Posts Tagged ‘Orange County Theater Review’
XANADU
Monday, October 21st, 2013
Xanadu has arrived at Cal State Fullerton’s Little Theater, proving once again that for big-stage professional-caliber musical theater, just about the only thing separating CSUF productions from those at Musical Theatre West or 3-D Theatricals is the uniformly young age of their talented casts. Case in point: Douglas Carter Beane’s 2005 Broadway treat.
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FAST COMPANY
Thursday, October 17th, 2013
The Rag, the Spanish Prisoner, the Pig-in-a-Poke, the Badger Game, and the Glim Dropper are just five of the games that H, Blue, and Francis learned at their mother Mable’s knee—which will give you an idea of just what kind of family the three siblings grew up in in Carla Ching’s exhilarating World Premiere comedy Fast Company, the latest from South Coast Repertory.
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TIME STANDS STILL
Saturday, October 5th, 2013
A wounded photo-journalist’s return home from the war zone proves even more challenging than a life lived on the edge in Donald Margulies’ intelligent, perceptive, often funny, always compelling Time Stands Still, now getting a superb Orange County Premiere at Anaheim’s Chance Theater with crackerjack director Marya Mazor assuredly at the helm.
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DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Monday, September 9th, 2013
What better way for South Coast Repertory to open its 50th Anniversary season than with what many consider the finest play of the 20th Century, Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Death Of A Salesman, and to do so with a twist—by casting the Lomans as an African-American family.
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FUNNY GIRL
Sunday, September 8th, 2013
In the forty-nine years since Funny Girl debuted on Broadway, this musical biography of Fanny Brice has pretty much faded into obscurity despite its eight Tony nominations, and if regional revivals have been few and far between, blame that on a leading role that’s a bear to cast, a book that’s been aptly dubbed problematic, and absolutely no Funny Girl sets or costumes available for rent.
3-D Theatricals solves two of these three problems in its sensational from-the-ground-up revival, and though Isobel Lennart’s book remains more than a bit of a hodgepodge, Nicole Parker’s absolutely stellar lead performance, Michael Matthews’ inspired direction, and brand new Broadway-caliber sets and costumes by Stephen Gifford and Cheryl Sheldon make this revival another 3-D-T winner.
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BRITISHMANIA
Wednesday, August 14th, 2013RECOMMENDED
Though the production is bare-bones (and “John,” “Paul,” “George,” and “Ringo” probably look most Beatle-like when seen from the Laguna Playhouse back row), there’s no denying that the multitalented stars of BritishMania sound so much like The Beatles as they sing and play their way through two hours of ‘60s British pop that if you’re anything like this reviewer, this nostalgic trip back in time will end up worth a drive down to Laguna Beach.
SISTER ACT
Wednesday, August 7th, 2013
Sister Mary Clarence, the nun formerly known as nightclub chantoose Deloris Van Cartier, has come to town, news that can only mean that the sensational Sister Act is celebrating musical comedy mass at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center For The Arts. (read more)
SHREK THE MUSICAL
Monday, July 22nd, 2013
3-D Theatricals follows its phenomenal revival of Jason Robert Brown’s deep, dark, fact-based Parade with its polar opposite, the bright, breezy, and entirely fanciful Shrek The Musical, in its own way every bit as triumphant as its extraordinary predecessor.
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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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