COSTA MESA THEATER REVIEWS

What do you get when you grab a bunch of perky high school students and have them all magically fall in love while putting together the school musical, all while wearing bright, rainbow colored-preppy wear? If you said High School Musical, then you're... well, okay, you're right. But actually, the s...

Once in a while, one of the most fortunate things about west coast debuts of touring shows is when a Broadway hit finally transfers here, bringing with it some of the original stars that helped launch it. For those able to catch the Los Angeles premiere of the 2008 Tony® Award-winner for Best Music...

The second longest-running off-Broadway show in history, NUNSENSE is not only a silly, madcap farce, but a truly adorable, heartwarming little gem of a musical. With its final performances playing at the Mysterium Theater in Orange, CA through June 19, NUNSENSE will have you laughing until your chee...

n what is perhaps the most elaborately-choreographed water ballet ever set to lights, animation and music, WORLD OF COLOR rises (literally) from the waters of Disney's California Adventure park, reaching far up and wide with a dazzling display that is equal parts technical innovation and emotionally...

There is always a sense of curiosity when it comes to the private lives of famous people...Which actress just entered rehab? Which actor is cheating on his wife? Which singer is a secret homesexual? Yes, despite bigger troubles in the world, there is an appetite for such salaciously juicy tidbits. A...

The behind-the-scenes, utterly competitive process of being cast in a show is the subject of A CHORUS LINE, one of Broadway's biggest commercial musical hits ever. The current national tour, based on the successful 2006 Broadway revival, is now playing for a strictly two-week limited return engageme...

After almost a decade of traveling the country (to go along with countless international productions as well as a recently planted sit-down production in Las Vegas), the National Touring company of DISNEY'S THE LION KING returns to the Orange County Performing Arts Center for a strictly-limited thre...

In just a few short months, 3D Theatricals, the newest little Orange County theater company that rose quietly within the walls of Santa Ana's beautiful (but astonishingly ignored) OC Pavilion Theatre late last year is quickly becoming the county's most ambitious new regional theater, mounting some r...

There is always a sense of curiosity when it comes to the private lives of famous people...Which actress just entered rehab? Which actor is cheating on his wife? Which singer is a secret homesexual? Yes, despite bigger troubles in the world, there is an appetite for such salaciously juicy tidbits. A...

For playwright Beth Henley, tragedies, disappointments and scandal become the surprisingly funny source material for this slice-of-dysfunctional-life play that revels in its own charming eccentricities. The resulting work of delicious genius is her 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning debut comedy CRIMES OF ...

Many to this day may not be fully aware of the scope of the horrific events that transpired during Hitler's reign of tyranny over much of Europe during the Second World War. While the Jewish community was, by all accounts, the biggest targets of the Nazi's evil wave of terror, the German Gestapo als...

In South Coast Repertory's truly excellent World Premiere play DOCTOR CERBERUS (with performances continuing through May 2), playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa takes us back to the mid-1980's to witness the witty coming-of-age tale of one young awkward teen who is just a tad smarter than his years wi...

This fresh, entertaining reboot of the Tony® Award-winning stage musical DREAMGIRLS (now playing at the Orange County Performing Arts Center through May 2) is exquisitely vintage, yet surprisingly modern all at the same time. It's a reverent homage to the soulful musical roots of pop music, display...

There is a sort of darling, cheerful innocence associated with youth in the 50's, which, by contrast, is ridiculously tame by today's standards. Mixing old-fashioned values, quirky fashions, and infectious pop music that is oh-so-cute and saccharine, it is no wonder that many wax nostalgic for an er...

As newscasts take very brief pauses between disgraced pro-golfers and the latest political scandals to report on the conflict in the Middle East, Americans are fleetingly reminded that as long as the war rages on, many of these heroic military men and women are either about to deploy to, are in the ...

There exists this long-standing unscientific notion... a stereotype that has never truly been proven. Yet time and again, the behavioral pattern is constantly corroborated-in the school yard, in office cubicles, and even in the dating pool: ultra-smart, highly intelligent people are somehow, coincid...

Faith Prince has a wonderful gift: she is that rare performer that can make you ache with laughter with a flick of an eyebrow or a scream of a line, then instantly make you sigh with melancholy with a heart-tugging ballad. That Fanny Brice-tinged bravado and uncompromising comedic timing, coupled wi...

The 1960's were certainly a turbulent turning point in American history, a decade of social upheaval that has shaped the nation so significantly, that it's hard to fathom that it was just a little under 50 years ago when such openly disagreeable behavior was the norm. While some may argue that tensi...

Arguably one of the most popularly-beloved pop acts of the 20th century, the Beatles -- that engaging Liverpool, UK foursome comprised of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr -- have not only left an indelible mark in music history, but have also carved themselves a place in ...

There's a funny saying that's been going around for the past few years: 'It's funny... 'cause it's true!' While some aspects of this particular show have been exaggerated for (relatively) full comic effect, Second City's CAN YOU BE MORE PACIFIC? (now playing at The Laguna Playhouse thru April 11) hi...

relationship between the Western World and the Arab World has always been a tumultuous one. In Howard Korder's Edgerton Award-winning world premiere play IN A GARDEN (now performing at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa until March 28) two disparate individuals, each a member of those previously me...

As musical theater composers go, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has a staggering amount of hits in his repertoire of past shows. THE MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER, the mini-concert tour now performing through Sunday, February 21 at The Orange County Performing Arts Center, serves as a musical gathering of m...

Met with some of Sondheim's harshest criticisms (a rarity within his top-notch career full of well-received hits), MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG-his musical play told in reverse-is quite a challenging piece to take in. As Chance Theater's current production (performing through March 7 in Anaheim Hills), the...

August Wilson's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning FENCES, currently playing at South Coast Repertory through February 21, certainly has the pedigree of a respected, celebrated play-and it shows. In this hard-working, admirable revival directed by Seret Scott, Wilson's character study of a broken, flaw...

Musical Theatre West's incredible production of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET transports you instantly to London, circa early 1846. This is no sunny fairy tale-life is bleak, poverty is rampant, corruption is the rule, and a devoted family man can progressively turn into a vengeful ...