FLASHES OF LIGHT

It takes chutzpah to juxtapose Greek mythology with 20th-century American history, but this is precisely what the creators of the tuneful World Premiere musical Flashes Of Light have done on the Sierra Madre Playhouse stage, albeit more successfully in the show’s delightful first act than in its more far-out second half.
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RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN’S CINDERELLA


Delightful performances, clever direction, and Douglas Carter Beane’s fresh new book are three big reasons why Wisteria Theater’s scaled-down take on the 2013 Broadway revival of the 1950s live TV classic known as Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella makes it four winners in a row for the new North Hollywood company.
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A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE


Kasey Mahaffy delivers an exhilarating, emotion-packed, career-redefining performance as Dublin bus conductor Alfie Byrne in A Noise Within’s stirring revival of Terrence McNally, Lynn Aherns, and Stephen Flaherty’s 2002 off-Broadway musical A Man Of No Importance.
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BONNIE & CLYDE


America’s most infamous bank-robbing duo are back in business and the Rubicon Theatre has got them in the Ventura treasure’s must-see revival of the Tony-nominated Bonnie & Clyde The Musical.
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THE SPITFIRE GRILL


A young woman fresh out of prison seeks a second chance at life in James Valcq and Fred Alley’s tuneful, inspiring crowd-pleaser The Spitfire Grill, Actors Co-op’s first musical in nearly seven years and one that is well worth the wait.
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LEGALLY BLONDE

An incandescent Kathryn Brunner makes it crystal-clear what musical theater stars are made of as the indomitable Elle Woods in La Mirada Theatre and McCoy Rigby Entertainment’s big-stage big-talent revival of the 2007 Broadway smash Legally Blonde, about as perfect a screen-to-stage adaptation as there’s been in the past twenty years.
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BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL EXTENSION


Branden Lee Roth puts his own engaging stamp on the title role of  Open Fist Theatre Company’s Bat Boy: The Musical, his fortuitous arrival enabling the wild, weird, and wacky L.A.-born, off-Broadway-bred crowd-pleaser to extend its run at the Atwater Village Theatre.
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BARE: A POP OPERA

Mouth Bone Theatre’s revival of Damon Intrabartolo and Jon Hartmere’s Bare: A Pop Opera works better as a talent showcase for its cast of young musical theater performers than it does as a professional production of a show that’s beginning to show its age.
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