Michael Lawrence Quintos is a quiet, mild-mannered Art Director by day. But as night falls, he regularly performs on various stages everywhere as a Counter-Tenor soloist, actor, and dancer for The Men Alive Chorus since 2002. He's sung everything from Broadway, Jazz, R&B, Classical, Gospel and Pop. His musical theater roots started early, performing in various school musical productions and a couple of nationally-televised programs. The performing bug eventually brought him a brief championship run in the Philippines' version of "Star Search" before moving to Las Vegas at age 11. College brought him out to Orange County, California, where he earned a BFA in Graphic Design and a BA in Film Screenwriting. He has spent several years as a designer and art director for various entertainment company clients, while spending his free time watching or performing in shows.
Follow Michael on Twitter at: twitter.com/cre8iveMLQ.
 BWW Reviews: La Mirada Stages Intense Revival of Pulitzer Prize-Winning NEXT TO NORMAL
June 18, 2013
Heartbreaking. Gutsy. Intensely riveting. These are some of the words I jotted down in the dark---while simultaneously wiping tears streaming down my face---during the Southern California Regional Premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical NEXT TO NORMAL, now playing at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts for a limited run ending June 23. The winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this thought-provoking, emotionally-heavy musical play---which features music by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey---has now been revived locally in a top-notch, Broadway-caliber staging that truly impresses from beginning to end.
 Summer Stages: BWW's Top Summer Theater Picks for Costa Mesa / Orange County!
June 14, 2013
Though the coming of summer usually signals local theaters' final shows for the 2012-2013 season, there are still plenty of things to see, hear and experience in the O.C. to keep avid theatergoers entertained. Below is a listing of our five top Summer Must-See Picks, plus a few other noteworthy shows to check out, too!
 BWW Reviews: Hilarious, Campy PRISCILLA Musical Sashays into L.A.
June 7, 2013
Hilarious, visually arresting, and surprisingly heart-warming, PRISCILLA - QUEEN OF THE DESERT---the rousing stage musical adaptation of the 1994 Oscar-winning indie film of the same name---is an outlandishly silly show from start to finish, filled with non-stop eye-popping visuals, out-of-this-world costumes, playfully cheeky adult banter, and a smile-inducing songbook crammed with familiar, decade-defining pop hits. Though a show about drag queens may not necessarily be everyone's cup of tea, open-minded theatergoers seeking to experience a fun, non-serious, genuinely entertaining spectacle will truly enjoy this musical comedy's first national tour production now playing a limited engagement at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through June 16.
 BWW Reviews: SCR's Revival of THE FANTASTICKS Gets a Magical Makeover
June 2, 2013
Now performing at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through June 9, Director Amanda Dehnert's beguiling new revival of THE FANTASTICKS comes to vibrant life as an old-timey vaudevillian review that just happens to have a love story woven into it. This clever, magical makeover, setting the piece in the midst of an abandoned, dilapidated amusement park called Rocky Point, has wonderfully spilled over into the show's staging, sets, costumes, and, yes, even the songs and characters, resulting in a refreshing new take on the 50-plus-years-old musical.
 BWW Reviews: Broadway Vet Shoshana Bean Sings Final Free Concert at Americana at Brand, 6/2
May 31, 2013
What happens when you cram together the star quality of Barbra, the riffs of Beyonce, Whitney, and Mariah, the sass of Stevie, and the deep, emotional soul of Aretha? You get Broadway star and old-school soul revivalist Shoshana Bean. A gifted powerhouse vocalist, Ms. Bean is one of those entertainers you just have to listen to live on a stage. When she sings, it's not just a performance---it's a full-bodied experience. Bean will perform one final free outdoor concert at the Americana at Brand on Sunday, June 2, from 3-6pm.
 BWW Reviews: OC's 3D Theatricals Presents Extraordinary Revival of PARADE
May 26, 2013
One of the most stunning, brilliantly-staged productions I've seen in the past few years, Orange County's 3D Theatricals has, once again, outdone itself with its moving, epic-sized revival of Jason Robert Brown's Tony Award-winning musical PARADE. Now playing a limited engagement through May 26 at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton, this triumphant, emotionally-resonant, Broadway-caliber presentation directed by 3DT's co-founder and artistic director TJ Dawson ranks as, arguably, the best musical this relatively young regional theater company has produced thus far.
 Free Movie Mondays Return to Segerstrom Center for the Arts, July-Aug 2013
May 22, 2013
What has become an annual favorite outdoor arts series in Orange County, Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Free Movie Mondays---returning for its seventh summer---will continue the popular summer pastime of providing great entertainment on the Arts Plaza for OC audiences to enjoy. The five films in this year's line-up include: The Wedding Singer, Buena Vista Social Club, Disney's The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, and Evita.
 BWW Reviews: FLASHDANCE Splashes Down on the OC
May 18, 2013
Despite having a cast of incredible triple threats, overall, FLASHDANCE: THE MUSICAL---the new, Broadway-bound stage musical based on the popular 80's-era movie of the same name---seems like a well-meant endeavor that needs a serious overhaul in its disjointed execution. The national tour company continues its Costa Mesa stop at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts through May 19.
 BWW Interviews: Tony Winner Betty Buckley Talks Upcoming OC Cabaret
May 16, 2013
Tony Award-winning stage and screen star Betty Buckley---who has been called 'The Voice of Broadway'---will be headlining a series of concerts as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Cabaret Series from May 16 - 18 at the Samueli Theater. Called 'Ah, Men! The Boys of Broadway,' the show will feature the living legend giving her own inimitable spin on classic Broadway tunes that have traditionally been written for male characters (the show also has a companion CD with a similar title). Buckley will be accompanied on stage by Grammy and two-time Emmy winner John McDaniel. Before she took her male-centric cabaret concert to Orange County, the 2012 Theater Hall of Fame inductee fielded questions from BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos.
 BWW Interviews: Jillian Mueller of FLASHDANCE National Tour Answers Our Silly Query
May 14, 2013
After spending time on Broadway and on tour, triple-threat actress Jillian Mueller can now be seen dancing up a (ha ha) storm in the National Tour production of FLASHDANCE, in which she plays leading lady Alex Owens---yes, the sexy steel mill worker who moonlights as a maniac, maniac, on the floor. The stage incarnation of the hit movie of the same name continues performances through May 19 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. While settling into her final week of shows here in Orange County, Ms. Mueller agreed to some of our silly questions. Thankfully, she played along!
 BWW Reviews: Delany and Weber Star in SCR's Witty World Premiere of THE PARISIAN WOMAN
May 3, 2013
In South Coast Repertory's amusingly naughty World Premiere production of Beau Willimon's THE PARISIAN WOMAN (now playing through May 5), 'Body of Proof' star Dana Delany plays Chloe, a morally ambiguous but undeniably tenacious Washington DC housewife with high political aspirations, especially for her husband (Steven Weber) who's seeking to be the next Attorney General. Armed with wit and sexuality, Chloe seduces her way through the intoxicating pursuit of power.
 BWW Reviews: SCR Stages World Premiere of SMOKEFALL
April 28, 2013
This year's main-stage attraction of SCR's annual Pacific Playwrights Festival, SMOKEFALL---a co-production with Chicago's Goodman Theatre directed by Anne Kauffman---starts off initially intriguing, as if first unveiling itself as a dark dramedy that follows three generations of an eccentric family living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the tolls that the passage of time imposes on their lives. But instead, what actually transpires through the course of its three acts is an uneven play that ultimately gets too bogged down in its own randomly structured quirkiness.
 BWW Interviews: Janet Dickinson, On the Road with BILLY ELLIOT
April 23, 2013
Each night---and sometimes even twice in a single day---actress Janet Dickinson gets to pretend to be a sassy, chain-smoking Brit in charge of a bunch of rowdy, screech-happy pre-teens at a community center ballet class in the current national tour production of BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL, now playing through April 28 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. Before the tour's arrival in Orange County, Dickinson answered a few silly questions from BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos while on the road...
 BWW Reviews: Orange County Welcomes BILLY ELLIOT Back to So. California
April 23, 2013
I first reviewed the national tour of BILLY ELLIOT - THE MUSICAL during its triumphant five-week stop at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre a year ago (which you can read HERE) and found it to be quite an entertaining, well-executed show. Now an entire year has passed and the show has finally returned to Southern California, this time playing at Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts through April 28. Does it still hold up? In a special guest column, Robert Neale offers 'A Second Opinion' Review.
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