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.
(read more)
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.
(read more)
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!
(read more)
BLUES IN THE NIGHT
Thursday, May 3rd, 2018
Chester Gregory may have Yvette Cason, Paulette Ivory, and Bryce Charles singing the lovesick blues from dusk to dawn, but for audiences at The Wallis, Sheldon Epps’ 1982 Best Musical Tony nominee Blues In the Night proves this year’s feel-best musical revue.
(read more)
SIGNIFICANT OTHER
Friday, April 13th, 2018
The gay guy finally gets to be Julia Roberts (or Janeane Garofalo circa The Truth About Cats And Dogs) in Significant Other, Joshua Harmon’s smart, funny, bracingly sardonic romcom now getting a terrific East Coast-cast West Coast Premiere at the Geffen.
(read more)
LITTLE WOMEN, THE MUSICAL
Monday, March 19th, 2018
Santa Monica’s venerable Morgan-Wixson Theatre once again blurs the lines between community and professional theater with the best performed of the more than half-dozen big-and-small-stage Little Women, The Musicals I’ve seen.
(read more)
STEEL PIER
Monday, March 12th, 2018
Few musicals have faded into obscurity more unjustly than John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Steel Pier, just one reason to celebrate its two-decade-awaited West Coast Premiere, and don’t let the term “student production” scare you away. Though its cast may be younger than many of the characters they are playing, in all other respects this UCLA Department Of Theater stunner is second to none.
(read more)
Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
COPYRIGHT 2026 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY