Palm Springs
(Coachella Valley)

BABY GO BOOM-BOOM Baby the 1983 Broadway musical now called Baby: The Musical with a book by Sybille Pearson, music by David Shire, and lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr., is a story that is almost a song cycle about three couples, each at different stages of life, who are surprised by an unexpected miracle. What…

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.”…

BEE THERE AT REVOLUTION! Revolution Stage Company, which had a winner earlier in the year with Avenue Q, has another hit musical comedy on its hands with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a charmer full of wit, humor and heart. Featuring a fast-paced, superbly giddy and touching book by Rachel Sheinkin (Tony and…

LEGENDARY MAN OF DISTINCTION — AT LEAST IN HIS MIND Directed by Jerome Elliott Moskowitz and written by Tony Padilla, Desert Ensemble Theatre presents an alternate version of the Sherlock Holmes origin story that’s witty, delightful and involving. 1890 London: Sherlock Holmes (Alex Price) is asked to solve a case for Scotland Yard by Inspector…

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…

Still impactful, The Boys in the Band, now playing at Palm Canyon Theater until April 21, is largely based on playwright Mart Crowley‘s own life in 1960s’ Manhattan. The 1968 play was a sensation Off-Broadway, won Tony for Best Revival of a Play in 2019 starring an all-gay cast, and was filmed twice. When the…

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…

You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul. — George Bernard Shaw With Avenue Q, Mid-Century Moderns, and The Boy Band Project, Palm Springs’ newest professional theater group, Revolution Stage Company (RSC), has been knocking it out of the ballpark since it launched its inaugural…

NEW PLAY ELLIE SHOWS ITS UNDERBELLY Desert Ensemble Theater (DET) is one of the boldest and few Coachella Valley companies committed to creating new work and producing envelope-pushing plays. At the end of DET’s current season — it’s thirteenth — DET  executive director  Shawn Abramowitz and artistic director  Jerome Elliott Moskowitz will have commendably produced fourteen world premieres….

A CASE OF GREAT THEATER It is rare to see intimate, loving friendships between straight and gay men both in life and on stage. In A Case for the Existence of God, running at Dezart Performs through March 10, playwright Samuel D. Hunter masterfully crafts a narrative that defies stereotypes and societal norms, portraying a…