louise on the left (coast)

Seriously, SCR's "Midsummer Night's Dream" really  rocks .  Literally.  South Coast Repertory's newest offering, " Midsummer Night's Dream ," under the masterful direction of Mark Rucker, both dazzles the eye and grabs you by the heart, spiriting the audience on a whirlwind tour of fantasy and festivities which never once fails to entertain from start to finish.  I can promise, like any great party, you'll never want this show to end. This show has truly become my new sparkle pony.  It's pure magic from the moment the lights go up, I mean, pop up.  This is a show that immediately grabs the audience and transports them far away, somewhere magical where everyone's interesting, they all do funny things, the music just gets better and better and absolutely no pharmacueticals were involved! What else can you say  that  about?  It's like a long rave at Coachella but, one where you actually care

Recently I was fortunate enough to attend opening night of Adam Gwon ’s new musical “ Ordinary Days ,” currently enjoying its West Coast premiere at South Coast Rep in the Julianne Argyros Stage through January 24 I went with my theater buddy (and blogging guru) Prince Gomolvilas of Bamboo Nation without either of us really knowing too much about the show to start with other than it was a “Chamber Musical” (whatever that meant) about “people from New York.” I was curious how a story about New Yorkers struggling to bring meaning to their lives against a backdrop of the usual pathos and passion in the city that never sleeps could actually be something new, something that we haven’t heard before. Not only has this tale already been examined in other musicals, such as in "Rent" or "Company," I also spent my twenties in Manhattan, and felt pretty confident that this might be a theme I was all too familiar with by now. I was a bit concerned that telling this same story