IN THE HEIGHTS

posted on November 23rd, 2013 at 2:22 PM by Steven Stanley


Usnavi, Vanessa, Benny, Nina, Sonny, Daniela, Piragua Man, and all the colorful Washington Heights locals of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes’ In The Heights are back in the Heights (Boyle Heights that is) as Teatro Nuevos Horizontes’ multiple Scenie-winning production of the 2008 Broadway hit returns for this year’s holiday season with four of its original stars intact and many of its new principal players living up to memories of last year’s all-around phenomenal leads.
(read more)

Tags: , , ,
posted in Los Angeles, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

ILLYRIA

posted on November 22nd, 2013 at 7:09 PM by Steven Stanley


A gifted young cast directed by one of SoCal’s finest, a gorgeous score, and romance and comedy in equal measure are several of the best reasons to catch Cal State Fullerton’s blackbox staging of Illyria, Peter Mills’ musicalization of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night*. Add to that the unlikelihood of a major L.A. theater miraculously discovering Illyria’s existence, and anyone who loves musicals should make it a point not to miss this largely unknown gem.
(read more)

Tags: , ,
posted in Musical, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

SIDE SHOW

posted on November 20th, 2013 at 7:32 PM by Steven Stanley


Daisy and Violet Hilton, the “Siamese twins” of Bill Russell and Henry Krieger’s Side Show, are back onstage in a heartstoppingly beautiful revival of the 1997 multiple-Tony Award nominee at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse, a production which despite a couple too many deleted songs, makes for one powerful “revisal” as re-imagined by its creators and director Bill Condon.
(read more)

Tags: , , , , ,
posted in Musical, San Diego County, Theater Review, WOW!

WONDERFUL TOWN

posted on November 18th, 2013 at 11:08 PM by Steven Stanley


From autobiographical short story collection to play to movie to Broadway musical to musical movie (but with different songs) to TV series. Few musical comedies have had as many incarnations as 1953’s Wonderful Town, and though Broadway revived it in 2003, this Golden Era hit has faded a bit too much into obscurity to join perennial 1950s favorites like Damn Yankees and The Pajama Game onto any major theater’s annual season—making it a perfect choice for Musical Theatre Guild to revive for one night only as the first of their 2013-2014 “concert staged reading” treats.
(read more)

Tags: , , , , ,
posted in Concert Staged Reading, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

ON GOLDEN POND

posted on November 18th, 2013 at 12:32 PM by Steven Stanley


Cast aside any preconceived notions you might have about “community theater” and head on over to Whittier Community Theatre to catch Ernest Thompson’s On Golden Pond (a play that hasn’t lost an iota of its humor or charm since winning the Drama Desk Award as Outstanding New Play of 1979) in a production that stands comparison to what you might see on one of our local professional stages.
(read more)

Tags: , , ,
posted in Comedy, San Gabriel Valley, Theater Review, WOW!

BARRYMORE

posted on November 17th, 2013 at 2:08 PM by Steven Stanley


Southern California musical theater star Gordon Goodman brings to life stage-and-screen legend John Barrymore in William Luce’s Barrymore, the virtual one-man-show that won its originator Christopher Plummer the Tony and could well earn Goodman equivalent recognition when L.A. award season comes around.
(read more)

Tags: , , , , , ,
posted in Los Angeles, Solo Performance, Theater Review, WOW!

LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL

posted on November 16th, 2013 at 3:09 PM by Steven Stanley


No intimate theater company in L.A. has produced more—or more consistently excellent—intimate revivals of contemporary Broadway classics over the past half-dozen years than August Viverito and TL Kolman’s The Production Company. Now, following in the illustrious footsteps of The ProdCo’s M Butterfly, Equus, Copenhagen, Amadeus, and The Beauty Queen Of Leenane, comes Viverito and Kolman’s latest (and one of their best), Ketti Frings’ 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel.
(read more)

Tags: , , , ,
posted in Drama, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON

posted on November 15th, 2013 at 6:23 PM by Steven Stanley


The Occupy Wall Street spirit of 2011 lives on in 2013 as a dozen-and-a-half phenomenally talented UC Irvine triple-threats give the politics of two centuries ago a thrillingly contemporary feel in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, now in its final performances at UCI’s Claire Trevor Theatre.
(read more)

Tags: , , , ,
posted in Musical, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

Next PagePrevious Page