(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
Written by Alina Mae Wilson
Cabaret is a musical about German people having orgies in clubs, or at least that is what I would have told you before Saturday night. I had heard of Cabaret and even listened to some of the music, but it’s somewhat striking how off-base I was about the show’s actual premise. It’s a drama about — wait. No. If you haven’t seen or heard about Cabaret in great detail, wait, pause, and think. The musical takes place in early 1930s Germany, so I want you to close your eyes and guess what it’s about. Ready? What is it about? It’s about the Nazi’s rise to power because what else could it be? Seriously, the performance began, and I thought, “How interesting, a raunchy night club running during the 1930s. ” By the show’s end, I was thinking, “Dear God, has anything good happened in Germany ever?” All snark aside, this was a musical with some interesting material, the quality of which rose quite a few notches once we made it to Act 2. Continue Reading
Written by Daniella Litvak
If you are familiar with London’s West End theatre scene you may have heard of Blood Brothers. It holds the distinction of having the third longest show run —among musicals —on the West End —behind only Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera. Unfortunately Blood Brothers did not achieve the same popularity here in the states as it did in England, and productions of it are rare. Fortunately, the denizens of Orange County are currently in luck because Blood Brothers is playing right now in our very own backyard. Continue Reading
photo courtesy : Stage Door Repertory
Written by Scotty Keister
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opened on Broadway in 1962, and it’s pretty much been running on one stage or another ever since. Notably, it was Stephen Sondheim’s first show as both composer and lyricist. It’s a broad, vaudevillian type farce, written by Lerry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove, and its humor relies largely on mugging and pratfalls from the cast. That being said, Stage Door Repertory’s production, directed by Glenn Freeze, is largely a success because it is sublimely true to the show’s old-timey comedy roots. Continue Reading
