THE DADDY MACHINE
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
Kids with same gender parents finally have a musical about their families–the absolutely delightful The Daddy Machine. Not that this hour-long musical comedy isn’t also great for kids growing up in so-called “traditional” families–or for adults of any age, gender, or sexual orientation. In fact, The Daddy Machine may just be the most entertaining family show around town these days.
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THE LAST FIVE YEARS
Friday, December 5th, 2008
Since discovering Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years about four years ago, I have rarely missed a chance to see it performed. Whether in a large professional theater (The Pasadena Playhouse) or an intimate space (The Chance) or even in concert form (Brown himself opposite Julia Murney), TL5Y is a musical which never fails to move me. Tonight’s superbly directed and terrifically performed UCLA production was no exception.
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A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
Jason Moyer’s fabulous gay adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is back for a return engagement with a new director (Michael A. Shepperd), a slightly tweaked book, a mostly new cast, and a whole new bigger-budgeted look and feel.
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THE BUSY WORLD IS HUSHED
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Besides being one of the best and most intelligent new plays in quite a while, Keith Bunin’s The Busy World Is Hushed couldn’t come at a more appropriate time. Following a Yes On 8 victory which was fueled largely by so-called “devout Christians,” it is refreshing indeed to see a play which presents a gay-affirming branch of Christianity, and a lead character (and person of the cloth) who not only accepts that her son is gay but actively encourages his quest for Mr. Right.
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WEST SIDE STORY
Friday, November 28th, 2008
Musical Theatre Of Los Angeles follows its much lauded 99-seat production of the mammoth Ragtime with yet another challenge—staging the Jerome Robbins-Arthur Laurents-Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim classic West Side Story with a 32-member cast and a 10-piece orchestra on a stage perhaps ¼ the size of most large theaters’. The result is an intimate yet epic production which rates an A+ for ambitiousness and a solid B for execution, and one which confirms MTLA’s promise as a young and daring new musical theater company.
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SCROOGE IN ROUGE
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
I’ll make a prediction. Scrooge In Rouge is likely to be the funniest, campiest, most delightful, most all-around entertaining Christmas show you’ll be seeing this holiday season.
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JACOB MARLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
Southern Californians may not be able to depend on snow before Christmas, but one thing is certain about our theater scene. There will be Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carols galore every year from November through December.
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A MULHOLLAND CHRISTMAS CAROL
Friday, November 21st, 2008
Three minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam (located 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles) burst catastrophically, resulting in a flood which took over 600 lives. The dam had been the brainchild of William Mulholland (of Mulholland Drive fame), who masterminded the 233-mile Los Angeles Aqueduct to transport water south from the Owens Valley in Central California and helped to transform Los Angeles from a chaparral-covered desert to the city we know today.
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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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