THE MERCY SEAT

posted on March 13th, 2011 at 4:06 PM by Steven Stanley


What if a national tragedy offered you the chance to start a new life, in a new city, without the complications of a marriage you no longer wanted to be part of and children you didn’t want to put through the hell of a divorce? What if there was someone else in your life, someone you’d been seeing secretly for several years, someone who could start that new life with you somewhere far, far away if you simply pretended to be one of the missing-presumed-dead? Would you make the break for freedom? Would she be willing to join you?
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG

posted on March 13th, 2011 at 3:58 PM by Steven Stanley


When Abby Mann wrote Judgment At Nuremberg for its 1959 telecast on Playhouse 90, the Eisenhower administration set about to insure that the production would never see the airwaves. A teleplay about Nazi war criminals on trial for their part in the Holocaust could impede efforts to make Germany an ally in the then-raging Cold War, officials maintained. Ultimately, though, the show did go on, but not without one of the program’s sponsors, American Gas, Inc., insisting on muting the words “gas ovens.”
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posted in Drama, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

I LOVE YOU BECAUSE

posted on March 12th, 2011 at 3:51 PM by Steven Stanley


I Love You Because is one of the funniest and most delightful new musicals of the past few years. It has one of the most tuneful, memorable scores you’re likely to hear this year or next. It’s also one of the most unabashedly romantic musical comedies ever. So, you may be asking yourself, “Why have I never heard of it?” to which this reviewer would add, “Why has this near perfect gem of a chamber musical comedy still not gotten its Los Angeles Premiere in the five years since it debuted off-Broadway?”
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

THE NEXT FAIRY TALE

posted on March 11th, 2011 at 4:09 PM by Steven Stanley


If there were a book titled Everything I’ve Learned In Life, I’ve Learned From Fairy Tales, then what lessons could a pintsized LGBT-in-training gain from it? That Cinderella found her Prince? That a Prince awoke Sleeping Beauty with a kiss? That a kiss turned a Princess’s frog into a handsome Prince? Where’s a little boy or girl to look for fairytale inspiration when what they’re secretly dreaming of is a Prince for him, and a Princess for her?
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, WOW!

WICKED

posted on March 10th, 2011 at 5:35 PM by Steven Stanley


The international smash musical sensation that is Wicked has arrived in Costa Mesa for a four-week run, two-to-four times longer than most of the Broadway Tours that play the Segerstrom Center For The Arts—and no wonder. Few musicals can rival Wicked in terms of song, romance, color, spectacle, and heart.
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posted in Musical, National Tour, Orange County, WOW!

CHICAGO

posted on March 9th, 2011 at 3:54 PM by Steven Stanley


When a Broadway musical settles in for a long run on the Great White Way, it’s a pretty sure bet that your local big city CLO won’t be producing its own regional production for a good long while. That’s why you’re unlikely to see Musical Theatre West or Civic Light Opera Of South Bay Cities presenting Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, Phantom Of The Opera, or Wicked anytime soon. That’s also why Inland Valley Repertory Theatre’s production of Chicago is big news indeed.
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posted in Musical, San Gabriel Valley, WOW!

THE WEDDING SINGER

posted on March 6th, 2011 at 5:30 PM by Steven Stanley


Fullerton’s Maverick Theater scores a coup by staging the 2006 Tony Award-nominated musical The Wedding Singer, and an entertaining production it is—a thoroughly enjoyable two hours of music, comedy, 1980s nostalgia, and romance.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

FOR THE RECORD: BAZ LUHRMANN

posted on March 5th, 2011 at 4:03 PM by Steven Stanley


What do you get when you blend New York-style cabaret, an octet of Broadway and on-their-way-to-Broadway stars, a sensational backup band, music from the silver screen, and a trendy Hollywood-adjacent night spot?
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posted in Cabaret/Concert/Variety, Los Angeles, WOW!

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