BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS

posted on February 26th, 2010 at 6:43 PM by Steven Stanley


It’s been said that Ginger Rogers became a star doing everything her dance partner Fred Astaire could do … but backwards in high heels. The Oscar-winning actress-dancer now gets her very own tribute musical, Lynette Barkley and Charles McGovern’s Backwards In High Heels, and it’s hard to imagine a better production of “The Ginger Musical” than the one just opened at Long Beach’s International City Theatre.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, WOW!

KISS ME KATE

posted on February 25th, 2010 at 6:49 PM by Steven Stanley


Compared to the 510 years that Petruchio has been telling Katherina to “Kiss me, Kate” in William Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew, the mere 62 that he’s been doing the same thing in Cole Porter’s Tony Award-winning Kiss Me Kate seem like no time at all, especially in as fresh and fun a production as the one currently on stage at Glendale Centre Theatre.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, WOW!

HIGH SPIRITS

posted on February 22nd, 2010 at 6:52 PM by Steven Stanley


For a musical based on the oft-revived Noël Coward comedy Blithe Spirit—and one that got eight Tony Award nominations to boot—you’d think that 1964’s High Spirits would have ended up a perennial CLO favorite. Somehow it didn’t, thereby making it ideal for one of Musical Theatre Guild’s concert staged readings of lesser known Broadway hits and misses. High Spirits’ one-performance-only production on Monday proved not only the rightness of the choice, but also that this is a show which deserves considerably more recognition than has been the case.  With absolutely stellar work by its four leads and its superb direction by the multi-talented Richard Israel, MTG’s High Sprits had its audience in high, high spirits indeed.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Concert Staged Reading, WOW!

BROADS THE MUSICAL

posted on February 21st, 2010 at 6:57 PM by Steven Stanley


Life begins at 65 for Elaine, Louise, Myra and Nilda, aka The Broads, and for those of you out there who’ve never heard of them, just ask any of their fellow residents at South Florida’s Millennium Manor. They’ll tell that you the Broads are the next best thing to Metamucil, and that when the time rolls around for Millennium Manor’s annual variety show, it’s by far the Senior Citizen event of the year.
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posted in Musical, North Hollywood, WOW!

WIREHEAD

posted on February 21st, 2010 at 6:54 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
Anyone thirty-five or older can remember a time in their teenage or adult lives when they functioned quite well without the Internet or a cell phone.  Those days are long gone, prompting most of us of a certain age to wonder how we ever did without.  Our lives have become so technology-dependent that that if a person’s cell phone doesn’t have Internet access (heaven forbid!), he or she is seriously behind the times.  (I need to get with it on this!)
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Los Angeles, Recommended

COUSIN BETTE

posted on February 20th, 2010 at 6:59 PM by Steven Stanley


Who would ever have thought that a 164-year-old French novel would provide the basis for the juiciest, funniest, most twisted 3-act, 3-hour family saga since Tracy Letts’ August Osage County?  But that’s precisely what Jeffrey Hatcher’s delicious adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s Cousin Bette has turned out to be, particularly under the brilliant direction of Jeanie Hackett and as performed by the superb troupe of actors who make up the Antaeus Company, “L.A.’s Classical Theater Ensemble.”
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posted in Comedy-Drama, North Hollywood, WOW!

HEATHER LEE

posted on February 20th, 2010 at 3:14 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

RODGERS AND HART A CELEBRATION

posted on February 19th, 2010 at 7:02 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
Downey Civic Light Opera celebrates the songs of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in the second offering of their 2009-10 season, Rodgers & Hart: A Celebration.
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posted in Downey/La Mirada, Musical Revue, Recommended

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