GYPSY
Sunday, June 12th, 2016RECOMMENDED
A weak first act, a considerably more successful second, and a terrific Tara Pitt throughout add up to a mixed bag of a Gypsy revival at Theatre Out, but one still worth checking out for Pitt’s powerhouse performance as (wonder of wonders) an age-appropriate Mama Rose.
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THE WIZ
Monday, June 6th, 2016RECOMMENDED
For the next six weeks, The Emerald City can be found in Simi Valley as Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi presents The Wiz, aka The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” a mixed bag of a production that nonetheless offers SoCal audiences the rarer-than-rare chance to see a bona fide Broadway groundbreaker, one that proved that a musical with an all-African-American cast could not only win Tonys (seven in all) but become one of the Top Forty longest-running musicals in Broadway history.
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DISNEY THE LITTLE MERMAID
Monday, June 6th, 2016
It’s taken nearly ten years for Disney The Little Mermaid to make it from Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre to “Under The Sea” at the La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, but director Glenn Casale’s ingeniously reconceived, spectacularly staged take on the New York original makes it well worth the wait.
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I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU – The Life And Lyrics Of Al Dubin
Thursday, May 26th, 2016
An Oscar-winning lyricist finally gets the star treatment he’s been heretofore denied in the thoroughly entertaining I Only Have Eyes For You – The Life And Lyrics Of Al Dubin, a big-stage/big-budget musical treat whose big challenge will be to convince anyone too young to know the difference between Carmen and Lin-Manuel Miranda to take a chance on a musical that may be arriving about fifty years too late to be a Broadway smash.
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LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
Thursday, May 19th, 2016
Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein’s La Cage Aux Folles is back in L.A. thanks to East West Players, and as anyone who’s seen one of EWP’s annual Broadway musical revivals will tell you, this means yet another thrillingly reimagined Asian take on a contemporary musical theater classic.
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NEWSIES
Wednesday, May 18th, 2016
When a flop movie musical becomes a home video hit, what better for Walt Disney Studios to do than turn it into a great big Broadway smash, or at least this is what happened with Newsies The Musical, now thrilling SoCal audiences with Christopher Gattelli’s breathtaking Tony-winning choreography, Alan Menken and Jack Feldman’s eminently hummable Tony-winning songs, and much much more at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts.
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THE BOY WHO DANCED ON AIR
Monday, May 16th, 2016
As the centuries-old Afghan tradition of Bacha Bazi (i.e. selling boys from poor families to wealthy masters to serve as their private entertainment) continues well into the present day, a couple of teenage dancers fall into first love in Tim Rosser and Charlie Sohne’s gorgeous and powerful The Boy Who Danced On Air, the latest World Premiere musical from San Diego’s Diversionary Theatre.
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HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING
Saturday, May 14th, 2016
No one know how to succeed at musicals-in-the-round better than Glendale Centre Theatre, proof positive of which can be savored in their pitch-perfect revival of the 1961 Frank Loesser/Abe Burrow Broadway classic How To Succeed At Business Without Really Trying.
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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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