BWW Reviews: Extraordinary Tony-Winning Revival of PIPPIN Somersaults into SoCal
Arguably, director Diane Paulus' greatest triumph to date is the spectacular new production of PIPPIN, the 2013 Tony-winning revival of Stephen Schwartz's trippy but winsome musical about the angst-riddled but hyper-aspirational young son of King Charlemagne, and his erratic, sometimes frustrating j...
BWW Reviews: OC's 3-D Theatricals Presents Epic Production of RAGTIME
Admirably directed by 3-D Theatricals co-founder and resident artistic director TJ Dawson, this ambitiously impressive regional revival of RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL, continues through October 26 at its home-base at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton before moving north for its set of performances at the...
BWW Reviews: Tony Winner Brian Stokes Mitchell Enchants with SIMPLY BROADWAY Concert
For 90 solid minutes, Tony Award-winning Broadway icon Brian Stokes Mitchell---under the guise of a showtunes-centric cabaret concert themed around his most recent studio album Simply Broadway---provided his enthralled Costa Mesa audience a virtual master class in musical theater performance. Not on...
BWW Reviews: OC's Chance Theater Escapes to the 50's in MAPLE & VINE
The appeal of trading in the hustle and bustle of a 21st Century lifestyle for a 1955 throwback downgrade is the focus of Jordan Harrison's wonderfully intriguing play MAPLE & VINE, now having its Los Angeles/Orange County premiere production at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills through October 19...
BWW Reviews: Steve Martin and Edie Brickell have a Luminous BRIGHT STAR on the Horizon
What I found so utterly engaging about the world premiere of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's new musical BRIGHT STAR is its complete unpretentiousness. Certainly its musical style --American bluegrass with a heaping helping of laid back mountain charm -- has the kind of lilting homespun ease that m...
BWW Reviews: Top-Notch Performances Elevate Brilliant GOOD PEOPLE in La Mirada
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire's thoughtful, riveting character study GOOD PEOPLE continues at the La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts through October 12. Buoyed by impressive performances, this excellent regional production of the Tony Award-winning play shines the spo...
BWW Reviews: Vox Lumiere's Exciting PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is Mind-Blowing Entertainment
Most of the time, when you go to the theater, you pretty much know what to expect. Though the subject matter and delivery varies, when you buy a ticket to a play or musical you basically know what kind of show you're going to see. Well here's one for those of you that want something that is truly di...
BWW Reviews: Deaf West and Michael Arden Discover a New SPRING AWAKENING
Director Michael Arden gives the word discovery new meaning in a spectacular production of Steven Sater (book & lyrics) and Duncan Sheik's (music) Spring Awakening based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 expressionist play. Arden, who has had a long partnership with Deaf West that goes back to Big River, whi...
BWW Reviews: South Coast Rep Triumphs with Enchanting New Vision of Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST
Something completely enchanting is happening right now on a stage in Costa Mesa. Kicking off its 51st season, South Coast Repertory---in association with the American Repertory Theatre and the Smith Center---is currently staging the remarkable, re-envisioned new take on William Shakespeare's classic...
BWW Previews: Globe on Screen's TWELFTH NIGHT Opens in Los Angeles Cinemas, 9/22
Lovers of Shakespeare are in for a real treat when Shakespeare's Globe Theatre brings its all-male Original Practices production of Twelfth Night to local cinemas beginning September 22. Starring award-winning actors Mark Rylance as Olivia and Stephen Fry as Malvolio, the film gives audiences an exc...
BWW Reviews: Independent Film BILLY SHAKESPEARE Highlights the Writer's Dilemma
BILLY SHAKESPEARE is a spicy little independent film by Deborah Voorhees that imagines what might happen if William Shakespeare tried to make it as a writer in today's Hollywood rather than Elizabethan England. Quirky characters, compromising situations, and the kind of deadpan humor made famous in ...
BWW Reviews: WALKING WITH DINOSAURS Roars Through So. Cal Arenas
Going above-and-beyond your typical museum diorama or theme park animatronic showcase, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR is a dino-lover's dream: a wondrous feat of technology, theatrical magic, and imagination---bringing to (virtual) life those figures that continue to scare/fascinate ...
BWW Reviews: PSYCHE A Modern Rock Opera, Art Brought to Life
The world premiere of PSYCHE: A Modern Rock Opera is undeniably impressive, especially when you consider the scope of the author's vision and the level of detail that has gone into its execution....
BWW Reviews: Tony-Winning ONCE Makes Stirring OC Debut
Subtle and, at times, molasses-slow in execution---yet ultimately powerful in impact---ONCE is a beautifully-staged, soul-searing musical that interchanges romantic entanglement for creative fulfillment---and how the line that separates these emotions are often blurred. The eight-time Tony award-win...
BWW Reviews: Tony Winner Jennifer Holliday Leads Dazzling BROADWAY UNDER THE STARS Concert
When you've been given the privilege to watch and, of course, listen to legendary Tony winner Jennifer Holliday sing live---in that signature inimitable style---it's practically akin to a religious experience. She is, to put it mildly, still one of the world's most treasured, gifted musical voices. ...
BWW Reviews: TOP ROCK Raises the 'Heat Quotient' at The Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs thru September 20
It is always great when a theatrical event meets your expectations. It is even better when it exceeds them. TOP ROCK at The Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs did just that. Live It Up Production's TOP ROCK rivals the best production show on the Las Vegas strip with a tremendously talented and charismatic...
BWW Reviews: GHOST THE MUSICAL Haunts the O.C.
On the surface, GHOST, the ultra-romantic 1990 Oscar-nominated box office hit, seems every bit the perfect motion picture to be repurposed into a flashy stage musical. Unfortunately, the musical that eventually emerged (now playing at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts through August 10) is a chaoti...
BWW Reviews: All-Star Cast Brings Lively HAIR to the Hollywood Bowl
Directed by Adam Shankman and featuring a talented, impossibly photogenic cast that includes Kristen Bell, Hunter Parrish, Benjamin Walker, Amber Riley, Mario, Jenna Ushkowitz and Jonah Platt, the Hollywood Bowl production of the 60's hippie-centric HAIR is lively and unabashedly joyful to the core....
BWW Reviews: ICELAND, STILL, SAANA/THE FOREIGNER Impress at REDCAT's New Original Works Festival
REDCAT opened its eleventh annual New Original Works Festival this weekend with a trio of intriguing pieces incorporating movement, dance, music, and a variety of theatrical elements that push the boundaries of thought and creativity. Together they make up the first of three programs that will be of...
BWW Reviews: 3-D Theatricals Hits Another Home Run with Peppy DAMN YANKEES
A buoyant, truly impressive local revival directed by Alan Souza, 3-DT's DAMN YANKEES is a true audience pleaser, highlighted by an enthusiastic cast and spirited re-imagined sequences that are truly Broadway-caliber. This all-new production is now playing at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton thro...
BWW Reviews: OC's Chance Theater Presents Vibrant IN THE HEIGHTS
Lively and electrified by its talented, winsome lead actors, this new admirable local production of the Tony Award-winning IN THE HEIGHTS has just been extended for additional performances in its Anaheim Hills home through August 8---and deservedly so. Overall, this new OC production crackles with a...
BWW Reviews: Blair Underwood and Richard Thomas Lead a Powerful OTHELLO
There is no redemption in OTHELLO. Shakespeare has provided no late opportunity to undo what has been done, no chance to make amends for the terrible wrongs lavished upon the innocent, and no way for the audience to feel anything but horror for the treachery that has filled the stage for two and a h...
BWW Reviews: SOC Sails to the South Pacific for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Yes, it takes a village. Shakespeare Orange County has pulled out all the stops, and even enlisted a not-so-secret weapon, to accomplish an extraordinarily beautiful debut in its first official production under new artistic director John Walcutt...
BWW Reviews: Pantages Hosts New JOSEPH Tour with Young and DeGarmo
So what's the big selling point for this new national touring production of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, which continues its three-week stop at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through June 22? Well, how about a pair of better-known American Idol alums in the lead roles... a pair t...
BWW Reviews: Impressive New Regional Production of LES MISERABLES Debuts in La Mirada
First to take on this brave task of bringing a regional production of the hit musical LES MISERABLES to the L.A./O.C. area is McCoy-Rigby Entertainment, that regional theater powerhouse that has consistently and successfully put on some magnificent, Broadway-caliber productions at their home base at...
Videos
|
Hershey Felder: The Piano & Me South Coast Repertory (6/10-6/21) |
|
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Segerstrom Center for the Arts (7/11-7/25) |
|
Fremont Ave. South Coast Repertory (4/25-5/23) |
|
UB40 Fred Kavli Theatre (10/25-10/25) |
|
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Segerstrom Center for the Arts (7/05-7/25) |
|
The Book of Will Curtis Theatre (6/12-6/21) |
|
C.S. Lewis On Stage: Further Up & Further In Irvine Barclay Theatre (7/09-7/10) |
|
Ah Ha! Bluebird Park (6/06-6/06) PHOTOS VIDEOS |
|
Alison Krauss and Union Station Pacific Amphitheatre (8/29-8/29) |
|
Jekyll & Hyde the Musical Rose Center Theater (6/12-6/28) |
| VIEW ALL SHOWS ADD A SHOW | |
Get Costa Mesa's #1 Theatre Newsletter
Get the best news & discounts for Costa Mesa Shows & beyond.
