HAIRSPRAY

posted on October 14th, 2012 at 8:59 PM by Steven Stanley


When I tell you that 3-D Theatricals’ big-stage, big-budget production of “Broadway’s Big Fat Musical Comedy Hit” is the best Hairspray I’ve seen since catching both the original Broadway production and its First National Tour in 2004, trust me that having seen now nine different productions since then (all in the space of two and a half years), this is the Hairspray not to be missed.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’

posted on October 13th, 2012 at 4:42 PM by Steven Stanley


The music of the Harlem Renaissance lives again in Long Beach as five sensational triple-threats perform the music of Fats Waller in International City Theatre’s snazzy revival of the 1978 Tony-winning Best Musical Ain’t Misbehavin’.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical Revue, WOW!

ORDINARY DAYS

posted on October 12th, 2012 at 5:38 PM by Steven Stanley


The lives of the four young New Yorkers featured in Adam Gwon’s Ordinary Days may well be nothing out of the ordinary, but the same cannot be said about the exquisite chamber musical which Southern Californians first discovered in 2010 in its big-stage West Coast Premiere at South Coast Repertory.

Now, director Patrick Pearson and a talented cast of Cal State Fullerton Musical Theater BFA majors bring Gwon’s musical back to its intimate theater roots at CSUF’s off-campus black box, Santa Ana’s Grand Central Theatre, and what a gem of a production it is.

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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

TWILIGHT ZONE UNSCRIPTED

posted on October 11th, 2012 at 11:15 PM by Steven Stanley


“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.”

Anyone around in the early 1960s can surely recall these words, and the voice of the man speaking them, the legendary Rod Serling, creator of the iconic TV series The Twilight Zone, one which spawned a feature film, a radio series, a comic book, a magazine, and various other spin-offs over the next five decades, including two revival television series and now, in 2012, an evening of hilariously improvised theater which the masters of improvisation known as Impro Theatre have entitled—what else?—Twilight Zone Unscripted.
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posted in Comedy, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

posted on October 9th, 2012 at 5:42 PM by Steven Stanley


Autobiographical solo performances may sometimes seem to be a dime a dozen in L.A. (or at the very least during Fringe Festival season), but when was the last time you saw an autobiographical magic show by one of the finest actors in town?

Unless you’ve caught Albie Selznick’s Smoke And Mirrors, the answer is probably “No”—all the more reason not to miss this hour-and-a-half of mysterious card tricks, furniture and humans levitated without a cord in sight, and handkerchiefs turned into birds of many colors, birds, birds, and more birds, enough to fill a mini-aviary, or at least a very large cage. Add to that an otherworldly Oracle (who’d make a terrific stand up comedienne if only she had legs to stand up on instead of just a gigantic, balloon-shaped head), a human-sized bunny rabbit, and a poignant coming-of-age story and you’ve got one uniquely entertaining show, directed with panache by Paul Millet.
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posted in Solo Performance, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

DANGEROUS CORNER

posted on October 8th, 2012 at 9:00 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
“Director’s concept” is a tricky business. When inspired, it can enhance a writer’s intentions and allow audiences to see a play or musical in new, exciting ways. When misguided, it can detract from a production’s effectiveness and distract an audience from a clear perception of what the playwright is trying to say. The latter proves to be the case in Crown City Theatre Company’s revival of J.B. Priestley’s 1932 drama Dangerous Corner, though fortunately not fatally so.
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posted in Drama, North Hollywood, Recommended

ANYTHING GOES

posted on October 7th, 2012 at 10:59 PM by Steven Stanley


Way back in Broadway’s pre-Oklahoma! days, pretty much all that was required to create a hit musical was a a dozen or so songs (preferably by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George & Ira Gershwin, or Rodgers & Hart) and some lively dance numbers (the kind that Busby Berkeley was creating both in New York and in Hollywood). As for plot, three-dimensional characters, or any trace of the dramatic, well who needed those so long as a show’s zany characters made you laugh?
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posted in Musical, San Gabriel Valley, WOW!

OVERLOOKED

posted on October 6th, 2012 at 3:11 PM by Steven Stanley


Playwright Brian Nelson skewers the pretentious Ways Of The (Art) World in his acidic new comedy Overlooked, now getting its World Premiere at Orange County’s award-winning Chance Theater.
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posted in Comedy, Orange County, WOW!

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