SALLY SPECTRE THE MUSICAL
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011RECOMMENDED
Sally Spectre, the heroine of David P. Johnson’s charming if wispy chamber musical of the same name, has lived her life (sorry, make that her death) with a hatchet in her head for the past fifty years, trapped inside the bedroom that was hers during her short time on earth. Though Johnson’s book is vague on just why she’s unable to flee from her room or what exactly will happen if and when she does make her escape, a bunch of terrific performances and some clever, tuneful songs make Sally Spectre The Musical an entertaining hour and fifteen minutes of gothic froth.
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HOUSE OF GOLD
Saturday, October 29th, 2011RECOMMENDED
The personal tragedy of the still unsolved 1996 murder of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey has, in the years since her death, been eclipsed by the ensuing media side show, one that continues to this day. Playwright Gregory Moss satirizes our endless fascination with JonBenét in his black comedy House Of Gold, now getting its West Coast Premiere by Ensemble Studio Theatre Los Angeles in a production worth a look-see despite considerable shortcomings, thanks to imaginative direction by Gates McFadden, a brilliant performance by award-winning theatre vet Jacqueline Wright as JonBenét, and a sensational production design.
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MONKEY ADORED
Monday, October 17th, 2011RECOMMENDED
In his 2009 post-apocalyptic nightmare fairy tale Treefall, playwright Henry Murray, director John Perrin Flynn, a superb quartet of actors, and an extraordinary design team joined forces at Rogue Machine for one of the year’s most moving, thought-provoking, absorbing pieces of theater.
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SOUTH STREET
Monday, September 26th, 2011RECOMMENDED
A phenomenal cast of Broadway and regional theater triple threats open the Pasadena Playhouse’s 2011-2012 season with South Street: A New Musical Comedy, directed by the multitalented Roger Castellano and choreographed by the always terrific Dana Solimando. If only the World Premiere musical matched their talents.
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GOOD NEWS
Sunday, September 11th, 2011RECOMMENDED
For the past ninety years, Whittier Community Theatre has been offering amateur thespians the opportunity to trod the boards while still maintaining their day jobs—to the delight of these eager and often very talented performers and of the audiences who get to see friends and family showing off their triple threats.
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RENT
Friday, September 2nd, 2011RECOMMENDED
After more than a dozen years’ wait for the rights to produce Jonathan Larson’s Rent, it’s no wonder that droves of regional, university, and community theaters have been jumping at the chance to stage the smash Broadway musical. Rent’s grungy look back at the young denizens of an AIDS-riddled late-‘80s New York City doesn’t require fancy sets or costumes and its edgy themes and youthful cast of characters give it undeniable appeal to up-and-coming performers, making it seem, at least on the surface, not all that tough a show to put on.
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RABBIT HOLE
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011RECOMMENDED
For a play that won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole has had surprisingly few local productions in the ensuing years, perhaps a result of its seemingly grim subject matter. For that reason alone, the play’s arrival at Theatre Palisades is good news for L.A. theatergoers. Though this high-end community theater production doesn’t reach the heights of the Chance Theater’s award-winning 2008 production, it is one worth checking out, whether you’ve seen last year’s Oscar-nominated film adaptation, a previous live staging, or this is your first exposure to Rabbit Hole.
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ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
Saturday, July 23rd, 2011RECOMMENDED
If America is the land of opportunity, nowhere is this more true than in the world of community theater. There’s probably nowhere else in the world where software developers, college math teachers, office workers, Air Force officers, and children’s book illustrators are offered so many opportunities to take to the stage and enjoy the delights of performing live theater—without having to quit their day jobs.
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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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