Review: ‘Stereophonic’ at Hollywood Pantages Theatre
- Raj Walia
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to produce a 1970s-era hit record, “Stereophonic” is the play that will take you there.
Written by David Adjmi and directed by Daniel Aukin, “Stereophonic” opened on Broadway in 2024 and received more Tony Award nominations than any other play to date, winning several, including Best Play.
Now at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre through Jan. 2, the play places the audience in a studio control room through David Zinn’s Tony Award-winning scenic design. We see a large mixing console and other recording tools, as well as a few chairs and bean bags, with a spacious, elevated sound booth at the back.
Interestingly, there is no hard beginning to the performance — the actors’ dialogue just kind of starts up, mixed with audience murmurings, a really cool blending of both sound sources.
The play is divided into four acts, each covering a period between June 1976 and June 1977, with Acts 1 through 3 set in Sausalito and Act 4 in Los Angeles. Characters arrive on stage already in conversation, talking about their immediate personal situations, music mechanics, percolating ideas and control-room technical banter.
There are great dynamics among different pairs of the cast. Control-room head engineer Grover (Jack Barrett) and his helper Charlie (Steven Lee Johnson) trade gossip and desires that bring to the surface Grover’s reservations and lack of experience as head engineer.
The main female singer, Diana (Claire DeJean), and her music director, co-vocalist and husband Peter (Denver Milord) navigate a complex relationship involving their living space, Peter’s frequent changes in music direction, and Diana’s reconciling of her place in their relationship and overwhelming thoughts as she’s on the verge of becoming a superstar.
Then there’s the heavy alcohol and drug use of bassist Reg (Christopher Mowod) as he loses ground with his wife and keyboardist Holly (Emilie Kouatchou), who is tired of rescuing Reg from his binges.
When Peter announces that the record company is increasing the band’s budget, the tight timeline they were on suddenly expands, allowing the characters to sink into their roles, explore their concerns and overall develop as musicians, technicians and humans.
The story of “Stereophonic” purportedly parallels real-life band Fleetwood Mac creating their hit record “Rumors.” We are in the control room, day after day, with rehearsals starting at noon and going through the early morning hours. We feel the weight of the grind as every note and sound is analyzed while retakes abound and emotions fray. It is in that grind that the personalities of the players wind around each other and we sense their growth as they reach the end.
Along the way, we are treated to original folk-rock music by Will Butler, as the band’s recordings start and stop, stop and start, until finally at the end, they are all in the control room listening to a finished album.
We’ve all likely been part of a project putting together a puzzle of pieces in a grinding process. Would I want to dive into the inner workings of such a process? Would I want to “be at work” and feel the stress and strain of putting together a complex piece? Or do I want to walk into a record store and buy an album, or in this case, walk into the Pantages and see a finished production?
Though there’s a great deal to appreciate in the mechanics of every process, not everyone would want to project themselves into a working environment and not enjoy a finished product. That the finished product in this case is the inner mechanics of the production is an irony not entirely lost on this reviewer.
“Stereophonic” continues through Jan. 2 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, with shows Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. For tickets and information, call the box office at (866) 755-2929 or visit BroadwayinHollywood.com. Run time is 2 hours and 50 minutes, including intermission.
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