THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, CHARLES DICKENS AND COUNT LEO TOLSTOY: DISCORD

posted on February 1st, 2014 at 12:25 PM by Steven Stanley

NOT RECOMMENDED

Three superb performances, a snazzy design package, a delightful opening sequence, and then a whole lot of speechifying add up to a less than compelling ninety minutes as the NoHo Arts Center presents the World Premiere engagement of Scott Carter’s The Gospel According To Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens And Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, North Hollywood, Not Recommended, Theater Review

CHICAGO

posted on January 29th, 2014 at 7:21 PM by Steven Stanley


You may have seen Kander & Ebb’s Chicago at your nearby regional, community, or 99-seat theater, but you haven’t seen Chicago in all its Broadway brilliance till you’ve seen the National Tour of the Walter Bobbie-directed, Ann Reinking-choreographed 1996 revival, now dazzling Southern California audiences this week only at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center For The Arts.
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posted in Musical, National Tour, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

CALL ME MADAM

posted on January 28th, 2014 at 6:21 PM by Steven Stanley


Musical theater lovers can once again thank Ken and Dottie Reiner and Musical Theatre West’s Reiner Reading Series for bringing back to life a musical theater gem grown too obscure to inspire a fully staged production. (After all, given the choice of the two Tony-winning musicals of 1951, Guys And Dolls and Call Me Madam, which one would you choose to program as part of an upcoming season?)
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posted in Concert Staged Reading, Long Beach/San Pedro, Theater Review, WOW!

GOD OF CARNAGE

posted on January 26th, 2014 at 4:25 PM by Steven Stanley


Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning Best Play of 2009 God Of Carnage arrives at La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts in a production so excitingly staged and performed that even those who may have caught its star-packed L.A. debut a few years back won’t want to miss this staging—the third and last of McCoy Rigby Entertainment’s trio of Best Play Tony winners.
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posted in Comedy, Downey/La Mirada, Theater Review, WOW!

LET’S MISBEHAVE: THE MUSIC AND LYRICS OF COLE PORTER

posted on January 25th, 2014 at 5:35 PM by Steven Stanley


Take three of Southern California’s most talented musical theater performers, then add three-dozen or so Cole Porter songs linked together by an ingenious book, and you’ve got Patrick Young and Karin Bowersock’s Let’s Misbehave, a brand spanking new Cole Porter musical now getting a sparkling California Premiere at Long Beach’s International City Theatre.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

TERRA C. MACLEOD

posted on January 25th, 2014 at 12:20 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

posted on January 24th, 2014 at 6:05 PM by Steven Stanley


Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along once again proves, as has virtually ever other Musical Theatre Repertory offering reviewed here since Sunday In The Park With George six years ago, that a blackbox production entirely directed, designed, and performed by college students can easily rival the best of 99-seat-plan Los Angeles theater, that is if the students involved are part of USC’s illustrious School Of Dramatic Arts.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

bare: a pop opera

posted on January 21st, 2014 at 4:39 PM by Steven Stanley


Catholic school is hardly the most welcoming environment for two teenage boys to fall in love, or so roommates Peter and Jason discover in Damon Intrabartolo and Jon Hartmere’s off-Broadway cult favorite bare: a pop opera, now being given a particularly powerful Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center debut under Fred Helsel’s inspired direction.
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posted in Musical, Theater Review, Ventura County, WOW!

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