Theater

Of all the stage musicals based on hit movies over the years ("Applause," "Promises, Promises," etc.), few have hit the ground running with the wit, verve and sheer entertainment value of "Legally Blonde," now in its second and final weekend at Golden...

Grant Sevdayan founded the Huntington Beach Symphony to fill a vacuum in the local musical landscape. Although the city offered a vibrant rock scene, Sevdayan also knew of formally trained classical musicians who were forced to stay home or drive 15...

Edison High School presented a showcase of its performing arts programs at the historic Huntington Beach High School Auditorium on Friday. Taking the stage that evening were the Edison High School Jazz Ensemble, the Advanced Choir, Percussion Ensemble...

A trio of monkeys, one with a pierced lip, kicking up a storm. Big-voiced Sour Kangaroo testing her moves. Styrofoam-headgear-toting Whos gallivanting with instruments made from PVC pipe, toilet plungers and badminton birdies. It's high school, so...

While most theater practitioners gravitate from show to show, venue to venue, a few may be found putting in years of artistic labor on behalf of one specific producing organization. Two such individuals are spotlighted this week. The Costa Mesa...

So it's that time of year when kids are home and many adults take some time off from work, and in this column I like to call out a couple of nearby attractions or performances that might be a fun way to spend some time over the holidays. This year,...

When Madeleine Barker's fellow cast members handed her the Oscar in the Claire Trevor Theatre, she felt excited for herself and a little sad for Judy Garland. Barker, who plays Garland in UC Irvine's upcoming musical "Tinseltown Christmas," had been...

One can just imagine Neil Simon, 30 years ago, mulling over possible themes for his next Broadway play, his eyes fixing on a Bible and saying to himself, "Hey, how about the Book of Job? That would be a real knee-slapper." Thus was begat "God's Favorite,...

Great plays bring out great performances, even in those scripts rendered over-familiar by myriad local productions. A case in point is David Auburn's "Proof," now on stage at the Westminster Community Theater. Ever since South Coast Repertory first...

Those "Guys and Dolls" from Damon Runyon's Broadway are back with us, and this time around, the dolls are putting on a clinic in vocal proficiency. The venue on this occasion is the Huntington Beach Playhouse, where director Larry Watts (who also handles...

When Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical version of "Cinderella" made its debut on television back in 1957 (with Julie Andrews, fresh from "My Fair Lady," in the title role), it became the most widely viewed program in the history of the medium. And every...

Aaron Bertram strode to the front of a classroom at Patti's Preschool in Huntington Beach on Friday morning and asked 10 students to sit in a circle, where they would indulge in musical activities for the next half hour. Right before they filled their...