VON TOURIST TRAPP The original stage version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music was such a crowd pleaser that many are surprised to learn the 1959 Mary Martin vehicle received v…
OOH LA LA FOR LA CAGE AUX FOLLES If any gay activist ever derides this delightful musical, they would do well to remember just how radical La Cage aux Folles was when it hit Broadway in 1983…
SUNNY AND SCARE You think theater in Los Angeles can be frightening? Well, here's entertainment that's intentionally soulless. "It's so funny, you'll laugh your head off" takes on a whole ne…
ONE SKETCH, TWO STYLES When the National Theatre of Great Britain produced One Man, Two Guvnors, playwright Richard Bean's 2011 update of Carlo Goldoni's 18th Century comedy, The Servant of …
A RARE TREAT SERVED PIPING HOT The Stephen Schwartz/Joseph Stein musical The Baker's Wife never made it to Broadway. The musical folded in Washington. D.C. in 1976 before reaching New York C…
SLIDE INTO THE OLD DISNEYLAND My first visit to Disneyland was 1964, and I still remember many attractions from that day which will be covered when pop culture humorist and author Charles Ph…
SCHOOLED BY CALLAS If you've ever been to a master class, then Terrence McNally's Master Class (1995) will seem very familiar. If you haven't, then you're in for a real eye-opener. A master …
GANGSTER MUSICAL You've seen the movie, you've seen the car, now see the musical. Meet the most famous robbing, murdering, loving couple in U.S. history. From their first meeting at a West T…
RETURN OF A SMART IDIOT It’s always satisfying to see a show that really works get a remount. DOMA, which presented the best version I have ever seen of Green Day’s American I…
BORDERING ON TRAGEDY There is a lot to like about playwright Luis Alfaro's Mojada, a modern retelling of Medea which sets the main character as an undocumented immigrant and seamstress in th…
DOUBLE DUTY DOMINGO The biggest names in opera, cinema, and classical music converge for the opening of LA Opera's impressive 30th anniversary season. The double bill which opens Saturday is…
AMERICAN CLASSICS WITH AUDRA MCDONALD & AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE The last time I saw the captivating singer and actress Audra McDonald in concert, she sang the Bernstein/Comden/Green t…
COMEDY TONIGHT More like side-splitting by side-splitting by Sondheim, Impro Theatre–the masters of long-form improvisations in the style of famous authors and genres–are gearing…
GREAT, BUT NOT ALWAYS CLASSIC According to TimeOut London, the term "cabaret" represents an overlapping group of constantly mutating forms of performance that can’t be pinned down"an a…
TIS THE SEASONS Not unlike Timothy Leary and LSD, I have been turning people on to ACB for similar reasons. In an increasingly complicated world, one needs a stimulant to reinforce a sense o…
THERE’S NOTHING GOING ON UP HERE It’s an idea whose time has already come this summer, and with far superior results. In fact, the character of Lindsay, a t-shirt designer who ha…
YOU CAN GO HOLMES AGAIN It turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks, proven by The Old Globe's contemporary stage-spoof treatment of the 1901 Sherlock Holmes classic novel The Houn…
AÂ FINE CLINE Patsy Cline couldn't be more fondly or accurately recalled than by Cori Cable Kidder in Robert Marra's production of Always…Patsy Cline, the oft-produced 1990 paean to the …
THE HOLY GRAIL OF SILLINESS It's been 40 years since the release of the landmark comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail and 33 years since the British sketch comedy troupe recorde…
DACHAU DELIVERANCE TO THE MAX More than six million Jews were slaughtered by Nazis. When Martin Sherman wrote Bent in 1979, the yellow star that emblazoned the clothing of Jews was well-know…
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…