BUDDY – THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY

posted on July 13th, 2025 at 10:05 AM by Steven Stanley


Buddy Holly may have left this earth some six-and-a-half decades ago on “the day the music died”, but the 1950s rock and roll legend lives on in Long Beach in the person of dazzling quadruple-threat phenom Will Riddle in Musical Theatre West’s rousing revival of musical/tribute concert hybrid that is Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

XANADU

posted on July 12th, 2025 at 4:09 PM by Steven Stanley


Wisteria Theater Company makes it five hits in a row with their zestfully entertaining take on Douglas Carter Beane’s 2005 Broadway treat Xanadu, itself a textbook example of how to turn a movie lemon into multiple Tony-nominated lemonade.
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posted in Cabaret/Concert/Variety, Musical, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

YANKEE DAWG YOU DIE

posted on July 8th, 2025 at 11:05 AM by Steven Stanley

Kelvin Han Yee and Daniel J. Kim are on fire in East West Players’ 37th-anniversary revival of Yankee Dawg You Die, Philip Kan Gotanda’s look at Asian-American representation on stage and screen, at how it has changed since the days of Anna May Wong and Sessue Hayakawa, and at the changes that remained to be made in 1988 … and still do in 2025.

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posted in Drama, Los Angeles, Theater Review, WOW!

GASLIGHT

posted on July 6th, 2025 at 11:35 AM by Steven Stanley


Decades before “gaslighting” became a thing people talked about, a villainous Victorian set about convincing his submissive spouse that she was losing her increasingly muddled mind in Patrick Hamilton’s classic thriller Gaslight, a mouthwateringly melodramatic treat from Pacific Resident Theatre.
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posted in Theater Review, Thriller, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

posted on June 30th, 2025 at 4:51 PM by Steven Stanley


Summer has come to L.A., and with it the annual return to Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Shakespearean classic once again delighting audiences of all ages, whether they are experiencing its magic for the first time or returning for another summer afternoon or evening of enchantment.
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posted in Classic Play, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

MOTEL 66

posted on June 28th, 2025 at 7:44 PM by Steven Stanley

The seven one-acts that comprise the latest incarnation of the Group Rep’s Motel 66 may not all be slam-dunks, and a couple of them are not ideally cast, but put them all together and you’ve got one enjoyable afternoon or evening of short-form live theater.
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posted in North Hollywood, Short One-Act, Theater Review

THE RESERVOIR

posted on June 28th, 2025 at 8:32 AM by Steven Stanley


Two talented Jakes make stunning Geffen Playhouse debuts in The Reservoir, Jake Brasch’s hilarious, heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful look at alcoholism and Alzheimer’s that has rising star Jake Horowitz standing in for the playwright in one of the year’s most captivating performances.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, World Premiere, WOW!

NICE GIRL

posted on June 23rd, 2025 at 5:24 PM by Steven Stanley


What’s a Nice Girl to do when she finds herself still living at home with her mother and rapidly approaching the age when singledom turns into spinsterhood? That’s the dilemma Jo faces in Melissa Ross’s tangy slice-of-1980s-life now captivating audiences on Rogue Machine’s uber-intimate Henry Murray Stage.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Los Angeles, Theater Review, WOW!

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