The latest reviews and critic recommendations from Costa Mesa.
This past week I saw two different musicals that have taken their inspiration from classic Jane Austen novels and, while completely different in size and scale, both have considerable merits.
The con is on! With plenty of wit, charm, and double entendres galore, Musical Theatre West's new regional production of the 2004 Broadway musical comedy 'DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS' is one enjoyably silly romp.
If there was ever one musical that, on the surface, can translate well as an intimately-staged production in a black box theater space, then A CHORUS LINE---the classic 1975 Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning backstage musical---should certainly qualify as a strong contender.
Besides the Hollywood Bowl's all-star concert event, THE LITTLE MERMAID also made a splash at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts.
It's clear that the smart and savvy architects behind Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID Live In Concert To Film, the sold out presentation of Disney's 1989 animated classic THE LITTLE MERMAID at the 17,000-seat Hollywood Bowl have indeed created a wholly wonderful experience.
Frozen fans will be ecstatic with the way Disney has re-imagined its much-loved blockbuster film for the stage, now that the doors to FROZEN - LIVE AT THE HYPERION are open on the Hollywood backlot of Disney California Adventure.
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).
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.
Lovers of the era of Busby Berkeley movie musicals are getting a double whammy of Golden Age goodness this month with a pair of musicals playing only two blocks from each other in Hollywood.
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 s
The Coachella Valley is quickly becoming a mecca for exceptional theatre.
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 n
AGNES OF GOD is challenging theatre at every level.
More than ever, Americans are living in a state of fear.
The destination for girls' night out in Southern California this month is definitely Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton.
If it was possible to like.
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 l
We tell a lot of stories in the theatre.
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
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 choreogra
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 Sout
It was indeed an auspicious occasion at Chapman University on Saturday night where over a thousand guests gathered for the much-anticipated official opening of the Marybelle and Sebastian P.
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).
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 one writes a story song like composer Ryan Scott Oliver.
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Elton Dom: The Young Elton Experience Rose Center Theater (10/16-10/18) |
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Cody Fry Christmas Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (12/18-12/19) |
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Viva Las Divas: A Drag Spectacular Segerstrom Center for the Arts (11/13-11/14) |
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Beethoven Revolution Festival Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (1/11-2/09) |
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Pink Martini All-Stars Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (2/19-2/20) |
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Beethoven: I Shall Hear in Heaven Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (1/30-1/30) |
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Long Yu Conducts Rachmaninoff Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (2/25-2/27) |
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Nobu Plays Rachmaninoff's Mighty Third Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (11/19-11/21) |
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Aladdin & Yasmin’s Winter Wish The Laguna Playhouse (12/04-12/27) |
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The Music of Bond, James Bond Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (4/16-4/17) |
