So Cal Arts & Entertainment

“The Bill Murray Stories,” courtesy NBFF. “Little Black Shadows” by Kemp Powers (at South Coast Repertory through Apr. 29) is as much about the power of storytelling as it is about the story being told. The tale—of young slaves who acted as servants to their master’s...

Susannah Rogers and Elijah Alexander in Amy Freed’s “Shrew!” at South Coast Rep. Photo by Tania Thompson/SCR. If Amy Freed tripped herself up in her last at-bat at South Coast Repertory (in my estimation), she has scored a solid home run with “Shrew!” While the first...

If “millennials don’t really care about classic movies,” as the New York Post proclaimed last year, there are many young people who most assuredly do. Meeting and chatting with them is one of the unheralded pleasures of the TCM Classic Film Festival, which returns to...

If you read the publicity put forth by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, you’ll note Michael Tilson Thomas is not only a National Medal of Arts winner but presently the longest-tenured music director of a major American orchestra. That’s far too modest, in my...

Woody Allen may have put one over on Broadway with the musical adaptation of his 1994 film “Bullets Over Broadway”—to the tune of six Tony nominations—but So Cal has higher standards. At least I do. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an entertaining show (playing at The GEM...

Do we need superheroes today? Of course. Not the drek Hollywood is spewing out by the bushel but guys like silent film accompanist Ben Model—and the 153 people who funded his latest project on Kickstarter. “The Marcel Perez Collection, Volume 2” (available on Amazon...

“The Chosen,” based on Chaim Potok’s classic novel about two brilliant young men growing up five blocks and worlds apart in World War II Brooklyn, has been transformed into a play that’s somehow even more compelling than the book. Adapted by Potok and Aaron Posner and...

Two visits to the theatre this weekend to see two actor friends, after a much-needed hiatus of more than a month; plenty of family drama, mind you. J.M. Barrie’s rarely-staged 1917 fantasy “Dear Brutus” (through Feb. 11 at Fullerton’s STAGEStheatre) is a play about...

Having fun yet? Sandra Tsing Loh’s “Sugar Plum Fairy” (at South Coast Repertory through Dec. 24) is sure to double your pleasure this season whatever your religious preference; despite its Christmasy trappings, it has a multicultural elf aboard its sleigh to celebrate...

Brian Pirnat and Brooke Lewis in “Mr. Burns.” Photo by Amy Lauren Gettys. Can a play recover from an unsatisfactory first act, one that leaves you frankly wondering, what am I doing here? Absolutely, if Anne Washburn’s “Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play” and Branden...