LAND LINE

posted on July 1st, 2014 at 6:29 PM by Steven Stanley

“When a health crisis forces Terry to move back into his parents’ basement, his best friend John supports him with laughter, sympathy, bravado, and finally, honesty.”

Rarely has a press release taken such pains to be detail/spoiler-free, so in the interest of honoring Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA’s wishes, let me simply say: If you’re in the mood for a beautifully written, exquisitely acted, and often quite funny tearjerker, make plans to see Stephen Dierkes’ World Premiere dramedy Land Line—and should eye makeup be your thing, be sure your mascara is waterproof.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Los Angeles, Theater Review, World Premiere, WOW!

THE GOODBYE GIRL

posted on June 30th, 2014 at 11:18 PM by Steven Stanley

Sunday’s delightful “family-affair” concert staged reading of the 1993 Broadway flop The Goodbye Girl made it abundantly clear why, despite a stellar pedigree, the Neil Simon-Marvin Hamlisch-David Zippel musical was not destined for a long life on The Great White Way, yet proved a perfect choice for Musical Theatre West’s One-Night-Only Reiner Reading Series.
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posted in Concert Staged Reading, Long Beach/San Pedro, Theater Review, WOW!

STUPID FUCKING BIRD

posted on June 30th, 2014 at 11:55 AM by Steven Stanley

2014’s hottest “new” playwright may well be none other than the Russian master Anton Chekhov, his 19th Century classics having inspired not one but three current hits: Christopher Durang’s Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike, Donald Margulies’ The Country House, and now —most Chekhov-specifically—Aaron Posner’s inspired meta-dramedy Stupid Fucking Bird, currently being given a sensational West Coast Premiere under the ever-inventive direction of Michael Michetti.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Pasadena, Theater Review, WOW!

HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL 2014 REVIEWS

posted on June 29th, 2014 at 9:12 AM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

posted on June 29th, 2014 at 1:18 AM by Steven Stanley

The Drowsy Chaperone, Broadway’s Valentine to Musical Theater, has been given an intimate Orange County staging at Santa Ana’s Theatre Out, one that makes it abundantly clear why the 2006 multiple-Tony winner is one of this past decade’s best—and most original—new musicals.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

DENTAL SOCIETY MIDWINTER MEETING

posted on June 27th, 2014 at 1:01 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

Buzzworks Theater Company returns with the often entertaining West Coast Premiere of Laura Jacqmin’s Dental Society Midwinter Meeting, and though the one-act comedy proves a hit-or-miss affair, I’d gladly take it over a January in Skokie, Illinois.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, Recommended, Theater Review

JERSEY BOYS

posted on June 26th, 2014 at 2:17 PM by Steven Stanley

Jersey Boys, the 13th longest running show in Broadway history no less, is now making its triumphant return to Southern California with a three-week stop at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center For The Arts after a seven-year absence, and that, musical theater (and Four Seasons) lovers, is cause for celebration.
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posted in National Tour, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

FLOWER DUET

posted on June 22nd, 2014 at 5:13 PM by Steven Stanley

Marriage is “till death do us part”—except when it isn’t—or so Max and Stephanie and Sandy and Maddie discover in Maura Campbell’s provocative Flower Duet, now getting its West Coast Premiere at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre following a 2010 World Premiere in Burlington, Vermont.
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posted in Drama, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

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