THE GIANT AND THE PIXIE
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008RECOMMENDED
If its title makes you think that The Giant And The Pixie will be a holiday show for kids, think again. This world premiere drama is most definitely for adults only, and though its fantasy aspect (each character has a fairy tale counterpart) didn’t work for me, and despite the characters not being people I’d want to hang around with, the excellent work of the five-actor cast makes The Giant And The Pixie worth seeing.
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THE HEIRESS
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. Martha in Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf. Sally in Cabaret.
Cast the right actress in one of these roles and you’re sure to get a brilliant performance, the kind that gets nominated for an Oscar or Tony, and maybe even wins. It happened to Jessica Tandy and Vivien Leigh, to Uta Hagen and Elizabeth Taylor, to Natasha Richardson and Liza Minnelli.
OKLAHOMA!
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
As the orchestra plays the final notes of the overture, the curtain rises on a middle-aged woman sitting alone on stage in front of a butter churn, her hands around the plunger, methodically moving it up and down. Behind the woman is a farmhouse and fields of corn as high as an elephant’s eye, and her long country dress tells us we are in the early 1900s. From offstage comes a male voice singing a capella, “There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow…” The voice grows louder until the man enters, wearing a cowboy hat and chaps. “Oh what a beautiful morning… Oh what a beautiful day,” serenades the man to the farm woman, who continues her churning.
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DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE
Sunday, September 28th, 2008
A woman sits alone at a table in a nearly empty café. Several yards away, at another table, a man’s cell phone rings. And rings. And rings. What else is the woman to do but go over to the man to see why he’s ignoring his phone. “Are you deaf?” she asks, then realizes the stupidity of her question. Nothing to do but answer the phone herself and take a message. Then it hits her why the man isn’t responding. She picks up a spoon from his table and holds it up to the man’s nose. Nothing. His cell phone still in her hand, she dials 911 and calmly informs the operator, “I think there’s a dead man sitting next to me.”
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AN ITALIAN STRAW HAT
Sunday, September 14th, 2008
When most people hear the word “vaudeville,” those who’ve heard of it probably think of a staged variety show with singers, comics, dance acts, magicians, and trained monkeys … or something of the like. At least that’s how I would have defined vaudeville before seeing An Italian Straw Hat: A Vaudeville, at South Coast Rep.
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EVITA
Saturday, August 2nd, 2008RECOMMENDED
In transforming Evita from a Broadway scale musical to an intimate theater “chamber” piece, The Chance Theater has undertaken its biggest challenge yet. Unlike The Last Five Years and Closer Than Ever, which were chamber musicals to begin with, or Into The Woods and Assassins, which have become intimate theater staples, Evita started off huge and usually remains a big cast/big orchestra item at regional CLOs.
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ORANGE FLOWER WATER
Sunday, June 15th, 2008RECOMMENDED
A bit of advice for the SoCal theatergoer. Whenever you see the words, “written by Craig Wright,” don’t hesitate. Just go. The TV scribe most famous for Dirty Sexy Money and Six Feet Under is also an accomplished playwright, capable of writing comedy in the face of tragedy (Recent Tragic Events), testosterone-filled drama (Lady), and suspenseful tragedy (Grace). In Orange Flower Water, Wright takes a plot as old as humankind itself (adultery) and adds his unique voice to its repercussions on the cheaters and the cheated upon.
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IMAGINE
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
The best children’s theater, like the best Disney classics, is theater that’s not just for kids. South Coast Repertory knows this well, and the latest entry of its “Theatre For Young Audiences” series is sure to delight not only children … but also the grownups they bring along.
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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