CARRIE: THE MUSICAL
Friday, March 20th, 2015
The La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts at long last gives Stephen King’s tormented telekinetic teen Carrietta N. White the smash hit musical her fans have been waiting for since Carrie: The Musical’s 1988 Broadway debut became, according to The New York Times, “the most expensive quick flop in Broadway history.”
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NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
Wednesday, March 18th, 2015
Take a classic George and Ira Gershwin musical, rewrite the book, add a whole bunch of Gershwin hits not in the original, and what have you got? Well, until recently the answer would have been “The New Gershwin Musical Comedy” Crazy For You, right?
Since 2012, however, there have been two correct answers to the above question, 1992’s Crazy For You having recently been joined by Nice Work If You Can Get It (which bills itself simply as “A New Musical Comedy”), the latter now getting its very first L.A.-adjacent production as its First National Tour makes its 30th-and-final stop at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center For The Arts—and to quote from one of the show’s lesser known ditties, it’s simply “delishious!”
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CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
Monday, March 16th, 2015
Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi gives its audiences the best big-scale musical I’ve seen at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center in their sensationally entertaining mid-sized staging of Broadway’s 2011 Best Musical Tony nominee Catch Me If You Can, a production that requires no allowances to be made “for community theater.” This is topnotch work from start to finish, and a production any professional theater would be proud to call its own.
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DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA
Monday, March 16th, 2015
An African-American teenager in search of his roots finds them deep under the Atlantic Ocean in Nathan Alan Davis’s Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea, now getting an exquisitely staged and performed World Premiere production by Skylight Theatre Company and Lower Depths Theatre Ensemble.
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tokyo fish story
Monday, March 16th, 2015
Sushi Wa Jinsei. Sushi Is Life … in Kimber Lee’s “slice-of-sushi” dramedy tokyo fish story, now getting its World Premiere at South Coast Repertory, and like the raw-fish-&-steamed-rice confections created by master chef protagonist Koji, Lee’s latest is one tangy treat.
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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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HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING
Wednesday, March 11th, 2015
That go-getting whiz kid J. Pierpont Finch once again zipped his way up the corporate ladder this past Sunday as Musical Theatre West’s Reiner Reading Series dazzled yet again (and with a mere 25 hours of rehearsal) in their one-night-only concert staged revival of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.
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JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
Tuesday, March 10th, 2015
DOMA Theatre Company puts a cutting-edge contemporary spin on Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, bringing it into the 21st Century world of cell phones and selfie sticks for one of DOMA’s most spectacular shows to date.
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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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