PARK YOUR CAR IN HARVARD YARD

posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 7:17 PM by Steven Stanley


Theatergoers who made the recent production of Trying a monster hit for the Colony Theatre are hereby advised to head on down to Long Beach for International City Theatre’s superb revival of Israel Horovitz’ 1981 two-hander, Park Your Car In Harvard Yard.  Like Trying, Park Your Car takes two people who are different in every possible way (age, sex, education, religion, family background, etc.), puts them in the same space, and lets the sparks fly. Like Trying, affords an actor in his eighties the part of a lifetime.  Like Trying, the actress playing opposite said actor gets the gift of a role so richly drawn that sinking her teeth into it proves a veritable feast, both for the actress and for the audience.
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posted in Comedy, Long Beach/San Pedro, WOW!

THIRD GRADE REUNION

posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 12:48 PM by Steven Stanley

When not busy with his communications major/advertising minor, USC senior Brent Lomas has a passion for musical theater. Lomas currently serves as one of the artistic directors of SC’s Musical Theatre Repertory, which in January debuted a splendid production of Sunday In The Park With George. A finalist in the USC Jonathan Larson Songwriting Contest, Lomas is currently putting the finishing touches on the book, music, and lyrics of his very first musical, entitled Third Grade Reunion. This past weekend marked the show’s initial workshopping, to an audience of enthusiastic parents, friends, and supporters of musical theater.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE PALACE

posted on May 1st, 2008 at 7:14 PM by Steven Stanley


A brief news clipping reporting the aftermath of a crime in 1980s Apartheid-ruled South Africa inspired renowned playwright Paul Slabolepszy to imagine the 90 minutes which might have led up to it. The harrowing result, Saturday Night At The Palace, had its Cape Town premiere at a time when it was illegal for black and white actors even to appear on stage together. 
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posted in Drama, Pasadena, WOW!

STUART AMBROSE

posted on May 1st, 2008 at 3:13 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

NO EXIT

posted on April 29th, 2008 at 4:20 PM by Steven Stanley

NOT RECOMMENDED

Matthew Hannon and two other grads of LACC’s prestigious Theatre Academy have mounted Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit as a tribute to their late teacher/director Brett Gandy. It is Gandy’s concept which director/star Hannon has remounted in a production of the French existentialist classic playing Tuesdays at the Lounge Theatre.
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Not Recommended

THE INJURED PARTY

posted on April 27th, 2008 at 4:16 PM by Steven Stanley


South Coast Repertory has a bonafide hit on its hands. Richard Greenberg’s latest, The Injured Party, is one of the most exciting plays I’ve seen since John Guare’s Six Degrees Of Separation, a work which it shares a number of common themes with.  Both deal with family, love, art, money and ambition among New York’s very rich. Both are exceedingly smart without being pretentious.  Like Six Degrees, The Injured Party features a gay lead character whose sexual orientation is not central to the story. Both plays keep you riveted from curtain up to curtain calls.
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posted in Comedy, Orange County, WOW!

I’D RATHER BE RIGHT

posted on April 26th, 2008 at 4:08 PM by Steven Stanley


The folks who revived George and Ira Gerswhin’s 1925 Tip-Toes last year are back with another Broadway musical from days gone by, this time one by Rodgers and Hart.  Is it Pal Joey? Babes In Arms? Think again. The Boys From Syracuse?  A Connecticut Yankee?  Wrong again.
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posted in Hollywood/West Hollywood, Musical, WOW!

EMERGENCY

posted on April 26th, 2008 at 4:01 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMENDED
A 400-year-old slave ship rises out of the Hudson River in front of the Statue of Liberty and all of New York is riveted.  As one African-American man swims out to climb atop it, his grandchildren watch from the shore. Many are inspired to think about their lives, and the lives of black people who came before them. No one remains untouched by this miraculous event.
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posted in Recommended, Solo Performance, West Side/Beverly HIlls

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