RENT

posted on March 19th, 2010 at 5:43 PM by Steven Stanley


Following their outstanding 2009 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, The El Camino College Theatre Department has made Jonathan Larson’s Rent this year’s annual musical theater production, and the result is a thoroughly professional, often exciting staging of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning hit.
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posted in Musical, South Bay, WOW!

A GIANT ARC IN THE SKYCAPE OF DIRECTIONS

posted on March 18th, 2010 at 5:37 PM by Steven Stanley


Playwright Michael Vukadinovich takes a half dozen or so Biblical characters and stands them on their ear in his lyrical, fantastical new play A Giant Arc In The Skyspace Of Directions Or The Story Of Miracles. 
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posted in Comedy-Drama, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

posted on March 16th, 2010 at 11:30 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
Actors Co-op is attempting pretty much the impossible—a 90 minute version
of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime And Punishment, featuring a cast of three.  The
adaptation, written by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus, debuted
several years ago in Chicago, where it won the Jefferson Award for “Best New
Adaptation.” The playwrights deserve high marks for condensing a mammoth
novel into a one-act play without sacrificing cohesion.  Its message of
redemption is particularly appropriate for the Christian-based Co-op.  Director
Ken Sawyer is a master of the visual, and the production looks great.  
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Recommended

IN A GARDEN

posted on March 16th, 2010 at 12:44 AM by Steven Stanley


Middle East Meets West in Howard Korder’s thought-provoking culture clash dramatic comedy In A Garden, now playing to considerable acclaim at South Coast Repertory.
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posted in Drama, Orange County, WOW!

SWEENEY TODD

posted on March 14th, 2010 at 12:42 AM by Steven Stanley


Anyone who’s seen only Tim Burton’s film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd or the “high-concept” production at the Ahmanson last year is hereby advised to head down (or up or over) to Torrance and catch the absolutely phenomenal revival being staged at El Camino College.
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posted in Musical, South Bay, WOW!

SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM

posted on March 14th, 2010 at 12:35 AM by Steven Stanley


Yes, Virginia, there was a Stephen Sondheim before Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday In The Park with George, Into The Woods, Assassins, Dick Tracy, and Passion—as the 1976 musical revue Side By Side By Sondheim makes perfectly clear. 
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical Revue, WOW!

TRYING

posted on March 13th, 2010 at 12:32 AM by Steven Stanley


There are times when all it takes is two actors to fill a stage, to fill it with humor and drama and heart. Trying, Joanna McClelland Glass’s much-loved two-hander, provides a pair of actors with just such an opportunity to shine. 

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posted in Comedy-Drama, Ventura County, WOW!

THE WILD PARTY

posted on March 12th, 2010 at 12:29 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED

Just like the kids who pooled their talents to “put on a show” in 1939’s Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland flick Babes In Arms, so the young 21st Century performers of Still Hungry Theatre have banded together to stage Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party on a shoestring—with commendable results.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, Recommended

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