THE LAST FIVE YEARS
Friday, June 5th, 2009
One of the best things about live theater is being able to see favorite plays and musicals revived with new actors tackling iconic roles, new directors putting their stamp on familiar material, and new design teams giving old shows new looks. This rarely happens in movies and TV, where the word remake is often synonymous with “Sacrilege!”
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AN EMPTY PLATE IN THE CAFÉ DU GRAND BOEUF
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
The Laguna Playhouse serves up a tangy comedic soufflé in the West Coast Premiere of An Empty Plate In The Café Du Grand Boeuf—with a surprise “be careful what you wish for” dénouement worthy of O Henry.
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THE LITTLE FOXES
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
There were no air conditioners or airplanes, no television or traffic lights in 1900. Ballpoint pens and shopping carts had yet to be invented, nor had calculators or computers. Still, despite how different our 21st Century world may seem from the one inhabited by the Hubbards of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, at least one thing remains very much the same—greed. When Ben Hubbard utters the prophetic lines, “There are hundreds of Hubbards sitting in rooms like this throughout the country. All their names aren’t Hubbard, but they are all Hubbards and they will own this country some day,” he could easily be speaking of the CEOs whose greed is in large part responsible for today’s economic woes. Despite being seventy years old and taking place more than a century ago, The Little Foxes is as relevant as ever, as well as being crackling good theater, especially in a production as exciting, powerful, and contemporary as the one now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse.
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THE BRAND NEW KID
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
Don’t let the words Theatre For Young Audiences fool you. South Coast Repertory’s TYA productions are treats for theatergoers of all ages. True, most audience members over the age of 12 are probably there as chaperones, but fear not. In terms of on-and-offstage talent, these shows can’t be beat, and even adults who cringe at the idea of seeing anything G-rated will likely have a great time, with or without kids in tow.
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THE MUSCLES IN OUR TOES
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
The last time there was a 20th high school reunion at the El Portal Forum Theatre, the returning grads were a quartet of 60s-hits-singing housewives who called themselves The Marvelous Wonderettes. In Stephen Belber’s just opened The Muscles In Our Toes, the returnees are four male buddies and the music providing a soundtrack to their reunion is performed by Culture Club, Eurythmics, and other 1980s icons. Whereas The Marvelous Wonderettes was light and fluffy fun, The Muscles In Our Toes makes for far darker fare, at times shocking, but often hilarious in its own edgy way.
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OKLAHOMA!
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
As the overture reaches its climax, lights come up on a middle-aged woman sitting alone on stage working a butter churn. Behind the woman is a farmhouse and fields of corn as high as an elephant’s eye, and her full-length country dress tells us we are in the early 1900s. From offstage comes a male voice singing a cappella, “There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow…” The voice grows louder until the man enters, wearing a cowboy hat and chaps. “Oh what a beautiful morning… Oh what a beautiful day,” serenades the man to the farm woman, who continues her churning.
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THE GREEN ROOM
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
There’s some exciting news for High School Musical fans who’ve moved on to higher education. College Musical has arrived! Well, in actual fact the show in question is entitled The Green Room, but in many ways it’s like a PG-13 post-graduation spin-off of the über popular Disney franchise. Like HSM, this enjoyable world premiere features young, ready-for-their-close-up triple-threats who spend more time singing, dancing, and pairing up than doing their assignments. Then again, who would pay to see a show about homework?
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COLLECTED STORIES
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
The mentor-pupil relationship of an acclaimed author of short stories and her most promising student is charted over a period of six years in Donald Margulies’ compelling drama Collected Stories. Now returning with its original star to South Coast Repertory (where it had its world premiere in 1996), this much awaited revival proves a sterling example of big-stage professional theater at its best.
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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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