BREATH AND IMAGINATION: THE STORY OF ROLAND HAYES
Friday, September 20th, 2013
Before there was Paul Robeson, before there was Marian Anderson, a young man ten years their junior became the first African-American to achieve worldwide acclaim on the concert stages of the United States and Europe.
It is this lesser-known music—and civil rights—pioneer that playwright Daniel Beaty brings to vibrant, compelling life in his “play with music” Breath And Imagination: The Story Of Roland Hayes, now being given a pitch-perfect West Coast Premiere at Burbank’s Colony Theatre under the inspired direction of Saundra McClain.
(read more)
SWEENEY TODD
Tuesday, September 17th, 2013
Candlelight Pavilion takes its audiences on a considerably darker though no less entertaining journey than usual (with several menu items given a ghoulish though no less delicious twist) as the landmark Claremont dinner theater stages a Grade A Prime revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Weaver’s Sweeney Todd.
(read more)
THE BURNT PART BOYS
Monday, September 16th, 2013
An Appalachian teen sets off on a mission that will change his life and the lives of those he loves in Mariana Elder, Chris Miller, and Nathan Tysen’s exquisite new musical, The Burnt-Part Boys, now getting a polished gem of a West Coast Premiere under the inspired direction of Richard Israel.
(read more)
FUNNY GIRL
Sunday, September 8th, 2013
In the forty-nine years since Funny Girl debuted on Broadway, this musical biography of Fanny Brice has pretty much faded into obscurity despite its eight Tony nominations, and if regional revivals have been few and far between, blame that on a leading role that’s a bear to cast, a book that’s been aptly dubbed problematic, and absolutely no Funny Girl sets or costumes available for rent.
3-D Theatricals solves two of these three problems in its sensational from-the-ground-up revival, and though Isobel Lennart’s book remains more than a bit of a hodgepodge, Nicole Parker’s absolutely stellar lead performance, Michael Matthews’ inspired direction, and brand new Broadway-caliber sets and costumes by Stephen Gifford and Cheryl Sheldon make this revival another 3-D-T winner.
(read more)
bare a rock musical
Saturday, September 7th, 2013
A Catholic high school is hardly the most welcoming environment for two boys to fall in love, especially when one of them is deeply conflicted about his sexuality, as Jon Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo’s bare made heartbreaking clear in its 2000 World Premiere at the Hudson Mainstage Theater.
Now, thirteen years later, glory|struck productions brings bare back to the city of its birth in an exciting revival that could easily turn into the season’s biggest intimate musical smash.
(read more)
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
Monday, September 2nd, 2013
New York has met its match as Moonlight Stage Productions lives up to its catchphrase “Broadway’s Best Under The Stars”—and then some—with an all-around sensational production of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein that gives SoCal audiences an open-air Broadway experience without the cramped seating, astronomical ticket prices, and hoity-toity attitude you might get on The Great White Way.
(read more)
HAIRSPRAY
Saturday, August 31st, 2013
Among the many reasons to catch Glendale Centre Theatre’s just-opened production of Hairspray (including a pair of sensational lead performances), there’s one that tops them all—the chance to see “Broadway’s Big Fat Musical Comedy Hit” in the round.
(read more)
PRAIRIE-OKE!
Saturday, August 17th, 2013
Any resemblance between the show being reviewed here and a certain TV series that ran from 1974 to 1983 on NBC and starred Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, and Karen Grassle as a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota in the 1870s and 1880s is “entirely coincidental,” as Silverlake’s Cavern Club Celebrity Theater welcomes back master parodist Dane Whitlock’s Prairie-oke!, aka “That Totally Unauthorized Karaoke Parody Musical Formerly Known As Something Else.”
(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.
COPYRIGHT 2026 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY