DADDY LONG LEGS
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Jean Webster’s 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs, a favorite children’s book for nearly a hundred years now, has been turned into an exquisite gem of a musical, and one not just for youngsters. In fact, it’s hard to think of another musical so absolutely right for ages eight to eighty. In the inspired hands of composer-lyricist Paul Gordon and writer-director John Caird, the Rubicon Theatre’s production of Daddy Long Legs proves to be one of the most enthralling, entertaining, and moving love stories I’ve seen on the American musical theater stage.
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THE BEST IS YET TO COME: THE MUSIC OF CY COLEMAN
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
City Of Angels, Sweet Charity, Little Me, Seesaw, On The Twentieth Century, I Love My Wife, The Will Rogers Follies, Barnam.
“Big Spender,” “It’s Not Where You Start,” “There’s Gotta Be Something Better” “Hey, Look Me Over,” Witchcraft,” “The Best Is Yet To Come.”
What do these Broadway shows and hit songs have in common? The answer in two words is Cy Coleman, composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist extraordinaire.
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42nd STREET
Sunday, March 29th, 2009
Fill in the blank: “Come and meet those dancing feet, on the avenue I’m taking you to, _____.” If you come up with any answer other than “42nd Street,” the time has come for you to acquaint yourself with “naughty, bawdy, gaudy, sporty” 42nd Street (the musical)—and there’s no better place to do so than at Cabrillo Musical Theatre and no better time than now.
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FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Saturday, March 21st, 2009
No matter how many times you’ve seen Fiddler On The Roof, you have never seen a Fiddler like the one currently playing at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, under the masterful direction of James O’Neil.
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WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF
Sunday, February 1st, 2009
The Rubicon Theatre’s production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is one that I have been eagerly awaiting since it was first announced as part of the Rubicon’s 2008-9 season, and to end any suspense, let me say right away that this Virginia Woolf does not disappoint. It is a flawless production of one of the most famed and discussed plays of the second half of the 20th Century, the tale of one drunken evening at the home of college Assistant Professor George and his wife Martha, and their two young late night guests.
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BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
Friday, January 9th, 2009
Neil Sedaka’s back—again—in Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, the entertaining new musical which features his most famous hits from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
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A RUBICON FAMILY CHRISTMAS
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
When I was a kid, my Decembers were brightened and my holiday spirit heightened by much-anticipated yearly TV Christmas specials, hosted by Andy Williams, Perry Como, and Dinah Shore, sponsored by Kraft Foods, and “brought to you in living color on NBC.” The Rubicon Theatre brings back those days with its lovingly conceived and terrifically performed A Rubicon Family Christmas. Though L.A. stages are currently filled to the brim with A Christmas Carols and holiday themed comedies, the Rubicon is the place to go for music of the season, especially as performed by six of the finest musical theater talents the Southland has to offer.
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THE KING AND I
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
What would CLOs do without Rodgers and Hammerstein? There’s scarcely a season in which a regional Civic Light Opera doesn’t present at least one of their Big 5—Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King And I, or The Sound Of Music. Fortunately for lovers of contemporary musicals, these Golden Oldies do hold up rather well, thank you. Theatergoers are assured of recognizing most if not all of the songs, the roles created by R & H offer actors some of the best in musical theater of any era, and the themes which R & H snuck in (racism, domestic violence, cross-cultural understanding, etc.) remain valid even half a century or more later.
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