THE WEDDING SINGER
Sunday, March 6th, 2011
Fullerton’s Maverick Theater scores a coup by staging the 2006 Tony Award-nominated musical The Wedding Singer, and an entertaining production it is—a thoroughly enjoyable two hours of music, comedy, 1980s nostalgia, and romance.
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ROCK OF AGES
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
The ‘80s have taken over the O.C. as the Broadway smash Rock Of Ages arrives at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center For The Arts. Long-haired rock stars, big-haired rock babes, and the hits of Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Asia come together with a wisp of a jukebox musical plot to make for two hours and twenty minutes of joyous nostalgia and hard rock “noize” (as in Quiet Riot’s 1983 cover of “Cum On Feel the Noize.”)
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SPEECH & DEBATE
Saturday, February 19th, 2011NOT RECOMMENDED
Stephen Karam’s comedy Speech & Debate points a webcam lens at three teenage outsiders living up Salem, Oregon way, while at the same time making strong points about hypocritical politicians, “ex-gay” ministries, and the importance of coming out. Having seen two brilliant productions of it, this reviewer finds its current Orange County Premiere at Theatre Out a letdown.
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THE DROWSY CHAPERONE
Friday, February 11th, 2011
With Cupid’s day fast approaching, timing could not be more perfect for The Drowsy Chaperone, Broadway’s Valentine to Musical Theater, to make its West Coast Regional debut in an absolutely splendid production by 3-D Theatricals.
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THE WHO’S TOMMY
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
It’s not every day—or even every year—that an intimate theater production gets invited for a repeat engagement by a major Performing Arts Center. On the other hand, it’s not every year that an Orange County intimate theater production scores four Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Award Nominations, wins a special Ovation Award for its spectacular video design, and is currently up for three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, not to mention its nine Scenies including Best Intimate Theater Musical and Director Of The Year.
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NERVE
Saturday, February 5th, 2011
“Ask somebody to love you. Takes a lot of nerve. Ask somebody to love you. You got a lot of nerve.”
–Paul Simon
Can a couple of 20somethings on a blind date from hell find happiness ever after? That’s the question asked by playwright Adam Szymkowicz in Nerve, his disturbing but oh-so-romantic comedy now getting its West Coast Premiere at The Chance Theater.
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Monday, January 31st, 2011
From the moment the lights come up on Theseus, Duke Of Athens (Elijah Alexander), and Hippolyta, Queen Of The Amazons (Susannah Schulman) posing in glamorous 1950s garb to the flash of paparazzi light bulbs, you know this will not be your grandfather’s, your father’s, or even your older brother’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Clearly director Mark Rucker has tricks up his sleeve, the revelation of which make South Coast Repertory’s production of William Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy something very special indeed.
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HAIR
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
It was mid-1968. LBJ was still President, with Richard Nixon’s election and seven more years of war in Vietnam yet to come. Already, though, there were “tribes” of young people in their teens and twenties whose dissatisfaction with an America riddled with racism, poverty, sexism, sexual repression, and political corruption led them to create the hippie movement of the 60s. More than anything else, though, these “new American patriots,” as they saw themselves, were in revolt against a war they believed to be unjust, unnecessary, and un-American.
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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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