A CHORUS LINE
Monday, March 12th, 2012
The first musical to explore the intimate stories of Broadway’s “gypsies,” 1975’s A Chorus Line forever changed the face of musical theater by revealing the hopes, fears, challenges, and dreams of a dozen and a half young dancers in dialog and song, in addition to dealing with issues of race and sexuality alongside big, flashy production numbers choreographed by the legendary Michael Bennett.
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SWEENEY TODD
Monday, March 12th, 2012
Santa Monica’s venerable Morgan-Wixson Theatre once again stretches the definition of “community theater” with their production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, proving that there are indeed exceptions to the rule (expressed to me just yesterday by the Artistic Director of one of our leading CLOs) that “community theaters should never do Sondheim.” The Morgan-Wixson not only can do Sondheim, they can do him quite excitingly indeed.
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THE COLOR PURPLE
Saturday, March 10th, 2012
The 2005 Broadway smash The Color Purple now makes its Los Angeles Intimate Theater debut in a production so spectacular that it virtually redefines the term “intimate theater musical.” Brilliantly directed by Michael Matthews and starring as musically and dramatically gifted a cast as you’ll see this year on any stage large or small, this Celebration Theatre production looks to be the Intimate Theater Event of 2012.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Friday, March 9th, 2012
Audience members become residents of the Russian village of Anatevka as Glendale Centre Theatre now presents the 1964 Broadway classic Fiddler On The Roof … in the round.
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AVENUE Q
Sunday, February 26th, 2012
Imagine what might happen if puppet characters like those you or your kids grew up watching on Sesame Street started singing songs and teaching life lessons about adult topics, things like sexual orientation, racism, Internet porn, and Schadenfreude (that’s German for people taking pleasure in your pain).
Well, that is precisely what Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx, and Jeff Whitty did in their 2003 off-Broadway-to-Broadway (and back-to-off-Broadway) smash hit musical Avenue Q.
Actors’ Repertory Theatre Of Simi now recreates all the magic of the New York original, artfully scaled down from the John Golden Theater’s 804 seats to the Simi Valley Performing Arts Center’s far more intimate 220.
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MAN OF LA MANCHA
Sunday, February 12th, 2012
You know from the striking “a cappella” flamenco dance tableau which opens Musical Theatre West’s revival of Man Of La Mancha that you’re in for something special. Then again, with multi-award winners Davis Gaines, Lesli Margherita, and Justin Robertson in the starring roles, Nick DeGruccio directing with his accustomed brilliance and imagination, and choreographic whiz Carlos Mendoza in charge of dance numbers, musical theater aficionados could expect nothing less.
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THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Saturday, February 11th, 2012
Here’s a question I’d like census takers to ask the next time around. Is there anyone in America who hasn’t seen The Sound Of Music, either its 1964 movie adaptation—the third biggest moneymaker in film history when adjusted for inflation—or any one of a gazillion regional, community, or school productions of the Rodgers And Hammerstein classic?
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ROOMS: a rock romance
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
The burgeoning punk music scene of the late 1970s provides the setting for the Outer Critics Circle Award-nominated ROOMS: a rock romance, whose exhilarating West Coast Premiere proves once again that Chance Theater is unmatched as Orange County’s finest intimate theater.
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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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