Posts Tagged ‘Orange County Theater Review’
AVENUE Q
Thursday, June 8th, 2017
A beefed-up cast of fourteen terrifically talented student performers and some inspired directorial tweaks make UC Irvine’s Avenue Q the best of the five productions I’ve seen since first discovering it on Broadway a baker’s-dozen years ago.
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THE BODYGUARD
Wednesday, May 31st, 2017
Over a dozen of Whitney Houston’s Greatest Hits performed by an electrifying Deborah Cox in the screen-to-stage tale of a superstar pop diva and her obsessed, life-threatening stalker may not be great art. Indeed, it’s not even a traditional song-propelled musical per se. But no matter. I enjoyed just about every minute of The Bodyguard, the West End smash now touring the U.S.A. and stopping this week and next at the Segerstrom Center For The Arts.
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THE MONSTER BUILDER
Wednesday, May 17th, 2017A topnotch cast attack The Monster Builder with gusto, but a rather creepy lead character and a bit too much of the quirky and bizarre make Amy Freed’s South Coast Repertory World Premiere satire of architectural pretention more miss than hit despite occasional forays into the weirdly hilarious.
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MIDDLETOWN
Thursday, May 4th, 2017
Birth. Life. Death. Infinity. Playwright Will Eno addresses all of the above in Middletown, his 21st-century response to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, and if the Pulitzer Prize finalist tends to take quirkiness to extremes, inspired direction, design, and performances make this Chance Theater Southern California Premiere well worth a trip to Anaheim Hills.
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AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
Wednesday, April 26th, 2017
There’s been more than one “new (i.e. jukebox) Gershwin musical” before An American In Paris’s 2015 Broadway debut, but there’s never been one as gloriously song-and-dance-packed (emphasis on dance) as the gorgeously choreographed and designed quadruple Tony winner, a veritable feast of color and light and ballet and tap and more.
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A DOLL’S HOUSE, PART 2
Tuesday, April 25th, 2017
Nora’s come back to the “doll’s house” she once called home, though how long she’ll stay is anybody’s guess in Lucas Hnath’s audacious, scabrous, wordy, discussion-prompting, and often surprisingly droll sequel to the Henrik Ibsen classic, the South Coast Repertory World Premiere of A Doll’s House, Part 2.
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ANDREW LIPPA’S WILD PARTY
Monday, April 24th, 2017
Dramatically dark and daringly sexual, Andrew Lippa’s Wild Party, the latest from Cal State Fullerton, showcases not just its multitalented ensemble headed by a phenomenal Hannah Clair as blonde bombshell Queenie. CSUF’s Wild Party is direction, choreography, and design at their SoCal pro-level best.
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BERNARDA ALBA
Friday, April 21st, 2017
Michael John LaChiusa’s Bernarda Alba, the multiple-Tony-nominated composer-lyricist’s darkly dramatic adaptation of the Federico García Lorca classic, not only provides its all-female, mostly Cal State Fullerton student cast with an equal-parts challenging/rewarding showcase for their considerable musical theater gifts, it offers Southland audiences the opportunity to see a rarely-produced chamber gem in a production so stunning, it rivals the finest intimately-staged musicals in town.
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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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