AFTER THE REVOLUTION

posted on April 23rd, 2015 at 11:45 PM by Steven Stanley


The sins of the grandfather are visited on recent law school graduate Emma Joseph in Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog’s multigenerational family drama After The Revolution, now getting a compelling Oanh Nguyen-directed Chance Theater Southern California Premiere five years after putting its writer’s name on the national theatrical map.
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posted in Drama, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

MR. WOLF

posted on April 22nd, 2015 at 5:49 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

Rajiv Joseph takes a provocative look at the human consequences of a despicable crime twelve years after its perpetration in his hit-and-miss World Premiere drama Mr. Wolf, a play I found powerful and affecting in its more realistic moments but frustrating and perplexing in its attempts at the poetic and profound. In either case, performances alone make it worth a look-see.
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posted in Drama, Orange County, Recommended, Theater Review, World Premiere

BUYER & CELLAR

posted on April 20th, 2015 at 7:08 PM by Steven Stanley

“Mem’ries” light the corners of struggling actor Alex More’s mind, but they are neither “misty” nor “water-colored” given that the divinely heavenly boss-from-hell whom Alex is “rememb’ring” in Jonathan Tolins’ hilarious Buyer & Cellar, now getting an absolutely fabulous San Diego Premiere at The Old Globe, is none other Barbra herself, no family name required.
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posted in Comedy, San Diego County, Solo Performance, Theater Review, WOW!

JANE AUSTEN’S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, A MUSICAL

posted on April 20th, 2015 at 9:52 AM by Steven Stanley

If a World Premiere musicalization of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in which the 19th-century novelist figures not only as part of its title but as one of the its leading players seems fraught with peril, then Austen fans can rest assured. To quote from La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts’ next-up Mary Poppins, Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice, A Musical is practically perfect in every way.
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posted in Downey/La Mirada, Musical, Theater Review, World Premiere, WOW!

MARY POPPINS

posted on April 18th, 2015 at 1:25 PM by Steven Stanley

Mary Poppins The Broadway Musical has arrived at Cabrillo Music Theatre to enchant audiences of all ages, and though Opening Night was technically rough around the edges, this is one terrifically entertaining production, particularly with Juliana Hansen and Wesley Alfvin filling Julie Andrews’ and Dick Van Dyke’s shoes quite marvelously indeed.
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posted in Musical, Theater Review, Ventura County, WOW!

THE POWER OF DUFF

posted on April 18th, 2015 at 11:01 AM by Steven Stanley

All hell breaks loose—or is it heaven?—when TV anchor Charlie Duff offers an impromptu (and decidedly prayerful) tribute to his just-deceased father at the end of the nightly news, thereby setting off a firestorm of pro-and-con reactions in Stephen Belber’s The Power Of Duff, a play that is one part dark comedy, one part satire, but ultimately the deeply moving story of one man’s inadvertent quest for redemption.
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posted in Drama, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

posted on April 16th, 2015 at 5:51 PM by Steven Stanley

Glendale Centre Theatre offers musical theater lovers a mid-week treat with the 2005 Tony Best Musical nominee Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, giving its audiences one of Broadway’s (and GCT’s) most laugh-out-loud hilarious shows ever.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

GUYS AND DOLLS

posted on April 15th, 2015 at 10:26 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

Damon Runyon’s colorful New York denizens have set up shop this week in Costa Mesa, and if the revival of Frank Loesser’s Guys And Dolls now playing at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts isn’t the bona fide “Broadway National Tour” we expect on the SCFTA stage (the scenic design in particular doesn’t stand up to Segerstrom standards), it features all-around terrific performances and the most exciting “Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat” I’ve ever seen.
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posted in National Tour, Orange County, Recommended, Theater Review

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