BABY IT’S YOU
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
In the Eisenhower late-1950s, a housewife and mother did not suddenly come to the realization that there was life outside her kitchen and living room and traipse off to the big city in search of something more. She did not suddenly decide to “get into” the record business, even if her children were nearly grown and off on their own, and not even if told by her daughter, “Mom, there are some girls in my high school who sing so well they could be recording stars.” No. Back then housewives and mothers in Passaic, New Jersey knew that their place was in the home and they stayed there … all but one, all but Florence Greenberg. Florence saw that there was indeed life away from the suburbs, a life in New York City, and the four high school girls her daughter Mary Jane was telling her about became the first big girl group of the 1960s, The Shirelles, under contract to Scepter Records, Florence’s very own label.
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JUNIE B. JONES
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
“The World According To Me” is just the first of ten sparkling musical numbers in Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones And A Little Monkey Business, the latest entry in South Coast Rep’s Theatre For Young Audiences. Like its predecessors Imagine and The Brand New Kid, Junie B. Jones is a musical treat that will keep kids enthralled throughout its fast-moving under-ninety minutes (intermission included for snack and potty breaks). Fortunately for any adults in attendance, Joan Cushing’s delightful book, music and lyrics, a talented sextet of triple-threat performers, and a fanciful rainbow-hued set and costumes are likely to entertain audience members of any age.
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MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
Think back to the Golden Age of Technicolor MGM musicals and one of the first titles to pop into your head, particularly as the holiday season rolls around, will surely be 1944’s Meet Me In St. Louis. Even those who haven’t seen the entire film from opening credits to end titles have probably watched clips of Judy Garland singing “The Trolley Song,” “The Boy Next Door,” or “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” on YouTube or TV. The MGM classic made the transition from the silver screen to Broadway in 1989, and it’s with that production that Music Theatre West opens its 2009-2010 season. With direction by Richard Israel and choreography by Lee Martino, it’s no surprise that Meet Me In St. Louis is an all-around winner, and the perfect pre-Thanksgiving treat for young and old alike.
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LOUIS AND KEELY LIVE AT THE SAHARA
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
World Premiere musicals are pretty much a monthly event in Los Angeles, and though many of them become audience and critical favorites, even the best of them tend to disappear after their initial engagements, the business of musical theater being what it is. Thus, one can suppose that when Jake Broder and Vanessa Claire Smith debuted Louis And Keely Live At The Sahara at Sacred Fools Theater back on May 30 of last year, the duo had reason to expect that their self-penned tribute to Louis Prima and Keely Smith would close as scheduled on June 29–and that would be the end of it.
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CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
You might expect a musical about Bram Stoker entitled Children Of The Night to be the Dracula tale (with songs), but you’d be wrong. Scott Martin’s original musical, now getting its first fully-staged production at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, turns out to be a love story, albeit of the unrequited kind, and a love letter to the theater—and to the “children of the night” who are its actors.
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WHITE CHRISTMAS
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Christmas has arrived early this year in beautiful downtown Fullerton as FCLO Music Theatre presents the stage adaptation of the 1954 movie classic White Christmas. Those who wonder if that’s jumping the gun a tad have only to visit their neighborhood shopping mall to see that the holiday season is already upon us. Besides, with Irving Berlin hits like “Blue Skies,” “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing, “Sisters,” and “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” appropriate for any month of the year, a plot that isn’t all that “Christmas-centric,” and choreography that entertains equally in October or December, White Christmas is an appealing Fall CLO offering.
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GUYS AND DOLLS
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
If you want to know why Cabrillo Music Theatre was the most honored company at last year’s Ovation Awards ceremony, winning six crystal trophies for their productions of Jekyll & Hyde and Singin’ In The Rain, check out their equally award-worthy revival of Frank Loesser’s Broadway classic Guys And Dolls. With musical theater director extraordinaire Nick DeGruccio at the helm, Broadway-worthy choreography by Roger Castellano, an all-around terrific cast of twenty-nine, and a sensational design team, this Guys And Dolls proves just how great CMT has become under President/CEO Carole W. Nussbaum and artistic director Louis Wilkenfeld.
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DADDY LONG LEGS
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Jean Webster’s 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs, a favorite children’s book for nearly a hundred years now, has been turned into an exquisite gem of a musical, and one not just for youngsters. In fact, it’s hard to think of another musical so absolutely right for ages eight to eighty. In the inspired hands of composer-lyricist Paul Gordon and writer-director John Caird, the Rubicon Theatre’s production of Daddy Long Legs proves to be one of the most enthralling, entertaining, and moving love stories I’ve seen on the American musical theater stage.
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