A NEW BRAIN


Patrick’s Pearson breathtakingly conceived production of William Finn’s A New Brain is the most dazzling display of young talent you’re likely to see this year.
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TAKING STEPS


British master of comedy Alan Ayckbourn turns his hand to farce in the hilarious Taking Steps, onstage now in an absolutely crackerjack production at South Coast Repertory.
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RABBIT HOLE


David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is making its Orange County debut in an absolutely brilliant production by the  award-winning Chance Theater.  Spoilers abound in this review, so if you know nothing about Rabbit Hole’s plot, read no further. Simply pick up the phone or go online and make a reservation to see it. Rabbit Hole is the kind of play where the less you know about it, the more it will affect you, and affect you it will … deeply. 
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THE BRAIN FROM PLANET X


If you’ve ever groaned through a 1950s Grade Z Hollywood sci fi flick, you are sure to enjoy Bruce Kimmel’s musical comedy spoof The Brain From Planet X.  
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OLIVER


Two decades before the British invasion of the 1980s, which transformed Broadway into an American “West End” with shows like Cats, Les Miz, Phantom, and Miss Saigon, a triple-threat British writer/composer/lyricist named Lionel Bart created a musical which may well outlive all of the above, a show by the name of Oliver.
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THE INJURED PARTY


South Coast Repertory has a bonafide hit on its hands. Richard Greenberg’s latest, The Injured Party, is one of the most exciting plays I’ve seen since John Guare’s Six Degrees Of Separation, a work which it shares a number of common themes with.  Both deal with family, love, art, money and ambition among New York’s very rich. Both are exceedingly smart without being pretentious.  Like Six Degrees, The Injured Party features a gay lead character whose sexual orientation is not central to the story. Both plays keep you riveted from curtain up to curtain calls.
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WHAT THEY HAVE


Thousands upon thousands of actors choose Los Angeles as their career base for the obvious reason; no other city offers them as many opportunities to do film and television work as L.A. does. Nevertheless, even many of the most successful choose to make regular stage appearances for the challenge and joy of performing before a live audience. The same holds true for movie and TV writers who, despite big and small screen success, continue to write for the theater, to the benefit of L.A. audiences.
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THE WILD PARTY


Tell a musical theater aficionado that you’re going to see The Wild Party and the first question you’ll be asked is “Which one?” Will it be the 2000 Broadway show with music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa, or will it be the 2000 off- Broadway version with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa?
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