BILLY ELLIOT
Wednesday, April 17th, 2013
Musicals don’t get much bigger or more spectacular than the international smash Billy Elliot, a nearly three-hour song-and-dance extravaganza that never forgets that it is, at heart, the intimate story of a boy who, in the words of Gene Kelly, has simply “Gotta Dance.”
L.A./Orange County audiences now have the next two weeks to experience the laughter, the tears, the thrills, and the sheer joy that is Billy, winner of ten 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, and in a Broadway first, a Best Leading Actor Tony awarded to all three Broadway Billys.
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SMOKEFALL
Wednesday, April 10th, 2013
Man, woman, birth, death, infinity.
The spirit of Thornton Wilder is alive and well and living inside playwright Noah Haidle, whose remarkable Smokefall, now getting its World Premiere at South Coast Repertory, bears comparison with Wilder’s Our Town and The Skin Of Our Teeth.
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THE WHALE
Thursday, March 21st, 2013
A morbidly obese man attempts to reconcile with his angry teenage daughter.
This is all I knew about Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale going in, and if you wish to be as blown away by this absolutely brilliant, unexpectedly funny, devastatingly powerful new play as I was, ask no questions. Simply reserve your seat at South Coast Repertory and let Hunter, director Martin Benson, and five phenomenal actors do the rest. You’ll thank me for not having given anything but this away.
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HAVING IT ALL
Wednesday, March 13th, 2013
Having scored a grand total of seven Ovation Award nominations in its 2011 World Premiere run, the hit musical Having It All now graduates to the big stage of the Laguna Playhouse in a production which reunites four of its five original stars and preserves the many pleasures Angelinos enjoyed in it the first time round … and then some.
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WICKED
Friday, February 22nd, 2013
There are Broadway hits, Broadway smashes, Broadway mega-smashes, and then there is Wicked. Rapidly approaching 4000 performances at the Gershwin Theatre after nearly ten years on the Great White Way… North American and International productions and tours galore… And not one but two major National Tours currently visiting cities throughout North America. The Second National Tour* stopped at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center For The Arts two years ago, and now it’s the First National Tour making a four-week visit to Costa Mesa in a production that Wicked fans and newbies will not want to miss. Quite simply put, for song, dance, story, spectacle, and emotional impact, Wicked is in a class all by itself.
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9 To 5
Monday, February 18th, 2013
Working 9 to 5 may be “no way to make a living,” but watching office gals Judy, Violet, and Doralee triumph over their sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot of a boss makes for one very entertaining evening or afternoon at the theater, particularly when 3-D Theatricals is offering Dolly Parton’s 9 To 5 as their 2013 season opener.
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CHINGLISH
Wednesday, February 6th, 2013
“East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet” … because if so, complications will surely ensue as they do in David Henry Hwang’s hilarious (and eye-opening) Chinglish, freshly arrived at South Coast Repertory from Berkeley Rep with its entire creative team and virtually its entire cast intact.
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TRIASSIC PARQ – THE MUSICAL
Friday, February 1st, 2013
When Michael Crichton first sat down to pen Jurassic Park, little did he realize that a trio of young musical theater writers would one day come up with Triassic Parq – The Musical, an unauthorized retelling of the Crichton novel as the dinosaurs themselves might have told it … and the wildest, wackiest, filthiest, campiest, and most entertaining show ever written from a dino’s point of view.
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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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