Perfect for Halloween time, the Pasadena Playhouse is presenting one of London’s most successful – and terrifying – theater events ever staged – Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black. It is here directed by Robin Herford, performing through Nov. 11, 2018. This gothic ghost story, adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt, is set in an isolated eerie mansion -- with tragic secrets hidden behind its Continue Reading
Cleverly funny – ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD now at ANW
Noise Within (ANW) is now presenting Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the Tony Award®-winning play that first brought Stoppard to the attention of an international audience. The play will perform through Nov. 18, 2018. Two minor characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet take the spotlight here, although one thing is clear: they are destined to die. Trapped in a universe where the Continue Reading
Edgy and beautiful – A PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY is now at ANW
A Noise Within (ANW) is now presenting A Picture of Dorian Gray, based on the novella by Oscar Wilde, adapted and directed by Michael Michetti. The play will continue through Nov. 16, 2018. In love with the beauty of his own portrait, Dorian Gray sells his soul to preserve his youth. He manages to stay young while all of his friends age, but what isn’t happening to his body slowly happens to Continue Reading
Boston Court presents a relatable A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Tennessee Williams’ A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE is now playing (through Mar. 25) at the Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena. I had the pleasure to attend last weekend; my first time at Boston Court, and totally recommend it. Director Michael Michetti has re-envisioned the play with a multicultural cast and in a modern setting to allow for the themes of class, race, and gender to pop Continue Reading
Pasadenian young actor plays Gaston in CASA0101 ‘Beauty and the Beast’
Casa 0101 is calling BEAUTY AND THE BEAST its most ambitious production to date. The musical will run through Jan. 21, 2018, with (as it has come to be expected from this theater) a Los Angeles grown, fully diverse, cast. This is the well-known Disney story that opened on Broadway in 1994 and that is based on a traditional fairy tale written in 1740 by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot Continue Reading
A CHRISTMAS CAROL back for a sixth year at A Noise Within
Last week was my fourth consecutive year attending A CHRISTMAS CAROL at A Noise Within. Would I do that unless it was absolutely wonderful? The story of the grouchy Ebenezer Scrooge, whose attitude the Ghosts of Christmas change for the better, is one that you should watch if you want to be infused with a good dose of holiday spirit. This production of Dickens’ lovely story, directed of Geoff Continue Reading
Pasadena theater – A Tale of Two Cities at A Noise Within
When people get fed up of the abuses of those at the top, when the pain is bad enough, they do something about it. That’s what the French Revolution was about, when the disenfranchised made the aristocracy pay for its callousness. “It was the best of times,” (for some); “it was the worst of times” (for others). So wrote Charles Dickens in his masterpiece A Tale of Two Cities. A theater adaptation Continue Reading
MAN OF LA MANCHA at A Noise Within is a hit!
“Too much sanity may be madness… to see life as it is, and not as it should be.” That’s a line from MAN OF LA MANCHA, the musical based on Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, which is now performing at A Noise Within (ANW) in Pasadena. The production is directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and will perform in repertory through May 21. MAN OF LA MANCHA is about the power of imagination and the Continue Reading
Pay-What-You-Can show of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at A Noise Within
A Noise Within (ANW) continues its holiday tradition of presenting its production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol each December, with 2016 seeing its fifth year of A Christmas Carol and the 25th Anniversary Season of A Noise Within overall. This lovely holiday play will perform through Friday, December 23, with a special Pay-What-You-Can performance scheduled for this Sunday, Dec. 11, at Continue Reading
Enjoy “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” at A Noise Within.
One of the happiest of Shakespeare plays, “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” opens the A Noise Within’s 2013-2014 season. Considered one of the Bard’s late romances, “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” contains everything that make the romances special – the reunion of long-lost family members, fantasy, magic, the presence of a superhuman goddess, shipwrecks, swordfights, and so forth. Pericles would have Continue Reading