FUGUE
Saturday, March 7th, 2015
A trio of classical music composers, each involved in a deadly love triangle, find their lives interwoven fugue-style—and quite stylishly indeed—in Fugue, Tommy Smith’s mesmerizing meditation on music and madness (and musicians driven mad by love), the latest World Premiere from Echo Theater Company and one of the most provocative evenings of theater you’re likely to experience for some time to come.
(read more)
WASHER/DRYER
Friday, February 20th, 2015
Sometimes all it takes to turn a cramped, overpriced, single-occupancy big-city condo into a must-own Manhattan co-op is something as seemingly trivial as a washer/dryer, which is why newlywed Sonya will do anything to maintain ownership of her co-op in Nandita Shenoy’s terrific World Premiere Comedy Washer/Dryer—even if it means pretending that her handsome hubby is merely a frequent sleep-over chum.
(read more)
LOCH NESS, a new musical
Sunday, February 8th, 2015
A young English girl and the Loch Ness Monster become the most improbable of life-changing friends in Chance Theater’s World Premiere production of Marshall Pailet and A.D. Penedo’s irresistibly entertaining, utterly magical new musical Loch Ness, a new musical. (The lower-case addendum is part of its title, not a case of reviewer redundancy.)
(read more)
THE MISSING PAGES OF LEWIS CARROLL
Sunday, February 1st, 2015
Playwright Lily Blau speculates on one of the most controversial real-life relationships in literary history—that of the then 31-year-old Charles Dotson, better known as Lewis Carroll, and Alice Liddell, the 11-year-old inspiration for Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland—in her provocative new play The Missing Pages Of Lewis Carroll, now getting a superbly acted and directed (and gorgeous-to-look-at) World Premiere at Pasadena’s The Theater @ Boston Court.
(read more)
SERRANO THE MUSICAL
Saturday, January 17th, 2015
SoCal’s major regional houses can eat their hearts out they didn’t get first dibs on the World Premiere of Serrano The Musical, while L.A. musical theater aficionados can rejoice that this sensational contemporary adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac told Goodfellas style is making its debut in the up-close-and-personal intimacy of the Matrix on Melrose.
(read more)
THE PENIS CHRONICLES
Sunday, January 4th, 2015RECOMMENDED
The eight largely unrelated monologs about sex and love (from a male point of view) that comprise The Penis Chronicles: Every Man’s Journey make Tom Yewell’s World Premiere drama seem at times more acting class showcase than full-fledged play. Still, there are enough fine performances in its mostly well-written one-man playlets to make The Penis Chronicles worth a look-see by those who don’t mind its lack of character interaction or cohesive storyline.
(read more)
POSSUM CARCASS
Saturday, January 3rd, 2015
The love triangles of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull return to wild-and-crazy 21st-century life in David Bucci’s Possum Carcass, the 120-year-old Chekhov classic retold as graphic novel … and the latest from the always intriguing Theatre Of NOTE.
(read more)
THE GIFT OF THE MAGI THE MUSICAL
Saturday, December 20th, 2014NOT RECOMMENDED
The 2000-word classic The Gift Of The Magi might well make a charming twenty-minute one-act musical. Add to it over a dozen characters (none of whom would ever have entered O’Henry’s mind) and a dozen songs (only a couple of which might inspire a second listen), and despite the best efforts of director, choreographer, musical director, and cast, what you end up with is The Gift Of The Magi The Musical.
Rarely has this reviewer found two thirty-five minute acts so endless.
(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