DANIEL J. SELF

posted on June 12th, 2013 at 10:56 AM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

GIRL CRAZY

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


Musical theater lovers who might have wondered just how revolutionary Oklahoma! was when it redefined the Broadway musical in 1944 got a tangy taste of what came before it at Monday night’s terrifically entertaining Musical Theatre Guild concert staged reading of George and Ira Gershwin’s Girl Crazy.

Fully integrated songs and dances? No way. Lyrics that advanced the plot? Forget it. Serious subject matter? You must be kidding! And as for 21st Century political correctness, there was no such thing back in 1930 when Jews, Mexicans, Gypsies, Asians, Gays, Women, you name it, were deemed joke-worthy.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Concert Staged Reading, Theater Review, Ventura County, WOW!

DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE

posted on June 10th, 2013 at 4:33 PM by Steven Stanley

If there’s nothing more annoying than the sudden sound of a cell phone going off in a public place, how about when the owner of said phone just lets it ring … and ring … and ring? No wonder Jean, the heroine of Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone, finally loses her patience and goes over to give the negligent phone owner a piece of her mind. It’s only then that she discovers that the man with the annoying cell phone has, as they say, met his maker.

Thus begins Ruhl’s whimsical Helen Hays Award-nominated comedy, a sure bet to entertain audiences at Long Beach’s International City Theatre, particularly with director Richard Israel imaginatively in charge.
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posted in Comedy, Long Beach/San Pedro, Theater Review, WOW!

HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

posted on June 9th, 2013 at 7:45 PM by Steven Stanley


That go-getting whiz kid J. Pierpont Finch is once again zipping his way up the corporate ladder as Performance Riverside gives the Broadway classic How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying a crackerjack revival well-worth the drive east.
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posted in Inland Empire, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

A MIDSUMMER SATURDAY NIGHT’S FEVER DREAM

posted on June 8th, 2013 at 3:04 PM by Steven Stanley

“If we offend, it is with our good will, that you should think, we come not to offend, but with good will.”

The prologue is straight out of Shakespeare, but after that, you know you’re in Troubies Land as the strains of “Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive. Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive” fill the Falcon Theatre … and the Troubadour Theater Company’s latest crowd-pleaser A Midsummer Saturday Night’s Fever Dream is off and running.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

SPRING AWAKENING

posted on June 7th, 2013 at 5:17 PM by Steven Stanley


An extraordinarily talented team of students and faculty, including Broadway hoofer-turned-choreographer extraordinaire Andrew Palermo, have joined forces to create a Spring Awakening so fresh and original, my guess is that book writer-lyricist Steven Sater and composer Duncan Sheik might have a hard time choosing between the Broadway production and UC Irvine’s thoroughly original re-envisioning of their ground-breaking 2007 Tony-winning Best Musical.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

DYING CITY

posted on June 5th, 2013 at 5:00 PM by Steven Stanley


A young man’s unannounced arrival at the New York apartment of his deceased twin brother’s widow triggers the gradual revelation of three lifetimes’ worth of secrets and lies in Christopher Shinn’s Dying City, now getting a compelling, beautifully acted and directed Los Angeles premiere at Rogue Machine.
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posted in Drama, Los Angeles, Theater Review, WOW!

SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE – THE MUSICAL

posted on June 4th, 2013 at 6:06 PM by Steven Stanley


The movie that turned Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan overnight into America’s romantic comedy sweethearts now makes a sparkling transition from film to stage as the Pasadena Playhouse presents the World Premiere of Sleepless In Seattle – The Musical.
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posted in Musical, Theater Review, WOW!

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