THE LAST FIVE YEARS
Friday, December 5th, 2008
Since discovering Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years about four years ago, I have rarely missed a chance to see it performed. Whether in a large professional theater (The Pasadena Playhouse) or an intimate space (The Chance) or even in concert form (Brown himself opposite Julia Murney), TL5Y is a musical which never fails to move me. Tonight’s superbly directed and terrifically performed UCLA production was no exception.
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BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Two lost ships on a stormy sea, one with no sails and one with no rudder. Ain’t it just great, ain’t it just grand? We’ve got each udder!”
–Joe Hardy and Lola
Damn Yankees
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HALO
Monday, October 27th, 2008
Coming to Beverly Hills as a delightful pre-holiday treat, Josh MacDonald’s Halo combines the quirky charm of TV’s Northern Exposure and Picket Fences with more than a bit of Christmas spirit.
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PUSH
Monday, October 13th, 2008
In Las Vegas, a “push” happens when a dealer and a player tie. It’s not the same as losing, but tell that to the player who’s only broken even.
Playwright Kristen Lazarian explores a marital “push” in her provocative new drama Push, getting its Los Angeles premiere at Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40.
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BEETHOVEN AS I KNEW HIM
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Over the past ten years, pianist/actor Hershey Felder has created an entirely new genre, the “Hershey Felder Musical Bio,” beginning with the multiple award-winning George Gershwin Alone and followed by the equally acclaimed Monsieur Chopin. Now, the trilogy is completed with Beethoven, As I Knew Him.
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PEN
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
If 17-year-old Matt Bayer had to choose a Stephen Sondheim song to describe his mother Helen, it would doubtless be “You Could Drive A Person Crazy.” Helen may once have been a happy and healthy wife and mother, but in recent years multiple sclerosis has bound her to a wheelchair, sent her ex-husband into the arms of a younger woman, and made living with her the proverbial “living hell,” at least for Matt. The poor kid can’t even make it out of their apartment to see a movie. Mom will do anything to keep Matt by her side tonight, and if she has her way, forever.
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LOST IN YONKERS
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Lost In Yonkers is considered by many to be the best play Neil Simon has ever written. It’s certainly the finest work I’ve seen by this most prolific of American playwrights, and won Simon both the 1991 Tony and the Pulitzer Prize. Not bad for a writer once best known for frothy fare like Come Blow Your Horn and Barefoot In The Park. The original Broadway production of Lost In Yonkers also won Tonys for three of its actors (Mercedes Ruehl, Irene Worth, and Kevin Spacey) and scored a Tony nomination for director Gene Saks.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Great Expectations (The Musical) began its Los Angeles journey back in April with a successful run at the Hudson Backstage Theatre. It has reopened at West L.A.’s The Odyssey Theatre, and what a difference a few months and a change of venue have made. A show that was more promising than great has blossomed.
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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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