ZORBA

Musical Theatre Guild’s one-night-only Zorba proved a perfect example of everything a concert staged reading should be, i.e., a superbly performed, imaginatively staged revival of a rarely produced Broadway gem well worth a second look.
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MAME

Musical Theatre Guild treated lucky L.A. audiences to a one-night-only concert staged reading of Jerry Hermans’s Mame that proved not only a terrifically directed-and-performed look back at the 1500-performance 1966 Broadway smash but illustrates to perfection precisely why MTG is a SoCal treasure.
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DO RE MI

It’s precisely for shows like Do Re Mi that Musical Theatre West’s Reiner Reading Series was created, Broadway chestnuts that for one reason or another have faded from memory despite Tony recognition and decent runs, and with Daniel Smith directing a crème-de-la-crème cast at Long Beach’s Beverly O’Neill Theatre, Do Re Mi’s one-night-only concert staged reading provided more than a few delights.
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HONEYMOON IN VEGAS

Musical Theatre Guild has concluded its 20th-anniversary with a Honeymoon In Vegas so thrillingly staged, choreographed, and performed that yesterday’s audience could be excused for forgetting that they were seeing a mere “concert staged reading” put together in a mere twenty-five hours from table read to showtime.
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HIGH SOCIETY

The Philadelphia Story meets Cole Porter in the rarely-produced High Society, and though hardly one of Broadway’s Greatest Hits, its one-night-only Alex Theatre revival once again proved Musical Theatre Guild a master of the concert staged reading.
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ONCE UPON A MATTRESS

A book and lyrics every bit as captivating in 2017 as they were when Broadway audiences first discovered them back in 1959. Tunes that make it clear that Richard was not the only Rodgers with a gift for infectious melody. A director/choreographer and cast more than up to the task of bringing said book, music, and lyrics to crowd-pleasing life. Mix all of the above and you’ve got Musical Theatre West’s one-performance-only concert staged reading of Once Upon A Mattress, one of MTW’s Reiner Reading Series’ very best.
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SUGAR

Characters made famous in Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot, songs by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill of Funny Girl fame, a couple of men in drag, all-around terrific performances, and one particularly inspired bit of casting turned Sunday’s concert staged reading of the 1972 Broadway hit Sugar into another one-performance-only Musical Theatre Guild concert staged reading delight.
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PIPE DREAM

Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to discover a “brand new” Rodgers & Hammerstein musical happen about once in lifetime, which is why those who got to discover the almost-never-produced Pipe Dream this past Sunday, the first offering in the final season of Musical Theatre West’s Reiner Reading Series, can count themselves among the luckiest people in the world.
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