So Cal Arts & Entertainment

Carroll O’Connor once described to me a Broadway flop he auditioned for as resembling “a Christmas tree that topples over from the sheer weight of ornaments.” That pretty much sums up “Jane Austen's Emma, The Musical” (at Anaheim’s Chance Theater through Dec. 23). The...

Never mind Black Friday, it’s Noirvember. Two new 4K restorations of film noir titles have hit my desk recently, one classic and one forgotten gem. Robert Siodmak (“Phantom Lady”) may not be a familiar name to you but he was acclaimed The New Hitchcock early in his...

The current political situation is nothing to laugh at, that much is certain. Where is Will Rogers when we need him more than ever? Will and his wicked spot-on witticisms may be a thing of the past, but a modern day pundit named Sarah Burgess provides plenty to chew...

If you’ve never heard of “You Never Know Women” (1926), you’re not alone. But this obscure silent drama was of great importance in the career of director William Wellman, according to his son—his deft handling of the assignment won him the opportunity to direct...

A less than capable cast and crew can wreak havoc on stage, especially with a non-linear play that jumps around. Sharr White’s “The Other Place” (at The Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills through Oct. 21) is just such a play, but fortunately it’s in very good hands in...

  South Coast Repertory pushes the concept of colorblind casting to the edge with their current production of Jane Austen’s "Sense and Sensibility" (in Costa Mesa through Sept. 29). Purists and history buffs may object at first glance to the multi-ethnic ensemble...

Take a wild guess what Ingrid Bergman did between leaving Sweden and coming to Hollywood. No, she didn’t go to Italy and make a porno flick (that I know of), but she did stop in Germany long enough to appear in a Nazi propaganda film about modern women. That’s the...

If you think you’re going crazy in the heat, the folks at Fullerton’s STAGEStheatre are one up on you. They’ve gone completely off their nut, at least the cast and crew of William Robert Carey’s “Idol Minds.” This is not one of those sophisticated French farces; it’s...

What are the chances of seeing a beautifully restored version of “Little Orphant Annie” (1918), starring a youthful Colleen Moore in her earliest extant movie? Pretty good, now that film historian and preservationist Eric Grayson has decided to make this long-held...

How many “Macbeths” and “Twelfth Nights” will audiences for Shakespeare support? An infinite number, it seems. Will people come to see something of the Bard’s so seldom staged most have never even heard of it, for example “The Winter’s Tale”? Yes, as it turns out—even...