GIRLFRIEND, PLEASE! While it's being sold as a rock musical, Todd Almond's gay two-hander is really a play; the songs from Matthew Sweet's 1991 breakout album Girlfriend are indiscrimi…
A FULL-ON KISS Everything is so dang perfect about the construction of Kiss Me, Kate that it's doubly amazing when a revival comes along to match that perfection. With some of the most boffo…
THE MUSIC MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC MAN When Moonlight Stage Productions announced their production of The Music Man, which opens this week at the Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista, I actually got …
SALUTING SONDHEIM IN SOLANA BEACH Stephen Sondheim is so beyond merely good and light years away from conventional that some may view his musicals as pure art and overlook the slathers of so…
YOUR PURSUIT IS OVER In writing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson borrowed a phrase from 17th century English philosopher John Locke, who spoke of "life, liberty and property…
THE DROUGHT ENDS THIS WEEKEND You may know the term "Jukebox Musical" from the ridiculous amount of new Broadway musicals which take previously published songs"most often popular hits that a…
THE WORST OF THE BEST Let me say that I have no idea what I just saw. Clearly, some very clever folk have come up with the very clever idea to spoof a Fringe Festival, which Fringe Festivals…
TWELFTH NIGHT LANDS AT THE OLD GLOBE A comedy’s brewing up in the rehearsal rooms of The Old Globe. Soon, winds will whip, distressed voices will call out and a ship’s timbers wi…
THE HOLLYWOOD HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MAX AND ELSA Greetings my lovelies! Garrulous Greta here with some glorious news. You may remember not long ago I received a letter from a fan…
MASTERFRINGE THEATRE When Barnaby Hughes reviewed a previous Magnum Opus production of Surf Dogs Unite for Stage and Cinema, he wrote that the show “will leave you doubled over with…
THE PHANTOM MENACE Last night's opening of The Phantom of the Opera, a refurbished revival of previous national tours, proves one thing: Since Andrew Lloyd Webber's baby was born almost 30 y…
MARRIED TO SONDHEIM When I first saw Marry Me A Little in the mid-1980s, it was a revelation. But not because of the story. This revue uses trunk songs of Stephen Sondheim, songs which–…
WHAT A DOG The term "Dog Days" refers to the hottest period of the year, the sultry part of summer when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises in unison with the sun. It's a time marked by sluggishness…
SCULPTED TO PERFECTION Boris Eifman's kinetic Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg is quickly becoming known for full-length ballets, quite often with a plot and literary source. What you will se…
PREGNANT PAUSE A loving, liberal, and somewhat quirky childless couple, Craig and Katie, discovers that the only option to have their own baby is to implant her egg and his sperm in another …
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT It was one of those magical evenings in the theater that shall live with me forever. When Kulunka Teatro's André & Dorine appeared at the Los Angeles Theatre Center f…
IN HARLEM'S WAY We never meet the titular Our Lady of 121st Street, a no-nonsense New York nun who had a profound effect on the characters in Stephen Adly Guirgis's 2003 play. Nor do we meet…
COMMERCIAL WITHOUT COMMERCIALS Imagine if the '70s sitcom Good Times did not hit TV until 2007. Now imagine a 3-episode arc about the coming out of a black man who brings his white boyfriend…
GO FACE THE MUSIC+DANCE Assuredly, Artistic Director Lincoln Jones' American Contemporary Ballet (ACB) has become the go-to organization for thrilling dance in Los Angeles. Along with his mu…
CAROUSEL COMES TO LYRIC OPERA Lyric Opera of Chicago's stunning new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel opens tonight and runs through May 3, 2015 at the Civic Opera House in Ch…
A GOOD BÊTE Even though it's written in mostly rhymed couplets of iambic pentameter, David Hirson's 1991 play, La Bête, is by far the least avant-garde presentation at Trap Door I h…
UNLEASHING THE BEAST River North Dance Chicago (RNDC) is blasting into The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University as part of the "Made in Chicago" Series on Saturday, March 28, 2015 at 7…
"FEELIN' GOOD SWEET," INDEED! Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC), America's original jazz dance company, returns to the Harris Theater for Music and Dance for its spring engagement, March 27-29, 2…
LAST CHANCEÂ TO GET THIS WORK Get ready for this 1920s-era feel-good musical, complete with extravagant dance numbers, glittering costumes and an unlikely love story between a wealthy play…
MUSICAL THEATRE WEST KNOWS HOW TO SUCCEED Reams can and have been written about the glories of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, and b…