THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS (THE MUSICAL!)

posted on November 10th, 2013 at 10:24 PM by Steven Stanley


How would you like to relive every single musical ever written by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kander & Ebb … all in under two hours and performed by a cast, not of thousands or hundreds (or even dozens) but a mere four terrifically talented triple-threats?
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical Spoof, Theater Review, WOW!

SAVE ME

posted on November 10th, 2013 at 8:36 PM by Steven Stanley


Dynasty’s Alexis Carrington, All About Eve’s Eve Harrington, Mean Girls’ Regina George, Melrose Place’s Amanda Woodward, Days Of Our Lives’ Sami Brady … All these movie and TV bad girls owe a debt of gratitude to the brazen hussy that started it all way back in 1890, the one-and-only Hedda Gabler, brought up to 21st Century life in Save Me, Valerie Rachelle’s modern interpretation of Henrik Ibsen’s late 19th-Century classic, directed with style and flair by Rachelle and featuring a sensational Shannon Nelson as Her Majesty, Queen Bitch Hedda.
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, World Premiere, WOW!

THE POKÉMUSICAL

posted on November 7th, 2013 at 6:52 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
A second extension of the Hollywood Fringe Festival hit The Pokémusical made it possible for this reviewer to catch the much talked-about musical spoof of the animated Pokénon TV series and films, one which features quite a few laughs and some terrific performances. Despite those pluses, however, I must confess to having ended up a good deal less a fan of The Pokémusical than its rave reviews had led me to expect. (read more)

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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical Spoof, Recommended, Theater Review

4000 MILES

posted on November 7th, 2013 at 12:51 AM by Steven Stanley


When was the last time you saw a comedy in which an elderly female character wasn’t made the butt of the joke? When was the last time you saw an intergenerational relationship depicted in all its potential richness? When was the last time you saw a family drama that managed to grip you without resorting to soap opera melodramatics?
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

FALLING

posted on November 5th, 2013 at 12:09 AM by Steven Stanley


The challenges of caring for a fully-grown, severely autistic adult child are dealt with powerfully, insightfully, and with occasional refreshing bursts of humor in Deanna Jent’s Falling, now getting a Grade-A West Coast Premiere at Rogue Machine Theatre.
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posted in Drama, Los Angeles, Theater Review, WOW!

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

posted on November 3rd, 2013 at 2:28 PM by Steven Stanley


Musical Theatre West opens its 61st consecutive season with a sensational remounting of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, one of the few musicals you can feel safe in inviting even your most Broadway-musical-phobic friends to for a monstrous good time.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE

posted on November 3rd, 2013 at 12:40 PM by Steven Stanley


What a difference a director can make, and by director I mean MaryJo DuPrey, whose vision for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde at Actors Co-op has inspired an outstanding cast and brilliant team of designers to take a play about which I had previously expressed decidedly mixed feelings and turned it into a psychological thriller par excellence.
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE

posted on November 1st, 2013 at 12:48 AM by Steven Stanley


Following in the footsteps of last year’s award-winning Cymbeline, A Noise Within returns for a new season of classical theater with one more of Shakespeare’s “problem plays,” once again prompting the question, “What on earth could the so-called ‘problem’ be?” when the play in question yields results as magical as these?
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posted in Comedy, Pasadena, Theater Review, WOW!

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