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A SWEET SUMMER FLING! Grammy Winner kd Lang Delivers A Veritable Feast For The Ears At The McCallum Theatre
The McCallum Theatre and singer kd Lang are a match made in heaven. The McCallum theatre has proven, once again, that there is no better venue in Southern California for an intimate, acoustically "pitch perfect" concert --- and kd Lang's impeccable and unrivaled vocal quality fits every corner of th...
BWW Reviews: SCR's Acclaimed Jitney Comes to the Pasadena Playhouse
Jitney is the eighth play in August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle and recently completed a critically acclaimed run at SCR (South Coast Rep) in Orange County. It has now transferred to the Pasadena Playhouse through July and certainly stands tall as one of Wilson's earliest and best kitchen sink dramas....
BWW Reviews: Secret Rose Offers Broadway Fare with Full Frontal Nudity in THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED
Douglas Carter Beane's Tony nominated Best Play of 2007 The Little Dog Laughed, with its satirical take on happiness Hollywood Style, especially in its depiction of gay relationships, is timely, topical and most welcome in LA, where ironically there's still enough animosity and money stacked up agai...
BWW Reviews: Epic 25th Anniversary Production of LES MISERABLES Shakes Up Costa Mesa
One of the most popular, highly-regarded stage musicals of all time, LES MISÉRABLES is, to put it simply, a moving, overtly theatrical epic. In this rich-looking--and rich-sounding--tour production, the emotional resonance seems more palpable than ever. The beautifully refreshed 25th Anniversary ed...
BWW Reviews: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET Rocks the Pantages
Some New York critics panned Million Dollar Quartet for what they called a dearth of dramatic tension onstage, but it went on to receive a Tony nomination for Book of a Musical in 2010 anyway, and based on the overly passionate delivery of the sizzling tour artists, there's enough fire and fever to ...
BWW Reviews: LOLPERA, An Epic 'I Can Has Cheezburger' Opera About The Internets
I have seen the future. And it is ruled by cats. At least it is in Ellen Warkentine and Andrew Pedroza's LOLPERA, a fantastical absurdist opera that uses the internet phenomenon lolcats set to music to tell its story....
BWW Reviews: Colony Brings Religion into the Spotlight with THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION
For religious fanatics & theologians The Savannah Disputation should hold plenty of interest, as Evan Smith has written a smart exploration of Catholic versus Fundamentalist beliefs. Do you really know your faith inside out? Can you interpret the Bible with intelligence, keeping an open mind? Or do ...
BWW Reviews: Get BEAUTIFIED at the Skylight Theatre
Somewhat reminiscent of Steel Magnolias and Same Time Next Year,Tony Abatemarco's Beautified has an undeniable charm peppered with unforgettable tinges of reality. Like Bernard Slade's STNY (Same Time Next Year) it takes us through several decades from the late 60s to the present, concentrating on t...
BWW Reviews: Cathy Rigby Flies Back to Neverland as PETER PAN
Something truly magical is happening right now in the city of La Mirada: almost 22 years after earning a Tony nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for playing this very same role, the ever-so vigorous Cathy Rigby looks about as spunky and acrobatic as she's ever been in this brand-new produ...
BWW Reviews: Make Haste to See SPEED MERCHANT (of Venice)
A well-thought out, carefully orchestrated Speed Merchant (of Venice), based on Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, is playing at Artworks Theatre as part of this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival....
BWW Reviews: THE ADDAMS FAMILY Musical Scares Up Laughs in L.A.
Now scaring up laughs at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through June 17, THE ADDAMS FAMILY: THE MUSICAL is a charmingly corny, ghoulishly droll musical comedy that features hummable music and a made-for-TV-ready story that is genuinely hilarious from top to bottom. What a pleasant, wonderful surp...
BWW Reviews: Theatricum Botanicum Serves Up a Sixties MEASURE FOR MEASURE
This summer, Theatricum Botanicum examines the inequity of a rigid moralistic government and the effect upon its citizens in Shakespeare's MEASURE FOR MEASURE. Director Ellen Geer maximizes the impact of the play's themes by moving the time period to the pressure cooker era of the late 1960s, a perf...
BWW Reviews: STONEFACE Continues to Turn Heads at Sacred Fools
Vanessa Claire Stewart's world premiere homage to silent screen legend Buster Keaton Stoneface succeeds on many levels, first and foremost of which is its brilliant recreation of silent movies by cast and crew. The execution of gags and physical comedy is tough to pull off; here its click by click p...
BWW Reviews: Sterling's Hosts Faith Prince and Jason Graae's THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWBOY
On Monday June 11 there were enough sparks to set Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal on fire as Jason Graae and Tony Award winner Faith Prince seized the stage with the premiere of their new show The Prince and the Showboy to an adoring packed house....
BWW ReviewsL ICT'S LEADING LADIES Give Entertainment a New Lift
The more I see Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo, now Leading Ladies), the more I realize that he is one of a dying breed of American farceurs. How many presently exist? In the UK, yes, there are many. Farce is their specialty, but not in the US. So, that given, Leading Ladies is a uniq...
BWW Reviews: French Stewart in STONEFACE: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton
Sacred Fools' STONEFACE: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton has raced to the top of my list of most recommended shows to see in Los Angeles this summer....
BWW Reviews: THE ADDAMS FAMILY Musical Offers Modern Take on the 60s Clan
It pleases me no end to learn how a show improves during the course of its Broadway to tour transfer. Such is the case with the musical The Addams Family, whose Broadway run was clouded with negative reviews and less than powerful performances from its two talented stars Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirt...
BWW Reviews: Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT Musical Rocks Costa Mesa
While watching the super-charged, though slightly frustrating Tony-nominated alt-rock musical AMERICAN IDIOT--whose national touring company recently spent a brief week at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, CA--one can't help but feel genuinely entertained by the spectacle of it al...
BWW Reviews: DCLO Delights with THE PAJAMA GAME
50s musicals were known for their levity and hit tunes, not for substance, so when a musical such as The Pajama Game had something to say to working class America about standing up and fighting for what they're due, it highly appealed to a middle-class audience... without really meaning to, it serve...
BWW Reviews: Falcon Offers Scott Caan's NO WAY AROUND BUT THROUGH
Scott Caan's No Way Around But Through, described as a dark romantic comedy, is indeed quirky. It exudes an affably offbeat humor while drumming a painstaking determination to get at the truth. One cannot deny its exceeding verbiage at questioning the point of living, as it becomes repetitious and w...
BWW Reviews: Crown Offers a Stellar COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY
The time: 1661. The place: London, England. It was illegal for women to perform onstage in any capacity. Women's roles were played by male actors, and there was no one more illustrious than Edward Kynaston (Ben Rovner), whose atypical livelihood came to an abrupt standstill. This is told via a splen...
BWW Reviews: Cathy Rigby's PETER PAN Is Still Flying High
Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan. Yes, indeed! I have seen Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan as well, but Rigby adds so much more to the character simply because of her physicality. A gymnast can do physical feats and tricks that an ordinary actor cannot. So if Peter Pan can turn sommersaults in mid-air or literall...
BWW Reviews: Doug Haverty's AFTERSHOCKS Reverberate at Lyric Theatre
Doug Haverty has a talent for creating good roles for women. There are no finer examples than in his current West coast premiere Aftershocks now playing at the Lyric Theatre. With fine direction from JC Gafford and a tight cast of three superlative actresses, Aftershocks reverberates with joyous aff...
BWW Reviews: OC's 3D Theatricals Revives A CHORUS LINE
Orange County, CA-based 3D Theatricals presents a fine, top-notch revival of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning A CHORUS LINE, now playing at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton through May 27. Buoyed mostly by its National Tour-caliber staging, choreography, lighting and costumes, this production ...
BWW Reviews: Elaine Stritch Sings All-Sondheim Show at Walt Disney Concert Hall
On May 19, 2012 the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles hosted Elaine Stritch's hilarious, anecdote-heavy Stephen Sondheim tribute concert ELAINE STRITCH: SINGIN' SONDHEIM...ONE SONG AT A TIME. Met with boisterous, well-deserved standing ovations both at the start and at the end of the ...
Videos
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The Most Happy Fella North Coast Repertory Theatre (6/03-6/28) |
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Melt : The Play The Marilyn Theatre at the Lee Strasberg Institute (6/11-6/13) |
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Millennials Are Killing Musicals Colony Theatre (4/30-5/17) |
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"Turn the Page: A wink, a song & the next great chapter" Palm Springs Cultural Center (5/23-5/23) |
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MPAT's Burt Thunders Presents: The First Annual Fundraiser to Save the Whales Zephyr Theatre (6/06-6/25) |
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Trench The Broadwater Studio (6/06-6/28) |
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Jack Johnson Greek Theatre - U.C. Berkeley (10/01-10/01) |
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The Last Dinner Party Fox Theater (5/27-5/27) |
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OTR: Provenance Chance Theater (7/29-7/29) |
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Case Closed?? Upstairs @El Centro (Main Space) (6/13-6/26) |
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