THE WHALE

posted on March 21st, 2013 at 12:16 AM by Steven Stanley


A morbidly obese man attempts to reconcile with his angry teenage daughter.

This is all I knew about Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale going in, and if you wish to be as blown away by this absolutely brilliant, unexpectedly funny, devastatingly powerful new play as I was, ask no questions. Simply reserve your seat at South Coast Repertory and let Hunter, director Martin Benson, and five phenomenal actors do the rest. You’ll thank me for not having given anything but this away.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Orange County, WOW!

THE SECRET GARDEN

posted on March 19th, 2013 at 6:43 PM by Steven Stanley


You’d think that theaters in search of grown-up entertainment for the entire family would be jumping at the chance to program Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s musical adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel The Secret Garden. 709 performances on Broadway, seven Tony Award nominations and two wins (for Norman’s book and Daisy Eagan’s performance as Mary). And as if that weren’t already enough, Norman’s book pays as much attention to the novel’s adult characters as it does its children while show’s Tony-nominated songs (music by Simon, lyrics by Norman) capture ever so gorgeously the sound and feel of the Yorkshire moors.

You’d think that this would be true, but you’d be wrong. The Secret Garden hasn’t had a big stage L.A.-area professional production for over a dozen years, all the more reason for Musical Theatre West to add it to this season’s Reiner Reading Series, a one-night-only event that not only brought Burnett’s classic story to unforgettable life, it did so after a mere twenty-five hours of rehearsal.
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posted in Concert Staged Reading, Long Beach/San Pedro, WOW!

RAGTIME

posted on March 18th, 2013 at 11:46 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
Kentwood Players takes on the many challenges of Ragtime, one of the most truly epic shows ever to have filled a Broadway stage, and achieves laudable results for a community theater production.
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posted in Musical, Recommended, West Side/Beverly HIlls

EURYDICE

posted on March 17th, 2013 at 11:43 AM by Steven Stanley


A Noise Within continues its Spring 2013 season, one with a decidedly more modern spin than is usual at California’s Home For The Classics, with Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl’s magical, mystical, poetic retelling of the Orpheus myth from the point of view of his bride.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Pasadena, WOW!

SETH NUMRICH

posted on March 16th, 2013 at 11:30 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION

posted on March 16th, 2013 at 3:06 PM by Steven Stanley


Daughter Discovers Mom To Be Millionaire Madam

No, this isn’t a headline story in The National Inquirer or on TMZ, nor is it the latest reality TV show or nighttime soap. In fact, the mother and daughter in question are from over a century back (when you only needed $40,000 to be a millionaire) and the two lead characters in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Can you say “ahead of its time?”

Shaw’s 1893 ground-breaker makes an exciting return to Los Angeles as The Antaeus Company premieres another if its couldn’t-be-better revivals starring the incomparable Anne Gee Byrd in the title role. Who could ask for anything more?
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posted in Comedy-Drama, North Hollywood, WOW!

WHAT MAY FALL

posted on March 15th, 2013 at 4:50 PM by Steven Stanley


A senseless random tragedy causes nine Minneapolitans to reevaluate their lives in Peter Gil-Sheridan’s What May Fall, now getting a compelling, beautifully acted, incisively directed West Coast Premiere at Hollywood’s Theatre Of NOTE.
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

HAVING IT ALL

posted on March 13th, 2013 at 11:32 AM by Steven Stanley


Having scored a grand total of seven Ovation Award nominations in its 2011 World Premiere run, the hit musical Having It All now graduates to the big stage of the Laguna Playhouse in a production which reunites four of its five original stars and preserves the many pleasures Angelinos enjoyed in it the first time round … and then some.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

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