ASKANCE

posted on December 24th, 2011 at 4:10 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
The sins of the past play havoc with the lives of a trio of seniors about to be booted from their retirement home in Kerr Seth Lordygan’s World Premiere drama Askance. Though still a work in progress, Askance is capably directed for the Eclectic Company Theatre by Sabrina Lloyd, features several particularly strong performances, and concludes with some satisfying Act Two surprise twists and revelations.
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posted in Drama, North Hollywood, Recommended

BANANAS! A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOSEPHINE BAKER

posted on December 23rd, 2011 at 2:39 PM by Steven Stanley


When Halle Berry became the first African American to win a Best Actress Academy Award in 2002, she dedicated her golden statuette to a trio of pioneering black performers—Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, and Diahann Carroll—for opening the door to Berry’s Oscar win. In retrospect, Berry could just have easily added a fourth name to the list, that of Josephine Baker, the first African-American female to star in a major motion picture, the first to perform before an integrated audience in an American concert hall, and the first to see her fame spread throughout the world.
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posted in North Hollywood, Solo Performance, WOW!

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!

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