FOLLIES (CONCERT VERSION)


With a now basically unaffordable original Broadway cast of 47 (and opulent sets and costumes to match), Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies turned out to be the ideal rarely-staged gem for Musical Theatre Guild to introduce audiences to its best-ever new space at Santa Monica’s The Broad Stage, a one-night-only concert version that more than earned Sunday’s extended standing ovation.
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GREY GARDENS


Trisha Rapier delivered a dazzling star turn in Musical Theatre Guild’s one-night-only staging of Grey Gardens, an award-caliber performance made even more remarkable given the rehearsal-time limit for an Actors’ Equity-sanctioned concert staged reading: 25 hours max.
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BRIGADOON


Musical Theatre Guild opened its two-show 2022-2023 season in kilts and plaid with a terrifically performed, one-night-only concert staged reading of Brigadoon, the musical that began one of Broadway’s most successful collaborations.
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HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING


After a 26-month hiatus, Musical Theater Guild returned to Glendale’s Alex Theatre on Sunday to once again do what they do best, mount a Broadway musical with just 25 hours of rehearsal, and like its pre-pandemic predecessors, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying succeeded in entertaining a packed house starved for MTG magic.
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IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU

Judging from yesterday’s standing ovation, audiences in attendance at Musical Theatre Guild’s one-night-only concert staged reading of It Shoulda Been You most likely came to the identical conclusion as this reviewer. The 2015 Broadway musical romcom shoulda been a hit.
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BARNUM

Seven stellar triple-threat featured performers and some particularly ingenious directorial touches made Musical Theatre Guild’s one-night-only concert staged reading of the 1980 Broadway hit Barnum worth seeing despite a title performance not up to MTG standards.
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SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE

The concert staged reading masters at Musical Theatre Guild put together a stunningly performed and directed Sunday In The Park With George (on a Sunday no less) with just enough production design thrown in that audience members might well have thought they were witnessing a fully-staged production of the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine masterpiece and not a book-in-hand “reading” put together with a mere twenty-five hours of rehearsal.
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ZORBA

Musical Theatre Guild’s one-night-only Zorba proved a perfect example of everything a concert staged reading should be, i.e., a superbly performed, imaginatively staged revival of a rarely produced Broadway gem well worth a second look.
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