SOUTH PACIFIC
Friday, October 3rd, 2008RECOMMENDED
It’s been nearly 50 years since the last of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals debuted on Broadway, yet the team’s work remains as popular as ever. Carousel (1945) and The Sound Of Music (1959) continue to be CLO staples, as does The King And I (on Broadway in 1951, 1960, 1977, 1985, and 1996, and soon to open in Thousand Oaks). Last season Downey Civic Light Opera revived the team’s first joint effort, Oklahoma (1943), in an absolutely terrific production (and two more local CLO’s have Oklahoma scheduled over the coming year). And the current Broadway revival of R&H’s 1949 smash South Pacific recently won seven Tonys.
(read more)
JOE’S GARAGE
Saturday, September 27th, 2008RECOMMENDED
Like The Who’s Tommy, Frank Zappa’s 1979 rock opera Joe’s Garage began its life on vinyl. Both rock operas take their titular heroes on a life journey. But while Tommy moved rather quickly from concept album to movie to staged production in London’s West End, it is only now that Joe’s Garage, the cult LP, is getting its first stage adaptation by L.A.’s Open Fist Theatre Company.
RED SCARE ON SUNSET
Sunday, September 21st, 2008RECOMMENDED
No one spoofs classic Hollywood movie genres better than Charles Busch. Whether it be the Ross Hunter women’s pictures of the 1950s and 60s (Die! Mommie! Die!) or Frankie and Annette Beach Party flicks (Psycho Beach Party) or WWII spy epics (The Lady In Question), Busch knows his Hollywood backwards and forwards. The more his audience knows about movie styles and movie stars, the funnier Busch’s plays are, but even those not so familiar with names like 1950s TV staples Kate Smith, Dagmar, and Norman Vincent Peale will find laughs aplenty in Red Scare On Sunset, which lampoons (and pays tribute to) late 40s/early 50s red-baiting propaganda films like Red Menace, I Married A Communist, and My Son John.
(read more)
IT’S THE HOUSEWIVES
Sunday, September 7th, 2008RECOMMENDED
Ever heard of the superstar rock group The Housewives? The three PTA mothers who became as big as the Beatles? The gals who had such #1 hits as “Ironing Bored,” “The Reynold’s Rap,” and “I’ve Been Defrosting All Day”?
(read more)
BABY
Saturday, August 16th, 2008RECOMMENDED
Three women learn that they are pregnant. One is surprised, the second overjoyed, the third shocked, almost horrified by the news.
Thus begins Baby, Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire’s 1983 Broadway sort-of-a-hit (241 performances and 7 Tony Award … nominations).
(read more)
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS
Friday, August 8th, 2008RECOMMENDED
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Torrance Theatre Company’s 10th annual Summer Musical, provides ample proof as to the amount and level of musical theater talent on our local stage scene. Unlike recent 7Brides productions by FCLO Music Theatre and Cabrillo Music Theatre, Torrance’s brides, brothers, and assorted townspeople are all portrayed by non-Equity actors, and though TTC’s production does not reach the bar its predecessors set, the results are nonetheless praiseworthy indeed.
(read more)
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.
(read more)
PLASTIC CRYSTAL
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008RECOMMENDED
Michael Miller has lived with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder since the age of seven. He always arranges his shoes “just so” before going to bed, moving them from this position to that one and back again, and then to another, until he is satisfied. He locks his apartment from the outside even when his girlfriend is still inside, even when she has just told him not to. Even worse are his obsessions, most particularly his obsession with blood. Michael once found a small stain on a shirt and soon became convinced that it was AIDS infected blood. The discovery of a band-aid inside a load of laundry washed at a public laundromat sends him into a frenzy, disinfecting everything the clothes may have touched.
(read more)
Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
COPYRIGHT 2026 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY