THE LAST WIFE
Saturday, January 20th, 2018A captivating Olivia Saccomanno rules the stage as Queen Katherine Parr in Kate Hennig’s fascinating feminist take on The Last Wife (of Henry VIII), now getting its Los Angeles Premiere at Theatre 40 in a production not quite ready for its Opening Night.
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SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS
Saturday, January 13th, 2018
A half-dozen enlightenment seekers head off into the woods for a five-day spiritual retreat where talking is taboo in Bess Wohl’s entertaining, touching, emotionally observant Small Mouth Sounds, now playing at Santa Monica’s The Broad Stage.
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ASHES TO ASHES
Monday, December 11th, 2017A divorced couple must spend 16 days, 21 hours, and 32 minutes in each other’s company or forfeit the $955,000,000 they’ve been bequeathed in Ashes To Ashes, Debby Bolsky’s entertaining, mostly successful screwball romcom, a World Premiere guest production at the Odyssey.
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THE HEART OF ROBIN HOOD
Saturday, December 2nd, 2017
If you think (or hope) you’ve seen the last of Robin Hood, think again. The Heart Of Robin Hood has arrived at the Wallis, and any lover of theatrical magic and thrills who skips this Robin because they’ve already seen Errol or Kevin or Russell bring Mr. Hood to the silver screen should suffer one of evil Prince John’s unspeakable punishments, or at the very least a good tongue-lashing. Trust me. You’ve never seen Robin Hood (or any on-stage adventure story) quite like this theatrical dazzler.
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CHASING MEM’RIES: A DIFFERENT KIND OF MUSICAL
Friday, November 17th, 2017Tyne Daly rises above the material she’s been given in Chasing Mem’ries: A Different Kind Musical, though if by “different,” book writer Josh Ravetch means clichéd, maudlin, sitcommy, and song-deficient, then this Geffen Playhouse World Premiere “musical” is indeed quite different from the rest.
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SPAMILTON: AN AMERICAN PARODY
Tuesday, November 14th, 2017
Imagine you’ve spent the past three-and-a-half decades spoofing New York’s buzz-worthiest musicals but this year there’s one megasmash that dwarfs the competition like no musical ever has before. If you’re Gerard Alessandrini, you write Forbidden Broadway 2017 and call it Spamilton, eighty minutes of Broadway satire at its funniest, cleverest, and most tuneful now getting its West Coast Premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.
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VINO VERITAS
Friday, October 13th, 2017
There’s nothing like an exotic Peruvian wine to reveal long-hidden secrets when a couple of 30something married couples imbibe said intoxicant in full Halloween regalia at Theatre 40 in Vino Veritas, David MacGregor’s tantalizing look at two marriages for whom truth may be precisely what the doctor ordered, or the worst medicine of all.
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BIG NIGHT
Sunday, September 17th, 2017Paul Rudnick flounders Big-Time in Big Night, a World Premiere comedy-melodrama likely to prove a Big Letdown to fans hoping for more of the same hearts-and-minds-changing comedic magic that made Jeffrey and In & Out such crowd-pleasing delights.
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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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