BWW Review: Lively New Production of NEWSIES Carries the Banner in La Mirada
Admirably directed and choreographed by Richard J.
Costa Mesa Theater Reviews
The latest reviews and critic recommendations from Costa Mesa.
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.
BWW Review: The Phantom Stages A Comeback in LOVE NEVER DIES at Segerstrom Center
There are many, very obvious spectacular things that stand out while watching LOVE NEVER DIES, Andrew Lloyd Webber's infamously, uh, troubled 2010 musical follow-up to his long-running global hit THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, now continuing its two-week engagement at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Co
BWW Review: Appealing New Production of SOUTH PACIFIC Sails Into La Mirada Theater
Armed with a grand, sweeping songbook from Rodgers and Hammerstein, and a romantic, progressive-for-its-time book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan, it is difficult not to be continually enchanted by SOUTH PACIFIC, the groundbreaking 1949 stage musical based on James A.
BWW Review: Haunting World Premiere Play LITTLE BLACK SHADOWS Sees the Light at South Coast Repertory
What our schoolbooks lack in historical accuracy, art can sometimes pick up the slack by being a reliable, more enthusiastic source to fill in those gaps.
BWW Review: Nathan Gunn Aims High with FLYING SOLO at the Laguna Playhouse
One of America's most accomplished and in-demand Baritones today, Nathan Gunn has one of those deeply lush singing voices that can pierce your heart just as it can effortlessly command the room's attention.
BWW Review: Musical Theatre West Surprises with the Delightful NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
Once in a while, you come across a stage show that, on paper, may not have had the buzz that other high-profile shows may have had initially, but then you see it … and it just completely surprises you in the best possible way.
BWW Review: South Coast Repertory Stages World Premiere of SHREW!
How do you "fix" the misogyny of Shakespeare's now antiquated THE TAMING OF THE SHREW? For playwright Amy Freed, it means injecting it with a noticeable dose of equality empowerment, and then shifting its characters' traits and motivations as if written from a female's perspective.
BWW Review: 10 Reasons Why THE BOOK OF MORMON Tour at Segerstrom Arts Is Still a Hella Funny, Hella Good Show
One thing is for certain about THE BOOK OF MORMON: this memorable, whip-smart, and downright gut-busting Broadway musical is still one of the funniest---if not the funniest---musical ever to exist in the 21st Century.
BWW Review: Powerful New Play CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND Makes World Premiere at South Coast Repertory
The tragic events surrounding the rise of the Khmer Rouge regime in mid-70's Cambodia serves as the overarching backdrop that links the past and the (near) present in Lauren Yee's stunning new play CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND---which continues its World Premiere production at Orange County's Tony Award-winn
Review: JACKIE UNVEILED by Saffron Burrows as One of America's Most Private Public Figures
Directed by Jenny Sullivan in the smaller Lovelace Studio Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts so that no matter where you are seated, Burrows will repeatedly pull you into the very private life of this American icon on two of the most traumatic evenings of her life.
BWW Review: Catch The Moon - One Handed Catch! West Side Story In Concert Reached For The Stars And Soared At The McCallum
Leonard Bernstein would have been 100 years old this year, on August 25th to be precise, and there are literally thousands of commemorative events around the globe including performances of symphonies, operas and ballets, lectures, exhibits, and film and music festivals.
Review: ALLEGIANCE Musically Celebrates the Power of the Human Spirit
George Takei is known for his founding role as Mr.
BWW Review: Melanie Griffith Headlines Stage Adaptation of THE GRADUATE at the Laguna Playhouse
Golden Globe winner Melanie Griffith can now be seen on stage playing pop culture's most famous cougar, Mrs.
BWW Review: Segerstrom Center Welcomes the Gorgeous Lincoln Center Theater Production of THE KING AND I
Featuring outstanding performances from a cast led by Laura Michelle Kelly and Jose Llana, the beautiful and exquisite national tour production of Lincoln Center Theater's Tony Award-winning revival of the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein classic THE KING AND I leaves audiences utterly spellbound by its
BWW Review: Del Shores Introduces SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF A PLAY Inspired by Real-Life Encounters with Quirky People
Celebration Theatre is a very small venue known for putting on very big musicals and doing them very well.
Segerstrom Center Presents HAMILTUNES: AN AMERICAN SING-ALONG, Hosted by Seth Rudetsky
Segerstrom Center for the Arts invites fans and fanatics of Broadway's mega hit Hamilton to gather on the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza and let their collective voices ring out during HAMILTUNES : AN AMERICAN SING - ALONG.
Review: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET Shares an Incredible Recording Session in Rock and Roll History
It ended too soon is all I can say.
BWW Review: OC's Chance Theater presents Touching Musical VIOLET
A quieter, more down-to-earth musical-but done so with a bellowing musical prowess thanks to book writer and lyricist Brian Crawley and composer Jeanine Tesori-VIOLET explores the multiple layers of feelings associated with being and living life as an 'other' within an environment that promotes (and
BWW Review: KINKY BOOTS Tour Struts Into Segerstrom Center for the Arts
For the most part, the brief Orange County return of the Tony Award-winning musical smash KINKY BOOTS---which continues its quick week-long stop at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through February 11---pretty much preserves its hard-to-escape fabulousness.
BWW Review: Tony-winning Superstar Kristin Chenoweth Triumphantly Returns to OC's Segerstrom Center
Luckily for some of us who don't have the luxury or the time to simply catch every show that Tony Award-winning musical superstar Kristin Chenoweth does in New York City, she is a prolific touring artist, opting often to bring her sweet and sassy singing self to audiences around the world via enjoya
BWW Review: SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE Stage Adaptation Romances at South Coast Repertory
Witty, enchanting, and joyously self-referential, the original film version of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE fantasizes a story involving a young, virile William Shakespeare in his prime, who quells a bout of writer's block by secretly romancing an engaged lady named Viola---which apparently becomes the inspi
BWW Review: THE HOT LIST! What's Hot on Stage Now
So many productions are happening all over the city.
BWW Review: THE CAR PLAYS Makes Its Highly-Anticipated Return Trip to Segerstrom Center
Still one of the most the most unique and thrilling live theatrical offerings you will ever experience, THE CAR PLAYS has once again parked themselves at the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza at Segerstrom Center for the Arts for another highly-anticipated round of claustrophobic, stopped-in-traffic
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Comedy Oakland at Quinn's Lighthouse Sat Aug 1 8pm Quinn's Lighthouse (8/01-8/01) |
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Pokemon Night Out: Marshmello & Alison Wonderland Intuit Dome (10/24-10/24) |
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Comedy Oakland at Elbo Room Sat Aug 1 7pm Elbo Room Jack London (8/01-8/01) |
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Marinelli Bros Circus - A New Experience! Chico Marketplace (7/17-7/29) |
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The Book of Mormon (Non-Equity) Segerstrom Center for the Arts (12/29-1/03) |
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Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors Paper Wing Theatre (8/28-9/20) |
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Alice in Wonderland by International Ballet Stars and ROMERO BRITTO in Santa Cruz, CA Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium (4/21-4/21) |
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Pageant of the Masters “The Greatest of All Time” Festival of Arts (7/09-9/04) |
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Tchaikovsky Spectacular: Concert of Hope Tchaikovsky Spectacular: Concert of Hope (9/05-9/05) |
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Segerstrom Center for the Arts (7/05-7/25) |