COSTA MESA THEATER REVIEWS

Need a pick-me-up from a bad day? Aching to smile heartily through a pleasantly peppy stage musical? Then you need not look further than the rousing, just-launched new touring production of the Tony Award-winning hit 42ND STREET, now currently entertaining audiences at Orange County's Segerstrom Cen...

It was 25 years ago when South Coast Repertory first staged the World Premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley's dark comedy ABUNDANCE. Fast forward to 2015, and Orange County's Tony Award-winning regional theater saw it fitting to once again revisit the property in a brand new prod...

Like many others during 1964-1966, I made sure to be home when "The Addams Family" TV show was broadcast. Carolyn Jones and John Astin were like no parents I knew and their family certainly lived the sort of off-kilter life totally different than any other family I had ever known. But it was their...

Desert Theatreworks, in Palm Desert California, has mounted a top-notch production of STEEL MAGNOLIAS. The acting is Broadway-quality, and the sets and costuming are also superb....

Fourth time's the charm for Musical Theatre West as the award-winning regional theater company opens its 63rd season with the 1956 Lerner and Loewe Broadway classic MY FAIR LADY. Retaining the effervescent wit and jubilant spirit of the original, MTW's irresistibly beguiling, top-notch local revival...

18 years and billions of box office receipts later, Disney's Tony Award-winning global hit THE LION KING is still going strong both on Broadway and on various touring and sit-down productions across the world. The show's North American tour is currently finishing up its four-week return engagement a...

Appropriately enough, the supposedly haunted Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton is currently playing host to the happy spooks of 3-D Theatricals' regional production of THE ADDAMS FAMILY, which continues performances at this historic theater through October 25 before migrating south to the Redondo Beac...

Cirque du Soleil has brought its newest touring show, KURIOS - Cabinet des Curiosites under the iconic blue-and-yellow Big Top to Southern California, beginning October 15 in Costa Mesa at the OC Fair & Event Center, followed in Los Angeles by Cirque du Soleil's first visit to Dodger Stadium beginni...

Full of the Obie-winning playwright's amusingly observant and stirringly poignant portraits of ordinary people in extraordinary flux, Samuel D. Hunter's 2010 play A BRIGHT NEW BOISE is now being staged in a terrific production currently in performance at Orange County's Ovation-winning Chance Theate...

So does FIRST DATE---the relatively new musical comedy now playing its Southern California regional premiere at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through October 11---merit an outing? Sure! If you're looking for a cute, charming little musical that's giddy and entertaining and features a...

The Pasadena Pops held their final event of the summer at the Los Angeles Country Arboretum and Bontanic Garden on September 12, 2015. Michael Feinstein, performer and principal Pops Conductor led the full orchestra and featured soloists Shelea Frazier and Broadway's Jeremy Jordan....

To put it succinctly, be ready to laugh your ass off. A brilliant, witty melange of slapstick, sight gags, silly absurdity, hyperbolic acting, and even bits of good ol' reliable audience participation, ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS, Richard Bean's exceedingly hilarious comedy of errors, misdirections, and mi...

You can tell when a theatre company cares about its audience, especially when that audience is largely made up of young people. It doesn't talk down to them and it doesn't assume they will only understand the obvious. Instead, its directors take the time to seek out work that is worthy of engagement...

LOOT, a 1965 satirical farce -- a bizarre, dark parody of an English drawing room comedy -- by British enfant terrible Joe Orton, is a difficult production. Desert Rose Playhouse, in Rancho Mirage, California, pulls it off. Excellent acting and directing result in a great deal of hilarity....

MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL-THE SURVIVOR TOUR is a great deal of fun. Each bouncy number has plenty of clever lyrics and deliberately silly choreography to keep the audience laughing. It is almost impossible not to clap and dance along with the performers as they perform such antics as playing instruments...

Palm Desert's Desert Theatreworks has mounted a must-see production of Sarah Ruhl's edgy, comedic, metaphysical play, DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE.The director has created such a visual and musical feast that it doesn't matter if anyone understands the story, any more than it does with a ballet....

One of the keys to providing great entertainment is understanding your audience. For a theatre company that means knowing what your audience wants and then being able to provide it so they keep coming back for more. Independent Shakespeare Co. has done a brilliant job of both. Not only do they play ...

The new touring production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, currently playing at the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa, is a must-see. The music, costumes, and sets are hauntingly beautiful and the performances are generally superb. Katie Travis, as Christine Daae, is a standout....

Definitely one of this current millennium's funniest stage shows, the world-famous Hollywood Bowl certainly chose wisely in its decision to stage the hit musical comedy Monty Python's SPAMALOT as this year's all-star annual summer stage musical spectacular, which was welcomed with plenty of sustaine...

Baby boomers don't normally show their approval at the theater by leaping to their feet and giving standing ovations during a performance… unless they happen to be seeing A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN at Pasadena Playhouse. The power of remembrance combined with the powerhouse performances of Mary Bri...

Bravo to Chance Theater for taking on this mainstream hit and making it actually feel like a fresh, awesome little indie. Now playing through August 9, the latest offering from Orange County's bold, award-winning regional theater company is their own 'intimate' theater re-staging of HAIRSPRAY, the 2...

OC's award-winning regional theater company 3-D Theatricals' latest effort is a remarkably admirable, visually-stunning iteration of Disney's TARZAN® THE MUSICAL that defiantly dazzles and entertains despite the inherent, unavoidable shortcomings of its licensed source material (a problematic book ...

As the cliche goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That is perhaps partly the philosophy behind the rather faithful stage adaptation of the gloriously wonderful movie musical SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, now once again charmingly replicated in a smile-inducing local production at Musical Theatre West tha...

The touring company of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA performed a magnificent self-produced cabaret titled OSCAR UNMASKED, consisting of performances from Oscar winning songs and scores. In addition, audience members had the chance to bid on three items in a live auction. The cabaret raised about $10,000 ...

As an attempt to increase its cultural relevance, involve the community, and expand its audience base, Shakespeare Orange County's ROMEO & JULIET is an admirable venture. Directors Mike Peebler and John Walcutt have integrated several hometown groups to appeal to its neighboring communities: the Vie...