AS WHITE AS O

posted on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:17 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
Synesthesia is a neurological condition involving an involuntary cross-wiring of the senses, in which people may taste what they feel, smell what they touch, and see letters in color, something like this:   
(read more)

posted in Drama, North Hollywood, Recommended

WHITE CHRISTMAS

posted on October 22nd, 2009 at 9:30 PM by Steven Stanley


Christmas has arrived early this year in beautiful downtown Fullerton as FCLO Music Theatre presents the stage adaptation of the 1954 movie classic White Christmas. Those who wonder if that’s jumping the gun a tad have only to visit their neighborhood shopping mall to see that the holiday season is already upon us.  Besides, with Irving Berlin hits like “Blue Skies,” “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing, “Sisters,” and “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” appropriate for any month of the year, a plot that isn’t all that “Christmas-centric,” and choreography that entertains equally in October or December, White Christmas is an appealing Fall CLO offering.
(read more)

posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

posted on October 20th, 2009 at 9:35 PM by Steven Stanley


The first act of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is called “Fun And Games,” but beware.  These are not your usual party games, as audiences can once again discover in Hermosa Beach Playhouse’s absolutely sensational revival of the 1962 Broadway classic.  Under Stephanie A. Coltrin’s expert direction, and featuring bravura lead performances by Matthew Brenher as George and Suzanne Dean as Martha, this is a production that more than holds its own against the Bill Irwin/Kathleen Turner Broadway revival which played the Ahmanson a few years back, or last season’s Ovation-nominated staging at the Rubicon.
(read more)

posted in Drama, South Bay, WOW!

GUYS AND DOLLS

posted on October 18th, 2009 at 9:52 PM by Steven Stanley


If you want to know why Cabrillo Music Theatre was the most honored company at last year’s Ovation Awards ceremony, winning six crystal trophies for their productions of Jekyll & Hyde and Singin’ In The Rain, check out their equally award-worthy revival of Frank Loesser’s Broadway classic Guys And Dolls. With musical theater director extraordinaire Nick DeGruccio at the helm, Broadway-worthy choreography by Roger Castellano, an all-around terrific cast of twenty-nine, and a sensational design team, this Guys And Dolls proves just how great CMT has become under President/CEO Carole W. Nussbaum and artistic director Louis Wilkenfeld.
(read more)

posted in Musical, Ventura County, WOW!

SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD

posted on October 17th, 2009 at 10:01 PM by Steven Stanley


Before Parade, before The Last Five Years, before 13, the now-renowned composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown made his first big splash on the New York musical theater scene with Songs For A New World, a song cycle about facing the “new world” that unexpected life changes can bring about.  This glorious collection of songs now returns to the L.A. area in a terrific revival at Long Beach’s International City Theatre, masterfully directed by Jules Aaron.
(read more)

posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical Revue, WOW!

DADDY LONG LEGS

posted on October 17th, 2009 at 9:56 PM by Steven Stanley


Jean Webster’s 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs, a favorite children’s book for nearly a hundred years now, has been turned into an exquisite gem of a musical, and one not just for youngsters. In fact, it’s hard to think of another musical so absolutely right for ages eight to eighty. In the inspired hands of composer-lyricist Paul Gordon and writer-director John Caird, the Rubicon Theatre’s production of Daddy Long Legs proves to be one of the most enthralling, entertaining, and moving love stories I’ve seen on the American musical theater stage.
(read more)

posted in Musical, Ventura County, WOW!

MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS

posted on October 10th, 2009 at 10:03 PM by Steven Stanley


Hollywood legend has it that movie mogul David O. Selznick shut himself, director Victor Fleming, and script doctor Ben Hecht inside his office for five straight days, the three men subsisting entirely on a diet of bananas and peanuts, as Hecht rewrote the entire script of Gone With The Wind, a book he’d never read.
(read more)

posted in Comedy, Orange County, WOW!

DEATHTRAP

posted on October 9th, 2009 at 10:07 PM by Steven Stanley


For a record-breaking four years, New York audiences found themselves both riveted and tickled to death by the multitude of plot twists and turns in Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, that is when they weren’t laughing in utter delight at the sheer brilliance of Levin’s five-character, one-set, two-act mystery-comedy, still the longest running thriller in Broadway history.  Angelinos can now find out what all the excitement was about simply by driving down to San Pedro to catch Little Fish Theatre’s terrific revival of the comedy-suspense classic.
(read more)

posted in Comedy, Long Beach/San Pedro, WOW!

Next PagePrevious Page