CROWNS
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009RECOMMENDED
The all-around stupendous performances of its seven stars are the best reason to see Crowns at the Pasadena Playhouse. Six of the country’s most talented African American singer-actresses and one equally gifted singer-actor do powerful work in Regina Taylor’s musical adaptation of Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry’s eponymous book about church women and their beloved hats.
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FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
The prolonged ovation which greets Topol’s first entrance in Fiddler On The Roof confirms that this Farewell Tour, starring the man whose name has become synonymous with that of its lead character, is an event of the first order. As Tevye, the milkman of Anatevka, Chaim Topol gives a brilliant performance in an absolutely superb revival of the 1964 Broadway classic. That the production which surrounds him is of Broadway caliber elevates this Fiddler to must-see status.
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THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
Saturday, July 18th, 2009
It’s not whether you win or lose. It’s how you play the game.”
It’s highly doubtful that any of the preteen contestants in William Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee have ever taken these words of advice to heart. For these regional spelling bee finalists, and for many of their parents, winning is everything, and if you have any doubt that kids can be every bit as competitive as adults, Finn’s quirky, highly original musical will soon cure you of this misconception.
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ALTAR BOYZ
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Those Altar Boyz are back, and there’s no one happier about the news than I am. Since discovering the Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording in 2005 (which I’ve listened to more times that I could possibly count), I’ve had the thrill of seeing the show’s First National Tour, two regional productions—and now Altar Boyz’ first L.A. intimate theater staging at the Celebration Theatre. Directed by Patrick Pearson and choreographed by Ameenah Kaplan, with musical direction by Christopher Lloyd Bratten, and starring five sensational young triple threats, this may well be the best Altar Boyz yet.
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LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
For a 1982 off-Broadway musical based on a no-budget black-and-white film shot in two days, Little Shop Of Horrors has come a long, long way. A London West End production opened in 1983 and a movie version was released in 1986 even as Little Shop continued to entertain off-Broadway audiences for an amazing 2,209 performances. A big stage revival finally took the show to Broadway in 2003. Few are the high schools, community theaters, and regional CLOs which haven’t staged Little Shop at least once in the past twenty-seven years. 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 the kind of A-List professionals now starring in Musical Theater West’s sensational big theater revival.
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TWIST
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
“A baby’s born to be adored, and cuddled, hugged, and kissed. But not this one. He’s no one’s son. He’s all alone. He’s Twist.”
Sound familiar? An abandoned newborn in mid-19th Century London grows up in an orphanage, and when he makes the mistake of asking, “Please sir, may I have some more?”, is promptly sold to an undertaker, then falls in with a gang of miscreants under the thumb of a wily leader named Fagin. All the while, said comely youth indulges in all manner of S&M/B&D games in a Victorian England of leather boots, pimps, whips, whores, chains, fish-net stockings, cross-dressers, and scoundrels of every sexual persuasion and perversion.
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HAIR
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
It was mid-1968. LBJ was still President, with Richard Nixon’s election and seven more years of war in Vietnam yet to come. Already, though, there were “tribes” of young people in their teens and twenties whose dissatisfaction with an America riddled with racism, poverty, sexism, sexual repression, and political corruption led them to create the hippie movement of the 60s. More than anything else, though, these “new American patriots,” as they saw themselves, were in revolt against a war they believed to be unjust, unnecessary, and un-American.
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THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
Friday, July 10th, 2009
Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas’ The Light In The Piazza is the most exquisite musical to come from Broadway in many years. The story of a mother and daughter who travel to Italy in the summer of 1953, Piazza was nominated for eleven Tony awards in 2005 and won six, including one for Guettel’s score. Most of its other wins were in design categories, most notably for Michael Yeargan’s superb scenic design. In fact, the Broadway and touring company sets were so breathtakingly beautiful that at times they may even have overshadowed the material, particularly Lucas’ complex, haunting music.
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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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