WTC VIEW
posted on September 3rd, 2016 at 5:02 PM by Steven Stanley
Late September 2001. Downtown NYC. Life goes on, but not like before, never like before, in Brian Sloan’s riveting WTC View, now getting a long-awaited West Coast Premiere at Santa Ana’s Theatre Out, and a particularly fine one at that.
(read more)
Tags: Brian Sloan, Orange County Theater Review, Theatre Out
posted in Drama, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!
ANYTHING GOES
posted on September 2nd, 2016 at 12:12 PM by Steven Stanley
Reno Sweeney once again fires up the congregation with revivalist fervor (and some of the best tunes ever written) as Glendale Centre Theatre offers audiences its exhilarating revival of the 1930s Cole Porter classic Anything Goes, once again demonstrating GCT’s expertise at taking great big Broadway musicals and giving them intimate in-the-round pizzazz.
(read more)
Tags: Cole Porter, Glendale Centre Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review
posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!
PLEASE DON’T ASK ABOUT BECKET
posted on August 30th, 2016 at 4:50 PM by Steven Stanley
Wendy Graf puts a personal face on the question of nature vs. nurture in Please Don’t Ask About Becket, the playwright’s latest family drama now getting an often compelling World Premiere guest production at The Sacred Fools Theatre Black Box.
(read more)
Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, The Sacred Fools Black Box, Wendy Graf
posted in Drama, Los Angeles, Theater Review, WOW!
LI’L ABNER
posted on August 29th, 2016 at 1:48 PM by Steven Stanley
They don’t write shows like Li’l Abner anymore, and not just because the 1956 musical adaptation of the Al Capp comic strip pretty much defines political incorrectness. With its Original Broadway Cast of fifty-four, only schools and community playhouses could possibly hope to produce this musical behemoth in 2016—which makes it a perfect choice for the theatrical genre known as the Concert Staged Reading, proof positive of which was evidenced at Musical Theatre West’s Daisy Maezing one-night-only Reiner Reading Series latest.
(read more)
Tags: Al Capp, Gene De Paul, Johnny Mercer, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre West, Reiner Reading Series
posted in Concert Staged Reading, Long Beach/San Pedro, Theater Review, WOW!
THE TWO KIDS THAT BLOW SHIT UP
posted on August 28th, 2016 at 12:45 PM by Steven Stanley
Playwright Carla Ching takes a tried-and-true formula (best friends who can’t quite get it into their noggins that they are Made For Each Other) and turns it on its head in her World Premiere dramedy The Two Kids Who Blow Shit Up, not only L.A. theater at its intimate best but a textbook example of how #diversity works.
(read more)
Tags: Artists At Play, Carla Ching, Los Angeles Theater Review
posted in Comedy-Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, World Premiere, WOW!
PARALLEL LIVES
posted on August 27th, 2016 at 4:29 PM by Steven Stanley
A pair of busy TV actresses prove they can light up the Falcon Theatre stage as brightly as they shine on the small screen in Parallel Lives, the talented twosome bringing character after character after character to hilarious (and occasionally poignant) life while managing at the same time to comment on gender, age, sexuality, and the whole damn thing.
(read more)
Tags: Alice Hunter, Crista Flanangan, Falcon Theatre, Kathy Najimy, Los Angeles Theater Review, Mo Gaffney
posted in Burbank/Glendale, Theater Review, Two-Hander, WOW!
TITANIC
posted on August 22nd, 2016 at 3:01 PM by Steven Stanley
Titanic sails again, and breathtakingly so, as Moonlight Stage Productions gives Peter Stone and Maury Yeston’s Titanic the kind of production that might have transformed the 1997 Broadway money-loser into the box office bonanza it deserved to be.
(read more)
Tags: Maury Yeston, Moonlight Stage Productions, Peter Stone, San Diego County Theater Review
posted in Musical, San Diego County, Theater Review, WOW!
DRAMA QUEENS FROM HELL
posted on August 21st, 2016 at 10:44 AM by Steven StanleyNOT RECOMMENDED
Significant trimming and tweaking is needed to make Peter Lefcourt’s Hollywood-spoofing Drama Queens From Hell the comedy hit it aspires to be despite some occasional insider hilarity and several deliciously scene-stealing performances.
(read more)
Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Odyssey Theatre, Peter Lefcourt
posted in Comedy, Not Recommended, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, World Premiere
Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.


COPYRIGHT 2026 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY