THE GAYEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER!

posted on December 23rd, 2011 at 12:27 PM by Steven Stanley


The old adage that “timing is everything” proves doubly true for the Paul Storiale-directed production of Joe Marshall’s The Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever! A not yet fully rehearsed opening weekend was hardly the most propitious time for inviting critics to review its West Coast Premiere, and without sufficient rehearsal, the draggy production I saw two weeks ago lacked (among other things) the razor-sharp timing so essential in a screwball comedy. Fortunately, this reviewer’s schedule has permitted a return visit, and I can happily report that this new, improved The Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever! merits a largely unqualified WOW! What a difference time and timing can make.
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posted in Comedy, North Hollywood, WOW!

STATIONS: A Los Angeles Holiday Story

posted on December 21st, 2011 at 3:11 PM by Steven Stanley


The gifted young artists of Boom Kat Dance Theatre, creators of the Ovation-nominated, multiple Scenie-winning Neverwonderland, are back at Santa Monica’s Miles Memorial Playhouse with the perfect Christmas gift for theatergoers in search of that illusive Holiday Spirit.
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posted in Musical, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

MY THREE ANGELS

posted on December 18th, 2011 at 2:47 PM by Steven Stanley


A trio of convicts transported to 1910 French Guiana prove Christmas guardian angels to an absentminded shopkeeper, his long-suffering wife, and their lovesick daughter in Sam and Bella Spewack’s charming 1953 comedy My Three Angels, delightfully revived for 21st Century audiences by theGROUPrep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre.
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posted in Comedy, North Hollywood, WOW!

AFTER HOURS

posted on December 15th, 2011 at 11:41 AM by Steven Stanley


Cancer patients and family members dealing with the Big C let down their hair (and occasionally their guard) at a bar called After Hours in E.M. Hodge’s aptly named After Hours, now getting its World Premiere at Theatre 68.  Like Michael Christofer’s The Shadow Box, Hodge’s dramedy finds considerable laughter amongst the inevitable tears, and under Paul McGee’s assured direction, marks a promising full-length debut for the playwright.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Los Angeles, WOW!

IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS

posted on December 14th, 2011 at 3:36 PM by Steven Stanley


We Angelinos may not be waking up to snow on our lawns this Christmas season, but snowflakes (or a close equivalent of them) will be falling on L.A. and Orange County heads throughout December at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts, where the National Tour of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas has just settled in for a three-week visit.
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posted in Musical, National Tour, Orange County, WOW!

SOME LOVERS

posted on December 13th, 2011 at 6:36 PM by Steven Stanley


Burt Bacharach is back, and the Old Globe’s got him—in Some Lovers, the master composer’s first original musical since 1968’s Promises, Promises, and as gorgeously tuneful and romantic a show as you’re likely to see this or any other holiday season.
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posted in Musical, San Diego County, WOW!

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

posted on December 12th, 2011 at 7:57 PM by Steven Stanley


The Grinch has been stealing Christmas for the past fifty-four years, ever since the now classic Dr. Seuss children’s book first hit the stands, yet who would have thought then that the curmudgeonly cave-dweller with a heart “two sizes too small” would go on to conquer the small screen (in a 1966 animated special featuring the voice of Boris Karloff as the Grinch), the big screen (Jim Carrey played the hairy Green One in 2000), and even Broadway (in musical theater form in 2006 and ’07)? Not even Dr. Seuss himself could have imagined such a future for his 1957 picture book.
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posted in Musical, San Diego County, WOW!

A CHRISTMAS WESTSIDE STORY

posted on December 11th, 2011 at 11:49 AM by Steven Stanley


Take the storyline of a classic holiday flick, add the music of a revolutionary Broadway musical, stir in the iconic dance moves of that musical smash, and sprinkle with the zaniness that has become the trademark of Troubadour Theater Company, and you have A Christmas Westside Story, possibly the most sensational Troubies show yet.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, WOW!

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