THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
Director Geoff Elliott re-envisions Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew as a 1950s movie set in Italy and succeeds at the challenge with flying colors, making A Noise Within’s production a veritable treat for Shakespeare lovers and classic film buffs alike.
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THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Long before Bruce Wayne concocted a secret identity for himself in order to fight evil and wrongdoers as Batman, an 18th Century English baronet named Sir Percy Blakeney disguised himself as The Scarlet Pimpernel. His goal—to rescue French aristocrats from the blade of the dreaded guillotine.
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FINIAN’S RAINBOW
Monday, February 23rd, 2009RECOMMENDED
Brigadoon and Finian’s Rainbow both opened on Broadway in 1947. Both had successful runs, Brigadoon playing 581 performances, Finian’s Rainbow beating it with 725. Both were jam packed with hit songs. From Brigadoon, you’ve probably heard the title song, Almost Like Being In Love, Come To Me, Bend to Me, and The Heather on the Hill. Finian’s Rainbow hits include How Are Things in Glocca Morra?, Look to the Rainbow, Old Devil Moon, and If This Isn’t Love. Both shows featured Irish lead characters, and each became a major movie musical, Brigadoon starring Gene Kelly and Finian’s Rainbow starring Fred Astaire. Broadway musicals don’t have better credits than these.
SURVIVING SEX
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009RECOMMENDED
David Landsberg’s Surviving Sex is a frequently funny (albeit almost totally implausible) look at men’s and women’s relationships seen through the eyes of the nebbish-next-door, aka Stan.
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CANDIDA
Saturday, February 7th, 2009RECOMMENDED
Candida, George Bernard Shaw’s romantic comedy classic, has just opened at the Colony Theatre, and it’s hard to imagine a better production than the one directed by Kathleen F. Conlin.
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BAREFOOT IN THE PARK
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Neil Simon’s Barefoot In The Park may be 45 years old, but you’d never know it from the fresh and consistently funny revival it’s getting at Glendale Centre Theatre. Corie Bratter’s powder blue Princess telephone with its rotary dial may be a relic of the sixties, and there’s not a computer or plasma TV in sight, but Simon’s gifts as the master of the one-line gag aren’t even a tad dated in this, only his 2nd Broadway comedy.
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IT’S A STEVIE WONDERFUL LIFE
Saturday, December 13th, 2008RECOMMENDED
The Troubadour Theater Company is back with its Christmas season favorite It’s A Stevie Wonderful Life, a spoof of the Hollywood holiday film classic interspersed with Stevie Wonder hits, often with lyrics rewritten to fit the movie’s plot. Though I found the troupe’s recent As U2 Like It a more entertaining and polished production, Stevie Wonderful does have many bright and funny moments, especially for fans of the original film.
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SHANGHAI MOON
Saturday, November 15th, 2008
Those who adhere to strict standards of political correctness should not, I repeat NOT see Shanghai Moon, Charles Busch’s spoof of the “Oriental” melodramas of Hollywood’s Golden Era. All others will have a devilishly good time reliving the forbidden passions of such “classics” as Lady From Chungking, Daughter Of Shanghai, King Of Chinatown, Shanghai Express, and Daughter Of The Dragon, all of them starring the immortal Anna May Wong. After all, as the program cover states, “There is enchantment when East meets West under the Shanghai Moon.”
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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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