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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THE LAST FIVE YEARS
Friday, June 17th, 2011RECOMMENDED
His story starts with their first meeting and ends with a farewell note left behind with his wedding ring. Her story begins when she finds the ring and reads the note. Only at the halfway point do the two 20something characters’ onstage lives coincide; only then do they sing to each other, look each other in the eyes, touch.
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FIFTH OF JULY
Friday, May 20th, 2011RECOMMENDED
Lanford Wilson’s Broadway hit Fifth Of July gets an intimate staging by the esteemed The Production Company, and while I can’t confess to being a fan of the play itself, there are good reasons for those who are to catch its latest revival.
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DRIVE
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011RECOMMENDED
Drive, Laura Black’s World Premiere comedy-drama running Wednesdays at Open Fist Theatre, starts out as its title suggests with a road trip, its lead character Peggy (Jane Hajduk) traveling up the I-5 with a pair of longtime lesbian friends. Only her frequent asides to the audience cue us in to the fact that things may not be as clear-cut as they might seem on the surface.
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RETURN FROM THE ASHES
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011RECOMMENDED
Fabienne Wolf has ”un petit problemme,” and she has come to her father Dr. Pierre Le Bigan for help. The beautiful young Frenchwoman believes the time has come for her missing-person mother Elizabeth Wolf Pilgrin, once Pierre’s lover, to be declared dead, and the only one with the legal authority to do so is Pierre. Naturally, the physician’s refusal to accede to his daughter’s request does not sit well with Fabienne, set to inherit a vast fortune upon her mother’s death, money she plans to share with her stepfather Stanislaus Pilgrin, her mother’s much younger husband and Fabienne’s current lover.
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PARADE
Friday, March 18th, 2011RECOMMENDED
Here’s a question for musical theater enthusiasts. What do five of the following six musicals—Annie, Brigadoon, Grease, Oklahoma!, Oliver, Parade—have in common and which one doesn’t belong on the list?
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CAMINO REAL
Thursday, February 24th, 2011RECOMMENDED
Imagine you could get inside Tennessee Williams’ head. More specifically, imagine you could witness one of his nightmares—a nearly three-hour-long one after an ingestion of LSD. What you’d see would likely resemble the playwright’s Camino Real, or at least Camino Real as envisioned by director extraordinaire Jessica Kubzansky at Pasadena’s Theatre @ Boston Court.
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KISS ME KATE
Sunday, February 20th, 2011RECOMMENDED
Cole Porter’s 1948 Broadway smash has opened at San Pedro’s historic Warner Grand, the latest offering of The Relevant Stage theater company. Dedicated to the memory of Kathryn Grayson (who played Kate in the 1953 MGM Technicolor movie classic), the production stars none other than her granddaughter Kristen Towers-Rowles.
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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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