CORPUS CHRISTI

posted on April 27th, 2014 at 8:54 PM by Steven Stanley

Director Tito Covert-Ortiz has restaged his Scenie-winning vision of Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi with its original star Jeffrey Fargo at Santa Ana’s Theatre Out and the result is an even more powerfully moving production than it was at Long Beach’s Garage Theatre the first time round.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

posted on April 26th, 2014 at 12:14 PM by Steven Stanley

The Norris Center For The Performing Arts couldn’t have picked a better musical, nor staged it more sparklingly, than their 2013-2014 3-Play Series season closer The Drowsy Chaperone, winner of 5 Tony Awards and quite possibly the most entertaining Valentine to musical theater ever.
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posted in Musical, South Bay, Theater Review, WOW!

MACBETH

posted on April 26th, 2014 at 12:02 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

Elijah Alexander and Jules Willcox deliver powerhouse performances as Macbeth and his Lady as A Noise Within presents its latest excursion into Shakespeare territory. By contrast, Larry Carpenter’s direction proves considerably less impressive.
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posted in Drama, Pasadena, Recommended, Theater Review

FIVE MILE LAKE

posted on April 24th, 2014 at 4:33 PM by Steven Stanley

Some plays grab you from their first moments and hold you in their grasp till the lights go out. Others sneak up on gradually until at a certain point you realize that you’ve been hooked … and hooked you stay till the final curtain. Rachel Bonds’ Five Mile Lake, the latest World Premiere from South Coast Repertory, falls into the latter category, and quite a small wonder of a play it is.
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posted in Drama, Orange County, Theater Review, World Premiere, WOW!

NEXT TO NORMAL

posted on April 23rd, 2014 at 6:15 PM by Steven Stanley

California Repertory and director Joanne Gordon bring Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s Next To Normal to the Queen Mary’s Royal Theater in an excitingly imaginative rendition of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winner, one featuring a star-turn lead performance by Karole Foreman.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

WATER BY THE SPOONFUL

posted on April 21st, 2014 at 6:58 PM by Steven Stanley

A recovering crack addict offers online counseling to fellow former drug users as a young Iraq vet and his music prof cousin attempt to cope with the impending death of their aunt, the woman who raised him.

These two initially distinct plot threads come together—and powerfully so—in Quiara Alegría Hudes’s Pulitzer Prize winning Water By The Spoonful, now getting a superbly acted West Coast Premiere at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre.
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posted in Drama, San Diego County, Theater Review, WOW!

THE LION IN WINTER

posted on April 20th, 2014 at 6:25 PM by Steven Stanley

Mariette Hartley and Ian Buchanan bring star quality, decades of stage and screen experience, and award-winning acting chops to the Colony Theatre’s splendid revival of William Goldman’s The Lion In Winter, a 12th-century drama so rich in family intrigue, it could easily have served as a model for any number of nighttime soaps.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Drama, Theater Review, WOW!

BE A GOOD LITTLE WIDOW

posted on April 19th, 2014 at 12:27 PM by Steven Stanley

The thin line between comedy and tragedy is tread quite astonishingly well by Bekah Brunstetter in her 2011 play Be A Good Little Widow, now getting a pitch-perfect Los Angeles Premiere, one that exemplifies intimate L.A. theater at its finest.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

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