It’s not often I find myself sitting behind the playwright of the production I’m attending but that was the case as I was directly behind David Henry Hwang during his latest work, “Soft Power”. Hwang has had great luck and success at Center Theatre Group, where he premiered Pulitzer Prize finalist “Yellow Face” and his Tony-nominated revival “Flower Drum Song.”
Read MoreThe name of the show Forever Bound has so many innuendos, starting with the program featuring a large cockroach bound by tape. The opening of Forever Bound begins with a lovely redhead girl Miranda (Emily Goss) walking slowly with vacant eyes, while holding a gas mask. Is she “Forever Bound” to believe that her world is about to end? Playwright Steve Apostolina’s literary comedy turns into a chilling thriller, with a surprising moral twist.
Read MoreLike most Broadway and musical theater fans who live on the west coast without unlimited access to a jet plane or a big enough disposable income to go to New York constantly to see every theatrical offering on the Great White Way, my first exposures to new Broadway musicals are usually either by viewing short clips online or, even better, by listening to the original cast album.
So, naturally, when a very buzzed-about, Drama Desk-winning new musical from Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda finally moved from its off-Broadway home at the Public Theater to the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 2015, I was more than excited to know that the cast album for this monumental project will finally be available for those of us common folk unable to snag a flight or a ticket to experience it live in New York.
Read MoreIt’s been a while since I’ve walked out of a theatre humming a song from a musical. After seeing School of Rock on opening night, I found myself not only humming, but singing “Stick it to the Man” while driving home. The next day, I sang it again while doing chores around the house. Not only is this song catchy, it had the audience up and out of their seats at the end of the show.
Read MoreListening to some of the best jazz and blues music from the 1920’s and 30’s, Blues in the Night features four exquisite singers and six soulful musicians transporting the audience on a historical journey while performing 27 songs by the great Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Benny Goodman and Johnny Mercer.
Read MoreFirst, let's get some pleasantries out of the way.
There are many, very obvious spectacular things that stand out while watching “LOVE NEVER DIES,” Andrew Lloyd Webber's infamously, uh, troubled 2010 musical follow-up to his long-running global hit “THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA,” now continuing its two-week engagement at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through May 5, 2018.
Read MoreArmed with a grand, sweeping songbook from the masters of classic musical theater Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and a romantic, progressive-for-its-time book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan, it is difficult not to be continually enchanted by SOUTH PACIFIC, the groundbreaking 1949 stage musical based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Even better… sandwiched between timeless memorable songs, intensely romantic interludes, and cheeky, comedic banter is the show's surprisingly candid exploration of race relations—a topic that is, of course, still very much top-of-mind in today's seemingly more divided world.
Read MoreA gorgeously stylized rendering of a poignant and deeply moving narrative that blends bits of welcome humor, inspiring theatricality, historical context, and vibrant, magically-tinged storytelling, “LITTLE BLACK SHADOWS” is an excellent first production of this fresh new play that I predict will only continually improve as it sees new future productions on the horizon.
Read MorePlaywright Joshua Harmon explores how the dynamics of friendship changes when a significant other is introduced into the clique. It begins with the four lead characters getting liquored up at Kiki’s (Keilly McQuail, a gifted comedian) bachelorette party. McQuail’s lovable vapid, Valley Girl delivery is spot on. We learn Kiki was never looking for love, she just wanted someone to validate her. Kiki’s key in finding a husband was falling in love with herself, as she declares “I treat myself better than any man could treat me.” Splurging one evening at Jean-Georges restaurant, wah-lah she meets her husband-to-be Conrad (John Garet Stoker) and is the first of these college “besties” to get married.
Read MoreOnce in a while, you come across a stage show that, on paper, may not have had the buzz that other high-profile shows may have had initially, but then you see it … and it just completely surprises you in the best possible way.
That pretty much sums up my recent experience with the oh-so delightful “NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT,” Musical Theatre West's buoyant and sublime new regional production of the 10-time Tony Award-nominated 2012 musical comedy now on stage at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts in Long Beach, CA through April 22. An irresistibly silly and infectiously tuneful stage show that will have you smiling from start to finish, this roaring 20's throwback with modern sensibilities provides lots of zany antics, lots of witty one-liners, and lots of spectacular song-and-dance showstoppers that will have you wondering—where has this show been all my life?
Read MoreI have to admit that I was a bit shocked to read that William Shakespeare's comedic play The Taming of the Shrew—according to a survey conducted by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2003—ranks as the second most popular of the Bard's entire repertoire.
Read MoreI wanted to love the continuation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera in the sequel Love Never Dies. I was a huge fan of the musical when it premiered at the Pantages Theatre in the 1990s starring Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. I went back to see the beloved musical again, when television actor Robert Guillaume replaced Crawford in Los Angeles. He was the first African-American actor to play Phantom, and was a sensation.
Read MoreAs we grapple with a 21st Century where our country is still at a significant divide and has allowed fear to take hold, experiencing an important piece like “ALLEGIANCE”—a commanding retelling of a moment when another “other” is forced into a shameful condition that is essentially a sanctioned, lawful way to discriminate solely on the basis of one’s specific ethnicity—is almost required viewing for all to see, if only to be reminded that one should not rush to judgment or make sweeping generalizations about an entire group of people, especially when such actions can significantly affect many lives and families in a terrible, inhumane way.
Is the price of security (for some) the robbing of others of their freedom? No. No it shouldn’t be. After you see “ALLEGIANCE” you’ll likely feel the same, too.
Read MoreThe world, unfortunately, is rife with truly horrific examples of inhuman atrocities throughout its recorded history—from the subjugating of entire races into slavery to the mass executions of entire populations for the sake of complete and unchallenged control. In all instances, the human pain and suffering are long-lasting and far-reaching to say the least.
Such was the case in the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia, a region that, for much of its history, has experienced a great deal of hardships and challenges, some of which even continue through today.
Read MoreTaking my teenage daughter to see The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, I had no idea this beautiful production would be such a fascinating historical love story. I thought it might enlighten her about the great painter Marc Chagall, yet soon discovered it was also about his hardship and bigotry as a Jew living through both World Wars.
Read MoreSell/Buy/Date made its world premier in 2016 at Manhattan Theatre Club in New York with Jones longtime collaborator and director Carolyn Cantor. Together they offer the audience a humanizing experience about the “oldest profession” prostitution and trafficking women.
Read MoreOverall, despite its missteps and being an imperfect adaptation, I have to say that I still found "THE GRADUATE" an entertaining piece of live theater on many levels. Ms. Griffith may draw you in out of curiosity, but I recommend staying for the whole experience not only to witness a promising newcomer's early acting work but also to see a quote-heavy Reader's Digest version of a nostalgic trip.
Read MoreWalking into the Lovelace Studio Theatre, scenic designer Francois-Pierre Couture replicates Jacqueline Kennedy’s elegant living room inside her Fifth Avenue apartment in New York City. Under a bench is the board game Risk, and children’s toys are carefully placed around the room to clue the audience that John-John and Caroline live here too.
Read MoreWhen Musical Theatre West presents a new production of a classic musical, it's pretty much guaranteed that the show will be a faithful representation of what one imagines that particular classic show might have been envisioned in its original or (at the very least) its most popular form.
Not surprisingly, that's exactly what you'll get with their latest locally-mounted revival of "GUYS AND DOLLS"—that ubiquitous Tony Award-winning 1950 musical based on Damon Runyon's short stories. This new Long Beach, CA production continues at the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts stage through March 4, 2018. Buoyantly bright, unabashedly old-fashioned, and yet irresistibly enjoyable, MTW's latest show of its 65th season manages to preserve its infamous old-school charms without making it unapproachable for 21st Century audiences.
Read MoreReflective and, ultimately, achingly bittersweet, “VIOLET” surprised me with its dark, heightened subtlety but eventually it pierced my core the same way more bombastic shows have managed to do. So many other shows these days churn out their narratives in service of big musical numbers. Here, “VIOLET” allows its gravitas to spill out like molasses so that audiences can savor the slow burn, the subtle tone shifts, and its rich contextual layers.
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