News

"'Enchanted’ meets some friends of Dorothy,” writes the Los Angeles Times of “sweetly eager” musical “The Next Fairy Tale, the world premiere creation of theater alumnus Brian Pugach '09, at the Celebration Theater in Hollywood through April 24.

"The first world premiere developed fully in-house at Celebration, "Fairy Tale" arrives with a sly gloss on the Brothers Grimm.  Fairy Godmistress Minerva (Gina Torrecilla) chooses accident-prone Hazel (Rachel Genevieve), a godmother on probation, to stage-manage the next great story of Happily Ever After. Hazel's mission? To aid the dashing Prince Copernicus (Christopher Maikish) in the rescue of his true love from an evil dragon.

Catch is, Copernicus pines for another prince — the cookie-baking Helio (Patrick Gomez); when Minerva finds out, she's not about to let two guys in tights share true love's kiss.

Michael A. Shepperd directs with characteristic wit and energy, and the cast is game. Stephanie Fredricks’ tart Dorothy Parker homage delights, sultry godmother Nell Teare vamps in a silver mini, and Maikish is pitch-perfect as a Pepsodent-smile royal who prefers a hug to a hunt."

“The Next Fairy Tale” was developed at TFT and won a Tim Robbins Playwriting Award and a UCLA Musical Theatre Writing Award.

“The Next Fairy Tale” Celebration Theatre 7051B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes. Ends April 24

• Celebration Theatre
• Los Angeles Times review of "The Next Fairy Tale"