All stories by Marc Wheeler on BroadwayStars

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Virtual Theater: ALICE IN WONDERLAND (A Noise Within) by Marc Wheeler

WHAT A WONDER [Editor’s Note: Just after we published Marc Wheeler’s glowing review of A Noise Within’s production of Alice in Wonderland, the theater had to go dark due to COVID. Fort…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:53PM
Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Virtual Theater Review: THE PRESENT (Geffen Stayhouse a.k.a. Geffen Playhouse) by Marc Wheeler

CALIFORNIA STREAMIN’ Even after postponing the remaining productions of their 2019/2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Geffen Playhouse is forging ahead. While the UCLA-owned the…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 04:47PM
Sunday, March 8, 2020

Theater Review: ALICE IN WONDERLAND (A Noise Within in Pasadena) by Marc Wheeler

WHAT A WONDER Childhood whimsy is seen through the looking-glass of adult sophistication at A Noise Within. Based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through t…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 05:39PM
Monday, March 2, 2020

Theater Reviews: GHOSTS, NEVER SWIM ALONE and LANDSCAPE (Inkblots “A” & “B” of Open Fist Theatre’s Rorschach Festival) by Marc Wheeler

OUR INKBLOT INTERPRETATIONS: SPLAT, SPLAT, SPLAT, SPLAT, SPLENDID Theater isn’t just what it brings to us, it’s also what we bring to it. At least, that’s the general idea behind Open …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:08PM
Monday, February 24, 2020

Theater Review: FOUND (IAMA Theatre Company) by Marc Wheeler

LOST … AND FOUND Found: A New Musical is determined to find its way. After a run off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company in 2014, this reworked West Coast premiere —  now playing a…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:58AM
Saturday, February 22, 2020

Theater Review: FRANKENSTEIN (Four Larks & Wallis) by Marc Wheeler

MONSTER MASH In an effort to strip away the centuries, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has gone under the knife. Revitalizing the 200-year-old classic is the Beverly Hills-based performing art…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:38PM
Sunday, February 16, 2020

Theater Review: THE $5 SHAKESPEARE COMPANY (The 6th Act at Theatre 68 in North Hollywood) by Marc Wheeler

LIFE IMITATETH ART In Christopher Guest’s brilliant 1996 mockumentary Waiting For Guffman, the smalltown residents of Blaine, MO, come together to put on a show. But what if instead the re…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:53PM
Saturday, February 15, 2020

Theater Review: THE FATHER (Pasadena Playhouse) by Marc Wheeler

PAPA, CAN YOU HEAR ME? Every once in awhile a play comes along that reminds what – and how exciting – theater can be. In The Father (Le Père), French playwright Florian Zeller doesn’t…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:09PM
Friday, February 14, 2020

Theater Review: FUN HOME (Chance Theater) by Marc Wheeler

TAKE A CHANCE WITH FUN When a newly “out” lesbian learns her closeted father has taken his life mere months after revealing to him her sexuality, she has a lot to process. Being an artis…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:50AM
Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Theater Review: I DECIDED I’M FINE: A ROACH PLAY (The Attic Collective at Studio/Stage in Hollywood) by Marc Wheeler

PASS THIS ROACH After a convoluted build-up, there’s a late scene in I Decided I’m Fine: A Roach Play that actually works. In it, Ellen (Veronica Tjioie), a trauma-stricken hoarder, expo…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:40PM
Monday, February 3, 2020

Theater Review: THIS SIDE OF CRAZY (Zephyr Theatre) by Marc Wheeler

HYMN-DINGER Sweet lovin’ Jesus, Del Shores is back, and he’s brought a band of gospel singers with him. In This Side of Crazy, writer/director/producer Shores introduces us to a Southern…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:19PM
Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Theater Review: FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE (Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Theater in Los Angeles) by Marc Wheeler

IF THE GLOVE FITS… On the heels of Leaving Neverland — the jaw-dropping 2019 documentary that explores the sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson — comes the world premiere o…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:54PM
Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Theater Review: NOWHERE ON THE BORDER (Road Theatre Company in North Hollywood) by Marc Wheeler

BYOC: BRING YOUR OWN CANTEEN In an effort to spark dialogue on Trump-era immigration, The Road Theatre Company has mounted a revised version of Carlos Lacámara’s Nowhere on the Border, a …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:07AM
Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Theater and Dance Review: SWAN LAKE (Matthew Bourne Productions at the Ahmanson) by Marc Wheeler

SWOON LAKE Sir Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake has flown into town and it’s a rapturous reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet. While productions based on the popular Petipa-Ivanov 189…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:53AM
Sunday, December 8, 2019

Theater Review: FROZEN (National Tour) by Marc Wheeler

CAN FROZEN MELT YOUR HEART? Direct from Broadway, Disney’s Frozen officially kicks off its national tour at the Hollywood Pantages after a tryout in Schenectady, NY, and it’s the hygge s…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:40PM
Sunday, December 1, 2019

Theater Review: PUNKPLAY (Circle X Theatre Company at the Atwater Village Theatre) by Marc Wheeler

PUNK’D In many ways, Gregory S. Moss’s 1980s-themed punkplay feels like a dream. Props and seasons are generically labeled. Flights of fancy are realized like make-believe. Even the era …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:46PM
Sunday, November 10, 2019

Theater Review: EIGHT NIGHTS (Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale) by Marc Wheeler

OY VEY A barrage of human suffering — anti-Semitism, racism, anti-Muslim hostility, misogyny, LGBT closets, slavery, Japanese-American internment camps, miscarriages, PTSD, death, and a li…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:00PM
Friday, November 8, 2019

Theater Review: MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET: A LIVE RADIO PLAY (Actors Co-op in Hollywood) by Marc Wheeler

MIRACLE ON NORTH GOWER STREET If you’re in need of a miracle, look no further than the Los Angeles premiere of Lance Arthur Smith‘s new adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street: A Live Music…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:48AM
Sunday, October 27, 2019

Theater Review: MIKE BIRBIGLIA’S THE NEW ONE (Tour at The Ahmanson in Los Angeles) by Marc Wheeler

TOSSING OUT THE BABY BUT KEEPING THE BATHWATER Reluctance takes center stage in Center Theater Group’s production of Mike Birbiglia’s theatrical child The New One. In his 2018 one-man sh…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 11:14AM
Saturday, October 19, 2019

Theater Review: THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion) by Marc Wheeler

PIAZZA EXPLODES LIKE TUSCAN SUNLIGHT From London’s Royal Festival Hall to L.A.’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion comes a rapturous new production of the Tony Award-winning musical The Light in…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:25AM
Friday, September 27, 2019

Theater Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Pasadena Playhouse) by Marc Wheeler

A GREEN NEW DEAL As Little Shop of Horrors teaches us: sometimes you just need fresh blood. In that vein, the Pasadena Playhouse more than delivers. Their audacious revival of the quirky cul…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:05PM
Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Theater Review: SHOOTING STAR — A REVEALING NEW MUSICAL (Hudson Mainstage in Hollywood) by Marc Wheeler

SHOOTING STAR AIMS, SHOOTS … AND BORES Shooting Star, billed as “A Revealing New Musical” — and getting its World Premiere at the Hudson Theatres in Los Angeles under the direction o…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:28PM
Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Los Angeles Theater Review: DANIEL’S HUSBAND (Fountain Theatre in Hollywood) by Marc Wheeler

THE PLAY THAT GOT AWAY I don’t know the exact play Michael McKeever was writing prior to the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in favor of federal marriage equality, but I suspect it worked much m…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:35PM
Saturday, March 30, 2019

Theater Review: CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (National Tour) by Marc Wheeler

THE CANDY MAN CAN’T The stage musical adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — Roald Dahl’s beloved children-of-all-ages’ story — has spun into town just, it seems, to mak…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:03PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards