MAKING PARADISE: THE WEST HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL

posted on October 24th, 2010 at 12:55 PM by Steven Stanley


Cornerstone Theatre Company and the city of West Hollywood celebrate their mutual Silver Anniversaries with the World Premiere of Making Paradise: The West Hollywood Musical. Featuring a cast of thirty-one, some of whom have never acted before, let alone sung and danced on a theater stage, Making Paradise tells the story of the founding of WeHo through exactly the kind of people who make up its population—a gay, lesbian, straight, and transgender, rainbow colored, multiracial, multiethnic mix of 20somethings, middle-agers, and octogenarians. Some of the voices are only so-so and some cast members appear to be working hard on remembering which dance step follows which—and it matters not a whit. Making Paradise: The West Hollywood Musical succeeds not just because of its strengths but also because of (what in a more traditional production would be considered) its weaknesses. It’s a thrilling, dramatic, informative, entertaining, suspenseful, and ultimately quite moving piece of theater.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, WOW!

BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE

posted on October 23rd, 2010 at 9:58 PM by Steven Stanley


A decade and a half before Samantha “Bewitched” Darren Stephens, a gorgeous young sorceress named Gillian cast a spell over New York publisher Shep Henderson in John Van Druten’s 1950 Broadway comedy Bell, Book, And Candle, best known for its 1959 film adaptation starring James Stewart and Kim Novak. Though the original stage version made it into John Gassner’s Best American Plays series as one of 1945-1951’s seventeen best (alongside Death Of A Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Mister Roberts), Bell, Book, And Candle has pretty much disappeared from theatrical view, at least in major professional productions. That’s why its arrival at Burbank’s Colony Theater qualifies as rather an event, even more so because unlike many mid-century plays, Van Druten’s romcom holds up very well indeed, scarcely seeming sixty years of age.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Comedy, WOW!

GOD’S FAVORITE

posted on October 23rd, 2010 at 10:21 AM by Steven Stanley


A messenger from God arrives at the Long Island mansion of multimillionaire business tycoon Joe Benjamin and informs him, “If you cherish your children and wife, the house that shelters you, the clothes that warm you and the flesh that covers you, if pain, calamity and disaster do not in any manner whatsoever appeal to you, then renounce your God!” Joe refuses, and is soon afflicted by a series of calamities that would test the patience of Job. Does this sound like a Neil Simon comedy to you?
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

HAPPY DAYS

posted on October 22nd, 2010 at 10:25 AM by Steven Stanley


Happy Days (and nights) have arrived at the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center as Cabrillo Music Theatre presents Happy Days, the popular new(ish) musical based on Garry Marshall’s TV favorite.
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posted in Musical, Ventura County, WOW!

THE TRAIN DRIVER

posted on October 21st, 2010 at 10:07 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
The partnership of Athol Fugard and The Fountain Theatre has possibly led to more awards and award nominations than any ongoing collaboration between writer and theater in the Los Angeles area. Fountain productions of Fugard’s The Road To Mecca, Exits And Entrances, Victory, and Coming Home have won raves from local reviewers and numerous Ovations and LADCC awards, among others. The arrival of Fugard’s latest, The Train Driver, a work the playwright describes as “the most important play I’ve written” therefore seemed a good opportunity to see what all the kudos have been about.
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posted in Drama, Los Angeles, Recommended

DIVING NORMAL

posted on October 20th, 2010 at 10:06 AM by Steven Stanley


The lives of three 20something New Yorkers intersect in Diving Normal, Ashlin Halfnight’s smart, funny, engrossing comedy-drama now getting its West Coast Premiere at the SFS Theatre under Neil H. Weiss’s astute direction.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, WOW!

FDR

posted on October 19th, 2010 at 10:10 AM by Steven Stanley

NOT RECOMMENDED

The Pasadena Playhouse has reopened only nine months after the sad announcement that it was closing its doors for good, news worth celebrating in the streets with fireworks to light up the sky. If only FDR, the production chosen to welcome back Playhouse subscribers and friends, were equally deserving of a celebration.
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posted in Drama, Not Recommended, Pasadena

THE ACCIDENTAL BLONDE

posted on October 17th, 2010 at 9:23 PM by Steven Stanley


She’s done Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, and Wrath. Now playwright Leslye Headland turns her deliciously acerbic pen to Envy in The Accidental Blonde, the sixth and latest of her Seven Deadly Plays, a dark comedy that’s one of her best and easily the most unique.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

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