Reviewed by Genevieve Croft ,
Associate Critic for John Garcia's THE COLUMN

A perennial favorite of community and educational theaters, Hello, Dolly! has been produced on the stage since 1964. The story has origins dating all the way back to 1835 English play “A Day Well Spent,” then serving as Thornton Wilder’s inspiration in 1938 for “The Merchant of Yonkers.” The play flopped and was retooled as “The Matchmaker” in 1954. With the success of the “The Matchmaker,” a film version was made in 1958 starring Shirley Booth (you might recognize this name as the meddling maid, Hazel from the 1960’s sitcom). In 1964, Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart collaborated and the final product was “Hello, Dolly!.” Originally written with Ethel Merman in mind as the titular character, Merman turned the role down, as did Mary Martin (although both eventually ended up playing ...

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Reviewed by Ann Saucer,
Associate Critic for John Garcia's THE COLUMN

Meteor Shower is written by the renown comic Steve Martin, and the play premiered on Broadway in 2017. This amusing parody of polite society comes to the comfortable Garland Civic Theatre this March. The play explores the many different ways that a dinner party can go wrong. Social mores for hospitality are explored and tested in hilarious ways. Meteor Shower may start with a Neil Simon type riff on the wealthy’s lack of self awareness, but it moves well beyond cultured conversation. The alternative realities of this soiree include unchecked lust, overtly malicious manipulations, George Santos level lying, death, gay trysts, and meteor catastrophe.

The setting is an affluent home in mountainous Ojai, California in the year 1993. Corky (Kimberly Hilton) and Norm (Thomas McKee) are expecting guests to share a ...

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Reviewed by Ann Saucer,
Associate Critic for John Garcia's THE COLUMN

Moulin Rouge! The Musical, a ten-time Tony Award-winner, roars into the Music Hall at Fair Park through April 2. There is another Paris, and this fun-filled musical will take you there. Burn down the house with burlesque dancers, courtesans, artists, aristocrats, and the handsome American who has burst onto the scene to steal the show. Will the bohemian artists of Paris’ left bank triumph over the evil Duke? This musical serves up stunning vocals and copious ribald fun on the way to that answer.

As the audience enters the Music Hall, red light leaps off the stage as blazing strobe lights sweep the theater. The iconic Moulin Rouge windmill is to the audience’s left and a tasseled elephant looms large on our right. The fiery stage sports successive heart-shaped arches framed by ...

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