Every so often an actor emerges who is what I call a "five-tool-player," a term borrowed from baseball, describing someone who can run, hit, field, throw, and hit for power. In the theater, …
In 5-Star Theatricals' current production of Meredith Willson's The Music Man, acrobatics worthy of an Olympics gymnastic meet are turned in nightly by Antonia Vivino, who plays starry-ey…
Last week we spoke with Adam Pascal about his approach to playing Professor Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's classic musical comedy The Music Man. 5-Star Theatrical's production, whic…
Ventura County theater fans were overjoyed when 5-Star Theatricals announced that veteran Broadway star Adam Pascal would be starring as raffish traveling salesman Harold Hill in the company…
In British playwright Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange, Christopher is a patient in a London psychiatric hospital who has been admitted under a "Section 2" for what has been diagnosed as a "b…
Plays that show characters changing through the years are some of the most challenging actors can experience. In the 1976 Off-Broadway play Vanities, author/playwright Jack Heifner focuse…
Today we received a letter from Andrew Landecker, senior film student at Calabasas High School who played the role of Amos Hart in the school's March production of Chicago. Here's what…
In a world that is consumed by political correctness, Avenue Q, which made its debut at the Conejo Players Theatre May 3 for a brief two-weekend run, shatters Broadway conventions with its r…
Camelot, the original "Game of Thrones," is familiar to theater and film fans through its highly successful stage productions but a new ballet, produced by Pacific Festival Ballet, makes its…
Its theater is definitely of the no-frills variety, a black box constructed in the space of two public storage units in an industrial park in Ventura, but there is no denying the talent that…
Next week, former Cabrillo Music Theater artistic director Lewis Wilkenfeld returns to Thousand Oaks to direct Matilda, the story about a precocious English girl who uses books and litera…
Ragtime, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's musicalized version of E. L. Doctorow's novel about a quickly changing America at the turn of the 20th century, has received a new concept, which …
Musical Theatre Guild's latest staged reading, Minnie's Boys, was performed at Glendale's Alex Theatre on Sunday, February 10, and although it was great to finally get to see this rarely …
As Simon Stephens' 2015 play Heisenberg opens, a 75-year-old Irish butcher named Alex Priest is sitting in a London Underground station, listening to music on his iPhone. Without warni…
Next week, Agoura High School senior Griffen Hamilton will be directing the school's production of Mamma Mia!, his first full-length musical. Griffen has been featured in Raymond Saar'…
Two faces familiar to Ventura County audiences will be performing dream roles when they debut in Ragtime, which plays from February 10 to March 3 at the Pasadena Playhouse. Both Shanno…
In McCoy Rigby Entertainment's production of 1776, director Glenn Casale cast a mix of veteran stage performers with younger newcomers. The result blends beautifully in the musical comedy…
With all the fuss and fame that Hamilton has caused in bringing America's founding fathers to the stage, one easily forgets its predecessor, 1776, a delightful show that only gets b…
A brand-new musical made its world premiere on the black box stage of the Hillcrest Theatre for the Arts to kick off 2019. "Scott Robbins & the Traveling Show" had been percolating in th…
"Larger than life" is a description that is overused in show business, but this is not hyperbole when it comes to legendary vaudeville entertainer Sophie Tucker (1884-1966). Famously promote…
BY CARY GINELL It’s time once again for the annual “Vee-Cee” Awards, in which we honor some of the most memorable performances on Ventura County stages over the course of t…
BY CARY GINELL As each year comes to a close, we like to look back at some of the highlights of the past year in musical theater and plays in Ventura County. 2016 was the fourth year in whic…
(Agoura Hills, Calif. " December 17, 2016) After 11 years of renting multiple local spaces and partnering with many local theatre groups and local high schools and colleges, the New Year wil…
BY CARY GINELL Siena Avila is like many other 16-year-old high schoolers you know. Cheerful, friendly, enthusiastic, and just a little bit shy. But Siena has one thing that most kids her age…
REVIEW BY CARY GINELL Calendar Girls, a 2009 play based on a hit 2003 film, is Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi’s true-to-life comedy about six middle-aged women from a village in Yor…