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Theater Review: & JULIET (North American Tour / McCallum Theatre / Palm Desert)
POP GOES THE SHAKESPEARE A dazzling cast and spectacular production numbers can’t disguise the musical’s lack of dramatic depth What if Juliet had decided that Romeo simply wasn’t worth dying for? That is the premise of & Juliet, the candy-colored jukebox musical that opened Tuesday at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, where the national…
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Theater Review: THE OUTSIDERS (National Tour / Segerstrom Center for the Arts / Costa Mesa)
NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY Danya Taymor’s electrifying staging and committed young cast bring S. E. Hinton’s teenage world to life, even when the score fails to match its emotional force Actors in their twenties play the boys in The Outsiders, and they commit to every certainty of being 14. A dirty look from a rich…
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Dance Review: OSCAR (Australian Ballet / Cal Performances / Berkeley)
A PORTRAIT PAINTED IN DANCE A luminous ballet of love and loss The Australian Ballet, founded in 1962, is now the largest classical ballet company in Australia. The company recently toured North America, making only two stops, in Berkeley and New York City. At Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, this amazing and gifted…
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Theater Review: OPERATION MINCEMEAT (National Tour / Emerson Colonial Theatre / Boston)
BRINGING A DEAD MAN TO LIFE A brilliantly directed tale of brilliant misdirection The Tony and Olivier award-winning Operation Mincement: A New Musical, like the wartime operation it depicts, is the result of a group effort, with book, lyrics, and music by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, a foursome calling themselves…
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Dance Review: OSCAR (The Australian Ballet at New York City Center)
A KISS, A SIGH, BUT WHERE’S THE DANCE? Christopher Wheeldon’s Oscar Wilde ballet offers a moving story and striking imagery, but too little of the athletic movement that makes ballet thrilling Ah, the biopic ballet. This time, it’s Oscar, the story of the life of Oscar Wilde, performed by The Australian Ballet on tour this…
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Cabaret Review: LAURA BENANTI: NOBODY CARES (National Tour at The Wallis / Beverly Hills & South Coast Rep / Costa Mesa)
NOBODY CARES? WE BEG TO DIFFER! Laura Benanti turns the indignities of aging, motherhood, and people-pleasing into an outrageously funny evening of songs and self-revelation From the time she was a young girl, Laura Benanti knew her destiny would lead her to starring in Broadway musicals. And at age 18, she stepped into the cast…
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Theater Review: OPERATION MINCEMEAT (National Tour / CIBC Theatre / Chicago)
DEAD MAN WALKING—STRAIGHT INTO THE THIRD REICH A corpse, a preposterous plan, and five tireless performers make this British spy caper an enormously funny exercise in controlled chaos Monty Python’s influence is all over Operation Mincemeat, the smash-hit musical making the first stop of its North American tour at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago, after…
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Theater Review: WICKED (National Tour)
SOMETHING WICKED GOOD THIS WAY COMES The national tour lands in Boston with enough brains, heart, and theatrical magic to remind us why this musical continues to defy gravity It’s appropriate that the national tour of Wicked has returned to Boston—it’s the home territory for author Gregory Maguire, whose novel is the foundation for one of…
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Theater Review: OH, MARY! (First National Tour)
THE WAR BETWEEN ABRAHAM AND MARY IS ANYTHING BUT CIVIL Cole Escola’s gleefully unhinged historical farce gives Alaska Thunderfuck ample opportunity to make a spectacular fool of the First Lady Historians tend to agree that Abraham Lincoln did care deeply for his wife, Mary Todd, and was emotionally attached to her, though their complex 23-year…
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TACH Luggage’s Guide To Choosing The Best Luggage Sets
Selecting an appropriate set of carabiners for your luggage means more than just selecting a few that will look nice together. When packing, consider your volume, frequency of travel, and the ease with which you can transport your bags once they are full. A set that works well for a short solo trip may not…
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Theater Review: WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (National Tour / Los Angeles)
THE ELEPHANT IN THE MUSICAL Circus artistry and inventive puppetry soar where the musical itself falls short Water for Elephants, based on Sara Gruen’s bestselling novel, with a book by Rick Elice and music and lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co., opened Wednesday, September 9 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. The musical follows Jacob Jankowski (Zachary…
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Theater Review: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (National Tour / San Diego)
OLD-SCHOOL PHANTOM, FIRST-RATE RESULTS This return to Phantom’s original theatrical roots delivers spectacle, superb singing, and one nagging sound problem Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera was first published as a French newspaper serial from 1909 to 1910, after which Leroux compiled it into a popular novel. His inspiration was the famed Parisian opera…
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Concert Review: JOSH GROBAN “Stage, Screen, and Symphony” Tour (NSO / Wolf Trap / Vienna, VA)
GROBAN WITH THE FLOW A soaring baritone meets the sweep of the National Symphony Orchestra There are singers who command a stage, and then there are artists who seem genuinely delighted to share it. On Saturday night at Wolf Trap, Josh Groban did both. Backed by the National Symphony Orchestra under conductor Sean O’Loughlin, Groban…
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Theater and Tour Preview: CIRQUE MUSICA HOLIDAY WONDERLAND (2026 National Tour)
IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CIRQUE-MAS A high-flying holiday spectacle takes its acrobatic wonder on a 50-city tour If your holiday traditions could use a little more danger, Cirque Musica Holiday Wonderland has an answer: put some acrobats in the air. The family-friendly spectacle returns in an all-new production that combines favorite holiday…
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Film & Album Preview: SARA BAREILLES: GOOD GRIEF (Documentary directed by Josh Alexander)
GOOD GRIEF, SHE’S BACK Sara Bareilles opens the studio door for an intimate look at the music, friendships, and emotions behind her first album in seven years Sara Bareilles hasn’t made a studio album in seven years. When she finally returned to record one, she invited writer-director Josh Alexander into the room. What began as…
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Recommended Event: JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL: HEDWIG 25TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR (Malibu / Los Angeles / Palm Springs)
WIGGING OUT WITH THE ORIGINAL HEDWIG Celebrating a quarter-century of the film with screenings, songs, and stories Twenty-five years after Hedwig and the Angry Inch hit movie screens in a blast of glam rock, heartbreak, bad wigs, and defiant individuality, John Cameron Mitchell is getting back on the road with the character who changed his…
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HOW TO PREPARE MENTALLY FOR ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT TREK CHALLENGES
The Annapurna Circuit Trek is one of the most classic Himalayan adventures in Nepal, with stunning scenic and cultural & landscape diversity that offers to make this outdoor mountain experience a dream come true. Yet, undertaking this fabled trekking route requires more than a decent fitness level and proper kit. You have to be prepared…
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Film: HUMP! FILM FESTIVAL (International Tour / Curated by Dan Savage)
SIT ON MY FACEBOOK Attending Dan Savage’s awesome HUMP! Film Festival is easy enough, but now you can take a stand against corporate fascism just by getting the word out. Then get yourself to a theater near you for the annual festival, which is on tour in dozens of cities across the United States, Canada,…
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Theater Review: THE OUTSIDERS (National Tour)
STAY GOLD, GREASERS This gripping musical adaptation honors its beloved source while finding an emotional life all its own S.E. Hinton’s first novel, The Outsiders, written while she was still in high school and published when she was just 18, has inspired artists across multiple mediums for nearly six decades. It became a cult film…
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Theater Preview: MYSTIC PIZZA (National Tour)
A FRESH SLICE OF NOSTALGIA The cross-country tour is ready to win over a whole new crowd When Mystic Pizza played La Mirada Theatre in 2024, Stage and Cinema found it charming, energetic, and heavy on laughs, buoyed by a terrific trio of leading ladies and a soundtrack packed with irresistible ’80s and ’90s hits….
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