KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN

posted on September 26th, 2008 at 4:18 PM by Steven Stanley


What 1993 Broadway hit ran for over 900 performances and won 7 Tonys including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score (inspiring not one but two different Broadway Cast Recordings), yet is only now getting its first major Los Angeles production since its 1996 National Tour played the Ahmanson?
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, WOW!

LOUIS AND KEELY LIVE AT THE SAHARA

posted on September 25th, 2008 at 4:24 PM by Steven Stanley


By the time Louis Prima met 16-year-old Keely Smith in the late 1940s, the 37-year-old Italian-American entertainer’s career had already undergone several transformations. In his teens and 20s, Prima had played trumpet in jazz combos and bands. In 1940, he formed his own Big Band, singing most of the vocals himself. By the time the 1950s rolled around, the Glenn Miller/Benny Goodman sound was passé, and “Louis Prima and Keely Smith” began their successful Las Vegas career, performing multiple shows from midnight until dawn.  
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, WOW!

PHANTOM

posted on September 24th, 2008 at 4:27 PM by Steven Stanley


Say the word Phantom, and most Broadway buffs will immediately think of the Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber megahit, currently in its 21st year on Broadway (over 8500 performances to date). But there’s another Phantom which will pop into the minds of true musical theater aficionados, the single-word-titled Phantom (no Of The Opera here), with book by Arthur Kopit and music and lyrics by Maury Yeston.  Though the closest the “other Phantom” has gotten to Broadway is New Jersey, over the past 17 years it has become a regional theater staple (over 1000 regional performances), and now graces the Glendale Centre Theatre stage, in a production whose performances alone make it well worth seeing.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Musical, WOW!

BYE BYE BIRDIE

posted on September 23rd, 2008 at 4:34 PM by Steven Stanley


It’s 1958 all over again in CLOSBC’s picture-perfect revival of the rock-n-rollin’ Broadway classic Bye Bye Birdie, with L.A. favorites John Bisom and Natalie Nucci giving New York originals Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera a run for their money in stellar triple-threat performances. Director-choreographer extraordinaire Dan Mojica once again works his magic in bringing to finger-snappin’ toe-tappin’ life the Elvis Presley-gets-drafted-inspired book by Michael Stewart and the oh-so-memorable songs by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams.  
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posted in Musical, South Bay, WOW!

SEA CHANGE

posted on September 22nd, 2008 at 4:37 PM by Steven Stanley


The year is 1974 and a quintet of Tufts University friends have gone whale watching off the coast of Provincetown.  Virginal conservative gay guy Val and liberal lesbian Jan are arguing about politics, Val contending to Jan’s absolute horror that “you can’t blame Nixon for Kent State.”  Blond Adonis Sunny is stoned as usual, and arguing with feisty lesbian Elle on whether it’s TLGC (Tufts Lesbian and Gay Community) or TGLC, alphabetical order making more sense to Sunny as a gay male. Completing the fivesome is Sunny’s devout Catholic boyfriend Gene. 
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posted in Drama, Los Angeles, WOW!

RED SCARE ON SUNSET

posted on September 21st, 2008 at 5:19 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
No one spoofs classic Hollywood movie genres better than Charles Busch.  Whether it be the Ross Hunter women’s pictures of the 1950s and 60s (Die! Mommie! Die!) or Frankie and Annette Beach Party flicks (Psycho Beach Party) or WWII spy epics (The Lady In Question), Busch knows his Hollywood backwards and forwards.  The more his audience knows about movie styles and movie stars, the funnier Busch’s plays are, but even those not so familiar with names like 1950s TV staples Kate Smith, Dagmar, and Norman Vincent Peale will find laughs aplenty in Red Scare On Sunset, which lampoons (and pays tribute to) late 40s/early 50s red-baiting propaganda films like Red Menace, I Married A Communist, and My Son John.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, Recommended

RAGTIME

posted on September 20th, 2008 at 5:23 PM by Steven Stanley


Musical Theatre Of Los Angeles’ sensational revival of Ragtime The Musical is the kind of production they say “can’t be done,” and yet, miracle of miracles, they’ve done it. One of the most truly epic shows ever to have filled a Broadway stage, the original production featured a cast of 50. MTLA’s production scales that down somewhat (the program lists 37 performers) but even so, merely to fit those three dozen actors on the Hudson Backstage Theatre’s stage (plus a 10-piece orchestra and conductor) seems nigh on impossible, let alone have them move, interact, even dance.  But they’ve done it.  Yes, indeed, they’ve done it!
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, WOW!

43 PLAYS FOR 43 PRESIDENTS

posted on September 19th, 2008 at 5:43 PM by Steven Stanley


Arriving just in time for the election season, 43 Plays For 43 Presidents is a lickety-split rollercoaster ride through the last 219 years of American history.  
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

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