Childhood is where everything begins. Those early moments can change so much in a person’s life. It’s an area of storytelling ripe with possibility. This new work by Playwright Simon J.O. Martin explores these possibilities, the happy and the sad moments. It was almost like watching a modern-day Peanuts-but no Snoopy. Just Charlie and his imagination. Continue Reading
(photo credit: Matthew M. Hayashi and Gennie Kauper)
I watched the World premiere of Sustained Release yesterday, written by local Orange County Playwright Matthew M. Hayashi, in a 3-car garage. Don’t be fooled by this humble location. The Larking house isn’t fixing cars in here. They’ve created art. Â Â Â Continue Reading
(photo credit: Amy Gettys)
A Bronx Tale, the musical loosely based on actor Chazz Palminteri’s life growing up in the Bronx during the 1960s, had its Southern California premiere at the Stage Door Repertory in Anaheim. Stage Door’s production lacks the tightness and finesses a stripped-down musical version like A Bronx Tale needs. Even die-hard fans would have trouble rekindling old memories from the film or the original play that inspired it. Continue Reading
(Photo credit: Doug Catiller, True Image Studio)
Pro-wrestling and theatre. When you think about it, it’s not a weird combination. Isn’t pro-wrestling recycled theatre with jocks? The stage is the wrestling ring, and the script determines the outcome. The only things that change are the characters (wrestlers), the storyline, and the performance. The Chance Theatre puts on a spectacle with the pro-wrestling satire The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. Continue Reading
Photo credit : (Camryn Long & Doug Catiller)
“We are the kids of war and peace/From Anaheim to the Middle East” [1]
A lot has been said about the similarities between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. One way they differ, though, is how they impacted popular music. While the Vietnam War spawned a subgenre of protest songs that are highly regarded to this day, the protest songs commenting on the Iraq War are not numerous or as well remembered. Green Day’s 2004 rock opera American Idiot is the exception to the rule. In addition to becoming a commercial and critical success, American Idiot spawned a Broadway musical adaptation of the album, and now it’s playing at the Chance Theater. Continue Reading
Heartstrings, heartstrings, heartstrings — writer Brian Hill hits you and keeps hitting you in the heart until the curtain closes at the end of the production. He understands the heart — or at least a portion of it — in this grounded two-hander about friendship, loss, and life now playing at the Chance Theater in Anaheim through a digital live-streaming production. Continue Reading
