PETER PAN
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
If asked what songs they associate with Peter Pan, most people would likely answer with “I’m Flying,” “I Won’t Grow Up,” or “I’ve Gotta Crow” from the Broadway/TV musical (music and lyrics by “Moose” Charlap and a quintet of others), or “Second Star To The Right,” “Following The Leader,” or “You Can Fly!” (music and lyrics by the Sammys (Fain and Cahn) among others). Songs that probably don’t pop into folks’ heads are “Who Am I?”, “Build My House,” and “Spring Will Come Again” (music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by … Leonard Bernstein).
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JANE AUSTEN UNSCRIPTED
Friday, December 19th, 2008
Improv is a tricky art form. It requires an actor’s imagination, concentration, quick thinking, and the ability to maintain a straight face no matter what is being said or done. Imagine now a group of actors improvising an entire two-act play. Quite definitely a daunting task, yet this is precisely the challenge which the sensational talents behind Impro Theatre have undertaken in their smash hit Jane Austen UnScripted.
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SMOKEY JOE’S CAFÉ
Saturday, December 13th, 2008
Fans of 1950s rock and pop will be in Top 40 heaven with the El Portal Theatre’s revival of the 1995 Broadway smash Smokey Joe’s Café, featuring three dozen of the greatest hits of rock-and-roll songwriting legends Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
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BACKSEATS & BATHROOM STALLS
Friday, December 12th, 2008
Quite simply put, Backseats & Bathroom Stalls is the funniest comedy I’ve seen so far in the 2008-2009 season. Rob Mersola’s pansexual sex farce not only had me laughing out loud (and quite loudly indeed) through its non-stop 80 minutes of hilarious surprises but kept me on the edge of my seat trying to guess what was coming next. It also has one of the best “I didn’t see that one coming” surprises since The Crying Game or The Sixth Sense.
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A RUBICON FAMILY CHRISTMAS
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
When I was a kid, my Decembers were brightened and my holiday spirit heightened by much-anticipated yearly TV Christmas specials, hosted by Andy Williams, Perry Como, and Dinah Shore, sponsored by Kraft Foods, and “brought to you in living color on NBC.” The Rubicon Theatre brings back those days with its lovingly conceived and terrifically performed A Rubicon Family Christmas. Though L.A. stages are currently filled to the brim with A Christmas Carols and holiday themed comedies, the Rubicon is the place to go for music of the season, especially as performed by six of the finest musical theater talents the Southland has to offer.
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FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
There are times in musical theater when all the elements—performance, direction, choreography, musical direction, and design—come together to form an absolutely perfect whole. One of these times is now, in CLOSBC’s brilliant revival of Fiddler On The Roof.
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BOB’S HOLIDAY OFFICE PARTY
Sunday, December 7th, 2008
Hilarious, crazy, zany, drunken Midwest Hell Christmas insanity” is how my friend Marc describes his first exposure to Bob’s Holiday Office Party, and I wholeheartedly agree. No wonder Bob’s Holiday Office Party is celebrating thirteen consecutive years of shocking and delighting L.A. audiences with its particular blend of mirth, drunken shenanigans, and Christmas spirit.
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THE LIFE
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
The pimps and hookers of pre-Disneyfied Times Square are alive and well and still doing business in the much anticipated Los Angeles premiere of Cy Coleman’s last Broadway musical, 1997’s The Life, now in a limited run on the couldn’t-be-more-fitting Hollywood Boulevard, and directed with power and pizzazz by Joe Greene.
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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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