Best of 2016: The top 10 productions at local theaters
by Eric Marchese
If the theater year now ending proved anything, it’s that our region is so rich with theatrical talent – actors, directors, playwrights, designers – that small storefront venues are just as likely to deliver a memorable theater experience as their professional counterparts.
Here are the top 10 (presented alphabetically by title):
“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Musical Theatre West
“District Merchants” at South Coast Repertory
“Dreamgirls” by McCoy Rigby and La Mirada Theatre
“Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” at Maverick Theater
“Empire the Musical” by McCoy Rigby and La Mirada Theatre
“Future Thinking” at South Coast Repertory
“Hello, Dolly!” by 3-D Theatricals
“Lend Me a Tenor” by McCoy Rigby and La Mirada Theatre
“Seminar”: Theresa Rebeck’s 2011 play depicts the creative process and motives of those who aspire to create great literature. The realism of Chance Theater’s Orange County premiere heightened both the story’s conflict-generated laughs and its darker issues.
“Sweet Texas Reckoning” at Garage Theatre.
The very good and near-great:
• Laguna Playhouse’s lighthearted staging of the 2004 Elvis musical “All Shook Up.”
• South Coast Repertory’s staging of the absorbing political-historical drama “All the Way.”
• La Mirada Theatre’s innovative staging of Green Day’s 2010 rock opera “American Idiot.”
• New Swan Theater’s heady, 1930s update of “As You Like It.”
• Chance Theater’s production of “A Chorus Line.”
• South Coast Repertory’s telenovela-inspired comedy “Destiny of Desire.”
• South Coast Repertory’s commissioned world premiere of “Going to a Place Where You Already Are.”
• Shakespeare Orange County’s imaginatively gripping “Hamlet.”
• La Mirada Theatre and McCoy Rigby’s visually stunning Disney musical “The Little Mermaid.”
• Laguna Playhouse’s production of “Louis & Keely ‘Live’ at the Sahara.”
• South Coast Repertory’s world premiere of the tense, ever-timely “Office Hour” and brilliant handling of John Logan’s thought-provoking drama “Red.”
• Segerstrom Center: “Beautiful: The Carol King Musical” and Roundabout Theater Company’s “Cabaret.”
Well worthy of note: “Billy & Ray” and “Sex and Education” (Laguna Playhouse), “Memphis” (Musical Theater West), “Raised in Captivity” (Stages Theatre), “A Walk in the Woods” (International City Theatre), and “WTC View” (Theatre Out).
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