THE WESTERN UNSCRIPTED
Saturday, September 6th, 2014
They’ve improvised Shakespeare. They’ve improvised Film Noir and The Twilight Zone. They’ve improvised Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Chekhov. They’ve even had the chutzpah to improvise Stephen Sondheim, music, lyrics, and all. And now the improv geniuses who call themselves Impro Theatre are back for business at the Falcon Theatre with their latest (and one of their very best) confections to date—improvising a full-length “feature film” live onstage in that most quintessential of American movie genres: The Western UnScripted.
(read more)
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
Friday, August 29th, 2014
For a Broadway hit that won six Tony awards (including Best Musical of 2002), Thoroughly Modern Millie has made relatively few Southland appearances in the intervening twelve years, just one of many reasons to celebrate the Thoroughly Modern (circa 1922) Miss’s arrival at Glendale Centre Theatre under the thoroughly marvelous co-direction of Danny Michaels and Orlando Alexander.
(read more)
LEADING LADIES
Friday, July 25th, 2014RECOMMENDED
Boys will be girls when a pair of traveling Shakespearean thespians impersonate a pair of long-lost sisters in hopes of inheriting a fortune in Ken Ludwig’s Leading Ladies, now entertainingly revived at Glendale Centre Theatre.
(read more)
LAY ME DOWN SOFTLY
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014
Nobody does Irish better in L.A. than Theatre Banshee, proof positive which is now onstage as the award-winning troupe presents the West Coast Premiere of Billy Roche’s charming if minor Lay Me Down Softly.
(read more)
FAMILY PLANNING
Friday, July 18th, 2014RECOMMENDED
Burbank’s Colony Theatre opens its 40th Season with Michelle Kholos Brooks’ entertaining if overly familiar Family Planning, and while the World Premiere comedy’s couple of battling 70something ex-spouses will likely appeal to the Colony’s post-retirement-age regulars, particularly as brought to life by TV’s venerable Bruce Weitz and Christina Pickles, the coming year’s bolder later selections appear more apt to revitalize the Colony’s aging subscriber base than its Season 40 opener.
(read more)
ABBAMEMNON
Sunday, June 15th, 2014
The zanies who call themselves The Troubies have taken the oldest—and in this reviewer’s humble opinion deadly-dullest—theatrical genre, Greek Tragedy, added their own trademark blend of wacky jokes, inspired adlibs (impromptu or scripted, you be the judge), snappy choreography, and best of all the songs of “one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of pop music” (Wikipedia) to come up with ABBAMEMNON, and if the results aren’t as all-around brilliant as their best, the Troubies’ latest is still the most entertaining Greek tragedy this reviewer has ever seen—or may ever see again.
(read more)
THE MUSIC MAN
Saturday, May 24th, 2014
Director-choreographer Valerie Rachelle and a couldn’t-be-better cast get everything right in Glendale Centre Theatre’s crowd-delighting revival of Meredith Willson’s 1957 classic The Music Man, an in-the-round production well worth a 76-trombone salute.
(read more)
THE LION IN WINTER
Sunday, April 20th, 2014
Mariette Hartley and Ian Buchanan bring star quality, decades of stage and screen experience, and award-winning acting chops to the Colony Theatre’s splendid revival of William Goldman’s The Lion In Winter, a 12th-century drama so rich in family intrigue, it could easily have served as a model for any number of nighttime soaps.
(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 2025 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY