ZANNA, DON’T!
Friday, June 25th, 2010
“It’s seven a.m. on the dot, and a perfect sixty-eight degrees out there to start the school year off right,” announces DJ Tank on his morning show on WLUV, Heartsville High’s student-run station. “Just a reminder folks, Heartsville’s annual community picnic is this weekend. So, guys grab your guy and girls grab your girl and head on down to Lookout Lake.”
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THE WILD PARTY
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Don’t expect to see Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party on any of our CLO stages any time soon. The adults-only nature of the 2000 off-Broadway hit make it an unlikely choice for family-friendly subscription-based CLO seasons. That’s why UC Irvine’s current big-stage, live-orchestra production has real event status. Unlike MTG’s memorable book-in-hand staged reading in 2004 or numerous fine intimate theater productions which have followed, UC Irvine’s staging is lushly staged and backed by a nine-piece pit orchestra. That it also features a cast every bit as talented as those performing in professional productions around town makes it a must-see for Wild Party lovers and newbies alike.
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THE LION KING
Friday, May 28th, 2010
The arrival of the Broadway National Tour of Disney’s The Lion King for a three-week engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center is something to roar about. It’s not every day that one of Broadway’s longest running hits (over 5000 performances and counting) arrives in town. It’s not every day that a show that filled Hollywood’s Pantages for over 950 performances back in 2000-2003 makes a return visit. And don’t hold your breath waiting for some Southern California regional theater or CLO to put on their own production. With its humungous cast of fifty plus performers, over 200 puppets, and roles that require cast members portraying giraffes to saunter across the stageon four stilt legs, you can be darn sure that a big budget National Tour or sit-down production is the only way you’ll be able to see The Lion King … ever. Thus, although it’s not a case of now or never, it’s certainly now or a long time from now. If ever a production could be called a must-see for musical theater lovers of any age, it’s the one playing at OCPAC.
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THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
Friday, May 21st, 2010
A hit musical’s becoming available for production by regional theaters can be a bonanza for CLOs in search of something fresh and new. After all, how many times can a theater stage a Rodgers & Hammerstein show or one by Jerry Herman, Kander & Ebb, or Lerner & Loewe before audiences start begging for something different? At the same time, theater reviewers may suddenly find themselves invited to see the same new show again and again ad nauseum. I don’t know how others feel about seeing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee more than once, but for this reviewer at least, no matter how many Bees I’m invited to review, I simply “Cain’t Say No.” I love The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and will jump at just about every chance to see a new group of actors put their own stamps on the sensational roles Rebecca Feldman has conceived for them.
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CRIMES OF THE HEART
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Southern Quirky is a hard act to get right. There’s a tendency to overdo the Southern and overplay the Quirky that can turn characters into caricatures.
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EDWARD II
Friday, May 14th, 2010
Who would have thought that a play written well over four hundred years ago by a contemporary of William Shakespeare would be in-your-face gay enough to make it an appropriate choice for an LGBT theater season?
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BRIGADOON
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Before My Fair Lady, before Gigi and Paint Your Wagon and Camelot, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe had their first big Broadway hit in 1947 with Brigadoon. Thrice revived since then on the Great White Way, Brigadoon has gone on to become a regional theater favorite, and though it will never eclipse Lerner & Loewe’s masterpiece (you know which one that is), it does have its own old-fashioned charms as well as songs like “Almost Like Being in Love” that have gone on to become standards.
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NINE
Sunday, April 25th, 2010
When Rob Marshall’s movie adaptation of Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston’s Nine came out last year, many reviewers and moviegoers shook their heads. Could this film (rated a mere 6.2 by imdb.com users and a dismal 49/100 by major media reviewers*) actually have been nominated for twelve Tonys and won five (including Best Musical and Best Score) when it debuted as a Broadway musical in 1982? What did the original show have that Marshall’s movie lacked?
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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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