Michael Quintos - Page 11

Yes, Summer in Orange County, California is often marked with escalating temperatures, the Laguna Beach Arts festival, and heavy beach traffic, but you can still escape the heat by jumping into an air-conditioned theater... where O.C. theaters are still buzzing with excitement (except those that have ended their season). Everywhere from Costa Mesa and Fullerton to Santa Ana and Irvine (and even our county-line neighbors in La Mirada and Long Beach), there are lots of stage goodies to fill your live theater cravings.

Now after more than a year, NEWSIES' North American First National Tour is nearing its conclusion, finally stopping at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through May 29 (the musical will motor down to San Diego the following week). After seeing the original Broadway production in NYC and then seeing its Los Angeles debut at the Pantages Theatre last year, experiencing this exuberant, high-energy, smile-inducing crowd-pleaser again here in my own home turf felt like a special gift. NEWSIES is a fun, uplifting night at the theater... and continues to be in subsequent, multiple viewings. With its winning combination of incredibly acrobatic dancing, family-friendly comedy, engaging story, awesome singing, and dazzling showmanship, there is a lot to love with this show---whether you're 5 or 95. Heck, it certainly made a #Fansie out of me.

To close out its current season, Orange County's Tony-winning regional theater South Coast Repertory has chosen to mount an opulent, high-caliber revival of Peter Shaffer's 1979 play AMADEUS, which continues performances in Costa Mesa through June 5, 2016. The recipient of the 1981 Tony Award for Best Play, AMADEUS most notably became the basis for Milos Forman's Academy Award-winning (and, yes, arguably, much more readily known) 1984 film of the same name. For SCR's season-ender---engagingly directed by Kent Nicholson---the rather lengthy play is presented with much of the visual grandness one expects from an antiquated period piece, particularly from this particular theater company. And as an added bonus, the play is performed by a cast of incredible, seasoned actors that winningly transports its audience to a time and place centuries ago. So is it worth revisiting the tug-of-war between Salieri and Mozart? If it is South Coast Rep's visually-stunning production, then the answer is an enthusiastic 'yes.'

To be completely honest, my first exposure to the mostly sung-through, modern rock musical AMERICAN IDIOT (during its initial national tour stops in Southern California) was, at best, like seeing a really cool rock concert performed by some incredibly talented musical theater actors, surrounded by some top-notch high-tech visuals. To put it simply, my initial reaction hovered somewhere just slightly above the middle. Well, of course, that all changed for the better once I experienced the truly remarkable, brand-new, more intimately 'immersive' production now causing a stir at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through May 15, 2016. Part of the theater's creatively innovative OnStage Series, this revitalized and, dare I say, more compelling AMERICAN IDIOT is a brilliantly-staged re-working of the musical that feels much more alive, more relatable, and, most importantly, more sensical. Yes, THIS new, more intimate production successfully converted me into an AMERICAN IDIOT fan. And, man, it is absolutely first-rate.

Adorable, utterly romantic, and thoroughly winsome, this stage adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's CINDERELLA is, admittedly, a wonderful surprise---filled with dazzling stage ingenuity; a dreamy, sweeping classic score by two legendary titans of musical theater; a revised, 21st-Century-tinged new book by playwright Douglas Carter Beane; magical Tony Award-winning costumes from the great William Ivey Long that will have you wondering 'how'd they do that?' and, lastly, an ensemble cast of terrific actor-singers that will have you cheering its inevitable happy-ever-after. And, if you're anything like me, you too will be easily swept up by its visual and musical loveliness and its endearing, sweet love story.The Broadway musical's Equity National Tour---now in its last weeks---has finally winded itself back to So. Cal., this time for a two-week stay at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through May 1, 2016 (the tour then moves on from here to its final scheduled week-long stop at San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre through May 8).

More than ever, Americans are living in a state of fear. Such is the subject searingly explored in playwright Julia Cho's intensely jarring new play OFFICE HOUR which continues its exceptional world premiere performances at Orange County's Tony Award winning regional theater South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through April 30, 2016. For almost 80 gripping, heart-pounding minutes without an intermission, Cho and director Neel Keller tap into this fearful 'new normal' in the form of Gina, a divorced adjunct university professor brilliantly played with quiet yet powerful grace by Sandra Oh (of TV's Grey's Anatomy, making her SCR debut). In the play, Gina makes it her goal to get through to a young creative writing student, Dennis (Raymond Lee), whose disturbing, excessively ultra-violent writing submissions have caused some concerns with both students and teachers.

If it was possible to like... or rather, LOOOVE... the Broadway musical KINKY BOOTS even more so than one already does, the lovable, fresh-faced cast of the musical's current first national tour is certainly making a really good case for it. An all-around spectacular stage show in every sense of the word, the 2013 six-time Tony Award-winning Best Musical's current North American traveling company---now back in Los Angeles for an all-too brief two-week run at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through April 24---very much lives up to its rousing, crowd-pleasing reputation thrice over. Still haven't seen this incredibly entertaining, surprisingly heartwarming show on tour yet? What are you waiting for?

Though that comedy device of rewritten song lyrics is (unfortunately) not utilized for the film's musical stage adaptation, still, much of the spirit and basic plot architecture of the original movie remains in SISTER ACT - THE MUSICAL, which features all-original songs by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, as well as a book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner (with additional material contributed later by playwright Douglas Carter Beane). Currently, Musical Theatre West's admirable regional production of this Tony-nominated Broadway musical comedy is finishing out its final weekend of performances at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach through April 24. Goofy and full of cutesy charm MTW's regional production definitely brings in the (joyful) noise and the funk to Long Beach. So what makes the show enjoyable? Well... for lack of a better phrase... it's all about the nuns.

ComicCon, the media-saturated annual juggernaut of promotion and sci-fi excess that puts celebrities and their costumed super-fans together in the same breathing space is the setting for playwright Eliza Clark's engaging new play FUTURE THINKING, now having its world premiere performances at Orange County's South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa through April 24, 2016. Directed by Lila Neugebauer, this modern day play offers a fresh story that explores how many of us strive for an ideal future that's both a mix of fantasy and reality, and that, at times, these two forces are often at odds with each other as we barrel towards what lies ahead.

Now playing at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, the new McCoy/Rigby Entertainment production of the Tony Award-winning 1981 Broadway musical DREAMGIRLS is pretty much a faithful carbon-copy of the recent 2009 national touring production---which happens to also be directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom. La Mirada's offering---which continues through April 17---repurposes almost all of the visual and technical aspects of that tour, from the use of moving LED screens that set up different scenes and environments to William Ivey Long's lavishly exquisite costumes. It even taps that tour's original Effie played by the extraordinary Moya Angela, who has since matured wonderfully into the role. When your lead actress incites a boisterous standing ovation after slaying with an incredible performance of the musical's iconic 'And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)'---even as the show is still in the midst of that act one ending---you know you've got something great here.

Sultry and spunky power-vocalist Storm Large is bringing her awesomely fierce sound back to Orange County, this time at Aliso Viejo's state-of-the-art Soka Performing Arts Center on Friday, April 1 at 8pm. She'll be joined by her band Le Bonheur to perform an eclectic mix of standard classics and familiar tunes rendered like only she can. Before her OC concert return this week, Ms. Large agreed to play '20 Questions' with BroadwayWorld's Michael L. Quintos where she talked about her influences, her musical theater aspirations, and why she'd like to trade places with our President for a day (or more)....

What happens to us when we die? Do we all make it to 'heaven,' regardless of our faith? This question is thrust front-and-center in playwright Bekah Brunstetter's pleasing world premiere play GOING TO A PLACE WHERE YOU ALREADY ARE, which continues performances at Costa Mesa's Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory through March 27, 2016. This stirring SCR-commission helmed by SCR artistic director Marc Masterson marks this new play's first full-scale production after its well-received reading at last year's Pacific Playwrights Festival… and after experiencing the play here first-hand, it's certainly understandable why. Touching and brilliantly performed, the play explores a wonderfully hopeful view of what it means for a person to 'move on.'

Orange County was once again gifted a compact, intermission-free version of Broadway superstar Kristin Chenoweth's 'Coming Home' concert on Saturday, March 12, 2016 at Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts (she performed a version of this concert last year at the Walt Disney Concert Hall). As expected, the spunky and sassy Tony Award Winner---joined on stage by musical director/accompanist Mary-Mitchell Campbell and an excellent four-piece jazz ensemble---wowed the adoring crowd throughout the show with her Southern-fried tales of growing up as a Christian daddy's girl in Oklahoma, who would later rise to meteoric marquee heights on the Broadway stage thanks to her incredible set of vocal pipes and unmissable acting chops. Along the way, she sings a wonderful mix of hilarious ditties, familiar showtunes, and some emotionally-stirring ballads that prove why she's a stunningly good performer.

When it comes down to it, trying to convince rabid or even casual fans of the hit Broadway blockbuster WICKED into seeing the show again (and again… and again) when it comes to their town really doesn't take much of a struggle. No matter how many times over the years that the Broadway blockbuster has landed in our own backyard, the demand for tickets is still high (hence the often long engagements the show has on our stages). Now finishing up the final week of its national tour's latest return engagement at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through March 6, the 'popular' musical continues to be a must-see favorite, and shows no signs of slowing down. So, 15 years later... is WICKED still worth seeing at a city near you for the umpteenth time these days? Absolutely! And here are 10 pretty good reasons why...

Unquestionably one of musical theater's most beloved, iconic classics, WEST SIDE STORY---the stirring Broadway musical that features a book by theater titan Arthur Laurents, music by the incomparable Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by living legend Stephen Sondheim---remains a still-resonant masterpiece of song, dance and story that explores themes still quite relevant even in modern times. For Musical Theatre West in Long Beach's latest regional revival, the show is presented in a rather nostalgic iteration that closely harkens back to the mood and feel of the original 1957 stage production (plus hints of its Academy Award-winning 1961 film adaptation). Nothing beats going to back to the power and intentions of the Jerome Robbins-helmed original, which this production successfully honors and emulates. In essence, this WEST SIDE STORY is a satisfying trip down memory lane, reaching back far enough to allow the original material to shine and reverberate.

America has had a long tragic history of sending brave young people off to foreign lands to fight in life-endangering wars, only to see those who have survived come home forever changed. This idea lingers over the new engaging musical DOGFIGHT, now having its Los Angeles/Orange County-area premiere at the Chance Theater in Anaheim through March 6. Adapted from the 1991 Warner Bros. film of the same name and featuring music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a book by Peter Duchan, this 2013 Lucille Lortel Award-winning off-Broadway musical shows how even the most confident, self-assured people can still be severely affected not only physically but also emotionally by the harsh realities of explosive, in-the-trenches combat.

Leave it to the creative folks over at 3-D Theatricals, Orange County's award-winning Broadway-caliber theatrical company, to be the entity responsible for this splendid new regional production of DISNEY's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST---the 1994 stage adaptation of the studio's gorgeous Academy Award-winning 1991 animated film that features music by Alan Menken, and lyrics by the late Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. 3DT's rather complex mounting---directed by 3-DT co-founder and artistic director TJ Dawson---is a marvelously-enchanting reboot, even despite the myriad of unfortunate opening night technical gaffes and (almost) forgotten/missed lines of dialogue that occasionally interrupted some of the wonderment. Of course, surely the kinks will be ironed out for the remainder of its scheduled run at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton through February 21 (which will then transfer for a weekend of shows at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center from February 26-28).

Now on stage in an exquisite new regional production at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through February 21, 2016, John Logan's riveting Tony Award-winning two-character play RED imagines a specific time period in the life of world-renowned abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko (played with superb gusto by Mark Harelik) and his struggles to remain an appreciated, serious artiste at the dawn of pop art, Andy Warhol, and the rise of pretty (and well-funded) 'over mantle' modern art. With the help of a new young assistant (the impressive Paul David Story), Rothko forges ahead with a high-paying commission to produce a series of murals for the Four Seasons Restaurant, which causes much inner turmoil for the artist.

Filled with eye-popping visuals, optical trickery, risky stunts, hilarious audience participation, and lots of hammy showmanship (complete with Solid Gold-style background dancers-slash-magicians' assistants), THE ILLUSIONISTS - LIVE FROM BROADWAY is a supremely entertaining if occasionally cheesy stage show that's like several caffeinated Vegas magic shows on steroids all mashed together. The first stop of this new leg of the post-Broadway national tour is Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, where it will attempt to wow local audiences for a strictly one-week engagement until February 7.

It's no surprise that a palpable, uproarious reception greeted the opening night performance of EMPIRE - THE MUSICAL, a brand new stage show featuring book, music, and lyrics by Caroline Sherman and Robert Hull---currently having its 'out-of-town' premiere at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through February 14, 2016. Directed and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge (RAGTIME), this ambitious new original musical---advertised with declared aspirations for an eventual engagement on Broadway---fashions an early 20th Century era, multi-character narrative about the construction of one of the world's most iconic skyscrapers: the Empire State Building in New York City. The good news? It's exceedingly entertaining. The not-so-good news? It's a show with lots of potential but needs a lot more tinkering and refining.