LITTLE WOMEN THE MUSICAL

posted on April 23rd, 2012 at 9:55 PM by Steven Stanley


Few recent Broadway shows offer as many fine roles for theater majors as Little Women The Musical, making it a terrific showcase for students of Cal State Fullerton’s illustrious BFA in Musical Theatre program. That CSUF’s spring musical 2012 also happens to be a delightful, entertaining family treat makes it well worth a drive down to the OC.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

ELTON JOHN & TIM RICE’S AIDA

posted on April 22nd, 2012 at 6:35 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
At any time in the 20th Century, if you’d asked a theatergoer to say the first word to pop into his or her head upon hearing the name Aida, chances are it would have been “opera” or “Verdi” or some other classical music reference. Then came the year 2000, and the smash Broadway hit of the same name, and a whole new bunch of word associations were born—composer Elton John, lyricist Tim Rice, original star Heather Headley, replacement stars Toni Braxton and Deborah Cox, “Written In The Stars” (the hit single by John and LeAnn Rimes), or any number of more contemporary references. These days, when you talk about Aida, more than Verdi’s heroine comes to mind.
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posted in Musical, Recommended, San Gabriel Valley

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS

posted on April 21st, 2012 at 1:57 PM by Steven Stanley


For musical theater fans in search of something out of the ordinary, Cabrillo Music Theatre has just the show for you, a star-studded revival of the 1959 Broadway hit Once Upon A Mattress and a terrific companion piece to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which Cabrillo just happens to have staged two summers ago.
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posted in Musical, Ventura County, WOW!

THE BEWILDERED HERD

posted on April 21st, 2012 at 12:10 PM by Steven Stanley


Among political commentator Walter Lippmann’s best known quotes is the following: “The public must be put in its place…so that each of us may live free of the trampling and the roar of a bewildered herd.” In other words, if you want democracy to work, you’ve got to control the minds of the masses, something which political consultant Charlie “Bingo” Bingham, the (anti)hero of Cody Henderson’s World Premiere The Bewildered Herd knows only too well. You might even call it Bingo’s mission in life to keep the bewildered herd (i.e.  the people in his life—and you and me) in line.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Los Angeles, WOW!

MISS SAIGON

posted on April 20th, 2012 at 2:31 PM by Steven Stanley


When recreating one of Broadway’s biggest smash hits of the 1990s, there’s perhaps no better way of keeping things fresh than to start off with a creative team brand new to the project. That’s precisely the approach that McCoy Rigby Entertainment have taken with the La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts’ Miss Saigon, a production guaranteed to thrill Southland audiences with its epic blend of war, romance, gorgeous melodies, and show-stopping production numbers. Directed by Brian Kite with an eye to the authentic, this Miss Saigon focuses on the human relationships central to the story while maintaining the elements of spectacle that have been thrilling audiences worldwide for more than two decades.
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posted in Downey/La Mirada, Musical, WOW!

DEREK KEELING

posted on April 19th, 2012 at 2:13 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

A NEW BRAIN

posted on April 17th, 2012 at 5:25 PM by Steven Stanley


Musical Theatre Guild continued its finest season in years with Monday evening’s one-night-only concert staged reading of William Finn’s A New Brain, so brilliantly directed (by Todd Nielsen) and performed with such polish and panache that it came close to meriting the words “fully staged,” quite an achievement considering that the entire shebang was put together with a mere twenty-five hours of rehearsal.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Concert Staged Reading, WOW!

FORBIDDEN BROADWAY GREATEST HITS, VOLUME 2

posted on April 16th, 2012 at 11:44 PM by Steven Stanley


It’s been thirty years now since New York City audiences first got treated to Forbidden Broadway, a series of revues spoofing The Great White Way’s latest hits (and flops).

Since 1982, a revolving quartet of supertalented performers backed by a piano—and the master-satirist that is writer/creator Gerard Alessandrini—have lampooned Broadway legends like Carol Channing, Ethel Merman, and Mandy Patinkin, current hit shows like Wicked and Mary Poppins, and musical theater classics from Evita to Annie to Cats.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical Revue, WOW!

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