INTO THE WOODS

posted on April 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 PM by Steven Stanley


Anyone interested in getting a preview of tomorrow’s musical theater stars today could do no better than to check out the USC School Of Theatre’s current production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into The Woods, performed CLO-scale and directed by Emmy, Tony, Drama Desk, Ovation and LADCC Award-winning John Rubinstein (Broadway’s original Pippin).  Like last year’s sensational Brigadoon, also directed by Rubinstein, Into The Woods is a terrifically performed treat, and one that does justice to its brilliant source material.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, WOW!

ALTAR BOYZ

posted on April 2nd, 2010 at 11:27 PM by Steven Stanley


I have a confession to make. I’m in love with Altar Boyz. The Boyz themselves and the musical that bears their name.  Since discovering the Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording in 2005 (which I’ve listened to more times that I could possibly count), I’ve had the thrill of seeing the show’s First National Tour, two regional productions, Altar Boyz’ first L.A. intimate theater staging, and now, a sensational Altar Boyz #5 at Santa Ana’s OC Pavilion, a production which puts the Boyz back on the big stage where the shows probably fits best.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

THE PSYCHIC

posted on April 1st, 2010 at 11:23 PM by Steven Stanley


Sam Bobrick’s The Psychic, at The Falcon Theatre, is a devilishly clever comedy/mystery with a hilarious first act and an even better second one that takes on an added layer of brilliance half-way through.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Comedy, WOW!

GREG LONDON

posted on April 1st, 2010 at 11:37 AM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

AWAKE AND SING!

posted on March 31st, 2010 at 6:10 PM by Steven Stanley


If all you knew about New York in the 1930s came from Hollywood movies, you’d think that the city was populated entirely with zany heiresses and egomaniacal divas whose broken legs allowed their talented understudies to go on and become overnight Broadway stars. That’s why Clifford Odet’s Depression-era drama Awake And Sing!, now being revived in an absolutely splendid production at Glendale’s A Noise Within, comes as such an eye-opening surprise. There’s not an heiress, diva, or talented understudy in sight.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Drama, WOW!

SPEECH & DEBATE

posted on March 28th, 2010 at 6:08 PM by Steven Stanley


You’d think by now that closeted politicians would have learned their lesson.  Vote consistently homophobic and people will suspect you have a secret to hide.  Troll the Internet or public restrooms and that secret will out you whether you like it or not.
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posted in Comedy, San Diego County, WOW!

ALIVE AND WELL

posted on March 28th, 2010 at 6:06 PM by Steven Stanley


She: I never apologize cause I am never wrong.
He:  Neither am I!

Is this any way to start a relationship? Well, in the world of romantic comedies it is.  Think of all the great screen couples whose road to love began with out-and-out hatred, or at least some good old-fashioned dislike.  Think Gable and Colbert in It Happened One Night, Crystal and Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, or last year’s Reynolds and Bullock in The Proposal. Couples like these carry on a great tradition begun perhaps by Will Shakespeare in The Taming Of The Shrew, or who knows, maybe from as far back as Adam and Eve.
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posted in Comedy, San Diego County, WOW!

URINETOWN

posted on March 27th, 2010 at 6:04 PM by Steven Stanley


Musicals with one-word titles are a grand Broadway traditon. There’s Annie, Brigadoon, Cabaret, Dreamgirls, Grease, Hair, Kismet, Mame, Oklahoma!, Oliver!, Pippin, and Rent—to name just a dozen. Still, neither Rodgers and Hammerstein nor Jerry Herman nor Lerner and Lowe could ever in their wildest of dreams have conceived of titling a musical Urinetown.  From its one-of-kind title alone, you know from the get-go that Urinetown is not going to be your parents’ or grandparents’ musical. 
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posted in Musical, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

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