THE LAST SEDER
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Jennifer Maisel’s warm and winning family dramedy The Last Seder opens with Michelle (Elisa Donovan), the youngest of four adult sisters, inviting Josh (Douglas Dickerman), a total stranger, to her family home. Michelle’s Alzheimer’s afflicted father Marvin (Joseph Ruskin) is about to be moved for long-term care into the serenely named Serenity Willows and the family home is soon to be sold, thus this year’s Seder will be the family’s last together and Michelle does not want to arrive empty-handed, so to speak.
(read more)
IN HEAT
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
“How can you mend a broken heart?” asked the BeeGees a few decades back. If you are actor Malcome Danare, you write a play. The result of Danare’s 2006 heartbreak is In Heat, a “comedy in four one-acts,” currently playing at The Lost Studio, and a very funny and original comedy it is.
(read more)
ADAM BAUM AND THE JEW MOVIE
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
In Modern Orthodox, Daniel Goldfarb hilariously contrasted two extremes of modern Judaism. In Adam Baum And The Jew Movie, he writes an equally laugh-filled comedy about the legendary Jewish studio heads who created decades of Jew-free movies in Hollywood.
(read more)
A VERY BRADY MUSICAL
Friday, June 6th, 2008The Brady Bunch is (are?) alive and well and on stage at Theatre West in the brand new A Very Brady Musical. With music and lyrics by Hope and Laurence Juber and book by Lloyd J. Schwartz and Hope Juber, A Very Brady Musical mixes multiple plots with catchy songs to create a mostly entertaining evening of tuneful entertainment.
(read more)
THE BLOWIN OF BAILE GALL
Sunday, June 1st, 2008
Ronan Noone’s The Blowin Of Baile Gall deals with racism and xenophobia in Ireland, but it could just as easily be set anyplace in the United States where people frustrated with their own failures and inadequacies find it necessary to stereotype and demonize those who are “the other.” It could be about African Americans angry at Korean grocers taking over businesses in “their” neighborhoods, or Latinos detesting the gentrification of their neighborhoods by upscale gays, or Caucasians complaining about “illegal immigrants.” Sound familiar?
(read more)
NYMPHONY IN 12D
Saturday, May 24th, 2008NOT RECOMMENDED
Apartment 12-D tenant Brick Wilson (Rusty Hamrick) is the biggest up-and-coming opera singer in the Ansonia Hotel, which isn’t saying much. His best role so far has been that of the bearded lady in a zarzuela. Brick is frequently visited by a beauteous (though occasionally invisible) nymph (Beth Whitney), whose mission is to inspire him to greatness. Unfortunately for the nymph, Brick is gay, so her beauteousness is pretty much lost on him.
(read more)
BOISE U.S.A.
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008RECOMMENDED
The 1950s are often thought of as “happy days” for the U.S., yet a closer look reveals a not so happy picture for many Americans of the era. Segregation was the law in the once Confederate South, liberal minded Americans were being branded Communists by Senator Joe McCarthy and his ilk, and in Boise, Idaho, another albeit less famous witch-hunt was underway.
(read more)
PIPPIN
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
East West Players has a long tradition of staging well known musicals which would normally feature “traditional” casting, shows like Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, Follies, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, and Sweeney Todd, and casting them with Asian actors who might under other circumstances be overlooked for the roles. This year, it’s Stephen (Wicked) Schwartz whose work is center stage, and the results are, as might be expected from EWP’s sterling track record, sensational.
(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 2026 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY