COMPANY

posted on January 20th, 2017 at 11:35 AM by Steven Stanley

The all-student talent of USC’s Musical Theatre Repertory rises to the many challenges of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company—and then some—in an intimate staging that stands out as one of the finest of the eighteen MTR productions I’ve reviewed over the past nine years.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

THE LAST VIG

posted on January 15th, 2017 at 12:47 PM by Steven Stanley

Supporting performances are uniformly terrific and design elements as good as it gets, but with a low-energy Burt Young slowing things down to a snail’s pace, audiences in search of theatrical sparks had best look elsewhere than writer-director David Varriale’s potentially entertaining Mafia comedy The Last Vig*.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, Theater Review, World Premiere

BEE-LUTHER-HATCHEE

posted on January 14th, 2017 at 3:39 PM by Steven Stanley

With racial violence on the rise, racists increasingly fearless in spouting (and acting upon) their hate, and an incoming President owing his election, at least in part, to racist backlash against his predecessor, the timing could hardly be more apt for Sierra Madre Playhouse to give Thomas Gibbons’ provative Bee-luther-hatchee the powerful revival it deserves, now more than ever.
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posted in Drama, San Gabriel Valley, Theater Review, WOW!

TORUK – The First Flight

posted on January 13th, 2017 at 11:21 AM by Steven Stanley

 

Spectacle there is in abundance and performers are as spectacularly multitalented as you’d expect from Cirque Du Soleil, but the stadium-scale TORUK – The First Flight, now making a four-day stop at The Forum, is likely to prove a letdown to both Cirque fans and those expecting see James Cameron’s Avatar live on stage.
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posted in Los Angeles, National Tour, Special Event, Theater Review

THE ROOMMATE

posted on January 11th, 2017 at 5:37 PM by Steven Stanley

Jen Silverman reinvigorates the surefire (if overly familiar) odd-couple comedy in The Roommate, a South Coast Repertory West Coast Premiere that may well defy credibility in its final scenes but never fails to entertain, particularly as performed by a crackerjack couple of SoCal stage treasures.
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posted in Comedy, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

BLOODLETTING

posted on January 10th, 2017 at 5:27 PM by Steven Stanley

A Filipino-American brother and sister’s pilgrimage to their recently deceased father’s birthplace takes a supernatural turn in Boni B. Alvarez’s Bloodletting, a Playwrights’ Arena World Premiere that could appeal to fans of the occult who don’t mind spending seventy-five minutes with a couple of rather obnoxious siblings.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Los Angeles, Theater Review, World Premiere

BLACK COMEDY

posted on January 9th, 2017 at 12:49 PM by Steven Stanley

An inspired concept and some virtuoso physical comedy make the first two-thirds of Peter Shaffer’s Black Comedy a one-of-a-kind Glendale Centre Theatre treat before the laughter gets derailed by a jarring second-act tonal shift and some unexpected (and decidedly unpleasant) character twists.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Comedy, Theater Review

THE LION

posted on January 8th, 2017 at 10:50 AM by Steven Stanley

One man, six guitars, fifteen songs, and Benjamin Scheuer’s extraordinary true-life tale add up to twenty-two reasons not to miss the Geffen Playhouse L.A. Premiere of the award-winning international sensation The Lion.
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posted in Solo Performance, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

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