SMOKEY JOE’S CAFÉ

posted on December 13th, 2008 at 6:36 PM by Steven Stanley


Fans of 1950s rock and pop will be in Top 40 heaven with the El Portal Theatre’s revival of the 1995 Broadway smash Smokey Joe’s Café, featuring three dozen of the greatest hits of rock-and-roll songwriting legends Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
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posted in Musical Revue, North Hollywood, WOW!

BACKSEATS & BATHROOM STALLS

posted on December 12th, 2008 at 6:47 PM by Steven Stanley


Quite simply put, Backseats & Bathroom Stalls is the funniest comedy I’ve seen so far in the 2008-2009 season. Rob Mersola’s pansexual sex farce not only had me laughing out loud (and quite loudly indeed) through its non-stop 80 minutes of hilarious surprises but kept me on the edge of my seat trying to guess what was coming next. It also has one of the best “I didn’t see that one coming” surprises since The Crying Game or The Sixth Sense.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, WOW!

A RUBICON FAMILY CHRISTMAS

posted on December 11th, 2008 at 6:48 PM by Steven Stanley


When I was a kid, my Decembers were brightened and my holiday spirit heightened by much-anticipated yearly TV Christmas specials, hosted by Andy Williams, Perry Como, and Dinah Shore, sponsored by Kraft Foods, and “brought to you in living color on NBC.”  The Rubicon Theatre brings back those days with its lovingly conceived and terrifically performed A Rubicon Family Christmas.  Though L.A. stages are currently filled to the brim with A Christmas Carols and holiday themed comedies, the Rubicon is the place to go for music of the season, especially as performed by six of the finest musical theater talents the Southland has to offer.
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posted in Musical Revue, Ventura County, WOW!

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

posted on December 9th, 2008 at 7:08 PM by Steven Stanley


There are times in musical theater when all the elements—performance, direction, choreography, musical direction, and design—come together to form an absolutely perfect whole. One of these times is now, in CLOSBC’s brilliant revival of Fiddler On The Roof.
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posted in Musical, South Bay, WOW!

BOB’S HOLIDAY OFFICE PARTY

posted on December 7th, 2008 at 7:11 PM by Steven Stanley


Hilarious, crazy, zany, drunken Midwest Hell Christmas insanity” is how my friend Marc describes his first exposure to Bob’s Holiday Office Party, and I wholeheartedly agree. No wonder Bob’s Holiday Office Party is celebrating thirteen consecutive years of shocking and delighting L.A. audiences with its particular blend of mirth, drunken shenanigans, and Christmas spirit.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, WOW!

THE LIFE

posted on December 6th, 2008 at 7:34 PM by Steven Stanley


The pimps and hookers of pre-Disneyfied Times Square are alive and well and still doing business in the much anticipated Los Angeles premiere of Cy Coleman’s last Broadway musical, 1997’s The Life, now in a limited run on the couldn’t-be-more-fitting Hollywood Boulevard, and directed with power and pizzazz by Joe Greene. 
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, WOW!

THE DADDY MACHINE

posted on December 6th, 2008 at 12:55 AM by Steven Stanley


Kids with same gender parents finally have a musical about their families–the absolutely delightful The Daddy Machine. Not that this hour-long musical comedy isn’t also great for kids growing up in so-called “traditional” families–or for adults of any age, gender, or sexual orientation. In fact, The Daddy Machine may just be the most entertaining family show around town these days.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, WOW!

THE LAST FIVE YEARS

posted on December 5th, 2008 at 7:40 PM by Steven Stanley


Since discovering Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years about four years ago, I have rarely missed a chance to see it performed. Whether in a large professional theater (The Pasadena Playhouse) or an intimate space (The Chance) or even in concert form (Brown himself opposite Julia Murney), TL5Y is a musical which never fails to move me.  Tonight’s superbly directed and terrifically performed UCLA production was no exception.
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posted in Musical, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

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