BWW Review: Heartfelt COME FROM AWAY Exudes the Best of Humanity at OC's Segerstrom Center
Currently a welcome, much-lauded presence in each city it visits, the top-notch first national tour of the multi-award-winning 2017 Broadway musical COME FROM AWAY---currently enchanting audiences at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through February 17---is just the kind of timely s...
BWW Review: Thrilling New SWEENEY TODD Slays at OC's South Coast Repertory
Admittedly, after experiencing South Coast Repertory's potent and captivating new production of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, I'm hard pressed to remember the last time I was both this deeply moved and this excitedly riveted by Stephen Sondheim's macabre tale of a murderous barber ...
BWW Review: Timeless Classic HELLO, DOLLY! Returns in Lustrous Revival at OC's Segerstrom Center
As most people know with live theater, there is an underlying risk in promoting that a specific star will be there at every single performance, as advertised in a specific project. Unfortunately, that's simply not realistic nor is it always going to be the case, due to a multitude of factors beyond ...
BWW Review: Through Tears, DEAR EVAN HANSEN Wows at OC's Segerstrom Center
A powerful, emotionally-riveting, dynamically-staged original stage musical, DEAR EVAN HANSEN is a truly incredible, phenomenal show that I happily admit-in just a few years of its existence-has quickly become one of my favorite Broadway musicals of all time. Not only does it feature gorgeous, memor...
Review: BWW's Michael L. Quintos Picks Best of O.C. and Beyond for 2018
As with each passing season, 2018 proved to be another exceptional year for theater not only in Souther California in general but also in Orange County---my home base. This year, the OC finally welcomed the debut of what has become this century's most awarded and most renowned stage musical ever abo...
BWW Review: Musical Adaptation of Jane Austen's EMMA Beguiles at OC's Chance Theater
While watching Chance Theater's brand new OC-premiere of EMMA: THE MUSICAL--Paul Gordon's charm-filled 2007 stage musical adaptation of Jane Austen's beloved 1815 novel--I noticed a welcome sensation that took over me throughout most of the production… I could not stop smiling. Delightfully appeal...
BWW Review: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - A CHRISTMAS ROSE Panto Delights at Laguna Playhouse
The cheeky PG-rated fun of British Panto, courtesy of Lythgoe Family Productions, returns for more holiday silliness at Orange County's Laguna Playhouse, this time with BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: A CHRISTMAS ROSE, which continues through December 30, 2018 in Laguna Beach under the direction of Sheldon Ep...
BWW Review: The Power Of Ten! The Ten Tenors Raise The Roof At The McCallum Theatre
After surviving a tumultuous election season and, let's face it, a pretty scathing couple of years of anger, hatred and division, sometimes you just need to grab a couple hours of joy wherever you can find it. Last night I found my joy at The McCallum Theatre as The Ten Tenors opened a six show stre...
BWW Review: Hit Musical WAITRESS is the Sweetest Treat at Segerstrom Center
Can you recall the last time you were truly enamored by a stage musical? Well, that is exactly what transpires while watching the all-together endearing hit Broadway musical WAITRESS, which continues its national tour stop at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through Novem...
BWW Review: Political Play KINGS at South Coast Rep Exposes the Influence of Lobbyists
As our divided country hurtles towards the all-important mid-term elections, it is becoming increasingly harder not to feel even a bit disenchanted with it all, as we surrender to the feeling that our political system seems to be unfairly rigged. Right smack at the center of the action are people wh...
BWW Review: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE Brings Sibling Hilarity to South Coast Repertory
Thank goodness my lack of knowledge of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's library of theatrical plays and fictional stories didn't prevent me from enjoying Christopher Durang's wildly hilarious, Chekhov-inspired VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, a modern-set play that won the Tony Award for Best ...
BWW Review: Intense Drama THE OTHER PLACE Stirs at OC's Chance Theater
In award-winning playwright Sharr White's intriguing 2011 psychological drama THE OTHER PLACE, the play's compelling central figure, 52-year-old laboratory scientist turned drug company marketing exec Juliana Smithton, narrates her own fascinating story directly for the audience. For its stirring Or...
BWW Review: South Coast Repertory Presents Charming Stage Adaptation of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
To kick off its 55th Season, Orange County's Tony Award-winning regional theater South Coast Repertory is presenting a charming new stage adaptation of the Jane Austen literary classic SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, which continues performances in Costa Mesa through September 29. In tone, pacing, and castin...
BWW Review: ON YOUR FEET! Pulsates with High-Energy Rhythms at Segerstrom Center
I believe the best way to describe the sensation one gets when experiencing the Broadway stage musical adaptation of multi-platinum selling recording artist Gloria Estefan's life story is to actually use one of her very famous songs: "The Rhythm is Gonna Get You." That is exactly what happens to an ...
BWW Review: Ingersoll's Garland Reincarnated in An Excruciatingly Raw END OF THE RAINBOW
Playwright Peter Quilter's END OF THE RAINBOW packs a powerful punch in the gut under director Michael Matthews sure-handed guidance of his talented cast. Two moments of RAINBOW rate as the must, MUST-see moments for any Judy Garland aficionados - when the astonishing Angela Ingersoll totally morphs...
BWW Review: Revenge is Never Sweet in Independent Shakespeare Co.'s TITUS ANDRONICUS
TITUS ANDRONICUS is one of Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedies. Characters are stabbed, beheaded, mutilated, raped, baked in a pie, and one is even buried up to his neck and left to die. At first glance it may not sound like an obvious choice for families who attend the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare ...
BWW Review: Salonga, Grier, Hilty, Bart & Company Lead Charming Arden-directed ANNIE at the Hollywood Bowl
Quite possibly the most popular family-friendly stage musical of all time, ANNIE---the classic 1977 Tony Award winner for Best Musical based on Harold Gray's 'Little Orphan Annie' comic strip---seems like a no-brainer choice to appear as the annual all-star summer musical at the world-famous Hollywo...
BWW Review: Endearing and Fun SCHOOL OF ROCK Surprises at Segerstrom Center
When it comes to seeing a fresh new show with low or even non-existent expectations, nothing is more pleasurable and satisfying than walking out at the end of it with a huge, beaming smile on your face. That was the giddy communal feeling that I and an ecstatic audience experienced recently during t...
BWW Review: BIG FISH Musical Adaptation Makes OC Premiere at Chance Theater
An endearing musical with an even more endearing story, BIG FISH is a winsome stage production that is currently making its Orange County regional debut at Anaheim's Chance Theater through July 29, 2018 helmed by its own resident executive artistic director Oanh Nguyen. Filled with hard-to-believe, ...
BWW Review: Musical Theatre West Salutes Old-Fashioned YANKEE DOODLE DANDY
George M. Cohan has been attributed to being the father of the American Musical, whose works are the very roots of Broadway and musical theater that we know today. Without his numerous contributions to the American theater, Broadway as we all know it probably wouldn't even exist. This is the idea th...
BWW Review: Liza Minnelli and Michael Feinstein Perform Together at OC's Segerstrom Center
A beloved entertainment icon borne from showbiz royalty, it was certainly no surprise that living legend Liza Minnelli-a past recipient of four Tony Awards, an Oscar, a special Grammy, two Golden Globe Awards, and an Emmy Award-was greeted with thunderous cheers and ovations during her recent return...
BWW Review: Beautifully Sung Revival of THE COLOR PURPLE Enraptures OC
While its original production, as most Broadway shows go, offered the expected big sets, first-rate costumes, and impressive production values, the 2015 Tony Award-winning revival production of THE COLOR PUPLE---currently slaying audiences for a week-long stop at Orange County's Segerstrom Center fo...
BWW Review: Lively New Production of NEWSIES Carries the Banner in La Mirada
Admirably directed and choreographed by Richard J. Hinds, La Mirada Theatre's NEWSIES aims to be an amiable hybrid between the popularly-received original show and a new iteration that feels fresh for us Fansies forever obsessed with the earlier Disney-backed production that played Broadway and went...
BWW Review: South Coast Repertory Revisits Wendy Wasserstein's THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG
Despite being birthed in the early 1990's, THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG-the late Pulitzer Prize-winning Wendy Wasserstein's acerbically witty and vibrantly poignant play about a trio of fascinating, strong-willed Jewish-American sisters-has a remarkably timeless, relatable quality, evidenced by South Coas...
BWW Review: OC's Segerstrom Center Finally Becomes the Room Where HAMILTON Happens
For three years, I have obsessed over the Original Broadway Cast Album of Lin-Manuel Miranda's ingeniously constructed, powerfully-rendered musical masterpiece HAMILTON, mostly because it just wasn't possible for me to see the show at its home at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York. Fast forward...
Videos
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The Book of Will Curtis Theatre (6/12-6/21) |
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Fremont Ave. South Coast Repertory (4/25-5/23) |
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UB40 Fred Kavli Theatre (10/25-10/25) |
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Ah Ha! Bluebird Park (6/06-6/06) PHOTOS VIDEOS |
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Alison Krauss and Union Station Pacific Amphitheatre (8/29-8/29) |
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The Book of Mormon (Non-Equity) Segerstrom Center for the Arts (12/29-1/03) |
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The Sound of Music Segerstrom Center for the Arts (6/02-6/14) |
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Hershey Felder: The Piano & Me South Coast Repertory (6/10-6/21) |
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Segerstrom Center for the Arts (7/11-7/25) |
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C.S. Lewis On Stage: Further Up & Further In Irvine Barclay Theatre (7/09-7/10) |
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