MUTT HOUSE
Thursday, July 19th, 2018
I defy anyone to resist the canine charmers of Mutt House, or their human companions, or the songs, or the laughter, or the romance, or the heart of this Kirk Douglas Theatre guest production, as gem-perfect an L.A. World Premiere musical as I’ve seen in at least a dog’s year.
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LYSISTRATA UNBOUND
Thursday, July 12th, 2018
Drama, dance, and Greek-style tragedy merge in Lysistrata Unbound, playwright Eduardo Machado and director-choreographer John Farmanesh-Bocca’s stunning reenvisioning of Aristophanes’ 2400-year-old tale of a woman who takes antiwar protests to a decidedly personal level.
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MARY POPPINS
Sunday, July 1st, 2018
Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixson Theatre delivers the family entertainment goods with a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Mary Poppins, once again proving that you don’t need Broadway-budget spectacle to get audiences cheering.
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SWEET CHARITY
Friday, June 22nd, 2018
Three-time Tony-winner Kathleen Marshall and Broadway’s original Elle Woods team up with some of L.A.’s finest musical theater talents as Reprise 2.0 treats audiences to Sweet Charity, both the 1966 Neil Simon-Cy Colemen-Dorothy Fields gem and the irrepressibly plucky title character brought to irresistible life by a sensational Laura Bell Bundy on the UCLA Freud Playhouse stage.
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SKELETON CREW
Friday, June 15th, 2018
If Arthur Miller had written a play about auto workers facing the personal and professional consequences of a possible plant closure, it might have been Skeleton Crew, which is about the highest praise I can bestow upon Dominique Morisseau’s powerful blue-collar drama, now making a breathtakingly designed, directed, and performed Geffen Playhouse debut.
SPRING AWAKENING
Thursday, May 24th, 2018
A century before Spring Awakening The Musical took Broadway by storm (and won eight Tony awards in the bargain), German playwright Frank Wedekind shocked and outraged audiences on both sides of the Atlantic with Frühlings Erwachen, whose 2007 Jonathan Franzen translation proves a sensational UCLA Department Of Theater showcase for its director, designers, and cast.
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BAD JEWS
Friday, May 18th, 2018
Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews is back in a terrifically acted and directed Odyssey Theatre Ensemble production that does its smart, button-pushing source material proud.
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DIE, MOMMIE, DIE!
Sunday, May 13th, 2018
Over-the-top doesn’t begin to describe the performances–or the fun of seeing so much scenery chewed by so sensational a cast–in Center Theatre Group’s Block Party reprise of Celebration Theatre’s 2017 comedy smash Die, Mommie, Die!
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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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