FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

posted on March 21st, 2009 at 8:58 PM by Steven Stanley


No matter how many times you’ve seen Fiddler On The Roof, you have never seen a Fiddler like the one currently playing at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, under the masterful direction of James O’Neil.
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posted in Musical, Ventura County, WOW!

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS UNSCRIPTED

posted on March 20th, 2009 at 9:06 PM by Steven Stanley


The improv geniuses who brought us Jane Austen UnScripted make a welcome return with their latest concoction—Tennessee Williams UnScripted. Like its predecessors, which spoofed Austen, Shakespeare, and Sondheim, Tennessee Williams UnScripted is a two-act comedy completely improvised in the style of its titular writer.  Because this is Williams, author of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Glass Menagerie, the director’s note promises that the only thing the cast knows in advance is that “some poetic sensitivity…will be crushed by brutal forces from the outside world.”  The rest is up to the imagination of the oh-so-creative improvisers.
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

THE BIG FUNK

posted on March 18th, 2009 at 12:34 AM by Steven Stanley


If ever there was a stage/film writer whose work defies easy categorization, it’s John Patrick Shanley.  Films like Moonstruck and Joe And The Volcano are fanciful, quirky romances. Recent Shanley plays like Doubt and Defiance are straight-forward albeit complex looks at the “closed societies” of the convent and the military.  Earlier theatrical works run the gamut from the dark romantic eroticism of Danny And The Deep Blue Sea to the bizarre surrealism of The Dreamer Examines His Pillow and Beggars In The House Of Plenty. 
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

SWEET CHARITY

posted on March 13th, 2009 at 12:46 AM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
It’s been far too long since a major production of the 1966 Broadway hit Sweet Charity has been mounted locally.  Thus, it’s a pleasure to announce Charity’s arrival at the Curtis Theatre in Brea. Though not at CLO level, this non-Equity production offers many pleasures, not the least of which are its bouncy, hummable songs, including now well-known standards like “Big Spender,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This,” “Where Am I Going?”… The list of Cy Coleman-Dorothy Field hits goes on and on.
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posted in Musical, Recommended, San Gabriel Valley

A SKULL IN CONNEMARA

posted on March 12th, 2009 at 12:56 AM by Steven Stanley


The residents of Connemara, a small town in rural Galway, Ireland, appear not to need television or the movies for diversion. They’ve got each other—and their secrets and gossip and gleefully traded insults—to keep themselves and each other entertained night and day.
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posted in Comedy, North Hollywood, WOW!

THE QUESTION

posted on March 11th, 2009 at 1:03 AM by Steven Stanley


Productions like Susan Stroman’s Tony-winning Contact and Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man have shown how powerfully and effectively contemporary dance can tell dramatic stories without a single spoken word being uttered.  To that list can now be added JT Horenstein’s The Question, an Alfred Hitchcock-esque romantic thriller told through dance.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, WOW!

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

posted on March 8th, 2009 at 1:19 AM by Steven Stanley


Director Geoff Elliott re-envisions Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew as a 1950s movie set in Italy and succeeds at the challenge with flying colors, making A Noise Within’s production a veritable treat for Shakespeare lovers and classic film buffs alike.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Comedy, WOW!

BAREFOOT IN THE PARK

posted on March 6th, 2009 at 1:15 AM by Steven Stanley


One of my favorite things about being a theatergoer is having the chance to see new productions of favorite plays. Unlike the movies, where the word “remake” usually spells artistic disaster, revivals of popular theater favorites give directors and actors the opportunity to put their own stamp on iconic productions and roles, and playgoers the chance to revisit favorite characters and situations—with a fresh new twist.
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posted in Comedy, San Gabriel Valley, WOW!

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