Critics Rave About Moonlight & Magnolias!

Not only is Moonlight and Magnolias getting standing ovations just about every night, but the critics are raving as well! Show runs until November 1st and tickets are still available on our website.

In Andrew Barnicle's riotous staging of the 2004 play at Laguna Playhouse, we're invited to examine both the hilarity and the drama of a Hollywood mogul acutely aware of the many figures nipping at his heels, from gossip columnists to rival producers," writes Eric Marchese in the OC Register. "The actions of the play's trio of stars plays like vintage screwball comedy from the 1930s and '40s, with plenty of scurrying about, shouting, hurtling insults and snappy comebacks, slapping, mugging and more. Despite the lack of traditional action, Barnicle and his cast, though, keep things fresh. In a relatively small role, even Emily Eiden, as Selznick's yes-girl, garners laughs with her rote recitation of the line "Yes Mr. Selznick," her response to nearly his every question or command. Read the complete OC Register review!

In the Event News, Joseph Sirota calls the play "a barn-burning crowd pleaser. This smashingly tasty production at the Laguna Playhouse satisfies our curiosity while bringing us two hours of non-stop smiles and laughter. Also enlightening and insightful, it smartly examines what truly drives gifted, high-achievers we salute. Hat's off to the amazingly funny, yet movingly 'human' four cast members who deliver this immensely demanding play with perfection: Jeff Marlow as dazzlingly driven to win-or-die Selznick, Leonard Kelly-Young as Hecht, master screenwriter with an underlying philosopher's soul, Brendan Ford as Fleming, tough, hardworking street kid-- turned Hollywood director and Emily Eiden as Miss P, cute exec-assistant, working to a frazzle to support these crazed guys rescuing the film."

"Exquisitely directed by Andrew Barnicle," notes Ben Miles in the Riverside Press Enterprise . "Jeff Marlow portrays David O. Selznick with biographical exactitude. Completely convincing in each moment of his characterization, Marlow's incarnation of Selznick is a pinched-nerve of a performance, replete with energetic neurosis. As Ben Hecht, Leonard Kelly-Young is a cynical, dry-witted delight. In one instance, Kelly-Young is convulsed in laughter; it is so genuine a moment that the guffaws quickly become contagious. Brendan Ford plays auteur Victor Fleming as a forceful lug. It's easy to envision Ford's Fleming as a Bligh-like tyrant on the sound stage. After all, Fleming was accused of slapping the young Judy Garland. Also, Emily Eiden, as Selznick's secretary, Miss Poppenghul, has several wonderful moments of comic naturalism. What's more, with Bruce Goodrich's convincing 1930s office setting, Julie Ferrin's rich sound-scape, as well as Paulie Jenkins's lighting design and Julie Keen's spot-on costuming, The Laguna Playhouse provides for us an entertaining and informative staging of this enjoyable show."