M BUTTERFLY
posted on October 5th, 2008 at 6:36 PM by Steven Stanley
David Henry Hwang was inspired to write the Tony Award-winning M Butterfly by the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not-worthy real-life case of a French diplomat who carried on a 20-year affair with a Chinese Opera performer, never once suspecting that the love of his life was a man pretending to be a woman. It was only when charged with treason (for having passed on sensitive political information to his “mister-ess”) that the diplomat found out that his “she” was in fact a “he.”
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posted in Drama, North Hollywood, WOW!
EARTH SUCKS
posted on October 5th, 2008 at 6:33 PM by Steven StanleyNOT RECOMMENDED
–How do you explain gravity?
–Earth sucks.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, Not Recommended
SOUTH PACIFIC
posted on October 3rd, 2008 at 6:43 PM by Steven StanleyRECOMMENDED
It’s been nearly 50 years since the last of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals debuted on Broadway, yet the team’s work remains as popular as ever. Carousel (1945) and The Sound Of Music (1959) continue to be CLO staples, as does The King And I (on Broadway in 1951, 1960, 1977, 1985, and 1996, and soon to open in Thousand Oaks). Last season Downey Civic Light Opera revived the team’s first joint effort, Oklahoma (1943), in an absolutely terrific production (and two more local CLO’s have Oklahoma scheduled over the coming year). And the current Broadway revival of R&H’s 1949 smash South Pacific recently won seven Tonys.
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posted in Downey/La Mirada, Musical, Recommended
AARON MISAKIAN
posted on October 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 AM by Steven Stanleyposted in Interview
HELLO, AGAIN
posted on October 2nd, 2008 at 6:46 PM by Steven Stanley
Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 classic La Ronde becomes a seductive chamber musical in Michael John LaChiusa’s Hello, Again, currently being staged by USC’s Musical Theatre Repertory in an all around sensational production which proves that student produced-directed-acted-designed work can give any professional production a run for its money.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, WOW!
EDUARDO ENRIKEZ
posted on October 1st, 2008 at 10:43 PM by Steven Stanleyposted in Interview
DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE
posted on September 28th, 2008 at 4:12 PM by Steven Stanley
A woman sits alone at a table in a nearly empty café. Several yards away, at another table, a man’s cell phone rings. And rings. And rings. What else is the woman to do but go over to the man to see why he’s ignoring his phone. “Are you deaf?” she asks, then realizes the stupidity of her question. Nothing to do but answer the phone herself and take a message. Then it hits her why the man isn’t responding. She picks up a spoon from his table and holds it up to the man’s nose. Nothing. His cell phone still in her hand, she dials 911 and calmly informs the operator, “I think there’s a dead man sitting next to me.”
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posted in Comedy, Orange County, WOW!
JOE’S GARAGE
posted on September 27th, 2008 at 4:15 PM by Steven StanleyRECOMMENDED
Like The Who’s Tommy, Frank Zappa’s 1979 rock opera Joe’s Garage began its life on vinyl. Both rock operas take their titular heroes on a life journey. But while Tommy moved rather quickly from concept album to movie to staged production in London’s West End, it is only now that Joe’s Garage, the cult LP, is getting its first stage adaptation by L.A.’s Open Fist Theatre Company.
posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, Recommended
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