ROCK OF AGES
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
The ‘80s have taken over the O.C. as the Broadway smash Rock Of Ages arrives at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center For The Arts. Long-haired rock stars, big-haired rock babes, and the hits of Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Asia come together with a wisp of a jukebox musical plot to make for two hours and twenty minutes of joyous nostalgia and hard rock “noize” (as in Quiet Riot’s 1983 cover of “Cum On Feel the Noize.”)
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MATT BECOMES A MAN
Monday, February 28th, 2011
Many an actor has a tale to tell, and a goodly number of them have turned their stories into solo performances, most of which end up acts of shameless self-promotion. Well, perhaps that’s a bit of an overstatement, and one unbecoming a website which prides itself on “accentuating the positive in Los Angeles theater.” Still, there is some truth to this exaggeration, which is why when I tell you that I loved every minute of Matt McConkey’s Matt Becomes A Man, it is a statement to be taken seriously. The Scenie-Winning star of last year’s The Boys In The Band not only has a story worth telling, it’s also a story worth taking center stage with, as the handsome, talented, ingratiating, and very funny young actor does in his absolutely captivating hour of self-discovery.
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AfterMath
Sunday, February 27th, 2011
When mathematician Bob Goldstein committed suicide by jumping into the Hudson River, he left behind the following short note: “I can’t take it anymore. Take care of the kids. Sell the car.” And that was all he wrote.
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THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Friday, February 25th, 2011
The Adventures Of Pinocchio and Deaf West Theatre prove a match made in Family Theater Heaven in the company’s 20th Anniversary Season production of the classic children’s tale.
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GIGI
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
You can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of movie musicals that have been turned into Broadway shows. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Thoroughly Modern Millie. Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. Gigi. If you don’t count Disney animated films like Beauty And The Beast (in a class by themselves) and movies like Footloose and Saturday Night Fever (whose characters don’t burst into song), the list is a short one indeed.
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SHE LOVES ME
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011
Civic Light Opera Of South Bay Cities opens the Southland’s most exciting 2011 CLO season with about as perfect a musical (and as exquisite a production) as you’re likely to see all year, Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick’s She Loves Me.
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THE CRADLE WILL ROCK
Thursday, February 17th, 2011NOT RECOMMENDED
Corruption and corporate greed are nothing new to the 21st Century. Composer-playwright Marc Blitzstein wrote about both in The Cradle Will Rock, his 1937 “play in music,” now being revived by the company that won the LA Weekly Award for Musical Of The Year for its first production of it back in 1994.
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WRINKLES
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
The Fukutani-Komiyamas are your typical middle-class Pasadena family. Mom Nancy is a divorced single mother and successful attorney. Teenaged Jason is a high school student who’d rather listen to his iPod and play video games on his laptop than write the university essay his mom is always on his case about. “Why don’t you just bang me over the head with a blunt object,” retorts his frustrated mom when Jason informs her that his essay is (pointing at head) “up here.” Grandpa Harry shares digs with daughter and grandson, the better to provide Jason with a mature male influence. Yes, the Fukutani-Komiyamas are your typical middle-class Pasadena family with one exception.
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