WHAT THE BUTLER SAW

posted on May 4th, 2013 at 11:51 PM by Steven Stanley

NOT RECOMMENDED

The late great Joe Orton wrote three of 20th Century England’s most outrageously funny, audacious, and sexually provocative screwball farces, though you’d hardly know it from the misguided revival of 1969’s What The Butler Saw now playing at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre under Ben Lupejkis’ direction.
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posted in Comedy, Not Recommended, WOW!

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

posted on May 4th, 2013 at 1:26 PM by Steven Stanley


The Tony-winning 2006 Broadway musical The Drowsy Chaperone makes for a terrifically entertaining Spring Musical over at Cerritos College, starring a trio of Cal State Fullerton triple-threats under the expert supervision of director Patrick Pearson, musical director Hector Salazar, and choreographer Kelly Todd.
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posted in Downey/La Mirada, Musical, WOW!

THE NORTH PLAN

posted on May 4th, 2013 at 11:27 AM by Steven Stanley


Imagine that the fate of the entire free world, or of these United States at the very least, depended upon a single individual … who just happened to be the foulest-mouthed, reddest-necked single mom in all of small-town southern Missouri.

Playwright Jason Wells does just this in his uproarious, outrageous, yet frighteningly plausible political comedy thriller The North Plan, the funniest/ edgiest show in town and a terrific welcome back to Elephant Theatre Company.
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

DAVID R. GORDON

posted on May 2nd, 2013 at 11:24 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

tick, tick… BOOM!

posted on May 1st, 2013 at 11:41 PM by Steven Stanley


USC’s Musical Theatre Repertory concludes its eight annual season with Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick… BOOM!, providing Larson lovers with a terrifically entertaining, imaginatively re-envisioned staging of Larson’s posthumous, autobiographical, pre-Rent musical gem, one which, like all MTR productions, is directed, choreographed, designed, and performed entirely by students.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, WOW!

REAL MEN SING SHOW TUNES…AND PLAY WITH PUPPETS

posted on April 29th, 2013 at 12:11 PM by Steven Stanley


Women have had their Menopause The Musical. Gay men have had their Naked Boys Singing. Now, at last, straight men have their very own R-rated musical revue—Real Men Sing Show Tunes…and play with puppets, now tickling the ribs of both male and  female theatergoers seventeen and older at the Palos Verdes-adjacent Norris Theatre.
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posted in Musical Revue, South Bay, WOW!

FALLING FOR MAKE BELIEVE

posted on April 28th, 2013 at 7:25 PM by Steven Stanley


The brief but artistically blessed life of legendary Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart now serves as the inspiration for Falling For Make Believe, a Colony Theatre World Premiere musical that entertains, elucidates, and ends up this spring’s most unexpected treat.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, WOW!

GOD’S MAN IN TEXAS

posted on April 27th, 2013 at 2:36 PM by Steven Stanley


“And I am telling you, I’m not going!”

No, it’s not Effie White belting out a showstopper in Dreamgirls, but the spoken words of Dr. Philip Gottschall, an 81-year-old Texas megapreacher unwilling to give up the pulpit of a church he’s built up to a congregation of 30,000 and counting, and it’s not Deena Jones who’s in Eve Harrington mode, but 40something San Antonio pastor Jeremiah Mears, whom fully half of the pastoral search committee would like to see replace their aging leader. As for the other half, the status quo is fine, just fine.

Playwright David Rambo pits preacher against preacher in God’s Man In Texas, the latest offering from the newly re-energized Sierra Madre Playhouse, and if being forced to listen to considerable sermonizing by the kind of Christian fundamentalists who have recently made it their mission to “protect the sanctity of marriage” proved tough going in Act One, once Rambo’s central concern became evident in the play’s thoroughly compelling second act, this reviewer came to realize that any Act One discomfort was personal, and no reflection on what ends up one humdinger of a play.
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posted in Drama, San Gabriel Valley, WOW!

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