Jeff Skowron News

3-D's 2014 Musical Theatre Season Kicks Off with THE PRODUCERS tonight, January 31 - March 2, 2014

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle has announced its 2013 nominations and special awards for excellence in Los Angeles, Orange County and Ventura County theatre. The 45th Annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, March 17, 2014 at The Colony Theatre, located at 555 N. Third Street in Burbank.

3-D's 2014 Musical Theatre Season Kicks Off with THE PRODUCERS January 31 - March 2, 2014

The Best in LA Theatre for 2013

Ah, yes. 2013 was indeed an outstanding year for theater in Southern California. Even better: Orange County---my home base---boasted some of the best shows, period---marking an exciting theater renaissance in brilliance and artistry that I hope continues to grow here inside L.A.'s next door neighbor. With that said, here is my Top 10 Stage Shows of 2013 from Orange County and adjacent locales nearby, followed by my picks for the year's best performances.

Musical Theatre West at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, CA opened its 61st season with Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, a musical comedy from the creative team of the 12-time Tony Award winning smash hit The Producers. The production, with music and lyrics by Brooks and a book by Thomas Meehan, marks the regional theater premiere of this hilariously tuneful show based on the 1974 smash hit film Young Frankenstein which was a wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Mary Shelleyclassic from the comic genius of Mel Brooks. Check out the opening night shows below!

BWW TV Los Angeles correspondents Michael Sterling and Jerry Evans visit with the cast of Musical Theatre West's (MTW) much anticipated Southern California 20th Anniversary revival of Sunset Boulevard on stage now through July 28, 2013 at the 1,070-seat Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, CA. The production previewed for one performance only on July 12, 2013 exactly 20 years to the day after the show's world premiere. Valerie Perri and David Burnham star, with Norman Large and Ashley Fox Linton are interviewed along with MTW Executive Director/Producer Paul Garman. The critically acclaimed revival is directed by Larry Raben with Musical Direction by David Lamoureux and Staging by John Todd. Check out the video below!

1993's rarely produced Sunset Boulevard is a flawed, somewhat boring musical play that satisfies best with the casting of an actress of great star quality as Norma Desmond, one whose face could have convincingly lit up a silent film screen. MTW has found its star in Valerie Perri, and under Larry Raben's strong, resourceful staging, Sunset Boulevard is 5-star entertainment.

Musical Theatre West's (MTW) production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's international hit musical Sunset Boulevard opened last Friday, July 12, exactly 20 years to the day after the show's world premiere. The production will run through July 28, 2013 at the beautiful 1,070-seat Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, CA. Valerie Perri and David Burnham star, with Norman Large and Ashley Fox Linton. Check out a look back at the curtain call and opening night festivities below!

Casting for Musical Theatre West's (MTW) production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's international hit musical Sunset Boulevard , has been announced by MTW Executive Director/Producer Paul Garman and Director Larry Raben. The 1950 Oscar-winning motion picture of the same title first starred screen legends Gloria Swanson (as Norma Desmond) and William Holden (as Joe Gillis) before it opened as a musical in London's West End starring Patti LuPone and Kevin Anderson at the Adelphi Theatre July 12, 1993 where it ultimately ran for 1529 performances.

One of the most stunning, brilliantly-staged productions I've seen in the past few years, Orange County's 3D Theatricals has, once again, outdone itself with its moving, epic-sized revival of Jason Robert Brown's Tony Award-winning musical PARADE. Now playing a limited engagement through May 26 at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton, this triumphant, emotionally-resonant, Broadway-caliber presentation directed by 3DT's co-founder and artistic director TJ Dawson ranks as, arguably, the best musical this relatively young regional theater company has produced thus far.

In 1998 when Jason Robert Brown won a Tony Award for the score of this unusually provocative musical Parade, the opulent Broadway production closed to critical acclaim, but due to excessive costs, the show remained inaccessible until the Donmar Warehouse resurrected it and produced a tight - minus the frills - mounting at the Mark Taper Forum in 2009. 3-D Theatricals, who are becoming increasingly known for their superlative skill with producing big musicals, have decided to put back many of the frills of the original and double the cast to its original size - 36, in order to enhance and give the musical the big, full-voiced chorus sound it deserves. And, in my mind, this bigger hybrid version surpasses the Taper's for its grande musical elegance and the presence of a perfectly cast lead actor in the role of Leo Frank, Jeff Skowron.

3-D Theatricals presents PARADE now through May 26, 2013 at Plummer Auditorium, 201 East Chapman Ave, Fullerton, Calif., directed by T.J. Dawson, choreographed by Dana Solimando and musically directed by David Lamoureux. BroadwayWorld was there for opening night and brings you photos from the celebrations below!

3-D Theatricals presents PARADE, tonight, May 10 - 26, 2013 at Plummer Auditorium, 201 East Chapman Ave, Fullerton, Calif., directed by T.J. Dawson, choreographed by Dana Solimando and musically directed by David Lamoureux.

3-D Theatricals presents PARADE, May 10 - 26, 2013 at Plummer Auditorium, 201 East Chapman Ave, Fullerton, Calif., directed by T.J. Dawson, choreographed by Dana Solimando and musically directed by David Lamoureux.

The Los Angeles Company of the Off-Broadway smash hit Silence! The Musical at the Hayworth Theatre ends its run today, December 9, 2012.

The final block of tickets is now on sale for the Los Angeles Company of the Off-Broadway smash hit Silence! The Musical at the Hayworth Theatre. SILENCE! is now playing through December 9, 2012.

Lindsay Shaw, best known for playing Jennifer Ann 'Moze' Mosely on the Nickelodeon series Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and as Paige McCullers on the ABC Family hit drama Pretty Little Liars and Chad Allen came to see SILENCE! The Musical at the Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles. Check out photos of the pair with the cast below!

'Pretty Little Liars' star Lindsey Shaw got into the Halloween spirit with a visit to LA's SILENCE! The Musical at The Hayworth Theatre. She even wore the lamb ears for some photos backstage with the cast. Check them out below!

John Billingsly, Audrey Wasilewski and Vicki Lewis attended SILENCE! The Musical at the Hayworth Theatre this past Sunday, October 14, and stuck around to take photos with the cast after the show. Check them out below!