IN THE HEIGHTS

The Tony-winning Best Musical of 2008 with its original Tony-winning choreography and orchestrations, its original Tony-nominated Broadway scenic and costume designs, and a cast of some of Southern California’s finest triple-threats…  All of this adds up to the very first Broadway-scale L.A.-adjacent regional production of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s In The Heights, one of the finest Cabrillo Music Theatre productions ever.
(read more)

CRAZY FOR YOU

The songs are all Gershwin, the dancing is virtually non-stop, and the entertainment value is sky-high in the Tony-winning Best Musical of 1992 Crazy For You, which Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre is now reviving to justified audience cheers.
(read more)

A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE

The lives of couple dozen “unimportant” Dubliners are bestowed the significance they deserve in Torrance Theatre Company’s beautifully performed intimate-stage production of Terrence McNally, Lynn Aherns, and Stephen Flaherty’s 2002 off-Broadway musical A Man Of No Importance.
(read more)

CINNAMON GIRL


Velina Hasu Houston and Nathan Wang transport us to another time, another place, another world in their magical, mystical, marvelous new musical Cinnamon Girl, now playing at the Greenway Court Theatre.
(read more)

SPRING AWAKENING

RECOMMENDED
A talented young cast and some imaginative directorial touches highlight Spring Awakening at Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixson, a laudably bold programming choice for the venerable Westside community theater despite certain deficiencies in design, particularly sound, that prevent the Steven Sater/Duncan Sheik musical from being an unqualified success.
(read more)

ME AND MY GIRL


Here’s a Broadway trivia quiz for you. Which of the following musicals ran the longest on The Great White Way: How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Funny Girl, The King And I, Cabaret, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate, The Pajama Game, or Me And My Girl?

If you’re anything like this reviewer/Broadway buff, you may be astonished by the answer. 1986’s Me And My Girl trumps its far better known competitors with a grand total of 1420 performances, just one of many reasons to cheer the arrival of this largely obscure Broadway smash, now smashingly revived by L.A.’s premier theater-in-the-round, Glendale Centre Theatre.
(read more)

THE MUSIC MAN


Musical Theatre West takes one of the truly great 20th Century musicals and gives it a splendid 21st Century revival, one that would be even more splendid with an age-appropriate leading man.
(read more)

LYSISTRATA JONES


Lysistrata Jones may have flopped on Broadway a couple seasons back, but the Tony-nominated musical proves itself a winner at Chance Theater while at the same time providing a terrific way for audiences to discover the Chance’s brand spanking new digs down Anaheim Hills way.
(read more)

« Older Entries Newer Entries » « Older Entries Newer Entries »