ELEVADA
Monday, May 21st, 2018
A rather nonsensical premise is all that’s holding back Sheila Callaghan’s Elevada from being the unqualified smash romantic comedy it sets out to be. Even so, romcom lovers like this reviewer will find themselves captivated by its terrifically acted, stunningly designed Chance Theater West Coast Premiere.
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HAMILTON
Thursday, May 10th, 2018
The American Revolution revolutionizes American musical theater in Lin Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking, game-changing Hamilton, now thrilling audiences at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center For The Arts like virtually nothing before.
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GOOD PEOPLE
Sunday, April 29th, 2018
Good People’s Orange County Premiere makes at least two things abundantly clear. First of all that David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2011 Broadway hit is easily one of the past decade’s finest, most compelling new plays, and second, that Chance Theater continues to reign supreme among intimate OC stages.
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LOVE NEVER DIES
Wednesday, April 25th, 2018The music is gorgeous, the plot ridiculous, and the show’s raison d’etre purely monetary, but for those curious to know what happened to the Phantom and Christine a decade after the chandelier fell in the Paris Opera House, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies provides answers this week and next at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts.
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LITTLE BLACK SHADOWS
Tuesday, April 17th, 2018Kemp Powers’ Little Black Shadows takes an intriguing concept (the lives of teenage house slaves serving white teen masters in early-1850s Georgia), then veers off track into family dysfunction, folktales, magical realism, and a couple of weird plot twists that left me scratching my head despite the best efforts of a Grade-A cast headed by the simply sensational Giovanni Adams and Chauntae Pink.
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GODSPELL
Tuesday, April 17th, 2018Godspell will never make my list of favorite musicals. Despite its melodious Stephen Schwartz score, I find the show itself pretty much a snooze. Still, its many fans could hardly ask for a more imaginatively directed or more sparklingly performed production than The Wayward Artist’s at Santa Ana’s Grand Central Art Center.
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SHREW!
Wednesday, April 4th, 2018Amy Freed returns to South Coast Repertory with another hit-or-miss (but mostly miss) World Premiere comedy, this time a purportedly feminist take on William Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew retitled simply Shrew!
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DISNEY THE LITTLE MERMAID
Tuesday, March 27th, 2018
A tremendously talented cast and a terrific, all-original production design make Cal State Fullerton’s Disney The Little Mermaid a tuneful treat for audiences of all ages.
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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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