THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE

posted on February 15th, 2014 at 2:05 PM by Steven Stanley


One of this century’s most entertaining and original new musicals, William Finn’s 2005 Broadway smash The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, returns to delight L.A. audiences in a fabulous 99-seat production at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre, one which features an all-around brilliant cast under the inspired direction of Kristin Towers-Rowles
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posted in Musical, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

PASSION PLAY

posted on February 14th, 2014 at 4:48 PM by Steven Stanley


Sarah Ruhl examines how a centuries-old theatrical tradition and the folks who take part in the spectacle year after year are affected by the epoch in which they create this annual event in Passion Play, and before you jump to the conclusion that such heavy subject matter might prove too weighty to be entertaining, remember that it’s Tony-nominated Ruhl we’re talking about.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

THE WIZARD OF OZ

posted on February 13th, 2014 at 7:13 PM by Steven Stanley


The beloved characters of L. Frank Baum, the iconic songs of Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, the musical gifts of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the spectacular creations of a world-class design team, and the contemporary sensibility that has helped make Wicked a blockbuster international smash—all of these combine to give Southland audiences the fabulous hybrid that is the North American Tour of the 2011 London Palladium production of The Wizard Of Oz, now playing at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts.
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posted in Musical, National Tour, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY

posted on February 11th, 2014 at 7:12 PM by Steven Stanley


A gorgeous if derivative score and creaky book did not add up to off-Broadway smash status (or a Broadway transfer) for 2011’s Death Takes A Holiday, but with a cast chock-full of L.A. musical theater stars and director Calvin Remsberg providing expert guidance, Musical Theatre Guild’s first concert staged reading of 2014 garnered a deserved standing ovation this past Sunday at Santa Monica’s spiffy new Moss Theatre.
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posted in Concert Staged Reading, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

MY FAIR LADY

posted on February 9th, 2014 at 1:31 PM by Steven Stanley


Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre celebrates its 200th production with a crowd-pleasing revival of the musical that started it all for the Claremont gem nearly thirty years ago, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe’s 1956 classic My Fair Lady.
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posted in Musical, San Gabriel Valley, Theater Review, WOW!

BUNNY BUNNY—GILDA RADNER: A SORT OF ROMANTIC COMEDY

posted on February 8th, 2014 at 1:56 PM by Steven Stanley


He called her Gilbert. She called him Zweibel, accent on the “bel.” She became one of the most famous, funniest, and most beloved comediennes of the 1970s. He wrote for the TV show that made her a star and later co-created a hit TV sitcom. They loved each other for fourteen years, though each married others. They were the best of friends until her untimely death. She was Gilda Radner. He is Alan Zweibel. Bunny Bunny—Gilda Radner: A Sort Of Romantic Comedy, now playing at the Falcon Theatre, is the delightfully funny, affectionately written, and exquisitely directed and performed tale of two lives intertwined.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Comedy, Theater Review, WOW!

NIGHT WATCH

posted on February 8th, 2014 at 12:02 PM by Steven Stanley


What’s an insomnia-plagued Manhattan matron to do when she catches sight of a dead body inside the abandoned building across the street from her elegant apartment but scream, scream, and scream some more … and then call the cops? And what’s a concerned husband to do when the police investigation turns up no corpse, no fingerprints, no sign of anyone’s having entered the neighboring flat but suggest that his apparently delusional wife seek psychiatric help? And what’s an audience to do while watching Lucille Fletcher’s Night Watch but sit back and enjoy this takeoff on Gaslight, one whose surprise twist ending I’m absolutely itching to reveal here … but won’t.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

ABOVE THE FOLD

posted on February 7th, 2014 at 12:53 AM by Steven Stanley


Three white North Carolina college frat boys accused of gang-raping an African-American stripper provide the incendiary framework for Above The Fold, Bernard Weinraub’s bracingly acidic look at politics circa 2014, race relations in today’s South, and print journalism in an increasingly cyber age—the World Premiere latest from the Pasadena Playhouse.
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posted in Drama, Pasadena, Theater Review, World Premiere, WOW!

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