GUYS AND DOLLS
Wednesday, April 15th, 2015RECOMMENDED
Damon Runyon’s colorful New York denizens have set up shop this week in Costa Mesa, and if the revival of Frank Loesser’s Guys And Dolls now playing at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts isn’t the bona fide “Broadway National Tour” we expect on the SCFTA stage (the scenic design in particular doesn’t stand up to Segerstrom standards), it features all-around terrific performances and the most exciting “Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat” I’ve ever seen.
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MAME
Saturday, March 14th, 2015RECOMMENDED
Auntie Mame Dennis, the woman who can “coax the blues right out of the horn” and “charm the husk right off of the corn,” is back. Yes, Kentwood Players’ revival is community theater and not the great-big Equity production L.A. has been awaiting the past baker’s dozen years. Still, with a pizzazzy lead performance and several supporting gems, it’s worth a visit to the Westchester Playhouse to rediscover the gal who took Broadway by storm not once but twice.
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JOHNNY GUITAR THE MUSICAL
Monday, March 2nd, 2015RECOMMENDED
Whittier Community Theatre celebrates 93 years of entertaining audiences (and providing local 9-to-5ers a stage on which to strut their stuff by night) with Johnny Guitar The Musical, the campy off-Broadway adaptation of the 1954 Joan Crawford potboiler-turned-cult classic.
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RANSOM, TEXAS
Sunday, January 11th, 2015RECOMMENDED
San Francisco’s Virago Theatre Company has come south to offer L.A. its production of William Bivins’ edgy psychological thriller Ransom, Texas, and there is much to recommend in it, particularly Dixon Phillips’ intensely raw lead performance, though Phillips’ costar’s vaguely non-native accent makes it hard to buy the pair as a West Texas father and son.
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THE PENIS CHRONICLES
Sunday, January 4th, 2015RECOMMENDED
The eight largely unrelated monologs about sex and love (from a male point of view) that comprise The Penis Chronicles: Every Man’s Journey make Tom Yewell’s World Premiere drama seem at times more acting class showcase than full-fledged play. Still, there are enough fine performances in its mostly well-written one-man playlets to make The Penis Chronicles worth a look-see by those who don’t mind its lack of character interaction or cohesive storyline.
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A SPIDER-MAN CHRISTMAS: A SATIRE
Monday, December 15th, 2014RECOMMENDED
Spider-Man meets It’s A Wonderful Life (with a bit of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol thrown in for good holiday measure) in Cameron Parker’s A Spider-Man Christmas: A Satire, and if this latest from Mosaic Lizard Theater is a bit rough around the edges and not all performances up to those of its more highly-trained and experienced cast members, it does one thing to perfection. It keeps its audiences in stitches throughout. (Make that red-blue-&-black stitches, to match Spidey’s superhero garb.)
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A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Sunday, November 30th, 2014RECOMMENDED
Alan Menken & Lynn Ahrens’s gorgeous songs are the best of quite a few reasons to catch Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi’s holiday production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol despite the disservice its multitalented hometown cast is done by some sour notes emanating from the orchestra pit.
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FLOYD COLLINS
Saturday, October 18th, 2014RECOMMENDED
USC’s Musical Theatre Repertory undertakes one of its most daunting projects to date in Adam Guettel and Tina Landau’s Floyd Collins, and if MTR’s latest entirely student performed, directed (by Victoria Pearlman), and designed production isn’t as thoroughly successful as many previous undertakings, some outstanding lead performances and a superb student orchestra are just two reasons to check it out.
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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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