Author Archive
ASPECTS OF LOVE
Sunday, February 10th, 2008
Musical Theatre Guild once again proves its level of talent and versatility with
its latest “Broadway in Concert” presentation, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s
Aspects Of Love. The talent is personified by Broadway’s Kim Huber and
Christina Saffran Ashford and National Tour/regional theater vets Roger
Befeler, Chuck Bergman, and Michael G. Hawkins. The versatility is proven by
this season’s selection of musicals. Following The Mystery Of Edwin Drood with
its big cast/big production numbers and the small cast, comedy skit filled As
Thousands Cheer, Musical Theatre Guild now undertakes very nearly an opera
with the entirely sung-through “Pucciniesque” Aspects of Love, which has a
cast of 13.
(read more)
TALK ABOUT THE PASSION
Sunday, February 10th, 2008RECOMMENDED
An unshaven, disheveled young man carrying a backpack arrives at the office
of book editor Evelyn Ayles, who is seated at her desk. Too busy (or too above
it all) to even look the man in the eye, Evelyn simply points to a chair and keeps
on talking on the phone as if he were not present. Finally she tells him (still not
making eye contact), “You’ve wasted your time coming here today,” and
tosses back the “clichéd” manuscript he has sent to her, then returns to
ignoring him. The man persists, “This is my life, and you call it a cliché!” And
then, before Evelyn even has a chance to see what he’s doing, the young
man removes a plastic strip from his pocket and locks her into her own office.
“You’re not going anywhere until we can talk,” he declares. “I want to talk to
you about my son.”
(read more)
ASSASSINS
Sunday, February 10th, 2008
If by some chance you’ve never seen or heard of Stephen Sondheim and John
Weidman’s Assassins, here’s what it’s about, in brief:
It’s about eight men and women who either assassinated, or attempted to
assassinate, a United States President.
Not your usual bill of fare for a musical, is it?
(read more)
JAMES JOYCE’S THE DEAD
Saturday, February 9th, 2008RECOMMENDED
Open Fist Theatre Company is nothing if not versatile. Following The Idiot Box, its
clever dark comedy about reality intruding on sitcom perfect lives, and The
Room, a fascinating look back at American history and politics in the 1930s,
Open Fist now presents a musical, or more aptly put, a play with music, James
Joyce’s The Dead.
(read more)
CABARET
Friday, February 8th, 2008
When a musical has been around as long as John Kander and Fred Ebb’s
Cabaret has (the original Broadway production opened in 1966), it becomes a
show that most veteran theatergoers have seen multiple times. Thus,
whenever a new production opens, it is up to the performers and director to
keep it fresh and vital. I’m pleased to report that International City Theatre’s
Cabaret features a trio of fine lead performances and a director whose
concept and vision distinguish this Cabaret from others which have come
before.
(read more)
LI’L ABNER
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
It’s a typical day in Dogpatch, U.S.A.–typical, that is, until the U.S.
Government decides to bomb it to smithereens. Then, local residents scramble
to find something necessary about their beloved town, birthplace of the worst
Confederate General ever, Jubilation T. Cornpone. Meanwhile, marriage-
minded cutiepie Daisy Mae keeps on trying to convince Li’l Abner that there’s
more to life than goin’ fishin’ with his buds. That’s the plot (what there is of it)
of Norman Panama and Melvin Frank’s Li’l Abner, based on Al Capp’s classic
comic strip of the same name.
(read more)
DRIVING MISS DAISY
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy is perhaps best known from the 1989 film
adaptation which starred Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman, and which
won Miss Tandy the Oscar at the age of 80. However “Miss Daisy” made her
first appearance in a tiny off-Broadway theater in 1987, with Dana Ivey and
Freeman creating the roles of Miss Daisy and her chauffeur Hoke. That Uhry’s
tale of an elderly Southern Jewish widow and the African American driver
foisted upon her by her adult son could work equally well on the big screen
and on a small stage is testimony to its power. Now, McCoy Rigby
Entertainment’s revival at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts
proves that Driving Miss Daisy is equally successful performed on a Broadway-
sized stage, especially in the hands of TV icon Michael Learned and her 3-time
Miss Daisy costar Lance C. Nichols, under the assured direction of Brian Kite.
(read more)
CARNAGE, A COMEDY
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008NOT RECOMMENDED
The Actors’ Gang webpage describes their revival of Adam Simon and Tim
Robbins’ Carnage, A Comedy as a “raucous satire about televangelism and
the state of religion in America,” yet when the original production of Carnage
went to New York in 1989, Frank Rich of the New York Times wrote, “There may
have been a more amateurish work than ”Carnage” on a professional stage in
New York this year, but somehow the gods spared me from seeing it.”
(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.
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