WHEN YOU WISH The Story Of Walt Disney
Thursday, October 24th, 2013RECOMMENDED
Director extraordiniare Larry Raben and choreographer par excellence Lee Martino team up with an all-around fabulous cast to make the very most of book, music, and lyric writer Dean McClure’s World Premiere bio-musical When You Wish (The Story Of Walt Disney), though for producers to dub it a “Pre-Broadway production” is wishful thinking indeed.
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LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
Monday, October 7th, 2013RECOMMENDED
The “birds” are boys and the boys are girls as Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center presents Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein’s La Cage Aux Folles (aka The Birdcage), and if an uninspired scenic design gives the production a more “community theater” look than it deserves, the result is nonetheless a crowd-pleasing, gender-bending treat.
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THE END OF IT
Friday, September 27th, 2013RECOMMENDED
A 50ish couple (or is it three?) confront the dissolution of a twenty-year relationship in Paul Coates’ The End Of It, a World Premiere production elevated above a too generic script by sensational direction, fine acting, and one humdinger of a gimmick.
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BRITISHMANIA
Wednesday, August 14th, 2013RECOMMENDED
Though the production is bare-bones (and “John,” “Paul,” “George,” and “Ringo” probably look most Beatle-like when seen from the Laguna Playhouse back row), there’s no denying that the multitalented stars of BritishMania sound so much like The Beatles as they sing and play their way through two hours of ‘60s British pop that if you’re anything like this reviewer, this nostalgic trip back in time will end up worth a drive down to Laguna Beach.
THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED
Monday, August 12th, 2013RECOMMENDED
Terrific performances and an outrageously funny script add up to some very good reasons to catch Underdog Theatre Company’s production of Douglas Carter Beane’s The Little Dog Laughed despite minuses in design and staging.
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THE ISLAND
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013RECOMMENDED
It’s one thing (and an admirable one at that) for Skypilot Theatre to have as its slogan “New Plays, Written, Developed, and Performed In Los Angeles.” It’s something even more noteworthy for the company to undertake that most difficult genre of all, the musical. After all, it’s hardly uncommon for a new musical to be “in development” for half a dozen years or more.
I don’t know where The Island is on its trajectory from inspiration to final form. There are certainly aspects of this World Premiere’s book and songs that could, as they say, “use some work.” Notwithstanding, I quite enjoyed this “musical re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, flaws and all.
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LES MISÉRABLES
Monday, July 22nd, 2013RECOMMENDED
A quarter century after its Broadway debut, rights to the international musical phenomenon Les Misérables have at long last been released to community theaters across the U.S., news that may lead diehard Les Miz lovers to wonder if community theaters should even attempt to put on one of the world’s most spectacular musicals (emphasis on spectacle).
If the community theater in question is Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi, the answer is a qualified yes.
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LOVE SONGS
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013RECOMMENDED
Six simply marvelous performances and a couple dozen simply gorgeous songs are the best reasons to see Love Songs A Musical, Steven Cagan’s minimal-plot song cycle now getting its World Premiere by Chromolume Theatre at the Attic in a production that comes across more like a low-budget workshop than the fully-staged premiere Cagan’s work deserves and L.A. theatergoing regulars will likely be expecting.
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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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