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BWW Reviews: Theatre West Mounts Winning GOODBYE, LOUIE...HELLO!
Allan Manings' world premiere play about two aging stand up comedians starts off with a couple of jokes from Louis Berns (Alan Freeman) and Benjy Gordon (Steve Franken) but the tired old jokes turn sour when a deep dark secret is revealed in Goodbye, Louie ... Hello! now onstage @ Theatre West. With...
BWW Reviews: Stephanie Burkett Gerson is a Hit @ Sterling's
On Sunday, April 10 to celebrate her new CD Once Upon a Time, Stephanie Burkett Gerson performed a CD release party concert @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's to an exceedingly enthusiastic packed house. No stranger to musical theatre in LA or anywhere for that matter, as she has sailed across Europe...
BWW Reviews: Ionesco's Absurdist THE CHAIRS @ A Noise Within
Eugene Ionesco's classic absurdist play The Chairs (1952) has had many interpretations through the years including political and religious, from soup to nuts. Now onstage at A Noise Within in a marvelously crafted production, The Chairs boasts a tremendous trio of actors under the expert direction o...
BWW Reviews: Bean Mines 60's Jukebox for 'SUMMER OF LOVE'
When it comes to taking a catalog of familiar, era-specific songs, tossing them together with colorful costumes and sets, then weaving an easily digestible story to tie them all together, jukebox musical aficionado Roger Bean has his formula down pat. The man behind The Marvelous Wonderettes, it's h...
BWW Reviews: Revival of BURN THIS Lights Up the Mark Taper Forum
'I'd Rather Be Blue...thinking of you, I'd rather be blue over you ...than be happy with somebody else.' The lyrics of this famous old standard seem to sum up the deep yet peculiar attraction of Anna (Zabryna Guevara) for Pale (Adam Rothenberg) in Lanford Wilson's mysteriously unpredictable story of...
BWW Reviews: Lynda Carter Rocks Catalina Jazz Club
With the release of her new CD Crazy Little Things in April, actress/singer Lynda Carter and her band opened a three day gig @ the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood on Thursday, March 31 to a wildly enthusiastic crowd. Carter, best known for TV's Wonder Woman in the 70s is still incredibly gorgeous an...
BWW Reviews: David Engel Scores with FULLY COMMITTED in PS
As I sat through Becky Mode's Fully Committed for the third time, I realized just how many meanings the title has. First, as it takes place in a restaurant, fully committed means that lunch or dinner reservations are completely booked. Secondly, it indicates that a person is 100% devoted or dedicate...
BWW Reviews: SOUTHERN COMFORTS Brings Warmth to ICT, Long Beach
Playwright Kathleen Clark has fashioned a very sweet play Southern Comforts about two aging people, both widowed, who decide to tie the knot for the second time, with each other. Now onstage @ ICT, Long Beach it boasts fine direction from Jules Aaron and two superlative performances from Michael Lea...
BWW Reviews: Alexandra Billings as Kate the Great Wednesdays @ the Celebration
If you want to laugh your tush off, you cannot afford to miss Alexandra Billings as Katie Hepburn @ the Celebration Theatre. This silly 70-minute piece Katie's Corner is a loosely structured improv where an older Kate Hepburn gets about as demented as one could imagine, saying and doing any f----n' ...
BWW Reviews: Demaree Alexander Bows @ Sterling's
On Sunday March 20 Broadway's former Young Cossette of Les Mis pretty Demaree Alexander brought her cabaret act to Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's with a bevy of talented guests on board. This young lady has a background not only in Broadway pop music but also in country; consequently, she nicely es...
BWW Reviews: The Perry Lambert Show Winning Entertainment @ Sterling's
On Sunday March 13 actor/singer/impressionist Perry Lambert returned to Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's with The Perry Lambert Show. The one thing that people can say about Lambert, apart from the fact that he is multi-talented, is that he abounds with an infectious energy which keeps the show movin...
BWW Reviews: WICKED Books Return Flight To Costa Mesa
Arguably the biggest blockbuster stage musical of this fresh century, WICKED has returned to Orange County for an almost month-long engagement at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts through April 3. The stage musical -- a consistent box-office hit since its Broadway debut seven years ago -- has ballo...
BWW Reviews: La Jolla Premieres a Bright LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
The 2006 movie dramedy Little Miss Sunshine was and still remains such a low-key charmer that to attempt to simulate it on stage with music is at once challenging, courageous and perplexing. Why? Why retell a story that is so perfect on film unless you can achieve a brand new and interesting take on...
BWW Reviews: Timelessly Enchanting BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Returns to LA
'Tale as old as time' nails the complex simplicity of Beauty and the Beast the quintessential story of true love, the most difficult to obtain and sustain. Disney's adaptation of the fairy tale with its sweepingly imaginative spectacle wins over even the hardest of hearts. The animated film was such...
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BWW Reviews: Jim J Bullock Scores Different @ Sterling's
On Saturday March 5 comic actor Jim J. Bullock debuted a whole new cabaret act entitled Different @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's. Expecting the silly, over-the-top zaniness that has characterized Bullock's work on TV and stage over the past 30 years, the audience was blown away by his ferocity, w...
BWW Reviews: It Doesn't Suck To Be 'AVENUE Q'
You know you're in for a naughty good time when a show includes graphic puppet sex, cute but sadistic bears, and a special appearance by TV's Gary Coleman. What can somewhat be described as a very, very adult-leaning, expletive-spewing cousin of the iconic PBS children's series Sesame Street, AVENUE...
BWW Reviews: Williams' HOUSE Stands Sturdy at the Fountain
Insatiable avarice is at the core of Tennessee Williams last play (1980-82) A House Not Meant to Stand, now receiving its West coast premiere at the Fountain Theatre. Astutely directed by Simon Levy and performed by a brilliant ensemble, this House has the symbolism and lyricism expected of Williams...
BWW Reviews: CATS Leap For Musical Theatre West's Energetic Revival
The second longest-running show in Broadway history, CATS, that renowned Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that purred its way to a Tony win for Best Musical in 1982, is certainly one of those shows almost everyone and their mother has seen at least once. It is also most notably known for being the musica...
BWW Reviews: Caught @ Zephyr Continues Successful Run
The issues of gay marriage and fidelity in marriage in general are explored with humor, intelligence, and a genuine optimism in David L. Ray's Caught, now extended at the Zephyr Theatre through April 3. Fans of Del Shores and Southern Baptist Sissies will see parallels. Growing up Southern Baptist a...
BWW Reviews: ROCK OF AGES Comes Home to L.A.
When did the Pantages Theatre turn into a nostalgia rock concert venue? 2011 so far has featured 60's-set HAIR and the 1891 emo rockers of SPRING AWAKENING and now, it plays host to the national tour of ROCK OF AGES, the surprising yet undeniably hilarious Tony-nominated jukebox musical that feature...
BWW Reviews: SPRING AWAKENING Tour Come to Pantages
The play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind, which was written in Germany in the late 19th century was censored for a time due to its portrayal of masturbation, abortion, homosexuality, rape, child abuse and suicide. Treating the rocky sexual coming of age of a group of teenagers, its helter-skelt...
33 VARIATIONS Scores!
After a successful and Tony nominated run on Broadway, Moises Kaufman's latest play, 33 Variations, opened Wednesday evening at LA Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre. ...
BWW Reviews: SPRING AWAKENING 2nd National Tour Rocks L.A.
It's been just a little more than a year since a touring production of SPRING AWAKENING has graced a theater filled with screaming fans here in Southern California. While the touring cast list has certainly changed, many of the same brilliant elements that made this 2007 Tony winner for Best Musical...
BWW Reviews: Explosive Firehouse Plays Whitefire Fridays
Pedro Antonio Garcia's hard-hitting Firehouse, based on a real-life incident of the past decade, receives its world premiere at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks. Under the steady hand of director Bryan Rasmussen (who also costars as the Captain), the play packs a punch as a razor-sharp indictme...
BWW Reviews: Group Rep Offers Lovely Trip to Bountiful
In his lovely script The Trip to Bountiful Horton Foote engages our attention with his keen appraisal that 'The world can't be bought'. Believing the best things in life are free - well, almost..., elderly Carrie Watts (Gwen Van Dam) proves just how healing a return to one's roots, however brief, ma...
Videos
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The Most Happy Fella North Coast Repertory Theatre (6/03-6/28) |
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Millennials Are Killing Musicals Colony Theatre (4/30-5/17) |
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Melt : The Play The Marilyn Theatre at the Lee Strasberg Institute (6/11-6/13) |
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Amazing Graves Broadwater Second Stage (6/05-6/23) |
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Lustily Ever After: The Musical Broadwater Black Box (6/09-6/23) |
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Pacific Jazz Orchestra Presents "Miles & Trane at 100" at The Wallis, 5/28 Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (5/28-5/28) |
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LOVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF DEATH: A TRILOGY The Zephyr Theatre (6/07-6/26) |
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A Faery Hunt Adventure and Their Animal Friends Kindred Spirits Care Farm (5/24-5/24) |
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MICTLÁN Plaza de la Raza (6/05-6/05) |
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Lend Me A Soprano Scripps Ranch Theatre (4/23-5/17) |
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