LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Saturday, September 5th, 2009
In my July review of Musical Theatre West’s big-stage, big-budget production of Little Shop Of Horrors, I wrote, “Little Shop Of Horrors is that rarity in musical theater—a show which works equally well in a tiny space and on a Broadway-sized stage, one which can delight and entertain whether performed by teenagers, amateurs, or … A-List professionals,” a comment proved spot-on by the intimate theater revival just opened at the Knightsbridge. Though it doesn’t have the big bucks behind it that MTW’s did, and though its leads haven’t yet starred on Broadway or been TV regulars, under Jaz Davison’s nothing-short-of-inspired direction, this may well be the most exciting Little Shop I’ve seen.
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LUCKY STIFF
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
Glendale Centre Theatre follows its sensational staging of Footloose The Musical with Lucky Stiff, an absolutely delightful, albeit smaller scale musical treat, and the first collaboration of Ragtime’s Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Though it is based on Michael Butterworth’s novel The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo, movie fans will most likely be reminded of Weekend At Bernie’s. You remember Bernie, the corpse that Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman had to convince everyone was hale and hearty and having the time of his life? Well, the “stiff” in Lucky Stiff is murder victim Anthony Hendon, who has left a $6,000,000 fortune to his British nephew Harry Witherspoon on one condition: Harry must take Uncle Anthony’s corpse on one last vacation to Monte Carlo.
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OEDIPUS THE KING. MAMA
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
The Troubadour Theater Company is back with Oedipus The King, Mama, one of their funniest shows ever and of those I’ve seen the best danced bar none.
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LEGALLY BLONDE
Friday, August 14th, 2009
Having conquered both Harvard Law School and Hollywood in the movie smash that made Reese Witherspoon an A-list star, Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods then went on to take Broadway by storm as the heroine of 2007’s Legally Blonde The Musical. Now, the not-so-dumb-blonde has arrived at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre in a textbook example of how to turn a hit celluloid romcom into a nigh-on-perfect Broadway musical.
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THE MUSIC MAN
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
If you want to know why The Music Man is one of the three longest-running musicals of the 1950s, head on up to Solvang for proof positive that Meredith Willson’s biggest hit is also one of the best Broadway musicals ever.
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LIFE COULD BE A DREAM
Friday, August 7th, 2009
Looking for a great evening of musical nostalgia, romance, and laughter? Then travel back in time to the days of “Doo-Wop” in Roger Bean’s sure-to-be-a-smash new musical Life Could Be A Dream, just opened at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre.
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40 IS THE NEW 15
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009RECOMMENDED
Five former high school classmates turning 40 reflect on the ways their lives have changed over the past quarter century in 40 Is The New 15, a new musical by Larry Todd Johnson and Cindy O’Connor. Though “workshop” would be a more appropriate description of this not quite fully-staged production, tuneful, clever songs, an engrossing storyline, and a quintet of fine performances make this an entertaining, moving, and very promising evening of musical theater.
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THE FIRST WIVES CLUB
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
Take a hit movie about a trio of 40something wives getting even with husbands who’ve abandoned them for younger women, add songs written by a trio who can truly be called legendary, cast the show with some of Broadway’s finest performers—and you have The First Wives Club, a thoroughly entertaining new musical now in its pre-Broadway run at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, under the brisk direction of Francesca Zambello.
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