So Cal Arts & Entertainment

Shannon Cochran and Lynn Milgrim in “A Doll’s House, Part 2” at South Coast Rep. Photo by Debora Robinson/SCR. What happens when Nora Helmer returns home for a visit, 15 years after she walked out at the end of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”? Lucas Hnath has come up...

Vince Giordano What do Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Michael Feinstein know that most folks don’t? They’re all wild about, cannot do without Vince Giordano—when it comes to recreating the music of the 1920s and ‘30s and making it live for today, he’s “the top,” as Cole...

Mamie Gummer and Ben Feldman in "The Siegel." Photo by Debora Robinson/SCR. What if? That’s the question we all ask ourselves in the wee hours of the night, is it not? And that’s the proposition Michael Mitnick makes in “The Siegel” at South Coast Repertory in Costa...

Together again - Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. It’s hard to believe the theatrical juggernaut that is “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” almost wasn’t. When the Burt Shevelove-Larry Gelbart-Stephen Sondheim show first previewed on Broadway, audiences...

Yuri Temirkanov (courtesy IMG Artists) A friend once gave me a ticket he couldn’t use to a concert at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. I thought it was a lousy seat—front row, far right—until I realized it afforded me a terrific view of the conductor, who was so...

Hershey Felder as “Tchaikovsky.” You may recall the wonderful 1949 Alec Guinness movie, “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” where Sir Alec plays eight members of the ill-fated D'Ascoyne family who stand between an ambitious young man and a fortune. Whether you’ve seen it or...

Before “Arsenic and Old Lace” became known as the now-classic Frank Capra movie, it was a Broadway hit. It’s been a mainstay of high schools, dinner theaters and community playhouses for decades; the question is, does this old warhorse (running at Fullerton’s...

Charlie Chaplin in “The Immigrant” (1917). What’s black and white and fun all over? Silent movie comedies, of course. Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy don’t show up that often on television these days, but they are en route to two family-friendly venues...

What would happen if Rex Harrison and Robert Preston met in a taxi on the way to the theatre one night in 1957 and ended up playing each other’s roles—Harrison in “The Music Man” and Preston in “My Fair Lady”?! That’s the clever premise behind “Rex and Bob’s Excellent...

What defines a world-class artist? Itzhak Perlman’s virtuosity on the violin aside, what makes him truly great? The maestro defined it for us last week on his most recent visit to OC, turning his Philharmonic Society concert into an impromptu fan appreciation day....