SEMINAR

posted on October 6th, 2016 at 11:08 PM by Steven Stanley

What Terrence Spencer was to his tyrannized music students in Damien Chazelle’s Oscar-winning Whiplash, so novelist-turned-magazine correspondent Leonard is to the equally intimidated writers attending his uber-pricey workshop in Theresa Rebeck’s darkly comedic, dramatically potent Seminar, now being given a terrific Chance Theater Orange County Premiere.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL

posted on October 5th, 2016 at 11:48 AM by Steven Stanley

A sensational lead performance by Broadway understudy-turned-National Tour star Julia Knitel and over two dozen ‘50s/‘60s hits (most of them written by a certain Carol Joan Klein and the man she married at seventeen and divorced ten rocky years later) make Beautiful: The Carole King Musical a must-see for pop music lovers and Broadway buffs alike.
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posted in Musical, National Tour, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

OUR TOWN

posted on October 3rd, 2016 at 2:00 PM by Steven Stanley

Inspired direction, refreshing diversity in casting, and striking production design breathe fresh new life into Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s classic bit of Americana that first astonished audiences in 1938 with its then revolutionary look at birth, life, love, and what comes after.
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT

posted on October 2nd, 2016 at 12:29 PM by Steven Stanley

Cecil B. DeMille meets Vegas meets pop-rock at its most eclectic in Broadway superstar-turned-director Marc Kudisch’s endlessly entertaining retelling of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s very first hit musical, and if you think you’ve seen Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat before, think again. You’ve never seen one quite like 3-D Theatricals’ stand-up-and-cheer 2016-2017 season opener.
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posted in Gateway Cities, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

DEAR WORLD

posted on October 1st, 2016 at 9:54 AM by Steven Stanley

When was the last time you got to experience Jerry Herman’s Dear World? If you’re the most fortunate of Angelinos, it was probably way back in 2003 at Musical Theatre Guild’s one-performance-only concert staged reading of the 1969 Broadway gem, that was until last night when Cal State Northridge’s Valley Performing Arts Center opened its 2016-17 season with Dear World In Concert, starring an exquisite Tyne Daly as Countess Aurelia, the Madwoman of Chaillot.
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posted in Cabaret/Concert/Variety, San Fernando Valley, Theater Review

FOR THE RECORD: SCORSESE – AMERICAN CRIME REQUIEM

posted on September 30th, 2016 at 2:08 PM by Steven Stanley

L.A.’s uber-popular For The Record franchise once again dazzles, this time with an absolutely stunning Broadway-scale, Broadway-caliber For The Record: Scorsese – American Crime Requiem at Beverly Hills’ sumptuous Wallis Annenberg Theatre.
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posted in Cabaret/Concert/Variety, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

VICTOR/VICTORIA

posted on September 28th, 2016 at 11:19 AM by Steven Stanley

Roles made famous on the big screen by Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, and Lesley Ann Warren give a quartet of Southland musical theater stars the chance to shine on the big stage in Inland Valley Repertory Theatre’s three-performance-only revival of the Broadway hit Victor/Victoria, one whose Henry Mancini/Leslie Bricusse score still offers multiple delights but whose creaky Blake Edwards book could do with a major rewrite.
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posted in Musical, San Gabriel Valley, Theater Review

PROMISES, PROMISES

posted on September 26th, 2016 at 12:45 PM by Steven Stanley

With songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, book by Neil Simon (based on a Billy Wilder cinematic classic), a 1281-performance Broadway run, and a recent B-way revival, you’d think 1968’s Promises, Promises would have merited at least one major L.A. staging in the last fifteen years. Grievously, it hasn’t, which is one big reason audiences were in for a treat at Musical Theatre Guild’s altogether groovy one-night-only concert staged reading .
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Concert Staged Reading, Theater Review, WOW!

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