So Cal Arts & Entertainment

Q&A: Ronnie Marmo as Lenny Bruce
“I’m Not a Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce,” starring Ronnie Marmo as the most controversial comedian of all time, will take the stage at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts in La Mirada for one night only, on Friday, March 21 at 8 pm. The show about the pioneer...
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“Such Small Hands” at Chance Theater, “Eisenhower” on the horizon
Rarely is a show extended before it opens, but such is the acclaim for “Such Small Hands” in previews at Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills that it’s been extended through Mar. 30. OC doesn’t get too many world premieres of new plays, so this presentation of Adam...
read moreLaurel & Hardy back on Blu-ray, forgotten pioneer Francis Ford
Those of us who revere Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy sometimes wish they had made feature films during the silent era. While they didn’t do one until sound came in (with their voices perfectly suiting their characters), unlike the comedy superstars of the day, they...
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“Wish You Were Here” at South Coast Rep, “Symphonic Soul” at SCFTA, “Graham100”
What better time to have a play by the daughter of an immigrant—coincidental though the timing may be—on one of So Cal’s top stages, especially when it’s a compelling, heartfelt drama about lives of five women? When taken as a subtle protest against the misogynistic,...
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Jason Alexander heads “Fiddler” in La Mirada
There’s a tendency to tinker with the warhorses of musical theater and reinvent them for new audiences. But wiser heads prevailed with the revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, which opened last weekend and continues through...
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“Joan” at South Coast Rep, Bernadette Peters at SCFTA
Joan Rivers comes back to vibrant life in Daniel Goldstein’s “Joan” at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa (continuing in its world premiere through Nov 24.) Unlike “Funny Girl,” the focus of this non-musical drama is a woman’s lifelong aspiration to make audiences...
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Black heritage in Pasadena, Irish voices in Newport Beach
What kind of father sends his teenage daughter into the cellar of a spooky old house, late at night in the dead of winter, for a bottle of booze? The da in the first Irish-language horror film, naturally. “An Taibhse” (“The Ghost”) is set in post-famine Ireland,...
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Newport Beach Filmfest returns for its 25th, Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ “Gloria” debuts in OC
You have to wonder about the Newport Beach Film Festival when you’re asked to be a moderator for a Q&A session following a TV show you’ve never heard of, and don’t know anyone involved. Fearing the first question would be, “Who the heck is he and why is he here?,” I...
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Pacific Symphony season marks conductor’s 35th, Flicker Alley offers French rarities
It’s always an event when the Pacific Symphony returns to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall for a new season. Thursday, September 26, marks not only the cyclical beginning for the hall’s resident orchestra but Music Director Carl St. Clair’s 35th anniversary...
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Zany “Falling Star” in cinemas, silent “Spanish Dancer” on Blu-ray
A man walks into a bar… trust me, you haven’t heard this one before. The plot of the offbeat new movie comedy “The Falling Star”— released here by Kino Lorber—is so bizarre and the characters so quirky it could’ve been written by Eugene Ionesco. For openers, there’s...
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