Written by orange• July 5, 2026• 5:15 pm• Newport Beach, Newport Theatre Arts Center, Review, Theater, Uncategorized

Steel Magnolias @ Newport Theatre Arts Center – Review

Photo credit: Andrew Nguyen

Written by Patrick Chavis

Steel Magnolias is playing now at the Newport Theatre Arts Center, June 25 – July 19, 2026.

Directed by Kathy Paladino. From head to toe, a clear vision of the play. With a focus on the layered performances and the incredible natural ensemble work done by the cast. It’s a solid, unpretentious revival; SM fans or not, it’s well produced.

Story:

Steel Magnolias is a play about a group of ladies living life and doing hair in 1980s Louisiana. Over several years, the women joke around and, to say the least, deal with common, relatable but troubling situations through friendship at the shop.

The play is most definitely a hyper-romanticized portrayal of what the South in Louisiana was like in the 80s. I think that if you view the play through a realist lens, it fails in many respects. It’s an idealized third-person narrative that’s very much not an unbiased portrayal. When viewed this way, I believe the play really does come away feeling more personal, not just a good arrangement of jokes and delivery. But someone’s admiration for something that may not be seen, or seen fully.

In a Platonian way, the playwright Robert Harling is presenting the best possible vision of those circumstances and getting down to the play’s essentials without directly spelling them out. Even in this small town, among gossipers getting their hair done at the hairdresser’s. There’s something beautiful and worthwhile about that.

Look what community and life can look like when there is an open, accepting place like a beauty shop that won’t stop the hard knocks of life, but maybe makes them just a little bit more bearable. On stage, the actresses are actually wetting their hair and adding curlers. It’s all happening in real time. The hair and the style became a part of the narrative, not just dressing for the stage, for example.

Hair/Costumes:

You can see a big difference between the nervous and jumpy acting from Giana Garcia (Annelle Dupuy-Desoto) in the first act, whether she’s jumping from the gunshot or just dealing with people in the shop. At first, her hair is way more down and neat. Compare her personality later in the play. She’s wearing bigger, louder hair, and she’s much more confident and relaxed with her place in the shop. Beyond the hair, Garcia’s performance comes through.

Costume Designer Jenny Wentworth’s outfit selection in this piece was out of bounds—Era-appropriate, but also a range of striking outfits that actually look lived-in.