Jason Mannino

ABNORMALLY REAL CV Rep opened it’s 24/25 season this past week with a triumphant production of the rock musical Next to Normal, ably directed by CV Rep’s Artistic Director Adam Karsten.  Groundbreaking in its exploration of mental illness, grief, and the impact these issues have on a family, the show won the Pulitzer Prize for…

OOH LA LA FOR  LA CAGE AUX FOLLES With songs by the incomparable Jerry Herman, bookwriter Harvey Fierstein once again broke ground after his Torch Song Trilogy with La Cage aux Folles. It was groundbreaking as the first Broadway musical to prominently feature a gay couple as main characters along with an ensemble of drag queens,…

HELLO HELLO BIRDIE! Waxing nostalgic about the 1950s is never out of style as Palm Canyon Theatre ably proves with their current production of Bye Bye Birdie running through July 14. Bye Bye Birdie is a classic musical, famous for its satirical take on rock ‘n’ roll and its takeover of pop culture in America…

A REVUE THAT GOES STRAIGHT TO THE HEART AND SOUL This past weekend, one of our boldest theater companies in the Coachella Valley, Dezart Performs (Dezart), launched a new program called Cabaret at the Pearl with the revue Straight to the Heart – A Tribute to the Legacy of Rodgers & Hart at the Pearl…

SEE THE LIGHT Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) opened a glorious production of The Light in the Piazza last Friday, and it’s sensational. Based on  the  1960 novella by Elizabeth Spencer,  the  musical is set  in 1950s  Florence, Italy, where Margaret Johnson (Se Layne), a wealthy Southern woman, and her daughter Clara (Nicole Kennedy), who is developmentally disabled, are vacationing from  the  US. When…

THERE’S A BRIGHT, GOLDEN HAZE IN THE DESERT As the audience sat under a gorgeous golden sky with incessant desert winds, Jordan Killion sang “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” in his stunning, Broadway-worthy baritone as Curly: “There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow … the wind is so busy it don’t miss a tree.”…

GET A PARKER TICKET Michael McKeever’s newest play Mr. Parker, under Randy Brenner’s sublime direction is Dezart Performs’ final production this season running through April 21. McKeever, (Daniel’s Husband) has written a well-acted, swift, 90-minute portrayal of domestic life. Terry Parker, a 54-year-old gay writer residing in the condo building Ansonia on the Upper West…

NICE WORK! CVRep is closing its 23/24 season this month with a bewitching production of Nice Work If You Can Get It running through April 28th. Like other “new” Gershwin musicals including Crazy For You (a reimagining of Girl Crazy) and My One and Only (derived from Funny Face), Nice Work is crafted from remnants…

DAMN, IT’S GREAT Desert Theatricals hits another home run this weekend with their contagiously joyful production of Damn Yankees at Rancho Mirage Amphitheater running through Sunday, April 7th. I must confess, I never fully embraced the Damn Yankees phenomenon. Up until last night, I had not seen a full stage production. I had only seen…