BACKYARD

Some teenagers turn to sex. Others turn to drugs. Still others turn to rock ‘n’ roll. The teenagers in Mickey Birnbaum’s violent but exhilarating Backyard turn to wrestling, and so too do the adults in their lives.
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LES MISÉRABLES

Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert are duking it out on the stage of the La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts in what may well be the L.A. musical theater production of the year as the international phenomenon that is Boublil And Schönberg’s Les Misérables gets its long-awaited Los Angeles Regional Premiere from the theater that has brought audiences spectacular big-stage productions of Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Miss Saigon, and Peter Pan in the last two or so years alone.
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DEATH OF THE AUTHOR

An accusation of plagiarism is but the opening shot in Death Of The Author, Steven Drukman’s academia-set World Premiere drama that unfolds like an edge-of-your-seat suspense-thriller from its “gotcha” hook to the unexpectedly satisfying way Drukman manages to tie the whole thing up some ninety minutes later.
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GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES

A series of Gruesome Playground Injuries (and other assorted wounds, both external and internal) provide the ties that bind two wounded souls from ages eight to thirty-eight in Rajiv Joseph’s aptly-titled Gruesome Playground Injuries, an imperfect play turned into a powerful theatrical experience thanks to the kind of superb performances, direction, and design that have become the hallmark of Rogue Machine.
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VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

Christopher Durang’s Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike has arrived at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, and though it does not quite reach the level of brilliance of V&S&M&S’s Los Angeles premiere earlier this year, the 2013 Best Play Tony winner proves a hilarious, crowd-pleasing treat (especially for the over-50 set) and a definite winner for The Old Globe. (read more)

THE MUSIC MAN

Director-choreographer Valerie Rachelle and a couldn’t-be-better cast get everything right in Glendale Centre Theatre’s crowd-delighting revival of Meredith Willson’s 1957 classic The Music Man, an in-the-round production well worth a 76-trombone salute.
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TARTUFFE

You may have seen Molière’s Tartuffe before (what theater lover hasn’t?), but you’ve never seen a Tartuffe quite like the stunningly conceived, directed, designed, and performed production now dazzling audiences at South Coast Repertory—or at least those willing to see the Molière classic through a strikingly different lens.
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GREASE

Grease is the word down Escondido way, and will be through the end of July as Escondido’s Welk Theatre presents their all-around terrific revival of the 3,388-performance Broadway megahit Grease.
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