THE PAJAMA GAME
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007
Director Steven Glaudini and his talented cast do everything right in Musical Theatre
West’s terrific new production of the 1953 Broadway smash The Pajama Game. The
recent Broadway revival with Harry Connick, Jr. sparked interest in this tuneful 50s
classic, and MTW’s production makes it clear why the show remains as fresh as ever in
2007.
(read more)
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS
Sunday, October 28th, 2007
Cabrillo Music Theatre begins its 2007-8 season with a tunefully winning production of
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. 7Brides47Bros is of course best known as the 1954
MGM musical classic, which starred Howard Keel as Adam, a mountain man in
search of a wife, and Jane Powell as Milly, who accepted his proposal not knowing
that there were six more manly men at the homestead. Debby Boone undertook
the role of Milly in the short lived (opened on Thursday, closed on Sunday) 1982
Broadway production, which has since become a regional theater favorite (recently
staged by Fullerton CLO). Though perhaps not deserving of a loooooong Broadway
run, 7Brides47Bros is still a far more enjoyable experience than its brief Broadway stay
would indicate, and Cabrillo, blessed with about as fine a leading man and lady as
the show could boast and an ensemble more than up to the challenges of John
Charron’s Michael Kidd inspired choreography, has a winner on its hands.
(read more)
CITY KID THE MUSICAL
Friday, October 26th, 2007
City Kid The Musical is two hours of virtually non-stop singing and dancing, a music
video come to life, featuring a tunefully accessible score and inventive
choreography, performed by a sensational young cast and backed up by the best
band in town.
(read more)
OKLAHOMA!
Sunday, October 14th, 2007
Of all the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical theater classics, their first and oldest collaboration, Oklahoma!, remains their most contemporary. To modem eyes, Carousel’s hero Billy Bigalow may be seen as an abusive husband. South Pacific’s Nellie is so shocked that Emile had married a (heaven forbid!) Polynesian woman and had children with her that she breaks off their relationship. And The King and I’s King (of Siam no less) needs to be “modernized” by a British schoolteacher. There is, however, nothing dated about either Oklahoma!’s characters or its story. Also, unlike the ever-popular Sound of Music, Oklahoma! has its dark side, not only in the character of Jud Frye, but also in Laurey’s conflicted and repressed longings. That’s not to say that the other R&H musicals are anything less than classics. It just that Oklahoma! better than any others has stood the test of time.
(read more)
JEKYLL & HYDE
Friday, October 12th, 2007
Fullerton Civic Light Opera ends its 2007 season on a high note with the
return engagement of their 2001 award-winner Jekyll & Hyde. Arguably the
most popular “musical thriller” in Broadway history (1523 performances), J&H
boasts a classic storyline (by Robert Lewis Stevenson), a highly hummable
score by Frank Wildhorn, two amazing roles for leading ladies (good girl/bad
girl), spectacle, murder, and above all one of the most challenging
acting/singing roles ever written for a musical theater leading man. FCLO’s
production has been directed with consummate professionalism by Ovation
winning Jan Duncan, with superb musical direction by 35-year FCLO vet Lee
Kreter, leading an orchestra that couldn’t be better.
(read more)
DROOD
Friday, October 5th, 2007
Does anyone remember the Weather Girls’ big disco hit entitled It’s Raining
Men? Well, these days in SoCal, it’s raining Droods, with productions of the
Rupert Holmes Broadway smash opened or opening just about everywhere.
The one that’s captured the most attention and already inspired a bunch of
deserved raves is the one currently wowing audiences at Sacred Fools. In the
words of The Weather Girls, “Hallelujah!”
(read more)
TOO OLD FOR THE CHORUS
Saturday, September 29th, 2007
Something awful happens in America when you turn 50. You get a letter from
AARP which, according to the five Baby Boomer stars of Too Old for the Chorus,
notifies you that you are “officially old.” You see John Travolta on the cover of
AARP Magazine and think in shock, “When I was 23, he was the same age as
me!” This is the dilemma in which “Shirley,” “Glenn,” “Bobby,” “Faith,” and
“James” find themselves in TOFTC, the tuneful musical revue currently playing at
the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts.
(read more)
GOBLIN MARKET
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007
Take two of the most phenomenally talented performers on the L.A. theater
scene, add a critically acclaimed director and a superb design team, and give
them an exquisite but little known musical to bring to life, and you have Syzygy
Theatre Group’s remarkable production of Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon’s Goblin
Market.
(read more)
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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