SWEENEY TODD

posted on September 17th, 2013 at 5:43 PM by Steven Stanley


Candlelight Pavilion takes its audiences on a considerably darker though no less entertaining journey than usual (with several menu items given a ghoulish though no less delicious twist) as the landmark Claremont dinner theater stages a Grade A Prime revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Weaver’s Sweeney Todd.
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posted in Musical, San Gabriel Valley, Theater Review, WOW!

THE BURNT PART BOYS

posted on September 16th, 2013 at 4:30 PM by Steven Stanley


An Appalachian teen sets off on a mission that will change his life and the lives of those he loves in Mariana Elder, Chris Miller, and Nathan Tysen’s exquisite new musical, The Burnt-Part Boys, now getting a polished gem of a West Coast Premiere under the inspired direction of Richard Israel.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

AH, WILDERNESS!

posted on September 15th, 2013 at 11:45 PM by Steven Stanley

A quarter century before Eugene O’Neill’s deep dark look at a fictionalized version of his drug-and-alcohol-addicted family, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, first opened on Broadway, the soon-to-be Nobel laureate treated 1933 New York theatergoers to an idealized vision of that same family in his one-and-only comedy Ah, Wilderness!

Now, a year after its multiple-Scenie-winning revival of Long Day’s Journey, Actors Co-op introduces its audiences to the Millers (a lighter, brighter version of the O’Neills/Jeromes), and what a delightful, beautifully staged and acted production the Co-op has come up with.
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE

posted on September 13th, 2013 at 3:52 PM by Steven Stanley


Men may be from Mars and Women from Venus, but the twain do meet … and fall head over heels … and then decide it’s time to fix each other’s flaws in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts’ smash off-Broadway musical revue, now getting a sparklingly performed 17th Anniversary revival at North Hollywood’s Crown City Theatre.
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posted in Musical Revue, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

STEEL MAGNOLIAS

posted on September 12th, 2013 at 4:44 PM by Steven Stanley


You may have seen Steel Magnolias before, either on stage or on film, but you’ve never seen magnolias of steel quite like the six women now lighting up the stage at East West Players’ David Henry Hwang Theater.  Robert Harling’s now iconic Southern belles are Asian-American this time round, their ethnicity adding new shadings to this sextet of women whose delicate exteriors mask tough-as-nails cores.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, Theater Review, WOW!

DEATH OF A SALESMAN

posted on September 9th, 2013 at 10:30 PM by Steven Stanley


What better way for South Coast Repertory to open its 50th Anniversary season than with what many consider the finest play of the 20th Century, Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Death Of A Salesman, and to do so with a twist—by casting the Lomans as an African-American family.
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posted in Drama, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

FUNNY GIRL

posted on September 8th, 2013 at 2:15 PM by Steven Stanley


In the forty-nine years since Funny Girl debuted on Broadway, this musical biography of Fanny Brice has pretty much faded into obscurity despite its eight Tony nominations, and if regional revivals have been few and far between, blame that on a leading role that’s a bear to cast, a book that’s been aptly dubbed problematic, and absolutely no Funny Girl sets or costumes available for rent.

3-D Theatricals solves two of these three problems in its sensational from-the-ground-up revival, and though Isobel Lennart’s book remains more than a bit of a hodgepodge, Nicole Parker’s absolutely stellar lead performance, Michael Matthews’ inspired direction, and brand new Broadway-caliber sets and costumes by Stephen Gifford and Cheryl Sheldon make this revival another 3-D-T winner.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, Theater Review, WOW!

bare a rock musical

posted on September 7th, 2013 at 3:56 PM by Steven Stanley


A Catholic high school is hardly the most welcoming environment for two boys to fall in love, especially when one of them is deeply conflicted about his sexuality, as Jon Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo’s bare made heartbreaking clear in its 2000 World Premiere at the Hudson Mainstage Theater.

Now, thirteen years later, glory|struck productions brings bare back to the city of its birth in an exciting revival that could easily turn into the season’s biggest intimate musical smash.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

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