[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Stage Mamma:From Child Star to Leading Lady at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025.
Rheagan Wallace is the child star turned leading lady in question of this highly entertaining and poignant show. Stage Mamma: From Child Star to Leading Lady educates and informs us, first hand, about a phrase many of us have heard in passing, but very few of us really know.
By the end of the Stage Mamma, the audience is well versed. Rhegan Wallace is full of charm and a wit that keeps the audience engaged with humour and pathos. “What happens when your fiercest advocate is also your formidable challenge?” is the quote of the show. But we are given so much more. Facts, dates, and circumstances are revealed as if we were in Rheagan Wallace’s living room and we are her friends. You really do forget you are watching a performance.
Speaking of performance, the director and developer, Jessica Lynn Johnson, of Soaring Solo Studios, keeps the performance streamlined, which makes the pace of the show extremely vibrant. Rheagan Wallace also presents several characters and plays each one with just the right amount of distinct personality changes that make each one utterly believable. Heather Dowling, the character coach, is to be congratulated!
Any parent/child relationships have their own unique as well as universal challenges, but when you add the madness of a show business life and the eventual teen angst, the challenges become almost insurmountable. The beauty of this show is that the telling of the story is how we understand the mother-daughter relationship. Like a beautifully written three-act play, the story unfolds to a highly satisfying conclusion that I absolutely did not see coming. It is quite evident how much love was always present in that relationship. Stage Mamma is not a villain and the Child Star turned Leading Lady is far from a victim.
Rheagan Wallace is indeed a leading lady and I would watch her reading the back of a cereal box on stage, although I can reassure you this play is as far from that as anything I can imagine. Stage Mamma: From Child Star to Leading Lady is a must-see show for this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival. And that’s saying a lot, especially when you consider how many great shows are playing this year. Bravo!! Highly recommended!
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/11838
Where:
The Zephre Theatre
7456 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood, ca 90046
When:
Sunday, June 8 at 2:15 PM
Saturday, June 14 at 3:45 PM
Friday, June 27 at 5:30 PM
****
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