Best Of :: Arts & Entertainment 

BEST OF OC /// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT /// 2016

BY OC WEEKLY STAFF

 

 

A Chorus Line, Chance Theater

BEST PLAY

The Chance Theater has long since emerged as the best storefront theater to emerge out of Orange County since South Coast Repertory, but with this production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning show of desperate, hungry actors attempting to get cast in the background of a Broadway play, it staked a claim as one of Southern California’s top professional companies. There wasn’t a weak link in the fantastic cast assembled by director Oanh Nguyen. That, coupled with a stellar five-person live band and Hazel Clarke’s choreography resulted in a Chorus Line that clicked on every level, revealing this musical for what it truly is: a sublimely well-crafted, real play.

Readers’ Choice: Wicked

 

All theaters stage plays. Some might even stage the occasional play for young audiences. Some occasionally let some playwriting group use their facilities for a reading or a series. But no one in Orange County, next to South Coast Repertory (which doesn’t count because EVERYONE gets paid) does it as intensively as Anaheim’s Chance Theater. Its mainstage shows—ranging from a triumphant production of A Chorus Line to plays by some of the top contemporary playwrights in America, such as Samuel Hunter, Theresa Rebeck and Amy Herzog—are usually top-notch. Last year, it began a series for young audiences, and as anyone who has ever been involved in local theater knows, plays for kids and teens spell one thing: CASH! (Most kids have lots of friends, duh!) Even better for us old farts, the Chance also regularly stages readings in its On the Radar New Works Series, many of them culled from emerging playwrights with whom the theater has built relationships.

Readers’ Choice: Segerstrom Center for the Arts

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