous sayings. (“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” “Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.”) The Oscar we meet in Moisés Kaufman’s Gross Indecency (subtitled The Three Trials Of Oscar Wilde) is quite a different one.
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LUCKY STIFF
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
Glendale Centre Theatre follows its sensational staging of Footloose The Musical with Lucky Stiff, an absolutely delightful, albeit smaller scale musical treat, and the first collaboration of Ragtime’s Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Though it is based on Michael Butterworth’s novel The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo, movie fans will most likely be reminded of Weekend At Bernie’s. You remember Bernie, the corpse that Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman had to convince everyone was hale and hearty and having the time of his life? Well, the “stiff” in Lucky Stiff is murder victim Anthony Hendon, who has left a $6,000,000 fortune to his British nephew Harry Witherspoon on one condition: Harry must take Uncle Anthony’s corpse on one last vacation to Monte Carlo.
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BLOCK NINE
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
If ever a production could be called unique, then Tom Stanczyk’s Block Nine is just that production. Press materials describe it as “an unapologetically same-sex, retro-noir 1930s gangster homage” and “an exploration of sexuality, gender, stereotype, romance and aggression (in) an underworld full of guns, jail breaks, booze and bodies.” How’sthat for something out of the ordinary?
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VISITING MR. GREEN
Saturday, August 29th, 2009
The “Odd Couple Two-Hander” has become something of a Colony Theatre specialty over the past few years. Take a mismatched duo, put them in the same space, and watch the sparks fly. The two characters can be the same sex or opposite, they can be the same age or decades apart, and the space in which they find themselves can be indoors or outdoors. All that is required is that those sparks start flying.
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BRIGHT IDEAS
Friday, August 28th, 2009
Remember Beverly Sutphin, the sociopathic serial killer heroine of John Waters’ movie Serial Mom? Well, dear old Bev may just have met her match in Genevra Bradley, a mother who will do anything—and I do mean anything—to get her 3-year-old son into Bright Ideas, the most prestigious preschool in town.
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ADELINE’S PLAY
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
In the final five days of the homestretch of StageSceneLA’s 2nd calendar year, just when I think that there can’t possibly be another truly great new play (and production) to add to my upcoming Best Of 2008-9 lists, along comes Kit Steinkellner’s Adeline’s Play, the best World Premiere I’ve seen this year in a production which could not be better. Blessed with six performance gems and directed with love and finesse by Amanda Glaze, Adeline’s Play is the kind of play you find yourself enjoying so much that you simply can’t bear to see it end.
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OEDIPUS THE KING. MAMA
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
The Troubadour Theater Company is back with Oedipus The King, Mama, one of their funniest shows ever and of those I’ve seen the best danced bar none.
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SCHOOL FOR SUCKERS
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009RECOMMENDED
A quintet of 20something USC grads recall their journeys from childhood to adulthood in School For Suckers, an enjoyable program of five self-penned solo performances now playing mid-week at the Lillian.
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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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