Regional

A FEW BLEMISHES CAN’T MAR THIS BEAUTIFUL DOLL It’s amazing. Were this masterpiece from Broadway’s golden age an actual guy or doll, he or she would be scoring Social Security. But make no mistake, this 1950 hoofer is no worse for the wear, thanks to Frank Loesser’s timeless score and Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’…

ENCHANTED FORGIVENESS Shakespeare Orange County (SOC) has used local community members alongside professional actors to reinvent Shakespeare as a way to offer thoughts about inclusiveness and Southern California’s astoundingly diverse population with creative results. This way, the classical English literature combined with cultural aspects actually influences storytelling. And the community pride behind these productions is…

A SWEET SAMPLING OF ANIMAL CRACKERS, ALBEIT A BIT DAY-OLD One can easily see why Animal Crackers was a Broadway hit from 1928-1929, followed by a successful movie version. Start with the zany Marx Brothers, add a variety of vaudeville style acts, connect it all with a wacky little plot and it has “Roaring Twenties”…

AIDA GETS THE AID IT NEEDS There are two beautiful reincarnations with Moonlight’s production of Aida, a 2000 Disney outing that never would have seen the light of day were it not for the celebrity and history of both composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice. The first is part of the musical’s plot: The…

HOW’S THE  WITHER? (JUST IN CASE YOU WERE  WUTHERING…) A complicated nineteenth-century story of love and retaliation, featuring 13 characters, could be tough  to pull off in ninety minutes in any case. For playwrights and co-performers Phil Johnson and Omri Schein, the challenge is heightened by the pair opting to play all thirteen in their two-man show. It…

GRILLED TO PERFECTION North Coast Rep’s rendition of James Valcq and Fred Alley’s simple musical The Spitfire Grill demonstrates two things: the redemptive power of acceptance, forgiveness and love; and just  how a magnificent company  can turn  a  problematic piece  into a powerhouse of a revival. Released from prison, Percy (Aurora Florence) seeks a new life in Gilead, Wisconsin, a…

“For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings.” Now through July 15, 2017, Robert Sean Leonard (TV’s House, The Old Globe’s  Pygmalion) returns to the Old Globe in San Diego to take on the title role of one of the greatest of Shakespeare’s towering cycle of…

DAMN, YANKEES DOESN’T HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK While many of Jerry Ross and Richard Adler’s songs from the 1955 Broadway classic hold up rather well, Douglass Wallop and George Abbott’s book isn’t tremendously captivating by 2017 standards. Oh, it’s a  likeable-enough musical, but only a stellar production  can sell this aging staple. San Diego Musical…

WHAT A SHOCK In 1845, German psychiatrist Heinrich Hoffmann wrote a disturbing but popular children’s book featuring the perils of children who misbehave. A  century and a half later, in 1998, the popular book was  adapted for the stage by Improbable, a London theater company, and The Tiger Lillies,  a cult British musical trio; together, they  brought the stories…

AN  IMAGINARY IMAGINARY Back in March, Roundabout Theatre announced their plans for 2017. After collaborating with Fiasco Theater on their acclaimed paired-down production of Into the Woods in 2015, Roundabout  has named Fiasco their company in residence. This means Fiasco will be provided with an artistic home and full use of Roundabout’s  resources to continue developing their work….

OLD MAN, OLD MOON, OLD GLOBE Having seen  PigPen Theatre Co.’s The Old Man and the Old Moon in Chicago, I can guarantee that gem of a theater experience will  gently pluck at your heartstrings – just as it did with a successful run Off-Broadway’s Gym at Judson. Opening May 13 and running through June 18, 2017…

A SUBURBAN WEST SIDE STORY Sadly, hate conquers all in West Side Story, but the love we see and feel can hold its own. Though over a half-century old, the Bernstein/Laurents/Sondheim/Robbins tour-de-force is, like its Shakespearean source, young as first love. You don’t revive it, you detonate it, as happens repeatedly in La Mirada’s mixed…

A FIRST  DATE THAT GOES WELL The device of having characters receive advice from a conscience or someone from their past is tried and true in musicals: They’re Playing Our Song‘s Vernon’s gets help from his Greek Chorus “boys”; Grease‘s Frenchy is (beauty)schooled by the Teen Angel; and now,  First Date‘s Aaron and Casey get input, helpful…

IT’S WORTH SINGING ABOUT GETTING OLDER Perhaps the only thing worse than getting older is thinking about it. So when a nascent theater company puts on a show’”a musical no less’”about the  fear and associated feelings regarding  aging (and the odds of becoming what is referred to as a “Geeze”), some theatergoers may understandably be hesitant to…

A LONG RIDE ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY In today’s world of seeing T-shirts in fancy restaurants, it’s almost difficult to envision that, once upon a time, people would dress to the nines for a 16-hour train ride, being attended to by spiffy stewards, waiters, and chefs. But  that’s exactly what hundreds of New York’s elite did…