THE FIX
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
If there are any L.A. musical theater lovers who are not yet Musical Theatre Guild subscribers, I have only five words for you, “What are you waiting for?”
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THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Glendale’s A Noise Within (“California’s Classical Theatre Company”) is about the closest thing Los Angeles has to an “artists in residence” repertory ensemble, which for theatergoers means that each of their superb productions is likely to feature many of the same gifted actors who’ve delivered memorable performances in years past. For the resident artists, it means a kind of job security which is almost non-existent in L.A. theater, plus a chance to perform some of the greatest roles ever written, in works by Shakespeare and Racine and Moliere and Shaw and Miller and Foote and, in the current production of The Night Of The Iguana, by Tennessee Williams.
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OUT OF THIS WORLD
Monday, April 21st, 2008
Here’s some great news for Cole Porter fans! Even his lesser known musicals are now being given new life by writers who are fashioning fresh new books to fit the fabulous Porter songs. David Lee’s revisal of Can-Can at the Pasadena Playhouse last year won kudos and awards galore. MTW is beginning its 2008-9 season with a newly rewritten Silk Stockings. And MTG (the Musical Theatre Guild) has just presented an absolutely smashing concert staged reading of one of the great Mr. Porter’s least familiar musicals, Out Of This World, featuring a revised book by Greg MacKellan.
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THE IMMIGRANT
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
Black and white photos show immigrants arriving in the United States in the early 1900s as the sound of a howling wind blows across the southeast Texas plains. While a newspaper headline announces “Victims Of Russian Massacres,” a sign welcomes travelers to Galveston, the “Treasure Island Of America.” A foreign-accented male voice is heard singing a beautiful but mournful tune: “The stars can see what we cannot, the stars remember what we forgot. See that shining spark. God is there in the dark…”
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DON JUAN
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
I have a confession. I’d much rather see a comedy by Molière than one by William Shakespeare. I think it’s mostly the language. Since Molière is usually translated from 17th century French into modern English, his plays feel contemporary, even when set hundreds of years ago. I felt so last June when I saw The Imaginary Invalid at ACT in San Francisco and I felt so again last night watching Don Juan at A Noise Within, Glendale’s diamond of a classical theater company.
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MY THING OF LOVE
Saturday, March 8th, 2008
If I simply tell you to go see My Thing Of Love, will that be endorsement enough for you? The reason I’m asking is that so much of the pleasure of watching Alexandra Gersten’s quirkily wonderful and unpredictable comedy (or is it a drama?) is in not knowing what’s going to happen. In fact, even a quick glance at the cast of characters midway through act one spoiled one of the surprises for me. So how about if I just say “Go” and end the review here?
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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.
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PAGING DR. CHUTZPAH
Monday, December 31st, 2007RECOMMENDED
“Never again will I lie down with a woman of the opposite sex without making a
total commitment,” swears middle-aged Manhattan psychiatrist Dr. Lester
Oronofsky (Marq Del Monte) to his receptionist Myrna Jorgensen (Alycia Tracy).
Oronofsky has, by his own reckoning, slept with “two baker’s dozen” female patients.
(With a private consulting room overlooking Central Park, “how could I resist?”)
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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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