THE KID FROM BROOKLYN
Thursday, December 20th, 2007
Danny Kaye is alive and well and performing in North Hollywood! Well, if not the
genuine article, then at least an amazing facsimile. Giving one of the most
memorable performances of this or any year, Brian Childers IS Danny Kaye in the
just opened The Kid from Brooklyn, now wowing audiences at the El Portal Theatre.
(read more)
CONFESSIONS OF A CHRISTMAS BANSHEE
Sunday, December 9th, 2007
Confessions of a Christmas Banshee is a charming, delightful, and just a bit racy
hour of holiday entertainment, showcasing the triple-threat talents of its L.A.
based cast of four (who met a few years back while performing on Broadway).
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TWIST
Saturday, December 1st, 2007
The Tony and Oscar winning family classic Oliver and the recent award-
winning off-Broadway musical Twist share the same basic Charles Dickens
plotline. For those living under a rock, it goes as follows: An orphan boy named
Oliver Twist, abandoned at birth, raised in an orphanage, later sold to a
mortician, and eventually taken in by the rapscallion Fagin finds ultimate
wealth and happiness. That’s where the resemblance ends. Unlike the G-
rated, Focus on the Family approved Oliver, Gila Sand and Paul Leschen’s
Twist gives the Dickens classic a subversively gay S/M musical twist. I loved it!
(read more)
THE DESK SET
Saturday, November 24th, 2007William Marchant’s The Desk Set is an entertaining 1955 Broadway comedy which
revolves around one of the 50s’ biggest fears. No, not fear of communism or of
nuclear war, but rather the fear of the machine replacing man at the workplace.
Here, the machine is a gigantic (especially by today’s standards) computer called
E.M.M.A.R.A.C, nicknamed “Emmy,” and the workplace is the Reference
Department of IBC, a large radio and television broadcasting company in
midtown Manhattan.
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TONIGHT AT 8:30 PARTS 1 & 2
Sunday, November 11th, 2007
Q: Where can you see 4 dozen of the finest actors in the country performing live and
on stage 8 one-act plays by legendary playwright/song writer Noel Coward?
A: At Antaeus Company’s twin productions of Tonight At 8:30 Parts 1 and 2.
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LETTING GO
Sunday, October 14th, 2007RECOMMMENDED
Letting Go is a collection of four one-acts about just that, “letting go.” In the first,
a mother must let go of hope and a daughter of lies. In the second, a dying man
must let go of his fragile hold on life. In the third, the mother of a young child must
let go of illusions. In the fourth, an older woman must let go of the past in order to
face the promise of the future.
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THE NEIGHBORHOOD CRIME WATCH
Saturday, October 6th, 2007NOT RECOMMENDED
In Craig Alpaugh’s The Neighborhood Crime Watch, a pair of burglars break into a
Canoga Park home. One wears pantyhose over his head, the legs dangling over
his face like long rabbit ears. The other is elegantly dressed. They are brothers,
improbably so as the elegantly dressed one looks thirty to forty years older than the
one wearing the panty hose, once he has removed them. Older brother would
rather die than go back to prison he says. After all, “prisons are filled with
dangerous criminals and elected officials.” The burgling brothers have been
nicknamed “The Brunch Bandits.” Their motto is “We dine and then we steal,”
though all they can find in the kitchen of this house is a boring tuna fish sandwich.
(In an early break-in, there wasn’t a thing to eat, so they ordered pizza.)
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AND NEITHER HAVE I WINGS TO FLY
Friday, September 14th, 2007
Ann Noble’s heartwarming And Neither Have I Wings to Fly feels like a theater classic that’s been around forever. Hard to believe it’s a fairly recent play which is only now getting its Southern California premiere, in an absolutely gorgeous production at the Road Theatre, directed by award winning Scott Cummins.
(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.
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