KISS ME KATE

A couple dozen of Southern California’s most talented student triple-threats bring the Cole Porter classic Kiss Me Kate to vibrant, effervescent life down Orange County way, once again making it abundantly clear why Cal State Fullerton’s musical theater BFA program is among the country’s finest in turning out Broadway-bound talent.
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STRIKING 12

Rock, folk, jazz and pop get fused for the holidays—and gorgeously, infectiously so—as the Laguna Playhouse celebrates New Year’s Eve a few weeks ahead of time with the L.A./OC Premiere of the GrooveLily musical Striking 12, and a more entertaining, exhilarating ninety minutes of nearly non-stop holiday magic you won’t find anywhere else in town.
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IT’S CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas in Claremont without Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre’s annual all-new Christmas musical, and as in Christmas seasons past, this year’s It’s Christmas Every Day makes for two hours of song-and-dance-filled G-rated Christmas entertainment.
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SHE LOVES ME

A tale almost as old as time returns magically, musically to life as Chance Theater gives Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick’s She Loves Me a perfectly marvelous intimate staging just in time for the holiday season.
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INTO THE WOODS

Into The Woods is back in town again, the musical’s long-awaited film adaptation’s upcoming Christmas Day opening certain to inspire more ITW revivals than have been seen locally in years and years … and leave L.A. theatergoers scratching their heads wondering which of the bunch to see.

For this reviewer, at least, the answer is simple. Head on over to Beverly Hills’ ritzy Wallis Annenberg Center For The Performing Arts to catch the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Summer Of 2014 smash revival, now spending the holiday season indoors at the Wallis after four SRO months under the Ashland, Oregon skies.
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A CHRISTMAS CAROL

RECOMMENDED

Alan Menken & Lynn Ahrens’s gorgeous songs are the best of quite a few reasons to catch Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi’s holiday production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol despite the disservice its multitalented hometown cast is done by some sour notes emanating from the orchestra pit.
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SERIAL KILLER BARBIE

The season’s brightest, bounciest, and most crowd-pleasing musical surprise turns out to be Colette Freedman and Nickella Moschetti’s Serial Killer Barbie, hardly the splatter fest its catchy albeit misleading title might suggest, but a show that anyone who’s gone through the 12 rounds that are Elementary, Middle, and High School can identify with and cheer.
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WINTER WONDERETTES

There may not be snow on the ground down Escondido way this month or next, but with Winter Wonderettes spending the holidays at the Welk Theatre, the marvelous (and wonderful) quartet’s trademark blend of comedy, harmony, nostalgia, and seasonal melodies turn the San Diego-adjacent resort’s year-round green grass and blue skies into the next best thing to a traditional White Christmas.
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