DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

posted on November 4th, 2009 at 3:35 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
Theatre 40 undertakes something out of the ordinary in presenting the Los Angeles premiere of Jeffrey Hatcher’s Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, an experimental theater-style adaptation of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s classic of psychological suspense.  Though Hatcher’s take on the Jekyll/Hyde tale proves problematic, an all-around fine cast under Jeff G. Rack’s frequently ingenious direction, as well as some particularly striking design elements, make this at the very least an interesting venture for Beverly Hills’ premier theater company.  (It may also be the first time you’ve heard the title character’s surname pronounced JEE-kul.  Apparently we’ve been getting it wrong till now.)
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posted in Drama, Recommended, West Side/Beverly HIlls

BENT

posted on November 1st, 2009 at 3:39 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
With anti-gay violence spiraling throughout the world, the time seems apt indeed for Diversionary Theatre’s thirtieth-anniversary revival of Martin Sherman’s gut-wrenching Holocaust drama Bent.  Though occasionally hampered by some problematic technical/design elements, this beautifully acted production is a powerful reminder of our not-so-distant past, and of the dangers of anti-gay bigotry gone amok.
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posted in Drama, Recommended, San Diego County

SHERLOCK’S LAST CASE

posted on October 31st, 2009 at 5:40 PM by Steven Stanley


The world’s most famous detective takes center stage in Charles Marowitz’s Sherlock’s Last Case, a delightful, clever cross between spoof and homage now playing at Hollywood’s Actors Co-op Theatre. Under Jeremy Lewit’s oh-so ingenious direction, this comic tribute to Baker Street’s sleuth extraordinaire is a winner from its imaginative opening to its deliciously satisfying finale.
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS

posted on October 31st, 2009 at 5:36 PM by Steven Stanley


Think back to the Golden Age of Technicolor MGM musicals and one of the first titles to pop into your head, particularly as the holiday season rolls around, will surely be 1944’s Meet Me In St. Louis. Even those who haven’t seen the entire film from opening credits to end titles have probably watched clips of Judy Garland singing “The Trolley Song,” “The Boy Next Door,” or “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” on YouTube or TV.  The MGM classic made the transition from the silver screen to Broadway in 1989, and it’s with that production that Music Theatre West opens its 2009-2010 season. With direction by Richard Israel and choreography by Lee Martino, it’s no surprise that Meet Me In St. Louis is an all-around winner, and the perfect pre-Thanksgiving treat for young and old alike.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, WOW!

HAMLET

posted on October 30th, 2009 at 5:43 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
Since William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is considered by many to be the greatest play ever written, with just about every major stage actor having at one time or other tackled its title role, it’s noteworthy to say the least whenever a theater company takes on the challenge of staging it.  John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton, Ralph Fiennes, and Broadway’s latest Hamlet, Jude Law, are hard acts to follow. Nevertheless, on a shoestring budget and without a single “name” in their cast, the Knightsbridge Theatre’s National American Shakespeare Company has staged a highly commendable Hamlet featuring excellent work by a young actor named Joshua Hayden as the Prince Of Denmark.
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posted in Drama, Los Angeles, WOW!

EXIT STRATEGY

posted on October 29th, 2009 at 5:47 PM by Steven Stanley


Life begins at seventy in Bill Semans and Roy Close’s Exit Strategy, now entertaining audiences eighteen to eighty at Garry Marshall’s Falcon Theatre.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Comedy, WOW!

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

posted on October 28th, 2009 at 5:52 PM by Steven Stanley


How do you adapt a 550+ page novel like Dostoevsky’s Crime And Punishment for the stage? If you’re playwriting team Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus, you pare it down to ninety minutes with a cast of three actors to play all the characters.  Well, not actually all of them. Of the two-dozen or so major roles in the Russian classic, Campbell and Columbus have chosen the nine they consider most important, given one actor the pivotal role of Raskolnikov the student/thief/murderer, and divvied up the remaining eight roles between the other two cast members.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Drama, WOW!

LOUIS AND KEELY LIVE AT THE SAHARA

posted on October 27th, 2009 at 5:55 PM by Steven Stanley


World Premiere musicals are pretty much a monthly event in Los Angeles, and though many of them become audience and critical favorites, even the best of them tend to disappear after their initial engagements, the business of musical theater being what it is. Thus, one can suppose that when Jake Broder and Vanessa Claire Smith debuted Louis And Keely Live At The Sahara at Sacred Fools Theater back on May 30 of last year, the duo had reason to expect that their self-penned tribute to Louis Prima and Keely Smith would close as scheduled on June 29–and that would be the end of it.
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posted in Musical, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

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