Posts Tagged ‘Los Angeles Theater Review’
THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
Tuesday, May 6th, 2014
Misfit kids once again rule as Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre presents The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, one of the past decade’s crowd-pleasingest musicals, and whether it’s your first time at The Bee, or your eleventh (as it was for this reviewer), you’ll be smiling—and cheering on the competitors—from start to finish.
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WAKE
Saturday, May 3rd, 2014
An agoraphobic mortician, a homeschooled teenager, an increasingly forgetful grandmother, the ghost of a deceased spouse, and a man who just might sweep all the doldrums away take center stage in Carey Crim’s not-quite-perfect dramedy Wake, whose West Coast Premiere at South Pasadena’s Fremont Centre Theatre benefits enormously from Matt Kirkwood’s deft direction, an all-around terrific ensemble, and a topnotch production design.
TARZAN: THE MUSICAL
Monday, April 28th, 2014
The stage adaptation of the smash 1999 Disney animated feature Tarzan has finally arrived in Los Angeles eight years after its Broadway debut, and if the intimate staging now playing at North Hollywood’s El Portal doesn’t do quite everything right, it makes for a highly entertaining show for audiences five and up.
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THE DROWSY CHAPERONE
Saturday, April 26th, 2014
The Norris Center For The Performing Arts couldn’t have picked a better musical, nor staged it more sparklingly, than their 2013-2014 3-Play Series season closer The Drowsy Chaperone, winner of 5 Tony Awards and quite possibly the most entertaining Valentine to musical theater ever.
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MACBETH
Saturday, April 26th, 2014RECOMMENDED
Elijah Alexander and Jules Willcox deliver powerhouse performances as Macbeth and his Lady as A Noise Within presents its latest excursion into Shakespeare territory. By contrast, Larry Carpenter’s direction proves considerably less impressive.
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NEXT TO NORMAL
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014
California Repertory and director Joanne Gordon bring Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s Next To Normal to the Queen Mary’s Royal Theater in an excitingly imaginative rendition of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winner, one featuring a star-turn lead performance by Karole Foreman.
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THE LION IN WINTER
Sunday, April 20th, 2014
Mariette Hartley and Ian Buchanan bring star quality, decades of stage and screen experience, and award-winning acting chops to the Colony Theatre’s splendid revival of William Goldman’s The Lion In Winter, a 12th-century drama so rich in family intrigue, it could easily have served as a model for any number of nighttime soaps.
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BE A GOOD LITTLE WIDOW
Saturday, April 19th, 2014
The thin line between comedy and tragedy is tread quite astonishingly well by Bekah Brunstetter in her 2011 play Be A Good Little Widow, now getting a pitch-perfect Los Angeles Premiere, one that exemplifies intimate L.A. theater at its finest.
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Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
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