PATTERNS

posted on August 14th, 2015 at 4:46 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

Topnotch lead performances and a “plus ça change” fascination make James Reach’s Patterns, the stage adaptation of a Rod Serling screenplay set in the dog-eat-dog world of 1950s American big business, worth a look-see at Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40 despite an overlong running time and a so-so supporting cast.

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posted in Drama, Recommended, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls

UP HERE

posted on August 13th, 2015 at 4:07 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

The voices inside a neurotic computer whiz’s head take on decidedly human form in the latest from the La Jolla Playhouse, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez’s tuneful if overly ambitious musical romcom Up Here, a show that earns high points for the Oscar-winning couple’s score (and the talents who bring its World Premiere to life in La Jolla) but could prove too Out There for future mainstream success.
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posted in Musical, Recommended, San Diego County, World Premiere

LOMBARDI

posted on August 10th, 2015 at 3:31 PM by Steven Stanley

Vince Lombardi—coach, husband, father, man—comes to emotionally resonant life in Lombardi, Eric Simonson’s powerful 2010 Broadway biodrama whose terrific West Coast Premiere at North Hollywood’s The Group Rep might turn even sports-hating theatergoers into football buffs. It certainly made a Lombardi fan out of me.
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posted in Drama, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

GREEN GROW THE LILACS

posted on August 9th, 2015 at 11:38 PM by Steven Stanley

Theatricum Botanicum revives a Golden-Era theatrical gem in a production worth a whole heap of whoopin’ and hollerin’ … but before I go ahead and name it, here’s a question for all you theater lovers out there.

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posted in Comedy-Drama, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

posted on August 8th, 2015 at 11:22 AM by Steven Stanley

The longest-running show in Broadway history is back in town, exciting news indeed for Phantom Of The Opera fans who’ve been waiting years for its return, particularly since this North American Tour’s fresh new scenic/lighting designs and choreography give this Phantom a look unlike any other.
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posted in Musical, National Tour, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

THE DRAGON PLAY

posted on August 7th, 2015 at 5:45 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

Interspecies love fuels Jenny Connell Davis’ The Dragon Play, a gorgeously designed Chance Theater production most likely to enchant those willing and able to buy into its boy-meets-dragon, boy-loses-dragon conceit.
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posted in Drama, Orange County, Recommended, Theater Review

GHOST LIGHT

posted on August 6th, 2015 at 3:52 PM by Steven Stanley

NOT RECOMMENDED

Deborah Puette is luminous, but the four vignettes that comprise Tommy Smith’s Ghost Light add up to a rather low-wattage half-hour solo show.
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posted in Los Angeles, Not Recommended, Solo Performance, Theater Review

NO HOMO

posted on August 3rd, 2015 at 11:22 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

The 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival hit NO HOMO now gets the fully-staged production I put on my wish list when writing about Brandon Baruch’s hilarious bromcom last year. It also gets a new ending likely to disappoint if not downright infuriate those like this reviewer who fell unreservedly in love with NO HOMO 1.0.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, Recommended, Theater Review

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