Everything, including the play, cast, choreography, direction, costuming and set design, comes together to produce a near-perfect show of “Annie Get Your Gun,” which opened at Music Circus Tuesday night. The original producers of “Annie Get Your Gun,” Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, no slouches at musical theater music and lyrics themselves, persuaded a reluctant Irving Berlin to write the music and lyrics for the show when Jerome Kern died suddenly. Berlin is considered to be the preeminent American songwriter, and he created some of his most popular music for “Annie Get Your Gun.” It has song after song that became popular hits, including the opening song, “There’s No Busines

Each season, Music Circus produces a musical that includes a large number of actors from California Musical Theatre’s Music Circus Junior Company. This years’ production is “Oliver!” Lionel Bart’s highly successful musical based on the Charles Dickens classic “Oliver Twist.” “Oliver!” with music, lyrics and book all by Bart, originally opened in London in 1960 and Broadway in 1962. It has seen numerous revivals powered by mega musical producer Cameron Mackintosh, first in 1977, last in 2009, both in London and on Broadway. It was a highly successful movie adaptation, winning six Oscars. This is Music Circus’ eighth production of the musical. Christopher Bones, a veteran theater and TV ac

 America is in the depths of the Great Depression. Audiences flock to movies where they can forget their troubles enjoying a couple of hours of singing and dancing paying a mere dime for a ticket. The musical “42nd Street” is based on the 1933 movie of the same name. The basic plot is that Broadway producer Julian Marsh is producing a big new Broadway show called “Pretty Lady.” He is worried that his big star, Dorothy Brock, doesn’t have it anymore, but he has to cast her since her sugar daddy is putting up the money. Competition for the chorus is very tight, especially since it’s the Great Depression and jobs are scarce. Newly arrived from Allentown, PA, (pronounced P. A.) Peggy Sawye

“Funny Girl” is a star maker. It made a star out of Barbara Streisand first on Broadway, then in film. Vicki Lewis most certainly shines as Fanny Brice the title “Funny Girl” in this the latest Music Circus production of the show. Everything in the play centers on the character of Fanny Brice. Brice herself was one of the biggest stars of her time. From 1910 through the 1930s on stage, screen and radio, Brice was wildly popular and influential. Legendary Broadway producer David Merrick worked with lyricist Jule Styne and equally well-known composer Bob Merrill to turn what had started as a screenplay into a Broadway musical. Having seen Streisand in her first role on Broadway in “I Can

Take an iconic piece of american musical theater by arguably the best musical theater writing team of all times and add Music Circus talent and production values and you have a splendid evening of entertainment. "Oklahoma" was the first collaboration between composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. Rodgers had previously worked with Lorenz Hart creating "Pal Joey." Hammerstein had been teamed with Jerome Kern, with "Show Boat" as their best-known production. The new collaboration worked well for both. Hammerstein preferred to write lyrics before they were set to music. Rodgers preferred to have completed lyrics before creating the music. There previous co

 Monty Python’s Spamalot opened the 60th season of the California Musical Theater Music Circus on Friday. This, the 500th show produced by Music Circus, makes it is easy to see why the theater has not only survived but thrived for 60 years. The book and lyrics by Eric Idle take the best of the popular Monty Python movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail to another level. While much of Spamalot spoofs the Broadway Musical genre, Idle has created a great Broadway Musical. The Music by John Du Prez and Idle is classic Broadway Musical style and in this case it is a very good thing. Everything in this Music Circus production shines, starting with Glenn Casale’s direction. Much is made in theat