CLOSER THAN EVER
Saturday, February 13th, 2016
Over two dozen simply gorgeous songs by Maltby and Shire, four sensational triple-threat performances, and inspired direction by Todd Nielsen add up to yet another triumph for Long Beach’s International City Theatre in their fabulous season-opening revival of the off-Broadway classic Closer Than Ever.
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SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM
Friday, October 23rd, 2015
If you’re a Stephen Sondheim fan here in L.A., you’ve likely enjoyed Side By Side By Sondheim and/or Putting It Together, perhaps multiple times. Chances are, however, that you’ve never seen a Stephen Sondheim Revue starring none other than Steve himself (albeit on video), which is why International City Theatre’s Los Angeles Premiere of Broadway’s 2010 Sondheim On Sondheim comes as news worth trumpeting far and wide.
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FIRST DATE
Monday, September 21st, 2015
First impressions, no matter how dismal, do indeed merit a second glance when boy meets girl in First Date, the smart, funny Broadway musical romcom now getting an absolutely Grade-A Southern California Premiere at the La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts.
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ALWAYS … PATSY CLINE
Saturday, August 1st, 2015
Cori Cable Kidder delivers a star-making performance as country music legend Patsy Cline in Sierra Madre Playhouse’s season-opening revival of Ted Swindley’s Always … Patsy Cline, easily one of the newly revitalized Playhouse’s best productions ever.
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THE KINSEY SICKS: AMERICA’S NEXT TOP BACHELOR HOUSEWIFE CELEBRITY HOARDER MAKEOVER STAR GONE WILD!
Thursday, June 11th, 2015
The pulchritudinous potty-mouthed pretties who call themselves The Kinsey Sicks have treated West Hollywood to a taste of their NC-17 naughtiness before heading off for a week of West Coast touring, and as anyone who’s seen one of the queertastic quartet’s previous songfests could easily predict, The Kinsey Sicks: America’s Next Top Bachelor Housewife Celebrity Hoarder Makeover Star Gone Wild! makes for sixty sizzling minutes of double ententres and song.
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SPRING AWAKENING
Monday, May 4th, 2015
Master director Richard Israel joins Cal State Fullerton choreography whiz William F. Lett and CSUF’s phenomenally talented Musical Theater BFA majors for as fine a production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s Spring Awakening as any professional theater could hope to present.
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WORDS BY IRA GERSHWIN
Friday, April 24th, 2015RECOMMENDED
The play may indeed be the thing, at least most of the time, but it’s the songs and the singers (and not the show’s rather uninspired format) that make the Los Angeles Premiere of Joseph Vass’s self-described “musical play” Words By Ira Gershwin worth a drive to Burbank’s Colony Theatre.
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CLOSER THAN EVER
Sunday, March 1st, 2015
Four of the most gloriously-voiced actor-singers in town, clever musical staging by the Ovation-winning Janet Miller, over two-dozen of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire’s most melodious and insightfully worded songs, and a superbly played 9.5-foot-long concert grand add up to a thoroughly captivating Closer Than Ever at Burbank’s Hollywood Piano. Lighting may be rudimentary, the set may consist simply of a red velvet curtain, four stools, and said piano, and the folding-chair seating as back-challengingly uncomfy as it gets, but oh the performances! Oh the songs!
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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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