PSYCHE: A MODERN ROCK OPERA

posted on August 30th, 2014 at 1:49 PM by Steven Stanley

NOT RECOMMENDED

A sensational cast, phenomenal choreography, a spectacular production design, and Michael Matthews’s imaginative direction do everything possible to make the most of Cindy Shapiro’s Psyche: A Modern Rock Opera. Unfortunately, the gifted team’s best efforts can’t rescue “Psyche The Musical” from its ponderous libretto, mostly tedious tunes, and lyrics that clunk where they should soar.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, Not Recommended, Theater Review, World Premiere

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE

posted on August 29th, 2014 at 5:15 PM by Steven Stanley

For a Broadway hit that won six Tony awards (including Best Musical of 2002), Thoroughly Modern Millie has made relatively few Southland appearances in the intervening twelve years, just one of many reasons to celebrate the Thoroughly Modern (circa 1922) Miss’s arrival at Glendale Centre Theatre under the thoroughly marvelous co-direction of Danny Michaels and Orlando Alexander.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD

posted on August 27th, 2014 at 10:57 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

Inland Valley Repertory Theatre celebrates the end of summer with Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World, the song cycle that put the future Tony winner’s name on the map, and if not the inspired vision of Brown’s 1995 debut that I’ve seen previously, a number of fine performances (and one in particular) make this a mostly effective, ultimately affecting revival of the very first JRB hit.
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posted in Musical Revue, Recommended, San Gabriel Valley, Theater Review

MEET & GREET

posted on August 25th, 2014 at 5:49 PM by Steven Stanley

“A+ CAST PLUS BOFFO SCRIPT EQUALS FRINGE FEST SMASH” is how I concluded my review of Meet & Greet, Stan Zimmerman and Christian McLaughlin’s outrageously funny tale of a quartet of fictional Broadway/Hollywood divas vying for a sitcom pilot lead, when it played this past June at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.  Now, Meet & Greet is back for a second run at Theatre Asylum, and as evidenced by the nonstop laughter at yesterday’s SRO matinee, Meet & Greet 2.0 is even more outrageously funny the second time around than it was the first.
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

MATT WOLPE

posted on August 25th, 2014 at 10:50 AM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

OKLAHOMA!

posted on August 24th, 2014 at 8:45 PM by Steven Stanley

Director-choreographer Dan Mojica and an exciting young cast offer Welk Theatre San Diego audiences an Oklahoma! certain to delight both blue-haired Welk regulars and the Glee generation of its late teens-early 20s ensemble, sixteen talented performers who enrich the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic with a freshness and life belying its 71 years of age.
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posted in Musical, San Diego County, Theater Review, WOW!

TRYING

posted on August 23rd, 2014 at 10:35 AM by Steven Stanley

Two-character plays don’t get much more entertaining or ultimately moving than Joanna McClelland Glass’s Trying, a humungous hit for the Colony Theatre back in 2007. Now, seven years later, the same lightning could easily strike for Long Beach’s International City Theatre with performances as memorable as those being given by Tony Abatemarco and Paige Lindsey White on the ICT stage.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Long Beach/San Pedro, Theater Review, WOW!

I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND

posted on August 22nd, 2014 at 4:46 PM by Steven Stanley

Seven years ago, Erik Patterson’s best friend’s head “exploded,” or at least that’s how the playwright describes the brain aneurysm that sent him rushing to the Manhattan ICU where best friend Uma and her fellow aneurysm victims waged their life-and-death struggle while loved ones watched and waited, hoped and prayed, and bonded with similarly concerned strangers in the hospital waiting room.

Cut to 2014, and the author of the multiple Scenie-winning He Asked For It has taken these real-life events as the point of departure for his latest, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, now getting its World Premiere at Hollywood’s Theatre Of NOTE, and in words I used to describe its predecessor, Patterson’s newest play is “fresh, entertaining, gripping and entirely unpredictable” … and beautifully acted to boot.
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

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