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BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature Once On This Island, The Light in the Piazza, Sweeney Todd and more!
30 years after its stage debut, experiencing MISS SAIGON nowadays exposes just how outdated and out-of-touch it is with our increasingly diverse world view. The musical's original production---which first debuted in the West End in 1989 before transferring to Broadway in 1991---became a global hit despite some loud, very understandable controversy. Most audiences, however, ignored the accusations of orientalism, misogyny, and white-washing and instead focused on the show's epic melodrama and theatrical splendor, much of it powered by the lush music of Claude-Michel Schönberg and the lyrics by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. The show continues at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through October 13, 2019.
After taking some time off to heal from a skiing injury earlier this year, one of Broadway's biggest voices, Lea Salonga, is ready to kick-off the North American leg of her Lea Salonga: The Human Heart Tour on Friday, April 5th in Costa Mesa, CA at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
As with each passing season, 2018 proved to be another exceptional year for theater not only in Souther California in general but also in Orange County---my home base. This year, the OC finally welcomed the debut of what has become this century's most awarded and most renowned stage musical ever about the Founding Father etched regally on the 10 dollar bill. Meanwhile, So. Cal. enjoyed a powerful surge of new stage works that explored Asian-American experiences, a positive step forward in the presentation of diverse voices we seldom hear from on the stage. A pair of touring musicals---both opening in the O.C. in early 2019---made such an impact in their Los Angeles engagements for me personally that I had to include them in my list, even though I have not 'officially' reviewed the productions for print. With that said, here is my 'Best of 2018' from Orange County and adjacent locales nearby---a mixture of outstanding shows and brilliant performances that made a lasting, memorable imprint in my theatergoing experience this year.
Videos
PHYSICALITY IN ACTING
New International Performing Arts Institute (5/17 - 5/19) | ||
Galilee, 34
South Coast Repertory (4/21 - 5/12) | ||
Aladdin
Segerstrom Center for the Arts (5/7 - 5/12) | ||
Hairspray
Fox Performing Arts Center (5/8 - 5/9) | ||
Baroque: Montero + Mozart
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (5/24 - 5/25) | ||
Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Rose Center Theater (6/28 - 7/14) | ||
48th Annual Sholund Scholarship Concert
Musco Center for the Arts Main Stage (5/11 - 5/11) | ||
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