SAMSARA
Sunday, May 10th, 2015
A 30something NoCal couple hire a surrogate in faraway India to give birth to the child neither is biologically capable of conceiving in Lauren Yee’s imaginative, funny, at times overly cutesy, but ultimately quite moving Samsara, now getting a splendidly acted and directed West Coast Premiere at Anaheim Hills’ Chance Theater.
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RUTHLESS! THE MUSICAL
Thursday, May 7th, 2015
The Bad Seed meets All About Eve meets Gypsy as the musical theater majors of Cal State Fullerton’s illustrious BFA program bring the murderously funny off-Broadway cult spoof Ruthless! The Musical to lethally hilarious life on the intimate stage of Santa Ana’s Grand Central Theatre.
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SPRING AWAKENING
Monday, May 4th, 2015
Master director Richard Israel joins Cal State Fullerton choreography whiz William F. Lett and CSUF’s phenomenally talented Musical Theater BFA majors for as fine a production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s Spring Awakening as any professional theater could hope to present.
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MURDER FOR TWO
Thursday, April 30th, 2015
Who says you need a dozen performers and a full orchestra to create a supremely inventive, thoroughly delightful (Ladies’ and) Gentlemen’s Guide To Love And Murder? As Joe Kinosian & Kellen Blair’s Murder For Two makes abundantly clear, all it takes is a pair of gifted quadruple-threats, four hands, a baby grand piano, a nifty plot, an inventive book, and some clever, catchy songs to come up with an award-winning off-Broadway hit.
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SIDE SHOW
Monday, April 27th, 2015
Freaks reign supreme in 3-D Theatrical’s big-stage revival of Bill Russell and Henry Krieger’s Side Show (The Original), easily one of the finest 3-D productions ever, and for those of us who have marveled at their Ragtime, Funny Girl, and Parade (among others), that is saying something indeed.
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AFTER THE REVOLUTION
Thursday, April 23rd, 2015
The sins of the grandfather are visited on recent law school graduate Emma Joseph in Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog’s multigenerational family drama After The Revolution, now getting a compelling Oanh Nguyen-directed Chance Theater Southern California Premiere five years after putting its writer’s name on the national theatrical map.
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MR. WOLF
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015RECOMMENDED
Rajiv Joseph takes a provocative look at the human consequences of a despicable crime twelve years after its perpetration in his hit-and-miss World Premiere drama Mr. Wolf, a play I found powerful and affecting in its more realistic moments but frustrating and perplexing in its attempts at the poetic and profound. In either case, performances alone make it worth a look-see.
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GUYS AND DOLLS
Wednesday, April 15th, 2015RECOMMENDED
Damon Runyon’s colorful New York denizens have set up shop this week in Costa Mesa, and if the revival of Frank Loesser’s Guys And Dolls now playing at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts isn’t the bona fide “Broadway National Tour” we expect on the SCFTA stage (the scenic design in particular doesn’t stand up to Segerstrom standards), it features all-around terrific performances and the most exciting “Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat” I’ve ever seen.
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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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