ABBAMEMNON
Sunday, June 15th, 2014
The zanies who call themselves The Troubies have taken the oldest—and in this reviewer’s humble opinion deadly-dullest—theatrical genre, Greek Tragedy, added their own trademark blend of wacky jokes, inspired adlibs (impromptu or scripted, you be the judge), snappy choreography, and best of all the songs of “one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of pop music” (Wikipedia) to come up with ABBAMEMNON, and if the results aren’t as all-around brilliant as their best, the Troubies’ latest is still the most entertaining Greek tragedy this reviewer has ever seen—or may ever see again.
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THE COUNTRY HOUSE
Friday, June 13th, 2014
Dinner With Friends. Shipwrecked! Collected Stories. Sight Unseen. Coney Island Christmas. And now comes Donald Margulies’ latest, The Country House, a captivating look at a contemporary American Royal Family of stage and screen, with stage-and-screen star Blythe Danner bringing her own brand of radiance to the Geffen Playhouse. Who could ask for anything more?
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STONEFACE
Thursday, June 12th, 2014
The creator-star of the multiple-award-winning Louis And Keely Live At The Sahara, the writer-director of the smash Sacred Fools original Watson: The Last Great Tale of the Legendary Sherlock Holmes (and its sequel), and the star of TV’s 3rd Rock From The Son join forces at the Pasadena Playhouse in Stoneface, a 99-seat hometown hit that’s been given a much-deserved L.A. regional theater transfer … and when was the last time you’ve seen that happen in our fair city?
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CHARLEY’S AUNT
Monday, June 9th, 2014
A 122-year-old play proves the perfect choice to bring Whittier Community Theatre’s 92nd season to a close, since neither the class-act community theater nor the comedy classic Charley’s Aunt seems anywhere near its age.
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BYE BYE BIRDIE
Sunday, June 8th, 2014
Audiences out Claremont way have ample reason to “Put On A Happy Face” this month and next as Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre revives the rock-n-rollin’ 1960 Broadway favorite Bye Bye Birdie, Michael Stewart’s delightful Elvis-inspired book and Charles Strouse and Lee Adams’ oh-so-memorable songs making for a crowd-pleasing evening of Golden Era musical theater.
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OTHER DESERT CITIES
Saturday, June 7th, 2014
Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities, one of the best written, most thought-provoking, and ultimately most moving plays of the last decade, now arrives at Long Beach’s International City Theatre in a production that no lover of contemporary drama will want to miss.
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DATES AND NUTS
Friday, June 6th, 2014
Eve wants nothing more from a man than “a small commitment that will eventually turn into marriage.” Is that too much for a girl to ask?
Such is the conundrum of the 30something heroine of Dates And Nuts, Gary Lennon’s hilarious romantic comedy now getting its West Coast Premiere at Bootleg Theater nineteen years after it debuted at New York City’s now-defunct Theater Off Park.
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NICKEL MINES
Wednesday, June 4th, 2014
On October 2, 2006, a 32-year-old husband and father entered an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, took hostage ten girls ages 6 to 13 , shot five of them to death, critically injured the remaining five, then took his own life. Hardly the stuff of your average, everyday musical, and in fact Andrew Palermo’s Nickel Mines (co-written with Shannon Stoeke and Dan Dyer) proves neither average nor everyday but something quite extraordinary indeed, tragedy turned into art, and the power of grace as it may never have been shown before.
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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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