Two Coasts, Two Must-See Musicals

Whether you’re cooling off on the East or West coast this summer, you’ll want to take in one of the hottest shows now playing. If you’re in New York, your choices are vast but you’ll also find plenty of high quality theater in California.

Here are two stand-out musicals receiving standing ovations after every performance.

Once Upon a One More Time at Marquis Theatre, New York, NY

You don’t have to be a Britney Spears fan to have a great time at this jukebox musical based on her greatest hits – but if you are one, you’ll find it the next best thing to seeing the superstar in person.

Once Upon a One More Time – like its girl-powered Broadway predecessors, & Juliet and Six – offers a delightful, feminist re-imagining of history. Or, rather, herstory. It takes classic fairy tales and introduces their iconic leading ladies to Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique via the Notorious OFG (Original Fairy Godmother, duh), played with a Brooklyn accent by Brooke Dillman.

The story revolves around Cinderella (Briga Heelan), who’s sick of her woe-is-me role and is even sicker of being rescued by Prince Charming – unexpectedly and hilariously played by Justin Guarini of American Idol fame. She tries to educate her BFFs, Snow White (Aisha Jackson), Sleeping Beauty (Ashley Chiu), Little Mermaid (Lauren Zakrin), Rapunzel (Gabrielle Beckford) and Princess Pea (Morgan Whitley), encouraging them to read the book in Scroll Club so they’ll understand the importance of escaping the controlling Narrator (Adam Godley) in order to live happily after ever.

All of this, of course, is accompanied by the songs of the Princess of Pop herself – whose own story of emancipation can be loosely garnered from them. Some are used cleverly – “Work Bitch” is what Cinderella’s stepsisters order her to do; “Oops! … I Did It Again” becomes Prince Charming’s way of acknowledging his effect on women – but all of them are exciting to hear in a Broadway theater.

Adding to the concert-like mood are the light-up bracelets audience members are given as they enter the theater. By the time they’re finally activated, everyone is up on their feet.

It’s no coincidence the lyrics to the last two songs are “Gimme More” and “Keep on dancin’ ‘til the world ends.” This show is such a fun experience, you’ll leave the theater smiling and ready to see it one more time.

Pippin at North Coast Repertory Theatre, Solana Beach, CA

The Tony award winning show that helped make Bob Fosse a legend seems like a tough one for a regional theatre to undertake. After all, Pippin, which has remained an audience favorite since it opened in 1972, is big and bold and full of a Broadway stage’s worth of razzle dazzle.

But North Coast Rep, a 194-seat theater located in a strip mall in San Diego’s North County, has never been one to shy away from a challenge. That’s why they’re so beloved to locals and why they’ve been well-respected as a premier theater company for more than four decades.

In Pippin, the title character (Brendan Dallaire) – the elder son of King Charlemagne (Jason Maddy) – sets out on a quest to make something extraordinary of his life. Determined to find meaning, he joins a traveling performance troupe, whose Leading Player (Robert Zelaya, excellent in the role that won both Ben Vereen and Patina Miller each a Tony) helps him experience everything from war to sex, none of which he finds fully satisfying.

Pippin has always been one of my favorite musicals and, scaled down and so much more intimate, this production is, unexpectedly, even more poignant and relatable. In fact, it may be the first time I really understood the deeper meaning of the show.

In his North Coast Rep debut, young Dallaire brings a perfectly fitting SoCal vibe to Pippin and it’s impossible to take your eyes off him. As the Leading Player, Zelaya is the right person to take both Pippin and the audience on a journey “to a spot exciting, mystic and exotic” and Gracie Moore shows us why “No Time At All” is always a showstopper. The whole cast deserves a shout out for fulfilling the magic promised in the opening number and for turning a regional theater production into something truly extraordinary.