JANE EYRE
posted on April 11th, 2025 at 11:10 AM by Steven StanleyA Noise Within follows their spectacular reimagining of Macbeth with a solid production of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, albeit not as effectively staged or as ideally cast as I might have wished.
(read more)
Tags: A Noise Within, Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Williamson, Los Angeles Theater Review
posted in Classic Play, Now Playing, Pasadena, Theater Review
MEMORY LANE IS A DESERT ROAD
posted on April 6th, 2025 at 4:38 PM by Steven Stanley
A daughter sifts through her war correspondent father’s photos to better understand his life and her own in Nabra Nelson and Michael B. Nelson’s autobiographical gem Memory Lane Is A Desert Road, a World Premiere drama strikingly staged and terrifically performed by the young artists of Eight Ball Theatre.
(read more)
Tags: Eight Ball Theatre, Nabra Nelson and Michael B. Nelson, Zephyr Theatre
posted in Drama, Los Angeles, Theater Review, World Premiere, WOW!
1984
posted on April 6th, 2025 at 4:23 PM by Steven StanleyLeif Gantvoort’s powerful lead performance and Danny Cistone’s ingenious production design are the chief selling points of Robo & Bash’s production of George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984. Its tonally off first act and less accomplished supporting cast not so much.
Tags: George Orwell, Robert Owens, Robo & Bash Productions, Theatre 68, William A. Miles Jr., Wilton E. Hall Jr.
posted in Drama, North Hollywood, Now Playing, Theater Review
INTO THE WOODS
posted on March 31st, 2025 at 8:39 AM by Steven Stanley
Over a dozen star turns make Musical Theatre West’s staging of a Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine classic that rarity among Into The Woods revivals, a big-stage, big-talent triumph that captures the magic of the 1987 Broadway original while treating audiences to inspired new interpretations of the fairytale musical’s now iconic roles.
(read more)
Tags: James Lapine, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre West, Stephen Sondheim
posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!
ONE JEWISH BOY
posted on March 29th, 2025 at 3:46 PM by Steven Stanley
Is love enough to keep a couple together when one of them has been the victim of hate crime he simply can’t get past? This is the question posed by English playwright Stephen Laughton in his gut-punchingly powerful One Jewish Boy, now getting a compelling West Coast premiere at Echo Theater Company.
(read more)
Tags: Echo Theater Company, Los Angeles Theater Review, Stephen Laughton
posted in Drama, Los Angeles, Now Playing, Theater Review, Two-Hander, WOW!
THE DROWSY CHAPERONE
posted on March 25th, 2025 at 10:44 AM by Steven StanleyThe audience greeted curtain calls with cheers, but for this reviewer at least, Musical Theatre Guild’s one-performance-only concert staged reading of the 2006 Broadway hit The Drowsy Chaperone failed to live up to the company’s next-best-thing-to-fully-staged standards.
(read more)
Tags: Bob Martin, Don McKellar, Greg Morrison, Lisa Lambert, Los Angeles Theater, Musical Theatre Guild, The Broad Stage
posted in Concert Staged Reading, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls
THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
posted on March 23rd, 2025 at 11:11 AM by Steven Stanley
Wisteria Theatre makes it two hits in a row with their completely captivating take on the 2005 Broadway hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, impressively directed by Brayden Hade.
(read more)
Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Rachel Sheinkin, William Finn, Wisteria Theater Company
posted in Musical, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!
DRAT! THE CAT!
posted on March 22nd, 2025 at 11:03 AM by Steven Stanley
Sixty years after it flopped big time on Broadway, the largely forgotten Drat! The Cat! has been given fresh new life by director Bruce Kimmel in a delightful, six-decades-postponed West Coast Premiere at the Group Rep Theatre.
(read more)
Tags: Ira Levin, Los Angeles Theater Review, Milton Schafer, The Group Rep
posted in Musical, North Hollywood, Now Playing, Theater Review, WOW!