StageSceneLA

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

posted on April 23rd, 2010 at 9:11 PM by Steven Stanley

Audrey II, the “strange and interesting plant” that made his/her/its? first appearance way back in Roger Corman’s 1960 Z-movie classic, is back, newly arrived in Thousand Oaks for a two-week visit with much voracious munching on his/her/its cannibalistic mind—and you all know what that means. “They may offer you lots of cheap thrills, fancy condos in Beverly Hills, but whatever they offer you, don’t feed the plants!”
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posted in Musical, Ventura County, WOW!

THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES

posted on April 22nd, 2010 at 9:10 PM by Steven Stanley

Quite possibly the biggest L.A. theater success story of past decade has been that of The Marvelous Wonderettes, Roger Bean’s wonderfully marvelous look back at the pop music of the 1950s and ‘60s as sung by a quartet of high school girls at their 1958 prom and their 1968 class reunion. From its original incarnation (a 45-minute workshop in Milwaukee) to its two-year run at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre to its successful off-Broadway engagement, The Marvelous Wonderettes has truly conquered the American musical theater world.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, WOW!

DREAMGIRLS

posted on April 21st, 2010 at 5:28 PM by Steven Stanley

Dreamgirls is back, bigger, brighter, bolder, and more dazzling than ever. In fact, the National Tour which has just begun a two-week run at Costa Mesa’s Orange County Performing Arts Center is one of the most visually spectacular and spectacularly performed touring productions ever. In many ways, it’s in a class all by itself.
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posted in Musical, National Tour, Orange County, WOW!

IRMA LA DOUCE

posted on April 19th, 2010 at 5:26 PM by Steven Stanley

NOT RECOMMENDED

For the past fourteen years, Los Angeles theatergoers have been thanking their lucky stars for Musical Theatre Guild and its prodigiously talented members. If it weren’t for MTG, Southland musical theater lovers would have missed out on seeing such forgotten Broadway gems as Fade Out – Fade In, High Spirits, Seesaw, As Thousands Cheer, It’s A Bird … It’s A Plane … It’s Superman, and Street Scene, and that’s just in the last four seasons. Even when the show being revived is perhaps best left forgotten, like September’s Stop The World – I Want To Get Off, MTG subscribers are guaranteed sensational performances by Broadway and regional theater vets at the top of their game.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Concert Staged Reading, Not Recommended

BENT

posted on April 18th, 2010 at 11:48 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
Recent years have seen great strides for the LGBT movement in the United States and even more so in certain other parts of the world. At the same time, as a visit to Towleroad.com will attest, anti-gay violence occurs on a daily basis, and in countries like Uganda, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, the mere fact of being gay can mean death, and not merely by your garden variety basher but by the government itself. Thus, Theatre Out’s production of Martin Sherman’s Bent comes at a propitious time indeed, and though a key directorial decision dilutes its power, a committed cast and one performance in particular make this an important piece of theater for LGBT playgoers and general audiences as well.
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posted in Drama, Orange County, Recommended

BUDDY—THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY

posted on April 17th, 2010 at 11:41 AM by Steven Stanley

February 3, 1959 will forever be known in the world of Rock & Roll as “the day the music died,” for it was on that date that 22-year-old Buddy Holly lost his life in a plane crash just five miles from Clear Lake, Iowa’s Surf Ballroom, the site of the pop star’s final concert.
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posted in Downey/La Mirada, Musical, WOW!

SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE

posted on April 16th, 2010 at 10:15 AM by Steven Stanley

Michael John LaChiusa’s See What I Wanna See is not your grandmother’s musical. There’s no star-struck romantic couple. There are no melodic love songs. There’s not a single dance number. No chorus line. No strings in the orchestra. And not a happy ending in sight.
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