SADDLEBACK CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

by Michael Quintos - November 15, 2024

Led by a brilliant performance by Jason Alexander, this lively, emotionally-grounded, classic-leaning staging still somehow manages to feel fresh, reinvigorated, and much more searing than prior iterations.This latest SoCal-area revival of the landmark 1964 musical—here directed by Lonny Price—is, a...

by Harker Jones - November 13, 2024

NIGHTINGALE is by turns stark, humorous, shocking, and devastating, revealing truths and realities obliquely but with the power of blunt force....

by Evan Henerson - November 12, 2024

Is there some sort of formula for roping in both fans of a hit movie and stage hounds, to catch lightning in a new medium? Judging by what the musical's book writer Bob Gale, director John Rando and the musical team must have been thinking, the answer is you slavishly remake the movie on stage....

by Tracey Paleo - November 13, 2024

Before seeing this show, I knew nothing of it besides a quite comedically tantalizing Instagram promo video and a snazzy 60’s referencing sci-fi movie poster.  The script and plot however was as elusive as even the idea of a commonly puerile film executive attempting to write an exploitable and prof...

by Michael Quintos - November 11, 2024

Featuring a remarkable, gutsy performance by Tessa Auberjonois as the legendary comedienne, JOAN is an absorbing and hilarious new work that also feels like an on-going work-in-progress. The world premiere production continues performances at South Coast Repertory through November 24, 2024....

by Amanda Callas - November 05, 2024

This production feels contemporary and fresh, with an edgy, f-you, punk rock rebelliousness.  Yet it also feels profoundly truthful to the original grittiness of A Streetcar Named Desire, how it was received when it premiered — its New Orleans funk and grime, its rough, perverse sexiness and sweatin...

by Melissa Heckscher - October 31, 2024

In the end, the show is all about seduction, and it has all the dark, gritty sex appeal of a dingy French Quarter speakeasy. That is to say: It’s got the sultry rhythm and blues to sweep you into the fun even if you don’t know exactly why you’re there....

by Harker Jones - October 28, 2024

At a brisk 80 minutes, the rock opera flies by in a flash of opulence and sin with an infectious joie de vivre...

by Evan Henerson - October 27, 2024

Barely six months since braving Wilson's KING HEDLEY II, the company and director Gregg T. Daniel are back an impactful - if leisurely – PIANO LESSON. Where HEDLEY was grim, this one is ghostly, rueful and full of music....

by Amanda Callas - October 25, 2024

Vibrant, colorful, and charming, this Inland Valley Repertory Theatre production of the Academy Award winning 1989 animated Disney film is a delight.  Looking around the enthusiastic opening night audience, I see everyone from seniors and date-night couples to toddlers on laps completely enraptured ...