THE FASTEST CLOCK IN THE UNIVERSE

posted on October 18th, 2007 at 9:06 PM by Steven Stanley

NOT RECOMMENDED

The Fastest Clock in the Universe, by Philip Ridley, is the blackest of black
comedies.  Captain Tock, a 50ish bespectacled gent in a black vaguely Chinese
smock and dark trousers, shares an East End of London flat with a much younger
and entirely self-centered hunk named Cougar Glass.  Their relationship is
perversely symbiotic. Symbiotic= a close association of animals or plants of different
species that is often, but not always, of mutual benefit.  (Emphasis in this case on
the “not of mutual benefit.”)  Glass gets adoration from (and gray hairs plucked
by) Tock.  Just what Tock gets from Cougar, other than constant humiliation, is
open to debate.  Today is the 11th time Cougar is celebrating his 30th birthday,
and he has invited a 15 year old schoolboy as his annual present to himself. When
the schoolboy arrives with his pregnant girlfriend in hand, things get ugly.

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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Not Recommended

SPIN

posted on October 17th, 2007 at 9:00 PM by Steven Stanley


Maryland governor Ben Wiley’s approval rating is down to 32% following an
incident in which he “copped a quick feel” in his private office in the State house. 
It was a setup, he tells gubernatorial advisor/“miracle worker” Billy Dodge. She was
wearing no bra and “they were hanging there like ripe fruit.”  What was a
governor to do?
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posted in Drama, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

DANGEROUS CORNER

posted on October 16th, 2007 at 4:59 PM by Steven Stanley


Theatre 40’s revival of Dangerous Corner, J.B. Priestley’s 1932 London and Broadway mystery thriller, is both a well realized period play, with attention paid to costumes, hair, and set design, and a surprisingly modern piece of theater with plot twists any contemporary playwright would be proud of. Fast paced, well acted and directed, and authentically designed to take the audience back seventy-five years, Dangerous Corner is a suspenseful and conversation-provoking treat.
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posted in Drama, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

BLAYNE WEAVER

posted on October 15th, 2007 at 3:19 PM by Steven Stanley

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posted in Interview

LETTING GO

posted on October 14th, 2007 at 4:54 PM by Steven Stanley

RECOMMMENDED
Letting Go is a collection of four one-acts about just that, “letting go.” In the first,
a mother must let go of hope and a daughter of lies. In the second, a dying man
must let go of his fragile hold on life. In the third, the mother of a young child must
let go of illusions. In the fourth, an older woman must let go of the past in order to
face the promise of the future.
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posted in Drama, North Hollywood, Recommended

OKLAHOMA!

posted on October 14th, 2007 at 4:49 PM by Steven Stanley


Of all the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical theater classics, their first and oldest collaboration, Oklahoma!, remains their most contemporary. To modem eyes, Carousel’s hero Billy Bigalow may be seen as an abusive husband. South Pacific’s Nellie is so shocked that Emile had married a (heaven forbid!) Polynesian woman and had children with her that she breaks off their relationship. And The King and I’s King (of Siam no less) needs to be “modernized” by a British schoolteacher. There is, however, nothing dated about either Oklahoma!’s characters or its story. Also, unlike the ever-popular Sound of Music, Oklahoma! has its dark side, not only in the character of Jud Frye, but also in Laurey’s conflicted and repressed longings. That’s not to say that the other R&H musicals are anything less than classics. It just that Oklahoma! better than any others has stood the test of time.
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posted in Downey/La Mirada, Musical, WOW!

LOST ANGELES

posted on October 13th, 2007 at 4:43 PM by Steven Stanley


Lost Angeles is the best written, best acted new comedy I’ve seen this year.   
Caroline Treadwell has created ten alternately irritating/lovable (i.e.
human) Generation Xers, put them in real life situations, and let the
audience be flies on the wall, watching these very real people experience
the joys and pains of falling  in and out of love.
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, WOW!

JEKYLL & HYDE

posted on October 12th, 2007 at 4:36 PM by Steven Stanley


Fullerton Civic Light Opera ends its 2007 season on a high note with the 
return engagement of their 2001 award-winner Jekyll & Hyde.  Arguably the 
most popular “musical thriller” in Broadway history (1523 performances), J&H 
boasts a classic storyline (by Robert Lewis Stevenson), a highly hummable 
score by Frank Wildhorn, two amazing roles for leading ladies (good girl/bad 
girl), spectacle, murder, and above all one of the most challenging 
acting/singing roles ever written for a musical theater leading man. FCLO’s 
production has been directed with consummate professionalism by Ovation 
winning Jan Duncan, with superb musical direction by 35-year FCLO vet Lee 
Kreter, leading an orchestra that couldn’t be better.
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posted in Musical, Orange County, WOW!

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