Tag archives: theater
Although there’s only one degree of separation between Santa Barbara and Kevin Bacon, the star of the movie Footloose – soundtrack superstar Kenny Loggins, on the other hand, has lived in town for decades – neither will be involved in Lights Up! Theatre Company’s production of the stage musical this weekend. But what we do […]
Indecent is a 2015 play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, inspired by the controversial events surrounding the play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch. God of Vengeance was briefly produced on Broadway in 1923 before the producer and cast were arrested and convicted of obscenity due to the play’s depiction of lesbian love. Vengeance […]
After 9/11 the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, with a population of 10,000 residents, was overrun with nearly 7,000 stranded passengers after the FAA shut down airspace nationwide, forcing all planes to land at nearby airports. A total of 38 planes, carrying 6,579 passengers and crew, landed in Gander as part of Operation Yellow Ribbon, […]
Shpilkes is Yiddish for “pins,” as in “sitting on pins and needles.” The Jewish English Lexicon defines the term more colloquially as “Nervous energy, anxiousness, restlessness.” But for local playwright Barbara Gural, Shpilkes is the Yiddish equivalent of “ants in your pants,” an appropriate title for her new comedy, which was inspired by her close […]
Opera Santa Barbara sold out both performances at the Lobero of its highly entertaining show Zorro by Hector Armienta, who wrote both the music and the libretto. The action character, a sort of Spanish Robin Hood, made his debut in a 1919 novel The Curse of Capistrano by author Johnston McCulley. The action – with […]
I only managed to catch the first act of Jesus Christ Superstar at Center Stage last weekend, but even 45 minutes of Out of the Box’s local star-studded production was enough to rock my world. The all-female/non-binary cast put a somewhat provocative perspective on the sensational rock opera full of indelible songs by future Broadway […]
Little Women, the American Theatre Guild’s musical version of Louisa May Alcott’s popular novel at the Granada, was an absolute delight. Based on Alcott’s life, the production follows the lives of sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March, each determined to lead their lives on their own terms. The timeless, captivating tale – set at […]
About 15 years ago, Broadway actress Anne Torsiglieri, who over her career has appeared in Miss Saigon, Top Girls, Parade, and Blood Brothers as well as the official national tour of Les Miserables, found herself totally unprepared for a role. She’d won awards for her portrayal of Catherine Sloper in The Heiress at Berkeley Rep, […]
SBCC Theatre Group closes out its 2023-24 season with Paul Slade Smith’s comedy The Outsider from April 10-27 in the Jurkowitz Theatre on SBCC’s West Campus. The comedy concerns a newly appointed governor of a small state who is terrified of public speaking and paralyzed by TV cameras, but great at actually governing. Determined to […]
The Lehman Trilogy, a Tony Award winning three-man show by Stefano Massini, adapted by Ben Power and directed by Oanh Nguyen, at the Ensemble Theatre Company’s New Vic is not to be missed! The three-hour-long production, with two ten-minute intermissions, chronicles the rise and fall of the Lehman brothers, a 160-year journey of three immigrant […]
Three-time Emmy-award winning actor Tony Hale spent an afternoon with Westmont theater arts students before sharing humorous stories and insights with a large crowd in Porter Theatre. Colorado actor Heather Ostberg Johnson (‘11) facilitated the event, Comedy and Faith with Tony Hale, on March 19th that students said helped them visualize a career in the […]
Santa Barbara is alive with the sound of music… especially for one young performer! Chance Challen is preparing to leave our cozy community to join the international Broadway tour of the beloved musical, The Sound of Music. This incredible opportunity showcases the talent and dedication of Chance, who has continually demonstrated outstanding ability and passion […]
What’s the buzz? A revolutionary rock musical presented in a revolutionary reinvention in the latest production from Out of the Box Theatre Company; which normally focuses on alternative/contemporary musicals. Jesus Christ Superstar, the sung-through rock opus musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice that stunned Broadway in 1971, juggles the gender in the tale […]
The Lehman Trilogy, which not even two years ago won five Tony Awards for drama including Best Play, is set to make its Santa Barbara debut at Ensemble Theatre Company from April 6- 21. The play explores the human drama behind the Lehman brothers’ empire, tracing the family’s humble beginnings from their immigration from Bavaria […]
The musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s most famous novel comes to downtown’s grandest theater when Broadway at the Granada presents Little Women – The Musical on April 10–11. The theatrical work, based on Alcott’s 1868–69 semi-autobiographical book follows the adventures of sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March, each with divergent personalities yet determined […]
In December 1922, Edward A. Johnson, president of the California Theater Company that owned most of the movie houses in Santa Barbara, announced plans to build a theater and eight-story office building on State Street. Despite touches of Spanish design, many felt the tall rectangular structure did not suit Santa Barbara’s emerging Mediterranean style. Nevertheless, […]
The choreography for State Street Ballet’s Cinderella has essentially never changed over the nearly 20 years since the family-friendly work premiered in town in 2005 and then went on a sold-out tour around the East Coast of the country. State Street founder and artistic director Rodney Gustafson created the piece just shy of the company’s […]
To the Arlington Theatre for the one-night only revival of the folkloric ballet Seraglio, an Eastern version of Romeo and Juliet, written, choreographed and produced by Santa Barbara’s Alexandra King. The colorful three-act, two-hour production was first presented in 1989 in our Eden by the Beach, Ojai, Culver City, and Salt Lake City, featuring Greek […]
When Alexandra King created and produced Seraglio, her original three-act Middle Eastern folkloric ballet about star-crossed lovers in early 20th century Istanbul, she thought it had run its course after performances in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Ojai, and Salt Lake City in 1989-1990. “I never planned to do anything with it again,” King said. And […]
As if to underscore the timelessness of Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare’s tragic tale gets a different site-specific spin through Westmont College’s John Blondell as part of a mini festival this weekend. The veteran professor of theater arts has cut and refashioned Shakespeare’s play into something called The Capulet Black-and-White Ball, refracting the classic through a […]
