THOUSAND OAKS THEATER REVIEWS

What did our critic think of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG at 5-Star Theatricals?...

A delightful way to kick off Christmas week weas this offbeat radio play production of Charles Dickens' classic short story....

Musically superb, a faulty book prevents 'Million Dollar Quartet' from being one of the best rock musicals of all time. Four musicians perform as Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash in a shows inspired by an impromptu Memphis recording session in December 1956....

What did our critic think of HAIRSPRAY at Scherr Forum Theatre? 5-Star Theatricals' production of Hairspray, which opened October 10 at the Scherr Forum Theatre in Thousand Oaks, is the bubbly, effervescent morality tale about civil rights in Baltimore in the early ’60s that won Tony awards for be...

5-Star Theatricals uses low-angle lighting to highlight the decadence of pre-Nazi era Berlin, but the performances are not as bold as previous productions of 'Cabaret' have been. Sean Samuels plays The Emcee as if he were a Chippendale's dancer while Emily Goglia channels Glynis Johns rather than Li...

What did our critic think of PETER PAN AND TINKER BELL: A PIRATE'S CHRISTMAS at Scherr Forum Theater?...

What did our critic think of OLIVER! at Bank Of America Performing Arts Center? As the earliest Broadway musical ever to feature children playing major roles, Oliver! usually bristles with youthful excitement. But despite being marketed as a family-oriented musical, Oliver! is really inappropriate f...

What did our critic think of GOLDIE HAWN at Bank Of American Performing Arts Center?...

What did our critic think of CINDERELLA at 5-Star Theatricals?...

Pacho Flores is a winner of the top prize in the world’s most prestigious trumpet competition, the Maurice André International, and the list of contemporary composers writing for him is impressive and growing. The San Diego Symphony has now performed two of the results. Last season it was Paquito...

A superb production marks the 25th anniversary of the Broadway debut of 'Ragtime.' One weekend remains for this outstanding performance by 5-Star Theatricals in Thousand Oaks....

With TV star Teri Hatcher ('Desperate Housewives,' 'Lois & Clark') leading the way, 5-Star Theatricals' production of 'The Addams Family' is a gag-filled laughfest, with great tunes, a cemetery full of puns, and even a wardrobe malfunction. It's real, and it's spectacular!...

American Theatre Guild's current national tour of the venerable Pulitzer-Prize winning 'South Pacific' cleans up some potentially objectionable language and characterizations to retain its essential love story and message of racial tolerance....

Christopher J. Thume blows the roof off the building with a bravura performance as drag queen Lola in 'Kinky Boots,' the 2013 Tony Award winning musical....

'Always...Patsy Cline' brings to life Cline's rich catalog of songs, impeccably portrayed by Michele McRae, with Kathleen Silverman as her friend, Houston housewife Louise Seger....

See what our critic thought of the national tour of 'The Band's Visit' - an inspiring musical about the healing power of music and its ability to show common ground between two historically opposing cultures. The show stars Janet Dacal as the vulnerable cafe owner Dina and Sasson Gabay as Tewfiq, th...

5-Star Theatricals returns to the stage with a new production of its postponed musical 'Mamma Mia!' starring Kim Huber and Eric Martsolf....

Of all elements of society hit by the pandemic, the one that got hit the hardest was the performing arts. Many theatre companies were forced to close their doors while those that managed to survive were crippled by 16 months of inactivity and decimated budgets. Young Artists Ensemble has not only be...

John Guerra's new play brings Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town' up to date with its sensitive portrayal of two families - one white and one Latino - in modern-day Fillmore, California....

Four Frenetic Feminists Fight Fate In France - Lauren Gunderson's hilarious black comedy groups four French Revolutionaries on their way to the guillotine....

Margaret Edson's Pulitzer-Price winning play 'Wit' focusers on Dr. Vivian Bearing, a 50-year-old professor of English who is dying from ovarian cancer. The play examines the dispassionate way cancer patients are treated, with Sindy McKay-Swerdlove delivering a startling and emotional performance as ...

Kennedy Caughell gives a heartfelt performance as Carole King in 'Beautiful,' an otherwise flawed musical that does to King's career what most Broadway musicals do to the subjects of jukebox musicals. The musical element of the show, however, overcomes its many deficiencies to result in an overall e...

'Shirley Valentine' features Anna Kotula in a one-woman show about a middle-aged Liverpool housewife who seeks a change in her life, and does so in drastic fashion, leaving her husband and home to cavort on a beach in Greece. The result is a reaffirmation of life, one that empowers women and those l...

In a 'Twilight Zone' type premise, two people who had a promising romantic relationship years before but cut it off before it could get started encounter their younger selves and try to warn them of the regret they would feel years later. The play is set in the framework of James Joyce's classic nov...

American Theatre Guild's national tour of 'Finding Neverland' is a marvel of imaginative production values, excellent acting, and quirky-jerky choreography, making this 'making of Peter Pan' fantasy a joy from start to finish....