LADY

posted on April 26th, 2008 at 3:58 PM by Steven Stanley


Craig Wright may be most familiar as the writer/(executive) producer of TV’s Dirty Sexy Money and Six Feet under, but theatergoers know him as a prodigious playwright, the author of such radically different fare as Orange Flower Water, Grace, and Recent Tragic events, all three of which have had superb L.A. productions over the past two years. Orange Flower Water is a harrowing drama of adultery, Grace mixes that theme with evangelical Christianity, and Recent Tragic Events dares to imagine a screwball comedy taking place the day after 9-11.  Now comes the West Coast Premiere of 2007’s Lady, and the trio of outstanding local productions of Wright’s work is now a quartet.
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posted in Drama, North Hollywood, WOW!

A PIECE OF TIN

posted on April 24th, 2008 at 3:55 PM by Steven Stanley


Who would have thought that an original musical about Queen Victoria, with book, music, and lyrics by an unknown writer, would turn out to be a tuneful, funny, and emotionally moving surprise? 

A Piece Of Tin, by Rhett Judice, is all three.
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posted in Los Angeles, Musical, WOW!

DINNER WITH FRIENDS

posted on April 23rd, 2008 at 3:46 PM by Steven Stanley


“You never know what couples are like when they’re alone.” 

Thus speaks one of the characters in Donald Margulies’ Dinner With Friends, a play which allows us, the audience, to see what its two couples are like behind closed doors. Like flies on the fourth wall, we observe Gabe and Karen’s (and Tom and Beth’s) most private moments.  We also see each couple as they see the other, and what they see is often quite different from the other couple’s intimate reality.
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posted in Drama, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

CORPUS CHRISTI

posted on April 23rd, 2008 at 1:15 PM by Steven Stanley


MCCV’s brilliantly directed and exquisitely performed production of Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi is currently thrilling audiences at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, moving them to laughter and tears as it did the many Southern (and Northern) Californians who saw it over the course of its one year journey to Scotland.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Los Angeles, North Hollywood, WOW!

OUT OF THIS WORLD

posted on April 21st, 2008 at 3:41 PM by Steven Stanley


Here’s some great news for Cole Porter fans! Even his lesser known musicals are now being given new life by writers who are fashioning fresh new books to fit the fabulous Porter songs. David Lee’s revisal of Can-Can at the Pasadena Playhouse last year won kudos and awards galore. MTW is beginning its 2008-9 season with a newly rewritten Silk Stockings. And MTG (the Musical Theatre Guild) has just presented an absolutely smashing concert staged reading of one of the great  Mr. Porter’s least familiar musicals, Out Of This World, featuring a revised book by Greg MacKellan.
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posted in Burbank/Glendale, Concert Staged Reading, WOW!

THE ANDREWS BROTHERS

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 3:33 PM by Steven Stanley


Musical Theatre West has come up with the perfect musical for those who found last year’s Altar Boyz a bit too young and edgy for their tastes.  In fact, the highly entertaining The Andrews Brothers is the kind of show which the older you are, the more you will love.  
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posted in Long Beach/San Pedro, Musical, WOW!

COFFEE WILL MAKE YOU BLACK

posted on April 18th, 2008 at 3:29 PM by Steven Stanley


Coffee Will Make You Black may seem at first an odd choice for the Celebration, L.A.’s professional theater representing the gay and lesbian community.  None of its 18 characters are gay men, and of its many female characters, only a handful may (or then again may not) be lesbian.  Hopefully this will not be a turnoff to the Celebration’s loyal core audience, for Coffee Will Make You Black is a joyous, engaging, and laugh-out-loud uproarious celebration of the birth of African American identity in the late 1960s.
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, West Side/Beverly HIlls

I DO! I DO!

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 3:26 PM by Steven Stanley


If ever there was a musical which relies on its stars and director to work, it’s I Do! I Do! Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s adaptation of Jan de Hartog’s two-character The Fourposter follows 50 years of Michael and Agnes’ marriage, from their wedding day and night in 1898 to the day they vacate their family home in 1948.  Without the right team behind it, the show can be a bit of a bore, as a 99-seat production of it proved a few years back. But with a stellar trio like Broadway leading players Brad Little and Barbara McCulloh and multiple Emmy nominated director Will Mackenzie at the helm, I Do! I Do! can sparkle like the diamond in Agnes’ wedding ring, and sparkle this new production at the La Mirada Theatre most definitely does.
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posted in Downey/La Mirada, Musical, WOW!

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