CHiPs THE MUSICAL


The zanies who call themselves the Troubadour Theater Company are back with CHiPs The Musical, the award-winning ensemble’s first show not based on the hits of a major recording artist or group. Instead, the Troubies’ takeoff on the late-‘70s/early-‘80s action TV series has catchy original music composed by Henry Phillips, with Rick Batalla taking care of book and lyrics.  In all other respects however, CHiPs The Musical is exactly the madness and merriment we’ve come to expect from Troubies’ Artistic Director Matt Walker and company.
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THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES


Cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer and actor, Will Rogers packed a whole lot of living into his fifty-five years. He circled the world three times, made over seventy movies, wrote thousands upon thousands of nationally-syndicated newspaper columns, became internationally famous, and even ran once for President of the United States, if only in jest.
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DAS BARBECÜ


Musical Theatre Guild concluded its 2009-10 season with a one-night-only concert staged reading of Das Barbecü, a show you’ve probably never heard of before, but one that proved a delightful discovery.
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GRACE AND GLORIE


Take two very different individuals, put them in the same space over a period of days, weeks, or years, and watch how they change each other’s lives. This is a formula that has worked to perfection in the Colony Theatre’s critically acclaimed productions of Trying and Educating Rita. The same formula works its magic once again in Tom Ziegler’s Grace And Glorie, a gem of a “two hander” sure to be as much a critical and audience favorite as its predecessors, all three superbly helmed by director Cameron Watson.
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PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD


With some rip-roaring performances and a superb production design, A Noise Within’s revival of John Millington Synge’s once scandalous 1907 comedy The Playboy Of The Western World would be all-around wonderful if most of its cast weren’t speaking in a Western Irish accent so thick that it can get downright incomprehensible.  Fortunately, the zest with which the performers attack their roles, some terrific physical comedy, and a storyline which (thank goodness) gets easier to follow as Act One turns to Act Two and Act Three make for an entertaining evening of theater directed by Geoff Elliott.
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IRMA LA DOUCE

NOT RECOMMENDED

For the past fourteen years, Los Angeles theatergoers have been thanking their lucky stars for Musical Theatre Guild and its prodigiously talented members. If it weren’t for MTG, Southland musical theater lovers would have missed out on seeing such forgotten Broadway gems as Fade Out – Fade In, High Spirits, Seesaw, As Thousands Cheer, It’s A Bird … It’s A Plane … It’s Superman, and Street Scene, and that’s just in the last four seasons.  Even when the show being revived is perhaps best left forgotten, like September’s Stop The World – I Want To Get Off, MTG subscribers are guaranteed sensational performances by Broadway and regional theater vets at the top of their game.
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SQUABBLES


Every so often one comes across a little-known play that turns out to be a true theatrical gem.  Squabbles, by Marshall Karp, is one such comedic treat, and Los Angeles audiences can find out exactly why in a terrific new production now playing at Glendale Centre Theatre.
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THE PSYCHIC


Sam Bobrick’s The Psychic, at The Falcon Theatre, is a devilishly clever comedy/mystery with a hilarious first act and an even better second one that takes on an added layer of brilliance half-way through.
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