Music

A Broadway Birthday: Sondheim, Lloyd Webber, and Friends! March 28, 2024 at Segerstrom (Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber / Photo Segerstrom)

A BROADWAY BIRTHDAY

  • By KEN WERTHER

Listen up, lovers of Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber! Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa is presenting A Broadway Birthday: Sondheim, Lloyd Webber, and Friends for one night only on Thursday, March 28, at 8pm, in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert HallThis special birthday bash will honor and celebrate the shared birthday (March 22) of two of the most well-regarded and loved musical theatre composers in the world (Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, The School of Rock, Evita) with performances by some of today’s top Broadway talent. Celebrating and honoring Sondheim and Webber and their unparalleled contributions to the Broadway canon will be a glittery array of Broadway stars including Tony Award-winner Betty Buckley (Cats, Sunset Boulevard, 1776, The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Liz Callaway (Merrily We Roll Along, Baby, Miss Saigon), Alex Joseph Grayson (recent revival of Parade), Aaron Lazar (Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera​, ​The Last Ship​, ​A Little Night Music​, ​The Light in the Piazza), Kerry O’Malley (Into the Woods, White Christmas, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Annie Get Your Gun, Billy Elliot), and Glee star Matthew Morrison (The Light in the Piazza, Hairspray, Finding Neverland). This is going to be one birthday party you don’t want to miss! And Costa Mesa is a lovely place to spend an evening — grab dinner first!

For more, click here.

Chicago March 5-24, 2024 at Pantages (Photo Broadway in Hollywood)

CHICAGO

  • By ARLENE WINNICK

This month the Pantages theatre presents six-time Tony Awards winner, Chicago, with more than 10,000 performances and Broadway’s longest-running musical.  It is the sensational story of two women –  chorus girl Roxie Hart and vaudeville star Velma Kelly – both accused of murder and facing trial. The women compete fiercely for the services of shady lawyer Billy Flynn who promises the women he will make them celebrities and engages the headline seeking media as his ally.  Both the Cook County jail and the staid courtroom soon evolve into a riotous show business competition.  The play is filled with wonderful dances sequences notably “Razzle Dazzle or The Cell Block Tango and “All That Jazz.” My personal favorite is sung by the prison matron, “When You’re Good to Mama, she’ll be good to you!”

Chicago is a musical satire based on two real life murderers in 1920’s Chicago and was written Maurine Dallas Watkins, a reporter who was assigned by the Chicago Tribune (which normally favored the prosecution) to cover the 1924 trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner. Her readers were fascinated by homicides committed by women often treating the accused as celebrities. Female reporters from rival newspaper were often referred to “sob-sisters” as they focused on the defendants’ looks, plights and redemption and not on the crimes they allegedly perpetrated.

Don’t miss this lively new production – Chicago just gets better and better.

For tickets, click here.

I Love Boy Bands performed by GMCLA March 23-24, 2024 at the Saban (Photo GMCLA)

WE LOVE BOY BANDS

  • By J. COOK

Do you love boy bands? Who doesn’t?! At this point, everyone has gone there and back again. Fans burned out, then returned to the songs they obsessed about, and haters gave in to the joy that this music stirred up in millions. And now, Everybody, its not just Backstreet that’s Back.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of LA is going to put 200 voices behind these four or five part melodies, honoring the likes of NSYNC, Backstreet BOys, New Kids on the Block, and Boyz II Men. But then, the night will turn back to honor the Boy Bands who came before, namely the Bee Gees, Temptations, and the Beatles. ALmost like your Dad designed the mixtape. 

But the evening will also look to trace the trend to today’s boy band supergroups and feature songs by One Direction and BTS. I personally cannot wait to watch 200 Angelenos harmonise their Korean singing “Fire” (불타오르네). Should be “Dope” (쩔어). On March 23rd at 8pm and March 24th at 3:30pm we will find out. The show is playing at the Saban Theater on Wilshire. 

Pop canon reverence by Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles? Who else could do it better? Do you Want It That Way? They’ll be Tearin’ Up My Heart Step By Step all the way to the End of the Road. So Promise me (With Everything you are) that you’ll Quit Playing Games With My Heart, and you’ll be at the show!

For more, click here.

Mamma Mia! March 7-10, 14-17, 2024 at Robert Frost Auditorium

MAMMA MIA!

  • By Ashley Halverson

Unless you are or have been a parent of a high schooler at some point you probably haven’t attended a high school musical or even considered it. Last year when one of my daughter’s besties started working on the Culver High School Academy of Visual and Performing Arts crew, we attended a production of CLUE and I was blown away at how talented and entertaining the young cast was. Fully outfitted with clever costumes and incredible sets in the grand setting of their Robert Frost Auditorium.  I have been compelled to attend every production since and have immensely enjoyed all of them. 

I am especially excited to attend their Spring run of Mamma Mia!  The hilarious and enchanting tale of a young woman’s search for her real father – all taking place on a Greek island paradise will no doubt be adorned with beautiful costumes and highlight the comic talents of the cast. These kids have passion for their craft and devotion to the stage. Remember that the youth theater actors of today will become our favorite tv, film and stage actors of tomorrow which is all the more reason to support your local high school programs. So, snag some tickets to this cult classic musical inspired by ABBA’s mammoth hits that will be sure to have you singing along and dancing in your seat.  

For tickets, click here.