CABARET

posted on September 26th, 2014 at 3:36 PM by Steven Stanley

It takes a combination of inspiration and chutzpah to reinvent a 58-year-old musical theater classic that’s been reinvented time and time again—but director Gary Lamb has done just that with Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret, his creative touches adding up to the best of the five intimate Cabarets I’ve seen and one of the top two or three of the ten productions I’ve experienced in all.
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posted in Musical, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

KISS ME KATE

posted on September 25th, 2014 at 11:07 AM by Steven Stanley

A stellar, (almost) all-African-American cast breathe new life into the 1948 William Shakespeare-meets-Cole Porter classic Kiss Me Kate, an innovative Pasadena Playhouse revival that works to perfection for all but about ten minutes of its thrillingly reinvigorated two acts.
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posted in Musical, Pasadena, Theater Review, WOW!

LOST: THE MUSICAL – WE HAVE TO GO BACK

posted on September 23rd, 2014 at 1:23 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED*
*For Lostaways

Some snappy SNL-style writing and a cast of sixteen’s often sharp comedic chops could well make Lost: The Musical – We Have To Go Back a cult hit despite a currently way-overlong three-hour running time and quite a few not-ready-for-musical-theater voices.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical Spoof, Recommended, World Premiere, WOW!

MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT

posted on September 22nd, 2014 at 1:08 PM by Steven Stanley

Rare is the musical that can delight and satisfy both Broadway buffs and those who would never be caught dead at My Fair Lady, The Sound Of Music, or heaven forbid, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Monty Python’s Spamalot is that rare Broadway show, and therefore a supremely savvy follow-up to Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre’s recent Smokey Joe’s Café. That it happens to be served up in an all-around splendid production is like whipped cream on one of Executive Chef Juan Alvarado’s scrumptious desserts.
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posted in Musical, San Gabriel Valley, Theater Review, WOW!

GOOD PEOPLE

posted on September 22nd, 2014 at 9:52 AM by Steven Stanley

What better way could there be of following David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole (La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts’ recent Scenie-winning Production Of The Year) than with the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s latest hit? Simply put, Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People makes for an evening of Great Theater.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Downey/La Mirada, Theater Review, WOW!

THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD

posted on September 21st, 2014 at 3:56 PM by Steven Stanley

Following its pitch-perfect intimate staging of Broadway’s 110 In The Shade, Hollywood’s Actors Co-op returns just four months later with a visit to the 19th Century London Musical Hall in their charmingly cheeky, crowd-pleasing revival of Rupert Holmes’ 1985 Tony-winning The Mystery Of Edwin Drood.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

SPRING AWAKENING

posted on September 19th, 2014 at 2:12 PM by Steven Stanley

See Deaf West Theatre’s Spring Awakening. See it if you’ve never seen Spring Awakening before. See it if like this reviewer you’ve seen nearly a dozen Spring Awakenings in all. Just do it, because you won’t see direction more brilliant nor a cast more gifted nor a production more awe-inspiring than the Spring Awakening now being staged by Deaf West.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

COCK

posted on September 17th, 2014 at 12:21 PM by Steven Stanley

It’s time for John to stop letting M down (and standing him up and cheating and lying and failing and generally cocking things up), or so the 20something gay Brit’s lover informs him upon learning of his younger partner’s serious fling with a member of the opposite sex in Mike Bartlett’s provocative (and provocatively titled) dramatic comedy Cock, now getting an imaginatively directed, thrillingly acted West Coast Premiere at Rogue Machine.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Los Angeles, Theater Review, WOW!

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