WEST SIDE STORY
Sunday, April 23rd, 2017
It takes brilliance and balls to pull off the reinvention of a musical theater classic, particularly one as renowned for its iconic choreography as for its book, music, and lyrics, but this is precisely what director Richard Israel and choreographer John Todd have accomplished in the brilliant, ballsy West Side Story they have mounted for The La Mirada Theatre and McCoy Rigby Entertainment.
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SISTER ACT
Saturday, April 22nd, 2017
A triumphant Daebreon Poiema and a sublime Debbie Prutsman head a terrifically talented, bigger-than-Broadway cast of nearly three-dozen in Cabrillo Music Theatre’s Sister Act, as tuneful and crowd-pleasing a musical comedy treat as I’ve seen up Ventura County ways in many a moon.
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BERNARDA ALBA
Friday, April 21st, 2017
Michael John LaChiusa’s Bernarda Alba, the multiple-Tony-nominated composer-lyricist’s darkly dramatic adaptation of the Federico García Lorca classic, not only provides its all-female, mostly Cal State Fullerton student cast with an equal-parts challenging/rewarding showcase for their considerable musical theater gifts, it offers Southland audiences the opportunity to see a rarely-produced chamber gem in a production so stunning, it rivals the finest intimately-staged musicals in town.
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LITTLE WOMEN THE BROADWAY MUSICAL
Thursday, April 20th, 2017
The four March sisters have taken up brief midweek residence at Candlelight Pavilion as Inland Valley Repertory Theatre presents Little Women The Broadway Musical, a big-stage revival that merits cheers for its terrific young cast, live orchestra, and above all Jaclyn Kelly Shaw’s radiant star turn as Jo.
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JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
Tuesday, April 11th, 2017
Candlelight Pavilion hits the Easter-season jackpot with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, a spellbinding big-stage revival that earns highest marks for Chuck Ketter and John LaLonde’s dynamic, imaginative direction, its all-around stunning production design, and a cast to rival regional theater’s finest. (Oh, and there’s not a note of prerecorded instrumentals to be heard.)
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EVITA
Friday, April 7th, 2017
Just when you thought the life and loves of Eva Peron had been done to death, along comes director Tim Dang and choreographer Cindera Che’s thrillingly reimagined Evita, this year’s USC School Of Dramatic Arts spring musical, a big-stage production that differs from regional theater’s finest only in the youth of its sensationally talented cast.
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INTO THE WOODS
Thursday, April 6th, 2017
Revivals don’t come any more thrillingly imaginative than Fiasco Theater’s brilliantly re-imagined Into The Woods, now paying a visit to the Ahmanson Theatre in a production no musical theater lover will want to miss.
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MAN OF LA MANCHA
Sunday, April 2nd, 2017
Stunningly staged and strikingly redesigned, A Noise Within’s Man Of La Mancha takes a half-century-old musical theater classic and gives it 21st-century relevance while reminding audiences why the 1965 Best Musical Tony winner has stood the test of time in a way the same year’s Skyscraper, Pickwick, and It’s A Bird…It’s A Plane…It’s Superman have not.
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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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