COSTA MESA THEATER REVIEWS

While many of the well-meaning narrative tweaks and modernized additions do seem slightly forced and somewhat at odds with the story's original innocence, for the most part, this revised CINDERELLA is a genuinely entertaining, effectively escapist musical filled with joy and magic. MTW's production ...

Broadway fan favorite Jessica Vosk's solo cabaret debut at Segerstrom Center for the Arts---which opened Thursday, November 17, 2022 and continues for two additional shows through Saturday, November 19---is, quite possibly, the most enjoyable cabaret concert this reviewer has experienced at the Cent...

Loosely adapted from Baz Luhrmann's 1999 hit movie, the campy, sensory overload that is the Tony Award-winning stage adaptation of MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL---now playing at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts through November 27, 2022---is an entertaining pop-music-tinged feast for the senses....

Undeniably compelling but also, at times, comfortably predictable, Aaron Sorkin's A FEW GOOD MEN is, for all intents and purposes, really a showcase for enthralling live acting performances. The McCoy Rigby Entertainment production continues at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through N...

A truly fun-filled, ecstatically-performed iteration of this classic musical, MTW's Broadway-caliber production (now on stage at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center through October 30) is a definite must-see. The production's trio of terrific leads---Lesli Margherita, Jeff Skowron, and James Olivas...

Beautifully acted (and sung) by an exquisite ensemble of gifted actors, South Coast Repertory's production of NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN is a thoughtful, gut-wrenching play---punctuated with spectacular musical performances---that dives deep into the soul-baring creative process of an artist hoping to ...

Now that the initial FOMO-induced, must-see hype of its early years has quieted down, is revisiting HAMILTON again in the room where it happens still live up to the hype in 2022? The answer, at least for myself, while witnessing the recent Opening Night performance in Costa Mesa is a very resounding...

Overall--especially in this tighter, revised version lifted from London’s West End production that’s much zippier than the original--there is no denying that YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is a witty, super funny, and genuinely enjoyable musical comedy that earns plenty of laughs and smiles along the way....

An enchanting, deeply resonant, and wholly entertaining reimagining of a classic Greek myth, HADESTOWN---now on stage at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA through August 21, 2022---is a beautifully layered piece of imaginative theater that stirs as it entertains and is...

South Coast Repertory presents the Broadway musical Million Dollar Quartet at the Mission San Juan Capistrano under the stars as part of its new Outside SCR program, and the quality production recalls the good, old days of Summer Stock. SCR has collected a talented cast and put on an enchanting even...

Featuring a superb performance from Emmy-winning improv king Wayne Brady as Lola, this new Hollywood Bowl production of KINKY BOOTS---which continues with two more performances July 9-10---marks the triumphant return of the annual summer musical to the world famous venue, armed with a very timely pr...

Fresh from its three-week stop at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, the first national tour of PRETTY WOMAN - THE MUSICAL---based on that hit 1990 movie about a Hollywood hooker who finds true love---has made the short drive to OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa for a two-week engagemen...

Endearingly inspirational and beautifully performed, COME FROM AWAY---as experienced in this relaunched post-lockdown tour now playing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through June 26, 2022---certainly proves itself worthy of repeat visits. At its core, the show is a hopeful, positive...

Exuding pure joy, blissful camaraderie, and high-energy theatrics, this exuberantly performed new SoCal production of IN THE HEIGHTS—continuing through June 26, 2022 at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts—feels like such an emotionally amped-up, escapist antidote to the divided times ...

What did our critic think of Tootsie in Costa Mesa? Despite a still problematic central premise, the non-equity national tour of the stage adaptation of TOOTSIE---now playing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through June 12, 2022---is, for the most part, a funny but flawed musical spr...

Funny, outrageous, and surprisingly thought-provoking beneath all its biting sarcasm, Mike Lew's reverberating satire TIGER STYLE!---now on stage at OC's South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through June 5, 2022---shines a light on the merits of a controversial parenting style and whether it results ...

Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1938 three-act play OUR TOWN has a superb new iteration now performing at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, CA through June 4, 2022. Directed by Beth Lopes, the show employs a wonderfully diverse cast, as it re-stages its seemingly ordinary but ultimately ...

After a two-year delay due to COVID, this long-awaited So. Cal. production of NEWSIES---currently on stage at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts through May 29, 2022---marks the much-anticipated live and in-person return of 3-D Theatricals. The wait, as the saying goes, was worth it....

THE SOUND OF MUSIC's built-in charm and charisma is indeed very much present in McCoy Rigby Entertainment's latest stage iteration of this classic stage production, now playing at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through May 15, 2022. Filled with visually-captivating production values, ...

Now having its Orange County premiere performances at Chance Theater in Anaheim through May 1, 2022, CRY IT OUT is a poignant slice-of-life that takes an eavesdropper's look at the hopes, fears, and lessons that come with new motherhood in our current times, and just how different each new mother ch...

Now on stage through April 10, 2022 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, Christine Quintana's searing, bilingual two-character play CLEAN / ESPEJOS is a riveting drama showcasing how two different women of different cultures cope with past trauma....

Even without dazzling special effects and spectacular theatrics, or histrionic high drama, THE BAND'S VISIT---the Tony Award-winning stage musical now on stage at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through April 3---still provides a powerful show that is quietly poetic in i...

Playwright Pearl Cleage's WHAT I LEARNED IN PARIS---now on stage at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through March 19, 2022---takes place during the historic win of Atlanta's first black mayor in 1973 and focuses on a romantic triangle between a young campaign staffer and two much older men she w...

Accompanied by her music director Matt Hinkley, Broadway and West End theater favorite Caissie Levy's lovely, powerful, stunning vocals were live and on display for her rapt audience, who were treated to an acoustic, no frills, intimate, candlelit show that was essentially a musical résumé of her ...

What better way to ease ourselves back (again) to live theater than with a tried-and-true bonafide hit like the musical WICKED, the 19-year-old global stage phenomenon now back for a nice, long stay in Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through March 6, 2022. Still as vibr...