TAKING STEPS

posted on February 6th, 2009 at 3:06 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
With over seventy plays under his belt, Alan Ayckbourn is one of the most prolific (and successful) playwrights ever.  He’s also one of the funniest and most original.  It’s said that each of his plays has a gimmick. The Norman Conquests trilogy are three separate plays, each with the same set of characters, each taking place on the same weekend, each in a different part of a English country home.  Amazingly, each play tells a complete story and can be seen in any order without the need to see either of the others.  How The Other Half Loves superimposes two neighboring houses on the same set, so that characters standing within touching distance are often in two completely different locations. Taking Steps, currently at the Odyssey Theater, has a somewhat similar conceit.  It places all three stories of a London home (“The Pines”) at the same stage level with a pair of staircases (one of them spiral) on which actors “ascend” or “descend” without ever moving up or down even an inch.  With characters slamming doors and barely missing running into each other, this British farce is amusing indeed.
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posted in Comedy, Recommended, West Side/Beverly HIlls

THE TWILIGHT OF THE GOLDS

posted on February 6th, 2009 at 3:00 PM by Steven Stanley


What would you do if a simple test early in pregnancy could determine whether or not your child would be born with a physical defect or a propensity towards a debilitating illness? What if such a test could even tell you what your unborn child’s sexual orientation might be?
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posted in Drama, North Hollywood, WOW!

STORMY WEATHER

posted on February 3rd, 2009 at 3:09 PM by Steven Stanley


The legendary Lena Horne is brought to vivid life by a pair of stellar performers in the Pasadena Playhouse production of Stormy Weather. Like the Playhouse’s electric Ray Charles Live, Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s bio-musical (under the assured direction of Michael Bush) revisits the life of a show biz superstar through the eyes of her grown-up self, played here by triple-threat stage, screen, and recording star Leslie Uggams.  Young Lena is the equally gifted Nicki Crawford, and together they take the audience on a half-century journey from Harlem’s Cotton Club to the stages of the world—punctuated by some of the greatest songs of the era.
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posted in Musical, Pasadena, WOW!

JOSHUA BITTON

posted on February 2nd, 2009 at 3:55 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

posted on February 1st, 2009 at 3:15 PM by Steven Stanley


The Rubicon Theatre’s production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is one that I have been eagerly awaiting since it was first announced as part of the Rubicon’s 2008-9 season, and to end any suspense, let me say right away that this Virginia Woolf does not disappoint. It is a flawless production of one of the most famed and discussed plays of the second half of the 20th Century, the tale of one drunken evening at the home of college Assistant Professor George and his wife Martha, and their two young late night guests.
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posted in Drama, Ventura County, WOW!

THE PRODUCERS

posted on January 31st, 2009 at 8:29 PM by Steven Stanley


There is always excitement when a Broadway megahit like Mel Brooks’ The Producers makes its regional theater debut, and when the regional premiere is as all-around sensational as the one currently being staged by Musical Theatre West, it is a theatrical event of major proportions.
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, WOW!

SQUABBLES

posted on January 30th, 2009 at 8:37 PM by Steven Stanley


Theatergoers in search of laughter with a dollop of romance added for good measure need look no farther than Squabbles, currently lighting up the stage at the Palos Verdes-adjacent Norris Center For The Performing Arts.
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posted in Comedy, South Bay, WOW!

POPE JOAN

posted on January 29th, 2009 at 8:41 PM by Steven Stanley

NOT RECOMMENDED

Following their award-winning revival of Hair, producer Michael Butler and director/choreographer Bo Crowell return with the world premiere musical Pope Joan, the saga of history’s only female pope, who (supposedly) reigned for less than three years in the 850s.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, Not Recommended

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